Heather Balog's Blog, page 28

Women Hero Wednesdays

A movement to celebrate women in fiction was trending on Twitter last week. It was called #womeninfiction. The essential question was “what female literary character is your hero and why?” Thousands of people (not just women, because men have female heroes, who knew?) were posting their answers. My personal favorites include Scout from “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Nancy Drew, and Anne Shirley of the “Anne of Green Gables” series.

Women writers and heroines are just as prevalent now as they were back when my favorites were written, maybe even more so. A new genre has even evolved with the sometimes misleading title, “Chick Lit”.

According to Wikipedia (who is to be totally and completely trusted at all times) “Chick lit” is genre fiction which addresses issues of modern womanhood, often humorously and lightheartedly. It typically features a female protagonist whose womanhood is a large theme in the plot. While it’s predominantly women, it’s not just for “chicks”. Quite a few men have been known to enjoy “chick lit”. I guess men like to be amused too, huh?

I have to admit, I was a little bit of an anti-chick lit snob back in the day. To me, it was soap opera writing, with little or no substance. I preferred to torture myself with only classics and literary fiction. That was, until I read some fabulous chick lit (and subsequently was inspired to write it myself). To me, chick lit novels are the sit coms of literature. If it is well written, it not only is entertaining and engaging, we can take away a lesson, a moral, and a point. It can be just as poignant as any literary fiction, with the added bonus of being amusing. I would like to introduce some of my favorite chick lit writers to you, my readers. Many of their characters are women I admire, I wondered who THEIR favorite literary women were. Each Wednesday in April, I will highlight one of my favorite Chick Lit books and their authors so we can all find out what #womeninliterature are their heroes. You can also find my review of their books in the same spot.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Excerpt from “Amy Maxwell & the 7 Deadly Sins”

He slides his muscular arm over my shoulder, pulling me closer to his body. I feel the heat radiating off of him, my pulse speeding up to match his. Sweat is beading on my forehead as a result of the warmth of his body and the small space in which we are occupying. I am instantly wary. I cautiously sniff underneath my left arm pit. Nope. No smell. I sigh with relief. I am calm, cool, and collected. I feel safe. I just know he will keep me safe. I wouldn’t trust anyone else with my life.

“Okay, when the suspect enters our visual field, keep calm. We are just going to watch for now. Have your weapon trained on him, but don’t shoot.” His soft lips press against my ear as he murmurs to me, his breath tickling my skin while he reiterates. “I repeat, do NOT shoot.”

I nod with acknowledgement of his instructions. He is my senior officer, my commander in chief. I do whatever he tells me to do.

“Here he is!” he whispers animatedly in my ear, his words causing my neck to prickle with excitement. My first stake-out! I can hardly believe it! I hold my gun and attempt to keep my hand steady.

“Follow my lead. Don’t do anything unless I tell you to.”

Still crouched down, he creeps closer to the edge, his Glock semi-automatic perched on the ledge of the window. I follow suit, leaning my weapon next to his.

He seems startled by my move and stares at me, but a smile quickly creeps onto his face, causing my heart to flutter. That smile melts me every time. He removes one hand from his Glock and places it over mine, squeezing my trembling fingers. “Don’t be nervous,” he tells me in a gentle voice. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I know. You never let anything happen to me…”

“That’s right,” he says proudly. “Remember in the cabin that night? I kept you safe. I saved you and Allie.”

“Well, it was actually Sean that saved us.” I bite my lip. I can’t believe I just said that.

But Jason doesn’t have time to react to my statement. Instead, his head whips around as the suspect is now approaching the area where we are hiding. He leaps to his feet; his weapon clenched in his hands as splintering gun fire suddenly erupts all around us. Jason recoils as he is hit in the right shoulder, dropping his gun as blood instantly oozes from the gaping wound.

“Fire, Amy! Fire your weapon!” he screams at me as he grabs at his shoulder.

I lift my gun; my eye trained on the suspect as my finger grips the trigger. I am shaking but I know I need to do this-

“Amy! Do I have any clean pants?”

I am rattled from my scintillating dream by Roger shaking my body. He is standing over the bed, stark naked with what’s left of his hair dripping onto my pillow. And I mean the hair on his head for all you sickos out there.

“Huh? What?” I ask, groggy from being unceremoniously awaken at such a God awful hour. I rub my bleary eyes and strain to read the angry red numbers on the clock on my nightstand. They are dancing around, taunting me to dare to read them.

Shit. I can’t see! Where are my glasses? I begin to feel around blindly, searching for the reading glasses I swear I placed there last night.

“My pants! I need khakis for today!” Roger is hopping up and down as he does when he is agitated. I reach across the bed to bring the clock closer to my face and nearly puke as I read the glowing red numbers. 6:45. Oh crap! I’m late!

I leap from the bed, nearly knocking my husband over in the process. My body slams into his fleshy middle, his semi erect…uh, you know… poking me in the left boob.

“Jesus Christ, Roger! Put on some pants!” I yelp, rubbing my offended breast as if he has stabbed me through the heart. Doesn’t that thing ever take a break?

*********************************************************************************************************************************************

Pre-order now and have it delivered to your Kindle on Release Day, April 10th! (If you don’t have a Kindle, you can download the Kindle app!

Amy Maxwell & the 7 Deadly Sins (The Amy Maxwell Series Book 2)

What’s With This Me Generation???

After today, I think I may be closing out my Facebook account. At least, I probably won’t be going on as often as I have in the past. You see, today I saw more ridiculous postings than I’ve ever seen in the past and I really want to throw my phone against the wall.

It started off with a video of a “Promposal”. Nope, no typo…that’s right, a PROMPOSAL. A high school senior asked his girlfriend of two years to the prom with signs and balloons. She was shocked and crying and bowled over, like he had told he was a closet billionaire and wanted to sweep her away to Europe. Um, how is this a surprise? If you’re dating someone and it’s prom time, don’t you ASSUME you’ll go together??? I think this was the convo between me and my boyfriend when we were seniors (now my husband):

Me: The prom is coming up.

Him: Yeah.

Me: We should go.

Him: Ok. I’ll pick you up at 6.

Me: Make sure you get a corsage.

Him: Ok.

That was it. Actually, I might have had to remind him to rent a tux, but seriously, no balloons, no flowers…and guess what? IT WAS FINE! We survived! (His marriage proposal wasn’t much better, but at least he had a ring to give me).

It’s like this up and coming generation is trying to outdo each other with each and every simple act by going over the top. Everything is look at ME!

I saw one picture of a bridal party at a shower. Ten bridesmaids. Another had fourteen! FOURTEEN! I don’t even know fourteen people I hate enough to demand they empty their wallets and go broke in the process of me getting married. When I got married I had four bridemaids and a junior bridesmaid. I didn’t care what shoes they wore or how their hair was. As long as they showed up and had fun, it was all good. But is it good enough for today’s Bridezillas? Not a chance. They want their wedding day planned down to the hair in their groom’s nostrils. It’s not about the marriage…it’s about the “perfect” day.

It starts with a catchy little way to trick your bridal party to fork over their lifesavings and the next year of their existence along with their sanity. Maybe it’s “bridesmaidposal” on a balloon or a fishing hook in a wineglass (“You’re hooked into my wedding…wink, wink). You can blame Pintrest for these ideas; they’re in the same section as “Promoposals”. Then, there’s an over the top shower with seven hundred and fifty pages of necessary items on ten different registries. Seriously, what newlyweds need crystal salt and pepper shakers? You’re just going to be eating Ramen noodles for the first five years of your marriage anyway.

after that, there’s a bachelorette party (which usually involves a weekend away). What twenty three year old needs a weekend away? What are they getting away from??? Girls, save your weekends away for when you have kids and going to the bathroom alone is considered a vacation.

Then comes the actual wedding which costs anywhere from $40,000 upwards. You know what $40,000 is? A new car that’s going to last longer than eight hours. Or a down payment on a house. We spent less than half that amount on our wedding (including the honeymoon) and guess what? We’re just as married as these kids are.

And it doesn’t end after the wedding either. When the babies some, there’s a whole new animal…gender reveal parties. What. The. F??? Whole parties to announce the sex of your child, complete with cake and balloons again. Do you really think people care that much if your kid is a boy or a girl???? Do you bring gifts to these parties? I don’t know because I’m pretty sure I would refuse to go to one. Let me know what you had via a cute little post card in the mail. Seriously, I don’t need to eat pink cake and drink blue punch.

It’ll never end for this generation because they seem to be out to show the world how important and complete their lives are. They’re continuing their traditions of overabundance and over indulgence with their children. You didn’t throw your one year old a party at the swankiest reception hall in town? Shame on you! And their Sweet Sixteen was held in your backyard???? Without an ice sculpture that spells out their name???? How dare you! You must not love your kid! And you certainly aren’t going to help breed the next generation of narcissists. On second thought, thanks again. There’s no more room for them on this planet.

Filed under: parenting humor Tagged: bridezillas, gender reveal parties, me generation, spoiled kids, sweet sixteen parties

“Amy Maxwell & the 7 Deadly Sins”

If you enjoyed The 8 Mistakes of Amy Maxwell, you can now pre-order Amy Maxwell & the 7 Deadly Sins before it comes out on April 10th!

Amy Maxwell & the 7 Deadly Sins (The Amy Maxwell Series Book 2)

I’m Having a Bad Hair Day

So I was told by my daughter (several times this week, in fact), that I am “the worst mom EVER!’. I know you guys are all surprised and shocked because none of you have ever been called that by your darling dears (or the worst dad ever…). She was even kind enough to write me a lovely note with this information spelled out, in case I thought she was screaming, “You’re the burst bomb ever!”. Whatever that would me…I’m assuming it’d be like, “You’re the Bomb, Mom!”.

Anyway, I bet you can’t guess what infraction send my emotional, hormonal pre, pre-teen (no, that’s not a typo) over the edge this time. Did I forget to sign her homework folder? Were her vegetables too close to her meat on her dinner plate? (oh, the horror!) Did I insist she wear a coat to play in the snow?

Nope, nope, and a resounding no…I’ve given up on getting any of those right. What I had the nerve to do was ask her to please comb her hair so it didn’t look like a family of pigeons was nesting in her head. I know, crazy, right? What’s even more crazy of me is that I expect her to do this EVERYDAY! Wacko mother!

So any of you that have girls can probably relate to our typical morning. My daughter gets up, stumbles into the kitchen looking like a dirty stay out doing the walk of shame. Her pajamas are askew, her breath is seriously offensive, and her hair is disheveled in a manner I didn’t even think was possible.

I smile at her and kiss her on the cheek (refusing to go anywhere near her cat litter breath mouth) and then tell her to shower. She pouts for a second and then stomps up the stairs because she probably can’t even stand to smell herself.

All is right with the world until she emerges from the bathroom, water dripping off her hair and down her face, pooling around her ankles as she stands naked in her room contemplating her clothing choices for the day. I’ll give you a hint…it’s gonna be sweatpants because that’s all she ever wears nowadays. $5,000 worth of Justice clothes and all she ever wears is the sweats and tee shirts with “gymnast” written on them. But that’s a rant for another day.

Eventually she chooses her “Gymnast” outfit of the day (occasionally wearing a “Softball” tee shirt to shake things up a bit…if she’s feeling fancy) and comes downstairs. That’s when the $hit hits the fan every morning.

Me: “Did you comb you hair? (from my vantage point in appears matted and tangled)

Her: Yup.

LIAR.

But I let it go.

Me: (as sweetly as humanly possible) Ok, well I think you missed a few spots. Can you bring me the comb and I’ll do it?

Her: (venom in her voice) No!!!!! I did it already!

Me: (losing my patience rapidly): Well, you have tangles there, and there, and there…

Her: (clutching her head) Don’t touch my hair!

Me: (getting comb anyway) Here, I’ll be gentle. Hold still…

Her: (running screaming from the room) Ahhhhh!!!!! No!!!!!!

Me: If you don’t get over here RIGHT now, I swear to GOD I am taking you to the beauty parlor this afternoon and having Kim chop all your hair off!

Her: I’m gonna tell Grandma on you!

Me: To heck with the beauty parlor…I’m taking you to the barber and he can shave your head!

Her: I’ll run away if you do that!

Me: Go ahead! I’ll help you pack!

Her: You’re the meanest mom EVER!

And so on and so forth. EVERY SINGLE MORNING. When I do get close enough to get a few swipes at her head, she screams like she is being chased by an axe wielding murder. I’m seriously waiting for the neighbor to call the police. And forget blow drying or braiding or anything that would make her look like a human.

Now, I’m trying not to make her self conscious about her looks, nor do I want her to obsess over them. But come on…can she not look like a homeless person when she leaves the house?

I thought there was going to be no end to this morning drama until we stumbled upon….

This, my friends, is “The Wet Brush”, the greatest invention that mothers of girls with long hair have ever known. I am not kidding. I love this thing. There are no more tears in the morning (over hair, that is), no,screaming, no tangles…no need for Bailey’s in the coffee. Until, of course, I tell her she needs to change out of the sweatpants…

 

Filed under: parenting humor Tagged: combing hair in the morning, little girls' hair, no more tears, no morning tangles, the wet brush

Amy Maxwell & the 7 Deadly Sins Cover Reveal Party!!!!

It’s finally HERE! The long awaited cover reveal for “The 8 Mistakes of Amy Maxwell” sequel, “Amy Maxwell & the 7 Deadly Sins”. Wait, you weren’t all waiting with baited breath to see what the cover would look like???

Well, maybe you haven’t but I’ve been very excited to see this cover ever since I sent the novel to my cover designer, Anita Carroll of Race-Point, to work on.

Head on over to my Facebook page at 9 pm (Eastern time) and join us for fun and giveaways!

https://www.facebook.com/HeatherBalogsBooksBlogBacktalk

 

Filed under: novels Tagged: Amy Maxwell, Amy Maxwell & the 7 Deadly Sins, chick lit, cover reveal

Christine Ardigo & Tracy Krimmer

For my last day of Pay it Forward, I’ve decided to give you guys TWO authors again today…after all, two is twice as nice :)

First up is Christine Ardigo, contemporary romance writer.

About Christine:

I loved reading as a child, and looked forward to my father taking me to Barnes & Noble to buy a new book. At 10 years old, I was obsessed with Nancy Drew and collected over twenty of her books, devouring them in less than four hours, unable to wait for my next one.

In 6th grade I wrote two novels, I called them The Linda Wells Mysteries. I wrote them in a battered spiral notebook, complete with several horrendous fantastic hand drawings! It was then that I decided I wanted to write a real novel one day.

But when I graduated high school, the thought of majoring in English scared me. What would I do when I graduated? Sit home all day and write books? I was afraid, and with no guidance, I chose Nutrition as my major, and received a Masters in Exercise Physiology. My two other loves.

Although I went on to love activities like weight lifting, rock climbing, white-water rafting and jumping out of airplanes, there was something missing: no real goal, no end point to reach for.

One boring Saturday evening in September, I sat in front of my computer and decided to write. It became an obsession. Something I buried away for years had finally unleashed. It was my passion. Storytelling. Something I lost sight of as I traveled down my conveyor belt of a life. It was all I wanted to do.

So here I am today, to let you know that I published 2 contemporary romance novels. Both are currently available on Amazon and I can only hope that someone will love them as much as I loved writing them.

Connect with Christine:

For any questions, please send an email to

ChristineArdigo@aol.com

Find me on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Christine-Ardigo-Author

Find me on GoodReads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8157754.Christine_Ardigo

Find me on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/ChristineArdigo

Find me on Pinterest:

Find me on Google+:

https://plus.google.com/+ChristineArdigo/posts

Check out her books!

http://christine-ardigo-author.com/

Cheating to Survive

Cheating to Survive (Fix It or Get Out Book 1)

And last but certainly not least, Tracy Krimmer, author of Caching In.

About Tracy Krimmer:

I’m a writer of anything and everything. Pieces of it All released in May 2014 & my newest full length novel, Caching In, was released in December 2014. I also have written several short stories with more in the works.

Connect with Tracy here:

http://www.tracykrimmer.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KrimmerAuthor

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tkrimms

Make you check out her blog!

http://www.tracykrimmer.com/blog/

Can a compass lead you to love?

Broken-hearted Ally Couper has had enough with her ridiculous life. Her job at the bank is going nowhere, and her love life might as well be non-existent.

Determined to try something new, Ally becomes absorbed in the world of geocaching. The high-tech driven scavenger hunt introduces her to Seth, and she realizes the game isn’t the only thrilling part.

Ally’s bad luck may finally be changing, until the past threatens to halt her future with Seth. Can they find happiness together, or is love the one cache Ally can’t find?

Caching In: http://www.amazon.com/Caching-Geocaching-Story-Tracy-Krimmer-ebook/dp/B00OEI7IZE

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: caching in, cheating to survive, chick lit, chick lit authors, christine ardigo, every five years, pay it forward, romance writers, tracy krimmer

Isabella Louise Anderson & Lizzie Lamb

Today I have two guests, one from Texas and one from the UK!

I have to admit, my new guest was a new author to me. But after reading the blurb for her book, “The Right Design”, I can’t wait to add her to my list of favorites!

Isabella grew up with a book in her hand, and to this day nothing has changed. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America and has been featured on several blogs. While Isabella doesn’t blog a lot, she focuses her time on featuring other writers, along with working on her next book.

She created Chick Lit Goddess to share the love of the following genres: Chick Lit, Contemporary Romance, Romance, and Romantic Comedies! She loves featuring authors and their books.

Currently, she lives in Dallas with her husband and cat. She enjoys spicy Mexican food and drinking margaritas, and can be found spending time with family and friends, cheering on the Texas Rangers, and reading.

Isabella’s short story, Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, was featured in Simon & Fig’s Christmas anthology, Merry & Bright, in November 2013. The Right Design is her first novel.

The Right Design is celebrating its first birthday in the month of March…it’s on sale for 99 cents! Get it now before the price goes up!

The Right Design

Maggie Le Page

Today my guest is Maggie LaPage, author from New Zealand. Her works currently include, “The Heat of the Moment Thing” (which I’m reading now!) and “The Trouble With Dying” (next on my Kindle list!).

Maggie Le Page lives in Christchurch, New Zealand (aka QuakeZone) with her partner, two children, and a snooty cat who thinks they’re all her slaves. Her days are spent running around after kids or doing one of her ‘real’ jobs, so her writing generally happens in the dead of night. (Morning? Ha! She’s a third-generation night owl. Enough said.) Maggie loves chocolate, hates being cold, and is ever fascinated by the possibility of time travel. Obviously, her ideal experience would be to wake up on a tropical island eighty years into the future, with an endless supply of chocolate on hand.

Maggie is a “Reader’s Favorite” with 5 star reviews!

Becky Jordan has had it with relationships. From now on her time and dedication won’t be lavished on her latest Mr Wrong–or, worse, Mr Hell-No!–just the dream travel job which has unexpectedly leapt into her lap. Finally, life is looking great.

Unfortunately, not as great as her sizzling-hot, take-charge new boss. Matt Frobisher is everything she doesn’t want him to be, but if anyone thinks she’ll risk her career on a workplace fling they can think again. No amount of Superman behaviour from him will make her roll over and play Lois.

Her heart, however, doesn’t do logical. In desperation she finds herself a Mr Distraction, one with no strings and plenty of appeal. But Mr Distraction also comes with unforeseen complications. Kryptonite complications, like Becky’s sister. And when she shows up there’s only one sure thing: not even Superman can prevent the Disaster Fest that’s about to blow Becky’s life apart.

Currently 99 cents!

The book’s links are:

Amazon http://amzn.com/B00BUCJV70

B&N http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-heat-of-the-moment-thing-maggie-le-page/1116394649?ean=9780473240462

iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/a-heat-of-the-moment-thing/id686786995?mt=11&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

When Faith Carson wakes up on a hospital ceiling looking down on her body in a coma, it’s a bad start to the week. A very bad start. She has no idea who she is or how she got there or why, and the biggest mystery of all is why she married the schmuck who wants her ventilator switched off.

As if that’s not enough Faith has a dead gran haunting her, a young daughter missing her, and one devilishly delicious man making her wish she could have a second chance at life. And maybe she can, if she finds a way back into her body and wakes up by Friday. But if she doesn’t, this will be her last bad week–ever.

Nate Sutherland decided long ago he’d settle for friendship if he couldn’t have Faith’s heart. But now, as she nears death, he’s going to have to listen to his feelings in a whole new way–and act. Because if he doesn’t, this week will be the worst damn week of his life. He’ll lose everything he’s ever loved.

The heroine of Maggie’s latest book is in a coma, on the brink of death yet desperate to wake up and live. Pretty serious stuff. And because no insurance policy can guarantee you won’t wind up in a coma some day, Maggie has put together a wee list to help us minimise the risks…

Maggie’s Top Tips for Avoiding Getting Stuck In A Coma

1 Don’t jump in front of moving vehicles. Especially the speedy ones with psychotic ex-boyfriends at the wheel.

2 Don’t leap tall buildings – even to get away from psychotic ex-boyfriends. Our bodies aren’t built like Superman.

3 Don’t dive. Not unless you’ve got really good safety gear and a seriously hot instructor to hold your hand.

4 Don’t eat dodgy stuff. Dodgy stuff causes hives, vomits, and comas.

5 Don’t go without sleep. Sleep deprivation causes bitchiness, altercations with the law, and comas.

6 And for all you mothers out there – don’t go drinking and partying ‘til three in the morning. You were tee-total for nine months, maybe longer. Your body has forgotten everything it learned in its teens. You will kiss your gross boss. You will fall over. And if you don’t end up in a coma, you’ll wish you had

To learn more about Maggie, visit her blog:

http://www.maggielepage.com/books.html

Filed under: novels Tagged: authors from New Zealand, chick lit authors, Maggie LePage, pay it forward, The Heat of the Moment Thing, The Trouble With Dying

Sky Greene

Today’s guest is fellow chick lit author, Sky Greene!

Sky Greene is a high school counselor, fitness instructor, and author. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned her Master of Arts in Counseling from the University of Colorado-Denver. She and her husband live in Littleton, Colorado.

FINDING BRYNN is Sky’s debut novel. As a high school counselor, Sky sees struggles with self-discovery and relationships every day. Her own experiences and desire to add humor to finding oneself inspired her to write FINDING BRYNN. Sky is working on future adventures for Brynn and other characters.

FINDING BRYNN, by Sky Greene, is a chick-lit novel about finding oneself, looking for love, and the sisterhood support you need along the way. You’ll laugh and cry following Brynn’s adventures of moving half way across the country to be adventurous and for grad school while trying to maintain a relationship. Mother Nature and new friends intervene and make things tricky. Is great sex every now and then enough to feed the long distance relationship? Pick up FINDING BRYNN to find out!

FINDING BRYNN is available in eBook format for $3.99 at:

Amazon http://amzn.to/1qxpnDi

Barnes and Noble http://bit.ly/1tX0Pcf

You can find more details about FINDING BRYNN and Sky Greene at:

http://www.sky-greene.com/

http://www.facebook.com/SkyGreene.author

https://twitter.com/SkyGreene

Filed under: novels Tagged: chick lit authors, Finding Brynn, pay it forward, Sky Greene