Margery Scott's Blog, page 7

New release – The Morgans of Rocky Ridge: Zane

It’s here!

I’m so excited to announce my brand-new release – Zane, the third (and last) novella in the Morgans of Rocky Ridge trilogy. I love this cover and this story.

The west is a dangerous place, especially for a lawman. Zane Morgan, sheriff of Rocky Ridge, Colorado has accepted this and has resigned himself to being alone. He won’t ask a woman to share his life when the odds of him living long enough to raise a family are slim.

Priscilla Rowan is on the run. Pregnant and fleeing her preacher ex-husband, she’s on her way to California when nature ruins her plans and her child decides to be born sooner than expected. Although she doesn’t trust any man, she has no choice but to accept Zane’s help and protection until she can move on.

As Zane and Priscilla grow closer, Zane discovers protecting her becomes much more than his duty. But when the threat is eliminated, can he convince her to stay without giving up who he is?

Right now, Zane is available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. It will be available on iTunes, Sony and several other e-tailers within the next few days.

The post New release – The Morgans of Rocky Ridge: Zane appeared first on Margery Scott.

Guest post – Caroline Clemmons

I’m thrilled to have Amazon best-selling author Caroline Clemmons on my blog today. Caroline is the author of over a dozen historical western romances, mysteries and contemporary romances.

Welcome, Caroline. First, can you tell my readers a little about yourself?

I want to thank readers who’ve made me an Amazon bestselling author of historical and contemporary western romances whose books have garnered numerous awards. A frequent speaker at conferences and seminars, I’ve taught workshops on characterization, point of view, and layering a novel.

Writer’s groups are important support for any writer, and I’m a member of Romance Writers of America, Dallas Area Romance Authors, Yellow Rose Romance Writers, and Hearts Through History Romance Writers. My Hero and I live in the heart of Texas cowboy country with our menagerie of rescued pets. When I’m not indulging my passion for writing, I enjoy reading, travel, antiquing, genealogy, painting, and getting together with friends. Find me on my blog, website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Pinterest.

Thanks for taking the time to visit with me today, Caroline. The blog is yours.

PASS THE POISON, PLEASE!

By Caroline Clemmons

Thanks to Margery for inviting me to her blog.

My latest trilogy, Men of Stone Mountain, is about the three Stone brothers: Micah, Zach, and Joel. Aren’t brothers enough of a link for a trilogy? Yes, but there’s another link to these three books. Each involves poison in some way and is a mystery as well as a historical romance. No, I’m not bloodthirsty and I don’t intend to use my knowledge to wipe out any real people. In this trilogy, however, I wipe out a several people. Ah, the joys of being a writer! We are allowed to vent our frustrations by killing people on paper. And it’s legal. ☺ I love my job!

Studying herbal medicine is sort of a mini-hobby. I’ve taken the excellent herbal class Beth Trissel occasionally offers (and will offer again in October), as well as perusing my books on folk medicine and forensics. Pioneers relied heavily on their ability to recognize healing plants as well as those that discouraged pests and vermin. No Walgreens or WalMart around in those days. Early settlers also learned that what can heal, if administered improperly, can harm.

Don’t you suspect a lot of so-called natural deaths were helped along before modern medicine and forensics discouraged using potions and tinctures to kill? Maybe I’m suspicious by nature, but I believe a lot of troublesome people died prematurely, helped along by a supposedly loving family member. Cue eerie music.

“My father in law Uriah? Why, he had a heart attack and up and died.”

“My first two wives? Each took sick and died on me.”

If you lived in the middle of nowhere, who was around to prove otherwise? Forensics had not advanced to today’s level. Even if a lawman or physician suspected murder, he had to prove it. A few poisons left tattletale signs, others left none. And that’s not even counting falls and other so-called accidents. You think life is dangerous now?

Often pioneers learned more about the local plants from friendly Native Americans. As people moved West and the topography and climate changed, they found many plants with which they were unfamiliar. They required help to discover which helped and which harmed. Have you wondered who first tasted this or that to see if it would make good food or medicine? I admit I often wonder these trivial things. And, for instance, who figured out that boiling pokeweed greens three times and pouring off the water would render them edible?.

I’ve heard that women are more likely to use poison than men. Perhaps that’s due to lack of physical strength. In this trilogy, both sexes are involved in using poison—some for evil, some for self defense. And I wanted each to be a natural poison easily found in the wild.

Here are the three books:

BRAZOS BRIDE’s heroine, Hope Montoya, is a smart woman and figures out that someone is poisoning her. Who and why are more difficult problems. Until she knows, she can trust no one who has access to her food or medicine. She vows to fight for her life, but she’s so weakened by the poison that she can’t fight alone. Enter our hero, Micah Stone. Do you hear the “1812 Overture?” (You know, I’ve heard a highbrow is someone who can hear that music without thinking of the Lone Ranger. But I digress.) Micah, who is in love with Hope, agrees to a paper marriage to protect her, but it breaks his heart.

In HIGH STAKES BRIDE, Alice Price is on the run from her stepbrothers who plan to hand her over to a man she considers the meanest man in Texas. Enter Zach Stone to lend a hand. In their trek, they rescue a young boy and his dog. Zach knows Alice hasn’t told him everything, but he is falling in love with her. In the end, quick thinking Alice has to save herself with Zach fast on her heels to the rescue.

In BLUEBONNET BRIDE, Rosalyn must escape an unjust death sentence for poisoning her husband with dried oleander from her garden. She and her daughter flee to the ends of the earth, or so it seems to Rosalyn, and meets Sheriff Joel Stone. Her formerly quiet daughter insists on chatting away to Joel, who courts Rosalyn. The sheriff? What is Rosalyn to do? She succumbs to his charms and they marry, but then events force her to confess to him. Only Joel’s planning can save her, but his entire family helps. Those Stones stick together. I love that fact about them.

I’m giving away a MEN OF STONE MOUNTAIN box set to one person who leaves a comment today.

In the event you wish to buy any of these books, each is available in print or ebook at Amazon, iTunes, Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Smashwords.

I’m happy to share that I have combined the three into a boxed set at a reduced price available only as an edownload at Amazon.

I love this series! Thanks for visiting, Caroline. Please come back again soon.

The post Guest post – Caroline Clemmons appeared first on Margery Scott.

Cover reveal – The Morgans of Rocky Ridge: Zane

Here it is – the cover for the final novella in the Morgans of Rocky Ridge trilogy. The book will be available on September 25th at all e-retailers.

The west is a dangerous place, especially for a lawman. For Zane Morgan, sheriff of Rocky Ridge, Colorado, the law is in his blood. He has accepted this and has resigned himself to being alone. He won’t ask a woman to share his life when the odds of him living long enough to raise a family are slim.

Priscilla Rowan is on the run. Pregnant and fleeing her preacher ex-husband, she’s on her way to California when nature ruins her plans and her child decides to be born sooner than expected. Although she doesn’t trust any man, she has no choice but to accept Zane’s help until she can move on.

As Zane and Priscilla grow closer, Zane discovers protecting her has become much more than his duty. But when the threat is eliminated, how can he ask her to stay without giving up who he is?

Get updates on Margery's latest releases, contests, news, etc. Join the mailing list below.

The post Cover reveal – The Morgans of Rocky Ridge: Zane appeared first on Margery Scott.

Guest author: Michele de Winton

I’m happy to have guest author Michele de Winton on my blog today to tell us a little about herself and her brand-new release, Love Lost and Found.

Welcome, Michele. First, can you tell us a little about yourself?

Thanks so much for having me today, it’s always great reaching new audiences.

Michele was born in the mid 1970’s amid a burgeoning sprawl of vineyards and new retirement homes. Despite training in law (or perhaps because of it) she has been a dancer, producer, writer, and all round arty type in various countries for most of her life. Now back home in New Zealand after travelling extensively, she writes full time in an office surrounded by whispering trees. Love Lost and Found is the second title in her Love on Deck series with Entangled Indulgence.

A little bird told me you’re going to also have a new addition to your family. Congratulations! Now, the blog is yours.

Forgotten why you love amnesia stories?

I might be pushing the boat out (ahem) with my new title with Entangled Indulgence. Picking up from The Boss and Her Billionaire, this, the second in my Love on Deck series, is set on a cruise ship and deserted tropical island. What’s more it’s an amnesia story and the first Entangled Indulgence have released. Ever. I know, I know, these were hot as chocolate muffins straight from the oven back in the 90’s but they kinda died away. My problem is, I love em. They provide the ultimate redemption. The ultimate love conquering over all. The ultimate happy ever after opportunity. Of course it’s a fine line between getting the believability right and maintaining the amnesia, but fingers crossed I’m heading in the right direction – I’m sure readers will let me know.

I guess that’s the issue with why amnesia stories faded from fashion: the I-so-don’t-believe-it test. But then with movies like The Vow being based on real life – I figured there must be a way of letting us love these stories in a contemporary setting. As I was writing this book, I decided the key for me was going to be not copping out with a wow-her-memory-miraculously-returned ending. I think that helps make us think this could really happen, and of course, for some unfortunate souls, loss of memory is every bit as real as chocolate muffins. My question for you is whether I’ve got it right about memory: keep it lost or let it come back?

In Love Lost and Found, Rick McCarthy had everything sorted. But when his CFO and fiancée Felicity Williams vanishes after an accident, his carefully built world crashes down. No Felicity means no investors, no business deal, no wedding. Discovering she’s taken work on a cruise ship, Rick is suspicious but determined to bring her home, whatever it takes.

The accident wipes the last five years completely clean for Felicity. On a deserted Pacific Island with a rich handsome stranger she decides to live out the made-for-Hollywood scenario, only to find Rick is about as far from a stranger as they come. But when Rick reveals what he really needs from her, Felicity must decide whether she can ever trust the man she loves, but can’t remember.

The question – are you rooting for Felicity to get her memory back? Or does leaving the slate clean make the potential for new love even more poignant? This is going to be the difference between amnesia stories winning the right to a comeback, or being relegated to the 1990’s.

Thanks for stopping by! Do let me know what you think and whether you’re an amnesia story lover too. Happy reading,

X Michele

Buy Now links

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Lost-Found-Indulgence-ebook/dp/B00EMT2FOO

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/love-lost-and-found-michele-de-winton/1116528464?ean=9781622662111

https://itunes.apple.com/gr/book/love-lost-found-love-on-deck/id689720182?mt=11

Thanks so much for spending this time with me and my readers. To learn more about Michele and her books, visit her website and follow her on social media sites.

Website – www.micheledewinton.com

Blog – www.micheledewinton.blogspot.co.nz

Twitter – @Micheledewinton

Goodreads – http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6443966.Michele_de_Winton

Facebook (author page.) – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michele-de-Winton-Author-Page/155966894515844?ref=hl

Facebook (author profile page) – https://www.facebook.com/michele.dewinton

Pinterest – http://pinterest.com/MDWinton/

The post Guest author: Michele de Winton appeared first on Margery Scott.

Guest author: Ann Duran

Please help me welcome author Ann Duran to my blog today.

Thanks for joining me, Ann. First, can you tell us a little about yourself?

By day I am a stockbroker, working with people to make their financial dreams come true…at least as much as these difficult economic times will allow. By night I am a writer, making my own dreams spring to life. To me, history is fascinating and I’ve always enjoyed reading authors from the 1800′s such as Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Jane Austen. Their use of the English language is beautiful and evocative. I enjoy writing stories that involve unexpected elements whether ghosts, angels, demons, or shapeshifters and where love transcends time and even death.

Take it away, Ann.

The Anatomy of an Idea

Many times readers ask: “Where do you get your ideas?” Or “How do you think of things to write about?” It’s an interesting question with as many answers as there are authors.

An idea may percolate in my mind for quite some time before I put fingers to keyboard. I write novels with romance, either as the main driver of the plot or as an element of the story, so that’s one given. I also prefer to write in the paranormal/fantasy genre so there’s apt to be ghosts, angels, demons and shapeshifters in the mix. Specific story triggers can arise from many sources.

I’m not quite sure when the idea for my current work in progress, Waking the Dead, arose in my consciousness. It may have been when I came across an online article involving a little known, but, in my opinion, very romantic story about General William Tecumseh Sherman several years ago. Subsequent to seeing the story about General Sherman, I was fortunate enough to be on a trip with my significant other to Tupelo, Mississippi when a friend of ours gave me a personalized bicycle tour of the Shiloh Battlefield. The Shiloh Battlefield of today is a peaceful scene of rolling green hills and tree shaded valleys and the contrast between the pastoral countryside of the present with the war torn and bloody site of April 1862 I found nearly incomprehensible. But now I had two elements of an idea: one character—General Sherman—and a setting.

As time went on, my cousin told me the story of a Civil War soldier’s ghost visiting her property in Virginia. I found it fascinating and a little creepy. In short, the perfect story trigger. Now I had three workable elements of a story (setting, one character and its genre, paranormal). I was a fan of the Ghost and Mrs. Muir television series years ago. Thus came into play a workable romantic angle. The bones of a story.

What remained was to put the elements together in a plot that had suspense, romance, danger and a happy ending…the balance of the anatomy. I decided on my hero and heroine, their back story (by asking myself a series of what if questions) and conflict. Taken together, each step produced a rough outline for what I wanted to have happen but I’m leaving room for inspiration and “seat of the pants” writing that may take the story in a direction not related to the outline. It’s a work in progress, but I’m getting closer to a finished novel. And there you have it—one author’s anatomy of an idea. Happy reading!

When undercover agent Anthony Emillani, aka Jack Herrell, discovers the body of his murdered wife on the bedroom floor of their New York home in the spring of 2001, little does he know that his soul is the focus of a wager between Satan and Michael the Archangel.

Robin Emillani’s murder by an unknown assassin challenges Jack’s faith in God. After ten years of finding his faith challenged by the events of that horrid day, Jack is sent to Phoenix to investigate illegal activities in the mafia-owned brokerage firm, Diamond Securities and, unbeknownst to him at the time, is placed directly in the path of his wife’s murderer.

Jack is surprised at his instant attraction to Alexandra West, the intriguing operations manager for Diamond. Since his wife’s murder, he hasn’t felt anything for anyone, yet Alex awakens the emotions he’d thought were dead, lost when he lost his beloved wife. Jack soon learns that Alex faces ongoing sexual harassment from the local branch managers, as well as a life-threatening illness. But what Jack doesn’t realize is that there is more involved to the harassment than it seems. Satan’s minion has fostered a psychotic obsession within one of the managers toward Alex.

While Satan’s minion deals challenge after challenge, Michael and his angelic friends work furiously to counter the evil machinations of the demon. A series of violent events put to the test the new-found love between Alex and Jack and force Jack to decide his eternal destination: heaven or hell.

Phoenix Rising is available here: http://www.amazon.com/Phoenix-Rising-ebook/dp/B006O3ZYM6

Pirates, shape shifters and travel through time. How much more complicated can love get? Time traveler Eric Morgan finds out when alarming news arrives from his mentor, Nathaniel Beckett, that Blackheart the Pirate has kidnapped Nathaniel’s daughter Celeste. Eric lives in the present and Celeste lives in 1718 Camden, Maine. Complications arise upon his arrival in Maine, with Eric’s emotional discovery of a father and sister he never knew…a shape-shifting father and sister. Together, they travel to the past. They ask help of the local magistrate, unaware he is in cahoots with Blackheart and concealing a secret that makes him a terrifying nemesis. An attack by a Great White shark nearly costs Eric his life before he can rescue Celeste. Peril lurks in unexpected places and Eric’s actions trigger a cascade of events that will tear one family apart and force another to test the bonds of forgiveness and love.

Ann’s books are available on Amazon.

Phoenix Rising: http://www.amazon.com/Phoenix-Rising-ebook/dp/B006O3ZYM6

Raven’s Nest: http://www.amazon.com/Ravens-Nest-ebook/dp/B009RCO13O

Thanks so much for spending this time with us today. Best of luck!

To learn more about Ann and her books, visit her website and follow her on Facebook and Twitter

The post Guest author: Ann Duran appeared first on Margery Scott.

Guest author: Jill Hughey

I’m pleased to have author Jill Hughey as my guest today to tell us a little about herself and Little Witch, her latest release. This novella is the fifth book in her Evolution Series.

Welcome, Jill. The blog is yours.

Why We Love a Good Book Series

Hi, I’m Jill Hughey, and the most interesting fact about me is that I can sing really, really high. As in opera-singer high. I take lessons and everything. It is a passion I began to explore after most people are well on their way in their careers, sort of like my novel writing.

While it is not so easy to share my singing voice with you on a blog, I am thrilled to introduce a new release from my writing repertoire.

My “Evolution Series” started with the book Unbidden, set in 831 Francia (what is now France). There are three other stories in the series, and I’ve just released the fifth installment, Little Witch: Historical Romance Novella, which ends in 848. The men are, for the most part, the connecting thread through the series. The most interesting discovery I’ve made as I’ve followed characters through 17 years is that I really have gotten to know them. When I needed to bring the hero and heroine from another book into Little Witch, it was so easy to invoke who they are, and a real pleasure to fill in what has been happening to them for the ten years that had passed since I last wrote about them.

I think readers get to know characters almost as well as the authors who write them. That is why many readers love a series, and it is like a huge gift to discover an author new to us who has more than one book available so we can voraciously devour a new world, then revisit the heroes and heroines we have grown to love.

For some of my shorter books, I have given supporting characters their happy-ever-afters. Little Witch features Nox, the servant of the Lord of Ribeauville who is the hero of Vain. Here is the blurb:

A vicious neighbor uses a series of coincidences to label Salena as the local moon-charmer, making her an outcast in rural Francia. When Salena encounters her brother’s childhood friend, Nox, out on business for the Lord of Ribeauville, she fears he will accept the locals’ tales about her, especially since they relate to the death of his family a decade before. He is, instead, as charmed by her as she is by him.

Nox’s sympathy for Salena evolves into affection in spite of his strict rule against close ties with people. Afraid to risk another loss like that of his youth, he abruptly ends their relationship, unaware that Salena has already been downtrodden by her father denying her request to venture farther out into the world.

A threat to Salena’s family prompts her to run away in the hopes of protecting those she loves while forging a new path for her life. Too late, Nox discovers that she has also run away with his scarred heart.

In the following excerpt, I share a view into the conflict Nox feels when Salena is near.

EXCERPT

Trees around the church offered patches of relief from the warming June sun. Salena backed away from the building, shading her eyes to see as much of it at once as possible. She finally gave up, dropping her hand to her side, defeated.

“What is it?” Nox asked.

“I will never have the memory of it right in my mind,” she said. “I want to remember it perfectly. I wish I could carry it right back home with me, to look at it when I wished.” She hurried to the other side of the hill where she looked down over the town again. “I envy you,” she said over her shoulder. “You have all of this around you. You come and go as you please and are among people. Look at them, walking in the street and talking. All I have ever known is grass, mud, trees and the river. Suddenly there are all these things I’ve been told about but never understood.”

Nox almost said something light-hearted about sometimes wanting fewer people around. Her forlorn expression stopped him. “There is nothing wrong with grass and trees,” he said.

“The air smells different,” she said, inhaling.

“Smoke and latrines,” he suggested.

She swatted his arm. “You want me to think the worst. But I won’t,” she vowed, bracing her hands on her hips. “I will

remember it as perfect.”

“You talk as if your visit here is already over.”

“It will be, too soon.”

“The town isn’t going to disappear.”

“No, the town will be here. Depending on Grant to bring me to the town is another thing entirely.” She sighed. “I feel so trapped at home, Nox. I just do not fit there anymore. I sensed it before, then last night, in Lady Lily’s hall, I could feel myself expanding to fill a new space.”

She tilted her head back. The sun highlighted her full lips, the temptation of them overwhelming the internal warning her words incited in him. “Don’t listen to my rambling,” she said to the sky. “I certainly don’t imagine I belong in that great house.” She sighed again. “I don’t know why I keep blurting these things out to you.” She gave him a direct look. “Actually, that is a lie. I tell you because there is no one else I can tell. I cannot tell anyone in my family. They would be worried or hurt. They would think that something must be done when I know very well there is nothing to do.” She set her shoulders. “Forgive me. Let me go find Grant. You were probably hoping to spend the day with him, not stuck with his awestruck hayseed sister and pregnant wife.” She shifted to walk around him.

“Stop,” he said, indeed wanting to stop her rambling. She confused him, and the spark that sizzled to his gut when he reached out to touch her arm alarmed him even more than her declaration that she wanted to leave her home, with an apparent preference for Ribeauville. “You are not a hayseed. I am not exactly sure what you are, but you are not a hayseed any more than you are a witch.”

Those soft lips parted in wonder at his announcement, and the eyes that frightened other people drew him in. He kissed her. On the grounds of the church in full view of anyone who might happen along, he kissed her and drank her in after a tedious month of pretending he was not thinking of her. He pulled her against him despite a long night of convincing himself he had not wanted to do just that the moment she hopped down from the cart yesterday.

She broke the kiss to settle against him, her ear on his chest, head tucked under his chin. Her hands settled on his waist in that way she had that implied a comprehensive possession of his body. The heat of her palms coursed through him like warmed wine.

“I missed you, Nox,” she said, devastating him with the simplicity of the statement.

He did not know how to answer since this had been what he had worried about all along. He had told himself he dreaded her attachment to him. If that was true, how could she feel so perfect nestled against him? How could her words calm him instead of worrying him? He said nothing, but could not stop the momentary tightening of his arms around her before he set her away from him with an internal reminder that he had nothing more than occasional kisses to offer.

END OF EXCERPT

Little Witch: Historical Romance Novella, is currently available at Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EUA1TI8

I hope you will give my Evolution Series a try. The first book, Unbidden, is free at many ebook vendors, and I also offer The Evolution Series Bundle that includes everything but this most recent release.

Thank you, Margery, for letting me share with your visitors today. Happy reading!

The post Guest author: Jill Hughey appeared first on Margery Scott.

Guest post – Ally Shields and her Reader Survey

I’m thrilled to welcome author Ally Shields to my blog today to tell us about the reader survey she did as well as book 1 of the Guardian Witch series, Awakening the Fire.

Welcome, Ally. So glad to have you here. First, can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m a former attorney and juvenile court officer who lives and writes near Des Moines, Iowa. I’m the author of the Guardian Witch urban fantasy series, published by Etopia Press.

I’m curious to see the results of your survey. The blog is yours.

Reading Habits: Who, what, where, why?

Do you have a special place to read? A special time? How did you choose the last book you read? Price? Name recognition? Do you carry a book or an ereader in your handbag or briefcase or carry-on?

Lately, everyone seems to have a readers’ survey. Writers love them, and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to share mine. I tracked down some of my friends and neighbors, and here’s what they had to say.

But first, the disclaimers. This was not a scientific survey, and the information is anecdotal. I did not use spy satellites, phone taping, truth serum, or peek in windows to verify one single word. My “test subjects” were twelve women and two men, ages thirteen to fifty-seven. They are all readers, not writers, and they each read at least fifty-two books in the past year.

Without further fanfare, on to the questions:

1. Where do you read? Place, time of day.

Answer: Although four people said “everywhere,” the majority did their reading at home in the evening, typically in bed or on the couch. Not one armchair reader in the group.

2. Do you prefer print books or ereaders? Is that how you most frequently read?

Answer: They were split seven to seven on preference, but twelve of the fourteen did most of their reading on an ereader or tablet. Interesting that their reading habits did not mirror their preferences.

3. Do you read free ebooks? How often? Why or why not?

Answer: Only four stated they read free ebooks with regularity. Six additional readers stated they did upon occasion. The most frequently given reason for NOT reading them was a concern about quality.

All fourteen readers stated that if they already liked an author, price (high or low) did not figure into their purchasing decision.

4. Do you read books in one sitting or a little at a time?

Answer: This question actually generated the most interest among the readers and the widest variety of responses. While twelve of the readers said they often read a chapter a night or are interrupted in some way, there were three things that could change that pattern:

(a) weekends or vacations when they had more time;

(b) books by favorite authors;

(c) the rare book that just won’t let you put it down. It has to be finished, even if that means calling in sick to work or locking your doors and turning off the phone.

5. Rank the importance of these potential influences on your book choices (I arranged them here according to the results they gave*):

(1) cover

(1) genre

(1) author

(4) reviews

(5) book trailer

(6) publisher

*The first three were in a virtual tie of importance in first attracting them to a book. Reviews by readers, not professionals (they tended to believe those had been purchased), were often read if the reader had already been attracted by cover, genre or author. Book trailers were viewed and ranked high by three of the youngest readers, but hardly anyone noticed the name of the book publisher.

6. Do you finish every book you start?

Answer: Thirteen of fourteen stated they always finish a book they paid for. If the book was free or borrowed from the library, they would stop reading for various reasons including too boring, poor writing, poor editing, subjects not to their taste.

7. Where did you purchase your last book?

Answer: Amazon: nine; Barnes & Noble: three; ibookstore: one; Sam’s Club: one.

There you have it—a totally subjective poll on the reading habits of a non-representative group of readers. Does it prove anything? Not really. But oddly enough, it mimic trends in much larger studies.

With so many books and so many authors, it’s a good thing that reading is still based on individual taste. No matter what criteria they use, readers have more opportunities than ever before to find their “special book” and read it in any way they choose.

I hope each of you find yours. Thanks for spending a little time with me today. Happy reading!

Interesting results, Ally. Now please tell us about your Guardian Witch series.

There are currently three books available in the series:

Awakening the Fire (Guardian Witch #1), Fire Within (Guardian Witch #2) & Burning Both Ends (Guardian Witch #3). Book four is scheduled to release in October 2013.

Book Blurb for book one, Awakening the Fire:

An ancient feud…

Twenty-three-year-old Ari Calin has sworn to keep the peace in the Olde Town district of Riverdale. Most of the time the vampires, werewolves and other magical creatures go about their business, living side by side with humans, until the foreign wolves arrive and a virtual reality drug hits the streets. When violence erupts, Ari needs more than her witch fire, weapons and potions to stop the madness.

Joining forces with a human police officer, Lt. Ryan Foster, and a way-too-sexy vampire singer, Andreas De Luca, Ari hunts the enemy—from the vampire strip clubs to the caverns under the city. Every step draws them deeper into an old feud and closer to the brink of a supernatural war.

The Guardian Witch books are available at most online stores including Amazon

and Barnes and Noble.

Thanks so much for visiting with me today, Ally.

Ally can be contacted through her website: http://allyshields.com or at any of the following:

Blog: http://allyshields.com/blog.html

Twitter: http://twitter.com/ShieldsAlly

Facebook: http://facebook.com/AllyShieldsAuthor

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6527209.Ally_Shields

The post Guest post – Ally Shields and her Reader Survey appeared first on Margery Scott.

Guest blog – Kathryn Barrett and Losing Her Voice

Please help me welcome author Kathryn Barrett to my blog today to tell us about her novel, Temptation, and also about losing her voice.

Bio:

Kathryn Barrett reluctantly put aside childhood dreams of becoming an author and took a more practical approach, majoring in Business Administration in college. But after marrying an Air Force officer, she realized a career in high finance didn’t suit an itinerant lifestyle. She happily returned to her first love, writing stories that feature larger-than-life characters, family relationships, and of course, a happy ending.

Having lived all over the United States, Kathryn and her family now live in England, just outside London. She enjoys walking her dog in the Chiltern hills and exploring crumbling castles, and only occasionally reads the Financial Times.

Losing my Voice

By Kathryn Barrett

I still remember the day I arrived in the UK. I thought I was prepared for an overseas move, but suddenly there I was, in a foreign country, where no one spoke English. American English, I mean.

I sort of figured everyone would sound like Tony Blair, a rinsed version of a BBC anchor. (I also thought that whole driving on the left side was just for show, but I soon realized that not only did they really drive like that, but the cars all had steering wheels on the right side too. They weren’t joking around!)

By the time I got to our flat in London, I feared I was in real danger of losing my voice. Not physically, but my mental “voice”, the sound inside my head that I use for writing. The voices of my characters—both their internal and external dialogue.

I realized I would be surrounded by British voices, on the radio, on the television, in the shops, at the classes I took—everywhere except in my home, where my American family still speaks with an increasingly foreign-sounding American accent. What if this new way of talking crept into my US-set novels?

I was afraid I’d never write again. Or I’d be limited to writing only about ex-pats like myself, who balk at saying the word “pants” and use strange subject-verb agreements like “the government are”. The lingo of the Midwest, the Valley Girl cadence, the Southern drawl I’d been born with—would these dialects disappear from my memory?

Thankfully, that hasn’t happened, not completely.

After years of living amongst a British-speaking population, I’m as bilingual as a child raised by parents of different nationalities. My language adapts to the occasion.

Today I told a lady at the carpark (not the American “parking lot”) that “I was meant to move to America”. If I’d been speaking to my husband, I’d have said “I was supposed to move to the US.” See the difference? It slips out without my thinking it, depending on the audience. Another time, in the same carpark, I remotely raised my trunk and when it was about to hit an unsuspecting passerby, I blurted, “Watch out—the boot!” knowing she would have been unlikely to know what I meant if I used the American “trunk”.

I did notice that when editing my novel Temptation, about an Amish furniture maker and a Hollywood actress, I couldn’t bear to have my characters wearing “pants”. But the word “trousers” fit better when describing an Amish man’s attire anyway. And I found I liked dressing my Barbie…err, my heroine—in vintage dresses, skin tight jeans, and other, more specific outfits than “pants”.

Which makes for better writing, doesn’t it?

My vocabulary is enriched now, since I’ve been exposed to daily onslaughts of British English. I am often gobsmacked, occasionally chuffed, and collect bits and bobs. (I’m still not quite sure what a “bob” is but I collect ’em anyway.) I can be either pissed (meaning angry in the US, or drunk in the UK) or I can be cross, which sounds so twee (but is actually meant to be angry).

I can make my subjects and verbs agree with any old thing. I can discuss football on two continents and still not know a single rule of the game. I know where to go to buy knickers, and want to be sure to wear clean ones if I go to hospital, especially the ER, or rather, A&E.

I love having two words to call most things (and doesn’t “rubbish” sound better than “garbage”?). I love hearing the many different accents of the British Isles. But I still retain my essential American-ness, thanks to family and friends who keep me grounded in my home country’s speech patterns.

You say “to-may-to”; I may or may not say “to-mah-to”.

Although, I will insist on saying “water” instead of “wadder”. Not because I want to sound posh; I just want to be served proper H2O.

Here’s a bit (or is it a bob?) of my novel Temptation, a heated scene between my Amish furniture maker hero and the Hollywood heroine, Laura, where Pennsylvania Dutch meets SoCal Gal:

She looked up from the tabletop she was inspecting, her smile like an electric light. “Hi. I didn’t want to disturb you.”

Didn’t she know she was disturbing him just by existing? By walking into his shop and interrupting his mortise and tenon construction?

She hopped up on the table beside him. “I have an emergency.”

“You should try the hospital. There’s a good one in Lancaster.”

She laughed. “It’s a decorating emergency. I need furniture, and I need it fast. My mother’s coming on Friday, and if she sees an empty stretch of baseboard she’ll call her decorator.” She lowered her voice. “Trust me, it wouldn’t be a pretty sight. Roger isn’t known for subtlety.”

Jacob hung his measuring tape on the pegboard, in the wrong place, but he was grateful for any excuse to move away from her.

“Can you just see French Provincial, down-stuffed Louis Quatorze chairs in my cute little farmhouse?” Laura shuddered. “Honestly, I need help. And you’re the only one who can help me.”

Jacob shook his head. “I cannot help you this time. I have a shipment of chairs due in Lancaster this week.”

“Surely you’ve got something here?” She looked around the workshop. “Anything. I don’t care if it’s half finished. I’ll take it unstained, unglued, whatever. Anything to keep my mother from terrorizing me with Louis Quatorze.”

“I can make you a guillotine. It worked pretty well in France.”

Laura groaned. “You don’t understand. My mother—”

“It would work for that, too.”

She laughed, then gave a melodramatic sigh. “You don’t know what she’s like…she comes in and takes over. She’s like Mommy Dearest without the personality. She always knows how best to run my life, how to decorate my house, how to pick my boyfriends…don’t laugh! She tried to set me up with her podiatrist once.”

He nodded, as if he understood perfectly. “Mothers are supposed to do that. It’s in their nature.”

“Mothers.” She sighed. “Can’t live with ’em, can’t guillotine ’em.”

“She sounds like mine. Maybe we should introduce them.”

“Hmmm… I’m sure your mother would tell her where to put her overstuffed chairs.”

Jacob nodded. “Ja. And my chairs, too, if I don’t get busy on them.”

“Oh, Jacob, you have to help me out. I’ll take anything you’ve got.”

He looked away, hardening his heart to her pleas. She didn’t need his chairs, or his heart. “I cannot help you.”

She slid closer, until there was no further room for him to move away. “I’ll pay you. Whatever you want—”

He glared at her, his feelings for once close to the surface. She wanted something he couldn’t give her—wouldn’t give her. Jacob was only flesh and blood, and his control snapped, snagged by a trace of perfume in the air surrounding her. “I do not want your money!”

She swallowed. “What is it? Did I do something? Say something?”

He didn’t reply.

“What?” she repeated, a demanding child who’d too rarely been denied. “You’re angry with me.”

He kept his gaze lowered, not answering. Of course he was angry, but not with her.

“It’s the kiss, isn’t it? You’re angry about that.”

“I shouldn’t have done that.”

“I’m the one who started it, remember?” She waited a beat. “But I didn’t see you protesting then.”

“It is not right. This…attraction. It cannot continue.”

About Temptation:

Laura Hayes has been acting since she was in diapers, and acting up almost as long. When she moves to Pennsylvania’s Amish country to film her next movie, she discovers there’s more to life than a pair of Jimmy Choos and a Marie Claire cover.

Intrigued by the Amish simplicity, she’s soon putting in a garden, dodging earthworms and garter snakes. And when her neighbor turns out to be the local heartthrob as well as a talented furniture maker, she realizes that what’s missing from her life might be the love of a good man—not to mention the perfect heirloom tomato.

Jacob is trying hard not to question the teachings of his Amish faith, despite a desire to create furniture that looks like it belongs in a museum rather than the local tourist shop. As his attraction for his neighbor grows, so do his doubts, until he’s forced to face Temptation.

Book trailer:

http://bit.ly/TemptationYouTube

How to find Kathryn:

http://kathrynbarrett.com

@KathrynSBarrett

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKathrynBarrett

Buy Temptation:

http://www.amazon.com/Temptation-ebook/dp/B00BMKOPMQ/

The post Guest blog – Kathryn Barrett and Losing Her Voice appeared first on Margery Scott.

Guest blog – Elizabeth Bailey (and a giveaway)

I’m thrilled to have author Elizabeth Bailey on my blog today.

Welcome Elizabeth. First, can you tell us a little about yourself?

I grew up in Africa on a diet of unconventional parents, theatre and Georgette Heyer. Eventually I went into acting and trod the boards in England until the writing bug got me, when I changed to teaching and directing while penning historical romances and women’s fiction. My 8 year apprenticeship ended with publication by Mills & Boon, for whom I wrote 18 historicals. Latterly I’ve had two historical mysteries published by Berkley (Penguin US) and I’m hoping to release more Lady Fan novels soon. Meanwhile, it’s wonderful to be able to return to my first love and put out new and old releases in ebook.

Me: Ah, theatre and historical romance. Two of my loves as well. The blog is yours, Elizabeth. Take it away.

MY RESEARCH LIBRARY

I’m a glutton for research. I have a very large bookcase full of material covering all aspects of life, mostly from the 18th Century with a smattering of books on other periods along with my crime library concerning investigations and murder.

The most used is Cunnington’s Handbook of English Costume in the Eighteenth Century, without which I couldn’t function, although I usually leave these descriptions to the editing stage. The great thing about Cunnington is the detail, from fabrics to accessories, with year on year changes for both men and women.

One book on antiques has a useful set of images depicting the way rooms actually looked, as well as individual items of furniture – for which I’ve also got Chippendale’s workbook. Ackermann helps with scenes of London, such as Brooks’s, Astley’s Amphitheatre, Covent Garden and the Pantheon. The Romance of the Road gives two whole journeys from London to Bath and London to Portsmouth in drawings, so you get distances, inns and the likely traffic. I can’t do without my books on Georgian cookery, and those with satirical drawings are wonderfully evocative of the period.

Setting is vital and I’m in love with my book of maps from the late 18th century covering the entire country. I’ve also got London and greater London A-Z style maps, and a whole raft of detailed Victorian books about London and surrounding districts with interesting snippets, like who lived where, what’s there and the history behind it, plus sketches.

I like images best because they help me picture the scene, and I can garner textual stuff to furnish detail. It’s amazing how it puts me into the period in my head, which in turn enables me to write it for the reader to imagine.

This is what I love about books, and why research is vital. You can’t detail everything you’ve read. Instead you draw the scene in brush strokes of words, letting the reader fill in the gaps. I have to immerse myself in the data, even if only about 10% ends up in the book.

To be honest, I’m far too apt to lose myself in the books and forget what I’m actually looking for. One piece of research leads to another, besides throwing up new plot points I hadn’t thought of. Research for me is as much part of the process of writing as it is exploration of the period.

Can you tell us about your latest release?

AN ANGEL’S TOUCH

Outspoken Verity Lambourn berates the mentor of two lost children, having no idea that the lame young man with the vibrant black eyes is the widowed Henry, Marquis of Salmesbury. When she knocks him flying in Tunbridge Wells, Verity realises she has not been able to get him out of her mind.

Tumbling towards a promising future, Verity must confront the shadows of Henry’s tragic past. Matters come to a head when the children are kidnapped, but it takes a threat to Henry himself to test the strength of Verity’s love and the truth of a gypsy’s prophecy.

EXCERPT:

His features were good, though marked, young as he was, with lines of suffering that ran down to a well-shaped mouth, tight-lipped at this moment, and a resolute chin. It was his eyes, so dark as to be almost black, that were his most striking attribute, attractive even as they burned with the anger that he turned back on the boy.

‘Well, Braxted?’ he repeated, in a voice that was not the less threatening for its quiet control. ‘Your pranks are one thing, and to be discussed between us at some more convenient time. But to be involving your little sister in them goes beyond the line of what may be tolerated.’

He paused, but the boy, though he raised his blue orbs to stare defiantly up into that smouldering gaze, had nothing to say.

‘I trust,’ continued the man softly, ‘I make myself plain?’

‘Yes, sir,’ the boy asserted gruffly.

‘Upon my word!’ Verity exclaimed, entering the lists as the implications of this speech burst in upon her. ‘And I trust, sir,’ she said, rounding on the young man in righteous indignation, ‘that you will take the trouble to enquire more particularly into this affair before you inflict the dreadful punishment that I suspect to be in your mind.’

Taken aback, the young man jerked round to face her. He almost tripped up in his clumsy haste and had to support himself with his cane.

‘And what, ma’am,’ he demanded icily, ‘has this affair in any way to do with you?’

‘I will tell you,’ Verity declared at once, not in the least deterred by his manner. ‘I happen to be in possession of the true facts of the matter, having come upon the scene a few moments before yourself. I would have supposed, sir, that anyone with the least degree of common sense must perceive at once that the boy is far too protective of his sister to be likely to implicate her in any pranks he might play. And in this instance, as you would have known had you troubled yourself to ask the child before flinging accusations at his head in that—that brutish fashion, there was no prank in the case.’

Then, without giving her astonished auditor an opportunity to open his mouth, Miss Lambourn dropped down to the boy’s level and grasped him urgently by the shoulders.

‘My dear young friend, do, I beg of you, think for a moment. I dare say it is all very brave and manly for you to take the blame for something which is in no way your fault, but you cannot have thought the question through. Only consider. Another time you may not be at hand to see the danger, and what if the nurse should be so careless when you are not by to dash so gallantly to the rescue? Then you would have cause to blame yourself indeed. For by your keeping silent, you know, the nurse will never be corrected, for I cannot think that she will confess her fault.’

The boy Braxted looked much struck by this, and, grasping his hands and smiling coaxingly at him, Verity added, ‘What good can it possibly do for you meekly to accept a punishment which you have done nothing to deserve? Indeed, only misery can come from such a gross injustice. To you, perhaps to your sister and the nurse. And indeed—’ with a fleeting glance up at the stern countenance above her ‘—to your mentor himself. I wish, dear friend, you will think better of it and tell him everything.’

Braxted now also cast a quick look up at the young man standing silently by. He noted that the features had relaxed, and the dark eyes had lost their fire. His stiffness melted and he grinned suddenly.

‘Well, I will, then. I like to have a friend like you.’

Verity smiled and pressed his hands before releasing them. ‘I am glad. I hope we may meet again.’

She rose and turned to look again at the young man. Like Braxted, she saw that the anger had vanished from his eyes, to be replaced by a gleam which she strongly suspected to be of amusement. An amusement she deprecated, for his conduct had been disgraceful. Then he spoke, and his words disarmed her.

‘It is apparent that I owe you both apology and thanks,’ he said, adding with an ironic little bow, ‘I have certainly been put very firmly in my place.’

An Angel’s Touch is available on Amazon and and Smashwords.

Elizabeth has generously offered to give away a digital copy of An Angel’s Touch to one lucky commentor. Please leave your email address in the body of the comment.

Thanks so much for spending this time with us, Elizabeth.

The post Guest blog – Elizabeth Bailey (and a giveaway) appeared first on Margery Scott.

Guest post – Barbara Wallace

Please help me welcome Harlequin Romance author Barbara Wallace to my blog today. Here’s a short bio:

Award-winning author Barbara Wallace first sold to Harlequin Romance in 2009. Since then her books have appeared throughout the world. She’s the winner of RWA’s Golden Heart Award, a two-time Romantic Times’ finalist for Best Harlequin Romance, and winner of the New England Beanpot Award. She currently lives in Massachusetts with her family

Welcome to my blog, Barbara. Take it away.

In my latest book, The Courage to Say Yes, the heroine, Abby Gray, cooks the hero, Hunter Smith spaghetti. Later on, she learns it’s the first home cooked meal Hunter has had since he was a young boy. It’s a pivotal piece of information as she – and the reader – begin to learn why he prefers photographing life from the sidelines.

Naturally, when I wrote the scene, I imagined Abby using my mother’s spaghetti sauce recipe. That’s because my mother made the best spaghetti sauce in the world. I know this to be true because my brother agrees.

Anyway, because my mother made such awesome spaghetti sauce (or gravy as they say where my son goes to college) and because it played a role in my book, I thought it would be fun to share the recipe with you all.

One small problem. I don’t know the measurements.

Correction. I know them, but having made it for fifteen years, I’ve taken to eyeballing and fudging with the amounts. Making matters worse, the written copy I got from my mother disappeared years ago.

Since I wanted to give you an accurate recipe, I called my brother to see if he had a copy forgetting another key point: His wife uses her own recipe, which while I’m sure is delicious, isn’t the best in the world. (Since my mother holds said title.)

And so, feeling a little sheepish, I called my 81-year-old mother to tell her I lost the recipe. By the time I finished explaining my dilemma, I felt a little like a kid bringing home a bad report card. But, she had the recipe! I was saved.

And so, without further ado, the recipe for Abby Gray’s (aka Mamma Tanner’s) World’s Best Spaghetti Sauce Recipe:

1 large can of whole tomatoes (squashed)

2 14 oz cans of tomato sauce

2 small cans tomato paste

Garlic

Onion

Bay leaves

Whole cloves

Oregano

Salt

Pepper

Sugar

Sweet Italian Sausage Patties

Notice anything? There are no ingredient amounts! Turns out the recipe never had ingredient amounts. My mother did everything by taste. (Which explains why, on days she had a cold, we got extra spicy sauce.)

The moral of the story? When it comes to ingredients, the exact amount doesn’t matter, so long as the end result is satisfying. Interestingly, that’s how I approach writing as well.

Hopefully, you’ll like how the ingredients come together in The Courage to Say Yes. I like to think I’ve put together a pretty satisfying combination. (And, to show how confident I am you’ll like what you read, I’m offering up a free copy to one lucky commenter.)

By the way, if anyone does have a spaghetti sauce recipe they want to share – with our without ingredients, pass it along! We’ll see if it’s as good as Mama’s.

I’m still searching for the perfect spaghetti sauce recipe. I’ll definitely try this one. Now, please tell us about your latest release.

A reluctant knight in shining armor; a down-on-her-luck waitress

Photojournalist Hunter Smith likes to keep the world on the other side of the camera lens. But when he sees Abby Gray in trouble, he can’t help stepping up to the rescue.

Love betrayed Abby Gray in the worst possible way. Working as Hunter’s assistant might be exactly what she needs to put the scars of the past behind her. When the sparks begin to fly, will these two people, who’ve sworn to keep the world at arm’s length, find the courage to accept the love that’s right under their noses?

The Courage to Say Yes is an August release from Harlequin Romance. The book is available online through Harlequin.com, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

Thanks so much for visiting with me today, Barbara. I’ll let you know how the sauce turns out, although I don’t guarantee anything. My taste buds aren’t overly reliable.

You can read more of Barb’s musings by visiting her website, www.barbarawallace.com

The post Guest post – Barbara Wallace appeared first on Margery Scott.