A Super Spies Halloween Party

Would you like to win a free Kindle?  If so, you’ve come to the right place. I’m participating in Lisa Orchard’s Super Spies Halloween Party.  How do you win the Kindle?  By playing a little game called Bobbing for Books. How can you enter the game?  Well, there are several ways.

1.You can tweet or share on FB about the giveaway and post the tweet in the comment section of Lisa’s blog.

2.You can buy any of the participating authors’ books and post the confirmation code for your purchase and the name of the book in the comments section of Lisa’s blog.

Tweets and shares count as one entry, buying a book counts as two. 

Okay, where is Lisa’s blog?  You can find it at http://lisaorchard.wordpress.com

Good luck, and don’t forget to support your favorite authors. The contest runs from October 15 to October 30.

 

 

 

 

Six Sentence Sunday: Oh no!

Welcome to Six Sentence Sunday. Today's six come from A New Dream. They are from the scene where my hero an NFL player wrecks his car and loses everything he's worked so hard for. Stacey is his fiancee.

Matt hauled the steering wheel to correct the slide, but it was useless. The car turned around once more and skidded backwards for a short distance before it charged off the road. It jumped a steep ditch and went airborne. All Matt could see was a blur of trees and darkness as the car careened into the woods. It made a lazy turn in the air and came to rest bottom side up.  The last thing he remembered was the sound of Stacey’s screams.

Link to You Tube Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0ZhcFi1GuQ

 

 

 

Sweet Saturday Sample: Grrrr

Today's sample comes from The Welcome Inn.  I hope you like it!

The hot, heavy darkness, as cloying as dusty velvet, pressed relentlessly upon the two struggling figures.

"Let me go you pig, you... you... pervert!"

Two well-placed kicks and a jab of the elbow later, Julianna Martin broke free.

"You swine," she raged. "How dare you come to MY motel and attack me!" She shoved the man’s chest with all her strength, and he stumbled backwards and fell against the stairs leading into the pool.

Julianna waited for him to get up, but instead he gave a loud snort, mumbled something, and curled up into a ball on the side of the pool, presumably to sleep it off since he reeked of alcohol.

She approached him cautiously, but when he still didn’t move, her temper flared, and she aimed a swift kick at the prostrate, drunken figure by the pool.

"Really, Miss Martin, that’s not very nice," a voice protested from the shadows near the office door. "Do you make a habit of kicking a man when he’s down?"

Julianna whirled around to confront this new and unexpected danger. The man threw his hands into the air,  palms out, and backed up a step. "Hey, I promise you’re safe with me. I was in my room reading when I heard the commotion, and I came out to see if you needed my help."

"Do you know this... this... thing?"

"Oh, you mean Tim. He isn’t a thing, Miss Martin; he’s a man. He’s one of my best workers. Unfortunately, he had a little too much to drink tonight and tried to steal a kiss from a beautiful woman, but he’s harmless. He wouldn’t have hurt you."

"That’s what you say. Are you his boss?"

"Yes, I’m..."

"I don’t care who you are. I’m calling Sheriff Mitchell to hold him until he sobers up."

"Please, don’t do that. I’ll see to it that he doesn’t cause any more trouble, and he’ll apologize to you tomorrow."

Julianna hesitated, but it was late and she was tired. "Oh, all right," she crossly conceded. "Get him back to his room, and I’ll let it go this time."

"Thank you. I appreciate it."

"Until Mr. Abercrombie shows up and says differently, I’m the manager of the Welcome Inn, and I don’t allow drinking around the pool. It doesn’t matter if your construction crew works for Abercrombie or not, I still don’t allow drinking at the pool, and you’d better see to it that all of your men know it."

"Yes, ma’am, I’ll be sure to tell them, but..."

"Good night," Julianna interrupted, and she silently vanished into the manager’s apartment.

A smile played across the lips of her would-be rescuer who shook his head before dragging his fallen comrade back to his room.


Want to guess who she just smarted off to?  Yep, Mr. Abercrombie himself, her new boss.

Fashionista Friday: Cat's Eye

Happy Friday, Fashionistas.  Are you in the market for some new sunglasses?  If so, may I suggest cat’s eye sunglasses.  They’re very popular, probably due to the influence of TV. I like this pair very much. If you watch the Kardashians you’ll recognize these as being similar to if not the same ones that Kourtney Kardashian wore in Bora Bora. I think they're super cool. You can get them at http://www.sunglasswarehouse.com/sw-extreme-cat-eye-1272.html for only $13.56

 

 

Of couse I love this next pair because of the rhinestones. Get them at http://www.sunglasswarehouse.com/sw-rhinestone-cat-eye-style-4890.html for $15.26

 

 

How do you like these Asos? Get them for 20 British pounds at http://fashionfinder.asos.com/womens-ASOS/ASOS-Premium-Embellished-Cat-Eye-Sunglasses-1337280

What's your favorite?



 

Across the Winds of Time

BLURB:

 

While on a genealogical research journey through the Midwest, Molly Hamilton impulsively buys a 100-year-old Victorian house in the middle of a cornfield, and falls in love with the house’s owner...the original owner, that is. Can he be a ghost? The handsome, intriguing attorney certainly feels solid—and somehow her soul knows she has always loved him.

 

Darius Ferguson has no idea how he has come to present-day Iowa. The last thing he knew, the year was 1880, and he had just buried his fiancée, who happens to look exactly like Molly. He cannot separate the two women in his heart—to him, they are one.

 

In spite of being drawn to him, Molly thinks Darius is unhinged. Darius wonders if he has joined his fiancée in purgatory. If time travel is possible, will love be enough to build a future together?

Excerpt:

 “How did you get in here?” I choked out.  “Who are you?”

 Darius stole a sideways glance over his shoulder to meet my eyes—or to see that indeed I did not have a gun aimed at him—before turning his face away. 

 “It is I, Molly.  The same man you met two weeks ago.  The same man you loved over a hundred years ago.”

 “You’re nuts!” I spit out.  “You’re not here.  I’m just imagining things.”  My knees were aching, and I shifted awkwardly in the tub to dive under the water again, keeping my neck twisted to watch him.  I couldn’t stay in the bathtub all night.  I felt so vulnerable—even if this was a hallucination...or a fantasy.

 “So, since you’re not really here, you wouldn’t mind keeping your face turned away, so I can get out of the tub, would you?”  My heart pounded, the rhythm matching the pounding in my head from smacking it on the edge of the tub.  “Please?”  I couldn’t keep the quiver from my voice. 

 “Certainly.  It is not proper for me to be standing here at any rate.  I simply came upstairs to see if you were here, and there you were—in my tub—a vision of bubbles and curly brown ringlets.”

 

I pressed a hand to my damp ponytail.  A sudden warmth in the pit of my stomach contradicted the cold grip in my chest. 

 “Go away,” I pleaded.  “I may want to daydream about you, but I don’t know that I want to actually see you.”

 “As you wish, Molly.”  He threw another quick glance over his shoulder, and his mouth curved into an embarrassed smile before he moved away.

 I watched him disappear and panicked. 

 “Wait,” I shrieked.  “Wait!”

“Yes, dear?”  He backed up to the edge of the door again, still keeping his face averted.   

 “Wait for me downstairs.  Don’t go yet.  I’ll be right there.”

Darius inclined his head slightly to the side where I saw his profile, and I could have sighed when a single golden-brown curl fell forward in his face.

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Bess McBride made her first serious writing attempt when she was 14. She shut herself up in her bedroom one summer while obsessively working on a time travel/pirate novel set in the beloved Caribbean of her youth, but she wasn't able to hammer it out on a manual typewriter (oh yeah, she's that old) before it was time to go back to school. The draft of that novel has long since disappeared, but the story is still simmering within, and she will finish the adventure one day soon.

Bess was born in Aruba to American parents and lived in Venezuela until her family returned to the United States when she was 12. She couldn't fight the global travel bug within and joined the U.S. Air Force at 18 to "see the world." After 21 wonderful and fulfilling years traveling the world and gaining one beautiful daughter, she pursued her dream of finally getting a college education. With a license in mental health therapy, she worked with veterans and continues to work on behalf of veterans. She writes romantic suspense, contemporary, light paranormal/fantasy and time travel romances and currently has eight novels published. She can be contacted through her web site at http://www.bessmcbride.com.

Links:

www.bessmcbride.com

http://willtravelforromance.blogspot.com/

Whisper of a Witch

Welcome to Suza Kate's blog tour.  If you came for Beyond the Book, scroll on down. Enjoy Suza's tour and Beyond the Book.
Suza is the author of Whisper of a Witch.  Please follow her tour and comment often. Suza will award signed cover flats and pens to a commenter at every stop, a total of five $15 Amazon/B&N GC to one randomly drawn commenter from this tour and her Name Before the Masses Tour, and gift basket from this tour and her Name Before the Masses Tour. You can find her schedule at http://www.goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/08/virtual-book-blast-whisper-of-witch-by.html

BLURB:

 

Biologist Shauni Miller, a beautiful as she is compassionate, harbors a secret that could alter her life forever. If she chooses to share it. Dr. Michael Black helps Shauni in her time of need, but sees more in the raven-haired temptress than she ever meant to reveal. He knows she’s hiding something, but then, so is he. Both Shauni and Michael have a role to play and decisions to make as a centuries-old prophecy has yet to be fulfilled. Only the fates know if they are meant to be together. Or if one of them has to die.

 

Excerpt:

 

“Anna shrugged. “Like I said before, magic likes its secrets and will only give us what we need when we need it. I don’t know the order of your trials, it will be revealed in time, as the power deems. There are pieces to this puzzle that even I haven’t found, yet. Things I won’t be allowed to know at all.”

 

Moving with grace across the dais, she bent to retrieve something from a stand between two of the chairs. She turned back with a chalice, silver and encrusted with precious stones of sapphire, garnet, and amethyst. A large round disc was on the front side as she carried it. From its swirling pattern and opalescence, Shauni guessed it to be moonstone. Usually found in necklaces and bracelets, it was a mineral worn for protection from harm. She had some herself.

 

“If you feel you are ready.” Anna paused for effect. “I can tell you the first.”

 

Claudia and Viv both cried out in the affirmative.

 

Willyn held her tongue, obviously unsure. She had a son to think of on top of everything else.

 

A few said, “Yes,” quietly, and the rest, including Shauni, nodded solemnly.

 

“Actually, you already know.” Anna’s lips curved with mischief. “You see, magic does the choosing.” She once again held up an open palm. “And it has made its choice.” She slowly pivoted until the vivid blue of her eyes rested on one witch in particular.

 

One by one, the gazes of the women followed.

 

They were all looking at the miraculous hummingbird still sitting on Shauni’s shoulder.

 

They were all looking at her.

 

 

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Suza Kates can’t remember a time when she didn’t love books, but two particular memories stay with her. “As a young girl I picked up Little Women, read it straight through, and promptly turned to page one to start all over again. The next book I did that with was Mind Hunter by John Douglas, tales about profiling serial killers.”

 

Thus a twisted romantic was born.

 

Throughout her teenage and young adult years, she read everything from horror to historical romance yet never imagined writing anything of her own.

 

It was during a long, cold winter in a tiny apartment in Germany that Suza picked up a pen and notebook to entertain herself. “The apartment was so tiny, my bed also served as my living room couch. Plus, I shared it with three cats.”

 

Missing the warmth, the hospitality, and the food of the South, she wrote about those things with a huge dose of family thrown in. She says she still has a sweet spot in her heart for her first book, Southern Moon, but to date, she hasn’t revisited it for submission to her publisher.

 

Suza followed her heart to Savannah, Georgia, and it was the gorgeous city with its moss-covered oaks and secrets of history that inspired her to consider paranormal romance. “I had an idea about sisters and magic, so I went to work on the first book of The Savannah Coven Series, Whisper of a Witch. The series is still going strong, and I am grateful every day that I took a chance on paranormal romance, a genre I wasn’t very familiar with and had never actually read before writing it.”

 

Suza has since joined RWA and can’t say enough about this organization. “The education and support are unparalleled. I am so grateful to all of my fellow writers who have offered advice.”

 

Suza still resides in Savannah and is currently working on her next book. She considers it a perfect day when she can sit at the keyboard with coffee in her cup and one of her cats purring in her lap. 

 

www.suzakates.com

http://www.facebook.com/authorsuzakates

 



Beyond the Book: Look At Her

Hello, readers. Thanks so much for coming to Beyond the Book.  My name is Kara Cochrane. I'm Elaine's heroine in Her Kind of Man. October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, and since we were looking for a puppy for our son, we went to the animal shelter and found this cutie. Her name is Sasha. Do you like her? I think she's adorable. If you're looking for a dog, check your local shelter and save a life.