Guest Post – Christine Amsden, Author of Secrets and Lies

by CarolNo Comments
  Today, I'm happy to welcome Christine Amsden, author of Secrets and Lies, to my notebook. She's talking about love, since the romance is such a big part of her series. Love Is a Verb  by Christine Amsden From our earliest pre-teen days, chatting about boys and wondering over the mystery that is romance, we've tried to define love. We've asked our girlfriends (who didn't know any better than we did), and our parents (who may also not have known). We watched TV and we read books. But it seems to mean something a little different to everyone, so what exactly is it? I won't pretend like I know the answer better than the rest of you, but I've spent the past few years of my life writing a romantic series with one idea in mind: Love is a verb. I know – it's not a definition, it's a part of speech – but that's the best I've got. Love is something you do. It's the...
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Review: Secrets and Lies by Christine Amsden

by Carol8 Comments
Title: Secrets and Lies (Cassie Scot #2) Author: Christine Amsden Category: Paranormal Mystery Published: November 15, 2013 by Twilight Times Books Rating: 3½ out of 5 stars Add: Goodreads Purchase: Amazon Cassie Scot, still stinging from her parents' betrayal, wants out of the magical world. But it isn't letting her go. Her family is falling apart and despite everything, it looks like she may be the only one who can save them. To complicate matters, Cassie owes Evan her life, making it difficult for her to deny him anything he really wants. And he wants her. Sparks fly when they team up to find two girls missing from summer camp, but long-buried secrets may ruin their hopes for happiness. Secrets and Lies picks up where the first in the series, Cassie Scot: ParaNormal Detective left off. Cassie's a great character. In Eagle Rock, a  town full of regular folks and magical folks where magic, while not exactly out in the open, is certainly respected and feared, she has none. She's...
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Guest Post: Merry & Bright edited by Lucie Simone

by Carol9 Comments
  I am happy to welcome the authors of the Merry & Bright anthology to my notebook today. Some of my regular readers may know that I adore Christmas romances and am really looking forward to reading these short stories. The question they are answering today happens to be about the Hallmark movie channel and my mom and I were just talking about their movies yesterday. She loves them. If Hallmark Channel adapted your story into a holiday movie, who would you want to play your main characters and why? Lauren Clark: If Hallmark Channel adapted A Very Dixie Christmas into a movie, my dream cast would include Ellen Page (Juno, Inception) for PD, which may seem a unique pick, but I would want someone with natural beauty, a sense of humor, and an honest, raw quality that commands the screen. I'd love to see Chris Pine for Daniel, and not only because he's so HOT, but the man has talent and that amazing,...
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Audiobook Review: How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny

by Carol9 Comments
Title: How the Light Gets In (Chief Inspector Gamache #9) Author: Louise Penny Reader: Ralph Cosham Category: Mystery Audio published: August 27, 2013 by Macmillan Audio Rating: 5 out of 5 stars Add: Goodreads Purchase: Amazon | Audible | Book Depository Christmas is approaching, and in Québec it’s a time of dazzling snowfalls, bright lights, and gatherings with friends in front of blazing hearths. But shadows are falling on the usually festive season for Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Most of his best agents have left the Homicide Department, his old friend and lieutenant Jean-Guy Beauvoir hasn’t spoken to him in months, and hostile forces are lining up against him. When Gamache receives a message from Myrna Landers that a longtime friend has failed to arrive for Christmas in the village of Three Pines, he welcomes the chance to get away from the city. Mystified by Myrna's reluctance to reveal her friend's name, Gamache soon discovers the missing woman was once one of the most famous people not just in...
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Thursday’s Tale: The Twelve Brothers and Their Uncle, Dagwanoenyent

by Carol3 Comments
Today's tale, "The Twelve Brothers and Their Uncle,  Dagwanoenyent," is a Native American story from the Seneca. It features on the Seneca's mythological character, Dagwanoenyent the whirlwind. I read it in the Thirty-Second Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. You can read it here. There were twelve brothers who lived together. All were great hunters, excelled in everything they did and had magical powers. Each day the twelve would go in different directions hunting. Apparently the oldest was the wisest and "seemed to understand best the women, who went around the world to destroy men, so he always avoided them." One day, though, the women tricked him, one disguising herself as a woodpecker and luring him to the other on top of a high rock. The second woman said, "Let his bones drop to the ground!" and his body fell apart and the bones fell to the ground among the bones of other men...
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Character Guest Post: Samantha Moon, from Moon River by J. R. Rain

by Carol6 Comments
Today, I'm happy to welcome Samantha Moon to my notebook. Samantha is, among other things, a private investigator in Moon River by J. R. Rain. Samantha Moon Some call me a vampire. I say, why use labels? I’m uncomfortable calling myself anything other than a mother. That’s the one label I am comfortable with. I’m a mom first and foremost. A private investigator next, even though that is fairly recent. Seven years ago, I wasn’t a private eye, but a federal agent. So, even that was subject to change. Perhaps someday I might find myself better suited for a different job, although I will always help those who need help. Although I’d always admired Judge Judy, I would never want to be in her position: to judge the actions of others. That took wisdom...a lifetime of wisdom. Technically, I’m only in my mid-thirties, although I look much younger. Still, far too young to judge others. Truth was, my current lifestyle was perfectly suited to private...
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