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Do The Right Thing

This week, I spent some time with a friend of mine who needed help packing up her house before it sold. This dear woman is going through what I’d call a Bad Time, and I was happy to be able to do anything I could.

Now, we all go through Bad Times now and again. It’s part of the human experience. Some of those come to us because of our own actions, and others are merely circumstantial. But for my friend, she’s going through this Bad Time simply because of another person’s selfishness.

There were a group of us there, and someone asked about taking nails down from the walls, where pictures had been hung. My friend asked what we should do: leave them for the new owners or take them down? Our other friend said, “We should take them down and spackle the holes and then touch up with paint. It’s the right thing to do.”

And my friend going through the Bad Time nodded and agreed, “It’s the right thing to do.”

I was struck by the fact that this person, who’d had serious Wrong done to her, in the midst of her pain, still did The Right Thing.

We see people doing The Right Thing all around us, if you keep your eyes open. When the Pope stops to bless a child on the side of the road, he’s doing The Right Thing. When a woman sitting on the airplane senses the anxiety of the young mom next to her whose baby is screaming and reaches out to help, she’s doing The Right Thing. When you’re standing in line in the grocery story, with a large order, and the man behind you has two items, you do The Right Thing and let him go first.

It’s easy to see the wrong things. It’s easy to do the wrong things. In the last weeks, I’ve seen some of this, when authors treat other publishing professionals and/or fellow authors poorly. I don’t like it. It makes me cranky.

Let’s make a point of seeing The Right Things. And please, DO The Right Thing. Not because you’ll get rewards or applause or recognition, but simply because it IS The Right Thing.

And there’s my Thursday sermon. Go forth and be awesome.

Hallowpalooza Is Here!

Hallowpalooza

Hey, y’all!

I’ve got a treat for you. I’m one of the sponsors of the Night Owl Reviews HALLOWPALOOZA Scavenger Hunt.

During this event I’m going to help you find some great new books. Make sure to check out my featured title DEATH FRICASSEE along the way.

The grand prize is a $100 Amazon Gift Card. The total prize pool is $1,000 with 113 winners.

Enter Now at: https://www.nightowlreviews.com/v5/Blog/Articles/Hallowpalooza-2015

Good luck and happy HALLOWPALOOZA!!

Death A La Mode: Folk Music

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This week’s Pinterest Pick topic for Death A La Mode is Folk Music! Crissy Darwin, local folk music rising star, is at the center of a series of troubling deaths. Can Jackie and Lucas help her out of this mess before the curtain falls?

Pin this image to your own Pinterest boards–and stop by my Pinterest page to repin other fun stuff. Don’t forget to nab the Death A La Mode cover, too!

I’m Reading Sacked by Jen Frederick

Since I’ve been in a dry spell when it comes to my favorite sports NA romances lately, I ventured outside my trusted favored authors to try a new book and new-to-me author. After downloading a number of samples and trying them out, I finally decided to try Sacked by Jen Frederick.

From the beginning, I liked the premise of this book: Knox, the male lead, is the virgin. He’s been keeping himself tidy, as they used to say, because he’s waiting for the right one. We’re given a little head’s up early on about how he plans to make that determination and why it’s important to him, but it isn’t really defined for a while.

Meanwhile, our female lead, Ellie, has a secret. She’s at the college as a transfer along with her football-player brother. We find out pretty quickly that her brother has some kind of learning disability that has never been addressed, and at the insistence of her mother, Ellie’s been covering for him for a long time.

There’s the requisite dysfunctional parents–it seems it has to be one set or the other, and in this case, it’s Ellie’s. There’re the supportive friends, the courtship (Knox is intent on winning Ellie), the quirky roommate (Ellie’s) and of course the misunderstanding/secret that tears them apart.

I enjoyed the story, but after a certain point, it began to lose me, largely because I felt there wasn’t a lot of balance. Ellie’s parents, whom we saw only briefly, felt very one-dimensional. At the crisis point, there was some inconsistency, and part of the resolution was just simply ludicrous. And the ending felt . . . flat. Nothing had really been resolved in a long-term way, even if the football was going well.

The writing here was good enough that I’d probably consider reading another of the author’s books. It wasn’t a complete loss; the characterization was good for the main and even for most of the side characters. Knox’s POV was excellent. With a slightly different ending, I might’ve been swooning over this book.

It’s A Ghoul Thing Teaser

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Coming next week!

The Halloween read you can’t miss.

Eight paranormal short stories by the fabulous authors of Romantic Edge Books! Supernatural and sizzling, this is one set you don’t want to miss.

Masked (A Gwen Sparks short story) by Stephanie Nelson
When Gregory Arthur—a tiger shifter—hires Gwen for Halloween night, she and Dorian must figure out why Gregory’s daughter is haunting his house before the suspected murderer figures them out. But like everything in Gwen’s life, not everything is as it seems. If she’s not careful, she may be the killer’s next victim.

Temporal Tango (Miss Series Short) by C.G. Powell
Since Tango’s birth as a human, his mind has been charmed to forget most of his past. What secrets will be reviled when the spell is broken at midnight on the eve of Veronica’s eighteenth birthday? Immortal life as a cat was not all that it was cracked up to be, and somethings are better left forgotten.

Fire&Ice (A Little Flame Short, #7.5) by Melissa Lummis
Fiamette Jurato isn’t your everyday healer, but even she’s never seen this particular problem before. And it doesn’t help that her patient is a stubborn jackass of a troll. Seriously. A real troll. A spoonful of sugar can’t make the medicine go down when the patient would rather die than swallow his pride.

Moon Dust (The Werevamp Diaries-1) by Olivia Hardin
When Magical And Undead Creatures cross paths with humans, sometimes they get hurt. That’s when Rhiannon, doctor to the paranormal world, steps into action. What she doesn’t expect is to get an urgent call from her secret crush. Risking her life to grant him a favor might not be the smartest decision she’s ever made, but sometimes love means taking chances.

Unforgettable (A Serendipity/Recipe for Death Short) by Tawdra Kandle
When seers at Carruthers Institute sense impending world doom, Cathryn Whitmore sends for her top agents. Their mission could help battle the forces of evil, but it’s also going to sorely test their love for each other–especially when someone from the past makes a surprise appearance.

Curse of the Tolomato Cemetery (Olde City Angels) by Mandie Stevens
Eva and Thomas are used to dealing with things that go bump in the night, but on an unexpected day off, the last thing they expect to encounter are vampire pirates–and Thomas’ old flame.
When the vampires capture that ex-lover, the two must brave a haunted cemetery to stop the quest and save the day.

Disguise (Secrets of the Succubus) by Amanda Latzel
Gisele Green’s lifestyle comes with nice perks–hello, unlimited orgasms–-but on All Hallows’ Eve not even expensive cosmetics can hide the succubus inside. Usually she’d stay hidden from public view, but this year she’s blackmailed into being part of the festivities. With all eyes on her, she must maintain her disguise, or lose the life she loves in the human world.

Knead to Know by Liz Schulte
Maggie Edwards can’t sleep, eat, or die—but she can bake. However, just before the Halloween grand opening of her bakery, a pesky reporter witnesses an accident in her kitchen and gets a little too close to the truth. If she can’t convince him to keep quiet, not only will she lose her chance at happiness, but they both could lose their lives.

Preorder your copy today for only 99 cents!

iBooks/Amazon/Nook/Kobo/Smashwords

And since it’s #TeaserTuesday, here’s a tiny sneak peek at Unforgettable, the Serendipity/Recipe for Death short in It’s A Ghoul Thing. This segment is from Rafe’s point of view.

 

We were both quiet as I unlocked our front door. It was always a relief to me to come home, to this place that Nell and I had made our own sanctuary. It was usually bright, with loads of natural light, and even now, as the sun began to sink lower in the sky, its last beams shot through the skylights.

Nell stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the lake. I came up behind her, sliding my arms beneath hers and pulling her body up against me.

“Beautiful sunset.”

“Hmmm.”

“You’re far away from me.” I eased her black hair out of my way and kissed the white column of her neck.

“I’m thinking.”

“Care to tell me about it?”

“I was wondering about Joss. About what would have happened if she hadn’t died in the forest that day. What if I’d been sent to rescue both of you? What if it’d been three of us in that cabin in the woods?”

“What if I’d never come to King when I was in high school? What if my father had lived? Nell, life is a series of choices mixed in with random shit that happens. You’ll drive yourself crazy if you keep thinking like that.”

“And God knows I’ve already been there.” She meant it as a joke, I knew, but I heard the thread of despondency in her voice.

“You were strong enough to get past what happened in King. You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever known, Nell. And I love you.”

“You loved Joss, too.” It was that same careful tone, no accusation. Just a matter-of-fact statement.

“I did.” We’d been through this before. I never denied what I’d felt for Joss. “But what I had with her isn’t what you and I share. We’ve built a life. We’ve made a home.” I turned her around to face me and tipped up her chin with my finger. Storms raged in those ice blue eyes. “Hey. Nell Massler, you are it for me, now and tomorrow and all of my days. If you’d ever say yes, I’d make it official and tell the world that I belong to you.”

“I don’t need a piece of paper to define how I feel.”

“I don’t, either. All I need is you.” I lowered my mouth to cover hers, kissing her with all the depth of passion I felt. When I opened my eyes, hers had quieted into a measure of tranquility, nearly as calm as the still lake outside our windows. “You’re my home. You’re my world. You’re why I’ll do whatever we need to do in order to stop Mallory Jones.”

She buried her face against my chest and nodded. When she spoke, her voice was muffled.

“We’ll stop her together. Whatever it takes.”

“We will.” I rubbed my hand down her back, letting it graze her ass. “But for the rest of tonight, let’s not talk about her, or tomorrow, or anything to do with Carruthers. I’ll order a pizza, we’ll take it to bed, and then I’ll do my damnedest to keep your mind off anything the least bit upsetting.”

Nell sagged against me. “I don’t know. I’m pretty tense. It’d take quite the man to make me forget my problems tonight.”

I kissed her again, my fingers gripped her backside.

“Challenge accepted.”