#SneakPeekSunday--All Things Returned releases tomorrow

It's nearly here! Tomorrow is the day All Things Returned, part three of the Anton and Lenora historical series, comes out to meet the world.
I hope you'll enjoy it and it's companions, Sweet Lenora and To the Wind.

Meantime, here's a sneak preview of the beginning of the story--

Anton pulled off his cravat for the second time. “Foolish speck of clothing—like to choke the life out of a man.”

He fumbled with it until I took the scrap of silk and tied it around his neck, sealing my action with a kiss. “You should try wearing a corset.”

“I think we should pull off all of these confounded garments and run about like babes in Eden,” he said, nuzzling my neck.

I dearly would have liked to take his suggestion. “We have to attend. For our own sakes and for Edward’s.”

For a more extensive peak, please Click Here

There's more on All Things Returned Here

And more on Anton and Lenora Here

#8Sunday #SundaySnips All Things Returned

Welcome to 8Sunday and Snippet Sunday, the blog hop where writers post eight sentence of writing.
This week, I'm most excited to announce that All Things Returned, part 3 of Anton and Lenora, will be coming to an e-book store near you in April of next year.
In this historical romance novella, Anton and Lenora have settled in San Francisco. Trouble, though, is never far away. And, in this case, is named Jacob Lowell.

Here's my eight from All Things Returned--


The cause for the sudden stop of motion revealed himself over Anton’s shoulder, where I was assaulted by the ice blue eyes of a man as fair as Anton was dark. A small smile played about his lips, but the eyes stalked me and were cold and hard as sapphires. I had no need to forage my memory to link a name to this intruder. I knew Jacob Lowell well enough. He was captain of the Willow and his family was well known in New England and well acquainted with my own. Once upon a time, he had been a suitor, though then and now I felt him to be a crass man who had too long been given everything he desired.   “May I cut in?” The politeness of his voice did not match the intent in his eyes.

For more Sunday snippets, please visit Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday

The first two parts of the Anton and Lenora series are currently available. For more on the series, and all my books, please visit my website and the Anton and Lenora pages.

#8Sunday #SundaySnips second eight from The P-Town Queen

Welcome to Sunday 8, the the blog hop where writers post eight sentences of a writing project or a published book.
For today, I thought it might be fun to look back at my books. I recently wrote a blog about The P-Town Queen. I've already posted the opening  eight of this book on  8Sunday. But what of those that come after?
So, without further ado, here's Nikki and the second eight sentences of The P-Town Queen.

Ned, a brilliant shark researcher in his own right, had tumbled a long way: to full time administrator of a bullshit state commission. Though to hear Ned say it, it wasn’t a tumble but a reward for all the years he’d spent roughing it on a California channel island—an island that only had electricity every other day— in order to unlock the mystery of white shark feeding behavior. I had spent five years on that island with Ned. We were married at the time.

One divorce and one un-granted California grant later, I was back on Cape Cod, in Provincetown, living just off Bradford Street with my father and in dire need of a job. I wrote the (grant) proposal. Then I revved up my resolve, packed away my pride, and called Ned. He agreed to a meeting at the Long Wharf Marriott in Boston.




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For more Sunday Snippets, please visit Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday
For more on The P-Town Queen, including where you download your very own copy, please visit my P-Town Queen page

#8Sunday #SundaySnips: The Hill

Welcome to the Sunday Eight, the blog hop where writers post eight sentences of a writing project or a published book.
I'm nearly ready to send Dancing to the White Room back to my editor for another round. The book is a full length women's fiction about the love we keep and what makes it precious.

The main character, Mallory, is a ski patrol woman at Whiteface Mountain, a place she refers to as 'the hill'. Here's a little bit of description--

photo by Tina Phillips

It’s the last day of February and there’s a heavy fog here this morning that sticks to the mountaintops. The chairlifts disappear into it. Tomorrow, we’ll turn the calendar page, but it won’t be spring here, not yet. Just a mix of cold and the warm trying to get born. Spring comes slowly here, the transition unruly and guarded; more snow, some wind, then the mud will come and muck up our front steps and suck at our boots. Another month will pass and there’ll be a quick step to heat and black flies, while summer waits in the wings.

I love this time of year on the hill. The days are longer and warmer, the crowds thin to a die-hard few, the craziness in all of us comes out and we ski in shorts and tank tops, the moguls are thick, the slush like syrup, deep and heavy.

Thanks for stopping by!

For more Sunday Snippets, please visit Weekend Writing Warriors and Sunday Snippets. 

Dancing in the White Room is due for release by Turquoise Morning Press in March of next year. For more on the book and my other work, please visit my website  

#8Sunday #SundaySnips To the Wind is out tomorrow!

Hi and welcome to the Sunday eight, the blog hop where writers post eight sentences of a project. It's release week for me--the second novella of the Anton and Lenora series, To the Wind, is coming out on Monday.
To the Wind is  written in the hero, Anton's, voice. He's a sea captain, it's 1852, and the ship is sailing from Rio to San Francisco. Here are the first eight lines--




The world is a wicked place, full of lies and deceit. A man
must stand strong against the force of evil, lest he perish.
So  I thought before Lenora came into my life. She was an angel, appearing in a moment’s time upon the deck of Sweet Lenora, the ship named for her. The ship I commanded. She seemed so fragile a creature I knew I must protect her from the world. And protect her I vowed to do for all my days on this earth. I had locked my heart away in a box of iron, but Lenora broke the seal and set my poor heart free.











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To The Wind:
In the sequel to Sweet Lenora, Anton and Lenora sail away from trouble in Rio de Janeiro only to encounter new problems. With only half a crew and a first mate that is hated and feared, they venture to San Francisco plagued by threats, mutiny,and illness. As they arrive at their destination, the ghosts of the past come back to haunt them and may prove to be the greatest menace of all. At each turn, the love they have forged is tested. Will it prevail?   

For more on  Sweet Lenora and To the Wind, please visit Anton and Lenora

#8Sunday #SundaySnippets: India's Birthday

I'm done with part #3 of Anton and Lenora and taking a little breather before I move on to part #4. Since my birthday is coming up soon, I thought I'd share a bit on birthdays from my romantic comedy, Afterglow:

India is a kindergarten teacher of a certain age, who is in the midst of getting a divorce from her husband of thirty years. And also in the midst of a budding love affair with a handsome young doctor named Mitch. Eva is her best friend.

My birthday fell on a Thursday that year and coincided, as it happened, with Eva's and my last day of community service. Eva thought a birthday at Darrow with the derelicts was about as appealing as a birthday spent having your tonsils removed without anesthesia. I thought otherwise. Between work and the Darrow Street Mission, I’d been busy. And busy was exactly how I'd wanted to be. I felt about my birthday much as I felt about my divorce. Given a choice, I think I’d rather not. Given a choice, I would have skipped merrily ahead to Friday, when Mitch would come pick me up in his

brand new SUV and we’d head out for what Eva called The Great Northern Adventure.

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India Othmar isn’t having a great year. Her husband of thirty-one years has left her for their son’s ex-girlfriend. Her grown children have moved home. Her best friend Eva seems determined to set her up with every oddball in their small Massachusetts town. And her most significant relationship these days is with Cherry Garcia.

But India is more resilient than she thinks. And though it will take a broken arm, a lawn littered with engine parts, some creative uses for shoes, and a scandalous love affair of her own, she learns, much to her surprise, that her life hasn’t ended with her marriage. 

 

For more on Afterglow, please visit my Afterglow web page 

 or Amazon:

 
 

                                                                                                                                                                 

#8Sunday #SundaySnippets All Things Returned, take one.

This week I finished the draft of All Things Returned, the third novella in the Anton and Lenora series. It's a call for celebration--I've broken out the good chocolates--thought I know it's only the beginning. Soon I'll start the hard work of revision. But for now, a last taste before I ship it off to my editor for consideration.

This is from near the ending--

At dawn’s first light, we rose and went to the garden and watched as the light began to play on the harbor below.

          “We cannot stay,” Anton said. 

          “Our destiny has always been with the wind.” I  laid my head into the hollow of his shoulder. “I had hoped to build a new ship, like Sweet Lenora risen from the ashes. It seems a distant dream now.”

            He threaded his fingers through my hair. “’Tis a fine dream, mon amie."


For more terrific snippets, please visit Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday
For more about Anton and Lenora, please visit my Anton and Lenora page 

#8Sunday #SundaySnippets: Accusations

 Welcome to another snippet Sunday! I'm still hard at work on All Things Returned, part three of the Anton and Lenora series.

I'm near to the end of my draft, in the exciting final boom of the story's climax. Lenora has been brought in for questioning by the police. who suspect her (falsely of course) of murder. Rumors of another murder don't help her case.Frederick is her solicitor and Mr. Parker the constable--

My blood ran cold. “She need not answer such a charge,” Frederick said before I had recovered my voice.

“We have no policy with Brazil and charges will not be levied. But someone has come forward with the story, about a wealthy investor who was stabbed in the neck.” Mr. Parker raised his eyebrows. “You must admit, the coincidence is remarkable.”

Long had the specter of George Settle’s death haunted me and now it had found the perfect revenge.

More snippets for your reading pleasure can be found at Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday

For more about the Anton and Lenora historical novella series, come visit my Anton and Lenora page.