UPDATE: The winner is…Beth!
*~*~*

Make Cain this Weekend’s Book Boyfriend!

For a chance to win your choice of one of these Cowboys
on the Edge stories, answer me this!

Yellowstone or Longmire?

(Click on a cover if you’d like to learn more!)

Don’t know what you’re missing in this cowboy series? Read an excerpt…

Snippet from Cain’s Law…

Cain Whitfield wasn’t the sort of man who put much stock in premonitions or any “sixth sense.” But the moment he’d first spotted the shy brunette through the window of the Prickly Pear Motel, he’d known trouble had arrived in Caldera.

His gaze had snagged on her ill-fitting clothing and her wildly curling hair. Not unusual, his noticing a stranger arriving in his little town, but the minute his dick twitched, he should’ve heeded the warning.

Yeah, he sure could pick ’em. Just like his ex, only Susan hadn’t burned down a cabin. She’d left his place cleaner than she’d managed to keep it the entire six months they’d been together. Hell, the woman hadn’t even left him a can of beans in the pantry when she’d walked out on their marriage. On a Monday. After he’d left for work. Via a note taped to the kitchen counter because she couldn’t put that into a U-Haul trailer.

Staring at the fire that lit the Texas night sky, he shook his head. The strobing lights of police and fire vehicles were no competition for the furious blaze. No simple kitchen fire or leaf pile run amok.

It was going to be a long night.

UPDATE: The winners are…Colleen, Miki, bn100, Jennifer Beyer, Debra Guyette, and Stacey Kinzebach!
*~*~*

It’s Monday, a holiday (so kids are home), and it’s the beginning of a week of bad weather. The 8-year-old slept over with me last night and told me to turn off my alarms because she wanted to sleep in. Wish I could sleep in!!!!

Thought I’d take a moment to remind you about the pre-orders I have up. No, I don’t have big old blurbs to tell you about the last two because I haven’t written them yet, and I never know what the story is about until I’m midway through. I know that sounds crazy, but that’s what works for me.

Both of the first two books are EROTIC romance, so be warned! No Tender Mercy comes out on March 22nd! It’s the sequel to Her Sanctuary. If you love Texas and vampires, you’re in for a sexy ride! Dark Seduction, which releases on April 19th, is the sequel to Dark Legacy and is a story I’m republishing. It’s a full-length novel, very sexy, smutty, involves a police investigation, and is full of twists and turns involving vampires and demons. I love the story. It’s my third favorite thing I ever wrote.

These next two are part of a series you should be very familiar with by now! Hot SEAL, Wild Thing releases May 24th! The authors in this series are using song titles as our theme this time around. Of course, I jumped on one of my old favorites. All I know about my hero is that he’s living his life as wild and freely as he can. If you have any ideas why that is, I’d love to hear them! 🙂

If you read my latest bounty hunter story, Eli, then you’ve met Gabriel. And I gave you a huge hint about his possible love interest, so be sure to pre-order so you read their adventure! It releases on June 28th—my birthday!

Contest

For a chance to win your choice of a download from my ginormous backlist, let me know if you plan to read any of these stories! Also, if you want to gripe at me to write a story you’ve been waiting for, let me know! I’ll choose two commenters!

Open Contests

1. Diana Cosby: Valentine’s Day – Birds & Animal’s Love Liam MacGruder! (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win a pretty mug!
2. Story Cubes: Tell me a story… (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
3. Cheryl St. John: My Character’s Clothing Choices (and what it says about her!) FREE in KU! — Get your FREE small-town romance!
4. A Reminder! A Puzzle! And a Contest! Oh, my! — Win an Amazon gift card!
5. January George: The Way Back Home (Contest & Excerpt) — Win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…K Campos!
*~*~*

Thanks to Delilah for hosting me again!

When I asked for this date, it was because I had planned to have the last book in my Rafferty Ridge series releasing next week, but life had other plans. So many plans. I have always written. I write in my head as I’m driving (wish I could master dictation but somehow it doesn’t work for me), I write in my head as I’m cooking, showering, watching TV. But finding time to write at an actual computer the last month or so has been HARD. My husband had hernia surgery in January and can’t lift anything over ten pounds and with two young kids, a full-time job in healthcare and so much laundry I could probably fill an 18-wheeler, writing kept getting pushed back. The last two years have felt like a juggling act, just trying to keep all the balls in the air with work, family, kids, school, something to keep myself sane like running or quilting. But it ends up feeling like I’m doing everything at a bare minimum, and that’s hard with writing. You want to put your best work forward and when you have limited time and energy, that’s where writing starts to be pushed to the back burner.

But I’m also working on being kinder to myself, we are all struggling right now and as much as I love to write, it shouldn’t be adding to my stress. The book will be finished at some point, but I am not exactly sure when. And that’s okay. In the meanwhile, the first two books in the series, Where the Light Comes In and The Way Back Home, are both available on Amazon and are really fun, quick reads. And I just might leave you scratching your head wondering how I’m going to redeem Sarah in book three (I’m still working on it).

What are some things that you have struggled with during this pandemic? What are some self-care things you have found that helped? Leave a comment for a chance to win a $5 Amazon card!

The Way Back Home

EXCERPT from The Way Back Home:

“You’re not going to say anything?”

Teo raised his eyes to hers, and they caught her like a fishhook. A glimpse of that old hurt, of a raw vulnerability that almost took her breath away. “You just sustained a head injury, My. It’s not the time.”

“When is the time? Because the minute you can get rid of me, you will, and I’ll never see you again.” She wished she could keep her voice flat, emotionless, but it cracked on the tail end.

He looked away, at the refrigerator that had started humming. “What difference does it make at this point?”

She stared at him. The protective shell she’d built had been ripped off and it hurt as much as the day he’d left. “What difference does it make? Did I really mean that little to you?” Her voice rose, thickening with emotion and anger.

“Mean that little to me?” For the first time she heard anger in his voice, real emotion that broke through that carefully hardened exterior. His posture changed, no longer languid, his body tensed like was readying for battle. “You were the one…” He trailed off, losing steam, and turned, bracing his hands on the counter. The muscles in his back and shoulders sagged under the thermal shirt.

“I was the one what?” Maya asked, uncertainty edged into her tone. The air had been sucked out of the room at his outburst and she couldn’t breathe.

His voice became flat and emotionless again. She couldn’t see his face, but his shoulders sagged. “You need to rest.”

“I was the one what?” she asked again. Her voice betrayed the tension that was making her headache worse. She wanted him to say it. She was the one who’d gotten pregnant. Who had ruined everything. She was the one.

The silence hung between them, the clatter of the fridge, the harsh sound of her breath in the cold air. And her heart squeezed and ached, still pathetically clinging to a shred of hope.

He didn’t move, didn’t turn, but his words had the impact of a sledgehammer. “You were the one that didn’t want me.”

A redhead, Kendra Price doesn’t shy away from pinks or reds but shines in those colors. She chooses red, coral, pink, or turquoise for most of her clothing, and she always carries a signature orange bag. After a challenging childhood and a traumatic end to her relationship with her first love, she left Spencer, Colorado with her sights set on a dance career. Her talent has earned her success and a monetary payoff, so she can afford to buy herself nice clothing. Her attire gives her confidence.

Because she dances every day, she has a wide assortment of dance attire—leotards, shorts, and stretchy midriff tops. She has never kept her costumes but offers them to dance schools and students. She has a passion for teaching growing teens not only dance but how to care for their bodies and avoid injuries.

While on her travels, she has shopped in department stores across the country, so her clothing is unique and of good quality. She would probably never wear something ordered from a catalog because she likes to shop and try on her ensembles.

One of Kendra’s favorite things to do is spend a day fishing from her aluminum runabout on Twin Owl Lake, and on those days, comfortable shorts, a summer top, tennis shoes, and a sun hat are her go-to outfit.

Here is my Pinterest board showing Kendra’s clothing:
https://www.pinterest.com/cheryl_stjohn/dancing-in-the-dark/

Dancing in the Dark

An excerpt from Dancing in the Dark…

He opened the screen door, closed it behind him and walked across the porch, taking the stairs two at a time. I hate it when you leave, but I love to watch you go. That backside and those long legs in a pair of jeans could stop hearts. An elusive memory came into focus. He was fourteen or fifteen, tall and lanky, his shoulder-length hair bleached from the sun as he walked toward his dad’s old Mercury, turning back with a grin to wave at her. The image was so clear that she felt the same peculiar sense of loss and longing she experienced every time he’d left to go home. But today Dusty didn’t turn around…or grin…or wave. He put his toolbox in his truck, climbed in, and turned the vehicle around in the drive.

She watched the truck until it reached the road and stared after it long after the vehicle had disappeared behind the trees. He had never married. What did that mean? He was probably liked by everyone in Spencer, and he was a catch. Surely there were women who’d gone after him. He couldn’t have held out, thinking there was still hope for the two of them. She’d made that crystal clear.

This wasn’t the life she’d planned. She didn’t want to be bitter or unforgiving, but here she was, watching him go. She missed what-could-have-been so badly that she lived with an empty ache. But she had dance. She had determination. She had self-respect.

What she didn’t have was the man she’d wanted with her whole heart.

Dancing in the Dark and the first six books are now in Kindle Unlimited!
Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Dark-Aspen-Gold-Book-ebook/dp/B07XMFSKWG/ref

Thank you for a chance to share on your blog!

Cher  😊

About the Author

Cheryl lives in a big city in the Midwest. When she’s not writing or spending time with her family, she’s checking out garage sales, flea markets & antique malls. Among her collections are teacups & teapots, roosters, vintage spice tins, wooden recipe boxes, Barbies®, charm bracelets, vintage jewelry, Kokeshi dolls, white stoneware, Delftware, Goebel birds, Royal Copley planters, vintage hankies and, of course, books. Cheryl admits she’s a bargain hunter with the heart of a hoarder, trying to live as a minimalist. The struggle is real.

Cheryl kicked off the Aspen Gold Series with Dancing in the Dark. She and her critique group devised a continuity series filled with diverse and entertaining characters. Fans of Robyn Carr’s Virgin River Series will enjoy this multi-author series set in the fictional tourist town, of Spencer, Colorado.  https://www.aspengoldseries.com/

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

Newsletter Signup: https://tinyurl.com/CherylStJohn
email Cheryl at: cheryl@cherylstjohn.com
amazon author page: https://tinyurl.com/y6js92y8
Visit her on the web: http://www.cherylstjohn.net/
BookBub:  https://www.bookbub.com/profile/cheryl-st-john
Like her Facebook author page:  https://www.facebook.com/CherylStJ
Amazon:  https://tinyurl.com/y6js92y8
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/_CherylStJohn_
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/cherylstjohn/
She’s a Pinterest junkie!  https://www.pinterest.com/cheryl_stjohn/
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/24516.Cheryl_St_John

A plan for the rest of February? 

No worries! February has so much love to share all month long. From everyone paying attention to their hearts and getting check-ups to some social reminders to check in as we also celebrate Black History Month. 

If ever there was a month to take care of yourself and others, it is February. The post-January excitement is over and the reality that the new year is no longer exciting, it just is, begins to settle. If you are like me, you are also enduring some cold, winter weather. Brrrrr. This adds to the long list of things to do. 

So, it’s the 17th. I enjoy doing guided journals. I’m actually working on one for 2023. Here is a rough draft type sample. Maybe you can give me some feedback! If you love it, or hate it, or have suggestions, post here or send me a message. All my links are below. 

Grab a journal and let’s get started!

• February 17th: Read this blog post and set up a plan based on the rest of the month’s suggestions.
• February 18th-Feel good Friday!: The weekend may or may not signal some down time ahead for you. Today, take time to think of one thing that makes you feel great and take note of this day and every day after!
• February 19th-Something new Saturday: Try something new today. I’m not saying you are going to like, it, but at least you can say you tried it. Never had kimchi before? Take a bite. Never watched a scary movie? Try one in the afternoon so you rom-com have plenty of time to watch a rom-com afterward! Lol. 
• February 20th-Self Reflection Sunday: Since Sunday is usually the rest and prep day before the week launches again, take some time to rest and reflect. What went right this past week? What went wrong? Do you have 3 goals for next week? Write them down.
• February 21st-Me, Me, Me Monday: That’s right! In the hustle and bustle of another manic Monday, look at your watch and give yourself 5-10 minutes to do something that is just about YOU. 
• February 22nd-Tell Me About It Tuesday: Watched a movie, read a book? We always get so much negative stuff in our social media feeds, share something fun and recommend it to others. 
• February 23rd-We, We, We, Wednesday: If Monday was all about you, Wednesday should be about someone else. Take time to make that call, send that email, or text and say hi to that person you’ve been meaning to connect with. It will probably make their day. 
• February 24th-Think about it Thursday: If you could be any animal, what would it be and why? Write a little reflection and then let it be. You’ll come back to it later. 🙂
• February 25th-Feeling This Friday: Touch is a sense we take for granted until we are tuned into something and purposefully pay attention. Take some time to touch something. 
• February 26th-Selfish Saturday: Be selfish today, take 30 minutes to read, relax, something just for you! 
• February 27th-Sunday Funday: Take some time to reflect on your past week, but also have some fun. Go back to that journal entry on what kind of animal you would be. Find any insight there? If not, look up the animal and see what traits you are proud of or are seeking to bring into your life.
• February 28th-Monday Meanings: You did it. If you journaled every day and worked on these, then hopefully, it has brought you to a new habit that you can use to track your personal adventures. It may seem silly or frivolous but taking 5-30 minutes of your day for your own well-being is never selfish. People can’t draw water from an empty well, so you help no one if you don’t refill that source within you.

If you are interested in contemporary, sports romance, reverse harem style, you may want to consider joining my Patreon team. Even the $1 tier has access to the story I am writing in there before publishing it anywhere else.

Join me at Swift University where a good girl has decided to go very, very bad. Readers get to weigh in on the character development, naming rights, and of course my patrons are thanked in the acknowledgements of the book. 

Here’s a look at the first cover. 

Links:
Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/musesandsirens
Right now March is a Patreon exclusive! Read it before everyone else does by joining the team. 

Website: http://www.creativewritingwithdrnagle.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorCaraNorth
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caranorthauthor/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caranorthauthor
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/caranorth_author/?hl=en
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20650398.Cara_North
BookBub : https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cara-north
Amazon Author Page:  https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B002BLLE1U
TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdht9Kg1/

Some of y’all might have seen this yesterday on Facebook, Instagram, and in my newsletter!

Happy Valentine’s Day! As a small token of my appreciation to you, my readers, I’m giving away copies of my short story, “Hunk of Burning Love” for a very short time, so get your copy now!

A woman accidentally sets her kitchen on fire while trying to catch the eye of a Texas firefighter…

“Hunk of Burning Love” is a short story in my Cowboys on the Edge series!
Please share this giveaway with your friends!

Get your FREE copy here!

Happy Reading! ~DD

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🏍‿➹⁀☠️‿➹⁀🏍🏍‿➹⁀☠️‿➹⁀🏍

Arrow (Tattered Souls MC: Book 2)
By Kennedi Darling
Now Available on Amazon & FREE on Kindle Unlimited
mybook.to/ArrowTSMC

🏍‿➹⁀☠️‿➹⁀🏍🏍‿➹⁀☠️‿➹⁀🏍

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On the outside looking in, Arrow seems like your typical MC President. He’s a broody asshole with a short temper, always has a permanent scowl, growls orders at everyone under his command, and doesn’t take shit from anyone. As a former marine that was groomed to take over the presidency from his father, he was born for this life. With the tattoos that cover his skin and his ever-present don’t give a fuck attitude, people respect him and do what he says the first time. Every time.

That was all true until a feisty raven-haired vixen walks into his bar, sits on his designated stool, and turns his world upside down.

Excerpt: Arrow (Tattered Souls MC: Book 2)  © 2022 Kennedi Darling

“Figured you’d run off by now,” I smirked as I walked back out to the bar, the raven-haired beauty not so subtly, tracked my every move, licking her lips. I didn’t miss the way a flush grew on her chest and her hand stopped with her glass halfway to her mouth. I winked when she knew I’d caught her gawking.

“And miss the rest of the show?” she said with a laugh, gesturing to the now empty bar. “Besides, I hadn’t finished my drink. After the day I had, I wasn’t letting it go to waste.”

“Pfft,” I snorted. Gesturing to her drink I asked, “What’s your poison?”

“Tequila. Ca—”

Wrapping my fingers around hers, I tipped her glass toward me and finished the last of her drink. Bold? Hell yes, but she didn’t hide the way she eyed my lips or the way she was breathing harder.

“Casa Noble, you’ve got good taste.” She and Bash favored the same brand. That was a good sign.

Refilling her glass, and pouring a whiskey for myself, I moved around the bar, set the glasses down, and pressed myself into her personal space, caging in her back, but giving her enough time to tell me to back off if I were out of line. When she sucked in a breath, I smirked and leaned in to nip the edge of her ear. A shock of something passed through me when I touched her, like the live end of a wire, spreading heat throughout my entire body.

“You’re in my seat, beautiful,” I rumbled, nuzzling the side of her neck.

“T-thought this was a free country,” she huffed, a shudder working its way down her body when my breath ghosted over her.

“End-of-the-bar seats are reserved for dirty old men, not sexy as fuck women.”

“Is that what you are? A dirty old man? You don’t look old,” her sultry voice made my balls tingle. My cock twitched within the confines of my jeans, and I silently groaned. This woman could be trouble with a capital T.

Arrow

Calista:

Living fast-paced days of endless work and finding pleasure in one-night stands was how I enjoyed my life. At twenty-eight, my career as a psychiatrist was fulfilling, and I had too much to accomplish to allow myself to be distracted by foolish things like relationships and love. But the night I walked into his bar threatened to break my resolve.

He was everything I shouldn’t want and everything I secretly craved. The most potent addiction I couldn’t get enough of, no matter how hard I tried.

Arrow:

As President of the Tattered Souls MC, life had a way of speeding by.

Forty had crept up on my door, and between the military and my club, I’d never expended the energy it took to find my queen. Until the night she came into my bar. Gorgeous, feisty, and smart as a whip, she didn’t let me get away with anything. Despite her determination to keep me at arm’s length, I was a man used to getting what I wanted.

So, when fate intervened, it was my chance to make her mine. Now, I had to find a way to keep her safe from the dangers that haunted us both long enough to claim her as my own.

**Arrow is the second book in the Tattered Souls MC. It features an Age Gap, a heroine with a disdain for bikers, and a hero who will do everything it takes to change her mind.

This story includes a HEA, no cliffhangers, and no cheating. It is recommended that the series be read in order as there are continuing elements that follow the club from book to book, however, each couples’ story is completed within the pages of its own book.

Adult Content Warning: This book contains explicit language, sexual scenes, and violence.