It's Here!!! Book One of the Highland Trilogy

If Not For Love, the first book in my new Highland Trilogy is out! Help me celebrate by logging on to Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com and grabbing a copy.

I'm also celebrating by holding a fun giveaway!

The grand prize is a bag filled with some great swag and a paperback copy of If Not for Love!

Also up for grabs are 10 e-copies of If Not for Love.

4 ways to win:

*Become a follower of my blog.

*Leave a comment along with your email address.

*Leave a review on Amazon.com

*Share the blog link on Facebook.

Doing all four of these gets your name entered four times, improving your chances of winning!

Giveaway goes from January 1-7. Winners will be selected by random drawing.

About the book
Escaping the immoral advances of her publisher, Adia Stone takes her career into her own hands and starts over. Scotland seems like the perfect place to get her creative juices flowing again, and being there also fuels her fascination with her family's Scottish history. The last thing she expects to find is love.
After watching Tavish MacLachlan walk by her apartment every day for two months, Adia officially meets him and the budding friendship quickly turns to love.
But there are forces at work around them that they are unaware of, and people willing to do whatever it takes to keep them apart. Will their love be able to survive the secrets that come to light?

Be sure to grab your copy at Amazon.com

Great Holiday Reads

Thought for Today
“Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.”  - Marianne Williamson

Suggested Gift Ideas and Holiday Reads

Book: The Gift
Author: Richard Paul Evans

Nathan Hurst hated Christmas. For the rest of the world it was a day of joy and celebration; for Nathan it was simply a reminder of the event that destroyed his childhood until a snowstorm, a cancelled flight, and an unexpected meeting with a young mother and her very special son would show him that Christmas is indeed the season of miracles.

Book: Santa Maybe
Author: Aubrey Mace

Dear Santa,
I've been a good girl this year. (Well . . . pretty good.) I have a nice life and there's only one thing that I really want one thing that's missing. If you happen to have an extra one lying around your workshop, I would really like a husband. I promise to take good care of him.
Love, Abbie

With a successful bakery to run, super cute nieces and nephews to spoil, and plenty of good friends to keep her company, Abbie s not about to start crying over the fact that she s doesn't have a boyfriend to spend Christmas with. But when her sister convinces her to write a note to Santa, Abbie has no idea that a little Christmas magic is about to land her the man of her dreams. Or rather, that man is about to land smack dab on the floor in front of her Christmas tree with no memory of how he got there.

Now Abbie and Ben have to figure out where he came from, who he really is, and if he's actually available.

Book: Grace
Author: Richard Paul Evans

She was my first kiss. My first love. She was a little match girl who could see the future in the flame of a candle. She was a runaway who taught me more about life than anyone has before or since. And when she was gone my innocence left with her.

As I begin to write, a part of me feels as if I am awakening something best left dead and buried, or at least buried. We can bury the past, but it never really dies. The experience of that winter has grown on my soul like ivy climbing the outside of a home, growing until it begins to tear and tug at the brick and mortar.

I pray I can still get the story right. My memory, like my eyesight, has waned with age. Still, there are things that become clearer to me as I grow older. This much I know: too many things were kept secret in those days. Things that never should have been hidden. And things that should have.

Movie: The Christmas Shoes

In this heartwarming holiday drama, a workaholic attorney (Rob Lowe) crosses paths with a young boy on Christmas Eve and rediscovers the true meaning of love, life, and the holiday season. Kimberly Williams costars.

A New Non-Fiction Anthology

Suggested Reading

Book: Castles, Customs, and Kings: True Tales by English Historical Fiction Authors
Author: Debra Brown

About the Book
A compilation of essays from the English Historical Fiction Authors blog, this book provides a wealth of historical information from Roman Britain to early twentieth century England. Over fifty different authors share hundreds of real life stories and tantalizing tidbits discovered while doing research for their own historical novels.

From Queen Boadicea’s revolt to Tudor ladies-in-waiting, from Regency dining and dress to Victorian crime and technology, immerse yourself in the lore of Great Britain. Read the history behind the fiction and discover the true tales surrounding England’s castles, customs, and kings.

Amazon Review:
Behind every good historical novel is a ream of in-depth research. The characters and the plot are important, but blatant errors of fact can ruin the enjoyment of a fictional adventure. Most modern Historical Fiction authors take great care to delve into the reality of the period they intend to write about, often down to the minutest detail. This book is a splendid source of interesting information gleaned to serve as a solid foundation to some very good novels. Castles, Customs and Kings is a compilation of easy to read essays written by a variety of enthusiastic authors - some indie, some mainstream - all of whom possess a keenness to unravel the facts from the fiction. From Roman Britain to the Twentieth Century, the articles are superbly laid out in chronological order - you can dip in and out as you please, or read from article to article; either way, when you eventually put the book down you'll have discovered something new while being thoroughly entertained. This is an "I didn't know that" book, guaranteed to inspire and intrigue; you'll find yourself absorbed in the fountain of knowledge penned by wordsmiths who have a passion for the past.

Helen Hollick - author of Historical Fiction, Historical Adventure and UK Indie Review Editor for the Historical Novel Society 
Order at Amazon.com

Thought for Today
“We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started." - Henry Ward Beecher

Suggested Reading

Book: A Just Man & a Highly Favored Woman - The Story of Joseph & Mary
Author: Julie L. York

About the book
Ever since Jesus made his humble appearance just over 2000 years ago, there has been much written about Him and His life.
But, how was He raised? Being the Son of God, were His earthly parents really a necessity? What did his family really know about him?
Beyond the Biblical account, little is known of Mary, and Joseph has just a few verses.
Come on a journey and follow the story of Joseph and Mary, from their childhood together, through Jesus’ birth, life, ministry and death.
Witness their love and devotion to each other, their family, and the Son they loved and cared for, who saved us all.
Historical Fiction

This is a different take on the greatest story ever told and I love it:-) Available on
Amazon.com

Writer Misc.

Thought for Today

"I've got a folder full of rejection slips that I keep. Know why? Because those same editors are now calling my agent hoping I'll write a book or novella for them. Things change. A rejection slip today might mean a frantic call to your agent in six months."

- MaryJanice Davidson

Handbook of Nothin'

Thought for Today
"Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day."
--Henri Nouwen

Suggested Reading

Book: Handbook of Nothin'
Author: N. K. Wright

About the book

Straight from the middle-late 20th century comes the tale of a teen always on the cusp of trouble!
The year is 1972. Against the stormy backdrop of a nuclear arms race, Watergate break-ins, the Vietnam war, and indescribable acts of terror, a teenage boy lives out his simple, rural life. But despite his seemingly tranquil farm life, “Nothin’ Right”—as he’s known to many of his seventh-grade classmates—faces trouble on numerous fronts and against several adversaries. Can a resourceful farm boy solve his own epic problems when the often-violent world around him is on the verge of self-destruction?

Handbook of Nothin' is a 1972 snapshot of rural western America as told through the experiences of a 13-year-old junior high boy and the scrawled pencil drawings in his school notebook.
Handbook of Nothin' could be considered a higher-end middle grade book, but is a fun read for all ages.

This was such a fun book! No matter if you are 10 or 100, this is a story we can all relate to in some way. "Nothin' Right" is a lovable character and his experiences totally cracked me up. Very entertaining read!
Handbook of Nothin' is available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-of-Nothin-ebook/dp/B00DT7YLIS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1377399958&sr=1-1&keywords=the+handbook+of+nothin

I Say Again, We Are That We Might Have Joy

With all the things going on in the world today, it is so easy to allow negativity to cloud our view and bring us down about life. Yes, there is misery everywhere we turn, but there is also beauty and joy, and so many things to be grateful for. We should never turn a blind eye or close ourselves off to the affairs of the world, but we do need to remember that we are meant to have joy, which means being grateful for what we have been given in this life, living the best we can, and doing what we can to make the world better by being here. Yes, there are moments when we all complain, and that is okay because we are human, but the trick is to allow ourselves that moment, then move on.

Everyone's circumstances are different and some of us are far worse off than others, but there are people who possess little and still smile each day simply because they are alive. True, I've never walked in anyone's shoes but my own, but I have worn many different pairs of shoes in my life. Some have been pretty comfortable and some have hurt like nobody's business, but I've learned something about myself while wearing every pair, and I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything, because each was a different lesson in learning to be happy while reaching to attain something more.
Thinking outward brings inner joy. And therein lies true happiness.
Here are a few neat little quotes on finding joy.

The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, and not on our circumstances. We carry the seeds of the one or the other about with us in our minds wherever we go. --Martha Washington

We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same.--Carlos Castaneda

Resolve to keep happy and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.--Helen Keller

To get up each morning with the resolve to be happy…is to set our own conditions to the events of each day. To do this is to condition circumstances instead of being conditioned by them.--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Suggested Reading
 Book: My Lady Coward

Author: Jaimey Grant

About the Book
"My Lady Coward" debuted as a serial romance, each installment posted somewhere online as it was written. "My Lady Coward: An Episodic Regency Romance" is a compilation of those ten installments. They have not been changed from the original postings, merely formatted into one file for those who desire to have the whole story in one convenient place.
 
A lady knows her place, no matter what...
With Maria's vows came a title and security. At her wedding she gained a position amongst Society's elite. With her marriage Maria acquired everything a young woman could possibly desire. 
Except love. 
Going about her day-to-day activities, all Maria wants is Richard's love, the attentions he lavishes upon his mistress. But can she set aside her ladylike training long enough to tell him?