UPDATE: The winner is…Pansy Petal!
*~*~*

It’s Friday. The kids have one more partial week of school before they’re FREE for the summer. I love summers. Not only do we spend an inordinate amount of time in the pool, my daughter is very skilled at finding things for them to do that are fun. We, of course, like to snack around the pool and cook around the pool. When the bugs aren’t horrible, we bring the outdoor projector out at night and shine a movie against the chicken coop wall (I know that sounds ridiculous, but it is fun! Imagine watching episodes of Jimmy Neutron while sitting in lounge chairs under the stars.). We try to float the river at least once during the summer. We go to the beach at the local lake. We like movie nights inside, where we snack on finger foods. We have special meals where we’re all involved with prep. Do you own a raclette grill? We bought one maybe five years ago, and we bring it out to set up in the middle of the dining table to melt cheese over meat and veggies. It’s like fondue, I guess, but everything is grilled in individual trays. Then you place your grilled bites on hard crackers or bits of bread and gobble it up. Tasty and fun! We head to the movie theater several times during the summer. We buy the refillable popcorn tubs and eat before we head out to the movies to save on expenses. And we buy tickets to the matinees as opposed to buying full-price tickets for nighttime movies. We have craft projects—painting days, for example. So many things. We head to the library. We have plans. Lots of them. But we’re always looking for fresh ideas.

I’d like to do the same here and look for fresh ideas for this blog. I talk a lot here. It’s my daily habit to open up a blank screen and word-vomit about what’s happening with books and share the space with other authors who want to be seen. We play games (do you still love the puzzles?). While contemplating clearing my bookshelves, I instituted a new contest this last week, the “Clear My Bookshelf Giveaway,” that you apparently like, at least for this first outing, because the comments have surged. Yes, I prefer giveaways of cyber-gifts because I hate going to the post office, but I also hate the thought of consigning books to the burn barrel—it seems like a crime to even consider, but I have a finite amount of space in my office, and it’s time to thin out those books.

So, there’s a point somewhere in this post. Maybe I’ll find it. My fingers are typing, but they often speed ahead of my brain. Thank goodness, otherwise I’d never write a book.

I’m pausing now, because I do need to find the point. Today’s question… What was I talking about?

Oh, yeah. New ideas. Things you’d like to see. I’m glad I put that at the top of this post in the subject line, or I’d just keep rambling. Tell me what you like seeing here in this space. What sorts of prizes do you like? I can do signed books, downloadable books, bookmarks, small pieces of art, gift cards… Gift cards are easy, but they do add up. Mailing things isn’t so easy, but I do like to change things up, and I can enlist my dd to head into town for me. Yeah, she’s going to be busy with the kids this summer, but she’s a great multi-tasker. She rarely reads this blog. I hope she doesn’t decide to do so today.

Comment for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Kerry Pruett!
*~*~*

Last weekend, my daughter and SIL splurged on a new Blackstone griddle. Frankly, I’d never heard of one, and when they explained it to me, I thought, yeah, a new barbecue, right? Well, my daughter is very, very serious about her new griddle. She has never once expressed interest in our grill or our smoker. In fact, the first night we had it, after she seasoned the griddle, she cooked our entire breakfast-for-dinner (eggs, bacon, sausage) on the griddle in a quarter of the time and dishes we would have normally in the kitchen. Plus, we ate at our patio table outside, steps away from the griddle. The following morning, the 19-year-old made a ton of French toast in minutes, and again, we enjoyed our meal on the patio.

Okay, I’m sold. Instead of multiple pans and cooking times, everything is done on one surface at the same time—outside. And clean-up is quick!  Cool. We’re going to make hibachi and smashburgers this coming weekend, and I can’t wait.

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle, then make some suggestions for other things we might cook up on this new outdoor griddle.

UPDATE: The winner is…Pansy Petal!
*~*~*

Hello, Delilah! Thank you for welcoming me back to share my new release.  As you might know, I’m always game to try something new when it comes to writing.  I was approached last year to write a gay romance retelling of a fairy tale and to say I was excited was an understatement.  Several tales were still available, and I snagged The Beauty and the Beast. I didn’t know much about the story beyond the two Disney retellings, so I set about doing some research. Which, of course, included buying the Disney combo and watching the movies again.  The one stipulation on my story was that I couldn’t include magic.  No singing candelabras, dogs as footstools, or little boys as teacups.

Undaunted, I tackled the project and…came up blank.  I knew I wanted to set the story in my Mission City, British Columbia world, but beyond that…I had nothing.  One day, I was chatting with a friend from Australia.  She said she wanted me to either write a story with a Canadian bloke in Australia or an Australian bloke in Canada.  Something clicked.  That morning (about 4 a.m. for me and about 9 p.m. for her), we plotted out a basic story.  About an Aussie forester coming to Canada to study, well, forestry management techniques.  So that was my Beauty – a lumberjack of sorts.  Then I needed a beast.  Since I was already flipping the trope, I decided to go with a slender, petite former model.  In stereotype parlance – a twink.  From there, we crafted out a story figuring out how Beauty (Dean) would wind up at Beast (Adam)’s castle (and yes, I have a real castle…of sorts…)  Throw in a dog named Chip, a cat named Maurice, and a pile of characters from the world I’d already created…and I had the skeleton outline of my story.

Executing this book turned out to be more challenging than I’d anticipated, and at one point I despaired of ever getting it ready to publish.  Toss in two amazing beta readers (one Aussie) and a fantastic editor and…we made it.  I hope readers will love the book as much as I now do.  A very different telling than the Brothers Grimm might’ve planned, but still something worth reading, I hope.

Thank you for letting me visit today.  I would love to give away a $5 Amazon Gift Card to one commenter.  Either tell me which fairy tale you would like to see modernized or feel free to mention an adaptation you’ve recently enjoyed.  Random Number Generator will select one lucky winner!

The Beauty of the Beast
A Contemporary Fairytale MM Romance

Dean

All my life, I dreamed about making the long trip from Australia to Canada to study forestry amid the old-growth stands of the Pacific Northwest. Now here I am, living the dream. Of course, nothing’s perfect. The only housing I can find is renting a room from a grumpy, reclusive guy who doesn’t seem to want me around. I should keep out of his way and focus on my studies, but there’s something about him that keeps drawing me in. I feel less homesick when I’m with him, and maybe I can make a difference for more than just the trees.

Adam

Life as I knew it ended with my horrific accident ten years ago. There’s no point to my existence now, but I can’t seem to stop living, so I hide my battered carcass in my mountain home. There, I can wander from room to room and no one stares, no one laughs, no one even remembers I exist. Until I make the mistake of offering a stranded Aussie a room to rent. It should’ve been a simple favor—two men with our own spaces, ignoring each other. Instead, he’s always close by, and he won’t let me wallow, and what’s worse, I think I’m starting to like that. But there’s no way someone like me can have a future with someone like him. Right?

The Beauty of the Beast is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, set in the wilds of British Columbia, where an Aussie forester a long way from home falls for the untouchable man he shouldn’t want. The novel has moderate angst, a feisty foreigner, and what happens when someone trusts again.

Links:
Amazon US:  https://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Beast-Contemporary-Fairytale-Romance-ebook/dp/B0CN4VXZ2T
Universal Book Link:  https://books2read.com/TheBeautyoftheBeast
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-beauty-of-the-beast/id6499569892
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-beauty-of-the-beast-gabbi-grey/1145522583
KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-beauty-of-the-beast-5
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1558154

About the Author

USA Today Bestselling author Gabbi Grey lives in beautiful British Columbia where her fur baby chin-poo keeps her safe from the nasty neighborhood squirrels. Working for the government by day, she spends her early mornings writing contemporary, gay, sweet, and dark erotic BDSM romances. While she firmly believes in happy endings, she also believes in making her characters suffer before finding their true love. She also writes m/f romances as Gabbi Black and Gabbi Powell.

Personal links:
Website: https://gabbigrey.com/
Newsletter sign-up:  https://sendfox.com/gabbigrey
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorgabbigrey/
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/gabbi-grey
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15456297.Gabbi_Grey
Amazon Author Central: https://www.amazon.com/Gabbi-Grey/e/B07SJVFX1M
Audible Profile:  https://www.audible.com/author/Gabbi-Grey/B07SJVFX1M
Facebook (page): https://www.facebook.com/AuthorGabbiGrey
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GabbiGrey

I have a 5-book series that will be arriving one per week for the next few weeks. The first in the series is Five Ways ‘Til Sunday! It’s available for only $0.99 and FREE for Kindle Unlimited subscribers! Just remember, they are erotic romances. Sex-fest fantasies. Yes, I’m not the least bit ashamed I wrote them. *wink* Enjoy!!

Order your copy now! | Read an excerpt!

A Memphis cop bent on marrying an unconventional woman turns to his friends to tick every sexy item off her bucket list to get her to “yes”…

The more Marti Kowalski tries to convince Memphis PD Officer Jackson Teague she’s not the right woman for him, the more he wants to marry her. It’s crazy, and he won’t listen to reason. Of course, she’s tempted, but there are things she wants to experience before she ties the knot. All sorts of kinky things that involve knots—just not the marital kind. And she’s written them down.

When Jackson finds out what’s on Marti’s mind, he knows just what to do. He calls on his brothers in blue, four men he trusts with his life. Between the five of them, he’s sure they can check off each and every item on Marti’s bucket list in one wild, wicked weekend.

Of course, Marti has to agree to follow through, and he has to decide if he can bear to share her.

Product Warnings: Contains scenes with m/f/m, spanking, restraints, and an orgy of pleasure no woman can resist.

Note: This book was previously published.

UPDATE: The winner is…Sharon Coomes!
*~*~*

I’ve got a hoarding problem. This picture is of one section of my bookshelf. I have a s@#t-ton of my books, collected over my 20 years of publishing. So, I thought it’s time to do something about them. The burn barrel seemed too…tragic. So I thought maybe a bunch of giveaways might be fun. Then the giveaways needed a name. The only thing that came to mind was, the Clear My Bookshelf Giveaway. Afterall, I need more room for things like my Funko Pop bobbleheads or some Star Trek action figures. Important stuff.

So, for a chance to win a randomly chosen by me (I might say, do you want a western, an erotic novel, or a paranormal?) book, which I will of course sign and fill with a bookmark and a postcard, painted by me, tell me whether you’re as excited as I am for summer to come!

If you like this contest, we’ll do it again, and again, and again, until I have space on my bookshelves!

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

This was part of my gift from my daughter! She knows I’m a Star Trek girl and had an artist do this up of me with my cat, Tess, Lower Decks style. She had one image framed for my office wall and had a coffee cup made with the image wrapped around it. Such a lovely, thoughtful gift for a nerdy girl like me! The 19-year-old added a funny squeeze-toy/stress ball with an alien that pops out of a spaceship and a small tray with a spaceship hovering over a farm field, sucking up a cow. Yes, they do know me well.

Report Card

Last week…

• I finished one editing job for another author, plus, I worked on three others.
• I finished revising, formatting, and uploading Five Ways ‘Til Sunday, which releases Tuesday. I began revising the next in the Delta Heat series, Fournicopia.
• I worked on art for #The100DayProject.
• My knee is nearly healed, but I have to stop myself from moving full-steam-ahead, because every time I do, I reinjure it. It’s such a pain in the ass.
• So, yeah, I’m light on accomplishments this week. 🙁

This next week…

• I will work on four editing projects for other authors, finishing three!
• I will try to find art for the next anthology, Secret Identities. Plus, I’ll work on the webpage on the Collections site, adding loglines for each author’s story. (This is a repeat from last week, because I didn’t make much progress.)
• I will complete revising the second and third stories in the kink series I’m republishing and get them uploaded.
• I will begin writing my next Montana Bounty Hunter story, the first in the West Yellowstone office, Cyrus. (This is carried over, too. I made NO progress.)
• I will continue creating small art daily for #The100DayProject.
• I’ll work on a gazillion administrative and cleanup duties I need to catch up on. My office is a disaster at the moment.

I really need a vacation…

Open Contests

1. April into May (Contest) — Last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Word Search: Happy Batman Day! (Contest) — Last day to enter! Win a beadable pen!
3. Remember when…? (Contest) — Last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!
4. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Why did the black bear cross the road? — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
5. Who should Cyrus’s love interest be? (Poll & Contest) — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
6. Word Search: Family Summertime Activities (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
7. Books for PRE-ORDER! See what’s coming soon! (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
8. Melanie Jayne: Spending Time with Old Friends (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
9. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Have you ever seen the Northern Lights? — Win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Anna Marie Flamini!
*~*~*

A rare geomagnetic solar storm has some folks very excited. When it was announced, we were disappointed that we wouldn’t get to see them this far south in Arkansas. However, last night, some of the 19-year-old’s friends shared pictures they’d taken with their phones of faint glimmers of the aurora borealis affect.

So, she went outside and took these.

Cool, right? Our big old trees blocked most of it. Okay, so it’s not spectacular, but we NEVER see the lights this far south.

I’ve always wanted to go someplace like Iceland to experience the truly spectacular Northern Lights, but maybe someday.

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, have you ever seen the Northern Lights? Enjoy the puzzle and Happy Saturday!