Shehanne Moore's Blog, page 26
May 22, 2015
The True Version of Herself. Christy Birmingham, poet.
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Okay…dudes… dudes… I must offer my apologies for being so remiss this week, but family, house, editing, writing, writing blog posts for my blog tour and Glencoe have kind of made things extra busy.
Yes. Glencoe was looking very nice, as you can see from this pic here….
Remind me to blog the story of James of the Glen who inspired the book Kidnapped and also my two blog awards as well as show off my shabby chic dining room…
AFTER we welcome our latest guest,
the lovely, the adorable, the fabulously talented….
CHRISTY BIRMINGHAM. Poet extraordinaire. A huge talent and a very nice lady, who I’m thrilled has agreed to come along and be interviewed.
Okay dudes, can we stop this please and if we do and if we interview Christy nicely, about the important things in her life and her writing, then you can all get out of the medieval hamster house and we’ll take it from there ok? Are we agreed?.
Two words…. Gingerbread houses. Now let’s have question one.
Christy. No, I don’t, no pets for Christy. But, I do play well with words!
Christy. It takes me a little while to get used to hamsters. But, once I do, I am always up for smiling with them. I think hamsters with red roses are very sweet.
Shey. Can we please have question 3? We agreed, didn’t we? Something worthwhile? And life changing?
Christy. My pet hamster, well… I would name it Donovan. That seems like a very proper name, right? I hope the hamster would behave, given the upstanding name.
Shey. Right dudes, that was your final warning. Christy, what drew you to writing poetry?
Christy .Poetry is an art form that I find flows smoothly from my mind to the keyboard. It’s like my thoughts come out, express themselves, naturally in poetic lines. I enjoy the containment of the short lines and the lyrical quality of poems too.
Shey. Who would you cite as your main influences –if any?
Christy. My parents are huge supporters today, and so they have influenced me in many positive ways! Literary influences include Maya Angelou and Margaret Atwood. Their strong female profiles have reminded me time and again of all that I can accomplish in life.
Shey. Please tell us about Versions of the Self, your wonderful new book.
Christy. Versions of the Self is my second poetry collection. It is newly published! For this book, I looked at the world as types of self and found a new level for perspective. There is the inner self, connections between selves as friends, romantic, spiritual,and more. In my book, I explore the meeting and connections between those different selves, how those events change them, and the results that happen.Creativity? Bring it on!
Shey. Where do you find you inspiration?
Christy. Inspiration is anywhere and everywhere. I might read an article online, and it triggers a viewpoint inside me that compels me to write a poem. Or I will walk out in nature, which refreshes my mind and see something that excites me to write a verse. I find inspiration in all sorts of places. I never know when or where it will occur, so I try to always have pen and paper within my reach.
Shey. Do you have a favourite poet?
Christy. Maya Angelou is a favourite poet of mine. I read this quote from her and thought it was amazing:
“You may encounter many defeats but you must not be defeated.”
Shey. it’s a great quote. Very powerful. She was an amazing talented and inspiring lady. You have wonderful blogs where you believe in inspiring and empowering but you also touch on darker problems for people, why is this?
Christy. Thank you for the kind words. I hope that by sharing my personal experiences with depression, anxiety and abuse that I can help someone, even by potentially showing a reader that she or he is not alone in these struggles. I share what I have learned and what I still have issues with, as it is important not to be perfect but instead to be real. I believe that I am alive today because I am meant to share what I went through using words. It is a key part of my purpose so I would not be authentic if I do less than that.
Shey. You’re always very real, which is why I knew I could ask you that question and you would answer it truthfully and in a way that might help others.
Christy. I went through a dark time, as I talk about in my first book Pathways to Illumination, in which I was very depressed. While people look at me today and see a smiling woman, it is important that they know I came to be that way by choice, by so many difficult choices. I made those hard decisions because I refuse to live in darkness any longer.
If anyone is feeling lonely or as though life is not worth living, I want them to find solace in words I can offer. I want to share positive stories and feelings to show there is goodness in the world, and there is a way to get out of the darkness to find the light. xo
Shey. It’s not just Maya Angelou who is inspiring. Do have any advice for aspiring writers because this isn’t a business for the faint hearted!
Christy. Follow your heart! If you want to write a book, you really can. If you want to blog, start one for free with WordPress.com. It is easier to do when you break down the project into smaller chunks.
Don’t put “write book” on your daily to-do list
but instead put “brainstorm personality for a primary character in the book.”
Create small steps for the book project and do a bit daily. For Versions of the Self, I spent an hour each day on it. It was what I could fit in my day. And on the days when I didn’t have time for it, I offered myself forgiveness. If you fall off the wagon, just get back on and get back to writing the next day.
Shey. What’s next for Christy Birmingham?
Christy. That’s the beauty of the future, Shey! Anything is possible. More books, more blog posts, and more smiles lay ahead for me. I am excited about life, and that includes the present day. Thank you for having me to your blog for this interview! I say “Cheers” to you and the hamstahs!
Pick up your copy of Versions of the Self now at:
And
Hard copy book is available at CreateSpace
I KNOW I HAVE!
About Versions of Self.
Imagine a shift to the way you see the world that arises through poetic narration.
Imagine the world, at its base level, is a collection of selves. These selves collide, disperse, intermingle, and share themselves in lines of free verse. Such is the premise of Versions of the Self, poetry that assumes multiple types of selves exist and relate in ways that alter them. Each of the eight chapters looks at a different type of self, including the singular “I” and romantic interactions. These unique 80 poems definitely color themselves outside of the lines
Find Christy Birmingham,
https://www.facebook.com/poeticparfait
Filed under: Author Interviews, blogging, writing Tagged: Christy Birmingham, Depression, Inspiring women, Maya Angelou, New book, poetry, Versions of the Self
May 8, 2015
The Italian Wife…and Wedding with Kate Furnivall
ka
All right dudes. All that is very true, but today…
Today we are going to share some facts on Italian weddings.
Well no, because today we are welcoming your very favourite Kate Furnivall.
And her fabulous new book.
Well, it’s also quite tough�� when other hamsters are queuing to get to Kate to come visit their blogs and sit in their cages, that we’re going ahead with this. But if you are good and nice and do not interrupt unless asked, we might at least reconsider not giving her the gingerbread houses.�� Now then, firstly Kate it is an….
.
……honour to have you back here…..
,
Kate.�� Do I like hamsters? Nope. Oh yes, I DO mean it!
My son used to own a hamster called Barnie, cute as a cookie but spiteful as a snake. He was always taking chunks out of fingers and kept making a break for it in search of adventure. So I spent hours crawling on my hands and knees through the house, trying to find the pesky critter. Several times I had to snatch him from the jaws of death ��� well, from the jaws of Santa, my Burmese cat. Since then my life has been blissfully hamster-less ���.. until now.
��Shey.�� Dudes, can we just cut to the next question. Kate is a best selling author in the middle of a blog tour. She has no time to answer your silly questions.
Well don’t. Okay.�� let’s just have the next question.
Kate. That���s the trouble, you see, Shey. It���s impossible not to love this herd of hamsters that runs riot on your blog. Each one has its own furry charms, but if you twist my arm ���. hmm, let me think.
Okay, it���s gotta be Bobby Bub. (Sorry all you other guys. xx) I just love his cantankerous, opportunistic, bed-ridden soul.
And I���ve decided that I can���t wait to move in to that gingerbread house with him and Olga. Till death us do part.
Shey. Okay, okay. You have set books in many exotic locations, what drew you to Italy for this one?
Kate. ��Ah, bella Italia! I defy anyone not to fall in love with Italy. (Even Bobby Bub.)
Not only is it a stunningly beautiful country with awesome antiquities, but it also has all those fabulous vinos and cheeses. Have you ever googled ���Italian cheeses���? You could write a whole book in the time it takes to read through the list of hundreds of cheese names.
I had always wanted to set a book in Italy but had never found the right story for it. Then one day I stumbled across the astonishing account of the transformation of the Pontine Marshes and I knew I had found my story.
So where are the Pontine Marshes? The Agro Pontino, as they are called in Italy, is an area of land just south of Rome that was an ancient malarial swamp. Emperor Nero tried to drain it in 60 AD. Failed! Napoleon tried again in 1810. Failed!
Along came Benito Mussolini in 1930. He stormed through all obstacles with Fascist might. Success! This amazing feat involved dogging 10,000 miles of canals and cost many lives. But he not only drained the malarial swamp, he built five new towns on the reclaimed land.
This is where my story starts. 1932. My heroine is one of the architects of the first town.
Shey. ��Is your heroine Italian?
Kate. Si. Unabellasignoraitaliana. Isabella Berotti is my heroine in THE ITALIAN WIFE. She was born and bred in Milan but is now living in Bellina, the new town she is helping to create. She has wild black hair, blue eyes that can cut through concrete and an attitude that takes no prisoners. This is 1932, when women in Italy are stuck at home churning out bambini to boost Mussolini���s workforce. There are no female architects in Italy. Except Isabella. That says it all. So it���s no surprise that on the night when Mussolini asks her to dance, she says no.
��Shey. What about your hero?
Kate Ah, Roberto. My heart beats faster when I say his name. He is a gorgeous Italian, born in Sorrento. He is the official photographer commissioned by Mussolini to record the creation of the brand new town, and he steps in front of a charging horse to save Isabella.
Need I say more?
Come on over to THE ITALIAN WIFE to meet him. You won���t want to miss Roberto, I promise you!
Kate.
For hamsters I recommend Naples dockyard. There are lots of cats there.
For humans, just stick a pin in a map of Italy, pack your bags and get yourself over there. It is all wonderful. But my favourite hideaway has to be Sorrento and the Amalfi coast, where pastel-tinged towns cling to the cliffs and tumble down to the edge of the blue sea beneath. Sorrento has stunning views everywhere you turn, ancient lava-stone streets, olives the size of hens��� eggs, the beautiful isle of Capri, jewellery, mountains that turn to gold at sunset, limoncello liqueur,
dark-eyed Italian men ���..
Stop me if I���m boring you.
���.. and a rickety train that runs round the bay to Naples, Vesuvius, Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well asasparagus and exquisite inlaid woodwork . And did I mention limoncello? Oh yes, and Italian men with wide smiles?
��Shey�� Do you have a favourite place in Rome?
Kate. It has to be any sunlit piazza in Rome like Piazza di San Silvestro where I can chill out, sip strong coffee and watch the Roman world drift past. Ogling the Ferraris and ignoring the snake-hipped men, of course!
��Shey What is your favourite Italian food and drink?
Kate. That���s an easy one. Delicious lobster tagliatelle, and limoncello cocktail. The lobsters and sauces are out of this world and the fire-breathing liqueur from southern Italy could tempt me down iniquitous paths ���..
Shey.�� Kate, any thoughts�� on Italian opera?
Kate. Let���s face it, I am a drama queen at heart. So Italian opera sets my blood pounding and my heart rising. I love it. Puccini���s ���Madama Butterfly��� makes me cry every time. 
But then, so does ���La Boh��me���. And Verdi���s ���La Traviata���. All those beautiful soaring melodies and powerful cadences. And they do such magnificently drawn-out deaths and broken hearts. Spectacular! They appeal to the showboater in me. I warn you now, I have rather a long drawn-out death in THE ITALIAN WIFE. Clearly I have been listening to too much Puccini! My ambition is to hear an Italian opera at La Scala in Milan one day. Bliss.
Shey. Finally,
Do you have a recipe for us?
Kate. I certainly do. I am a big fan of Italian pasta bakes and this is one of my favourites:- CHICKEN LASAGNE. Easy to make and goes fabulously with a fresh easy-going pinot grigio.
Chicken Lasagne
Ingredients:
2 tbsp oil 8 spring onions, sliced
600g chicken fillet cut into strips300g dried apricots, diced
60g butter�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 2 x 400g cans tomatoes
75g plain flour������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 6 sprigs fresh marjoram
500ml vegetable stock�������������������������������������������������������������������� 9 sheets of lasagne
500ml milk������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 100g Cheddar cheese, grated
500g carrots, peeled and diced�������������������������������������� 30g Parmesan, grated
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Preheat the oven to 170c/150c fan/gas 3. Grease a 27×21 lasagne dish. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan and fry the chicken for 3 mins. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add 60g flour and cook, stirring, for 2 mins. Add the stock and milk, stirring constantly, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 mins. Season with salt and black pepper. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a saucepan and fry the carrots for 3 mins. Add the spring onions, garlic and apricots and fry for 2 mins. Sprinkle over 15g flour, then add the tomatoes, breaking up with a wooden spoon.(I, of course, also chuck in a good glug of white wine here, but that���s only for the winos among you.) Stir in the marjoram leaves and season with salt and black pepper. Spread 4 tbsp of the b��chamel sauce in the lasagne dish. Arrange 3 lasagne sheets, the remaining b��chamel sauce, tomato sauce and chicken, then 3 lasagne sheets. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake for 30-40 mins until golden and bubbling.
Well, Shey, that was awesome. Thanks for inviting me. *waves to hammies*
Italy, 1932 ��� Mussolini���s Italy is growing from strength to strength, but at what cost? One bright autumn morning, architect Isabella Berotti sits at a cafe in the vibrant centre of Bellina, when a woman she���s never met asks her to watch her ten-year-old daughter, just for a moment. Reluctantly, Isabella agrees ��� and then watches in horror as the woman climbs to the top of the town���s clock tower and steps over the edge. This tragic encounter draws vivid memories to the surface, forcing Isabella to probe deeper into the secrets of her own past as she tries to protect the young girl from the authorities. Together with charismatic photographer Roberto Falco, Isabella is about to discover that secrets run deeper, and are more dangerous, than either of them could have possibly imagined ���
From the glittering marble piazzas to the picturesque hillside villages and winding streets of Rome, Kate Furnivall���s epic new novel will take you on an breathtaking journeyof intrigue, romance and betrayal.
���Kate Furnivall has a wonderful gift for evoking a location, and her stories are always fast-paced page-turners, peppered with authentic detail.��� ~ Lucinda Riley
���The Italian Wife has everything: a fascinating setting in an extraordinary period of European history and a powerful love story. I loved this book.��� ��� Liz Trenow, author of The Last Telegram
April 26, 2015
Medieval weddings and a Warrior’s Surrender
ExTRACT>>>>>>
Sebastian nodded in all the appropriate places but paid little attention to the conversation going on in front of him.
He watched, captivated, as his new wife produced the most radiant smile in response to an apparent jest made by her brother. Something had changed between them and it had nothing to do with having Frey in his bed. Well, perhaps not nothing.
The significance of her coming to him was not lost on him. He knew Frey made an important decision last night. He did not believe she loved him; it was too early to make such a declaration, but it was a start.
What they had between them was very new and tender, like the spring shoots that would emerge from the ground in a few months��� time. Given warmth and nurturing, their marriage would flourish and strengthen like a mighty oak, but until then this sprouting tenderness needed special care.
Although unaware of being observed, Frey looked up and their eyes met. Her smile broadened as though including him in the joke.
A warmth flared in his chest more satisfying than the mead that filled the silver goblet in his hand. Sure, he must be grinning like a lunatic, but tonight, he didn���t care.
Something reckless overwhelmed him. The tight rein he kept on his emotions loosened. The analytical mind that always thought before acting had been sent on a sabbatical. That part of him that always remained subservient to his more rational self decided it would be a good idea to kiss his bride.
Now.
BLURB
A shared secret from their past could destroy their future���
Northumbria, 1077. In the years following William the Conqueror���s harrying of the North, Lady Alfreya of Tyrswick returns to her family home after seven years in exile. But instead of returning victorious as her dead father had promised, she returns defeated by Baron Sebastian de la Croix, the Norman who rules her lands.
To save her gravely ill brother���s life, Alfreya offers herself hostage to her enemy. As Alfreya gets to know her new husband, she finds he���s not the monster she feared, and their marriage of convenience soon becomes a bond of passion. But Sebastian is a man with a secret���one that could destroy him.
As a series of brutal murders haunt their nights, the man who betrayed Alfreya���s father returns claiming to be her betrothed. He has learned Sebastian���s secret and will use it to further his own ambition���using Sebastian���s own family���which will destroy Sebastian and mark him a traitor, and plunge an unprepared England into war with the Scots���
Buy Links
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The lovely Elizabeth who is working on her fourth novel lives in Australia with her ��husband and two cats. A former newspaper journalist, she ran an award-winning PR agency for 12 years.
Warrior���s Surrender (now in print as well as eBook) was named Favourite Historical Fiction at the 2015 Readers & Writers Down Under Readers Choice Awards in March this year.
https://twitter.com/eecarterauthor
Filed under: heroes, heroines, Vikings, writing Tagged: Elizabeth Ellen Carter, Medieval, Romance, Vikings, Warrior's Surrender, Weddings
April 17, 2015
Of shoes, ships and Malice in Vikingland…a Cover Reveal
In 898 AD she wasn���t just from another land.
Wrecking a marriage is generally no problem for the divorce obtaining, Lady Malice Mallender. But she faces a dilemma when she���s asked to ruin her own. Just how businesslike should she remain when the marriage was never consummated and kissing her husband leads to Sin–a handsome Viking who wants her for a bed slave in name only?
She came from another time.
Viking raider Sin Gudrunsson wants one thing. To marry his childhood sweetheart. Only she���s left him before, so he needs to keep her on her toes, and a bed slave, in name only, seems just the thing. Until he meets Malice.
One kiss is all it takes to flash between two worlds
But when one kiss is no longer enough, which will it be? ��Regency London? Or Viking Norway? Will Malice learn what governs the flashes? Can Sin?
Where worlds collide can love melt the iciest heart
Filed under: heroes, heroines, Uncategorized, writing Tagged: Cover reveal, Erotic historical romance, Historical romance, Romance, Shehanne Moore, Shoes, Soul Mate Publishing, The Viking and The Courtesan, Vikings
April 9, 2015
At the weddings of hamsters and Vikings
���Ari. I swear to Freya, to Odin�� too, that if you do not keep your big mouth shut, our friendship is over. So Malice is there, what is so remarkable about that? Sinarr loves me. He always has. Since that day he came here wearing that collar.�� Is that not so, Sinarr, my dearest heart? Have I not donned the flaming candles of my sacred mother in Valhalla, to show how deep my love is for you? Sinarr������
Not only did he not reply, the sigh went down through��his boots and beyond it into the sand.��It probably went all the way down through subterranean passageways, to hell.
���Perhaps, but if they burn any lower you���re in danger of joining your mother in Valhalla, although Valhalla, Valhalla is for the slain. And that���s maybe where I am right now, kidding myself I love you, when you killed me years ago.���
Filed under: heroes, heroines, writing Tagged: Soul Mate Publishing, The Viking and The Courtesan, Viking weddings, Vikings
April 4, 2015
‘Not that I have murdered anyone..’ The April Author Interview
Okay Jane Risdon, firstly, ignoring all the rude dudes, ��PLEASE tell us a little about yourself.
Shey, thanks so much for inviting me to tell you something about myself and my writing journey.
My early years were spent in Singapore where my mother and I joined my father who���d been posted there after serving in the Korean War.��
Go on Jane
He was a stranger to me, having gone off to war soon after I was born and I didn���t see him until I was 3. We lived in what is now the city of Singapore, so different to the country you see today; it was still mainly jungle back then.�� Dad actually worked over in Johore Bahru, Malaya, where the British were battling bandits trying to wreck the rubber plantations.
As an Army family we were posted all over the show; I recall living in Dortmund in the late 1950���s with bomb sites at the end of the street, and kids living in the rubble.
My best friend was a much older black American girl called Marika, and she and I were on our roller skates all day.�� I have the scars to prove it.��
But it wasn’t me dudes. So…the writing when a large chunk of your life has been spent on the music biz? Spill….
I���ve always wanted to write but life with a musician was far too hectic, besides I was the main bread-winner in the early days�� Years later when my husband’s��band broke up we both went into management of singers, songwriters, record producers and actors, and with all the studio time, touring and crazy life we led, it was not possible to sleep let alone write. We worked internationally, living in America, Taiwan, and Singapore mostly; constantly on the road and worn out.��
So, it was not until recently that I���ve been able to do something for myself, when I was not promoting and creating a career for someone else.�� If anyone is interested in reading about some of my music business experiences do pop over to my regular blog spot with Creative Frontiers.�� I write every fortnight about some of my experiences. The early says when my husband was playing to our days working with the guys from Queen, Alice Cooper, David Cassidy, David Hasselhoff, and Pamela Anderson, and many others too numerous to name.
Working with Rock, Pop, R&B, and even Chinese Opera; television programmes such as Baywatch to Power Rangers, and movies like The Jersey Girl, we���ve had a long and varied career in the entertainment business.�� So lots of fodder for writing.
One word. WOW! Once you’d settled down, how hard was it to get published?
A friend I made via my blog is Margot Kinberg, an Associate Professor at an American university, a mystery writer and blogger.�� She liked my work and when she wanted to publish an anthology of Crime stories by successful crime writers, in memory of her friend and Crime writer/editor and blogger Maxine Clarke, I was thrilled she accepted two of mine.�� In A Word: Murder came out in print and eBook and has proven very successful.
In 2014 I decided to try my hand at finding a traditional publisher and after trying six I was turned down by three, and didn���t hear back from two, until last month when one of them wanted to take things further.�� Fortunately for me, unfortunately for them, I was contacted by Accent Press in the summer of 2014, who���d read some of my short stories and asked if I���d like to contribute to two anthologies they were publishing for Halloween (Shiver) and Christmas (Wishing on a Star).
I sent in the stories and in September 2014 I signed a publishing contract with them, the reviews for the book have been good and I have received some 5* reviews personally. They���re waiting for my novel, Ms Birdsong Investigates, which is part of series and so I am working hard to finish it.
You���ve written for quite�� a few anthologies? Is Mrs Birdsong to be longer?
I have a back-log of short stories and novels which I need to go back to and finish.�� Last count there were about 26 WIP waiting to be tidied up.�� Most are crime or espionage themed and some are in other genres, such as humour and observational stories.�� I have all 3 Ms Birdsong Investigates books almost completed.
Lavinia Birdsong is a young 40 something former MI5 Officer who is ���voluntarily��� retired after a mission goes wrong.�� Finding herself in a rural village in the Vale of the White Horse she tries to make a life for herself. Soon she finds herself involved in a missing person investigation involving a Russian Oligarch and other villains, which brings an old flame ��� a former colleague -back from her past, complicating her life.�� Before long murder is foremost in her mind as she helps track the killer down.
What are your Easter plans?
This Easter I shall be working on Ms Birdsong Investigates and awaiting news of another book I���ve been working on which is to be published later this year ��� not crime strangely enough!
Any advice for an aspiring writer?
Just go for it and write.�� Don���t let someone put you off.�� Get it down and go back and tidy it up afterwards, having taken a few days away from it.�� I do think writing about something you are familiar with helps, not that I have murdered anyone, 
but I think the words and scenarios come easier and are more believable if you know what you are writing about.
Thanks so much for inviting me to tell you about my life and writing.�� I do hope you will provide fed-back and if you are feeling very generous, please do check out my work and blog, letting me have your thoughts.
Amazon Author Page with links to all my books:http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00I3GJ2Y8
My Author Blog:http://wp.me/2dg55
My Facebook Author Page:www.facebook.com/JaneRisdon2
My Regular Music Blog over on Creative Frontiers:http://creative-frontiers.com/blog/profiles/must-criminal-mind/#comment-20529�������� about my writing.
http://creative-frontiers.com/blog/writing-desk/snore-poison-ill-remember/ Snore Poison so I���ll remember it���..
http://wp.me/p3YvQS-14Q�� The Auditions ���..
Part three is due in the next week���..Don���t forget to take the paper bag with you���..
Also you can find me over on:
My Author Page on Chill with a Book:http://chillwithabook.blogspot.com.es/2015/02/wishing-on-s
Filed under: Author Interviews, Guest bloggers, Halloween, Musicians, writing Tagged: Accent Press, Alice Cooper, anthologies, Chinese Opera, David Cassidy, In a word murder, Jane Risdon, Pamela Anderson, Shiver, Wishing On A Star
March 29, 2015
Spring for love…..Getting Dangerous with Caroline Warfield
Okay Bobby Bub, let’s drop the act and quit buttering up the readers..
Today���s Spring for Love Blog Hop author is Caroline Warfield. She���s taking over my blog and featuring her historical novel, Dangerous Secrets (I���m loving love that cover).
Genre: Historical
Here’s what Caroline loves best about Spring….
One thing I love about Spring:
In spring life lurches to the surface, and anything seems possible, especially love. Romance wafts in on the breeze and enchants every person it touches.
Heat Level: Hot
Blurb:
When a little brown wren of an Englishwoman bursts into Jamie Heyworth���s private Hell and asks for help he mistakes her for the black crow of death. Why not? He fled to Rome and sits in despair with nothing left to sell and no reason to get up in the morning. Behind him lie disgrace, shame, and secrets he is desperate to keep.
Nora Haley comes to Rome at the bidding of her dying brother who has an unexpected legacy. Never in her sunniest dreams did Nora expect Robert to leave her a treasure, a tiny black-eyed niece with curly hair and warm hugs. Nora will do anything to keep her, even hire a shabby, drunken major as an interpreter.
Jamie can���t let Nora know the secrets he has hidden from everyone, even his closest friends. Nora can���t trust any man who drinks. She had enough of that in her marriage. Either one, however, will dare anything for the little imp that keeps them together, even enter a sham marriage to protect her.
Website:
http://www.carolinewarfield.com/
Website blog
http://www.carolinewarfield.com/?page_id=121
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/carolinewarfield7
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/CaroWarfield @carowarfield
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8523742.Caroline_Warfield
Amazon Author Central:
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/warfieldcaro/dangerous-secrets-1820/
Amazon buy link:
WILL HAVE SOON WAITING FOR SOULMATE
Bio:
Caroline Warfield has at various times been an army brat, a librarian, a poet, a raiser of children, a nun, a bird watcher, a network services manager, a conference speaker, a tech writer, a genealogist, a grandmother, and, of course, a romantic. She has been a traveler, adventurer, and writer of historical romance, enamored of owls, books, history, and beautiful gardens (but not the act of gardening). She is married to a prince among men.
Other works by Caroline
DANGEROUS WORKS http://tinyurl.com/lsaryjx
Giveaway
The Spring for Love Bog Hop is also having an awesome giveaway (via Rafflecopter). Click the link below to enter.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/153622a63/
Check out other sites for more entries and more great book info!
http://cynthiagail.com/spring-for-love-blog-hop/
The Spring for Love Blog Hop is also live on Facebook @
https://www.facebook.com/CynthiaGailRomance/app_228910107186452
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Filed under: Author Interviews, blogging, book tour, Guest bloggers Tagged: caroline Warfield, Historical romance, Soul Mate Publishing, Spring, writing
March 27, 2015
Spring for Love Phantom Traces of Claire Gem
‘
Okay dudes, I think we’re on that ��final warning.
http://www.carolinewarfield.com/?page_id=121
‘What do I love about Spring? The end of winter! Although I was born and raised in New York State, I spent most of my adult life in Florida, Texas, and North Carolina. Certainly spoiled the girl who���s now back living in New England!’
Phantom Traces is romance with a ghostly twist. Set in the fictional town of Caldwell, N.C., it is the contemporary story of Abigail Stryker, a young librarian struggling to revive the antiquated and reportedly haunted Harvey Library. A pipe-smoking ghost has suddenly begun hurling books at anyone he doesn���t like, and if the haunting isn���t stopped, the library will be shut down.spirit of the library���s founder, and why he���s still trapped within its walls after over 100 years. In so doing, they uncover a tragic, 19th century tale of love, and find one of their own.
Addressing the theme of May-September romance, ���Phantom Traces��� combines a modern love story, a historical tragedy, and a spooky paranormal in a multilayered, fast-paced plot guaranteed to take the reader on an emotional ride.
buy link http://amzn.to/1JrjWoH
Claire Gem writes women���s fiction and contemporary romance, sometimes with a paranormal twist. A voracious reader, she���s an avid fan of strong but sensitive heroes, spunky, sexy heroines, and a ghost story worth at least a few goose bumps. Her vision is to transport her readers into another place and time, and she loves creating characters so real, readers miss them when the book is closed.
website: http://clairegem.com
website blog: http://bit.ly/1A6ipcK
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1BhmfCj
Twitter: http://bit.ly/1vJ4w8X
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/17zCJwY
Amazon Author Central: http://amzn.to/1EF3Gw0
Pinterest: http://bit.ly/1CryfUr
Book Trailer Link: http://bit.ly/1EIj4IY
Amazon buy link: http://amzn.to/1JrjWoH
Well….. Hmm…..�� Fine but you have forgotten something….
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Filed under: blogging, Guest bloggers, writing Tagged: Claire Gem, Ghost, Giveaway, Phantom Traces, Romance, Soul Mate Publishing, Spring For Love Blog Hop
March 26, 2015
Spring For Love with Carole Ann Moleti
http://www.clairegem.com/blog.html
Was getting out, getting away, enough?
“Hi everyone! My name is Carole Ann Moleti and I live in New York City. I write urban fantasy and paranormal romance (among other things) and I’m so excited about the recent release of The Widow’s Walk, part of the Unfinished Business series.�� Like my heroine Liz, I love the desolate beauty of a beach in the winter. For her, it’s an obsession. Ghosts don’t mind the cold. In all of the Unfinished Business series novels, the setting is one of the main characters���and off season on Cape Cod is quiet, with an ethereal quality you can sense better without the traffic, bustle of family activities, and the voices of happy children.
I‘m really looking forward to the Spring, after which comes Summer. If you like ghost stories, check out the first two installments of my Cape Cod paranormal romance series. I will be giving away a copy of each as one of the prizes for participants in this blog hop.
��In the first installment of the series, Breakwater Beach (published in Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts)
Liz is trying to recover from the untimely death of her husband. She attributes the visits of a dream lover to grief, but when she moves into the dilapidated Victorian in the historic sea captains’ town of Brewster, the dream becomes very real, jeopardizing her chances at a new ��life���and a new love.
��Breakwater Beach is a novella in Haunted, but I’ve novelized it and hope to re release it in 2015.
��The Widow’s Walk was released by Soulmate in late 2014. It is set in the same place, the year after the events in Breakwater Beach. ��
��Check out the blurbs and excerpts on my website http://www.caroleannmoleti.com/the-unfinished-business-series/
The Widow’s Walk:
Silk rustled as she ran her hands over the dress. The lavender scent deepened as Elisabeth swirled around inside, Her mind went numb as the ghost took control. She slipped out of her clothes and stood naked in front of the mirror. She put up her hair, preening for her husband, before she stepped into the middle of the deep green skirts and pulled them up over her waist, slipped her arms into the sleeves, and twisted them behind her back to fasten the buttons. She used the buttonhook to do up the shoes, then peered out into the hallway.
Liz bundled the sweat suit into her arms, along with the soap and paper goods, and hurried to the attic door. It wasn’t until she placed her hand on the banister and started up the steep staircase to the roof that Elisabeth’s needling eased. Like an addict in the throes of withdrawal, just the promise of being up there, her spirit communing with the long lost sea captain, offered relief.
Genre:��Fantasy/Paranormal
Heat Level��
Hot ��� lots of passion and chemistry both physical and mental, open door sex, yet language and descriptions are tame.
Blurb��
Mike and Liz Keeny are newlyweds, new parents, and the proprietors of the Barrett Inn, an 1875 Victorian on Cape Cod, which just happens to be haunted. By their own ghosts. The Inn had become an annex of Purgatory, putting Mike, Liz, and their infant son in danger. Selling the historic seaside bed and breakfast was the only answer, one that Liz and her own tortured specter refused to consider. Were they doomed to follow the same path that led to disaster in their previous lives? Was getting out, getting away, enough?
Carole Ann Moleti is a nurse-midwife in New York City, thus explaining her fascination with paranormal and urban fantasy that infuses everything she writes. The Widow’s Walk is her newest fiction. Excerpts from her urban fantasy novels have appeared in several of the Ten Tales anthologies. Segments of Carole’s memoirs, Someday I’m Going to Write a Book: Diary of an Urban Missionary and Karma, Kickbacks, and Kids range from the sweet and inspirational in A Quilt of Holidays and the Shifts Anthology to the edgy and irreverent in Not Your Mother’s Book: On Being a Woman and On Parenting.
Links:
The Widow’s Walk http://www.amazon.com/Widows-Walk-Carole-Ann-Moleti-ebook/dp/B00PHYCLHY
Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts http://www.amazon.com/Haunted-Ghosts-Fantasy-Horror-Stories-ebook/dp/B006PW4TNG
Amazon Author Page:�� http://www.amazon.com/Carole-Ann-Moleti/e/B007ASNBVK
Blog: http://caroleannmoleti.blogspot.com
Website: http://caroleannmoleti.com
The Widow’s Walk
A Cape Cod Paranormal Romance
Soulmate Publishing
http://amazon.com/author/carolemoleti
https://www.facebook.com/caroleannmoleti
http://caroleannmoleti.blogspot.com
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Filed under: blogging, book tour, Guest bloggers, writing Tagged: Carol Ann Moleti, fantasy, For Love blog Hop, Paranormal, Soul Mate Publishing, Spring, TheWidow's Walk
March 18, 2015
Iyana Jenna, love and inspiration.
��
‘First of all, I���d like to thank you for having me on your blog. It means a lot to me.’
‘I would like to share with you and your readers my main inspirations of this story.’
‘Okay. One day, my dear friend Louis Stevens posted a video of a sing’r Gavin DeGraw on his Facebook account. It was lovely and I loved the singer���s song. Well, one of my favorite singers is Ed Sheeran and I told Louis it would be a dream come true if Ed sings together with Gavin. A moment later, voila! Louis posted a video of them both singing together!
‘Long story short, How Long Will I Love You was born. The title of this story was from a song but it was another story altogether and it wasn���t sung by any of the men.’
By the way, here is the video of Gavin and Ed performing together on stage. I totally fell in love with them. I got completely inspired. My story isn���t in any way a real story about them, though.
Now if you watch the video until the end, it was their hug that completely melted my heart.
Playlist
”To tell you the truth, I���m not really familiar with Gavin DeGraw���s work. It���s Ed Sheeran���s I totally love. I kept listening to his songs while writing How Long. Here are some of my very favorites:’
(My thanks to Louis Stevens to show me this the first time!)
The A Team
Kiss Me
Firefly
Blurb:
It might look weird for a musician to *fangirl* another musician, but Ed Finley didn���t give a damn. He adored and had a crush on singer and pianist, Gavin O���Malley���to the point of sticking O���Malley���s pin-ups all over the walls of his room. Ed thought his dream had come true when he was scheduled to perform together with his idol on stage.
Gavin O���Malley thought Ed was okay when they ended up being together that night. The night meant everything to Ed, while it was only another one-night stand for Gavin.
Ed decides to stay away while Gavin, after rejecting Ed, couldn���t stop thinking about the other man. Will Gavin get a chance to tell Ed his true feelings?
Buy Links:
Evernight Publishing ~ Amazon US ~ Amazon UK ~ Amazon Australia ~ Amazon Canada
All Romance Ebooks ~ Bookstrand
Author Bio:
Iyana writes M/M short stories and novellas. Her works have been published by Evernight Publishing, JMS Books, Books to Go Now, Torquere Press, Bitten Press, Leap of Faith Publishing, Breathless Press, and Alfie Dog Fiction.
Iyana lives in Jakarta, a city famous for its traffic jams, a lot of cars and motorcycles, and people selling stuff on the roads. You can spend two hours on the road going to a place you can reach in half an hour in a normal situation. Thanks to the traffic jams, though, Iyana can come up with a lot of stories, mostly shorties, as she prefers to spend the time during her trips writing into her cell phone rather than sleeping.
Another thing Iyana loves is kitties. Right now she has three of them. Their names are Cil, Horus, and Betsy, and one kitten. When she doesn���t write, she plays with them, or they would play with her when she writes.
Author Links: Blog�� Website��Amazon��Goodreads��Facebook��Twitter��Pinterest
Filed under: blogging, Guest bloggers, Lists of, Musicians Tagged: Ed Sheeran, Evernight Publishing, Gavin DeGraw, guest blog, How Long WIll I love YOu?, inspiration, Iyana Jenna, Jakarta, M/M Romance, Music, playlists, writing
