Maria Geraci's Blog, page 2

Murder By Muffin is here!

I’m excited to announce that the third book in my Whispering Bay mystery series is finally here! Murder By Muffin has all your favorite characters from Whispering Bay returning, including of course, Lucy McGuffin, my amateur sleuth, and her little rescue dog, Paco.

MURDER BY MUFFIN, available now!

Lucy McGuffin has three problems:

She’s a human lie-detector, a “gift” she tries hard to keep hidden.

Her rescue dog, Paco, is a ghost whisperer.

And someone’s just been found murdered in her kitchen.

The murder weapon? One of Lucy’s apple walnut cream cheese muffins. The victim? The producer for a reality TV cooking competition that Lucy is determined to win. Lucy and the producer had some very public words the day before the murder. When it’s discovered that Lucy’s café was about to be disqualified from the show, all fingers point to Lucy as the prime suspect.

Travis Fontaine might be Whispering Bay’s newest heartthrob, but the know-it-all cop and Lucy have butted heads in the past. He doesn’t believe she’s guilty, and he’ll prove it. Himself. Without any of Lucy’s “special” help, thanks.

But Lucy isn’t about to sit back and let her goose get cooked. With her best friend, Will, and her dog, Paco, by her side, she sets out to solve the crime before someone gets away with murder.

New book coming soon!

Check back soon for the buy link to the 3rd book in my Whispering Bay Mystery series. I can’t wait to share this new chick-lit mystery featuring Lucy McGuffin, Paco and all the other characters you’ve come to love!

Announcing Betty Jean’s Book Club Reviews

If you’re a fan of my Whispering Bay romances and cozy mysteries, then you’re probably a Betty Jean Collins fan too. I think I get more fan mail for Betty Jean than any of my other characters, even my heroes and heroines! So I’ve decided to let her off the pages and starting in tomorrow’s newsletter she’ll have a monthly column, Betty Jean’s Book Club Reviews.

Scary. I know.

She’s starting off with a woozy, too. She’ll be giving her review of Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis.

Yep. You really don’t want to miss it. Click HERE to subscribe!

In celebration of Romance

Want to know one of the things I love most about writing romance? Readers! Join me and about sixty other romance authors as we celebrate Carol’s Crazy Bookish World’s first year anniversary. Carol is a really lovely lady who loves to share her love of books and she’s throwing a HUGE bash.

Come join the fun on Tuesday, March 5. I’ll be there from 4:45-5 pm CST with a couple of fun giveaways. Click HERE to join the fun!

 

 

Reader email question of the week

So I’ve gotten a few funny emails lately asking me if there really is such a thing as sciurophobia or if I made it up. Hello? Are Lucy McGuffin and I the only ones who are afraid of squirrels? I think not, my friends. Sciurophobia affects over 250,000 Americans (don’t ever say I never tell you anything important).

Most people think squirrels are cute and cuddly, but those of us who aren’t walking around with blinders on know them for what they really are–rats with furry tails waiting to steal your McDonald’s plain (no ketchup, no mustard) hamburger. Let me explain.

When I was 4 (yes, this is a long time ago) my mom took my sister and I out grocery shopping and afterward, as a special treat, she took us to McDonald’s.

Back then my parents didn’t have much money, and my mom has always been very pragmatic, so this was an unexpected treat. I was a crappy little kid who hated any condiments so my poor mom had to wait extra long for a special order burger.

We got our food and since it was a nice day, we ate outside in the picnic section. I had just taken one tiny bite of my hamburger and laid it on the table, when…yes, you guessed it. A squirrel swooped down from the trees and STOLE. IT. Right under my 4-year-old nose.

No matter how much I cried, my mom refused to go back inside and get me another hamburger. Not that I blame her.

So, yeah… squirrels and me… nope!

**

Featured email reader question for this week’s newsletter. To read more and get exclusive content, make sure you sign up for my weekly newsletter!

New website look!

I have a new website! Isn’t it gorgeous? A million thank you’s to Caro at GoCreate.me. I found her through David Gaughran. If you don’t subscribe to him, you should. I’ve seen him give presentations at NINC and read all his books and he’s fabulous. A true wealth of information for Indie authors!

Break out the Bubbly Giveaway!

Break Out the Bubbly!  All-Genres Romance Giveaway

January 1-21

Kindle Fire 7 • Ebook Prize Packs • Amazon Gift Cards • Jane Austen Tote

 

Happy New Year, Lovely Readers! I hope your holiday was as wonderful as mine. I had all three of my children with me to celebrate, which doesn’t happen often as the little scamps live all around the country, so I’m beyond grateful that I was able to spend a few precious days with them. To celebrate 2019, I’m participating in this awesome Break Out the Bubbly Giveaway with some truly great prizes. Click HERE to enter!

Romance Writers of America 2018 recap

I’m back from the annual RWA conference with sore feet and bleary eyes. But I also came away with lots of great ideas, a truck load of motivation, and best of all, new friendships!

Every year the conference is held at a different site and I’m sooo glad that they choose Denver this year. For one, I’ve never been and it was great getting to know a new city, and secondly, my youngest daughter is moving to Denver next week, so I now have some visual context. Everyone warned me before going to the mile high city about the possibility of altitude sickness, but luckily, I never felt sick, other than the night I mixed champagne with a Moscow mule and got a bit wonky. But that could have been because I rarely drink, so there you go.

On to the conference!

I was up for 2 awards, the National Readers Choice Award, and the RITA®, both for the same book, THIS CAN’T BE LOVE. I didn’t win either award, but I’m still a huge winner because just to be nominated is pretty spectacular. Plus, it was a great honor to be nominated for awards alongside my pals, Jamie Farrell and Sharla Lovelace. Sharla actually won in her category in the National Readers Choice Award, and I was so thrilled for her!

The conference started for me on Tuesday night with a dinner at Earl’s Upstairs, a local restaurant, where a bunch of other RITA® nominated authors got together for dinner. I got to meet so many fabulous people, including the lovely Natasha Anders, Margaret Locke, Marie Johnston, the wonderful Priscilla Oliveras and Alexis Daria (who went on to win BEST FIRST BOOK for her debut novel TAKE THE LEAD on Rita night!). Best First Book is always the most emotional award of the night and she gave a speech that brought tears to my eyes. There were so many more awesome writers that I had the chance to meet but I can’t begin to name them all or this post would go on forever! Thank you so much to Kristan Higgins (who also won big RITA night for her marvelous book NOW THAT YOU MENTION IT) for putting the dinner together!

Other highlights included:

THE MOLLY BROWN HOUSE AND MUSEUM

A half day off of the conference, where me and my fabulous friend and editor, Rhoda McDuffey, walked around downtown Denver. Got lost a bunch of times (because we’re both GPS challenged) and finally found our destination: The Molly Brown house and museum. If you ever get to Denver, this is a must. Margaret Brown (she was never actually called Molly!) was a terrific lady and role model for the women of both her time and ours. A forward thinker, she advocated for a woman’s right to vote, and helped establish both the first Humane Society in Denver and one of the first juvenile justice systems in the country.

After surviving the Titanic, she founded a fund to help survivors of the shipwreck, many of whom were immigrant women whose husbands were killed during the disaster, and had little or no money coming to America. Plus, she was a devout Catholic, and it was very cool to see she had a crucifix on her bedroom wall and a padded kneeler in front of it.

Another really neat feature of the Molly Brown house (built in the latter part of the 19th century) is that the bathroom still has all the original pieces (except the tank above the toilet). Talk about quality fixtures!

COLORADO STATE CAPITAL

The Colorado state capital building is absolutely gorgeous and the surrounding grounds are meticulously groomed. I was so impressed with it all. Plus, the weather isn’t too shabby either! Yes, it was very hot and the sun is pretty brutal, but it is July and the dry air made it more tolerable than my beloved Florida is at present.

THE RITAS!

I wish I’d taken more pictures! I always suck at this and then later regret that I didn’t snap more photos, but I’m always so in the moment that I forget. The speeches were so emotional and heartfelt, and I want to congratulate all the winners! It was a magical night that I won’t soon forget!

ME AND MY FABULOUS FRIEND AND EDITOR, RHODA MCDUFFEY. SHE TRULY MADE THIS BOOK SHINE!

ME AND MY BOOK UP ON THE BIG SCREEN!

LITERACY SIGNING!

I have to admit, I always get really nervous the day of the literacy signing because it’s so humbling to be signing in the room with so many BIG authors. The signing is open to the public and all proceeds go to local literacy charities. As usual, once I get there my nerves disappear because everyone is so friendly and warm and there are BOOKS everywhere, and everyone there has one thing in common: We love books and we love romance so you’re totally with your tribe. Best people ever! I also got to catch up with fellow STAR members, Lucy Lakestone, Melinda Leigh, JoMarie DeGioia and Brenna Ash. I just wish I’d taken more pictures!

ME! AT THE 2018 RWA LITERACY SIGNING

MY RITA SISTER! SHARLA LOVELACE AND I HAVE BEEN NOMINATED TWICE NOW AND BOTH IN THE SAME YEAR, 2013 AND 2018

WITH FELLOW STAR MEMBER, BRENNA ASH

All in all, the conference was awesome and I’m already looking forward to New York next year!

How Chihuahua Publishing was born (dreams really do come true!)

Some of you might have noticed (okay, you probably didn’t notice) but the “publisher” button on some of my books have changed. Where it used to say Maria Geraci (publisher) it now says Chihuahua Publishing. And yes, there’s a story behind it.

Author Maria Geraci. (Photo by Chris Kridler/ChrisKridler.com) 

Back in the day when my agent was trying to sell my first book to New York (no, my first book didn’t sell, but my second did!) I was getting that daily barrage of rejection emails that all writers get. Some were harder than others. I think the standard “this just didn’t work for us” was almost better than those rejections that came after a publishing house would show interest and the project was oh so close to getting bought, but for some reason or other, just didn’t make the cut.

After one of those “close, but no” rejections, I was in the kitchen trying to cook dinner for the family when Mike Geraci came home from work. Usually, I’m a pretty upbeat person, but that night I was down. He noticed right away and asked what was wrong. I burst into tears and told him that I’d received another rejection letter and I just didn’t think I’d ever get published.

He hugged me and told me no worries. If New York was too dim to see my talent, then we’d just start our own publishing company and we’d name it… Chihuahua Publishing! Of course, I laughed and felt much better about everything. I have to say, Mike Geraci was pretty much ahead of the times because this was 2007 and the only “self publishers” out there were vanity presses.

Fast forward to January of 2008 on a cold north Florida evening. It was damp and chilly and I had a miserable cold. I remember this so well because I was laying on the couch watching one of my favorite movies AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMEN. Right in the middle of Louis Gossett Jr yelling at Richard Gere (Mayo-naise!) I got a phone call from my agent. My pulse began to race because usually she only called if she had good news.

Berkley (an imprint of Penguin) wanted to buy my book. I was thrilled. Over the next few years, Berkley bought 3 more books. It was great to see my babies in real life brick and mortar stores. The 4th book (A Girl Like You) was nominated for a  RITA®, Romance Writers of America’s highest award of distinction in the romance publishing industry. It didn’t win, but it was one of the highlights of my writing career.

Fast forward a couple more years. I didn’t sell anymore books to Berkley (and that was okay). I wanted to try self-publishing. So I did it first with the help of my agent, and that was a great learning experience and a terrific way to dip my toe in the water. Then I got the rights back to those books (my first 4 Whispering Bay romances) and published them under my name. Then I put out a 5th book, and today, my 6th Whispering Bay romance is out in the world! I decided it was high time to start that little company that Mike Geraci envisioned a decade ago.

Today, I’m nominated for my second Rita, as well as a National Readers’ Choice Award for the 5th book in my series (This Can’t Be Love). I’m working on a Whispering Bay spin-off cozy mystery series as well as another romance series and I couldn’t be happier.

Sometimes dreams really do come true! Oh, and yes, I really have my own chihuahua! (and a dachshund too!)

Darwin and Truffles Geraci

I’m giving away 100 copies of This Can’t Be Love!

Yes, really! I’m partnering up with Goodreads to give away 100 ecopies of This Can’t Be Love. Click here to enter. Best of luck! Giveaway ends on May 30.

A 2018 Rita nominee for Best mid-length Contemporary Romance of the year!

Luke Powers has a stellar career, a loaded bank account, and the perfect girlfriend. Or so he thought until she gives him a marriage ultimatum. Unfortunately, he’s just not the marrying kind. After working six months non-stop, all he wants now is a few weeks of R&R in the beach house his late grandfather left him in his hometown of Whispering Bay. But when he shows up late one night, he finds something totally unexpected—a naked blonde in his bed.

Sarah Jamison is the antithesis of perfect. She’s a college dropout, a bit of a slob, and annoyingly opinionated. But she also makes the best macaroni and cheese Luke has ever tasted. A roommate wasn’t in Luke’s summer plans, but she’s here, so she and her macaroni might as well stay.

Sarah is in Whispering Bay long enough to help out a friend, then she’s off to greener pastures. Spending a few weeks with the attractive, but acerbic Luke, won’t be any skin off her nose. Except, the two of them have more in common than she originally thought, and those blue eyes of his have a way of making her panties melt.

As things between them begin to heat up, Sarah and Luke have to admit they’ve definitely fallen in lust with one another. But in love? No way.