Friday, December 23, 2016

Happy Holidays

The house still needs cleaning, and I have to recheck the menu for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meals. I need to plan for more guests who will arrive and share New Year's Eve dinner at our North Carolina home. I love to cook, but making easy meals lets me enjoy the holidays with my guests.

Favorite movies we plan to watch include A White Christmas, Scrooged, A Christmas Carol (the original with dear Alastair), Love Actually, and It's a Wonderful Life. Enjoying these cinematic masterpieces with family sets me up for 2017.

Christmas Day is our annual viewing of the newest Doctor Who on the BBC channel. Listening to English accents, while sitting in our southern home, makes me think of ideas for my next book. (Well, I might add in a little Scottish brogue).

When you've filled up on Christmas dinner, and the cookies are gone, relax with a book. Whatever you plan to do this holiday season, I hope you share it with friends, family, and a good book! Need an idea? Check out all my books on my book page HERE

Friday, December 16, 2016

Moe's Christmas by Donna Steele

Donna Steele has written another new book, and I asked her to stop by and share the intimate details of her newest story, Moe’s Christmas.

Thanks, Nancy! Moe’s Christmas is my fourth Christmas novella and a fun one as it continues to follow the family from my book, Before You. Since I come from a family with a ton of cousins, this felt personal and familiar.

Our Christmas will be different this year – we will get to see our family, son, both daughters and our precious grandson and spend time with them, but we’re doing it from a one-bedroom apartment with minimal decorations – my Santa collection will have to remain in storage this year – but next year in our new home we’re going to blow out all the stops!

Book Blurb
Moe hasn't taken time to think about his lack of female companionship for a while. When his cousin, Noah, finds the love of his life, it awakens something in him.

Kim is recovering, from being shot at a mall on Black Friday, from a disastrous marriage, from being separated from her sons. And it's Christmas.

When these two people meet, the possibility of life making sense again might make this a great Christmas after all.


Excerpt from Moe’s Christmas
   Kim silently chastised herself for the instant retreat. This man had done nothing to frighten her. He was a large man, even bigger than Jerry, but the vibe she got from him was the complete opposite of her ex.
   Jerry had used his size to intimidate and bully since his high school football days. Her first impression of Moe was of a large teddy bear though she did feel a strength underneath that he didn't need to flaunt.
   "Kim Harris, this is my cousin, Moses Edwards," Noah said by way of introduction.
   "Please call me Moe," Moe said quickly, cutting his eyes at Noah.
   "Kim teaches at UNCA with me."
   "You know him and still agreed to come?" Moe asked and she relaxed slightly at the banter. These men were good friends as well as cousins.
   "Is there something you need to tell me?" she countered.
   "Do you have a week?" Moe responded as Noah stepped between them.
   "Ignore the hulk in the hall. Let me show you your room."
   "Dinner is nearly ready," Jocelyn said. "Noah, take her things up to the yellow room. Come on back to the kitchen when you're ready." Jocelyn turned to the rear of the house while Moses, Moe, took her suitcase from Noah and headed up the stairs. She followed at a slight distance as Noah joined his wife. Hopefully Moe hadn’t noticed her retreat. When would she get over this damn skittishness?
   Moe looked nothing like the shooter. That little asshole had been short, small with greasy hair and a "little man" complex, needing the gun to show his worth, if she were allowed to diagnose him. Moe's body reminded her more of Jerry, which was worse.
   Kim concentrated on the house. Noah spoke of it often and his love of the place shown through, but she'd never seen it before. The place was larger than she’d imagined and obviously well cherished. The Christmas tree in the living room was magnificent and greenery on the stairwell and over the mantle gave off an aroma she hadn't appreciated this year. Moe led her back downstairs and they gazed at the tree in silence. Was he watching her?
   Dinner was ready and Kim watched with surprise as the men pitched in to bring it to the table. Moe even poured the tea. Jerry had never done anything in the kitchen, even after the boys were born.
   Dinner was relaxing. Kim had met Jocelyn a couple of times at UNCA functions and of course she had worked with Noah for several years. She watched their subtle interaction over the meal and envied it. Their love for one another shone clear. Had she and Jerry ever had that?
   She caught Moe watching her a couple of times. He'd grin unabashedly when she did, and Kim found herself returning his grin finally.
   "You have questions, don't you?" she finally asked him.
   "No. But I do find myself wanting to offer to cut up your food."
   She laughed and realized it was the first laugh she'd had since she could remember. This large man was a nice guy. She had no business comparing him to her ex just because of his size.

Buy Links –   



More about Donna Steele 

Donna writes science fiction, paranormal and small town romances about women coming into their strength and having the courage to find and accept love. Now that she has retired from going into an office every day, she created an office at home and writes full time. Talk about living the dream!

She was the girl at the party who was yearning for the quiet corner and a book to read (go Rory Gilmore!), and has been writing in her head since she learned to read. Getting those stories down on paper (or in her laptop) has been more fun than she ever imagined it could be. The possibilities of science fiction have always drawn her and she's read them all, there just needed to be a little more romance in them. She finally got up the courage to write them herself and is delighted to be able to share these stories with you. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal Chapter of RWA and the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers.  Connect with Donna Steele:    

Website    Facebook     Twitter     Goodreads     Amazon Author Page    Instagram

Monday, December 5, 2016

A New Release! a Kilted Boxed Set

My newest release, just in time for holiday shopping, is Highland Games Through Time. This boxed set includes three of my time travel romances set in the late 16th century, in and around the Highlands of Scotland, and at a fictitious modern-day Highland games in New England. 





As a bonus, I have included
my award-winning novella


Bought as separate ebooks, these 900+ pages would cost $11.97 


My Introductory Price is only 99 cents (US)

*Send the ebook as a gift with an Amazon Gift Certificate

 Buy Links: Amazon     Amazon CAN     Amazon UK     Amazon Aus

...and don't miss out on this 
multi-author boxed set filled
with more time travel romance
at Amazon

Friday, December 2, 2016

Kathy Rothenberger says Read With the Lights On!

Kathleen Rothenberger stopped by to share some interesting details about her first book, READ WITH THE LIGHTS ON. This book is full of true stories she collected and will scare any sane person! 

Excerpt: READ WITH THE LIGHTS ON
From: THE POLICE STATION


    At one point, my husband and I were working together on ghost investigations with a medium from a neighboring town, and he wanted to investigate a haunted police station. The police chief had told this medium that he had been getting complaints from his officers at how creepy it was to work in the building after dark, or overnight. Weird sounds, shadows, flickering lights, and barely audible voices were some of the officers' comments.
    The chief was mostly skeptical, himself, but he didn't want a mutiny of his officers, so he invited us down to check it out. The investigation team included 3 mediums, myself included, my husband, and about 5-6 other paranormal investigators, armed with usual ghosthunting tools-meters, audio recorders, video cameras, etc.
    We split up into two groups, one going to the jail cells in the back of the building, and one staying in the office area and the evidence lockers/room. Immediately, one male spirit was detected by the evidence lockers (like high school hall lockers) because he was guarding "his stuff", he didn't want it to get stolen.
    One of the other investigators got evidence from a mangled bicycle that the owner had died when a car hit him, and he was staying by his bike, waiting for help.
    It started getting exciting when the one team at the cells started getting good evidence-photos of light rods, orbs, a spirit of a jailer and a restaurant worker who used to bring food to the prisoners in the 1940s. (Back then, there was a restaurant next door which had a contract to feed the prisoners).
    At some point, I wandered away from that group (I wasn't really attached to either group, I was floating between the two, so that each group only had one medium.) I had consistently been drawn to a locked door in the back that had no signage on it. I kept getting the feeling of intense heat, like from a house fire, and stark terror. I wanted to ask the chief, but he was by the cells with everyone else, so I waited.
    When the investigation was over, and everyone was discussing their findings, and looking at the evidence, the chief was either verifying them or saying he didn't know. When one of the other mediums asked me, kind of in a challenging way (we don't get along, at all, and she always tries to debunk other mediums) what I had found, if anything, I directed my answer to the chief.
    The chief asked me, "I saw you kept going back to that door in the back of the offices, what's so interesting back there?" So, I started telling him what I had sensed, the intense heat and smoke, and the abject terror. The snarky medium laughed at me, but the male medium walked over to the door and stood there a minute, seeing what he could sense. After I was finished, the chief said "I find it very interesting that out of all of you, Kathy was the only one to sense anything in that room. I am impressed. What she is talking about, is a case from awhile back, and that's our most violent case, to date. We had a series of crimes against homeless people, mostly just robbery or assault, but this one was worse.  A homeless drunk had broken into a vacant building to get warm one winter night and he fell asleep on the floor. A gang of teenagers saw him, and decided to have some fun, so they took some gasoline and matches and set the guy on fire. He didn't survive.  We had to cut a large square of the rug that the homeless man was burned on, as evidence, and it's in that room. You can actually see the imprint of his body in the carpeting. That's why she is getting that information."
Title: READ WITH THE LIGHTS ON, True Ghost Stories
Amazon ebook ASIN: B01KKWKVBK
Release Date: August 16, 2016
Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Ghost Stories/Anthology
Print ISBN: 978-1537187914

Buy Links: 

Amazon    Amazon UK    Amazon CAN    Amazon Aus     Amazon NL



About the Author
Born in NY, as the oldest of three siblings, Kathleen was always the responsible one. She did her homework, helped with her younger sister and brother, and to escape from the responsibilities, she read. Lots and lots of books. She has been reading since age 3, and has always paid attention to how words go together. Her careers have always involved writing somehow, either as scripts for TV shows, commercials or other productions, as president of a video production company that she and her husband owned in Florida, or as an editor and proofreader, which is her current career. Kathleen is a member of the Florida Writers Association and the International Association of Professional Writers and Editors.

Connect with Kathleen Rothenberger


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