It was 1995 or so, and I had made my home on the west coast of Florida with my husband and three kids. We’d been living there for about ten years, and the cost of living along with the cost of raising three kids was pinching a bit . . . plus, property values were up. Some very good friends of ours had recently sold their Florida farm for fat cash and moved up into Alabama, near Birmingham. They bragged about the low cost of living, property, et al. We drove up to visit and toyed with the idea of relocating there as well.

Yes, property was cheap. We went around with a real estate agent who showed us vacant land for hundreds of dollars an acre instead of thousands. He also said he had a very nice, antebellum home that was in some need of repair . . . it had been empty a long time. It was within our price range. We visited the home.

Wow. The tour of that day, apparently, branded my memory. I’d never been inside a plantation-style home, and this was laid out like a mini-Tara. Much smaller, but complete with soaring ceiling heights, a curved stairway, and upper and lower front porch galleries. It was, yes, in need of some TLC. Some updating. Maybe more than a little.

As I walked through that house I had the feeling I was being watched. Like we weren’t alone. The hair at the base of my neck prickled and gooseflesh puckered my skin, even though it was a very hot, summer day. I kept getting the unsettling feeling that there was something—or someone—just beyond my line of vision. But when I turned, there was no one there.

We didn’t move to Alabama. Jobs were hard to come by, and no matter how cheap the land was, anything we could afford—including the antebellum home—was in the middle of nowhere. We remained in Florida for nearly another decade.

Fast forward to 2017. I had long ago forgotten the tour of the antebellum home in Alabama. We had eventually moved—three times, from Florida to Texas to North Carolina, and ultimately landed in Massachusetts. But from somewhere in the depths of my memory, the Alabama memory resurfaced one night in a dream. Complete with the ghost of a Confederate soldier pounding on the front door.

Civil Hearts was born.

Civil Hearts

He’s a sexy Southern gentleman—with epilepsy. She’s a widow scarred from her late husband’s brain cancer. Her new home, an abandoned antebellum mansion, is haunted by a Confederate soldier—and she’s a Yankee.

A widow with no family, web designer Liv Larson yearns for big change. After all, she can work from anywhere, right? Why not throw a dart at the map? She heads out of the big city for the rural South and falls in love as soon as she arrives—with the Belle Bride, an abandoned antebellum mansion.

Heath Barrow loves his country life, managing his antiques store in sleepy Camellia. But he’s lonely, and his condition—epilepsy—makes life uncertain. It’s already cost him a marriage. A new medication and the new girl in town have his heart hopeful again.

Sparks fly between Heath and Liv. But his first seizure sends Liv into a tailspin. Its mimics those her husband suffered before he died . . .

To make matters worse, Liv discovers she’s not living alone. Her challenge? Dealing with a Confederate soldier, one who clearly resents his Yankee roommate—even though he’s been dead for over a hundred and fifty years.

Buy Link: https://amzn.to/2GPU5er
Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/skHJRlU5fOQ

About the Author

 Strong Women, Starting Over

~Redefining Romance~

Claire is a multi-published, award winning author of five titles in the genres of contemporary romance, supernatural suspense, and women’s fiction. She also writes Author Resource guide books, and presents seminars on writing craft and marketing.

Her supernatural suspense, Hearts Unloched, won the 2016 New York Book Festival, and was a finalist in the 2017 RONE Awards. Also in 2017, her women’s fiction, The Phoenix Syndrome, was a finalist in the National Reader’s Choice Awards, and her contemporary romance, A Taming Season, was a Literary Award of Merit finalist in the HOLT Medallion Awards. Her latest release, Spirits of the Heart, was a finalist in the 2017 “I Heart Indie Awards.”

Creating cross-genre fiction she calls “supernatural suspense,” Claire loves exploring the paranormal and the unexplained, and holds a certificate in Parapsychology from the Rhine Research Center of Duke University.

A New York native, Claire has lived in five of the United States and held a variety of jobs, from waitress to bridal designer to research technician—but loves being an author best. She and her happily-ever-after hero, her husband of 39 years, now live in central Massachusetts.

Website: http://www.clairegem.com

I want to start by thanking Delilah for letting me come hang out here with you all today. She’s always very gracious about sharing her space, and that’s something I admire.

So, setting the mood… For a party, for a date, for a story, for romance.  It’s a pretty important thing for all kinds of reasons—you don’t want the fun, happy party you’ve planned for your toddler to dissolve into the shrieks of a dozen kids when the clown you hired is too scary, right?—but in a romance novel, setting the mood can mean different things.

What sort of mood would you expect for a sweet romance?  Light, not too complicated, still romantic, but nothing extreme, right?

What about romantic suspense? Generally, I would think darker, lots of tension in all situations, romantic and otherwise. Though I will say I like some lighter moments even in those sorts of stories, too. Too much non-stop tension isn’t good for reader or characters, is it?

Paranormal? One of the reasons I like those so much is they can be any mood, any tone, depending on the story. Like them dark? Plenty of choices.  Lighter? Lots of those, too.

One of my favorite authors for setting the mood is not even a romance writer, but Stephen King does it so well, drawing a reader into his characters’ stories and making them feel every bit of fear they’re feeling, setting the mood so when the character is sure the monster is about to jump out at them, you feel it, too, then feel the rush of relief when it turns out not to be the monster (yet!) but just a dog or someone innocuous. I think Gerald’s Game is fantastic for that—when that book came out, my mother-in-law started reading it, but didn’t get very far, because she was too afraid, so she handed it off to me without even finishing the book.  It scared me, too, and I loved every page of it.

But romance writers do it every bit as well, setting the mood for their stories, the right tone to pull readers in to meet the characters and want to know more, to have to know more. Plus we get to set the mood for other things, like falling in love, like a heroine having her heart broken to bits when it seems the romance really can’t work out.  If we’re doing it right, we’re right there with them when we’re writing, the way we hope readers will be when they get their hands on our stories—appalled when one of the characters does something awkward or stupid, perhaps changing our minds about a character we were afraid couldn’t be redeemed, and most especially feeling the emotion when our characters are falling in love.

We know it isn’t supposed to be easy for them. In fact, we try very hard to make it as difficult as we can for them to get to that happy ending.  But we want them to get there, so we give them the opportunity to have little moments that help them not give up, to make them want to keep fighting whatever foe they have so they can live happily ever after. Sometimes getting the mood right is easy, but sometimes it’s really hard, and the characters don’t want to cooperate—“What? You want me to fight with John? Well, I don’t want to fight. I want to step back and get some ice cream.”

For me, a good soundtrack helps with getting the mood right, but not always.  Right now, I’m trying to figure out the songs that will work best to put me in the right frame of mind for the story. Plenty of good songs for a fight, so many romantic songs to sway the mind into the proper mood.

I’d like to know how you get into the right mood for your ‘story’, whether it’s household chores, or a date with your S.O. Is it music? It is a scent? Is it a piece of clothing? What can you count on to change your mood when you need to?  I have a paperback copy of Hunting Medusa to give away, so everyone who comments will get their name entered into a drawing via RandomResult.com  My thanks again to Delilah for letting me come and play here again.

About the Author

Elizabeth Andrews has been a book lover since she was old enough to read.  She read her copies of Little Women and the Little House series so many times, the books fell apart.  As an adult, her book habit continues.  She has a room overflowing with her literary collection right now, and still more spreading into other rooms.  Almost as long as she’s been reading great stories, she’s been attempting to write her own.  Thanks to a fifth grade teacher who started the class on creative writing, Elizabeth went from writing creative sentences to short stories and eventually full-length novels.  Her father saved her poor, callused fingers from permanent damage when he brought home a used typewriter for her.

Elizabeth found her mother’s stash of romance novels as a teenager, and-though she loves horror- romance became her very favorite genre, making writing romances a natural progression.  There are more than just a few manuscripts, however, tucked away in a filing cabinet that will never see the light of day.

Along with her enormous book stash, Elizabeth lives with her husband of more than twenty years.  When she’s not at work or buried in books or writing, there is a garden outside full of herbs, flowers and vegetables that requires occasional attention.

Hunting Medusa

The Medusa Trilogy, Book 1

When Kallan Tassos tracks down the current Medusa, he expects to find a monster. Instead he finds a wary, beautiful woman, shielded by a complicated web of spells that foils his plans for a quick kill and retrieval of her protective amulet.

Andrea Rosakis expects the handsome Harvester to go for the kill. Instead, his attempt to take the amulet imprinted on her skin without harming her takes her completely by surprise. And ends with the two of them in a magical bind—together. But Kallan isn’t the only Harvester on Andi’s trail…

Excerpt:

Andi couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong. She’d worked into the night after the vacuum salesman’s appearance, until she couldn’t see straight to continue with her beading. Then she’d sunk into the bubble bath long enough to be nearly asleep. Today, she’d repeated everything but the bubble bath. Plus she’d driven into town to ship the big order she’d finished early.

Now she sat in the dark beside the front window, watching the forest. Waiting. Trying to convince herself nothing was coming. No one.

When the phone rang, she jumped about two feet in the air, barely keeping in a shriek. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, forcing herself to laugh weakly as she picked up the receiver. “Hello, Aunt Lydia.” She didn’t need caller I.D. to know when one of her cousins or aunts was on the phone.

“I didn’t mean to startle you, my dear,” came the quavering voice. “I just wanted to touch base with you. It’s been ages since I’ve seen you.”

Her slightly psychic great-aunt must have spoken to Andi’s mother. “I know. I’ve been busy working.” She thought of the small stack of boxed beaded bracelets sitting on her desk upstairs for another customer whose order wasn’t even due for a month and a half. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve always loved science fiction and stories about traveling to different galaxies.  I remember the first time I saw Star Wars with all those interesting planets and the different life forms that occupied them.  I was fascinated and totally hooked.  Every time a new space show came on television I’d be planted right in front of my set to watch Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, Farscape, or Babylon 5.  Last spring I started laying the ground work for a futuristic romance series.  I had a pretty good idea of the different characters that will be in my stories; the hard part was creating the universe where they would all live.

Good world building is essential for any futuristic or paranormal story.  Every world has to have rules that govern how things work.  They can be different from the rules we have in real life, but they have to be established and in some way explained to the reader, as well as recognizable.  For example, if you have a world with magic, there has to be a limit to what it can do or what creates it, such as energy.

Populating a universe is another essential part of world building.  I had to figure out what sort of sentient beings live on the different planets?  What is their political system?  What are their religious beliefs?  Which species get along with each other and which ones don’t?  What do they eat?  What type of housing do they have?  Is it above ground or below?  In short, each civilization has to be constructed from scratch.

There is so much detail involved that creating a story bible is an absolute must.  You can never remember all the characters, creatures, places, settings, and other details necessary for the story.  It saves a lot of time to have it all written down and easily researchable.  I use excel spreadsheets for all the things I need to keep track of.

My first story in this new world was for the anthology, Pirates: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology Book #3.  The prequel for the series is called The Last Christmas on Earth.  The first book will be out on April 24^th and it’s titled A Scattering of Seeds.

Do you like to read or watch science fiction?

The Last Christmas on Earth

What if you had to make a choice, your lifelong dream or your soul mate?
Scott Southerland has his dream job and his dream woman. What could go wrong? With his mother around, plenty. Scott’s on his guard, and his soon-to-be fiancé, Harper Castille, is, too. Scott has no interest in the other women his mother dangles in front of him, but can his relationship with Harper survive the destruction of his dream?

Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Last-Christmas-Earth-Frontier-Book-ebook/dp/B07B9WJY1J/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1521404782&sr=1-4&keywords=augustina+van+hoven

Barnes & Noble:https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-last-christmas-on-earth-augustina-van-hoven/1128145828?ean=2940155037538

iTunes:https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1360478283

KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-last-christmas-on-earth

Augustina’s Social Media Links

https://augustinavanhoven.com
Twitter:  @augustinavhoven
FaceBook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Augustina-Van-Hoven-Author/336028986575129
Pinterest: Augustina Van Hoven, Author

According to the calendar it is officially spring. The bitter winds have subsided and the snow has begun to melt. Even if  winter is still lingering in my neck of the woods, the hope for warmer days, for daffodils and crocuses is there.

I’m like a bear—once winter comes I want to hibernate. And like the bear, I wake in the spring, look outside my home, and wonder what’s happening in the world. The longer days make me want to go outside and do more instead of scurrying from place to place as fast as I can. Being able to leave the boots, scarf, heavy coat, ear muffs, and gloves behind is a sign that the worst of the winter is behind me. I doubt I’ll get quite to that stage for another month or more, but I’ll be able to start shedding some layers as the days progress.

Opening the window on a warm day and allowing the breeze to freshen the air, not having to turn the lights on until much later in the day, watching the birds come back. These are the things I love most about spring.

It won’t be long until the lawn chairs come out and I can sit out on the patio at night and watch the world go by. I live in an apartment, so I miss that during the winter months.

First we have to get through the dirty stage of spring, where the snow melts to reveal all that’s been buried over the past few months. But clean up will begin, the sun will shine, and the warm days will be welcome.

In the meantime, when the days are still chilly, I’ll curl up with a good book. If you’re looking for something to read, you might check out my Blood of the Drakon series.

Drakon’s Past

Blood of the Drakon, Book 4

Constance Owens has a gift for finding unique items in the most unlikely places, which comes in handy since she buys and sells artifacts and antiques for a living. When she purchases a set of four dragon statues, she has no idea just how unique they are, or that finding them will thrust her into a world of secret societies, men who think nothing of kidnapping and murder to get what they want, and dragon shifters.

Nic hasn’t survived for four thousand years by letting his guard down, and he doesn’t trust anyone except his drakon brothers. The loneliness haunting him has been getting worse since all his brothers have found their mates. And when he finds the woman his drakon recognizes instantly as his fated mate, he doubts he’ll ever have what his brothers have, because it seems she’s involved with the secret society of hunters who have been hunting and capturing his kind for hundreds of years.

Buy Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0786R7LSM/
Entangled: https://entangledpublishing.com/drakon-s-past.html
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/drakons-past-nj-walters/1127620047?ean=9781640634695
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/drakons-past/id1324091386
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/drakon-s-past

About the Author

N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

Visit me at:
Website: http://www.njwalters.com
Blog: http://www.njwalters.blogspot.com
Newsletter Group: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/awakeningdesires/info
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/N.J.WaltersAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/njwaltersauthor
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/NJWalters
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/njwalters
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/n-j-walters

A sexy trio of romances: Three passionate billionaire siblings follow their hearts in search of happily ever after — from a bet that leads to love to an unexpected baby!

Get at Amazon

This series was really the start of my career. Sure, I wrote books before, but none took off like The House of Morgan. I was always in all stores with this series, and I’m a big proponent that authors should be wide and in all stores. But at the same time I know there are tons of readers in Kindle Unlimited. So what I decided to do as these readers reach out is cycle books in and out. So, from the end of March until mid-June, I put the first three books in The House of Morgan into Kindle Unlimited. The eighth book in the series isn’t scheduled for release until October. So, now was the perfect opportunity to let the KU readers at least get a peak at the beginning of this family saga.

And I will say it’s a saga. The stories all begin at a funeral, though it’s the funeral of a man who, in his efforts to keep his family, almost destroyed everyone involved. John the second son walked away from billions and joined the FBI to find out exactly what his father did to his sister, Victoria ‘who died.’ However, his father died before any evidence is found and his sister Victoria ‘returns from the dead’ to ensure her own father is really dead. (She walked away from the family.) And then there is the oldest son, Peter Morgan, who stayed close to their father because he wanted to protect his siblings and take the brunt of his father’s will. This is just the beginning, and all three of them are now out to find out what happens next, when their lives are finally their own.

If this sounds like drama and romance all mixed together then you’re prepared to enter the House of Morgan and see for yourself!

And if you’re in KU, the book is available now!

Plus you can now enter to win a Kindle and get the link to the book at,

http://victoriapinder.com/house-of-morgan-boxed-set-giveaway

Or you can go to the raffle copter, directly!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’ve always been a huge fan of strong female characters. Buffy, Wonder Woman, Selene, Hermione, Ripley, and many more, have all been key inspirations for not only my writing but also, in a lot of ways, the essence of who I am.

What would Hermione Granger do? Is, in my opinion, a morally sound way to make a lot of decisions. And yes, I fantasize about having the same super strength or fighting skills as Selene, and I would totally step into Buffy’s shoes if a Watcher came to find me.

Vigilante justice is also something that really intrigues me. Partly, because I like the idea of a hero who is not bound by the laws and restrictions of conventional society, and partly, because I know what a slippery slope that can be. There’s very little black and white when you’re writing vigilante stories, because the character’s motivations and actions go against the very essence of our societal structure and yet their motivations are usually honorable or, at least, for a pretty good reason. That, to me, allows for more complex characters and world building. And being a rebel at heart (and sometimes in action), that kind of character greatly appeals to me.

Which is why I wrote Burning Kiss. Jade is a complex character. She’s not all sugar and spice, she’s also raw, hot anger, and she has an agenda that she feels is justified and a motivation that is not only about revenge but also about penance. It’s not a love story, like most of my romances to date, but it is a story, when you get right down to it, that is all about love and what love can drive you to do.

About Burning Kiss

Rehabilitation doesn’t work. Prison therapist, Jade Harris, learns this firsthand, after one of her paroled patients came looking for her, only to find her best friend instead. Driven by rage, Jade sets out to hunt down potential predators, baiting them into attacking her, and then ensuring they’ll never rape again.

Fighting the lure of her own demons, Jade finds herself sucked into a gruesome murder investigation that drags her back to the grounds of her old university. There’s a man hunting women on campus the police have no real leads, but Jade doesn’t have to play by the rules. And she knows just how to entice a predator.

Trapped in a triangle of toxic lust, driven by her need for retribution, Jade will risk not only her life, but the obliteration of her sanity, in her quest to take back the night.

WARNING: Jade is ruthless and daring. She will make you squirm. She will make you doubt. Whether you trust her or not is up to you, but she’s going to make you question everything you think you know about justice. Contains explicit adult content, graphic depictions of rape and other violent crimes, psychological mind games, and vigilante justice.

Universal Link: books2read.com/u/4jwRzD?affiliate=off

About the Author

Every day is Halloween for author Angela Addams. Enthralled by the paranormal at an early age, Angela spends most of her time thinking up new story ideas that involve supernatural creatures in everyday situations. She believes that the written word is an amazing tool for crafting the most erotic of scenarios and has recently started down a dark path to disturbing thrillers and erotic horror.

Her Order of the Wolf series, featuring kick ass Amazon warriors and their mates, and her Dark War series, set in a world of witchcraft and war, are available from Entangled Publishing.

She is an avid tattoo collector, a total book hoarder, and loves anything covered in chocolate…except for bugs.

She lives in Ontario, Canada in an old, creaky house, with her husband, children, two cats and a couple weird guinea pigs.

Website: http://www.angelaaddams.com/
Newsletter: eepurl.com/blFHeL
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AngelaAddams
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Author.Angela.Addams
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angieaddams/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/angelaaddams/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4801196.Angela_Addams
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/angela-addams

Check out my sister’s latest, exciting release! ~ DD

Montana Ranger’s Wedding Vow

Hot Delta Force Cowboy and sexy female Army Ranger plan a wedding to trap a saboteur

Dallas Hayes muscled her way through Army Ranger training only to be considered a curse on her all-male unit in an operation in Syria. When half the team is killed, she’s left Injured, losing the lower portion of her leg and is medically discharged from the life she loved in the Army. A fight with her physical therapist at Walter Reed lands her at the Brighter Days Rehab Ranch in Montana with an offer to join the Brotherhood Protectors.

Retired Delta Force soldier, Vince “Viper” Van Cleave, did his time in the Army but hasn’t managed to fit into the civilian world. What can an expert sniper do with his life when not shooting at enemy combatants? A widower, his first assignment is to masquerade as the groom of a former Army Ranger female and stage a wedding to smoke out a wedding saboteur. Together, they make a formidable team that might just make it to the altar intact.

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