Straight lines- #SundayStills #photography


Straight Lines Terri Webster Schrandt has given us an interesting challenge this week. Find straight lines in your photos! You can see her images here and join in the challenge. This ivy covered building looks straight, until you compare it to the power pole (or is it the pole that's not straight?) The water and …

Saturday Satisfaction #amwriting #gardening


I Finished the Damn Book! May was such a messed up month for me, I was getting seriously worried whether I could finish the book I had up on pre-order in time to fulfill my obligations. It came down to the wire, but I got it done and feel good about the outcome ๐Ÿ™‚ Now …

#BookReview- Arsenic in The Azaleas by @DaleMayer #CozyMystery


A new cozy mystery series from USA Today best-selling author Dale Mayer. Follow gardener and amateur sleuth Doreen Montgomeryโ€”and her amusing and mostly lovable cat, dog, and parrotโ€”as they catch murderers and solve crimes in lovely Kelowna, British Columbia. Riches to rags. โ€ฆ Controlling to chaos. โ€ฆ But murder โ€ฆ seriously? After her ex-husband leaves …

Book Review – The Sister Pact: Home Is Where the Heart Is by Jacquie Biggar


Miriam Hurdleโ€‹ with a lovely review for The Sister Pact. Thank you, Miriam!

Book Review Tuesday: Sunset Beach, The Player, Watching Glass Shatter @JacqBiggar @jamescudney4


I’m stoked by these five star reviews on Mae Clair’s #blog for Sunset Beach and The Player! Thank you, Mae!

Mae Clair's avatarFrom the Pen of Mae Clair

Warm and cozy window seat with cushions and a opened book, light through vintage shutters, rustic style home decor. Small cat on window seat, along with coffee cup by pillow, Words Book Review Tuesday superimposed over imageHappy almost June and welcome to summer! Yeah, I get that summer doesnโ€™t โ€œofficiallyโ€ happen until June 21st, but Memorial Day has always been the threshold to summer fun, including the key opening of east coast beaches and amusement parks. Since I live in a tourist town, I think of Memorial Day as being the gateway to summer. Even though COVID-19 has put a damper on festivities, I still feel the change.

Let it be known that I FREAKING LOVE SUMMER!

Yes, I appreciate all of the seasons, but give me my pool, my Kindle (or a fat paperback), a grill, and swimming weather, and I will pass each day in sheer bliss.

And speaking of Kindles, I have several reviews to share. I read these books in March and April during shelter-in-place time. My county is finally moving to yellow phase this Friday, but I am already back atโ€ฆ

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#BookReview- The Little Bookshop of Love Stories by Jaimie Admans #Romance @be-the-spark


Today is the Mondayest Monday ever. Hallie Winstone has been fired โ€“ and it wasnโ€™t even her fault! Having lost her job and humiliated herself in front of a whole restaurant full of diners, this is absolutely, one hundred percent, the worst day of her life. That is until she receives an email announcing that she …

Father Figure by James. J. Cudney #Suspense #Sale @jamescudney4


Father Figure is a .99 Kindle download from 5/23 thru 5/27 โ€“ help yourselves! Thank you so much for your support in sharing, downloading, reading, and reviewing. I appreciate it! You should pick it up before the virtual book club coming up soonโ€ฆ check it out This was my introduction into James J. Cudney's work, …

My Happy Place #PacificOcean #SundayStills


Sunday Stills This week's Sunday Stills challenge by Terri Webster Schrandt is my happy place- water! You can join Terri's challenge and view her wonderful photos here The first time I saw the ocean was on our anniversary almost 36! years ago, and I swore then if I ever had the chance I was going …

Married To The Texan is #Free #amreading


๐Ÿ’” Free for a limited time! Available in #KindleUnlimited! ๐Ÿ’” Married to The Texan: Gambling Hearts Series Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XBV6D8Y International: https://books2read.com/MarriedtotheTexan Add to your TBR List: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48072574-married-to-the-texan Recommend me on Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/married-to-the-texan-gambling-hearts-series-by-jacquie-biggar Receive 3 full-length heartwarming romances plus one bonus short story from USA Today Bestselling Author Jacquie Biggar All your favorite alpha heroes and independent …

#BookReview- Virtually Dead by Edwin Dasso #Suspense @DassoEdwin


From critically acclaimed bestselling crime writer, Edwin Dasso, comes a gripping techno-thriller, part of a multi-author series tied together by an interlocking cast of characters, all centered around the fantastic new promise of high technology and the endless possibilities for crime that technology offers, in a world where getting away with murder can be not …

Smorgasbord Cafe and Bookstore – Author Updates #Reviews – #Romance Jacquie Biggar, #Mystery Mae Clair, #Adventure Audrey Driscoll


Sally Cronin highlights a wonderful review for my book, Sunset Beach, as well as some from amazing authors Mae Clair and Audrey Driscoll. Thank you, Sally!

Watching Glass Shatter by James j. Cudney #amreading #Drama @jamescudney4


If you haven't tried a James J. Cudney book, now is the perfect time!Tweet His writing is filled with family dynamics, something that appeals to me. Iโ€™ve read, and enjoyed, many of Jayโ€™s books (you can check out my review for Haunted House Ghostย here, Academic Curveballย here, and Father Figureย here. Needless to say, Iโ€™m a fan! …

The Building Blocks of Story: Scenes


Staci Troilo shares the importance of building scenes in your novels on the Story Empire #blog.

Staci Troilo's avatarStory Empire

Ciao, SEers. Last time, we discussed Dwight Swainโ€™s concepts of scenes and sequels. (If you missed that post, you can find it here.) Remember, a chapterโ€™s scenes can be one of two things, a scene or a sequel. Today, weโ€™re going to go deeper into the concept of scenes.

What are scenes?

Scenes are the โ€œproactiveโ€ units of a story. They introduce and advance goals, conflicts, and disasters. Scenes should have all three items before advancing to the following sequel. Why must they include all three? Because all three are necessary for tension. And without tension, thereโ€™s no reason for a reader to turn the page.

Goals:

A goal is simply what your POV character desires. It could be:

  • an object (the Holy Grail)
  • a position (POTUS)
  • a state of being (overcome an injury)
  • a change in status (going from captive to freedom)

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What Does the New Normal Look Like #Family #WorldViews


Photo by Valeriia Miller on Pexels.com What is your new normal? Life has changed for all of us. Whether we like it or not, Covid-19 is an eyeopener. It shows that humans aren't as invincible as we'd like to believe. Like many others, I've been struggling to get my bearings. Half the time, I feel …

#BookReview- If You Must Know by Jamie Beck #WomensFic @writerjamiebeck


Life turns upside down for two sisters in Wall Street Journal bestselling author Jamie Beckโ€™s emotional novel about how secrets and differences can breakโ€”or bindโ€”a family. Sisters Amanda Foster and Erin Turner have little in common except the childhood bedroom they once shared and the certainty each feels that her way of life is best. Amanda follows …

The Girl in The Love Song by Emma Scott #CoverReveal #Romance @EmmaS_Writes


At Santa Cruz Central High School, they called them the misfits, the outcasts, the weirdos. But most of us knew them as the Lost Boysโ€ฆ The Girl in the Love Song, book one in the Lost Boys, an interconnected coming-of-age series of standalones, from USA Today Bestselling author Emma Scott releases on June 7, 2020! …

Sneak Off and Read: Lines all about the topic BELIEVE #RSsos #RomSuspense


The Sisterhood of Suspenseโ€‹ is back with an all-new Sneak Off and Read, featuring lines with the word-BELIEVE. Stop by and share your favorite lines with us; we'd love to hear from you!

#BookReview- Never Look Back by Mary Burton #CrimeFiction


Expect the unexpected in this gritty, tense, and page-turning mystery from New York Times bestselling author Mary Burton. After multiple women go missing, Agent Melina Shepard of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation makes the impulsive decision to go undercover as a prostitute. While working the street, she narrowly avoids becoming a serial killerโ€™s latest victim; as much …