P.J. MacLayne

I’m pleased to welcome Christina Tetreault to my blog today with her new release, The Playboy Next Door. Christina is the author of the Sherbrookes of Newport Series as well as the Love on the North Shore series. Her newest book is the third book in the North Shore series.

Tony Bates has always looked at Catrina as nothing but his buddy’s little sister, until a chance encounter one summer night changes all that.

To enter Christina’s Rafflecopter contest for an Amazon or B&N gift card, go to Rafflecopter.

Welcome to another week of the Open Book Blog Hop, where you can find out more about this ever-shifting collection of authors.  This week we’re talking about our favorite winter pastimes.

I grew up in Pennsylvania where the winds of Lake Erie made the winters colder and snowier. That didn’t stop us from going outside to play. Sure, we had to wear sweaters and jackets and several pairs of pants and hats and gloves and snow boots, but that was all good. Better than being stuck in the house.

Living in the country, we had the opportunity for lots of winter activities. There were the traditional snowball fights and building of snowmen, but we also built forts and in really snow years, made snow tunnels. Although we had a collection of sleds, we didn’t limit ourselves to those. There was an old porcelain-covered wash bucket thingy that was just the right size for a medium-size kid to sit in that was great for going down small hills. Or there was the year that our neighbors had an old car hood that we used to slide down the large hill in their cow pasture. Imagine an over-sized toboggan with no steering. I think we had six of us in it at a time. The cows weren’t too impressed, but we had fun.

After I got married, my husband introduced me to the joys of tubing. Yep, just like it sounds. Take an oversize inner tube (you know, like you use to float down a river but bigger), sit in the middle, and slide down the side of a mountain. And pray you don’t find any rocks hidden under the snow with your rear-end.

Then, for too long, we moved to where there are no real seasons. “Winter” was another day on the beach. The first year or two were okay, but I missed snow. Crazy, I know. But we’ve made our way back to a part of the country where snow can happen as early as September and as late as June. And I love it.

My activities are much more sedate these days. Shoveling snow, the occasional mini-snowball fight, driving through snow-covered mountains, drinking hot chocolate in my warm house while watching the snow fall outside, taking pictures. Lots of pictures.

To find out what Tracy Krimmer’s favorite winter pastime is, you can check out her blog HERE.
Don’t forget to see what’s she’s been up to as far as writing while you’re there.

Jay Walking

Chelsea Wyatt, a single mom trying to build a life for her and her son, is sick of the body she sees in the mirror. A daily diet of Cookie Crisp cereal is not doing wonders for her mood or her figure, and it’s time for a change. Setting out to get fit, she commits herself to a daily walking plan, forcing herself to give up her all-sugar and carb diet, a difficult task at her donut obsessed job.

But her plan goes sideways when a stumble on the ice puts her in the arms of Jay, an attractive young man out on a run. They grab coffee together, and Chelsea finds herself thinking about him long after their short meeting. The thought of dating again hadn’t crossed her mind in years, and she doesn’t even know if Jay is available, or if he would be interested in her despite her unfit body.

Just when she has a handle on her new routine, her past catches up with her, throwing her blossoming relationship with Jay and the rest of her life into chaos. Can Chelsea hold onto the people she loves most, or will a wrong turn set her up for failure?

Dec. 9 – Dec. 15, 2015 – What are your favorite wintertime pastimes?
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.
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Code for Hosting:

Code for Link:

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And we usually don’t promote ourselves, but I couldn’t resist. My new book, Wolves Knight, will be available December 17th. I hope you’ll check it out! (You can check out my earlier post about it HERE

Welcome to another week of the Open Book Blog Hop, where you can find out more about this ever-shifting collection of authors.  This week we’re talking about our favorite winter pastimes.

I grew up in Pennsylvania where the winds of Lake Erie made the winters colder and snowier. That didn’t stop us from going outside to play. Sure, we had to wear sweaters and jackets and several pairs of pants and hats and gloves and snow boots, but that was all good. Better than being stuck in the house.

Living in the country, we had the opportunity for lots of winter activities. There were the traditional snowball fights and building of snowmen, but we also built forts and in really snow years, made snow tunnels. Although we had a collection of sleds, we didn’t limit ourselves to those. There was an old porcelain-covered wash bucket thingy that was just the right size for a medium-size kid to sit in that was great for going down small hills. Or there was the year that our neighbors had an old car hood that we used to slide down the large hill in their cow pasture. Imagine an over-sized toboggan with no steering. I think we had six of us in it at a time. The cows weren’t too impressed, but we had fun.

After I got married, my husband introduced me to the joys of tubing. Yep, just like it sounds. Take an oversize inner tube (you know, like you use to float down a river but bigger), sit in the middle, and slide down the side of a mountain. And pray you don’t find any rocks hidden under the snow with your rear-end.

Then, for too long, we moved to where there are no real seasons. “Winter” was another day on the beach. The first year or two were okay, but I missed snow. Crazy, I know. But we’ve made our way back to a part of the country where snow can happen as early as September and as late as June. And I love it.

My activities are much more sedate these days. Shoveling snow, the occasional mini-snowball fight, driving through snow-covered mountains, drinking hot chocolate in my warm house while watching the snow fall outside, taking pictures. Lots of pictures.

To find out what Tracy Krimmer’s favorite winter pastime is, you can check out her blog HERE.
Don’t forget to see what’s she’s been up to as far as writing while you’re there.

Jay Walking

Chelsea Wyatt, a single mom trying to build a life for her and her son, is sick of the body she sees in the mirror. A daily diet of Cookie Crisp cereal is not doing wonders for her mood or her figure, and it’s time for a change. Setting out to get fit, she commits herself to a daily walking plan, forcing herself to give up her all-sugar and carb diet, a difficult task at her donut obsessed job.

But her plan goes sideways when a stumble on the ice puts her in the arms of Jay, an attractive young man out on a run. They grab coffee together, and Chelsea finds herself thinking about him long after their short meeting. The thought of dating again hadn’t crossed her mind in years, and she doesn’t even know if Jay is available, or if he would be interested in her despite her unfit body.

Just when she has a handle on her new routine, her past catches up with her, throwing her blossoming relationship with Jay and the rest of her life into chaos. Can Chelsea hold onto the people she loves most, or will a wrong turn set her up for failure?

Dec. 9 – Dec. 15, 2015 – What are your favorite wintertime pastimes?
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: WordPress Short Code:
[inlinkz_linkup id=585843 mode=1]
Code for Hosting:

Code for Link:

;get the InLinkz code

And we usually don’t promote ourselves, but I couldn’t resist. My new book, Wolves Knight, will be available December 17th. I hope you’ll check it out! (You can check out my earlier post about it HERE

It’s almost here! Wolves’ Knight will soon be available at major e-book retailers.
. (In time for Christmas.) So I decided to share a little snippet. Bur first, the book’s description.


Tasha Roeper knows what it means to protect your own. So when her friend, Dot Lapahie, CEO of Lapahie Enterprises, suspects that the Free Wolves are under attack, Tasha immediately signs on to lead the investigation and guard Dot.


But Tasha’s not convinced it’s the Free Wolves that are the target. She fears that her own pack—the Fairwood Pack—are the actual quarry and Dot is only a decoy.


The deeper Tasha digs, the more puzzles she uncovers.


Torn between tradition and a changing world, will Tasha risk everything to save a friend—including her own life—when old enemies arise?


And now, the opening scene.


Her tactical knife slid easily from its ankle sheath. With a curse, Tasha leaped out of the leather chair and slid across the wooden conference table, praying she’d make it in time. No matter how she played it, she couldn’t stop the masked, gun-wielding intruder from shooting. Shifting to wolf form would allow her to spring on her prey, but the time it took to make the change gave him the opportunity to fire. No, her human body would have to stop the bullet before it struck Dot.
A fraction of a heartbeat later, feet firmly planted on the floor, she sensed another body skid in next to her, creating a larger barrier. Some of the board members stood, one appeared frozen in place, and one started to shift to what appeared to be a badger. Tasha sniffed, trying to figure out who had joined her without taking her eyes off the intruder. A female. Hopefully, a fellow warrior.
She bent her knees, shifted her weight to the balls of her feet, and adjusted her grip. A flick of her wrist and the knife would sail down the length of the table. As she tightened her muscles to make the throw, the interloper laughed and tossed his revolver onto the table. The gun was followed by the mask. 




I’ll let you know the release date as soon as I can. Stay tuned!

It’s almost here! Wolves’ Knight will soon be available at major e-book retailers.
. (In time for Christmas.) So I decided to share a little snippet. Bur first, the book’s description.

Tasha Roeper knows what it means to protect your own. So when her friend, Dot Lapahie, CEO of Lapahie Enterprises, suspects that the Free Wolves are under attack, Tasha immediately signs on to lead the investigation and guard Dot.

But Tasha’s not convinced it’s the Free Wolves that are the target. She fears that her own pack—the Fairwood Pack—are the actual quarry and Dot is only a decoy.

The deeper Tasha digs, the more puzzles she uncovers.

Torn between tradition and a changing world, will Tasha risk everything to save a friend—including her own life—when old enemies arise?

And now, the opening scene.

Her tactical knife slid easily from its ankle sheath. With a curse, Tasha leaped out of the leather chair and slid across the wooden conference table, praying she’d make it in time. No matter how she played it, she couldn’t stop the masked, gun-wielding intruder from shooting. Shifting to wolf form would allow her to spring on her prey, but the time it took to make the change gave him the opportunity to fire. No, her human body would have to stop the bullet before it struck Dot.
A fraction of a heartbeat later, feet firmly planted on the floor, she sensed another body skid in next to her, creating a larger barrier. Some of the board members stood, one appeared frozen in place, and one started to shift to what appeared to be a badger. Tasha sniffed, trying to figure out who had joined her without taking her eyes off the intruder. A female. Hopefully, a fellow warrior.
She bent her knees, shifted her weight to the balls of her feet, and adjusted her grip. A flick of her wrist and the knife would sail down the length of the table. As she tightened her muscles to make the throw, the interloper laughed and tossed his revolver onto the table. The gun was followed by the mask. 


I’ll let you know the release date as soon as I can. Stay tuned!

I’m so excited! It’s finally here! Well, almost. The second book in the adventures of the Free Wolves will be available before Christmas!

When I wrote Wolves’ Knight, I really expected it to be a stand-alone story. But Tasha kept bugging me to tell her story, so, almost two years later, here it is! In fact, as I wrote it, the document I worked from was labeled “Tasha’s Tale.”

Tasha Roeper knows what it means to protect your own. So when her friend, Dot Lapahie, CEO of Lapahie Enterprises, suspects that the Free Wolves are under attack, Tasha immediately signs on to lead the investigation and guard Dot.


But Tasha’s not convinced it’s the Free Wolves that are the target. She fears that her own pack—the Fairwood Pack—are the actual quarry and Dot is only a decoy.


The deeper Tasha digs, the more puzzles she uncovers.


Torn between tradition and a changing world, will Tasha risk everything to save a friend—including her own life—when old enemies arise?




And now, onto the cover!


I’m REALLY excited about this cover. My cover artist, K.M. Guth, did a wonderful job. I can’t wait to see it in print.



So, without further ado, here it is! (drumroll,please.)

 Stay tuned for the official release date.

I’m so excited! It’s finally here! Well, almost. The second book in the adventures of the Free Wolves will be available before Christmas!

When I wrote Wolves’ Knight, I really expected it to be a stand-alone story. But Tasha kept bugging me to tell her story, so, almost two years later, here it is! In fact, as I wrote it, the document I worked from was labeled “Tasha’s Tale.”

Tasha Roeper knows what it means to protect your own. So when her friend, Dot Lapahie, CEO of Lapahie Enterprises, suspects that the Free Wolves are under attack, Tasha immediately signs on to lead the investigation and guard Dot.

But Tasha’s not convinced it’s the Free Wolves that are the target. She fears that her own pack—the Fairwood Pack—are the actual quarry and Dot is only a decoy.

The deeper Tasha digs, the more puzzles she uncovers.

Torn between tradition and a changing world, will Tasha risk everything to save a friend—including her own life—when old enemies arise?


And now, onto the cover!

I’m REALLY excited about this cover. My cover artist, K.M. Guth, did a wonderful job. I can’t wait to see it in print.


So, without further ado, here it is! (drumroll,please.)

 Stay tuned for the official release date.

Welcome to another week of the Open Book Blog Hop, where we talk about a variety of topics and readers can get to know us a little better. This week we’re talking about nanny cams.

Up front, I’ll tell you I’m prejudiced in this matter. Not only have I seen the horrendous videos of infants and toddlers being abused by adults, I know someone it happened to. And children are the most precious gift we have and we need to take care of them.

If you choose to install a nanny-cam in your own home, more power to you. I do believe you should tell your nanny (or babysitter) about the camera up front, but I don’t feel as if your obligated to tell them where it (or they) are aimed. Or if you move it.(More about this later)

Nanny cams didn’t exist when my children were little, and I rarely had babysitters in my home. More often, babysitting was done by relatives I trusted in their homes. I did have a friend of a friend as a babysitter for awhile, but she had her own child just a little older than mine, so it felt “safe.” Would I have installed one if I had the opportunity? I don’t know. I was much more trusting when I was younger. But my darling husband would have installed one in a heartbeat.He’s was, and still is, extremely protective of our kids.

I love the idea that many preschools have of putting cameras in their classrooms and allowing parents to log in at any time to see what’s going on. Of course, being a bit of a geek, I also know you have to be careful about how those are configured. Default passwords are never good. (Got a default password on your home equipment? Go change it. Then come back. I’ll wait.)

Are you back? Good! So on to the next part of my rant. There are many people who don’t understand the security risks of nanny cams that upload directly to storage on the internet. While that’s a good idea, you also have to make sure the site where they are stored is trustworthy, and again, password protected. If you didn’t know, there are sites out there that are devoted to finding webcams that aren’t secured and that anyone can control. You don’t want some random internet stranger watching you and your precious little one by the camera you installed and didn’t take the time to set up correctly.

Nanny cams come in all shapes and sizes these days, and I fully understand why a parent wouldn’t want to reveal that they had one to a babysitter. After all, the babysitter might figure out where all the “dead” spots are where they can misbehave without being filmed.  But I also believe the babysitter has the right to know if they are being filmed. A sitter has to have the expectation that they can behave normally and not have those pictures end up as a you-tube video. (What if the sitter wants to lift her shirt and adjust her bra? Or a male sitter has to adjust another part of the body?)  Balancing the opposing rights of the two parties is a sticky situation.

Check out what some our other authors have to say. Rebecca Lovell’s first book is coming soon, but Rebecca’s Web Page
in the meantime you can check out her webpage .  

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Welcome everyone! Before I dive into this week’s topic, I want to thank Kelly Williams for the new banners she designed for our blog hop. There are several, so check them out when you travel from blog to blog. They’re great!


Our topic this week is sex. It’s everywhere. From the commercials blaring on the TV to the covers of magazines at the checkout stands at the grocery store to the conversation around the water cooler at work—when HR isn’t around! We, as humans, are fixated on sex.


I suppose it’s natural and we’re wired that way. The urge to breed and procreate is instinctive. No matter how sophisticated our thinking, no matter how marvelous our machines, we are, at our core, mammals.


How we handle that urge is what makes us interesting. I remember many years ago hearing about a early Christian movement that insisted its followers forego sex. Not only the leaders, but everyone in the sect. My first reaction was “Well, then, how do they get new members?” And since the next paragraph in the textbook mentioned that the movement didn’t last very long, I got my answer. They didn’t.

Of course, different cultures through different eras have treated sex differently. We may not now the truth of how sex was seen in the Greek and Roman eras because history is always being re-written, but we don’t have to look to far back to see the difference between the Victorian Era and the counter-culture movement of the 1960’s. From a woman not being able to show her ankle to a time when we let it all hang out, the attitudes towards the topic of sex have shifted. We’ve gone from not being able to discuss the topic in polite company or not showing a married couple sleeping in the same bed, to having it be a normal part of our daily lives.


But the question that arises is this: if you agree that it’s healthy to allow some discussion of sex into our public lives, has the pendulum swung too far? Is it good for us to be exposed to sexual images and innuendos on a constant basis? Do we really need commercials for “feminine products” shoved in our faces when we’re eating supper?  


Anyone who knows me knows I’m a believe in moderation. And I find beauty in the human form, both male and female. So I differentiate between sex and a picture of a naked body. I have no problem with viewing the picture of a good-looking, unclothed body. Do I want too watch that person engage in the act of sex? Hmmm. no. 🙂 Do I have a problem with that body having sex? Not at all. I just don’t want to watch. 


And I write that way. The characters in my books talk about sex, think about sex, have sex. But I don’t show my readers the details when they get to the bedroom. (or whatever spot they happen to find at the moment!)  I make the assumption that most if my readers have engaged in the sex act and don’t need instructions on how it’s done. If they want details, there are plenty of videos out there they can go watch. 


What’s your take on the topic of sex? Let us know in the comments, but keep it clean, please. By current day standards, anyway!

You can find out what Tamsen Schulz has to say about sex by visiting her blog at Tamsen Schulz.  Tamsen is new to our hop, so I’m looking forward to hearing her opinion.  Check out her book page while you’re there. I’ve just added them to my “to be read” list. They sound good!


The Puppeteer


CIA agent Danielle “Dani” Williamson never stops believing that one day she’ll find the man who killed her parents and stole her childhood. And when the nightmare she relives in her dreams is played out in carbon copy and linked to a group the CIA believes is planning a terrorist attack in the US, Dani thinks she might finally have her chance.


Detective Ty Fuller loved being a Navy SEAL, but after seeing one too many innocent children killed, he was no longer able to stomach the world of politics, manipulation, and death. Now, as a detective with his local vice squad, he likes to think he’s helping kids by keeping drugs off the streets–local problems, local solutions.



But when Dani and her team arrive, they bring a case bigger than anything Ty’s small New England town has seen in decades, drugs in exchange for weapons-lots of them. And as the case unfolds and the tensions simmer between them, Dani and Ty discover that all is not what it seems. Uncovering a web of manipulation that spans the globe and reaches all the way to the US president, they know the price for justice will be high, risking not just their fledgling relationship, but their very lives.

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Welcome to the Open Book Blog Hop where you can find out more about a merry group of authors. This week we’re discussing quality vs quality.

Many years ago, the Boy Scouts in my hometown sold Hershey candy bars at Christmas time. No, not the little bars you buy in the grocery store, but 5 lb. ones. Yes, 5 pounds. That’s a heck of a big candy bar. Of course, when it was being shared among eleven or more  people, it didn’t last long. But to a little kid’s eyes, it was amazing.


But I enjoyed the little candies we got in our stockings better. For one thing, they were mine and I didn’t have to worry about sharing them. For another, we got a variety of candy and I could enjoy the different flavors over the course of the holidays. If you had asked me quality vs quantity as a child, I would have immediately voted for quantity. Of course, I hadn’t been introduced to the concept of fine chocolate.


In my teens I started to understand the idea of quality. I started to notice the difference in clothing, with the more expensive and better quality clothing generally fitting better and looking better when worn. However, I didn’t care much about clothes and was hard to fit, so I ended up with what my parents could afford and it didn’t bother me.

Mostly, however, I translated the idea of quality to my school work. I liked school and my teachers and wanted to shine. I put a lot of effort in the papers we were assigned and and even my homework. My reward was good grades. I suppose it was a combination of quality and quantity throughout my high school years.


When I was a newlywed, we didn’t have much money. There was a lot of “making do” and “stretching” what we had to make it last as long as possible. During those years it

was definitely a case of quantity over quality. I learned to grow, can, and freeze my own food during those years, so sometimes the quality came as an added benefit to the struggle. Someplace I have a recipe for a mean refrigerator strawberry jam although I haven’t made it for years. (We grew our own strawberries. Talk about quality! Can’t do that where we live now.)


Now that I’m older (cough) and have a little more money, I can appreciate quality more than quantity. I still appreciate chocolate candy, but my taste runs to slightly more expensive brands. I find it takes less of a richer chocolate to satisfy my urge for sweets. I’m an avid reader, and I find I like books that I can take my time reading because I enjoy the skill of the writer over reading as fast as I can. And I don’t mind spending a little more money on good quality clothes because they’ll last me longer.


So quality vs quantity? Quality is the winner in the long run.


So do you go for quality or quantity? Let us know in the comments!


To find out what author Stevie Turner has to say, drop by her blog. Stevie Turner.  You can find her books on Amazon Stevie’s Author Page and at other retailers. 


Pilates Class


Roger is a down-to-earth builder type, Judy is the harassed single mother of four teenage boys, and Thelma is a librarian who usually looks as though she’s been sitting on a wasps’ nest for most of her life. Neville is on the lookout for a woman (any woman will do), and Julian just wants to be young again. Edie is the wrong side of 70, and Roz is a size zero fitness queen. 



These characters, together with one very overweight Alice, all meet up for the first time at their local Pilates class. Petra, the class instructor, has no idea what she has let herself in for! 

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.
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Code for Link:

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