Release blitz: DESTINY CALLING by Maureen L. Bonatch

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Carol Burnside / Annie Rayburn

DestinyCalling_w9052_medDestiny Calling
The Enchantlings, Volume 1
Maureen L. Bonatch

A Paranormal Romance from
The Wild Rose Press
Available on December 22, 2014
(That’s tomorrow!!!)

Hope Doesn’t Know If The Man She Can Touch Is A Dream Come True, Or A Nightmare Just Beginning.

Hope only wants to find out if her ability to infuse euphoria or despair with her touch makes her the devil’s spawn, or his exterminator. But when the woman who raised her is murdered by something not human, she loses the only family she knew and discovers one she might wish she hadn’t.

Drawn back to the hometown she vowed never to return to, her ability is seen as an asset to everyone but Hope, and she doesn’t know who to trust. Her family wants her to help them overcome an enemy oppressing the human population, while the man of her dreams is courting her for the Underworld.

Time is running out, and Hope’s choice may be made for her, as she discovers she’s a pawn in a bigger game played by a merciless ruler who doesn’t lose.

Amazon Kindle   Amazon Paperback  The Wild Rose Press

Excerpt:

I strained to release my arm from Griffith’s vise-like grip while scanning the surrounding trees, trying to determine which was less of a threat, the beast of a man holding me or those who might be waiting for me in the woods.

“You will come inside, now.” Griffith spoke slowly and deliberately as if I were a small child.

I batted at the hand Griffith placed on my head. “I’m not a puppy, quit petting me.”

“I will protect you.” Griffith’s warm breath caressed my ear. “If for no other reason, to find out what I’m giving up and why she wants you so badly.”

I inhaled his masculine scent, like musky earth. It washed over my face, and the tension in my jaw released. I stopped struggling. “Are you the devil?” My tongue was thick and heavy so the words came out slurred.

“Not even close.” His words soothed and comforted, like having a weighted blanket cocoon me. Each movement was an effort. It wasn’t the same as the thing in the woods. This was more like the feeling after a long massage or bubble bath.

“It’s not safe.” Griffith wrapped his arms around me, and I rested against his broad chest.

“It’s not safe.” I nodded. My muscles relaxed and my eyelids grew heavy.

“It’s cold. We’re going inside.” Griffith kept his arm supporting me as he steered me toward the house.

“We’re going inside.” I parroted and walked up the steps, leaning heavily on him.

Out of the corner of my eye, something was cautiously moving at the edge of the woods. Branches snapped as whatever was observing us crept closer.

mom 10 copyAbout the Author:

Growing up with four siblings had Maureen familiar with escaping into a good book, or the recesses of her mind. She realized later in life everyone didn’t have characters telling stories in their heads, or weren’t envisioning magic and mayhem within the everyday. This, and long walks in the beautiful state of Pennsylvania spawned a love of writing.

Since her desire to become a Solid Gold Dancer was thwarted when the show was discontinued, Maureen opted to pursue other paths. Attempting to conquer new endeavors proved fruitful with her first novella, while other attempts, such as challenging a fear of heights with parasailing, were unsuccessful.

Therefore she’s chased other interests, though none-the-less-daring, but closer to the ground, such as belly-dancing, becoming a self-proclaimed tequila connoisseur, fulfilling her role as biker babe to her alpha hubby and surviving motherhood to twins (so far).

Penning stories boasting laughter, light suspense and something magical in the hope of sharing her love of finding the extraordinary in the ordinary world.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mbonatch
Blog: http://www.maureenbonatch.com/blog/
Website: http://www.maureenbonatch.com
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/1AV4L
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/maureenbonatch/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maureenlbonatch
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3103486.Maureen_L_Bonatch

Posted in Books, Cover Art, Excerpts, Guest blogger, New Release, Promo | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

I Confess…

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Carol Burnside / Annie Rayburn

I confess…I can’t NOT edit as I write.

That’s right. I used a double negative, on purpose.

Decades of typing and self-edit backspace/re-type actions have rendered me unable to leave the uglies on the page and move forward. I’m not talking about the typos and missing commas, the usual flubs.

WP_20141217_002During NaNoWriMo¹ one year, one suggestion was to not even correct bad sentences, but simply continue on and write them another way, leaving the bad sentence there to pad word count. I couldn’t do it. It made me feel so uncomfortable that it actually slowed down my productivity.

If my brain supplies a better verb, a stronger metaphor, a more accurate descriptor, I’ve got to insert it right then. Otherwise, I worry about forgetting that better word and lose my overall objective for the piece I’m writing. I can’t leave XXX as a placeholder and fix it during edits after the story has been told. My mind fixates on that XXX. I have to go figure out what XXX is. Is it the hero’s car, the heroine’s favorite drink, the name of a business? For me, every detail such as that factors into the story.

If the hero drives a mint condition vintage Mustang, he’s likely a very different guy than one who drives a battered old ranch truck. Every piece of information about him gives me (and the reader) a more accurate picture of his essence.

Is the heroine’s favorite drink a pomegranate martini or two fingers of scotch, neat? Is the business name whimsical, like say, The Panty Shanty, or is it stuffy, as in Berdorf, Mauer and Smith? You see what I mean? Details matter.

Recently, I read an article by Valerie Comer on her blog, How To Write A Story where she talked about plotting methods. Pantsers and plotters are terms bandied about frequently, but this piece dealt with five methods of how the writer gets words on the page:

  1. Plotter
  2. Pantser
  3. Tweener
  4. Headlighter and
  5. Polisher.

Well, hello! In ten years of writing, I hadn’t heard about those last two methods of plotting. When others talked about dirty first drafts with an outline or vomiting on the page, the descriptions made me cringe. I figured I was mostly a pantser, but not exactly, so probably a Tweener.

Idea IconWrong. A light bulb went on while reading that article. I’m a Polisher!

The way I write, I’m constantly correcting and editing as I go. Sure, we all do that to some extent, correcting typos and such, but I rephrase, question the length of sentences and watch to make sure I’ve not started six sentences in a row with the same pronoun (or used some superfluous word, like “really,” 1000 times).

For me, putting a book together is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. A 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle. There are many elements and they all must fit together to create the whole. When I sit down to write, I re-read the last scene or even a couple of chapters so that what I create after it flows well with what is already there. During the read, I’m looking to make sure everything is still working, that my characters sound like themselves, that I haven’t gone off on a tangent or forgotten the intent of a scene while writing it. I correct and tweak a word, a sentence, or punctuation here and there.

Valerie said this about Polishing:

It’s doubtless the slowest method of getting to the end of a first draft but, in theory, subsequent drafts are quick and relatively painfree.

Finally. I feel like I just clicked the last piece of that jigsaw into place and now I have a whole picture.

If you’re a writer, do you know what method of plotting you use? Have you heard of five methods, or just the first three?

If you’re a reader, do you even care about what method a writer uses to get to the end product–a book for you to read? Does it interest you to learn about the process?

Posted in Carol Burnside, Everyday blather, Random Bits | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Spotlight: BOOK OF LOVE by Constance Bretes

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Carol Burnside / Annie Rayburn

BookOfLove_SmallBook of Love

A librarian, a mechanic, and a psychotic ex. What could go wrong?

When her marriage came to a devastating end, Janice Meyers moved to Montana to try to escape her past and get a fresh start. She’s sworn off men, but she didn’t anticipate meeting Chris.

After the death of his wife, Chris Jamisen focused all his time and energy on running his auto repair shop and raising his children. He’s not looking for love, and when he first meets Janice, the town’s new librarian, he never imagines they might embark on a relationship. Sure, he’ll admit he finds the smart, sexy blonde attractive, but the frustrating woman expects miracles from him. Her vehicle is practically beyond repair, but she insists he has to keep it running.

As Chris gets to know Janice, he begins to develop feelings for her, but he’s reluctant to pursue a relationship. He’s Native American, and he worries about the complications of a biracial relationship. He’s experienced prejudice first hand, so he knows how difficult it can be.

When Janice’s ex-husband shows up seeking revenge, things could reach a horrible end. Will Chris save Janice in time? And will he and Janice be able to set aside their painful pasts and give their relationship a chance?

Content Warning: contains some sexual content

EXCERPT:

Janice had butterflies in her stomach as five o’clock came and Chris arrived at the library.

“Hi, Chris,” Janice said.

“Hello. What’s this all about?” he asked pensively.

“I wanted to take you downstairs to the basement and show you something,” she said.

They walked down the stairs, Chris following Janice. When she turned on the light a rat slithered across the floor, and she let out a shriek. Chris looked around the room.

“We have all these books here,” Janice said. She lifted one of the old books and opened it to the pages and within where some were eaten away. “The vermin and bugs have been attacking these, and in some cases, the books have disintegrated. See here? This is a book about Colstrip back in the 1800s and we can’t even open the book to read it because it has totally disintegrated inside. Some of these books are real gems. This is one of a first edition, Samuel Clemens, do you know of him?”

“No.”

“His pen name is Mark Twain. He wrote Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.”

“Oh,” Chris replied.

“Look at his book. It’s totally destroyed, and it would have been worth a lot of money now, if it had survived.”

Janice went over to the ladder and stepped up on it to show Chris the books on the top shelf. The ladder gave way, and she came crashing down. Chris caught her before she fell to the floor.

“Are you okay?” he asked, concern in his tone.

“Um, yeah, I think so.” She put her feet on the floor and turned, facing Chris, her breasts against his chest. His arms were around her waist, holding her tightly. His breath mingled with hers, and he was looking down at her lips.

Oh, she wanted him to kiss her. Please, please kiss me. The sweet, intoxicating musk of his body overwhelmed her. He bent slightly toward her, and his lips touched hers softly. She kissed him back, lingering, savoring every moment. She felt the kiss all the way through her body as she put her arms around him. A loud rustling noise broke their kiss with a start.

Chris looked around and saw that there were rats in the corner rattling paper. He turned back to her. “Are we finished here?”

“Yes, I think we are.” Janice hoped she had convinced him that there was work to be done in the basement.

When they went upstairs, he turned around and asked her huskily, “What was the purpose of our little meeting, Janice?”

Janice thought about how she should answer the question then said, “I submitted the request to the mayor’s office for several things, and I heard that you would probably be the one person that would oppose spending any money for the project I’m suggesting, so I wanted to show you the benefit of my proposal and the problems we are faced with currently.”

Chris had a gentle smile on his face as he looked at her. “Good persuasion, Janice. Does that include the kiss too?”

Janice looked down at her feet, embarrassed. “No, the kiss was not part of the persuasion. At least, not on my part.”

Buy Book of Love at:
Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Beachwalk Press

P12-resizeConnect with Connie online:

Constance Bretes, Author website: http://conniebretes.weebly.com
Facebook: https://facebook.constancebretes
Twitter: http://twitter.conniebretes
email: cbretes@sbcglobal.net

Also by Constance Bretes:

Delayed Justice: Can two former lovers set aside their differences and work together to bring a criminal to justice?
The Last Dig: Bones, Bodies and Love Rekindled
Love Songs: Separated by fame, reunited through music

Posted in Books, Excerpts, Guests, Promo, Spotlight | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments