Category: Uncategorized

Her Ladyship’s Ring #MFRWorg Book Hooks

  By Uncategorized

Welcome to another edition of Marketing From Romance Writer’s Book Hooks, a chance for authors to highlight one of their books. I haven’t done this for a while, and I hope you enjoy it. This is a blog hop, so when you finish reading my post, and after you but the book, 🙂  check out some of the offerings from other authors (links at the bottom of the page)

From Her Ladyship’s Ring, Book 2 of the Harmony Duprie Mysteries (Amateur sleuth, almost-cozy mystery. Now on sale for 99¢) 

Amazingly enough, no one extra showed up. So the four of us sat around my table and acted like we were old friends and nothing was wrong. Except I caught Freddie scrutinizing Jake when he thought Jake wasn’t watching. And Jake took every opportunity possible to touch me, and each time he did he let his fingers linger a moment too long. Sarah was the only one who didn’t feel the tension. Either that or she was a better actress than I’d realized.

“Did you hear about the snow sculpture contest in the park?” she asked.

“No,” I said. How did I miss that? “Who’s sponsoring it?”

“Oh, it’s unofficial.” She put more grated cheese on top of her spaghetti and passed the container to Freddie. “Started with some little kids building old-fashioned snowmen, and then a bunch of high schoolers got involved. Pretty soon parents got into the spirit of things as well. Now there are dragons and castles and all sorts of creations scattered on the shore of the lake. Makes me hope the cold weather sticks around so they last longer.”

“You and I should go see them tomorrow,” Jake said smoothly, touching my forearm.

I would have loved to go, but not with Jake. “I really need to go to the library tomorrow,” I said. “If I get too far behind, I’ll never catch up. I have a deadline coming up in a day or two.” I hadn’t even checked my email to see if I had any new requests.

Sarah sighed. “It’s not like you have to punch a time card. Sometimes you take yourself too seriously.”

We’d had this discussion before, and I had no desire to rehash it now.

But Sarah was on a roll. “You loosened up for a while, now you’re slipping back into your old habits.” She winked at Jake. “You were good for her, except for that whole drug and attacking the police stuff.”

Was she flirting with Jake in front of Freddie? She’d hardly touched her wine, so she couldn’t be drunk. Unless she’d been drinking before she and Freddie got to my place.

I glanced at Freddie. His expression was more puzzlement than anything else. He caught me looking, and barely shook his head. He didn’t know what she was up to either.

Jake, on the other hand, winked back at her. “I’ll try to change that.”

“Yeah, the whole long-distance relationship thing she’s got with Eli isn’t working out if you ask me.”

“Sarah!” I hissed.

Jake leaned towards her, ignoring me. “What makes you say that?”

“Do you know they haven’t had sex yet?” She giggled. “At least the last time we talked about it. But it might have changed when he was here a couple of weeks ago.”

My face burned as she reached for her wine.

Book Blurb

Harmony Duprie is back, and so is trouble in Oak Grove.

When a man is murdered in the back yard of the old Victorian house she is remodeling, Harmony is determined to locate his next-of-kin so he can be put to rest properly. But with her ex-boyfriend Jake out of prison, back in town and one of the suspects in the murder, she takes on the challenge of solving the crime.

With Eli, her current love interest, in Florida and Jake close by, old emotions come back to haunt her. Can Harmony clear Jake’s name and solve the mystery of her own heart?

You can buy Her Ladyship’s Ring at these retailers:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1121692446?ean=2940151639064

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id982884469

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/her-ladyship-s-ring

series: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072F4WBWH/ref=series_rw_dp_sw

Pilgrimage #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Open Book, Uncategorized

June 8, 2020

Have you ever gone on a literary pilgrimage? If so, where and why?

Once upon a time, on a back highway in Florida, I saw a sign marking the road to Zora Neale Hurston’s home. I would have liked to take the road less traveled, but I had places to be and people to talk to. And although I took that road once or twice more, I never to make it to the house. In fact, I don’t which of the various houses she lived in the road led to.

Although I didn’t think of it as a pilgrimage at the time, I got to see the Mark Twain house in Hartford. Connecticut. I was visiting family who lives nearby, (Hi, Mary!) and we took a trip there for something to do. Back then, the home was still under restoration and a tenant lived on part of the third floor.

But the house was gorgeous. Beautiful dark woods  throughout the interior. Marvelous staircases. Intricate ceilings.Wonderful details throughout the house. Truthfully, I don’t remember much about the exterior because I was so in awe of the inside.

If I was going to go on a literary pilgrimage, where would I go? I’m thinking Ireland. I’ve always figured that my Irish heritage is where I got my creative side. I’d love to wander the moors and hills of the countryside, explore castle and church ruins, and maybe talk to a fairy or an elf. See what came of it as far as inspiration for my stories.

If you were going on a literary pilgrimage, where would you go? You can share your stories in the comments. In the meantime, I’m going to check out where the others on this list have gone. Maybe I’ll get some ideas.

June 8, 2020

Have you ever gone on a literary pilgrimage? If so, where and why?

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

The Samurai’s Inro and a New Excerpt

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It’s almost Launch Day! So here’s another excerpt for you.

 

I followed my morning routine—coffee, shower, sit on the steps and read the paper—but the simple joy had disappeared. The biker was gone, but he wasn’t the problem. No, I still hadn’t heard from Eli. No requests for reports or research, not even a text to say hi. I missed him.

But he was more than my lover, he was my boss. Even if I didn’t have a new assignment from him, I still had research to do. The topic was up to me. I could do it anywhere with an internet signal, but I chose to stick with my routine and go to the library. If the biker showed up, I’d know and could keep an eye on him while he kept an eye on me.

With no excuse to build a wall of books, I took a chair in the periodicals area. With the setup of the room, I’d be able to watch anyone coming or going from it. There’d be no sneaking up on me.

At least, that was true as far as the public knew. There was a secret way in and out. Out mostly, because it was hard to slide the last set of shelves from the backside to get in. But I wouldn’t have to worry about getting stuck with no escape route.

Late morning, tired of lists and analysis of security vulnerabilities, I strolled through the stacks of the second floor to stretch my legs and give my eyes a break. I leaned against the balcony railing to survey the reading room below and gaze through the windows on the far wall.

That’s when I spotted him—or not. It was hard to tell from the angle. Plus, he didn’t look like a biker anymore. He’d adopted the persona of a frazzled businessman. White short-sleeved shirt, black pants, he looked like he came from the fifties. The beard was gone, too. I couldn’t get a good look at his face, but the hint of a tattoo peeking out from under the sleeve of his shirt gave him away.

From the second floor, there wasn’t a good place to study him further without exposing my presence. If I stood on the steps, I’d have a better chance, but they squeaked. If he looked up at just the right moment, he’d see me. I suppose it didn’t matter; he knew I was in the library. So, how to mess with him?

 

Trouble has a long memory and is stalking Harmony Duprie.  The Samurai’s Inro, coming June 1st.

 

The Samurai’s Inro

  By Uncategorized

Trouble has a long memory and is stalking Harmony Duprie.

 

Don’t forget! The Samurai’s Inro, the fifth book in the Harmony Duprie Mysteries, will be available June 1st.

Here’s a quick excerpt just for you:

I cradled the pot with what remained of my mother’s African violet in my lap. They plucked every flower and bud and pulled off half the leaves. The plant would live—I’d make sure of it—but it would take a lot of effort.

Pages from my books lay scattered around. All my first editions survived, they’d only destroyed the more current ones. The latest Jack Reacher book. A biography of Queen Elizabeth. The popular-for-the-moment romance, The Pirate’s Nanny. At least I’d finished reading them.

They used a permanent marker to draw mustaches and beards on the framed picture of me and Eli kept on the end table, a middle school type of prank. Thank heavens the original was digital.

I sat in a kitchen chair and rocked, plotting my revenge. A stream of religious missionaries sent to their door. Dead fish mailed regularly. Confetti bombs. Putting a potato in their exhaust. Nothing legal seemed adequate.

It wasn’t a case of a mysterious suitor, of that I was convinced. It felt darker, bordering on evil. Like the culprit was taunting me. Someone who knew me. Someone I thought was a friend. How else would they understand where to draw the line in the damage they’d done?

But I couldn’t explain this to Freddie without sounding crazy. Either Joe or Luke had called him. The three of them were working on straightening out the furniture in the front room while pretending not to keep an eye on me. They had a right to be concerned. That didn’t make it any less irritating.

What I needed to do was jump in and start cleaning. What I wanted to do was grab my laptop and create a spreadsheet of potential suspects. The police were still questioning neighbors and so far, no one had any helpful information. Freddie, although he hadn’t been assigned to the investigation, was following it and keeping me updated.

The short mental list taking form made me hurt as I added each entry. Gary from the pawnshop. Luke or Joe. Big Daddy Al from the Pink Flamingo. That was, assuming they could hotwire cars, something we’d never talked about. And I bet every one of them had an unshakeable alibi.

Jake.

Eli.

Stay tuned for buy links and more information.

The Samurai’s Inro Cover Reveal

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Here it is! The Cover for “The Samurai’s Inro,” the fifth book in the Harmony Duprie Mysteries. Coming June 1, 2020

Trouble has a long memory and is stalking Harmony Duprie.

Harmony Duprie has it made. Or so she thinks.

New job.

New routine.

A quiet life in the quiet little town of Oak Grove.

Oh, and Eli.

But trouble has a long memory and it’s playing a deadly game.

Friends’ cars stolen.

Her apartment ransacked.

The duplicate of a stolen Japanese antique carved box left behind.

Trouble follows wherever she goes, including the parking lot of the police station. Not even the want-to-be bodyguard brought in by Police Chief Sorenson can end the harassment. All her research leads to dead ends.

Can Harmony identify the face of trouble before she loses and the winner takes her life as the final prize?

Let the games begin.

Thanks to K.M Guth for another great cover design.

Scroll down for a bonus.

 

Watch this space for buy links, coming soon.

 

Bonus! Just for you, a quick excerpt.

“Not unless Marly comes with me. You coming, Marly?” Kody asked. His angry eyes locked on mine.

“No. I’ve told you no before and I’m telling you again. No.”

I read his intentions and was prepared when he reached for her shoulder. With a quick thrust, I knocked his hand away. “She said no.”

If he had known what was good for him, he would have backed down. He wasn’t that smart. He swung at me. In a classic move, I grabbed his arm and used his own power to toss him to the floor. “Not cool,” I said.

He should’ve stayed down but wasn’t that smart. He wobbled as he half-rose and lunged at me. I moved aside and kicked him in the rear as he sailed by. The alcohol didn’t do him any favors.

“Enough is enough. Give it up. Go home.” I wondered how everyone else was reacting and if I’d need to defend myself from any of his friends, but didn’t dare take my eyes off him. I backed up until I bumped into the bar.

It took him longer to get up the second time. For a minute, I thought he’d finally gotten smart and was giving up. I was wrong.

 

99¢ Book Sale Event

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Check out the N.N. Light 99¢ Book Sale and giveaway.  One lucky person will win an e-nook bundle of all 41 books featured. The Marquesa’s Necklace, the first book in the Harmony Duprie Mysteries, is one of the featured books. HERE

Enter the giveaway here: HERE

Open Internationally

Runs April 16 – 19, 2020

Winner will be drawn on April 27, 2020

Welcome to The Samurai’s Inro

  By Uncategorized

I’ve been working hard on the next Harmony story and it’s getting close! I haven’t set an official release date, but it likely will be the early part of May. No cover to share just yet, but I’ve got the tagline and description. And of course the title! It’s called The Samurai’s Inro.

Tagline:

Trouble has a long memory and is stalking Harmony Duprie.

 

Doesn’t that sound like fun? Here’s the description:

Harmony Duprie has it made. Or so she thinks.

New job.

New routine.

A quiet life in the quiet little town of Oak Grove.

Oh, and Eli.

But trouble has a long memory and it’s playing a deadly game.

Friends’ cars stolen.

Her apartment ransacked.

The duplicate of a stolen Japanese antique carved box left behind.

Trouble follows wherever she goes, including the parking lot of the police station. Not even the want-to-be bodyguard brought in by Police Chief Sorenson can end the harassment. And all her research leads to dead ends.

Can Harmony identify the face of trouble before she loses and the winner takes her life as the final prize?

Let the games begin.

 

Interview With My Cover Designer #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Uncategorized

 

March 16, 2020

Interview your cover designer (even if it’s you!) (Talk about other covers they have worked on, what you love about their work, etc.)

I got lucky in having a personal acquaintance with a graphic artist (okay, she’s my sister!) to design my covers. I’m always astounded by her skill in being able to interpret my books’ characters and bring them to life. Although she’s on the road this week, she took some time to answer a few questions for me. I’m tickled to finally get her on my blog. Please welcome K.M. Guth.

*****

Describe your process for designing a book cover.

I work closely with my authors to make sure they get exactly what they want for their cover. We trade images and ideas back and forth, starting with the front cover. After that’s been drafted out, I move on to the spine and back cover. Because I often do covers for series of books, I try to use the same fonts and color families for each cover in the series so it all has a cohesive look while still maintaining individuality for each book.


I love what you’ve done for each of my books and the overall design of  each series. It amazes me how well you can take different elements and put them together in a total design.

*****

Do you have a favorite among the covers you’ve designed?

This one is easy! “Wolves Knight”, the second book in the “Free Wolves” series. Everything went together perfectly and the image turned out so badass we used it to make a large banner for the table at conventions and signings!

I love that cover too! Tasha is such an interesting personality, and the cover reflects it. The intensity in her eyes  gets me every time.

*****

Do you ever look back at one of your covers and wished you’d done something different?

Always! I don’t think any creator of any type will look back at something they’ve created and not want to change *something*. Whether it’s how I spaced pieces of imagery or the fonts or colors I chose … I’m always wondering how a cover would have looked if I’d done something differently. Even small changes can make a big difference!

I’ve watched you play with fonts until you get the “look” you want. No Times New Roman for you!

*****

Have you ever designed a cover for someone besides me? How was it different?


I have! I’ve done a couple of covers for another independent author whose books have a completely different audience and topic. The books were non-fiction and didn’t feature any people. Designing them was a totally different experience because I had to figure out where to focus the elements of the cover since there wasn’t a face to concentrate on. I had to be more creative with the text to really draw the audience in.

Thanks for taking time out of your busy week to ‘talk’ to me. May your travels go well. We’ll talk again in a few weeks when you’re ready to tackle the cover for “The Samurai’s Inro!”

On an off-topic and personal note…I hope each and everyone of you is safe and well. Please pay attention to the professionals in your area and wash your hands often!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
[fresh_inlinkz_code id="3f3fef4af27149348daaa7873f0de69a"]

March 16, 2020

Interview your cover designer (even if it’s you!)(talk about other covers they have worked on, what you love about their work, etc.)

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

 

New Postcards!

  By Uncategorized

Check out this great new postcard my graphic artist made for me. Thanks, K.M. Guth!

If you come to an event I’m at, you can get your own copy. Check out the calendar on the front page. (So far, none of them have been cancelled.)

I apologize for the poor photography. I tried about five different ways to get a good shot, and nothing I worked. I kept getting shadows or glare no matter how hard I tried.

Audiobooks #OpenBook Blog Hop

  By Uncategorized

March 9, 2020

Are audiobooks considered reading?

I don’t listen to audiobooks.  I have, but only a few, and never while driving. I know myself well enough that it would be a distraction. Heck, the other day, I parked on a different floor than normal in the parking garage and didn’t realize it until I entered the building because I was so deep inside Harmony’s head. (For those of you who don’t know, Harmony Duprie is the main character in my mystery series.)

Now, I have listened to a few audio books in my distant past. I was devouring the James Bond books, and there were some the library didn’t have on the shelves. I found an audio download of the books and grabbed the ones I needed to fill in the gaps. (Back in the day when audiobooks were on cassette or CD.)

And quickly realized how big of a difference the narrator makes. And that listening just didn’t cut it for me. I didn’t get the same satisfaction from listening to someone tell the story as I did from holding a book in my hands and reading it. 

When I read, I like to take my time and savor some parts of the story and rush through others. (I’m looking at you, sex scenes. The rushing part. Most of you are boring. I can’t imagine listening to sex scenes.) I can’t do that when someone else is reading the book and I’m listening. I have to move along at their pace.

But just because it’s not my preferred method of reading, doesn’t mean it isn’t a valuable experience to someone else. And if it works for them, I’m good with it. Different people learn in different ways, I see reading is the same way. I wouldn’t say that someone who reads braille isn’t reading, only that they use a different medium. Same with audiobooks, in my opinion.

So, is listening to an audiobook reading? I’ll come down on the side of yes. Information is being exchanged, just in a different format. The reader is being entertained or informed. In a way, it hearkens back to the days of the village bar, when most people couldn’t read and only the very wealthy could afford to own a book.

That’s my take on it, anyway. Now I’m going to hop on over to the other authors and see what they have to say. You can go too, by following the links below. And don’t forget to leave a comment and join in the discussion! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

March 9, 2020

Are audiobooks considered reading?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.