Jeanette Lewis's Blog, page 11

The Independent One

The Independent One

By Cami Checketts

Cami writes much faster than me, because she is a warrior. Check out her latest addition to our Billionaire Bride Pact series!

Single mom, Haley Turnbow, escapes to the tropical Isla del Sol for an ideal vacation with her five-year old. She’s planning on lazy beach days, great food, and a happy kid. She doesn’t plan on the resident hotel ghost stalking her and the island’s fine-looking owner drawing her in with his confident, fun personality.

Cal Johnson is king of his own island, happy and busy. Thoughts of a family are on the horizon, but always seem out of grasp until a beautiful mom and her wild little boy flip his world upside down. He falls in love with both of them. Realizing they’re going to leave at the end of their vacation, he does everything in his power to capture Haley’s heart.

Haley and Cal may be able to enjoy a vacation romance, but can what they feel translate into the real world? Only a giant leap of trust will give the answer.

The Rebellious One is Number One!

That post title sounds like the world’s lamest cheer.

But seriously, you guys, check it out…

Behold the orange tag! I’m so excited. Thank you all for your support and enthusiasm for this series; it’s so much fun to write and I’m so happy readers are enjoying it!

Much love,

Jeanette

Song Contest Winner!

Votes are in and you guys chose A Thousand Years by Christina Perri for Colby and Cynthia’s love song. Here’s the link to the poll with the final numbers. Congratulations to Emily Rose for submitting the winning song, your $25 Amazon gift card is on the way!

Thank you to everyone who submitted songs and voted. These contests are a lot of fun; we’ll do another one with the next Snow Valley release.

Don’t forget that The Rebellious One is available now! Go here to get your copy.

And because today is my wedding anniversary, here’s a picture of me and my sexy new husband on our big day. I felt so grown up, but now I think we look like babies.

Happy anniversary, Dan. I love you!

 

Excerpt from The Rebellious One

The Rebellious One

The Billionaire Bride Pact

by Jeanette Lewis

All Rights Reserved

In the hollow behind the cotoneasters, Holly dropped her head onto her knees as confusion and resentment flashed through her. Brit didn’t look at her the way Darrin had looked at Nikki—and she didn’t want him to look at her that way. He was a friend, nothing more, yet she was expected to make a lifetime commitment to him. Had her parents even considered what that meant? Their marriage wasn’t the best, but at least it had been formed from love. Why didn’t they want the same for her?

Her muscles were starting to cramp, and her secretary was probably wondering where she was. It wouldn’t do any good to sit here moping. Holly unfolded herself with a sigh and crawled back through the tunnel toward the patch of sunshine at the end.

She poked her head out from around the swing in time to see a man pick up one of the shoes she’d left by the fountain.

“Hey!” Holly yelled.

Startled, he dropped the shoe, which bounced off the rock edge of the fountain and into the water with a splash.

Holly bounded to her feet and stalked across the grass. “Those are Jimmy Choos and they’re expensive!” Glaring at him, she plunged her hand into the fountain’s pool and pulled out the shoe, the soggy green suede now much darker than its original shade of celery.

“I’m sorry. I thought someone had gone off and forgotten their things.” The man gestured to the grass, where Holly’s other shoe sat alongside her soft leather briefcase. “What are you doing lurking in the bushes like some kind of goblin?” He dug in his pocket and offered her a folded white handkerchief.

“None of your business.” Holly snatched the handkerchief and tried to sop up some of the water from the suede. “These are ruined.”

“To be fair, only that one is ruined,” the man said. “The other one seems fine.”

She stared up into his eyes. They were dark, almost black, and were dancing with mirth under his heavy brows. He was several inches taller, broad-shouldered and big. She took in his clean-shaven, rather square jaw, and full lips set in a slightly cocky smile and felt the stirrings of butterflies in her stomach. His light brown hair curled over the edge of his collar and was adorably tousled.

Adorably? Wait … no.

“I’m very sorry for baptizing your shoe,” he said, keeping the grin in place. “I’ll reimburse you for it. Also, did you know you’re bleeding?” He reached out and plucked the soggy handkerchief from her fingers and lightly brushed it over her cheek.

It must have been a scratch from the bushes, but Holly didn’t feel anything beyond the zing of her nerves igniting at his touch. She jumped back.

“Whoa, settle down.” He extended the handkerchief, showing her the small spot of red. “Bleeding … see?”

“Thanks.” She took the handkerchief from him and pressed it to her cheek. “I’m Holly Clarke; who are you?”

Love Coming Late Song Contest – Vote Here!!

Wow, thanks for all the great suggestions! Voting will go through April 12 and I’ll announce the winner on April 16. If a song you submitted isn’t on the list, please let me know right away.

Take Our Poll

The Rebellious One will be Released April 12!

The Rebellious One

A Billionaire Bride Pact Romance

by Jeanette Lewis

Holly Clarke is all set to marry the man of her dreams. Or rather, the man of her parents’ dreams. Whoever heard of a girl in 2016 America being betrothed? Holly knows she has to find a way out of the engagement – especially when she meets handsome, sexy Jordan Fischler. But Jordan has a secret that may result in the end of everything Holly knows.

Available on Amazon April 12, 2016

After the problems I had with the presale for The Passionate One, I’m a little spooked to put The Rebellious One up for sale until it’s totally ready to download. I might squeak it in a day or two early if I get my final edits back and everything goes well, but plan on April 12 for the official release date. Eee!!!

Isn’t the cover fantastic? I adore those shoes!!!

Love Coming Late Song Contest

I had a hard time coming up with Cameron and Kyle’s song in Tin Foil Tiaras, so I decided to make you guys do it and you delivered in a big way! I loved your suggestions and the winning song (I Knew I Loved You, by Savage Garden) was perfect for those two. So we’re having another contest for Cynthia and Colby in Love Coming Late. Here are the rules:

1. You can enter up to five songs max.

2. Entries must be received by March 31, 2016.

3. I will put all the suggestions into a poll hosted here and you can vote for your favorite.

4. The song with the highest number of votes wins and whoever submitted it will get a $25 Amazon gift card.

5. If more than one person submits the winning song, I’ll hold a random drawing for the gift card.

6. Submit entries either by commenting here, on  my author page on Facebook, or emailing them to authorjeanettelewis@gmail.com.

Good luck!

Excerpt from Love Coming Late

Love Coming Late

by Jeanette Lewis

All Rights Reserved

“Cynthia?” Colby’s brow wrinkled in concern.

“Sorry. I’m fine.” She jumped up and yanked her hand from his grip.

He gave her a puzzled look. “Lily and I are going to lunch. Do you want to come?”

She glanced across the studio where Lily twirled in the new skirt. “I think … thank you, but I can’t.”

“You sure? We’re going to Big C’s. You can’t tell me you don’t love Big C’s.”

She hesitated, aching to spend more time basking in the warmth of his gaze. But she couldn’t; it would only lead to problems. “Don’t you want some alone time with Lily?” she asked.

A little of the sparkle faded from his eyes. “Okay,” he said quietly. “Well … thanks for teaching today. Lily had a good time.”

She forced a smile, already regretting turning him down, but determined not to act like a fool and fall for this man. “It was fun.”

“Bye, Miss Cynthia!” Lily waved as Colby took her hand and led her out of the studio.

Cynthia smiled and returned the wave. The bells on the door jangled one more time as they left.

She sighed and pressed her fingertips to her temples. She’d done the right thing. So why did she hurt so much?

Sighing, she pulled the elastic out of her hair, freeing it from the ponytail, then worked her fingers through the blond waves, freeing any bobby pins. Her eye fell on Madame Dubois’s music collection again. The top CD was an album by Lindsey Stirling. It appeared Madame Dubois was branching out from classical music. Or maybe she’d been fooled by the image of the ballerina on the cover.

Cynthia put the disc into the player and hit the button, then twisted the dial to turn the music up almost as loud as it would go. Lindsey’s flawless violin thundered through the speakers and Cynthia launched herself into the music, whirling along with the lyrics to “Shatter Me.”

Fear. She’d lived her entire life in fear: fear of being alone, fear of being rejected, fear of emotional pain. Had she ever really felt alive? Or had she lived by routine for so long, always offering to take the bullet, believing self-sacrifice was a noble thing and never, ever realizing that wanting was okay … reaching for things was okay … trying for something was okay?

The song was about a ballerina, but Cynthia was no ballerina now. Her dancing was raw and urgent, laced with want and pain and regret and … a small glimmer of optimism. It was time to stop being afraid.

The final strains of the song died out and the speakers shot static. Breathless and gasping, Cynthia turned and met Colby Schroder’s eyes from across the room. She’d forgotten to lock the door. “Oh!”

“Lily forgot her skirt,” he said, pointing to the pile of purple fabric crumpled near the barre.

She punched the button on the stereo, silencing the static. “Sorry … I was just …” Her hands fumbled with the practice skirt as she trailed off; he knew what she was doing.

“Come get lunch with us,” he said softly.

“Okay,” she whispered.

The Spring in Snow Valley anthology is here!

The Spring in Snow Valley anthology went up for pre-order today on Amazon! Check out the cover, isn’t it fun? The spring colors make me want to plant some bulbs and paint a few Easter eggs.

My contribution this time is Love Coming Late.

Cynthia Eddington never thought she’d return to Snow Valley after a string of bad luck forced the sale of her beloved farm there. But here she is, about to start a new life with her children, Jackson and Anoria. Cynthia plans to focus on her career and her family; she’s not looking for romance and she’s definitely not looking for sexy cowboy, Colby Schroder.

Writing about Snow Valley has become like writing about home and followers of the series will recognize many of the characters throughout the books. I absolutely love how we have characters who show up in multiple books and families who are followed throughout the series.

I’ll have more info on the other five stories in the weeks to come, as well as an excerpt from Love Coming Late. In the meantime, click over to Amazon to pick up the Spring in Snow Valley anthology for only $4.99.

 

 

Pinterest Boards

I try to do as much hands-on research as possible, but there’s simply not time to visit all the places or experience all the things I write about firsthand. The internet has made research about a thousand times easier and this is where Pinterest rocks. I used to screencap places or things I wanted to write about, but now I just plug them into Pinterest.

I keep the boards for any works in progress secret so I don’t give away too many details, but after the book’s published, it’s fun to share some of the images that gave me inspiration.

You can see my boards for The Passionate One on my Pinterest page, including some marvelous glass work by artists that are mentioned in the book.

Don’t forget to pick up your copy of The Passionate One on Amazon now for only $2.99