An Ideal Halloween Read: Love Bites, by Annabelle Costa
October 28, 2018 by A Slice of Orange in category Book Reviews by Geralyn Corcillo, Things That Make Me Go Mmmrrh . . . by Geralyn Corcillo tagged as Annabelle Costa, book review, chick lit, eerie, Halloween, murder, mystery, New York City, romance, vampire, Vampires
Wow! I recently read the most wonderful Autumn/Halloween read! Love Bites, by Annabelle Costa. This is NOT your run-of-the-mill vampire book at all! This novel weaves together two suspenseful, eerie, mysterious narratives. Tom Blake is a young man in 1905 who is falling in love when he gets his first job. Soon he’ll be out of his cruel father’s house and his life will truly begin … but why does he have such a craving for blood? When he is working at the butcher shop, and every time he gets close to his sweetheart Mary…
In present day New York City, Brooke wonders if adorable, reliable, all around good-guy Jamie might be more than a friend. When her gorgeous friend Sydney is murdered and strange things start happening to Brooke, she turns to Jamie and yeah … she’s pretty sure he’s more than a friend. But before she can act on her realization, Hunter T. Stone walks into her life and mesmerizes her. Brooke finds herself under his spell, but the closer she gets to him, the more it seems like he has something to do with Sydney’s murder …
OMG this book is soooooo good!!!! It hits the ground running and both narratives unfold with compelling grace and precision. The romances and the spine-tingling mysteries kept me turning the pages, ravenous to devour every next word! And the best part? As the story unfurled, I had NO IDEA what was going to happen – or even what I wanted to happen! I didn’t know who was going to end up being the good guy or the bad guy. I couldn’t guess who was going to end up with whom. Every new chapter offered another tantalizing piece of the puzzles, something else to consider. The stakes keeping getting upped and upped and upped! Even when you reach the climax, you still have no idea how it will all play out until the very last page. What an exciting read! Sex in the City meets Sleepy Hollow in an intriguing and unique book about vampires, murder, romance, and survival. A perfect Halloween read!
Charmed Connection Halloween Event
October 27, 2018 by marianne h donley in category Charmed Writer by Tari Lynn Jewett tagged as charmer connection, charmer writers, flash Fiction, Halloween
The Charmed Connection Halloween Event
Starts Saturday October 27 and continues through October 31
Features
- Halloween Flash Fiction Stories
- Recipes
- Games
- And yes THERE WILL BE PRIZES!
- It’s free!
Takes place in The Charmed Connection on Facebook
Hope to see you there.
Invite your friends to join us too.
In Repose by Neetu
October 26, 2018 by Neetu Malik in category Poet's Day by Neetu Malik tagged as autumn, fall, leaves, poetry
In Repose
I thought I could catch leaves
as they flurried down trees
where the summer sun
had painted them green just yesterday
when they were laden with
liquid imagination, suspended
from moist branches drenched
in dew
but seasons change
frost must replace droplets of dew
and I must let the leaves go
as they will
to follow their course
to be turned in the winter soil
of soft sorrow as they mourn
the passing of color and wait
in quietude for
a new beginning.
© Neetu Malik
Getting Down to the Business of Writing & Publishing Romance With Mary Castillo #onlineclass @A_SliceofOrange #OCCRWA
October 23, 2018 by Linda McLaughlin in category Online Classes tagged as business, Getting Down to the Business of Writing & Publishing Romance, Mary Castillo, Online Class, romance, writing
About the Class:
The moment you start writing a book with the intention of publishing it – self or traditional – you are in business. And if you’ve never run a business before, you may need this class. Scratch that. You need this class. Trust me.
I’m Mary Castillo and once upon a time, I dedicated my life to writing and publishing novels. But I didn’t know how one got paid. Or, that I’d have to pay taxes on that income in quarterly payments, or that my writing career would go one way and then quickly head another way and through it all, a mission statement I wrote in a moment of frustration would keep me focused when the road got rough.
What you’ll learn in this workshop are some of the things I learned the hard way, and some of the things I did right without knowing that they were the right things to do!
Our sessions will uncover sound practices in business planning, finance and marketing that will sustain you through your career. You will learn:
- How to create a business plan
- Why numbers are important on deciding what to write next
- How you can start to identify your readers and help them find your books
- How your creative author brain makes you a powerful authorprenuer
- Who are the leading experts in today’s publishing world and why you might want to follow them
About the Instructor:
It is no wonder that Mary Castillo is a paranormal mystery and romance author. She grew up in a haunted house.
Her mom once found her in the closet talking to the nicest lady who had a daughter and two sons. Mary was the only person in the closet and the more questions her mom asked, the plainer it was that her then three-year-old child described the previous (and deceased) resident of their house!
Fast forward many years later, Mary now writes the books she loves to read—chilling, paranormal mysteries in creepy old houses with a sexy hero and kick-butt psychic heroine, Dori O. The first book in the series, Lost in the Light was a Daphne Du Maurier Award finalist and the audiobook title won the 2018 Audiobook Review Listener’s Choice Award in Mystery. It was then followed up with Girl in the Mist and Lost in Whispers (a Maggie finalist!). Mary serves as vice president of communications for OCC RWA and at the moment, does not live in a haunted house. To learn more about her and her books visit: www.marycastillo.com.
Enrollment Information:
This is a 4-week online course that uses email and Groups.io. The class is open to anyone wishing to participate. The cost is $30.00 per person or, if you are a member of OCCRWA, $20.00 per person.
To sign up or for more information, go to the class page at the OCC/RWA website: http://occrwa.org/classes/online-class-three/.
Linda McLaughlin
OCC/RWA Online Class Coordinator
BOOK REVIEW: THE ALLIANCE BY JOLINA PETERSHEIM – A REVIEW BY VERONICA JORGE
October 22, 2018 by Veronica Jorge in category Book Reviews by Veronica Jorge, Write From the Heart by Veronica Jorge tagged as Veronica Jorge Book Review The Divide by Jolina Petersheim
The Alliance / by Jolina Petersheim
Tyndale, June 2016 ISBN 9781496402219
When an airplane crashes in the field near her house, Leora rushes out to help, hoping for survivors. Together with a few of the local men, they pull a lone pilot out of the wreckage and carry him into Leora’s house. When he comes to, Moses, the pilot, reveals that an EMP–an electromagnetic pulse–knocked his plane out of the sky. An EMP, he explains, is a special warhead that wipes out technology, taking out the power grid and everything that relies on a computer, such as supermarkets. Moses, an Englischer outsider, must persuade the peaceful community of Montana Mennonites to prepare to defend themselves from the looting and crime that a food shortage will surely bring.
Astounded by the scenario that Moses depicts, the elders stand frozen in unbelief and inactivity. They never carry weapons and would never harm anyone. If they have food, they must share it. But teenage Leora, the sole care-taker of her grandmother, younger brother, and mentally-challenged sister, quickly realizes that she must protect her family. But how far is she willing to go to accomplish that? And where, in a time of crisis, does falling in love fit in?
In The Alliance, a 
community’s standards and collective beliefs are put to the test, and hardship, hunger, and danger, unveil each person’s strengths and flaws. The story asks the reader to consider the consequences of our dependence on technology and to examine what the need for survival might bring out in each of us. Petersheim asks, “How does one keep faith and kindness alive while trying to preserve one’s own life?”
The Alliance suggests that we can only face our greatest fears and achieve peace when we surrender our lives to God. To discover whether or not Leora succeeds, the story continues in Petersheim’s next novel, The Divide.
My review was originally published in the Christian Library Journal; used with permission.
See you next time on November 22nd.
Veronica
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