It's Official: Moma ain't going back to the kitchen

It's funny the way you can reuse things when you think about it. I was having a hard time leaning over and constantly looking at my agenda. So I took the recipe book holder I had for recipe books in the kitchen and boy did that baby work like a charm.

And since I absolutely hate cooking with a passion, it's a great reminder to work hard so we can afford to eat out more. LOL

My Blog 2 Questions + 1 Lit Agent + A Sassy Southern Belle=

Sweet Saturday Sample: The Eternal Witch meets Death

Dressed in black robes from head to toe with a hood that obscured the beings face and head only revealing a pair of bright red eyes Aisleen greeted an old acquaintance. Although others wouldn’t have treated, him as such for his purpose was one that was terrifying. Still when he had come to take Aisleen’s sisters, she had remembered that he too was a creature of the Goddess’s and deserved love and respect.

            “Hello old one. Are you here for me?” She asked.

            “Yes and no.” Death responded. His voice was dreadful and deep. The first time she had heard it fear had gripped her almost consuming her common sense. The feeling still came only tempered by her compassion for his plight. He had not asked to be this being. Why he was, she had never asked. But knew no one would desire his position.

            “I don’t understand.” She expressed her confusion.

            “I have roamed between realms taking the spirits that die from one world to another for longer than anyone can count. Only magical beings can see me other than those souls. During that time, only one has paid me a kindness. Even in her greatest grief, she thought of me and not of herself.” Aisleen mused again how it was odd she could feel tears as a spirit. Memories of her sisters deaths assaulted her, for each time she had saw him it was with their demise.

            “I have waited to pay that thoughtfulness. So here I am kind Aisleen, the last Familial Witch, at your service.” He bowed.

            “What service can you provide me?”

            “I can give you power to enter a man’s dreams, but be advised you must choose only one.” The dark voice warned. Aisleen didn’t have to think to know which man in her tiny cottage she desired to know more, if only to take stronger memoires of what could have been with her to the other side. But before she accepted his offer she had a request of her own, looking into the dark face and frightening red eyes she asked.

            “What is your name?”

            “Why do you ask things you already know?” he responded, his voice still deep but husky. The change fueled her courage.

            “I know for a fact that our Mother did not name you Death. That is but a title that describes your duties. You must have a name.”

            He looked away when he answered, “Long ago I was once called Damascus.” He whispered.

            “Damascus is a fine name. Now let’s have a look at what I am sure is a fine face as well.” She insisted reaching toward him.

            Death took a step away from her and gasped. She appeared before him with the mere thought, touching the top of his robe at the wrist, she bid him to calm down.

            “Why do you ask so much?” he demanded.

            “I can’t properly thank you if I can’t look upon your face and know your name.” She explained.

            “What if what you see is frightening?” He responded calmer.

            “You forget sir that I have felt the darkness that can hide behind even the fairest of faces.” She reminded him thinking of the loss of her unborn child and the handsomeness of her former husband. While she had not seen him that day, her grief left her between sanity and madness, she had felt Death’s presence.

 Finally, he looked up, raised his arms revealing two flesh covered hands and pulled his hood back.

            Aisleen gasped for his beauty was like nothing she had ever seen. Thick golden hair fell just above his shoulders, eyes as blue as the sky and not the red she knew so well surveyed her reaction. A square jaw was set below the frown that stained his lips.

            “I warned you. Now you are afraid of me.” He stated moving to pull his hood back up. Aisleen lunged forward and stopped him.

            “I am unafraid Damascus.” He paused and arched a brow.

 “Truly I am not. I don’t understand why you thought I would be. You are perhaps the fairest man I have ever beheld with eyes as blue as the sky and hair as golden as a flowers core.”

            Damascus looked at his hands turning them over then moved forward grabbing her by her shoulders, “I entreat your pardon, but I must see through your eyes. Will you give me leave?” He asked with a desperation she could feel. She nodded.  Then it was as if she was invaded. Only the force was not suffocating, just a joining of space. With that connection, she could also tap into him as he had her.

            As he saw himself through her eyes, memories of his past flooded her mind, memories so ancient and painful it caused her to scream. He withdrew immediately.

            “Aisleen are you well? ”

            “I’m fine. What was…it was all so much.” She muttered. Damascus seemed to not hear her looking away and mumbling.

            “Until the one who sees the beauty within…will you be free…” He whispered.

            “What do you mean Damascus?” She asked. His blue eyes met hers.

            “Have you made your choice Aisleen?” He asked instead of answering becoming oddly formal again.

            “Yes…but what” She was cut off by a wave of his hand. Then appeared inside the room of a place she didn’t recognize."

Thank ya kindly for visiting. Don't forget to mossey back on over to Sweet Saturday Samples for more delicious words. 

Traces of ....

So it's been a while since I did a review or an interview. And the review isn't per my usual as I'm talking about two novellas. A book one and book two of a series. I apologize for my lack of reviewyness but hey I'm bringing something sweet and emotional. Lets get to the books shall we. 

Title:  A Trace of Love (Book 1)

Author:  Danielle Ravencraft

Genre:  Contemporary Romance Erotica

Blurb:  Ophelia Martinez has a chance encounter with internationally famous rock-star, Trace Curtis. To Ophelia, Trace will always be the charming boy she met in high school. They share one night together in which Trace falls in love with Ophelia. But Ophelia knows she can’t continue to live in the past, at least not with the secret that haunts her present.

Buy Links:

·         Amazon.com:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HSCV9I

·         Barnes&Noble.com:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-trace-of-love-danielle-ravencraft/1105098324

·         SmashWords.com:  http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/82286

·         GoodReads.com:  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12515190-a-trace-of-love

·         MuseItHOTPublishing.com:  http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=192&category_id=60&keyword=a+trace+of+love&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

Title:  A Trace of Passion (Book 2) 

Author:  Danielle Ravencraft

Genre:  Contemporary Romance Erotica

Blurb:  Ophelia’s in for a birthday surprise that turns out to be a birthday nightmare as she’s reunited with hunky rock star, Trace Curtis. The pain of her defiance runs deep and he won’t leave Ophelia alone without an explanation. The more time they spend together, the more their passion grows. Ophelia knows in her heart she should tell Trace the truth, but will her secret drive him away?

Buy Link

Bri~Trace of Passion is the second in a trilogy of novellas. What made you decide to go this route?

DR~What made me go with a trilogy? In all honesty, it's just how things turned out lol. My publisher wasn't happy with the ending of "A Trace of Love". They wanted me to flesh it out and give it a happier ending, but first of all, Ophelia wouldn't have it, and second I wanted to keep the story short. At the time I had been mulling around the idea to continue to story in my head, so I talked to my editor about it and she loved the idea of bringing the characters back, so it evolved into two books. But as soon as I finished writing Book 2, I knew there would have to be one more because there are some surprises at the end of Book 2 that Trace and Ophelia need to address before they can truly have their happy ending. 

Bri~Boy I can relate to that. Characters that demand things their own way are impossible to ignore. The heros name is actually Trace in your trilogy, as in each of your titles the same word is used. Was that planned? How did it come about?  

DR~Heehee. Yes I did that on purpose. I like to have titles that mean something or are a play on words. It's just something I like to do...Like a signature mark or something. I spend weeks with a dictionary and thesaurus open until I find the right combination of words. Sweet, simple, catchy, and will make the reader giggle once they figure it out. :) 
Bri~ I'm the same way. Little techniques or patterns that are distinctly me. Even if I'm the only one to now it's still important. Tell us about the third installment? Is this the end? There were two surprises at the end of Passion will those two be resolved?


DR~ Yes the third book, A Trace of Hope, will be the final installment. This might end up being a little longer than the fist two books, but the story will finally end. Makes me sad just thinking about it, but I also feel like I owe Trace and Ophelia their happy ending after everything I put them through.....


Bri~ Darn straight you do. They have been through a lot you spiteful woman. LOL 


Review


So I'm not one to summarize an already great blurb so I tend to leave those out of my reviews. In short I almost ripped Danielle a new laptop hole after I read Trace of Love because I wanted the sequel immediately. Trace and Ophelia are amazing characters. The way that Danielle can create characters of that kind of depth and a plot with such intensity in so few words is a testament to her craft and talent. 


Buy it Now!

Pampered Chef is Indestructable

Apparently Pampered Chef is forever. Why do I say that?

Because my granny gave me a round stone she said she'd had for like twenty years. And this thing was black! I mean dark as night, no amount of scraping or scrubbing would change it black.

So I've had said stone for about ten years. And it is still black.


That is until recently.

So I keep this stone in the oven for easy access. Well I hadn't cleaned my oven, or my house for that matter, in a long time.

I have a self cleaning oven...I figure WTH.

I'll set it and then at least that will be clean. So I do all the button pushing, the oven door locks, I go upstairs to take a shower.

Well an hour later the house is all smoking, the detectors are silent (at least we learned that) and the oven is locked. I open up the windows and start the fans. Hours later we find out that the oven wasn't that dirty. The Pampered Chef Stone was!


And now my stone is as good as new looking. Crazy huh!

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The Inverted C and the L desk

So if you follow the blog you know that I opened my own consulting business called Belle Consulting. If you didn't tada! I did. Well it kind of took off at a pace no one really expected...especially the haters.(Booya how you like the apples!)

With that said there are a couple of new developments that have physically happened.

·         My butt is much flatter because I literally spend about 10 hours a day on it at the computer.

·         I actually weigh less than I did in high school now, because I don't eat for 10-12 hours a day. And when I do criteria like it has to be quick, loaded with protein, and not leave any residue on a touch screen, key board, or mouse. So no more Cheetos ;(

·         I actually have a waist. No really! there are these little things on my sides, above my hips, that are like inward curves. It seems this is a side effect of my morning yoga sessions to deal with the stress of success.

·         I'm actually making some money for all this work!

·         And finally sitting at the computer in the incorrect position for so long actually has caused the top of my spine to go into an inverted C.

To elaborate, according to my chiropractor, the top of the spine should look like a C with the top of your head bouncing around fluidly on top. 

Mine is backwards. Which made my spine go into a flipping zig zag.

Can you say painful?!

Well apparently my desk set up was wrong. I had all my papers in front of me and kept leaning forward toward the screen. My doctor suggested I try attaching an L to the side I could turn toward in order to correct the issue.I would then move the computer screen closer and keep my papers etc on the L desk.

Well after 5 thrift shops I gave up and cried to the hubby. (I may be making money but I'm still frugal.) And then said I'm taking your desk.

Well apparently he must have wanted to keep his (really his office furniture was mine for years)because he came home from work one night and started up the saws. He's an amazing carpenter.

So I thought "Hey, he'll rip down two boards throw some screws together and it'll all be good." (We'd just be out time cause we had some spare wood in the garage.)

I should have known. The man is so not capable of simple. And don't get me wrong I love him for it like nothing else. But I hate to take any of his precious relaxing time. He works as hard as I do, goes to school full time, and did I ever mention we have a herd of kids?

So here it is people...my simple L shaped desk.

Oh yes those sides are routed! Yes those are custom columned looking legs. Yes it's was lovingly hand stained with three coats of polly added.

So what chya'll think?

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Romancing the Valentine Giveaway Blog Hop

Welcome Hoppers,

 

 The Romancing Valenties Giveaway Hop is being hosted by Reading Romances!

Enter your text here

What you can win here: eBook copy of 1 of 3 books mentioned below

Number of winners:10

Open to: 18 and up

How to enter: Follow blog, leave a comment with email

Hop and enter the other giveaways!

If this isn't the time of year for romance I don't know when is. Often times as romance authors or readers we are considered to have fanciful, unrealistic ideas about romance and love in general. And sadly some people have those issues.

On the other hand some readers of romance simply enjoy it for what it is...a good book...a good story. A happily ever after for now or a guy gets his girl or vice versa.

I am of the latter.

However, I also have fanciful ideas that's my relatioship with my husband can be deeply intimate and very fanciful indeed. Nevertheless, that requires work and a willingness to try on both parts. Which brings me to the choice of my prizes.

The best book I could have ever read for my marriage was And They Were Not Ashamed:Strengthening Marriage through Sexual Fulfillment. As a religious woman it can be hard to find books that are respectful yet useful and honest. Boy was this one my Godsent. I've included the cover art and blurb below.

Finally! a book about physical intimacy and marital ONEness that is comprehensive, in-depth and frank, yet respectfully reverent—written to address the unique perspective and concerns of women, while shining a light into the mysteries of the female heart and mind. And They Were Not Ashamed--Strengthening Marriage through Sexual Fulfillment, by Laura M. Brotherson, is the ultimate how-to handbook—power-packed with hope and help for creating a mutually fulfilling intimate relationship.

As three books in one, this "marriage book," "sex book" and "parenting book":

* Shines light and truth on the intimate marital relationship, restoring sex to its proper position as ordained of God
* Effectively addresses, with self-help solutions, the emotional, spiritual and physical intimacy issues that plague so many marriages
* Provides principles and practices to help parents teach and better prepare their children for intimacy and lasting fulfillment in marriage.

And finally there is just that time where you want an escape. A way to engage your mind so that it is unable to think about the to do lists, the financial problems, the burdens of your job, the stress of family and friends, feelings of guilt and inadequately we as humans in general are prone to without provocation.

Which is why I love ready and writing as well. Below are a couple of my books that are part of the prizes.

Product Description

Maeve da Paer has lived her life free from the restrictions of the world of sorcery and the Board of Witchery hidden behind the combined protection of her grandparents powerful clan magic—and a lie. Although her life has not been worry free, it is when all that desperation and grief cause her to cast her most powerful spell ever…a spell that will end the pain before it begins on the powerful All Hallows Eve.

Fionn Hughes, an immortal tracker, former heir to a powerful clan of time warlocks is on a mission to restore his honor—instead he finds Maeve da Paer. Following the scent of Gardenias and Honey Suckle, he discovers the last Scent Witch. It’s only after she almost takes off his ear that something more stirs, eventually changing his mission from one of duty to one of need.

What will Fionn do when he finds out Maeve plans to cancel out her own existence? Will he be strong enough to stop her?

Product Description

Lucien Lemione the clan leader of the feared and revered Eternals is faced with the ultimate betrayal. His second in command for two centuries has not only created the most grievous of offenses but also commissioned the creation of liquid silver. When poisoned by this toxin, an immortal suffers a fate much worse than death, frozen in an internal prison. After being wounded when found spying, he hides deep within the eerie woods that encircle the Triad Mountains. Desperate and in pain, he prays to an offended mother goddess for help. Her answer: a woman, but not just any woman. A witch.

After losing her entire coven at the hands of the Eternals, Aisleen is the last of her kind. She retreats from the world to Trinity Forest where she is giving the opportunity of a lifetime, or perhaps a test of principles. It’s there she discovers the man she heals is the Eternal that wiped out her people. Although she is bound as a healer, she could be creative in her revenge. Aisleen knows who and what Lucien his…but does not speak of it. There can be no future with Lucien for she can only be with a mortal man. Even if she wanted to be with him, can she forgive the man that caused the genocide of her people?

Lucien must act quickly for the survival of his clan is at stake. However, Aisleen’s ethereal beauty and emerald eyes keep pushing those thoughts far from his mind. Determined to find out what secret she hides, he prolongs his time with her. When his people need him most what will he choose…duty, desire, or will he make his own fate?

To be perfectly clear...I will pick 10 winners who will receive an eBook copy of one of these three books. All they have to do is follow the blog and leave a comment with their email. That's it. 

Don't forget to keep hopping for my prizes and great blogs.

Sports Moms

This weekend my daughter who is 10 had her first basketball game.  And it was at this game I found out I'm one of "those" moms.

You know the ones who are louder than the coach...that know more than the coach. Add my smarmy, sarcastic, witty and biting sense of humor if I don't get this under control I could end up in jail.

It really hit when I saw her pat the girl on the back ,she was supposed to be guarding, for sinking a goal.

I was mortified! I want to scream at the top of my lungs. "You should have packed that ball right in her face!" Instead I smiled and waved at the girls parents across the gym. The girls are good friends.

Then there was the first practice in Argyle socks no less. I promptly went out and bought all Nike sports clothing.

Here's the problem this daughter is the sweet one. One of those people who lives to please others. She's so not competitive and that's OK.

I'll either have to read during her games or super glue my lips shut.

And there is always the young one who at 7 has a play ground rep as the "enforcer." She's expressing an interest in mom's fave sport.

So how bout it are you one if "those" moms?