Sandra Cox's Blog, page 271

Happy New Year's Eve

Have you made your New Year's resolutions yet? I'm pretty much recycling mine from 2012, if that tells you anything. Hope 2013 is a wondrous one for you.

Just in time for New Year's Eve: Nightwriter's is having a 31st Of The Month Giveaway.
What do you have to do? Just leave a comment at Nightwriter's and your email addie. There will be a drawing and one commenter will win a download of the books mentioned below. The winner will be announced the 1st. Good luck and have a wonderful New Year.
Giveaways
Shardai by Sandra Cox
Crewkin by Rhobin Courtright
Mona Lisa's Room by Vonnie Davis
The World Unfolds by Michele Drier
Vidal's Honor by Sherry Gloag
A Warrior For Christmas by Beth Trissel

Enjoy The Weekend

Hope y'all enjoy the rest of your holidays. I'll be thinking of you.~*~ Took Granny to the vet today.  Found out her age had been miscalculated. She's actually 19 going on 20. She's starting to have some issues. Had blood work done.  Waiting for the results.

Best Christmas Ever

How was your Christmas? Hope it was the best Christmas ever. For those of you who were dealing with sickness and loss of family members, I hope 2013 brings you peace and lessening of pain. Ours was, as always, fun. The baby girl and her significant other came in from Philly. Baby boy and wifey were in and so was one of my bro's and his wife. I received Christmas calls and texts which are always fun and heart warming. Shhhh, still trying to figure out a couple of texters. One I think must have been generic sent out from a professional's office.  No, not that kind of professional:) Maybe a doctor's or some such.  The other was most definitely a bud. Santa managed to find the only pre-pod Espresso machine still for sale. sigh. But the blame lies fully with Mrs. Claus. After all these years, she knows about imparting detailed information.As is our habit we went to the theater in the afternoon.  The hubby wanted to see The Hobbit, which I'm boycotting because of all the animals that died in the making of it. So half went to see The Hobbit and half Monsters Inc.  From there we came back and grazed on leftovers from the wonderful meal my daughter and her significant other prepared. We had to-furky for the vegetarians and braised chicken for the carnivores and all kinds of wonderful sides: asparagus, braised veggies, stuffing, mashed potatoes, mushroom soup, cranberries, rolls, dipping bread and coconut cake.  I see an extra five pounds in my future.Let me know how your Christmas day was spent. Hope it was wondrous.How about these elves, huh? -

New Year's Eve Contest

Just in time for New Year's Eve: Nightwriter's is having a 31st Of The Month Giveaway.
What do you have to do? Just leave a comment at Nightwriter's and your email addie. There will be a drawing and one commenter will win a download of the books mentioned below. The winner will be announced the 1st. Good luck and have a wonderful New Year.
Giveaways
Shardai by Sandra Cox
Crewkin by Rhobin Courtright
Mona Lisa's Room by Vonnie Davis
The World Unfolds by Michele Drier
Vidal's Honor by Sherry Gloag
A Warrior For Christmas by Beth Trissel

Happy Holidays

 I've finished my shopping and my wrapping. Woo Hoo!
Wishing you peace, harmony, good friends and family this holiday season. If you're driving stay safe. I'll be back after Christmas.

Crazy Kitty

BB: Winter's Magic and SBT: The Christmas Dare

BLURB:
Owner of La Bella Vita, a five-star day spa nestled in the affluent suburbs of Nashville, Tennessee, Beth Sergeant knows her elite clientele first hand. She attended their private schools. She was even engaged, although briefly, to one of their most recognized bachelors. But she never fit in to their social-elite world.
After losing his parents to a car accident at a young age, Nick Chester was raised by his grandfather, the wealthiest man in Nashville. When he chooses to socialize, he has a never-ending list of exclusive events and beautiful women vying for his attention. Yet he never lets himself forget that everyone has an agenda.
Beth can’t resist Nick’s charm and accepts an invitation to dinner, despite her deep-seated insecurities. She proves she’s nothing like other women Nick's dated and learns to trust him in return. But just as the last of their resistance crumbles and true love is within reach, challenges from Nick's past threaten to destroy everything and force Beth to reveal her most guarded secret.
EXCERPT:
They stood so close she could feel the heat coming from his skin. A hint of his cologne, mixed with leather and the smell of old books, filled her nose. Her eyes moved to his lips and she wondered if he was going to kiss her.
Oh, God help her, she wanted him to.
In her dreams, his lips had been soft and sweet. He’d been gentle at first, slowly caressing her mouth as he held her face in both hands. Then he slid his tongue across her lips, coaxing her to open. When he took her mouth deeper, an electric current sizzled between them and her body tingled everywhere they touched. Every part of her melting into him. She was lost.
She felt his arms come around her, bringing her even closer, but it didn’t seem to be enough. She wanted to run her fingers through his hair. Slide her hands across the taut muscles of his chest. She needed—.
A sound from the hallway startled her and she raised her eyes to meet his. She had no idea how long she’d been staring at his lips and remembering the dreams she would never admit to having. Heat flooded her cheeks as she read the smugness on his face. It had been long enough for him to read her thoughts. But the intensity she felt from his gaze told her it didn’t matter—he wanted the same thing.  AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Home is where you hang your hat. A native Missourian, my family relocated twice during my teenage years, taking me from a high school freshman class of over 1,200 students to living in a small town in Kentucky with a total population of less than 1,000.
Home is where your heart is. Despite the culture shock and challenges of those shy, teenage years, I met my true love in that tiny town and I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to experience a community where everyone waves, calls you by name, and treats you like family.
My husband and I live in the suburbs of Nashville, Tennessee with our eighteen-year-old son and three dogs. When I’m not working or writing, I can be found with family and friends. I love to bake in the winter, grill in the summer, and on occasion, I sneak away from everyone and curl up with a good book.
I hope you enjoy my stories. Each one touches on modern day issues, fears, and challenges that women face every day. And each one illustrates that love is within reach if you let down those walls and allow your heart to open. Our lives and experiences are so much more meaningful when we have someone to share them with.
LINKS
Amazon   http://amzn.to/PdYIyf
Barnes & Noble http://bit.ly/RnxlBC
Soul Mate Publishing  http://bit.ly/VwT9ZI
Twitter  http://bit.ly/VXuYZx
Facebook  http://bit.ly/RnxlBC
Website  http://cynthiagail.comCynthia will be awarding the following prizes to three randomly drawn commenters during the tour either one $10 Starbucks GC, one $10 Amazon GC, or one $10 Soul Mate Publishing GC.

BLURB:
Funny how times had changed, Gia thought to herself. How was it possible to have gone all these years and not have thought of him romantically? Yet now all she wanted to do was steal a minute alone to kiss him again. Or more.
She saw headlights coming down the road and opened the door, preparing to walk out to meet him.
“No, ma’am,” she heard Ethan call out. He was already getting out of his Jeep and motioned for her to turn around and go back inside.
She was unsure what to make of it, but did as he asked. Then she heard the doorbell ring.  Slowly she opened the door, and saw his smiling face. She backed up a step to allow him to walk inside.
“We may be taking things slow, but I’m still going to do it the right way. When I ask you out on a date, I’ll park and come to your door. If this were seven years ago and you were living at home, your dad would have kicked my ass if he ever caught me letting you just walk out to the curb to get in my car.”
Gia could easily recall the many times her father had complained about that when other boys had done it to her.
“How right you are. My mistake.” She laughed. “From now on I’ll expect to be courted properly according to the Henry Dixon Dating Manual.”
“Besides, stealing a quick moment alone behind closed doors gives me the opportunity to do this.” He pulled her into his embrace to softly kiss her.
When their lips parted, she commented, “I don’t think Daddy had that in mind when he made up that particular rule. But you score extra points for showing initiative.”  
 AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Joan Chandler is a Florida native who has lived in the Deep South all of her life. She is married with two children who are her pride and joy. She lives a double life of sorts, holding down a nine-to-five job during the day, and writing steamy romance at night—often with her black cat curled up in her arms as she types.
When she’s not spending her spare time working on her next novel, she loves to go camping, sharing girls’ night out with her friends, walking her two dogs, and watching football.
BLOG:  www.joanchandler.wordpress.com
Twitter account:   @joanchandler1
Find me on facebook:  Joan Chandler
Previously published works are Perfectly Imperfect, and No Regrets.  Both are available at:
Bookstrand.com:  http://www.bookstrand.com/joan-chandler 
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_nos...
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/joan-...
  Joan will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card, winner's choice, to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour, and a $10 gift card to Bath & Body Works to a randomly drawn host.

Christmas Flash Mob

I'll be in and out till next year. Unfortunately, more out than in. I'm still working on my project  and getting ready for the holidays. And speaking of which, hope yours are wondrous. Be safe. Merry Christmas.

Meet The Family Blog Hop

My husband and I grew up in Illinois. For many years, he worked in manufacturing, which took us all over the Midwest. But no matter whether we were in Indiana, Ohio or Wisconsin, at Christmas, we always went back to Illinois--or tried to--to be with family. One year we'd made it through Wisconsin, got to northern Illinois and found the roads closed so we had to go back. Another year, we came in from North Carolina and had to leave before the Christmas festivities were over because a blizzard was coming in. We made it out of Illinois but the blizzard caught up with us in Kentucky.  It took awhile but we made it safely back to NC.
Both of our parents have since passed on, so we don't make it in every year anymore.  But I have many fond memories. As the song says...there's no place like home for the holidays.

VBT: A Part To Play

In today's post, Jennifer shares with us why she writes YA.


The best part about writing contemporary YA is being able to reach teens with a  positive message. I don't think I'm alone in feeling that my adolescent years were the most difficult time of my life. In fact, the combination of my chaotic family situation and my own inability to be anything but my awkward, know-it-all, foot-in-the-mouth self, led to some lasting scars that have survived into adulthood. The reason I write YA is simple. I hope to help young adults get through this painful right of passage with less permanent damage to their psyche. I want to bring them stories with characters that are real – they make mistakes, they have emotional needs that are deep and difficult to articulate. And I want to show YA readers what happens when they deal with their problems with self-reliance and inner strength.
The challenge in writing YA is genuinely being in touch with what's happening for teens. While many difficulties young adults face are timeless, their culture is constantly evolving. It's important that a contemporary YA story be believable, and if setting, slang, behaviors, music or what have you are not current, it takes away the credibility of the author and ultimately muddles the message of the story. For instance, a contemporary YA novel must include the ways teens communicate including texts, chats, tweets, and Facebook status updates, otherwise the story doesn't come across as present day. So how does one stay current? I happen to teach middle and high school age students, so being part of their day-to-day experience is helpful research to make my YA stories more authentic. Some authors do this amazingly well, such as John Green. Many of his teen readers ask how he writes such realistic characters even though he's “old”. And for me, Mr. Green, and many other YA writers, there's a strong adolescent self still lurking inside, so much so that writing a believable young adult character, while challenging, is not impossible.
I know that the painful experiences we have as teenagers teach us, make us stronger, and ultimately help us to become who we are. But the shining moments in my own teen years come from certain adults who supported me and encouraged me to develop character traits that will always win in the end. Traits like integrity, perseverance, and never letting your own personal value be defined by others. While I still, to this day, remember those lessons from great teachers and other adults, I don't think I was exposed to these ideas enough. It's so difficult to drown out the media blitz flashing before teens eyes day in and day out. I make it my goal through my writing to be one of those positive influences that I don't think YA readers can ever get enough of during these impressionable years. And that it is why I write YA.
BLURB:
One night, Lucy hears mysterious music drifting through the school’s old heating system. The music leads her to a troubled but passionate songwriter whose brilliance gives her the strength to perform like never before. Yet their intense relationship puts Lucy in a precarious position: if she follows her muse, will she lose herself? And if she breaks it off, can she stand on her own again?
Excerpt:
As Lucy sat down in the graveyard against an aging oak tree, she caught her breath and thought of all the ways Kate had helped her to be stronger. She thought of how hard her sister pushed her to go to ESPA because Kate believed in her so much. Lucy knew she'd disappointed her sister when she decided not to go to the school. She told herself it was because it was too expensive for her parents and she would miss her friends and family too much to go, but deep down, she knew it was because she was afraid that she wasn't talented enough and she would embarrass herself and her parents.
Imagining her life going forward without Kate, all she could see was a vast emptiness ahead. A throbbing pain started in her head, her stomach, everywhere all at once. Lucy hugged her knees to her chest and let the tears come as hard and fast as possible. She stamped her feet and pounded her fists into the moist dirt at the base of the tree. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair!
Her life came down to a before and after. Before accident, the bright world full of laughter, and after accident, the muted world through fogged up glass. Just when the glass started to clear up, something reminded her of all that she'd lost.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Jennifer L. Fry is a writer, artist, and teacher in Marin County, California, where she lives with her wonderful husband, two adorable dogs, and orange tabby cat. Though she has been writing since she was young, A PART TO PLAY is her first novel.
LINKS:Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jennifer-L-Fry/394827827250769
Twitter:https://twitter.com/frygurl
Goodreads:http://www.goodreads.com/JenniferLFry
Amazon Author Page:amazon.com/author/jenniferlfry