Sandra Nachlinger's Blog, page 28

Princess Bling - Saturday Snapshots

For the past several years, I've sewn Halloween costumes for my granddaughter. At age two the choice was Little Red Riding Hood, complete with hooded cape. Last year she wanted a doctor's outfit - white lab coat and dark blue scrubs, accessorized with a stethoscope. Now that she's four years old, however, her interests are more "girly," so her choice for Halloween 2015 is a princess costume.

Here's a photo of the raw materials I've gathered for my creation: satiny fabric, shiny trim, tulle, sequins, and beads. Since I haven't done much sewing with these materials, it seems like a good idea to get an early start. Who knows what challenges will arise! I'll post a photo of the finished dress, assuming the reality measures up to the princess gown in my imagination. By the way, the sequins are silver but look blue in my photo for some reason.






Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.To enjoy a variety of beautiful pictures from around the world, click HERE or on the box below.  
To participate in Saturday Snapshots: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on the host blogsite. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

True Believer - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56

    I've read a couple of other books by Nicholas Sparks and enjoyed them, but someone always seems to die in the end! That's not the case with True Believer. 
    I enjoyed this story of a sophisticated city dude and his experiences in small town Boone Creek, North Carolina. The author's descriptions were vivid and the plot kept me engaged. I really didn't know for sure if the hero and heroine would work things out until the last few pages. I especially appreciated the fact that although the Southerners in the book were quirky and I recognized some of them as people I've met, they were not portrayed as ignorant, bigoted, or close-minded stereotypes.

Book Beginning:
    Jeremy Marsh sat with the rest of the live studio audience, feeling unusually conspicuous. He was one of only half a dozen men in attendance on that mid-December afternoon. He'd dressed in black, of course, and with his dark wavy hair, light blue eyes, and fashionable stubble, he looked every bit the New Yorker that he was. 

The Friday 56:
(I know we're supposed to pick an excerpt from Page 56, but this one on Page 54 tickled me so much that I just had to use it instead. New Yorker Jeremy is entering Herbs, a small town cafe, and he's dressed in black from head to toe.)
     As he climbed the steps to the front door, conversations quieted and eyes drifted his way. Only the chewing continued, and Jeremy was reminded of the curious ways cows looked at you when you approached the pasture fence. 

Genre: Contemporary Romance / Suspense
Book Length: 480 Pages
Amazon Link: True Believer

Synopsis from Goodreads:
Jeremy Marsh is the ultimate New Yorker: handsome, almost always dressed in black, and part of the media elite. An expert on debunking the supernatural with a regular column in "Scientific American," he's just made his first appearance on national TV. When he receives a letter from the tiny town of Boone Creek, North Carolina, about ghostly lights that appear in a legend-shrouded cemetery, he can't resist driving down to investigate. Here, in this tightly knit community, Lexie Darnell runs the town's library, just as her mother did before the accident that left Lexie an orphan. Disappointed by past relationships, including one that lured her away from home, she is sure of one thing: her future is in Boone Creek, close to her grandmother and all the other people she loves. Jeremy expects to spend a quick week in "the sticks" before speeding back to the city. But from the moment he sets eyes on Lexie, he is intrigued and attracted to this beautiful woman who speaks with a soft drawl and confounding honesty. And Lexie, while hesitating to trust this outsider, finds herself thinking of Jeremy more than she cares to admit. Now, if they are to be together, Jeremy Marsh must make a difficult choice: return to the life he knows, or do something he's never done before--take a giant leap of faith. A story about taking chances and following your heart, True Believer will make you, too, believe in the miracle of love.


                 
Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reads) 
Click HERE to join other Friday 56 bloggers (sponsored by Freda's Voice)


Twitter: @SandyNachlingerFacebook: sandy.nachlinger

No Bluebonnets for Elly!

I've just been notified that the publisher of BLUEBONNETS FOR ELLY (Secret Cravings/Sweet Cravings Publishing), is going out of business immediately. Therefore, ELLY is not available at this time through any bookselling outlets. 

I do hope to republish the book in the future, either by submitting the manuscript to other publishers or by self-publishing it; but right now, everything's up in the air.

In the meantime, I.O.U. SEX is still going strong! Click on the I.O.U. SEX tab above for links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo, and Smashwords. Available in eBook and paperback. 

Emerald City? Not This Summer! - Saturday Snapshots

With its multitudes of evergreen trees and usually rainy climate, the city of Seattle, Washington, is nicknamed The Emerald City. But this year the green has turned yellow or brown because of drought, and much of the state has battled wildfires. According to the National Weather Service, Seattle set a new record for driest May 1 to July 31, with just 0.9 inches of precipitation. 

Here are the effects of drought on my Pacific Northwest lawn, south of Seattle. Luckily, rain is forecast for this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed!



Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.To enjoy a variety of beautiful pictures from around the world, click HERE or on the box below.  
To participate in Saturday Snapshots: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on the host blogsite. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Taming Jenna - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56

Jenna Leigh-Whittington can track, shoot, and ride as well as any man, skills which have earned her a job as a Pinkerton agent assigned to track down ruthless killer Black Jack Mendoza. Once she earns the reward money for his capture, she'll use it to find her deadbeat father - a man who abandoned her and her mother and ruined their lives. Hired gunman Branch Macauley is tracking Mendoza too, determined to make him pay for killing his brother. What happens when Branch and Jenna meet? And could Mendoza be an innocent man? 

Taming Jenna is set in 1879 in Utah's mining country. The confrontations between these two strong characters result in a story filled with action, mystery, and romance. Author Charlene Raddon's vivid descriptions took me into forests of quaking aspen, into rough-and-rowdy mining towns, and in a particularly scary scene, even down into a mine. I enjoyed this action-filled romance, and I'm looking forward to reading more books by this author.

Book Beginning:
     A man's naked chest was one thing, Jenna Leigh-Whittington told herself as she crept through the brush. After all, this was 1879, not the dark ages, and she'd seen men without shirts before. Back home in Illinois, farmhands often went shirtless, toiling under a broiling sun.
     Besides, Jenna had decided fifteen years ago - at the ripe age of seven - never to make the same mistake her mother had in giving her heart to a man.

Friday 56 (from 56% on my Kindle):
   Miguel's eyebrows rose. "You were held prisoner in a whorehouse? Dios, this is every man's dream, my friend."

Genre: Historical Western Romance
Length: 416 Pages
Amazon Link: Taming Jenna
Author Website: Charlene Raddon

Synopsis:
Rather than include a synopsis, here's a trailer.


            
Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reads) Click HERE to join other Friday 56 bloggers (sponsored by Freda's Voice)

Twitter: @SandyNachlingerFacebook: sandy.nachlinger

Samuel & Sophia: A Tale of Two Teddies - Teaser Tuesday and First Chapter / First Paragraph

I have a four-year-old granddaughter who loves books, and one of her favorites is Samuel & Sophia - A Tale of Two Teddies by Judy Dearborn Nill. It's the story of twin teddy bears, their loyalty to each other, and their search for the perfect home.

The book is recommended for ages 4 to 8.

First Paragraph:
   A little boy with curly hair poked Samuel in the middle.
   Samuel giggled, but Sophia frowned.
   "I want these bears," the boy told his mother. "What are they called?"
   "The tags say Samuel and Sophia, dear."
   "I don't like the name Samuel," said the boy. "I don't like Sophia either...."

Teaser (from Page 4): 
"We don't need money," said the little girl. "We have credit cards!"

Genre: Children's Fiction
Length: 24 Pages
Publisher's Link: Samuel & Sophia at Guardian Angel Publishing
Amazon Link: Samuel & Sophia at Amazon
More Books by this Author: Judy's Amazon Author Page

This author has also written excellent books for young adults, early readers, and middle grade students.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!Link at  ADailyRhythm.com



First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.Link at  BibliophileByTheSea

Key to Love - Friday 56 & Book Beginnings

I enjoyed Key to Love for so many reasons: engaging plot, realistic characters, great description. This story has plenty of conflict and is much more than boy-meets-girl. There's suspicion that the death of Lucas Fisher's brother wasn't an accident. His will hasn't been found, and custody of his orphaned child is up in the air. There's also $100,000 missing. Elise Springer  has come to her hometown to help her injured father, but decisions she makes will affect her career as an architect back in San Francisco and her future with Lucas. This story examines the choices that can change a person's life.

Book Beginning:
     Scranton Wilkes-Barre International Airport was doing a brisk business for a Monday afternoon when Lucas Fisher arrived late because of heavy traffic on Interstate 81. He scanned the electronic arrivals board and instantly realized the early arrival of the San Francisco flight via a Detroit connection and his own tardiness meant one thing. He had already lost Elise Springer, sister of his best friend, Fritz. He'd bet all the money in his wallet she was impatiently wandering around the airport in search of him. Now he'd have to track her down or have her paged. Lucas sighed. He should have never washed his cell phone.

Friday 56 (from 56% on my Kindle):
     Decked out in a Death Valley theme, the hangout held everything from cactuses to cattle skulls, obviously all plastic renditions. The bar's motley group of patrons consisted of bikers in black leathers with chain wallets and colorful tattoos, second-shift factory workers with no homing instincts, and young couples either fond of the kaleidoscopic atmosphere or in love with the western two-step.

Genre: Romantic Suspense
Length: 326 Pages
Amazon Link: Key to Love
Website:  Judy Ann Davis

Synopsis:
     When architect Elise Springer's father is injured, she immediately leaves San Francisco to care for him. The last person she expects to encounter in her Pennsylvania hometown is her childhood friend Lucas Fisher. Lucas is investigating his brother's mysterious death, and Elise can't resist lending a hand. 
     Lucas longs for the close family ties he never had. He's back in Scranton to set up a classic car restoration business and build a future. The torch he carries for Elise burns brighter than ever, but before he can declare his love, he must obtain the legal rights to adopt his nephew--and prove his brother's death was no accident. 
     As they unearth clues to find the murderer and a missing stash of money, Elise faces a dilemma. Is her career on the West Coast the key to her happiness, or is it an animal-cracker-eating four-year-old and his handsome uncle instead?


                 
Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reads) Click HERE to join other Friday 56 bloggers (sponsored by Freda's Voice)

Twitter: @SandyNachlingerFacebook: sandy.nachlinger

#Writing Retreat - Smart Girls Read Romance

Check out my once-a-month post at Smart Girls Read Romance. Today's topic is this summer's writing retreat at Mount Rainier National Park... complete with photos.

Here's the link: Writing Retreat

The Land of Mango Sunsets - Teaser Tuesday and First Chapter / First Paragraph

     Charming, funny, delightful. Those are the best words I can find to describe The Land of Mango Sunsets by Dorothea Benton Frank. I enjoy stories where the main character changes and grows, and that's what happens to Miriam in this book. But now that I think about it, she actually goes back to being her authentic self, which is even better.  
     I enjoyed Frank's descriptions of Sullivans Island, South Carolina, and her Southern voice. The description in the prologue is luscious! I'll read more books by this author. (Many thanks to my friend Nan for offering her collection to me.)

Beginning (Prologue):
     We called it the Land of Mango Sunsets. None of the old islanders knew what we meant by that, as they had only ever heard of mangoes. Bottled chutney perhaps, but that was about the sum total of their experience with a food that was so foreign. But I knew all about the romance of them from my earliest memories of anything at all. My parents had honeymooned in the South Pacific, which in those days was considered a little reckless, certainly titillating, and above all, highly exotic. Every morning they left their beds, still half dreaming, to find a tray outside the door of their bungalow. They would bring it behind the curtains of the mosquito netting and into their bed. Still in their nightclothes, my mother's hair cascading in tendrils and my father's young beard stubble scratching her young complexion, they would burn away the sour paste of morning breath with a plate of sliced mangoes, dripping with fleshy sweetness, a pot of strong tea, and a rack of toast. From then on, mangoes were equated with love, tenderness, and hopeful beginnings, and we spent our lives looking everywhere for other examples of them.

Teaser (from Page 266) - How does Miriam know her mother's death is near? She explains it this way:
     No, this was something particular in her eyes, not a light that was fading but as though her eyes were trying to memorize me, freeze-frame the moment, and tuck it away in the pocket of the gown she intended to wear into eternity. She would show my ancestors these pictures of her time spent in my family's life just like photographs of events of which she was especially proud or those that had given her something sublime that she had stolen away with her passing to share.

Amazon link: The Land of Mango Sunsets
Pages: 334 (trade paperback)
Genre: Women's Fiction
Author Website: Dorothea Benton Frank

Synopsis:
      Dorothea Benton Frank writes highly addictive tales of life's conundrums with hilarity and heat. Meet Miriam Elizabeth Swanson, in a full-blown snit, buoyed by a fabulous cast that runs the gamut from insufferable to wonderful. First is the arrival of Liz Harper, Miriam's tenant from Birmingham, who sets a new cycle in motion. Her other tenant, Kevin, stalwart companion with more style than Cary Grant, shakes Miriam out of her fog to see which battles are worth the fight. Then there's Miriam's estranged son, who announces he's marrying a Jamaican woman. And what about her ex-husband, Charles, and that sordid lingerie model of his? Finally, you'll laugh and cry when Miriam meets a man named Harrison who changes her into a gal named Mellie.
      Miriam spins out from the revolving door of her postured life as a Manhattan quasi-socialite while she thirsts, no, starves for recognition. It takes a few spins, dips, and one spectacular fall until Miriam gets her head on straight. Then in a whoosh she's off to the enchanted and mysterious land of Sullivans Island, deep in the Lowcountry of South Carolina.
      Told straight from the heart in Frank's vivid, highly entertaining style,The Land of Mango Sunsets just might be her finest work to date. If you decide to read this book, don't make plans to do anything else for a while.


Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!Link at  ADailyRhythm.com



First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.
Link at  BibliophileByTheSea

Pianos on Parade - 2015 - Saturday Snapshot

Last August, I posted photos of Pianos on Parade in Auburn, Washington. So when an email arrived several days ago, saying the art installation was back for another year, I grabbed my camera! Here are this year's artists' interpretations of pianos like you've never seen them before. 

Click on photos to enlarge. If you'd like more information on the pieces and/or artists, here's the website: Pianos on Parade 2015

Happy Trees
Mr. Tubehead
Candyland! LOVE those crazy keys!
Underdog animals These posters said "8 1/2 year old burrito unicorn
dearly missed by his family" My favorite: Steampunk It was fun seeing the piano's internal workings.
Yes, all the pianos were playable.If you're curious about last year's pianos, here's the link to my 2014 post: Pianos on Parade - 2014
Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.To enjoy a variety of beautiful pictures from around the world, click HERE or on the box below.  
To participate in Saturday Snapshots: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on the host blogsite. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.