M.A. Church's Blog, page 69

Pucker Up Monday

Welcome to Pucker Up Monday. It's not what you think, lol. Since Mondays do tend to suck, I though I'd try to start the week off right for y'all.

Finicky Friday - WARM N’ TOASTY RANCH CHEDDAR BACON JALAPEÑO BREAD

PREP: 5 MIN
COOK: 10 MIN
TOTAL: 15 MIN
SERVINGS: 8


Ingredients 
Jalapeño Bacon Ranch Easy Squeeze Bottle
1 cup Hidden Valley® Jalapeño Bacon Ranch Easy Squeeze Dressing
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 loaf French bread, cut in half lengthwise


STEP 1
Set the oven to broil, and move the oven rack into the highest position.

STEP 2
In a medium bowl, combine dressing and cheese. Place bread on a broiler pan or baking sheet and spread dressing mixture evenly over each half.

STEP 3
Broil until lightly brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Cut each half into 8 pieces and serve.


Link: https://www.hiddenvalley.com/recipe/warm-n-toasty-ranch-cheddar-bacon-jalapeno-bread/

Thursday book recommendation

These are books I’ve read and really enjoyed. Most of what I talk about will probably be paranormal/scifi but not always. Although it’s rare, I do read some contemporary.


This week is:

Blurb:
Lucas Vallois does not want a bodyguard.
The self-made millionaire is building a glittering empire and has everything he wants within his tight grasp.
His world is starting to crumble after a trio of goons jump him late one night after leaving a club.Caving to the demands of his friends, Lucas accepts the help of bodyguard, Andrei Hadeon, as he hunts for the source of this new threat.
But Lucas can’t deny the shiver of longing that strikes every time he’s around his sexy Romanian bodyguard.
Lucas is sure he has no room in his life for others beyond his three close friends, but he wants to change the world for the man who could be his greatest love. His everything.
Shiver is the first book in the Unbreakable Bonds series, which features a bossy millionaire, sexy bodyguard, forbidden love, close friendship bonds, bisexual awakening, car chase, and lots of steam.

My thoughts: One word-bodyguards. Really, do I need to say anything else, lol. Okay, a few more words: how about ruthless multi millionaire? Or witty banter? Mystery? This book has it all!

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015SC6UUI

Tuesday Teaser

Excerpt from Day's Light
“Please, hold on. You must.”That deep voice again—one that commanded attention but also promised safety. It plucked at his soul. Mark opened his eyes, his gaze frantically darting about.  A streetlight illuminated the interior, and it didn’t take much to figure out he was in the back of some sort of huge SUV. The third seat was down, and he was sprawled out across it.“Can you hear me?”His gaze zeroed in on the person who spoke, and his breath caught as he examined the face before him—the strong chin, the chiseled cheekbones, the eyes a deep chocolate brown. Short dark blonde hair fell over the man’s forehead. He was the very picture of male perfection. And a complete stranger—a complete stranger who’d taken him from the scene of his parent’s murder. Mark’s heart rate surged… then sputtered. The burning agony in his gut flared.“Hey, hey, calm down. Shit. Braxton! How much longer until we’re home?”“Thirty minutes, at least, Alpha.”Mark stiffened. That word—Alpha. “Then drive faster!”“Are you kidding me? I don’t dare drive any faster. The very last thing we need is to get pulled over by the human cops while we have some stranger bleeding out in the backseat. And speaking of that, Zane is going to shit fucking kittens. This SUV is his baby. Also, holy shit, did I mention I can smell that human’s blood?”

Tuesday Teaser

Excerpt from Day's Light



“He’s my mate.”“Oh, fucking fuck,” Brax wheezed.“What’s a—” Mark screamed. Flat out screamed—and lost his train of thought, along with his dignity—when the blond-headed god’s eyes suddenly turned yellow. Yellow. Just like the assholes who killed his parents. But those eyes were nothing compared to the sudden mouthful of really pointed fangs coming at him. They clamped onto where his shoulder and neck met. Agony, unlike anything he’d ever felt, made him forget about the unrelenting burn in his gut. He screamed again, yelling bloody blue murder because that shit hurt. He struggled, not that it did any good.Mark moaned, panting through his mouth as he waited for… he had no idea what. To finish dying? Then a cooling sensation started at the bite site. It slowly spread outward. The pain receded, and his muscles relaxed. Finally the blond god lifted his head. His fangs were still showing, his eyes were still that awful yellow, and his mouth was smeared with blood. The encroaching darkness washed over him just as he swung at whatever the hell it was that took bite out of him.

Pucker Up Monday

Welcome to Pucker Up Monday. It's not what you think, lol. Since Mondays do tend to suck, I though I'd try to start the week off right for y'all.

Spell of the Werewolf by J.R. Loveless

Title: Spell of the Werewolf
Author: J.R. Loveless
Cover by TL Bland
Release Date: May 29, 2020
Word Count: 34k+
Genre: Paranormal, Romance, Enemies to Lovers
Keywords: werewolves, unexpected attraction, enemies to lovers, hybrid werewolf, human, immortality, cursed, sword fights, hunters, monsters, creatures, horror
Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Spell-Werewolf-J-R-Loveless-ebook/dp/B088X37RQG/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=spell+of+the+werewolf+jr+loveless&qid=1590583959&sr=8-1  


Blurb:Two centuries ago, Justin was turned against his will into a werewolf - a mindless, angry beast three nights a month. Ever since, he has done everything he can to atone for the blood on his hands, even going so far as to hunt his own kind. The burden of carrying on is heavy and unforgiving, and he’s reached the point of not caring if he lives or dies.
Vincent is a hybrid, half-werewolf and half-human, spending his days, and nights, hunting werewolves. Vincent may be half-monster, but he lives and breathes by his human half. Hunting werewolves and taking down as many of the creatures as possible is all he can see.
A chance meeting changes everything. A deal struck between them, a threat to humanity, and their mutual attraction combined brings them together in an explosive way. Vincent has found the one who can break down the walls around his heart – will he now be able to carry through on his promise to end Justin’s torment, or will Justin live to see another moonrise?





Excerpt: The crunching of bones breaking and mending echoed off the cement walls and metal cage surrounding him, while his gasps of pain mingled with the excruciating change until Justin lay there a panting, trembling mess. He curled into a fetal position, staring at the bars and wondering how much longer he could continue to live through the unbearable transformation. Every full moon he became a monster with no thought of anything except feasting on flesh, human or otherwise. He’d lock himself in a steel cage lined with silver in the basement of whatever house they were renting to stop himself from hurting anyone on the three nights he couldn’t control himself. “You’re back to normal, I see.” A low voice came through the darkness. Justin closed his eyes against the brightness of the light flicked on and Kara, his best friend and caretaker, stepped toward the cage with keys in hand. She unlocked the door, then the chains, and helped him to his feet. After handing him his clothing, she went back upstairs without another word. Kara was the only person in his life who knew about the beast inside of him. She’d been a loyal friend and his only family for the last ten years. But before her, he’d spent almost two hundred years on his own, merely surviving. Despite his outward appearance of an eighteen-year-old young man, he’d actually lived for two hundred and eighteen years. He stood at an even six foot with a wiry, lean build, which never changed no matter what he ate or how much he exercised. Black hair, as dark as a moonless night, just brushed his shoulders when he didn’t keep it tied back. Most humans found it hard to stare into his eerily light blue eyes. Maybe because they could sense the evil lurking beneath the surface, or perhaps they could see the creature pacing inside him, waiting for the nights it could be free. In the time since his life changed forever, he’d seen many wonderful and horrible things: the invention of trains, cars, and airplanes, wars, slavery, death, and blood. The only cure he knew of to end his torment was either death or to kill the one who’d bitten him. His desperate search led him here, to Japan, where he spent every waking hour not working trying to find word of the bastard’s whereabouts. Justin made his way upstairs to the kitchen and found Kara cooking breakfast on the old stove in the house they’d rented. He watched her as she moved about the tiny kitchen. Petite at five-foot-two, she had beautiful auburn hair that hung down her back to her hourglass waist. She kept it in a ponytail most of the time. Bright green eyes complimented the light dusting of freckles across her nose. He cared for her a great deal, even loved her in his own way, but he knew it wasn’t the kind of love she wanted from him. Thirty-five now, she’d found him ten years ago lying in the bushes in her backyard the morning after a full moon. He’d had large wounds all over his body from a fight he’d been in with another werewolf in the area. She’d tended his injuries and taken care of him until he’d regained consciousness. When he’d awakened, she’d demanded the story from him; she said it was either that or she’d call the police. So he’d told her everything, his past and the monster hiding beneath his flesh. They’d been together ever since, moving from place to place in search of the one who could break his curse. They both worked odd jobs during the day to support them as they moved from city to city and country to country. It’d been her idea to build the cage lined with silver and secure it to the ground wherever they were.Setting a plate on the table for him and another for herself, she slid into one of the chairs. “You were overly anxious last night. More so than usual.”Justin looked at her and then away. He picked up his fork but didn’t begin eating immediately. “I don’t remember anything, you know that, Kara. Maybe there’s another werewolf close by.”There were many malevolent creatures in the world that humans remained unaware of, or they chose to ignore the obvious signs, writing off anything unexplained as animal attacks. Mostly, his kind stayed away from one another unless they felt threatened. “Tonight’s the last full moon, for this month at least. I don’t know how much longer I can take this, Kara. I want it to be over.”Kara studied him for a long moment before replying, “We’ll find him, Justin. You just need to have patience.”“How much more patience can I have, Kara?” Justin snapped. “It’s been two hundred years. Another hundred and I’ll go insane!”She looked at him sadly but didn’t say anything. They sat in silence for the remainder of breakfast. Justin barely touched the scrambled eggs, attempting a bite or two to appease Kara, but he couldn’t stomach the idea of eating. He knew she meant well, and she couldn’t really understand why he wanted to die, but her words only served to reinforce why he couldn’t continue to live like this.After breakfast, Kara washed the dishes and then grabbed her purse. “I’m on my way to work. I’ll be back before the sun sets to lock you in.”He watched her leave, staying at the table even after she’d gone. The night he’d been bitten played in his head like a mini movie, almost as if it were someone else’s reality. It was 1802, and he’d been out drinking at a local tavern, celebrating the birth of his best friend’s baby. When the owner finally kicked them out at two in the morning, he started toward home, weaving along the street in his drunkenness. Most people were tucked in their beds asleep. No noises could be heard other than the odd stray cat in the alley garbage bins or the lone bark of a dog in the far off distance. A loud crashing sound echoed off the cobblestones and in between buildings just before a large heavy weight slammed into him. He flew through the air, landing with a thud on the unforgiving street. He realized a huge animal, something akin to a wild dog, lay on top of him, pinning him to the ground. Before he could react, the animal sank his teeth into his shoulder. Justin remembered screaming in pain as blood poured from the torn flesh. He heard a gunshot as someone came running down the street, yelling to scare off the dog. The animal let go and ran off, leaving him lying in a pool of his own blood. The man who’d saved him had taken Justin to his home and rung the doctor. The doctor stitched him up and bandaged his wound. Justin returned to his own home the next day and went about his normal life. The wound healed in a miraculously short amount of time, and he’d begun to notice strange things happening to his body in the following weeks. He found himself abnormally attracted to the scent of blood, and he could smell things from several hundred feet away. His eye sight and hearing grew sharper, and his strength increased three fold. The first full moon came a little over three weeks after he’d been bitten. He was out chopping firewood for his parents when it started. He thanked God every day since then that he hadn’t been home when it happened. He remembered dropping to his knees as a sudden pain gripped his entire body. His screams of anguish filled the forest behind his home; the snapping of his bones breaking was the only thing louder than his cries. Hair sprouted along his hands and arms; his jaw elongated into a snout. He could still feel the terror he’d felt during his first change. He lost consciousness afterward or so he’d thought. He figured out the next morning that when he became the monster inside, he lost all control of his awareness and the beast took over. The only thing he remembered was waking up covered in blood the next morning. He’d vomited at the grisly sight beside him. A mutilated body of a man lay near him. He couldn’t even identify the face of the man, to know who he’d been, because his face had been torn to shreds and then gnawed on by some great animal. He’d gone to the nearby river to wash the blood away the best he could and made his way slowly toward home, where he’d snuck into his room to pack some of his things. He left a note for his parents telling them he was sorry, but he could no longer stay with them. They weren’t safe with him. He’d saddled his horse and left for good. He’d been running ever since. The only person he’d gotten close to in the last two hundred years was Kara. Even after ten years he still feared for her safety, but she never let him take off alone no matter how many times he tried.

Bio: J.R. Loveless began her adventure in writing romance at the young age of twelve. Her foray into creating her own worlds and telling her characters’ life stories was triggered by her own love of reading. She currently resides in South Florida with her dog and two cats, volunteers for an animal rescue in her spare time, and works as a manager for a financial lending institute. Someday she hopes to begin writing as a full-time career and bringing more of her ideas to life.
Her journey into gay romance began in 2005 when she began posting her original fiction on a forum for feedback and readers’ pleasure. In 2010, a good friend urged her to submit to a publishing company, and the day she received the acceptance and contract was the best day of her life. Since then, she has been noted to be one of the most purchased audio books after Fifty Shades of Grey on Audiobook.com, received best gay romantic fiction for Touch Me Gently in the 2011 TLA Gaybies, and even received an award for Chasing Seth in 2012.

J.R. adores her fans and loves hearing from them.  Website: www.jrloveless.comBlog: www.jrloveless.com/blogFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjrlovelessTwitter: https://twitter.com/jrlovelessAmazon: http://amazon.com/author/jrloveless

Finicky Friday - Bacon & Spinach Stuffed Chicken

YIELDS: 4 SERVINGS

PREP TIME: 0 HOURS 15 MINS

TOTAL TIME: 0 HOURS 50 MINS



INGREDIENTS
4 boneless skinless chicken breastsKosher saltFreshly ground black pepper4 oz. cream cheese, softened 1/2 c. frozen spinach, defrosted and drained1/3 c. chopped artichoke hearts1 c. shredded mozzarella, divided Pinch crushed red pepper flakes4 strips bacon, cut into 4 strips2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil 







DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400°. Line a large baking sheet with foil. Make slits widthwise in chicken, being careful not to cut all the way through chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Place on prepared baking sheet. 
In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, spinach, artichokes, and ½ cup of mozzarella. Season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Fill every other slit with cream cheese mixture and fill remaining slits with a piece of bacon. Sprinkle remaining ½ cup mozzarella on top and drizzle with oil. 
Bake until chicken is cooked through and bacon is crispy, 35 minutes.



Link: https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a30982780/bacon-and-spinach-stuffed-chicken-recipe/

(Hint: I buy already made spinach dip instead of making it, lol. It cuts down on time. I also sprinkle paprika on the chicken, then brown it before adding filling the slits.)

Thursday book recommendation

These are books I’ve read and really enjoyed. Most of what I talk about will probably be paranormal/scifi but not always. Although it’s rare, I do read some contemporary.



This week is: Snow Falling (Haven Hart Book 1) by Davidson King  

Blurb:After running from a past destined to kill him, Snow has been hiding on the streets.
Tell nobody your name.Tell nobody your secrets.Trust nobody!These are the rules of the streets.
His entire life changes when he saves an eight-year-old boy from a violent end. Christopher Manos is one of the most powerful crime bosses in the country.
Don’t ask anyone to do something you aren’t willing to do yourself.Secrets can get you killed.Trust nobody!These are the rules he lives by.
When his eight-year-old nephew disappears, he never expects the boy’s savior to end up being his own. A man with a dangerous past and a man with a dangerous future find love amidst murder and mayhem. But with Snow's life being threatened at every turn, will Christopher's best be enough to prevent Snow Falling?


My thoughts: Whoo boy, this whole damn series is beyond great. This was Davidson King’s debut novel. I can’t imagine how hard it was for her to go from reviewer to author, but Meredith pulled it off lol. And that cover! Y’all know I’m a cover slut.

Tuesday Teaser

“Please sedate me before you harvest anything of mine. Please.”“What?” the blond god growled. “What did you just say? Jesus Christ.” That sound. There was that sound again. Every hair on his body stood up, but the effect on him was outrageously different this time. Last time fear rode him. This time his cocked perked up. What. The. Fuck? Didn’t think I had enough blood left in my body to do that. Also, what the fuck?“Did he say what I think he said?” Brax climbed the backseat with them. The blond god pulled Mark into a sitting position. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for this, but I can’t lose you. I can’t.”“What are you—oh fuck. You’re going to change him? Forget the kittens, Zane is going to lose his entire damn mind. You just can’t go around changing humans. We know nothing about this dude! Nothing! Why—”“He’s my mate.”“Oh, fucking fuck,” Brax wheezed.
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