Friday, January 24, 2014

FREE READ


On Monday Harlequin will release the first chapter of The Stolen Kiss. Each day thereafter for twenty days another chapter will be posted on their website. 

If this link  doesn’t work, go to www.harlequin.com, hover over extras on the red menu bar and you’ll see free reads. Click on that.  

The chapters are short, and easy to read on line, and there’s even a comment section, if you are so inclined. 

The Stolen Kiss:

From rivals…to lovers!

The moment beautiful Cassandra Halverson arrives in Tulsa, Micah Bollinger knows she'll be trouble. No sooner has she set up her dressmaker's shop than she starts poaching his customers. Determined to beat Cassandra at her own game, Micah decides to keep his enemy close!

Cassandra wants nothing more than to create a new life doing what she loves and to leave her past behind her forever. But the presence of her infuriatingly gorgeous competitor threatens it all. When an unexpected kiss takes them both by surprise, it's not long before fury turns to red-hot passion!

This story is related to The Major’s Wife, which is now available in paperback! The ebook version will be released Feb. 1st!

WILL THE TRUTH SET THEM FREE?  

Major Seth Parker knows his wife, and the woman standing before him isn't her. The manipulative vixen who tricked his hand in marriage could never possess such innocence—nor get his heart racing like this! 

Millie St. Clair has traveled halfway across the country to pull off one of the greatest deceptions ever. But with everything at stake it soon becomes clear that the hardest part might be walking away from the Major when it's all over…. 

Our weekend agenda includes an ice fishing trip—for Papa and the granddaughters. Although the fish house is well heated and roomy, I’m not a fan of sitting atop frozen water, warm or otherwise, so I will stay home and work on my next WIP. It’s the third story in my roaring twenties series. Set in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, these stories are about four sisters—each with their own book. The four Nightingale women, Norma Rose, Twyla, Josie, and Ginger, all embrace the freedom gained by women in the 1920’s. However, their father, Roger Nightingale, aka The Night, is one of the country’s largest bootleggers and set on keeping his girls as innocent as a morning breeze. 

Not.

The first story is Ginger’s, a short e-book only tale. (No release date yet, but the edits have all been completed and the story is set to go.) Ginger, the youngest of the girls, takes her future into her own hands and runs away from home—by hiding away in the back of Brock Ness’s truck when he leaves for Chicago to perform on the radio. Brock unfortunately owes Roger Nightingale a good sum of money, so when he discovers Ginger under the tarp of his truck, snuggled up to his guitar case, Brock is anything but impressed.

The next story is Norma Rose’s. Final edits were just approved by my editor today! Norma Rose’s story is a full length one and will be available in print and ebook. She’s the oldest sister and has brought Nightingale’s from nothing more than a dance pavilion to a sprawling resort that caters to those with money to spend. This also includes plenty of gangsters, and where you have mobsters, there’s sure to be a revenue man sniffing about. Norma Rose recognizes Ty Bradshaw as a government agent the moment she meets him, and is determined he will not bring her family down. Ty is after public enemy number one, Ray Bodine, and doesn’t care who he has to bowl over to catch the mobster, including Norma Rose Nightingale and her bootlegging father.

The third story is Twyla’s, the boldest and wildest sister. This is my current WIP. Twyla’s story will also be a full length book available in print and ebook. She loves living at the country’s largest speakeasy and isn’t about to let anyone rain on her parade, including rival night club owner Forrest Reynolds.

The last story will be Josie’s. Another full length book. Josie’s the quietest and most secretive sister. I’m still plotting out her story, so at the moment, all I can say is the ladies aid meetings she’s continuously going to aren’t as innocent as they appear.  

To say I’m having a lot of fun with these sisters and their stories is an understatement. I’m also working on a story set in Cody, Wyoming that has a ghost in it—sort of.

That’s all for now.

Stay happy!


Monday, January 6, 2014

Brrr.....


We are in the deep freeze here in Minnesota, which isn’t all that unusual, but the wind chills have made being outdoors dangerous, therefore schools and several businesses are closed. It also means my hubby is busier than ever. Cars do not want to start when it’s this cold, and the phone is ringing off the hook with people asking him to make house calls. Poor guy. The good thing is—it won’t last long. The weather man is predicting a January thaw this weekend. 

My family is now enjoying all the wonderful gifts they each received for the holidays. One of my sons got the Ancestry software and is really having a ball with it. He’s discovered one of my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great (I think that’s right) grandmothers involved in the Salem Witch Trials. She wasn’t prosecuted and lived for another thirty years or so afterwards. Another son is spending every spare moment in his fish house ice fishing, and the third son has already spent the ‘cash’ he received on tickets for his family to fly to Florida later this month. The granddaughters are loving their Doc McStuffins Check-up Centers and the numerous other toys and gadgets they received. One of my favorite gifts was a new fuzzy and warm throw that matches my overstuffed ‘writing’ chair, and Bear, the ultimate granddog, is greatly enjoying the old quilt I used to snuggle under. (His doggie bed is next to my chair and he waits for me to toss the quilt over the top of him after he lies down.)

I received some great feedback from my critique partner on my latest work in progress this weekend and am enjoying getting to know Beth and Rance, the heroine and hero of this story set in Cody, Wyoming. 

The first chapter of The Stolen Kiss will be released on January 27 on Harlequin’s website. The Major’s Wife will be released in print on February first, and e-book later that month, and Never Tempt a Lawman will be released on May first. 

In the mean time, stay warm, keep smiling, and make 2014 all you dream it can be!