Saturday, October 26, 2019

Fall Is...

Copper Harbor, October 2019.
Fall is a bittersweet time of year for me. For the past eight years, at least one of my chicks has returned to school. It wasn't too bad when the girls were only a couple hours away.

But the man-child? He's EIGHT hours away!

Crazy, right?

Fortunately, I live in Michigan. When we drive from mid-Michigan up to nearly the northern-most point in the contiguous U.S.--we usually go sometime in October--the colors are GORGEOUS!

As matter of fact, they're inspirational.

(Ignore the overcast-ness. My son says they only had three days of sunshine during the 2018-2019 school year, so it's 'normal'.)

Lake Superior, early September 2019.
What's absolutely breathtaking is Lake Superior.

There have been gale-force winds over the past few weeks and THESE IMAGES came across my Facebook timeline. They're beautiful and scary and forceful--all wrapped up in a couple dozen images. The waves crashing against the cliffs sending foamy spray into the pine trees. Waves reaching 20-feet in height are common on the Big Lake.
Mackinaw Bridge, early September 2019.

I spend a lot of the road trip writing. Sometimes, I have a plan. I want to work on this or that. And other times, I let the landscape inspire me.

Are there things in nature that inspire you? What about sights in your state?

Share in the comments!

Thursday, October 24, 2019

What Supernatural Would You Choose?


WHAT SUPERNATURAL WOULD YOU CHOOSE?



Halloween is almost here – the time when thoughts turn to the supernatural. The way paranormal is exploding in popular culture - books, TV, movies – it seems the supernatural is in our thoughts year-round, and the trend for all things paranormal shows no signs of abating. I’ve heard it said that when times are hard, people gravitate to the supernatural as a means of escape. Or maybe the paranormal is so popular because anything otherworldly is just plain fun.

I love reading time travel romances, love books about beings who have magical powers, love shifter stories. I don’t much like anything to do with vampires, but that’s just me. Vampires have scared me since Bela Lugosi lured unsuspecting and “too stupid to live” people into that old castle. Vampire romances are still hugely popular.

My question today is: If you could have any magical power or be any supernatural being, what would you choose?

I’ve always wanted the powers of Samantha in the old TV show, “Bewitched.” I want to twitch my nose and have my whole house cleaned. Wow! Can you imagine that! I’d take it further. Whenever I wanted to change my wardrobe, I’d look at pictures of couture clothes, shoes and handbags, twitch the nose, and voila! A new wardrobe. Cool, huh? And shallow, but who cares?



Wouldn’t it be fun to be able to think something and make it happen? But there’d be a rule that you can’t hurt anyone. Imagine driving and some jerk cuts you off or runs a red light and almost plows into your car. Wouldn’t you love seeing the jerk’s wheels fall off his car when he pulls one of these stupid moves? And as a person with magic abilities, you could curse him that the minute he does something stupid any time while driving, the wheels would fall off his car. You could be a one-person avenger giving the jerks of the world what they deserve. But, remember, don’t hurt anyone. I know, my mind works in strange ways.

I wouldn’t mind being a sexy witch, one who can mix love potions. Now that would be fun. I’d be beautiful with long black hair. Instead of a black cat, I’d have a white one, just to be different.



 While I don’t read vampire stories, I do enjoy shifter stories and witch stories. One of my favorite series is the Mayfair witches from Anne Rice. Those are some darn scary witches. I plan to write my own witch romance someday, with a witch heroine who will have great powers, but she won’t be evil. However, she’ll be surrounded by evil beings.


Would you want to be a vampire? Think of all that power and immortality. Imagine drinking blood. Shivers. Or would you rather be a sexy witch who has the power to make men fall at your feet? Or a one-person avenger out to rid the world of jerks?

What supernatural being would you choose?



I’ve always been fascinated by ghosts and spirits so I’ve written a ghost story. Ghosts of Deveraux Manor, set in Normandy, France, is up for pre-order now. My husband and I took a river cruise from Paris through Normandy in 2016. It rained every day, and it was cold. And this was June! Normandy is beautiful but rainy, and it can be gloomy. It lends itself to Gothic romances or ghost stories.




Mayhem, Mystery, Murder, and Matchmaking Ghosts


When an American woman inherits a manor in France, she finds it comes with some unexpected accessories—matchmaking ghosts and a hunky ex-pat Brit who may or may not be a murderer.

Philadelphian Charlotte—Charli—Deveraux had no idea she had relatives in France until she receives notice she’s inherited a chateau in Normandy. Her art history degree has led to nothing but a soul-sucking bank job, so she takes leave, and, with her best friend, heads to France to check out the centuries-old manor. But her inheritance comes with more than she expected, including an enticing, maddening neighbor. She’d been betrayed by a man once. She’s not about to trust another one.

International art restorer and expat Brit, Travis Gardner, wants nothing to do with any woman named Deveraux. He’d been married to one. When his ex-wife was murdered, suspicion fell on him. Although he had a strong alibi and was cleared by the police, a cloud hangs over him. It doesn’t matter how sweet and wholesome Charli is, he’s on the hunt for the real killer. He doesn’t have time to help Charli find missing necklaces or the keys to a mysterious locked turret.

But a pair of matchmaking ghosts—and their equally ghostly cat—have other ideas. To get into the good graces of the Big Guy, they need to bring Charli and Travis together, and solve not only his ex-wife’s murder, but their own. In a village full of suspects, can Charli and Travis find the keys, the jewels, and the truth before they, too, become ghosts of Deveraux manor?

Special pre-order price











Wednesday, October 23, 2019

The world of the supernatural is all around us... #NewRelease #MysticMagic #99cents #PNR @RomanceBoxedSet

Happy Release week to the authors of Mystic Magic !!






The world of the supernatural is all around us.
With every breath we take—each smooth inhale and exhale—magic moves through us.

Join USA Today and International Bestselling Author Nicole Morgan and International Bestselling Authors Krista Ames and Deelylah Mullin for journeys through magical places and hot romance.

Whether vampires, witchcraft, or voodoo, the ‘other’ can set the stage for love.

Includes these great stories:
Bossy Boots by Nicole Morgan
Take a Dive by Deelylah Morgan
Her Fate, His Mate by Krista Ames



Universal Buy Links:


Retail Buy Links:

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

She was desperate and only he could help her


Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of UNMASKING EVIL, the prequel to this book

Desperate Deception
Book One
Heroes Rising
They served their country well, but they had focused for so along on being SEALs that now they are without a purpose or commitment. Their dreams are filled with images of teammates torn and shredded in combat situations. They have learned to live with a mental toughness developed through strict discipline. Those without family to ground them are facing a life without direction. But former SEAL Alex Rossi sees in them the core of the sheriff’s staff he is building one block at a time. In the foothills of Montana’s Crazy Mountains they will find new purpose, build new lives and open themselves to love.

 She’d only be safe if she got away…
Lainie Taggert needed to break away from her abusive relationship before it killed her, but Sonny Fitzgerald had all the keys to controlling her. Until she landed in the hospital with bruises and broken bones. And her friend, Drea Halstead, convinced her they had to spirit her away.

His life was in limbo…

Zane Halstead was rootless after three tours with the SEALs, medically discharged and not sure what to do with himself. When Sheriff Alex Rossi in Montana reached out to him with an offer to join his staff, he thought, what the hell? A house came with it along with two horses two horses he could work with. But then his sister pleaded with him to take a battered woman with him and keep her safe. How could he say no?
  
But the best laid plans and all that…
They never expected to fall for each other, Zane with his determination to stay single and Lainie with her nightmares and a vicious bully after her. And a rich one at that. But chemistry and emotions have their own plans, and when Zane gets word Lainie’s ex is on her trail, he realizes he’ll do anything to keep her safe…and for himself. With the help of Sheriff Alex Rossi, he is ready to take on the enemy for his woman.

Excerpt:

He was just getting ready to walk out for the last time when his phone rang. The readout had his sister’s name on it.
“Drea? What’s up? Aren’t you at work?”
“I am, but Zane? I really, really need your help. And please don’t say No until you hear it all. Okay?”
“Jesus, girl. What have you gotten yourself into now?”
He listened while she laid out her story for him, especially Lainie Taggert’s condition and why her fear of Sonny Fitzgerald was so intense. As she outlined the plan, his stomach knotted, and his fingers tightened their hold on the phone.
“You’re kidding me, right? This is a joke to yank my chain.”
“No, it isn’t.” Her voice was low. “I’m dead serious. Dead, by the way, being what this woman will be if we don’t pull this deception off and sneak her out of Tampa. Please, Zane. She has no place else to turn. “
He wanted more than anything to say no, but it just wasn’t who he was. He knew this last-minute call from Drea might screw up his plans. He also knew she wouldn’t ask unless she was desperate. Take a strange woman to Montana with him to a situation he wasn’t even sure would work? What the hell? 

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Saturday, October 19, 2019

What a long, strange trip it's been....and other stories

Sharon Hamilton here, along with a convenient cowboy who has an incredibly small head.

I'm working on a new website design and, although I'm happy with the emerging results, it's taking far too much time away from writing.

But I have to remember that if I don't spend the time now, I'll be frustrated in the long run. Getting everything perfect, especially with a new designer involved, is tricky. Not impossible, but tricky.

I know this because I've consumed more wine and beer lately than I normally have. And tonight, I managed to have 2 cocktails. I got my models and books all mixed up until I couldn't tell what I was mashing together. I needed a Calgon moment.

If you hear a giant screeching of brakes, it's from this huge machine of a writing career taking a sudden turn to the side. Oh yes, I'm smarter than to say left or right in this day and age! What I'm saying is that I'm taking a detour. I'm writing a {{shock}} paranormal, not a SEAL book, coming out this December. And it's in my long-overdue and most often requested Golden Vampires of Tuscany series.

This is Book 4 in this series, and it will pretty much wrap up a lot of things, but I do plan to write more. Just not until I get a few new SEAL adventures under my belt.

Here's the book trailer for Book 1, Honeymoon Bite, which, by the way, won several contests as the best first paragraph for a novel. I loved it!

Honeymoon Bite Book Trailer

Midnight Bite continues the tale of Lionel Jett and Phoebe Monteleone. Lionel is a 300-year-old Dark Coven vampire, and virgin Phoebe is the 19-year-old spitting image of her many times great grandmother, Maria Monteleone, with whom Lionel had forbidden love for. Both women are from the Golden Vampire clan--a breed who can live in the light of day (and they don't sparkle), and don't turn immortal until they reach puberty, and only then by choice. Maria chose to remain mortal and never took the turning. Phoebe must make that choice very soon. But one of the huge world rules is that the two species must never mate.

And therein lies the problem, because Lionel thinks he might be fated to this lovely young thing who is definitely hands off.

Here's the blurb:


He’s taken a vow to remain unmarried
out of loyalty and duty to the Monteleone Clan of Golden Vampires. Although a member of the immortal Dark Coven Vampires, Lionel Jett was not celibate. In fact, he’s harbored a forbidden, secret love for the matriarch of the Golden Clan, who died in his arms three centuries past.

Maria Monteleone’s many times great granddaughter, Phoebe, enchants him at the wedding of her cousin, and, as she dances by the bonfire, his forbidden obsession roars back to life.

And then sweet Phoebe, only nineteen years of age, claims him for her personal bodyguard…demanding the family allow him as her husband of convenience.

She taunts and lures him until he finds he can no longer resist, forcing him to cross boundaries that could mean their death. In her thirst to be made his woman she refuses to see the danger she’ll bring upon their union.

Under the skies of California Wine Country comes this vampiric tale of a three-hundred-year-old love story like Romeo and Juliet, as two star-crossed lovers break all the rules, while the Dark and Golden Vampire wars loom. Under the burden of a centuries-old prophecy in the newly-discovered Book of Spawn, either a miracle or a tragedy will be born.

For Lionel must sacrifice himself to protect her to the bitter end and Phoebe will have her Romeo, no matter the cost.

I'm thrilled beyond belief to be writing this wonderful love story. 

Yes, a love story, as grand as Romeo and Juliet, not on Valentine's Day, but right after Halloween. It's a story with a Christmas message too, the tale of a Dark Coven vamp fascinated with Christian artifacts and things mortals believe in. He choses to wed in a chapel in Tuscany previously banned to those of his kind. There's redemption, loyalty, honor, and of course,



LOVE!

Friday, October 18, 2019

Obsession--Not in a Stalker Kind of Way



We all have some thing that we are obsessed with and cannot get enough of. For me, it’s Family Guy. I love that show. I love Stewie , Brian, Meg, the Griffin clan and the rest of the gang. I watch episode after episode, binging the show until I’m sure that I look like Meg (the daughter of Peter and Lois Griffin). It’s funny and smart in a way that speaks to the human experience. It’s perfect. But my love for the show doesn’t stop there.

I admit I love Seth MacFarlane. Ted, Ted 2, A Million Ways to Die in the West, The Orville. While others are swooning over Ryan Reynolds or someone else, I get lightheaded over Seth MacFarlane. The man is hilarious and the voices he can do, and his talent. I’m inspired by it, by him. I swear if I was a teenager I would have a poster of him. Perhaps more than one.

Perhaps, I shouldn’t have written this post but this secret obsession demanded to be confessed. I just hope he doesn’t read this (which I doubt) and think I’m a loser.

Do you have an obsession? Confess all. 

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

#NewRelease #Alert - The #SoldiersofFortune are back with the 3rd installment #RB4U #SOF #Romance #Suspense




S.O.F.: Soldiers of Fortune

A Romance Books 4 Us World (Volume Book 3)

Amazon:

Universal Link/Landing Page:

Rhett Fortune settled on the small parcel of land he purchased in 1858 with his wife Clara and founded the beautiful landscape that surrounded his newly built home and what is now known as Fortune, TX. A veteran of the United States Army and as a Colonel who served with honor in the Mexican-American War, Rhett and Clara raised a large family. Sons and daughters, and grandchildren to follow, their clan grew throughout the decades.

Now in the 21st Century, two of their descendants remain at the helm. Chance Fortune, a former member of the Army’s Delta Force and co-founder of Soldiers of Fortune, has an innate duty to serve and protect. Working with his brother, RJ Fortune, a former Navy SEAL and wounded warrior, they take the cases that their government won’t. And vow to protect the civilians that no one else can.
They have quietly put out the word and now, after three years, other former brothers-in-arms have contacted them bringing situations that span not only the country but the globe. On Fortune family land they have built a facility out of the public eye for their office, a helicopter, a gun range, and whatever else they might need.

They are the Soldiers of Fortune… and these are their stories.





RJ: The Beginning by Nicole Morgan
A lifetime ago she disappeared from his life. Now that she’s back, RJ will face ghosts he thought he’d left buried long ago.

Dogs of Fortune: Part 2 by Joanne Jaytanie
The mission is clear, and this time Zane has no intention of leaving anyone behind.