Though I’ve been writing for several years, I hadn’t really thought about entering my books for awards until last year. I was delighted to learn In the Light of Day had won a silver medal award in the Readers’ Favorite competition and I even flew out to Miami for the award. I’m not planning on flying out to Miami this year, though it was a lot of fun, but I am pleased to announce that In the Dark of Night has also won the silver medal in Romantic Suspense. That means The Men of Fire Beach series now has two award-winning books in it and there might have been more if I’d been entering earlier.
On Thursday of last week, we had our Back to school BBQ. I got to see my kids’ classrooms and meet a few new students. Though I’m excited to get back to school and especially to get my kids back to school, I’m still not ready. I’m so close to finishing Beneath the Surface and I wish I had another week to get it done.
My husband and I went to see Reagan yesterday and it was phenomenal. I was still pretty young when Reagan was president so I learned some new things and while my husband said Dennis Quaid still looked like Dennis Quaid and not Ronald Reagan, he also enjoyed the movie. It made me wish we had a Reagan now. While he still had his haters, it seemed the country was much more unified back then and I certainly miss that time.
Also, you might remember in my last piece that I talked about the company that would not refund my charges after the free trial ended and I didn’t realize. First, a lot of you are so much better than me and commented that you set alarms on your phone for when to quit the trial which was amazing, but I also received an email from the company yesterday that they are going to refund the money after all. Not sure if it had anything to do with my post, but I thought I would give them a shoutout for finally doing the right thing. So thank you Madigcx.
Okay, back to writing for me. I am so close if I can just figure out one or two things, I think I can whip this book out in the next two weeks, so stay tuned. I’ll be offering up a special opportunity for a few BETA readers to make sure it’s good enough in the next few weeks.
Lorana
Featured book of the week:
City-girl Sophie is thrilled to inherit her Grandpa’s ranch. There’s only one problem – she’s terrified of cows.
When a run-in with her boss leaves Sophie’s journalism career in tatters, she trades the high life of Cape Town for her inheritance and a God-given dream—an old cattle ranch smack in the middle of River Valley, a small town nestled along the eastern coast of South Africa.
She soon discovers that it’s one thing for a city-girl to attempt to run a cattle ranch, quite another to keep it going through a drought, and virtually impossible when you harbor a secret cow phobia. Sophie needs help fast.
On one hand, there’s Benjamin Coleman, a cowboy straight off a ranch in the USA. Benjamin isn't scared of cows, he's a hard worker and throws himself into the demands of the ranch, refusing any payment.
Sophie needs him, but can she trust a man so full of secrets?
Then there’s her neighbor, self-made billionaire, Carter Shaw. He offers to fund her ranch operations, his only condition is that she has dinner with him once a week. Simple, right?
Sophie needs him too, but can’t bring herself to trust there aren’t strings attached to his generosity.
Can Sophie brave the cows, launch her dream, keep the two guys from clobbering each other and come out with her heart in one piece?
Here are the book recommendations for the week. Remember, we haven’t read all these books, but Rose works really hard to make sure the books I share are clean and match the values you expect to find in my books.
Phoenix Park is the man I dream about...hitting with my car, that is.
He's rich. He's attractive. He's the absolute worst. But after I fall prey to an internet scam and lose every last penny in my account (please don’t ask), it’s Phoenix who swoops in with an offer I can’t refuse. I’ll marry him for the summer so he can inherit the family company from his dying grandmother, and in return, he’ll drop a hefty sum of money into my bank account.
Buy me a pair of sweatpants with GOLD DIGGER across the butt, because I’m just desperate enough to agree.
Our arrangement is only supposed to be for a few months, until Phoenix’s poor grandmother passes. I can pretend for that long. I can stop insulting him long enough to force a few smiles and some lovey-dovey glances. But with every touch we share, with every kiss we fake, I find the walls around my heart beginning to crack--letting in feelings I'm not prepared for.
And when Phoenix’s grandmother makes a miraculous recovery, leaving us stuck indefinitely in this charade of holy matrimony? That’s when I know I’m really in trouble.
Can one day change your life? What about one month? Let me be the first to tell you, it can. If something or someone is meant to be in your life, there’s no stopping it once the wheels are in motion.
My name is Jasper Conner, and I never could've imagined how one month would turn my life upside down. I write the newspaper column Helen’s Helpful Hints. Everything was running smoothly until one day, Morgan, the owner of the Morning Gazette, decided it would be better if my picture was posted above the column instead of Helen’s.
Oh, did I mention, I disagree?
~ ~ ~
I stumbled into Ballyhoos just because its name sounded fun. My name is Dana Littleton, and at twenty-seven years old, I was jobless, homeless, and broke. And now my parents threatened to cut me out of their estate plan. The nerve of them. I was their only daughter—their only child, for that matter. How could they do that to me?
As I sat at the bar drowning my sorrow in Dr. Pepper, I noticed this oddly dressed guy staring at me. Turns out, this guy who looked like he belonged in the ‘70s, held the answers to my problems.
At least, that’s what the bartender said.
How did I find myself sharing a tent with my obnoxious—albeit gorgeous—neighbor, Isabella Romero? It all started with a stupid bet.
All I had to do in order to win was something unpredictable. (Which my brother thought was impossible for the ever-boring David Windell).
Well, I showed him . . . by booking a trek in the Andes Mountains to see Machu Picchu.
When the brochure for the expedition mysteriously appeared on my front porch, it was like fate interceded: I could win the bet while simultaneously getting a vacation from my irritating neighbor.
Two birds, one stone.
Except, it turns out that was Isabella's brochure . . . and she booked the same trip.
So here I am, stuck sharing a tent with the woman who drives me crazy-and makes my heart race like never before.