Sally Clements's Blog, page 10

Dear Julia Launch Wave - Stop Two

It’s launch day for Rae Summers’ new historical novella, Dear Julia, and to celebrate she’s having a Launch Wave of excerpts! You can keep up with the wave’s progress on the Twitter hashtag #DearJulia. If you enjoy the story, feel free to tweet your comments and chat to other wave surfers.By clicking on the links below each excerpt, you’ll be able to follow the wave across 8 blogs to read the entire first chapter - or you can click on the buy links below to get your own copy! * * *Dear Julia is set in the English countryside in the early 1920s, and is part of the Love Letters series from The Wild Rose Press.Read the opening extract here.The tiny Somerset village of Stogumber lay amidst green fields, almost within sight of Exmoor. It was a pretty place, soft and sleeping beneath the pale sky, a world away from the bustle and noise of London.Rosalie strode across the cow pasture that lay beyond their tangled garden, her heeled boots sinking into the soft earth, then climbed the stile into the narrow and winding lane that led into the village. Dappled light slanted down between the trees, casting intricate patterns across the ground, a reminder of the ring and letter she’d locked carefully away in her jewellery box.A bell chimed as she entered the general store that doubled as a post office, and the grey-haired woman behind the counter looked up. “Good afternoon, Miss Stanton. How may I help you?”Rosalie smiled engagingly. “I’m looking for a little information on our house, and my housekeeper suggested you might be able to help.”The older woman leaned forward across the scarred wooden counter, eyes bright with undisguised interest. “I hear you’re installing electric lights, and an electric water heater.”If she’d already heard about the water heater, then Rosalie had come to the right place. Mrs. Wallace was without a doubt the village gossip.Which meant she had to tread carefully. She’d tell Rosalie what she wanted to know, but she’d also spread the news of the ring around the village before Rosalie had walked home. And Rosalie had no intention of facing down a line of doubtful claimants.So instead she perched on the high stool before the counter, as if settling in for nothing more than a cosy chat. “It’s the history of the house I’m interested in. I gather it’s stood empty for a couple of years. Before that, who lived there?”“Alice Peabody stayed there a few years, before she got sick and went to live with her son, down Devon way.”“Did she live alone?”“There was a companion. Now what was her name?” Mrs. Wallace’s nose wrinkled as she thought.“It was a flower name. Violet, or Ivy, or something like that.”“And before them?”“Before them was the Fortescues. Gentry, they were. Old Grandfather Fortescue built the house with money he made out of the railways.” Mrs. Wallace dropped her voice, as if discussing something scandalous. “He’s the one who insisted on the bathrooms.”Rosalie sent up a prayer of thanks for the long dead Mr. Fortescue’s forethought. And for Mrs.Wallace. At least now she knew Julia must have been a Fortescue. But how could she ask outright without arousing Mrs. Wallace’s curiosity? “Where are they now?”* * *For the next instalment, click here to go to the blog of bestselling Desire author Rachel Bailey. Here is the full list of participating blogs:Stop 1 – Minxes of RomanceStop 2 – You are here!Stop 3 – Rachel BaileyStop 4 – Scarlet WilsonStop 5 – Olivia MilesStop 6 – Jennifer ShirkStop 7 – Suzanne JonesStop 8 – the last stop, at Romy Sommer’s blog.Thank you to all these lovely ladies for hosting me today!Dear Julia is on sale through Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, AllRomance eBook and The Wild Rose Press. You can find out more about this novella here – and don’t forget to tweet your feedback using the hashtag #DearJulia.

New cover love!

I'm working on edits for my next release, Challenging Andie at the moment, but the cover is done, and I just can't resist sharing it!

More about Challenging Andie closer to it's release....


Isn't it gorgeous?

Lots of 'freeloads' and some nice reviews too...

I've had over 36,000 free downloads of The Morning After and Catch Me A Catch over the past 3 days, so thank you everyone who's grabbed themselves a copy, I hope you enjoy!

And thanks to 2 review sites that have posted reviews in the past day or so:

Romancing the book gave me a 'lovely rose' rating, which they describe as 'an enjoyable read, I would recommend it' (you can read the entire review here)

http://romancing-the-book.com/2012/05/review-the-morning-after-by-sally-clements.html

and Coffee Time Romance and More gave me a 4 cups review, saying:

I thoroughly enjoyed The Morning After. This book has everything you want in a story: a great plot, interesting settings and characters you want to hope for and believe in. Add that these things are all written in a fun, lighthearted way and it was easy to get lost in this story.

You can read the entire review here:

http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/BookReviews/themorningafterbysallyclements.html#.T64HSirfMpU.twitter


Thank you very much, both - I'm so glad you enjoyed The Morning After!

Free books!

Heads up - I have two books going free this week on Amazon.

Today and tomorrow, The Morning After is free.

You can pick it up free here if you use Amazon.co.uk
And free here if you use Amazon.com

Little update - TMA just came off free, with a total of 20,650 downloads! And if anyone reading this got it (and liked it) I'd be very thankful for a review on Amazon... Catch Me A Catch is still free today, so help yourself to it if you'd like to!
Tomorrow and Friday, Catch Me A Catch is free.

You can pick it up free here if you use Amazon.co.uk
And free here if you use Amazon.com


Enjoy!

p.s. And my friend Judy Jarvie's Nanny Behaving Badly, is free for the weekend, to keep that kindle stocked up...
You can check it out on her blog, or click on the book title above to view it in the Kindle US Store...

Cover Lovin'

I have a new cover for the re-released version of Catch Me A Catch, which will be going live in the next day or so. I love it!

I have a winner!

Congratulations to StereoQueenBee, who is the winner of my prize in the Authors In Bloom blog hop, winning the ebook copy of Marrying Cade and also a tube of lavender hand cream from L'Occitane en Provence.

Also congratulations to YJ Yang, who won the overall prize of either a Kindle or a Nook!

Thanks to everyone who came along and played with the Authors In Bloom over the past few days.

Authors in Bloom Giveaway Hop/Enter to win a Nook/Enter to win a Kindle!

April 9th –April 18th 10 Days of Giveaways-Gardening Tips-Recipes-and more!
Plus GRAND PRIZE of a Nook or Kindle!I’m delighted to be part of the Authors in Bloom blog hop for the next ten days. Below, I’ve posted a recipe for lavender biscuits, and every author will be posting a gardening tip, a recipe, or both, so do follow through the links to read them all!
Every visitor who already follows my blog – or becomes a new follower during the 10 day period and leaves me a comment below, will be entered into a draw to claim my prizes, which are an ebook copy of my book, Marrying Cade, and a tube of Lavender Hand Cream, from L’Occitane en Provence. I will be shipping this prize to any location.There is also a GRAND PRIZE being offered for the blog hop, which is the winner’s choice of a Kindle Fire or a Nook and $25 worth of books! Woo!  In order to be eligible for this prize, you must visit each author’s blog post, and copy the short phrases from each one and assimilate them into the complete passage: “Authors in Bloom,” a vignette about a women’s personal growth and empowerment. Once you have compiled your passage, submit your entry via the Authors in Bloom blog hop homepage by following this link.
Lavender Biscuits: Ingredients:75g butter, at room temperature, 25g caster sugar , a pinch of salt, 60g plain flour, 25g rice flour
1tsp lavender flowers, crushed in a pestle and mortar, ½tsp crushed fennel seedsHeat the oven to 150C.
In a mixing bowl, or with an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until soft. Crush the lavender flowers with the fennel seeds.Sift in the flours and salt and add the crushed flower and seed. Bring together to make a dough. Don’t overwork it too much.Wrap the dough in film and rest in the fridge for about 20mins.Then roll it out to about 1cm thick and cut out shapes with little cutters.Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.After it is cool, you can dust some icing sugar over the biscuits.Here’s my phrase:Line 38: Weren’t you feeling cramped, lost among the cluster of your peers?Don’t forget to visit the other authors involved in the hop, conveniently located on the linky below:

Freebie Friday!

Just a heads up to let everyone know that Bound to Love is free on Friday and Saturday. That's tomorrow!

You can pick up your free copy from Amazon.com here
Or Amazon.co.uk here.

And if you've already got it, and liked it, do tell any friends with kindles that they can pick it up for free.


On Monday, I'm taking part in a fun blog tour with Authors In Bloom, with an opportunity to win a Nook or a Kindle, so check back after the weekend for details!

Catch Me A Catch - Having a holiday....

My first book, Catch Me A Catch is having a holiday for a while. It was published in July 2010 by The Wild Rose Press, and with the end of it's contract term coming up, I decided to ask for the rights back, and they have now reverted.
I'm in the process of getting a new cover done, and re-editing it ready to re-release, but have to wait for it to clear all outlets (which may take a couple of months) before re-releasing it mid-May-beginning June. I'll post the new cover and links when I have them!