Guest Blogger Nan Reinhardt

Please welcome guest blogger and fellow author Nan Reinhardt. Nan has a new series releasing this week. It sounds like a great series, and something I'll be checking out. (and it takes place in Michigan - double score!)
And, as you'll find out, Nan is also celebrating something else.
Take it away, Nan!

Yesterday was my birthday. I turned sixty. Not particularly fodder for the six-o’clock news, but there’s some history I need to share with you. My mom, who was a vital and interesting woman, died when she was sixty years old. That was 25 years ago and for the last 25 years, dying at sixty has been my biggest fear.

I know, I know… I’ve heard all the reasonable arguments for why this is a foolish fear. Mother was a noncompliant diabetic who ate whatever she wanted, didn’t take her meds regularly, and thought exercise was turning the pages of a book. I am a healthy, strong woman who, although overweight, does take good care of herself. I swim, I ride my bike, I try to eat right most of the time, and I follow doctor’s orders. I am not my mother.

But you know, genetics is a wicked bitch, and every time I feel a twinge of muscle pain in my left arm or an ache in my shoulder or a moment or two of acid reflux, I wonder if this is the “big one.” The fear has been getting alternately better and worse as I’ve gotten closer to sixty. Lately, it’s been worse. I debated a while about what I could do to ease my own mind, when it occurred to me that I needed to be celebrating sixty, not dreading it.

When my editor, the fabulous Lani Diane Rich of StoryWonk, convinced me to go indie with the first novels in The Women of Willow Bay series, I knew it would be a great idea to release them on my birthday. After all, I’m turning sixty and my books are all about women in their prime. Baby Boomers who are living life to the fullest and not worrying one damn bit about their ages. What better way to celebrate turning sixty than by putting my work out there and anticipating a glorious future doing what I love to do most in the world—writing.

I like to think of it as a sort of virtual thumbing my nose at my own stupid fears and I know Mom’s right here, standing near me saying, “That’s my girl!”
Check out Nan's New Releases:
Once More From the Top
What do you do when the one who got away… comes back?
Carrie Halligan never regretted the choice she made sixteen years ago to raise her son Jack by herself in Willow Bay, Michigan. A successful photographer by day, at night Carrie satisfies her musical passions by playing piano at a hotel bar, maintaining a balance that works for her and Jack. Walking away from Maestro Liam Reilly without telling him she was pregnant with his child may have been the hardest thing she’d ever done, but it was definitely the right thing.

When Liam shows up in town to perform a benefit concert with the local symphony, however, Carrie’s carefully crafted life spins out of control. After sending Jack to summer camp, she realizes she can’t keep Liam in the dark forever. Telling the truth to the man she once loved more than life itself isn’t near as hard as spending time in his presence and realizing that the years haven’t diminished his power over her heart. Will her lie be too much to get past, or will the spark of passion between them overcome everything?

Once More From The Top on Amazon
Sex and the Widow Miles
His life ended. Hers didn’t.
Model-thin, beautiful, and aging gracefully, Julie Miles was looking forward to retirement with her husband, Dr. Charlie Miles, in their idyllic Willow Bay, Michigan home. But when Charlie dies of a heart attack, simply getting out of bed becomes a daily struggle. Desperate for a change of scene, she leaves her home to stay in her friend Carrie’s unoccupied Chicago apartment.

Her handsome and young new neighbor, Will Brody, seems to enjoy his assignment to keep an eye on her, and Jules can’t help but be flattered. She embraces life—and sex—again, until the discovery of a dark secret shatters her world once more. She knows her feelings for Will are more than casual, and he’s made it clear he wants her, but how can she ever trust a man again when her perfect life turned out to be a lie? Determined to get to the bottom of it all, Jules goes in search of the truth and discovers that there’s always a second chance to find real love.

Sex and the Widow Miles on Amazon About Nan:
Nan Reinhardt is a writer of romantic fiction for women in their prime. Yeah, women still fall in love and have sex, even after 45! Imagine! She is also a wife, a mom, a mother-in-law, and a grandmother. She’s been an antiques dealer, a bank teller, a stay-at-home mom, a secretary, and for the last 17 years, she’s earned her living as a freelance copyeditor and proofreader.

But writing is Nan’s first and most enduring passion. She can’t remember a time in her life when she wasn’t writing—she wrote her first romance novel at the age of ten, a love story between the most sophisticated person she knew at the time, her older sister (who was in high school and had a driver’s license!) and a member of Herman’s Hermits. If you remember who they are, you are Nan’s audience! She’s still writing romance, but now from the viewpoint of a wiser, slightly rumpled, menopausal woman who believes that love never ages, women only grow more interesting, and everybody needs a little sexy romance.

Her first novel Rule Number One is available at Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com. The other two, which are the first novels in the Women of Willow Bay series, are being released exclusively at Amazon on September 26, 2013.
Visit Nan’s website: www.nanreinhardt.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authornanreinhardt
Twitter: @NanReinhardt
Talk to Nan at: nanleigh1@gmail.com