Sandra Nachlinger's Blog, page 45

Sweet With a Little Spice

V.L. LOCEYAUTHOR OF MULTIGENRE EROTIC ROMANCEBLUEBONNETS FOR ELLY - sweet and spicy! Author V. L. Locey features a snippet from my sweet* romance on her blog today. Read an excerpt HERE.



*There are various heat levels in "sweet" romance. In BLUEBONNETS FOR ELLY, there's plenty of foolin' around between Elly and Derek, but when things heat up between them, I close the bedroom door.

Mount Rainier - Saturday Snapshots

It's always fun to host out-of-town guests, especially when we're having a stretch of mild, sunshiny weather like we had in late May. We get to act like tourists! So when our visitors from Alabama spent a week with us, we took the opportunity to gas up the car, slather on the sunscreen, and head out. Here's a sampling of the beauty we found at Mount Rainier National Park. I hope my husband and I are able to visit the park again in late summer when all the snow is gone and wildflowers cover the hillsides. That's something I haven't seen yet, and it's supposed to be amazing.
I'll post photos from our other adventures in the coming weeks.
(Click on photos to enlarge.)

The area in the foreground is a gigantic slab of rock, covered in moss and lichen.
Mount Rainier is snowy white year round.
We took a short path through the woods to
get a look at the water roaring through Box Canyon.
Our young guest from Alabama was delighted by all the snow at Paradise.
So strange to be playing in snow in shirt-sleeve weather.The Official Mount Rainier National Park Service website says: Paradise is famous for its glorious views and wildflower meadows. When James Longmire's daughter-in-law, Martha, first saw this site, she exclaimed, "Oh, what a paradise!" The park's main visitor center, the new Paradise Jackson Visitor Center, is located in the upper parking area. Paradise is also the prime winter-use area in the park, receiving on average 641 inches (53.4 feet/16.3 meters) of snow a year.
The people on the right-hand side of the photo should give some
scale to the depth of this overlook above Narada Falls.
The Paradise Inn has been renovated, but
it still retains its historic beauty.Link HERE for mountain webcams and more information.



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. 

What's Your Excuse?

Christina Cole asks: When you should be writing and you’re not, what’s your usual excuse?
Here's my answer and I'm sticking to it:
Author Quick Chat

Stella in Stilettos - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56

I'm only partway into STELLA IN STILETTOS by Jan Romes, but I can already tell it's going to be a fun story. Looks like Stella has to choose between two men--Mr. Right (she has communicated with him online only, through an online dating site) and sexy co-worker Alex Clay (AKA Mr. Wrong). The dialogue is witty, and the characters are likable and seem real. I'm enjoying the author's writing style and sense of humor, and I'm looking forward to finding out who Stella ends up with!

Here's the BOOK'S BEGINNING:
     "Calm down, people," Stella Matson muttered under her breath, fumbling with the sip-tab of her Styrofoam cup. All she wanted to deal with was the caffeine buzz, not the bedlam of Monday morning. Today, the commotion seemed extra loud, almost deafening. She took a careful sip of piping hot coffee.

And here's my FRIDAY 56 choice from 56% on my Kindle:
Stella practically fell into Alex's arms. He whirled her onto the dance floor.

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: 269 Pages
Amazon Link: Stella in Stilettos
Other Books by Jan Romes: Amazon Author Page

Synopsis:
~ Sometimes you have to break the rules; sometimes you have to break them wearing stilettos ~
      Stella Matson has had it with handsome guys who schmooze their way into a woman's heart and walk out the door when they get a better offer. As far as she's concerned, she needs to focus on the one thing that won't leave her teary-eyed on a Friday night - her job with the lingerie company. When drop-dead gorgeous, Alex Clay, is assigned to her department, the plan to focus on work is threatened along with her heart.
      Alex Clay is restless and trying to find his place in the business world. His boss seems to be grooming him for big things by giving him a taste of everything from the mailroom to the boardroom. When he does a short stint in the advertising department and meets hardheaded but intriguing, Stella Matson, she challenges his convictions and stirs an unwanted desire. He doesn't know whether to kiss her until they're both breathless, or find a new job.

                                              *********
Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings and The Friday 56. 

   Click here to connect to other Book Beginnings posts     (sponsored by Rose City Reader)

   Find other Friday 56 bloggers here 
   (sponsored by Freda's Voice) 
                           

Lean on Me - Teaser Tuesday

How would you cope if your next-door neighbor's teenage son backed his SUV out of the driveway and ran into your daughter? This accident brings Hunter and Sandy together as Hunter tries to make amends for his son. Sandy (a widow) appreciates his help, but she has had it with men controlling her life - starting with her overbearing father and her two-timing husband, and Hunter is a take-charge kind of guy. But there's a strong attraction between them. What will it take to resolve their differences?

There's plenty of conflict in this book - internal and external - as the hero and heroine try to deal with their past experiences and find their way to HEA. Tori Scott does a great job of making both Hunter and Sandy (as well as the other characters) seem real - like people you know. I enjoyed reading this story a lot.

Teaser (from 3% on my Kindle):
She’d never forget the sounds. The squeal of tires, the thud of impact, the harsh clang of her daughter’s tricycle as it landed in the street. Melanie's scream of terror, the haunting silence that followed.

Genre: Women's Fiction
Length: 199 Pages
Amazon Link: Lean on Me
More Books by Tori: Amazon Author Page

FYI: 

Tori's novella WHAT A COWGIRL WANTS is included in a boxed set WEDDINGS ON MAIN STREET (11 books for $2.99! - link here) and will also be released independently on June 15 as part of her Lone Star Cowboys series. 
Her novel BENEATH A TEXAS STAR is a finalist in the prestigious 2014 Reward of Novel Excellence (RONE) Awards (Cops, Jocks & Cowboys category.) 

Synopsis from Goodreads:
     Sandy Morrow's four-year-old daughter is hit by an SUV as she's riding her tricycle down the sidewalk near her home. Her new next door neighbors, Hunter Thurman and his son Jason, had been arguing just before Jason jumped in the vehicle and took off without looking behind him. Now her daughter has a concussion and a broken leg, and Sandy has a sexy neighbor who will stop at nothing to make it up to her. Whether she wants him to or not.
     Hunter Thurman has a mission: to fix the mess his son has made and to fix the mess he's made of his son's life. He is determined to take care of his next door neighbor and her daughter after the accident, but Sandy is independent and determined to take care of herself, insisting she doesn't need Hunter's help.
     His son, Jason, bridges the gap, opening up to Sandy in a way he never has to his father, revealing things Hunter wishes his son had told him instead.


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:Grab your current readOpen to a random pageShare two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that pageBE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away -- you don't want to ruin the book for others)Share the title and author too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasersLeave a comment on MizB's Teaser Tuesday post (HERE) and include your link so everyone can find your post.

Walla Walla - Saturday Snapshots

When my husband retired earlier this year, his co-workers and employees gave him a trip to Walla Walla, Washington, as a goodbye gift. Why a trip to the southeastern corner of Washington state? They knew he was a wine lover, and the grape-growing area around Walla Walla is a great place for oenophiliacs. So several weeks ago we took our gift package (certificate for a two-night stay at the historic Marcus Whitman Hotel, plus a Visa gift card) and drove four hours southeast. Here are a few photos from our excursion. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

We took the scenic cut-off from Ellensburg to Yakima and had a
picnic alongside the Yakima River. Although the detour added a little time
to our drive, the views in the canyon were well worth it.
Here's downtown Walla Walla, a charming little town. Former schoolhouse, now a  winery. According to the website:
"The original Frenchtown School was a log cabin built in 1870 along the shore
of the Walla Walla River. It was rebuilt in 1915 at our present location." 
I couldn't resist taking a photo of this mural
in the ladies restroom at L'Ecole
Basel Cellars is a resort as well as a winery.
The terrain in eastern Washington is strikingly different from the area
west of the Cascade Mountains. The hills are brown, except where
they've been irrigated. It's a different kind of beauty.
What else is Walla Walla famous for? Sweet onions!


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. 

Walls for the Wind - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56

I've been interested in "orphan trains" for a long time. That's the name given a supervised welfare program that transported orphaned children from the crowded cities of the East Coast of the U.S. to the Midwest and beyond. The trains ran from the 1850s to the 1920s. So when I read this book's synopsis and saw that these trains were integral to the plot, I had to read it.

WALLS FOR THE WIND tells the story of a young woman (Kit Calhoun) who helps run an orphanage in New York City. She is given the task of accompanying groups of children on orphan trains to the Midwest. However, her story takes her even farther from her familiar home - to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Read my review on Amazon:  HERE.

The book begins with a prologue:

BOOK BEGINNING:
Cheyenne, Dakota Territory, January 1868
      Panic bloomed, threatening to choke Kit as she gasped for breath. Where could she be, the small girl brought all the way out to the wilds of Wyoming from New York City? So certain she could make the best decisions for the little golden-haired girl, Kit had gone against her own upbringing as well as the stern advice of those older and wiser in order to make this journey west. Now here was her little family plunked down in the raw boomtown of Cheyenne, and she had lost not only her own direction but also the child entrusted to her care.

FRIDAY 56 (from 56% on my Kindle):
      A group of four long-haired Indians walked in on silent feet. Any rebuke died on Kit's lips. She sucked in a breath. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. No one else in the depot was aware yet of the danger.

Genre: Western Historical Novel
Length: 221 Pages
Amazon Link: Walls for the Wind
Other Books by Alethea Williams: Amazon Author Page

                                              *********
Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings and The Friday 56. 

   Click here to connect to other Book Beginnings posts     (sponsored by Rose City Reader)

   Find other Friday 56 bloggers here 
   (sponsored by Freda's Voice) 
                           

MFRW Book Spotlight on Bluebonnets for Elly

Elly and Derek -- making out in his pickup truck? 
Read more on the MFRW Authors blog as they focus their Book Spotlight on Bluebonnets for Elly. 

Stop by to read an excerpt and say "Hi" HERE.

Elly's Situation - MFRW Book Hooks

I'm excited to be participating for the first time in Book Hooks, hosted by the MFRW Authors Blog. Readers, here's your chance to get hooked on a new book! Authors share a short excerpt from their books. If you enjoy the sample, consider purchasing the full book through their buy links... or be sure to add it to your TBR list for the future.


Don't wait. Get Hooked!
Today I'm featuring my main character, Elly Macauley, in this excerpt from BLUEBONNETS FOR ELLY. Elly has moved from Dallas to a senior-citizen neighborhood to help her grandmother recover from an injured ankle. 

EXCERPT:
     What a life. Not what she’d expected to be doing at age twenty-five. Instead of a high-rise Dallas apartment, she lived in a cramped mobile home in small-town Shannon Ridge, Texas. Instead of working as an interior designer, she spent her days doling out her grandmother’s medications. Instead of driving a decent car, she had to rely on a tricked-out geriatric golf cart for transportation.
If Granny hadn’t tumbled off that curb—if Rick hadn’t turned out to be such a shit—if she’d been born an heiress to a great fortune. Sometimes ifs seemed to rule her life, but the immediate problems were not just ifs but what ifs. What if she got caught living in a retirement village where she wasn’t supposed to be? What would Granny do without her? And when the time did come for her to move out, what if she couldn’t find a job?She sighed. Right now, this was her life and there wasn’t an alternative.

Thank you for stopping by to read a snippet from BLUEBONNETS FOR ELLY. My sweet romance is available in paperback and ebook formats from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sweet Cravings Publishing, and other online booksellers. 

To link to other blogs with more excerpts, click HERE or on the Linky links below.


Twitter Hashtag: #MFRWhooks




Twitter hashtag: #MFRWhooksFor me -- to sign up --http://www.mfrw-authors.blogspot.com/...

Sinful Folk Revisited - Teaser Tuesday

Does this striking cover look familiar? Maybe that's because several months ago I featured SINFUL FOLK in a Teaser Tuesday post (here). Since then, the author has contacted me and offered to 
GIVE AWAY THREE COPIES!! of this excellent book - one paperback, one audiobook, and one ebook. So I'm featuring SINFUL FOLK again with a giveaway, along with another Teaser. 

To enter to win a copy of this extraordinary book, please include your email address and preferred book format in your comment below.


TEASER:
There are some who believe to speak of a thing is to summon it into the world, and Tom speaks with such conviction. We become so quiet that the loudest noise is the sizzle of burning tree sap.
(From 10% on my Kindle.)

Genre: Mystery / Historical
Number of Pages: 362 Pages
Amazon Link: Sinful Folk

Synopsis from Amazon:
      A tragic loss. A desperate journey. A mother seeks the truth.
In December of 1377, four children were burned to death in a house fire. Villagers traveled hundreds of miles across England to demand justice for their children's deaths.
     Sinful Folk is the story of this terrible mid-winter journey as seen by Mear, a former nun who has lived for a decade disguised as a mute man, raising her son quietly in this isolated village. For years, she has concealed herself and all her history. But on this journey, she will find the strength to redeem the promise of her past. Mear begins her journey in terror and heartache, and ends in triumph and transcendence.
     The remarkable new novel by Ned Hayes, illustrated by New York Times bestselling author / illustrator Nikki McClure, Sinful Folk illuminates the medieval era with profound insight and compassion.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:Grab your current readOpen to a random pageShare two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that pageBE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away -- you don't want to ruin the book for others)Share the title and author too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasersLeave a comment on MizB's Teaser Tuesday post (HERE) and include your link so everyone can find your post.