More Than a Feeling

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding an E-copy of "Frost Family Christmas Anthology" - which includes the first 3 books in the Frost Family Friends Series as well as a bonus short story - to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour. Remember, the more stops you visit, the more chances you earn to win.

NOTE: More Than a Feeling is on sale for only $0.99 at Amazon! Pick up your copy today by clicking here.

A dangerous twenty-year-old secret is about to be uncovered in the quaint Vermont town of Carol Falls, where not everyone is who they seem to be.

At first meeting, Spencer Frost appears to be a simple farmer who enjoys reading and quoting poetry. In fact he’s a criminal law attorney from Boston on sabbatical at Frost Family Farm. When he meets Robin Redmond, the lovely new sales clerk at the local independent bookstore, he has no idea he’s about to step into a drama to rival even his toughest legal case.

Robin moved to Carol Falls in pursuit of the man who destroyed her sister’s life. Driven to face him—as well as her own guilt about her sister--falling in love with Spencer is not part of her plans. But as they partner up to unravel the twisted truth behind the crime, she discovers love is the strongest weapon of all.

This is the fourth book in a small-town romance/cozy mystery series that began with The Frost Family Christmas trilogy. These three titles are:

Book 1: What Child Is This by C.J. Carmichael

Book2: Home For Christmas by Roxy Boroughs

Book 3: The Holly & The Ivy by Brenda M. Collins.

Now enjoy an excerpt:

Robin turned on the radio. Loud.

She did not want to think about the magical evening she’d just had. The wagon ride, the stars, the nice Frost family, Spencer whispering poetry in her ear, then looking at her like he wanted to kiss her when they were finally alone.

Worst of all had been the seedling of hope that had awoken in her heart. That she could be happy. Maybe even, one day, loved. And, most of all—normal.

It was like an early April Fool’s joke. She’d been completely taken in. Despite the signs to the contrary—his upper crust accent, his unhardened hands—she’d thought Spencer was a poetry-loving farmer, a modern day Robert Frost.

Only to find out he was an advocate for the sort of criminal who had stolen her family from her. He defended the bad guys, getting them off, twisting the evidence to try and make victims look guilty, fighting for shorter sentences and arguing mitigating circumstances.

He was the champion of men like the one she hated most in the world.

Robin pulled over to the side of the road. She must have been driving in autopilot. Somehow she’d passed the heart of Carol Falls, traveled over the covered bridge and a mile down Red Bridge Avenue to the Fix-It Shop.

It was a narrow, two story wooden building, hemmed in on one side by a pawn shop and a vacant building on the other.

This was not the cute area of Carol Falls where she worked. No, this was where people who couldn’t afford luxuries like ambience or street appeal lived.

She’d already figured out that there was an apartment over the Fix-It Shop where the McGuires lived. The main floor shop was dark now, but at least one lamp glowed in the upper apartment. She could imagine Alistair in an overstuffed chair, feet up on a stool, reading The Brothers Karamazov. Maybe he’d be sipping a cup of tea, or a brandy, with classical music playing softly in the background.

But what about his brother?

The other McGuire, she simply could not imagine. Since she’d arrived in Carol Falls, she hadn’t caught a glimpse of him. Did he ever leave the apartment? She was starting to doubt it. She knew for sure he was there. As the last surviving relative of his victim, she’d been notified when he’d been released from prison and told that he was planning to go live with his brother in Carol Falls.

She wished she could have filed the information under “better off forgotten” and gone on with her life. Not that she’d had much. Since her mother’s death in September, she’d been barely hanging on to her job, let alone doing what she knew she needed to do.

Get new interests. Make friends. Start living.

Instead, the idea of Allan McGuire, free to start over when her own family had been destroyed, had festered in her brain, until finally she’d decided she’d never be able to let this thing go until she’d seen him again and made sure that he would never do to another family what he’d done to hers.

She’d had enough counseling over the years to know this wasn’t healthy. Her obsession with the tragedy had stunted her life and cost her her marriage. Brad had been more than patient with her at first, certain that she would eventually learn to let the past go.

But the seeds had been planted early. She’d only been six years old. Twenty-two years later, the garden that should have been her life had been completely overgrown with weeds.

Robin waited, for what seemed like an hour, until finally the lights in the apartment went out. She stayed an extra twenty minutes, checking to make sure that no furtive figure snuck out into the quiet darkness. Only then did she feel free to make her way home.

National bestseller, CJ Carmichael, has published over 35 novels and has twice been nominated for a RITA award. She likes to write stories about romance, family and intrigue, usually in small town or rural settings. She’s currently working on the next book in “The Carrigans of the Circle C” trilogy for Tule Publishing, as well the next “Frost Family & Friends” cozy mystery/romance for a multi-author series set in Carol Falls, Vermont.

When it’s time to take a break from the computer, she heads to the Rocky Mountains near her home in Calgary where she lives with her partner Michael. If you’d like to learn more about her books, sign up for her newsletter on her website: http://cjcarmichael.com . (C.J. likes to reward her loyal readers on this list with regular draws for free, autographed books.)

Facebook: authorcjcarmichael

Twitter: cj_carmichael

Amazon Kindle Edition: http://www.amazon.com/More-Than-Feeling-Family-Friends-ebook/dp/B00J6NGPIS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397035113&sr=1-1&keywords=more+than+a+feeling

One Interesting Woman: The Riddle of Prague

Scroll down to Wednesday's post for a special announcement from Elaine Cantrell

Welcome to my blog. Laura DeBruce is my guest today. I asked her to tell us ten interesting things about herself, and boy did she deliver. This is one exciting lady.

10  things most people don't know about me.

By Laura DeBruce

1.            I once thought I was from India.

My father worked for the U.S. Embassy and we moved every couple of years. Sometimes it was confusing. In 2^nd grade in Ethiopia, there was an assembly on the first day of school where everyone had to stand when their country of origin was named. I stood when they called out India because we had lived there for five years, most of my life. My big sister was next to me and she quickly pulled me down and told me I was American.

2.            If I had had a daughter, I would have named her Hannah after my mother.

Instead I named my main character after her, except Hana Silna is Czech so her name is spelled with just one ‘n’ and no ‘h’ at the end. My mother was named after her grandmother and is part of a long line of Hannahs that date back to the 1500s, maybe even earlier than that. Because women have traditionally lost their last name in marriage, I liked the idea of carrying forward the name Hannah.

3.            I made up a game called Who Am I? that is frequently played by my family and friends.

 In the early Prague days, a group of us spent a weekend in a little town in Bohemia and thought it would be fun to play a game where we got to know each other better.  In “Who Am I?” everyone writes an obscure fact about him or herself on a slip of paper like, for example, “I ruined his childhood” or “My favorite place in the world is a rock in Nevada.” The papers are collected, distributed and read out loud one by one. You have to guess who said what. It’s an entertaining game and no matter how often we play we still discover new facts about each other. The hardest part about the game is keeping the grid of answers and who guessed what.

4.            I spent a summer studying at a university in Communist Poland during the Cold War.

My friend Lisa and I flew over on People’s Express airline and took a train from London (plus the ferry to cross the English Channel) across Western Europe and right into Warsaw.

5.            I thought about using the pen name Jane Dee for The Riddle of Prague.

I liked the fact that Jane Dee is the name of an actual person who played a role during the days of alchemy and the reign of Rudolf II. She was the wife of John Dee and Edward Kelley, the alchemist who wrote the riddle in The Riddle of Prague, seems to have been in love with her. I also liked that it’s part of my own name – Laura “Jane De”Bruce.  But in the end it seemed more complicated to write under a pen name so I went with my own.

6.            I worked as the local morning producer for the NPR radio station at the University of Florida.

I had to wake up at 5 AM but I loved being one of the first people on campus, making coffee, reading the newsfeed from the AP wire and writing the news.

7.            The Riddle of Prague is based on a manuscript that featured Hana Silna as a grown-up lawyer returning to Prague.

David Bolton and Ben Williams (Alex’s father) were the romantic interests. Two of the most enthusiastic early readers were teenagers and so I decided to gear the story towards young adults and those of us not so young adults who love YA fiction.

8.            I have read all of the Harry Potter books at least twice.

My mother introduced me to the series when there were already a few written and so I had the pleasure of devouring the first two or three in one sitting. I was in line outside of Barnes & Noble waiting for the doors to open the day the seventh book came out.

9.            I was in Dubrovnik, Croatia (formerly known as Ragusa) during a hailstorm in the summer time, which inspired the Legend of Valentina.     

10.          I graduated from high school at the feet of the Giza Pyramids.

I spent my last two years of high school in Egypt. We had a great deal of freedom to roam around Cairo and could spend our weekends at the Khan el-Khalili bazaar or riding horses in the desert.

Laura, thank you so much for sharing with us, and now let's find out more about Laura's book.

The Riddle of Prague

by Laura DeBruce

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

When 18-year-old Hana Silna travels to Prague to reclaim her family’s home, she discovers a riddle that may lead to a long-last flask.

The contents of that flask could change the fate of the world. When a ruthless enemy kidnaps her family Hana has to find the flask to rescue them. On her quest she meets a mysterious man with a penchant for poetry, a Gypsy girl with a haunting past, and Alex, an all-American boy who’s trying to save his sister from a crippling disease.   It’s hard to trust anyone when the stakes are this high — especially when surrounded by experts in deception.

There’s only one flask, and Hana desperately needs to find it.

Excerpt:

JFK Airport, New York, 1991

My mother says when we face our fears, we tap into a reservoir of courage. I’m not so sure. I’m strapped to this seat like a captured beast, and all I feel is panic. The airplane screams down the runway and thrusts its 800,000 pounds of steel into the sky. We’re taking off in the middle of a thunderstorm. My seatmate, immersed in a book, seems oblivious to the danger.

He’s got curly, blond hair that’s a little on the long side and one of those perfectly sculpted noses, and he’s wearing jeans and a batik-patterned shirt. Early twenties, I’m guessing. Not much older than me. The airplane gives a sickening lunge, and I tug the seatbelt tighter. My seatmate glances over, a bit eagerly, with piercing blue eyes.

“You all right there?” he asks with a crisp, European accent of some kind.

“I’m fine.” I’m not fine at all, but I don’t want to tell him that.

“This is the amazing part.” He gestures out the window, twirling his hand as if he’s conducting the storm outside. “Look!”

“I’d rather not.” The plane shakes, and I grab the armrests.

I’m only on this flight because my mother has inherited a house in Prague. Actually she’s reclaiming a house—the one where she grew up. The one the Communists took from her family when they seized all private property. My mom and dad had to escape when the Soviets invaded Prague in 1968. Now the Iron Curtain has lifted, and the people who left can finally return without being thrown into jail. Unfortunately for my mother, now means surgery and doctors. She’s at a hospital and can barely walk down the hallway, much less haul herself onto a plane. This didn’t matter to the bureaucrats in charge of the restitution of property. If the transfer of the house doesn’t happen immediately, they say it might not happen at all. That’s why my mother is sending me, her only child, in her place. That’s why I’m on this airplane instead of at the hospital at her side, where I should be.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Laura DeBruce is a documentary filmmaker and writer. She grew up traveling all over the world thanks to her father’s work with the U.S. Embassy. She and her husband spent twelve years living in Europe including Prague, Paris, Amsterdam and London where she found inspiration to write The Quicksilver Legacy Series. In Prague she worked as a lawyer for the first private nationwide television station in the former Communist bloc.  It was there that she fell in love with the ancient city of Prague and its legends. 

She lives in the Washington, DC area with her husband and son and an unruly Golden Retriever. 

Website with blog and trailer:  http://theriddleofprague.com/

Amazon.com:  http://www.amazon.com/Riddle-Prague-QuickSilver-Legacy-ebook/dp/B00FFBNUVA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386523998&sr=8-1&keywords=riddle+prague

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRiddleofPrague

Twitter:   https://twitter.com/LauraDeBruce

Laura, thank you so much for coming. Readers, Laura is giving away a $50 Amazon/B&N gift certificate to a random commenter. Enter using this rafflecopter link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e43468/ 

To follow Laura's schedule, go to http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/12/virtual-book-tour-riddle-of-prague-by.html

Blog Tour Essence

Readers, please help me welcome Mackenzie Lucas to the blog.  Mackenzie, just for fun,

What is the first curse word that comes to mind?  How often and why do you use it?

 

Unfortunately too many of them come to mind and they roll off my tongue and off my fingertips when I’m writing probably way more than they should. But cursing is called colorful language for a reason and it certainly adds depth and nuances to a character. I use “damn” a lot when I write.

 

How would you spend ten thousand bucks?

 

I’d pay off my cars, because I hate having a monthly car payment.

 

What are 5 things within touching distance?

 

My computer. My coffee. My iPod. A pen. A notebook.

 

Do you have a crush on anyone?

 

I have lots of crushes--mostly surrounding my “type”--which is a guy who looks a lot like my husband … and Tom Cruise … and Gerard Butler. Usually a guy with brown or dark hair and hazel or brown eyes. Yep. I’ve got lots of crushes. You only have to look at my “Hero Material” pins on Pinterest to see. Oh, baby.

 

What is your least favorite word?

 

Quit. Anything worth having is worth fighting for and working for. No matter how hard. So when people say, “I quit” or “I give up” it makes me sad. Every day is a new day to push forward to try again to achieve whatever goal and dream you’ve been pushing your whole life to reach. Don’t ever give up!

 

 

All right!  Readers, I'll be checking out that Pinterest page as soon as possible. Now let's have a blurb and excerpt

 

Essence

by Mackenzie Lucas

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

 

All Haven Jameson ever wanted was to own a little piece of paradise. Now, she does, having established a successful luxury spa in St. Augustine, Florida. But when the property next door is sold to a mega developer and his pro-golf celebrity brother who design trendy, bustling playgrounds for the rich and famous, she fears her dream could slip away. Confronted by her late husband’s infidelity, Haven learns everything she believed about her marriage was a lie; so she finally sets aside her grief and opens her heart to loving the widowed pro-golfer who is her biggest professional competition. In the end, Haven discovers that living a safe, loveless life is far worse than embracing passion and taking a chance on a man who’s vowed never to love again. And that, sometimes, no matter how high the risk, the best paradise of all can be found inside our own hearts.

 

 

Excerpt:

 

 

 

 

Pace Daniels lay on his belly on a massage table, naked except for a thin sheet covering his backside. He rested his cheek on his hands and closed his eyes, and breathed in the calming scent of the room.

 

Light music played from the overhead speakers, not too loud, but nice. It sounded like a mix of music from India and the Southwest—Burma to Santa Fe. Pan flutes and bowl singing. Interesting.

 

He breathed deep again, taking air deep into his lungs, and pushed through the pain in his shoulder, the achiness that seemed to stick with him no matter what he did.

 

It was time to retire. Leave the circuit.

 

He'd known for a while now. Hell, he was a fairly young man for his profession. But one mistake. One stupid mistake had cost him everything. And now at the age of almost forty, he was facing a blank future. Filled with a lot of nothing if he didn't make some changes soon.

 

He had no idea what to expect when he'd come to Essence. A pretty brunette had given him instructions today for the massage, showed him the transition room—a fancy name for a locker room—and where to store his clothes and belongings. Of course, he'd had massages before. Mostly by sports medicine doctors.

 

Essence surprised him. Pleasantly. The atmosphere was different than he’d imagined. He'd expected fru fru and had been bowled over at every turn. The place wasn't just a female Mecca, as he’d feared. He'd anticipated salon chairs and manicurists around every corner.

 

Instead, the spa resort was a posh hotel.

 

A serene place. A spot he could see himself settling into to find some measure of peace in his own life.

 

He let out a deep sigh.

 

Readers, Mackenzie is giving away a $50 Amazon/B&N gift certificate to a random commenter so follow her tour and comment often. You can find her schedule at

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/12/virtual-book-tour-essence-by-mackenzie.html

 

 

Mackenzie, thanks for coming, and I'm off to see your Pinterest page. Readers, are you coming?

 

Rafflecopter link:

 

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e43479

 

 

 

 

Beyond the Book: Cryptogram

Welcome to Beyond the Book. I am Princess Morgane, Madame Cantrell's heroine in her marvelous novel The Enchanted. Both Prince Alan and I are fond of cryptograms. In a cryptogram, one letter or number stands for another. The reader must figure out what the symbols mean in order to decode the message. Would you like to try it?  See if you can decode this message.

The Enchanted

 

Beyond the Book: Princess Morgane Tells All

Greetings!  My name is Princess Morgane. I am Madame Cantrell's heroine in her wonderful book The Enchanted. Last week my husband Prince Alan told you some things he discovered about Madame Cantrell, and today I will tell you five things I have learned about her.

1.Madame and her young grandson go once a week to eat hot dogs at their favorite fast food restaurant.


2.Madame recently acquired a new horseless carriage, but it looks nothing like her former carriage, and she cannot find it in large parking lots.


3.Recently, Madame cleaned out her closet. She found things that still have the tags on them. Alas, she has gained weight and cannot wear them.


4.During the night, Madame's cat climbed into the ceiling from the laundry room and fell onto Madame's son who was sleeping below. He was not amused.


5.Madame has taken The Enchanted on a blog tour. Today she has three stops. You should follow her tour and comment often because she is giving away a $100.00 gift certificate to either Amazon or B&N.  Find her schedule here.