Showing posts with label Christmas in October. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas in October. Show all posts

Thursday, July 5, 2018

Book Review: Poems About Life, Love and Everything in Between by Jo Anne Myers

Back in 2013, Penny's Tales ran a Christmas in October giveaway. I won a ton of great books--most of which have been featured here in one way or another.

Poems About Life, Love and Everything in Between by Jo Anne Myers is an emotion-filled, moving collection of poems about family, faith, and the world around us. Whether Myers is sharing her feelings about her mother, tears, autumn leaves, trust, searching for God or love, the reader is drawn into every stanza deeply and completely.

Some of my favorites:

  • I Could
  • My Holly Bush
  • Harmony
  • Stand
  • My Search



If poetry that touches your heart is a genre you enjoy, definitely pick up a copy of Poems About Life, Love and Everything in Between by Jo Anne Myers.

Paperback: 114 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (July 12, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 147823685X
ISBN-13: 978-1478236856

I received a copy of this book from the author through a giveaway. This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.

This book is credited toward the following reading challenges:




Thursday, February 20, 2014

First Chapter Review: Bella's Betrothal by Anne Stenhouse



I won a free digital copy of this historical romance during the Christmas in October event at Penny's Tales.

BLURB:  While she is travelling north to find sanctuary from the malicious gossip of the Ton, Lady Isabella Wormsley’s room in a Dalkeith inn is invaded by handsome Scottish Laird, Charles Lindsay. Charles has uncovered a plot to kidnap her, but Bella wonders if he isn’t a more dangerous threat, at least to her heart, than the villainous Graham Direlton he wrests her from.

Bella settles into the household of her Aunt Hatty Menzies in Edinburgh’s nineteenth century George Square where Charles is a regular visitor. She has been exiled to the north by her unfeeling mama, but feels more betrayed by her papa to whom she has been close. Bella hopes the delivery of her young cousin’s baby will eventually demonstrate her own innocence in the scandal that drove her from home.

Bella’s presence disrupts the lives of everyone connected to her. Direlton makes another attempt to kidnap her and in rescuing her a second time, Charles is compromised. Only a betrothal will save his business and Bella’s reputation.

Mayhem, murder and long suppressed family secrets raise confusion and seemingly endless difficulties. Will the growing but unacknowledged love between Bella and her Scottish architect survive the evil Direlton engineers?

COVER: MuseItUp Publishing has many lovely covers. This is just one of them. Bella with what one can assume is Charles in the background, an estate far behind them, makes for a stunning historical cover.

FIRST CHAPTER: Bella is startled late at night while in her room at the inn by the handsome Charles. He warns her of a plot by Graham Direlton to kidnap her while she is on the way to her aunt and uncle's home. Bella isn't certain she should believe a man who would enter a woman's room without permission, but she can't disregard his handsome features.

KEEP READING: While I'm not always into damsel in distress kinds of stories, this one captured my attention right away. There is an air of mystery surrounding what happened to put Bella on the road to her relatives' home, some gossip that may or may not be true. One has to wonder, also, why Charles is willing to go to such lengths to protect Bella. Stenhouse creates a strong first chapter that entices the reader to continue. I know I want to see how this turns out.

File Size: 2663 KB
Print Length: 300 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: MuseItUp Publishing (September 25, 2013)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00FGEC5N0




This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.


Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Final Christmas in October Winnings!

This brings us to the end of my Christmas in October winnings. As you can see, I really don't need to request new books to review right now or participate in book tours to gain new reading material. There is plenty around here to keep me busy. Thanks to Penny's Tales and all the authors who contributed to this giveaway. Wishing everyone a blessed holiday season.



Willie has met an old flame, but is he willing to give up the decadence of Boston society for the man he loves?

For the past three years William Wilkerson has led the life of the privileged rich. Head of his father’s shipping business, Willie indulges in the pleasures of Boston’s fine young men to his heart’s content. That is, until he meets Fredrick, the one man who has captured his heart, again.

As his former tutor, Fredrick has been declared off limits by William’s father. Fredrick also believes he's beneath the attention of Wilkerson’s heir. Willie disagrees, but is he willing to throw away rank and privilege for the man he loves?


When Selena Dillon is caught in an assassination attempt on her planet’s ruler, she finds herself sentenced to twenty-five years servitude in the most feared military force, the Penal Regiments. Much to her surprise she enjoys the harsh military life and is quickly selected for officer training.

But something’s wrong, worlds are falling silent. There’s no cry for help and no warning, just a sudden eerie silence. When a flotilla of ships is despatched to investigate they exit hyperspace to find themselves facing a massive alien armada. Outnumbered and outgunned the flotilla fight a rearguard action, allowing one of their number to slip away and warn mankind.

As worlds fall in battle, and mankind’s fleets are decimated, Selena is selected to lead a team of the Penal Regiment’s most battle-hardened veterans, in a last ditch attempt to destroy the aliens’ home world. If she fails mankind is doomed. Little does Selena know that one of her crew is a psychopathic killer and another is the husband of his victim.

Can she hold her team together, get them to their target and succeed in the attack? Selena knows that if she fails then there will be nothing at all left to go home to.


When two dismembered and unidentifiable torsos wash up on a local riverbank, beautiful 29-year-old registered nurse Jackie Reeves, believes the killer is a man from her past with a history of mental problems. She contacts the dangerously handsome 34-year-old FBI Special Agent Walker Harmon, who arrives in the sleepy town of Pleasant Valley, and met with a reception of lies and threats from local police and citizens. Under constant pressure from both the media and public, along with taunting messages aimed at Agent Harmon and Jackie from person's unknown, the agent races against time to catch the killer before he strikes again, and before an innocent man is convicted. With a suspect list involving the victims' parents, ex-lovers, Satanists, a contaminated crime scene, corrupt police, and the motorcycle gang the Devil's Disciples, circumstances turn the hunt personal, as the hunters become the prey.

While she is travelling north to find sanctuary from the malicious gossip of the Ton, Lady Isabella Wormsley’s room in a Dalkeith inn is invaded by handsome Scottish Laird, Charles Lindsay. Charles has uncovered a plot to kidnap her, but Bella wonders if he isn’t a more dangerous threat, at least to her heart, than the villainous Graham Direlton he wrests her from.

Bella settles into the household of her Aunt Hatty Menzies in Edinburgh’s nineteenth century George Square where Charles is a regular visitor. She has been exiled to the north by her unfeeling mama, but feels more betrayed by her papa to whom she has been close. Bella hopes the delivery of her young cousin’s baby will eventually demonstrate her own innocence in the scandal that drove her from home.

Bella’s presence disrupts the lives of everyone connected to her. Direlton makes another attempt to kidnap her and in rescuing her a second time, Charles is compromised. Only a betrothal will save his business and Bella’s reputation.

Mayhem, murder and long suppressed family secrets raise confusion and seemingly endless difficulties. Will the growing but unacknowledged love between Bella and her Scottish architect survive the evil Direlton engineers?


Leaving the chapel in London’s 19th century Thames’ side where she teaches the alphabet to a raggle-taggle of urchins, Mariah Fox is charged by a stray pig. The quick intervention of Tobias Longreach saves her from certain injury. Mariah has always believed her destiny to be teaching. After the early death of her mother, she was brought up by her papa, Jerome, to believe that she could learn anything a boy could. She shares his vision of a future in which everyone, rich or poor, boy or girl, will be taught at least the rudiments of reading, writing, and counting.

Tobias was brought up a second son, but following his elder brother’s premature death, inherits an Earldom and the need to provide it with an heir. He comes to believe that Mariah will make a perfect countess and enrolls her papa’s help in securing her hand.

However, Sir Lucas Wellwood, whose debts have made him urge his sister to attempt to trap Tobias into marriage, has sinister intentions. Mariah suspects Wellwood has been mistreating his sister and she heads off impetuously to rescue her. Will Tobias and his friends reach Wellwood’s home before he can exact revenge on Mariah?


Julie Bond grew up in Europe as a military brat. She found her very first permanent home in Landry, GA as a teen going into high school. Almost four years later, she's having pre-graduation jitters and flashing back to an incident of school violence she experienced in Europe. She attempts to convince herself that it can never happen again, but continually finds herself flashing back to that day no matter how hard she tries.

The people around her present any number of problems for Julie, and she's hard put to keep from drowning under all the issues. Then Michael, a cool guy she's crushed on for three years, returns, and Julie now has one more thing to distract her as she prepares to leave high school. One thing she firmly believes in … no one will ever invade her classroom with violence again.

Once again, the impossible happens … once again, she's in a classroom with a madman holding a gun … once again, she must survive.



Italian-born Mina Calvi lives in a mansion in idyllic Orange County, California with her protective older sister, Paola. Unemployed again and aimless, Mina can’t seem to find her niche in her adopted country, but confusion and restlessness soon become the least of her problems. Someone is stealing from the software business owned by Paola and her husband, losses so great the business is sinking like the Titanic. And the strange death of a company employee turns out to be murder. Then, while, facing a loss so terrible she can’t bear it, Mina discovers an old family secret that turns her world upside down. There’s some solace in the arms of her blue-eyed lover, amateur sleuth Brian Starr, but danger still stalks her at every turn, edging closer and closer as Mina tries to untangle the web of lies, adultery and treachery, and put her life back together.


A short story about a girl who goes missing on Halloween and the unfortunate police officer who finds her.


Dylan Jones, seventh grader at Langdon Middle School lives the good life. His family has money. He gets most everything he wants. Even so, everybody likes Dylan ’cause he is a happy go lucky kid.

Miss Wickware, his seventh grade history teacher, tells the class they will be studying the United States in the late 1800 for the next few weeks. Everybody will be expected to present an oral report on a subject that is drawn from a box. Dylan draws The Orphan Train.

A penniless Dylan finds himself at the train station in New York in 1875 and he is as scared and unsure as the children getting ready to ride the Orphan Train. How will Dylan make it when money is nowhere to be found?


Still More Christmas in October Winnings!

We're getting close to the end of my Christmas in October winnings. You can check out Penny's Tales to see what else is going on there lately.


Pastor Christine Hobbs has been in the pulpit business for over five years. She never imagined herself caring for a flock that includes a pig, a kangaroo, and a murderer.

Detective Cole Stephens doesn't want the pretty pastor to get away with murdering the church music director. His investigative methods infuriate Christine as much as his deep brown eyes attract her.

Can they find the real killer and build a loving relationship based on trust?


Halli is a shy, young dwarf who has no idea of her true calling. When the evil Prince Gastle sets out to detroy the world of Phantasma, Queen Laurali of the Elves comes to tell Halli she's a Holy Paladin with the power to heal, and will join The Chosen, a group of brave warriors being sent to defeat the evil beast and save Phantasma. Will Halli be accepted by her group, and be able to keep them alive through their adventures? Will the evil Prince Gastle be defeated, freeing Phantasma from his destruction? Only time will tell.


Dominated and controlled by an abusive mother, Lily does what she can to enjoy fleeting moments of normality. When a break from school only provides the opportunity for more abuse at home, the sudden appearance of a stranger turns her world even bleaker. Disappearing without a trace, he has left a lingering fear in Lily. His parting words to her mother, “Have her ready to travel tomorrow,” is something her mind refuses to accept.

Running away is the only answer. But before Lily can execute her plan, a shimmering portal appears in her room. Along with two strangers who promise to help keep her safe. With time running out, she accepts their offer for escape and accompanies them into a brand new world. A world in which she is
the kidnapped daughter of a Queen, and the heir to the throne of Tiadar.

Can she find her own strength to overcome both an abusive past and avoid those who would use her as a means to power?



While investigating the brutal murders committed by a mysterious serial killer known only as "Raithe," bookish LAPD Detective Sarah Milton is unprepared to have her entire world turned upside down. Innate powers to see the dead, lying dormant since her mother's murder, have reawakened in her after a near-fatal shooting. Along for the ride is Sarah's irrepressible thirteen-year-old childhood "imaginary friend," Anna Nigma, a most atypical poltergeist. Amid fears for her sanity, Sarah must come to grips with the realization that her reality is now a mix of the natural and supernatural, where powerful, ancient mystic symbols can grant amazing powers over life and death, and paranormal influence extends even into her current murder investigation. Forced to hide her abilities from everyone, Sarah and Anna have no choice but to bring Raithe to justice on their own, before the sinister forces behind his murder spree claim yet another victim.


Mia Balducci misses her childhood days and yearns for the big, Italian family that she left behind in small town Massachusetts. At the tender age of sixteen, Mia moves with her bachelor father to Los Angeles, but no matter how many years pass, it never becomes home to her. The years spent living with her father aren’t easy, especially since she can’t stop thinking about what she once had. Her enrollment in the University of Southern California promises to bring exciting changes to her life, but Mia winds up with big problems instead. When she runs into an old friend from her old hometown of Winthrop, she gets swept up in nostalgia, and she soon loses herself in a quickly-progressing romance. When the fantasy falls apart, she is left to raise her precious little girl, Lucia, on her own. The demands of Mia’s work schedule and Lucia’s needs increase, and their lives become increasingly hectic. It is soon clear to Mia that she needs help. Luckily, her life-saving cousin saves the day and brings the mother and daughter a male nanny – their new “manny.”

After losing his high-pressure job on Wall Street, Dominic Roberts wants to follow his dreams to have a family. He’s already one fiancĂ©e down, and there are no likely prospects for another. In order to find the family he so desperately wants, he finds himself getting into the manny business. Since he is fully qualified to provide child care and is eager to leave New York City behind, his sister-in-law is able to land him a job in California working for his first client – the beautiful and intriguing Mia Balducci.

Will Lucia like the new man in her mother's life? Will Mia? And will this new trio discover the happily ever after they all so desperately seek?



Monday, December 16, 2013

Still More Christmas In October Winnings!

I enjoy sharing these books and prizes with you. It was a thrilling moment when I learned I won the whole kit and caboodle from Penny's Tales.


Sixteen-year-old Malden Montgomery leaves New York City anticipating nothing but boredom when her artist/mother insists she come along on a two week vacation to a family inn in rural Virginia. What Malden doesn't expect is that the owner’s seventeen-year-old son, Jackson, will be totally to-die-for cute or that her room at the inn will be haunted by a young woman named Emily, who died there in 1865. When Emily somehow begins to communicate with Malden via an Internet chat room, she and Jackson have to find a way to help Emily's ghost come back home or risk a spirit’s wrath if they choose to leave her lost in the darkness forever.



A strange little creature enters the lives of three tough guys at Higgins Elementary. And from that point on, pranks come back like boomerangs, smacking the bullies right in their fifth grade butts!

Sully, the leader of the gang, is the only one who can see this creature, which he names Karmack. Sully learns that the creature’s job is to balance all the bad pranks the bullies have pulled over the years. Karmack warns that if this fails, “dreadful, awful doom” awaits them all.

Sully soon realizes that he must save not only himself but his friends, who have no idea why they keep getting boomeranged by Karmack!



Mabriona is cousin to the beautiful and spoiled Princess Alana. When Alana is forced to marry a man she despises, Mabriona is torn between her loyalty to her cousin and her attraction to the handsome Prince Blayne.

Tragedy befalls the cousins on the way to Prince Blayne’s castle. Servants, believing Mabriona to be Alana, refuse to listen when she tries to explain.

While she waits for Blayne to recover, Mabriona meets his equally handsome younger brother, Madoc, a bard.

When Blayne awakes, will Mabriona choose life with a future king, will she be sent home in disgrace because of her inadvertent lies, or will Madoc win her love with his poetry?


Ava Jones has settled for a life that she’s not sure she wants anymore, but won’t admit it. Her best friend, Erica Davidson talks her into taking a break on the Isle of Wight. Her days on the island are spent thinking things through, and arguing with Morgan whom she hates on principal.

Is it so wrong for her to want a life that follows the script of a honest to God romance film?


More Christmas in October Winnings!

Until I get a chance to read some of these books, I'll be featuring them in groups here. I'm thrilled to have the chance to share my winnings with you. Hope you find something to enjoy the holiday season or give as a gift. I also hope  you'll visit Penny Estelle's blog. She originally featured all these books during her Christmas in October giveaway.



Lola’s not pretty. Lola’s not popular. Lola wishes she could disappear … and then one day she does just that... For seventeen-year-old Lola Savullo, life is a struggle. Born to funky parents who are more in than she could ever be, Lola’s dream of becoming a writer makes her an outsider even in her own home. Bullied and despised, Lola still has the support of her best pal Charlie and Grandma Rose. Not only is she freakishly tall, Lola’s a big girl and when forced to wear a bathing suit at her summer job as a camp counselor, Lola’s only escape from deep embarrassment seems to be to literally vanish. Soon after, she discovers the roots of her new “ability”. Slowly, with Charlie’s help, Lola learns to control the new super power. The possibilities are endless. Yet power can be abused, too… Then, when tragedy strikes, Lola must summon her inner strength, both at home and at school. She has to stand up for herself, despite the temptations and possibilities of her newfound super power. A coming-of-age story that will warm the heart.




Was there a toy mouse before Walt Disney's 'Mickey?' If there was, what happened to it? During the 1920s two men, one from the world of toys and one from the burgeoning world of moving pictures produced very unique toy characters. The history of these two visionaries and how their characters occurred at nearly the same time provides a unique mystery about which speculation lives vibrantly to this day. In tracing the struggle of the toy company's steadfast president, Torrence Dietz, this absorbing book covers the history of the toy company, its wondrous toys, and why people think of Walt Disney when they see the toy company's enigmatic wooden mouse named, 'MICKY.' Since the question of whether these men crossed paths in the marketplace is a key element to the mystery, the author has tried to objectively address the questions of how, when and why an encounter should have ever happened.The development of Torrence's career and the growth the toy company are reconstructed and intertwined with world events. In the quest to explain the toy company mystery the author has brought together documents and history never before assembled in one place. The in-depth documentation of the wooden toys manufactured by the Performo-Toy Company makes this book a valued reference for collectors and, from a historical sense a valued resource. The book presents numerous toy pictures, toys now considered collectibles, as well as patent and trademarks related to cartoon and toy characters of the late 1920s and early 1930s. The reader interested in the history of Walt Disney and in particular, the formative period of 'Mickey Mouse' will find rare background information.



Julia is nine, and she lives in two very different worlds. One is the real world. The other is the life she lives in her dreams. In her dreams, she and Nana encounter a baby deer that can talk. They discover that the baby deer was born with clubbed hooves and will need an operation if he’s ever going to run and play with the other deer.

The Dreamer is a touching story of a young girl who sometimes has trouble distinguishing between reality and the world of her dreams. In her dreams, she helps Baby Deer learn to believe in himself. It’s a story that will challenge every young person’s concept of reality—and make them wonder if their own dream worlds might be just as real.


At Pembroke Castle in medieval Wales,11-year-old Prince Gavin, 13-year-old orphan Philip, and 15-year-old blacksmith's apprentice Bryan, brought together in friendship by the one they call The Wild Man, embark upon a quest to save The Wild Man’s life when he is accused of murder and robbery. If they have any hope of succeeding, the three will have to confront their fears and insecurities, and one of them will have to disclose the biggest secret of all. But it is the arrival of King Arthur and what he reveals that surprises characters and readers.


Talk about the worst first date ever! Lara lets her friend Carrie talk her into a blind date, only it turns out the handsome stranger waiting for Lara after work isn’t Carrie’s cousin after all. And, when they’re chased through a portal to another world, Lara realizes Rhys really is out of this world.

Rhys believes Lara’s alternate in his dimension, Lyra, has left clues in her subconscious to the whereabouts of the Book of Secrets which explains the mystery of time travel. Power-hungry telepaths pursuing them will stop at nothing to get it, even if it means breaking Lara’s mind. To complicate matters, Lara gets tangled up in her feelings for Rhys while exploring her connection with Lyra.

With Rhys as her guardian, a bear of a man named Azle to guide her, and the spirit of Lyra haunting her dreams, Lara must find the Book of Secrets before it falls into the hands of those who want its power. Only then can she return to her world safely.


From this author, I received a hand-crafted fairy godmother wand. It makes a great conversation piece in my office. I only wish I could unlock some magic with it. LOL!

Here's more about the book:

A dead cellphone calls with a job offer and a promise of dragons.

Imagine if Terry Pratchett sat down with Kathy Bates to make up fractured fairy tales for Edward Everett Horton to read aloud: You'd get Maven Fairy Godmother: Through the Veil.

Down and out, Maven Morrigan is ready to give up what's left of her self-esteem for a cup of coffee when her last chance to redeem her life comes as a job offer as a fairy godmother.

But Faery is shrinking, the other fairy godmothers have disappeared, and nothing she does turns out right.

Can she gather her strengths and experience to put together the happily ever after for of her clients wants before her boss feeds her to a troll?



In their first encounter, Isabella becomes infatuated with Marc a handsome young man who makes fantastic potato chips. Fifteen years later while Isabella purchases a picturesque Victorian house she discovers Marc is the seller. His magnetism stirs her emotions and pulls her into his troubled world.

Soon Isabella realizes her new house, nestled deep in the woods, is haunted. By communicating with the house’s spirit, she hopes to learn secrets, which can help Marc resolve his conflicted past and move him into the future. During the process, her love for him intensifies. As Christmas approaches, Isabella longs for Marc to return her affection.



Disheartened about not being able to find “Mr. Right” on the London dating scene, best friends Jodie Lynch and Louise Hewson create a blog to not only document their disastrous dates with the numerous “Mr. Wrongs” and “Mr. Okay-for-nows” but also to help those going through the same experiences and to see where they’re going wrong. How will they deal with everything the dating scene has to throw at them — planned or otherwise?

Sunday, December 15, 2013

More Christmas in October Winnings

I'm sharing more of the prizes I won during the Christmas in October event from Penny's Tales.


Author Marsha R. West sent along two lavender sachets and two hanging crystals, which my girls promptly confiscated. I also received a bookmark with the cover art for Vermont Escape.


Two years after the murder of her husband, someone guns down Jill Barlow’s father, a Texas State Representative. The authorities suspect a connection between the murders, but can’t find proof.

Jill longs for the peace she found when she visited Vermont after her husband’s death. With the perpetrators still at large, she flees to the small town.

Considering buying a crystal store, Jill is surprised by the attraction she feels for the owner’s son. A Vermont State Assemblyman, Jerrod Phillips, seems to resent her presence in his town.

A terrifying series of break-ins shatter her peaceful new life. Jill shields her adult children from the knowledge violence continues to stalk them.

Despite having lost so much already, with the lives of her family and friends at stake, Jill will be required to make more sacrifices.


A collection of personal poems by JoAnne Myers inspired by nature, spiritualism, love, family, and life in general.



Princess Kaylee has never had to fight for anything. Her entire life has been arranged, even her marriage. But when Prince Devlin falls under an enchantment, she finds she is willing to do anything to save him, even if it means fighting a dragon.

Devlin's own sister, Princess Arabella, is behind the deadly plot. She wants the throne and will use any means necessary to gain it. Her perfect plan unravels, leaving Devlin caught in a magical sleep that is slowly spreading through the kingdom of Breniera. All Arabella needs to finish her spell and claim the crown is a drop of Kaylee's blood, but obtaining the single drop is proving more difficult than expected.

To save her betrothed, Kaylee embarks on a quest to find an ancient sword and gather a drop of dragon's blood, while trying to stay out of Arabella's traps. But Arabella's traps aren't the only danger. Time is everything. For once the last inhabitant of the kingdom falls asleep, the spell will be sealed, and not even true love's kiss will break it.

In addition to a digital version of the book, I received signed postcards, signed bookmarks, and handcrafted book thongs.


Feeling an outsider when his best friend and partner is re-united with his family, Kyle heads out to repay a debt ignored too long. Instead of what should have been a simple journey to find Jenny, thank her for saving his life, and attempt to repay in her some manner, the search takes him from Kansas to Montana, straight into trouble and a death trap only the Vanders Clan can rescue him from.


The Kingdom of Soron is known for many things, its rolling landscape, haunting history, fiery sunsets, and its beautiful princess. Princess Madeline woke on her sixteenth birthday to realize that her future had been planned out, a life full of privilege, royalty, and boredom... a life with a husband and knight champion that she did not choose. Using her charm, strength and stubbornness, she defies the King at every turn, determined to keep her freedom on her terms.

Freedom quickly turns to disaster as she finds herself seized by a group of wandering bandits. With the kingdom in turmoil over her capture; her Knight Champion eager to prove himself, a group of dedicated suitors determined to win her hand, and a group of exiled wizards join forces in the hunt to rescue her. Follow Princess Madeline in this adventure full of twists and turns as she tries to find her freedom and answers to her questions about life and love.


The Kingdom of Soron bustled with activity as preparations for the Fall Festival began. Lively merchants, hardworking farmers, and musicians eagerly awaited this event of harvest and joy. This year’s festival was even more important, as they celebrated Princess Madeline’s betrothal to her knight champion, Daniel.

Celebration quickly turns to disaster as Prince Paulsen returns with curious demands, either Princess Madeline will be his, or no ones. Rejection turns to obsession and battle is declared.

In a tense struggle to decide her future, Princess Madeline must choose where to put her trust… in the king’s tried and true plan, the wizard’s cryptic messages and maps, or her own sense of bravery. Follow Princess Madeline on this adventure as she battles evil in an attempt to create a future of love and magic.

More Christmas in October Winnings!

Here are more of prizes that I won during the Christmas in October giveaway from Penny's Tales.


Judas has never been very popular, not in any incarnation that he and Jesus and the others have lived through. But he doesn’t care about that. All he cares about is following the instructions of God as set forth in the script that they follow. And Jesus. For Judas has secretly loved the son of God for over two thousand years.

But now he decides that enough is enough, and he’s tired of watching Jesus die far too early, and for what? This time Judas is determined to see that Jesus lives a long and happy life, no matter what price he has to pay to accomplish it...no matter if he has to make a deal with the devil himself.

Revelations is a story of what could be, told by those who play it out, time after time after time, unbeknownst to the rest of mankind. They've come back again, for yet another round. But this time is going to be different.



Playing the game of public sex is hard enough when you’ve got the family loan shark bothering you for a piece of your action, but when your symbiont wants a piece as well, it can make you question your own sanity.

Flat broke with no job, Jeannie was terrified of becoming just like one of her uncle’s deadbeat customers. Even though she was able to smooth-talk her way into a five-day extension of her loan, she was still stuck in the same dead-end with the same problem: no money. Still, God must’ve had an ulterior motive, because no sooner had she closed her phone, than a young man sat next to her and began talking. A few minutes later, Jeannie was holding a business card that could just be her potential salvation from a world of hurt.

After a brief, yet highly insulting conversation with her symbiont Aissa, Jeannie was determined to test her mettle as an adult performer. Not because she needed the money, but more to the point of proving her symbiont wrong as well as proving to herself that she could play the game of public sex and still keep her morals intact.



Surrogate mother Shelby McDougall just fell for the biggest con of all—a scam that risks her life and the lives of her unborn twins.

Twenty-three year-old Shelby McDougall is facing a mountain of student debt and a memory she’d just as soon forget. A Rolling Stone ad for a surrogate mother offers her a way to erase the loans and right her karmic place in the cosmos. Within a month, she's signed a contract, relocated to Santa Cruz, California, and started fertility treatments.

But intended parents Jackson and Diane Entwistle have their own secret agenda—one that has nothing to do with diapers and lullabies. With her due date looming, and the clues piling up, Shelby must save herself and her twins. As she uses her wits to survive, Shelby learns the real meaning of the word “family.”


Twelve-year-old asthmatic Daniel stays with his bossy cousin, Amy, her mum, and two cats in the Scottish countryside during the Christmas holidays while his parents take a trip to sort out their problems. When Amy and Daniel make up an old jigsaw puzzle, the cottage and garden gradually change to resemble the Victorian cottage pictured on the box lid.

In between searching for the missing Title Deeds of the cottage to save it from land developers, they complete the jigsaw and find a strange rhyming puzzle hidden within the box. What does it mean? Daniel and Amy soon find out when they become trapped in the past.

Will they solve the cryptic written puzzle and find their way back to the present before it’s too late to save themselves, the destruction of the woods, and their cottage?


Stephanie Warren is a wife, mother, and famous author with a life that others only dream about. An accident turns her world upside down, leaving her cold and emotionless, wanting only privacy and solitude.

Joe Sullivan, a single man who has custody of his six-year old niece, is almost frozen where he stands, when he meets the ice queen on an early morning jog. One thing leads to another and Stephanie finds her empty shell slowly being replaced with fun, laughter, and passion.

Will she take that leap of faith with a ready-made family or will the ghosts of her past keep her happiness at arm's length?

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Christmas in October Winnings!

In October, Penny over at Penny's Tales ran a Christmas in October event. Yours truly was a huge winner of numerous books and prizes. I'll be sharing photos of what I won over the next several days so you can check these books out, too.


Fara Bellamont has been back in society for a year after leaving Cluny Abbey, where her uncle sent her long ago. When he chooses a suitor for her for marriage, she fears that she will be forced to marry a stranger and live a miserable life.

But, Fara finds herself thrust into an adventure of a lifetime when unforeseen circumstances cause her to place her trust in a strange man for protection. His intervention not only saves her, but puts her in an even more compromising position.

Grant Hill, a trading captain, is enchanted by the young heiress not only because of her beauty, but because she is hardly conventional. Underneath her ladylike exterior lies a tigress. Grant cannot help but offer his protection as she is in need and he is far from immune from her charms.

Fara just never bargained on the passion that she feels for Grant Hill. As events unfold, she must decide whether her desires and the dictates of her heart should trump the rules of society in this exciting tale.



In Guinevere: On the Eve of Legend, 12-year-old Guinevere finds herself having to make the decision of a lifetime: Will she choose wisely?



ARIA: Alien Retrograde Infectious Amnesia

Today, Jack caught a bug at work. He catches a bus home. By the time he disembarks in the desert town of Rosamond, all the other passengers and the driver have fuzzy heads. Jack had caught an amnesia bug, and it’s infectious.

Imagine the ramifications:

The passengers arrive home, infecting family; some shop en route infecting everyone they meet. The bus driver receives more passengers giving them change for last week’s prices and today’s amnesia. Some passengers work at the power plant, the water treatment works, the hospital, fire station. All shut down in weeks.

One man, Ryder Nape, realizes what’s going on, but can he persuade friends to barricade themselves in a secluded valley, hiding from the amnesia bug?


Anela Alborn’s life is a lie. After growing up without the love of a father, her mother reveals his identity. Tragedy strikes and she sets off on an adventure that leads to more than she could ever imagine. Bumping into Christian Sivers distracts her from the real man of her dreams, her father. Will he live up to her dreams? And does she follow in her mother’s footsteps?