#SaturdaySpotlight is on Linda Nightingale and Four by Moonlight

Good Morning Friends,

Linda Nightingale is no stranger to our blog. She has shared treasures, thoughts and our spotlight before so please welcome her back!

 Four by Moonlight is a collection of four stories, each with an element of the paranormal.  Only one of my books is ‘normal’ (without an otherworldly hero).

Gypsy Ribbons, the ghost story, was inspired by Alfred Noyes’ “The Highwayman”. This wonderful poem tells the love story of a highwayman and the innkeeper’s beautiful daughter. I read this piece as a young girl, and it has stuck with me since. It has been recorded in song more than once.  My favorite is Loreena McKennitt’s version.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI_PMcFnZZw

The vampire story, The Gatekeeper’s Cottage, was inspired by a movie called “Angels and Insects” which in turn was inspired by a novella (the name escapes me at the moment).  If I tell you what “Angels and Insects” is about, it’s a plot spoiler for the story.

Star Angel has the most personal inspiration. At the time it was written, I was going through a divorce, and I suppose I was dreaming of my perfect man on paper.

Night Before Doomsday was inspired by the tale of the Grigori, those angels who descended to Earth to teach Man how to thrive. Of the host who descended, nine-tenths fell from Grace because they fell in love with and married human women. Their story is contained in the “Book of Enoch”, a part of the Apocrypha, very interesting reading. However, I first encountered their story in “Angels” by Malcolm Godwin.

Buy Links:

Publisher's website at http://www.classactbooks.com  
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M3Q9J8B/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1

Linda Nightingale is a native-born South Carolinian who has lived in England and Canada, and now resides in Texas.  Before turning to writing, she bred, trained and showed Andalusian horses for thirteen years.

Four by Moonlight is her first novel for Class Act Books. Its cover, created by son, Simon, was voted one of the Top Ten best covers of 2016 by Preditors & Editors Readers Poll.

Find out more about Linda at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/linda.nightingale.52?hc_ref=SEARCH&fref=nf
Website: http://www.lindanightingale.com
Blog: https://lindanightingale.wordpress.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4839311.Linda_Nightingale
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lbnightingale1/?etslf=10520&eq=LInda%20Nightingale
Twitter: @LNightingale

Hope you enjoyed today's post and that you'll check back often for more Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlights.

Until next time take care and God bless.
PamT

#SaturdaySpotlight is on Linda Nightingale & Four by Moonlight

Good Morning Friends,

Tuesday, Linda shared with us something she treasures and we mentioned her new book, Four by Moonlight. Well today we are spotlighting her book!

My very favorite poem, and one of my favorite works of literature, is The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes.  It is lyrical enough that it has been recorded many times over. 

This poem inspired my “Gypsy Ribbons,” which is included in an anthology from Class Act Books, Four by Moonlight.  I wanted to see what the idea of the highwayman, combined with other elements, would become in prose.

Once I read the story on a PodCast.  I had practiced the entire day before the reading, and only stumbled once.  No surprise, I had almost memorized Gypsy Ribbons.  I don’t have a copy of that PodCast or I’d include the link so that you could have a laugh as a South Carolinian with an accent tried to read a story starring British characters.

I often wondered if I could expand the story into a book, but it seemed happy as a short story.  The piece dates back quite a few years, but it has been polished and edited.  I didn’t have to worry about the advent of modern technology.  In the late 1800s, no one had a cell phone!  “Gypsy Ribbons’” setting is the Yorkshire moors, the time period parallel with the American Revolution.

Four by Moonlight also includes a novella, “The Night Before Doomsday,” the tag line to which is “Azazel resisted temptation…until the wrong woman came along.” The story takes a look at the angel Azazel in a different light—not as the demon he is often portrayed.  “Night Before Doomsday” is about the Grigori’s descent to Earth to teach men to survive/thrive after their oust from the Garden of Eden.

One story is very spicy. “The Gate Keeper’s Cottage” bears a warning sign: Enter at your own risk.

The fourth offering is “Star Angel,” a sci-fi romance and is very New Age.  The hero and the heroine are soul mates separated by a dimension.

Come with me on a journey to 1789 with “Gypsy Ribbons.”  Next whistle stop is the Garden of Eden, and on to a plantation outside New Orleans, and finally a rescue in an Idaho potato patch. In Four by Moonlight, no one is exactly what he/she may seem.

Four by Moonlight: An anthology of love in the moonlight…in the paranormal universe.

Gypsy Ribbons – A moonlight ride on the moors and meeting a notorious highwayman will forever change Lady Virginia Darby’s life.

Star Angel – Lucy was stuck in a rut and in an Idaho potato patch. She’d seen him in the corner of her eye—a fleeting glimpse of beauty—now he stood before her in the flesh.

The Night Before Doomsday – All his brothers had succumbed to lust, but Azazel resisted temptation until the wrong woman came along.

The Gate Keeper’s Cottage – Newlywed Meggie Richelieu’s mysterious, phantom lover may be more than anyone, except the plantation housekeeper, suspects.

Excerpt:

Red eyes watched from the grate as she slipped into the cold, empty bed. Simon should have been there to warm her rather than the dying fire. Not pursuing a dangerous dream. Too angry, too miserable to weep, she tossed and turned. The relief of sleep eluded her.

An icy breath whispered through the room. Tory snuggled deeper beneath the goose down covers. Had the weather made up its mind? Was Simon riding in ice and snow? She imagined white flakes in Goliath’s long black mane and on the highwayman’s plush velvet cloak. Poor darling, he would be cold. Tory slowly drifted to sleep unrelated thoughts scrolling in her mind. A soft sound snapped her wide awake. She sat bolt upright, tugging the covers over the breasts.  The room was iceberg cold.  The ghost.

“Not Simon.” She held her breath, ears stained for the horrifying, otherworldly whisper, a warning of imminent death. The sound came again, closer. A slow footstep creeping over the old oaken floor. Tonight, the ghost of Darby Manor wandered its dim corridors.

“No. No.” Tory squeezed her eyes closed and prayed, forgetting she didn’t believe in ghosts.

The footsteps halted. Tory’s heart stopped. She started to cover her ears, refusing to hear. The ghost breathed that heartbreaking sigh at her door.

Shuddering, she slid back under the layers of down. The warmth had no effect on her shivers. She folded into a fetal position.  I’m no longer alone.  Fear chilled her anew.  Though she couldn’t see clearly in the dim light, she knew her breath puffed white clouds in the frigid air. Dread sank its wicked claws into her racing heart.

Get your copy of Four by Moonlight directly from Class Act Books or at Amazon!

Linda Nightingale is a native-born South Carolinian who has lived in England and Canada, and now resides in Texas.  Before turning to writing, she bred, trained and showed Andalusian horses for thirteen years.

In 2012, her novel, Gemini Rising, was voted Best Mainstream Novel in the Preditors & Editors Readers Poll. Her vampire romance, Cardinal Desires won the Georgia Romance Writers Magnolia Award in 2013, and that was followed by her science fiction romance, Love for Sale, being awarded Best SF/Fantasy novel of 2015 by the Paranormal Romance Guild’s Reviewer’s Choice, and also voted one of the Top Ten Romance Novels of 2015 by the Preditors & Editors Readers Poll for that year.

Four by Moonlight is her first novel for Class Act Books. 

Find out more about Linda at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/linda.nightingale.52?hc_ref=SEARCH&fref=nf

Website: http://www.lindanightingale.com

Blog: https://lindanightingale.wordpress.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4839311.Linda_Nightingale

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lbnightingale1/?etslf=10520&eq=LInda%20Nightingale

Twitter: @LNightingale

Wow..sounds like a great anthology for you lovers of paranormal romance!

Hope you enjoyed today's spotlight and that you'll return each week for more Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlights.

Until next time, take care and God Bless.

PamT

#TuesdayTreasures The Friesian Horse with Linda Nightingale

Good Morning Friends!

If you know anything at all about me, you know I love horses! So it is with great pleasure I bring Linda Nightingale back to our blog to discuss another breed of these majestic creatures....

The Friesian breed originates in Friesland in the Netherlands.  These splendid horses conform to people’s idea of a light draft horse, and, in fact, were originally used as fancy carriage horses. However, they are nimble and graceful, currently quite popular in show arenas for their lofty movements and shining ebony coats.  The Friesian ranges from 15 to 17 hands, is powerfully muscled, with thick manes and tails and feathers (long hair) at the fetlock joints.  Their necks are high-set and proudly arched. In a word, they are beautiful.

When I wrote Gypsy Ribbons, I envisioned the hero Simon rearing his midnight black Friesian, Goliath, on the moonlit moor after robbing the King’s Highway.  These horses are massive and have a lot of pizazz, presence supreme, but are quite docile. Goliath would have stood quietly while his master relieved his lordship of his diamond ring and purse, or held still as an ebony statue while Simon courted Tory.

I bred, trained and showed the magnificent Andalusian, but I would have loved to owned a high-school trained Friesian. They are truly poetry in motion.  The only drawback to Simon’s chosen trade would be Goliath’s elegant movement means he is not as fast as say, a Thoroughbred.  When you are running from the law, knowing if you’re caught you’ll hang, speed is of utmost importance. Ah, but he’d look good doing it!  If you would like to know more about the Friesian, visit the national association.

Wow, Linda these magnificent creatures are certainly something to treasure! Here is a video of a Fresian Stallion....watch this beautiful animal work.....

Born in South Carolina, Linda has lived in England, Canada, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Atlanta and Houston.  She’s seen a lot of this country from the windshield of a truck pulling a horse trailer, having bred, trained and showed Andalusian horses for many years.

Linda has won several writing awards, including the Georgia Romance Writers Magnolia Award.   She is the mother of two wonderful sons, a retired legal assistant, member of the Houston Symphony League, and enjoys events with her car club.  Among her favorite things are her snazzy black convertible and her parlor grand piano.  She loves to dress up and host formal dinner parties.

Find out more about Linda at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/linda.nightingale.52?hc_ref=SEARCH&fref=nf

Website: http://www.lindanightingale.com

Blog: https://lindanightingale.wordpress.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4839311.Linda_Nightingale

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lbnightingale1/?etslf=10520&eq=LInda%20Nightingale

Twitter: @LNightingale

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Linda-Nightingale/e/B005OSOJ0U

And check out Linda's new anthology Four by Moonlight an anthology of love in the moonlight…in the paranormal universe available at Amazon.

Be sure and see Linda's previous posts where she shared Thoughts, Treasures and the Spotlight with us before!

Sure hope you enjoyed today's post as much as I did and that you'll drop by each week for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight.

Until next time, take care and God Bless.
PamT

#SaturdaySpotlight is on Linda Nightingale and Gambler's Choice!

Good Morning Friends,

I hope your week has been blessed and the weekend even more so! Before we spotlight today's author and book, I'd like to take a moment to just say "THANK YOU" to Everyone who visits, comments and/or shares my blog. I TRULY Appreciate you ALL more than words can say!!

Now....our guest today, Linda Nightingale is no stranger to our blog. She shared with us some treasures in February, thoughts in March and we spotlighted another of her books in April.


Today Linda shares with us her novel, Gambler's Choice.  

Becca McQuaid came to England to find the perfect horse but instead met a darkly mysterious challenge in Austen Heath, Baron of Hampton. She’s determined to buy Austen’s stallion Gambler’s Choice. He’s determined not to sell, but the rivals are thrown together by an accident that leaves Austen with a broken leg and the threat he’ll never ride again.

Austen Heath has the title, heritage and manor house…but not the fortune. Becca is wealthy. Her charms are irresistible, but he believes she’s shopping for a Ladyship to go with her money. He has another reason to hold the sexy blonde at arms’ length—the unexplained disappearance of an old friend everyone thinks was his lover. When her body is discovered on his property, he becomes a suspect in her murder.

Excerpt: 

In a blood-stained white robe, Austen drove a knife down on a chopping board. What was he chopping in the middle of the night? Blood leaked from what appeared to be a heart. Sickness rolled in her stomach. Dane sat at his feet, watching his master. A noose of fear tightened around Becca’s neck. Did the heart he diced for the dog belong to the missing Julia? Her stomach flipped. Get a grip, Becca. Your imagination is running away with you. Her phobia didn’t listen. A chill slithered down her spine. She backed away from the door, collided with a table. The mastiff lurched to his feet, barking. Becca froze, unable to tear her gaze from the bloody knife.

Agonizingly slow, Austen turned on one crutch, knife in hand, the gory blade raised. “Stay, Dane. Ah, Becca. Come in. There’s something I’ve been meaning to show you.”

A shudder ploughed through Becca. Her voice shook. “What is that?”

“A beef heart. What did you think? Ah…” he whispered a laugh. “You thought I was dicing Julia’s heart to feed to the dog.” Gripping the knife, he paced her retreat. “I do believe you’re afraid of me.”

The belt slipped, and Austen’s robe parted to his waist. The man’s body would tempt a nun. She retreated. He advanced.

“I couldn’t sleep. That happens quite often. I decided to prepare Dane a special treat.” He tossed his hair out of his eyes, the cruel smile and the condescending tone returning. “Ah, Becca, Becca, you’re thinking I killed Julia because she was pregnant.”

“Yes. No. Put away the knife, please. I can’t think.” She labored for breath.

Austen flung the knife clattering to the floor. The startled dog leapt back. Trembling, Becca stood her ground. She’d chewed the inside of her jaw raw.

“There, Becca,” he snarled. “You can come in now.”

Blood smeared the polished oak floor and the horrible knife. Her stomach ached, and bile stung her throat. She forced herself to look at anything but the stained blade.

Austen halted, leaned against a wall. “I appreciate your confidence and trust. A month of living together has taught you nothing about me.”

Dane disobeyed the command to sit, returned to lick his master’s fingers.

“There, there, son.” Austen glanced at the dog. “I’ll soon finish your treat. First, I must convince Becca that I am not a murderer.”

Oh My Word! What an excerpt!

Gambler's Choice can be purchased at Amazon in paperback and for Kindle.

Born in South Carolina, Linda Nightingale has lived in England, Canada, Miami, Atlanta and Houston.  She’s seen a lot of this country from the windshield of a truck pulling a horse trailer, having bred, trained and showed Andalusian horses for thirteen years.

Linda has won several writing awards, including the Georgia Romance Writers Magnolia Award.   As well as an author, she is a legal assistant and a mother of two incredible sons, one in England; the other a graphic artist in Houston.  She is a member of the Houston Symphony League and enjoys events with her car club.  Two of her favorite things are her snazzy black convertible and her parlor grand piano.

She is the author of three novels published by Double Dragon Publishing, a Canadian publisher.  Gemini Rising, winner of the Preditors’ and Editors 2013 Poll in Mainstream, is a controversial dark fantasy, getting good reviews.  Sinners’ Opera and Cardinal Desires are paranormal romances starring sexy vampires.  The following is a snippet of a review for Sinners’ Opera:  “Morgan and Isabeau are characters that could be placed in the same category as some of the most famous couples in romance history - Romeo and his Juliet, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy - and their romance plays out like one of Beethoven's famous love letters.”

Visit her web site at http://www.lindanightingale.com (site designed by Simon Nightingale) for a continuing vampire story.  Catch her on Twitter at @LNightingale.  She is on Facebook, or visit her blog http://lindanightingale.wordpress.com/

Under the pen name Bianca Swan, she writes erotic romance.  The Wild Rose Press published two novellas. Double Dragon Publishing released one Bianca novel.

Sounds like another book to add to my wish lists.

Hope you enjoyed today's spotlight and you'll continue to visit weekly for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and of course more Saturday Spotlights.

Until next time...take care and God Bless.

PamT

#SaturdaySpotlight is on Linda Nightingale and her book, Love for Sale!

Good Morning Friends,

Today's spotlight is returning guest, Linda Nightingale with another of her books, Love for Sale. This book was supposed to be featured as an Eggcerpt Exchange in March but I mis-read my calendar and skipped right over it.

Sorry Linda!

Anyway, today I'm pleased to bring Linda and her book to your attention... and since I found this so intriguing I'm going to post the Eggcerpt Exchange questions too!

March Morgan still believes in true love, but her faith in finding her soul mate is slowly vanishing. She’s been married but never in love. So, it is a miracle to find that fantasy exists on the last page of a glossy women’s journal. Mayfair Electronics, Ltd., in black and white, offers Love for Sale. The London firm has engineered sentient androids indistinguishable from humans. She flies to England and meets the man she has been searching for her entire life.

Christian requires no programming to love March at first sight. He’s handsome, cultured…absolutely perfect…and a little different from the other androids. He has an unexpected independent streak. March signs on the dotted line, buying her dream man. They return to Houston, but soon her past and his future threaten their Happily Ever After—indeed their lives.

Excerpt:

Christian shrugged. “You don’t trust me.”

“I don’t trust her.” March’s face felt hard and cold. God, how she hated the emotions seething in her. She was almost physically ill.

“She cannot tempt me.” He shook his head slowly, his eyes glittering blue. “Don’t you understand I am attuned to you alone?”

“You weren’t supposed to be able to get angry.” She was unraveling, like a ball of yarn thrown across a room. “You did.”

Her heart shattered as he turned and walked away. Grief winded her. At the door, he glanced over his shoulder, again shaking his head. He was stunningly handsome, looked sad and hurt, but there was no apology in his intense gaze. Hands fisted at her sides, she tried to control the storm of fear, anger, resentment and pain.

“Where the hell are you going?” Her voice came brusque, short.

“For a walk to let you think and cool down.” Light and shadow chiseled his face, and her breaking heart skipped a beat. “I am not going to Liz. I have learned all I need to know from her. I shall never see her again.”

“You can’t walk out. It is impossible for you. You are faulty in some circuit somewhere. I’m going to return you.”

The most beautiful man in the world froze with his hand on the door. “Please don’t. This is a misunderstanding.” He blew out a long breath. “However, if that is what you want, I must advise you that Mayfair Electronics, 21 Dover Street, London, W1S 4LT will accept return of a flawed unit for a full refund.”

“Stop! You sound like a robot.” Her fisted hands struck the air.

He didn’t flinch. “I am a robot. That’s why this is an inane conversation.”

“Inane? I find you with another woman in the bedroom, and this conversation is silly? Oh, no, Christian. Did you invite her here?” Why couldn’t she stop hurting herself and let him go, lock the door and email Mayfair for a courier pickup?

Interview with Christian....

1. Nickname – I don’t have one.  I could be Chris, I suppose, as my name is Christian, but my March, who loved me enough to pay an exorbitant amount for me calls me by my given name (or is that assigned?)  I am a Special Edition, a sentient android completely indistinguishable from human.

2. Job – I was programmed as an Aerospace Engineer, but currently unemployed due to a lack of prior experience.  My creators are in the process of fabricating a past work history.  We do live in Houston, Texas, and NASA is a great prospect for a rocket scientist!

3.  Birthplace – Mayfair Electronics, London, England, this year. Four of us were born  that day after my brother and friend, Daniel De Cillis tested the waters to see if we’d be accepted as human.

4. What would you do if you won the lottery?  I could probably arrange that by manipulating the associated computers, but March won’t allow me to do so.  If I did, however, I’d pay off March’s loan on me and take us both on a cruise on the QEII, then explore the Norwegian Fjords.  Would you let me tamper with the computers to win?

5. Most important goal – To be a loving companion to March as I was programmed to do.  However, no programming required, I loved her at first sight.

6.  Favorite food – The one thing Mayfair didn’t cover was eating.  I have a keen sense of smell, but I can’t consume food. A nice grilled steak smells so good as does a good red wine.

Doesn't this whole concept sound fascinating!?!

Love for Sale can be purchased at Amazon, The Wild Rose Press and B&N
Watch the book video  HERE.

Born in South Carolina, Linda has lived in England, Canada, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Atlanta and Houston.  She’s seen a lot of this country from the windshield of a truck pulling a horse trailer, having bred, trained and showed Andalusian horses for many years.

Linda has won several writing awards, including the Georgia Romance Writers Magnolia Award.   She is the mother of two wonderful sons, a retired legal assistant, member of the Houston Symphony League, and enjoys events with her car club.  Among her favorite things are her snazzy black convertible and her parlor grand piano.  She loves to dress up and host formal dinner parties.

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/LNightingale

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

Web Site:  http://www.lindanightingale.com – Visit and look around. There’s a free continuing vampire story.

Blog:  https://lindanightingale.wordpress.com/ - Lots of interesting guests & prizes

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lbnightingale1/


Hope you enjoyed today's spotlight. Check back weekly for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and of course, Saturday Spotlight!

Until next time....take care and God Bless!
PamT

#ThursdayThoughts: Random Ramblings with Linda Nightingale

Hello and Welcome to the last Thursday Thoughts of March 2016!

Lent is over, Easter is behind us already, and this year is just moving right along.

Feb. 23rd's Tuesday Treasure guest, Linda Nightingale returns today to share some thoughts with us....

 

With only a brief respite working on Miami Beach for a very kind elderly millionaire, my career was in legal—a legal assistant. My job ranged from commercial real estate (working on the closing of Lenox Square in Atlanta) to residential real estate and real estate agent in South Carolina.  The last seven years, I worked at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston until I retired to write full-time.  One year, I contracted for a former boss assisting with a Federal Court case on MRSA. That was interesting and challenging!

As to my dream career, I am now writing copy for an ad agency as a Content Strategist, and I love my “job”.  I found a hoodie online that I wanted to buy that said something like Content Strategist, “miracle worker”… but the winter in Houston did not exist this year.  Hoodies not needed.

The real reason I write is because I have to.  The characters chatter in my head until I sit down at the keyboard…then they go silent, and I stare at a blank screen. My WIP is a ghost story that I’m writing with the intention of submitting it to my publisher.  Her Captain in Gray is about a woman who buys a pre-Civil War house in the South Carolina Low Country and finds herself with a roommate—the ghost of a Confederate captain.  My other 6 novels run the gamut from dark fantasy to romantic suspense and are all available on Amazon.

Thank you, Pam, for allowing me to ramble a bit on your lovely blog.  The cover is for my soon to be released Gylded Wings from The Wild Rose Press and was created by the incredible cover artist Debbie Taylor. 

About Linda....
Born in South Carolina, Linda Nightingale has lived in England, Canada, Miami, Atlanta and Houston.  She’s seen a lot of this country from the windshield of a truck pulling a horse trailer, having bred, trained and showed Andalusian horses for thirteen years.

Linda has won several writing awards, including the Georgia Romance Writers Magnolia Award.   As well as an author, she is a legal assistant and a mother of two incredible sons, one in England; the other a graphic artist in Houston.  She is a member of the Houston Symphony League and enjoys events with her car club.  Two of her favorite things are her snazzy black convertible and her parlor grand piano.

She is the author of three novels published by Double Dragon Publishing, a Canadian publisher. Gemini Rising, winner of the Preditors’ and Editors 2013 Poll in Mainstream, is a controversial dark fantasy, getting good reviews.  Sinners’ Opera and Cardinal Desires are paranormal romances starring sexy vampires.  The following is a snippet of a review for Sinners’ Opera:  “Morgan and Isabeau are characters that could be placed in the same category as some of the most famous couples in romance history - Romeo and his Juliet, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy - and their romance plays out like one of Beethoven's famous love letters.”

Visit her web site at http://www.lindanightingale.com(site designed by Simon Nightingale) for a continuing vampire story.  Catch her on Twitter at @LNightingale.  She is on Facebook, or visit her blog http://lindanightingale.wordpress.com/

Under the pen name Bianca Swan, she writes erotic romance.  The Wild Rose Press published two novellas. Double Dragon Publishing released one Bianca novel.

Linda's latest novel, Gambler's Choice is available now from Amazon in paperback and for Kindle.

Hope you enjoyed this week's Thursday Thoughts and that your return each week for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight!

Until next time...take care and God Bless!
PamT

#TuesdayTreasure: Guest post by Linda Nightingale & a #giveaway!

Good Morning Friends,

It is with great pleasure I introduce to you Lind Nightingale who shares with us some interesting information about one of my favorite animals...horses!

For years I loved the Arabian horse and bred the Egyptian Arabian.  They are refined and lovely, but then I met the Andalusian horse at a show in Atlanta.  I also met a long-time friend, Irene Benjamin, who helped me along with my passion for becoming a great rider (I don’t think I ever achieved this goal, but I had another partner—my Andalusian stallion Bonito).   I sold all my Arabians and bought this young stallion imported from Costa Rica.  He was simply gorgeous with the most beautiful eyes and wonderful personality, even if occasionally spiced with mischief.  He had quite a sense of humor! We had a bumpy journey sometimes because he was trained to a higher level than I was, but I wouldn’t trade a moment.

In fact, he was such a friend that when I was getting a divorce and was confused and sad, I’d go to the stables into his stall, and he’d hug me with his big arched neck while I cried.

We did a musical freestyle to Phantom of the Opera.  The ride began with a complete side pass across the arena.  We performed a bit of piaffe (trot in place) and a canter pirouette (canter in place).  He was not your ordinary horse, but then no Andalusian is ordinary.  I have a poster in my guest bath that says “This horse will change your life.”  It is absolutely the truth.

Allow me to tell you a little about this extraordinary breed.  They are the bullfighting horses of Spain—either quick or dead.

The Andalusian is an ancient pure breed that has been carefully preserved over the centuries.  In Northern Spain, cave paintings depict men leading Mesolitic horses with convex heads, solid muscular bodies, elegant necks and luxurious manes.  Circa 1,100 B.C., Homer refers to the Iberian horse in his Iliad.  The Iberian horse carried Hannibal across the Alps in his invasion of Italy (though the elephants got all the credit!).  History records Richard I and many of his knights mounted on "airy Spanish Destriers".

In the heyday of European monarchies, the Andalusian's flair, style and formidable carriage made him the mount of choice for the aristocracy.  Not only did the Spanish horse excel in battle but he was a fancy parade horse and an elegant fine harness animal.   This popularity earned the Iberian horse a grandiose title, "Horse of Kings" or "Royal Horse of Europe."   Indeed, there was a time when no crowned head would consider having a portrait painted on any horse other than an Andalusian. 

Wow Linda, Bonito definitely sounds like a treasure!

About Linda....
Born in South Carolina, Linda Nightingale has lived in England, Canada, Miami, Atlanta and Houston.  She’s seen a lot of this country from the windshield of a truck pulling a horse trailer, having bred, trained and showed Andalusian horses for thirteen years.

Linda has won several writing awards, including the Georgia Romance Writers Magnolia Award.   As well as an author, she is a legal assistant and a mother of two incredible sons, one in England; the other a graphic artist in Houston.  She is a member of the Houston Symphony League and enjoys events with her car club.  Two of her favorite things are her snazzy black convertible and her parlor grand piano.

She is the author of three novels published by Double Dragon Publishing, a Canadian publisher. Gemini Rising, winner of the Preditors’ and Editors 2013 Poll in Mainstream, is a controversial dark fantasy, getting good reviews.  Sinners’ Opera and Cardinal Desires are paranormal romances starring sexy vampires.  The following is a snippet of a review for Sinners’ Opera:  “Morgan and Isabeau are characters that could be placed in the same category as some of the most famous couples in romance history - Romeo and his Juliet, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy - and their romance plays out like one of Beethoven's famous love letters.”

Visit her web site at http://www.lindanightingale.com (site designed by Simon Nightingale) for a continuing vampire story.  Catch her on Twitter at @LNightingale.  She is on Facebook, or visit her blog http://lindanightingale.wordpress.com/

Under the pen name Bianca Swan, she writes erotic romance.  The Wild Rose Press published two novellas. Double Dragon Publishing released one Bianca novel.

Linda's latest novel, Gambler's Choice is available now from Amazon in paperback and for Kindle.

Linda is giving away an Ebook (winner's choice) of her back list to one lucky person~leave a comment for your chance to win!

Hope you enjoyed today's treasure. Check back weekly for Thursday Thoughts, Saturday Spotlights and of course, more Tuesday Treasures.

Until next time...take care and God bless!
PamT