It's time to go Barefoot! by @amiedenman

While parts of the world are enjoying a slow spring awakening 🌺 and April showers--our theme for this month--the Gulf Coast of Florida is hot and sunny!🌞 Just last week, I released the newest of my trademark beach romances. Truth? I ADORE FLORIDA!! I love everything about it. Humidity, crowds, orange groves, beaches, theme parks.🍊

In my mind and in my books, Florida is a magical place and the Gulf Coast is perfect for romance. 💘Welcome to Barefoot Key, a formerly sleepy beach town experiencing a revival. I first explored Barefoot Key in The Gull Motel (my bestselling book) and recently returned with The Barefoot Beach Rental.

Here's the story on The Barefoot Beach Rental: (in which I included my love of cake 🎂 and cats 🐈)

When a down-on-her-luck baker moves into the Barefoot Beach Rental for a month, she brings the heat to her sexy landlord while also finding a sweet spot of her own.

Ava Bottoms dreams of owning her own bakery where elaborate wedding cakes and custom creations abound. She has baking talent and experience, but she’s mixed romance with business a few too many times, so she’s starting over at the wise age of almost thirty. Burned out of a home and kitchen due to a recent incident with a flaming dessert, Ava checks in to the Barefoot Beach Rental for a month. The brochure promises a gourmet kitchen where she hopes to finish writing The Year of Cake—the book that will bring her the fame and fortune she needs to achieve her bakery dream. She’s sworn off distractions of the male kind, but it’s tough keeping her oven mitts off the sexy owner of her beach rental.

Dalton Neverly checks guests in and out at his Barefoot Beach Rental. Most guests stay only a week, and he savors temporary relationships. Six years after his divorce, he can still hardly look at the gourmet kitchen in rental unit two without remembering what his ex-wife cooked up with a visiting chef. Dalton loves his beach lifestyle, but when Ava moves in next door for a month and tempts him every day with sweets, he wonders if it’s time to feel the heat again.

 

I hope readers will love a trip to the beach--perfect for curling up inside during those April showers! I'd love to connect with you on social media or through my newsletter. Just click on the links below! 😍

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I'm also participating in a Romance giveaway on BookFunnel all month. "April Happy Ever After Romance" includes almost 200 free downloads of romance novels! Find it here!

 

Keeping Romance Alive in 2020: The Victorian Era Holds the Key by Connie Vines #RomanceGems

Married or Single. Dating or Engaged.  Or, simply dazed and confused and not able to fathom anyway of dating during the social distancing practices of 2020?

Since I write romance novels, finding true love and happily-ever-after-ends are part of my stock and trade.  There simply had to be a solution.

I happened across a PBS show which highlighted courtship during the Victorian Era. I'd watch the special years ago, but it wasn't until now that I really focused on the details and nuances.

Is there a more perfect example of 'social distancing'?

Could the norms of the Victorian Era dating practices be adapted in 2020? 

I believe so. 

One of the most romantic aspects of a Victorian courtship was the written word. Not only did women keep a diary of the courtship, but both partners exchanged romantic letters. They also exchanged lockets, antique coins, portraits, poems, sketches, etc.

Historical example of Victorian love letter

Victorians took flirting to a new level. Women created a “fan language” in order to communicate with suitors. Chaperones appreciated self-restraint, many viewed this type of subtle flirtation as acceptable.The fan signals weren’t hard to interpret: If a lady’s fan was shut, she didn’t like the suitor and wanted him to leave. If her fan was half-open, she was friend-zoning him. If the fan was open wide, she really liked him.

Museum Selection

Some men had cards made for the express purpose of clandestine flirting, and would pass them to a woman without anyone noticing. Unless and until the female recipient read the card, its true message would remain a mystery.

Under this strict code of etiquette, items of apparel such as fans, gloves, and handkerchiefs were given meaning as were objects given as gift called 'love tokens' such as flowers, painted miniatures, or jewelry set with gemstones of particular significance.

Victorian Wax Flower Dome

Most fragrances in early to mid-Victorian times were delicate and floral. They were understated, feminine – and often simply conjured up the scent of a particular flower, such as jasmine, lavender, roses, honeysuckle… Aromatic herbs might be used, too:  marjoram, thyme, rosemary, and the odd sprinkling of spice – like cloves (which gave a carnation-like scent).

History Collection.com

Courtship is when a man is attempting to “woo” a woman, (to win her over) with the end result being marriage. .. 

Time, attention, and discovering who a person is equals courtship. 

Courtship = Romance. 

There is noting old-fashioned about courting.

Victorian Courting is perfectly suited for 2020.

Remember Fragrance and Love are never out of fashion!

Last Chance Beach: Summer's End is only 99cents!
Purchase for 99 cents!

Free: Cocktails On Last Chance Beach
FREE

I'm know I'm heading to Last Chance Beach.  I can't wait!  Why not join me there?

Thanks for reading!

A FREE Kindle book to add to your Summer TBR list by Peggy Jaeger

For the first time ever I'm offering up a free Kindle book. From August 1 thru the 5th, WOKE, my version of a modern Sleeping Beauty will be available for free on Amazon/Kindle.

In this version of the fairy tale, though, our sleeping beauty doesn't wait for love's first kiss to awaken her - she wakes up all on her own!

I've loved fairy tales since I was a kid but even back then I was always trying to come up with alternative endings to the stories. It seemed in every story there was either a dead mother and a horrible step mother, an ineffective father, poverty, and a girl who was too goodie-goodie for reality. Oh, and of course there was always a man waiting in the wings to save our poor heroine.

Yeah. Welcome to the 21st century, people.  Our dear heroines can fend for themselves, kick some ass doing it, and still maintain their alluring personas.

My first modernization of a fairy tale was DIRTY DAMSELS, a Cinderella redux. In this version, Ella was the CEO of her own cleaning company. Even though this was a riches-to-rags-to-riches story, Ella didn't need to be rescued from drudgery by a prince - she built her business all by herself. The tagline for the book is What if Cinderella had a one night stand with a man named Prince?

Based on that you can tell this isn't a child's fairy tale but a steamy love story!

In WOKE, Aurora, or A.J. as she prefers to be called now, woke up from a 10 year coma determined to ferret out who slipped a drug combination in her champagne glass, leading to the coma.

For A.J. Waking up each day is a gift.

If you like steamy romances with heroines you can root for and heroes that make you care, and if you've got a Kindle, consider downloading WOKE  for free. There's still plenty of summer left to read

Waking up each day is a gift….

On her 21^st birthday, someone slipped a potent drug combination into socialite Aurora Brightwell’s champagne putting her in a coma for the next ten years. It’s been a long road back, and it’s time to reclaim the life she lost and find out exactly what happened on that fateful night.

Financier Kincade Enright has his own reason for helping Aurora discover who poisoned her, but for the time being he’s keeping that - and his true identity - to himself. What he can’t keep hidden though, are his growing feelings for the one-time paparazzi darling and party-girl.

When this prince of finance joins forces with the former sleeping beauty, nothing can stop them from finding the answers they seek…or prevent the powerful emotions developing between them as they search for the truth.

And before I go...have you heard about LAST CHANCE BEACH ?

A compilation of 14 great stories from the Romance Gems all in one wonderful boxed set.

Preorder your copy now - it' so goes live on August 4!

Until next time, peeps. Happy reading ~ Peg

Reading Preferences by Karen Whiddon

I can't believe it's February already.  2020 has already zipped onward, despite the fact that I've been sick the entire year (and ended 2019 sick, boo.)  I started a new book for Harlequin Romantic Suspense and have been enjoying writing it, especially since it's set in an imaginary west Texas town like the two books preceding it.

In addition to writing, I've been listening to music and I've been reading.

These days, there's so much filling my time that I actually have to allot time for reading.  I got a  brand new Kindle Paperwhite for Christmas (my old one, a first generation, finally bit the dust.)  I've got a bunch of books on there that I'm dying to read, and I'm slowly making my way through them.  Mostly fiction, though a few are non-fiction.  One of my favorite ways to spend a winter day is curled up by the fire with a good book and a cup of hot tea, cocoa, or coffee.

What about you?  Do you read on an e-reader or prefer paper books?  My daughter, who is a teacher, only reads paper books.  I still buy a few in paperback or hardcover, but mostly I tend to read on my Kindle.  My Harlequin Romantic Suspense books sell way more in paperback than they do in e-books, but all my rights-reverted-backlist books are only in E-book.

Don't forget about our drawing!  Link here DRAWING LINK

My Summer Reading List by Lucinda Race #RomanceGems

Hello again.

It’s Summer and it’s HOT!

So, for the months of June, July and August I’ve embarked on a personal reading challenge. To read at least one book from every author in the #RomanceGems group. Prior to deciding to make this a short-term goal I did have a reading goal on Good Reads. But I’ve gone from twenty-four books as my goal to adding twenty more. But where to begin.

As an author of ten books I have a favorite and I was sure the other amazing authors in our group did too, so I asked. Where do I begin? 

So far, I’ve read Joan Reeves, Bonnie Edwards, Kathy Lawless, Elsa Kurt, Karen Kelly, Connie Vines, Jan Scarbrough and Kathryn Hills. Each novel or series of books I’ve read has been a wonderful diversion in the long wonderful days of summer.

I’ve been diligent to post reviews on Amazon, Goodreads and Bookbub to support this amazing and talented group of authors is very important to do. Writers supporting writers is critical as writing and editing is such a solitary pursuit.

My kindle is full of books to be read and up next is anyone’s guess. But I see some amazing books in my future. If you’re interested in my reviews check out my Goodreads page. Every word is honest and comes from the love of reading. 

When I was telling a friend what I was doing she said it reminded her of the reading list she got from her teachers each summer. I had to laugh at the comparison but this is much better than the assignments of old. I know that as a romance novel junkie I’m going to spend the summer falling in love again and again.

Don’t forget to sign up for this month’s contest. 

BEACHES and BOOK BOYFRIENDS is the Romance Gems Julytheme. Enter our drawing for a chance to win 1 of 3 Amazon Gift Cards and fun beach books too! Read the post, leave a comment, and enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway.

Until next time, 

I wish you happiness. 

Lucinda