TGIF! The weekend’s almost here! And my sister, Elle James, will be here for a visit! Woot! It’s been a good while since we’ve seen each other. We’re both vaccinated, but we’ll likely still keep the distancing thing going because of the kids. We have lots to talk about. We always do.
And I have to close in on the end of the book that’s coming out on April 27th. Yes, I know I’m down to the wire! I’m enjoying the story. It’s lots of sex. This couple only opens up when they’re in bed. Do you mind? 🙂
Have you ordered your copy? Click on the cover if you haven’t! I’ll be nagging you more over the next week…
For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me one thing you’re thankful for this FRIDAY!
Hello, everyone, and thank you for having me as a guest on this blog. I considered the many topics I could write about, but spring is upon us, and while many are not able to gather with family and friends just yet, we may still be making and eating desserts. One of my favorite go-to desserts is super easy. It has to be because I am not a great cook, and it sometimes takes me more than one try to get a recipe right. This is why I make this chocolate pie…
Cara’s Chocolate Pie
Get:
One chocolate cookie crust (pre-made)
Box of chocolate instant pudding
Container of whipped topping
Chocolate sprinkles.
Make the pudding, pour onto the readymade crust, wait until it is set, then add the whipped topping, put on the sprinkles and BAM! You have a very quick and easy dessert.
Anyone else terrible in the kitchen? What is your go-to make and take item?
Johnson Family Ranch
One of the reasons I love writing characters that know how to cook is because I wish I enjoyed cooking.
My cowboys certainly enjoy cooking. Since they are from a pre-facetime, social media era, I have dropped the price on this well-loved contemporary, erotic series. They are available where e-books are sold.
I hope. I’m still writing it! I’ve been making progress, but I know I’m cutting it close. Have you already pre-ordered the next Hot SEAL, Holiday Edition story? It’s filled with tears and laughter. It’s possible to have both, I promise.
You can read a short snippet from the story and find all the buy links here!
It’s Sunday, and as happens all too often for me, it’s another workday. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the fact that I’m constantly chasing my tail with writing and editing. I’m of a “certain age” now and think more about what I might be missing out on with my family. Does that mean I plan to quit doing either? No, but I’m lucky that I have options. I already have two retirement incomes (one is very small—but every little bit helps!), and I’m eligible for Social Security. I can afford to take it a little easier, but I still have all these stories I want to write. I don’t need to earn so much money now. My priorities are shifting.
I plan to enjoy the summer with the kids. The pool will be my daily highlight. We plan for early morning walks along park trails. There will be flea market hunting—although our dear governor has removed the mask mandate, so those excursions will require extra planning, like trying to arrive before the unmasked hoards are out and about. I’ve had both injections, but we have little ones, including one who’s a two-time cancer patient who has another tumor we’re worried about. I wish people would be more considerate of others. Wearing a mask isn’t a big-ass deal when you consider the risks to the vulnerable. *sigh*
I want more time to play with my paint and beads and yarn. I want to create things for my family and friends. I am more than just a writer. I want the kids to remember me for being more than the weird relative who writes all day in her office. They’re such a joy. Did I ever mention that they give me toys to display in my office? They love to collect things for me. Once, they talked their mom into weekly runs to McDonald’s to collect all the How to Train your Dragon dragons that came in the kid’s meals. Yeah, I have every one of them. They didn’t care about keeping them for themselves because they knew I’d love them.
Okay, I’m rambling. These are the things I’ve been thinking about though. Maybe I’m just a bit aggravated with myself because of the self-inflicted time crunch I’m under.
Anyway, for a chance to win a FREE book from my backlist of books, let me know whether you’ve given much thought to your golden years and what you’d like to do!
We have another new SEALS in Paradise story! This year’s theme is centered around holidays. The latest release is by my friend, Becca Jameson! All buy links are below!
April’s Fool
Ten years ago, he left her with no explanation. Now he’s back, and the sparks burn just as hot as they did in high school.
April might have been young, but she knew what love was. She and Cole were inseparable, voted most likely to marry. And then he vanished on the night she expected him to propose.
Joining the Navy had always been Cole’s plan. He’d intended to carry on a long-distance romance with his high school sweetheart. Nothing could ever come between them…until it did.
In this second chance, small-town romance the past collides with the present as Cole fights to save his family’s business and earn back the trust of the only woman he’s ever loved. Losing her a second time—for good—is out of the question.
Hot SEAL, April’s Fool is part of the SEALs in Paradise series. Each book stands alone, and they can be read in any order.
UPDATE: The winners are…Jennifer Beyer, Ann Ivey, and Arlene Miklovic!
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The Montana Bounty Hunters series located in Bear Lodge is complete. I am three books into the spinoff series, Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT. I loved writing the original series, and I can’t wait to immerse myself in writing many more of these heavy-duty, gritty guys in the near future. Have you seen the cover for Chase, which will release in June? Yeah. Some of the guys you love from the original series will continue to pop up here and there in Dead Horse—after all, they all work for Fetch Winter. Someday, he’ll get his happy-ever-after, too!
Cochise
MONTANA BOUNTY HUNTERS: Authentic Men… Real Adventures…
Former Army sniper, Cochise Mercier, left Denver SWAT under a cloud of controversy, which was why he ended up back home in Montana, and where he heard about the Montana Bounty Hunters. The “cloud” didn’t seem to bother his new boss, so he’s “all in” and finding he enjoys hunting down fugitives for bounties, encumbered by fewer rules.
Sammy McCallister is a by-the-book sheriff’s deputy, who has a beef with bounty hunters. Forced to stand by with her gun in her holster, while hunters take down scumbags, she’s particularly irked by the new guy in town. Cochise, with his long black hair and thousand-yard-stare makes her uncomfortable, itchy in ways she’s never felt before. When she finds herself needing his help late one night, the reason for her irritation becomes all too clear. She wants him. But first, they have to make it out of the mountains alive…
Contest
Are you all caught up reading the Montana Bounty Hunters?
For a chance to win a download of one of the stories you may have missed
(I’ll pick three winners!), tell me this: Are you ready for more sexy bounty hunters?
Here are all the Bear Lodge Montana Bounty Hunters!
Cochise Mercier, the new hire at Montana Bounty Hunters, took a deep breath to force his heart to slow its pace. A trick he’d learned as an Army sniper to make sure a jerking breath didn’t mess up a shot. The trick worked in most situations when he needed his mind to slow and for his focus to home in on a target or a situation. Clearing his mind meant he was able to take in more of what was happening around him and enabled him to discard the things that weren’t important—like the way the wind beat a tree branch against the side of the house, a steady thump that sounded almost like clomping footsteps. Instead, he concentrated on the way the light, beaming through the tall arched windows at the front of the house, flickered whenever his target paced left or right, telling him where their mark was. An important fact, because in minutes, he’d have to breach the oak front door and be ready to take him down—with his weapon or his body, depending on whether Randy Pinter was armed. A fact Cochise would have to ascertain in a split second.
“Can’t see any movement in the back rooms,” came Jamie Burke’s voice through his earpiece. “I think he’s alone.”
He still wasn’t used to hearing a woman’s voice on the comms. He’d never had a female as part of any of his missions on the ground with the Army, and Denver’s SWAT had, at the time, been all male. That voice interrupted his calm. His instinct was to protect women and children, but she was a part of this team—and his boss—so again, he drew a deep breath, pushed aside his concern, and concentrated on his target. Pinter was pacing in front of the window to the right of the front door.
“Girlfriend’s car isn’t in the garage,” came Sky Reynold’s deep voice. “Must have gone for takeout. I’m moving around to the front.”
“Deputies just arrived,” Lacey Jones’s too perky voice sounded. “I’ll go brief them about what’s about to go down. Make sure they know we have the owner’s permission to be here.”
Cochise could hear the excitement in her higher pitch. Thank God, she was back at the road with the vehicles. The thought of her cotton-candy sweetness being anywhere near Pinter made him shudder. The girl might have qualified with her weapon and might be doing well with her self-defense classes, but she had no real experience going head-on with bad dudes. He didn’t want to be around the first time she was truly tested.
“You call it, Cochise,” Jamie said.
With his heart as slow as when he slept, he felt the familiar ice-water chill flow over him. “Ready,” he whispered and then stepped away from the bushes beside the porch. “Moving toward the door… On three. One…two…three.” Read the rest of this entry »
March was… It’s hard to describe. Crazy busy, super annoying. Big happy wins and crotchety pain-in-ass (literally) setbacks.
On the health front… I started the month still recovering from a busted tailbone, but by the third week, I sat comfortably (with a donut, still). My hand (last September’s fall) is still wonky and I met with the ortho guy who said the continued tightness and swelling are all normal, and if I keep doing my hand exercises, I should, someday, be able to curl my fist again and open a damn jar. Good news on the medical front? I had my second COVID shot and my dd had her first! Now, we have the 16 and 17-year-olds scheduled, too. We’re slowly getting there, but still masking and distancing, and will continue to do so until they have vaccines for the little ones.
On the work front… I finished writing Hardmanand published it! Woot! Thanks to everyone who read it and left a review. Reviews are so appreciated! I also completed 5 editing projects, two of which were loooonnng. They kicked my ass, but they are out the door! I got the rights back to some old books I published through some traditional houses a while ago, so I added them to my work schedule because they need a refurb, and one set of stories needs a readthrough because I want to write more in the series. To say the least, I’m super stoked.
On the art front… I am still slogging through the #100daychallenge, although I’m about ten days behind. Here are some of my favorites so far…
April
I completed my April calendar yesterday, and it already needs some fixes. I think April is going to be that kind of month—one where I have to be fluid and roll to evade the bombs and sinkholes. The big thing in April is that I have to write a book and publish it. Yeah, I haven’t written page one, but I generally do best when I’m running on adrenaline, and a hard deadline gooses me into creativity.
That book is Hot SEAL, In His Memory, and it’s going to be a hard one for me to write because it deals with the loss of a friend and a husband. If you haven’t pre-ordered your copy…
As for editing gigs, I presently have two scheduled, but I had that many scheduled for March as well, and look what happened! So, I’m hoping I’ll have the first couple of weeks pretty free to dive into my new story.
On the homefront, I’ve begun work to get the green scum out of the pool. That’s always a weeks-long thing. I can’t wait to swim!!!!! And my dd is putting in a garden. We’re hoping it does well and that we have a summer full of lettuce, cucumbers, strawberries, blueberries, peppers, and more! I love admiring the “fruits” of her labor, but diggin’ in dirt is not my thing. I’ll maintain the pool, thank you very much.
And I plan to catch up on the art challenge, too. I’m getting better at it, I think. But the purpose is to connect with my creative center. Writing has become a job in my mind. I need to find that spark again.
So, I’d love to hear whether you had big wins in March and plans for April! Chime in for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!
It’s Saturday, and I have some ground to cover this weekend to catch up on my schedule! Why did I fall behind? It’s kind of a mash of post-COVID-shot-malaise (there was a bit of fatigue associated with the shot, nothing big), plus the post-book-release-exhale (which is a real thing for me, folks!), but it’s time to step it up because I have a new book to whiz through this month, plus several editing projects. It never ends, and weekends aren’t weekends when you’re self-employed!
So, today, I will be editing and starting the new story. As well, I’m behind on the #100daychallenge, which is an art challenge I take on every year to get my creative juices going. I’ve been posting my paintings online, which is nerve-wracking because some of them look rushed and slapped together, but some of them…? I really like this one. I think it will earn a frame. 🙂
And I still have to promo Hardman, which is my latest release if you didn’t already know. It’s a fun, action-packed story with two very deserving-of-each-other characters. The story was a joy to write because my heroine is a “prickly pear” of a woman. Only Hardman can see her soft inner self, which is as it should be when he’s her perfect match…
Is your weekend book boyfriend Pierce Hardman?
Remember, the book is out there now!
Click on cover to get your copy now!
Today’s Contest
For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me what your weekend looks like!
