Ute Carbone's Blog, page 34

#8Sunday #snipsun: One more week with Lenora

Happy Sunday! I hope all of you are having a wonderful summer. It's been hot here in New England this week. I've been at the beach, not a bad place to be when the weather gets blistery. It felt good to take a bit of a break, but now it's back to the computer. It's been a busy time for me, promo-wise. Sweet Lenora came out this week, the third of four releases I've had this summer. The last but not least, The Lilac Hour, comes out mid-month and over the next few weeks, I'll offer up a few snippets of that. But for now, I'd like to spend one more week with Lenora and Anton as they sail away towards love and adventure. 
Here, Lenora is caught as a stowaway and about to meet Anton:


The rapscallion with the knife grinned at me. He had few teeth and a malodorous smell came from the open cavity of his mouth. “What, and have you run off, little puss?”
     “Where would I run to?” My body shook at the folly of my coming above board. Would I had stayed in the safety of the hold!
     The rapscallion pulled his weapon back from my throat as another grabbed me round the waist. “Shall we unwrap our pretty present, boys?” 



For more Sunday Eight click Weekend Writing Warriors  HERE and visit Snippet Sunday on facebook HERE
For more on Sweet Lenora, including where you can buy a copy, click HERE 

A few minor repairs

Sadly, Whispers Publishing closed its doors at the end of last month. As part of the dissolving of the publishing company, the rights to Whisper of Time were reverted to me. As soon as I have some quiet time to spare, I plan on going through the manuscript and tinkering with a few things to make a new and (slightly) improved version. Then I'll put it out there again. Stay Tuned.

On a side note, the talented Alana, who designed the cover, is kindly allowing me to keep it.

Wednesday Poems: Papa, Dancing

Wednesday, like all days, is a good day for poetry.
When my younger son was small, his mannerisms were uncannily like those of his grandfather's, a man he'd never gotten to know.

Papa, Dancing

He is in your eyes--sapphire pools wide with wonder,
reflecting the sun--
a thousand fleeting torches, dancing
as he must have danced in the days before
a you or a me,
arms raised to embrace each diminutive ray
filtering through branches to weave forever into ebony,
to sparkle again--
in your eyes.

To the Wind: the Journey Continues

Sweet Lenora is the beginning of a journey for Lenora and Anton. To the Wind, part two of the Lenora and Anton series will be coming out on October 7.
[image error] San Francisco Harbor 1851

To the Wind The Journey ContinuesIn this sequel to Sweet Lenora, Anton and Lenora sail away from trouble in Rio de Janeiro only to encounter new problems. With only half a crew and a first mate that is hated and feared, they venture to San Francisco plagued by threats, mutiny,and illness. As they arrive at their destination, the ghosts of the past come back to haunt them and may prove to be the greatest menace of all. At each turn, the love they have forged is tested. Will it prevail?   

Sweet Lenora sails today!

Sail to 1851, when Lenora Brewer stows away on the ship named for her and meets more than she'd imagined in the person of Captain Anton Bordeaux. In this, the first of the Anton and Lenora novella series, the two form a strong bond that is severely tested by weather and false accusations.


Here are a few of my favorite lines from the book

* My Aunt Louise looked up now and again from under the awning of her black umbrella to insure herself that I had not jumped in after the coffin or run off into the rain.

*The rapscallion pulled his weapon back from my throat asanother grabbed me round the waist. “Shall we unwrap our prettypresent, boys?”

* In the dim light I could see a dark line etched into thecaptain’s shoulder, it oozed a deep color. I held the candle closer and saw the source was a deep gash that ran across his breast.

*Rio was a place as different from my native home as was a peacock from a goose.

*I made my promises in English and Anton did the same and even if the little priest understood not a word, we were given to know it was understood by God and that the union was made for better or worse, no matter what the tongue, for the language of the heart is spoken in all the corners of the earth.

*He examined me without humor, picked up my dress as though it were a washerwoman’s rag, and threw it onto the bed. “Get dressed.”








Lenora Brewer’s family owns the largest shipyard in Salem Massachusetts and Lenora, as her father’s only living child, is given free rein to learn the business. When Lenora’s father is killed in a carriage accident, her relatives arrange a marriage to a wealthy investor who is rumored to have beaten his first wife to death.            Lenora devises a scheme to stowaway on The Sweet Lenora, a ship named for her.  The last thing Anton Boudreaux needs is a naïve young woman stowing away on his ship. The dark and daring captain has secrets of his own to protect.             When Sweet Lenora encounters a dangerous storm off the coast of Brazil, Lenora and Anton find in each other the courage and tenacity to brave the elements. As their love for one another grows it becomes a force to be reckoned with—and it will be sorely tested.           

#8Sunday--Sweet Lenora Sails Tomorrow.

 
It feels like a long time coming, Sweet Lenora releases tomorrow.  I'm going to do a little happy dance celebration. Meanwhile, here's eight from the novella.
  [image error] “I’ll not let you go to such a man.”
“There is no one to stop it. I’ll be found out and brought back to my fate.”
“I will. I will stop it.” He kissed my eyes and my cheeks, then his mouth found mine. The taste of him melted my flesh into his. In that moment, had the ship been staved and turned to tinder, it would not have mattered. I had found what I wanted in this world. I pulled him closer as his mouth found mine again.

For more Snippets, please click HERE
For more about Sweet Lenora, click HERE 

What the? Friday: Men in Kilts

Welcome to WTF,  an occasional Friday blog where I ramble on about some of the amusing, amazing, awe inspiring, or just plain crazy things in the world.


 Men in kilts is a company of handy men who will clean your gutters and  wash your windows.While wearing kilts.
The company was started a dozen years ago in Vancouver with a single kilt.  Now there are multiple franchises all over the US and Canada.
And really, what could be better than a guy pressure washing your siding in a kilt? Come to think of it, my windows look a little grimy...



And, for all my friends here in New England, Men in Kilts now has a franchise in Boston.

#Sunday8: Lenora meets Anton

Welcome back to Sunday Eight. My historical romance novella, Sweet Lenora, releases on July 1. In today's eight, Lenora first meets Anton.



 His look suggested he would like nothing better than to tear me limb to limb, and I shrank back against the wall. He stepped inside and pulled the door shut behind him.
For all of Aunt Louise’s insistence that I was a wanton and
wild woman who ran afoul of manners, his actions shocked me. I had never stood alone in a room with a member of the opposite sex, much less a room that was a bedroom, and much less a member as handsome and with a reputation such as the one who stood before me now.
His fiery countenance turned my knees to water. He walked to the desk and closed the ledger, then stared at me with a scowl for a
good long minute that seemed to stretch to an hour. I wilted under
his gaze. He was far taller than I, with broad shoulders, and I was
frightened of him and desired him at the same time.



For more great snippets, please click HERE
For more about Sweet Lenora, please click HERE

I'm also blogging about Sweet Lenora at Writer's Vineyard today. Stop by and say hello!

Wednesday Poems: Sorrow Song

Wednesday, like all days, is a good day for poetry.

This poem was written while sitting at water's edge
Beach at Sunset. Photo by Jon Sullivan.
Sorrow Song

It is enough that a sea of cloud
breathes ceruleun and ochre into earth's body
Enough
that the oak stands with naked arms raised,
a silent psalm in the howl of winter.
Enough
that the ocean genuflects to the beach,
salt cascading like a profusion of tears.
If you are sad, let it be.
Sing your sorrow to the dark water
spill your heart to the pebbles.
Your sorrow is a stone rinsed in swirling eddies,
the water will polish it until it gleams
and then lay it like a diamond at your feet. 

The Honor of your reading is requested. The Wedding Day Collection

The Wedding Day Collection made its debut over the weekend.  June is the perfect season for weddings and so these stories about them come in right on time. I'm so pleased that my story, Schroedinger's cake, is included in the anthology.

The honor of your presence is requested to the pages of The Wedding Day Collection, an anthology of tales celebrating that love-inspired event. All of these short stories revolve around the romance of the wedding day. From an unexpected bump and an outspoken wedding crasher to a missing groom, we hope these stories will make you smile and warm your heart.





 Schroedinger's Cake is one of eight stories in this anthology. It's a story about a special wedding cake, the baker who created it, and the guy who bumps into her truck and nearly destroys it.
Here are some of my favorite lines from this sweet as dessert romance story--

* Something in the way he said it, like he wasn’t quite sure of himself, or maybe something in the way he stood there, his lanky body resting on one leg as though she were hanging in an art gallery and he was assessing her value, cut through Gina. She would tell him exactly how she felt about cake murder.

*Evan Dunne’s first thought, as he’d watched the compact brunette get out of the Bennetto’s bakery van, was that she was not what he expected.

*Hancock Falls was a small town. There couldn’t be that many weddings on an October Saturday. And there was only one bride in the world who could make another woman want to commit suicide over a cake.

* “Something like that. Since I’ve already made an ass of myself, I figured I could add dork to the list.” He stuck out his hand. “Evan Dunne. Dork ass extraordinaire.”


For more on the Wedding Day Collection, including how you can buy a copy, please click HERE