Vicki Batman's Blog, page 72

author Nancy Fraser on Food = Good #MFRWorg #RLFblog #amhungry

I'm privileged to welcome author Nancy Fraser to
 Food = GoodA Romance With Food: Maude’s Chicken and Slick Dumplings

In my latest release, Home is Where The Hunk is (Soul Mate Publishing), both my hero, Evan Carver, and his five-year-old son, Cody, love their housekeeper’s Chicken and Dumplings.


The recipe Maude uses is similar to my own mother’s. Unlike the usual fluffy dumplings, “slick” dumplings are thin and known to slide down your throat so easily you barely realize just how many you’ve actually eaten.


Chicken Stock Base:

1 whole cut up fryer (leave skin on but do try to remove some of the fattier edges)
1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut into chunks
1 T good quality margarine or butter
1 T salt
3 quarts water


Wash the chicken thoroughly before cooking. Rub ½ of the salt into the chicken skin and set aside.


In large pot, melt margarine/butter over medium heat, cook onion until translucent. Add chicken, remaining salt, and water. Boil over medium heat until chicken is cooked through (approx. 40 minutes).

Strain broth from one pot to another to clarify. Set drained chicken aside until cooled enough to remove meat from bones, discarding the bones, skin and cooked onions. Break chicken up into bite-sized pieces and set aside.


Dumpling Stock:

Strained broth (from base)
3-4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into slices
2-3 ribs of celery, trimmed and cut into ¼ inch pieces

Simmer stock and vegetables on medium/low while making dumplings.


Slick Dumplings:

2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ tsp salt
4 Tbsp shortening
6-7 oz. very warm water

In a large bowl, mix flour salt and shortening with fingertips until no lumps remain. The mixture should resemble fine cornmeal.

Make a well in the center and add warm water gradually, stirring to make a soft dough ball.


Flour a clean surface and divide dough into two equal portions. Knead each portion on the floured surface 15-20 times. Roll each portion into a very thin triangle. Cut into 3 inch squares


Turn up the heat under the stock to a light boil. Carefully drop the dumplings one by one into the water. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep the dumplings from sticking together. Your stock should take on a creamy texture as the dumplings cook. If necessary, cook in two separate batches, removing the first batch to a warm bowl using a slotted spoon. You can add a bit of the broth in the bowl to keep the dumplings warm.


Once all dumplings are cooked, add the cut up chicken to the pot and simmer for 2-3 



A Blurb from Home is Where the Hunk Is: When globe-trotting photographer Allison Cain comes home to her family ranch in Montana it’s to get to know her nephew and to make amends with the widowed brother-in-law she’s left alone to raise his young son.


Evan Carver could never deny his late wife’s younger sister anything, despite the fact she’s been conspicuously absent over the past three years since her sister’s death. Now she’s home again on what she’s called an extended vacation. Evan’s first concern is for his son, Cody, and how his aunt’s visit will affect the five year old when she decides to return to her high profile career.


Allison has no intention of going back to work. In addition to getting to know Cody, she needs to confess her biggest secret to Evan. How do you tell the man you’ve always loved that you’re not just his son’s aunt, but also his mother? 

Find Home is Where the Hunk Is at: Amazon

Find Nancy Fraser at: Website

Thank you, Nancy, for being with me today and for sharing your recipe and the delicious cover!

author Nancy Fraser on Food = Good

I'm privileged to welcome author Nancy Fraser to
 Food = GoodA Romance With Food: Maude’s Chicken and Slick Dumplings

In my latest release, Home is Where The Hunk is (Soul Mate Publishing), both my hero, Evan Carver, and his five-year-old son, Cody, love their housekeeper’s Chicken and Dumplings.


The recipe Maude uses is similar to my own mother’s. Unlike the usual fluffy dumplings, “slick” dumplings are thin and known to slide down your throat so easily you barely realize just how many you’ve actually eaten.


Chicken Stock Base:

1 whole cut up fryer (leave skin on but do try to remove some of the fattier edges)
1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut into chunks
1 T good quality margarine or butter
1 T salt
3 quarts water


Wash the chicken thoroughly before cooking. Rub ½ of the salt into the chicken skin and set aside.


In large pot, melt margarine/butter over medium heat, cook onion until translucent. Add chicken, remaining salt, and water. Boil over medium heat until chicken is cooked through (approx. 40 minutes).

Strain broth from one pot to another to clarify. Set drained chicken aside until cooled enough to remove meat from bones, discarding the bones, skin and cooked onions. Break chicken up into bite-sized pieces and set aside.


Dumpling Stock:

Strained broth (from base)
3-4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into slices
2-3 ribs of celery, trimmed and cut into ¼ inch pieces

Simmer stock and vegetables on medium/low while making dumplings.


Slick Dumplings:

2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ tsp salt
4 Tbsp shortening
6-7 oz. very warm water

In a large bowl, mix flour salt and shortening with fingertips until no lumps remain. The mixture should resemble fine cornmeal.

Make a well in the center and add warm water gradually, stirring to make a soft dough ball.


Flour a clean surface and divide dough into two equal portions. Knead each portion on the floured surface 15-20 times. Roll each portion into a very thin triangle. Cut into 3 inch squares


Turn up the heat under the stock to a light boil. Carefully drop the dumplings one by one into the water. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep the dumplings from sticking together. Your stock should take on a creamy texture as the dumplings cook. If necessary, cook in two separate batches, removing the first batch to a warm bowl using a slotted spoon. You can add a bit of the broth in the bowl to keep the dumplings warm.


Once all dumplings are cooked, add the cut up chicken to the pot and simmer for 2-3 


A Blurb from Home is Where the Hunk Is: When globe-trotting photographer Allison Cain comes home to her family ranch in Montana it’s to get to know her nephew and to make amends with the widowed brother-in-law she’s left alone to raise his young son.


Evan Carver could never deny his late wife’s younger sister anything, despite the fact she’s been conspicuously absent over the past three years since her sister’s death. Now she’s home again on what she’s called an extended vacation. Evan’s first concern is for his son, Cody, and how his aunt’s visit will affect the five year old when she decides to return to her high profile career.


Allison has no intention of going back to work. In addition to getting to know Cody, she needs to confess her biggest secret to Evan. How do you tell the man you’ve always loved that you’re not just his son’s aunt, but also his mother? 

Find Home is Where the Hunk Is at: Amazon

Find Nancy Fraser at: Website

Thank you, Nancy, for being with me today and for sharing your recipe and the delicious cover!

.@VickiBatman - finally I get my #birthday #handbag #MFRWorg #RLFblog #fashion

It's the truth. Handsome gave me my birthday present six weeks after my birthday. He couldn't find it in his closet--his closet isn't messy.*Handbag Monday*I spotted this lovely bag on ETSY and sent the link to Handsome's assistant. I knew she would make sure he bought it. But when my birthday rolled around, we were vacationing and we had a nice dinner to celebrate with a very delicious apple crisp topped with ice cream. 
When we returned home, he didn't give it to me. I would subtly ask and nothing. Finally, I demanded (yes, that sounds strong, but what the heck was up with him?). 
You know how I love needlepoint. This design resembles ribbons. It's flat and has compartments inside. I'm not fond of the shoulder bag handles and will probably change. I think adorable.
How did Handsome do?
And time to celebrate because I have TWO books out:



Blurb for Temporarily Employed:  New job. New love. And murder. Desperate for cash to cover the basic necessities, Hattie Cooks takes a temporary job at Buy Rite insurance company where she uncovers an embezzling scam tied to the death of a former employee--the very one she replaced.
Buy Link for Temporarily Employed: Amazon
Blurb for Season of Magic featuring "Holiday Disaster": The week before Christmas and all is in disarray when a librarian experiences horrible plumbing issues and a Mr. Maintenance Man who isn’t nearly as jolly as Santa Clause. This Christmas is a disaster. 
Buy Link for Season of Magic: Amazon
Find out more about Season of Magic at: Facebook







Happy birthday to me? Did someone forget your birthday? 

#Movie Mom - All we need is lots of friendship & understanding: Pride #PlottingPrincesses #MFRWauthors

#Movie Mom
This will sound silly-Handsome and I picked a movie on the show time. It did help we had read about this movie in the paper. We wanted to see another, but its showtimes were 10-ish and 5-ish. Stuck with an available 2-ish, we found Pride.

Boy, are we glad we did! Wonderful!!




Blurb:  A group of lesbian and gay activists raise money to help  a small mining village in Wales which is undergoing the Miner's Strike of 1984 and results in an alliance between the two communities. Starring: Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Paddy Considine, and a superb cast.

My thoughts: I liked this movie a lot. The film focused on many individual characters' growth. It spoke to different groups coming together under the cause of caring for one another. The acting was good. The film moved smoothly along. And at the end, there were movie footnotes which highlighted specific real-life people. I got sobby about the wife who went back to college and became a member of Parliament. 

FMI:  Pride

.@VickiBatman - Welcome author Chris Fey & 30 seconds #PlottingPrincesses #MFRWauthors

I'm so thrilled to have Chris Fey with us. Let's get to know a bit about her: 
Chrys Fey is a lover of rock music just like Dani Hart in 30 Seconds. Whenever she's writing at her desk, headphones are always emitting the sounds of her musical muses -especially that of her favorite band, 30 Seconds to Mars, the
inspiration behind the title.

30 Seconds is her second eBook with The Wild Rose Press. Her debut, Hurricane Crimes, is also available on Amazon. She loves to get to know her readers!



In 30 Seconds, my newest romantic-suspense novella, Dani Hart, has a fear of being in a car accident. Her fear stems from a car accident she experienced when she was a teenager that put her in a coma for a year. Upon waking, she didn’t remember her accident or the entire year leading up to it. Doctors warned her parents not to force her memories and to let them return naturally, so Dani went on with her life without answers. 

Dani’s hidden memories are a subplot to 30 Seconds, secondary to the thrilling moments tied to the Mob’s death threat. This subplot manifested due to my own fear of being in a car accident, which is so powerful that I don’t even drive. I never even owned a driver’s license. Yes, really, but I’m not the only person with this problem. Many people have this fear, and it felt right that Dani would too, considering all she lost.

I hope you read 30 Seconds to discover Dani’s memories with her, and to find out if she survives the Mob’s threat.



Blurb:
When Officer Blake Herro agreed to go undercover in the Mob, he thought he understood the risks. But he's made mistakes and now an innocent woman has become their target. He's determined to protect her at all costs.

The Mob's death threat turns Dr. Dani Hart's life upside down, but there is one danger she doesn’t anticipate. As she's dodging bullets, she's falling in love with Blake. With danger all around them, will she and Blake survive and have a happy ending, or will the Mob make good on their threat?

Excerpt:
She panted with fear. What if they see the chest? What if we get caught? What if my breath stinks and I’m breathing right into Officer Hottie’s face? She shut her mouth and let oxygen flow through her nose.

Her eyesight slowly adjusted to the darkness and she could see Officer Herro’s silhouette. His head was turned and he was listening to the thuds of heavy boots getting louder; the intruders were coming their way.

Then the thunder of footsteps sounded right next to them. “There’s no one here, Red,” someone announced.

“Look for documents,” a man ordered, who Dani could only assume was Red. “I want the name of the person I’m going to kill.”

A moment later, there was a reply. “All the mail is addressed to a Dr. Hart.”

Hearing her name said aloud by one of the men who had ransacked her place made her want to gasp. Her mouth fell open and her breath was reversing into her lungs, but before she could make a sound, Officer Herro lowered his lips to hers, silencing her. Stunned, she could only lie beneath him with her eyes wide and her body tense. She couldn't believe he was kissing her. She wanted to push him back, but knew if she did he might hit the inside of the chest, giving away their hiding place. That was when she realized he was kissing her so she wouldn't gasp.

She let her body relax. After her initial shock faded, she was able to feel his lips. They were comforting and caused a reaction deep inside her. She couldn't stop her lips from reacting to his. It was an innocent connection, a soft touch of lips. Until his hand slid from her shoulder to her neck and the kiss deepened into something else.


Find 30 Seconds at:
The Wild Rose Press      Amazon


Find Chris at:
Facebook  Blogsite

Thank you, Chris, for appearance on Handbags, Books...Whatever. I like the scene where the cop kissed her. Ymmm. I found it interesting you incorporated your own car accident into your book. Do you think putting real life events in your work makes your writing more real?

.@VickiBatman - #author Magdalena Scott & green handbag is cheery! #MFRWorg #fashion #accessories

Today's guest, Magdalena Scott, emailed me and said, "Not to laugh. I don't know which one to choose!"

Handbag Monday
I often have that dilemma!




Here's what Magdalena says: Please don't laugh at my funky green clutch. I snagged it toward the end of NeverEndingWinter2013-14. The color cheered me up and helped me believe spring would eventually arrive.
I love the compact size--this summer I detached the strap and slid it into whatever bag would hold my sunglasses, phone and keys. Now that we're in jacket season, the strap is back on and I can leave my apartment with just this little bit of green happiness in my hand, the all-important smart phone and set of keys stashed in jacket pockets. There's a slot for my business cards on the outside, slots inside for all other cards and cash, and a zipper pocket for receipts. 
I live a minimalist life, having downsized from a 3,000 square foot house to a 400 square foot apartment. Lots of items were re-homed, and anything I purchase from now on has to make me smile, be incredibly useful, or both. So far this little bag has easily made the cut.


A blurb from A Legendary Christmas:  Ladies of Legend Series: Four Christmas Novellas, a  companion boxed set to Love in a Small Town
Santa's Kiss  by Jan Scarbrough
Christmas Collision  by Magdalena Scott
The Christmas Gift  by Janet Eaves
Home For The Holidays  by Maddie James
It's Christmas in Legend, Tennessee and there is no finer place to visit than this small mountain town, sitting snug and cozy in the Great Smoky Mountains. You may have been here before, when Midnight Shelby came to town to find herself, or when Jane Smith switched places with her famous twin sister at her high school reunion. Or perhaps, you'll remember meeting up with Lilly Peach when she escaped to Legend with only her life, and found an entire town to watch her back. And then there was Suzie Matthews, chef and owner of the local B&B, who cooked up a sexy dream of her own.

All of these characters are still living in Legend. Plus you'll find some new friends, too. After all, it's Christmastime! People are coming home, visiting family, escaping their regularly scheduled lives, and maybe settling a few misunderstandings.

We hope you enjoy visiting this magical town of Legend. Whether it's your first visit, or you've been here before, we hope you enjoy your stay. We are pleased to share these stories with you. Eggnog, anyone?
Find A Legendary Christmas boxed set at: Amazon
Find Magdalena at: Website
What do you think of Magdalena's color? 

.@VickiBatman is happy to help launch Liz Crowe's newest featuring the #LoveBros #MFRWorg

Love Garage, Book 1: January 5, 2015 (ebook), March 14, 2015 (Print)
Blurb: Antony Love is the quintessential responsible oldest brother of a boisterous, Italian/Irish family, placed in charge at a young age by his parents who are busy running the family business. He manages his siblings with a fair but iron hand, until his life is shattered by personal tragedy leaving him the shell of the man he once was.

When outspoken matriarch Lindsay Halloran Love becomes ill, the youngest brother Aiden shows up at Antony's garage, having dropped out of school (again), needing work and a place to crash. Antony provides both, with three caveats: "Don't smoke in my truck, don't be late for work, and don't mess with my girlfriend."

But Aiden Love, budding novelist, gets one glimpse of Rosalee Norris, young widow of Antony's lifelong best friend and all bets are off.



Love Garage Excerpt: Love Garage opened bright and early the next morning, a Saturday, a day Aiden had hoped to spend recovering.


“I get so many oil changes and random small jobs on Saturdays, it doesn’t make sense to be closed and let the jackasses with the Quickilube at Walmart get the business,” Antony insisted
when Aiden groaned with dismay upon being awakened after two hours of drunken sleep. It didn’t help that the awakening occurred at the business end of a thrown pillow. “Get up, Romeo. You owe me rent money.”

He did, slowly, queasily hitting a shower, sore all over, his skin mottled from bug bites. But nothing topped the glorious agony of a bourbon hangover like the one that had him firmly in its evil grasp.
He slouched out the door, cursing Antony, cursing Tricia, cursing her ex-husband for throwing her in his path last night. But mostly cursing his own weak-ass uselessness. He rested his head against the cool comfort of the truck window until Antony hit a bump or two, which sent extra pain jolting down his spine.

“Sorry,” his brother muttered, glancing over at him.

“No, you’re not.”

“Got me there. And you’d better warn me if you’re about to toss your cookies. I won’t have that in my vehicle, got me?”

Aiden rubbed his neck and nodded, swallowing the urge to throw up all over the pristine interior on principal. “Why d’you hate me so much? You used to like me.” He stared over at his brother, heart thumping, ears humming, throat closing up with nausea. He despised waking up still drunk.

“I don’t hate you.” Antony turned onto the main road headed into town.

“Could’ve fooled me. You’re a real asshole anymore. Worse than Dom.”

Antony merely shrugged, not rising to that tried-and-true bait. So they spent the rest of the ride to the garage in silence. Once there, Antony sat gripping the wheel. Aiden waited, hoping he’d get something out of him—something he would assure him that the man he thought he remembered as the protective, funny, and loving guy he’d grown up with still existed inside the guy walking around wearing Antony’s skin.

Finally, he let go of the wheel, exhaled, and squared his shoulders as if prepping for battle. Aiden made a mental note to talk to Kieran about how badly Antony had descended into his life of non-stop mourning and jerk-hood.

“So, Rosalee, not putting out for you or what? You need to get laid maybe? Knock the edge off?”

The glare Aiden got for saying those particular words did make him worry Antony might punch his aching head through the passenger-side window.

He clenched his jaw in the way Aiden remembered from their childhood. “That is so far outside the realm of your business as to be in another galaxy. Get to work and don’t say her name to me again.”

And with that, Aiden was left with the fleeting thought that mentioning Rosalee directly was probably not a good idea. He surely didn’t need Antony to guess that her name was on his lips, or front and center of his mind.

He shook his head—a Bad Plan because it summoned the pounding agony back with a vengeance. Groaning, he climbed out and shuffled over to the door.

A new day began at Love Garage.


Coach Love, Book 2: January 5, 2015 (ebook), March 14, 2015 (Print)
Blurb: The smoldering intensity of first love ~ the forbidden fantasy of temptation ~ the cold hard facts of real life.

When one man’s hopes are dashed apart in a split second after years spent chasing a dream, he returns home to Kentucky furious at the world and everyone around him.

 Kieran Francesco is the middle son of the volatile, tight-knit Halloran-Love family. His role as peacemaker and the one true athlete is well established. He now faces life devoid of the sport he adores after a horrific, career-ending accident, which places him in a new and entirely uncomfortable position—that of the brother with no future.

Over the course of a few tumultuous months Kieran is plunged back into life at the center of the Love family, where he must cope with one self-destructive brother, one ill-timed reconnection to an old flame and a series of bad choices that land him in more trouble than he’d ever known existed.

Coach Love EXCERPT:  As he drove the twenty or so miles from his parents’ house into town Kieran’s head began to clear. The windows were down and the tunes cranked. The sun shone. Signs of summer--one of his favorite seasons--were all around him. Parks packed with families, all the basketball courts and swimming pools overflowing. The sight of a gaggle of boys on bikes riding alongside him for a while, singing along with whatever random, crappy rap song currently polluted the airwaves made him smile.

“Hey, it’s Kieran Love!” one of the punks shouted after a few blocks. “Can you come over and shoot a few with us?”

He waved and drove on, gratified but sad, the sound of their cheerful unhappiness at his refusal filling his ears, taking the stretch of four lane road at seventy miles an hour, pressing the gas pedal to the floor, the throaty, powerful roar of the car’s engine revving him from head to toe.

It would be all right because he and Melinda loved each other. They had from the moment they’d met. He passed some grandpa in a Toyota, as the deep green fields surrounded by picturesque white fences and dotted with horses filled both sides of his vision.

He’d been home and recuperating from radical knee surgery with the best prognosis he could hope for after such a nasty break--to walk normally, much less play the occasional pick up game. His depression had been deep, wide, and terrifying. He woke every day at his parents’ house, unwilling even to get out of bed, not that he could without help for the first few weeks.

Antony had tossed a laptop computer at him one day when he’d been sulking, unshaven, and eating an entire bag of potato chips, something he’d not done since the age of ten when his fate--bound for basketball fame and fortune--had been determined. 

“Here, find a job, find a date, find something,” he’d said before yanking the empty chip bag away and smacking Kieran’s head hard enough to make his ears ring.

“Ow. Leave me alone, asshole. I’m grievously injured,” he’d said, not caring about the swear-free zone he inhabited.

“That’s three dollars young man,” his mother had called out from the kitchen. 

“You live with this, jerk, and see how you feel about finding ‘a date.’“ He’d hooked his fingers around the words, heart in his throat at how badly he’d wanted to call Cara right then.

But by the next weekend he was caning and limping his way toward the door to some faux-fancy Italian restaurant in Lexington, rubbing his freshly shaved face and trying not to sweat through his dress shirt. The woman from the internet site sat at the bar, twirling an olive-laden swizzle stick in her martini glass, long, slim, bare legs crossed, feet encased in sky-high patent leather heels. He’d exhaled, beyond relived that he’d not been cat-fished by some troll, or worse, a dude.

He’d hesitated then, something in him telling him to turn around and leave, fast. But at that moment, she’d flashed him the whitest, most perfect smile he’d ever seen and he’d been hooked. He still didn’t know how. They’d gone out for three weeks before she let him kiss her. It’d been another three weeks before he got anywhere near her tits. It had been a solid four months before he scored but that encounter had been, in a word, epic. 

Melinda liked to talk dirty, wear heels and a garter belt while he fucked her. Loved doing it with all the lights on and in semi-public places. She gave head like a pro at first, before he’d given her an engagement ring.

Her bitchiness had come across as extreme decisiveness, sort of hot in way, he’d admit, since he tended toward the spontaneous and unplanned--”wishy washy” as he now understood it thanks to Melinda’s re-categorization of his personality. Her tight grip on her emotions and her surroundings, the OCD way she ordered her life did grate on him at times but he figured she tolerated his innate sloppiness and willingness to wake on a Sunday without a plan in place for the rest of the day. When he realized he sat across from her at some overpriced, hipster restaurant near her office after going out with her for eight months, ready to present her with a ring he could barely afford, it had shocked him without seeming to even faze her. 

“Well, of course I’ll marry you, but you’ve got to find a better job,” she’d drawled as she sipped her champagne.

“A new job?” He’d gotten the teaching gig at his old high school and couldn’t imagine any job he’d want or like better. She made six figures for Christ’s sake, at least he thought she did.

Elated, drunk with lust and achievement, he’d tried to get his long legs adjusted under the small table jammed between all the others and covered with small plates of “tapas” which, best he could tell were “appetizers” only twice the price and half the helpings. 

“I’ll do anything you want, Melinda. You saved me, honest to God you did.”

She’d fluttered her inky black lashes and gazed at him with an expression that convinced him he’d made the drastic move for the right reasons. The following year had been a combination of frustration, anger and high school level blue balls. The double drama Antony and Aiden had foisted on the Love family during that time hadn’t helped but it had distracted him. He’d taught his classes, helped out with the basketball team pro bono without telling Melinda and had been happier than he’d ever been as a pro athlete.

The fact that she maintained her uber-bitch persona around his family killed him. But he was hooked.

Still.

Mostly.

Love Brewing, Book 3: March 1, 2015 (ebook), March 14, 2015 (Print)
Blurb:
Every family has one—the black sheep, the problem child, the prodigal. But Dominic Sean Love could teach all of those guys a lesson or two. Stuck in the middle of a boisterous group of siblings, he’s given “acting out” a new meaning from the day he drew his first breath.

While he’s the one son who follows his strict father’s footsteps into the Love family business, he’s also the one who butts heads with him the hardest. Their epic clashes are the stuff of family legend. But they have made peace and work side by side to take Love Brewing to the next level of success.

Until Dominic does the one thing his father can never forgive.

Diana Brantley has been Dominic’s friend, girlfriend and ex-girlfriend so many times she’s lost count. When he shows up at the farm she’s slowly transforming into a wildly popular farm-to-table resource for restaurants all over the U.S. her first impulse is to shoot first and ask questions later. But she doesn’t. And their lives entwine once more, for good, bad and ugly.

Working (pre-edited) Excerpt:


Dominic would give anything be able to talk to Kieran. They’d gotten close in the last months since he’d required a rather alarming rescue from a jail down in Georgia and his brother had shown up, very few questions asked. But no, Kieran had his own issues and likely at that very moment was busy trying to convince his high school girlfriend to marry him, even as she was poised and ready to marry someone else.

“You need dry clothes,” Diana said, interrupting his pity party. 

He shrugged and kept his gaze fixed on the view of rain. “Your garden looks like shit. When’s the last time you bothered to pull weeds?”

She snorted. He smiled. He used to love it when she’d do that. He’d honestly had no intention of showing up here today. The Brantley farm remained way off the beaten track, if the track around Lucasville could be considered “beaten” in any way. When he’d raced out of the stifling hot sanctuary and hotwired Kieran’s car he’d driven off without a single thought in his addled head other than “escape.”

But when he’d finally released his death grip on the steering wheel he’d looked through the windshield and found himself facing the old two-story farmhouse where he’d lost his virginity—not to Diana but to her sister Jen, an older version of the girl he’d been hanging around with since God was a boy. The whooshing sound that had deafened him for the last couple of days had receded ever so slightly at the sight of the place.

He’d not been anywhere near it in over six years, ever since he’d run out here to get solace from Diana when Gina had bolted for New York. Her reaction to his surprise visit had been decidedly less hostile then. He groaned and ran a hand down his wet face. 

No one to blame but yourself for this reception, numb nuts.

As if on cue, one of the dogs whined and bumped his leg with its huge muzzle. 

“Bossy bitch,” he said softly, giving her another scratch behind the ears. The animal gazed at him adoringly. 

Yeah, at least dogs always loved him. 

He glanced up and caught sight of Diana tugging on something dry that looked way too big for her. The sight of it sent a thrill of something he didn’t want to acknowledge as jealousy down his spine. 
You have less than no place being jealous of anything about her, he reminded himself. She stared at him as she buttoned up the light blue, obviously man-sized shirt. He had to restrain himself from blinking too fast at the onrushing memories threatening to mow him down. 

“Put on a few pounds eh Di?” he said, leaning back against the rough barn wall. The dog practically crawled up onto the hay bale and laid its head in his lap. Damn thing weighed over eighty pounds and smelled like rancid pond water, but he didn’t stop it.  

“Fuck you,” she said, turning away and giving him a lovely view of the backs of her slim, tanned legs. “Come up to the house and get some dry clothes on, you dumbass.” She stood there, wearing that shirt that made his chest tight, pondering where it had come from, her legs bare and beautiful. It made him want to weep. He set his jaw and turned away from her. 

“I missed you and your ladylike ways,” he said, almost absently, as he turned back to study the rain pounding against the window. “Ow!” The towel pop flicked his neck, then his thigh. “Damn girl, you on your period or what?” He rubbed his leg and noted that he was, indeed, soaked through and could use a change of clothes. Too bad he hadn’t thought of that when he ran away from what remained of his former life.

“I can feel your crybaby BS from clear across this barn,” she said. “Makes me wanna laugh.”

He turned fast, angry at her words. But her gaze comforted him. And suddenly, he realized why he’d found himself here, on what could be labeled as the worst day of his sorry-ass thirty years. 

“How’d married life work out for ya,” he said, shoving the dog off his lap and getting to his feet. 

“How d’you think? I mean, I’m sure it was the talk of the town.” She kept staring at him, not moving.

For a split second, Dom found himself headed toward her, needing to feel her skin, taste her lips. But he stood, keeping the four or so feet between them, the dogs milling around their ankles making worried noises. An errant drop of water fell from a lock of hair over his eyes. The moment felt fraught and he cursed himself for causing her pain, again. And again.

“Well, I guess the guy was lucky to escape with his balls intact,” he said, finally. “You’re still as ugly as homemade sin,” he lied.

The corner of her lips lifted. He let himself exhale. 

It was on now. And he knew she’d let him stay here as long as he needed.




Bio: Amazon best-selling author, beer blogger, brewery marketing expert, mom of three, and soccer fan, Liz Crowe is a Kentucky native and graduate of the University of Louisville currently living in Ann Arbor. She has decades of experience in sales and fund raising, plus an eight-year stint as a three-continent, ex-pat trailing spouse. Her early forays into the publishing world led to a groundbreaking fiction subgenre, “Romance for Real Life."

Facebook Party on November 2 at:  Love FB party
Rafflecopter for Giveaways Link:  Love Rafflecopter

Preorder Love Garage at: 
Amazon

#Movie Mom - lots of people read the book, watched the film Thoughts on Gone Girl #PlottingPrincesses #MFRWauthor

I love mystery, suspense, and thriller movies and books. When this book was first released, I had asked my book club if we could read--Gone Girl

#Movie Mom 

Blurb: On the day of his fifth wedding anniversary, a former journalist/bar owner returns home to find his wife is missing.  Gone Girl  is a 2014 American mystery film directed by David Fincher and adapted by Gillian Flynn from her 2012 novel of the same name. It stars Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, and Carrie Coon. 
My Thoughts: What can one say about a book that is written well and a movie that is acted well, and yet, I didn't like it? 

When one reads, we continue to do so because we care about the characters, and if the story compels us along, we sit up all night and race through the pages to the end. 

I skimmed the last third. 

Here's what I say-we each bring something different to things we like. This makes our opinions, our thoughts subjective. I thought everything about Gone Girl was well done and well acted; however, I didn't like the story. I am not an expert at critiquing. I have opinions about what I like and dislike. Ultimately, you need to decide for yourself.

Interestingly, my mah jong group said the same thing about the book and the movie. 

So maybe this book/film is your cup of tea. Maybe it isn't.

FMI: Gone Girl

.@VickiBatman - author Chris Keniston : Handbags, Cars & Dislocated Shoulders--Oh MY!

My guest today is a fellow Plotting Princess, Chris Keniston, with thoughts on a heavy handbag on
Handbag Monday

Some days I feel like the only female on the planet who can't find a practical place for her handbag while driving. It seems a forgone conclusion that no male automobile designer has ever had a wife point this little tidbit out to him or the problem would be solved. 




If I'm in the car alone, the passenger seat works just fine. But when I'm not alone? Well, some folks are nice enough to volunteer their laps. Not best case scenario. Others the floor space by their feet – which probably already has their handbag so unless they care to ride with their feet on the dashboard- that's not going to be optimal either. 


Many cars have the little compartment between the bucket seats ( note I would not object to the return of front bench seats). These compartments are way too small to actually hold a handbag, but a handbag can be set atop. This at first seems the perfect solution, until you take that right or left hand turn and your bag and its contents go flying all over the back seat. Inevitably I find my favorite lipstick melting under the seat sometime mid August. 


So the final choice is to simply start with my handbag on the floor of the backseat. If I place it behind the passenger seat, with a little stretching I can in a hurry grab that sucker and fling it forward to retrieve any number if essential items from bug spray to credit cards to that especially favored lipstick.  Until the one day when I stretch and reach and lift and pull and along with my handbag, my shoulder stretches and pulls and- oh my lord- what have I done????


Six weeks of physical therapy later I come to the same conclusion I've had all along. There is no practical place for a handbag in a modern car ! 


I am thrilled to announce that myself and six other authors are pulling our works together in a boxset of 7 full-length contemporary romances: Fast Men, Slow Kisses to say thank you to all the real heroes. The military men and women who serve and protect us every day.  And especially those forgotten heroes struggling here at home. All proceeds from Fast Men, Slow Kisses will be donated to causes that support military service members and their families in the United States and Canada. 

Find Fast Men, Slow Kisses at: Amazon


Find Chris at: Website 

Thanks, Chris, for sharing your handbag and the wonderful anthology!

#Movie Mom : My Old Lady - well, he couldn't kick her to the streets #MFRWorg #PlottingPrincesses

In France, there exists an obscure rental law-- a "viager," an ancient system for buying and selling apartments and the buyer must pay a fee until the seller dies, abiding by the rules of viager.
--   #Movie Mom --


My Old Lady stars the always fabulous, Maggie Smith, Kevin Kline, and Kristin Scott-Thomas. 

Here's the blurb: A down-and-out New Yorker travels to Paris to liquidate an apartment he inherited from his estranged father. Once there, he discovers an older woman living in the apartment with her middle-aged daughter which is not convenient. Upon deciding to reside with the twosome, he discovers there is more to the old lady than anyone knew.

Thoughts: I liked the film a lot. It is very different from the action/adventure/blood and guts stuff in the mainstream movies. Maggie Smith always shines. Kevin Kline is different in this role as the down-and-outer. Kristin Scott-Thomas plays the bristly daughter quite well. As the story unfolds, we find life is never simple for anyone and certainly not for this group. It explores the idea do our children know we love them. I heartily recommend.

FMI: My Old Lady


I thought this movie would make the perfect play.  Are there movies you like that would move from stage to screen or screen to stage?