Category: Guest Author

Purse Project with D.R. Grady

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Thank you MJ for helping me unearth…uh…discover the treasures in my purse!

Here’s my current purse. I got this on sale for the season – a creamy white St. John’s Bay crossbody bag. I have two requirements for a purse. It must be a crossbody, and it must have tons of pockets! This one fits my requirements. I do change my purse out for fall/winter and spring/summer.

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What’s inside:

The two outside pockets contain my keys and my phone.

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Inside  the main compartment you’ll find a few other essentials. Regular sunglasses for when I wear my contacts and prescription sunglasses for when I’m wearing my glasses. Lip balm, phone and glasses cleaner, and eyedrops. Oh, and my wallet. I bought this one a few years ago and still really like it. The back slot of this wallet is perfect for carrying my author business cards and I do hand them out!

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Next up is a hodge podge of other “essentials.” I’m usually thankful for these when I need them. As a writer, I would be horrified to not have pen and paper, and the stylus comes in handy sometimes. Hand cream is a year round must. A Leathermen because you need scissors sometimes, cuticle stick, stain and hand cleanser, a nail file, and Advil.

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The second picture shows the pile of coupons that are usually in my purse. They’re there to taunt me when I leave the store, purchased the item, and forgot to use the coupon…(eye roll)

I’ve only ever used the umbrella once. I still it carry it everywhere…. The Five Crowns cards are a favorite that I also forget about unless a family member reminds me. I like to keep at least one snack in my purse. It helps quell chocolate withdrawal crankiness. (big smile)

The stevia drops are a must because I’m addicted to coffee and iced tea. They live in the back pocket with some tissues and cough drops.

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That’s everything! I try to keep what’s in there fairly light. I add a bottle of water if I’m going to be away for a while.

The Dragon Chronicles Book 3: Healing

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 Ewain Douglass and Marissa Mays are dedicated healers who work together, and live together, in tight confines. Too bad they set sparks off each other. They might struggle to remain professional to each other, but they’re working on it. Then the enemy sets his sight on the unmated, and targets Marissa with a vengeance.

Meanwhile, Lindy and Alex, the dragon and her controller, are still seeking to learn all they can about their abilities and their future. They tremble once they learn the identity of an enemy no one wants to face. One only the dragon has a chance to defeat.

The dragon has called her allies together and many have come. Paranym soon becomes crowded with the family members of family members. A war for their very lives looms.

Ewain and Marissa don’t have time to declare it on each other.

Available at Amazon.

D.R. Grady photo

D.R. Grady lives with her husband near Hershey, PA. She adores chocolate, laughing, collecting bags, books, and shoes, and writing stories that resonate with others.

Website: www.drgradybooks.com

Twitter: @drgradybooks

Amazon  Author page

Faceboook Page: D.R. Grady

Google+:  D.R. Gradybooks

 

National Smile Power Day with Author Ryan Jo Summers

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Today is National Smile Day. The significance of that got me to thinking.

A smile can be one of the most quickly observed feature on a person, alongside eyes and hair (according to studies and polls). Personally, I’ve always been self-conscious of my smile. All my school pictures show more of a forced grimace as the photographer tried in vain to get me to flash my pearlys. There are few photos in existence that show me truly grinning. Blame it on years of coffee and tea or blame it on my malformed choppers, it’s just not something people will notice about me immediately. Well, perhaps the lack of a big, beaming smile.

That being said, how does it transcend to my characters? Writing romance, there has to be a quick, initial attraction and eyes and hair only go so far. I tend to believe the heroines will notice a smile—or lack of a smile—before they can tell what the hero ate for breakfast or shampoo he showered with.

With few exceptions, my heroines are strong, independent women. They are successful business owners and career gals. They don’t need no stinkin’ man! They might, however, want one if he has a pleasant, heart-racing smile. My heroes are normal guys. They tend to come from blue collar occupations, are devoted to family and their lady love, and oftentimes are lower than the heroine in the pay scale. So what does he have to offer her?

Well, himself of course! Some of my ladies find themselves stuck in some precarious situations and the hero comes riding to the rescue, armed with a disarming smile to quickly earn her trust. Some ladies are content in their station in live and when ‘this guy’ shows up to interrupt her status quo, his charming and polite smile can melt her defenses.

Of course, there are also the other kind of smiles, you know the kind: sardonic, strained, mocking and others. I am guilty of using those in both real life and print, because I tend to be sarcastic and stressed a fair bit of the time. (No, really, it’s true) And I enjoy using a less-than-adoring smile between characters (not necessarily the main h/ h) to create some cool tension.

Used properly, a smile can irritate, upset, cause dread, warm the heart, establish trust, and cement bonds or a host of other emotions. Smiles are a catalyst to create an emotion—positive or negative. Think about that next time you meet someone and flash ‘em a grin.

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Tossed together by happenstance, fleeing for their lives and falling in love under the Caribbean sun as paradise turns deadly.

Upon The Tide Final

New York Fashion designer, Piper Kincaid, just wanted a pleasant visit with her cousin down in Florida. That was before she and handsome beach bum, Kade Wyatt, become the targets of a
gang of robbers and killers.
     Kade simply wanted some fish for his pet seagull. Now he and the lovely exec from out of town are caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse. He’s busy concentrating on Piper when he should be focusing on keeping them alive. 
     Fleeing for their lives aboard Kade’s houseboat, ‘The Hightide’, they experience risk, surprises, mystery and romance during the Great Caribbean Boat Chase. However, the biggest surprises are waiting for them back at port.
Upon the Tide now available at Amazon.
ryan summers
Ryan Jo Summers is a North Carolina author who specializes in writing romances with a twist. Love stories blended with inspirational, paranormal, suspense or time travel–or several at once. She also writes non-fiction for regional periodicals. Ryan’s dad is a songwriter and his aunt wrote poetry so she claims she came by her writing skill honestly. Apparently it’s in the genes.

 

Her hobbies include bird-watching, houseplants (50 ish and growing), poetry and yard work. She loves to gather with friends, hike in the forest with her dog, paint ceramics and canvas and work on wiggly word find puzzles. She lives in a 1920 cottage with a menagerie of pets. Living in the mountains, she dreams of the shore and frequently uses the water as scenes for her stories.
More about Ryan Jo can be discovered at:

Killing Your Darlings with Author Janis Lane

“You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair—the sense that you can never put on the page what’s in your mind and heart.”

“Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again. You must not come lightly to the blank pages.” Stephen King

In my opinion there’s nothing more terrifying than facing those blank pages. There’s also nothing more exciting. I have learned to flash my vocabulary in the first write, but after I read Mr. King’s memoir on writing, I learned how sparse should be my identifying adverbs or adjectives. It hurt, but limiting those modifying words forced me to strengthen my nouns and verbs. It’s an exercise in discipline. Not particular fun, but necessary.

Where do those wonderful words go?

A particular florid paragraph can be saved. (I looked up the definition of florid. When I read ostentatious, I got excited. I love big words.) I tuck them into a file called “little darlings.” Don’t know who coined the phrase, but we all know what it means. Occasionally I check them out. You never know when those pearls that dropped from my mind will come in handy. They never have, but you never know, and it makes me feel better that they weren’t completely wasted.

Meanwhile, and hopefully, the dialogue is strengthened and to the point. It feels brutal, but after all, it’s no more than getting a hair cut. Grooming your manuscript is a necessity.

WHISPERS of DANGER and LOVE

When Cheryl realizes her new next-door neighbor is someone she loved as a young girl, she immediately puts the brakes on her emotions. Never again would she allow the gorgeous hunk of a man to break her heart.

Ruggedly handsome Detective David Larkin isn’t used to pretty ladies giving him a firm no. He persists, even as Cheryl fights her own temptations. The two struggle to appreciate each other as adults, even as they admit to deep feelings from their childhood.

Available on Amazon.com

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Janis Lane lives in Western New York near a small town on a few picturesque acres with her ever patient husband. They own and operate a small herbtique which keeps their days busy and interesting during the summer months. She writes Cozy Mysteries as Janis Lane and Regency Romance as Emma Lane.

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National Wine Day with Author Claire Gem

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The Character of Grapes

And no, we’re not talking Gilbert Grape here….

Wine is one of my favorite fruits. No, really. If given the choice between orange, cranberry, or apple juice, I’ll take grape. The fermented kind. Unless the orange juice is diluted with champagne, or the cranberry has a splash of vodka.

In my novels, most of my characters drink alcoholic beverages. It makes them real. I’m sure there are lots of folks who won’t touch the stuff, but I grew up in an Italian family. So having my characters enjoy a libation, particularly a glass of wine, makes them real to me. On Sundays, my father used to slice fresh peaches and soak them in Chianti. That was our after-the-big-pasta-dinner dessert.

Even when I was six years old. Took a hell of nap on Sunday afternoons.

But if I had to say what kind of wine my characters would be, well, that raises an entirely new set of questions. Wines, like people, come from different families (of grape), and each has its own unique characteristics. Just like my characters.

Let’s start with Chianti, since that was my initial introduction to the world of wine. Chianti is a classic, dry red wine named after the region where it is made: Tuscany, Italy. This area produces the Sangiovese grapes – deep purple, almost black fruit. The wine is dark, rich, and earthy. Being high in tannins (which dries your mouth out) and acidic, it goes well with food – a natural choice for food-loving Italians.

If the hero in my new release, Marco Lareci, were a wine, he would definitely be a Chianti. Italian, rich, and dark. But instead of drying your mouth out, he might be more inclined to make it water.

My heroine, Kate Bardach prefers drinking Pinot Grigio, the Italian version of what the French call Pinot Gris. These wines, although pale yellow itself, come from grapes that range from brownish-pink to grayish-blue in color. Pinot Gris actually means “gray grape,” and is a sweeter, fruitier wine than its Italian cousin, Pinot Grigio. Kate is definitely not fruity and sweet, which is, I guess, why she prefers Pinot Grigio, the dryer, more acidic, Italian version of this varietal.

And ah, are we surprised Kate prefers Italian wine to French? Not once we see her reaction to dark-haired, sexy Marco.

So, if the characters of Hearts Unloched appeared on a wine list, they would be under entirely different sections: Robust Reds and Semi-Dry Whites. Would you prefer a glass of Marco Lareci to go with that lasagna? Or may I suggest a carafe of Kate Bardach to accompany your chicken piccata?

Opposites, right? Perhaps. But as we all know, opposites attract. Cheers!

About the book:

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A psychic interior designer reluctantly agrees to renovate a sexy investor’s abandoned hotel on a lake rumored to have once been the mob’s body dumping ground.

Interior designer Kate Bardach loves her single girl’s lifestyle—living in Manhattan and spending weekends at her lake house. She’s passionate about her career, reinventing old buildings. But there are some projects she can’t take on because of the spirits trapped there. Kate is psychic—she sees dead people.

Marco Lareci is one of Wall Street’s most successful investment brokers who’s achieved all of his life’s goals—except for finding his soulmate.  His latest project, an abandoned resort on Loch Sheldrake, needs a savvy designer to transform the crumbling complex into a boutique hotel. When Marco meets Kate, he can’t believe his luck. She’s the perfect match for his business and his heart.

Marco’s body excites Kate even more than does his renovation project. But the haunting there, a bonafide poltergeist, affects her on an intensely personal level. Kate’s aunt disappeared from the place fifty years ago.

Will the spirit doom Kate and Marco’s love, or drive them closer together?

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Book Trailer

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About the author:

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Claire Gem writes intensely emotional romantic novels. Her vision is to transport her readers into another place and time, creating characters so real, readers miss them when the book is closed.

Always fascinated by the paranormal, she holds a Certificate in Paranormal Studies from Duke University’s Rhine’s Research Center. When she ran out of paranormal romance novels to read, she decided to start writing her own.

Claire also writes contemporary romance and women’s fiction under the Claire Gem Contemporary line. If you are looking for an intensely romantic novel, with or without ghosts or paranormal elements, you’ll love Claire Gem.

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Purse Project: Kim Hotzon

What a fun idea! Thanks, MJ for having me here today, sharing the contents of my purse.

This is my current purse— a basic, brown tote from RW & Co.

kim hotzen purse

I tend to switch my purse every 3 or 4 months, depending on my mood, outfit, whether I’m travelling, etc. I favor tote bags because they carry lots of stuff!

I’m pretty good at reducing clutter on a regular basis, shredding receipts, throwing away wrappers, etc. I keep the essentials, things I need.

What’s inside:

kim hotzen purse contents

  • silk scarf (essential for travel and windy days)
  • keys
  • flashlight (you never know when you might need it)
  • Dentyne gum
  • mints
  • Clinique lip gloss and YSL lipstick
  • L’Occitane hand cream
  • sunglasses
  • Kindle
  • I-Pad
  • FlowerBomb perfume
  • Hair elastic
  • African bracelet (from my trip)
  • OPI nail polish for touch-ups
  • Phone and I-Pad chargers (always handy)
  • pens (always two in case one runs out)
  • postcards for my design business (my author business cards have been used and more are coming but they’re great for handing out)
  • a copy of my first book with a matching tote bag (there’s always an opportunity for marketing)
  • change purse
  • magnetized wallet
  • my favorite Eiffel tower keychain which keeps falling off

Things often found in my bag but not today:

  • granola bars
  • water bottle
  • sunblock
  • Band-Aids
  • I-Phone (used to take the picture)

My newest release, A Time For Love In Paris is now available!

kim hotzen cover

In 1975, Elise Sutherland, a young woman from Scotland, travels to Paris, France, to study art at the illustrious Fine Arts School of Paris. Stumbling upon a mysterious old book in the infamous Shakespeare & Company bookstore, her world opens up an undiscovered realm. Elise finds herself in late nineteenth century Paris, becoming the muse of master painter and sculptor, Michel Flaubert. Together, they share their passion for art, architecture and each other.

But their love is threatened by people, time and events in history. Will they find their happily ever after?

Kim Hotzon

Born in beautiful British Columbia, Kim developed a passion for writing at an early age. Her interest in people led her all over the globe, including a two year stay in Japan and a humanitarian trip to Rwanda.

She loves to write contemporary romance stories that feature strong women who deal with compelling issues. Kim enjoys adding unexpected twists, usually involving a dangerous and dramatic backdrop. Her first novel, Hands Full of Ashes, was inspired by her trip to Africa. Her second full-length novel, A Time for Love in Paris, was inspired, naturally, by her trip to Paris. Kim also wrote a short, contemporary romance story for the anthology, Sizzle In The Snow: A Soul Mate Christmas Collection, which became a top seller on Amazon Canada.

She currently resides in the sunny Okanagan of British Columbia with her husband and two children. When not writing, she can be found on the local ski hills in winter, or racing in dragon boats in the summer.

You can get in touch with Kim by visiting her website http://www.kimhotzon.com/ or follow her at:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kimhotzon

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6491250.Kim_Hotzon

LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/pub/kim-hotzon/61/9a8/675

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