I’m on board the holiday train. I’ve been on board since Halloween. I admit it. I’ve been looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas ever since the first leaf of the fall fell. Luckily Thanksgiving falls early this year so I won’t feel like a holiday misfit for long.

But in my defense, it’s not all about buying presents and eating too much food.

Why do I do it you ask?

Here are the Top 5 Reasons I Start the Holidays Early:

1. I own stock in Macy’s. I love to shop! In person at the actual stores. None of that online stuff for me. Give me the hustle and bustle of shoving through crowds in a frenzy of gift buying excitement to grab the last carcass of the year’s RARE species gift. (No, I’m not a hunter—why do you ask?)

2. The sparkly decorations of silver and gold make me feel like I just sniffed glue dizzy with glee. (What do you mean you think I should see a doctor?)

3. I love to eat the holiday treats! There are some delectable holiday treats that traditionally only come around once a year in my household. My friend’s special caramel and chocolate dipped pretzels, the spicy buttery crunch of Queen’s Royal Munch Mix … I could go on but my mouth is watering now. My body is programmed to speed up my metabolism this time of year so the calories don’t count burn off quicker. (It could be all the energy of my holiday frenzy burning up those calories.)

4. I love the lights! They mesmerize cheer me up. All the decorative lights brighten up the otherwise dark dull late fall skies. I have holiday lights up around the windows in my living room all year long. After the holidays when I finally had to drag the almost pine needle-free tree outside, I couldn’t bear to take the lights down. So I didn’t. (No, I don’t need to talk to someone about this.)

5. I love the gatherings of family and friends. Everyone seems to come together at the holidays to catch up and give hugs and enjoy the company of those we love but don’t always see. We also get together and party with the people we see all the time only we drink eggnog and champagne instead of beer and wine.

Seriously, this is the best part for me—and for many of you too. I start early so I can host more gatherings, cook more food and make my home as festive and beautiful as possible to welcome all who join me.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Stephanie Queen will take a break from her holiday decorating and cooking to celebrate her new release, Beachcomber Wedding, Book 5 of the Beachcomber Investigations romantic detective series.

This series has been compared to the Moonlighting TV series for the repartee and sensual tension between the PI partners Dane & Shana.

In Beachcomber Wedding Dane and Shana are hired to protect a bride from a Russian arms dealer. But the question is will the idea of wedding bells inspire romance between the private-eye partners or will the notion of love and marriage scare them more than the threat of a bomb at the church?

Book Buy Links:

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYJEIVN
B&N:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beachcomber-wedding-stephanie-queen/1125101888?ean=2940153845869
iBooks:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/beachcomber-wedding/id1174167272?mt=11
KOBO:  https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/beachcomber-wedding

About the Author

About USA Today Bestselling Author Stephanie Queen…

A romantic at heart and a writer by nature, Stephanie Queen has the enthusiastic soul of a cheerleader. So of course she loves creating stories where the good guys always win. Although she’s lost count of all the jobs she had before she settled on being a Novelist, her favorite was selling cookies as a Keebler Elf. She is a graduate of UConn (go Huskies!) and Harvard U and lives in New Hampshire with her family, her cat, Kitty and a band of holiday-loving friends.

Links:
Website:  www.StephanieQueen.com
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/StephanieQueenAuthor/
Twitter:  @StephanieQueen

I left my beloved hill country in Texas on July 31, 2011 in a 28-feet-long U-Haul trailer, my son driving. It took us five days, a flat tire on a lonely road in Pennsylvania, and me glued to the GPS on my iPad in abject fear. But we had a home waiting for us, a 200-year-old farmhouse on the far eastern shore of Maine that I’d owned since 1974, and then left in the care of my son’s father in 1981.

When last I’d seen this structure, it was lovely. A fully functioning kitchen (but no oven and I can’t remember why that was), a big bathroom on the first floor, two wood stoves for heat. But that had been 30 years ago. Driving into the dirt driveway on a late afternoon the first week of August, 2011, I found to my dismay the house was kitchen-less… in fact, the part of the house where the kitchen used to reside was gone, there were no walls in several rooms and the upstairs master bedroom’s ceiling was on the verge of falling in. The downstairs bath was new because…the floor caved in a couple months before while my son was attempting some renovations. He’d flown up early to see to the livability of the house… Obviously, it did not pass muster. But I was already committed. My perfect home in the Texas Hill Country was rented and my friends had said their goodbyes. So, my son fixed what he could and hoped I wouldn’t faint when I saw the rest.

The first night we left the U-Haul in the driveway untouched, borrowed air mattresses and went out to eat at a local restaurant. I’d think about my kitchen-less plight after a meal and a full night’s sleep. But damn, it was August and it was cold… and I could hear critters scuffling everywhere.

Well, life went on, and before we knew it, it was coming up Thanksgiving, and I still had no kitchen, although I had commandeered my old dining room as a makeshift one. I bought a fridge, a microwave, and there were boxes scattered around that I was sure contained pots and pans and casserole dishes. I’d set up my prized eight-feet-long antique Chinese Butcher’s table as a kitchen counter and purchased a two-burner hot plate and an electric skillet. That was my cooking area. Imagine how delighted I was the day I opened one of those boxes and found my crockpot! I was Martha Stewart and could conquer anything.

But perhaps not a Thanksgiving turkey. While my son looked on sadly because he was fond of my big holiday meals, I had no clue how I would solve this current stumbling block. But because I’m a stalwart stubborn pioneer woman…and was embarrassed to tell any of my friends back in Texas my plight, I took a deep breath, pulled out all my cookbooks and found a recipe for turkey breast in a crock pot.

Of course, I had to find a turkey breast. We’re more than a hundred miles from a Whole Foods, and Costco is completely absent in Maine. Our local market, not a supermarket by any means, had lots of huge frozen turkeys, but nary a turkey breast. The hunt began. Finally, a few days before the day, I found them…two lovely little breasts. I was so proud.

When the day came, I sat the electric skillet on one end of the antique butcher’s table, the two-burner hot plate in the middle and the crock pot at the other end and blessed my son that he’d had the foresight to find a master electrician to re-wire the house. First, I seasoned the breasts and placed them carefully in the electric skillet to brown, and thank goodness I’d remembered to thaw them. There had been years in the past when I’d forgotten that step…but we won’t go there right now. When they were nice and golden, I plopped those birds into the crockpot. I’ve got to tell you, my crock pot wasn’t that big so it took a little maneuvering to get those hunks of meat to fit. Turkey breasts are not chicken breasts!  Then I began prepping the other parts of the meal.

I’ve never worked so hard to make a meal for two people as I did that day. But in the late afternoon as the light went out of the sky and snow began falling, my son and I sat down to one of the best Thanksgiving feasts I’d ever made. That day was the first time I didn’t think about my home in Austin. Maine was my home now. I could make due without a formal kitchen…for a while. And I did, until December of the next year when I got a brand-new kitchen with all the bells and whistles just a few days before Christmas. But the Thanksgiving of 2012, still kitchen-less but with new cabinets already installed, was spent at a friend’s home around a huge table seating 20…and I didn’t have to cook at all…the best kind of holiday dinner. And was I thankful!

What’s been the most memorable Thanksgiving for you? Forgot to thaw the turkey? Forgot to turn on the oven? The dogs ate it while it was cooling? The stories of cooking for the holidays are endless. Let me hear yours!

Happy Reading, ya’ll!

From a Texas transplant to the cold coast of Maine

Min Edwards

Precious Stone

A gift of thanks to a young girl from the Tsar more than 100 years ago… and now the Russians want it back.

Collee McCullough has a perfect life until early one morning men in suits come calling. She has something precious someone dangerous wants. Something that her great-grandmother Natasha took when she fled Russian in 1913. Too bad Buka never told anyone what she had or where she left it.

Jake Elsmore, visiting Stone Bay to sell his mother’s house, walks into The Bakery for a cup of Earl Grey tea, but gets more. There she is. Stepping out from behind the Chief of Police, a lovely, fiery haired fairy toting a shotgun while two men lay insensate on the floor of her shop. Looks like that tea will have to wait.

Get your copy here!

About the Author

Min Edwards is the pen name of Pam Headrick, owner of A Thirsty Mind Book Design. She holds advanced degrees in Anthropology with a focus on archaeology and geography as well as geology and art. She’s published five novels in two series: Stone Bay Contemporary Romance and High Tide Romantic Suspense. And in 2017, she has on her schedule two novels in her new co-authored archaeological series, as well as an historical, Natasha, a prequel to Precious Stone, her last novel in the High Tide Suspense series.

You can visit with her or contact her on her website at www.minedwards.com or her business site at www.athristymind.com. Her Amazon Author’s page lists her current titles published in digital and print format, Stone Bay, Stone Cold, Stone Heart, Stone Fall and Precious Stone.

You can also find her on her blog and on social media:

Blog
Twitter @ MEdwards Author
Facebook @ Author Min Edwards
Facebook @ TalonArcheo
Goodreads @ Author Min Edwards
Pinterest @ Min Edwards

As you’re reading this, I’m still driving toward Virginia. We left yesterday. We, being my daughter and a carload of kids ranging from 12 to 3. By now (I’m writing this in advance, so I’m imaging it), we’re all deaf from constantly shouting, “Be Quiet!” Funny how that works, shouting for quiet. But we’re better prepared than that, so hopefully, that won’t be the case. We brought tons of DVDs for the kids to watch. Anyways…I hope you have a fantastic holiday week coming up. I have great guests who will keep you entertained. Are you doing anything special for the Thanksgiving holiday? And not to leave you non-USAers out, What are your plans for this weekend?!

Bad, Bad Girlfriend Coming November 29th! Jolene Ledbetter is a big, beautiful woman with an even bigger heart. But she’s figured out that she’s become her studly, police officer boyfriend’s favorite doormat. Having put off the conversation she knows has to happen after his partner was shot, she’s ready now to tell him to “pee or get off the pot”–after a bout of really great sex. Gabriel Devine has seen what his profession does to marriages. He’s not willing to risk that kind of heartbreak—not for himself or a wife who might have to face the possibility of getting that dreadful visit from the police chief. Besides, he likes what he has with Jolene. She’s pretty, funny, likes to cook the occasional meal, is ready at the drop of a hat for a little hot loving—but she’s sensible and knows he can’t give her anything more than that. So when Jolie tells him she won’t see him any more if he’s not willing to marry her, he’s shocked and angry. With a girlfriend’s encouragement, Jolene arranges a special show at a strip club to prove to Gabe once and for all that she’s more woman than any man can handle, and if he’s not careful she’ll walk her pretty new Louboutins right out of his life. Get your copy here! ~~~~~~~

Hard SEAL to Love Uncharted SEALs, Book 9 Coming February 7, 2017! Former SEAL, “Big Mac” McLane, is sure he earned all kinds of bad karma somewhere when his first mission with Charter Group is guarding the “Love Boat” and its activity director. Okay, so the cruise line is sponsoring a special cruise for wounded soldiers and their families—a great cause—but Big Mac doesn’t do well around families and children, and Kylie Hammond is cute, but he feels like he has two left feet whenever she’s around. But he’s going to do his job, keep it strictly business, fade into the background whenever she’s around, but it seems Kylie has other ideas… Kylie knows the big SEAL isn’t exactly gung-ho for his new assignment, but she can’t be more pleased. The big man’s the yummiest thing she’s ever seen, and coaxing blushes and glares from him becomes her favorite sport. But then things begin to go wrong aboard ship, people disappear, and then someone’s killed. The thing her charity most feared—a terrorist attack at sea—appears to be underway. Now, she has to trust Big Mac and his team to keep her wounded soldiers safe. Get your copy here!

Yowza! It’s been a super crazy month. Lots of ups and downs. Lots of people being judgmental and hateful. So let’s turn all of that around and talk about things we’re thankful for. And I have a giveaway with a twist!!

I’ll start!

I’m thankful for waking up today. Doesn’t matter if it’s sunny or rainy, warm or cold. I’m lucky enough to be writing this and I don’t take that for granted. Ever.

I’m thankful for my awesome miniman, my family, work family and friends. Each and every one of them delights me. So thankful for them all.

My boyfriend. Just….damn. *bouncy*

I’m thankful I get to write dirty books. The dirtier the better. That I get to write what I want, how I want and people read them? So awesome!

I’m thankful for holidays, and special holiday food, and presents and PIE!!!

So now I want to hear what you’re thankful for but let’s make it people specific! Specifically a person you’re thankful for and why. And the goodies listed below won’t be for you, it’ll be for the person you’re nominating for neato book stuff! And kinky buttons.

**GIVEAWAY – US ONLY** – Look at all the awesomeness they could win!! So fill me in on someone you are incredibly thankful for and why and leave me a way to get in touch with you so if you win I can ship their stuff to them!!!

PS – This giveaway is open to US residents only. Good Luck!!!

Decadently Yours,
Jennifer Kacey

About the Author

Jennifer Kacey is a writer, mother, and business owner living with her miniman in Texas. She sings in the shower, plays piano in her dreams, and has to have a different color of nail polish every week. The best advice she’s ever been given? Find the real you and never settle for anything less.

Website – Newsletter – The Decadent Divas– Amazon Page
Facebook – Facebook Author Page – Twitter – Goodreads – Pinterest

I love making soup.  Creating the broth from scratch, chopping all the vegetables, adding the meat, and seeing the look on my families faces when they come home and the house is filled with the tempting aroma.

My favorite soup is an old family recipe from Holland called “Groente Soup” or Dutch Vegetable Soup.  It takes a while to make but is well worth the effort.

The approach I used for the books in the Rose Series is much the same to making the soup.  The foundation of any soup is the broth.  For Dutch Vegetable Soup the broth is made by boiling soup bones and stew meat in water then let it simmer for four hours in a crock pot.  When the soup is finished, strain the fat, bones and meat from the liquid.

The foundation for the Rose series is the world of politics.  I know many people are tired of politics.  Our recent national election dominated the news cycle for the last eighteen months.  But politics is important.  The decisions made by the people who hold office affect our daily lives in many ways.  The result of an election has consequences whether it is for the President of the United States or the local water board.  My series takes place in the Idaho State Legislature.

The next step in the soup recipe is to add the meat and vegetables.  I add one cut up a head of cauliflower, five chopped up stalks of celery, five chopped up carrots, two chopped leeks (white parts only), and a pound of hamburger rolled into one inch balls.  I usually make this in a crock pot so I put it on high for two hours.

In the Rose Series, the ingredients are the characters.  In each book I have a new hero and heroine but the other characters continue through all three books.  Each character has his or her goals, roadblocks and baggage.  Some have higher political aspirations, others want power, and some are working for the common good.

To thicken the soup, I switch the crock pot to low and add a package of vermicelli broken into pieces.  To spice up the soup, add two beef bouillon cubes and chopped up fresh parsley to taste.  Cook for another two hours on low.

To thicken the plot of the Rose series, I have added the ghosts from the eighteen hundreds and the race to be the first governor when Idaho achieved statehood.  The spice of the series is the overall arc with supernatural beings trying to influence the outcome of events and the lives of the characters for their own agendas.

The Rose Series concludes this December with the third and final book, The Bloom of a Rose.

I hope you enjoy the soup and the books.

Augustina Van Hoven
Proving Love is Strange
THE KISS OF A ROSE
THE THORN OF A ROSE
THE BLOOM OF A ROSE – Coming in December
www.augustinavanhoven.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Augustina-Van-Hoven-Author/336028986575129
Twitter:  @augustinavhoven
Pinterest: Augustina Van Hoven, Author

THE KISS OF A ROSE

A DISTANT PAST

In 1882, Rose Van Buren loved the wrong man and paid for it with her life. Now, more than a century later, the angel Gabriel has granted her another shot at living. In exchange, she must convince a smart, handsome, up-and-coming lawyer to set aside his lofty ambitions.

A FUTURE PRESENT

Stephen Winship is headed straight for the governor’s chair. He has a brilliant career, solid allies, and a seemingly perfect girlfriend. But night after night he finds himself dreaming of a heavenly beauty, a luminous but long-dead girl. Like some altered Ghost of Christmas Past, she shows him her own tragic tale in order to “save him.” And he’s beginning to see Rose is risking her heart as much as baring her soul. Yet falling for her will cost him everything—and open him up to a happiness he never imagined.

Get your copy here!

THE THORN OF A ROSE

We are all chess pieces on a board … in a game played by supernatural forces.

TOWARD A BRIGHTER FUTURE

Newly elected state senator Ashley Halliday is over her failed engagement and ready to help make Idaho a better place to live and work. She has no time for romance … until she and Richard, a handsome state representative, take their friendship to a new level. But then there’s John, an aide to the governor of Idaho. Both hold power … but only one is a good man. The other is on a mission to destroy lives. Will she learn the truth in time to save lives and keep her friends safe from dark influences?

Sports bar owner and state representative Richard Fowler is happy for his best friend Stephen and his bride, Rose. He knows their secret–Rose came back from the dead to save Stephen from his lofty ambitions. Richard himself has no time for any supernatural goings-on or for romance, not with his work to save state education funding. Until he sees the vibrant Senator Halliday through new eyes, that is. But to win Ashley, he must keep her safe from a rival who wants her for darker reasons.

FROM A DARK PAST

A villain has returned from the dead, summoned by a demon, and given another chance to do what he failed at the first time. He’ll gladly take down anyone else who gets in his way. And his new post in the halls of state government? A devilish chance to play corrupt lobbyist, and foil the plans of those with loftier goals.

Get your copy here!

It’s been a crazy year that has flown by so fast, I don’t know where it went. As we approach Thanksgiving, I have to stop and breathe, take time revisit my year thus far and see why it was intense!

This year, so far, I’ve had 19 releases. Of those 11 were new books. 8 were part of a boxed set or were books I’d re-released after getting my rights back. Either way, that’s a lot of work! I did a lot of traveling this year, as well. I went to Colorado, Hawaii, San Antonio, Vegas, Nashville, Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, Scotland, Florida, Kentucky and West Virginia.

My family has had some challenges with my 97-year-old grandmother and other members’ health issues, but they’re all still with us! My youngest has joined the Army National Guard and is now in basic training.

No wonder this year has gone by so fast. I’ve only tentatively laid out next year and it looks like it will be as nutty as this year. I can’t complain though because I love what I do and love meeting new people. I’ve met quite a few of my readers and can’t wait to meet more in the coming year. Thank you for reading my books and making my writer life possible. You all are amazing!

For my 19^th release this year, please get your copy of SEAL’S DELIVERANCE, the 9^th book in the TAKE NO PRISONERS series.

Navy SEAL and a sexy CDC biologist join forces in Montana to find the one responsible for threatening revenge on the SEAL team’s loved ones through biological terrorism

Raymond “Sting Ray” Thompson returns home to Eagle Rock, Montana, when a trail of treachery leads him back with members of his SEAL team. Their mission: to locate the biological terrorist targeting people closest to them. Claiming retribution for destroying an Ethiopian factory generating a deadly virus, the terrorist strikes Sting Ray’s uncle, the man who raised him. His team joins forces with a group of former military men to ferret out the terrorist and halt the release of the deadly virus into the environment.

On vacation from her job with the Center for Disease Control, Lilly Parker is with her brother in Montana when she gets the call to investigate a potential biological disaster targeting a family member of a Navy SEAL. Working with the Brotherhood Protectors and a team of Navy SEALs, Lilly conducts a covert investigation. Lilly and Sting Ray join forces to trace the virus to its source, determined to contain the disaster and protect the community, while fighting their own attraction for each other.

Amazon | Amazon UK | Kobo | Nook | iBooks | GooglePlay

**GIVEAWAY**

I’m giving away a great prize on my Newsletter December 1^st, but you have to be a subscriber to be eligible to win and you have to read the newsletter to see if you won. Join now!

Elle James’s Newsletter

Sometimes we get a quirky character in our head and he fits in to stories as a “comic relief” standup to one of our other hero characters. But this character is fully developed and understood by not only the writer, but the reader as well. I’ve found that fans love them.

I once had my cover looked at by a publicity person, and she said, “Well, he’s not the usual handsome and bare-chested guy, so I guess this book won’t do well.” She wanted to promote one of my other books.

While it’s true, my character, Fredo, his formal name being: Special Operator Alphonso Manuel Esquidido Chavez, doesn’t have what we would call “handsome” face and long tanned torso, his heart is his best feature. That, and he never gives up on the things he believes in.

This was a refreshing change for me to write a character with a unibrow he didn’t think manly to tweeze, a cratered face and wide nose, who didn’t eat anything green but cilantro and chilis, and show him as a sexy hero because of his heart and not his body. I even got fan mail asking me when his book would be out, and wondering why I hadn’t written it yet. He does appear in all other 15 of my SEAL Brotherhood books.

I get the most fan mail about Fredo. In the prequel novella, Fredo’s Secret, he learns he’s sterile. Fredo’s Dream is a continuation of that story in a full length novel to give him his Happily Ever After.

For a limited time, the eBook version of this book will also contain the prequel.

Here’s an excerpt:

They pulled up in front of the house. Fredo sucked in air like his life depended on it. He felt a paw squeeze his left shoulder.

“Tell her, man. Make sure you take that burden off you. If it’s her story, she has to unburden herself. But you don’t take that on for her. You can’t save her from everything. And you’re tough, Fredo. You’re the toughest motherfucker I’ve ever seen on or off the battlefield.”

Fredo didn’t know why, but he thought of something funny.

“Until this thing about the baby, you know what was the toughest challenge I ever had?”

“What?”

“Getting my pants on with a stiffy. Damnedest thing, I’ve been fuckin’ hard ever since she touched me that first time on the cruise. That first time I knew she wanted me for me.”

“See? Normally, I’d give you a ration of shit for that one. But that’s good. Focus on that.”

Fredo glanced down at his lap and grinned as his boner came back to life.

“Some men fuck better scared, so think about that and not what you might find out, either now or later. Doesn’t matter. She loves you. You know—hell, the whole platoon knows—she loves you. Whatever happened, I’m sure there was a good reason. And you know what I think about the testing. Just get yourself goddamned tested, asshole. You’re like those new recruits who cry when they get their first Wompa Shot.”

“Okay, I’m ready.” Fredo grabbed his duty bag and got out of the Hummer. He leaned back into the window to accept Coop’s final words of advice.

“Suck it up, Buttercup.”

Why couldn’t it have been something manly?

“Fredo, you don’t do this, and I’m gonna get Danny and Kyle and T.J. and Jones, and we’re gonna hold you down and tweeze that fuckin’ unibrow. Who knows, under all that hair, you might be a handsome man!”

He swore but was much more pleased with this “normal” sendoff. He started laughing to himself and then remembered one more thing and ran back to the window. “There were two things I struggled with. You won’t believe what the second one was.”

“You wear pink women’s underwear and were hiding it from your wife.”

“In your dreams.”

“Not my dreams, asshole.”

“I actually learned to get used to tofu and stir-fry vegetables. I actually got to like the taste of some green in my diet. Can you believe that?”

Coop shook his head and started the vehicle, shouting back, “Go fuck your wife, Fredo, and quit pulling my leg.” He drove off with a low rumble, screeched his tires at the corner, and was gone. Just before he disappeared, he held up his middle finger.

Get your copy here!

About the Author

NYT and USA/Today Bestselling Author Sharon Hamilton’s SEAL Brotherhood series have earned her top author rankings of #1 in Romantic Suspense, Military Romance and Contemporary Romance. Her characters follow a sometimes rocky road to redemption through passion and true love. Her Golden Vampires of Tuscany earned her a #1 ranking in Gothic Romance.

A lifelong organic vegetable and flower gardener, Sharon and her husband live in the Wine Country of Northern California, where most of her stories take place.