Month: June 2016

Author Stacey Joy Netzel

Stacey Joy Netzel – Love where you least expect it.

I want to welcome Stacey Joy Netzel to the Guest Author blog this week.

Thanks so much for inviting me Judy!  I love small town romance and am excited to share my little part of the genre with all of you.

Tell us about your latest Book.

It is Spring Serendipity, book 8 of the Romancing Wisconsin Series

Sometimes love happens when you least expect it…
Lora Howell is stunned to find out her husband cheated on her before his death, but drinking too much and picking up a one night stand to get back at him might not have been the smartest thing to do. Facing the stupidity of her actions, the thirty-two year old mother of two recognizes the emptiness in her heart can’t be filled by sex—especially not with the town playboy whose reputation for loving-and-leaving is legendary.
Charismatic SWAT Officer Shane Parker was perfectly happy with his carefree bachelor ways until that one night with the beautiful widow. Now he can’t get the woman out of his head, and the more time he spends with Lora and her young boys, the higher the risk to his heart. Convincing her he’s ready to settle down becomes the most important negotiation of his life—until one last unexpected bombshell threatens everything.

Available at all retailers listed here: http://staceyjoynetzel.com/books/spring-serendipity/

8StaceyJoyNetzel_SpringSerendipityWhere is your series set?
Romancing Wisconsin is set in northeast Wisconsin, in the real town of Pulaski—well known around WI for its lively Polka Days Festival every year. I live about 8 miles out of town, and while I’ve kept the name, flavor, and a few businesses true to life, I’ve also taken liberties to create some fictional parts of the town and surrounding area, as well as fictional events.

The series is broken up into ‘seasons.’ The first 3 books revolve around Christmas (though Book 1 is a Christmas in July story), the next 3 are set in Autumn, and I’m currently working on the Spring set. Each season has 3 books and one short bonus story. When I get to Summer next year, you can be sure some of the characters will be going to Polka Days.

What sets your series apart?
In each book of the series there is a matchmaker named Santa Butch who has a hand in getting the hero and heroine together. Sometimes it’s very subtle, and leaves the reader guessing, “Was that Butch?”, and sometimes it’s very obvious he had a hand in the match. Even the townspeople are starting to catch on to him.

Butch holds a special place in my heart because he’s loosely based off my dad, who played Santa for families around the lake while we were growing up.

Very cool to use your dad. What attracted you to the small-town romance genre?
I grew up in a small town of just under 1000 people, about an hour north of Pulaski. And even then, that’s mostly where I went to school. We lived 14 miles out of town on a lake, and my parents didn’t drive us many places, so that lake, and out of town vacationers were what kept us active (swimming/ice skating). As a kid, I wasn’t so sure I liked being so far away from everything, but once I left home and ended up in bigger cities, I longed to go back to country living. I like setting my characters there because I can write them from the standpoint of where they can’t wait to get out of the boondocks, and others are relieved to be away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Do you have a new book coming up?
I’m currently writing book 9 in the Romancing WI series, Spring Dreams, and then I’ll also have the short bonus story Spring Spark (9.5) that goes out FREE to all my newsletter subscribers. (make sure to sign up at www.StaceyJoyNetzel.com)

What a great idea! What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?
Reading, watching TV, gardening/canning. Though the older I get, the less my back can handle being out in the garden for too long. This year, I’ll be supporting the local organic farm a few miles away by ordering my canning veggies from them.

Is it coffee or tea for you?
Tea. Unfortunately, I have to limit myself to a cup or two a day because I only like it with sugar and honey.

Wine , whisky or beer?
None. I like raspberry vodka slush (a recipe I came up with by modifying a brandy slush recipe), or some Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur) over ice. And even then only occasionally, because again, lots of sugar, and I’ve never been much of a drinker.

Hazelnut liqueur sounds fantastic. What’s on your desk?
Besides the usual pens, books, notebooks…Puffs Plus with lotion, tea mug or water glass, a little stuffed K-9 dog from when I attended the Writer’s Police Academy, Himalayan salt lamp, a match-box sized Delorian from my son because we love all the Back to the Future movies, a smooth rock with the word ‘inspire’ from my daughter, a ‘Joy’ knickknack from a good friend, and occasionally peanut butter M&M’s, marshmallows, and fresh flowers.

If money was no object, where would your next vacation be?
Alaska. Cruise, train tour, hiking…all over the course of a month or two so I’m not rushed and stressed. That’s a version of Heaven to me.

Thanks again, Judy! It was great visiting!  I’d love if you all visited Pulaski in the Romancing 1StaceyJoyNetzel_MistletoeMischief_200pxWisconsin Series and let me know how you like it. In addition to giving away an ebook copy of Spring Serendipity, Book 1 in the series, Mistletoe Mischief, is perma-free on all retailers.  Go to http://staceyjoynetzel.com/books/mistletoe-mischief/

You can find all of my books at my website, and you can also sign up for my newsletter for FREE reads, new release information, and exclusive sneak peeks, and cover reveals.

Okay. Thanks for doing this today Stacey. To qualify for the draw next Monday to win an eCopy of Spring Serendipity, send Stacey a comment below. Come back next Monday to see who the winner is, when I’ll be talking to Kimberley Lang.

Thanks for stopping by.

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Corrissa James – Back to the Heartland

headshot croppedAward-winning author Corrissa James, my guest author this week, was not always a country girl. In fact, she fought it all her life, traveling the world to live in far-flung cities like St. Petersburg, Russia, Caracas, Venezuela, Varanasi, India, and Guadalajara, Mexico. She didn’t realize she was meant to live in the country until she returned to her roots in Nebraska, where she discovered the beauty of the fields around her (even if she was allergic to them) and the intensity of Mother Nature, who sure packs a wallop!

Corrissa’s contemporary western romance novels offer afternoon reads focused on strong women and the men they choose. But it’s never without some struggles along the way.

This week we’ll be giving away a kindle version of her Great Plains Romance Series novel, So Wills the Heart. (Check the sidebar for the winner of last week’s draw.)

Hi Corrissa. Good to have you with us. I drove across the US last summer and passed through Nebraska. Beautiful country! Where is your series set?

The Great Plains Romance series is set in a group of fictional towns in northeast Nebraska. I grew up in the area (and spent my entire youth trying to escape it!), but never really understood how exciting small towns could be until I returned later in life. Everyone knows everyone else (and their family business!) or is related to everyone in some way, and people are quick to offer their two cents on any situation.

There are exhaustive lists of shared memories, but everybody remembers things differently, and the details can be argued about for hours (ahem, years?). Every person in a small town has secrets, but usually the “secrets” aren’t really secrets at all. Some people are desperate to escape the small towns while others refuse to leave.

All in all, the setting offers a great opportunity for all sorts of drama—and people in small towns are experts at creating their own drama, whether at a family event, a street dance, or even over coffee at the local gas station. Oh sure, people in small towns may look like they are leading a laid-back life, but scratch the surface just a little and an exciting spectacle is sure to ensue. That’s one of the characteristics that made me want to write small-town romances.

That’s a great explanation of the appeal of small town romance. Where do you get your story ideas?

Almost all of my ideas start with a single moment and I build the characters and stories around that. For example, So Wills the Heart was inspired by a discussion about swimming in ponds and how you always have to be careful because you never know what you might find, especially in the smaller ponds (our talk focused on snapping turtles from that point forward). I liked the idea of having a startling, unexpected encounter in this very out-of-the-way place and used that to create a pond scene for So Wills the Heart. Ultimately that same idea—being surprised by what you find in new places—permeates throughout the story.

Evie, the heroine, heads to rural Nebraska to clean out the house of a deceased relative whom she’s never even heard of. Although she initially agrees to the project as a way to run away from some of her own skeletons (which she has a habit of doing), she quickly becomes bored with the endless parade of glass figures on the shelves, so she heads out to explore the countryside.

Enter Jonathan, the youngest of four close-knit brothers running a cattle operation. I won’t give So-Wills-The-Heart coveraway all the details, but suffice it to say that their initial meeting takes place in a pond and it is electric! Ultimately, Jonathan opens Evie’s eyes to the beauty of the area, and she starts making all sorts of discoveries about herself and what she wants out of life.

But of course we all know that in small towns, drama is always part of the package, which creates a difficult decision for Evie: Stand up to the challenges or fall back on her tried-and-true reaction of running away and starting over.

Sounds like a great premise. Do you have a new book coming up?

I am fleshing out a new series related to rural vineyards (which has been a great excuse to visit all the wineries in the area!). Some of the stories incorporate the vineyard in the heart of the conflict, others use events that take place at the wineries, but they’re all still very much small-town romances. I’ve committed to having two new books available for a readers’ event in early November, so I guess I’d better get cracking!

The research sounds brutal! Looking forward to seeing them next fall.

Now here’s an excerpt from So Wills the Heart:

Evie sat down on one of the stools and waited. She checked her phone. No messages. No data service either. She could pull up a map using one of her apps, but the GPS service couldn’t track her location. The Internet wouldn’t load.

“Great. Stuck in a bar, but I don’t know where.”

“It’s the Porterhouse.”

She swung around on the stool to see Jonathan Clark standing just inside the doorway.

He smiled. “Can’t get enough of me, huh?”

“Oh, you can help me! Where am I?”

“Porterhouse Bar.”

“No, I mean what city.”

He frowned, then cocked his head. “Excuse me?”

She slid off the stool, laughing at his expression as she moved to show him the map on her phone. “I’m visiting the area and went out exploring today, kinda got lost. This is where I need to be.” She held up the phone, but he ignored it.

“Visiting, huh? I guessed as much.” He pushed past her to walk behind the bar, where he filled a red plastic cup with ice and water from a soda dispenser. He drank the entire cup without pausing, never taking his eyes off her. He refilled the empty cup and handed it to her. He leaned both elbows on the counter, then looked up at her as she drank. When his eyes dropped to her neck, she nearly choked on the water. He looked back up at her and smiled.

“You sure you’re just visiting? Couldn’t you at least pretend to be thinking of staying?”

She shrugged and set the plastic cup down on the bar. “I could see myself living out here, with all the open skies.” She caught her breath. What made her say that? She hadn’t even considered leaving Denver to live here, but when she looked at Jonathan, who was watching her closely, she smiled. Yes, she could see herself enjoying more afternoon swims with him

 

Catch up with Corrissa at her website, www.CorrissaJames.com, on facebook, or twitter.

If you want to read more of Corrissa James, visit her Amazon Author page, or comment below to enter this week’s giveaway of So Wills the Heart.

Then, see you next week when New York Times bestselling author Stacey Joy Netzel will be my guest, and I’ll announce this week’s winner.

Thanks for dropping by.

Judy sig

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Summer of Fortune Launch Day – A quiet celebration.

facebook-emoticon-holding-glass-of-red-wineYes, today’s the day, and that’s me, celebrating the launch of my first novel with a nice glass of Malbec while fireworks go off all around the town.

Although the novella prequel Lake of Dreams came out last month and I’ve been giving it away right, left and centre to introduce the series to readers, this book, Summer of Fortune, is special.

It’s the book I started writing eight years ago, foot up in the recliner following a foot operation, with a new laptop on my knee, thinking I’d just take this opportunity to start the story I’d had in my head for years. Little did I know it would morph into a series of four books and counting because, yes, I’m publishing all four books this year! Pass the wine!

Here is the premise for the series:

Series Blurb Blue copy copy

In each book, someone moves into the cabin on the lake, needing time and space to work through their problems. Whether they are fully aware of them or not.

SOF sm

In Summer of Fortune, single mother and art photographer Maddie Tedesco moves into the cabin for the summer to work on the black and white dark room photographs for her first solo show at a professional gallery in Seattle. Her teenage daughter has gone to live with her father for the summer and for the first time in years Maddie has time to think about her own future. And her past. The daughter of a severely alcoholic mother, Maddie still carries a lot of childhood baggage. But strongly independent, she has always kept her life on track by keeping to herself and  strictly sticking to her plans.

But that’s not so easy to do in a town like Fortune Bay, where she’s swept into a life she never thought could be hers.

Welcome to Fortune Bay

To read the first chapter, click here.

Summer of Fortune is available in paperback from Amazon, and in eBook form from the following online retailers: Amazon, Kobo, the iTunes store and Barnes and Noble.

Thanks for dropping by. More wine?

Judy sig

 

 

 

PS – be sure to stop by www.karendocter.com where today I’m blogging about cookies and giving away a copy of Summer of Fortune to one reader.

 

 

 

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Tamra Baumann – It Had To Be

My guest this week on the small town romance series is Tamra Baumann.

Tammy writes stories she calls, Fun, small town contemporary romance with lots of heart. Sounds perfect for the series!

I Hi Tammy. What is your latest book?

– My latest puBaumann-ItHadtobeFate-21904-CV-FT-V3FrontCover copyblished book is the third in my IT HAD TO BE series,  IT HAD TO BE FATE. Here’s the blurb:

Falling for a bad-boy rock star is the last thing single mother Casey Anderson-Bovier should do. Embroiled in a custody battle with her ex, Casey is fighting to raise her boys in their quaint Colorado hometown—a secret haven for celebrities. But when it comes to her hotel’s newest guest, Casey can’t connect the dots. Is Zane Steele the out-of-control rocker plastered all over the media, or the captivating man with a killer smile who’s charming her and her two boys?

Zane has a good reason for letting the world believe the worst of him—and that’s a secret he’s sure he can never share…until he meets Casey. After years of having fans fall at his feet, he’s found the one woman who brings him to his knees. Casey is beautiful and intriguing—and thoroughly justified in not trusting him one bit, especially with her family at stake. But the only way to be together is to convince her to take a chance on him, on fate, and on their crazy, unexpected love.

What sets “your” town apart?

–  My town is a secret celebrity hideout, and the crafty mayor has provided incentives for all the townspeople to keep their guests’ identities secret.

Sounds like a fun premise. Lots of room there for trouble. What attracted you to the small-town romance genre?

–  My parents both grew up in small towns in Iowa, while my sibs and I were Navy brats, moving constantly and stationed in much larger cities. It fascinated me how even strangers (to me) knew who I was. And I loved going into the town’s diner for ice cream on hot summer days.  We never needed money to pay for our treats because everything went on my grandparents’ tab. You couldn’t do that in Southern California!

How much has your own life influences your writing?

– As writers, we have the opportunity to live vicariously through our characters. So while you’ll never open my closet and see row after row of Louboutin red soled shoes, some of my characters might have them.  I was a real estate appraiser for 25 years before becoming a full time writer last year, so I’ve seen thousands of closets! And seen lots of other things that I have used in books.  (With names changed to protect the innocent, of course.)

– Wow! What a great resource for quirky characters.  How would you describe your writing process?

–  I’m a hybrid writer. I plot just enough so I know where the story will go and what the big turning points are in the story, and then I let the in between happen naturally. Now, don’t misunderstand, I WISH I could plot down to the nitty-gritty, but it’s just not how my busy brain works, so I end up going back and weaving in story threads all the time. Not the most efficient way to write, but it works for me.

– me too. What do you feel are the pluses and minuses of writing a series?

–  It’s fun to write series because characters from previous books show up, but it can be hard too.  I have to keep the characters consistent, the facts about the town the straight, and I can’t forget that the name I chose for a beloved character changed after I turned the book in because my editor didn’t like it. That happened to me in the second book of my series. I was talking to a fan who said how much they enjoyed a certain character and I had to stop and think for a moment who the heck she was talking about!  That was a “Duh!” moment for me for sure. LOL

Do you watch any reality TV?

– Yes! I am a reality TV JUNKIE! I love all the Housewives on Bravo, their outfits and lifestyles are outrageous, and I have watched Survivor from the early years. I don’t actually know people like those on the Housewives, so I enjoy studying them and using parts of their personalities in my characters. I like The Voice and Dancing with the Stars because I love to root for underdogs!  It’s fun to see others striving for and living their dreams.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?

–  When I’m not writing I like to cook, take walks, play tennis, and travel. But my son is getting married next month, so I’m doing a lot less cooking and much more walking and dieting to fit into my dress! (And I bought some spanx as a backup plan!)

– I’m with you! That was me last year. What do you read?

–  I read many genres, but I try to limit other contemporary romance while I’m writing (which is most of the time) because I worry I’ll accidentally borrow a line or phrase that I admired in another book. I have no clue where my words come from sometimes, so I don’t want to risk stealing a good line.  I like to read historical novels and light mystery while writing, but while in editing mode, my must-read authors are Jill Shalvis, Nora, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Kristan Higgins, and many more. They are my reward for getting through my copy edits. ;0)

Do you have a new book coming up?

– I do! I’m writing the second book in my Matchmaker series right now and don’t have a title as of yet. I’m hoping that one will be out in September.  And then the fourth book of my IT HAD TO BE series, IT HAD TO BE THEM, will be out October 11th.Baumann-ItHadtobeFate-21904-CV-FT-V3FrontCover copy

Thanks Tamara. I’ll be giving away IT HAD TO BE FATE as this week’s contest giveaway, next Monday to one person who comments on this post. It could be you!

You can connect with Tamra on her website, www.tamrabaumann.com, and find her books at Goodreads and her Amazon Author Page.

Next week’s guest author is Nanette Day, so be sure to come back next Monday to see who this week’s winner is.

And watch for my own giveaway this coming Friday to celebrate the launch of Summer of Fortune, the first full length book in my Fortune Bay series!

Thanks for reading. Don’t forget to comment!

Judy sig

 

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Rosemary recipes – Anyone?

My Rosemary monster in the garden.
My Rosemary monster in the garden.

I love growing herbs. They are so easy, forgiving of not-perfect conditions, fragrant, useful all year round and they flower!

Rosemary thrives in the hottest spot in my garden, and earlier in the spring I heavily pruned the rosemary shrub to make room to plant my tomatoes. I laid the prunings out on a screen and left it to dry on the porch. I don’t really even need to dry any since Rosemary stays fresh in the garden all winter, but I couldn’t bear to throw it away. This will give us enough dry rosemary for the year, and I think I’ll be giving bottles of dried Rosemary for hostess gifts this year.

Rosemary skewers for Lamb kebobs.

We use fresh rosemary branches to skewer lamb kabobs for the barbecue to add even more flavour.

Just marinade lamb pieces for a few hours in olive oil, lemon juice, crushed garlic, bruised rosemary leaves, salt and pepper.Thread onto rosemary branches before barbecuing. The sticks are quite oily and don’t burn easily.

I also like to sprinkle fresh rosemary leaves, with salt and pepper, on sliced potatoes to roast, but you can also use the dried herb. Easy and delicious.

If you have any ideas for other uses for rosemary, I’d love to hear them.

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