Happily Ever Afters For All by Kim Boykin

Back when I was a little girl, I loved the scenes in the Disney movies where Prince Charming rides up on his beautiful steed and rescues the girl. Fast forward fifteen years, and I preferred a shirtless Prince Charming with great abs riding on his trusty steed to save the girl. But, today, some of my favorite stories are about women helping others find their happily ever afters.

My husband won’t admit it to me, but if there were an out and out battle of the sexes (excluding physical tests,) he’d lay his money on us folks with the X chromosomes to win.\

Case in point; our daughter once asked him the proverbial question, “If you were stranded on a desert island, who would you want with you?” (Keeping in mind that twelve-year-olds don’t throw whom around much.)

He said, “Your mom.” After he got a great big AWWW from our daughter, he explained. “She would find a way to feed us, keep us happy, and get us off the island and back home in no time.”

I’m not too sure about that, but exploring women flat out saving the day has always fascinated me.

In my new novel, Palmetto Moon, Vada’s friend, Claire, helps Vada find the gumption to stand up for herself and choose the life she wants over the marriage that was arranged before Vada’s birth. The big sticking point for Vada is, the elderly servant couple that raised her may suffer repercussions if Vada doesn’t return home.

“My father keeps a portion of the servants’ money—he says he invests it for them. When he learns Desmond and Rosa Lee helped me run away—” Vada shakes her head.

 “Eggs break. Families break. But one thing I know for certain is, Vada, you and I don’t. You had the courage to choose a different life for yourself, and you’re thriving. This is what growing up is.” Claire pushes a strand of silky blond hair away from Vada’s tearstained face. “If your father turns Desmond and Rosa Lee out, you’ll take them in and somehow you’ll make do. And when the time comes, I have no doubt you’ll stand up to your father.”

Of course I have no scientific data that suggests women are genetically engineered to save the world. And, while the prince or one of his buddies is quite capable of riding to the rescue on a white horses, when you get right down to it, women are just better at it.

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Kim Boykin was raised in her South Carolina home with two girly sisters and great parents. She had a happy, boring childhood, which sucks if you’re a writer because you have to create your own crazy. PLUS after you’re published and you’re being interviewed, it’s very appealing when the author actually lived in Crazy Town or somewhere in the general vicinity.

Almost everything she learned about writing, she learned from her grandpa, an oral storyteller, who was a master teacher of pacing and sensory detail. He held court under an old mimosa tree on the family farm, and people used to come from all around to hear him tell stories about growing up in rural Georgia and share his unique take on the world.

As a stay-at-home mom, Kim started writing, grabbing snip-its of time in the car rider line or on the bleachers at swim practice. After her kids left the nest, she started submitting her work, sold her first novel at 53, and has been writing like crazy ever since.

Thanks to the lessons she learned under that mimosa tree, her books are well reviewed and, according to RT Book Reviews, feel like they’re being told across a kitchen table. She is the author of The Wisdom of Hair from Berkley, Steal Me, Cowboy and Sweet Home Carolina from Tule, and Palmetto Moon, also from Berkley 8/5/14. While her heart is always in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, she lives in Charlotte and has a heart for hairstylist, librarians, and book junkies like herself.

About the Book

June, 1947. Charleston is poised to celebrate the biggest wedding in high-society history, the joining of two of the oldest families in the city. Except the bride is nowhere to be found…Unlike the rest of the debs she grew up with, Vada Hadley doesn’t see marrying Justin McLeod as a blessing—she sees it as a life sentence. So when she finds herself one day away from a wedding she doesn’t want, she’s left with no choice but to run away from the future her parents have so carefully planned for her.

In Round O, South Carolina, Vada finds independence in the unexpected friendships she forms at the boarding house where she stays, and a quiet yet fulfilling courtship with the local diner owner, Frank Darling. For the first time in her life, she finally feels like she’s where she’s meant to be. But when her dear friend Darby hunts her down, needing help, Vada will have to confront the life she gave up—and decide where her heart truly belongs.

Kiss or Tip By Mary Carter

I walk into a movie theatre for a matinee. It’s one of those indie movie theaters with a lot of character. It’s a trip back in time gazing at the painted dome ceilings, thick red velvet curtains, brocade carpet, and decorative gold moulding. It smells like popcorn and feet. They recently played the classic movie, GODZILLA. Maybe that’s why a two-foot Godzilla is propped up on the concession counter, baring his teeth and holding a handmade sign. It reads: KISS OR TIP.

When I saw this sign, propped up in front of a very cute twenty-something-year-old man, I wanted to shout, “I’ll kiss you.” I’m much more attracted to men in their twenties than I was when I was in my twenties. But I didn’t shout anything or even pucker up. Because that would make me the ubiquitous cougar. And because I didn’t want him to reject me, and I’m not sure whether I really wanted to kiss or him or just see his reaction if I said I wanted to kiss him. I stuck a dollar in the plastic cup next to Godzilla instead. But see what three simple words can make you think and almost make you do?

That’s what I love about stories. Words can jump off a page. Words can make characters come alive and do something. I like mysterious signs, envelopes slipped under doorways, and messages written on matchbooks. You’ll find such signs, and letters, and messages in my upcoming novel, Meet Me in Barcelona. Please, do, meet us there. You’re all invited. I love words. And miniature Godzillas daring me to kiss strange boys behind counters, and mysterious invitations to Spain. If I were writing about a character in a novel who came across this sign, I would definitely have her threaten to kiss the boy. Because characters in novels have to take more risks than I take in my safe, everyday life. They get to live out loud, be bold, and brazen. They get to hold up signs of their own. Love me! Don’t leave me! Follow me to the ends of the earth. And oftentimes they have to face up to things that terrify them.

Even when they want to turn and run, they must face the music. That should be easy for country singer, Grace Sawyer. She’s on holiday. In Spain with her gorgeous boyfriend, Jake. Only the way they won the trip never sat right with Grace. And lately, she’s been getting these clues. Clues that suggest this wasn’t just a happy accident. Someone is pulling the strings. Taunting them. Asking for a kiss or a tip. And Grace Sawyer had better be careful which one she chooses. Because you never know when one wrong tip could trigger a landslide, or one innocent peck turn out to be the kiss of death.

Mary Carter is a freelance writer and novelist.  Meet Me in Barcelona is her eighth novel. Her other works include: Three Months in Florence, The Things I Do For You, The Pub Across the Pond, My Sister’s Voice, Sunnyside Blues, She’ll Take It, and Accidentally Engaged.  In addition to her novels she has written six novellas: Return to Hampton Beach in the anthology, Summer Days, A Southern Christmas in the upcoming 2014 anthology Our First Christmas, A Kiss Before Midnight in the anthology, You’re Still the One, A Very Maui Christmas in the New York Times best selling anthology Holiday Magic, and The Honeymoon House in the New York Times best selling anthology Almost Home. Mary currently lives in Chicago, IL with a demanding labradoodle. She wishes she could thank her gorgeous husband, but she doesn’t have one. In addition to writing she leads writing workshops. 

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A surprise trip to Barcelona with her boyfriend, Jake, seems like the perfect antidote to Grace Sawyer's current woes. The city is dazzling and unpredictable, but the biggest surprise for Grace is discovering who arranged and paid for the vacation.

Carrie Ann wasn't just Grace's foster sister. Clever, pretty, and mercurial, she was her best friend—until everything went terribly wrong. Now, as she flees an abusive marriage, Carrie Ann has turned to the one person she hopes will come through for her. Despite her initial misgivings, Grace wants to help. But then Carrie Ann and Jake both go missing. Stunned and confused, Grace begins to realize how much of herself she's kept from Jake—and how much of Carrie Ann she never understood. Soon Grace is baited into following a trail of scant clues across Spain, determined to find the truth, even if she must revisit her troubled past to do it.

Mary Carter's intriguing novel delves into the complexities of childhood bonds, the corrosive weight of guilt and blame, and all the ways we try—and often fail—to truly know the ones we love.

Distraction? No, My Fridge Really Needed Cleaning by Amy M. Reade

Yesterday I had eight guest blog posts to write, plus two for my own blog.  I also had to attend a meeting, take my son to a baseball game, sit and watch aforementioned baseball game, prepare for two parties at my house that will take place in the next five days, promote my book, and pick out four excerpts from that same book, Secrets of Hallstead House.  Oh, and do some writing.  You know, that thing I do that creates most of the other work.

So what did I tackle first?

The refrigerator.  Specifically, I cleaned it from top to bottom.

Don’t get me wrong- I love writing and every single thing associated with it, including revising, research, edits, copy edits, and even page proofs.  Everything.

But I do get sidetracked sometimes.  And I really did need to clean the fridge.  My sister is visiting this weekend and I once saw her described as “Mrs. Clean” in a real estate listing when her house was for sale. 

Nauseating, I know.  You can understand why I wasn’t about to let her see my fridge.

But I digress.

When I finally sat down to work, I grabbed the first item in my toolbox that I use to fight distractions (after all, I still had bathrooms to clean and dog hair to vacuum).  I probably should have grabbed my toolbox before I cleaned the fridge, but as I said, I just couldn’t let my sister see it.

The item I’m referring to is my work-in-progress binder.  I borrowed the binder system from Phyllis Whitney, who was in my opinion one of the greatest romantic suspense writers of all time.  She explains the concept in her Guide to Fiction Writing, which is my favorite book on the craft.  I keep her primer next to me all the time when I work and refer to it frequently.  In a nutshell, my binder is filled with different sections that all help me produce a finished novel.  There are sections for characters, plotting, outlining, chronology, and theme, just to name a few. 

The great thing about my binder is that there is always a section to work on until I’m ready to start page one of my novel.  If I’m stuck on the plotting, I can move to the character section, and vice versa.  There’s always a section that I can work on, so it keeps me from going astray.

And here’s another great thing about my binder- on the first page I list the date, the day of the week, and the binder section(s) I worked on.  If I start to see gaps in the dates, representing days that no work gets done, it gives me the kick I need to get back on track. 

So tool #1 in my anti-distraction kit is my WIP binder and tool #2 is page one of that binder. 

My third tool is most often referred to as the “butt in the chair” method of getting work done.  It’s exactly what it sounds like.  I sit and force myself to write something.  Anything.  This takes some will power, but with practice it becomes easier. 

My fourth tool is the kitchen timer.  I set it for say, one hour.  If I work straight through the hour, I get a reward when the timer goes off.  Actually, my reward is usually walking the dog, so it’s really more of a reward for her.  But it works.

Fifth:  get off the Internet.  If you’re using it for research, that’s one thing.  But if you’re looking for another book to download to your eReader or a birthday gift for someone whose birthday is six months from now, resist the urge to do anything on the computer except write.  You don’t have to stay off the Internet all day, just when you’re trying to write. 

Finally, get started on projects as soon as they’re assigned to you.  That way you don’t have to worry about battling distractions as a deadline approaches.  Unless you work well under pressure, in which case my hat goes off to you.  I tend to freak out when I’m under a lot of pressure.

Like any tools, these take practice to use effectively.  I struggle with distractions every day, but I’m using these tips and getting better at staying on task.  You will, too.

Do you have any tips to avoid getting sidetracked while you work?  I’d love to hear them.

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Amy M. Reade is a debut author of romantic suspense.  A native of upstate New York, she grew up in the Thousand Islands region and was inspired by the natural beauty of that area to write her first novel, Secrets of Hallstead House.  She now lives in New Jersey with her husband, three children, a Bouvier des Flandres named Orly, and two rescued cats who refuse to answer to their names of Porthos and Athos. 

Having practiced law in New York City, Amy soon discovered that her dream job was writing.  In addition to volunteering with school, church, and community groups, Amy is currently working on her second novel, The Ghosts of Peppernell Manor, set in the area around Charleston, South Carolina. 

Though Amy lives within sight of the Atlantic Ocean, she is partial to the blue waters of the Pacific and spends as much time as possible on the Big Island of Hawaii, which is the setting of her as-yet-unwritten third novel.

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“You are not wanted here. Go away from Hallstead Island or you will be very sorry you stayed.”

Macy Stoddard, a nurse from Manhattan, comes to Hallstead Island in the North Country of New York to escape a haunting pain.  It is here that Macy discovers secrets that were not meant to be shared – secrets that reach back into Macy’s past and that will change her future and the futures of the people on Hallstead Island.  There are those, however, who will stop at nothing to keep the secrets that are hidden there. 

Q & A with author Lisa Jewell

Today we have a Q&A with Lisa Jewell, an internationally bestselling author whose new book, THE HOUSE WE GREW UP IN, is on sale this August from Atria. Lisa is a UK bestseller year after year, but we think THE HOUSE WE GREW UP IN is her finest book yet. It has something for everyone: family tragedies, hoarding, late in life internet lovers, mother/daughter and father/son battles. It’s enchanting, heartbreaking, beautiful, fun and full of emotional depth. We hope you love it as much as we do!

Tell me about the first book you ever purchased.

Strangely, I don’t have this memory at all. My sisters and I were library kids, our mother took us every week, so maybe I didn’t even buy a book as a child! My earliest memory of taking a book out of the library was one of the Ant & Bee series of books; these were quirky, almost surreal books about best friends Ant (an ant) and Bee (a bee) who travelled around together having offbeat adventures. I didn’t know it at the time but they were written by an educationalist to teach children to read by themselves.

Have you ever read a book in order to impress someone?

I was married to an intellectual in my early twenties and read pretty much every book on his shelves in order to impress him! The heaviest was probably a book of Noam Chomsky essays. My current husband forced One Hundred Years of Solitude onto me in the early days of our relationship, which I read to please him. And on which we still remain entirely divided.

What was your favorite book as a child?

I was a self-guided reader as a child and went quickly from the classics (the Secret Garden, the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe) to more adult books. But my favourites were my Agatha Christies. I read four a week until I’d bled the library dry.

Is there an author who inspired you to be a writer?

When I was between jobs as a twentysomething, still thinking that writing books was something only self-referential men and middle-aged women did, I read High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. It turned my thinking around and made me realise that there was a market for a younger, lighter, contemporary voice, and that it needed to be female. I started writing my first novel later that week.

Is there something on your bookshelves we’d be surprised to find there?

Quite the opposite, I think you’d find my bookshelves utterly predictable. Just piles and piles of page-turn-y contemporary fiction.

Tell me a funny/odd/interesting anecdote from a reading, or book signing.

This is very odd and I’m not sure particularly funny, but a girl once came to a signing holding my backlist and asked me to sign them all to her unborn children as she thought she was going to die young. It was a very strange thing to find myself doing.

What book are you reading right now, and why?

I am reading a book called We Are Called To Rise by an American writer called Laura McBride. It was sent to me as a proof by her UK publishers and I’m reading it because they did such a good job of making it sound like I’d be mad not to. I’m a quarter of the way through and so far I would say they were right.

Is there a book you re-read over and over?

No, I never reread. My reading pile is too big and tantalizing.

What book have you recommended most recently?

I think it would probably have been the only non-fiction I read last year which was Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe, a memoir of very funny letters from the nanny of a famous literary editor in London sent home to her sister in the Midlands in 1980. I’m not sure what an American reader would make of it, it’s very idiosyncratic and achingly British, but it warmed my heart and made me laugh an awful lot.

What book do you feel everyone should read?

If a reader has the gumption, I don’t think anyone should go their grave without trying a Charles Dickens.

About the Author

Lisa Jewell was born and raised in north London, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.  She is the internationally bestselling author of ten previous novels, including The Making of Us and Before I Met You.  Find out  more at Facebook.com/LisaJewellOfficial or follow her on Twitter @LisaJewellUK.

Book Details

Meet the Bird family. They live in a honey-colored house in a picture-perfect Cotswolds village, with rambling, unkempt gardens stretching beyond. Pragmatic Meg, dreamy Beth, and tow-headed twins Rory and Rhys all attend the village school and eat home-cooked meals together every night. Their father is a sweet gangly man named Colin, who still looks like a teenager with floppy hair and owlish, round-framed glasses. Their mother is a beautiful hippy named Lorelei, who exists entirely in the moment. And she makes every moment sparkle in her children’s lives.

Then one Easter weekend, tragedy comes to call. The event is so devastating that, almost imperceptibly, it begins to tear the family apart. Years pass as the children become adults, find new relationships, and develop their own separate lives. Soon it seems as though they’ve never been a family at all. But then something happens that calls them back to the house they grew up in—and to what really happened that Easter weekend so many years ago.

Told in gorgeous, insightful prose that delves deeply into the hearts and minds of its characters, The House We Grew Up In is the captivating story of one family’s desire to restore long-forgotten peace and to unearth the many secrets hidden within the nooks and crannies of home.

10 Things Readers Would Be Surprised To Know About Me by Mercedes King

We all have our little quirks and secrets, those habits and ‘favorites’ that make us oh-so-lovable to friends and family. And, yes, I’ve decided to subject you to 10 items of uh, interest, that you might be surprised to learn about me.

1. I was born in the car. At 5 weeks premature and a scrawny 4 pounds, I didn’t wait for my parents to make it to Grant Medical Center. According to my mom’s version of the story, most of the emergency room staff abandoned a man who had been stabbed so they could attend to me and my mom. An unusual entrance into the world, and maybe it explains why I can’t stand being late.

2.  I’m a terrible library customer. I’ve almost given up going to the library. As much as I love it, I’m awful at returning books on time. I once owed $38 in fines! (I paid it.) and I’ve lost count as to how many books I’ve, uh, lost over the years of my patronage. Stark contrast to the anti-late trait within me.

3. I’m not afraid of spiders. Give me someone else’s shoe, and that arachnid is a goner. Unless, of course, anyone else nearby wants to volunteer…

4. I’m competitive at board games. Doesn’t matter which one--Boggle, Life, Pictionary, Taboo, whatever--expect a throw down if you’re not on my team. I can also hold my own at badminton, but my athletic prowess ends there.  

5. I stink at Wii bowling. How is this possible? I thought, finally, at last, here’s my chance to bowl a decent game without bumpers. Even when others play against me left-handed, I’m still a disgrace.

6. I can hold my breath almost 2 minutes. I love swimming, especially underwater, and whenever I have a chance to enjoy the pool (which isn’t often, living in Ohio), I challenge myself to swim the length of the pool in one breath. It takes some doing, and I have to build on it, but being able to hold my breath for that long sure does help.

7. I “heart” dessert. My eyes sparkle when it’s time to look over the dessert menu at a restaurant. Cheesecake is a weakness, I admit, and dessert is always more delicious when you share.     

8. I’ve never had a manicure. Gasp! Yes, I am of the female race, wear make-up, and all that, but I’ve never gone to a salon and had my nails done. Never. For one thing, I can’t stand chipped nail polish, and I mean just one chip on one nail. It’s right up there with being late. Beautiful as they are, a long, glamorous set of nails would only get in my way. But peeking at them now, maybe I should treat them to a clear coat. 

9. I worked at Wendy’s for 4 hours. That was all it took for me to realize that I had no long-term future in making burgers or asking people if they wanted to Biggie-Size their order. Actually, it took a lot less than 4 hours to figure that out, especially when my co-workers had me water the plants (that were plastic) and hunt for the bun fluffer (which didn’t exist).

10. I could live on a deserted island with Cheese ’n Crackers. If Cheesecake isn’t available, I could see myself living happily with those Handi Snacks. I am just that low-maintenance kind of a gal. (Wait, we are talking a tropical island, right??)

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Mercedes King is an Ohio native and founding member of Sisters in Crime Columbus, Ohio (affectionately dubbed SiCCO). With a degree in Criminology from Capital University and a passion for writing, she crafted O! Jackie, a novel focusing on the private life of Jackie Kennedy. She has also written The Kennedy Chronicles, a series of short stories featuring JFK and Jackie before they were married and before 'Camelot'. Mercedes writes in a variety of genres, including historical and mystery / suspense. In fact, she's working on creating a new genre, 'modern historical'.

Her newest release, Plantation Nation, follows the journey of Emma Cartwright, a 16 year old Southern girl who disguises herself as a young man and joins the Union Army.

Visit her sites, OJackiebook.com or Mercedesking.com . Contact her at Mercedes 'at' ojackiebook 'dot' com. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Ready to Wed Favorite Colors featuring Cindi Madsen

So, today I thought I’d break a bit from the norm and talk about favorite colors! Dakota, the heroine in Ready to Wed, is a wedding planner, and she’s heard of every color under the sun, and some that she’s not sure are of this planet. When it comes to weddings and receptions, sometimes asking for pink or blue doesn’t quite cut it. And let’s face it, it’s kind of fun to mention a color like cerulean and watch guys struggle to figure out which shade of colors they know that even falls under. I even found a funny graphic about it on Pinterest.

I’ll admit if someone told me they wanted chlorophyll, I’d run because the first thing that comes to mind is chloroform and I’m so not going down like that. I had a lot of fun playing with colors in Ready to Wed, though. Dakota even has her own bridal terror alert scale, that can go anywhere from Low-key Lime to Fanatic Fuchsia. I had so much fun working colors into jokes.

Here’s a color discussion between Dakota and her friend (a friend she’s having a hard time thinking about on a strictly-friends basis) Brendan.

    Brendan looked over my shoulder and I caught a whiff of his aftershave. “I didn’t know orange, purple, and blue went together, but it looks pretty good.”
    “That’s because it’s rust, amethyst, and cerulean. With a hint of jade thrown in.” I moved the jade and amethyst place setting over the cerulean fabric that’d make up the tablecloths at Valentina’s wedding to make sure it worked.
    Brendan cast me a suspicious sideways glance. “Now you’re just making up colors.”
    “Pretty sure I know every color there is now. The first few months I had a couple of brides surprise me—one requested cement. With dusty plum and blueberry. It was one of my favorite color palettes, actually.”
    “Cement? What’s wrong with gray? It’s the same thing.”
    “Not romantic enough, duh.” I smiled and nudged him with my elbow.
    “Silly me. Nothing’s as romantic as the color you used to trip on and leave half of your skin and blood behind.”
    I laughed. “Okay, you got me there. How’s pewter? Romantic enough for you?”
    “I’m swooning just thinking about it.”

Personally, I’ve always been a purple fan. Every shade, from the lightest to the darkest—I heart them all! For my wedding, I even did dark purple and periwinkle combination, with a little bit of silver thrown in for good measure. And when it comes to clothes or shoes shopping, I find myself gravitating toward all things purple. So, how about you guys? What colors are you a sucker for?

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Cindi Madsen is a USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary romance and young adult novels. She sits at her computer every chance she gets, plotting revising, and falling in love with her characters. Sometimes it makes her a crazy person. Without it, she’d be even crazier. She has way too many shoes, but can always find a reason to buy a new pretty pair, especially if they’re sparkly, colorful, or super tall. She loves music, dancing, and wishes summer lasted all year long. She lives in Colorado (where summer is most definitely NOT all year long) with her husband and three children.