Holiday Reads Continue....

By the grace of God and with the love and support of my family and friends, I made it through Christmas - not without tears but with my sanity intact.

Christmas may be over but the holiday romances will continue through this week and end Sat. with a New Year story.

Today's guest is Amber Polo with her book, Christmas on Wherever Island.

Amber Polo lives on a mesa in Arizona the setting of her most recent romance Flying Free, but has spent more than one Christmas on a Caribbean island. She writes about places she’s lived and places that don’t quite exist. Amber is passionate about writing, books, and libraries.

A Magic Santa brings Caribbean Christmas Joy

Marti Bell is facing the prospect of a very unmerry Christmas. Reluctantly, leaving her married lover she travels toward ice, snow, and judgmental family until a magic Santa sends her to a surprise destination in the warm waters of the Caribbean.

Wherever Island would be a winter paradise except the only place to stay is the beachside cottage of romantic globetrotting photographer Cliff Holmes. Cliff wants to unwind and treat Marti to a little romantic Caribbean Christmas fun but she’s determined to stay in the warm ocean and out of hot water.

Excerpt

The plane landed. What had she done? A shiver of apprehension shook Marti’s body. She’d never acted irresponsibly. She collected her luggage and followed her seatmate to the doorway. A blast of warm, heady sea air settled over her. Where was she? Wherever she was, she felt her body relax. Her face softened. Nobody knew her. Or where she was. She felt lighter.

She walked down the steps of the only plane on an airfield ringed by palm trees and crossed the tarmac to the lone building. Under the heat of a tropical sun, carrying belongings intended for a trip to a very cold place, she entered the open door marked WI BVI Customs.

“Welcome to Wherever Island!” A black man in a blue and white uniform handed her a form and asked for her passport. Grateful to be the obsessively organized person who always traveled with a passport, she held it out. After a quick inspection, he handed it back, smiled, and pointed to a woman at a table. “Please take your things there, Ma’am.”

The customs clerk quickly checked Marti’s purse and carry-on and frowned at the wrapped gifts. “Visiting family here?”

“No, Ma’am. Last-minute trip.”

The clerk raised her eyebrows. “Hotel?”

“Any recommendations?” Marti smiled with what she hoped looked like a dumb tourist grin.
The woman frowned again. “Ma’am, you must have a hotel reservation. Can’t have Americans sleeping all over our beaches, now can we.”

“May I call a hotel?”

“All hotels and the resort are filled. It’s Christmas.” The woman’s eyebrows arched.

“What am I supposed to do? Get back on the plane?” The noise of her plane taking off drowned out her words. Welcome to paradise, now go home? She felt a movement behind her and the customs officer’s eyes looked up. A male voice said, “Perhaps I could help?”

Marti turned and looked into Cliff Holmes’ broad chest. Cliff smiled his world traveler soldier of fortune smile. He’d changed from those attention-grabbing tight jeans into khaki shorts and a perfectly wrinkled white shirt. His camera cases sat on a cart next to a huge canvas duffle.

“Ms. Bell and I work for the same company.” He removed folded papers from his passport case. “I’m here to film your beautiful island. This letter from the Ministry of Tourism will explain. I have reserved a two bedroom cottage at the resort. I was expecting Sonja Holmes on this flight. Perhaps she missed the connection. In any case, I would be happy to share my lodgings with Ms. Bell.”

Christmas on Wherever Island is available now at The Wild Rose Press. Find out more about Amber at her website.

Well friends, hope you're continuing to enjoy these holiday romances. Check back often.

Until later Be Blessed!

PamT

Saturday Spotlight Linda Swift!

Hey Friends,

This week's spotlight is Linda Swift with two holiday reads!

Linda Swift is a native of Kentucky but has been a nomad all of her life. She currently lives in Florida with her real-life hero, a power plant consultant who keeps her "grounded." She is the misfit in a family of musicians which includes her husband, and son, daughter and son-in-law who live in Music City, USA. Even her precious Lhasa apso granddog growls on key.

In her other life, she went to school forever and was a counselor and psychometrist in public education. "I would not have missed any of my life experiences, " she says emphatically, " because they have given me the insight I need to write. Linda has been writing since she was ten and is an award winning author of published poetry, articles, and short stories and had a play produced on WPSD-TV, an NBC affiliate. But her passion has been writing novels since her first books were published in 1994. Due to a mid-list crisis, she has had an unplanned hiatus which now has a happy ending. Visit Linda at www.lindaswift.net

Kala's position as tour guide at a Kentucky Welcome Center isn't enough to cope with huge debts left by her late husband's illness, but she manages to make ends meet . . until her car quits running. To save money on repairs, she enrolls in an auto-mechanic class taught by Rex, a handsome part-time instructor whose broken heart needs repairing, too. After recently losing his important job and family, he has sworn never to get involved with another woman.

Kala discounts her growing attraction to Rex when she learns he is years younger, until the winter storm of the century throws them together. When the Interstate closes down, Kala opens her home to a houseful of strangers. Despite fire, flood, and friction, she creates an old-fashioned holiday rich in the true spirit of Christmas. In the process, Kala and Rex discover the greatest gift of love.

Let Nothing You Dismay is available now from The Wild Rose Press along with a few more of Linda's books!

Leigh and Russell have not seen each other in years when they come to Kentucky to spend the holidays with Leigh's Grandmother Amelia. Russell's own grandmother lived next door until her death and they had been in love before Russell left for college. Leigh waited for his return but to her disappointment, he never came back.

When they meet again, the attraction between them is stronger than before but many complications exist. Leigh's husband and young son were killed in a car accident in upstate New York. She blames herself for her son's death and vows never to be a mother again. She left her elementary teaching job and moved to Florida where she now sells real estate. Russell is a successful building contractor in Arizona, a divorced father of two, whose wife just remarried and will be moving overseas. She has offered custody of their girls, four and eleven, to him and he must decide now.

When Russell asks Leigh to marry him, she thinks he needs a mother for his children and doesn't want the job. Will he be willing to say no to custody in order to get Leigh to say yes? Can she become Russell's wife if it means depriving him of his beloved daughters?

The Twelve Days of Christmas is available from Awe Struck Ebooks!

Another week down and one more to go until Christmas, Folks - Are you ready?

Until later Be Blessed!

PamT

All I Want for Christmas.....

Is to be more like Jesus!

Welcome back friends to another spotlight on a holiday romance - this time All I Want for Christmas by Cindy K Green.

Cindy K. Green is a multi-published author with degrees in History and Education. Previously a middle school English & History teacher, she now homeschools her own children and writes in several genres: Inspirational, Contemporary, Suspense, Fantasy and Historical romance. No matter what she writes, she always throws in a bit of humor and fun. Find out more about Cindy and her books at www.cindykgreen.com and http://cindykgreen.blogspot.com/. To join her newsletter email her at newsletters@cindykgreen.com, and she will send you out all three parts of her FREE READ serial, “Valentine’s Challenge.”

Best Friends or True Love? Only Santa Knows.

Kathryn Graham hates Christmas. She hates the snow, the decorations, the whole nine yards. Nick Pringle on the other hand can’t get enough of the season. He may be her best friend and fellow writer at Redburn Weekly Magazine, but sometimes his exuberance gets on her very last nerve. Now they’ve been assigned to cover the orphan toy drive story. It’s just a puff piece not the serious journalism Kathryn hopes for, but maybe—as Nick says—there are no old stories just new angles.

Nick Pringle has been in love with Kathryn practically since the day they met. When he realizes that she’s lost her Christmas spirit, he figures he’s just the guy to help her find it again. He enacts a plan to send her anonymous gifts from Secret Santa, but will any of this really make a difference in her? Will she ever see him as anything more than her smart-aleck partner even after their passionate kisses? Then again maybe he’ll get what he wants for Christmas after all.

Excerpt: Halfway through the film, Nick’s fingers brushed over Kathryn’s wrist and a surge whipped through her like an electrical charge. His hand ended up on her knee, and he leaned over close to her ear. “You have any more of those Milkduds?”

“Huh?” Oh, candy. He just wanted more snacks. Well, of course, what other reason would he have for touching her like that?

“Here,” she whispered and held out the container to him.

His face remained close to hers, his warm hand still molded to the shape of her knee. She accidentally moved in too close and her forehead bumped his cheek. Looking up at him, Kathryn saw he wasn’t smiling. His eyes had grown serious and all thoughts of candy dissipated. His attention dropped to her mouth and suddenly Kathryn couldn’t swallow. Could he possibly be considering kissing her? Just then, he turned his attention back to the movie and lifted his hand from her knee.

An unexplainable inclination took over as Kathryn pushed his hand back to her knee. His face whipped back to her. Questions filled his features. His chest moved up and then down. He smoothed his hand over her pants from her knee to her thigh and back again. Her skin pebbled under the material at his touch. This was soon followed by heat tingling from her stomach to the tips of her toes.

She leaned in towards him and he met her halfway. And just like that their lips met. Giddiness spun through Kathryn’s head with sparks tingling her skin. The kiss was light and sweet yet searing all at once. Lucidity began to return to her the next moment. What was she doing? Oh, right, she was kissing Nick Pringle. She was kissing a co-worker. Worse yet, she was making out with her best friend. What was she thinking? She had to stop and yet it was the last thing she wanted to do.

The whole idea was ludicrous. An outrageous act and yet somehow her body’s sole response was that it wanted more. Whoa! Had it been that long since she’d had a date? Time to reign in those annoying hormones which threatened to take over her sanity.

She broke off the kiss and rested her hand against his chest. She could feel his heart speeding at the rate of a train. A train wreck is more like it. Ay-yi-yi! How was she going to get herself out of this one?

All I Want for Christmas is available now from Champagne Books!

Whew, my bank balance is going to suffer LOL!

That wraps up another holiday romance spotlight - join me Saturday for TWO more great holiday reads!

Until then.....BE BLESSED!

The Priceless Gift by Anna K Lanier

Well the countdown has really begun - only 10 more days until Christmas! Hope you're enjoying the shopping and parties - Personally as much fun as they are, they're also exhausting - and this year tinged with sadness.

One way I escape is with a good book!

Keeping this in mind I'm continuing with my spotlights on Holiday Themed Romances and today Anna K. Lanier is back with her book, The Priceless Gift.

Anna Kathryn lives in Texas with her husband and three cats. She wrote her first stories in high school, and a few romances in her early twenties, but then put the writing bug to bed for a while as she raised her two daughters. In 2001 she got the bit by the bug again and started writing, two novels in six months. Needless to say, they are very unpublishable, but they were finished and gave her the kick in the butt she needed. Over the next few years she wrote another novel and started in on short stories. She now has seven shorts published, including The Wild Rose Press best seller THE PRICELESS GIFT. Find out more about Anna and her work at her website.

The last thing Christina Scott expects Santa to bring her is a sexy—and very familiar—cowboy. Gavin Holloway’s just as shocked to discover she’s the woman he’s sent to pick up from the airport for a Christmas visit with her brother. They'd spent one hot week together months ago—a week where they both left their identities and individual problems behind. Neither ever expected a reunion.

Little do they know, Santa's elf has more than coal up his sleeve. Ho ho ho and a badgering we'll go before reindeer two-step on their rooftop and deliver THE PRICELESS GIFT that will leave their snowy days sizzling.

Unedited excerpt: After they hung up, Christina took a relaxing shower. Just as she slipped into a pair of Jacob’s sweatpants someone pounded on the front door. Only one person would disturb her peace in such a manner. She slipped into the matching overlarge sweatshirt, wrapped a towel around her wet hair and went downstairs.

The pounding didn’t stop until she opened the door. Gavin stood huffing and puffing on the porch.

“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling for the past fifteen minutes.” He pushed past her and tramped into the great room.

She shut the door and followed.

“I was taking a shower. So sorry I didn’t get your permission first.”

He whirled on her and his dark eyes grazed over her body. She stood transfixed, remembering, as she was sure he was, the several showers they’d taken together while on the cruise.

She hugged her arms around herself. “Did you want something?”

“Jacob called and said the roads were too bad for him to make it in tonight. I wanted to make sure you were all right and knew where the emergency supplies were.” He slipped out of his coat and tossed it on a nearby chair.

“Jacob said the generator was outside.”

“Yeah, it is. I’ll come over and start it if you need it. But if the electricity goes out, it’s best just to hunker down in front of the fireplace.”

His aftershave triggered memories of sensual nights, while his jeans hugged his hips and legs like a second skin. Naked images of him caused desire to whip through her only to pool low in her belly.

He went to the den and opened a closet. “Jacob keeps the supplies in here.”

She stood in the doorway and nodded. She had no desire to get within touching distance. If she did, she just might do something really stupid, like kiss him.

His handsome face rose and he sniffed. “What smells so good?”

You. She shook off the arousing thoughts.

“I baked. It’s a family tradition.” She started for the kitchen. “I made plenty. You can take some home.” Leave and stop being a temptation.

He fell into step behind her. When she reached for the plastic bags, his hand gripped her arm and whipped her around. Before she could react, his lips were hot and demanding on her own. She opened her mouth, eager to taste what she knew so well.

Well, if THAT doesn't warm you up on a cold winter's night LOL! Along with Anna's other titles, The Priceless Gift is available now from The Wild Rose Press.

Check back often because I'm spotlighting more great holiday romances all month long!

Until later....take care, be safe in your travels, BE BLESSED and remember....Along with the celebration of our Lord's birth - Christmas is an attitude.

Saturday Spotlight - Elaine Cantrell!

Hello Friends!

I'm off to a family Christmas Party today but wanted to drop in and share with you another holiday romance.

Please welcome to our spotlight - Elaine Cantrell with her book, The Best Selling Toy of the Season.

Elaine Cantrell was born and raised in South Carolina. She has a Master’s Degree in Personnel Services from Clemson University and is a member of Alpha Delta Kappa, an international honorary sorority for women educators. She is also a member of Romance Writers of America. She is married to her college sweetheart and has two sons and three grandchildren. The Best Selling Toy Of The Season is her fifth novel. You can visit Elaine at her web site, http://www.elainecantrell.com; at http://www.myspace.com/elainecantrell; and at http://www.morganmandelbooks.ning.com/profile/ElaineCantrell.

Who’d want to be Nikki Lane? Sure, she’s beautiful, but her family isn’t much. She isn’t married either, and supporting her two boys on a minimum wage job has cost her more than one sleepless night.

Tommy Price is everything Nikki isn’t. He lives on James Street, the best street in town. Naturally, his rich, influential family has a suitable woman picked out for him to marry.

Tommy and Nikki’s two diverse worlds literally collide one evening at the discount store where Nikki works, giving both of them a glimpse into a life they never knew existed. Can the growing attraction between them bridge the vast gulf which separates them, or will their romance end before it even begins?

This book is available now from www.midnightshowcase.com

Well Friends, that wraps up another edition of Saturday Spotlight and another holiday romance! Check back next week for more of the same.

Until later..... Be Blessed and remember ~ Jesus is the reason for EVERY season!

Holiday Romance - An Ordinary Angel!

What's more exciting than a holiday romance?

Today's spotlight is Kathy Otten and her book, An Ordinary Angel - a NEW RELEASE from The Wild Rose Press. But first, a little about the author.....

Kathy is a working mom with a husband of 27 years and three kids, who are still flying in and out of the nest. She's been writing and making up stories her whole life. Her dad was big fan of the Hollywood singing cowboys as well as John Wayne. Her mom collected antiques and enjoyed trips to museums and reinactment villages. It was enevitable that all this would combine into Kathy's love for historical romances, especially from the start of the Civil War through the end of the cowboy era. When she's not writing Kathy is usually out walking her two big dogs through the woods and open farmland near where she lives. In the evening she likes to curl up with one of her four cats and a good book.

Find out more about Kathy at her website.

A lifetime of polite indifference is all Julianne Spencer sees when she envisions a future with her current suitor, Mr. Terrel Lee Parker. She is looking for someone more passionate, more heroic, who can love her for who she really is, and not the proper young lady she pretends to be. Her future seems hopeless until Christmas Eve, when fate drops a wounded outlaw at her door and she comes to realize true heroes can be found inside even ordinary men

Excerpt: A few moments later, she placed a lamp on the floor and knelt over Terrel Lee’s head wound. Frank wouldn’t let her have the scissors, so she carefully separated matted hanks of blood soaked hair with shaking fingers. Her stomach churned as she pushed the curved needle into his skin and tears blurred her vision, so she was forced to blink them away before she could pull the threaded needle through.

When she finished, she leaned her aching back against the cabinet drawers and pulled Terrel Lee close, his head resting in her lap. Fighting tears, she gently sifted her fingers through his dark brown hair. She’d never touched it before, had never even wondered how it would feel. Now she couldn’t get enough of the silky strands. She combed her fingers through it over and over, the action more soothing to herself than it was for Terrel Lee.

She’d seen curls of hair at the base of his throat when she removed his collar and unbuttoned his shirt. She wondered how much of the dark hair coated his chest. The outlaw in the other room had very little, and she was curious to discover whether the hair on Terrel Lee’s chest was as soft as this hair she slid between her fingers.

He moaned again, then opened his eyes. She expelled a shaky sigh of relief. Pain furrowed his brow, and he closed them again. He struggled for a moment against the rope that secured his wrists behind his back.

She lifted the cloth pad from behind his ear. The bleeding had stopped, but the bump beneath it had swollen. When he opened his eyes again she leaned close to check, as her father had taught her, to make sure his pupils were equally dilated and reacted to the yellow glow of lamp light. Long thick lashes surrounded beautiful eyes the color of cocoa powder. Pain kept them narrowed against the light, but he was awake, staring up at her first in confusion and now surprise.

She blinked, her eyes burning as the quaking terror she’d managed to keep suppressed suddenly rushed to the surface and spilled over in a silent stream of tears.

"Why are you cryin’?" he mumbled.

Unable to adequately express the crazy swell of emotion surging through her in that moment, she said the first inane thing to pop into her head. "Your hat."

"My hat?"

"The s-scar-faced one found your h-hat outside, and Frank tossed it into the s-stove." She wiped her face, but only succeeded in smearing the dried blood on her fingers through her tears and across her cheeks.

"You’re cryin’ over my old hat?" He wore an odd expression, caught between disbelief and amusement.

Julianne sniffed. "But you looked so good in that h-hat."

His eyebrows rose in surprise.

"And I l-like the way you always ran your fingers around the brim. And now it’s g-gone. And if Dalton d-dies, they’re going to k-kill you!" Tears flowed in earnest as her breath caught on a sob.

Terrel Lee shifted out of her lap to wiggle around beside her and lean against the support of the drawers. A grimace of pain crossed his features. "Calm yourself, Miss Julianne, we’ll get through this."

"B-but how?"

"I don’t know, but I did not survive four years of Yankee aggression to die on Christmas Eve at the hands of this vermin. I’ll think of something."

Julianne sniffed and wiped her eyes. "You were in the war? You never told me."

"I did not think war a fit topic for conversation with a young lady durin’ Sunday dinner."
"That is the most ridiculous th-thing I ever heard."

"I hardly think so. War is a terrible thing, Miss Julianne. I don’t believe it proper that I should burden you with the horrors that haunt my dreams."

"Why not? Look at me, Terrel Lee." She gestured at the new blood stains that smeared the front of her mother’s apron. "I spent an hour tonight digging a bullet out of a man who would just as soon kill me as thank me. And since then, I’ve been holding your bleeding h-head in my lap, praying you wouldn’t d-die in my arms. What do you think, Terrel Lee? Too terrible for a young lady to handle?"

"But you’re cryin’, Miss Julianne."

"Because of your hat."

"My hat?"

"I liked that hat." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, daring him to contradict her. His expression was bemused, as though he had never really seen her before.
"And stop calling me Miss Julianne in that condescending way, as though I’m some kind of china doll that will break at any moment."

"I do apologize for offendin’ you, Mi—Julianne, but I was raised a gentleman and the manners I learned as a boy have been well ingrained into my character."

"Don’t take this the wrong way, I like your manners and your southern accent gives me the shivers, but considering how long we’ve known each other, and given the situation in which we now find ourselves, I believe we have moved beyond the "Mr. Parker," "Miss Julianne" stage, don’t you agree?"

"Perhaps you’re right. And now that we have established acceptable forms of address between us, perhaps you could discretely loosen my bonds, so we might escape before the other outlaws return."

Though they had been whispering quietly, somehow with Frank sitting right there in the kitchen, Julianne hadn’t even thought of trying. Embarrassed by her mistake she glared at Terrel Lee. "I’ve changed my mind. I think I liked you better when you didn’t say anything."

Nothing beats holiday stress like a good book and I hope you're enjoying these excerpts. Check back often for more romance for the holidays!

Until later.... Be Blessed.

Holiday Reads by Susan Lyons

Good Morning!

Well I made it through Thanksgiving and surgery on my hand and now it's back to the normal work-a-day routine.

As difficult as these past few months have been, and as much as I miss my beloved - I am looking forward to the New Year and a new purpose for my life.

Today we are spotlighting 2 Christmas stories by author Susan Lyons.... A Christmas Wish and Unwrap Me.

Susan is multi-talented and multi-published under her name and a pseudonym - Susan Fox. You can find out more about her at her website.

“Christmas Wish” is a sweet short story from The Wild Rose Press. It’s available as a stand-alone and is also contained in CALENDAR OF LOVE, an anthology of twelve tender romances, one for each month of the year, themed around a holiday or special occasion.

Blurb:
Everything’s gone wrong for Carrie this Christmas Eve, so it’s no surprise the mall’s Santa has already left when she and her four-year-old daughter Tanya arrive. But Carrie’s luck turns and the man in the red suit returns. Will Santa - a.k.a. Nicholas - be the answer to Tanya’s Christmas wish for a new daddy?

“Unwrap Me” is a novella by the same name, a Christmas anthology from Kensington Aphrodisia. The anthology contains three very spicy holiday stories by me, Melissa MacNeal and Melissa Randall.

Blurb:

Jude Benedetto is a Christmas Grinch. She says the holiday is crass and commercial, but the deeper truth is a soul-deep pain over being abandoned at Christmastime. Twice. Her answer is to banish Christmas from her life. But her girlfriend has other plans. She sends Jude a very special Secret Santa gift: hot firefighter, Nick Buchanan. Named after St. Nick, he’s a huge fan of Christmas.

Waging a campaign based on “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” he has twelve very sexy days and nights to persuade Jude to open her heart and trust in him, and to rediscover the loving spirit of Christmas.

Ooohhh, sounds like a good way to spice up cold winter evenings LOL!

Remember, friends I do not read every book I spotlight so use wisdom when purchasing.

Until later.....Be Blessed!

Holiday Romance - A Cowboy's Dream by Anna K Lanier

Today is Bayou Writers' Group's Christmas party so I'm off and running! But before I head out, I want to share with you another holiday romance. But first, a little about the author....

Anna Kathryn lives in Texas with her husband and three cats. She wrote her first stories in high school, and a few romances in her early twenties, but then put the writing bug to bed for a while as she raised her two daughters. In 2001 she got the bit by the bug again and started writing, two novels in six months. Needless to say, they are very unpublishable, but they were finished and gave her the kick in the butt she needed. Over the next few years she wrote another novel and started in on short stories. She now has seven shorts published, including The Wild Rose Press best seller A COWBOY'S DREAM.

Learn more about Anna Kathryn at her website, www.aklanier.com. She keeps fairly active on her blog, too www.annakathrynlanier.blogspot.com, where she hosts other authors, posts recipes and gives a history lesson each week.

Author Leah Smith has fantasized about her neighbor, Houston’s pro baseball player Marcus Slade, for years, but thinks it’s unlikely she’d catch the cowboy’s interest since her IQ is bigger than her bra size. Having already been hurt by a man who wanted size over substance, she’s not in a hurry to play in that ball field again.

When an unexpected opportunity gets Marcus inside his favorite author’s apartment, he’s not about to let a second chance at love pass him by. Their attraction is quick and electric and has him instantly thinking about something more long-term. But when a woman from his past intrudes, his hopes of a cozy Christmas with Leah are buried beneath her cold shoulder. Risking a strikeout, Marcus has one chance left...go for the grand slam of his life and crash Leah's annual Christmas Eve party in hopes of convincing her she’s this Cowboy’s Dream.

Excerpt: The mouthwatering scents of seared steak wafted around Leah as Marcus escorted her into the world famous Kemah Boardwalk Steak House. Her stomach grumbled, a reminder she hadn’t eaten since early morning.

The hostess greeted Marcus by name and smiled warmly at her. Leah glanced at him, wondering how often he came to the restaurant. Celebration dinners should be rare, not weekly—unless you found an excuse to celebrate every little thing. But what made them special then?

She slid into the booth and mentally shook her head. No matter what Marcus did in the past, this was her celebratory dinner. She smiled as he sat opposite her and determined to enjoy his company for as long as she had it..

The hostess handed them menus. “Would you like something from the bar, Mr. Slade?”

Marcus placed his Stetson beside him on the booth cushion and raised a brow at her.

“Whatever they have on tap will be fine,” she said.

He grinned and nodded. “Two beers, please.”

Glancing at his ‘celebration clothing,” she was glad she’d summed him up right. She’d nearly put on the $900 designer gown she planned to wear to next month’s charity fund raiser and made her look hot as hell, but at the last minute went over what she knew about pro ball player Marcus Slade. Celebrity though he may be, he was obviously still a cowboy at heart. Instead of the silk and satin confection, she pulled on blue jeans and simple blouse . She matched his jeans and western-styled shirt quite well.

Leah opened the menu and looked it over. “You’re a man after my own heart. There’s nothing better to celebrate with than a beer and a good steak.”

He jerked back as if surprised. “You mean to say you’ll actually order a steak?”

“Well, of course.” She laughed, brushing her hair behind her ear. “What’s the point of going to a steak house and not ordering a steak?”

He opened his mouth, but then shut it for a moment before uttering, “Truth be told, most of the women I know don’t eat much meat.”

That was no surprise. Most of the women she’d seen him with were the size of twigs—except in the bosom area—and probably ate weeds.

“Well, I hope you brought along your charge card, because I haven’t eaten much today and I’m starving. I plan to get a really big steak with all the fixings to celebrate.”

Marcus laughed. “Honey, the day I can’t afford to buy a pretty lady a steak is the day I’ll hang it up for good.”

Her heart fluttered at the endearment. Sure, it was common enough for Texans to drop honey and darling like hello and good-bye, but still, hearing it from Marcus made her insides quiver.

He wagged his brows, then glanced down to study his menu. She released a small sigh. Since she was a Roughrider’s fan and had held season tickets for year, she’d known who Marcus was before he moved into The Towers. To say she had a crush on him was probably an understatement, but she’d never suffered from delusions, either. Leah Smith, plain, average daughter of nomad archeologists just wasn’t the type of woman the major league outfielder dated. As much as she wished she differently, she shouldn’t read more into this ‘date’ than what it was—a friendly, celebratory meal.

Sounds like another great romance to relax with between shopping trips. Join me again next week for more!

Until later....take care, Be Blessed and remember....Every day is a gift from God - that's why it is called the present - so enjoy each new day you're given!

Holiday Romance - Almost Home by Carla Rossi!

Hello Friends!

Today we continue spotlighting Holiday Romances with Carla Rossi and her novel Almost Home.

Carla Rossi has written everything from Christmas Pageants and school newsletters, to poetry, stage plays, and Christian music. After another thousand pages of humorous essays about friends and family, she completed a novel. In 2004, she joined RWA and her local chapter, and set about the business of learning to write romance. When she’s not squirreled away in her office with her writing partner – a Main Coon cat – she’s adding piano, bass and vocals to her church’s worship band. She has three grown children and lives north of Houston with her husband and the muse cat.

Carla is the author of two inspirational romances, Limited Light and Almost Home, and two inspirational short stories, Under the 5^th Street Bridge and It Happened One Hurricane. Under the 5^th Street Bridge was a winner in White Rose Publishing’s Easter Lilies Contest, and Almost Home, a holiday romance, landed in the HOLT Medallion Top Five and was a finalist in the WisRWA Write Touch Readers’ Award Contest.

Check out Carla’s blog at http://authorcarlarossi.blogspot.com or contact her at authorcarlarossi@yahoo.com. All current stories are available at whiterosepublishing.com.

The perfect road trip: 2 strangers, 1 truck, and 1500 miles to fall in love.

Detective Justin Hatcher and Cameron McAlister are in a hurry to leave North Carolina-for totally different reasons. He wants to confront his family about a five-year-old betrayal. She wants to escape the remnants of a failed marriage.

Thrown together as unlikely and unexpected travel partners, their trip is filled with both dramatic and humorous situations along the road. But, with God's constant hand in their journey, can Justin and Cameron discover that...

Yes, you can go home again...especially at Christmastime.

Mistletoe Rules by Stacey Joy Netzel

Hello Friends,

Hope your Thanksgiving was blessed and happy! I'll be home from Nashville today. Isn't it funny how anxious we are to go, but how good it is to be home?

Today's spotlight is an anthology by author Stacey Joy Netzel ~ Mistletoe Rules.

Stacey Joy Netzel fell in love with books at a young age, so for her it seemed only natural to graduate to writing them. A member of RWA and WisRWA, she credits not only her parents for encouraging her dreams of becoming a published author, but also the very talented friends she’s made in WisRWA since joining in 2004. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband and kids, a couple of horses, and six barn cats. When not writing and living life in general, she loves to read and watch movies—Happily Ever After’s a must. Published books with The Wild Rose Press include: If Tombstones Could Talk, Welcome to Redemption (Champagne Rose anthology with Donna Marie Rogers), Dragonfly Dreams, and Chasin’ Mason. You can visit her at www.StaceyJoyNetzel.com.

Here's the blurb for all 3 stories in the anthology: MISTLETOE RULES

Christmas Recipe for Love — combine a matchmaking Santa, lots of mistletoe, one iron-clad rule, fated hearts; mix and stir. The Riley siblings don’t stand a chance.

Christmas in July at the zoo is the last place single parents Eric Riley and Marissa Wilder expect to find love. Thanks to a little Mistletoe Mischief in the form of their two young daughters and Santa, they discover that Mistletoe Rules are not made to be broken.

Major Mark Riley plays Court Jester to Janelle Walsh's Snow Queen at the Christmas Parade and is instantly captivated by the cute redhead whose grandpa just happens to be Santa. When Mark discovers she's the tenant he evicted from his newly purchased property, it's going to take a little bit of Santa's Mistletoe Magic to save their romance.

When Lisa Riley comes home for Mark's Christmas Eve wedding, her high school rivalry with Janelle’s cousin, Derek Walsh, picks up right where it left off, only this time Derek's got the upper hand. Santa bides his time as these two battle it out because he's waited all year for this Mistletoe Match-up.

Mistletoe Rules is available now from The Wild Rose Press! and while you're there, check out Stacey's other titles.

Well Friends, if you're in the mood to read I'll be spotlighting holiday-themed romances for another week or two so check back often!

Until later....take care, be Blessed and remember to keep the holidays holy days.

Pamela S Thibodeaux

"Inspirational with an Edge!" TM

Thanks but No Thanks by Susan Lyons

Happy Thanksgiving!

Seems my whole family and all of my friends felt like a change of scenery would do me good so I'm off to Nashville to visit my friend Penney Carlton for a few days!

But while I'm away, as promised here is another holiday-themed-romance ~ Thanks but No Thanks by Susan Lyons.

Susan is multi-talented and multi-published under her name and a pseudonym - Susan Fox. You can find out more about her at her website.

“Thanks But No Thanks” is a sweet short story from The Wild Rose Press. It’s available as a stand-alone and is also contained in CALENDAR OF LOVE, an anthology of twelve tender romances, one for each month of the year, themed around a holiday or special occasion.

Blurb: When Kari’s friend Nicola offers to fix her up, Kari says, “Thanks, but no thanks.” She’s so shy, she can never think of anything to say on a date. That’s why it’s such a treat when, as a guest at Nicola’s family Thanksgiving, she finds herself chatting so easily with the man she believes to be her friend’s brother. Pity he’s married – it only goes to prove her theory that all the good guys are taken. Or are they?

Excerpt:

“You’re going to come here every Thanksgiving until you start a family of your own,” Rhonda vowed.

“You could be stuck with me for a lot of years.” When she’d moved here with her brand-new accounting degree, she’d been sure she’d find romance. In her home town, she’d been the shy, boring girl who wore glasses, and none of the boys had been interested. She’d figured contact lenses and the big city were the answer, but the truth was, she was still shy and boring. Every time she went out on a date, she got so nervous she couldn’t think of a single interesting thing to say.

“I’d never call it being stuck.” Rhonda gave her a quick hug. “Besides, you’ve got so much going for you, you’re going to find a great guy any day now.”

“Yeah, sure. What on earth do I have going for me?” She wasn’t begging for compliments, she honestly wanted to know.

“Aside from gorgeous hazel eyes, a figure to die for, more brains in your little finger than most people have in their whole heads, and a really generous soul? Well, there’s your offbeat sense of humor, your loyalty, the way you love kids and animals, the terrific photographs you take.” Rhonda broke off and grabbed a wooden spoon from a drawer. “I could go on forever but I need to make gravy. Kari, the fact is, you’re a sweet, beautiful, interesting woman, if you’d only let yourself realize it. Your only flaw is, you never let me fix you up.”

“Thanks but no thanks. You know I hate blind dates. Anyhow, I’m pretty sure all the great guys are gone. You took the last one yourself.”

“There’s an idea. Let’s clone Harry.”

The two of them were still laughing when Harry strolled into the kitchen. He cocked an eyebrow. “Been nipping at the cooking brandy?”

Kari smiled at him. She’d liked her friend’s husband from the moment Rhonda had introduced them. It didn’t hurt that he looked like a grown-up version of her own kid brother Ken. He had her family’s hazel eyes, blondy-brown hair and rangy build.

From what she could see, Rhonda and Harry were a perfectly matched couple. They were so obviously in love and they seemed to agree about everything, and never quarrel.

Rhonda swatted her husband with a dish towel. “We don’t need booze to have fun.”

“Speaking of fun, how long until dinner?”

“Another half hour. Are people starving?”

“The appetizers are running low. Nick didn’t have lunch, so –”

“Nick?” Rhonda asked.

“Yeah, you know. The guy I met at the gym? The one who’s new in town and doesn’t know anyone.”

“What?” Kari yelped, and glared at Rhonda. “I can’t believe it. You set me up with a blind date.”

“Did not!” Rhonda declared heatedly, then glared in turn at Harry. “You never told me you invited someone.”

“Oh.” His face fell. “I guess I forgot. It’s been a busy week.” Then his jaw firmed. “Well, what’s the big deal? Since when can’t I invite a friend for Thanksgiving? There’s lots of food, right? And you invited Kari, so it’s not like it’s just family.”

Rhonda fist her hands and rested them at her waist. “You should have checked with me first. Kati hates blind dates and I don’t want her thinking I was trying to fix her up.”

The two people who Kari’d thought never quarreled were shooting nasty looks at each other. Quickly Kari said, “It’s okay. Don’t fight over it.”

“There, you see,” Harry said. “She’s fine with it.”

Rhonda sighed. “No, she’s not, she’s just being polite.” She turned to Kari. “Tell you what. We’ll seat you at opposite ends of the table at dinner, and you won’t even have to talk to him.”

“It’s a deal.” Relieved that the tension was dying down, she joked, “I’ll do anything, even help you deal with the mothers-in-law, just please, no blind dates!”

Well Friends, hope your Thanksgiving is BLESSED and Happy!

Saturday will be our previously scheduled spotlight with Margaret Tanner but the holiday-themed romances will continue on Tuesday!

Until later..... take care and remember.....Giving God thanks should be a DAILY thing!