Oh My Gosh! It's So Early!

 

      

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

        It’s early Sunday morning as I write this (yes, really early…I was up at four!). I’m not sure why that is….it is Sunday, after all. I could sleep in…but that doesn’t seem to happen much anymore. My idea of sleeping in is sleeping until six. I know! When did all that happen?

        I remember being a teenager and having the capacity to sleep ALL day (much to the aggravation of my mother, who frowned upon such things and forced me out of bed). Of course, at that point in my life, I didn’t get to sleep until after three or four in the morning. I was too busy reading (hahahahaha, yes, I was one of those who read into the wee hours of the morning with a flashlight under the covers). Here’s a hint…don’t read anything by Stephen King at that time! You’ll never get to sleep at all…I learned that the hard way!

        Now? I find it difficult to stay up past ten (I do, on occasion, but boy, do I pay for it because no matter how late I stay up, I’m still awake by four-thirty—no alarm necessary)! I guess, over the years, I have trained myself to be a ‘morning’ person (and a cheerful one at that, which annoys my DH no end. Ah well, the dogs like it). My brain seems to function better in the morning AND it’s prime writing time for me. I actually wake up with words in my head, ready to work on my current story which is good, because after the day job, my brain doesn’t want to function at all.

        Speaking of working on my current story, I just finished the proof for The Maverick & Miss Miller and submitted it back to my publisher. Whoooo-hoooo! Now that that is done, I can go back to The Marshal & Mrs. Morgan. The story is coming along pretty well, I think. 

        And that’s about all for me. The Marshal & Mrs. Morgan isn’t going to write itself so I need to get to it (hahahahaha, before I run out of words).

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

Marie

CONFOUNDING THE EARL by Lexi Post has Released!

Confounding the Earl

Confounding the Earl

(Courting a Curious Lady: Book 2)

by Lexi Post

has Released!

He made her successful. So why does he feel like he’s failed?

Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon CA | Amazon DE  

Lady Dorothea Ansley knows she baffles her mother and annoys her father with her prattle. Luckily, her fellow Curious Ladies are patient with her and great company during the season. But the season is coming to a close, and she is still without an offer of marriage. She needs a proposal quickly before her mother’s wandering eye causes a scandal and all chances of marriage disappear. As she stands alone at the final ball, she unwittingly catches the attention of Lord Harewood, but in a very different way than she expects.

Lord Felton Ambrose is quite good at predicting what will occur next whether it be in parliament or the next couple to be betrothed, but he never would have predicted Lady Dorothea’s conversation at the season’s final fete would be of any interest to him in the least. Curious if the moment was simply a serendipitous occurrence, he ensures that she’s invited to his family’s upcoming house party. She is the perfect lady for whom to find a suitor and achieve his goal of improving the reputation of the Belinda School for Curious Ladies to best honor the woman after which it was named.

Though his social experiment is a success and multiple men become enamored of Lady Dorothea, he is not at all happy. The lady has changed according to his sage advice, and she has taught him a few lessons on happiness in the process. By all rights, he should be basking in the glow of a goal reached, a victory hard won, but for the first time in his life, he fears he may, just possibly, have been wrong. Has he done the greatest disservice to Lady Dorothea, to the school, and to himself? More importantly, will he be too late to rectify his mistake?

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 Running Grave by Robert Galbraith

 Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott are back at it.  As partners in a private detective agency, they manage to do superior investigating while hiding the heart.

Strike and Robin have extreme feelings for one another, but there are always too many barriers.  One or another is dating someone else, work, timing, work, admittance, work, and anything else that can keep them from admitting their feelings at the same time.

The current case involves parents of Will who hire Strike and Robin to get him out of what they consider a religious cult.  Robin demands she go undercover to infiltrate the religious camp.  

More dangerous than expected, Strike keeps his promise to Robin, no matter how much it aggravates him, to update her boyfriend on her wellbeing.  Strike insists to himself that he'd be better at keeping Robin happy, but he hasn't found the right moment to reveal to Robin his thoughts.  He shouldn't, but he might.

Robin likes her boyfriend, but in times of danger and being exhausted on the low rations at the camp and scared at the same time, she first thinks of Strike.  

They have no idea of the deeply guarded romantic feelings they share.

The investigation keeps them from diving into their true feelings, but rather urgent on saving Will from his certain demise at the hands of the cult.

Strike and Robin both admit to themselves who they want in their life, but can they find a way to express their growing love?  Or is the case the only thing they solve?

 Each installment of the series brings love a touch closer, yet when will love be the final mystery solved?  

Happy reading,

Dawn

First Edits Done

 

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

        So, I just finished a marathon editing session on The Maverick & Miss Miller. I’m tired and my brain hurts BUT I have to say, I’m thrilled with the result…even though I could continue on.  

        I’m one of those. Good enough is never good enough so even though my brain hurts, the longer I look at the manuscript, the more things I want to add, delete or rephrase (I also came up with some interesting things for future stories! How I did that, I haven’t a clue!).

At some point, though, you have to stop, take a moment, and submit. Easier said than done!

        I like my new editor. She’s wonderful—smart and funny and really knows her stuff! She gave me some very sage advice and quite a few helpful tips. She was also very good at pointing out some of the things I do that I hadn’t realized. Going through some of her comments, I just had to laugh (at myself…my gosh, my characters breathe. A lot! I’ve written several books and had several editors, but never realized it. That will be changing…oh, they’ll still breathe…but no one has to know!). I was also reminded that I tend to ‘run away’ from the hard things. I didn’t realize that, either. That will be changing, too (along with a few other things). 

All in all, this was a big learning experience for me and I’m taking those lessons to heart. In fact, I’m putting what I learned into practice—today—with the next book (The Marshal & Mrs. Morgan) in the series. I’m also going to go through Wife By Surprise and use the same editing techniques to make the story better. Yes, even though my brain is tired, I’m raring to go!

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

Marie

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

 A memoir with romantic elements will touch all your hearts for animals and love between people.  

James Herriot, newly graduated from veterinary school in the early 1900's, finds a local Yorkshire veterinarian to work with.  School is nothing like real life and most of his experiences can only be taught by doing.

Working in the English countryside, enduring the rain, winds, and snow, the farm animals are loved and in need of care.  This leaves James little time for a young woman he has his eye on when her father's stock needs attention.  

James doesn't enjoy a cow or sheep needing his care, but he feels a different type of adrenalin when visiting Helen's farm.  Pushing himself to get the nerve to ask her for a date, it doesn't end well.  Neither does his next attempt on another lass.  

Maybe he's only comfortable around the animals whose heart he knows how to mend.

Yet, he doesn't give up.  Slow but steadfast, he finds a way to interest Helen in another outing.  And then another.  Love blooms in the spring!

Happy reading,

Dawn

Another 'First'

 

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

This year has had a number of ‘firsts’ for me and it’s kind of unsettling, but also a bit exciting. I’ve never had a book up for Pre-Order so that was a first (and a very exciting one at that…check it out).

https://www.amazon.com/Maverick-Miss-Miller-Matchmaker-Mischief-ebook/dp/B0DB2QFV6P

So what new ‘first’ happened recently?

I took my car to the car wash. I’ve never ever done that before. I’m one of those….wash my car in the yard with a bucket, sponge and hose. I’ve always done it that way simply because I’m frugal (the DH would say cheap, but it’s not cheap to do things yourself…it’s spending money wisely…at least that’s the way I look at it).

Anyway, as you may know, I live in Arizona…Phoenix, specifically…and this year, the heat just…got to me. I’d much rather spend my time hibernating in the coolness of air conditioning than do anything outside. In fact, if I didn’t have to leave the house, that was just fine with me (although we all know it’s not possible…there are errands to run and the day job, too).

So I was looking at my car one morning as I was getting ready to go to work and noticed (no, not for the first time, but I was ignoring it) just how absolutely dirty it was so I decided: why not take it to one of the many, many car washes around here? I kid you not, in the space of a three-mile radius, there are at least eight car washes—two within a mile of each other. So I did and…

I didn’t like it very much. I’m a tad claustrophobic so being inside my car inside the building with all that soap and water and brushes coming at my face…well, my anxiety level shot up a bit…but that wasn’t my biggest fear. It was being pulled along by the conveyor belt, the sound it made…and rolling off at the end. That’s where my anxiety level really spike…there was a terrible sound as I came to the end of my journey and put the car in drive. I think it was just the sound of coming off that conveyor belt, but I’m not sure. All I know is that it startled me.  

I spent the next couple days worrying that I may have damaged my tire (my new one). I didn’t, of course, but that didn’t stop me from obsessing about it or checking a couple times a day.

Will I do it again? Maybe, but I think the next time, I’ll try a different location…maybe one of those where they wash your car by hand and I won’t have to go through that weird tube…and most importantly, roll off that conveyor belt.

Other than that exciting (and scary) experience, things here in the Patrick household are good. I’m working hard. Writing, writing, writing and taking care of everything, which is what I do. The Marshal & Mrs. Morgan is coming along pretty well. I so love it when my characters surprise me and they are surprising me! And I’m expecting edits for The Maverick & Miss Miller within the next few days. I’m excited about that, too.

And that’s about all for me. Still lots more stuff to be done and so little time to do it. Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

The Witch is Back by Sophie Morgan

 I had to dive into a witchy book before the season because I love them!  I'm sure I'll have more for you this fall.

Emmaline Bluewater has left her witch family of her own accords.  Chicago offers her a new family of friends, including her mixed mutt familiar, a suave bar named Toil and Trouble, and purposefully not using magic- most of the time. 

Contracted to marry Bastian Truenote in order to bring hierarchy to her family, Emma wanted OUT after he left without a word, note, or any explanation.  That's when she found her new and very pleasing lifestyle owning a bar and running her own life without her meddling mother.

Always the cavalier and carefree warlock, Bastian left for Egypt and any other location he fancied immediately before the marriage was to take place to Emma, his BFF in childhood.

They both didn't know why he left, avoiding the nuptials.  

Curses and hexes played a part in both their naivete of the sudden change in course, but Bastian came back.  He had to marry Emma to save his mother.

And the story gets more tangled on who threw the last spell, how to undo them, and who's to really blame in the game of love and marriage.  

Choose this romcom as your start to the witchy season only a few short weeks away!  

Spooky reading,

Dawn