Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from me...and the two little guys.

And in book news - Choose Me is now available in print!

Have a great day!
Natasha
www.natashamoore.com

99 Cents–Hot Highlanders to Go! Limited Time!!!

We are discontinuing the Kissing the Highlander and Enchanting the Highlander anthologies on November 30, 2016.  Enchanting the Highlander is brand new and comes out November 1.
Individual novellas will be offered after that.
But for now, you can still get the whole anthology, each one at 99 cents!

Five new Highland novellas by Bestselling Authors of Highland romances that will delight with mystery, intrigue, romance, drama and much more! From the authors who have provided countless hours of reading pleasure so that fans can slip away to the past and live among all those hot Highlanders.
BUY LINKS:
Barnes and Noble
Amazon
Kobo
Smashwords
Apple/Itunes/Ibooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/kissing-the-highlander/id1165098920?mt=11

ENCHANTING THE HIGHLANDER is up for pre-order!!! All BRAND new novellas!

5 new Scottish romance novellas by 5 bestselling authors!  BRAND NEW stories!
PROTECTED BY THE LAIRD by Eliza Knight — When she needed a champion, he raised his sword…

VEXING THE HIGHLANDER by Terry Spear — Saving the king’s life has unforeseen consequences for one Highlander and a lady, the king’s ward…
DEFENDED BY A HIGHLAND RENEGADE by Vonda Sinclair — A bride on the run doesn’t expect a kilted outlaw to come to her rescue…
TARTANS AND TRYSTS by Victoria Roberts — This Highland warrior is about to lose the battle to a lass who’s already won his heart…
HIS HIGHLAND ROSE by Willa Blair — He is the one man who can see her soul and show her who she truly is—his only love…
Order now! Available November 1!
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Enchanting-Highlander-Eliza-Knight-ebook/dp/B01JNYO2AM
ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1136905927
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1124144233
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/…/ebo…/enchanting-the-highlander

Get yours while they’re still available!
Everyone needs a hunky Highlander or five!

Have a great day!!!
Terry Spear
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website: http://www.terryspear.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Sometimes You Just Need To Get Out Of Town

To a writer, a “creative well” is vital. It’s the source of your ideas, inspiration, and creative juices. It should be nurtured, fed, and cared for carefully. My creative muse, on the other hand, seems to have fallen in and drowned in that well. She’s nowhere to be found. AWOL.

Or maybe, after eleven books, my creative well has simply run dry.

Not a happy thought for a writer.

I’m desperate to replenish that well. So desperate, in fact, that I felt I had to do something radical.

I’ve lived in California and Florida for more than half my life. I can’t even remember the last time I saw snow. So last weekend, I hopped a plane to the first place I could think of that would be the polar opposite of the warmth and palm trees I’m used to.

Boston, Massachusetts.

Turns out, the word ‘polar’ opposite was an apt description. I spent a bracing, 43-degree Saturday wandering around Boston Common, Faneuil Hall, the Old North Church, and some ancient cemeteries, just soaking up the sense of history and the freezing 19-mph wind. It was the complete dichotomy of what I’m used to.

I was hoping to shake up my mindset and hopefully my muse. And – who knows? – maybe my shivering helped a bit with the shakeup, because I came back with a few ideas.

I’m a historical author. Usually I write Roman and Victorian romances, but who’s to say I couldn’t do an American historical? I mean, what if Paul Revere’s horse had gone lame on that fateful night in 1775 and he’d missed warning Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops were coming to arrest them? Hmm…Or what might have happened if a bunch of girls in Salem hadn’t claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft?

Alternative histories are really popular on TV and in literature these days.

Of course, I’d have to figure out romance angles for the plots. Maybe Paul Revere stopped at a lonely farmhouse looking for help with his horse and discovered true love. (Note to self: check to see if Paul Revere was married when he made his famous midnight ride…)

Actually, you know what? It doesn’t even matter. My mind is already swimming with “what if” ideas, and that’s magic to a writer!

Thank you, Beantown!

Leigh

www.leighcourt.com

Excerpt from The Trouble with Demons (YA)

THE TROUBLE WITH DEMONS
Book 1

(Demon Guardian Series)

Terry Spear

PUBLISHED BY:
Terry Spear


All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Discover more about Terry Spear at:
http://www.terryspear.com/

Ebook:

Kobo

Google Books:  https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Terry_Spear_The_Trouble_with_Demons?id=E1FHAwAAQBAJ

Amazon

B & N

ARe

Smashwords

Audible

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/trouble-demons-demon-guardian/id429830218?mt=11

The Trouble with Demons:

Witches and warlocks hide their true identities from the rest of the human population, while three teens with demon heritage living with human families, become unlikely companions in a race against time to deal with a demon threat to humankind in their own quirky way.

Alana Fainot, a witch and half Kubiteron demon, witnesses a Matusa murder his summoner, and she knows he’ll target her next. Raised by her mother, she has no idea who her demon father is. But when she’s pulled to a demon portal, she meets Hunter Ross, half Matusa, half human, who returns demons to their world, but who’s been poisoned by a Matusa and is more dead than alive. His human mother gave him up for adoption, and he doesn’t know who either of his birth parents are. His friend Jared Kensington, full blooded Elantus demon, less powerful than the Kubiteron, is a whiz at electronics and helps Hunter track demons in the city, but was abandoned by his parents on Earth world for reasons unknown. He’s determined to find help to save Hunter. Alana knows aiding any Matusa is a mistake, but when she learns Hunter is half human, she makes a deal—he protects her against the Matusa who will come for her, and she helps find his dad in the demon world to save Hunter’s life.

Often at odds, the three teens work together to stop the plans of a group of Matusa to take over the human race before it’s too late.
Excerpt:
“I wondered maybe if she’s taken Dad’s advice.” Uncle Stephen’s eyes were almost sympathetic.
Her mother hadn’t taken her grandfather’s advice since he kicked her out of the family when she became pregnant. Which meant Alana hadn’t had anything to do with her grandparents either. She frowned. Wonder what my demon grandparents would be like? She’d never even considered she had another set. “What advice did Grandfather give her?”
“That she find a warlock and settle down.”
She snorted. “That would be the day.” Yet a small niggling worry gnawed at her. What if her mother wanted to rejoin the secret magic users’ circles?
She could, once Alana was no longer at home. Was that what her mother was up to? She wanted to find a life with her own kind again? Clenching her teeth, Alana sat down, then took out her contacts. She had one more year left at high school. Couldn’t her mother wait until she went to college at least? Whose fault was it that Mom had ruined her own chances with a warlock?
Secrets, always secrets.
But… if her mother returned to the magic users’ circles, where would that leave Alana? Out in the cold? Not able to be part of the demon world or really fit into the human world… jeez, what had her mother done to her?
“What are those? Contacts? Why are you wearing them? None of us have vision problems.”
“I have red eyes when I get angry.” She tried to make her temper rise, but she couldn’t. The feelings had to arise naturally and despite how annoyed she was with her uncle, she apparently couldn’t make herself angry enough. And now she couldn’t quit wondering about the way her mother shipped her off so suddenly.
He shook his head. “She’s really taken this thing too far. Why didn’t you tell me about this last summer? I would have made sure you didn’t return to live with her.”
The way her blood boiled, Alana was certain her eyes glowed with fire, but her uncle didn’t seem to notice anything different. Ignoring his question, Alana figured she’d better get to the point of the matter. “I saw a Matusa demon summoned in Baltimore, then murder a woman. I’m sure the other two who had helped summon him were next on his agenda. He saw me watching him, but I wasn’t really physically there. I could sense everything in the darkened alley, the breeze, the odors, hear the words spoken, everything. It was some kind of an astral dream-walking experience. You know? Like being sleep paralyzed? Except I’m wide awake. So it’s not exactly like the out-of-body-experience, OBE, that scientists have studied. How could I be in two places at once if I wasn’t part demon? No witches or warlocks you know can do that, can they?”
“Hallucination? You’re not eating some of those mushrooms your grandmother was getting into last year, are you? She saw some of the most bizarre things until we realized what she was eating for a midnight snack.”
“I don’t do drugs, Uncle Stephen.”
Her uncle’s face turned stormy. “You haven’t had a near death experience, have you? If your mother didn’t tell me…”
“No, Uncle Stephen. I’ve never been clinically dead, or nearly dead.” Though if the Baltimore Matusa got hold of her…
He took a ragged breath. “That’s good to hear. If you’re done with your coffee, we’ll go back to work.”
So that was it? No death experiences, no using drugs, dismiss the issue? She growled inwardly. “Defensive spells?”
“Levitation, until you get your mind centered where it needs to be.”
Now, aren’t my eyes glowing red?
***
A half hour later, as the sun’s fiery orange glow sank beneath the earth, Alana was levitating two coffee cups. Concentrating was proving to be more difficult by the second, but she knew focusing had a great deal to do with successfully casting any spell.
She squinted, trying to make out the title on the book Uncle Stephen was reading. Barbecue recipes? He looked up at her, making sure the cups hadn’t moved.
Relaxing New Age music played overhead. The fragrance of the coffee lingered in the air. She licked her lips and could still taste the sweetened decaf. Outside, a light rain pattered on the cement walk, and she smelled the shower-cleaned air, totally attuned to her surroundings.
Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the cups. But before she knew what was happening, her eyes focused on a vision—a sign, Hayworth Motel, rusted, swinging loosely in the Texas breeze. Then her gaze shifted. The yawning portal filled with light drew her forth.
The wind whipped at her hair and clothes, and the garbage odor from a nearby dumpster permeated the warm, humid air, a slight rain drizzling.
A man moved into her vision, not from the portal, but from a few feet away. A Matusa demon with long, dark hair, but not the same as the one in Baltimore. Her breath caught. He didn’t see her yet, and she wanted to slip out before he did, but then she saw another. Much younger, maybe her age or a little older, he was tall like her Uncle Stephen, his blond spiked hair cut short, his blue eyes sharp and wary.
He was like the other, but not. She couldn’t pinpoint what made him different, besides being younger, but he was also a Matusa. She’d never seen two of them together. Was this something new? A gathering of the Dark Ones before they plotted to conquer the human race?
But where was the summoner?
Both the older man and the younger one turned to look at her, their eyes widening. Ohmigod. She took a step back. Leave, leave, leave!
The older one’s lips turned up and his eyes reflected his sinister delight. “She’s mine.”
Okay, back to figuring  out contest winners, and thanks to everyone for comments and likes on my blogs! I really appreciate it!
Owl at the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco.

Have a wonderful day!!!
Terry Spear
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website: http://www.terryspear.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Guest: Nancy Lee Badger - Paranormal Romance on the Isle of Skye

Hi, y’all! Multi-published and award-winning author, Nancy Lee Badger, here, announcing my 17th book, which I set on the Isle of Skye. Skye sits just off the west coast of Scotland, and is part of the Inner Hebrides. It has an unusual set of mountain peaks and endearing glades called fairy pools. I had heard tales about fairy pools, carved by snow as it melted into crystal-clear rushing water, though some claim Scottish fairies had some hand in their creation. Numerous waterfalls cascade down the dark volcanic slopes of the Black Cuillin Hills. My new series, Clan of Dragons, is a paranormal romance set centuries ago, and I chose to use the fantastical aspects of Skye as the location of my dragon’s lairs. I could picture my dragon-shifters perched on the precipices of these dark and forbidding peaks. I decided to set the village of Morbhan to the west. The inlet between Skye and the mainland was a perfect place for my pirates to drop anchor.

Research is a word that makes many writers cringe. You want to write your story, but readers expect accuracy. Wanting to use an actual location, I needed to research the island, its creatures, the plants, and the climate. What kind of herbs would my characters use? What flowers would my female characters smell like? Were there forests, meadows, peat bogs? What were the trees like? Did they lose their leaves in the winter, which is when SMOKE takes place?

All these questions needed answering before I could share my characters’ way of life. Skye has some forests and both evergreens and deciduous trees. The rowan tree grows prolific in the Highlands and islands of Scotland, especially along the banks of the fairy pools, and its edible berries feed the birds and forest animals, while the broadleaf tree gives them shelter.

The island is surrounded by the sea so seafood, and pirates, can affect my characters. The legends say Selkies ply the waters. These mythical creatures live as seals, but can strip their skin on land and walk as humans. Sharks thrive in the cool waters, where the currents can change as quickly as the weather. Snow falls in the winter, so farming the land and harvesting enough food to survive until spring is imperative. My characters must be aware of their surroundings, especially when wolves and dragons are about.

Book Blurb

Wynn, a green dragon, tumbles off a hill, landing in snow. Sensing someone above his head, he jumps free, and accidentally slams a wolf against a tree. When the wolf shifts into a naked human female, explanations are in order. When she wakes, and Wynn says he means her no harm, she allows his human brother to carry her into a cave, where Vika cares for her. Wary about the golden-haired shifter’s mission, Wynn fears for her safety, and his heart.

While tracking the human who murdered her lover, Kera awakens to find a dragon staring at her. With no energy to shift back into her wolf form, she allows Vika, a pretty human, to care for her. The dragons take up her search for a killer, but the pirates close in and she leads Vika to safety.

In the village of Morbhan, Toal abducts her and Wynn fights him. Her wolf pack wants her back, but the dragon has stolen her heart. Will she stay, return to her pack, or die while trying to kill her lover’s murderer? Either way, their lives will forever change.

Excerpt from SMOKE: Clan of Dragons Book #2

“If Toal has set his sights on Kera, and has hurt her in any way, he will die this day,” Wynn said.

The wolves howled in agreement.

The shift was quick, and he prayed the thick trees hid most of the brilliant blinding light. His bones snapped, and his fur morphed into human skin and muscle. His naked flesh immediately felt the cold, and he would look for clothing the first chance he got.

He turned toward the alpha wolf from Kera’s pack, straightened his spine, and shoved his shoulder-length light gold hair out of his eyes.

“Remember how I look. I will find clothes, and though I might smell like our quarry, please do not eat me, aye?” The wolves howled, and spread out to circle the manor. No human would escape the wolf pack’s ring of death. Night had fallen, and he wished the moon was not so bright. Crouching, he headed for the back of the building. The wind had lessened, and the snow near the back of the house was not as deep. The rear door was free of drifting snow, leaving him easy access. No lights flickered from the windows, but curtains or shutters could hide candlelight.

He had never been inside a building, before, but Vika had described the interior of her cottage. Over the last couple of months, she had shared stories about large manors and castles, though she had never ventured inside such a structure.

“Dragons used to live in castles,” she’d said, but the stories came from the Highlands of Scotland. Here, on the Isle of Skye, the Black Cuillin Hills were dark, dreary, and uninhabitable to humans, which kept them away from their secret lairs. He liked the caves, and enjoyed dips in the numerous fairy pools during the summer months, and the underground river in winter.

An image of a naked Kera, perched on his lap while he washed the dirt from her back rose so fast, he hardened to stone. “Forget the past. If I cannot rescue her, there shall be no future.”

Buy Links 

Amazon    Amazon CAN    Amazon UK     Amazon AUS

Also available in PRINT

Enter to Win a Fabulous Prize by visiting Nancy’s Blog HERE

About the Author

Nancy Lee Badger loves chocolate-chip shortbread, wool plaids wrapped around the trim waist of a Scottish Highlander, the clang of broadswords, and the sound of bagpipes in the air. After growing up in Huntington, New York, and raising two handsome sons in New Hampshire, Nancy moved to North Carolina where she writes full-time. Nancy is a member of Romance Writers of America, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal Romance Writers, Triangle Association of Freelancers, and the Celtic Heart Romance Writers. Nancy and her family volunteer each fall at the New Hampshire Highland Games surrounded by…kilts! Connect with Nancy Lee Badger: Blog     Website     Twitter    Facebook   Goodreads     Amazon Author Page

EXCERPT from Legend of the White Wolf

Arctic werewolves in a romantic suspense.

When I wrote Legend of the White Wolf, I was still in the believing stage that I wouldn’t sell any more wolf stories… you know, one was a miracle, then two was nice, but it took the publisher a year to decide it would fly, and the third and fourth book sold as a package deal, but that time just on a pitch. So for the first 4 stories, I wrote them as separate packs. Not connected, except that one wolf kept popping up in all of them. So his story was after that. Readers demanded that. Leidolf was a red wolf with a red wolf pack. All the stories were unique. And that’s what I really wanted to ensure. That with each story, they had to be different.

Billionaire in Wolf’s Clothing makes Book 20 in the series. Can you believe it? And I’ve just finished up the next 3 books in the series and turned them in. And I have 3 more to write now. So that will be 26 in the series. So far. Every one of them has to be unique in some way. I try to base them on real wolves, so in Alpha Wolf Need Not Apply–she is in charge of her own pack. Just like some she-wolves are that have lost their pack mate. But sometimes a persistent male falls head over tail for the she-wolf, and after she quits chasing him off…she falls for him too. (True wolf story)

B&N

Amazon

Amazon Australia: http://www.amazon.com.au/Legend-White-Wolf-Heart-ebook/dp/B004DCB34S/

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/legend-of-the-white-wolf/id379262698

Kobo
IndieBound

Excerpt from:
Legend of the White Wolf
Copyright © 2010 by Terry Spear
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Prologue
The black bear was running away a hell of a lot faster than Owen Nottingham and his P.I. partner David Davis thought capable. Their hunting guide, Trevor Hodges, yelled at them to keep up, but at the rate the bear was going, Owen and David would never last. Already Owen had shin splints, and his side was aching something fierce, and damn, here he thought he was in good shape.
They couldn’t use dogs on the bear this late in the year in Maine, but the owner of Back Country Tours, Kintail Silverman got around that by sending his pet wolves on the hunt. Made Owen feel like he was part of a wolf pack, hunting for survival, the sleek white furred creatures diving around snow-laden firs, blending in, exhilarated, hunting together as a cooperative team. Although the experience would be more pleasurable if their other partners were with them, Cameron MacPherson, who wouldn’t hunt for anything other than criminals, and Gavin Summerfield, who’d rather stay in Seattle and work, than fly anywhere. But the four of them were like a wolf pack, solving crimes together as a collective unit and socializing as the best of friends throughout the good times and bad.

So Owen wished they could share hunting excursions together, too.
He noticed then only snowy woods in front of them, the wolves and bear lost in the forest ahead as the chilly wind howled through the trees. Trevor was still keeping a good pace in the distance. For being a white-haired old guy, he was lean and in incredibly great shape.
David had dropped way behind, but Owen was too busy trying to keep up the chase to wait for David to catch up. One last day before their hunt ended. And hell, they’d tried to bag a bear for the last four years without any luck. The way the bear was outdistancing them in a hurry in the Maine wilderness, Owen was beginning to lose hope they’d make it this time either. But it was the closest they’d come.
When Owen didn’t hear David’s heavy breathing behind him, or his size ten boots trudging through the deep snow, he turned and looked to see how far behind he was. David was holding his thighs, leaning over, gasping for breath.
“David, you all right?” Owen asked, knowing it was a dumb question, when he figured David was trying to catch his second wind and couldn’t answer anyway.
David motioned him on, wheezing, his face red and pinched with pain. “Get the bear! I’m fine. Go. I’ll catch up.”
But it wasn’t like David not to keep up on a hunt and Owen ran back to check on him. “What’s wrong?” Owen asked, grabbing his arm to steady him.
“Go. You’ll…never…forgive…me…if we…” David clutched his chest.
The wolves and Trevor circled back and joined them. The old man shook his head. “Chest pains?”
Through clenched teeth, David growled, “From…running…damn it.”
David was the oldest of the four partners in their private investigator practice, but at thirty-five, David couldn’t be having a heart attack.
With millions of acres of forest land all around them, they were too deep into the wilderness to get help. Cell phones wouldn’t work out here. Owen knew CPR, but…
He helped David to sit. “What are you feeling?” he asked, trying to disguise the anxiety in his voice, although he couldn’t hide a deepening frown, and David noticed.
“Don’t be a…worry…” David clutched his chest even harder, his face sweating in the frigid air.
“We can’t get any help to him way out here,” Trevor said quietly. “If he’s having a heart attack, it’s not a bad way to go. Quick, no lingering illness.”
“No!” Owen snapped. “Do you have any aspirin?” How could he let his friend from childhood and one of the best partners he’d had in law enforcement before they’d left the force die on him? He couldn’t. “I know CPR.”
“It won’t be enough.” Trevor sounded like the voice of reason, but Owen didn’t want to hear it.
The image of David lunging in front of him, taking a bullet in the shoulder two years ago, flashed across Owen’s mind. He wouldn’t let him go. He couldn’t.
The wolves watched silently, almost sympathetically as if one of their pack members was in trouble, their ears perked, their tongues hanging out, panting after the long run.
His hand clutching David’s shoulder, Owen clenched his teeth to bite back the overwhelming feeling of hopelessness. “Can’t we do something? Anything?”
“Possibly,” Trevor said, “but it will change his life and yours, forever.”
“I’d do anything to save my friend’s life,” Owen said, figuring Trevor was thinking in terms of if he had enough money, they could air evac him out somewhere, maybe in a clearing where the loggers had been.
Trevor put a hand on Owen’s shoulder. “You sure?”
“Anything, damn it. However much it costs, it’s worth it.”
Trevor looked back at the wolves. The biggest one bowed its head slightly, then bared his teeth and lunged.
Before Owen could fathom what was happening, the wolf bit David in the arm. He cried out in pain.
Owen swung his rifle to his shoulder to shoot the beast, when he caught a blur of white fur in his peripheral vision, right before one of the other wolves pounced on him.
***
You get what you ask for, sometimes, right?
Have a super wonderful Saturday!

Terry Spear
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website: http://www.terryspear.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Like A Rolling Stone

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows about my obsession (er, fan girl status) with the Rolling Stones.

Last week, I got to see them perform (along with almost 100,000 other fans) in concert at Desert Trip, a 3-day legendary lineup of the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, The Who, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd. 

The setting was the 330-acre Empire polo grounds in Indio, California, where the Coachella music festival happens every year.

The stage was the biggest one I have ever seen, and the video screen in the background was more than 200-feet wide (my estimate) to allow for all the fans to see the musicians.

The stage

The stage during the Rolling Stones show

The setup featured a ‘pit’ where people could stand, seats on the ground, and bleacher seats. (I was in the bleachers, but the video screen helped A LOT.)

The 'pit' in front of the stage

Seats on ground-level behind the 'pit'

The show was amazing, especially listening to the guy who wrote ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ play before the actual Rolling Stones (even though the song has nothing to do with the band).  http://nyti.ms/2dVVpzJ  

The temperature was a blistering 97 degrees in the desert, but it cooled off a little when the sun went down around 6:15pm. However, dancing around for almost three hours put everyone right back in the 100+ range, but it was worth it.

Tonight, Bob Dylan and the Stones play again. Tomorrow, Neil Young and Paul McCartney. On Sunday, The Who followed by Roger Waters. The average age of the performers is 72. This was probably a once-in-a-lifetime event, and I’m glad I’m made the trek out West to be part of history!

Jenna

www.jennaives.com

Double Cougar Trouble Coming Next!

My son and Mishka left on their 13-hour drive home and of course, my puppies are looking for her because she’s supposed to be here. They also love my son. I’m sure for the next few mornings, they will run to her bedroom door, knowing she’s in there waiting for us to bring her out. My son was so hot here–between coming home from Alaska, and then landing into Omaha, Nebraska where it’s been a lot colder, he couldn’t acclimate to the Texas heat and humidity. Which meant keeping my AC way down lower than I normally do. So I’m hoping the house warms up soon. lol
I was “goofing off” either working on promo stuff for the new release, writing a little, and visiting with my son, so now it’s back to work on the story and making some real progress!
Here are my kids giving me “The Look.” I’m not sure what I was doing, or said, but…this was the response. lol

But hey, we can make up some good stories, right???

Have a super day!!

Terry Spear
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website: http://www.terryspear.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Guest: Alexa Bourne - Celtic Connection

Please welcome our special guest for today, Alexa Bourne!

Alexa Bourne is a teacher by day and a romance writer by nights, weekends, and all school holidays. She also teaches online classes for writers throughout the year. She writes mostly romantic suspense (some with paranormal elements!) and is thrilled to have the chance to share her stories with readers everywhere.

When she’s not concocting sinister plots and steamy love scenes or traveling and exploring new cultures, Alexa spends her time reading, watching brainless TV, and thinking about exercising. Okay, she also spends way too much time interacting with readers and writers on social media sites. But don’t tell her editors! Find out more about her and her books on her website, www.alexabourne.com.

My grandmother’s family came from Scotland and my grandfather’s came from Ireland, so I guess I was always destined to have wisps of the Celts floating through my mind and my heart. Anyone who knows me can tell you how much the Celtic world has invaded my life. My website has plaid, I have a plaid purse, I have several earrings of various Celtic symbols. Friends and family send me gifts related to Ireland and Scotland for my birthday, Christmas and even St. Patrick’s Day. I listen to Celtic music, travel to Celtic countries, study some Celtic history, read some Celtic romance novels and I’ve even written contemporary romance novels set in Celtic lands.

So when my muse demanded I set my newest book in Texas, I was a little…lost. I knew the story wouldn’t be successful if I tried to force it into Dublin, Edinburgh or the Scottish Highlands. I had to just “get over it” and recognize that this book wouldn’t be tied to my Celtic roots.

But…

As I wrote the rough draft, some of the characters’ names turned out to be Scottish or Irish. And when it came time to choose a symbol to represent The Protectors, the “good guys” in the series, the Celtic shield settled inside my brain. I even started thinking that if all goes well with this set of 4 books, then I could continue the series and set the next round of books in Scotland since I’ll be traveling there next summer and can do more research. While these connections raced through my mind, I began thinking of my other books. Soon I realized that every one of them has something Celtic within its pages. So, I guess no matter where I set my stories or what the plots are, my love of Scotland and Ireland will always shine through.

Hear My Cry: Harper Monroe has simple goals— work her day job, pay off her debts, and finish college. But life rarely goes as planned. When two lunatics spouting off weird phrases attempt to kidnap her, Harper’s world turns upside down and she loses her hearing. 

All bartender Scott Jackson wants after work is his couch, a Longhorn game, and a cold beer. Instead, he reluctantly becomes Harper’s protector. As the two of them work to find out why she’s wanted, Harper’s hearing returns. Only now she can hear everything. 

With more research, they discover Harper is a member of The Protector Cell, a secret society of men and women with superpowers. Harper refuses to accept her fate until The Collectors, the people hunting the Protectors, make her their number one target. Suddenly, Harper must choose: deny her frightening future or use her new skill to save the man she loves.


Excerpt!

Harper squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose. What if she never heard another sound again?

A gentle hand brushed along her arm. Warmth seeped through the palm. Heat wasn’t what she needed, though. Did the person have any courage to share?

She opened her eyes. Gone was the stern looking doctor. Only her hero stood before her, with a soft glance of concern covering his features. Of course he hadn’t grown since she met him, but somehow he seemed taller, wider, more of a force to be reckoned with. Yet, he still held onto a boy-next-door look. His dirty-blond hair held streaks from where he’d run his fingers through it. The strands fell below the standard male cut, but still didn’t reach his broad shoulders. Across his chest stretched a black t-shirt decorated with the words The Stone Shelter Pub. From her few visits to the bar, she knew it was the shirt the staff wore. 

He pointed to her. Once he gave her the hand signal for okay, he held his hand out as though waiting for an answer.

Her all right? She had a couple who wanted to grab her, to use her as a test subject. Defending herself completely healthy was hard enough. With no hearing, she might as well put a sign on her back that read take me, I’m at a tactical disadvantage.

But she couldn’t tell that to an innocent stranger.

A slim smile was all she could give him. “I will be.” She had to be, right?

He reached behind him to the table to grab the notepad and pen. Don’t be scared, okay? Since there’s nothing physically wrong with you then it stands to reason you’ll be able to hear again soon.

He’d written the message, but Harper could see the doubt rumbling through his eyes.

When she pulled her gaze away, it fell on the bandage covering part of his forearm. An injury he wouldn’t have gotten if he had walked away. A knot clutched in her stomach. “What’s your name?”

Scott Jackson.

“Thank you for saving my life.” The admission brought a whole new wave of worry.

You were doing pretty good on your own.

With a light touch of her pinkie, she traced the tape around his bandage. “I’m sorry you got hurt because of me.”

He shook his head. You didn’t burn my arm. There’s no reason for you to apologize.

“But if I hadn’t stopped you…”

He held up one finger, close to her mouth but not touching. She pressed her lips together, and then he continued writing. My choice.

Rich green eyes stared back at her with strength and pride. Moisture gathered in the corners of Harper’s eyes. When she’d called out to him for help she hadn’t wanted him hurt. For her. “I’m so sorry.”

He brushed away the tears before they fell down her cheeks.

She knew it wasn’t fair, wasn’t right, but she didn’t want him to leave her alone. With his soft touch, his straightforward words, and his ability to hear, Scott Jackson was the only person who made her feel safe at the moment.

Buy HEAR MY CRY at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Evernight, Bookstrand, All Romance Ebooks, Kobo, or B&N.

Contest!

My birthday is in October, so throughout the month I’ll be celebrating with readers! I’ll choose two prize winners a week. Some of the prizes will be gift cards, Austin “stuff”, Scottish “stuff”, books and, of course, chocolate! There are several ways to enter the contest:

1.      Leave a comment on this blog or any of the others I’m visiting

2.      Stop by and comment on my blog

3.      Sign up for my newsletter

4.      “Share” any of my Facebook posts promoting HEAR MY CRY

5.      Leave a review of HEAR MY CRY

 Find Alexa online:

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5818611.Alexa_Bourne

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/alexabourne

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAlexaBourne

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlexaBourne

Website: www.alexabourne.com

Blog: http://alexabourne.com/cuan-macdougall-pub/

Email: alexa@alexabourne.com

New Release - CHOOSE ME

I'm so excited about CHOOSE ME, book #1 in a series of small town romances featuring silver fox heroes and vibrant heroines getting a second chance at happiness. It's now available through several vendors and will soon be available in print as well!

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2cNH56I
B&N: http://bit.ly/2dBQuP1
Apple: http://apple.co/2dyaS7a
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2dKWPMO

I thought I'd share another small excerpt from CHOOSE ME. It's a friends-to-lovers romance and that's one of my favorite tropes. Rick and Eve have known each other for over twenty-five years and when they are suddenly both single, things start to change...

Excerpt:

Eve couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that Rick had been naked while she’d been talking to him. Naked. Nude. Sans clothing. All that masculine skin with nothing covering it. She blew out a shaky breath.

She’d seen him in swim trunks often enough over the years. Both of their houses had pools, and since Amy and Heather had been joined at the hip for most of their lives, and Eve and Cathy had been friends, the two families had often been at one or the other’s houses.

But that was back when he’d been Cathy’s husband. When she’d been Don’s wife. Back then Eve had been able to appreciate a good looking man without coveting him or getting turned on. Those kinds of thoughts had never even crossed her mind.

But now…as she paced the scarred hardwood floor, Eve found herself getting all tingly at the thought of Rick having been naked while they shared words. And even more shivery knowing he was rushing over here as soon as he covered up that naked body.

What was wrong with her?

Crazy as it was, she dashed into the outdated bathroom to check her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was a mess. She shoved her fingers through the strands, trying to fluff them up a little. She’d left her purse, and the brush inside, down in her shop and she didn’t have time to run down and get it now. Her lipstick was down there too. She bit her lip. Her face looked so pale when she didn’t have lipstick on. At least she was still in the dress and heels she’d worn for work, so she felt as if she had at least some of her armor in place.

What was she getting so worked up about? This was Rick. She’d known him for years. He’d seen her hundreds of times. It wasn’t as if he was going to care what she looked like. He was coming to look at the apartment, not her. She should be getting her thoughts together on the work she’d like to have done, not primping in front of the mirror.

There was a knock at the door at the bottom of the stairs. “Eve?”

Rick.

Eve dashed to the stairs and then forced herself to slowly descend the steep steps. Her foolish heart was beating wildly. She seemed to have no control over it. She crossed the entryway and took a deep breath before she opened the door. “Hi. Thanks for coming right over.”

Rick was one of those guys who seemed to get better looking as he got older. While he’d been long and lanky, almost skinny, when he was younger, he filled out a pair of jeans and a T-shirt real well now. The silver at his temples and threading through the rest of his hair sparkled beneath the light. And the crinkles around his brown eyes when he smiled?

There were those tingles again.

Eve realized she was just standing there, blocking his entrance. She cleared her throat and hoped the heat she felt in her face didn’t stain her cheeks red. “Come on in.”

He had a clipboard in one hand and began his inspection as soon as she closed the door behind him. “This is a nice-sized foyer. Is there anything you want to update in here?”

Straight to business then. She frowned and looked around her. “I hadn’t thought about it.”

He pointed down with the corner of the clipboard. “The floor is worn and some corners of the tiles are coming up. It wouldn’t cost much to replace it with a durable vinyl that would withstand the rain and snow. A new coat of paint on the walls would brighten the space and you could get away with keeping that old ceiling fixture. It adds character but not a whole lot of light.”

Eve nodded slowly, looking at the space with new eyes. He was right. “I can see you know your stuff.”

The corner of his mouth quirked up. “Did you have any doubt?”

Her breath caught on a laugh. What was wrong with her? The first thought to pop into her head was, I’d like to see your stuff.

“Um, come on up. I think the stairs are safe and sturdy.”

“Lead the way.”

Rick followed her up the stairs and all she could think about was him staring at her ass. And that she liked the thought of him staring at her ass. It was as if she’d been dropped into an alternate universe.

I had such a good time writing Choose Me and the next book in the series, Rescue Me, which will be coming out in November. If you like small town romances, or friends to lovers romances, or firefighter heroes, or seeing women of a certain age get a second chance at happiness, I hope you'll try CHOOSE ME!

Natasha

www.natashamoore.com

Covert Coguar Christmas Excerpt

https://s3.amazonaws.com/embed.animoto.com/play.html?w=swf/production/vp1&e=1475147428&f=INpwKBNlXD197C865dQPpw&d=0&m=p&r=360p&volume=100&start_res=360p&i=m&asset_domain=s3-p.animoto.com&animoto_domain=animoto.com&options=
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019KFDU2U
Barnes and Noble:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/covert-cougar-christmas-terry-spear/1123151535?ean=2940157676162
Kobo:https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/covert-cougar-christmas
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/601631
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Terry_Spear_Covert_Cougar_Christmas?id=12knDAAAQBAJ
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/covert-cougar-christmas/id1113811076?mt=11
Can you tell I’m in the mood for cooler weather? Well, making these brought it on! Really!
I actually have had cooler weather!
Excerpt from Covert Cougar Christmas!

PUBLISHED BY:

Terry Spear



Covert Cougar Christmas
Copyright © 2015 by Terry Spear


All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Discover more about Terry Spear at:
http://www.terryspear.com/

Chapter 1

Snowflakes and ice drizzled down his windshield as Travis MacKay hoped the winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories for later this week weren’t wrong and the storm was coming in earlier than expected. His Dodge Durango slipped on another patch of ice, and he tightened his hands on the leather-covered steering wheel. He was in a real time crunch already if he was going to pack and move his household goods from Cheyenne, Wyoming to Yuma Town, Colorado before the weather worsened and before New Year’s Day at the latest, when the new owners moved in.
It was nearly two in the morning when he reached the outskirts of town and realized he needed groceries and packing boxes. He was certain some grocery store would be open this late and drove into town, but found that none of them were. Then he spied several bundles of great, clean boxes folded and tied up next to a Dumpster behind a Christmas pop-up store, set up for business only during the holidays. Packing boxes had been another of his pressing priorities to get first thing in the morning and he was delighted to check one thing off his list. He pulled into the alley behind the building and parked.
He got out of the car, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of something move. He spun around to see if it truly was what he thought he saw. A golden cougar! Beautiful. The cougar raced past the entrance to the alley. A female, or younger male, not as big as an adult male.
A shifter like him? He couldn’t imagine it was a full cougar. Not in town like this. Yet he had never run across a shifter in Cheyenne before. Because of his cat’s curious nature, it made him want to chase after the cougar and learn the truth.
But he was now working out of Yuma Town as a field agent of the Cougar Special Forces Division, CSFD that took down rogue cougars.
Still, Travis took another long look in the direction the cougar had run, and hoped the cat would return so he could get another look at it when he knew it wouldn’t come back. The cat would think Travis was human and a real danger because he might call the sighting into animal control and someone would come out and shoot the cougar.
Then he saw the Christmas shop’s back door propped open. He was going to holler out that he wanted to use the boxes for moving if that was all right with the shop owner, but heard a heated argument inside, and paused. He listened in case he needed to stop a fight. Being a Ranger with the army and well trained in tactical maneuvers in his current job, Travis was well qualified to intervene and break up a fight, when he heard one of the men arguing say, “What do you mean that bastard wants more money?”
“He said if we don’t pay up, he’ll shut us down permanently. And I don’t mean that we’ll have a chance to pull up stakes and start up our operations someplace else in the States either.”
“Then we need to take him out.”
“Yeah, right. The two of us against—“ The man abruptly quit talking.
His heart thundering in his ears, Travis backed toward his car as quietly as he could, but his boot crunched on frozen snow. He pulled out his Glock, ready in case anyone came out of the building with a gun trained on him.
“So how much did we make on sales today?” the one man asked as if there was nothing the matter.
“Fourteen hundred and some pocket change. So not too bad. The angels are really going over big this year. And the naughty elf wooden ornaments from Denmark too.”
The other man chuckled. “Our Christmas trees are making the real money. Can you give me a hand with setting up another couple of trees where sales have left some bare spots?”
“Yeah sure.”
Travis hesitated. His kind didn’t take down human criminals, unless a situation presented itself and he couldn’t avoid it. If the men were cougars, different story. It sounded like the men were up to no good, but without some kind of evidence to go by, he couldn’t alert the police. And he couldn’t go in to check and see if they were cougars either. First thing in the morning when the shop was open, he could sniff around. Or later, when the men went home, he could check out the boxes and see if they smelled like cougars had touched them.
He eyed the pristine boxes one last time, wishing that everything had been on the up and up, and he could have just gotten the boxes and been done with it.
Then Travis saw movement out of his peripheral vision. Instinctively, he lunged to the right, hoping he was overreacting, but if not, that his car would give him cover, hating that it could be shot up though.
A blond-haired man was armed with a rifle and fired a shot. Travis’s quick reaction hadn’t been fast enough. The shooter had been just as quick, like a highly-trained sniper.
Travis heard the shot fired, felt the stick of a dart when it hit his shoulder, and he yanked it out. By the time he fired his own gun at the shooter, Travis was sinking to the asphalt, cursing himself all the way down. His vision blurring, he hoped to hell his shot had impacted on the guy’s body somewhere that it would make a difference. His mind drifting, Travis reminded himself there were two men, not just the one. And then his world faded from gray to black.
***
I had never seen a red dragonfly in person before, so when I saw one land on one of my little wrought iron trellises, I was excited! I wanted to get a picture of him while outside though, and using the tripod. I managed a few shots inside, just in case I couldn’t get him outside–as in he flew away. Which he did.
But then he came back and I was prepared. I moved around him, he fluttered off a few times, but I caught a few neat shots. Isn’t he beautiful? And magical?
Then I came home after seeing my daughter last night and my neighbors go whole hog on Halloween.
So this was what I came home to. I’m not very good at nighttime photography. So I quickly looked up settings one photographer used, then sent my camera and went back out to take the shots, hoping they’d turn out. And they did!
Okay, I’m off to work on Double Cougar Trouble. 63,000 words to go!
Have a great one!
Terry Spear
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear:
Website: http://www.terryspear.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear