Time Flies

 

        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

        By the time you read this, it will Wednesday, November 12…so I’d like to ask…where has time gone? The days seem to be flying by so quickly, I can’t keep up.

        The day job is kicking my butt. Not enough hours in the day to get everything done. Same with stuff at home…not enough hours to get it all done, plus Thanksgiving is coming up, which means I need to find time to prepare. It is my favorite holiday and I do love all the things that go along with it—the cooking, the baking (I have a killer cheesecake recipe that everyone loves), and all the rest. I will admit I enjoy all that stuff.

        All that being said, I don’t let lack of time stop me from writing. I get up early and write before the day job and household chores have time to kick my butt.

        Speaking of writing, my current work in progress is kicking my butt, too. Why? Well, we’d have to ask my characters that. It seems that they have decided to go off and do things the way they want. Like they have their own agenda and really don’t care about my plot points…or what I want them to do.

        Case in point. I had a plan (and the lead up) to Wyatt and Sheridan’s first kiss. Well, my hero, Wyatt, decided that he didn’t like the timing at all…so he just went and did it on his own before I was ready. I guess he was and it didn’t matter that I wasn’t.

        Of course, him stepping up and stepping out of sequence, just threw a whole monkey wrench into my plan. The worst part? He was right! That first kiss should have happened when he wanted it to, not when I thought it should!

        This is not the first time this has happened. I’ve had many other characters, at one point or another, just completely disregard my plans and just do what they wanted to do. And yes, they were right as well.

        I like to think you can teach an old dog (me) new tricks and maybe, just maybe, I should start listening to my characters instead of being so stubborn (yes, I am stubborn and I’m not afraid to own it) and let them do what they want when they want. It seems these characters I have created in my head know better than me, which is really strange when you think about it. They are my characters! My creations! How can they know better than the person who created them?

        I can’t answer that question. Obviously, I don’t know, but I think it’s time I let them take the lead. That being said, I’m going to open up my work in progress and see what surprises Wyatt and Sheridan have for me. Could be interesting. Could be fun.

        And that’s all for me. Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith

 I could not wait to flip the pages of Galbraith's (J.K. Rowling) eighth story in the Strike and Ellacott mystery/romance encounter.

It did not disappoint.

Taking on a controversial case attached to a dismembered body found in the vault of a silver shop, Cormoran Strike and his partner Robin Ellacott are investigating if the body belongs to the boyfriend of a rich client.  They don't necessarily need to know who it is, just whether it's the boyfriend or not.  

This narrow inquiry keeps them from overstepping the police's investigation.  That's the intention, anyway.

Strike's and Robin's probe leads off in many tangents, which includes their suppressed feelings.  Every time Strike or Robin considers revealing how they feel about one another, a roadblock appears.  Whether it's because they can't get together, their cases pull them in different directions, or more subtly they misread each other, their thoughts and feelings don't get expressed.  

More obviously, Robin's boyfriend appears to be a keeper and Strike's reputation doesn't help.

Strike tries to work closer with Robin to give him an advantage, which typically backfires.  He plans to lay his heart at her feet when he gets the chance, and he's incredibly frustrated that the chance hasn't happened yet.

Robin insists to herself that her boyfriend, Ryan, should be the one for her because he's a good guy.  She tries not to admit that might not be enough when thoughts of Strike bombard her.

The last chapter left me stunned.  A grand ending and a grand beginning for the next saga of Strike and Robin's story.  I can't wait.

Happy reading,

Dawn

 

I'm Just Rambling

 

        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

        My DH and I have been married for a long time. Forty-five years coming up in January and I just noticed something last night. I have taken on his way of rambling. Let me explain. He’ll start a conversation on a specific topic…and then he starts rambling because one thought will lead to another and another and another. At some point, he’ll say “what was I talking about?”. Well, I’ve gotten really good at recapping, telling him where he started and where he ended up so he can pick up his train of thought and get back to the original topic. It’s kinda like taking a tangled mess of string and unraveling it. I will admit, I sometimes will get lost and instead of unraveling, that string gets knotted. He’s been doing this for as long as I’ve known him.

        Now, for the revelation. I realize, after all these years, my brain has taken up this habit of rambling—silently, in my head—but what I didn’t realize is that I am doing this out loud now. It happened while we were watching a movie and it started when I recognized a character then it went to other movies/shows I had seen him in and then it went to who he had been married to…and then, it went to other movies this actor wasn’t even in! I know! What the heck!!!?!?

        It’s also showing up in my writing, which is probably why I consider myself a puzzler (not a pantster or a plotter…yes, I do write out plot points but there’s no big outline). I write the scenes as they come to me then puzzle them together. So far, that has worked for me, but today, when I sat down to write, I found two places where I had already written the scene…it was just further along in the story. Good grief! All the words, not once, but twice.

        The obvious conclusion? There isn’t one…except I’m rambling! And it seems to be taking over. Does anyone know of a cure?

        And on that note, I’m going to open my current WIP, which is The Madam and Mr. MacLean, and see if I can’t stay focused and not ramble (or repeat myself). Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

MASQUE by Lexi Post is on sale for only 99¢ for a few more days!

Masque by Lexi Post

It’s that time of year! If you like hot romance and ghosts, this story is for you.

Only 99¢ (usually $4.99) 

for 3 more days!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble  | AppleBooks  | Kobo | Amazon UK  | Amazon AU | Amazon CA 

Rena Mills plans to turn an abandoned abbey into a haunted bed-and-breakfast to prove she can be successful without her ex-fiancé. What she finds inside is Synn MacAllistair, the distinguished, self-proclaimed Ghost Keeper. Her dreams soon fill with sexual cravings for him. But are they dreams?

Synn, born in 1828, is determined to free the souls of the resident spirits, blaming himself for bringing the Red Death that killed them. When Rena steps into the old Pleasure Palace, he’s sure he can take her through the after-midnight Pleasure Rooms and stoke her passion to complete the Masque so the souls can cross over. Her innocent fire makes him crave more, but it’s far too late for him.

As Rena begins her erotic journey, her heart becomes more involved with every sensual caress until she discovers by completing the Masque she would lose her ghosts. Synn’s betrayal wars with her compassion for her ghostly friends. Torn, she must make a choice between her financial security and freeing seventy-three trapped souls. Either way, she could lose her Synn.

About Lexi:

Lexi Post is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of romance inspired by the classics. She spent years in higher education taking and teaching courses about the classical literature she loved. From Edgar Allan Poe's short story “The Masque of the Red Death” to Tolstoy’s War and Peace, she's read, studied, and taught wonderful classics.

But Lexi's first love is romance novels so she married her two first loves, romance and the classics. Whether it’s sizzling cowboys, dashing dukes, hot immortals, or hunks from out of this world, Lexi provides a sensuous experience with a “whole lotta story.”

Lexi is living her own happily ever after with her husband and her two cats in Florida. She makes her own ice cream every weekend,
loves bright colors, and you’ll never see her without a hat.

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The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandannna

 Mika Moon.  You'd think her name gives her away as a witch.  

In the current day of England, there are a lot of rules to being a witch such as don't let anyone know, don't live with another witch, and don't breed.  How can it be any fun to have extraordinary powers if you can't use them?

Mika thinks she's outsmarting the system by starting a blog and giving hints online under an alias.  Her blog reveals tiny witchy secrets.  This helps her still feel like a witch without anyone knowing.  So she thinks.

A couple hours across the country exists a mansion, the Nowhere House, with a few caretakers, an archeologist, a protective librarian, and three young, orphaned witch sisters.  Jamie, the librarian, senses what Mika is hiding, so he sends her a message requesting her assistance in educating the girls.  

Moving frequently, Mika figures this is
an opportunity to do something useful.  Granted, this breaks a huge witch rule, yet she wants to do it.

Jamie, handsome as can be, has no intentions of getting along with Mika.  She's an intrusion to the "family's" carefully contained life.  

Mika's move-in comes with transitions to everyone's life.  Most of it smooth until the fact that now four witches, maybe more, are living together.  It gets worse when an evil source discovers the magic in the house.  

Then all evil breaks loose, and Mika needs to decide if she can risk the witch rules in order to save the family and home that she is very comfortable with.  An increasing and unexpected fondness, bordering on a romantic dalliance with Jaime gives her strength and courage to go all the way.  

As long as no one gets burned, melted, or vaporized, love and happiness will survive. 

Happy Halloween,

Dawn

  

Another Sunday Morning

 

        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

        It’s another early Sunday morning as I sit down at my computer and write to you all. Today, it’s raining. Not hard (at least by me), but it is thundering and lightning. And it’s wonderful.

        Not for the dogs so much. Neither one of them likes thunder…or any loud noises for that matter. My smaller girl, and I only say that because she weighs less than her sister at one hundred pounds—my big girl is one hundred and forty pounds—is laying under my desk (as best she can…it’s amazing how ‘small’ she can make herself) where I can rest my feet on her. Gives her comfort to know I am there. My big girl is hiding in the bathroom, where she usually goes when she’s afraid. Sometimes they both end up in there.

        Sunday is my busy day. It’s the day when I get to catch up on all the things I didn’t accomplish Saturday or during the week. It started off this morning with reading my critique partner’s pages (which is always a pleasure and starts me off in a good mood). From there, I ordered needed items from Amazon (not my favorite thing to do, but a necessary evil).

        I also worked on our living trust paperwork (lots of paperwork to fill out) and then I had to renew my girls’  licenses. Maricopa County has a new way of renewing now. It’s online so I had to set up our profiles, etc., but it’s done. They’ll get new tags, too. The last thing I need to do is upload proof that they’ve received their shots, which will have to wait until tomorrow because my printer/scanner is broken and I need to scan their records.

        I’ll have to tell you about bringing my scaredy-cat girls to the vet for their shots…it was straight out of the Three Stooges…my girls are big, as I already mentioned, and when they don’t want to do something, they don’t. Needless to say, after that ordeal, both the DH and I were exhausted…it’s really hard trying to get a dog to move when they’re as big as you and they just don’t want to!              And now, being that the other items on my to-do list are done, I get to do the fun stuff. I get to work on The Madam and Mr. MacLean and hopefully write a few hundred words before I clean out the fridge, make my list and go grocery shopping.

        Yes, Sundays are my busy day, but it’s all good.

        Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go! Marie

What The Hex by Alexis Daria

 Isla Bruja is an island hosting the two largest Latina witch families and their union through a spectacular wedding.  

Catalina Cartagena takes a big breath and brooms herself from New York back to her family's island.  She had escaped the island many moons ago because she wanted to resist being a witch, but as her sister's maid of honor it is time to return.

Catalina's nemesis from high school, Diego Paz, is the best man.  Her luck doesn't seem to be changing.  Granted, nerd to super- sexy is an okay start when she spots him on the island.

Distracting her from Diego, she notices a strange vibe on the island.  Her intuition is confirmed after meeting the groom.  The groom's eyes are distant, which definitely indicates he's possessed by a demon along with most of the witches on the island.

Except Diego.

Time to overcome her negativity toward an old grudge.  Diego and she are the only ones who can exorcise the demon.  

Diego is handsome, smart, and incredibly nice.  What happened??  Catalina is amazed at how easy they get along, yet she remains leery of his approachability.  However, she needs to get over it and make a plan with him to save the families and the island.

After Diego reveals his secret, baring his soul, Catalina is shocked.  They bare more than their souls while fighting the island demon.  

Island magic won't dare miss out on another romance and happily-ever-after as long as Diego and Catalina let their hearts be heard.

Happy reading,

Dawn