Twenty authors have banded together to offer readers a chance at winning our holiday-related contemporary and historical ebooks. The more options you choose in the Rafflecopter giveaway, the more times your name is entered in the drawing.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Several romance and mystery authors are participating in a Rafflecopter giveaway to offer everyone a chance to win a new Kindle Fire. The contest runs during the month of June and participants earn an entry for each newsletter signup completed.
Loving The Book Tour for the sweet historical romance series, Grandma’s Wedding Quilts, starts today Monday, March 27, and runs through Saturday, April 8.
Join the Facebook event to learn tidbits about each of the 11 historical stories and the contemporary prequel that introduces the series. Each day one of the stories and the author will be highlighted. So you’ll get a chance to “meet” that author and learn about her, as well as get insights into her novella in the series.
Today is my day to have a question & answer featured on the Party Page on The Romance Reviews site where the celebration of the site’s 6th anniversary is going on all month.
Click here for a chance to win tons of books and prizes from the multiple authors in various genres featured each day.
My giveaway is a copy of my latest contemporary release, Sweet Inspiration.
An event for readers will be held at next month’s CA Dreamin’ conference. Have you ever wondered about the writers who create those stories you love to read? Or maybe you wanted to express your thanks for the stories that bring you entertainment and allow you to escape for a few hours. Romance readers will have a chance to meet sixty authors, learn about their stories, and ask questions. Attendees will also receive a free tote bag with swag.
I’ll be there sharing a table with Harlequin author Patricia Thayer. A contest is being run on her website for a chance to win your ticket to attend. We have forgotten about our readers who live too far away to attend and have giveaways for you, too. To enter, click here
The event will be held March 25th from 1:30-4PM in Brea, California.
BLURB
Sir Darius Lee is a Knight of the High Order.
But when Darius wakes to discover a beautiful female intruder in his room, he begins to question his vows and how he lives his life.
Princess Megan of Bethyea is being held captive.
But when two knights help her to escape and bring her back to her home planet, she finds the home she knew no longer exists.
The Council of Twelve has questions about Maggie and Darius’ budding relationship.
Will Darius lose his Knighthood? And what about Orion’s feelings for Maggie? The questions abound for these romantic Knights.
EXCERPT
Orion’s feet hit the bottom of the stairwell and he crossed the short distance to the door. After yanking it open, he stepped out into what were undoubtedly the laundry facilities. He was met by the heavy and unpleasant odor of mingled mold, flowery detergent, and the acidic smell of dry-cleaning chemicals. His eyes quickly adjusted to the bright light spilling from naked bulbs hanging from the ceiling. The heat and humidity were so thick they could almost drink it like a soup. He surveyed the area in dismay. The girl could have gone anywhere in the vast room running the length of the building.
Darius entered seconds behind him, seeming to take it all in instantaneously. They scanned the floor for clues. Maybe she had stepped in one of the many puddles left by the condensation dripping from pipes and left footsteps to follow. But no such luck. Orion was about to give up when Darius called out, “There.” He pointed to some windows near the top of the wall.
One window was cracked open a few inches and he could see where fingers had wiped away steam in the places they grabbed the glass and left droplets of water racing each other down the pane. He wondered how anyone could fit through so small an opening while at the same time, he tried to re-visualize the layout of the building.
“This way,” he called over his shoulder as he dodged laundry carts.
He found the door they needed, and they soon soaked in the crisp night. Bright light illuminated the lawn around the compound, ending at the edge of a wood. He felt certain the girl was lost, but as he watched, his master closed his eyes and seemed to center himself, breathing deep in the cool outside air. He had never met someone who could access their Inner Spirit so easily. But what could it possibly tell Darius now? Surely his master could not have formed a connection to this woman in such a short time, and Orion knew a spiritual connection was needed to track someone without physical clues to go on. Yet as he watched, he knew somehow the Knight would find her.
Darius opened his eyes and said purposefully, “This way.” He stepped out with certainty toward the nearest copse of trees.
They soon hurried through the woods, following what seemed to Orion to be an invisible path, although here and there he thought he caught glimpses of trampled grass and broken twigs. At last his master slowed his pace, much to his relief, as he struggled, despite his own tall frame, to keep up with Darius’s long strides. Darius motioned silently, indicating the stranger was ahead. They moved forward, trying to make no sounds that might alert her to their presence.
Within seconds, they arrived on the edge of a clearing bordering a large body of water. At first glimpse it appeared to be a natural lake with a gentle waterfall tumbling into it from a small stream to their right. But upon closer inspection Orion realized it was a little man-made oasis. What he initially thought to be rock was actually some kind of synthetic material with spaces created at regular intervals for people to sit, half-submerged in the water.
The girl stood on the edge of what appeared to be a large, upward-sloping outcropping of rock, but now he saw it was actually a cleverly designed diving platform for the pool.
Darius held up his hand and made a circular motion, gesturing to the far side of the pool. Orion nodded and circled around quietly in the brush beneath the covering of trees to the far side of the “lake.” He understood his task was to wait there in the event the girl should attempt to flee across the lake when cornered on the rock.
***
Darius waited in the stillness for Orion to reach the far side of the pool. The light changed, making it easier to watch the girl, but also allowing her to see him on the fringe of the woods. He guessed she’d stopped to rest after escaping into the woods and she didn’t suspect they had followed her here. He watched from slightly below where she stood on the ledge. Her lone figure was silhouetted in the growing dawn, and he speculated on whether this could be the woman they were sent to find. He didn’t take his eyes off her, but not out of the usual devotion to the mission. He simply was compelled to do so.
He wondered what it was he found so striking, so intriguing about this particular woman. He often met beautiful women in the course of his travels throughout the universe, and while he could appreciate their attractiveness, their physical appearance meant very little to him. They were merely features to note on his mental checklist of their description, like anyone else’s features. But this stranger who had not spoken a word to him, he discovered himself riveted to for some reason.
Completely out of character. But the change quietly thrilled him.
Free copies are available to anyone who emails a request to the author at mjschillerauthor@gmail.com
BUY LINKS
M.J. Schiller is a lunch lady/romance-romantic suspense writer and the mother of a twenty-one-year-old and three nineteen-year-olds. That’s right, triplets! She enjoys writing novels whose characters include rock stars, desert princes, teachers, futuristic Knights, construction workers, cops, and a wide variety of others. In her mind everybody has a romance.
WEB CONTACTS
As an author, I’m always looking for ways to stretch my wings. Last year, Amazon developed the Kindle Scout Program, which is reader-powered publishing for new, never-before-published books. Readers determine the worth of a book for publication based on four criteria: the author’s previous work since a Q&A and social links for the author in question are included, a short blurb for the book itself with a kitchy tag line, the first 5,000 words in the story and the cover. Amazon promotes the book in the Scout program as well as on Amazon and Goodreads, but the author has the responsibility to promote the campaign, too. To thank the readers, Kindle Press provides an early, free e-copy to those who nominate a book that receives a publishing contract. For readers, it’s a win-win situation. For authors, it’s a chance to get published and maybe win a few new followers in the process.
Hello Again began its campaign on April 2. The campaign runs for 30 days. At the end of that period, the author learns whether or not a contract will be issued. If the answer is yes, then Kindle Press provides editors just like any other traditional publisher does.
Book Blurb for Hello Again
Can she lift the curse and find love again?
For Charley Winters love means loss and pain. She’s spent the last five years struggling with her grief. Existing, not living. Drawn to Saskatchewan, she isn’t prepared for life’s latests kick in the teeth. Behind schedule, she’s rescued from a vicious tornado by her dead husband’s double, a man who makes her feel things she hasn’t in years. Add to that a native myth, a shaman, a green-eyed wolf, and her husband’s ghost … Can she lift a millennia old curse and find joy and love again?
If you’d like to support the book, a paranormal, romantic suspense, you can check it out here. https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/18M9BEDK8IVLH
As a bonus, here’s an additional excerpt that follows shortly after what is available on the Kindle Scout page.
The letter Mike had left for her, the one he’d written before he’d been deployed, sat on the coffee table, now covered with watermarks from the glasses littering its wooden surface. She reached over and picked up the sheet of paper. His instructions were specific, but she’d never be able to follow through with his requests. It wasn’t fair of him to expect her to.
“Damn you, Mike for dying, for leaving me this way. You didn’t have the right,” she said aloud, her voice echoing in the empty room. Drawn to the page, she read the words once more although she didn’t need to. Each one was engraved on a piece of her shattered heart.
Charley,
If you’re reading this, it’s because I let you down. I didn’t come back to you the way I promised, and I’ll always regret not being able to look into those baby blues of yours, and say goodbye. I never thought it would come to this, that we’d have so little time together. I wanted to take care of you, make you happy, and spend the rest of my days telling you how thankful I am that you are part of my life. We knew this might happen, and it was a choice we made when I enlisted and you married me, but saying goodbye like this is a lot harder than I ever thought it would be.
You’re the light of my life. I imagine our children running around the house, around that garage we were going to open—a boy who’d resemble me, a little girl who’d look just like her mama. We’d grow old together doing the things we loved, checking off each item on that bucket list we made before we were married.
I still want you to do those things, babe, even if I can’t be there to do them with you. There isn’t a lot of insurance money—I always meant to get more, but there was always something else that needed to be done, and since I expected to be there, earning it side by side, I figured fifty grand was enough.
There were so many things I wanted to show you, places I wanted to take you, but you’ll have to find someone else to do those things with now. That’s right. Once I’m gone, you need to move on.
I can hear you saying no, see you shaking your head, but you need to listen to me. I know you’re still mourning your father, but you have to let me go, let both of us go, and the best way to do it is to get rid of the things chaining you to the past—like that old car you baby all the time. You need something safe and reliable. You may be the best damn mechanic in the world, but eventually, a car needs to be scrapped. As far as I go, I’ve left instructions with Phil to cremate my body as quickly as he can after my death. I know you’ll want to see me, but babe, I want you to remember me the way I was when I was with you. Scatter my ashes on the wind. Don’t keep me cooped up in a fancy vase or box like my mother kept my dad. Once that’s done, I need you to open your heart and find a good man, a decent man who’ll love you and make you happy. I’d find one for you, if I could, but there are some things you’ll have to do for yourself.
I don’t know what there is after death, and religion wasn’t part of my life growing up, but when I think of moving on like this, I’m reminded of the stories my grandfather told. He was fascinated by his First Nations’ ancestor, even if he couldn’t claim status. The Sioux believed that the living and the dead lived together, even if only the shamans could see those who’d died. If that’s true, I’ll never leave you. I’ll watch out for you in any way I can. You won’t see me, hear me, or feel me, but I’ll be there waiting for the day when I can say hello again.
Right now, I can picture you standing there, tears running down your cheeks, and that’s the last thing I want. I know how stubborn you can be, but Charley, this is important for both of us, so please, mourn a little like I know you need to, but then move on.
Live, love, laugh, darling. Enjoy life the way you were meant to. I’ll always love you, now and forever,
Mike.
She swiped at the tears that crept down her cheeks.
“You’re wrong, Mike. I’ll never be happy again. The only way there’ll ever be a man in my life, is if you find a way to come back to me, because I’m not going looking for one. So ‘Rescues Wolf Pup and Gets into Trouble,’ if I can’t have you here and now, I’ll wait until we can be together, but don’t make me wait too long.”
About the author
Susanne Matthews lives in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. A retired educator, she enjoys writing and creating adventures for her readers. As she writes, her characters take on a life of their own, and she shares their fears and agonies on the road to self-discovery and love.
Follow Susanne on her: Website Blog Facebook page Twitter @jandsmatt
Amazon author page and Goodreads author page