B.L. Blair's Blog, page 10

Fort Worth BookFest

I’ll be attending the Fort Worth BookFest next Saturday, October 20, 2018. If you’re in the area, I would love to see you.
A little about the fest from their website:The Fort Worth Bookfest is a cross-cultural, community-driven, multi-genre literary event that will provide a platform for raising awareness of the transformative power of literacy in our community and throughout our marketing area (TX, NM, OK, AR, and LA). Presented under the banner Fort Worth — A Culture of CommUnity, this festival is destined to take its place as the newest jewel in the “cultural-crown” of the City of Cowboys and Culture.

Here's the link to their website which has a list of attending authors: http://fortworthbookfest.com/

Historical Mysteries

Last week, I wrote about what I like and don’t like in a book with romance being a preferred element. Currently, I’m on a historical mystery romance kick. I like the female character to be unusual which is what draws the attention of the male character.
I recently read the Lady Julia Grey mysteries by Deanna Raybourn. I really enjoyed the five Julia Grey novels. They were interesting reads, and the romance developed nicely. Julia moved from a timid, proper lady to one who was more adventurous quickly. The last three were novellas, and there wasn’t much of a mystery in them which was a little disappointing.
I’m now reading the Lady Darby mysteries by Anna Lee Huber. The Lady Darby series is very interesting. The author has obviously done a lot of research. Again the romance develops and by the end of the third book, the couple is engaged. The topics in this series are different than others I have read which makes these books stand out.
Both of these series do touch on some subject matters that I would not have expected in historical romance. I must admit this is not a genre that I have read a lot, but I wanted to mention that some of the topics might be disturbing if you are used to reading “sweet” historical books.
If you are interested in either series, below are the links on Amazon.Lady Julia Grey Series https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B00CJLAMQKLady Darby Mysteries https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B00K87GG7G

Reading Likes and Dislikes

A fellow author recently wrote a post about Alpha men. She said she could take them or leave them, and she liked clever, witty men just as well. I agree. It got me thinking about what I like and don’t like in a novel.
I like romance in a book but not necessarily as the main theme. My favorite genre to read is paranormal romance or urban fantasy with a strong romantic element. Of course, I also love mysteries. I will, however, read just about anything that has romance in it.
I do like Alpha men, but I’m not opposed charming fellows who are masculine. One book I enjoyed several years ago was a book called Some Like it Charming by Megan Bryce. Charming can be sexy.
I also love to read series. I seldom read a book that is a standalone. That’s not to say the same characters have to be the main characters in every book, but I like to read books that are at least related.
Although I do like series, I don’t like cliffhangers. I don’t mind some loose ends in a story that you know will be addressed in another book, but I want the book I am reading to have a definitive ending which wraps up the storyline.
Another thing I don’t like is when the main female character is constantly presented with a new love interest or never settles on one love interest. I don’t mind a little indecision for the first two or three books in a series, but at some point, the character needs to make a decision and most importantly, stick with it!
My TBR pile is extensive. I have hundreds of books on my kindle that I haven’t read, and I keep buying more. I will switch genres and categories, but I read every day. How about you? Do you have a favorite genre? Anything specific you look for in a book?

McKinney Book Festival

I was originally going to write about my experience at the McKinney Book Festival. This event was supposed to be held yesterday, September 22, 2018, but due to weather concerns, the organizers canceled it. I don’t know if I’m disappointed or relieved.
The reasoning behind the rescheduling of the festival was that few people would attend because of the heavy rain and flooding. I agree attendance would have been minimal so I’m relieved my time and money wasn’t wasted, but I had been looking forward to the event. I have only attended one such fair before. That one was in the spring, and we had a cold snap with a little bit of rain. There were almost no attendees so the event was a bust. I had been hoping this one would be better.
I have one more book fest this year. The Fort Worth BookFest will be October 20, 2018, and it will be held rain or shine. Hopefully my luck will improve.
If you are interested in learning more about this event, here is the link: http://fortworthbookfest.com/.

McKinney Square Book Festival

If you live in the north Texas area, mark your calendars. Texas Authors is hosting the McKinney Square Book Festival on September 22, 2018 in beautiful downtown McKinney. I will be there along with over 45 other Texas authors. Stop by to see us and visit all the wonderful shops and restaurants on the square.
One of my book series, the Leah Norwood Mysteries, is set in the fictional town of Reed Hill, TX. Leah owns a specialty shop on the square in Reed Hill. Humm. I wonder where I got that idea.
http://mckinney.bookfestival.network/index.php

Finally!

Many of you know I’ve been working on the next Leah Norwood mystery, Dead in a Pickup, for almost a year. It is finally finished. I really like this one, and I hope you will too. It’s available for pre-order on Amazon and Smashwords. It should be available soon on Barnes and Noble, iBooks, and Kobo.

When Leah Norwood finds the body of Brandy Perez in a pickup parked outside a house for sale, she is once again drawn into the hunt for a killer. Brandy was a party girl with a questionable reputation. She dated a lot of different men including local bad-boy Marcus Cantono. At the time of her death, Brandy claims to be in a relationship with a wealthy businessman, and there are only a few men in Reed Hill who fit that description.
Marcus is already dealing with vandals trying to close down his restaurant, his mother’s sixty-fifth birthday party, and family members restarting their drug dealing operation. He doesn’t need lead murder suspect added to the list. The evidence against him is strong, and Leah’s snooping soon makes her a target. She’s determined to help Marcus while trying to keep her relationship with the sexy chief of police intact.
Leah loves a good mystery. Can she find the killer before the killer finds her?
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H6K4TF7
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/894331

Labor Day 2018

September Giveaway

This month I am giving away an e-copy of The Lost Great Dane. Please visit my giveaway page on my website for additional information and to enter.


The Lost Great Dane is the first novella in the Lost and Found Pets series. Alexandra Prescott is a licensed private investigator specializing in finding missing animals. Reuniting pet and owner is more than just a job.
While looking for a lost cat, Alex finds a weak and injured Great Dane. The dog has no collar, no tags, and no microchip. And the only person looking for him is a man who might have murdered his own wife.
Within 24 hours, Alex has a hunted dog, a cryptic message, and a hitman on her tail. She realizes the only way out of this mess is to solve the mystery of the lost Great Dane.

Update on Dead in a Pickup

I’m almost finished with the third Leah Norwood Mystery, Dead in a Pickup. The plan is to have it finished by Labor Day, and edited and proofread by the end of September. This book was one of those that just didn’t want to be written. I almost gave up but the story was there and I liked the idea. I can now see the finish line and hope to release it in November. I’m looking for one more beta reader if anyone is interested. In the meantime, here’s a snippet.
“Who else is on your list?”“What?” I asked innocently.Griggs rolled his eyes. “Who else are you planning to speak with?”I shrugged. “I found a few names on her social media pages. I also thought I would talk to Heidi Parker.”“Why?” Griggs asked.He knew Heidi well. Being the mayor’s wife, he had a lot of interaction with her. She complained about everything. She had complained to me about one of my products, and she had filed more than one complaint to the police department which was why I wasn’t surprised she had shown up on Brandy’s page as the one person not satisfied with her cleaning service. Her complaints were never life-threatening, but Griggs had to have someone check each of her grievances which took up manpower he didn’t have to spare.“She gave Brandy’s cleaning service a two-star review. It had been one-star, but she changed it after Brandy replaced the item Heidi claimed was stolen. I don’t really like her, but she doesn’t lie.”Griggs rubbed a hand across his face. “No, but she reports the most ridiculous things. Once she said she smelled urine in her flowerbed so she wanted us to set up a sting operation to catch whoever was peeing in her yard.”“Oh my God,” I said with a giggle. “Did you?”“Cisneros needed some overtime work so I had him sit outside her house a couple of nights.”“And…”“It was a stray cat.”“I bet that didn’t go over well.”“No. Heidi didn’t believe us until Cisneros showed her the video he took with his phone. The damn cat walked by three times each night and lifted his leg right in front of her petunias.”

Shadow’s Bane by Karen Chance

**Spoiler Alert**I try not to write anything about a book that might spoil it for someone who hasn’t read it. I don’t think there is much of that in this post, but I do reference a couple of things that you learn in this novel. Just a warning.
I recently finished the latest installment of Karen Chance’s Dorina Basarab series. I read a few of the Cassandra Palmer novels. I liked those okay, but I really enjoyed this series set in the same universe.
Fury’s Kiss was the last full-length novel in this series. It was released almost six years ago so I’ve been waiting for Shadow’s Bane for a while. This is the longest one, and that is the only thing I didn’t like about this book. Too much back and forth between Dory’s point of view and Dorina’s. It became a little confusing for me.
Overall though, the story line was interesting, and the relationship between Dory and Louis-Cesare’s moved forward. There were some good emotional scenes with Dory trying to understand her feelings and how to have a relationship. Dorina is developing as well, and you see Dory start to understand more about her alter-ego. By the end, some of that got settled which was nice.
If you like urban/paranormal books, I recommend this series. I’ve read some reviews that say this could be read as a standalone, but I wouldn’t recommend that. There is simply too much going on and too many returning characters.