R J Blain On Sale Now

R J Blain’s Magical Romantic Comedies (with a body count) are on sale in a starter pack of 7 on Amazon  today for $0.99. Treat yourself.

Penguins

It’s Penguin Awareness Day.

Brian Bilston

They were sighted off the south-east coast,
drifting in towards the port;
their boat, a snapped-off block of ice,
melting slowly in the warmth.
 
By the docks, a crowd had formed itself;
mob-angry, it looked on.
Placards were thrust. A chant began:
GO BACK TO WHERE YOU’RE FROM.
 
‘They’re just economic migrants,’
declared a spokesman for the right.
‘They’ve come to rob us of our jobs.
It’s as clear as black and white.’
 
‘Tragic,’ said the Home Secretary,
mock-sadness suppressed his smirk.
‘We’d let them stay but here’s the rub –
they have no paperwork.’
 
‘They’ll undermine Our Way of Life!’
The warnings raged on Twitter.
‘They stink of fish.’ ‘They’ll rape your wife.’
‘There’s bombs beneath those flippers.’
 
‘PENGUIN CLAIMS “MY HOME IS MELTING!”’
The Sun printed in disgust.
‘But whose fault is THAT – except THEIR OWN?
What’s that to do with US?’

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Review- Blending In

I just finished reading this book and I have to say, “BUY IT”. Now I know that humor is subjective and not everyone will appreciate what I find funny but give this book a try. I’ve read two others in the series and both are fun, enjoyable reads with entertaining characters and fast moving plots.

Blending In is the newest installment in Blaine’s Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count) series. It takes place around the Christmas holidays so it’s perfect for those seeking a fun holiday themed read. 

“Dr. Harvey sighed. “Did you not learn anything from observing your mother?”

“I’ll acknowledge I should have paid more attention.”

“Women are simple, Chase. Feed them at appropriate intervals, tell them you love them at least once a day, do not steal their food, do not ever, ever steal their food, don’t make messes they need to clean, and there’s something about pillows and thermostats, but I’m choosing to forget what.”-Blending In

“Thanks to a jealous divine, whenever Chase Butler comes anywhere near Miriah, she turns into a chameleon. While her hopes of having a happily ever with Mr. Right are dashed, she’s determined to have the next best thing: a perfect Christmas.

Finding a puppy for her son, dodging the unwanted attention of her divine fling of an ex, and keeping on top of a holiday charity drive for local pet shelters sure is complicated when prone to transforming into a twelve-inch lizard with a severe allergy to snowbanks.

Since blending in has gotten her nowhere fast, she’s going to have to pull out all the stops to get what she wants, even if it lands her on Santa’s naughty list.

Warning: This holiday story contains excessive humor, action, excitement, adventure, magic, romance, and bodies. Proceed with caution.” Amazon

Make this a gift to yourself for the holidays, at $4.99 it’s a steal.

AUTHOR RACHEL ANN NUNES WINS HER COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LAWSUIT AGAINST AN AMAZON SCAMMER

Writer Beware posted this on the long battle by Rachel Ann Nunes against one of the nastiest plagiarists ever.

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

In 2014, author Rachel Ann Nunes learned that her 1998 novel, A Bid For Love, had been plagiarized in its entirety by someone calling themselves Sam Taylor Mullens. Re-titled The Auction Bid, the book was being sold on Amazon, and the “author” was not only promoting it, but sending copies to reviewers.

Unfortunately for the plagiarist, some of the reviewers had read Nunes’s book. Although the plagiarist had switched the narrative from third to first person, the similarities were unmistakable.

Read the whole post here.

Congratulations to Rachel Ann Nunes for a well-deserved and hard fought for win.

New Release- Blood Is Thicker

A Broken Pact. An Ancient Enemy. A Bitter Betrayal.

 
What does a vampire fear more than sunlight? The Cazadoras Sangrientas-Blood Hunters.

Michiko Nakatomi has led the Dark Council for over a century, maintaining the uneasy truce between humanity and the supernatural. But when an ancient enemy returns the delicate balance is shattered and vampires start dying.

Now, Michiko must fight for her life and the survival of the Council. She has no one to trust. Her inner circle is destroyed, the Council is on the verge of collapse, and her only hope lies with Simon and Tristan.

Join the Montague and Strong Detective Agency as they face off against the Blood Hunters to prevent them from destroying the Dark Council and plunging humanity to its doom.- Amazon

On sale now on Kindle for $0.99

 

A Great Reckoning On Sale Now

#1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny pulls back the layers to reveal a brilliant and emotionally powerful truth in her latest spellbinding novel.

When an intricate old map is found stuffed into the walls of the bistro in Three Pines, it at first seems no more than a curiosity. But the closer the villagers look, the stranger it becomes.
Given to Armand Gamache as a gift the first day of his new job, the map eventually leads him to shattering secrets. To an old friend and older adversary. It leads the former Chief of Homicide for the Sûreté du Québec to places even he is afraid to go. But must.

And there he finds four young cadets in the Sûreté academy, and a dead professor. And, with the body, a copy of the old, odd map.

Everywhere Gamache turns, he sees Amelia Choquet, one of the cadets. Tattooed and pierced. Guarded and angry. Amelia is more likely to be found on the other side of a police line-up. And yet she is in the academy. A protégée of the murdered professor.

The focus of the investigation soon turns to Gamache himself and his mysterious relationship with Amelia, and his possible involvement in the crime. The frantic search for answers takes the investigators back to Three Pines and a stained glass window with its own horrific secrets.

For both Amelia Choquet and Armand Gamache, the time has come for a great reckoning. -Amazon

“Penny writes with grace and intelligence about complex people struggling with complex emotions. But her great gift is her uncanny ability to describe what might seem indescribable – the play of light, the sound of celestial music, a quiet sense of peace.” ―New York Times Book Review

If you haven’t read Louise Penny you should, start here:

Winner of the New Blood Dagger, Arthur Ellis, Barry, Anthony, and Dilys awards.

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it’s a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter. Still Life introduces not only an engaging series hero in Inspector Gamache, who commands his forces—and this series—with integrity and quiet courage, but also a winning and talented new writer of traditional mysteries in the person of Louise Penny.- Amazon

Enter Title Here

We interrupt my reading of a ridiculous werewolf romance for a really excellent post by author KJ Charles. I still read the occasional historical romance/mystery/ steampunk/etc. and the one thing that will make me toss the book no matter how interesting the story is if the author has not done the research on proper forms of address.

C’mon, it’s not that difficult to look up the proper form of address for every earl, duke, and prince. Sadly it seems a large number of wannabe writers think research is a dirty word.

So for all those who want to know here is KJ on proper address, and read the comments, some really good info there too.

I am fed up of seeing British-set historical romances that mess up with aristocratic titles. This is fundamental, and while some errors are pretty obscure, others stamp COULDN’T BE BOTHERED across your book. (I’m looking at you, authors who refer to Sir Samuel Smith as ‘Sir Smith’.)

Granted this is intricate and fussy stuff but if you’re writing aristos, it matters. The people inside the system care about the system, therefore if you’re writing characters inside the system, you have to care for the duration of the book. You cannot write about a society if you don’t understand its rules; you can’t write a book about a heroine constrained by social stratification if you have no idea what the social strata even are; you can’t do a faux pas scene of the out-group heroine getting it wrong if none of the in-group are getting it right.

Click here to continue.

 

Elizabeth Cadell on Kindle

I just found five Elizabeth Cadells on Kindle!

These are delightful, frothy, very English romances usually with a little twist at the end. I’ve read these five books about 30+ years ago and I remember The Fledgling in great detail. No one has ever come close to writing the funny, quirky, witty characters, absurd situations, and sweet, romantic love stories that Cadell produced.

 

The Reading Slump Is Over!

At Christmas I had a few guest blogs by authors I had met online and liked for any number of reasons. One of them is AJ Goode. This morning she sent me a request to read and review her upcoming book. Only two kinds of writers ask me to review their books- those that have never read my reviews and those that are crazy.

 

AJ is crazy. Crazy is good. Crazy good. Crazy Goode. Hah!

 

26% into Fat, Fifty, and Menopausal and the almost overwhelming ennui brought on by a stream of not as interesting as they sounded books has dissipated in the warm pleasure of reading the frank and funny outpourings of Everywoman.  It’s like having your BFF sit down at your kitchen table, open her mouth and let it all roll out.

 

Seldom has a book spoken so loudly to me, I’m not reading it so much as hearing it. I want coffee and cookies, these conversations need both.

 

There are 19 chapters or, as I prefer, conversations. The conversation about Assholes Among Us is priceless, and Praying For Rain, this woman’s brain must have belonged to Lucy Ricardo.

 

The slump is over!

 

Robin Rotham Requests

Author Robin Rotham has joined the growing list of authors that are requesting readers not to buy their books published by Ellora’s Cave. In a post on her website Rotham gives a clear, concise history of her relationship with EC.