Ute Carbone's Blog, page 42

Cover Reveal: Afterglow

I've got a brand new cover for my brand new romantic comedy, Afterglow!



India Othmar isn’t having a great year. Her husband of thirty-one years has left her for their son’s ex-girlfriend. Her grown children have moved home. Her best friend Eva seems determined to set her up with every oddball in their small Massachusetts town. And her most significant relationship these days is with Cherry Garcia.

But India is more resilient than she thinks. And though it will take a broken arm, a lawn littered with engine parts, some creative uses for shoes, and a scandalous love affair of her own, she learns, much to her surprise, that her life hasn’t ended with her marriage.



Afterglow is coming to Champagne Books in early January

#SixSentenceSunday--Who's bathroom is it, anyway?

Welcome to Six Sentence Sunday! This week I'm offering up another six sentences from my new time-travel romance, The Whisper of Time. Gwynn goes to brush her teeth to find her neighbor, Slate, in her bathroom:


Click on image for buy link
 Trouble was, I’d tossed and turned for half the night. The quiet had driven me to distraction and I kept thinking about Kyle and how angry I was with him- which did not make for a restful sleep. I got up groggy at five-thirty, did a few Miss-Kitty-worthy yoga stretches, threw on sweats and a t-shirt, and stumbled down the stairs. I figured I’d run some water over my face, brush my teeth, grab some coffee and, with a little luck, I could still beat Slate to the milking shed.
I opened the bathroom door just as Slate Peck was climbing out of the claw foot tub. I slammed the door shut.

Check out all the great sentences at Six Sentence Sunday

#Sweet Saturday Samples. Afterglow is coming in January

It's nearly time to cue up the lights and break out the bubbly.  Christmas will be here before you can say 'Is that you, Frosty?' . And in January, just as your settling in for a long winter's nap my new romantic comedy, Afterglow will arrive. Perfect for a long winter's read.


Here's a little sneak peak at Afterglow, the story of a woman of a certain age who learns that love can bring happiness  the second time around. In this scene, hero Mitch makes his feelings for heroine India clear.



I was nearly too embarrassed to face Mitch. Upending a suture kit had been bad enough, but this… I mean, here we were having a friendly dinner. And here was Red, turning it into something sordid. I did face Mitch though. I owed him an apology.“That bit about…You’re not a boy,” I said.            Mitch smiled. “Nice of you to acknowledge that.”            “And Red Lansing is an idiot. An idiot who jumps to conclusions.” I could feel my face go hot. Mitch was grinning at me. “I guess it is kind of funny,” I said.            “I don’t think it’s funny at all,” Mitch took my hand and kissed the place where the cast had been. Which, had I wanted to delude myself, could have been misconstrued as a friendly kiss. The next kiss, though, was a direct hit. On the lips, with feeling, and there was no misconstruing that at all.            Mitch took my chin in his hand. “I’ve wanted to do that ever since you showed up in my ER,” he said.            “I don’t know what to say,” I stuttered out.            “Maybe you should think about it,” Mitch said. “I’ll go home and you can think about it.” He fished his car keys from his pocket and let himself out the door. Halfway down the stairs he stopped and turned. “Don’t think too long,” he said. And then he was gone.


Please visit Sweet Saturday for more delicious samples.

My Guest Today: Susan Roebuck

   I'm excited to welcome friend and fellow author Susan Roebuck to my blog. A while back, Sue and I did a challenge together. The result? Two books. Here's Sue on the challenge.




The Birth of Two Books
Ute and I decided to take part in a challenge in which we had to follow these few simple rules:Write a story in a genre we’d never tried before;The story must include a firefighter and a vet;The main character must go to a house/building he or she has never seen before;There must be a neighbor called Slater;We mustn’t show each other our stories until they are completely finished.
Neither of us was sure that we’d actually finish the challenge but thanks to an exchange of emails that went along the lines of: “I’m 20k words in”…”I’m going to finish by the end of the month”, we did! Although, initially, we only intended to write short stories, they turned into novels and both are now published: mine’s Hewhay Hall published in April 2012 by Etopia Press and Ute’s is The Whisper Time published in September 2012 by Whispers Publishing.
You’d think we’d have written very similar stories, even though we weren’t allowed to communicate anything about our stories, except how far along we were. But Ute and I would make excellent case-studies for psychologists investigating the creative mind because we ended up with wildly different books. For a start, Ute’s is a time-travel romance (and it’s lovely – you can see my review on Amazon or GoodReads or even my blog: www.susanroebuck.com) and mine’s a dark fantasy/horror. I like reading Stephen King, and Clive Herbert but I didn’t think I could write that genre. However, readers have told me that Hewhay Hall is a “page-turner” that has them on the edge of their seats.
I don’t think there’s one single aspect of either book that’s similar. The neighbor in Hewhay Hall, Slater, is a demon whose delight is to feed on the terror of his victims – and the fact that they’re all courageous unsung heroes makes them all the more delicious to him. Ute’s neighbor in Whisper of Time is called Slate and he’s a fine figure of a hero who I wouldn’t mind meeting on any dark night!
Blurb for Hewhay Hall:
An unsung hero’s destiny–Slater’s house of horrors.

Fire-fighter Jude Elliott loses part of his leg trying to rescue a family held hostage during a terrorist attack. He journeys to mysterious Hewhay Hall, where it is told there are wondrous, magical cures. Little does Jude know that his destination is Slater The Prince of Envy’s lair where a demon resides and courageous souls are tormented… Can Jude escape Slater’s house of horrors, or will he suffer for all of eternity?
I’d thoroughly recommend a challenge like this for any authors – and I’ll always be willing to take part in one again.
 You can read more about the challenge on Sue's Blog today -Ute
Buy Hewhay Hall here 
Buy The Whisper of Time here

At Jacqueline's Blog -

I'm also over at Jacqueline's blog today, talking about the Passionate Cooks cookbook.
Jacqueline's Blog - My views as a writer & Life!: Welcome Passionate Cook Ute Carbone: Another Passionate Cook joins me on my blog today: Ute Carbone Over the past number of years, my husband has developed a pass...

#SixSentenceSunday: The Whisper of Time; Slate and Gwynn

 My six today are from my new release, The Whisper of Time, a time travel romance novella. Here, Slate and Gwynn are trying to ignore the attraction between them:

Click here for more on The Whisper of TimeSlate and I kept a careful distance. I stepped past my attraction, my growing feelings for him, as though there were raw eggs planted under my feet. I watched him though, stolen glances from the corner of my eye as we milked and watered the animals. It was a revelation, how I loved the way the muscles in his forearms corded under the weight of a grain sack, the way he whistled aimlessly, the way his hair curled over the small shell of his ear. I began believing more and more in destiny and that Slate was mine.
Still, we kept a careful distance




For more great sentences, visit Six Sentence Sunday

#Sweet Saturday Samples: The Whisper of Time is here!

Hi Saturday Samplers!
My time-travel romance novella, The Whisper of Time, is now available for e-book. It's set in Vermont, land of maple trees, cows and green hills. In fall, as the leaves put on a crimson and gold display,  the smell of cider perfumes the air.


Here's a recipe for Hot spiced cider from Cooks.com

HOT SPICED APPLE CIDER1/2 gallon apple cider
12 cloves
3 cinnamon sticks
1 c. orange juice
1/2 c. lemon juiceHeat apple cider. Add all ingredients. Allow the mixture to simmer for half hour or more. Serve this in mugs on a chilly night.Makes 12 servings.


And here's a little bit of The Whisper of Time: when heroine Gwynn first finds out about hero Slate. Kick back, take a sip of cider and enjoy!



“I don’t know the first thing about goats,” I said to Vera.
“Why, sure you do. You’re an animal doctor.” Vera put a reassuring arm around my shoulder. “Besides, you won’t have to go it alone. Slate will be here to help you out.”
“Slate?” I couldn’t be sure what or who Slate was. A blank chalk board came to mind.
“Slate Peck.” Vera pointed to a small cabin at the far end of the meadow. “He’s a goatherd.”
“A goatherd?” I didn’t know goatherds existed in Vermont. Or in this century, for that matter. I might have been fuzzy on details, but the name Peck did ring a bell. “Jebidiah Peck,” I puzzled aloud. “He owned the farm?”
“Slate is Jeb’s grandson. Jeb willed a parcel of land to Slate, so you’re neighbors! He’s been running the place all by his lonesome, bless his soul. Of course, goats don’t pay the bills like they used to, so Slate also manages the Agway down to East Rupert.” Vera nodded as though the Agway job were a life achievement. “And he knows more about goats than anyone else around, so you go ahead and ask him about anything.”
“He lives over there?” I wasn’t convinced I wanted a strange man living so close by the isolated farmhouse, even if he was a goat expert.



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0ctober is Reader Swagabration Month!

For more on the Swag-A-Bration Celebration, click image!What better way to hop into fall than with a reader swag-a-bration? The Champagne Book Group has planned a month-long fun fest, chock full of games and prizes. Click on the image for more details on how you can participate!

Introducing Sweet Lenora

I'm very pleased to announce the upcoming release of Sweet Lenora, a historical romance novella coming to Champagne Books next July as part of the Dark Heroes series.

Here's the Book Blurb:


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.
Stay tuned for more details!

At Romance Lives Forever

Find out more about Gwynn Powell from The Whisper of Time at Romance Lives Forever today.