Welcome!
April 1, 2017 by marianne h donley in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley tagged as A Slice of Orange, Authors, Marianne H. Donley, The Extra Squeeze, Welcome
Welcome. Welcome. Welcome, to the all new A Slice of Orange.
Our new website is up, running, and ready for you to explore.
Boy, have we changed!
In addition to our lively and informative posts, we now have a Book Store featuring the titles of our authors and guests. We have a page dedicated to books On Sale (or free) and a New Release page. Our Events page features Contests for both published and unpublished authors, Conferences, Online Classes and workshops and Reader events.
If you are a long time reader of A Slice of Orange you will find your favorite writers, Jann Ryan, Tracy Reed, Linda O. Johnston, Kitty Bucholtz, Jina Bacarr, Rebecca Forster, Linda McLaughlin/Lyndi Lamont, Meriam Wilhelm, Isabel Swift, and Geralyn Corcillo still writing columns every month.
We are pleased to introduce several new bloggers to A Slice of Orange: H.O. Charles, Tari Lynn Jewett, Denise Colby, Sally Paradysz, Jenny Jensen, Robin Blakely, Veronica Jorge and partners Janet Lynn and Will Zeilinger.
On the last day of every month, we will feature The Extra Squeeze–four different perspectives on one topic. The team consists of Rebecca Forster, H.O. Charles, Jenny Jensen, and Robin Blakely. This month they will be tackling sensitivity editors. You can read this article from the Chicago Tribune now and then come back on April 30th to see what The Extra Squeeze thinks about the subject. You can also get in on the fun by asking questions or proposing topics you would like to see the team cover. Use The Extra Squeeze contact form to send them your ideas.
We’ve come a long way from 2006 and that small blog written by authors from Orange County, California. We now include not just California authors but with authors from the UK, all across the US to New Zealand–we nearly span the globe. We hope you poke around, read some posts, buy some books. Then, let us know how you like our new and improved version of A Slice of Orange.
Marianne H. Donley
A Slice of Orange
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Keeper Shelf
February 23, 2017 by marianne h donley in category Reading tagged as Best Loved Books, books, Keeper Shelf, mariannehdonleyEvery room in my house, including all the bathrooms and the basement, has books. My mother and three sisters have similar decorating tastes. A family acquaintance once commented, rather snidely, that it was like we lived in a library. We didn’t keep her around long because who wouldn’t want to live in a library?
If you push me, I will admit to believing that heaven looks a lot like the Huntington Library; a lovely old mansion, seriously great books on the shelves, beautiful art on the walls all surrounded by a stunning garden. Since it’s my heaven, I would include the chamber orchestra playing Mozart that happened to be performing the very first time I visited the Huntington Library, and a Starbucks-free, of course.
I love books. I love the way they look. I love the way they feel in my hands. I love the way they smell–especially old books.
Not just novels, either, although I have tons of those. I also adore math books, especially geometry. I’m mad about all sorts of children’s books from Pat the Bunny and The Spooky Old Tree to The Bridge to Terabithia and Nancy Drew. And knitting books. I have a collection of tiny old books, all about the size of my hand.
But, if I had to pick just three books for my keeper-shelf . . .
COLD SASSY TREE by Olive Ann Burns
Cold Sassy Tree is the story of fourteen-year-old Will Tweedy, his Grandpa Rucker and Grandpa’s scandalous new wife, Miss Love all set in turn-of-the-twentieth-century small town Georgia. This book made me laugh out loud, Will Tweedy’s tall tale about his aunt inflatable bosom. And cry until I couldn’t see to read, Grandpa Rucker and Will Tweedy lining Grandma’s grave with a blanket of roses.
THE END OF ETERNITY by Isaac Asimov
The End of Eternity is a love story. I know. I know. It’s science fiction. But trust me, it is a love story. Andrew Harlan is an Eternal whose job it is to “adjust” time for the greater good of humanity. But every modification has a price –some people’s timelines are changed out of existence. Harlan and other Eternals live in Eternity a place outside of time, so these adjustments have no consequences in their lives. On one of his assignments Harlan meets and falls in love with Noÿs Lambent, who is not an Eternal. If Harlan completes his modification of time, Noÿs will cease to exist. Yet, if he saves her, the resulting paradox will destroy all of Eternity.
THE CROCODILE ON THE SANDBANK by Elizabeth Peters
The Crocodile on the Sandbank is the first book in Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody mystery series. Amelia Peabody is a forceful English Victorian spinster with a passion for Egypt, cleaning, and issuing orders. Her match is Radcliffe Emerson who has a passion for Egypt, issuing orders, and as it turns out Amelia. (He doesn’t care so much about cleaning.) This novel has everything I love about traditional mysteries. The setting is historical. The POV is first person. Peabody and Emerson are tons of fun.
So, if you had to pick three novels for your keeper shelf what would they be?
Marianne H Donley
www.mariannedonley.com
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Just the Right Match
January 4, 2017 by marianne h donley in category Events, Reading, Spotlight tagged as A Boss Inc Novel, heroes, heroines, Kat Martin
Finding the right match for the hero and heroine is one of the toughest and most exciting parts of writing a novel. The hero of INTO THE FIRESTORM is Luke Brodie, one of my strongest, toughest, sexiest heroes.
Fortunately, Emma Cassidy showed up, a strong woman in her own right, a fighter, a lady determined to achieve the goal she has set for herself–bringing a murderer to justice, a criminal who is threatening her family.
Emma is also hunting Vance. It’s been almost a year since she arrived at her sister’s home to find the housekeeper murdered and her young niece the victim of Vance’s sick assault.
Emma is determined to find Vance and make him pay. And no one–not even the infamous Luke Brodie–is going to stop her.
I loved that Emma was just as determined as Luke, perhaps more so. I liked that Luke came to admire her. Though Emma is nowhere near his equal in skill and physical strength, she is smart and she has learned to handle herself well enough to keep up with him.
The attraction between them was magnetic from the start. Add to that, the sexual heat both are fighting to control is a battle they are sure to lose.
Finding the right woman for Luke was fun, and of course setting them off on a dangerous, desperate adventure added to the mix.
I hope you enjoy INTO THE FIRESTORM and if you haven’t read INTO THE FURY and INTO THE WHIRLWIND, the first two BOSS Inc. novels, you’ll give them a try.
Till next time, all best and happy reading.
New York Times bestselling author Kat Martin is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara where she majored in Anthropology and also studied History. She is married to L.J. Martin, author of western, non-fiction, and suspense novels.
Kat has written more than sixty-five novels. Sixteen million copies of her books are in print and she has been published in twenty foreign countries, including Japan, France, Germany, Argentina, Greece, China, Russia, and Spain.
Born in Bakersfield, California, Kat currently resides in Missoula, Montana, on a small ranch in the beautiful Sapphire mountains.
Her last 12 books have hit the prestigious New York Times bestseller list. INTO THE FURY and INTO THE WHIRLWIND her most recent releases, both took top ten spots.
Visit Kat’s website at www.katmartin.com
Or look for her on Facebook at Katmartin/author.
A Short Interview with Kat Martin
February 10, 2015 by marianne h donley in category Spotlight tagged as Against the Sky, Kat Martin, romantic suspense
New York Times bestselling author Kat Martin is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara where she majored in Anthropology and also studied History. Before she started writing in 1985, Kat was a real estate broker. During that time she met her husband, L.J. Martin, author of thirty western, non-fiction, historical, and suspense novels. A resident of Missoula, Montana, Kat and her husband spend their winters in Ventura, California. She is a currently writing her next Romantic Suspense.
With fifty-five novels to her credit and more than fifteen million copies of her books in print, Ms. Martin has been published in twenty-one foreign countries including France, Japan, Greece, Argentina, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, China, and Spain. Here is a short interview with Ms. Martin.
Have you ever suffered writer’s block? If so, how did/do you get past it?
I mostly suffer plotting block…that means I have my hero and heroine in deep trouble and I’m racking my brain, trying to figure out how to get them out. I spend about half the time thinking and the other half writing a book. I make a lot of notes, try to get some input from my husband, who’s also a writer.
What profession other than your own would you love to attempt?
I wanted to be an astrophysicist. Unfortunately, I don’t have that big a brain.
What’s the funniest (or sweetest or best or nicest) thing a fan ever said to you?
I had a wonderful email yesterday from a fan thanking me for the uplifting words I said to her mother who has cancer. Sometimes readers tell me they escape their problem in the pages of my books. I love hearing that.
If you could travel back in time whom would you like to meet and why?
Be fun to meet Buffalo Bill Cody. He was a true hero and a legend, a handsome man in his day, too!
If a space ship landed in your backyard and the aliens on board offered to take you for a ride, would you go? Why or why not?
I would definitely go with them. Life on earth is much too short. Gotta jam in all you can. Imagine what you could learn from a trip to another planet?
What’s the best thing about being an author?
The great people you meet and the places you get to visit to research a book.
What are you currently working on and when can we read it
I just finished the edits for Against the Tide, which is Rafe Brodie’s story. It’s the last of my Brodies of Alaska series, out May 27th. After that, I’m sticking with the Brodies, introducing Nick’s cousin Ethan, a hunky PI and bodyguard who works at BOSS, Inc in Seattle, the first of my INTO books. Into the Fury is book #1, out February, 2016.
You can read more about Kat on her website: www.KatMartin.com.
Or follow her on social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KatMartinAuthor
Twitter: @katbooks https://twitter.com/katbooks
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/luvromance/
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Kat-Martin/e/B000AQ0OJQ/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/49381.Kat_Martin
Kat’s current book, Against The Sky, will debut at No. 7 on the New York Times Bestseller list.
It is available at the following online stores:
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1420133845/
BN:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/against-the-sky-kat-martin/1119437332?ean=9781420133844
Indiebound:
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781420133844
0 0 Read moreHOW THE BRODIE BROTHERS WERE BORN
June 2, 2014 by marianne h donley in category Archives, Guest Posts, Spotlight tagged as Against the Wild, Alaska, Kat Martin
With ten or more reality shows about Alaska, it’s becoming clear that word is out on this magnificent jewel of a state.
A lifelong dream of mine was to drive there–a more than five-thousand mile journey from my home in Montana. In the end, Alaska was so wonderful my husband and I made the month-long trip in the back of a tiny pickup camper–two times!
In AGAINST THE WILD, Dylan’s the new owner of an old fishing lodge in remote Eagle Bay, Alaska, a place he intends to rebuild as a home for himself and his eight-year-old daughter.
Unfortunately, the crew working on the lodge are beginning to believe the old place is haunted. So does sexy, red-haired interior designer, Lane Bishop, the woman Dylan has hired to help him with the extensive remodel. 
But is the haunting real? Or is it something even more sinister?
There was so much about Alaska I wanted to explore in my writing that the project expanded to include novels for Dylan’s two brothers, Nick and Rafe. AGAINST THE SKY and AGAINST THE TIDE are scheduled for release next year.
I hope you enjoy AGAINST THE WILD and that you’ll look for the next Brodie brothers’ adventure.
Till then, all best and happy reading, Kat
