Recent Releases

I wanted to mention some friend’s releases that either came out at the end of February and in March.  I like an eclectic mix of books.  I enjoy short, epically long and everything in between.  So there’s going to be lots of mentions of all kinds of books in this blog when I hit a reading mood.  So without further ado, here are some interesting picks to take a look at.

Sad News

I lost my father-in-law on Monday.  My husband was with him when he had a heart attack.  I have known him since I was fourteen.  I have had the honor and privilege of calling him Dad for the last thirteen years.  He was a gentle and kind man who always had a smile on face and who accepted people for who they were.  He will be sorely missed.

Jabbers

On March 18^th I’m participating in The Romance Reviews Anniversary Party with a little Q&A about my latest release All Bets are Off.  This brings me to one of my favorite characters in the book, Eli’s beagle Jabbers.  I’d always been a German Shepherd girl myself, but after meeting my friend’s sweet beagle girl, I knew that was the kind of dog that Eli had to have.

Jabbers became as much of a character as Eli and Ash did.  He caused trouble for the man who broke into Eli’s house.  He had an unfortunate fascination with fisher cats.  And he was prone to getting his feelings hurt.  I’ve had many pets over the years and I’m always delighted by how expressive they are.  Jabbers was no exception.

Six Sentence Sunday

I haven’t done this in awhile.  I’ve been working on a novella for the last several weeks.  Actually, it was supposed to be a short story, but I’m terrible at staying within word length.  So far it’s at 10k.  It was inspired by a friend who wanted stories set in a museum.  I came up with a few ideas, but nothing really stuck at first until I decided to play to my strengths and make it have a paranormal twist instead of trying to write a contemporary.

Make me Whole involves reincarnated lovers, an ancient curse and statues come to life.  Here’s a little sneak peek at the beginning.  I hope you enjoy.

* * * * *

Suzane examined each of the crates and then turned to Galen with a frown and puzzlement in her gray eyes.  “Where is the shipping information?”

“Didn’t see any.”  His fingers encountered layers of wool and Galen pulled out his pocket knife to carefully cut through the padding as the thrill of discovery made his heart leap.  “Come on,” he crooned low under his breath, “show me what you’ve got.”

“Four crates show up in the middle of a locked storeroom with no shipping information and you’re not in the least bit suspicious,” Suzane said with exasperation. 

My Girls

Not too long after my husband and I got married, I was gifted with a silver tipped tabby for my birthday by a family friend.  I love cats, well dogs too, but I was never allowed to have a cat growing up.  My mom thought they were evil and out to get her.  My husband never had the pleasure of a pet before and was pretty wary over the whole idea, but let the kitten stay.  We were assured by friends who had multiple cats that our beautiful little kitty was a girl.  So I dubbed her Sappho.  Only to find out later during a vet visit that my girl was a boy, only he answered already to Sappho so he kept the name.  He hated me.

Sappho however adored my husband.  He’d take nips at me and sit on my husband’s chest for hours on end whenever my husband came home upset over work.  He was a social worker so it happened quite often.  As much as that cat disliked me, he hated my son even more because after he was born my husband’s attention was divided.  I still miss him, because he was so good for my husband.  He passed three years ago just before Christmas.

Andrei Cuza Interview

When I first came up with the idea of the ghost story, it was all Dean’s fault.  He gave me the “what if” that led to the whole mess.  Most of my stories start out as a “what if,” and in this case it was: What if a man is murdered on his way home while just trying to be a good Samaritan and it’s up to his ghost to help his lover track down the bad guy?

At first I wasn’t going to do write it, but Dean kept poking at me.  He wanted this question resolved.  He wanted to know that his partner would be okay when the dust settled and he couldn’t do that until I wrote it.  Dean was a nice guy, but a persistent bugger.

So I started thinking about the man he left behind.  What kind of a man would readily accept help from a ghost without question?  What kind of circumstances could there be where such a man would prefer that his loved one moved on instead of staying to linger with him as a ghost?

February Update

I’ll have to say that February was a much better month than January. At the moment I’m almost completely pain free with my back. I have occasional days with spasms, but I haven’t had any of the spinal compression that made December and January so uncomfortable. And my husband is doing better too. The last time he went to the doctor his blood pressure and oxygen levels were normal. He did his sleep study test and should be getting his sleep apnea machine too.

It was a very busy month though. I didn’t get as much reading done as in January because I’ve been caught up in edits. I finished up the 3rd draft of my ghost story and sent it off for the final beta. I had the pleasure of working with a wonderfully patient police detective who answered my numerous questions about the beginning. Later on this week, I’ll do a blog about Andrei now that I’ve found a picture that kind of reminds me of him. He was a pain to find.