UPDATE: The winners are…ALL 5 commenters!
*~*~*

Thanks for having here today to talk about the box set reissue of The Anthem Trilogy from Pride Publishing. This is a real pleasure for me, as the Anthem books are very close to my heart. I spent the best part of three years working on the trilogy, and the characters became part of the family for that time.

My original plan was to write one big novel, but I realized very quickly that would be commercially impossible. No romance publisher would take a 600-page book at that time, and instead, I set about telling Daniel and Elijah’s love story across three books. I always plan my books in advance, working out all the character and plot details, and that was even more important when telling such a big story. The three novels are thrillers as much as romances, and I had to make sure that all the elements fit in place before I began.

But at the heart of everything is Daniel and Elijah. I love these guys. They meet in the first book while working on a luxury cruise ship. Daniel is a singer, Elijah a comedian, and they hit it off right away, but it’s far from smooth sailing for this pair. Across the three years in which the story takes place, I put them through hell. The guys get caught up in a horrific storm at sea, murder, betrayal, and revenge.

The timing of this reissue is kind of fitting, too. I should have been on a cruise right now, but like everyone else, those plans are on hold indefinitely. So why not join Daniel and Elijah onboard the Atlantic Anthem and take a trip to sea with them? It will be a bumpy voyage, but definitely worth the risk.

THE ANTHEM TRILOGY

1. Anthem of the Sea
2. Anthem of the Dark
3. Anthem of Survival

When Daniel Blake meets Elijah Mann the attraction is instant. Handsome and talented, they are immediately drawn together. The perfect men for each other. Daniel has never been in love before. Most of his adult length has been focused on his career, first in a failed boy band, before cutting his teeth on the cabaret circuit and finally finding success on a TV talent show. At twenty-nine, he’s achieved more than most. The time is right to focus on his personal life. Tall, dark, sexy and funny, Elijah has it all and Daniel can’t resist him.

But a figure from Daniel’s past comes back into his life just as he meets Elijah. Jealous, bitter and twisted, Oliver Gill has never forgiven Daniel for his success. A success that was rightfully his. Fueled by hatred, Oliver’s actions set in motion a catastrophic chain of events that have far retching consequences for Daniel and Elijah, a threat not just to their happiness, but to their lives.

GET IT NOW:
Amazon USA
Amazon UK
Pride Publishing
Barnes and Noble
Kobo

Contest

Comment for a chance to win one of THREE copies of the ANTHEM TRILOGY!

About Thom Collins

Thom Collins is the author of Closer by Morning, Gods of Vengeance, Silent Voices and the Anthem Trilogy. His love of page-turning thrillers began at an early age when his mother caught him reading the latest Jackie Collins book and promptly confiscated it, sparking a life-long love of raunchy novels. He is currently working on a new series.

Thom has lived in the North East of England his whole life. He grew up in Northumberland and now lives in County Durham with his husband and two cats. He loves all kinds of genre fiction, especially bonk-busters, thrillers, romance and horror. He is also a cookery book addict with far too many titles cluttering his shelves. When not writing he can be found in the kitchen trying out new recipes. He’s a keen traveler but with a fear of flying that gets worse with age, but in 2013 he realized cruising is the best way to see the world.

Check out his website for news updates and a free ebook The Night!

Links:
Website: www. thomcollins.co.uk
Twitter: @thomwolf
Instagram: ThomCollinsAuthor
Email: thomcollinsauthor@aol.com

UPDATE: The winner is…Mary Preston!
*~*~*

For gift-giving celebrations, my daughter and I like giving each other a bunch of little things rather than one big gift. It’s always been our thing. I love little tchotchkes, little figurines, pretty Post-Its, little bits of inexpensive jewelry, things I’ll clutter up my desk with.

My dd nailed it for Mother’s Day.

First, she gave me one of those engraved silver bar pendants with my mother’s name inscribed on it, with a little angel wing beside it and my mom’s birthstone-colored crystal on the other side. Perfect. We both got teary-eyed. I’ll wear it often. I have it on now.

Next, she got me the perfect coffee cup, right?

Lastly, she got me this little inch-and-a-half long figurine of a snail riding a turtle’s back. A long-running joke in my family is that I know only one joke. It’s true, and it goes like this:

What does the snail say as it rides on the turtle’s back?

Wait for it…

WHEE!

Yeah, I know. The lamest joke ever, but I remember it because of the imagery of that little snail going for a joyride. So, perfect! The kids couldn’t wait to see my expression, and of course, it joins all the snail figurines they’ve given me over the years that reside on my desktop!

Mother’s Day was almost perfect. The 15-year-old made breakfast for the moms—featuring French toast. Our dinner was carryout from our favorite Mexican restaurant.

However, mid-morning, our dryer went kaput. Not sure what The Powers That Be are telling us, but dang, it would konk out just as I NEEDED to wash my huge pile of laundry…

Contest

What’s your most memorable Mom’s Day Gift—either that you received or gave? Comment for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

The winner is…Christine!
*~*~*

First, Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers out there!

I spent last evening working with the 6-year-old to make a special mom’s day gift for my dd. It was “super-secret” and mom was warned away from the craft room. The little one chose the beads—a very pretty, dainty, black hematite accented with silver and rhinestone spacers. Then I cut the elastic and supervised her as she strung all those little beads (took forever, and she dropped a few), until I could tie the knot for her. She was very proud of herself. Then I let her work with my Derwent watercolor pencils to draw a special card for mommy. I loved every minute. She was soooo excited about making something she knew her mommy would wear often. I was excited to share something I know how to do with her.

I imagine she’ll be begging to “bead” often now. 🙂

My own mother passed this last January. So, this is the first Mother’s Day of my life that I’m not celebrating with her. I, too, remember making her paintings that she hung on the fridge. I miss her every day, but more so today. Happy Mother’s Day, mom.

A Puzzle

And just for fun, and to play to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle and tell me what it’s about!

An interesting thing happened the other day. (No, this has nothing to do with the six hours my son recently spent in the ER but if you’d like to hear the whole crazy hopefully never to be repeated saga, let me know).

I’m nearing the end of my latest hot romance and was barreling ahead getting closer and closer to the climactic scene, when suddenly, I couldn’t get a single word to stick on the monitor. I spent an entire day finding other things to do and was giving myself mental kicks. I tried on an excuse I’ve used a lot of lately, specifically, that an offspring’s health was of primary importance. But he’d recently gotten some good medical news, and I’d felt a surge of creative energy. I wanted to write. I NEEDED to. Riding high on that energy, I wrote for about a week only to hit a wall. Why couldn’t I find a single workable word to come off my fingers? Browbeating myself, I spent the evening staring at the TV.

The next morning while in the shower, something started knocking on my brain. This has happened enough times that I know to pay close attention. I swear my muse lives in the shower. As I ran up the water bill, it came to me. A simple thing really. No need to start the danged book over. Without realizing what I’d done, I’d taken a minor character in a direction that didn’t fit. My narrative about his background was all wrong, nothing my h/h could springboard off. Yes, it was a fascinating story, and one I’d like to explore, but it had nothing to do with helping my h/h get to know themselves and each other.

Fixing said minor character was a simple matter. I needed to jettison his hang-ups and give him new ones that would dovetail with the main storyline.

I deleted a couple of hundred words and replaced them with superior ones my h/h are more than happy to hang their hats on. They can relate to said minor character because they now see themselves in him.

Well duh, Vonna, you’ve been at this writing game to know all the pieces of a story need to fit together. No going off on unrelated tangents regardless of how pretty they appear.

Tomorrow for sure I’ll write THE END.

Then after edits I’ll start the journey again. That’s how this writing gig works.

P.S. I’ve been pimping a couple of spanking stories I self-published, but it’s time for a change. Carnal Days is as dark as I’ve ever gone. I gave it a BDSM label, but that really isn’t what this story about a sex slave training facility is. There’s no HEA. Instead, it documents a new reality for a woman caught in a world not of her making.

A Dark Thriller: Carnal Days

A commanding man hires Carnal Incorporated to provide him with a pleasure-trained submissive woman who will see him as her master.

Two experienced Carnal operatives capture quiet, beautiful Shari Isle. It’s more than a job for the pair of trainers. There’s nothing they’d rather do. The reclusive artist is forced into a world of restraint, lessons, revelations, and unrelenting sexual stimulation.

Shari has no choice except to submit, but it’s far from a nightmare. Day by day she slips deeper into the dark lifestyle she’s been forced into. Far from being horrified by her new reality, she opens herself to the reality of being owned and used. She obeys, not simply because she has no choice, but because the dark side of BDSM is so seductive.

Her time at the training facility ends, and she’s delivered to a dominant man haunted by demons he has no intention of ever sharing. Escape and freedom for Shari? Impossible. Life with a powerful man who sees her body as his playground? Yes.

Carnal Days taps into many women’s fantasies about giving up control. That’s the keyword, fantasy. In no way does Vonna condone such behavior in the real world. She writes escapism for a mature audience.

Get your copy here!

A. Catherine Noon here. Thank you so much to Delilah for inviting me back to her blog. I’m glad to be here.

And yet, we are living in such unprecedented times. I live in the state of Washington, five miles from the original epicenter of the COVID outbreak. Our governor just extended our stay-at-home orders until May 31.

And I have a cold.

Or something. It’s so easy, even in the best of times, to come up with dire predictions. I am, after all, a writer – a strong and vivid imagination is part of the job. My mind has been treating me to all sorts of scenarios about what my illness is, and none of them involve a cold. (My doctor thinks it’s an upper respiratory illness or seasonal allergies, and I’m doing what she tells me to do to get well.) But it’s lasting, what feels like forever.

Kind of like this pandemic.

But like many other kinds of prolonged dangers, the Great Pause can be seen as something to be abhorred, ignored, and fought; or as a great opportunity to learn resilience. I choose to see it as the latter.

Here are my guidelines for surviving the Great Pause. They are what I try to remind myself in times of stress – which, if I’m honest, is pretty much all the time right now. It doesn’t help anything that I have PTS and agoraphobia: now, going out really CAN cause me harm. So it’s easy to fall into a rabbit hole of fear and reactivity. In order to stay calm and carry on, this is what I’ve found helpful:

1. Avoid the news. I focus on what my governor and our health department have to say as it’s relevant to me and my family and, beyond that, I try to ignore it.
2. Make stuff. Anything. This may seem silly, but the simple act of making something, be it a dish for dinner or a craft, can help restore a sense of empowerment and control. We cannot control other people or a virus, but we CAN make something.
3. Meditate. I use two resources for this: the Calm app and iRest Yoga Nidra. If these are things you’ve seen but haven’t yet tried, I urge you to check them out.
4. Rest. Nap. Get a good night’s sleep. I know it’s tempting to stay up to all hours scrolling on social media. Don’t. Treat your brain like the sensitive and amazing instrument it is.
5. Eat clean. We all know what that means for ourselves. So do it. Don’t be sloppy. Don’t let the awful fear win. Be strong, keep the faith, and eat well for your body.

If you would like to try the Calm app for free, I have five guest passes available. Please leave a comment below and let me know your email and I’ll be happy to send one.

Or, if you prefer, email me at noony@acatherinenoon.com with “Calm App” in the subject line. This will go to the first five responses I receive; first come, first served, no purchase necessary.

And now, Dear Reader, I’d love to know: what techniques help keep you on an even keel during the Great Pause?

—
“My own experience has taught me this: if you wait for the perfect moment when all is safe and assured it may never arrive.”
~ Maurice Chevalier
acatherinenoon.com | noonandwilder.com | writerzengarden.com | knoontimeknitting.com

Tread lightly . . . This subject is not for those wanting to hide under a rock—out of sight, out of mind. My mission is to bring awareness to a dark topic that can turn quickly to death, destruction, and chaos. I’m okay with that. We can no longer push this dirty little secret under the rug. Photos of kids show up daily in media/social media—“Help find this missing child.” I wrote Hart’s Girls as the first of a series that strikes against what is most dear, sacred—our children. I don’t want to ever feel I’m profiting from someone’s pain. This book is my strike against this most heinous crime.

I’ve worked hard to become a spinner of romantic mysteries and studied this subject with an FBI agent who specializes as a Human Trafficking Investigator. Before that, she was a cop for 15 years first in Germany then Colorado working Vice & Human Trafficking Unit, focusing on underage sex trafficking. I have researched the trafficking industry extensively. I’ll delve into aspects of a real case to help relate and understand trauma-bonding, loyalty, love and the perpetrator mindset.

How do we triumph over this evil? My goal in getting this information to the public is to make a lasting impact and save human lives. We can do this by:

•  Shed light on the subject.
•  Become situationally aware.
•  Educate parents, children, and schools.
•  Provide awareness training to industry professionals with opportunity to spot trafficking
•  Help prevent further spread of this disease.
•  Help victims heal.
•  Empower those who have lost power.

Our children are NOT FOR SALE.

About the Book

HART’S GIRLS BY AWARD WINNING AUTHOR, LYNDA REES

The highly profitable, disgusting human trafficking industry puts children in all neighborhoods at risk, especially prevalent along the I75 corridor. FBI Special Agent Reggie Casse and U. S. Marshal Shae Montgomery are determined to stop abductions of innocents in and around Sweetwater, Kentucky. The professionals clash. Antagonism turns to attraction they can’t act on without putting lives in danger. A break in the investigation leads to powerful players. Return of Shae’s ex-fiancé, relocation of a WITSEC witness and wedding plans interrupt any possibility of romance.

♥ AMAZING!!! Once I start reading one of Lynda’s books I CAN’T put it down. Karen Dawn

♥ I live vicariously through books like yours, Janet Evanovich, and Sue Grafton. Thank you for sharing them with all of us. From an avid reader,

Thank GOD, Sincerely N. Anderson

Order Yours NOW! Here’s the link.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086FSRLLT?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420

Love is a dangerous mystery. Enjoy the ride.

Lynda Rees
www.lyndareesauthor.com
lyndareesauthor@gmail.com

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https://amazon.com/author/lyndarees Amazon
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I am so excited to be selected for a second Boys Behaving Badly anthology with Delilah Devlin! This one is near and dear to my heart. For over a decade, I was a paramedic/firefighter in the urban jungle of Atlanta. When I saw the call for submissions for this anthology, I knew I had to enter. I had so many stories to share. But, it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I abandoned several stories before I finally found my stride in “Crossing the Line”. I struggled to find the balance between fact and fiction, and it brought a lot of long-forgotten emotions boiling back up to the surface.

I was surprised how much I missed the firehouse and the guys as I went on my stroll down memory lane. The camaraderie in a firehouse rivals any family. I loved my guys, and on the days that I wanted to be anywhere but there, I still looked forward to seeing them. I knew their kids, wives, girlfriends, and boyfriends. We cooked dinner every night and slept in one great big bunk room. You can’t help but get close. I knew who snored, who talked in their sleep, how they liked their coffee, and who I could count on to have my back when the chips were down. They were my brothers, and I miss them.

I get asked a lot about station house romances. Oh yeah, they’re a thing. I never had one in my own house (that’s never a smart move), but I married a guy from the neighboring station! I had known him for years, but when I got stationed in the same battalion and started bumping into him on calls, the attraction that was there had a chance to grow into something more. At first, I wasn’t sure if I was imagining things. He was a nice guy, doing nice guy things like holding the door, bringing me a Gatorade after a fire, and helping me clean up the truck after a bad call. Surely, it was nothing more than that.

Then, in the wee hours of the morning, the battalion was called out on a house fire. We could see the flames from the station, and everybody’s heart started to go a little faster. Middle of the night fires tended to be tragic. Smoke detectors really do save lives! Fortunately, on that night, the fire was in an abandoned house, and no lives were in jeopardy. Unfortunately, the house, which was still under construction, sat down at the bottom of a hill, and it had been raining steadily for days. The lot had turned into a sea of red mud.

The roof and three out of four sides of the structure were blazing. My crew was assigned the backside of the house, which meant we had to cross the ocean of mud. At first, we made pretty good progress, but as we got to the rear of the structure, the mud swallowed my leg and refused to let go. Other companies had begun the attack. Water cascaded down on the fire, slowly filling the area until a pond began to collect on top of the mud. With the guys’ help, I managed to pull my leg free, but my boot was forever lost to the sucking mud. We sought higher ground, I borrowed a boot, and we got back to the fight. Finally, we got the blaze under control, and as the sun came up, we began the long process of cleaning up. Mud covered everything from hoses to firefighters.

As we were packing up, I realized I had lost my face mask, part of our breathing apparatus. It had been clipped on the front of my harness as we’d approached the house, but somewhere in the slog, it had gone missing. My stomach clenched. It was an expensive piece of equipment, and on top of my boot, the logistics officer was not going to be happy with me.

My crew reassured me they weren’t going to take it out of my paycheck, but my captain sent me to look for it. Suddenly, the rest of my crew had lots of other things to do that didn’t involve going back to the mud pit to look for my lost mask. Resigned, I skirted the worst of the mud in my mismatched boots and started to hunt. I soon had company. I smiled at the man who would become my husband as we waded through the mud in the early morning light. (We found the face mask by the truck. It had fallen off before we’d even got started!). I figured any man who would willingly crawl through mud to help me was worth getting to know a little better. He took me to breakfast, and I’ll leave the rest to your imagination!

My time on the streets of Atlanta adds depth to my stories. My experiences taught me that I could do more and go farther than I had ever dreamed. I weave those lessons throughout my writing. “Crossing the Line” is a blend of fact and fiction, but I’ll leave it to you to sort out which is which!

To find out more about me, visit my website acdawn.com and like my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/A-C-Dawn-2317750851796803! I’ve got lots more stories coming for 2020!