Today, already, is hot as hell here in Arkansas (it’s 85 degrees Fahrenheit at 9 AM). The temperature will be over a hundred. We tend to stay indoors when it gets like this, then wander out to the pool when the sun dips below the horizon. The pool is so warm it offers little relief, except for the lovely feeling you get when you’re soaking wet and enter the AC-cooled house. My daughter doesn’t deal well with the heat. She loves winter—sweaters, leggings, and boots. Summer makes her ill. Just sitting outside this morning, talking to me over a cup of coffee, made her nauseous. AND IT’S ONLY THE FIRST DAY OF JULY. I’m down for it. Of course, most of my day is spent in my cool-ish window-less basement office. When I rouse to step outside, I enjoy the bright light and looking at the flowers blooming. My dd would love to mow the lawn, but she pretty much has to do that at dusk or dawn. Like a vampire. LOL. I think today, we’re going to take a break from the heat and head to the indoor flea market. Whee!
So, thinking about summer and lovely things I wish I could do, I searched for a photo of my dream vacation spot. It’s today’s puzzle challenge. Enjoy!
For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, let me know if this would be anywhere on your bucket list. If not, what would be?
I revised and re-published a story that was originally part of an Entangled anthology, Along Came a Spider on June 27th!
I began writing the next Montana Bounty Hunters: We Are Dead Horse, MT — Jackson!
I settled on the theme for the next Boys Behaving Badly Anthology — Secret Identities!
I completed 3 editing projects for other authors in June.
Health-related:
I’ve been swimming almost every day. Sometimes, twice a day.
Through medicines and some diet tweaking, I’ve managed to get my blood pressure down. Not enough, and not without an occasional spike, but it’s so much better.
Happiness-related:
I have been working on and making great progress organizing my art room, getting ready for the next push for art shows and reopening my Etsy store.
I finished #the100dayproject online art challenge! Here are some of my last pieces I completed in the beginning of June…
July
For work-related, I plan:
To complete writing and publish Jackson, the next in my Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT series which releases on July 11th!
To complete 4 editing projects in July!
For health related, I plan:
To swim at least once a day!
To resume counting those points for my Weight Watchers diet and hopefully shed at least 5 pounds, remembering, as always: Slow is good!
To continue to reduce salt, processed food, and incorporate foods good for blood pressure (spinach, broccoli, bananas, red wine).
To begin walking and counting my steps.
To do more housework because my art room isn’t finished! Cleaning is exercise, too.
For happiness-related, I plan:
To spend quality time with the family—movie nights, swim-time, making fun meals together!
To participate in and complete a free art workshop, the Fodder Challenge 2023!
Contest
Comment on anything you’ve read in this post. Tell me what you’re doing to make yourself happier and healthier. Tell me what you plan to read in July… Like I said, comment on anything for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!
A powerful druis with a thousand-year-old secret. An ancient soul plotting to destroy the barriers between the realms. And a defying love that breaks all the rules.
I can’t help but say–I love that hook. It was probably the easiest part of my book blurb to write, and it encompasses everything this story is, hinting at all the right parts.
Three Coins From a Dead Man’s Pocket is Book 1 of the Realms of Souls Saga. This fantasy✨ steampunk ⚙️ romance is everything I love in a can’t-put-it-down kind of story: a damsel to the rescuewith a huge 💖(and she can wield a laser whip 😲), a love 📐 in a steampunk world with lots of elemental magic, a little instalove 😍 with an interested suitor who makes her pulse race every time his stormy gray eyes gaze into hers, a glimpse at immortality ☠️ in a complex world 🌍 with an invented religious system, an antagonist who craves power over the realms and doesn’t care how he gets it, and a family uncovered that has their own long-buried secrets…
After that description, how can you not want to read it? 😲
Okay, I hear you asking…but, Myrenne, what is the spice♨️🥵 in this book? Am I going to want to find my SO and, well, you know? 😏
Ahem…how about an excerpt?
Thorben reached up, brushing a strand of dark hair away from Ava’s face. His fingertips grazed her cheek, cool and rough. Ava’s breath quickened, his caress causing a tidal wave of emotions to rush to the surface. It had been a long time since anyone had touched her in a romantic way. She had had too many responsibilities, too many people depending on her. So, Ava had buried her wants and desires, focusing on who she needed to be; a druis, a niece…a friend. But, being pursued—being desired—for the first time in a long time, made her balk at the position she had allowed herself to be put in.
He leaned forward, his breath cool against her skin, bringing her back to the moment. “Mé talé.” He whispered against her lips. “My treasure.”
Thorben brushed his velvet lips against Ava’s, and she sucked in a quick breath. He paused, waiting. And Ava decided in this moment—this one instance—she was going to claim back something for herself.
Delicately, she pressed her lips against his. He tasted like fresh mint and evening rain. The acceptance of his kiss made him eager, encouraging her to open for him. She allowed him to slide past her lips, exploring her with his cool, firm tongue.
Ava’s fingers tangled themselves in his dark hair and hauled him closer, crushing his mouth to hers. He titled his head, deepening the kiss, his fingers dancing along her ribcage. His thick tongue swept inside her, along her lips, over her teeth, diving back inside for more. He moaned as her tongue parried his, back and forth, licking at the edges of his lips and planting soft kisses on his mouth.
Thorben’s hands circled her waist, pulling her onto his lap. He was desperately passionate, as if he were hungry for a person’s touch as much as she was. It made her want him more. She broke away from his kiss, pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it to the side. His smooth chest gently shimmered in the evening light, and she again wondered at his heritage.
Catching her wrists, he pressed her palms to his bare chest, his thumbs lightly stroking the backside of her hands. His skin was cool to the touch. He breathed hard, his eyes dancing with lightning. A shaky hand brushed against Ava’s cheek.
“Thorben, are you alright?”
“Don’t stop,” he whispered, his voice dark agony. “Please.”
*~*~*
This is not, of course, the spiciest🥵 scene in the book–nope, not by a long shot. But, I can’t give all the goods away at first, now can I? 😏
If I’ve got you hooked and you are burning with curiosity to read Three Coins, let me first say…YAY! Secondly, how would you like to be a beta reader🤔?
I’m doing one last beta reading session beginning July 1, 2023! If you don’t know what beta reading is, it’s a group of people who get to read books📚 before they are officially published. Beta readers are there for the author to offer feedback, ask questions, and tell their opinions on the characters and plot, helping the author make the book the best it can be!
Want to Beta read and get your eyes 👀on it before anyone else? Sign up HERE.
You can also read the ENTIRE blurb AND be the first to know when my book releases by joining my email list HERE.
If you are curious about how I began my writing journey (It’s an interesting story, actually) you can read my first guest blog on Delilah’s page HERE.
The next stop for Realms of Souls info is my Facebook group. I’ll have announcements for release date, merch, contests, freebies, and other thoughts about characters that I have no idea what to do with. And, occasionally, I feel the urge to make a video. You can hear my ramblings first hand if you follow me on TikTok.
Thanks to Delilah for having me on her blog and I can’t wait until I can announce a release date this fall!
[Play the music while you read!] It’s my birthday today! I’m the big 6-5! I’m officially “elderly” now! My daughter is in denial. I’m excited. I’m old enough for Medicare now. Not that I need it because I have my military retirement with Tricare. Important stuff when you get old though.
What else can I celebrate? I’m 65! When I was a teen, I didn’t expect to live past 21—I was a bit of a wild child. So, I always thought any day over 21 was just “gravy.” And while some bemoan the milestones, I’ve never worried. I hit 30 and thought, “awesome!” 50—the same. 60—I had a lovely birthday party with both my parents still there to celebrate. Now, at 65, I’d love to have them here, but life’s a journey, and I’m not going to bemoan the fact I’m 65 and still fabulous!
I decided to take a picture to prove it. I sent my selfie to my dd and said, “What do you think?” She immediately sent the 14-year-old to snap a picture with her iPhone. So, I’m assuming she wasn’t impressed. This is what she sent back to me.
Huh. She thought I needed a filter—and wondered why I didn’t bother with makeup other than a swipe of lipstick. I guess she was right. My sunburned nose and forehead made both look shiny and really big. Still, I don’t look like a wrinkled old woman just yet. Well, there are some wrinkles. Here’s the original, what do you think?
I still have less forehead wrinkles than someone I won’t name because she’s pissed looking at me every day. My eyebrows and eyelashes aren’t blond anymore. Or gray. They’re translucent—which is why you can’t see them! Still, I don’t feel a day over 40. Actually, I don’t feel old. Period. Although, sometimes, when my hands hurt after a day at the keyboard… I just call that a workout. They’re supposed to be sore.
They threw me a party last night. It was nice to have the fam around, plus a couple of their friends. We ate finger foods and pie. No candles, because we didn’t want to burn the house down. Today, I’m back at the keyboard because that’s what I do. Who I am.
So, tell me: Have any of your milestones been downers for you?
Are you looking for a sexy, suspenseful read? A 45-minute punch of SEAL yumminess? Well, I have just the story for you!
Along Came a Spider started out as a novella in the Men in Uniform anthology published by Entangled, but I recently got the rights back. So, I re-edited it, had my sister make me a gorgeous cover, and now, here it is! If you’ve never read it, or if you want to read it again, here’s your chance. And as a plus, it’s FREE for the next little while in Kindle Unlimited!
Along Came a Spider
All this SEAL wants is time alone to recharge after a grueling mission, but what he gets is caught in the crossfire of passion and danger.
After Spider follows a fellow SEAL’s advice to take some downtime and try fishing to get over his restlessness after back-to-back missions, he finds himself even more irritated until his fishing lure gets caught in the bushes, and while trying to free it, he notices men armed with tactical equipment moving through the forest. Curiosity piqued, he follows and is just in time to prevent the men from harming a lone female camper.
Jessie Tamberlin hoped to hide out in the woods until after her wedding to a billionaire, following her discovery that he is an illegal arms dealer. However, she knows secrets he’s determined to keep silent; he’s never going to let her go. When she finds an ally in the woods, who helps her escape, she has to make an on-the-spot decision to trust him.
Together, they work to stay one step ahead of her ex-fiancé while trying to ignore their growing attraction for each other.
The Whole Tooth is available for pre-order now and hits KU July 6!
Beagan is a tooth fairy. She loves what she does and has never felt unfulfilled. Until one night her body freezes when a man opens a door.
Ethan is a normal guy. Just doing his best to make a good life for him and his son. Until one night he opens a door and changes their lives forever.
Can these two find a happy ever after together?
This is a steamy, fun, (almost) insta-love, paranormal romance short story with adult language, off-page parent abandonment, and “open door” sexual situations.
Elliot Ason is a lover of all things romance, especially if there’s a monster sprinkled in there somewhere 😉 Her love of reading drove her to write paranormal and monster romance short stories. She is an indie author who also works full time and is a wife and mom – always outnumbered by two boys!
Of great debate in my author circles is whether or not to read reviews, how much stock to put in them, and whether they should have any impact on your writing.
I’ll admit, I didn’t understand the importance of reviews when I first started publishing. As time went on, and as I immersed myself in all things publishing, I learned just how critical they can be.
Case in point (from a guru I respect) — all things being equal, if a book has one 1* review, it will sell better than the equivalent book with no reviews. At first, that feels counterintuitive. Someone hated the book, why would others want to read it? But that review is social proof — someone bought and read the book. Okay, they didn’t like it. The book wasn’t for them. Doesn’t mean the next person won’t love it (some book lovers choose books with bad reviews for the fun of it). But the book with no reviews? Well, no one bought it or if they did (and if they read it), it didn’t inspire enough emotion in them to leave any kind of feedback. The book lacks social proof.
Now, look up any great work of literature and there are plenty of horrible reviews. Not everyone loved Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre. I can’t fathom that, but I look at some other books I didn’t enjoy, read the glowing reviews, and realize there’s someone out there who will love every book.
I admit to sending out review copies with my books, even knowing the reviewers have the option to decline to review, review even though they didn’t enjoy, or enthusiastically tell everyone what a great book I’ve written. Obviously, I prefer the latter, but even the middle doesn’t bother me. If someone didn’t enjoy my book, that means they weren’t my target audience. The key, with the hundreds and hundreds of romance books being released every week, is to find the reader who wants your book. Who needs your book? Who will see the genius in your book?
Which brings me back to reviews. Advanced reader copies (ARCs) for my book releasing this week, Love Without Reservations, went out last week. Normally I try to give a longer lead time, but things kind of got away from me with this book. Therefore, I wasn’t expecting reviews for a bit. Some readers, though, grabbed it and dug right in. Soon after, I began to receive notifications that reviews were being posted.
To read or not to read: that is the question.
In the end, I took a peek. Who wouldn’t? Well, at least one of my mentors doesn’t…and good for her for having the strength to resist.
Alas, I’m a weak woman.
The reviews are generally positive. Readers enjoyed the book. Understood what I was trying to convey. Didn’t regret having picked it up.
But one reviewer… Man, this gutted me. She pointed out I’d missed an opportunity with one of my characters.
I literally gasped in…anger? Frustration? Annoyance? Not at the reviewer, of course, but at myself. They’d found a plot point I’d forgotten about. A thread I’d meant to tie up.
One line. I just needed one line. And I’d forgotten it.
Now, after writing 38k, a writer can be forgiven for missing one sentence. Only it was a really important one. So here it is:
Aaron managed to secure a job overseeing the renovations of the Grand Hotel.
Now, that doesn’t mean anything to anyone who hasn’t read the book. But for those who have, it solidifies the happily ever after. It ties off that loose thread.
Alas, I didn’t format the book myself and making the change would be monumental. So, dear reader, you are the only ones who know about it. I fully intend to weave that fact into a future book (I write in series and my characters ALWAYS come back…)
Thank you, Delilah, for hosting me. I enjoyed sharing my little angsty story. To a lucky randomly selected commenter, I would love to give a $5 Amazon GC. To win, please consider answering the following question: what would make you leave a review? Or, let me know a book you read that left a loose thread that drove you nuts. Thanks!
Love Without Reservations
Noel
I’ve tracked down my wayward sister to Cataluma, California, and my goal is to drag her back to Canada before she gets in trouble with the American authorities. The problem? She’s gone and fallen in love with some dude and refuses to come home. I need to stick around to talk some sense into her, but there’s only one damned inn in this podunk town and they insist they’re full. I can’t get the handsome innkeeper to make an exception, not even for the few days I’ll need to get Kendra safely headed back across the border.
Aaron
I love my job as the owner of the quaint Cataluma Inn. I also pride myself in being a peacemaker. When I find squawking siblings arguing about a good friend of mine at our traditional barbecue, I have to step in. Next thing I know, I’m offering to share my one-bedroom apartment with a very attractive Canadian. Oh, and he’s gay too…
Love Without Reservations is s story in the Shopping for Love in Cataluma series. The book is a 38k word small-town gay interracial romance novella with a grumpy Canadian entrepreneur, a sunshine American motorcycle rider, and the love they never saw coming.
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.
Three Coins From a Dead Man’s Pocket
Thorben reached up, brushing a strand of dark hair away from Ava’s face. His fingertips grazed her cheek, cool and rough. Ava’s breath quickened, his caress causing a tidal wave of emotions to rush to the surface. It had been a long time since anyone had touched her in a romantic way. She had had too many responsibilities, too many people depending on her. So, Ava had buried her wants and desires, focusing on who she 
Delicately, she pressed her lips against his. He tasted like fresh mint and evening rain. The acceptance of his kiss made him eager, encouraging her to open for him. She allowed him to slide past her lips, exploring her with his cool, firm tongue.
