Saturday, March 31, 2012

Six Sentence Sunday

Welcome to my blog for SSS.  Today's excerpt comes from The Sentence which was released on March 22.  Here's a blurb followed by my six.  Oh, and the cute guy in the picture is Clint.  Reverend Amos is making him help build the new church. 

blurb:
 How could he do it! How could her father bring the guy who burned the church into their home for six months? Yeah, it was an accident and her dad’s a minister, but if he wanted to help this man why didn’t he go to the prison to do it? And no matter what anyone says she doesn't watch him every moment they're in the same room.


Excerpt: In this excerpt my heroine has just met my hero.

Well, she had to admit he was cute. He wasn’t especially tall, maybe six feet at the most, but he was so well proportioned he looked taller. He had sandy blond hair and intense blue eyes. His face looked sensitive yet…what was the word…vulnerable. That wasn’t exactly it either, but at the moment she couldn’t think of anything any better. The look in his eyes made her think he was waiting for life to kick him in the teeth and wanted to be ready for the blow.

buy links:
http://www.astraeapress.com/#ecwid:category=662245&mode=product&product=10046831

Sweet Saturday Sample

Hello!  Thank you so much for stopping by.  Please leave me a comment if you'd like.  I value your input.  Today's sample comes from my new release The Sentence.  If you like what you read, you might check the last few posts I've made.  I have excerpts from The Sentence in all of them.  The Sentence is available at


Blurb:
How could he do it! How could her father bring the guy who burned the church into their home for six months? Yeah, it was an accident and her dad’s a minister, but if he wanted to help this man why didn’t he go to the prison to do it?  And no matter what anyone says she doesn't watch him every minute they're together! 
In this excerpt, Clint meets Reverend Amos for the first time.  By the way, the guy in the picture is Clint Hayes.

Clint Hayes parked his car in the minister’s driveway and sighed. Six long, dreary months stretched like an eternity in front of him. Reverend Amos would probably make him go to church every time the doors opened, but what did the man intend to do with him the rest of the time? As far as he knew, they only had church on Sundays and Wednesdays. Did the Reverend want help raking his leaves or splitting firewood? Maybe the house needed painting.

Actually, the house didn’t need painting. Its pristine white paint gleamed in the crisp, autumn air. Clint sort of liked the red shutters and the big front porch that ran from one end of the house to the other. The maple trees strewn around the yard blazed in shades of green, gold, and red and made the white house look like a picture in a calendar.

A dog barked in the distance, jerking him back to reality. Sitting in his car wasn’t getting the job done. Sighing, he got out and made his way to the front porch where he rang the doorbell. In a moment, Reverend Amos opened the door. “Hello, Clint. Won’t you come in?”

“Uh, thanks.”

Reverend Amos stood an inch or so taller than Clint and outweighed him by probably forty pounds. He had dark hair and brown eyes that made Clint uneasy. The preacher didn’t stare at him or anything, but Clint feared Reverend Amos saw right past the front a man presented to the world and looked into his heart—a place Clint had kept private for years.

The preacher stood aside, allowing Clint to enter the lion’s den. He indicated a room on the right. “This is our living room. Come on in.”

The living room looked downright cozy. A fireplace occupied center stage while a brown leather sofa sat in front of a big picture window on the opposite wall. Colorful easy chairs in shades of brown, coral, and green were scattered around the room. A baby grand piano was positioned against the far corner.

A middle‑aged woman with brown hair and plain features rose from the sofa to greet him. “Hello, Clint. I’m Cynthia Amos.” She held out her hand for him to shake.

It made Clint uncomfortable because he never had liked shaking hands with women. With a guy, you could give a nice firm shake and be done with it. With a woman, you never knew what to expect. Some of them acted like shaking hands was a contest of strength, while some held your hand a little bit too long. However, he knew he didn’t have any choice in the matter.

Reverend Amos and his wife took a seat on the sofa. The preacher nodded toward a chair and said, “Have a seat, Clint. I thought we should clarify our expectations for you.”Clint clenched his fists. Here it came. The huge, long list of rules and regulations that he’d dreaded for weeks now. “Yes, sir.”

Reverend Amos didn’ look angry with him like he’d expected. He didn’t hear any condemnation in the man’s voice either. The serious expression on the preacher’s face told Clint he meant what he said, but he wasn’t trying to bully anyone or throw his weight around.

Friday, March 30, 2012

Fashionista Friday




Maybe she’d dress up tomorrow. She had a new fall suit in a warm shade of chocolate brown that looked beautiful with her hair. The length of the skirt pleased her, although her father would probably think it was too short. He had definite opinions about such matters.

The blazer looked nice, too. She’d add a pair of high heels and some gold jewelry. Smiling, she thought of how nice she’d look. Way out of his league. Color flooded her cheeks. Why had she even thought of such a thing? Who’d want a man like Clint to notice her as a woman? Her boyfriend Josh was a nice guy, not a church burner. He’d been to school and had a future.

Hey, Fashionistas.  Here's my interpetation of Rachel's outfit.  Everything is from Neiman Marcus.







Jewelry: From Macy's.  Necklace $239.20  Earrings $199.20
All other items from Neiman Marcus.
Suit: Donna Karan $1495
Shoes: Prada $890
Purse: Michael Kors $278






Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Lucky 7 Meme

People who are doing the Lucky 7 Meme are supposed to go to page 77 of their book and find line 7.  Then they copy seven lines.  I had to go to page 78 because I only had 5 lines on page 77.  Anyway, here they are.  I took the seven lines literally and stopped in the middle of a sentence.  Here's a blurb about The Sentence.

Rachel Amos doesn’t understand her father at all.  How could he bring Clint Hayes who burned Saved By Grace Christian Church into their home for six months?  Sure, the guy didn’t mean to do it, and her dad’s a minister, but if he wanted to Hayes, why didn’t he go to the prison to do it?  And no matter what her friend Christina says, she doesn’t watch Clint every moment they’re together.
The excerpt is from The Sentence.  Rachel my heroine is speaking first.


“I’m tutoring at adult education after lunch, but I don’t have

anything to do until then. Do you need me for something, Daddy?”

“I do. I promised Brother John Whitmire I’d come over and

help him straighten out his family cemetery. Since the weather’s

nice today, it would be a good time to do it.”

“I didn’t know you could bury people anywhere except a

public cemetery,” Clint contributed as he sipped Mrs Amos’s

Buy links:



http://www.astraeapress.com/#ecwid:category=662245&mode=product&product=10046831

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Six Sentence Sunday

I hope some of you won't be disappointed.  Several people have wanted to read more from The Welcome Inn, and I promise we'll get back to it soon, but today I want to let you sample my new release The Sentence.  Here's a blurb about the book.


Has her father totally lost his mind?  How could he bring the man who burned the church into their home for six months?  Yeah, it was an accident and her dad’s a minister, but if he wanted to help Clint Hayes, why didn’t he go to the prison to do it?  And no matter what her friend Christina says, she doesn’t watch Clint every single moment they’re together!

 In this excerpt, Reverend Amos has just told my hero Clint how a man is supposed to behave on a date.


Clint looked at him as if he had sprouted angel wings on his shoulders. “You don’t have to worry. Rachel doesn’t want to kiss me or hold my hand. She doesn’t even like me.”

Reverend Amos smiled at him. “She may change her mind if you have a good time at the concert.”

If you'd like to read more check out yesterday's Sweet Saturday Sample.  Also, you might want to look at what Rachel wore on her date with Clint.  That was posted on Friday.  The Sentence is available at http://www.astraeapress.com/#ecwid:category=662245&mode=product&product=10046831

Friday, March 23, 2012

Sweet Saturday Sample

Today's sample has to come from my new release The  Sentence.  The book only came out on Thursday! 

Here's a buy link, a blurb, and the excerpt.  After you're through here, do look at yesterday's post for a little bit more time with Rachel and Clint.

Buy Link: Find it at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, or at http://www.astraeapress.com/#ecwid:category=662245&mode=product&product=10046831

Blurb:

Has her father totally lost his mind?  How could he bring the man who burned the church into their home for six months?  Yeah, it was an accident and her dad’s a minister, but if he wanted to help Clint Hayes, why didn’t he go to the prison to do it?  And no matter what her friend Christina says, she isn’t interested in Clint!

Excerpt: In this excerpt my hero  and heroine are driving back from the grocery store.

 By the time they made it to the grocery store, snow covered the roads, and the car’s tires had started slipping a little. They bought their bread and milk and got home as fast as possible. After Clint parked his car, Rachel started to go inside, but Clint put his hand on her arm to detain her. “Look at it, Rachel. Isn’t it beautiful?”

Rachel turned her face toward the streetlight to better see the plump white flakes that fell silently to the earth. Oh, yes.”

The night seemed so quiet. The snow muffled ordinary noise, and there wasn’t any traffic on the roads. And oh, those huge snowflakes looked like something from a wintry Christmas card as they floated lazily to earth, coating everything in a pristine white blanket.

Snowflakes glinted on Clint’s shoulders and in his hair. Impulsively, Rachel stepped closer to him and brushed them away. “You have snowflakes on your coat,” she muttered.

“Uh huh.”

Another huge flake wafted through the air and stuck in his eyelashes. Rachel didn’t stop to think about it. She gently brushed the snowflake away, her heart pounding when she felt the warmth of his skin under her fingers. Her knees got kind of spongy when Clint took her hand and brought it to his lips.

Rachel’s blood roared in her ears as he slid his arms around her. She tilted her head back, her eyes fluttering shut. When his lips gently touched hers, Rachel reflexively clenched his shoulders. “Oh, Clint!”


All proceeds from the sale of The Sentence will be donated to the East Pickens Baptist Church miracle building, a youth and family life center.












Fashionista Friday: Rachel's Outfit

If you stopped by yesterday, you saw that my first inspirational novel The Sentence was released yesterday.  Do take a look at the post for some information about two release parties.  (I'm giving stuff away.) 

Let's read a blurb and short excerpt from The Sentence, and then I'll show you my interpretation of Rachel's outfit.  Rachel is my heroine.

Blurb:

Rachel Amos doesn’t understand her father at all.  How could he bring Clint Hayes who burned Saved By Grace Christian Church into their home for six months?  Sure, the guy didn’t mean to do it, and her dad’s a minister, but if he wanted to save Hayes’ soul, why didn’t he go to the prison to do it?  And no matter what her friend Christina says, she doesn’t watch Clint every moment they’re in the same room.

Excerpt:

Rachel critically studied herself in the mirror. She wore a long‑sleeved, form‑fitting, blue velvet dress with glittery, spike heels. Her father would probably complain about the length of the dress and say it was too short, but she thought it looked great. He’d have her wear dresses to the floor if he had his way. Hmm. Hopefully, he’d be too focused on the dress to notice how the heels made her legs look.

The jewel neckline screamed for a nice necklace. She touched the pretty pearls around her neck. Her parents had given them to her for her sixteenth birthday. Pleased with her appearance, she put on some lipstick and a touch more mascara then frowned at herself in the mirror. Oh, she did hope Clint wouldn’t embarrass her in front of Christina and her date, Paul. Paul’s father taught art history at the college. He and his family didn’t associate with people who worked in bars and got themselves sentenced to jail.
She picked up her evening bag—a small, sequin covered clutch—and went downstairs to join Clint. Everyone waited in the living room for her. Clint rose to his feet, so she knew her father had given him a crash course in good manners.


Okay, here's Rachel's outfit.  I especially like her shoes.  I urge you to follow the link and look at them.  They are beautiful close up.



Would Rachel, a minister's daughter, really be able to buy this outfit?  No, probably not.  The dress is affordable, but the rest of it is probably more than she could afford.  I'm sure that she could have found some pretty things to go with her dress without spending over $1000.
Buy link for The Sentence: http://www.astraeapress.com/#ecwid:category=662245&mode=product&product=10046831  Also available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

It's Release Day!

Yippee!  My first inspirational novel The Sentence released today from Astraea Press.  I can't tell you how thrilled I am.  I toyed with writing an inspirational for years before I finally committed to it.  As usual I fell in love with my characters and hated to see their story end.  Clint and Rachel both found abundant, joyful love and in the process became better people. 

The Sentence is set in the small town South, so if you've ever wondered what that would be like, you'll enjoy The Sentence.  I tried to make it as Southern as possible from the perspective of Rachel Amos and her family and Clint and his friend Bud. 

I plan to do a release party here at my blog on April 3.  I'm also scheduled to do a release party on April 12 at the Romance Studio.  I'll be giving away some prizes, so come and help me celebrate my new book.

I'm a shy person, so it usually feels strange to ask someone to buy my book, but I feel differently this time.  All proceeds from the sale of The Sentence will be donated to the East Pickens Baptist Church miracle building.  The miracle building is a family life center with a focus on the young people of the congregation.  We call it a miracle building because we're trying to build it without borrowing any money. 

The Sentence is available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble. com or at http://www.astraeapress.com.  I'd sure appreciate your support of the book, and please tell your friends about it.  Word of mouth is the best advertising.

See on on April 3.
Elaine

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Six Sentence Sunday

Welcome to my blog.  Today's sentences come from The Welcome Inn which is available at http://www.wings-press.com/Bookstore/The%20Welcome%20Inn.htm

Blurb:
can’t stand Buck Abercrombie! He’s rude, chauvinistic, and exasperating, and he’s her new boss. Why wouldn’t the bank loan her the money to buy The Welcome Inn? As manager she has proved her worth.
Worse yet, Buck’s criminal brother Travis works for him, and her friend Melanie likes him!

In this excerpt, Buck and Julianna have gone skinny dipping.

Julianna knew a challenge when she heard it. With a toss of her head, she waded out of the water, her body shining in the moonlight. She seated herself in the swing and began to pump her legs. She swung higher and higher.  With a cry of triumph she swung over the water and let go of the swing.  She hit the lake with a splash, and when she surfaced, she came up in Buck's arms.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Sweet Saturday Sample

Yippee!  The Sentence releases on March 22!  I don't have a specific buy link yet, but you can find it at http://www.astraeapress.com.  Here's an excerpt from the novel.  All royalties made on the book will be donated to the East Pickens Baptist Church miracle building.

Blurb:


Rachel Amos doesn’t understand her father at all.  How could he bring Clint Hayes who burned Saved By Grace Christian Church into their home for six months?  Sure, the guy didn’t mean to do it, and her dad’s a minister, but if he wanted to help Hayes, why didn’t he go to the prison to do it?  And no matter what her friend Christina says, she doesn’t watch Clint every moment they’re in the same room.



Excerpt:


She put the food away while Clint took the dishrag to wipe the kitchen counters and the stove. “You don’t make a big mess in the kitchen,” he commented. “Seems like it’s harder to clean up at the bar.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Rachel answered, a bite to her tone. “I’ve never lived in a bar.”

Clint chuckled. “Somebody’s in a nasty mood.”

“I am not!”

Clint dropped the dishcloth and turned to face her. “That’s what it sounds like to me. There was no reason for that crack.”

“You brought up the bar, I didn’t.”

Clint picked up the dishcloth, rinsed it, then hung it on the faucet to dry. “I guess we’re finished in here.”

“Uh huh.”

“I’ll be in my apartment if you need me, Clint said.

Nervous about being alone with him after talking to her parents, Rachel jumped down his throat. “Why would I need you? What could you possible do for me?”

With an exclamation low in his throat, Clint grabbed her and jerked her against him. “This.

His warm, firm lips came down on hers with an intensity that took her breath away. Rachel never even thought to stop him. Actually, she couldn’t think at all. She had never been kissed this way before. By the time he turned her loose, her breath came in gasps, and she felt flushed and shaky. So this was what her father worried about! She’d never felt this way when Josh kissed her.

Now what did she do? Did she run away, slap him, or…or…

Clint settled the issue by kissing her again. This time Rachel fully participated. His lips felt so…good, so warm…so…exciting...on hers. Her knees trembled. She could feel every muscle in his chest.

With a gasp, she tore out of his arms. “Don’t do that!”

“Don’t do what?”

Rachel’s eyes stretched wide. “Don’t…don’t…kiss me like that!”

The corners of Clint’s mouth turned up in a little grin. “Then tell me how you want me to kiss you.”

“I don’t!” Rachel gasped as her hand flew to her face.

“That’s not the impression I got.”

“You…you…you…” Rachel couldn’t articulate a single thought.

“Are you asking for another kiss?” Clint calmly asked, just as if he hadn’t thrown her entire world out of kilter. “I’d be glad to give it to you.”

“No! Don’t you dare.” Good grief! Her voice was shaking!

Clint reached for her hand. She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t allow it. “Do you like me just a little bit, Rachel? You never miss a chance to cut me down.”

“I’m…I’m sorry if I…hurt your…feelings.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

No, and she wasn’t going to either. She jerked away from Clint and ran for her room, halfway afraid he’d follow. He didn’t though. She gasped when she heard the front door slam. When she went to make sure he had left, she locked the door. But surely he wouldn’t come back! Would he?

Fashionista Friday: Spring Florals

Let's take a look at some slacks today since the other things in the spring florals series were dresses.  I like this outfit a lot.  As always, though, remember that color varies widely from monitor to monitor.





Purse 1 with flowers.  There are two purses because I couldn't decide which one I liked.  http://www1.bloomingdales.com/shop/product/mar-y-sol-tote-guadeloupe-flower?ID=584300  $96



Earrings:  On sale for !19.60

Without meaning to in the least, I seem to have created a mostly British outfit.  I think you multipy by around  two to get the value in American money, but I'm not sure exactly what it is. 

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Bones

Thanks for stopping by, readers!  Please help me welcome KJ Dahlen to my blog.  You won't believe what she's offering as a prize during her blog tour.  Not only is she giving away a $10 Amazon gift certificate, but she's also going to let one lucky reader write a blub for a novel.  She'll take the blurb and write a book based on it.  That's pretty cool in my book.  KJ, we're glad to have you.

1.Tell us a little bit about yourself.



I am a woman with a story to tell. I live in a small town in Wisconsin and I love to create unique situations and people to capture my reader’s interest and take them on a journey where only they know the ending. My characters become almost real and the situations they find themselves in are situations we all can relate too. 



2.What event triggered you to become a writer? 



I learned to read when I was a child and that love of reading has carried through to my adult years. When I pick up a book I want to be transported to another world, or taken on an adventure until I close the book. I wanted to be able to transport my readers to that kind of excitement and adventure. It wasn’t just one event but a whole bunch of them.



Any major inspirations?



I took a little bit of everyone that I liked to read and tried to instill it in my writing.  I tried a few different genres until I found the one that worked for me. I love the solving the crime genre more so than the crime itself or the horror of the crime. Most of the books I write involve a killer of some kind and the men and women who stop him. I love the psychological angle of thinking like a killer in order to stop him. I make my characters just a little smarter than the killer and give them what they need to stop him. At some point in all my books the characters take over and take the story in a different direction than what I had planned but that’s ok. It adds the twists and turns my readers have come to expect from my work and each story is different and unique.



3.How many manuscripts did you submit before you were published? 



Quite a few, I began writing short stories and got some positive comments but I didn’t sell anything. Then I began to really look at some of the comments and they began to make sense. I took what other writers were saying and turned it around and rewrote the stories. I still didn’t sell anything but the comments showed me my stories were getting better. That gave me hope that someday I would write something that would sell.  I knew what wasn’t working then I had to find out what would work.



  How did you feel when you got “the call”?



I remember very well. When I got the email telling me someone wanted to publish my book I yelled out loud, “Hot Diggity Damn.” My husband came running into the office and asked me what was wrong.  I was stunned and every time I get another email telling me that someone is interested in publishing my story the feeling is the same.







4.What’s the very best thing about being an author?



The best thing I can think of is that somebody out there likes the way I write. I may not be making much money right now but I’m hoping that someday one of my books will hit the right audience and turn that around.



5.Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?



Keep doing what you are doing and never give up on your dream of being an author.  Learn from your mistakes and listen to what other writers are telling you.  Don’t take a critique as a personal attack. Not everyone is going to like what you write, instead take it as a way to improve your story.  Every story is someone baby and even though we don’t want to hear what’s wrong with it we have to understand there might be a better way out there to tell our story. Learn to listen with an open heart. And keep writing!!!



6.Would you share your links with us so we can find you on the web?



My books can be found at: www.kjdahlen.com; or any of my publishers websites. www.roguephoenixpress.com; www.buckscountypublishing.com; www.solstice.com; and www.avalon.com. They can also be found on Amazon.



7.We’d love to read an excerpt from Bones.  (Excerpts should be pg in nature.)



Bones



            Max squatted near the opening in the rocky outcrop and took off his sunglasses. He was hot and tired and had just about given up finding this place. He wasn’t eager to go inside since the inside of the opening was dark and uninviting. But Max knew he had to go in there. The small hole in the side of the cliff was barely big enough for a child to scramble into let alone a full size man, but he knew he didn’t have a choice. God, I hate small places, he thought as he crawled inside. The hole was small and cramped and Max had to bend over to get through. I really hate small places, he emphasized as he struggled to get through the cramped opening. The hole in the cliff had been harder to find than he expected. The directions given to him by two young boys hadn’t been all that clear.

            The boys said the opening was straight up from the dam below and a little left of the big oak tree. What they failed to tell him was which big oak tree. The whole hill was littered with oak trees right up to the base of the cliff.

            His hands and face were scratched up from pushing brambles and brush out of his way. The thought had also occurred to him that the seldom visited, rocky part of the side of a cliff just a little ways north of the town Max was sheriff of, might be just the spot to run into a snoozing wolf or worse yet a rattlesnake. He heard something scramble out of his way a couple of times, but he hadn’t heard the symbolic rattle of the snake so whatever remained hidden from his sight wasn’t a snake. He’d tried to make enough noise to ward off unexpected company and hoped he hadn’t sounded like a complete idiot in the process. If anyone had spotted him, they would have thought he was drunk in the middle of the morning and that would never do for a sheriff.

            The flashlight he held in his hand did little to penetrate the utter darkness that surrounded him. The cave walls and floor were slimy with what Max didn’t even want to hazard a guess and it smelled even worse. It smelled like something crawled in this narrow opening and died. The boys who found the cave might think this little venture was "neat", but Max didn’t. He’d lost his sense of adventure for little games like this a long time ago. He couldn’t believe he was here now.

            He braced his hand on the cave wall but it slipped and he almost fell on his face. Swearing, he crawled through the last few feet of the small crawl space. The boys told him that the crawl space opened up into a much bigger cavern…at least he hoped it did. When he reached the larger cavern, he was able to stand up. He took a moment to stretch his back and glance at the scene. He had worked up quite a sweat and he could feel the salty sting on each and every little scratch on his hands and arms. As he shined his flashlight, Max could hear the sound of scampering rodents. Rats. He should have expected that.

            Max closed his eyes. He hated rats. They made his skin crawl. Ever since high school when a bully locked him in the janitor’s closet and dumped in a box of rats, he’d hated them. The fact that the cave had rats only made it worse, but at least this place was bigger than a janitor’s closet. He supposed rats wouldn’t be the worst thing he could have encountered in here. He tried not to think about the fact that the cave could also have bats. Bats, in his opinion, were nothing more than rats with wings.

            Opening his eyes again he shined his light on the floor of the cave. At last he found what he was searching for. In the dust were the boy’s footprints. The prints went into yet another room of the cavern. Squatting down he surveyed the scene before him. He tipped his hat to the back of his head.

            Human skeletons, in varying degrees of decomposition, littered the cave floor. The light from his flashlight cast an eerie shadow as it danced across the bones. The scene gave Max a heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was a feeling he’d hoped he’d never have again. Some of the skeletons still had fragments of clothing draped around their bones and from where he was, Max could see insects and rats crawling through the menagerie of bones. The sight and smell of decomposing human flesh was worse than the crawl-through cave. He took his hat off his head and wiped the bead of sweat from his brow. It was all he could do not to vomit. He swallowed the bile in his throat and tried to steel himself against the overwhelming need to run away from the horror in front of him. He had a job to do. He could understand why the boys found this fascinating. Their imaginations would have been blown away by the sheer number of possibilities of what this place could be. He doubted they even realized these bones were once human beings. He hoped they wouldn’t realize this place was not a treasure trove but a cavern of horrors.

            He’d only seen this sort of carnage one other time back in Dallas when he was with the FBI. He’d been a rookie in police work back then but that case had been similar to this one. Twenty years ago in Dallas they found a number of skeletons in an out-of-the-way place such as this.

            Max still had nightmares from that case. He had a hard time accepting that some people kill just for sport. Now, gazing at the scene in front of him, he knew this wasn’t an Indian grave site; it was a crime scene. This, he was afraid, was the handiwork of a serial killer.

Super excerpt!  Readers, this one sounds like a winner to me.  Don't forget to pick up your copy today.


Saturday, March 10, 2012

Six Sentence Sunday

Today's excerpt comes from A New Dream.  In this excerpt my hero and heroine are alone in his office.

Matt silenced her with a kiss. A funny feeling, the harbinger of real desire, rippled up and down Violet’s spine when she felt his lips on hers. Even the taste of him seemed erotic.  Matt raised his head and looked into her eyes, which made Violet’s heart leap and skitter all over the place. “I need you so much, Violet. Make love to me.

A New Dream is available at http://www.astraeapress.com  Thanks for coming by.

Sweet Saturday Sample

I have a release date!!!  The Sentence releases from Astraea Press on March 22, 2012.  Here's the first page of the book. 


The Sterling Weekly

October 10

Upstate Edition



Judge Shocks Community



By Thomas Bell          Controversial Judge Marion Lowe shocked every person in his packed court last Wednesday when he passed sentence in the Clint Hayes case. Hayes, twenty seven, who works for Bud Parsons at Bud’s Private Club, was found guilty of burning Saved By Grace Community Church last April.

Originally, Hayes was arrested for arson. His fingerprints were found on a beer bottle in the church parking lot the night the church burned, but a sheriff’s investigation revealed the fire was caused by a cigarette that Hayes threw into an azalea bed. Authorities believe the cigarette caused the dry mulch around the bushes to catch fire, and the flames spread to the church. The building was a total loss.

After consultation with Reverend Neal Amos, the pastor of Saved By Grace, Judge Lowe sentenced Hayes to six months in the care of Reverend Amos, who in effect will be his jailor.

“The verdict was a surprise,” admitted Rachel Amos, twenty four, the minister’s daughter. “My father discussed the situation with my mother and me, but to be honest, we never dreamed the judge would go along with it.”

Several members of Saved By Grace have expressed their support for Reverend Amos’s decision, but they admit there are some who want nothing to do with Hayes.

Local civil rights groups have announced their intention to get the verdict overthrown, but so far Hayes says he wants the sentence to stand.

Until the new church is constructed, Saved By Grace is meeting at Sterling High School. Sunday School is at ten o’clock followed by worship at eleven. Anyone wishing to make a donation to Saved By Grace’s building fund may do so at People’s National Bank.