Kemberlee Shortland's Blog, page 4

COVER REVEAL: One Night in New Delhi

OK the wait is over. I'm ready to make my big announcement. It starts with a new book...

Crazy in Love Valentine's Mega Giveaway!

Click here to enter!!
This is the time of year when we romance authors are abuzz with visions of hearts and flowers dancing in our heads. In fact, we are so full of love, we have decided to give away a ton of books and even a $100 Amazon Gift Card to you, our beloved readers! Because we love you oh so much! XOXOXOXOXOXOX

So what do you have to do to enter? Click the link above and follow the options at the Rafflecopter.

Then, keep your eyes peeled for the winners on Februrary 15th!

A full list of prizes are listed after the Rafflecopter, but YES, I have two books on offer: Awakening and One Night in Dublin ;-)

Good luck and be sure to share some love around.

Murder in Mornington goes on tour!

I've started a review tour today for MURDER IN MORNINGTON. This tour runs 11-25 January. Please follow me!

There's a unique prize on offer too!! Enter Rafflecopter at the bottom of the page.

January 11 - Reading Addiction Virtual Book Tours
http://www.readingaddictionvbt.com/2016/01/tour-kick-off-murder-in-mornington-by.html

January 11 - Texas Book Nook
http://texasbooknook13.blogspot.com

January 12 - Books Are Love
http://hello-booklover.tumblr.com

January 13 - The Indie Express
http://theindieexpress.blogspot.com

January 15 - A Life Through Books
http://authoreverleigh.blogspot.com

January 18 - Nerdy, Dirty, and Flirty
http://nerdydirtyandflirty.blogspot.com

January 19 - Bless Their Hearts Mom
http://blesstheirheartsmom.blogspot.com

January 20 - eBook Addicts
http://ebookaddicts.net

January 21 - Us Girls and a Book
http://usgirlsandabook.blogspot.com

January 22 - Enthralling Dimple
https://enthrallingdimple.wordpress.com

January 23 - Around the World in Books
http://www.aroundtheworldinbooks.ca

January 25 -  RABT Reviews
http://www.readingaddictionvbtreviews.blogspot.com

**Murder in Mornington is still just 99c/99p!

http://www.tirgearrpublishing.com/authors/Shortland_Kemberlee/murder-in-mornington.htm



a Rafflecopter giveaway

And the winners are...

First off, I'd like to thank Sue Coletta for running this massive competition. This took a lot of work and coordinating to make it happen, especially over the busy holiday season. Thanks, Sue!


I'd also like to thank the *726* people who entered this competition. That's a massive turnout! Unfortunately, only three entrants could be chosen to win these 30 crime novels.

And those winners are…

Carol Sue Anderson

Mark Antonie Fauchelle

Rosemary Jarrell

Congratulations to you all.

Each participating author will gift you their books through Amazon within the week. Please contact Sue around the 10th if any of these titles have not yet been received.

Though it’s not mandatory, we (all of the participating authors) truly hope you’ll consider leaving reviews. Reviews help authors sell books so more can enjoy their stories. A review can be as simple as “Couldn’t put the book down!” Or “Great read.” Also, with paid promotion and marketing, authors need reviews before advertisers will accept their books into their scheme. So please review.

For those who really wanted to win a copy of my book, Murder in Mornington, you can still grab a copy for just 99c/99p/99euc through Amazon. My books are available on all of Amazon's 14 sites, so visit your favorite site to find this book.


Happy New Year everyone!

Competition Time: Some of the Best Crime of the Year!

Hey everyone!

Do you like crime stories ? Whether they be hard boiled thrillers, cozy mysteries, or something in between, this competition has something for everyone! Guaranteed!

And it's as easy as one-click to enter. Just click here --

a Rafflecopter giveaway
The competition runs through New Years Eve. Winners will be selected on the 2nd of January 2016!!

Wanna learn more about the books in the competition? The competition organizer has listed all of the book blurbs on her blog. Just click here --


Three lucky winners will win all 30 titles. Drawing ends at midnight on New Year’s Day. The winners will be announced on Jan. 2nd, 2016.

If you share this giveaway on Twitter or Pinterest, your name goes in twice. If you share on FB, your names goes in three times!

And hey, my latest book, MURDER IN MORNINGTON, is on the list too!

If you can't wait to see if you've won, you can still buy my book on Amazon for just 99c/99p/99euc for the digital version, or head to Amazon for a print copy, just $5.99/£4.99/€5.99.

And hey, whether you win or buy these novels, don't forget to leave us reviews. We love hearing how readers like, or not, our books ;-)

Good luck everyone, and be sure to share this post with your friends!

Blissemas 2015

Are you following the 2015 Blissemas event? No? Why not?!
Fun and prizes from today through Xmas Eve (1-24 December).
Join me on the 9th for an exclusive interview with a very special man!
Drop over to http://blissemas.co.uk daily for a new author spot.
And join the Blissemas event on FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/970744852964196

Murder She Wrote, in Mornington!

Tooting my own horn (I know, I know, I should have tooted last week!).

I was in our local newspaper last week, The Drogheda Leader, promoting my latest book, Murder in Mornington (see page 9...my lucky number!).

Murder in Mornington is special in many ways:

★ This is my first foray into a non-romance genre (cozy mysteries).

★ This is the first cover my artist, Alicia Stucky (also on Facebook), has ever seen published (Alicia is one to watch!).

★ And this book is *officially the 200th book* published with Tirgearr Publishing!

See? Lots to celebrate.

Click on the article here to read what journalist Ian Watters had to say.

Check out this series here. Next up is Lynched in Laytown!

Murder in Mornington was released today through Tirgearr Publishing
For a limited time, this book is just 99c/99p/99eu cent, so grab yours today.

Thanks to all my readers for your support. I hope you enjoy my new cozy Irish mystery.
Please remember to review! :-)

Murder is afoot!

ISBN: 9781310765162
ASIN: B017DEWZEY
Tirgearr Publishing
Cover Artist: Alicia StuckeyI've been biting my nails for weeks, wanting to say something about my new project but having to wait until all my ducks were in a row.

As a writer, I'm constantly coming up stories to write about, and when a body was found in our area along a stretch of river two years ago, the title for a new story jumped right out at me. Since that time, I've been muddling over how to make this my own story. And now, all the planning, research, writing, revising, the long process with beta readers and editors, and more revising has finally come to an end. The ducks are all aligned and I can now make my announcement.

Book one of the new Sassy O'Brien cozy mysteries is now available on pre-order!!!

This is my first venture into a non-romance genre, and I can tell you, it's been challenging, but also extremely fun. I love writing challenges, and this one certainly was that.

But it's also been an interesting learning experience. With this story, I was fortunate enough to have the council of a senior Garda/police inspector about the ins and outs of Irish police procedure. I'd love to shadow him one day through an investigation. His advise and suggestions were invaluable.

And I've discovered a budding cover designer named Alicia Stuckey. We've both really enjoyed getting to know each other while working on this cover. And it's been a monumental task for both of us keeping quiet about this project until we were ready to announce. You see, I know her mother, and she doesn't know about this yet :-) Well, she does now that we're both making the big announcement. I'd have loved to have been a fly on the wall when she found out what her daughter has been up to the last couple months. This is officially Alicia's first ever book cover! I'm so happy with it, and can't wait to see the other five in the series.

So, a little about the story. Firstly, I live in Mornington so I walk along this river and the nearby sea fairly regularly. All of the stories in this series are based on the area where I live. Mornington is a bedroom community on lands once belonging to the Earl of Mornington, near Drogheda, Co Meath, Ireland. Bettystown and Laytown are the only villages along the sea here, the strand of which is about 3 miles long between the Nanny River at Laytown and the River Boyne at Mornington. Bettystown in the center, and the central location where my protagonist, Sassy O'Brien, lives and works.

Sassy is a local hair stylist in Bettystown. She's a young woman who lives with her Irish Wolfhound, Bracken, upstairs from her salon which is located beside Bettystown Strand. Sassy and Bracken do a five mile jog up the beach and back every morning before work, which is when my story opens.

Sassy is a fan of crime television programs, and as a single woman, she spends her time off relaxing by catching up on her favorite shows -- Bones, Criminal Minds, Elementary, etc, and of course, Castle.

When Sassy finds a body on the riverbank during her morning run, and after she stops freaking out, she thinks, "What would Beckett do?" So she rings 999 (Ireland's 911) before taking several crime scene photos on her mobile phone. As you do! She feels a little silly doing this, but of course, ends up taking several more. Who knows? Maybe the state forensic people will miss something, as if! She makes note of the clues too, and plans to follow the investigation through the media. But when the detective who interviews her starts coming into her salon with regularity, the chins on the locals start wagging, and suddenly, Sassy's life is turned upside down.

The last thing hair stylist Sassy O’Brien expects to find on her morning run on her local beach is a dead body. An addict of TV crime programs, she thinks, “What would Beckett do?” After ringing the police, she takes several crime scene photos on her mobile phone, as you do.

Much to Detective Donnelly’s consternation, Sassy’s involvement becomes instrumental in his investigation, especially as clues are overlooked by his team.

How will Sassy cope when all the clues point to her?

Murder in Mornington publishes Monday, 23 November, but you can get it NOW on pre-order on the main ebook vendor sites. Pre-order on Kindle for just 99c/99p/99eucent!
I'd love to hear what you think of this story when you get a chance to read it. If you like cozy mysteries, if you like Ireland, if you like quirky stories, and if you like goofy Irish Wolfhounds, then this is the story for you. :-)

For more information, visit the series page.

Awakening has a new awakening

[image error]original cover art:
Dara England
As some of you know, a few years ago, I started a series under the pen name Scarlett Valentine. The first book in the ABCs of S-E-X: Love by the Letter series was Awakening. This is an amazing medieval erotic romance set in 1149 Wales, and started off this unusual 26-book series very well.

Unfortunately, I haven't had time to manage my Scarlett projects. With most of my writing under my own brand, and of course the last four years with Tirgearr Publishing, there just hasn't been time for a whole other persona . . . website, social media, promotion and marketing, reviews, interviews, and everything that comes with being an author and promoting one's work. An author has to put their whole selves into promotion if they want to sell books. And it's much harder when you're managing two personas, and a publishing company.

I've been thinking long and hard about this, and I've finally decided to put Scarlett to rest. It's as if she's been languishing in a box on the shelf for the last couple years, selling only the odd book here and there when someone happens to find her. It's unfair to the series, and it's unfair to readers.

So, as of today, I've brought Awakening under my own brand and will continue the series as Kemberlee Shortland.

This process hasn't been easy. I now feel like a pretender, which is strange. It's as if I wrote this story for someone else, even though that someone else was *me.* Having my name on this cover almost feels like I've taken something that wasn't mine and put my name on it, when in reality, *I wrote it and it is mine!*

So, please help me spread the word that *my* book, Awakening, has come home! I'd love to hear what everyone thinks of the new cover, and of course, would love some feedback to let me what you think of the story (ahem . . . reviews).

Thank you to all the readers who invested in this story as Scarlett. I hope you will continue following my work, and this series, under my brand.

Without further ado, here it is!

AWAKENING The ABCs of S-E-X: Love by the Letter, book 1
Ysbail is the ward of the Prince of Powys. Bedwyr is the bastard son of the King of Gwynedd. When a peace settlement is reached between Prince Madog and King Owain, it’s at Ysbail and Bedwyr’s expense. Known as the Grave Knower, war has taken Bedwyr to the edge of insanity. But when he first sees Ysbail, his blood-thirst turns to blood-lust, and vows to show Ysbail she needn’t fear him.

For research and a little fun

We finally made it to the Laytown Strand Races yesterday. This is a one day event, always held the second Thursday of September...yesterday.

I posted some photos on my blog, Heart Shaped Stones , for anyone interested.

The research bit is for a new project I'm working on (watch this space!) and of course, horses racing on the beach is pretty fun.

The Laytown Strand Races was founded in 1867, with the first recorded race in 1868. Documents show that it was held in conjunction with the Drogheda Regatta. Boats raced at high tide, then horse racing at low tide.

This is the Turf Club sanctioned beach race in Ireland *and* England, so it's a pretty special affair, which brought out a wife variety of characters.

I hope you enjoy the photos. I'd love to hear from you if you've attended a Laytown race. Find me on Facebook and Twitter .

Bettystown Strand
3 miles of golden sand beach, stretching from
Laytown through Bettystown to Mornington on the Co Meath coast