UPDATE: The winner is…flchen1!
* * * * *
Hi! Before I get started, I want to thank Delilah for being so generous with her blog space. I always have a good time when I come to visit here, and I appreciate that Delilah lets me.
So it’s my birthday month, and more specifically, my birthday week. I remember as a kid how much I looked forward to my birthday–it was about halfway through the year from the other big kid present holiday, Christmas. Each one seemed so far away from the other when I was a kid. Do you remember, too? I always thought it would be worse, though, to have my birthday too close to Christmas and then have to wait even longer for gifts. Funnier, though, when I think about it as an adult, is that gifts when I was a kid were a lot of useful things and a few fun things, plus the dinner of our choice and whatever kind of cake we wanted (my mom was a really great baker). I had a lot of siblings, so huge wish lists weren’t the norm in our house. And we were okay with that.
Even when I got older, birthdays were more about the cake than the gifts. I’m still a huge fan of the birthday cake, actually. Something decadent and delicious, with icing. There has to be icing, or there’s no point in the cake, unless it’s cheesecake, and then it still needs something–fruit sauce, or chocolate, or something.
I haven’t written a character yet whose birthday happens during the course of their book, until now. I’m working on a shifter story, and the heroine has a birthday and Christmas during their story, and neither of those has ever been a big deal in her life up until this point. Seeing things through her eyes that I’ve taken for granted is kind of eye-opening, and a little sad for her. The hero does some very romantic things for her, too, which makes the whole thing even better.
But there is still something to be said for a good birthday gift from someone special, whether it sparkles, or maybe it’s just a good dinner at your favorite restaurant. So I wondered what some of your favorite romantic birthday gifts have been. From your spouse, or maybe a previous significant other, I want to know. Everybody who shares in the comments below by noon EST on Sunday, July 31, 2016 will be entered into a giveaway drawing (via RandomResult.com)–I have a box full of books, including a signed copy of Hunting Medusa. I can’t wait to hear these!
Hunting Medusa
Hunting Medusa
The Medusa Trilogy, Book 1
Ever since the original Medusa ticked off Athena, her cursed daughters have been paying for that mistake. To this day, successive Medusas play cat and mouse with the Harvesters.
When Kallan Tassos tracks down the current Medusa, he expects to find a monster. Instead he finds a wary, beautiful woman, shielded by a complicated web of spells that foils his plans for a quick kill and retrieval of her protective amulet.
Andrea Rosakis expects the handsome Harvester to go for the kill. Instead, his attempt to take the amulet imprinted on her skin without harming her takes her completely by surprise. And ends with the two of them in a magical bind—together.
Though their attraction is combustible, her impending PMS (Pre Magical-Curse Syndrome) puts a real damper on any chance of a relationship. But Kallan isn’t the only Harvester tracking Andi, and they must cooperate to stay one step ahead of a ruthless killer before they can have any future, together or apart.
About the Author
Elizabeth Andrews has been a book lover since she was old enough to read. She read her copies of Little Women and the Little House series so many times, the books fell apart. As an adult, her book habit continues. She has a room overflowing with her collection, and still more spreading into other rooms. Almost as long as she’s been reading great stories, she’s been attempting to write her own. Thanks to a fifth grade teacher who started the class on creative writing, Elizabeth went from writing creative sentences to short stories and eventually full-length novels. Her father saved her poor, callused fingers from permanent damage when he brought home a used typewriter for her.
Elizabeth found her mother’s stash of romance novels as a teenager, and–though she loves horror–romance became her very favorite genre, making writing romances a natural progression. There are more than just a few manuscripts, however, tucked away in a filing cabinet that will never see the light of day.
Along with her enormous book stash, Elizabeth lives with her husband of more than twenty years and two young adult sons, though no one else in the house reads nearly as much as she does. When she’s not at work or buried in books or writing, there is a garden outside full of herbs, flowers and vegetables that requires occasional attention.
