15 February 2017

Ros Rendle's Flowers Of Flanders is this week's Book Revisited

Please welcome Ros Rendle to The Heart of Romance's Books Revisited today.

Flowers of Flanders


About the book
A malicious lie between rival sisters changed lives. Which sister does Michael need to  survive?
Set just before and during WW1 this book is a commemoration of both the living and the dead and those who fought so bravery. While it’s not their story my grandparents were the inspiration for the book and it’s my Granny’s picture of the front cover.
I’ve been told the research ‘is impeccable’ which is so important for the setting to enhance the story but it’s ultimately a feelgood read about both men and women surviving intolerable times with dignity

Shortly to be published is a novella to complete the two older sisters’ story and a sequel will be coming soon set in Vichy France in 1940. A third book, set during the Cold War will follow.
Extract:~
Early summer 1912 – A town near Manchester, England
 
Rose’s heart was singing with the joy of the sun and the birds and the glossy, bright leaves above her head. She and her two younger sisters strolled home along the lane when the peace was shattered by a lot of clattering and shouting.
“What on earth is that noise?” She stopped to listen.
 Izzy, only twelve years old, grabbed Rose’s arm and whispered, “I don’t like it, Rose. What should we do? It may not be safe to venture further.”
“Oh don’t be such a wet, Iris,” Delphi said, using her given name as she often did. She tossed her head.
Rose, who always maintained the peace, answered her youngest sister, “Don’t worry Izzy, it’s probably the boys playing rowdy games.”
“I don’t think…” Delphi’s words were interrupted.
There was an ear-splitting bellow and then, “Bloody hell, Crispin.” It was a deep male sound.
Rose, certain she recognised the voice, felt her stomach churn and her heart beat faster. She had known Michael nearly all her life and loved him for almost as long.
The older girls looked at each other with widening eyes and ran. Izzy followed. Their steps were short and quick; long, narrow skirts hindered their progress. They didn’t have far to go round the corner of the lane when through the trees their fourteen-year old brother, Hector, came bounding.
Seeing his sisters he called out, “That stupid fellow Crispin has walloped Michael good and proper. We were play-acting but he’s done it now.”
“What do you mean?” wailed Izzy.
Delphi ran ahead. She held onto her hat with one hand.
“These wretched skirts,” Rose heard her say to no-one in particular as she hitched them up. “It’s alright for you Hector,” she called as he disappeared through the trees ahead of her. Rose knew that as the most active sister, it was frustrating for Delphi to endure her skirts. Many times she had said it was so much easier for men.
There were shouts at the hapless Crispin as she arrived.
Rose came with Izzy through the trees that bordered the lane. Her gaze, generally gentle and myopic, took in the situation and she looked on in horror. The sun through the branches slapped the group with searing tiger stripes. Michael stood with head bowed. The deep gash on his forehead was a slash of vermillion vividness which dripped unheeded; a violent splash on his shirt, so white. A long log of wood lay at his feet and three other lads stood and looked aghast but clueless.
Delphi’s voice rose as she berated them all for their stupidity but Crispin, as the main culprit, received her full wrath.
“You’re fighting with sticks! What on earth for?” Delphi demanded. “Hector you should know better,” she continued, looking at her brother who had got back to the scene of the crime ahead of her. With the full force of her words again upon Crispin she added, “That’s a dirty great log. It’s not even a stick, you dolt.”
Rose saw Crispin regard Delphi. She recognised the look he gave, admiring her beautiful face with its prominent high cheekbones. Rose felt a pang of envy. Everyone looked at Delphi that way including Michael. At that moment, though, Delphi was frowning yet it still didn’t detract from her exotic looks. Her lovely dark eyes, so often dancing with fire lights glared at the culprit.
 

About the author:~

Having worked as a Headteacher, Ros has been used to writing policy documents, essays and stories to which young children enjoyed listening. Now she has taken up the much greater challenge of writing fiction for adults. She writes both historical sagas and contemporary romance; perfect for lying by a warm summer pool or curling up with on a cosy sofa. Her books are thoroughly and accurately researched. This is her third book.

Ros is a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association and the Historical Novelists' Society.

Praise for Flowers of Flanders
An industry professional: I like the idea of setting these successive stories against the backdrops of the great conflicts of their ages, and in the strong family you have created an interesting web of family relations with some vibrant and interesting characters. You have also done a huge amount of research to anchor it in the era. There were several tear-jerking moments, and it is fascinating also to have a more female, familial perspective on the events of the Great War, as you do in Flowers of Flanders.
An Amazon customer: A thoroughly good read which held me gripped right up to the end. The characters are well drawn and the descriptions of the trenches.
Samben: An engaging and heart-warming story set before and during the First World War. Ros Rendle has captured the era beautifully and has vividly portrayed the lives of people who endured such turbulent times.

 

8 February 2017

R. E. Mullins shares It’s A Wonderful Undead Life In Books Revisited

Today please welcome R. E. Mullins who is telling us about...

It’s A Wonderful Undead Life

First in the Blautsaugers of Amber Heights series

by R. E. Mullins

How my very first book came to be…
Working as a phlebotomist in a busy medical laboratory, I spent my days sticking needles into patients collecting blood. A couple of nights a week, I helped train budding phlebotomists at a local tech college. I was surrounded by blood. So it seems perfectly natural I would begin to wonder…What would happen if a phlebotomist was turned into a vampire?
A plot began to slowly weave its way through my mind. Since it was right around Thanksgiving several co-workers were already pulling out Christmas decorations. Everywhere I went or looked I felt bombarded by Christmas—and not always in a good way.
I noticed a commercial for the holiday classic, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, and for some reason it lingered in my mind. I started amusing myself with the question: What would happen if a down on her luck phlebotomist prayed for an angel and got a vampire instead?
Blurb:
It's been a rough couple of years for Cailey Kantor. Facing her first Christmas alone and bad financial news, she prays for an angel to fix her problems. Instead, a sadistic, sociopathic vampire, with the goal of starting a vampire war, attacks her and forces her to drink blood stolen from the Nosferatu Gabriel Blautsauger.
Gabe must complete Cailey's turning or she will die. In doing so he risks losing his yet unfound soulmate. But something about the lovely mortal speaks to his heart. Once her transformation is complete, he and Cailey find themselves embroiled in a battle that could cost them all they hold dear.
Faced with lies, abduction, and betrayal Cailey wonders if the vampire she is falling fangs over heart for is in it for love or if she's just a means to stop a war.
Excerpt:
     Cailey’s scrub top was gone, exposing her lacy bra, and she was in the process of stepping out of the drawstring pants. She glanced up, her gaze a bit wild. “Hurry. Hurry. I think I might explode from all this energy inside me. I feel like a popcorn maker and all the kernels are popping at once. So much pressure in here.” She dropped a hand to the juncture of her thighs and pressed it against her.

     “Cailey?” Gabe’s tone was an octave higher than normal. When she straightened up, clad only in her underwear, he gulped for air. “What are you doing?”

    “Getting ready, of course.” Holding her wadded up pants in front of her, she frowned at him. “I thought you said you knew what you were doing.”

     “I thought I did…” His voice trailed off, his gaze locked on Cailey’s tight body. How had he missed just how beautiful she was? Hidden beneath the baggy scrubs was a living miracle. He took in the slight swell of flesh above the lucky bra cupping her breasts, and his fingers itched to run down the indentation of her waist.

     She dropped the pants to the floor. “Come on. Come on, Gabe the Babe. I know all about when you were at university and all the female vamps used to chase you around and gloat if they made time with you.”

     “Ahem.” Gabe realized he had his sister to thank for this new conundrum. More than a bit leery, he asked, “What else did Metta tell you?”

     “That we’re both kind of like virgins.”

     “I beg your pardon?”

Print ISBN 978-1-61217-584-3 Digital ISBN 978-1-61217-585-0
 
Bio~ About Me
Born and raised in Joplin, Missouri, I've also resided in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mt. Clemens, Michigan, Springfield, Missouri, and Colorado Springs, Colorado. Though I have loved each area, the Ozarks will always hold a special place in my heart and that’s why I set my fictional town of Amber Heights there.

Author side note: I gave my vampires the Blautsauger surname as it is an old Bavarian word for bloodsucker.

Buy links:  TheWildRosePress    Amazon   Kobo

Contact info: remullins.com
However, every once in a Christmas moon a rare and exciting thing happens - the gift that you didn't expect but is absolutely perfect. Finding R E Mullins was my unexpected Christmas gift this year!

It's a Wonderful Undead Life takes the best concepts and themes of the beloved Frank Capra holiday classic and completely reworks them for a creative and captivating read. Yes Virginia, it is another paranormal vampire series but happily one with truly unique features - it's own mythos and rules and an action packed story that the reader doesn't see coming
Grab yourself a cup of your favorite holiday cheer, a cozy chair and settle in for a not-too-long winter's read with It's a Wonderful Undead Life! May it be the surprise gift under your tree this year as well!
Review from Guilty Indulgence bookclub by J C Shanks

I loved this book. And I am not one to say that lightly. Fiona Tate

I purchased this book out of curiosity, I had never read a Paranormal Romance Novel before or for that matter anything Paranormal. I loved it! I couldn't put it down until it was finished and I purchased the next volume before I had finished the first.
Verified Amazon Purchaser

1 February 2017

Colleen Donnelly's book revisited ~ Mine to Tell

 
Please welcome Colleen L. Donnelly today and discover her chosen backlist-book to share with you today.



Writing Mine to Tell:

Mine to Tell went from a NanoWriMo novel to an Amazon #1 Bestseller. Quite a trek for a seed of an idea about betrayal and forgiveness, and a budding voice I merely felt inside as an author.

A bit about the book:

"Mama, would you please tell me about my great-grandma?" Annabelle Crouse grew up under the family shame that had been there for three generations, and at the age of twenty-one she still didn't know why. The boarded-up house down the road her great-grandfather had secluded her great-grandmother in, had to hold the reason.

Denying her family's demand she let the past lay, Annabelle followed what felt like her great-grandmother's voice telling her there was another story to be told, one that was different from the accusations claiming she had been unfaithful. Stripping the house of its boards and dust, Annabelle moved in. She listened and searched for that one voice beneath the insults and criticisms of her family and fiance. She along with Kyle - a long ago childhood neighbor - together unearthing her great-grandmother's story, the one she claimed was Mine to Tell.
* * * * *
 
Not every love story begins or ends with the passion of a bodice-ripper. Some develop slowly - an occasional look or a choice word the only spark they ever know. Some endure adversity - lies, infidelity, or opposition creating flames of distrust instead of the warm thaw of a hesitant heart. And some are so unlikely, so unexpected -  no one sees the connection coming, not even the lovers themselves. "Mine to Tell" is a gentle story of adversity and forgiveness, a tale of mystery you won't forget.
 
Mine Tell Excerpt

“Mine to tell,” Kyle said suddenly. It was a jolt. I was yanked from my mental tumble into a pit of unredemption. Alex looked up too, a quizzical expression on his face. “Julianne left a story behind,” Kyle continued. “Some of it speculation and rumors by people who don’t know, and the rest of it by her own hand. It was a love story. One that was countered with suffering.”

We were all quiet. I looked at him, my heart melting as I heard his masculine voice speak of love and suffering. I wanted to lean across the table and hug him, but I was too afraid.

Alex leaned back in his chair. “What my father went through didn’t feel like love when we were little.”

“But maybe it was,” Kyle persisted, his tone smooth and even. “Does love always turn out the way we want it to?” Then he looked at me. “Julianne Crouse was a fine woman. We haven’t finished her story, but she suffered, and she was fine indeed.”

Tears came to my eyes. “Thank you,” I squeaked. Kyle stood and walked around the table to me. He helped me stand as he thanked them for their time. He retrieved Julianne’s picture, took my hand, and together we went to the door, Alex and his wife following us.

“I hope you’re right,” Alex said, running his hand through his thin, brittle hair as we stepped outside. “My father had some things to come to terms with, but he was a good man. A better man later in life, when he told us he was sorry. I never knew for what.”

 
A little bit about Colleen L. Donnelly who resides in the Midwestern United States. Born and raised in this central part of the country, she eventually broadened her horizons by exploring and experiencing other areas and cultures until she returned to her home ground to settle for good. Colleen always knew, or was told, she could/should write, but there was never enough time until education, family, and career were well established.
 
Now she loves creating character driven tales, telling her stories with a literary style that flows at a gentle and smooth pace. Besides writing, Colleen enjoys the outdoors, theater, treasure hunting through antique malls and flea markets, and rubbing shoulders with other creative people. Colleen always has her eyes and ears open for that one statement or unexpected incident that sprouts like a tiny seed into her next new novel.
 
 
Mine Tell Excerpt

“Mine to tell,” Kyle said suddenly. It was a jolt. I was yanked from my mental tumble into a pit of unredemption. Alex looked up too, a quizzical expression on his face. “Julianne left a story behind,” Kyle continued. “Some of it speculation and rumors by people who don’t know, and the rest of it by her own hand. It was a love story. One that was countered with suffering.”

We were all quiet. I looked at him, my heart melting as I heard his masculine voice speak of love and suffering. I wanted to lean across the table and hug him, but I was too afraid.

Alex leaned back in his chair. “What my father went through didn’t feel like love when we were little.”

“But maybe it was,” Kyle persisted, his tone smooth and even. “Does love always turn out the way we want it to?” Then he looked at me. “Julianne Crouse was a fine woman. We haven’t finished her story, but she suffered, and she was fine indeed.”

Tears came to my eyes. “Thank you,” I squeaked. Kyle stood and walked around the table to me. He helped me stand as he thanked them for their time. He retrieved Julianne’s picture, took my hand, and together we went to the door, Alex and his wife following us.

“I hope you’re right,” Alex said, running his hand through his thin, brittle hair as we stepped outside. “My father had some things to come to terms with, but he was a good man. A better man later in life, when he told us he was sorry. I never knew for what.”