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Friday, September 30, 2016

October is Lexi Post Mask Giveaway Month

I just love Halloween and dressing up as someone I'm not. I like who I am, but being mysterious is fun too ;-)

My first published book, MASQUE started my tradition of giving away beautifully hand-decorated Venetian masks made in Italy. Now over 3 years later, I still give them away, but October has become the month when I give away the most!

So here are the places and days where I'll be offering chances to win:

Oct 2- Here on Happily Ever After Thoughts
Oct 12 - Fall into Passion on Facebook
Oct 15-Halloween Book Bash on Facebook 
Oct 17- Celebrate With a Book blog 
Oct 17- In my newsletter. 
Oct 18 - Sable Hunter's Godsend Release Party on Facebook
Oct 22 - Musings of a Reader blog 
Oct 28 -Get Lost in a Story blog
Oct 29 from 8-8:30pm -  Cariad Books Spooktacular Party on Facebook
Oct 30 - Kathy Daley Books Halloween Spooktacular on Facebook

In the meantime, if you are looking for a good Halloween read, either MASQUE or PASSION OF SLEEPY HOLLOW may be just what you're looking for. Just sayin' ;-)

Always, Lexi 

 

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

The Unknowns of Eastern Europe…



I recently returned with jet lag from a tour of Eastern Europe, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia (home of the handsome professional cyclist, Peter Sagan), Hungary, and Austria.  It was a fantastic trip, all the history, sites, food, and culture.  We all know that’s what can be enjoyable in a foreign tour.

I’ll tell you a few things people don’t usually comment on, serious and not-so-serious.

The fields in the northern countries are covered with corn, sunflowers, and solar panels.


The toilet paper is like a strip of Bounty…not soft.

Some water closets (toilets) require a fee.

Prague and other cities have a scooper person following the horse carriages.

Wine is served with all meals!

Hot men own wineries.  Their favorite wine is red.

Eating and drinking on a river boat in Budapest (pronounced Budapesht) after the sun retreats is phenomenal.  Buda is on one side of the Danube River and Pest on the other.

Dogs can go into restaurants and water closets.

Coffee is served per half-cup.  Plenty of room for cream and sugar (I don’t use those).

Brie cheese was included with every morning breakfast.  I acquired a taste for cheese with breakfast.

There are armed guards in front of palaces and around the Hungarian jeweled crown, which had been guarded in the US for many years.

Vienna is paradise.  Time to pour a glass of wine.

You can walk the streets at night and feel safe in all of our locations…yet watch out for pick pockets.  My husband and I outsmarted the group of three studying us.  Yeah!

The Hapsburgs ruled all of Bavaria (all these countries and more) for 640 years.  The summer cottage is smaller than the winter palace.  They’re both palaces and I find that funny…the summer palace has about 1400 rooms.

A Viennese symphony concert in the king’s palace is outstanding. 

By the way, does anyone read or write about the Hapsburg reign?  I bought a book and it remains somewhere in Eastern Europe.   Along with the bookmark.

The shower in the Vienna hotel, the Renaissance, had a Renaissance print on the whole wall of the shower.  If I ever remodel my shower, I know what it will look like!

Austrian Alps are magnificent.  The lower mountains have not had snow on the caps for the last twelve years during summer.  First time in recorded history.

The Kleinstanhaus, Eagle’s Nest as named by American soldiers, is on top of a mountain and former home of Hitler.  An amazing piece of architecture and history.

I must say that the funny and fantastic local guide for Austria, Natasha, told us that the “N” word (Nazi) must never be used and never raise the arm in “Heil Hitler.”  You will be pummeled. 

Yodeling is easy.  Just say… Little old lady who, Little old lady who.  Yeah, right. Natasha told our group not to give up our day jobs. 

Hell, let’s have some more wine!

I think long distance flying sucks.  I’m not afraid and I don’t get sick.  It’s really hard to sit in one place for so long.  Alcohol affects me greatly, but I still can never sleep.  Each end of the trip resulted in being wide awake for 22-24 hours.  Bring a book or three.

I must leave this on a good note.  I love men with a European accent.  It makes them all sexy.  I think that’s part of the requirements for the waiters.  I have a picture of one.  Actually, I have 664 other pictures, but I won’t bore you as I did my mother. 

This trip has given me a "total feel" of writing books located in these countries.  I can't wait to get to them! 

I’m sure I left a lot out, but I hope you enjoyed my virtual tour!

Travel lots, travel safely, bring a book,

Dawn

Sunday, September 25, 2016

A Scot in the Dark

Hello HEA lovers,

Today I'm sitting down and taking time for myself. I'll be reading Sarah MacLean's A Scot in the Dark. I seriously can't wait. If you like witty banter and regency romances, then join me and take the day off to read and giggle. Her other books were all amazing, so I'm banking on this one to be the same.

Lonesome Lily turned Scandalous Siren
Miss Lillian Hargrove has lived much of her life alone in a gilded cage, longing for love and companionship. When an artist offers her pretty promises and begs her to pose for a scandalous portrait, Lily doesn’t hesitate . . . until the lying libertine leaves her in disgrace. With the painting now public, Lily has no choice but to turn to the one man who might save her from ruin.

Highland Devil turned Halfhearted Duke
The Duke of Warnick loathes all things English, none more so than the aristocracy. It does not matter that the imposing Scotsman has inherited one of the most venerable dukedoms in Britain—he wants nothing to do with it, especially when he discovers that the unwanted title comes with a troublesome ward, one who is far too old and far too beautiful to be his problem.

Tartan Comes to Town
Warnick arrives in London with a single goal: get the chit married and see her become someone else’s problem, then return to a normal, quiet life in Scotland. It’s the perfect plan, until Lily declares she’ll only marry for love . . . and the Scot finds that there is one thing in England he likes far too much . . .


Four Free Books!

If you haven't read The Big Blind or Deadly Dancing, now is the time to do so. Not only are they free, they also have a link at the end for the next book in the series for free as well. Take advantage of a total of 4 FREE books.

http://www.nicolettepierce.com/books/deadly-dancing/


http://www.nicolettepierce.com/books/the-big-blind/



Friday, September 23, 2016

Can you say FudGe?

Hey, all.  Good to see you here again.  Hope ya’all are doing fabulous!  I’ve missed ya.  LOL

Well, today’s blog is about Stupid Girl…you remember her, don’t you?  The girl who occasionally camps on my couch and does really stupid crap.  She even has the gall to occasionally show up in my mirror occasionally—how she does that, I have no freaking clue.

Anyway, last night I’m typing along doing my writing thing, when this stupid computer (which I am fast coming to hate) suddenly goes into hyper-drive and is deleting my manuscript text like there’s a demon in the keyboard.  I can’t make it stop, and I start to freak out as I watch all my hard-found words disappearing into a black hole.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I hit the delete key, thinking it’s stuck down.

Nothing.

Words disappearing at the speed of sound.

Crap!

I hit the escape key.

Nothing.  Double crap!

Words being sucked into the void like a fat kid eating cake.

I now begin to pound on every key I think might possibly interrupt the huge word-sucking monster, and stop the flush of all my hard work.

NOTHING!!!

By now, I’m in a complete panic and shouting every curse word I know at this possessed computer.  I am freaking out!

As I try to decide what would happen if I just close the document, I can’t think.  Will it save the version with the lost words?  The loss is pages, perhaps chapters, worth of story by now.  I can’t afford the loss, but I can’t think either.  I’m in such a panic over the fast-escalating loss that my brain is high-centered.

I finally decide to just shoot and holler “shit” later…I swallow hard and hit the cancel button.

Nothing.

Just words disappearing off the screen with the speed of a rabbit in a cat house.

Holy crap, Batman!

Now the brain begins to kick in and I realize I probably have a key stuck.  So I try the delete key again.

Nope.

Panic takes hold once more and now I begin to scrape my fingernails across the keyboard, hoping to dislodge whatever key is stuck down.

About three seconds into this attempt, the “G” key becomes airborne and flies across the room.

Seriously?!


Now I’m a key short of a keyboard, and words are continuing to disappear at a sonic rate.  My screen seriously looks like a sink full of letters and someone pulled the plug on the drain, and they are all whooshing down into a virtual sewer.

Time for a last ditch effort.  Hit the button to close the file again.  Even if it saves the file the way it is, at least it’s not all lost.

Yeah!

The huge sucking sound stops and the computer asks me if I want to save the file.

I’m shaking and hyperventilating so badly that I have to stop and think how to answer the question.

Where is the HELL NO button?  There is no freaking HELL NO button.  WTF?!

Okay, the brain finally kicks back into gear and my breathing starts to return to something more normal.  I hit the DON’T SAVE button and the file closes.

Whew!

I look at my keyboard and wonder where the hell all the pieces are.  Now begins the relentless search for little white plastic pieces a quarter the size of a contact lens.  Sigh.  Took about fifteen minutes to find everything, as the “G” key itself was sitting up on the back of the couch and I couldn’t see it until I stood up and started shaking out rugs.

Okay, got what I think are all of the pieces, but my nerves are frazzled.  So I turn out the lights and go to bed before I can do any more damage.

Then morning comes and the house gnomes have done nothing to fix my keyboard overnight.  Guess it’s up to me…and if I can’t, then it’s a trip to Best Buy to talk to the Geek Squad.  So I research on the internet how the little pieces are supposed to fit together.  Then I round up all the tools I will need—two pairs of reading glasses, a magnifying glass, a pair of tweezers, and a fork.

I hear you judging me…you use the tools that work for you…I’ll use what works for me.  There is no tool on the planet that I’m better with than a fork!

Anyway, I spend a half hour watching videos about assembling pieces that look nothing like mine, and finally decide to pop off the “F” key, so I can see clearly how the little hinges underneath are supposed to go together—on my specific machine.  The good news is that I now know how it’s supposed to go together.  The bad news is that I now have two keys to put back on instead of just one.



So I put on both pairs of reading glasses and start to work.  Yeah…that’s not a misprint…I’ve found if I stack the reading glasses one over the other, I can actually read the fine print on medicine bottles—and see the pieces on my damn keyboard.



A half hour later, and a full trip through every curse word in my vocabulary, I finally have the keys back in place.

Yeah!

(NOT)

When I sit back to admire my handiwork, I realize I now have the “F” and “G” keys reversed.

Crap!

So it’s back to the drawing board and another half hour before the keys are solidly back in their rightful places.

Hell Yeah!

So now I’m still trying to work up the courage to open my manuscript.  But I’m pretty sure if I open it and the words are still gone, you will hear me screaming from there.  So cross your fingers for me…and let’s hope Stupid Girl is off being distracted somewhere else today, and not still camped on my couch!

But I guess there is one positive in all of this—well, two.  First, I was able to get the keys back on.  And, second, it was the F and G keys—rather than the F and K keys—or this blog would have had an entirely different title!


That’s my story, frustrating and frantic, and I’m stickin’ to it.  Hang on tight now, ‘cuz we’re gonna go real, real fast!







Love ya,

Kayce

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

In Support of Naps


We’re all so incredibly busy, always running here and there, doing this and that. We’re burning the midnight oil or getting up early, trying to get everything accomplished in the twenty-four hours allotted for each day, with little time for rest and relaxation. 
When was the last time you got 8 hours of sleep? For me, it’s been over 20 years…there’s just too much to do. Of course, I probably bring a lot of this on myself. I have a full time day job after which I come home and do the wife thing (you know, make dinner, clean up, etc.). I cannot go to bed without cleaning the kitchen. Not sure why. I just can’t. I also can’t go to bed without taking a shower or getting ready for the next day. Luckily for me, I don’t have to do the mom thing anymore because my kid is grown and living in another state.
Oh, and I’m a writer, which means any spare minute I can get, I’m on the computer or writing long hand on a pad of paper (which loosely translates to 4:30 in the morning until it’s time to head into work).
         So Saturday, after I met friends for breakfast, came home and performed all my Saturday chores, I decided I wanted to take a nap. After all, the house was clean, the laundry was all done and put away and heck…I deserved it, didn’t I?
Twenty minutes on the couch. That’s all I needed. Or wanted (anything longer and I’m groggy for the rest of the day). A cat nap, as my grandfather called it, also known as a power nap, something I fought against when I was younger. Now? I’d give my eye-teeth for a nap.
         So I lay down on the couch and tried to shut my eyes. They popped open when I thought of some chore I could be doing instead. Forcing myself, I tried again and wouldn’t you know it, couldn’t keep my eyes closed (couldn’t shut off my brain for that matter….kept thinking about all things I should be doing, like finishing that scene in my current WIP or something else equally constructive).
I looked over at my dog comfortably stretched out on the love seat, on her back, legs up in the air and tail wagging. She was asleep. Indeed, she was snoring! So how come I couldn’t shut my eyes and keep them shut for a mere twenty minutes?
         After another try at closing my eyes and having them pop open, I gave up. There would be no nap for me and I knew it.
         In my next life, I’m coming back as a dog…and if dogs could read, it would be perfect!

As always, happy reading (and napping)!
Marie

Friday, September 16, 2016

PASSION OF SLEEPY HOLLOW by Lexi Post and a Mask Giveaway!


Passion of Sleepy Hollow by Lexi Post

Recluse Braeden Van Brunt is not happy to be the Headless Horseman…until he meets Katrina Van Tassel, owner of the Sleepy Hollow Inn, whose allure bewitches him from the front desk into the bedroom. When he discovers Kat and the village of Sleepy Hollow are cursed to exist only in the present day for one weekend a year, he realizes the sacrifice he must make if he wants to keep her.

Katrina Van Tassel lives between slivers of time. She thought she was through grieving her betrothed’s death, but her dreams flare to life when his mirror-image arrives requesting a room. Drawn to Braeden, she is taken to greater heights of intimacy than she ever imagined, but she can’t be sure if her heart is with him or with the love from her past.

Knowing he must conquer both time and ghosts to keep the only woman he’s ever loved, Braeden must put the past to rest. But the dead won’t rest in Sleepy Hollow.

Buy Links:



Excerpt:
    Kat closed the door to her room and leaned against it. Her heart raced so fast it could beat a squirrel up a tree. Licking her lips, she closed her eyes. Braeden’s kiss brought back all those wonderful feelings she used to have with Brom. The ones where her toes curled inside her buckle shoes and her body quivered.
    She crossed her arms over her stomach. She hadn’t had those with anyone else since. Not even slightly. What was she going to do? She’d been desperate to get away, and now he would be staying the night. She opened her eyes. Staying in her room. Oh, Lord.
    Moving to her chest at the end of the bed, she pulled out a pillow and threw it on the floor. She’d already changed the sheets because he was supposed to leave. It had been so hard not to bury her face in his unique scent. It reminded her of the forest after a rainstorm, musky, comforting, making her want to snuggle in for a winter hibernation.
    Ugh, what was she thinking? He was Stephen’s brother, a Newtimer, and he would leave tomorrow.
    Oh no. The village would be long gone by then. What would happen to Braeden then? She glanced toward the door, listening to the floorboards creak under his weight. Quickly, she pulled her quilt from the chest and grabbed the pillow.
    Too late.
    The door opened and he ducked inside, obliterating the opening from her sight. He stood stock-still, studying her once again. The lantern light softened his features, proving how different he really appeared from Brom.
    Straightening her shoulders, she stepped toward him. “Your room is all set. I’ll just make my bed in the parlor.”
    He didn’t move, and she couldn’t go through the door unless he did.
    “Braeden? You need to step aside for me to leave.”
    “And what if I don’t want you to leave?”
    Her breath caught in her throat as tingling sped from her head to her toes. She swallowed hard. “What do you mean?” She turned away to give herself a moment without looking at his handsome visage. “Did I forget something?”
    The floor creaked behind her and she stepped forward to inspect the water pitcher. If he touched her again, she’d be lost. She turned to review the bed. “I assure you these are clean sheets.”
    The door closed.
    She spun and the quilt knocked the pitcher off the table onto the floor with a crash. “Oh no.” She knelt, suddenly wanting to cry, though the pitcher wasn’t anything special. In fact, it had a crack along the handle and was bound to break soon anyway.
    “Come. It’s okay.” Braeden’s hands on her arms helped her to stand and sent fire through her already taut nerves.
    Gently, he enveloped her in his arms. Her heart slowed as a feeling of rightness settled through her. With her face against his chest, she could hear his strong heartbeat.
    “Kat.” The soft-spoken word came from deep within him and she met his gaze. “Don’t be mad at me.”
    The loneliness she glimpsed in his eyes undid her. Before she could think about what she did, she hooked her hand around his neck and pulled him forward for a kiss. 

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. From hot paranormals to sizzling cowboys to 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 cat in Florida. She makes her own ice cream every weekend, loves bright colors, and you will never see her without a hat.


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