Victoria Barbour's Blog, page 6

Chef D'Amour: A Sizzling New Contemporary Romance by Brenda Margriet

I'm thrilled to have Brenda Margriet on the blog today to share some of the images that helped fuel her imagination while working on her new release, Chef D'Amour. (CLICK HERE TO GET A COPY!) Brenda is a member of the Romance Writers Weekly group that I love so dearly, plus she's Canadian. And did I mention she's an awesome author pal of mine? Three for three. And this new book makes it four for four for reasons why she rocks. 

It's been a while since I've done one of these picture blogs so let me remind you how it works. I asked Brenda a bunch of one word questions about her book and she had to respond with a very short answer and a photo. I loved her answers! Hope you do as well. 

Book? Jemma's new job on a TV reality show has one rule: no fraternizing with the cast. Easy! Until she meets Paul, the show's sexy CHEF D'AMOUR.

Click the cover to go pick up your e-copy! 

Jemma? Paul's wicked fairy – persnickety, loyal and independent to a fault.

Love this hair style! Wish I had a nice angular face to pull it off. 

 Paul? The good son trying to prove his worth to his father – who falls in love with a woman no one would have chosen for him, even himself.

Brenda says he's good, but I see a hint of naughty in those eyes. 

 Allure? The one thing she wants – the one person she can't have.














 Kitchen? Thirteen women vying for Paul's heart by cooking creative, romantic meals – but the one he wants won't let him get close.

I secretly dream of being Masterchef: Canada. Um. Guess it's not a secret anymore. 

 Next? Meet Justice Cooper – a reserved security guard whose life turns topsy-turvy when he meets an ambitious, career-driven university professor.





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Yes yes yes! Please make "next" happen very soon. 

 Brenda? Pursuing a life long dream, while doing her best to appreciate every instant of the life she already has.

Click on Brenda's beautiful scarf (I think it's a pashmina) to go to her website to read an excerpt of Chef d'Amour,. now available in print and ebook from The Wild Rose Press, and all major ebook retailers.

 

 

 

 

 

Link to Wild Rose Press:  http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/mai...

Romance Weekly: August 26, 2014

This week the ever-curious Kim Handysides has asked us to share the story of our first kiss. Sadly, I can't fulfill Sarah Hegger's wish that mine is a better experience than hers. No my friends, I think it's worse. Oh my. There are some things best forgotten, as far as I'm concerned. But in the interest of sharing, I'm going to bite the bullet and relive that experience. 

Forgive me for not being super creative in my telling this week but with a toddler home and lunch to prepare, there's not a whole lot of time to be creative. So here's the truth, in all its unromantic glory. 

I was in grade nine and had the world's biggest crush on a "bad boy." You know what it's like when you're a teen. The adults say "bad boy" but all you see is the "heart of gold". Ahhh, fourteen-year-old blinders. What a terrible thing you are. 

My bad boy lived around the bay, which is what those of us who grew up in St. John's called any place that wasn't. My grandmother was from there and I often spent my weekends and summers hanging out with my cousins. Now the population of this town is maybe 300. And before I could date anyone, I'd have to ensure that I wasn't related to them. So while in retrospect, this guy wasn't prime boyfriend material, he had one big positive going for him. He wasn't a distant relative. 

So when I found myself alone with him at the back of the school, the moon shining bright, my braces barely visible in the darkness, all of my teenage hormones were jittery in anticipation of kissing this boy. He was sixteen, the object of desire for many a girl, and to me, resembled Bruce Springsteen. (Remember those blinders I told you about? Clearly they were messing with my mind.). Regardless, at that moment, on a cool November Newfoundland night when you could see your breath and frost was thick in the air, I had my first kiss. 

In my mind it was going to be spectacular and romantic. By now I'd watched enough movies and read enough teen romances to expect knee-popping, heart-soaring instant love and chemistry. In reality, it was wet. Wet and loud. Almost as if a frog was trying to swallow my head. It just wouldn't end. The too thick tongue. The over-abundance of lip chewing. And above all else, the noise. And still, I kept kissing him. Because he was cute. And I was young and stupid. And also, hind-sight is 20/20. I hadn't kissed any good kissers yet to know that this was terrible. And it would be almost two years before I actually had a good kiss. 

There you have it. Blech. As far as first kiss stories go, this was a case of kissing the frog that never turned into a prince. 

Let me help you get this image out of your mind. Hop over to Leslie Hatchel's blog and we'll all hope there's something much more romantic and far less sloppy in her tale! 

Romance Weekly: August 19, 2014

Oh what fun this week's challenge was! I can't wait to pop around and see what everyone else came up with. 

The idea (from the fabulous brain of Susan Peterson Wisnewski): Write a piece of flash fiction (less than 150 words) using these three words: chocolate, candle, scarf. 

Oh what fun this was. In the end, I not only managed to keep it short (58 words!) but turned it into a visual piece. I didn't have Paul Wesley in mind when I wrote this (let's face it, I'm way more into Damon than Stephan on The Vampire Diaries)  but once I started searching for images to put with the piece, he fit the bill nicely. 

In case you can't see the image above, here's the story without the image.

Like a moth drawn to the flame of a single candle, I chase him. Run my fingers through his chocolate brown hair and offer my heart if he will just stay one more day. Tug at his thick scarf, a vain hope I can physically keep what I’ve emotionally lost. He concedes. But I know he’s already gone.

Now hop along and check out what my fellow Romance Weekly authors did with these three words, starting with Mikki Cober!

Romance Weekly: August 12, 2014

Welcome friends to another week of Romance Weekly. I love Tuesdays. Why? Because I love popping around to see what all my fellow RW pals are saying. I also love the comments they leave. And I love having the push to blog, because let's face it, I suck at it most of the time. If you're popping over from Meggan Connors' blog, what do you think of her alien encounter at Starbucks idea? I think it's great! 

Now, on to our questions of the week! 

1. Does humour help or hinder you in your creative process?

I try not to think about it. I like it when readers say they laugh while reading my books, but I honestly don't try to set out to write funny things. Certain situations or phases might strike one reader as funny, while another might laugh at something else. I like that there's humour in my writing, but it's not deliberate. If I had to think about being funny, it would definitely hinder my process. Plus, I'm not funny in real life. At all. I'm much better with the written word than the spoken. Trust me. 

2. What is a favorite go-to book or movie you use to unblock a problem in your writing?

It depends on the piece I'm working on. When I was stuck on Asher's story in 21 Century Rake, I listened to Sean McCann's "Help Yourself" album a lot. With Geek God, I got a bit obsessed with The Mindy Project (and I'm now in love with Danny Castellano), which helped because it showed me that even smart girls can be stund (that's a Newfoundland word ya today!) sometimes. But for the most part, I don't go in search of things to help. Rather, I talk it out with my fellow writers or hubby. And I just keep writing scenes until something makes sense to me. 

3. What’s the most inspiring book you’ve read this week or month that’s generated a new idea?

LOL. My last inspiration came from the Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook. Seriously. Cause I play it weekly, and one night as I lay in bed wondering why I was stumped with a WIP, a new idea came to mind. And it's totally based on my real-life geek existence, and D&D. That's where the Forever Geek trilogy idea came from. 

Admittedly, my answers this week are kinda blah. Great questions, I just didn't have earth shattering answers. Still, I love my Tuesday blogging and the pals that go with it so instead of skipping out because of lack-lusted answers, I just barrel on. :)

See you all next week. And in the meantime, pop over to one of the newest members of the Romance Weekly clan, Xio Axelrod, and see her answers to these questions. I think this might be her very first week blog hopping with us! Yay Xio! 

Romance Weekly: August 5, 2014

Food! I love food. Which is why I'm so excited for this week's question. Just one. Very simple. And totally worth blog-hopping for. I mean, writer or not, everyone is looking for the answer to this important, daily question. If you've come here from Fiona's page, welcome. At the time of writing this post she hadn't posted her post, so I can't comment on what deliciousness she has on offer when she answered this week's tasty question:

What's your go-to 15 minute recipe?

I've got several depending on if I'm feeding myself, or the whole family. You can't go wrong with homemade pizzas made on Nann bread. Quick and yummy. I also love pork burgers on the BBQ with souvlaki seasoning. I buy mine from my sister, who sells Epicure Selections (my fav. spices!) Toss some lettuce and tomato with balsamic vinegar and oil to add as a topping and it's heaven. I also love to fry up some hamburger meat with onions, stir in ketchup and mustard and then serve it over chips (french fries), however,  baking the chips in the oven takes longer than our 15 minute goal, so that recipe is out. 

But here's my favourite go-to dish. My hubby doesn't like this (he's strictly a tomato-sauce guy) and I don't know if the wine cooks off quickly enough for the baby, so this is what I treat myself to on a evening when it's just me and I want a quick, gourmet meal. Yup, I've even made this and eaten it right from the stove as I wrote or edited at the laptop perched on the kitchen counter. 

Note: This is not my picture. I totally swiped it from the net, and the blog of someone who likely has an even better recipe than I do! Click the image to go to The Messie Kitchen blog.

Angel hair pasta in a white wine, garlic, cream sauce

There are many recipes out this for this, likely better than mine. But I can toss this together so quickly that I just wing it every time. I'm not big on measuring things so add depending to taste. Here's what I do when I'm making just enough for me. 

Must-have ingredients

1 Shallot/Onion

1-2 cloves of garlic depending on the size

butter to fry it all in

white wine (whatever is in the fridge, nice and cold so I can drink while I cook)

sour cream or yogurt

angel hair pasta or another skinny spaghetti-type pasta that cooks in just a couple of minutes

PLUS: You can totally add in chicken, shrimp, mushrooms, whatever you want. I like to keep the palate white/brown so I don't get colourful, but there's nothing stopping you other than the time it takes to cut and cook more ingredients. 

What I do

1. Put some water on to boil. Add salt and oil if you feel like it.

2. If you're using chicken or shrimp, cook that first in butter with salt and pepper. Set aside when done.

3. Melt a nice bit of butter in a frying pan.

4. Cut shallot and garlic into wee little bits and add it to the frothy yummy butter

5. When the onions are looking cooked, pour in wine till the bottom of the pan is covered. I use a deep frying pan about 8 inches around so I let the wine be about half an inch high.

6. Crank up the heat and let it reduce by half or until you don't want to wait any more. 

7. Toss your quick cooking pasta into the boiling water. 

8. Add a spoon of sour cream or yogurt. Stir and reduce heat. 

9. If you have meat set aside, toss it in the sauce. If not, just toss the pasta into the sauce once it's cooked. 

10. Stir it around, sprinkle on some salt and pepper, and eat. Civilized people will put it in a bowl and likely add some parmesan cheese or something. Hungry writers might just eat it from the pan.

I used to order variations of this when I'd go out to a fancy restaurant. But now that I know how little effort it takes, I can't justify paying $20 or more for something I can cook in about ten minutes.

You might be tempted to stop the blog hop here and go make this, but don't! Instead, go see what Raine Balkera is suggesting. I'm betting my supper tonight is somewhere down the path of this blog hop! 

 

 

 

Romance Weekly: July 29, 2014

I've missed the last few weeks because I was on holiday in Ireland. But what a great week to come back. Today we're doing things a little differently. Instead of answering three questions, we're just tackling one great one. 

What are your top ten romances of all time?

I'm going to keep my answers to books, because if I were to incorporate movies and real life and plays etc, my list would go on forever. So here they are in no particular order because I can't refine my mind that much!

The Time Traveler's Wife

By Audrey Niffenegger



















Gone with the Wind

By Margaret Mitchell



















Ten Things I Love About You

By Julia Quinn



















A Duke of Her Own (Desperate Duchesses)

By Eloisa James



















Rules of an Engagement

By Suzanne Enoch



















Outlander

By Diana Gabaldon



















Into the Wilderness

By Sara Donati



















Forever Amber (Rediscovered Classics)

By Kathleen Winsor



















The Hazards of Hunting a Duke (Desperate Debutantes)

By Julia London



















The Parson's Daughter

By Catherine Cookson

As I was making this list, I was amazed with how easy these titles popped to mind. And I know why. There's a trend with all of these romances. Each and every one of them was recommended to me by my grandmother, my muse and mentor in all things related to romance novels. She's why I write. She's why I read. And she's why there's still a gaping hole in my heart whenever I think of her. I write using my real name because I'm proud of what I write. But if I ever do need a pseudonym, it will be her name I use. 

Now, enough of my emotional ramblings. I sure didn't think I was going to get sappy making a list. I think I'll pop on over to the brilliant and lovely Brenda Margriet now the once and see what fabulous list she concocted for us. 

 

Room to Write: A peek into an author's writing space

I asked some of my fellow Passionate Kisses box set authors to share with me where they write. I've been thinking a lot lately about life as a writer before having a child and after. Back before him, I was big into finding the "right" writing environment. I had idea sod what my writing space should look like, and what I should do for inspiration. But now that I'm a full time author/full time mom, my writing space has turned out to be anywhere I happen to be with a free moment. 

It was this curiosity that led me to wonder where other contemporary romance author get creative.

First up, Jessi Gage. I'm leading with Jessi because when she sent me her photo it reminded me of one of my favourite places to write in the house. Can you spot the similarity?

Jessi Gage's neat writing space. If you wanna check out what she creates from here, click on her nice red sofa and you'll go straight out to her Amazon page. 

My not-so near writing space. And no, the smurf has no significance other than that's where the wee one's hat happened to be resting while I was writing. Sorta creepy.

This what Jessi said about her space.

"Here’s where the magic happens for me, LOL! It’s central to the huge messes my kids create every day, so I can pick and choose which areas to clean (or not to clean) as my muse dictates."

Then we have Sydney Holmes. What I love about Sydney's space is how upfront it is about a common writer's addiction: coffee and places to drink it. 

Click Sydney's coffee house photo to check out her Amazon page.  And nice computer, my friend. Very nice. ;)

This photo was taken pre-baby when I had the luxury of hiding away for a week in the woods to do nothing but write and drink coffee. Ahhhhh. Still, wouldn't trade what I do now for anything in the world. 

ere's what Sydney had to say about her coffee shop writing.

"What's not to like, it's clean, smells delicious and not my car!"

Since Sydney mentioned cars, my next photo of my space will prove that yes, writers do write in their cars. Often. 

Hey. At least I'm eating fruit while I write in my car. That's progress. 

Then we have Allie Boniface, who has the closest thing to a home office of all the photos sent to me. And I need to apologies to Allie right now. She didn't sent me this picture in this messed up angle. But it's late, my blog isn't cooperating, and I have packing to do for a trip, so I'm giving up trying to fix it and will just ask your indulgence to twist your head a little. 

Ah cats and their love of taking over our workspace. If you're not a cat owner you don't understand just how common this is for felines. It's like they know we need to work and aren't having any of it. To see what Allie has created with Hannah along for the ride, click the kitty and you'll be transported to her Amazon page. 

Allie says of her space:

"Though I sometimes work on my laptop, lately I've been writing on my desktop in my home office. My writing coach, Hannah, is a big fan of ebooks, as you can see. She'd much rather sit on the printer than have me use it!"

And now we get to Liz Kelly. Ahhhh, Liz. Who gives us the glamourous side of being an author. When I saw this photo I immediately wrote to tell her to expect me there soon. All I can say is "Heaven".

Seriously Liz? I'm officially jealous! No wonder her books rock. Click on any of the beauty above and pop over to Lis's Amazon page. 

Here's what she says about this spectacular space:

"For 8 months out of the year my office is poolside in Naples, Florida.  I swear, sitting her the stories just write themselves."

Honestly, I don't think I'd get out of the pool to write. I'd need to invest in a waterproof laptop. In case you're wondering where she spends the rest of the year (the summer) she heads to Chicago. 

So there you have it. Four of my Passionate Kisses pals and their writing spaces. Thanks so much to Jessi, Sydney, Allie and Liz for sharing with me. 

Finally, once last photo from one of my favourite places to write, even though I don't get there often. I'll leave you with this little piece of heaven in Newfoundland. 

I love being surrounded by tress and silence. 

Into the Darkness: J.J. Devine's hot new release

My fellow Romance Weekly pal J.J. Devine has a new novel out today! And I'm thrilled to share a bit about Into the Darkness with you today. 

I asked J.J. to sum it up in a couple of sentences and here's what she said to entice me!

“Witches and vampires can only be found in make believe worlds, right? This is exactly what Raven thought before that fateful night when her mortal world came crashing down around her, bringing to her fingertips the fate of two very different worlds, vampires and witches. ”

— J.J. Devine

Now I'll be the first to confess that I'm a sucker for witches and vampires (thanks Anne Rice for that!) and so it's no wonder that I'm frothing at the mouth to get my hands on this. I have an excerpt below but if you want to jump right in and pick up a copy, click on the image here and you'll go right to J.J's Amazon author page. 

If you want to find out more about J.J. Devine and her books, here are some links to all the fantastic places you can reach her. Tell her I sent you. ;) 

Website:

http://definingjjdevine.weebly.com/

Blog:

http://definingjjdevine.weebly.com/ramblings-of-a-writer.html

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/JJDevineAuthor?ref=ts&fref=ts

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/JjDevine2010

Good luck on your release day, my friend. And for you, dear readers, enjoy this nice juicy excerpt. Happy reading! 

Excerpt from Into the Darkness by J.J. Devine

Raven awoke with a start. A single candle penetrated the darkness engulfing her. Her body began to tremble as she assessed her strange surroundings. She smelled Dragon; he was close. Her body hummed its need for him. What happened tonight? Where am I?

Tremors overtook her, remembering the events of the night. What had she become involved with? Vampires? Witches? And who were they trying to fool? Moreover, for what purpose?

Dragon’s heady scent filled her senses, drawing again her craving for blood. If she was the daughter of a vampire, as Tristan would have her believe, then why did she not have fangs?

Romance Weekly: July 8, 2014

Welcome welcome welcome! I'm so excited to talk about characters and new projects today. If you're popping over here from the talented and creative Fiona Riplee's blog, so glad to see you. :) I just love her posts.  I like that you've come here from Fiona because that's the name of one of my characters I'm talking about below. 

Now, because I have lots of writing to do today, let's get into the questions, shall we? 

1. How did you go about choosing the names for your characters?

Naming characters is hard work. Sometimes, if you're lucky, a name comes to you from the beginning and you just know that's it. Cam and Elsie. Daphne and Jack. Asher/Ted. But Fiona had many names. When I first wrote her back in 2002 she was Brenna. And then when I started reworking the book, she was everything from Anna to Grace. I wanted a name that sounded good with Dillon, and yet fit her personality. In the end, I put myself in the position of her parents. What would people who named their second and third daughters Grace and Hannah name their first. Fiona made sense to me then. Right now I'm struggling to name the hero in my Forever Geek trilogy. He started off as Evan. Right now he's Grant. Stay tuned when the book goes live cause his name could be anything yet. I even asked my friends on my Facebook page to suggest names. Nothing has stuck yet. 

2. Where did the inspiration for your current book come from?

Ahhhh. Geek God. How excited I am to be talking about this WIP. If you've been following this blog for months you'll notice how frequently my WIP has changed. About two weeks ago, as I worked to finish the Ida novella, or start a novella about Asher and Grace, I realized that I needed a little break from Heart's Ease. I was lying in bed with my geeky hubby and baby and I thought about what it was like to fall in love with a geek. The trilogy came to life in that moment. I was awake until 3 am writing lines of dialogue, little insights, etc. Since that night I've almost got the book finished (maybe by today!), have worked with my cover designer and did a photo shoot and designed all three covers, have named the books, and am basically in love with this fun, sweet contemporary series. I can't wait to share it with you!

3. What methods do you use to ensure you have no plot holes (journal, storyboard, outline, editor, etc.)?

Here's my fine-tuning process, in this order: Crit partner, editor, alpha readers, beta readers, read out loud. 

Now get busy and head over to J.J. Devine's blog to see how she answered these questions. AND be sure to pop back here tomorrow because I'll be sharing the blog with J.J. as she dishes about her new release, Into the Darkness. Meow! This is gonna be fun. 

OH! And since it's July, that means our six month Romance Weekly anniversary is swiftly approaching. We're having a big party on July 29th and giving away so many great books and prizes! Check out this rafflecopter below for your chance to enter! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Romance Weekly: July 1, 2014

Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian peeps. And happy nearly July 4th to my American friends. For those of you elsewhere, happy summer reading season. Hope you've all found some great new reads to sink your teeth into as you relax in the heat. 

For those of you that made your way here from my new bud, Vicki Mixon, a big welcome! I have to say that I love that she has a character named Scar, don't you?

Now enough preamble. I'm excited to jump into this week's questions so let's get er done, shall we?

1.   Do any characters you've written into your books remind you of yourself? Explain which ones and why.

Not as a whole. There are characters who do have bits of me in them, but none of my characters are me, that's for certain. Let's see if I can identify which traits each of my four heroines have that I can identify with.

Elsie. Hmmm. She's way to organized to be like me. But we are both short. And she loves berries. Oh, yea. Now I remember. There's a scene where she talks about how terrible she is at berry picking because she eats more than she picks. That's me. 

Daphne. I think the only thing she and I have in common is a love for bright, bold colours. And comfy dresses. Other than than, I can't think of a thing. After all, I'm certainly not a peeping tom. ;)

Fiona. I wrote Fiona when I was 27 years old. In retrospect, she has some of the younger me wildness. And like Fiona, I adore folk music. But I can't play to save my soul.

Grace. Ahhhh. Grace. Grace's love of romance novels and role playing games are totally stolen from my life. But again, I think it ends there. 

2.   Was there a teacher or mentor in your life who helped nurture your writing?

Nurture my writing, no. Nurture my creativity, totally. My grade five teacher was awesome (most of my teachers were). Every friday afternoon the last hour of school was dedicated to skits, dances, poetry readings, whatever we wanted. I often hosted a weekly version of the school news and also acted out ads for various products. One time I built a cardboard car and did an ad for a Ford Festiva. Why, I don't know. I was a weird kid, I think. No wonder I grew up to be both a journalist and a copywriter. Thanks Mrs. Roche. 

3. Every author has that moment when they doubt their ability to write. When that happens to you, how doyou pull yourself up by the bootstraps and continue? What do you do to inspire YOURSELF?    

How timely is this question or what? This happens to me quite often. Normally just after I've published a book. I can't stand to go back and read a newly published book because all of a sudden I feel as if I could have done so much better. But my husband is how I pull myself together. He's my biggest fan, and he's very good at pointing out to me all the good things that I need to keep in mind when I write. He'll read me reviews, or even bits from a book that he knows that I was excited to write at the time. And when I feel like I just can't write one more word, he's there to let me off the hook and remind me that it's okay to take a break and wait to be inspired. As for me inspiring myself, I think about my goals. Why am I writing? Who am I writing for? What would I be doing if I wasn't writing? And above all else, would I be happy? (Hell no!) That reality check gets me going again. 

Now, don't stop here! Make your way over to Susan Peterson Wisnewski's wicked blog and see how she answered these very questions. And while you're there, make sure you enter her Goodread's giveaway for her novel, Chasing the Rainbow.

Happy romance weekly blog hopping all. And remember, we love to get comments. It makes us very happy romance writers. And a happy romance writer is a productive romance writer.