Ten Facts about Finding Forever by Linda Oaks

1. Kara’s car is an older model Escort. The first car I ever owned was an Escort. 

2. The restaurant known as Fred’s is actually based off of a small diner located in my hometown. 

3. The last scene before the epilogue in Finding Forever was inspired by An Officer and A Gentleman. 

4. Kara has a love for Ben and Jerry’s Cookie Dough Ice Cream. I shamefully have to admit I’ve never tired this brand, but cookie dough anything is a win-win with me.

5. Kara’s mother’s maiden name was in fact a family member’s maiden name.

6. The idea for Devon’s obsession with lowered trucks was actually inspired by a pastime of one of my husband’s cousins.  

7. Like Kara, Tequila and I are not the best of friends. 

8. Natalie’s angel tombstone was actually a replica of my late grandmother’s tombstone. 

9.  Hope Floats is one of my favorite movies of all time and I too, like Kara, have a crush on Harry Connick Jr. 

10.  Finding Forever was actually a suggestion for the title of Chasing Rainbows. 

Inspiration behind Finding Forever: 

I have to give credit to my previous editor, Monica Kimble, whom I worked with during the editing of my first book, Chasing Rainbows. As a reader, I love series, but as an author, I’d never given much thought as to writing one until Monica asked if I had ever considered telling the stories of any of the other characters from Chasing Rainbows. This suggestion took hold and one character in particular occupied my thoughts, and I had to write her story. Kara Thorn didn’t really give me a choice. Right now, I’m currently working on the third book in The Chasing Series. There were will be four in the series.  

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Real Locations that Inspired Anywhere With You by Britney King

First off, thank you for asking me to write a guest post. It’s always fun.

Anywhere With You, because it is a novel based on a road trip was inspired by various locations. Although, perhaps it would help if I started from the beginning…

The idea for Somewhere With You (book one) was in part inspired by a grief camp for kids that my then seven-year-old niece attended. In fact, she still attends each year. From there it grew into a story about two kids who’ve lost a parent, that essentially grow up together, and fall in and out of love. Because their circumstances change along the way they wind up traveling the world, meeting in various places around the world, coming together—and falling apart.

Originally, I hadn’t planned on writing a sequel to Somewhere With You. However after reading the reviews and receiving a plethora of notes on the subject I decided that perhaps Jack and Amelie’s story wasn’t over. They never really are. ☺

So, in August of this year, my husband and I set out on a 4,000-mile road trip across five states—the only caveat being that we had only a loose idea of a plan and a few key places that I wanted to hit. Those were: Santa Fe, several mountain towns in Colorado, but mainly Telluride, The Grand Canyon, and Sedona. While we visited lots of other places along the way… those are the key places that will stick out in the story.

Also, they all have a special place in my heart as well. For me, they’re magical places for one reason or another.

That said, if you’re interested in getting visual images of the road trip, please check me out on Instagram.

And once again, thanks, for having me as a guest. ☺

Britney King writes modern love stories for mature audiences. She is the author of six novels, several of which have been featured on various bestseller lists, and is currently at work on number seven. 

She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, five children, two dogs, one ridiculous cat, and a partridge in a pear tree.

She enjoys hearing from readers and would love it if you would connect with her via Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

About Anywhere With You

They say opposites attract. For Jack and Amelie, that statement is about as close to the truth as it gets. 

She runs from anything that so much smells like love. And, well, as for Jack, he's always been a fan of the chase. Especially where she's concerned. 

Which is exactly what happens when he proposes... to accompany her on a cross-country road trip. 

A bet is made. True to form, Jack puts everything on the table—while Amelie keeps her cards tucked close to her heart. 

The question remaining when it all shakes out—is whether it's possible they can both win?

Will a road trip across the country finally teach them to meet in the middle? Or simply drive them further apart? 

This is the continuation of a love story that (like many) was never really over. 

Author Alissa Johnson Picks Her Favorite 5 Lady Thieves

Hello readers,
 
I’m delighted to introduce A Talent for Trickery, the first book in my new Victorian-set “Thief-takers” series. Our hero, Private Investigator Owen Renderwell, is on the hunt for a thief and murderer. And he knows just how to catch his man. All he needs is a little help from our heroine, Miss Charlotte Walker-Bales. The daughter of an infamous confidence man, Lottie is in a unique position to offer insight into the mind and motives of a hardened criminal. There’s just one flaw in Owen’s otherwise excellent plan. Lottie hasn’t spoken to him in eight years. She has no interest in working alongside a man of the law, and certainly not the one who betrayed her trust, endangered her family, and broke her heart.
 
To celebrate Lottie’s unusual background, I’ve compiled a list of my top five Lady Thieves.
 
Listed in no particular order…
 
1. Sheila from the 80’s animated Dungeons and Dragons. Okay, Diana was, overall, a better character, but at age nine, I would have given anything for that thief’s cloak of invisibility.
 
2. Doris Payne, international jewel thief extraordinaire. Whether you like her, loathe her, or are just plain baffled by her, there is no denying she is one fascinating woman. At the estimated age of 85, she is still (allegedly) employing her craft.
 
3. “Little” Annie Reilly, renowned 19th century confidence woman. Annie’s MO (or one of them) was to use her charm and wits to gain employment as a children’s nurse in some of America’s wealthiest East Coast families. She would stay a day or two in her new position, then rob the family of all their jewelry. Essentially, she was Mary Poppins’s evil doppelganger.
 
4. Ching Shih (born Shi Xianggu), early 19th century pirate. A perfectly terrifying woman who ruled the South China Sea with the estimated 20-40k pirates under her command, Ching Shih also has the distinction of being one of the few pirates whose career did not come to an abrupt stop at the end of a sword, noose, plank or bullet. She opted instead for retirement.
 
*If you haven’t yet seen the movie Dirty, Rotten, Scoundrels and plan to in the future, read no further. There are spoilers ahead.*
 
5. Janet Colgate, aka the Jackal, played by Glenne Headly in the 1988 film Dirty, Rotten, Scoundrels. This movie is a bit dated, and my adult self is embarrassed to have laughed at some of the scenes my teenage self found so funny. But I will always love Janet for how well she played her would-be tricksters.  

About Alissa Johnson

Alissa Johnson is a RITA-nominated author of historical romance. She grew up on Air Force bases and attended St. Olaf College in Minnesota. She currently resides in the Arkansan Ozarks where she spends her free time keeping her Aussie dog busy, visiting with family, and dabbling in archery.

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About A Talent For Trickery

Years ago, Owen Renderwell earned acclaim-and a title-for the dashing rescue of a kidnapped duchess. But only a select few knew that Scotland Yard's most famous detective was working alongside London's most infamous thief...and his criminally brilliant daughter, Charlotte Walker.

Lottie was like no other woman in Victorian England. She challenged him. She dazzled him. She questioned everything he believed and everything he was, and he has never wanted anyone more. And then he lost her.
Now a private detective on the trail of a murderer, Owen has stormed back into Lottie's life. She knows that no matter what they may pretend, he will always be a man of the law and she a criminal. Yet whenever he's near, Owen has a way of making things complicated...and long for a future that can never be theirs.

Top 10 Favorite Songs to Listen To While Writing by Kate SeRine

I must have music playing at all times when writing. It’s an indispensable part of my writing process that helps me set the tone for the scenes. And each book has its own “soundtrack” that I listen to. With Stop at Nothing, the first book in my Protect & Serve series, I listened to a wide variety of music, spanning various music styles.

Here’s just a small sample:

1. The One That Got Away by The Civil Wars
2. Come with Me Now by Kongos
3. Big Enough by Taddy Porter
4. Collide by Howie Day
5. Let the Sparks Fly by Thousand Foot Krutch
6. Strong by London Grammar
7. Not Over You by Gavin DeGraw
8. Love Runs Out by OneRepublic
9. Bloodletting by Concrete Blonde
10. Ocean Floor by The Greencards

About Kate SeRine

Kate SeRine writes award-winning romantic suspense and paranormal romance. A past recipient of an Emily Award and the National Readers Choice Award, she has also been a finalist in the Fire and Ice Contest, Finally a Bride Contest, and the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence. She lives with her husband and two sons outside Indianapolis, Indiana. Connect with Kate at www.kateserine.com.

About Stop At Nothing

When a high-profile investigation goes wrong, FBI Agent Kyle Dawson is transferred back home where he is forced to confront his demons…and the only woman he ever loved. Three years ago, Kyle and Abby Morrow shared a wild, passionate summer—then Abby broke his heart. 

Now she needs his help

Kyle never stopped loving Abby. So when Abby uncovers evidence of a human-trafficking ring, leading to her sister's kidnapping, he swears he’ll stop at nothing to bring her sister home and keep Abby safe. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse and blindsided by their own explosive desires, they must set aside the past before it’s too late.

Author Wendy Byrne on How to Handle Negative Criticism

Nobody wants to hear that the book they worked on for months, maybe years has flaws. A book is an author’s baby. They’ve nurtured it, helped it to grow and develop, and polished their prose until it sparkled. So what do you do when someone trashes something you put your heart and soul in?

In the beginning of my writing career, I entered a contest and got feedback that said: cardboard characters. Needless to say—even while I didn’t know exactly what that meant—I was devastated. It felt especially painful because this was a contest known for it’s helpful feedback. Was that critique helpful in any way to my writing? Not a bit. Was it true of my writing at that time? Possibly. Could the judge have phrased things differently? Absolutely. But I didn’t know that then. I just thought I was the worst writer on the planet. And I did what all wounded writers do—no I didn’t drink myself into oblivion ☺--I called on my trusted writer friends for support. And of course they agreed that the judge was a complete jerk because well that’s what writer friends are for. 

Fast forward fifteen plus years and I’ve learned a lot about writing and about criticism. Writing is an art that you have to work at every day even while knowing that you’ll never quite be where you want to be. This thought was further confirmed in an interview I listened to with Lee Child—and in case you were living on another planet the last ten years or so—he is the author of the best selling Jack Reacher series. The same guy who sold the rights to two of his books to Tom Cruise to be made into movies. Yes, that guy. Anyway, he said—and I might add this sort of depressed me—that all writers are insecure, and he continues to be insecure about his work. If a guy who is known throughout the world, whose books appeal to both men and women alike, who writes stories that I love, who is making more money than I could imagine, is insecure about his talents, what hope is there for little old me? 

That’s when I stopped my pity party and had a reality check. Being vulnerable and insecure is an integral part of being a writer. But in order to succeed you have to put your best self out there and overcome those fears and move on. 

In reading reviews or critiques, what should you listen to and what should you discard? I recently came across a quote from Neil Gaiman: "When people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong." The first sentence is for the people who review your work and say, “I’m not sure I understand the motivation of your character or why that character reacted the way they do.” Now you, as a writer, have a springboard for action. The person who labels your work as wrong and re-writes it for you, is not doing you any favors. 

To bring this subject full circle, let’s exam my original example and the judge’s comments about my characters. What she said didn’t help me as a writer. But if she had conveyed her thoughts differently like: Describe for me how your character talks—a slow southern drawl, the clipped cadence of someone from New York; or tell me what they’re

wearing—are they confortable in what they are in, or is it constricting; tell me about them through their body language—that old show don’t tell stuff. Now that would have been seeds I could have planted to grow as a writer. 

Take every criticism you receive with a grain of salt and know that not everyone—no matter how famous you become—will love your book. Know you can never please everyone and use that as your mantra to steel yourself. And remember even NYT best selling authors receive scathing reviews and have lived to tell the tale and write and sell books. Also know that a lot of them don’t read reviews because they realize how it can derail the fragile process of writing. 

So if reading reviews messes with your muse, or sidetracks your writing, I encourage you to avoid them like the plague. 

Wendy lives in the Chicago area. She has a Masters in Social Work and worked in the child welfare field for twelve years before she decided to pursue her dream of writing.

Between teaching college classes, trying to get her morbidly obese cat to slim down and tempering the will of her five-year-old granddaughter, who's determined to become a witch when she turns six so she can fly on her broom to see the Eiffel Tower and put hexes on people--not necessarily in that order--somehow Wendy still manages to fit in writing. She spends the remainder of her days inflicting mayhem on her hero and heroine until they beg for mercy.

She has written three books in the Hard Targets trilogy, Hard to Kill, Hard to Trust and Hard to Stop. In addition, she has two books through Entangled Publishing, The Millionaire’s Deception, and Bad to the Bone, two self-published books, The Christmas Curse and Accused, and two interracial romances, Fractured and Mama Said.

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Frozen...For Grownups by Topher Goggin

When Michelle Bowles asked if I would write up a guest post to go along with her coverage of my book, Not Your Mother’s Goose, I thought it might be fun to put together some new NYMG-style content for her. NYMG is a combination of sarcastic fairy tale recaps and fake news stories and headlines involving fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters (e.g. “Old McDonald Struggles on Wheel of Fortune After Only Buying Vowels”). I’ve tried to at least touch on the whole the fairy tale universe, running the gamut from Rapunzel (which receives a couple of pages and two illustrations) all the way to the Bremen Town Musicians (which gets four words).

Despite this, a few things managed to slip through the cracks, most notably an obscure Disney movie called “Freezing” or “Chilly” or something along those lines. I think it grossed like $85 at the box office and maybe sold a couple of Halloween costumes to some eight-year-old girls—nothing big.  Anyway, I figured I’d write that one up so all of Michelle’s readers, plus anyone who’s spent the last couple of years in a cave, won’t be totally out of the loop. Here we go.

For today’s feature, we’re off to Arendelle, a place with all the snowy charm of Eastern New York, but without the disheartening obligation to root for the Buffalo Bills. There we find a king and queen with two daughters, one of whom has the special talent of shooting snow and ice out of her fingers. The other one—maybe she’s really good at Sudoku.

These two, Elsa and Ahhh-na, grow up nicely—right until Elsa drills Lil’ Sis in the head with an ice bolt. Apparently that’s bad for your health. Mom and Dad are not too pleased by this news, but fortunately they know what you do in this kind of situation. You take your kid to see a Grandfather Troll in the woods. Obviously. It was on Dr. Oz.

Gramps the geriatric troll fixes things up for Anna, but notes that Elsa might want to steer clear of visitors in case her out-of-control ice blasting becomes a problem. She safely hides in her room for a while (say, 10 or 15 years), but tragedy strikes when Ma and Pa set sail for a wedding and get wiped out in a shipwreck. That forces Elsa to stop playing Xbox all day and take over as queen. Things then get worse when she turns into a human ice dispenser at the coronation, which (outside of saving on bartending expenses) is generally not recommended by most event planners.

Freaked out by this unfortunate development, Elsa runs off, but not before telling Anna that, no, you cannot marry this “Hans” dude who showed up for the ceremony and put the moves on you faster than The Bachelor. Elsa also accidentally plunges Arendelle into a permanent winter on her way out of town. Nice bonus.

With Elsa on her own (and living in a swanky ice palace), Anna heads out on a mission to “rescue” her. Anna brilliantly leaves Prince Hans in charge of Arendelle—more on that fine decision in a minute. She charges off into the blizzard, packed more appropriately for a weekend in Palm Springs, but does link up with a fellow named Kristoff who at least owns some snow pants (also his own reindeer). He helps Anna find her way to Elsa’s castle, adding a talking snowman/climatology expert named Olaf to their group along the way.

When the intrepid travelers reach Elsa’s place, the welcome they receive isn’t exactly a warm one. (Well, I suppose nothing is terribly warm in an ice palace. But anyway.) Elsa flips on the “No Vacancy” sign and sends her guests off with a couple of fine parting gifts—namely a big mean snow monster chasing them, plus an accidental ice shot through the heart for Anna.

Kristoff takes Anna back to the Troll Medical Clinic, where Dr. Gramps, MD, says that Anna is going to need an act of true love to save the day (preferably from an In-Network provider unless she wants to pay a huge deductible).

Anna figures her problems are solved—all she needs to do is make it back to  Arendelle where Hans can unload some true love and save her. Good plan—except that Hans is simultaneously working on a plan to kill Elsa and take over Arendelle for himself. So this plan is not exactly going to work. Add the fact that Anna is rapidly turning into ice, and things are not looking so great.

Everything culminates in one dramatic scene—shockingly set in a snowstorm. Kristoff realizes he’s the one in love with Anna and comes racing back to save her, arriving just in time to instead get distracted by Hans chasing after Elsa with a sword. At the last second, though, a shivering Anna jumps in front of the fatal swing, simultaneously saving her sister . . . and also freezing to death. Shucks.

But wait just a second, Disney viewers (that surely would like to stop and buy some merchandise at Toys R Us during your drive home). If you read the fine print, apparently diving in front of the jerk that’s trying to kill your sister qualifies as an act of true love. That brings Anna back to life, just in time to knock Hans out of commission with a right cross to the nose. Elsa then suddenly figures out how to turn up the thermostat, thaws out Arendelle, and even saves Olaf from climate change with a personal snow cloud. Meanwhile Anna realizes she’s in love with Kristoff the Reindeer Man, and Elsa gives him a job so he can stay in town. Everything looks hunky dory. (Of course, this is only because the movie ends before Elsa is chased out of town when the commoners lose their marbles from seeing one too many six-year-olds singing “Let It Go” on Facebook. That will be a key plot point in Frozen 2: Elsa Freezes the Internet.”)

Having passed second grade (on the very first try), Topher Goggin is highly qualified to write a fairy tale book like Not Your Mother's Goose. After continuing past second grade to Williams College and Notre Dame Law School, he now works as a small town lawyer in Central Michigan, and additionally does other lawyerly things like teaching college precalculus and showing eight-year-olds the finer points of how to PLEASE stop hitting the kid next to you with a nine-iron in the local junior golf program. He also is an accomplished radio play-by-play announcer, having captured two Broadcast Excellence Awards from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. At age 11, he appeared as a guest on Late Night with David Letterman, discussing the one-man sports newspaper he had started three years earlier. Unfortunately, he then picked the Buffalo Bills to win the upcoming Super Bowl, sending his journalistic credibility straight into the dumpster.

Other random talents and skills include: Escaping from being tied to a toilet in a family magic show (at age 9), officiating a wedding in California (not at age 9), hosting a satirical college radio show that might have gotten 30 listeners on a good week primarily by shelling out over $4000 in prizes, cashing three times in the World Series of Poker, giving a graduation speech devoted entirely to NASCAR, and the always important ability to recite approximately twenty Dr. Seuss tongue twisters from memory. That last one is especially lucrative.