Sheila Seabrook's Blog, page 10

A Very Special Offer — Wedding Fever is FREE!

Last year at this time, I offered Wedding Fever for FREE, and the reader response was so wonderful, I decided to do so again.

So for the next three days—January 23, 24, & 25—you can download this very special novella for FREE from Amazon. And this year, the ebook includes the bonus short story, Baby Fever, a prequel to Wedding Fever.

This novella is humorous romantic women’s fiction. It’s approximately 18,000 words, which means it’ll be a quick, one night read. There’s no sex, so you can share it with you daughters, your mothers, and your grandmothers. You can even read it out loud on the subway, if you want.

BABY FEVER

Baby cribs and baby swings and a winking, blinking doll. Oh my! When Gwen Parker decides it’s time for a grandchild, nothing is going to get in her way.

WEDDING FEVER

Liz Templeton is about to have her life turned upside down.

When her ex-husband, Mitch Parker, returns to town to hunt for the legendary Lost Lake treasure, her mother and former mother-in-law are determined to reunite the estranged couple. While Liz dodges their attempts, she must also deal with the ghost of her teenage daughter who is obsessed with discovering whether or not Mitch is her father.

Liz has one chance to stop her family from driving her insane…and falling head over heels in love with her ex isn’t part of the plan.

So head on over to Amazon and take advantage of this special 3 day offer. It’s only on till Saturday, so hurry. Fortunately, supplies won’t run out.

Happy reading!

Wishing You & Yours A Merry!

For the last two weeks, I’ve been in holiday prep mode, decorating the house and baking my family’s favorite holiday treats. Let’s face it, the rest of the 364 days of the year, the only thing they get is banana loaf, so at this time of year, I tend to go a wee bit overboard.

My mother, like many of my heroines’ mothers, has stepped in to ensure the holiday feast is a success. Two weeks ago, she deemed my holiday turkey wasn’t big enough or fresh enough (okay, I confess, mine has been in the bottom of the freezer since last spring, so she’s probably right). Last week, she appeared at the door with a lovely 20 pound turkey that right this minute is roasting in the oven. (Thanks, Mom…on Boxing Day, I’ll drop off the turkey bones so you can make your delicious turkey soup!)

The family will arrive in a few hours. By then, we’ll have the table set and the rest of the food prepared. And in far less time than it takes to prepare the meal, we’ll all be stuffed and ready for a nap.

I want to take this opportunity to thank each of you for your support this year. Whether you invested your precious time to read one (or all!) of my books, left a much coveted review on Amazon, Goodreads, or one of the other online retailers, or joined me for a special event like the recent Naughty & Nice Blog Hop, your support means everything.

Whenever I’m faced with a stubborn character or plot, I think of you, my dear readers. Your comments and emails mean so much to me, so please keep them coming.

From my house to yours, I wish each of you a happy and safe holiday season. May 2014 bring you good health and joy.

Coming February 2014, The Marriage Pact,

a Cranberry Cove romantic comedy.

Caught between a wedding and a hard body…

Stay tuned for more details in January 2014!

Naughty and Nice Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Naughty and Nice Blog Hop, which runs from December 11 to December 16, 2013. All the rules and how the hop will work are listed on the Safari Heat site. Just follow the link below.

http://safariheatbooktoursandauthorservices.blogspot.com

Are you naughty or nice? Does it matter? No! Because multiple prizes will be given out randomly each day. Just follow these steps:

1. Subscribe to my Newsletter and be eligible to win 1 of 5 free copies of my books (winner’s choice).

2. There are four ways you can get extra entries into the grand prize giveaway, a Kindle Fire HDX 7″ loaded with ebooks:

a) leave a comment (as per the Comment Example below) and tell me whether you like your reading material Naughty or Nice;

b) follow my blog (email and RSS feed links are in the top righthand sidebar);

c) follow my Facebook page;

d) follow me on Twitter.

So to be eligible for the grand prize giveaway, make sure you leave a comment with the following info:

Comment Example:

Name: Carey Abbott

Email: *protected email*Comment: Great Post

Twitter: Followed

FaceBook: Followed

Blog: Followed

Country You Live In: United States

NOTE: If you do all of these things, you will get four entries into the grand prize draw, however please note that you are not required to do any of them. After the hop, reader info will be collected from each site and those entries with the correct info (see Comment Example above) will be entered into the grand prize draw. For prizes that need to be shipped, winners must live in the US or Canada. However, to win one of the many ebooks, you can live anywhere in the world.

3. Finally, to keep hopping, follow the link below.

http://safariheatbooktoursandauthorservices.blogspot.com

And now, whether you’re naughty or nice, I’d like to share my family’s favorite Christmas treat with you.

Sheila’s Poppycock Recipe

1 cup pecan halves

1 cup whole un-blanched almonds

8 cups popped popcorn

1 1/3 cup brown sugar

1 cup margarine

1/2 cup golden corn syrup

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

1/2 tsp. soda

1 tsp. vanilla

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Spread pecans and almonds on an ungreased cookie sheet and toast lightly. In a very large unbuttered bowl, mix nuts and popcorn together.

In a small heavy saucepan, combine the brown sugar, margarine, corn syrup and cream of tartar. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture forms a soft ball when dropped into cold water, approximately four minutes. Note: if you like your poppycock less chewy, then cook until the mixture forms a hard ball when dropped into cold water, approximately five minutes.

Remove from stove and stir in the soda and vanilla. Be careful because the addition of the soda makes the mixture foam up.

Pour over the popcorn and nut mix. With a wooden spoon, stir until evenly coated. Leave in bowl until the poppycock is partially cooled but make sure you stir it once in a while to keep the mixture from forming into one hard ball.

When the popcorn and nuts have cooled some, dump it on to the countertop or on large cookie sheets and continue to stir occasionally until fully cooled. I usually leave it out overnight and every time I walk by, I stir it to break it apart. Someone will no doubt sneak a piece or two but that’s okay because it’s easy to make a second batch.

This makes a wonderful Christmas gift. I like to put it into jars and tins to give to family and friends. Enjoy and happy holidays!

 

Winter Wonderland

Last week, our snow melted. I know, weird, huh?

For anyone familiar with winter on the Canadian prairies, you know that once the snow arrives, the cold white flakes stick around till the following spring…which if we’re lucky occurs in late March. And if we’re not so fortunate, it might stick around till late May or early June.

Anyway, back to last week…

First snowfall of 2013

For the rest of this post, you can find me over at the Women Unplugged site today. Stop by and chat.

Terms of Surrender Release!

Terms of Surrender is finally here. This is book 2 in my Rocky Mountain Romance series and I’m already hard at work on book 3.

As the mother of two boys, I always thought my youthful secondary characters would mirror my children. I mean, I love the male species, whether they be young, old, or anywhere in-between. I love writing from their point-of-view, and with two wonderful boys and a loving husband, I have plenty of opportunity to delve into the male psych.

But then my youngest sister gave birth to a couple of sweet little girls, and I fell in love with my two precious—and precocious—nieces. Naturally when I began to write Terms of Surrender, and Laura and Lisa slipped onto the pages, their personalities picked up many of my nieces’ traits.

It seems I’m destined to write about manly men who are surrounded by females of all ages.

Here’s the back cover blurb. Enjoy!

A woman in need…

ER nurse Harley Jane Davis has dedicated her life to helping others. Now she’s the one in trouble, and the only person she can rely on is Gage Toryn—the man she’s secretly been in love with for years.

A man on the edge…

Gage would do anything for Harley, except give in to the hungry passion that sparks between them. He’s hiding a terrible secret, one guaranteed to destroy any chance at a relationship. And even though Harley haunts his dreams and makes him want to be a better man, he knows she could never love him if she learned about his ugly past.

Family, future, forever…

When a situation with Gage’s brother endangers Harley and his nieces, Gage offers them refuge in his home—and the battered pieces of his heart. But can he overcome his fear of commitment and open up about the past? Or will his secret destroy his last chance to have a relationship—and a real family—with the only woman he’s ever loved?

To read an excerpt, click here.

While Terms of Surrender is still rolling out to all of the major online bookstores, it’s currently available at the following:

Ebook: Amazon US, Amazon CA, Amazon UK, Smashwords

Paperback: Amazon US, Amazon UK

 

 

We Interrupt This Program For An Important Announcement…

t took me three days to rewrite the major love scenes for Terms of Surrender, my upcoming October release. Three days of pouring over every word, rearranging body parts and character thoughts, and fixing everything in between.

Where the magic happens!

As I tried to bring emotions and life to the page, my DH vacuumed around my feet, rearranged all of the books on the office shelves, and decided the walls needed to be repainted. For the rest of this post,  join me at the Women Unplugged site today.

Always Remember Released!

As you know, I’ve just released my new contemporary romance, Always Remember, and this is what one reader posted on my Facebook page: “Just reading Always Remember. It is GREAT! Read 21 chapters before I had to put it down. Love those kinds of stories. Great job! Looking forward to the next one.”

And a few hours later, the same reader posted this: “Done! Haven’t read a book that fast in forever. What a terrific book!”

To say I’m a little overjoyed at the response would be putting it mildly.

Always Remember is a story near and dear to my heart. If you received the latest copy of my newsletter, then you’re probably aware that this tale was inspired by a true life story.

To read the rest of this story, head on over to the Women Unplugged site.

 

The Story Behind the Story…

Next week, I’m sending out my Newsletter with a behind-the-scenes-peek into the true story that inspired my latest release Always Remember. It involves a 45 year old secret, but thankfully there’s a happy ending to this tale. So if you want the scoop, sign up for my Newsletter. In the meantime, here’s a short excerpt from Always Remember.

My heroine, Jessie Adams, has just arrived at the hero’s ranch. This excerpt begins as she walks into the house where she grew up and sees her parents.

There was nowhere left to run and hide, so Jessie forced herself to move into the semi-darkness of the bedroom where a nightlight shone in the corner, casting shadows onto the walls. She looked past her mother to where her dad sat beside the bed, his once handsome face newly lined with worry.

Would he forgive her for staying away for so long? Her heart was bruised enough without adding more guilt to the rest.

In the mournful silence of the room, he lifted his gaze from his wife’s face, the ready laughter she remembered in his eyes gone, replaced by shades of sadness. She held her silence while he focused on her, experienced a moment of fear before recognition crossed his features.

Then the lines of sorrow on his face eased. He placed his wife’s hand on the quilt, gave it a loving pat. With hands braced on his knees, he pushed himself to his feet and came around the bed, the stiffness of old age apparent.

Relief swept through Jessie and she went into his open arms. He clasped her tightly to his chest, squeezing with a strength that belied his feeble appearance. “Oh Dad. I’m sorry I didn’t come earlier.”

“Hush, sweetie. It’s enough you made it now.”

She wanted to stay there forever, her cheek pressed against his shoulder, safe and secure like when she was a child. Jessie inhaled the familiar scent of pipe tobacco that clung to his clothes as if he’d just left the porch swing moments before their arrival. Too soon, he released her and turned her toward the bed.

For the first time since she entered the room, Jessie looked at her mother. Really looked. Her knees turned liquid. Guilt slammed the breath from her lungs.

“Your Ma’s been asking for you day and night. So afraid we might not get hold of you in time.”

Without taking her eyes off her mother’s haggard features, she was aware of him moving around to the opposite side of the bed and of Nate stepping forward to stand at her side.

“She has good days here and there, but mostly now she just wants to sleep. Asks for you whenever she wakes up though.”

The robust, energetic woman Jessie remembered was gone. The woman lying on the bed was a shrunken, fragile replica of her mother, skin stretched tight over the bones in her face. Hands, once strong and beautiful, were lined with prominent veins and covered with translucent flesh.

The woman asleep on the bed wasn’t robust and indestructible. She was frail and small and helpless.

Jessie took her mother’s hand into her own. It was warm, the skin soft as a newborn’s, the flesh sagging with the passing of years. So many of them gone, lost. Wasted.

As the wail of a long lost child echoed through her thoughts, a sob worked up her throat.

Oh God, Mother, what did I do? What did we do?

A tear slipped down her cheek. Choking back a sob, Jessie gently laid the fragile hand back on the bed, turned and collided with the broad expanse of Nate’s chest. He caught her by the shoulders, his touch firm, warm, familiar…missed.

“Jess?”

Concern flashed in the shadow-darkened depths of his gaze. How could he still care after all she’d taken away from him? Because he didn’t know. He might never know.

Pulling free of his hold, she raced from the room, out the front door, and into the quiet darkness of the night.

So head on over and sign up for my Newsletter, and discover the story behind the story.

Always Remember, available now in eBook format at the following locations: Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, All Romance Ebooks

 

DIY, oh why, oh why?

Last week, I had to drag myself away from the final edits on Always Remember, set aside the final revisions on Terms of Surrender, and perform my wifely duties.

The rest of this post is over at the Women Unplugged site, so drop on by for a visit and read.

Always Remember Cover Reveal!

Last week, I received the final cover for my August 2013 release ALWAYS REMEMBER. Because we went through several designs, I thought I’d give you a behind the scenes peek at the cover process.

Originally, I’d found the image of a couple I wanted to use on the cover (below). Since ALWAYS REMEMBER takes place on a ranch outside of Cochrane, Alberta, I went with a western look. I loved the couple’s pose in this image and the look of the guy screamed babe-magnet. Yeah, he fit the image of Nate Coltrane just perfectly. But I didn’t like the woman’s snarky smile because it didn’t portray my heroine properly, so I asked my designer, Kim Killion of Hot Damn Designs, to cover up her face.

As usual, Kim did a super fab job on the cover and below is the first composition she sent me.

The cover is beautiful, isn’t it? In fact, when I first saw it, I thought it looked like a painting worthy of being hung on my wall. Except there was one problem with it. I felt readers could mistake this book for a historical romance.

So we went back to the drawing board and Kim came up with a more contemporary look.

Again, totally gorgeous. Now you know why Kim designs my covers. There was no way readers could mistake ALWAYS REMEMBER for a historical romance now, but the man looked like he belonged on a golf course instead of a ranch. We tried a cowboy hat on him. Uggg. And I really missed my cowboy hero from the first cover.

After some discussion, during which time we played with the first image to see if we could come up with something that I’d be happy with, I decided the original image of the couple — with that gorgeous cowboy guy — wouldn’t suit the contemporary cover I wanted.

We restarted the process and I headed online to gather new information to send to Kim. I looked at existing covers that projected the feel I wanted for my book (very contemporary) and went searching for an image of a couple that would represent Nate Coltrane and Jessie Adams, the hero and heroine from ALWAYS REMEMBER. At last, I resent my request and crossed my fingers.

And WOW! I’m totally in love with Kim’s design. With the purple hues and the romantic couple front and center, this cover is absolutely-perfectly stunning! I now have it as the desktop on my MacBook Air, my iPad, and my iPhone, so I can admire it every day before I get down to work on book two of the Rocky Mountain Romance series.

What are some of your favorite covers? Go ahead and leave links in the comments below. And out of the three covers above, would you have chosen one of the other covers? If so why? Hey, we’re all different and I get that and I’m very interested in how others perceive cover design.

Thanks for sharing this special moment with me and remember to sign up for my newsletter!