FLIRTING WITH LOVE: IT’S ALL ABOUT THE ROMANCE BLOG HOP TOUR (FEB 24-26)

Welcome to the Flirting with Love: It’s all about the Romance blog hop tour (Feb 24-26).

Romance comes in a lot of forms. we probably first think of these:

But romance is just as often:

(I won’t comment on why I couldn’t find an actual photograph of the last two. LOL.)

For a chance to win a PDF of Hauntings of the Heart or Sucker for a Hot Rod (your choice), leave a comment with your email address. The winner will be chosen and announced on February 27. 

To learn more about the books, click on My Books at the top of the page.

You can also purchase my books at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Astraea Press, All Romance eBooks, Bookstrand and Smashwords.

You can find me on Facebook (http://facebook.com/joselynvaughn) and Twitter (@joselynvaughn) or you can email me at joselynvaughn at gmail.com.

TOUR RULES!

1) HAVE FUN!!!

2) INVITE ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS!!! SPREAD THE WORD!!!

3) THIS TOUR STARTS: Friday, February 24th
THIS TOUR ENDS: Sunday, February 26, at Midnight (Arizona Time)
***Winners will be drawn and posted Monday, February 27th! ***

4) MEET AND MINGLE WITH ALL THE AUTHORS & BOOK PAGES! EXPERIENCE A NEW DESTINATION AT EVERY STOP! PARTICIPATE IN EVERY BLOG CONTEST AND BE ENTERED FOR CHANCES TO WIN MULTIPLE PRIZES! EVERY BLOG VISITED IS ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO WIN!!

5) PARTICIPATION AT ALL BLOGS IS RECOMMENDED, BUT NOT REQUIRED. REMEMBER, THE MORE BLOGS YOU HOP, THE BETTER YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING PRIZES. EVERY AUTHOR & BOOK PAGE IS WAITING TO MEET AND INTERACT WITH YOU, SO PLEASE BE SURE TO SHOW THEM SOME LOVE!

6) DID I MENTION TO HAVE FUN? WHOO! HOO!! HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOOO!

***Authors & Book Pages have full discretion to choose an alternate winner in the event any winner fails to claim their prize(s) within 72 hours of their name being posted or after notification of win, whichever comes first. Anyone who participates in this blog hop tour is subject to these rules***

Return to the linky list to continue hopping. Happy hopping!

Thursday Snippets – Featuring Chynna Laird

This week fellow Astraea Press Chynna Laird is sharing her young adult book Blackbird Flies.

Fifteen year-old Payton MacGregor is a musical prodigy. To him, though, his music is merely a way for him to escape from the chaos that surrounds him. All of his life, he’s had to care for his mother, who copes with her bipolar disorder with booze instead of turning to her own musical talents. He refuses to become a statistic. Then he’s thrown a curve ball.

His mother suddenly dies, leaving him to be cared for by his aging grandparents.  As much as they love him, they decide to send him halfway across Canada to live with his father, Liam—the man Payton always believed abandoned him and his mother. Payton isn’t making the relocation easy on anyone until he finds out he’s going to attend the prestigious School of the Arts for musically gifted youth. Any second thoughts he has about his new life are erased when he meets Lily Joplin. Their connection is instantaneous.

Lily is a talented singer, but her struggles with drugs and bipolar disorder hit too close to home for Payton’s comfort. And when her issues become all-consuming, he wonders if his music will be enough to carry him through.

Excerpt:

The Dean led Payton into the opera hall. “Your Dad told me you are a bit of a pianist.”

Payton resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “I guess you could say that.”

“Well, we haven’t moved the piano back to the music room yet since our recital last night,” the Dean said, nodding toward the stage. “Would you like to have a go?”

Payton’s gaze switched to the stage where a full black lacquered grand piano sat. Its lid opened towards him, exposing its gorgeous strings…beckoning him. It had been days since his fingers last caressed the keys of a piano. There was nothing that would have made him happier or given him more inner peace at that moment than to play his music.

He didn’t answer the dean . He just walked down the stairs to the stage. A spotlight still shone on the piano. It didn’t even matter to him that the leather seat was hot from the lights. He sat down, pushed the seat back to account for his long legs and positioned his hands over the keys. He closed his eyes.

He played Chopin’s Nocturne—one of his favorites. He’d learned it completely by ear, listening to his mother play it. She’d played the piece with such emotion, it pained his heart. He wished the music flowed half as beautifully from his own fingers as it had through hers.

 

You can get your copy at:

On Astraea Press: http://www.astraeapress.com/#ecwid:category=662250&mode=product&product=3028835

On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Blackbird-Flies-ebook/dp/B004V9K5S8

On B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/reviews/Blackbird-Flies%2FChynna-Laird/1100125503

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/54909

Chapters (KOBO): http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Blackbird-Flies/book-TslxpS2xB0WpwqzvrAWg0g/page1.html

Too cute for my husband?

My new sewing machine has been so inspiring. I am thinking of all kinds of things to make and to alter.  All those little things about my clothes where they don’t fit just right? I might finally fix them. All those cute projects in books and magazines and Pinterest I’ve found: I might just make them. Whether I need them or not.

So that brings me to my latest project. A new diaper bag.

Granted I am hoping with all my heart that our days of diaper bags are numbered. (My daughter who has had all the problems has had a phenomenal week and two consecutive days with no accidents. This is a first! Woohoo!) The Little One could be trained as soon as I’m willing to put the effort into it. (Therein lies the problem.)

So a new diaper bag. Yes, the old one is looking a bit ratty. The seams are coming apart. It has the dirty smudges that won’t wash out, but it could really make it the last few months we need it.

But we’re going to Florida soon and I found a really cute pattern.

It is from One Yard Wonders. It is just big enough for the wipes container and a couple diapers. Hopefully all we will need.

I added the ribbon, the ruffles and some pockets on the inside. It’s amazing how much easier my new sewing machine makes things.

 

The problem is that this bag might be too cute for my husband to carry.

Thursday Snippets – Featuring Grace Greene

This week we are featuring Grace Greene and her new release Kincaid’s Hope.

Beth Kincaid left her hot temper and unhappy childhood behind and created a life in the city free from untidy emotionalism, but even a tidy life has danger, especially when it falls apart.
In the midst of her personal disasters, Beth is called back to her hometown of Preston, a small town in southwestern Virginia, to settle her guardian’s estate. There, she runs smack into the mess she’d left behind a decade earlier: her alcoholic father, the long-ago sweetheart, Michael, and the poor opinion of almost everyone in town. As she sorts through her guardian’s possessions, Beth discovers that the woman who saved her and raised her had secrets, and the truths revealed begin to chip away at her self-imposed control.

Michael is warmly attentive and Stephen, her ex-fiancé, follows her to Preston to win her back, but it is the man she doesn’t know who could forever end Beth’s chance to build a better, truer life.

Chapter One

She’d built her life before; she could do it again.

Beth Kincaid had awakened before dawn, but the memory of yesterday, of being fired, was a dark, gnarly place in her brain. She pulled the goose down pillow over her head hoping to slip back into sweet oblivion.

Not happening.

She kicked off the covers. She was an early riser and always had been. Apparently, that didn’t change with the circumstances.

First, a hot shower, pounding and steaming, a brisk blow-dry of the hair and then a little makeup‒a swish of the hand towel to shine up the faucet completed the morning routine.

Beth shook out her folded jeans and held them up to her waist. She hadn’t seen them in a long time. She sorted through the shirts hanging in the closet, bypassing the silk shells and dressier button-downs, opting for a sky blue cotton shirt with pearl buttons.

Next, coffee, but there was no rush. She wouldn’t be among the DC beltway commuters this morning.

On the counter separating the kitchen from the living room, the answering machine splashed its blinking red light onto the wall‒the same as it had last night when she came home. She turned her back to it and concentrated on getting the coffee maker working.

Soft strains of Mendelssohn’s Wedding March came from nearby. Beth jumped, startled, and coffee grounds scattered across the countertop. Stephen‒she’d called him yesterday, but he’d asked all the wrong questions. She found her purse and dug the cell phone out of the side pocket.

“Hi.”

“Hello, beautiful. How are you? Better today?” His tone dropped. “You scared me, you know, not answering the phone. I was worried.”

“I didn’t feel like talking.” She sniffled and was embarrassed that she couldn’t help it.

“Remember, I’m the guy you’re going to marry.”

“I know. It’s just….”

“Beth, please let me help. Getting laid off is bad news and it’s tough for you now, but Haddin Technology gives generous severance packages. You’ve been there for almost ten years.”

She cringed. Stephen’s mind was always on money these days. His investments had tanked and she sympathized, but….

“I can’t talk about it now. I’ll call you later.”

Her finger hit the End button without consulting her good manners.

Beth clutched the phone. She could see him‒almost as if he were right in front of her‒his dark eyes, almost black, so concerned, so sincere.

He’d stopped asking her to take a loan against her 401K, but since yesterday it was severance, severance, severance. If he said that word one more time, she’d scream.

When the Wedding March began playing again, she stuffed the phone under the chair cushion. He didn’t understand. No one could.

You can get your copy of Kincaid’s Hope at:

Amazon Print    Amazon Kindle     B&N Print    B&N Nook    Smashwords     TMP Bookstore

Guest Blogging at GRRWG

I’m guest blogging today for the Grand Rapids Region Writers Group about my favorite lines from romantic comedies. Stop on by and see if you can guess the movies. I’ll be revealing the answers this evening.

http://grandrapidsregionwritersgroup.blogspot.com

Valentine’s Day Books With Love blog hop!

Thanks for visiting on the Valentine’s Day Books With Love blog hop!

I believe you can find love at any age. Even when you are seventy-four. Just ask Minnie Schultz, the heroine of Hauntings of the Heart.

Blurb:

When lost love shows up on your doorstep, what do you do?  Minnie Schultz slams the door in his face. She and Gordon Anderson have a history—close to ancient history, given the fifty years since their last encounter. After all that time, it might seem like water under the bridge. But the water pours from the plumbing in Minnie’s bed and breakfast, the Lilac Bower, uncovering all the secrets and heartache between them. With the help of some paranormal investigators, an Elvis impersonator and a couple of nosey friends, can Minnie and Gordon find the future they were meant to have?

You can also purchase my books at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Astraea Press, All Romance eBooks, Bookstrand and Smashwords.

Leave a comment along with your email address for a chance to win a PDF of Hauntings of the Heart.

You can find me on Facebook (http://facebook.com/joselynvaughn) and Twitter (@joselynvaughn) or you can email me at joselynvaughn at gmail.com.

Return to the Valentine’s Day Books With Love blog hop! 

 

Review and Giveaway

It is so encouraging when someone lets you know how much what you’ve written touches them.

Jennifer at Clean Romance Reviews has a wonderful review of Hauntings of the Heart up today (Clean Romance Reviews).

She says “The author pulls you in so well that in the end you feel every emotion the main characters are feeling – with a bittersweet but happy ending. Well written and well made book. “

Stop by to read the rest of the review and leave a comment for a chance to win a PDF of Hauntings of the Heart.

 

***Oops, correction! The giveaway isn’t until March 12. Stay tuned for details. Or enter one of the blog hops.

Romancing the Valentine Giveaway Hop

Thanks for hopping along on the Romancing the Valentine Giveaway Blog Hop List.  Ouch! Minnie, what are you doing?

Minnie: I’m taking over this shindig.

Joselyn: I’m worried. She’s rubbing her hands together.

Minnie: Oh hush. I’m so much better at this anyway. You don’t even like Valentine’s Day.

Joselyn: I suppose she is right. Valentine’s Day isn’t my favorite holiday and she’s much better at putting together holiday parties. But, Minnie, I must remind you, you can’t matchmake people over Internet.

Minnie: (shoving her hands on her hips) What do you mean? Aren’t there all kinds of websites for that? Like Facebook and stuff?

Joselyn: Yes, there are, but I meant you specifically.

Minnie: Well then, what kind of party is this? We have to do something romance-related. I know, we can give away a PDF of Hauntings of the Heart. Everyone will love that story.

Joselyn: Are you saying that just because you are in it?

Minnie: Even more reason for them to want it.

Joselyn: I guess that’s it then. Leave a comment about your favorite Valentine’s Day with your email address for a chance to win a PDF of Hauntings of the Heart. More about the story:

When lost love shows up on your doorstep, what do you do?  Minnie Schultz slams the door in his face. She and Gordon Anderson have a history—close to ancient history, given the fifty years since their last encounter. After all that time, it might seem like water under the bridge. But the water pours from the plumbing in Minnie’s bed and breakfast, the Lilac Bower, uncovering all the secrets and heartache between them. With the help of some paranormal investigators, an Elvis impersonator and a couple of nosey friends, can Minnie and Gordon find the future they were meant to have?

You can also purchase my books at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Astraea Press, All Romance eBooks, Bookstrand and Smashwords. Hauntings of the Heart and Sucker for a Hot Rod are still only 99 cents.

You can find me on Facebook (http://facebook.com/joselynvaughn) and Twitter (@joselynvaughn) or you can email me at joselynvaughn at gmail.com. (By me, I mean Joselyn, not Minnie. I’m not crazy enough to give her that much access to her computer. If you want to send her a message, I’ll pass it on. )

Return to the Romancing the Valentine Giveaway Blog Hop List.

Free Books!

To celebrate Astraea Press’s one year anniversary, they are giving away books! Today you can get Sucker for a Hot Rod free. For more information, visit http://www.astraeapress.blogspot.com/.

Don’t forget to check back each day to get more fabulous books, absolutely FREE!

Thursday Snippets – Featuring Meg Mims

Today we are featuring fellow Astraea Press author and Michigander, Meg Mims, and her Valentine’s story, Key to Love.

Excerpt:

Someone jarred her shoulder. Jennette stumbled on her stiletto heels, lurching sideways, but a strong warm hand shot out to catch her arm. Heat flooded her cheeks. She glanced up at the tall, wiry man whose dark shock of hair flowed back from his forehead.

“Thank you—I’m so sorry.”

“No problem,” he said. A brusque voice and manner belied his words. His ice-blue eyes glanced her over once before he scanned the painting behind her. “How much longer will this last, do you know?”

“You mean the show? Another few hours, I suppose.” Jennette frowned at his obvious displeasure. “What, don’t you like art?”

“I’m not interested, no.”

His gaze wandered all over the place, as if he deliberately wanted to avoid her eyes. He didn’t say anything else to explain his insult. Then again, maybe he’d missed the beginning where she’d been introduced as one of the featured artists. Jennette counted to ten. And then twenty.

“The sculpture over there won a prestigious award.” She gestured toward the unusual pink and red ruffled-edge ceramic cabbage on its black pedestal.

“You’re kidding,” he said, eyebrows raised. “What is it?”

“I think it’s called ‘Ornamental Glory.’”

“Figures.”

Jennette fought down an acidic reply. Judging from his tan cashmere sweater, tailored trousers and expensive Italian loafers, he must be a patron. She couldn’t alienate him even if he was hard to please. She forced a smile.

“So nothing here interests you?”

“Just more junk to dust. Excuse me, miss.”

Blurb –

Artist Jennette Jackson clashes with a handsome visitor at a gallery show. He claims that artwork is just “more junk to dust.” Ouch. When she finds a small metal object on the floor, she uses it later in a new collage.

Her world soon crumbles with family problems and a friend’s betrayal. And wouldn’t you know that the same hunky guy claims he lost an important key the night of the show! When Steve Harmon offers to buy Jennette’s work, she refuses to sell. He’ll just trash it to free his precious key. Or is it possible that key will unlock her future happiness?

You can get your copy of Key to Love at:

Here’s the Amazon BUY LINK!!!

http://www.amazon.com/Key-Love-Meg-Mims-ebook/dp/B0074NI7K6/ref=dp_olp_1

Here’s the Astraea Press LINK:

http://www.astraeapress.com/#ecwid:category=662245&mode=product&product=9209864

AAAND B&N’s buy LINK:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/key-to-love-meg-mims/1038261523?ean=2940014081078&itm=1&usri=the+key+to+love+meg+mims

Thanks for sharing with us, Meg!