UPDATE: The winner is…Roseann Cyngier!
*~*~*

The resilience of the formerly enslaved in the face of societal oppression never ceases to amaze me. Despite violence from groups like the KKK and laws to strip away the rights they’d earned, former slaves refused to be daunted. One of these brave souls was Anna Julia Haywood Cooper.

I learned of Cooper while researching a novella I hope to set in Paris in the 1920s. She received a PhD in history from the Sorbonne in 1924 when she was 66. She had first started her doctoral work in 1914 at Columbia University but had to stop to take care of her siblings upon the death of her mother.

Born into slavery in 1858 in Raleigh North Carolina, Cooper went on to become an author, an educator, and sociologist. She received a scholarship at the age of nine to Saint Augustine’s Normal School and Collegiate Institute. She studied there for fourteen years and successfully fought to take classes reserved only for men. She then enrolled in Oberlin College and once again refused to be barred from men-designated courses of study. She graduated in 1884 but after teaching at Saint Augustine’s and Wilberforce College returned to Oberlin and received an M.A. in mathematics in 1888.

Her book, A Voice from the South, published in 1892 is considered to be one of the earliest if not the earliest work advocating education and social uplift of Black women as the way to uplift her race. She is often called the Mother of Black Feminism. That same year she formed the Colored Women’s League with such luminaries as Ida B. Wells, Charlotte Forten Grimke and Mary Church Terrell.

In 1900 Cooper attended the first Pan-African conference in London and presented her paper, “The Negro Problem in America.” She retired from teaching and became president of Frelinghuysen University in 1930. This university was established to help African Americans receive education after working hours so they didn’t have to choose between an education and working to support themselves and their families. When the university could no longer pay its mortgage, she moved the school into her home. She died in 1964 at the age of 105.

When I discover women like Anna Julia Haywood Cooper, these words from Maya Angelou’s poem, “And Still I Rise”, come to mind: “Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave.” Formerly enslaved women like Cooper were their own dream and their own hope. Her example inspires me to reinvent her audacity and resilience in the characters I create in my fiction.

For a chance at a $10 Amazon gift card, share in the comments a woman from history or in your own life who inspires you.

One Breath Away
by Michal Scott

Sentenced to hand 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. Never having been courted, cuddled or spooned, Mary now fears any kind of physical intimacy when arousal forces her to relive the asphyxiation of her hanging. 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 a relationship with Mary 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.

Then just as Eban begins to win Mary’s trust, an enemy from the past threatens to keep them one breath away from love…

Excerpt from One Breath Away…

The squeak of the indoor pump provided no distraction from the lingering tingle where Eban’s fingers had rested against her spine, where his lips had kissed her hand. She focused on her task to temper her excitement.

Fill the bucket. Lift the bucket. Carry the bucket. Empty the bucket. Fill the bucket. Lift the bucket. Carry the bucket. Empty the bucket.

The pans she filled slowly simmered then steamed on her small, pot-bellied stove.

Her heart seized as she fingered the simple gingham curtains covering Harvest Home’s windows. Harvest Home’s humble kitchen contrasted sharply with the trappings that had graced Mary’s Manor, her Weston restaurant expansion.

She’d looked up the word manor and decided her place would imitate that kind of luxury as much as possible. Brocaded drapes and white, linen tablecloths had dressed up the Manor’s supper room. Slipcovers made from the same linen covered the cushioned chairs. White, bone china and delicate silverware completed the picture of elegant dining she hoped to draw.

A Franklin stove, indoor pump, double sink, polished counter tops and spacious storage cupboards made the Manor’s kitchen a dream made true. Nothing lacked for the grand opening. Picturing couples enjoying themselves in her simple but elegant setting had become her favorite pastime.

Then Judah Little and his lies thwarted her plans. Thwarted. A good word. A true word.

“But not for long,” she whispered. “That dream will come true just as this dream might come true tonight.”

Buylink:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2u5XQYY 

I know I am not the only person getting snow at this point in April. I am not a fan of winter months to begin with. I write a lot of spring and summer romance for that reason. So, here is a list of what I am looking forward to when this season actually settles and acts like it wants to warm up around these mountains I live in. 

1. Trees and flowers in bloom
2. Fresh produce and farmer markets
3. Mild mornings and evenings
4. Putting the thermals away for a while
5. Events and outings!

What are you looking forward to this spring and summer?
I will check back at the end of the week for answers and pick 3 to get a swag pack mailed.
US mail only for this one. 

If you are interested in contemporary, sports romance, and reverse harem style, you may want to consider joining my Patreon team. Even the $1 tier has access to the story I am writing in there before publishing it anywhere else. It is also available on Amazon Vella as a serial short, but well behind the Patreon posting of it. 

Join me at Swift University where a good girl has decided to go very, very bad. Readers get to weigh in on the character development, naming rights, and of course my patrons are thanked in the acknowledgements of the book. 

Here’s a look at the first cover. 

Links:
Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/musesandsirens
Right now, March is a Patreon exclusive! Read it before everyone else does by joining the team. 

Website: http://www.creativewritingwithdrnagle.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorCaraNorth
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caranorthauthor/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caranorthauthor
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/caranorth_author/?hl=en
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20650398.Cara_North
BookBub : https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cara-north
Amazon Author Page:  https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B002BLLE1U
TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdht9Kg1/

UPDATE: The winner is…Beverly!
*~*~*

I want to thank Delilah for giving me the opportunity to share about my new release, The Adventure of the Purloined Portrait, the fourth case in my Early Case Files of Sherlock Holmes series. It’s available for a special price ($2.99) for a limited time.

This series offers an origin story for Sherlock Holmes. The original tales had little about his past other than his father was named Siger, he had a brother named Mycroft, and his ancestors were country squires. He also tells Watson his grandmother was the sister of the French artist Vernet, which gave him “art in the blood.” As Sherlock matures through this series, he develops his skills as he solves mysteries at the family estate, London, and now France.

In The Adventure of the Purloined Portrait, the Holmes family travels to Paris to visit their French relatives along with some purpose known only to Sherlock’s mother. The true reason for the trip becomes apparent almost immediately when they witness a murder on their first night in the city. A carriage runs down the artist of a compromising sketch of Sherlock’s mother. The hunt to bring the killer to justice sends Sherlock into parts of the city off the beaten path and into danger.

In addition to a visit to the Louvre (after all, their ancestors had paintings hanging there), the evidence sends them to such sites as the Mont-de-Piété (now the Crédit Municipal de Paris), the state-run pawn shops; the Hôtel Drouot, an auction house; the headquarters of the Surete (the French equivalent of Scotland Yard); and Montmartre, a sleepy village on the outskirts of the city in 1868. As I completed my research for the book, I found myself longing to return to the city to actually visit the places I’d only read about in books or online. Even Montmartre, a place I’d visited before, now holds new meaning to me.

I’m giving away a $5 Apple or Amazon gift card (winner’s choice) to one randomly selected person leaving a comment. Let me know of your interest in Paris. Do you want to visit the City of Lights? What would be on your list of sites there? If you have visited the city, what did you enjoy the most?

The Adventure of the Purloined Portrait

A long-buried secret. A stolen portrait. The artist’s murder. Can Sherlock discover the connection between the three before he’s stopped permanently?

Sherlock can’t shake his apprehension about a family trip to Paris. His mother’s unflappable confidence vanished months ago, and her anxiety has set the whole family on edge. His greatest fears are realized when they witness the death of one of Mrs. Holmes’ former suitors.

As Sherlock seeks to unravel the reason behind the artist’s murder, he unearths a long-buried secret about his mother and survives several attempts to keep him from getting to the truth.

Can he bring a killer to justice before he’s buried with these hidden secrets forever?

Excerpt from The Adventure of the Purloined Portrait:

I stared over the ship’s railing and spoke to my brother Mycroft without glancing at him. “I feel this trip may be a mistake.”

I saw him turn toward me from the corner of my eye. “The crossing’s almost over. You’ll feel better when you get on dry land.”

“That’s not what I meant.” I glared at him. “Mother hasn’t been herself since Easter. Out of the blue, she announces we’re going to Paris while you’re still recovering from a gunshot wound. And she’d been distracted even before that.”

Mother had always been the family rock. I’d rarely seen her rattled, but even granite can break under pressure.

During our Easter holiday in London, she appeared preoccupied by matters she never explained to me or my brother. At the time, I’d put it down to concern over my father’s efforts to invest in a business venture with an old school chum as well as Mycroft’s wounding at the hands of our kidnappers. Both, however, were now behind us. The investment had produced a modest return, and I saw no lingering problems related to Mycroft’s injury. All the same, we’d barely arrived home from school before she’d packed our trunks and shuffled us all off to Newhaven for the steamship ride to Dieppe.

“I do believe bringing the entire family is a ruse,” he said after his own inspection of the sea.

“Including Uncle Ernest in the trip did surprise me.” Her brother rarely left the estate or his workshop. “Perhaps she thinks it will do him some good. They report being happy growing up there.”

He glanced at the smoke trailing the ship. “If she was so happy there, why doesn’t she show it?”

I ran through all the scenarios—from something as benign as a sudden bout of nostalgia to a fatal illness calling her back to see her French relatives one last time—and shook my head. “Without more information, I would only be speculating. You yourself have said that can be counterproductive. Whatever the reason, something has truly unnerved her.” I turned back to the ocean, seeking any indication of the coastline. “And whatever it is lies in Paris.”

Buy Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09RN27KPT
BN: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-adventure-of-the-purloined-portrait-liese-sherwood-fabre/1140803032
iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-adventure-of-the-purloined-portrait/id1604426329
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-adventure-of-the-purloined-portrait
Other: books2read.com/u/mZZjzD

About the Author

Liese Sherwood-Fabre knew she was destined to write when she got an A+ in the second grade for her story about Dick, Jane, and Sally’s ruined picnic. After obtaining her PhD, she joined the federal government and worked and lived internationally for more than fifteen years. Returning to the states, she seriously pursued her writing career, garnering such awards as a finalist in RWA’s Golden Heart contest and a Pushcart Prize nomination. A recognized Sherlockian scholar, her essays have appeared in scion newsletters, the Baker Street Journal, and Canadian Holmes. She has recently turned this passion into an origin story series on Sherlock Holmes. The first book, The Adventure of the Murdered Midwife, was the CIBA Mystery and Mayhem 2020 winner.

Visit her at:
Website: https://www.liesesherwoodfabre.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lsfabre
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/liese.sherwoodfabre
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/liesesf
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5758587.Liese_Sherwood_Fabre
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/liese-sherwood-fabre
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Liese-Sherwood-Fabre/e/B00810INE6

You can keep up with all upcoming events and books by signing up for her newsletter. When you do, you’ll get a FREE short story.
https://www.liesesherwoodfabre.com/contact.html#newsletter

Quick links for your reading and listening pleasure.

Desiree’s Book List
Desiree’s Audio Book List
Desiree’s Books on Reading Apps
Desiree’s Darlings Reader Group
Books by Desiree Online Bookshop

www.desireeholt.com

About fourteen years ago, I met Alexandra Riley, a woman who realized her entire life and identity was a lie. She discovers she’s not human but a half-breed werewolf, her father is a full-blooded werewolf, and she’s become a prize, sought after by male werewolves who want to mate her. Alexandra’s Legacy was the first werewolf book I ever wrote, and it began my love affair with these fascinating creatures.

Why do I love werewolves? They straddle a line between the human and wolf sides of their nature. They live by a different set of rules, are guided by primal instincts. They’re rough and tough and protective as hell toward those they consider theirs. It opens up so many possibilities for me as a writer. I’ve created several worlds for my werewolves, each different in terms of the lore surrounding them, but underlying all the books is the wildness of the wolf. No matter how many stories I write, they continue to surprise and delight me.

I went on to write 7 books in the Legacy series—Alexandra’s Legacy, Isaiah’s Haven, Legacy Found, Quinn’s Quest, Finding Chrissten, Damek’s Redemption, and Craig’s Heart. While it’s primarily a werewolf series, the final two books feature vampires.

From there, I continued to write paranormal series—Hades’ Carnival, Salvation Pack, Blood of the Drakon, Forgotten Brotherhood, Salvation Pack: The Next Generation, and more. I love my werewolves but have branched out and written about many other kinds of shifters.

When the original publisher of the Legacy series closed its doors, I was lucky enough to have another publisher republish the series. This gave this series—and others—a second chance. And now the publisher has issued new covers.

I’ve been blessed with amazing covers for my entire career, and this time is no exception. I love the vibrancy of these new ones and hope you do too.

And if you’ve never given the Legacy series a look, I hope these new covers will make pique your interest.

Alexandra’s Legacy
Legacy, Book 1

The truth could get her killed.

Alexandra Riley’s predictable world is turned upside down when she discovers she’s the half-breed daughter of a legendary alpha werewolf—a sought-after prize to some, an abomination to others. The tall, dark stranger who bursts into her father’s garage shatters any illusion that she can continue with her normal life.

From the second Joshua Striker, enforcer for the Wolf Creek pack, sees Alex, she becomes a distraction he can’t afford. He’s come to the city to bring Alex to the safety of the pack. That’s it. But who is going to keep her safe from him? Because the wolf inside him is demanding he claim her—now.

From city streets to the mountains of North Carolina, the pair must evade bounty hunters out to kill any werewolf they can, wolves who want to claim Alex, and purists bent on eradicating half breeds. And with all this going on, Alex still has learn what it means to be a wolf and deal with the overbearing male determined to keep her safe.

Buy Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073TSVJ61/
Entangled Publishing: https://entangledpublishing.com/books/alexandras-legacy
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/alexandras-legacy-n-j-walters/1101126416
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/alexandras-legacy/id1257658160
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/alexandra-s-legacy-2

And if you’d like to check out the entire series, click here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075V11M7Q/

About the Author

N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, assassins, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

Visit her at:
Website: http://www.njwalters.com
Blog: http://www.njwalters.blogspot.com
Newsletter Sign Up: http://eepurl.com/gdblg5
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/N.J.WaltersAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/njwaltersauthor
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/NJWalters
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/njwalters
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/n-j-walters

UPDATE: The winner is…bn100!
*~*~*
©Diana Cosby 2022

My sincere thanks to Delilah for allowing me to return to her wonderful blog and share an exciting update of Diana Cosby’s Romance Readers Help Build A Habitat For Humanity Home.

A bit of background.  Romance readers are AMAZING, and SO is Habitat For Humanity, a charity that I love supporting and volunteering for.  Several years ago, I thought, why not pair the two and help a deserving family receive a home?  And, the Diana Cosby’s Romance Reader’s Help Build A Habitat For Humanity House fundraiser was born.

I contacted the Habitat For Humanity office in Grayson County, Texas, where I’ve had the honor of helping with several builds and spoke with Laurie Mealy, Executive Director.  She embraced the project and was thrilled at the thought of pairing romance readers, who love stories where heroes and heroines overcome challenges to make their dreams come true, with making the dream of home ownership for a deserving family a reality.

Goal:  Raise $55,000 for Grayson County, Texas, Habitat For Humanity to help build a Habitat For Humanity Home.

I kicked off the challenge by donating $200.  As I write this, we’ve raised $27,542, and we’re now OVER ½ WAY TO OUR GOAL to raise $55,000!!!  Romance readers are amazing, and I have complete faith that like stories they love, they will continue to join together to raise the remainder of the amount necessary to help give a deserving family a home.

How it works…

As readers send donations to Habitat for Humanity of Grayson County for the ‘Diana Cosby’s Readers Build A Habitat For Humanity House of Love,’ the total contributions are updated below the house graphic on the upper right side of their homepage near the top.  Donations can be sent via PayPal by ‘clicking’ on the house, which takes you to the donation page, or by mailing a check or money order to:

Habitat for Humanity of Grayson County
901 N. Grand Avenue
P.O. Box 2725
Sherman, TX 75091

*Please note on your donation: ‘For Diana Cosby’s Romance Readers Build A Habitat For Humanity House.’

Again, my sincere thanks to Delilah for allowing me to return to her blog, and another HUGE thanks to everyone for helping make an incredible difference in a deserving family’s life.  For when they walk into a Habitat For Humanity house, it’s more thank mortar and wood, but a place they can call home.

*Photos used with permission of Habitat For Humanity Grayson County, TX.

Contest

***ONE winner will be drawn from everyone who posts on my “Exciting UPDATE about Diana Cosby’s – Romance Reader’s Help Build A Habitat For Humanity House” blog on Delilah Devlin’s blogsite between 10 April 2022 – 17 April 2022.  The winner will receive a signed copy of His Destiny.

About Diana Cosby

A retired Navy Chief, Diana Cosby is an international bestselling author of Scottish medieval romantic suspense. Books in her award-winning MacGruder Brothers series have been translated into five languages. Diana has spoken at the Library of Congress, Lady Jane’s Salon in NYC, and appeared in Woman’s Day, on USA Today’s romance blog, “Happy Ever After,” MSN.com, Atlantic County Women Magazine, and Texoma Living Magazine.

After her career in the Navy, Diana dove into her passion – writing romance novels. With 34 moves behind her, she was anxious to create characters who reflected the amazing cultures and people she’s met throughout the world. After the release of the bestselling MacGruder Brothers series and The Oath Trilogy, she released the bestselling The Forbidden Series.

Diana looks forward to the years of writing ahead and meeting the amazing people who will share this journey.

God bless,

Diana Cosby, International Best-Selling Author
www.dianacosby.com
The Oath Trilogy
MacGruder Brother Series
The Forbidden Series

Social Media
Website:  https://www.dianacosby.com/
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/978803.Diana_Cosby
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Diana-Cosby/e/B003YJ1MR4/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1417447922&sr=8-1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Diana-Cosby-Romance-Author-150109024636/?ref=ts

It’s the beginning of Spring. April has new beginnings – we have hummingbirds migrating through and joining our native Anna’s hummingbirds at our feeder. This month we also have the A to Z Blogging Challenge. It’s Camp NaNoWriMo, Letter Writing Month, and Poetry Month. I suspect there are probably more, but those are just the handful we know of.

Are YOU ready for all of that?

I sure don’t think I am. I mean, we’re doing the A to Z Blog Challenge over on our group blog The Writer Zen Garden.

It really helps me to have others to play with, and who will write posts and come up with creative fun things to do.

I think it’s important to realize that it’s heavy to carry the load of all the stuff that’s going on in the world – war in Ukraine, the investigations in the U.S. Capital, the environmental crisis, and the pandemic. Wildfire season started early in Colorado last month. If you look for it, you can find all sorts of awful things.

On the other hand, we have the tools in our hands to help ourselves be resilient through it. There’s a new book by Emmanuel Acho called Illogical: Saying Yes to a Life Without Limits. In it, he has some terrific ideas (and I fully recommend you read it); one of them is about a young child whose mother brought her to a rap concert. The child was sleeping in her arms on the dance floor and wore yellow earmuffs that stopped the sound, allowing her to sleep. And the genius of it is that he translates that to our own lives: wear your earmuffs.

What “noise” is pressing in on you? Is it social media? News? Oscars drama? Maybe it’s something closer to home, like at work or family dysfunction. But we can put on our own earmuffs and drown out the loudness so that we can focus on our own stuff – creative writing, making, painting, singing, dancing… What’s your stuff?

And even more important, where are your earmuffs? Your earbuds, or noise-canceling earphones, or some other tool to listen to your favorite music or uplifting podcasts. If you want to try relaxing a bit, try binaural audio. And then settle in and play with your stuff.

Me, my stuff is writing novels, weaving, and designing lace. What about you?