C.D. Hersh's Blog, page 138
November 14, 2016
Tell Again Tuesday Chicken Alfredo Rolls
A blog series where we shamelessly share posts from others that we have enjoyed.
Chicken Alfredo Rolls (or Lasagna)
September 23, 2016 Author Angela Christina Archer
With the coming of October and colder temperatures, what better way than to curl up by a nice fire with a glass of wine and a yummy Chicken Alfredo roll.
A yummy what? Chicken Alfredo in a roll? Yep.
Now the great thing about this recipe, is you can make it as a roll, as a lasagna casserole, or you can even make it into a . . .
For the rest of the blog go to:
https://angelachristinaarcher.com/2016/09/23/chicken-alfredo-rolls/
November 10, 2016
Friday Features Eris Field
Guest talks about
Fail-proof Beef and Sherry Casserole
by
Eris Field
If it is one of those times when you want the heady scent of something delicious cooking gently in the oven to welcome people coming home, go for labor-free, my fail-proof Beef and Sherry casserole, but add a surprise with the refreshing taste of a gremolata topping.
Warning: This dish creates powerful memory traces of pleasure.
BEEF and SHERRY CASSEROLE
1 ½ pound of chuck beef
1 can Campbell’s Golden Mushroom Soup
½ can of water
½ package of Lipton Onion Soup mix
½ can of good sherry, use the one you drink and have a glass before dinner.
Preheat oven to 325°F
Cut the beef into bite size pieces, about ¾ of an inch, (no browning thank goodness). Lay meat in a Dutch Oven. Stir in the other ingredients, cover, and then bake for 2 ½ hours.
GREMOLATA
Photo by Popo le Chien
¼ cup finely chop parsley, flat parsley is better but curly is good too
2 tbsp. coarsely grated lemon rind
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Mix these ingredients together. Cover tightly and refrigerate until needed.
Serve the casserole over cooked noodles or rice. Or add cooked baby white potatoes, tiny boiled onions, and mushrooms at the last minute to cooking the beef and heat through.
Top the dish by sprinkling the gremolata.
This recipe serves four but can be doubled and the cooking time increased to 3 hours.
In my contemporary novel, No Greater Love, on a snowy evening in Western New York, Janan adds gremolata to a casserole of lamb shanks and serves it to the man she has just fallen in love with. Here’s a little more about their turbulent romance.
Janan, orphaned at age eight by an earthquake in Turkey and adopted by an American couple in a small town in Western New York has grown into a beautiful woman, a Circassian beauty. She dreams of having a home of her own, a home with love, but spends her time working as a nurse and looking after her family that includes an elderly, honorary uncle, Carl who had been sent as a child from Leiden to escape Nazi deportation of Dutch-Jews and now yearns to go home.
Jilted once, Dutch child psychiatrist Pieter has retreated from life and devotes himself to caring for the child refugees flooding into Amsterdam. Now, struggling with late-onset leukemia, he travels to New York for a second opinion and to visit his old friend and mentor, Carl. At Carl’s home, he meets Janan and feels love again.
Janan recognizes Pieter as the man of her dreams. Believing that love is passing her by and knowing that Pieter will be gone in the morning, she asks him for one night. Pieter introduces Janan to the purposes and outcomes of each of eight magical kisses and vows to himself to overcome his illness and return a well man.
Later, alone and facing complications of pregnancy, Janan accepts an unusual offer of help even though it may destroy her chances of finding happiness.
Eris Field was born in the Green Mountains of Vermont—Jericho, Vermont to be precise—close by the home of Wilson Bentley (aka Snowflake Bentley), the first person in the world to photograph snowflakes. She learned from her Vermont neighbors that pursuit of one’s dream is a worthwhile life goal.
As a seventeen year old student nurse at Albany Hospital, Eris met a Turkish surgical intern who told her fascinating stories about the history of Turkey, the loss of the Ottoman Empire, and forced population exchanges. After they married and moved to Buffalo, Eris worked as a nurse at Children’s Hospital and at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
After taking time off to raise five children and amassing rejection letters for her short stories, Eris earned her master’s degree in Psychiatric Nursing at the University at Buffalo. Later, she taught psychiatric nursing at the University and wrote a textbook for psychiatric nurse practitioners—a wonderful rewarding but never to be repeated experience.
Eris now writes novels, usually international, contemporary romances. Her interest in history and her experience in psychiatry often play a part in her stories. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America and the Western New York Romance Writers. In addition to writing, Eris’s interests include: Prevention of Psychiatric Disorders; Eradicating Honor Killings, supporting the Crossroads Springs Orphanage in Kenya for children orphaned by AIDS, and learning more about Turkey, Cyprus, and Kurdistan.
Learn more about Eris Field on her website. Stay connected on Facebook.
November 8, 2016
Wednesday Special Spotlight Sara Daniel
Focuses on
The Bad Boys of Regret Hollow
The Bad Boys of Regret Hollow are BACK. That means an all new irresistible bad boy, loads of steamy romance, and a dash of small town shenanigans are coming your way. All books are standalone and can be read in any order. If you’re new to the series, you can dive into the first one, The Bad Boy’s Gift, for free at your favorite e-retailer.
He’s supposed to be the town hero. He’s not!
Haunted by comrades he was unable to save, Drake Miller walks away from his military career for the relaxed, quiet life of running his father’s bar in Regret Hollow. Too bad no one tipped him off that his father sold the bar.
While the townspeople treat him to a hero’s welcome that he doesn’t want and doesn’t deserve, he finds one person who doesn’t fall at his feet, calls him out for bad behavior, and kisses like a fantasy. Unfortunately, she also owns the bar that was supposed to be his.
As a single mom and small business owner, Mallory Marquette takes her commitments and responsibilities seriously. She can’t give away her livelihood just because Drake thinks he’s entitled to it—even if he is the town hero and the first man in a decade who gets her blood flowing. Besides, she needs a reliable bartender much more than she needs a lover.
Can this hero turned bad boy step up to a lifetime commitment, or will the freedom he sacrificed so much for cost him everything?
Excerpt:
“Wait a second.” He held up a hand. “I know you. You’re the stuck-up high school princess who was too good to give me the time of day. Mallory Yates.” His lips curled into a sneer.
In what universe did a pizzeria waitress have anything in common with a princess? Whatever. She couldn’t reason with guys like him. She didn’t bother to correct him on her name, either. If not for Ryan, she’d have returned to the Yates surname after her divorce. “I don’t know what you’re talking about and neither do you, but thanks for showing me you’re still the same insensitive jerk you’ve always been.”
He laughed. “You’re ever so welcome, princess. Now are you going to spray me with that pepper spray or just intimidate me by waving it around?”
She glanced down at the tiny bottle in her fist. If the rumors about his capabilities were true, he could disarm her in the blink of an eye. Regardless, he sure wasn’t the least bit intimidated.
“Neither.” She shoved the canister in her back pocket and advanced on him. “I want you to think next time before you do something stupid.” She shoved his chest, which proved as solid and unmoving as a brick wall.
He grasped her hands before she could withdraw them, trapping them against his heat. His eyes glittered in the growing darkness.
“Sometimes thinking is overrated. I like to do and deal with the consequences later.” He lowered his head toward her.
No way. He wouldn’t. He had as much disdain for her as she had for him. She glared at him, refusing to call his bluff and pull away.
Buy links:
Sara Daniel writes what she loves to read—irresistible romance, from sweet to steamy and everything in between. She grew up in a small town and was once a landlord of two uninvited squirrels. She has no regrets about turning her back on her accounting degree to write romance, but she deeply regrets her inability to keep track of her car keys.
Subscribe to Sara’s newsletter: http://eepurl.com/rx_AL
Visit her website: http://www.saradaniel.com/
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/SaraDanielSaraShafer
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SSaraDaniel
November 7, 2016
Tell Again Tuesday Reader Book Review
A blog series where we shamelessly share posts from others that we have enjoyed.
The Importance of a Reader Book Review
September 7, 2016 Author Angela Christina Archer
Most readers aren’t aware that authors actually want to know what they think about their novels. Reviews help increase sales, increase visibility, and increase engagement on social media. As a form of word of mouth between strangers, more and more people are checking the reviews of a novel before committing to a purchase, and a positive review can do nothing . . .
For the rest of the blog go to:
November 3, 2016
Friday Features Strange research
Guest shares
A Strange piece of research
from
Jockeying for You
C.D. Hersh asked me to tell them the strangest piece of research I had come across while writing JOCKEYING FOR YOU. If “strange” means “out of the ordinary,” then frankly, I found all my research strange. That’s because I knew nothing about the world of horseracing when I decided to write my newest book. Everything was out of the ordinary for me. (Perhaps writing a book on a topic where the writer starts out ignorant is strange onto itself!)
In order to educate myself, I read many books, and traveled to many places. Among my travels were Belmont Park, the Saratoga Race Course, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, and the Oklahoma Training Track. Some of the “out of the ordinary” information I came across during these visits:
1. The Oklahoma Training Track, despite its name, is located within a mile of the Saratoga Race Course (Saratoga Springs, New York). This training track is called “Oklahoma” because horses stabled here are “far” enough away from the Saratoga Race Course stable hands jokingly gave it this name many years ago.
2. Derby hats are not just a fashion statement they are a necessity for the upper echelon of the horseracing world. Access to the higher level facilities in the track are very dress-code specific.
A woman with VIP status at the track, but who does not wear a derby hat or a fascination, must stay in the general public area. Hatless women will be banned from all VIP areas for failure to comply with the track’s dress code.
A woman who has VIP status, but who wears a fascination (not a hat per se, but a round disk with feathers, bows and/or ribbons on it), may enter only some of the restricted restaurants, lounges, etc., but not all.
A woman who has VIP status and wears an actual derby hat (covering the full head, with a brim) may access all VIP areas.
3. The “back of the house,” is a section of a racecourse closed to the public, where horses are stabled and the stable hands work and/or reside. This area (which I was lucky enough to tour) looks very similar to a barn.
4, Today’s racehorses are the decedents of only three sires, the Byerley Turk, the Darley Arabian and the Godolphon Arabian. (So yes, racehorses are all basically related to each other, even if their tie goes back many generations.)
5. Racehorses that are injured get spa time. Literally. The stable area in the “back of the house” will often have horse-size hot tubs thoroughbreds can walk into and relax.
All in all, I think all the nuances of horseracing that I’ve learned is fascinating more than “strange.” Writing this book opened a whole new world to me. And on this topic, I’d never horse around.
Thank you Stacy for taking us around the barn and track. LOL. Now how about a look at and brief reading her new book JOCKEYING FOR YOU:
Jake Carter is on a mission—to prove his family wrong. He may have bought a troubled horse, but he’s hired Ryder Hannon, a “horse whisperer,” to get his horse back on track. She’s more than just a trainer to him, she’s the woman he’s been looking for.
Ryder Hannon, a thoroughbred horse trainer, has a big problem—fighting her fear of racing again. Her emotional scars run deeper than her physical ones. But her romantic feelings towards handsome, uber-rich, stable owner Jake Carter is a bigger problem. Is Jake truly in love with her or is he using her to get back at his smug family?
When Jake’s jockey gets injured, he wants Ryder to race. He knows deep down she wants to live up to her family’s legacy. So why does she keep fighting him—and her destiny—so hard?
LINKS
Amazon buy link: http://amzn.to/2clOJK3
Amazon author’s page: https://www.amazon.com/Stacy-Hoff/e/B00NN0HCW8
Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorStacyHoff
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorStacyHoff
November 1, 2016
Wednesday Special Spotlight The Luminated Threads series
Shines on
The Binding
She must choose between
keeping her magic or
losing her homeland.
Blurb:
Come into THE BINDING, the entangling final chapter of THE LUMINATED THREADS and the fight for Blighted Basin’s future…
Annmar Masterson has one chance to foil the scheming industrialist taking over the farmlands—a man who covets her body and the staggering power of her luminated threads. She must leave her proper Victorian upbringing behind and dedicate herself to mastering the threads—the heritage of her blood.
Shapeshifter Daeryn Darkcoat can’t protect Annmar until he faces the spell tying him to old friends and heartbreaking memories, and even then, she won’t hide behind the alpha male who holds her heart.
With or without Daeryn, Annmar faces an impossible choice. If she uses her luminated threads to harm, she loses them…but fighting without the threads will bind her new homeland to a madman.
Mixing witches, shapeshifters and a coming-of-age historical romance in a secret corner of England, THE BINDING delves deeper into the exciting steampunk fantasy world introduced in THE UNRAVELING and THE TWISTING.
The Binding is Volume 3 of a three-part serialized novel.
The Luminated Threads series:
The Unraveling, Volume One
The Twisting, Volume Two
The Binding, Volume Three
~~~
Excerpt:
A thrill of excitement shivered down Annmar’s spine. To the tunnels. Clothes rustled, a hand clutched her elbow…and a new tunnel formed around them. She blinked in the lighter space and released her breath. Plenty of sparkling rocks doted these walls, surrounded by roots and insects and the loveliest smell of earth and damp.
“You brought us here the last time.” Annmar pointed to a stone encircled with roots, its one side dull and pockmarked and the other sparkling with crystalline bits—the very rock Old Terry had had Annmar touch to bind them into this promise of guiding her.
“Clever you are, my pet,” Old Terry rumbled with pleasure. “I couldna ask for a better guide.”
Annmar bit her inner cheek to keep from smiling. Noticing a rock like that was easy when dozens of luminated blue threads circled it. Their movement attracted her threads as well, causing her finger threads to squirm more than when she’d touched Daeryn.
Jeptha, who’d been craning his head this way and that, his eyes wide with wonder, bent to the rock. “Bloody brilliant,” he whispered and reached a hand to a swollen spot on a root, one that glowed.
Old Terry slapped his hand down. “Rule number two: Do not touch the roots.” She glared at all three of them. “Do not disturb them or the soil around them. For your safety.”
Mary Clare pressed closer to Annmar. “You said last time that we’d be safe.”
“If you follow the rules.”
~~~
“I loved the transformation Annmar made and was cheering for her towards the end. I was expecting things to resolve one way, but they went another (more awesome) direction. What a perfect conclusion to this trilogy.” ~ Goodreads reviewer
Free on Kindle Unlimited ~ Trade Paperback coming soon
Other volumes in The Luminated Threads series:
~~~
Author Bio:[image error]
Laurel Wanrow loves misty mornings, the smell of freshly dug earth, petting long-haired guinea pigs and staring at the stars. She sees magic in nature and loves to photograph it.
Before kids, she studied and worked as a naturalist—someone who leads wildflower and other nature walks. During a stint of homeschooling, she turned her writing skills to fiction to share her love of the land, magical characters and fantastical settings.
When not living in her fantasy worlds, Laurel camps, hunts fossils and argues with her husband and two new adult kids over whose turn it is to clean house. Though they live on the East Coast, a cherished family cabin in the Colorado Rockies holds Laurel’s heart.
Sign up for Laurel’s newsletter or visit her website or Pinterest where she loves sharing images of steampunk finds, Victorian farm life and fun booky things!
October 31, 2016
Tell Again Tuesday Self Pub
A blog series where we shamelessly share posts from others that we have enjoyed.
July Update: POCKET FULL OF TINDER #SelfPub
Date: July 31, 2016 Author: Jill Archer
I promised to give a more detailed update of my self-publishing journey in July. Since it’s the last day of July, my day of reckoning has come.
Where am I in the process?
It’s summer so I’m going to use a roller coaster analogy. You know that . . .
For the rest of the blog go to:
https://jillarcherauthor.wordpress.com/2016/07/31/july-update/
October 27, 2016
Friday Features Caroline Warfield
Author of
The Renegade Wife
Caroline Warfield, author of The Renegade Wife, has stopped by to answer the question of ‘Why do you write?’
Take it away Caroline.
Why I write:
History gets me Jazzed. Whenever I write a novel, I have to guard against history leading my down all sorts of side paths and interesting, but not necessarily productive directions. This is particularly true when writing romance; I can’t let the historical setting swamp the relationship building.
I look for places to put my “overflow.” Since writing The Renegade Wife I’ve also written essays and blog posts on: the counterfeiting of coins, the Reform Act of 1832, The Bristol Riots of 1831, William IV, Colonel John By and his Rideau Canal, 19th century firearms, and even child selling and the rights of mothers.
I especially like history at the level of everyman. In our house, we say that my beloved is a genealogist, but I’m a micro-historian. It’s a fine distinction, and it leads to what fascinates me the most. Much of history is at its root about people trying to care for their families, about migration and economic pressures.
What really drives my stories is family. People are interesting, but family is where they change and grow. Families tend to be messy and rarely without conflict, no matter how well intended the members. Most people go into adulthood with plenty to work out.
Mining potential childhood and family issues for internal conflict is catnip to a fiction writer. When I put two complex flawed characters, each with very different sets of issues and surround them with family—interfering but well meaning, dysfunctional and abusive, or merely neglectful and selfish—I have the makings of a story. Put those very specific individuals down in a very specific historical world, and I’m cooking.
In The Renegade Wife, the hero has run half way across the world to Canada because of conflict with his cousin. The sympathy and support of his sister made it worse. Once he becomes involved with the heroine, he’s forced to return to England and sort out his old conflicts in the heart of family.
What sort of motivation to you like to see in a hero? What sort of flaws? I’ll give a kindle copy of one book in my Dangerous Series to one randomly selected person who answers. You can find them here: http://www.carolinewarfield.com/bookshelf/
About the Author
Award winning author Caroline Warfield has been many things: traveler, librarian, poet, raiser of children, bird watcher, Internet and Web services manager, conference speaker, indexer, tech writer, genealogist—even a nun. She reckons she is on at least her third act, happily working in an office surrounded by windows while she lets her characters lead her to adventures in England and the far-flung corners of the British Empire. She nudges them to explore the riskiest territory of all, the human heart.
About the Book
Betrayed by his cousin and the woman he loved, Rand Wheatly fled England, his dreams of a loving family shattered. He clings to his solitude in an isolated cabin in Upper Canada. Returning from a business trip to find a widow and two children squatting in his house, he flies into a rage. He wants her gone, but her children are sick and injured, and his heart is not as hard as he likes to pretend.
Meggy Blair harbors a secret, and she’ll do whatever it takes to keep her children safe. She’d hopes to hide with her Ojibwa grandmother, if she can find the woman and her people. She doesn’t expect to find shelter with a quiet, solitary man, a man who lowers his defensive walls enough to let Meggy and her children in.
Their idyllic interlude is shattered when Meggy’s brutal husband appears to claim his children. She isn’t a widow, but a wife, a woman who betrayed the man she was supposed to love, just as Rand’s sweetheart betrayed him. He soon discovers why Meggy is on the run, but time is running out. To save them all, Rand must return and face his demons.
Read for free with Kindle Unlimited or buy it at https://www.amazon.com/Renegade-Wife-Children-Empire-Book-ebook/dp/B01LY7IRT6/
~Excerpt~
“Let go of her, Blair, or I’ll shoot you like the dog you are. God knows you deserve it.” For untold minutes all Rand heard was the wind in the trees, and Lena’s whimper behind Pratt’s back. Even Meggy seemed to hold her breath.
Blair let go of her arm so suddenly she stumbled before running back to her children. “The slut and her children are mine, Wheatly, and that makes you a thief.”
“Get on your horse, Blair, and get out of here before I change my mind and shoot you anyway. You too, Pratt.”
Rand kept his pistol aimed at Blair while the men mounted and turn their horses to the lane. Pratt and Martin galloped up the hill and into the woods, but Blair turned half way up and pointed back at Meggy hugging the children in Rand’s doorway.
“They’re mine, Wheatly. I have a writ. I’ll be back with the magistrate and the deputy to have you jailed for resisting. Won’t your fancy relatives like that?” He turned and galloped off.
Rand eased back the hammer of his pistol, when the men cleared the trees. He slid it into a holster, jumped down, and ran to Meggy and the children, pulling all of them into an embrace. Meggy began to weep almost as soon as his hand came around her back, pulling her close with Lena between them and Drew in the crook of his arm.
“You might have killed him, and then where would we be?” she sobbed.
“You would be safe from him.”
“And you would be in jail or worse.”
He didn’t deny it. He kissed the top of her head and down her cheek.
Meet the Author
Visit Caroline’s Website and Blog
Subscribe to Caroline’s newsletter
October 25, 2016
Wednesday Special Spotlight Never With a Rich Man
Coming Release by
Tina Susedik
“Never With a Rich Man” is now up for pre-order on Amazon. The release date is scheduled for November 2.
Is the man she’s falling for really who she thinks he is?
Blurb: Cassie Jordan has been lied to, cheated on, and passed over for a promotion. All by men. She was tired of men. She didn’t need a man, and certainly not a rich man. Then she met Hogan Wynnters, and ordinary salesman – or so she thought.
Hogan Wynnters is part owner of a family business and has the kind of money Cassie despises. He’s tired of women coming on to him because he’s rich. He decides to never tell a woman about his financial status until she gets to know him as a person. As an undercover FBI agent, he uses his knowledge of antiquities to find the people who are bringing stolen WWII artifacts into the country. Unfortunately, the woman he’s falling for is in the crosshairs of the FBI.
Can they work through their preconceived notions and find true love?
Excerpt: Before the bathroom door clicked shut, Hogan was in the living room seated at Cassie’s desk. The shower came on, masking the sound of drawers opening and closing. Even though he’d searched them before, he checked each small drawer in the top part of the secretary. Nothing more than the usual desk items: pens, paper clips, pencils, post it notes, markers, a screwdriver, a few romance novels shoved into the larger drawers, and a green sock.
Sock: Hogan chuckled, wondering if it was the match to the one she’d worn in her hair.
He ran a thumb over the sock, then stopped. To hell with orders. He couldn’t do this, not with her upstairs and not with wanting her so bad. Besides, he didn’t have a search warrant. If she were guilty, anything he might find wouldn’t be admissible anyway. Unethical all the way around.
The shower shut off. He figured he had a few more minutes before she came down, yet he remained seated, weighing his options.
Cassie was so sweet, yet sexy. She aroused him like no other woman. His job was to get close to her and find out what she knew about Tony’s activities. Her skin was soft. He wanted to run his fingers through her silky hair. His boss would go ape shit if he didn’t get something on her. His penis twitched.
A hair dryer briefly whined, then stopped. Time was ticking.
Silence surrounded him. No shower. No hairdryer. A cupboard door slammed. Hogan glanced toward the stairs, shut the desk drawer, and made a beeline for the kitchen to try and make himself presentable.
Buy Link: Amazon: https://amzn.com/B01MAXTN9A
Contact Info:
http://tinasusedik.wordpress.com./
Twitter: @tinasusedik,author
Website: http://www.tinasusedik.com/
Facebook: Tina Susedik, Author
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1754353.Tina_Susedik
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/tinasusedik/
October 24, 2016
Tell Again Tuesday Writing Myths
A blog series where we shamelessly share posts from others that we have enjoyed.
Resistance is Futile: And other writing myths
Moonday Mania
a blog for the readers and writers
I’ts hot! And to keep my mind off of the heat this summer, I’ve been blogging on the five top things I’ve learned writing romance. Today we’re on number four: There is such thing as . . .
For the rest of the blog go to:
https://jessicaaspen.com/2016/08/01/resistance-is-futile-and-other-writing-myths/
