Thursday, August 25th, 2022
UPDATE: The winner is…Beverly!
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It’s another Play Date for all you “word nerds”!
Solve the puzzle then tell me your favorite types of romance book heroes for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!
Archive for the 'Contests!' Category
Monday, August 22nd, 2022
UPDATE: The winner is…miki!
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The last line of “The Star-Spangled Banner” has always struck me as the greatest irony of the entire song. “Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, o’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.” So many people in this country have that flag waving over them yet they are not free to be their authentic selves because of the -isms running rampant throughout US history. Jews who chose to change their names, gays who chose to remain in the closet, people of color who chose to pass for white. These subterfuges many times were taken not because of shame for their identity but because of lack of opportunity and/or safety. Such is the story of Belle da Costa Greene.
Belle was born Belle Marian Greener in Washington D.C. to an African American family, which numbered among the Black elite of the late 1800s. Her father, Richard T. Greener, was the first African American to graduate from Harvard. Although light enough to pass for white, he never did. Despite the horrific dismantling of Reconstruction and its immediate impact on their family’s situation in South Carolina, Greener lived his life as a vocal advocate for equal rights for his race. His wife however came to a different conclusion: passing for white would enable her family to have the opportunities and safety they deserved. They moved to New York and lived as whites. This choice however led to her parents’ separation.
Belle’s father’s love of illustrated manuscripts instilled a love for the written word in her. She trained as a librarian and was working at Princeton University’s library where she caught the eye of Junius Morgan, J.P. Morgan’s nephew. This led to the opportunity of a lifetime, and in 1905, she became the librarian/curator for J.P. Morgan’s library. She helped him amass a collection that became world famous and envied by museums around the world. Quite an accomplishment in the days before suffrage was achieved and career women were looked at with suspicion.
She retired from the Morgan Library in 1948, one year before her death. By then, she had enabled Morgan’s dream to come true: to make his library available as a resource to the public. I was glad once again to learn of another heroic Black woman, both from The Personal Librarian, a fictionalized account of her life and the biography, An Illuminated Life: Belle Da Costa Greene’s Journey from Prejudice to Privilege. However, I felt sad society wouldn’t have allowed her to accomplish all she had if she’d claimed her true heritage. I was also moved by the emotional costs Belle paid for choosing to live while hiding in plain sight. Her choice showed a woman could still be brave even if the land in which she lived wouldn’t let her be free.
For a chance at a $10 Amazon gift card, share the name of someone you admire who may have had to change their name or hide some part of who they were to succeed.
One Breath Away
Sentenced to hang for a crime she didn’t commit, former slave Mary Hamilton was exonerated at literally the last gasp. She returns to Safe Haven, broken and resigned to live alone. She’s never been courted, cuddled or spooned, and now no man could want her, not when sexual satisfaction comes only with the thought of asphyxiation. But then the handsome stranger who saved her shows up, stealing her breath from across the room and promising so much more.
Wealthy, freeborn-Black, Eban Thurman followed Mary to Safe Haven, believing the mysteriously exotic woman was foretold by the stars. He must marry her to reclaim his family farm. But first he must help her heal, and to do that means revealing his own predilection for edgier sex.
Hope ignites along with lust until the past threatens to keep them one breath away from love…
Excerpt from One Breath Away…
In 1872 Texas who took note of a black woman who ain’t been asked to wed?
Yet Eban’s perusal said not only did he take note, but he liked what he saw.
“Ooo, Mother Hawthorne,” Felicity Parker teased. The sandy-haired, light-skinned beauty smiled as only a twenty-something-no-longer-a- virgin woman like her could. “Your nephew’s a- lookin’ Mountain’s way.” She eyed Mary from head to toe. “Does he like his berries big, black, and buxom?”
“Could be. Ya know what they say…” Widow Clemma Hawthorne’s smile grew into a grin. She sat on Mary’s right and whispered to Felicity on Mary’s left. “The darker the berry, the sweeter the juice.”
The mischief rife in Clemma’s tone shone in her gaze as she waggled her eyebrows at Mary.
Felicity looked Eban up and down with approval.
“If he likes ’em dark, I’ll be glad to blacken up for him. Lord knows I’s tired of beddin’ po’ boys. Whoo chile…” She fanned herself and grinned. “I was in line behind him when he made his deposit at the Savin’ and Loan. His gold rushed across that counter like freedmen hurryin’ to claim their forty acres and a mule.” She turned and nudged Mary. “You juicy enough for that rich he-man, Blackberry?”
Friday, August 19th, 2022
Tons of work on my plate today, plus we meet the 18-year-old’s boyfriend today. Woot! So, no time to chat. Y’all have a great FRIDAY! I’ll have a guest here tomorrow!
Open Contests
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Flashback: Lawless (Contest–2 Winners!) — This one ends soon! Win a FREE book!
- A Memory Puzzle! (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
- Gabbi Grey: When an Angsty Author Tries to Go Rom-Com (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
- Saturday Puzzle-Contest! — Win an Amazon gift card!
- My favorite series! (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
- Happy National Thrift Shop Day! (Contest) — Win a FREE book!
- Romance Trope Word Search! (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
Thursday, August 18th, 2022
UPDATE: The winner is…K. Campos!
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Have fun finding some popular romance tropes!
Tell me your favorite romance trope (it doesn’t have to be one of these on the list!) for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!
And if you have ideas for themes for further word searches, share them!
Wednesday, August 17th, 2022
UPDATE: The winner is…Terra Oenning!
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Yes, it’s a THING! And it’s the only kind of shopping I love! Hunting for treasure—what’s not to love? See my hauls from old “treasure” hunts!
The old-fashioned jewelry is perfect for mixed media projects (like pulls for tops of painted boxes!). See the letter holder? All it needs is a pretty coat of paint to update it and voila! The tin can be cut up for jewelry projects, too! The pretty bottle in the center is a large vintage hand-painted snuff bottle (which I collect!). It’s topless, but for a buck, I couldn’t resist!
My dd collects vintage Pyrex! I collect mid-century George Briard pieces (the gold tray). The trivet at the bottom of the photo will be great for pressing impressions in clay and paint! And I collect vintage vanity powder jars (see the swan?). And again, a tin to cut into jewelry dangles!
Lots of craft-worthy stuff here, too! Things to press, paint, glue!
Yeah, I know. Most of y’all would look at my hauls like they’re a bunch of junk, but there’s joy in DISCOVERY!
Help me celebrate National Thrift Shop Day by telling me about your favorite thrift or garage sale finds for a chance to win a download of a book from my backlist of stories!
Tuesday, August 16th, 2022
UPDATE: The winner is…Katherine Anderson!
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My dd complained when making this little meme for me. She said there are too many covers. “It’s crowded.” Like that’s a bad thing. 🤷
My problem is…and I don’t consider it a problem…is that I don’t want to leave Dead Horse, MT. I don’t want to leave behind my team or the townspeople. I did that with the Bear Lodge hunters, but also found ways to bring them into this series, because I don’t want to let go. I’ll have to admit, I’ve never had so much fun writing a series. So much so, that I’m trying to figure out ways to stay in Dead Horse, MT, even after I’ve completely filled the agency with hunters. Proof? Hard Knox will be a spin-off, featuring the townsfolk!
And it’s not like I had the Dead Horse hunters’ stories planned out ahead of time. No master plan. I just wrote, and as characters popped up, I had my next hero. Not so with the next stories I’ll be writing, Mica and Jackson. With those two, I’m starting with just these images. I don’t know how they’ll meet and join my merry band of bounty hunters. Not yet, anyway.
You haven’t read all the Dead Horse, MT, stories? Give one a try:
Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT
Have you pre-ordered Mica and Jackson? If not, click on the covers to do so!
Contest
Have fun with this! Wrong answers, even very wrong answers, count!
For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me what you think Mica and Jackson should be about. Who are they? What sort of adventures should they have?
Monday, August 15th, 2022
UPDATE: The winner is…Karen LeBeau!
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To win a digital copy of SEAL Undercover, just leave a comment below. I will announce the winner tomorrow. Hope to see a lot of you!
A SEAL is a SEAL is a SEAL. I have been writing about SEALs for years, both single titles and as a series. They are the U. S. Navy’s primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs’ main functions are conducting small-unit special operation missions in maritime, jungle, urban, arctic, mountainous, and desert environments. SEALs are typically ordered to capture or eliminate high level targets, or to gather intelligence behind enemy lines.
My first SEAL book was Coyote Heat and took place in Key West where my hero was trying to take a vacation and, in the midst of a heated clinch, got called away on a mission. I’ve written about a SEAL who met the love of his life at a masquerade ball (Bedroom Eyes) and then, of course, there are all my books in my Protecting series for Susan Stoker. Not to mention my Heroes Rising series for Elle James’ Brotherhood Protectors World.
And there are more to come!
But today I want to tell you about Silver SEAL Max DiSalvo.
SEAL Undercover
For Max DiSalvo, life after SEALs leaves a lot to be desired. He was a Frogman his entire life until a bullet in the hip tossed him into retirement. Never married, he’s now back in his hometown of Sunset Harbor, Maine, running a small commercial fishing business and wondering if he’ll find that one special person to share the rest of his life with. When Silas “Crash” Branson, assistant director of Homeland Security, shows up with a proposition, he’s only too happy to jump on it.
Regan Shaw, a SEAL widow, is a top Intelligence Operations Specialist with DHS. She has uncovered a situation that could threaten the very foundation of America. A secret cabal of uber wealthy people—five men and one woman—could be plotting to gain control of the United States. They’ve gone from smuggling drugs for cartels to smuggling high value terrorists. And word has come down that a high-level member of the government is clearing the way with them for everything.
DHS has figured out a way to get someone into an upcoming meeting, and the person they tap is Max. Regan, who has all the information on this operation, will go with him as his wife. But the best laid plans and all that. When Max’s cover is blown and Regan is kidnapped, he must find a way to stop the coming disaster and rescue the woman he’s fallen in love with.
You can learn more about the book here: https://desireeholt.com/books/seal-undercover/
Don’t forget to comment. And in case you aren’t today’s winner, I hope you will still let your fingers do the walking and take Max home with you.
