Beauty is Backbone Deep

Today Mackenzie Crowne is visiting the Spell Room. She is a wonderful storyteller and I cannot wait to read her new story. 

Beauty is Backbone Deep

by 

Mackenzie Crowne

As a writer, I’m always on the lookout for that certain something that will give my characters depth. Consequently, I’m a voracious people watcher, but as a woman that isn’t always a comfortable thing. Take, for instance, those women who just seem to have it all together-all the time. You know who they are, the ones floating into the upscale stores at the mall, while you share a corn dog with your kids on a bench, spitting on a Kleenex to wipe the mustard off the four year-old’s t-shirt and barking at the eight year-old to get out of the fountain. You look with longing at those modern day princesses with their carefree schedules, stylishly streaked hair, model thin bodies, and perfectly made up faces belonging on magazine covers.

And you hiss with jealousy…or is that just me?

Okay, I’m taking artistic license here. I’m a grandmother now (a really young one. ;-)) My kids are grown and life has calmed down somewhat since those days at the mall. I admit, I can clean up nicely when I take the time, but I have lived the corn dog existence I just described, and those years weren’t pretty, believe me. They were, however, instructive and liberating. A weight dropped from my shoulders and my need for a perfect appearance became less important with my discovery that life is messy and learning to cope in the world of not-so-perfect not only builds character, it makes you strong.

My epiphany came in the middle of a women’s clothing department as I witnessed the horror of two women who had simultaneously lost track of their children. (If this has ever happened to you, you know how scary it can be. I’m still mad at my oldest for hiding in that rack of robes when he was four.)

One of the women that day wore jeans. Her hair was piled in a messy knot at the top of her head, her makeup non-existent. Alternately, the second woman, a modern day princess in linen, could have stepped off the pages of Vogue - except for the mascara running down her cheeks with her frantic tears.

Like a deer in the headlights, the princess fell apart, racing through the department and pleading for help at the top of her lungs. In contrast, Miss jeans calmly hushed the toddler at her side and opened her mouth. “Marco!” she called out. From the other side of the department a child’s voice called back. “Polo!”

It was a thing of beauty, I tell you, and I still chuckle at the memory.

Now, I’m not saying all princesses are helpless in an emergency, any more than I’m saying all Plain Jane’s are a force to be reckoned with, but as a writer, which woman do you think is more likely to live in my heroines?

Besides beauty and strength, what is a characteristic you found irresistible in your favorite heroine?

Mackenzie Crowne is a wife, mother, and grandmother. She and her husband live in Phoenix and were blessed with two rambunctious little boys they managed to raise into wonderful men without any disfiguring mishaps. Dirt bikes and ESPN are the order around their house, and life at the 'Testosterone Ranch' more closely resembles one of today’s wacky reality shows, than yesterday’s ‘Leave It To Beaver’. Mac’s love of books, specifically the romance genre, has been a lifelong affair. A bout with breast cancer sharpened her resolve to see her stories shared with others. As of today, she is a four-year survivor, living her dream. Her first title, Gift of the Realm will be released on 4/25/12 and her second, That Dating Thing, will follow this fall.

http://macsmadmania.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/MackenzieCrowne
https://twitter.com/#!/MacCrowne

W. Lynn Chantale Shares Two

Today my good friend, W. Lynn Chantale, is joining us in the Spell Room. Lynn has two new releases to share with us. I can't wait to get my copies!

Be Mine

W. Lynn Chantale

Remember those little Valentine cards we handed out in school? I used to hate doing that. Even though the teacher sent out a class list, and every student had to make sure there were enough cards, I always hated that moment. What if I didn’t get one? Or would the cute boy I had a crush on give me the “special” Valentine card from the box.

Junior High and High School saw candygrams. I think for fifty cents you could send a card and message with a sucker or something. I’d get a few of those, but by then whether or not I received didn’t matter as much. I was too focused on writing and reading.

So in the spirit of the Valentine’s Day I thought I’d write you a poem. Hopefully it will bring a smile to your face.

Rose are Red

Violets are Blue

Yes, I thought I’d start with

lines tried and true.

Lilies are White

Tulips are Pink

Thank goodness this is the

last line, ‘cause this poem stinks!

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Until next time, Indulge Your Inner Romantic

Website: http://wlynnchantale.com

Blog: http://wlynnchantale-decadentdecisions.blogspot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/wlynnchantale

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/W.LynnChantaleAuthor

The Designer’s Bride-Valentine Delights:Kiss Me

Jordan has planned the perfect wedding, only one catch, the bride hasn't said yes.

For cosmetics heiress Elisabeth Bach, finding the right man hasn’t been easy, especially when her father is bent on arranging her love life for his own twisted purposes. When she falls for fashion designer Jordan Carlisle, she knows she’s met The One, and she’ll do anything to keep their relationship secret from her father’s schemes.

Jordan Carlisle has been waiting a long time for a chance to date Elisabeth and he’s determined to make her his wife. Will a Valentine’s Day proposal be enough to keep her or will his checkered past destroy his future? 

Watching him reminded her of the first time they met and her lips quirked at the memory. At least then she’d had some warning of the broken date…

Alone. Again. Elisabeth managed a halfhearted smile as she laid her phone on the pristine white linen and accepted a menu from the maitre d’. “Thank you,” she murmured.

She glanced around the quiet restaurant. Cloth-topped tables dotted the room while various couples sat shrouded in shadows, heads bent, indulging in private conversations. With a sigh, she opened her menu. She didn’t even know why she bothered anymore.

Dating was hard under the best of circumstances, but in the last year it seemed to grow more difficult. Any man who survived to the third date, canceled by the fourth. Which is why she sat in a four star restaurant alone...again. She didn’t even have the heart to stay anymore.

“Will someone be joining you this evening, Miss Bach?”

She smiled at the sandy-haired waiter hovering near her elbow. “Not tonight. I think I’ll just go home.”

A frown creased his lightly tanned features. “That’s too bad. A gentleman at another table asked if he might join you.”

“Are you playing matchmaker again, Dylan?”

He chuckled. “No ma’am. He saw you sitting alone.”

“I think I can take it from here,” a smooth, velvety voice interrupted.

Dylan nodded and backed away. Elisabeth straightened a little in her chair. Her breath stuck in her throat at the intensity of the newcomer’s stare. His long slow perusal left her body simmering.

His jet black hair was cut close, the smooth hairline tapering to neatly trimmed sideburns. Otherwise, his rugged face was clean-shaven. He smiled and her eyes were drawn to his full, sexy mouth. For a moment, she wondered how his lips would feel pressed against hers. Desire flooded her veins.

“Jordan Carlisle.” He offered his hand. The oversized watch on his wrist winked in the dim light, vying for attention with his gold cufflinks.

 She accepted his hand. “Elisabeth.” She snapped her gaze to his at the crackle of electricity between them. He held her hand a second too long and flirtation gleamed in the depths of his coffee-colored eyes.

“Mind if I join you?” He waved to the vacant chair across from hers.

She shook her head and bit back a sigh when his biceps flexed against the dark silk of his suit jacket. He unbuttoned his coat and sat down.

“I hate dining alone,” he said, smiling apologetically.

“I do too. I was just about to leave.” She studied him from beneath her lashes before meeting his eyes a second time. He seemed familiar to her, yet she couldn’t quite place where she’d seen him. “Have we met before?”

He smiled, wide and easy, and her heart fluttered in anticipation.

“Not formally. I’m a friend of your brother’s. We went to college together.”

His dark good looks and devil-may-care eyes slid into place in her memory. The photo in her brother’s room, of the lacrosse team. Jordan had been the captain.

“You and Drew played lacrosse.”

He nodded. “How is Andrew? It’s been a few months since we’ve seen each other.”

“Out of town at the moment. At a conference.” She reached for her water glass and Dylan reappeared with a second menu. “I’ll have to tell Andrew we spoke.”

 “I’m sure he won’t mind.” Jordan smiled again and she melted.

She shook her head. “He thinks I should get out more, but my father has a way of sabotaging my love life.” She sipped her water.

He regarded her a moment, avid interest shining in his eyes. “You are definitely worth protecting.”

Heat crept into her cheeks from his scrutiny as well as the compliment. “You’re pretty suave, aren’t you?”

He chuckled, a smooth laugh that reminded her of warm fudge. “When it suits me.”

“Like now?”

He inclined his head.

“And my father knows nothing about you?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

She picked up a menu. “Let’s keep it that way.”

http://www.stillmomentspublishing.com/p/ebook-store.html

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/130216

Decadent Seconds

As a caterer, Darling gets to witness some of life’s happiest moments, but yearns for a marriage proposal of her own. After years of waiting on her beloved to pop the question, she gives up on ever having a happy ending of her own and severs the relationship. When she learns she’s pregnant, she has no choice but to face her child’s father on a daily basis as well as the love and attraction she has for him.

Darryl Manning always believed Darling would be his forever. After all he didn’t need a piece of paper to show her how much he loved her, but when she leaves him to pursue her dream of owning a catering company and raising his son, he may have to rethink his views on marriage. That is if he wants a second chance at family.

Whispers: http://whispershome.com/romance/decadent-seconds/

Amazon: http//www.amazon.com/Decadent-Seconds-ebook/dp/B007228MRW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1327677892&sr=8-4

ARe: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-decadentseconds-676660-149.html

Book Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAo7CX8l_rU

Website: http://wlynnchantale.com

Blog: http://wlynnchantale-decadentdecisions.blogspot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/wlynnchantale

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/W.LynnChantaleAuthor

Jillian Chantal

Jillian Chantal, author of The Coroner's Heart, has stopped by the Spell Room to tell us a little about her new story. Welcome, Jillian.

Thanks for inviting me to be on your blog today, Liberty. I’m going to chat a bit about my short story in a Valentine’s Day Anthology from Still Moments Anthology. I’m honored as well to be in your company in this book. How fun is it that we both have stories in the same anthology?

My story is The Coroner’s Heart and takes place mostly in a crime lab. The heroine is the city coroner and the hero is a blood analyst in the lab. The mayor of the city is dead. The public and deputy mayor is demanding a quick resolution to the mayor’s death. The staff has to work overtime to get to the solution.

The lab also has a staff Valentine’s day luncheon planned and the  heroine is bringing a candy heart made from spun sugar and JELL-O. Here is the tag line for the story: Making a Valentine’s Day candy heart from Jell-o is easy for this coroner, performing an autopsy on a real heart is even easier, but what happens when her own heart is at risk?

The hero and heroine have worked near each other for a while, but the week of Valentine’s Day, the hero’s normal sarcastic attitude and general teasing of the coroner takes a turn toward the flirtatious. He asks her to share Valentine’s Dinner with him and his valentine. She thinks he’s lost his mind to expect her to accompany him to such a dinner.

This was a fun story to write and I really like the hero- he’s witty and charming even when he’s a bit of a pain to the heroine. I hope the readers love him as much as I do.

I like to have a twist in my tales and I hope the readers appreciate the one in this story.

This anthology can be purchased here:  http://www.stillmomentspublishing.com/
or
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/130214

Thanks again for letting me chat today, Liberty.

Find me on the web: www.JillianChantal.com

Change of Heart, my Valentine Day story is now available  through Still Moments Publishing.

http://www.stillmomentspublishing.com/p/ebook-store.html

and

Valentine Delights Be Mine on Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/130214

Deadheading

In order to keep a plant growing and thriving you must deadhead the old blossoms and deadwood leaves. To keep your story healthy and thriving you must ruthlessly prune unnecessary words and pluck out those characters you don't really need.

My garden always has geraniums in it. I love the plant. The shape, the color, the scent. When I lop off the dead flowers I get to smell the earthy goodness that the plant has buried deep in its core.

When you get rid of the cast of thousands that are inhabiting your story, you will find the earthy goodness. The idea at the core that made you want to write it in the first place. It is no longer being pollinated by every Tom, Dick, and Louis that flew into the garden.

Oh! Wait! You want to give them their own stories. Fine, but they need their own root system. Not every character needs to be seeded in the same plot.

Reality Bites

Liv Rancourt is visiting the Spell Room today to talk about Vampires and Reality.

Tagline for A Vampire's Deadly Delight:

An ordinary bookstore owner and a gorgeous instrument of vampire destruction share a secret that could kill them both. What will each of them give, and give up, to survive?

Reality Bites

Last weekend was terribly exciting because it marked the release of my first book, A Vampire’s Deadly Delight. I’m lucky to have kind and supportive friends like Liberty who are gracious enough to give me space on their blog to talk about my new book. Thanks, Liberty! You’ve been very patient with me and I appreciate it.

As you can tell from the title, there’s at least one vampire in my book. In fact, there are several, but before I wrote it I did surprisingly little research about vampires. I didn’t really need to. These days you’d have to be a doorknob not to know a little something about the undead. They’re all over the place, a crazy collage of soulless blood drinkers ready to entertain us.

It may sound like putting the caboose at the front of the train, but I did the research after the book came out, so that when I have the opportunity to write a blog post, I’d know what I was talking about. I’ve learned that there are some fascinating and informative websites out there in internet-land, covering every possible aspect of paranormal life. It’s really kind of awesome. And I learned that there are websites dedicated to “real” vampires.  There’s a whole subculture where, in one way or another, people identify themselves as vampires.

It’s enough to give a (living) body chills.

I’ve always been a fan of Lestat and Louise, of Don Ysidro, and of ol’ Count Dracula himself*. They’re some of my favorite characters. (*That’s Interview with a Vampire by Ann Rice, Those Who Hunt The Night by Barbara Hambly, and Dracula by Bram Stoker). More recently I’ve been a loyal reader of any number of vampire series, and I lived with vamps for quite some time while writing Deadly Delight, but never once, in all that time, did I think that I might actually BE a vampire. With all due respect, people, I think maybe you need to get out more. In the sunshine. In clothing that’s not black and cobwebby.

I thought about including some of these “real” vampire website addresses to support my claim, but I didn’t want to make anybody mad, so you’ll have to do your own research. I found a site that describes the genetic mutations that are required to create a vampire, and another that describes itself as a vampire support center. And nowhere did either of those sites indicate that they realized they were writing fiction.

In the end, I guess it’s a harmless enough pastime, no crazier than refighting Civil War battles or, say, deciding to write your first book at the age of 49 (ooh, guilty as charged!). As long as there’s no real exchange of bodily fluids and everyone goes home happy, it’s okay. I guess. I just prefer that my fictional characters stay on the page or on the screen, and not lurking in the darkened corners of my basement.

Peace,

Liv

A little more about A Vampire's Deadly Delight

She’s a quiet, unassuming bookstore owner by day, but by night...

Kristen has a deadly secret—when she smells a vampire, she turns into Jai, a beauti-licious babe who makes vampspermanently dead. To a vamp, Jai is like ambrosia. They can’t resist her. She uses this attraction, plus her super strength and her trusty blade, Mr. Sticky, to end their undead lives. The thrill of wearing miniskirts without worrying about cellulite stifles any qualms Kristen might have about killing the undead. Being Jai is the most fun she has ever had—until they come up against the one vampire Jai can’t kill. If he and Jai have a history, as he claims, Jai can’t remember it...or him.

But when her work catches the attention of some old enemies—who won’t hesitate to destroy Kristen if it also means the end of Jai—this vampire may be their only hope. Can Kristen and Jai learn to tell the difference between good and evil in time to defeat Jai’s ancient nemesis? Or will being Jai’s hostess cost Kristen more than just her beauty sleep?

Liv Rancourt is a writer of speculative fiction and romance. She lives in Seattle with her husband, two teenagers, two cats and one wayward puppy. Writing stories that have happy endings is a good way to balance her work in the neonatal intensive care unit, and she is thrilled to be publishing her first novella with Black Opal Books. Liv can be found on-line at her website (www.livrancourt.com), her blog (www.liv-rancourt.blogspot.com), on Facebook (www.facebook.com/liv.rancourt), or on Twitter (www.twitter.com/LivRancourt). 

Available at Barnes & Noble

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-vampires-deadly-delight-liv-rancourt/1108058756?ean=2940013743069&itm=1&usri=a+vampire%27s+deadly+delight 

Available at Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=A+vampire%27s+deadly+delight

Jan Daiker has a wonderful short story in Snowbound Hearts from Still Moments Publishing. She has graciously offered to send an ebook to the lucky person whose comment is chosen at random.

Here's Jen!!!

I love telling stories. When I was young I’d spend my days writing silly stories about cupcakes and Polly pockets (yes, I had a huge fascination with both). I’d play Barbie’s and they always had their lives figured out. I suppose I’d always wanted more for myself. I grew up in a small town and hated everyone knowing my business, knowing my dad, and always tell on me when I found myself in trouble. I promised myself when I had the chance to leave I’d take it. When I was 19 I had the opportunity. My (now husband) and I picked up and moved to the big city (Houston), for new life experiences.

This is a little of how Snowbanked, my first published short story, came about. It’s only when I moved away that I realized the small town life was peaceful and more me. I gave up the snow which broke my heart. Every year I try and make a trip home to enjoy the white fluff puffs that grace the lawns of decorated holiday homes. It’s the little piece of home that truly feels like the holidays.

Now my main character, Parker, left behind her boyfriend in spite of her love for him, for the opportunity to live a little. Taking a job in a big city hoping never to return home. Of course, family never leaves, and she’s forced to return home for a party. Love never really goes away and in this story I wanted to put all my loves in once place – snow, small town, and obviously a whole lot of love.

Here’s a little more info on Snowbanked!

Tag Line:

Returning home can hold the best surprises, especially when love’s involved.

Excerpt:

What had I done last night? I held my forehead as I walked to the bathroom. A zombie version of my former self appeared in the mirror. The ball of fur on my head would have to be brushed out before I even attempted a shower. Mascara was smeared down my face, and my rosy cheeks were covered in soot. The ladies who promised me water-proof lashes would later be scolded for not divulging the truth. I splashed my face with water, hoping to relieve the headache destroying my thoughts.

            I walked to my suitcase and got sidetracked checking the clock on the swanky red side table. I had less than an hour to perfect my look and get to the venue for the big reveal. Just as I reached into the shower stall and twisted the hot water handle, a knock on the door startled me. I walked to the front door and looked through the peep hole and Grant stood on the other end. Why couldn’t he disappear? Didn’t he have someone else to torment? The surprises weren’t supposed to be mine. Didn’t he get the memo?

             “Parker!” he shouted.

            I unlocked the door. Each thud of his fist, mixed with his need to holler my name, sent shots of pain through my skull. “I’m here. Why are you yelling?”

The devilish grin on his face sent my heart racing. He didn’t look this good yesterday, did he? His jeans fit tight around his muscular legs and his brown sweater had me daydreaming about what was underneath. When our eyes met he dazzled me. He brushed his fingertips down my cheek and a cold shiver raced through my entire body.

Pick up a copy of Snowbanked and email me your thoughts! I love hearing from people. You can find me on twitter (jenunedited àhttp://twitter.com/#!/jenunedited) and avidly over at my blog, Unedited (http://jennifer-daiker.blogspot.com) ! Stop in for a chat!

 

Available now:

 http://www.stillmomentspublishing.com/p/ebook-store.html