Babs Hightower's Blog, page 71

DEATH OF AN ALCHEMIST

Death of an Alchemist

by Mary Lawrence

Death of an Alchemist

(A Bianca Goddard Mystery)

2nd Book in Series

Mystery – Women Sleuths

Publisher: Kensington (January 26, 2016)

Paperback: 304 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1617737121

E-Book ASIN: B00X2EOZRU

In the mid sixteenth century, Henry VIII sits on the throne, and Bianca Goddard tends to the sick and suffering in London’s slums, where disease can take a life as quickly as murder. . .

For years, alchemist Ferris Stannum has devoted himself to developing the Elixir of Life, the reputed serum of immortality. Having tested his remedy successfully on an animal, Stannum intends to send his alchemy journal to a colleague in Cairo for confirmation. Instead he is strangled in his bed and his journal is stolen.

As the daughter of an alchemist herself, Bianca is well acquainted with the mystical healing arts. As her husband, John, falls ill with the sweating sickness, she dares to hope Stannum’s journal could contain the secret to his recovery. But first she must solve the alchemist’s murder. As she ventures into a world of treachery and deceit, Stannum’s death proves to be only the first in a series of murders–and Bianca’s quest becomes a matter of life and death, not only for her husband, but for herself. . .

About The Author

Mary Lawrence studied biology and chemistry, graduating from Indiana University with a degree in Cytotechnology. She won the Celtic Heart Golden Claddagh Award for historical fiction, and was a finalist in both the RWA® Golden Heart contest, and the Gotham Young Adult Novel Discovery competition. Along with writing and farming, Lawrence works as a cytologist near Boston. She lives in Maine. The Alchemist’s Daughter is the first book in the Bianca Goddard Mystery series. Visit her at marylawrencebooks.com.

Author Links:

Webpage –  http://www.marylawrencebooks.com/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/marylawrence.author

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/84420.Mary_Lawrence

Twitter: https://twitter.com/@mel59lawrence

Pinterest:  https://www.pinterest.com/mel59lawrence/

GoodReads:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25489259-death-of-an-alchemist

 

Purchase Links:

Amazon    IndieBound   B&N

 

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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A SCONE TO DIE FOR blog tour and giveaway

A Scone to Die for

by H.Y. Hanna

(Oxford Tearoom Mysteries ~ Book 1)

Genre – Cozy Mystery

Self-Published

• Number of Pages: 360

Not up on Amazon or B&N until January 18, 2016

Synopsis:

When an American tourist is murdered with a scone in Gemma Rose’s quaint Oxfordshire tearoom, she suddenly finds herself apron-deep in a mystery involving long-buried secrets from Oxford’s past.

Armed with her insider knowledge of the University and with the help of four nosy old ladies from the village (not to mention a cheeky little tabby cat named Muesli), Gemma sets out to solve the mystery—all while dealing with her matchmaking mother and the return of her old college love, Devlin O’Connor, now a dashing CID detective.

But with the body count rising and her business going bust, can Gemma find the killer before things turn to custard?

*Traditional English scone recipe included!

 

About the Author

H.Y. Hanna is an award-winning mystery and suspense author, who also writes sweet romance and children’s fiction. After graduating from Oxford University with a BA in Biological Sciences and a MSt in Social Anthropology, Hsin-Yi tried her hand at a variety of jobs, before returning to her first love: writing. She worked as a freelance journalist for several years, with articles and short stories published in the UK, Australia and NZ, and has won awards for her novels, poetry, short stories and journalism. A globe-trotter all her life, Hsin-Yi has lived in a variety of cultures, from Dubai to Auckland, London to New Jersey, but is now happily settled in Perth, Western Australia, with her husband and a rescue kitty named Muesli. You can learn more about her (and the real-life Muesli who inspired the cat character in the story) at: www.hyhanna.com.

Author Links

WEBSITE:  http://www.hyhanna.com

FACEBOOK:  http://www.facebook.com/hyhanna.books

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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BTS is hiring a Amish columnist for new magazine Heartwarming Hearth.

Over at Heartwarming Hearth we are looking for the following columnist for the following categories.

All we need is someone for Amish please

Columns:

Amish

 

Please have some experience when applying.

Paid position. Write a column every two months for the issue. Please look at the columns in our magazine (http://issuu.com/btsemag/docs/issue31_janfeb2016-final ) to get an idea of what we are looking for in a columnist. Your column will be seen by thousands of readers.

If interested write Babs @ Babsh@btsemag.com with your credentials.

The post BTS is hiring a Amish columnist for new magazine Heartwarming Hearth. appeared first on ~*~Babs Book Bistro~*~.

HARLEQUIN SERIES PROGRAM BRINGS YOU FEBRUARY’S PRIVATE PROTECTORS!

Terri Reed

•         Bon Appétit and a Book: A delicious recipe to enjoy alongside the book.

Chocolate Soufflés:

3 tbs unsalted butter, divided

2 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder

3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

4 Large eggs

2 tbs granulated sugar

Pinch salt

Pinch cream of tartar

Raspberry Sauce:

5 oz fresh or thawed frozen raspberries

2 tbs granulated sugar

Powdered sugar, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Use 1 tbs of the butter to grease two 8-ounce ramekins. Coat the ramekins with cocoa powder, tapping out the excess.

In a large microwave-safe bowl, microwave the chocolate and remaining 2 tbs of butter in 30-second bursts, stirring between each burst, until melted and smooth. Stir in vanilla and egg yolks, one at a time.

In a clean bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the egg whites, sugar, salt, and cream of tartar just until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg white mixture into the chocolate. Spoon into the prepared ramekins. Soufflés can be covered in plastic wrap and refrigerated at this point for up to 1 day.

Bake until puffed and set, about 20 minutes (25 minutes if baking directly from the refrigerator).

Raspberry Sauce:

While the soufflés are baking, purée the raspberries and sugar in the bowl of a food processor, blender, or with an immersion blender, until smooth. Press the mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds.

Garnish the chocolate soufflés with powdered sugar and serve immediately with raspberry sauce.

 

 

•         Writing Space Tour: A photo tour of your writing space.

So I did clean up my office for this.  Usually its much more messy, especially when I’m in the middle of a book. Photo 1-my desk area where all the work happens, photo 2 my bookshelf

 

•        How-To-Tips for Aspiring Writers: Advice on how to break into the series-writing business.

1. Read and study books in the series line you are targeting. Notice that each series has a different tone and different guidelines. Make sure you understand them so that your story can meet reader expectations.
2. Find and hone your voice. This is the unique way that you tell a story. Honor your voice and stay true to it.
3. Be creative with the genre tropes but not so creative that your work is unmarketable.
4. Be persistence but professional. Keep submitting. Don’t give up on the first try.
5. Be teachable. If you’re given feedback from an editor, agent, or a respected critique partner, heed it.  Keep honing your craft.

•         Song Playlist: A prepared playlist of songs that embodies the book’s characters and their love story.

I can’t write without music playing, the more upbeat the better. Here are some songs that make me think of my characters from Ransom and their love story.

1. Niagara sung by Sara Evans –this country love song is so pretty, full of conflict and angst. And the book is set in Niagara Falls, after all.
2. All for Love sung by Rod Stewart, Bryan Adams and Sting—the awesome talent of the three guys notwithstanding, this is such a powerful song and I think of Blake, the hero of Ransom, when I hear it.
3. Some Kind of Wonderful sung by Michael Bublé—such an upbeat tune and the words are indicative of Blake and Liz. They both are so closed off yet they have all these feelings that they don’t know how to express.
4. Waiting for a Girl Like You sung by Foreigner—not only is this my absolute favorite song from one of my favorite bands (I saw them in concert three times when I was in college-okay dating myself!) but also it speaks to the heart of Blake and Liz and the wounds of the past and the hope for the future.
5. Here and Now sung by Luther Vandross—a throw back to the 80’s but one of the all time best love songs and perfect for Valentine’s and for Blake and Liz’s HEA.

•         Love Lessons Learned: Real life romance lessons learned from the book.

I would say the real life romance lesson is seen in the way Jillian, the heroine’s newlywed sister, remains faithful to her marriage vow, despite her new husband’s duplicity. A case could have been made that she could exit the relationship for a variety of reasons but Jillian and Liz were taught to honor their commitments. Liz admires Jillian and learns from her how to take a chance on love.

•         Movie Star Cast:  Pick movie stars to play your characters in a movie.

Liz Cantrell to be played by Jade Bryce. I love the color of her hair here and the determined look in her eyes.

Blake Fallon to be played by Milo Ventimiglia. I was a huge fan of the Gilmore Girls and thought Milo was a nice looking young man. And now that he’s a bit older, he’s definitely hero material. I like the intimidating stare here, just what I imagine Blake would use.

•         Date Night: What would your characters do for the perfect Valentine’s Day date?

Dinner in a romantic restaurant with a window seat overlooking the ocean, soft music playing in the background and candlelight dancing across the table. Staring into each other’s eyes and knowing that no matter what happens in life, that as long as they are together, they can weather any storm.

Q&A with Terri Reed – Ransom

 

What are five words that describe your writing process?

Controlled chaos, linear, plot driven.

 

Is anything in Ransom based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?

For the most, part pure imagination. However since this is an inspirational, the faith element draws upon my own understanding and learning of God.

 

If you were to name one piece of clothing that describes your personality, what would it be?

Yoga Pants.

 

Do you work with an outline or plot or do you prefer to just see where an idea takes you?

I am a heavy plotter. I like to have a detailed outline to write from otherwise I meander, which slows the process.

 

Who is your favorite literary villain and why?

My favorite would be Mrs. Bennett from Pride and Prejudice. Most people think of Mr. Bennett as the villain but to me it is Mrs. Bennett who drives the story with her neurotic, fanciful, panic-stricken obsessive need for security and her willingness to push her daughters into loveless marriages. My daughter played Mrs. Bennett in her high school production of Pride and Prejudice. She stole the show with her very natural comedic flare and vivid portrayal of the conniving Mrs. Bennett.

 

What was your favorite scene to write in Ransom?

I always enjoy writing the declaration scene where my hero and heroine are ready to let down their guard, open up and risk their hearts.

 

If you had your own talk show, who would your first three guests be?

Hugh Jackson, Susan Elizabeth Philips, Carol Burnett.

 

What did you find most useful/least useful/most desctructive in learning to write?

The most useful tool in learning to write was the craft book Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain.  The least helpful, hmmm, I can’t think of anything specific. I guess I would say harsh contest judges.

 

What does a perfect day look like to you?

A light breakfast and a good cup of coffee-like a hazelnut milk cardamom latte or an almond milk caramel latte—an hour of Zumba, five to six hours of productive writing and someone else cooking dinner.

 

What are you working on next?

I just turned in the fifth book in the Northern Border Patrol series, titled Identity Unknown. This book features a secondary character from Ransom.  Canada Border Service officer Nathanial Longhorn gets his own story set in the fictional town Calico Bay on the coast of Maine.  Up next, I’m developing a new series for Love Inspired Suspense.  I’m still in the early stages so I don’t have details to share yet. But I’m going to put to use my 14 weeks at the Washington County Sheriff’s Department Citizen’s Academy. I filled an entire notebook with in-depth info and can’t wait to put those notes to work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bon Appétit and a Book: A delicious recipe to enjoy alongside the book. (2 images with the Bon Appetit )

My characters rarely get to eat anything other than fast food. I thought I’d share my chocolate chip cookie recipe…since warm cookies definitely go with any story.

2/3 cup Butter Flavored Crisco, softened–not melted

2/3 cup margarine, softened–not melted

1 cup granulated sugar

1 3/4 to 2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed

2 eggs

4 teaspoons vanilla (if you use REAL vanilla, back it down to 2 teaspoons)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

chocolate chips to your liking

nuts if you must

 

NOTES: You’ll definitely want a good mixer.  Invest in baking stones. The perfect cookie isn’t achieved on a metal baking sheet. The cookies bake in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes and they’ll be sooo gooey you can’t remove them. You’ll be tempted to put them back in the oven. If you know how a baking stone works, it retains heat and will continue to cook the gooey cookie while it cools. THAT’s THE SECRET!  Fortunately, I have more than one stone and can cook a batch while one is cooling.

 

If your cookies are a bit too soft, back off the brown sugar a tad. Honestly, I discovered Baker’s Chef brown sugar and have noticed a difference in the taste of the cookies when I didn’t use this brand.

 

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

 

Thoroughly blend softened margarine and Crisco. It needs to be one blended mixture. Add eggs, blend again. Add vanilla, blend again. *I do things differently, I add the baking soda, baking powder and salt here (realizing that most people add them with the dry ingredients, but I want to make certain they blend well–and after the flour goes in, it gets harder to mix). Add granulated sugar, blend. Add brown sugar, blend. Add 1 cup of flour at a time until all is blended. Add chocolate chips, but the recipe is great without them too.

 

Drop cookie dough onto baking stones. Another secret to a soft cookie is to make them larger. I had a bus driver accuse me of making mini-pizzas. Band kids always wanted second cookies, but the band director said they could only have one. HAHA…so I made larger single-serving cookies. But this rebellion helped me develop a very soft cookie.

 

Don’t squish the dough, just spoon it and let it sit tall, give it plenty of room to spread out when it cooks.

 

Bake 8 to 10 minutes (at least in Texas).

Cool at least 8 minutes on the baking stone.

 

Q&A with Angi Morgan-Bulletproof Badge

What are five words that describe your writing process?

 

Storyteller. Texan speak. Linear. Feedback-needy.

 

What emoji best describes your personality? Why?

 

I had to ask my friends for this answer. They said the sunglass smiley face because I’m cool. But it’s probably because a lot of my pictures have sunglasses on my face. I love road trips and can’t drive without them.

 

Which would you rather do: Never write another story or never read another book?

 

If I never wrote another story, the ones in my head would probably drive me (and everyone around me) nuts. So sadly, I’d have to give up reading and stick with storytelling.

 

How important are names to you in your books? Do you choose the names based on liking the way it sounds or the meaning?

 

Oddly enough, I thought the names were extremely important…up until my West Texas Watchmen series heroines’ names needed to be changed. I’d called them Scottie, Donnie and Ronnie.  Too masculine…so I ran a fan contest and let them name them. Sometimes I’ll hear a name and say, that’s this character’s name and it can’t change…Ever.

 

Are you a spring, summer, fall, or winter person?

 

Summer. I love hot–and it gets hot enough in Texas. But give me the beach and a tan. I’ve spent many springs and summers running a girls fast pitch softball complex…snow cones and pickle pops are the best!

 

Is there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than others? Love? Action? Racy?

 

Love scenes…I can write action in about an hour…love scenes take me all week.  Action is action. But I always want a love scene to be special for just those two characters. It has to be unique and progress the characters’ stories.

 

What was your favorite scene to write in Bulletproof Badge? Why?

 

Garrison takes Kenderly back to his aunt’s house which is modeled after my grandmother’s home. He’s tending a deep scratch after escaping the bad guys…

“How could I have gotten into this mess?” She fanned her cheeks in a motion his sister used years ago when trying not to cry. “When I woke up this morning, I never imagined I’d have two dogs at my feet, be sitting in a funny little kitchen with peroxide dripping down my thigh and have a complete stranger blowing up my skirt.”

 

If you had your own talk show, who would your first three guests be?

 

I’ve been a fan of Dennis Quaid’s smile all my life, so he would need to be on.

Kurt Russell because I’d love to know if he had stories of Walt Disney.

Chris Pine because I recently discovered he could be any of my heroes.

I’d eventually have writers, I’m sure. (Hiding behind my sunglasses emoji now.)

 

What did you find most useful in learning to write?

 

Listening to myself and trusting my gut about my work.

 

What was least useful or most destructive?

 

Not listening to myself and not trusting my gut about my work.

 

Seriously, the hardest thing for a neurotic writer is trusting that the version of the story on the page is the absolute best version there is. Trusting that you got it right? It’s hard. And all of a sudden I realized that people liked the way I told stories. When I got that version of my writing on the page I gained some confidence and ran with it.

 

What is your next project?

 

This week I’m finishing up book four of TEXAS RANGERS: ELITE TROOP. Hard Core Law is about the Company F commander and the decisions a very good man is faced with in order to save his children. My next project is about two brothers from Liberty Hill, Texas where football rules the town year-round. The first hero is the sheriff (former quarterback and town hero). He gives his brother his word that he’ll protect a woman, then finds out she’s wanted for murder. Does he arrest her or protect her like he promised?

 

Addison Fox – Colton’s Surprise Heir 

Bon Appetit and a Book

 

They say that there are two types of people in the kitchen – bakers and cooks. If I had to put myself into a category, I’d definitely lean toward baker. I have a few dishes that have become part of my standing repertoire, but as a recent attempt at a ham and bean soup will attest, my skills lean toward those recipes that involve copious amounts of butter and sugar, NOT meat, veggies or starch.

 

I’m not a southerner by birth, but I first moved to Texas nearly two decades ago. In the years since, I’ve learned about the fine art of casserole making AND just how many wonderful ways there are to combine butter and sugar. So…without further ado, here’s a personal favorite. I first heard it called Chess Cake but Paula Deen has perfected it as “Ooey Gooey Cake.” Regardless of what you call it, I can promise you it will be a dessert everyone loves.

 

CHESS CAKE

 

Ingredients:

1 box of yellow cake mix

3 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla

2 sticks of butter

1 package of cream cheese

1 box (16 oz) of Confectioners Sugar

 

Mix one stick of melted butter with one egg and the yellow cake mix. Mix thoroughly with a mixer until the dough is thick and easy to work with. Press into the base of a 9×13 glass pan.

 

Take a package of cream cheese and cream with the mixer. Add two eggs and the teaspoon of vanilla, continue mixing. Once fully mixed together, slowly add in the Confectioners Sugar. Mix thoroughly, then layer the mixture over the base you’ve already pressed into the pan.

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes (depends on your oven…mine’s perfect around minute 43). The top gets a very thin crust and the insides below should be slightly wet on a tester or thin knife.

 

Let cool and enjoy!

 

Happy Baking AND Reading!

Addison

 

PHOTOS INCLUDED:

Chess Cake + Book

The post HARLEQUIN SERIES PROGRAM BRINGS YOU FEBRUARY’S PRIVATE PROTECTORS! appeared first on ~*~Babs Book Bistro~*~.

Drawing Blood by Deirdre Verne blog tour and guest post

Drawing Blood

by Deirdre Verne

Drawing Blood

(A Sketch in Crime Mystery)

2nd in Series

Cozy Mystery

Publisher: Midnight Ink (February 8, 2016)

Paperback: 336 pages

ISBN-13: 978-0738742281

E-Book ASIN: B019KKTX0I

Synopsis

CeCe Prentice returns with her band of Dumpster-diving pals in this fast-paced mystery that puts the eco-friendly heroine back on top—of a pile of trash.

When Big Bob, manager of the town dump, goes missing, CeCe is worried about more than where she’ll score her next salvaged car. First at the scene when Bob’s body is recovered from under the weekly recycling haul, CeCe is quick to identify potential witnesses and provide crucial scene sketches. But when CeCe is uncharacteristically startled by an unidentified woman at Bob’s abandoned house, her artistic talents are challenged, and her drawings, much to her frustration, come up short.

With CeCe’s observational talents on the fritz, Detective Frank DeRosa, CeCe, and her network of Freegans are forced to recreate Big Bob’s life from the garbage up. The team is soon thrust into the underworld of recycling where what appears to be junk could actually be the clue that saves a life.

Guest Post:

Desk

Let’s talk desks. I don’t have one. Years ago I had visions of setting up a home office, flooded with natural light and packed with all things inspirational. It seems I’ve never found that perfect space and as it turns out, small people who look suspiciously like me have invaded my home. My only choice is to move, like a nomad, from room to room. When someone enters, I pick up and leave. When they follow, I relocate again.

By next year, I’ll have three books on the market and I think this earns me the right to a dedicated workstation. It’s not ego. At this point, it’s ergonomic. To illustrate this point, I’ve included a picture of my current, on-the-go, set-up. As you can see, my computer is balanced on two department store shirt boxes. When the next family birthday rolls around, my towering inferno of technology will be sacrificed in favor of a stack of wrapped presents. I think we can agree that I need a desk.

In the past, I’ve tried to write at an oak pedestal dining table that was too high for my arms to rest comfortably. Then there was the footstool where I sat cross-legged on the floor until I couldn’t unlock my knees. Finally, I sat propped up in my thrift-shop bed until the heat from my laptop burned my thighs. I have done some desk shopping, but I’m painfully cheap. So I’m sure it won’t come as a surprise that my main character, CeCe Prentice, is a dumpster-diving diva who would rather repurpose than purchase. I’ve gone this route myself, but I haven’t been nearly as successful as CeCe, who seems to get by, quite successfully, on society’s abundant leftovers.

On a whim, I recently checked-out Kickstarter, a crowd-funding site that supports creative endeavors. Hey, I’m creative and I think my desk photo, submitted here, is just sad enough to establish need. First, I looked at my competition in the publishing category. One author had already raised $8,000 to support a Troll cookbook and another had accumulated $6,000 for a self-published book on house critters. Suddenly, the economy-priced desk from an office supply store that I’d had my eye on seemed attainable – “Published author with leg and arm cramps needs a new desk to write blockbuster!”

As I continued scrolling through the Kickstarter pleas for charity, I decided to sort them by the amount of money raised. There I found an entrepreneurial pair of inventors who had raised $40,000 to develop a line of high-performance underpants for women. That got me thinking. Maybe I don’t need a new desk, but rather new undergarments. High Performance Undergarments for the Writer on the Go!

Oh no, I’ve done it again. I’ve talked myself out of a purchasing a desk. I really need some help here, but as much as I’d like to discuss my inability to buy a desk, I’m about to be displaced…..again!

 

 

About This Author

Deirdre Verne (Lower Westchester, NY) is a mystery writer, college professor, and an active college blogger. Deirdre’s interest in green living inspired her to create an off-the-grid character who Dumpster dives her way through the “Sketch in Crime” mystery series. Verne’s second book, Drawing Blood, is available in February 2016. “A dysfunctional functional family to die for…[CeCe Prentice’s] second case is every bit as twisty and surprising.”-Kirkus Reviews.

A member of Sisters in Crime, Deirdre’s short stories appear in all three New York chapter anthologies – Murder New York Style, Murder New York Style: Fresh Slices and Family Matters. Visit her online at DeirdreVerne.com.

 

Author Links

Webpage – www.deirdreverne.com

Blog – www.deirdreverne.com/blog/

Twitter – @deirdreverne

GoodReads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8276614.Deirdre_Verne

Purchase Links: 

Amazon   B&N 

 

Tour Participants

February 8 – Babs Book Bistro – Guest Post

February 9 – Island Confidential – Interview

February 9 – The Book’s the Thing – Spotlight

February 10 – Mallory Heart’s Cozies – Review 

February 11 – Musings and Ramblings – Guest Post

February 12 – Celticlady’s Reviews – Spotlight

February 13 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews – Guest Post

February 14 – Griperang’s Bookmarks – Interview

February 15 – 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy,  &, Sissy, Too ! – Spotlight

February 15 – Cozy Up With Kathy – Guest Post

February 16 – LibriAmoriMiei – Review

February 16 – StoreyBook Reviews – Spotlight

February 17 – Reading Is My SuperPower – Review

February 17 – Brooke Blogs – Guest Post

February 18 – Back Porchervations – Review

February 18 – A Blue Million Books – Interview

The post Drawing Blood by Deirdre Verne blog tour and guest post appeared first on ~*~Babs Book Bistro~*~.

Cozy Mystery Meets Fairytale in Maia Chance’s BEAUTY, BEAST, AND BELLADONNA

 

Q&A with Maia Chance – Beauty, Beast, and Belladonna

 

Describe Beauty, Beast, and Belladonna in 140 characters or less.

 

Beauty, Beast, and Belladonna is a fun, adventurous, and romantic historical mystery set in a secret-riddled French chateau in 1867.

 

2.)  What is your idea of perfect happiness?

 

Happiness for me is spending time outside somewhere beautiful, with my husband, kids, and dog.

 

What’s your favorite part of Ophelia’s quirky personality?

 

I like the way Ophelia compensates in creative and gutsy ways for her lack of a good formal education.  She’s smart and resourceful and she uses her unusual skill set—farm girl, circus performer, actress—to help solve the mystery.

 

Which living person do you most admire?

 

My husband, actually.  He is an unusually gifted person who overcame significant disadvantages and obstacles to get where he is today.  And he gives the best pep-talks!

 

What inspired you to marry fairytales and mystery?

 

I was searching for something that hadn’t been done yet, and I was reading a lot of fairy tale criticism for school at the time.  It sounded like a deliciously fun project, so I plunged in.

 

Is there a type of scene that’s harder for you to write than others? Love? Action? Racy?

 

Dialogue definitely comes more easily for me.  I find action scenes more challenging—I’m paranoid that they’ll get bogged down.  (So if I can, I add dialogue to my action scenes!)

 

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Sticking to strict schedules.  I don’t like to keep people waiting, but there is something to be said for giving yourself creative or restful wiggle-room during the day.

 

Which of the characters in this novel do you feel the most drawn to?

 

I became more attached to Professor Penrose in this book.  He’s more vulnerable and at a loss than in the previous two books—and more deeply in love.

 

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

 

Oh, my.  Probably dozens.  I seem to like “buzz” a lot for some reason.  I’m deleting it all the time.

 

Can you describe for us your process for naming characters?

 

For historical American characters I use census records.  I collect names from cemeteries whenever I visit one, and I often borrow names from literature.  Since my books have lots of characters, I try to give them all distinctive names that hint at their personalities, to help the reader keep everyone sorted in their mind.

 

Who are your favorite writers?

 

Agatha Christie, P.G. Wodehouse, Edith Wharton and Theodor Adorno.

 

Who is your most loved hero of fiction?

 

Indiana Jones.

 

Which talent would you most like to have?

 

It would be ecstasy to be a really, really great opera singer.

 

You’re hosting a dinner party, which five authors (dead or alive) would you invite?

 

G. Wodehouse would probably be the life of any party. Also, Agatha Christie, Edgar Allan Poe, Shakespeare, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. There would be lots of drinking at this party.  Maybe some arguments.  No strip poker though.

 

Do you have a favorite time period in literature?

 

Not really.  Because of my English degrees I have read very widely, and I have favorites from every era.  And every era has its stultifying boring authors, too.

 

What is your motto?

Keep trying.

 

What is the best reaction over a book that you’ve ever gotten from a fan?

 

Fans who say my book gave them pure pleasure—that’s happened a few times—make me so happy.  It’s my aim to give people something to read that’s a pleasurable and absorbing diversion from Real Life.  Real Life is hard.

 

Where would you most like to live?

 

A place with lots of trees where I could do all my daily activities and errands on foot.  I’m working on it.

 

Which historical figure do you most identify with?

 

No one specific, but I often think of the female writers over the centuries who kept at their stories even when they had screaming kids and the dinner to cook and a really messy house piling up around them.  They did it, and so can I.

 

What are you working on next?

 

I just completed a humorous contemporary mystery that does not yet have a publisher, and I’m working on a historical fantasy adventure with a co-author.  After that, the next thing will be book #3 of the Discreet Retrieval Agency series.

 

Excerpts:

 

“What’s this?” Ophelia had almost stepped on something at the base of the cave wall.

Penrose crouched and held the lantern over it.  “Good God,” he muttered.  “Is it . . . a shrine?”

Small earthenware dishes held what appeared to be chocolate drops, purple berries, and loose pearls.  A clay vase held a red and white striped rose.

Churches in New England didn’t have shrines.  They didn’t even have stained glass windows or statues.

“Pearls,” Ophelia said.  “Madame Dieudonné was missing a pearl necklace.”  But—she looked carefully at the shrine—no ruby ring.  Still, the pearls connected the shrine, very loosely, to the missing ring.  There was hope yet.

“This resembles the offerings people of the Orient assemble for their gods or ancestors,” Penrose said.

“Those are belladonna berries, professor.”  The skin of Ophelia’s back felt all itchy and crawly, and she stole a glance to the black gap where the cave continued into the earth.  Someone could be back there.  Watching.

“Miss Flax,” Penrose said slowly.  “Look at this.”  He lifted the lantern, illuminating the picture on the wall above the shrine.

Heavens to Betsy.  A carved, black-painted beast, half-man, half-boar, undulated in the light.

The body of the beast was like a man’s, although the feet seemed—Gabriel squinted—yes, they seemed to have hooves.  But the head!  It was unmistakably that of a furry boar, with large pointed tusks and tiny round ears.

A slight crunching sound made Gabriel and Miss Flax freeze.  Their eyes met.

Silence.

Gabriel knew that somewhere in the shadows, someone or something lay in wait.

Miss Flax, wide-eyed, in those awful trousers, seemed at once horribly vulnerable and dear beyond measure.  The pistol tucked into Gabriel waistband felt newly heavy.  He picked up the lantern and slowly stood, willing himself not to exude the essence of fear in case whatever was watching was an animal.

“Come,” he mouthed to Miss Flax, wrapping his free hand around her wrist.  “Slowly.”

She stayed very close to him as they walked steadily out of the cave.

They emerged into the cold, damp night.  The moon glowed whitely above.  The air tasted of soil and rot.

“Shouldn’t you extinguish the lamp?” Miss Flax whispered as they started down the rocky, ice-slicked slope.  “So they can’t see us?”  She tugged her wrist free of his hand so she could climb.

“Wild animals are afraid of light.”  Gabriel longed to grab her wrist again, to enfold her, keep her safe.  If something were to befall her—

“It wasn’t an animal in there,” Miss Flax said.  “It was a human being.  I could feel it.  Animals don’t make one feel so frightened.”

“Not any animals?”

“No.  Animals never seem evil, and I felt something evil up there in the cave.”

 

 

BEAUTY, BEAST and BELLADONNA

 

Beware of allowing yourself to be prejudiced by appearances.  –Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, “Beauty and the Beast” (1756)

 

1    The day had arrived.  Miss Ophelia Flax’s last day in Paris, her last day in Artemis Stunt’s gilt-edged apartment choked with woody perfumes and cigarette haze.  Ophelia had chosen December 12th, 1867, at eleven o’clock in the morning as the precise time she would make a clean breast of it.  And now it was half past ten.

Ophelia swept aside brocade curtains and shoved a window open.  Rain spattered her face.  She leaned out and squinted up the street.  Boulevard Saint-Michel was a valley of stone buildings with iron balconies and steep slate roofs.  Beyond carriages and bobbling umbrellas, a horse-drawn omnibus splashed closer.

“Time to go,” she said, and latched the window shut.  She turned.  “Good-bye, Henrietta.  You will write to me—telegraph me, even—if Prue changes her mind about the convent?”

“Of course, darling.”  Henrietta Bright sat at the vanity table, still in her frothy dressing gown.  “But where shall I send a letter?”  She shrugged a half-bare shoulder in the looking glass.  Reassuring herself, no doubt, that at forty-odd years of age she was still just as dazzling as the New York theater critics used to say.

“I’ll let the clerk at Howard DeLuxe’s Varieties know my forwarding address,” Ophelia said.  “Once I have one.”  She pulled on cheap gloves with twice-darned fingertips.

“What will you do in New England?” Henrietta asked.  “Besides getting buried under snowdrifts and puritans?  I’ve been to Boston.  The entire city is like a mortuary.  No drinking on Sundays, either.”  She sipped her glass of poison-green cordial.  “Although, all that knuckle-rapping does make the gentlemen more generous with actresses like us when they get the chance.”

“Actresses like us?”  Ophelia went to her carpetbag, packed and ready on the opulent bed that might’ve suited the Princess on the Pea.  Ladies born and raised on New Hampshire farmsteads did not sleep in such beds.  Not without prickles of guilt, at least.  “I’m no longer an actress, Henrietta.  Neither are you.”  And they were never the same kind of actress.  Or so Ophelia fervently wished to believe.

“No?  Then what precisely do you call tricking the Count Griffe into believing you are a wealthy soap heiress from Cleveland, Ohio?  Sunday school lessons?”

“I had to do it.”  Ophelia dug in her carpetbag and pulled out a bonnet with crusty patches of glue where ribbon flowers once had been.  She clamped it on her head.  “I’m calling upon the Count Griffe at eleven o’clock, on my way to the steamship ticket office.  I told you.  He scarpered to England so soon after his proposal, I never had a chance to confess.  He’s in Paris only today before he goes to his country château, so today is my last chance to tell him everything.”

“It’s horribly selfish of you not to wait two more weeks, Ophelia—two measly weeks.”

Not this old song and dance again.  “Wait two more weeks so that you might accompany me to the hunting party at Griffe’s château?  Stand around and twiddle my thumbs for two whole weeks while you hornswoggle some poor old gent into marrying you?  Money and love don’t mix, you know.”

“What?  They mix beautifully.  And not hornswoggle, darling.  Seduce.  And Mr. Larsen isn’t a poor gentleman.  He’s as rich as Midas.  Artemis confirmed as much.”

“You know what I meant.  Helpless.”

“Mr. Larsen is a widower, yes.”  Henrietta smiled.  “Deliciously helpless.”

“I must go now, Henrietta.  Best of luck to you.”

“I’m certain Artemis would loan you her carriage—oh, wait.  Principled Miss Ophelia Flax must forge her own path.  Miss Ophelia Flax never accepts hand-outs or—”

“Artemis has been ever so kind, allowing me to stay here the last three weeks, and I couldn’t impose any more.”  Artemis Stunt was Henrietta’s friend, a wealthy lady authoress.  “I’ll miss my omnibus.”  Ophelia pawed through the carpetbag, past her battered theatrical case and a patched petticoat, and drew out a small box.  The box, shiny black with painted roses, had been a twenty-sixth birthday gift from Henrietta last week.  It was richer than the rest of Ophelia’s possessions by miles, but it served a purpose: a place to hide her little nest egg.

The omnibus fare, she well knew from her month in Paris, was thirty centimes.  She opened the box.  Her lungs emptied like a bellows.  A slip of paper curled around the ruby ring Griffe had given her.  But her money—all of her hard-won money she’d scraped together working as a lady’s maid in Germany a few months back—was gone.  Gone.

She swung toward Henrietta.  “Where did you hide it?”

“Hide what?”

“My money!”

“Scowling like that will only give you wrinkles.”

“I don’t even have enough for the omnibus fare now.”  Ophelia’s plans suddenly seemed vaporously fragile.  “Now isn’t the time for jests, Henrietta.  I must get to Griffe’s house so I might go to the steamship ticket office before it closes, and then on to the train station.  The Cherbourg-New York ship leaves only once a fortnight.”

“Why don’t you simply keep that ring?  You’ll be in the middle of the Atlantic before he even knows you’ve gone.  If it’s a farm you desire, why, that ring will pay for five farms and two hundred cows.”

Ophelia wasn’t the smelling salts kind of lady, but her fingers shook as she replaced the box’s lid.  “Never.  I would never steal this ring—”

“He gave it to you.  It wouldn’t be stealing.”

“—and I will never, ever become. . . .”  Ophelia pressed her lips together.

“Become like me, darling?”

If Ophelia fleeced rich fellows to pay her way instead of working like honest folks, then she couldn’t live with herself.  What would become of her?  Would she find herself at forty in dressing gowns at midday and absinthe on her breath?

“You must realize I didn’t take your money, Ophelia.  I’ve got my sights set rather higher than your pitiful little field mouse hoard.  But I see how unhappy you are, so I’ll make you an offer.”

Ophelia knew the animal glint in Henrietta’s whiskey-colored eyes.  “You wish to pay to accompany me to Griffe’s hunting party so that you might pursue Mr. Larsen.  Is that it?

“Clever girl.  You ought to set yourself up in a tent with a crystal ball.  Yes.  I’ll pay you whatever it was the servants stole—and I’ve no doubt it was one of those horrid Spanish maids that Artemis hired who pinched your money.  Only keep up the Cleveland soap heiress ruse for two weeks longer, Ophelia, until I hook that Norwegian fish.”

Ophelia pictured the green fields and white-painted buildings of rural New England, and her throat ached with frustration.  The trouble was, it was awfully difficult to forge your own path when you were always flat broke.  “Pay me double or nothing,” she said.

“Deal.  Forthwith will be so pleased.”

“Forthwith?”  Ophelia frowned.  “Forthwith Golden, conjurer of the stage?  Do you mean to say he’ll be tagging along with us?”

“Mm.”  Henrietta leaned close to the mirror and picked something from her teeth with her little fingernail.  “He’s ever so keen for a jaunt in the country, and he adores blasting at beasts with guns.”

Saints preserve us.

 

*     *     *

 

Ophelia meant to cling to her purpose like a barnacle to a rock.  It wasn’t easy.  Simply gritting her teeth and enduring the next two weeks was not really her way.  But Henrietta had her up a stump.

First, there had been the two-day flurry of activity in Artemis Stunt’s apartment, getting a wardrobe ready for Ophelia to play the part of a fashionable heiress at a hunting party.  Artemis was over fifty years of age but, luckily, a bohemian and so with youthful tastes in clothing.  She was also tall, beanstalkish and large-footed, just like Ophelia, and very enthusiastic about the entire deception.  “It would make a marvelous novelette, I think,” she said to Ophelia.  But this was exactly what Ophelia wished to avoid: behaving like a ninny in a novelette.

And now, this interminable journey.

“Where are we now?”  Henrietta, bundled in furs, stared dully out the coach window.  “The sixth tier of hell?”

Ophelia consulted the Baedeker on her knees, opened to a map of the Périgord region.  “Almost there.”

“There being the French version of the Middle of Nowhere,” Forthwith Golden said, propping his boots on the seat next to Henrietta.  “Why do these Europeans insist upon living in these Godforsaken pockets?  What’s wrong with Paris, anyway?”

“You said you missed the country air.”  Henrietta shoved his boots off the seat.

“Did I?”  Forthwith had now and then performed conjuring tricks in Howard DeLuxe’s Varieties back in New York, so Ophelia knew more of him than she cared to.  He was dark-haired, too handsome, and skilled at making things disappear.  Especially money.

“You insisted upon coming along,” Henrietta said to Forthwith, “and don’t try to deny it.”

“Ah, yes, but Henny, you neglected to tell me that your purpose for this hunting excursion was to ensnare some doddering old corpse into matrimony.  I’ve seen that performance of yours a dozen times, precious, and it’s gotten a bit boring.”

“Oh, do shut up.  You’re only envious because you spent your last penny on hair pomade.”

“I hoped you’d notice.  Does Mr. Larsen have any hair at all?  Or does he attempt to fool the world by combing two long hairs over a liver-spotted dome?”

“He’s an avid sportsman, Artemis says, and a crack shot.  So I’d watch my tongue if I were you.”

“Oh dear God.  A codger with a shotgun.”

“He wishes to go hunting in the American West.  Shoot buffalos from the train and all that.”

“One of those Continentals who have glamorized the whole Westward Ho business, not realizing that it’s all freezing to death and eating Aunt Emily’s thighbone in the mountains?”

Ophelia sighed.  Oh, for a couple wads of cotton wool to stop up her ears.  Henrietta and Forthwith had been bickering for the entire journey, first in the train compartment between Paris and Limoges and then, since there wasn’t a train station within 50 miles of Château Vézère, in this bone-rattling coach.  Outside, hills, hills, and more hills.  Bare, scrubby trees and meandering vineyards.  Farmhouses of sulpherous yellow stone.

A tiny orange sun sank over a murky river.  Each time a draft swept through the coach, Ophelia tasted the minerals that foretold snow.

“Ophelia,” Forthwith said, nudging her.

“What is it?”

Forthwith made series of fluid motions with his hands, and a green and yellow parakeet fluttered out of his cuff and landed on his finger.

“That’s horrible.  How long has that critter been stuffed up your sleeve?”  Ophelia poked out a finger and the parakeet hopped on.  Feathers tufted on the side of its head and its eyes were possibly glazed.  It was hard to say with a parakeet.  “Poor thing.”

“It hasn’t got feelings, silly.”  Forthwith yawned.

“Finally,” Henrietta said, sitting up straighter.  “We’ve arrived.”

The coach passed through ornate gates.  Naked trees cast shadows across a long avenue.  They clattered to a stop before the huge front door.  Château Vézère was three stories, rectangular, and built of yellow stone, with six chimneys, white-painted shutters, and dozens of tall, glimmering windows.  Bare black vegetation encroached on either side, and Ophelia saw some smaller stone buildings to the side.

“Looks like a costly doll’s house,” Henrietta said.

“I rather thought it looked like a mental asylum,” Forthwith said.

Ophelia slid Griffe’s ruby ring on her hand, the hand that wasn’t holding a parakeet.  Someone swung the coach door open.

“Let the show begin, darlings,” Henrietta murmured.

 

A footman in green livery helped Ophelia down first.  Garon Gavage, the Count Griffe, bounded forward to greet her.  “Mademoiselle Stonewall, I have been restless, sleepless, in anticipation of your arrival—ah, how belle you look.”  His dark gold mane of hair wafted in the breeze.  “How I have longed for your presence—what is this?  A petit bird?”

“What?  Oh.  Yes.”  Ophelia couldn’t even begin to explain the parakeet.  “It’s very nice to see you, Count.  How long has it been?  Three weeks?”

Griffe’s burly chest rose and fell.  “Nineteen days, twenty hours, and thirty-two minutes.”

Right.

Forthwith was out of the coach and pumping Griffe’s hand.  “Count Griffe,” he said with a toothy white smile, “pleased to meet you.  My sister has told me all about you.”

Ophelia’s belly lurched.

“Sister?”  Griffe knit his brow.

“I beg your pardon,” Forthwith said.  “I’m Forthwith Stonewall, Ophelia’s brother.  Didn’t my sister tell you I was coming along?”

The rat.

“Ah!”  Griffe clapped Forthwith on the shoulder.  “Monsieur Stonewall.  Perhaps your sister did mention it—I have been most distracted by business matters in England, très forgetful . . .  And who is this?”  Griffe nodded to Henrietta as she stepped down from the coach.  “Another delightful American relation, eh?”

It had better not be.  Ophelia said, “This is—”

“Mrs. Henrietta Brighton,” Henrietta said quickly, and then gave a sad smile.

Precisely when had Miss Henrietta Bright become Mrs. Henrietta Brighton?  And . . . oh, merciful heavens.  How could Ophelia have been so blind?  Henrietta was in black.  All in black.

“Did Miss Stonewall neglect to mention that I would chaperone her on this visit?” Henrietta asked Griffe.  “I am a dear friend of the Stonewall family, and I have been on a Grand Tour in order to take my mind away from my poor darling—darling . . . oh.”  She dabbed her eyes with a hankie.

Griffe took Henrietta’s arm and patted it as he led her through the front door.  “A widow, oui?  My most profound condolences, Madame Brighton.  You are very welcome here.”

Ophelia and Forthwith followed.  The parakeet’s feet clung to Ophelia’s finger, and tiny snowflakes fell from the darkening sky.

“You’re shameless,” Ophelia said to Forthwith in a hot whisper.

Forthwith grinned.  “Aren’t I, though?”

 

About the Author
A finalist for the 2004 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award, Maia Chance is the national bestselling author of the Fairy Tale Fatal mysteries, including Cinderella Six Feet Under and Snow White Red-Handed, as well as the Discreet Retrieval Agency mystery series. A Ph.D. candidate at the University of Washington, she is writing her dissertation on ninenteenth-century American Literature.

The post Cozy Mystery Meets Fairytale in Maia Chance’s BEAUTY, BEAST, AND BELLADONNA appeared first on ~*~Babs Book Bistro~*~.

Stacy Henrie’s tour for The Express Rider’s Lady review & giveaway

On Tour with Prism Book Tours.

The Express Rider’s Lady

by Stacy Henrie

Adult Christian Historical Romance

Paperback & ebook, 288 pages

February 9th 2016 by Love Inspired

Westward Wedding Journey

Delsie Radford is going to make it to California, no matter the danger or difficulty. Her father may have kept her and her sister apart, but Delsie refuses to miss her sister’s weddingóeven with only eighteen days to get there. And she’s found the perfect escort in Pony Express rider Myles Patton.

Myles can’t believe it when a pretty socialite hires him to take her cross-country through rough terrain and dangerous territory. Surely she’ll quit before they reach their destinationóhe’s known girls like her before. But the longer they ride together, the more Myles notices Delsie’s toughness and kindness beneath her polished exterior. And though they may be worlds apartÖthey might just be perfect for each other.

Amazon – Barnes & Noble – Book Depository – Harlequin – Walmart

My thoughts:

Delise really needs to get to her sister before the wedding or she will not be able to see her.  The only thing she can think to help is get the best Pony Express rider around.  Meet Myles a pretty straight forward kind of guy who thinks Delise can not get to California in 18 days.  He agrees to help get her to far with a good amount of money paid to him.

Myles thinks Delise is above him like his last love.  He tries to guard his heart while heading on to California.

Can the two make it with a helper?

A great read and page turner.  I did not want to put the book down.  I had to see of the Pony Express could pull this off.  The characters work well together and a nice sweet story.

Stacy Henrie has always had a love for history, fiction, and chocolate. She earned her B.A. in public relations before turning her attentions to raising a family and writing inspirational historical romances. Wife of an entrepreneur husband and a mother to three, Stacy loves to live out history through her fictional characters. In addition to author, she is also a reader, a road trip enthusiast, and a novice interior decorator.

Website – Goodreads – Facebook – Twitter – Pinterest

Tour Schedule

February 1st: Launch

February 2nd: Heidi Reads… & The Power of Words

February 3rd: Katie’s Clean Book Collection & Min Reads and Reviews

February 4th: Babs Book Bistro

February 5th: Savings in Seconds & Literary Time Out

February 7th: Wishful Endings & Zerina Blossom’s Books

February 8th: Mom with a Reading Problem & Backing Books

February 9th: Seasons of Humility

February 10th: Singing Librarian Books, Christy’s Cozy Corners, & Mel’s Shelves

February 11th: Getting Your Read On & Tell Tale Book Reviews

February 12th: Dixie n Dottie, Reading Is My SuperPower, & Rockin’ Book Reviews

February 14th: Grand Finale

Tour Giveaway

$50 Amazon eGift Card (open internationally)

Print copy of The Express Rider’s Lady (US only)

ebook of The Express Rider’s Lady (open internationally)

Ends February 19th

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The post Stacy Henrie’s tour for The Express Rider’s Lady review & giveaway appeared first on ~*~Babs Book Bistro~*~.

MAJOR CRIMES by MICHELE LYNN SEIGFRIED (A Jersey Shore Mystery)

Major Crimes

by Michele Lynn Seigfried

Major Crimes

(Jersey Shore Mystery Series)

4th in Series

Cozy Mystery

Publisher: Horseshoe Bay Publishing (January 26, 2016)

Print Length: 220 pages

ASIN: B017GG55FU

Synopsis:

Buckle up for hours of laughter, romance, and excitement with this Jersey Shore Mystery. When handsome detective, Bryce Kelly, is accused of a crime he didn’t commit, he finds himself on the run and in hiding. Can amateur sleuth, Chelsey Alton, and a few quirky friends help him find the real killer and prove his innocence before it’s too late? If you love mysteries, don’t miss this humorous whodunit!

 

Guest Post:

So you’ve written a book…now what?

By Michele Lynn Seigfried

 

When I’m at a book show, the most common thing people say to me is, “I wrote a book, but I’m not sure what to do next.”  There is tons of advice on the internet on what to do after you’ve published your manuscript, but how about before you’ve taken that publishing leap? If you’ve written a book, or you’re thinking about writing a book, here are a few of the steps you should take to succeed.

Decide whether to write under your own name or a pen name. This is important, because you are soon going to be marketing your name! Everything from book covers, to webpages, to bookmarks will have your author name. It’s best to find a name you like and stick with it early on.
Set up an email account with your author name. It can be a free account like gmail or yahoo. You will soon be sending off emails and placing orders and this email will be used a lot.
Set up an author’s Facebook page. Whether you are self-publishing or going the traditional route, you need to start attracting followers, and it’s never too early to do that. Don’t wait until the book is published first. Start with inviting your friends and family to join your page. You can also place Facebook ads to get followers. Having a large following might help you land an agent.
Set up a Twitter account. Retweet others often. When your book is finally published, others will retweet you to spread the word. While you’re at it, you should set up any other social media sites you’d like to have such as Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, Tsu, Goodreads, etc. Start working on a website for yourself as well!
Hire a professional editor. I can’t stress this enough. Handing an “unfinished” manuscript to an agent in hopes that they will take you on as a client might work if your book is so fabulous that you already have agents knocking down your doors, but for the majority of books, having a polished manuscript is a much better route to take. And, if you are self-publishing, the worst thing you can do is publish a manuscript with tons of errors. Good editors will beta-read for plot holes and also proofread for grammatical and spelling errors.
Network with other authors. Those who have already been through the publishing process will help you. They might recommend good editors, places to market, and book shows. They might be willing to trade reviews with you or read your work and offer helpful feedback. Join writing groups and professional associations.
Get feedback. Give your book to family, friends, and coworkers. Find out what they liked and didn’t like. Ask them to be candid. What you may think is crystal clear may be vague to someone else. They might find mistakes your editor missed. Put excerpts of your work on your new facebook page and ask followers to comment.
Start your marketing. You should post about your book months in advance of its publication date on social media. Start a hype about it. Post excerpts or one-liners from the book. Don’t just post about your book though–post about the genre you’re writing in, topics similar to your book, and excerpts of your writing. Setup polls. Order business cards or bookmarks with your contact info to hand out. Attend book shows.
Hire a good cover designer. If you are going the self-publishing route, you will need a good cover designer. Someone that can take your vision and put it on your book! If you are going the traditional route, this step is not necessary as publishers will want to use their own designers for covers.
Research! And lots of it. Research any facts you included in your book to make sure they are correct. Research your genre and make sure elements in your book match the genre. Research which agents you want to pitch. Research self-publishing companies to find the one that’s right for you. How to format a book for print, what size you’d like your book to be, or who can format it for you. How to make the book into an e-book. Whether or not you’d like to have an audio book as well. How to set up a webpage. Marketing ideas. Proofreading help. Sample pitch letters. The list goes on and on. Luckily, there is a plethora of information available on the internet so you can research during your free time at home.

I hope if you’ve written a book and have yet to publish it that you’ve found my guest post useful! If anyone out there needs help, please feel free to contact me! I wish you the best with your writing career!

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Michele Lynn Seigfried is the author of humorous, cozy mystery novels and a children’s picture book author/illustrator.

Michele was born and raised in New Jersey. In her mystery novels, she draws from her personal expertise in the area of municipal government, in which she has served for over 17 years in two different municipalities.

She holds a B.A. in communication from the College of New Jersey with a minor in art. She obtained the Master Municipal Clerk certification from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks in 2010. She also holds the Registered Municipal Clerk certification and Certified Municipal Registrar Certifications from the State of New Jersey.

In combining her love of writing with art, Michele began writing and illustrating children’s picture books in 2013.  She has won several awards for her novels.

Author Links:

Website:  www.michelelynnseigfried.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/MicheleLynnSeigfried

Twitter: www.twitter.com/micheleseig

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/MicheleSeig

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/MicheleSeig

Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/micheleseig

Email: MicheleSeigfried@gmail.com

Google+: www.google.com/+MicheleLynnSeigfried

Tsu: https://www.tsu.co/micheleseigfried

 

Purchase Link

Amazon

The post MAJOR CRIMES by MICHELE LYNN SEIGFRIED (A Jersey Shore Mystery) appeared first on ~*~Babs Book Bistro~*~.

Release Blast for HIS PREGNANT PRINCESS BRIDE by Catherine Mann & Giveaway

Two Exciting Giveaways to Enter Below!

 

HIS PREGNANT PRINCESS BRIDE

Bayou Billionaires #1
Catherine Mann

Releasing on February 1st, 2016 (Digital) 

and February

9th, 2016 (Print)
Harlequin Desire 

 

 

A princess and a Southern billionaire are expecting

twins! Only from USA TODAY bestselling author Catherine Mann!
 
His focus is on his family’s football dynasty. Louisiana

billionaire Gervais Reynaud has no time for romance. But he can’t say no to a

tryst with Erika Mitras. True, she’s a princess, but in no way prim…or proper.

Their time together is unbelievable…and all too short.
 
When Erika said goodbye, she meant it. But now she must

tell Gervais the truth. He’s about to be a father…to royal twins. After leaving

her overbearing family, Erika wants nothing from Gervais. But the tempting

tycoon just may charm her into a future she desires all too much.
 
BUY NOW
Amazon | B

& N | Google | iTunes | Kobo

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

USA Today bestseller and RITA Award winning author Catherine Mann writes contemporary romance for Berkley, Harlequin, Sourcebooks and Tule. With over sixty books released in more than twenty countries, she has also celebrated six RITA finals, an RT Reviewer’s Award finalist, three Maggie Award of Excellence finals and a Bookseller’s Best win. Catherine and her flyboy husband live on the Florida coast where they brought up their 4 children – and still have 5 four-legged, furry “children” (aka pets). Catherine is an active volunteer with an animal rescue, serving on their Board of Directors and fostering over 200 puppies, ill dogs, and dogs with service/working potential.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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Release Blast for AGAINST THE WALL by Jill Sorenson & Giveaway

Enter to Win a
$25.00 Amazon eGift Card

 

AGAINST THE WALL

Jill Sorenson

Releasing on February 2, 2016
Loveswept

 

 

Fans of Katie McGarry, Simone Elkeles, and Tammara

Webber will love Against the Wall! As teenagers, they fell for each other

despite the odds. But now that Eric and Meghan are all grown up, they’re

reunited by fierce passion and dangerous secrets.
 
Eric Hernandez is the bad boy of every schoolgirl’s

fantasies—and every mother’s nightmares. But after serving time for manslaughter,

he’s ready to turn his life around. He just needs a chance to prove himself as

a professional tattoo artist. The one thing that keeps him going is the memory

of the innocent beauty he loved and left behind.
 
Meghan Young’s world isn’t as perfect as it looks. The

preacher’s daughter is living a lie, especially now that Eric is back. Tougher,

harder, and sexier than ever, he might be the only person she can trust. But

there’s no telling what he’ll do to protect her if he learns the truth, and that’s

a risk Meghan won’t let him take. And yet, back in the arms of the troubled boy

with the artist’s soul, Meghan can’t help surrendering to the man he’s become.
 
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Jill Sorenson is the RITA-nominated author of

more than a dozen romantic-suspense novels. She has a degree in literature and

writing from California State University. Her books have been selected as

Red-Hot Reads by Cosmopolitan magazine, and have received starred reviews from

Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Library Journal. Sorenson currently lives in

the San Diego area with her family. She’s a soccer mom who loves nature,

coffee, reading, Twitter, and reality TV.
 

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