Find the Magic by Alicia Dean

Tags

Editing tips, Fiction writing tips, Free ebook, Free writing book, How to plot, Plotting, Plotting tips, Writing tips

FREE Kindle Ebook on Plotting – Nov 27 through Nov 29!!

Editor and author, Alicia Dean’s FIND THE MAGIC – How to Plot a Story in 10 Easy Steps is FREE through Amazon Kindle for a LIMITED Time:

Friday, November 27^th through Sunday, November 29^th

PLUS, her suspense novel used for examples in the book, WITHOUT MERCY, is on sale for $2.99 (free with Kindle Unlimited)

Click here to get your FREE kindle copy of Find the Magic:

http://www.amazon.com/Find-Magic-Plot-Story-Steps-ebook/dp/B00OR0IY0W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1448320720&sr=8-2&keywords=find+the+magic

Click here to purchase Without Mercy for $2.99:

http://www.amazon.com/Without-Mercy-Thriller-Suspense-Romantic-ebook/dp/B00NQAT304/ref=la_B004HQW4X4_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1448321167&sr=1-11

Comments from reviews for Find the Magic:

“This book is exactly what I had been looking for. I am finally able to organise my 60,000 word novel, structure it, work out the theme and basically be able to finish it after putting it off for 2 years.”

~*~

“Includes some show and tell examples for clear understanding of the concepts presented. Will be one of my go-to reference books.”

~*~

“Excellent book. Simple, understandable guidelines that even I can follow.”

~*~

“This is the best guideline I’ve ever seen on how to get started with writing a novel.”

~*~

“Find the Magic will help you get that book written, and Alicia Dean is a master at explaining and encouraging from page one … all the way to the end.”

~*~

“I would recommend this book to anyone who is seriously pursuing a publishing career in fiction.”

~*~

“Her examples are excellent and I especially liked her ‘Extra Nuggets’ at the end of each chapter. Whether you’re beginner or advanced, this little book is a gem.”

About Alicia:

Alicia Dean lives in Edmond, Oklahoma. She has three grown children and a huge network of supportive friends and family. She writes mostly contemporary suspense and paranormal, but has also written in other genres, including a few vintage historicals.

In addition to being an author of more than twenty-five published works, Alicia is both a freelance editor and an editor for The Wild Rose Press, under the name, Ally Robertson, in their suspense line.

Other than reading and writing, her passions are Elvis Presley, MLB, NFL (she usually works in a mention of one or all three into her stories) and watching her favorite televisions shows like Vampire Diaries, Justified, Sons of Anarchy, Haven, The Mindy Project, and Dexter (even though it has sadly ended, she will forever be a fan). Some of her favorite authors are Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, Lee Child, Lisa Gardner, Sharon Sala, Jordan Dane, Ridley Pearson, Joseph Finder, and Jonathan Kellerman…to name a few.

Find Alicia here:

Website: http://aliciadean.com/

Blog: http://aliciadean.com/alicias-blog/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008364070487

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Alicia_Dean_

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/aliciamdean/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/468339.Alicia_Dean

 

 

 

 

Future Winds by Kevin Laymon

Tags

Amazon, author, books, indie authors, Kindle, reader, sci-fi, science fiction novels, writer

Kevin will be awarding a $20 gift card to Thinkgeek.com (international) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

 

GENRE: Sci-Fi

BLURB:

Set in a science fiction setting with elements of twisted horror, Future Winds is a strange yet wondrous tale of species self preservation and the all out moral cost of survival. Forced to leave earth, humanity discovers a planet capable of supporting life and hatches an audacious plan that will warp them across the universe to settle and begin anew. There is a darkness that resides below the planet’s surface, but with no option to turn back, humanity must find a way forward.

Excerpt:

Chapter 12 excerpt:

Though humanities new planet is mostly desert, there is an abundance of lush and complex alien life that dwell below the hot surface.

The channel was lit up by neon flora of green and blue, beautiful little plants that swayed back and forth despite the lack of a breeze or draft to give them a push. Reaching out to touch one with his glove, the little blossom reacted by illuminating brighter, so much so that the exterior became transparent, and Tyler could see the thousands of cells within, that made up life for the spectacular flower.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

My name is Kevin Laymon. My passions are space exploration, music, sailing, snowboarding, wildlife, and of course writing. I have been writing for some time but the focus has been primarily on short stories and dark poems strictly for personal use. Future Winds is the first of a handful of novels I am working on for publication. I grew up in upstate New York and have lived up and down the east coast. New York is a location that holds a very special place in my heart. After working a wide range of jobs that I hated for far too long, Sara my significant other, and I decided earlier in 2015 to make some dramatic changes and travel. We scraped together some cash, I quit my job, and we moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico where we live a libertarian life as vegetarians. We share our desertscape living quarters with an aquatic turtle named Taz and a rabbit named BunBear. On October 9th 2015 Sara & I got married in Las Vegas, Nevada. The sunshine in New Mexico has helped immensely in illuminating a greater perspective as to who I am and what I was placed on this planet to do; that is to teach and inspire. I have a hunger to awaken humanity so that we may break away from our programed way of thinking. Our minds are powerful and I encourage everyone to open them up, exercise them, and tap into the potential I know every living man woman and child has. Though my stories at times can be very dark there is a reason for everything I do. Perspective, perception, and relativity are everything in the world of literature.

Website:

AuthorKevinLaymon.com

Facebook:

Facebook.com/AuthorKevinLaymon

Twitter:

Twitter.com/Kevin_Laymon

BUY LINK:  http://www.amazon.com/Future-Winds-Kevin-Laymon-ebook/dp/B0173W013I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446145148&sr=8-1&keywords=KEVIN+LAYMON

Kevin will be awarding a $20 gift card to Thinkgeek.com (international) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

FOR MORE CHANCES TO WIN, FOLLOW KEVIN ON TOUR:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2015/10/book-blast-future-winds-by-kevin-laymon.html

 

The Santa Claus Man: The Rise and Fall of a Jazz Age Con Man and the Invention of Christmas in New York by Alex Palmer

Tags

books, Christmas, con man, gift cards, giveaways, historic novel, John Gluck, New York City, Publishers Weekly, readers, Santa Claus, Santa Claus Association, true crime novel, writers

Alex will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

GENRE: History/True Crime

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Before the charismatic John Duval Gluck, Jr. came along, letters from New York City children to Santa Claus were destroyed, unopened, by the U.S. Post Office. Gluck saw an opportunity, and created the Santa Claus Association. The effort delighted the public, and for 15 years money and gifts flowed to the only group authorized to answer Santa’s mail. Gluck became a Jazz Age celebrity, rubbing shoulders with the era’s movie stars and politicians, and even planned to erect a vast Santa Claus monument in the center of Manhattan — until Gotham’s crusading charity commissioner discovered some dark secrets in Santa’s workshop.

The rise and fall of the Santa Claus Association is a caper both heartwarming and hardboiled, involving stolen art, phony Boy Scouts, a kidnapping, pursuit by the FBI, a Coney Island bullfight, and above all, the thrills and dangers of a wild imagination. It’s also the larger story of how Christmas became the extravagant holiday we celebrate today, from Santa’s early beginnings in New York to the country’s first citywide Christmas tree and Macy’s first grand holiday parade. The Santa Claus Man is a holiday tale with a dark underbelly, and an essential read for lovers of Christmas stories, true crime, and New York City history.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt:

A strange candidate for Santa Claus, Gluck had no children of his own. He was a bachelor, once divorced, and though a member of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Gluck was not particularly religious.

The oldest of five brothers, Gluck had lived for two years in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, before his family moved to Westfield, NJ. He described it as a happy home with few wants and where every holiday was a huge deal, especially Christmas, when kind gestures both within the family and toward less-fortunate outsiders were a tradition.

At 5-foot-6, he was the shortest of his brothers by several inches and also the only one losing his hair, for which he began to compensate with a lustrous mustache, maintained with an assortment of combs, brushes, and clippers.

Gluck inherited his father’s custom brokerage business, but, at age 35, he was restless for fame and hungry to do something with his life. Picking up any day’s newspaper or stopping in at one of the movie theaters in Manhattan, one encountered thrilling stories of heroes, self-made men, and adventurers. Gluck sensed he was destined for great things too, to bring delight to the city, help his fellow New Yorkers, and garner himself some public esteem in the process. Santa might offer just the route.

Gluck was a natural showboat, and after the Post Office gave its approvals and he started the “Santa Claus Association,” he proved adept at delighting the reporters who dropped by the headquarters, in the back room of Henkel’s Chop Shop on 36th Street.

When Zoe Beckley, a reporter for the Evening Mail, arrived, Gluck told how children wrote in asking for sleds or dolls and more unusual things. Several children even asked for coal; so cold and desperate were the letter writers that they would consider it a blessing, rather than a punishment for naughtiness, to receive coal in their stockings. Kids addressed letters to Ice Street, Cloudville and Behind the Moon (it would be a few more years before the North Pole was accepted as Santa’s home).

Gluck boasted the process he had devised, drawing on years of exacting customs work, was what really made the Santa Claus Association special. A team of volunteers would go through each letter, flagging any repeats from the same child. If the child described starvation, homelessness or abuse, the volunteer set it in a special stack, which was forwarded to the Public Charities Commission for further investigation.

If the writer asked for excessive gifts or gave some other indication of not really needing Santa’s help, it was set aside in an investigation stack. If the missive passed all inspection — Gluck estimated 70% of them did — the letter was finally ready for a response.

Association members did not actually touch the gifts these children would receive. Each approved letter was sent out to a potential donor — drawn from a list of names and addresses Gluck compiled from his own business along with suggestions made by the association’s directors and volunteers.

Gluck revealed to Beckley something unmentioned to other reporters, a credential that made him almost cosmically qualified to play New York City’s Santa Claus: He had been born on Christmas Day.

“[Gluck] never had a birthday,” Beckley would write after her tour. “He had one of course, in a way. But nobody noticed it because it fell upon the 25th of December. Deeply Master Gluck pondered on this left-handed compliment of fate. He finally decided that while it was tough luck to be done out of birthdays, it would be tougher yet to be done out of Christmas.”

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Alex Palmer is the author of The Santa Claus Man: The Rise and Fall of a Jazz Age Con Man and the Invention of Christmas in New York, called “required reading” by the New York Post and “highly readable” by Publishers Weekly.

Available at:

 

Amazon.com – http://www.amazon.com/Santa-Claus-Man-Invention-Christmas/dp/1493008447/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1430324363&sr=1-7

Barnes & Noble – http://www.amazon.com/Santa-Claus-Man-Invention-Christmas/dp/1493008447/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1430324363&sr=1-7

IndieBound – http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781493008445

It tells the history of Christmas in America through the true-crime tale of a Jazz Age hustler who founded an organization to answer children’s Santa letters — and fuel his own dark dreams. Palmer curated an exhibit about this Santa Claus Association for Brooklyn’s City Reliquary Museum, earning attention from the Village Voice, Time Out New York, and inspiring a memorable segment on WNYC (http://wny.cc/1bQIx5k).

The son of two teachers, Palmer’s love of learning and sharing surprising stories behind familiar subjects has led him to become a secret-history sleuth. In addition to The Santa Claus Man, he is the author of Weird-o-pedia: The Ultimate Collection of Surprising, Strange, and Incredibly Bizarre Facts About (Supposedly) Ordinary Things, published in 2012 by Skyhorse Publishing. it offers up a wealth of unexpected facts of familiar things. His first book, Literary Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Literature, takes a look at some of the more colorful aspects of great writers and their works, and was published in 2010 by Skyhorse.

He is a full-time freelance journalist whose work has appeared in Slate, Rhapsody, Smithsonian, Vulture, the New York Daily News, Publishers Weekly, and The Rumpus, among others.

See more at http://www.alexpalmerwrites.com and follow him @theAlexPalmer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE:

Alex will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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FOR MORE CHANCES TO WIN, FOLLOW ALEX ON HIS TOUR:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2015/11/book-blast-santa-claus-man-by-alex.html

 

The Romance Reviews Year End Splash – I’m There!

Tags

book games, books, contests, free reads, gift cards, giveaways, Linda Nightingale, readers, The Romance Reviews Year End Splash, vampire, writers

With a chance to win a $10 gift card.  They didn’t list the book.  😦   Go to http://www.theromancereviews.com/event.php and scroll down to Question #5.  The answer is on my web site under the Free Reads, Vampyre Interlude, http://www.lindanightingale.com.  Come play and have fun, plus win prizes!

Here’s my new cover for the Morgan stories (his darker side is featured in Vampyre Interlude).  I love it!!!  Soon from The Wild Rose Press.

Elite Ghostsby by Jennifer Kacey

Tags

Amazon, best selling authors, boxed sets, fantasy, MC romance, military fiction, multiple author book sets, sci-fi

GENRE: Military and MC Romance

Jennifer will be awarding a $50 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

For more than two years they’ve been ghosts. Nothing but names on empty tombstones. Men and women forced to fade into the background after being pulled from the rubble. Dead Marines saved from a fate worse than death, but ordered to stand down while their lives disappeared all around them.

Some knew it could happen if a mission exploded. Double crossed by more than just Red Wolf. But now is their time to be reborn from the flames of a Phoenix. No longer imprisoned in the shadows. A half-life between them and their future. To make things right coming back to life is their only option.

Excerpt:

Titanium’s Sacrifice Excerpt By Jennifer Kacey

He was alone.

Trapped in the darkness.

Caged inside his own fucking broken body.

As Lifetime movie as it was, he was surrounded by his brothers and sisters, even his blooded niece, Poppy, and he’d never been more lonely. Not even in the months he was in and out of a coma. The surgeries. The mother fucking rehab.

They were all making a home here on the Elite compound…

Home.

Not for him.

Just another place in the dark. Like any other. They all looked the same with no sight to guide him.

Annie, his wonder dog, whined again. The weight of her chin rested on his thigh, right above where one of his prostheses attached. Running his fingers over her silky fur, he tried to find his inner peace. Or Zen. Or some other existential bullshit place no more real than an honest politician’s summer home. His happy place lived on the same street as Pee Wee Herman and a rainbow unicorn he met once when he was stupid enough to drop acid in college.

What did they have in common?

None of them existed.

Closing his eyes used to help him focus. It would block out the extraneous visual noise the military coughed up, often, and gave him an opportunity to sift through everything. Weed out the chaff and keep the good stuff.

Now?

Now didn’t look any different in the new shade of black when his lids finally closed. It was noon on a bright and shiny day. Only reason he knew the time? Because his clock on the wall had gone off a few minutes prior and his neck was growing warm from the sun coming in the window behind him.

Was he grateful for surviving?

Most days.

Today wasn’t most days.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BUY LINK:

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Elite-Ghosts-Six-Novel-Cohesive-Military-ebook/dp/B016EHG6KA/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1447077887&sr=8-1

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Jennifer Kacey

Jennifer Kacey is a writer, mother, and business owner living with her family in Texas. She sings in the shower, plays piano in her dreams, and has to have a different color of nail polish every week. She’s the Amazon top seller and award winning author of the Members Only Series and the Surrender Series along with several standalone novels and novellas. The best advice she’s ever been given? Find the real you and never settle for anything less. Connect with her on twitter @JenniferKacey and Facebook. And don’t forget to sign up for her newsletter so you can hear about all of her new releases and giveaways!!

Social Media Links

Website – http://www.jenniferkacey.com/

Blog – The Decadent Divas – http://www.thedecadentdivas.blogspot.com/

Newsletter Sign Up – http://jenniferkacey.us7.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=f09bd32b8c279cebcc930950e&id=2a45c210e8

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.kacey.7

Facebook Author Page – https://www.facebook.com/jenniferkaceyauthor

Twitter – https://twitter.com/JenniferKacey

Amazon Page – http://www.amazon.com/Jennifer-Kacey/e/B00GXHUB30/ref=s9_simh_gw_p351_d9_al1?_encoding=UTF8&refinementId=618073011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0G8ZPDQJVKJPKXNBRY10&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200382&pf_rd_i=507846

Goodreads – http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6941549.Jennifer_Kacey

Pinterest – http://pinterest.com/jenniferkacey/
Jennifer will be awarding a $50 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

OTHER CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS:

Anna Alexander

Award winning author Anna Alexander is the author of the Heroes of Saturn and Sprawling A Ranch Series. With Hugh Jackman’s abs and Christopher Reeve’s blue eyes as inspiration, it is her mission to give superheroes their happily ever after. To give back to the writing community that has taught her so much, Anna has served on the board of the Greater Seattle RWA as chapter president and been on the committee of the Emerald City Writers Conference. She also teaches workshops on the business of writing and has been fortunate to promote the romance genre at events such as the Emerald City Comic Con and Geek Girl Cons. Learn more of Anna’s world at her website AnnaAlexander.net

Sign up to receive news about Anna’s latest releases at http://eepurl.com/Q0tsz

Social Media Links

Website – http://www.annaalexander.net/

Blog – The Decadent Divas – http://www.thedecadentdivas.blogspot.com/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/anna.alexander.94

Facebook Author Page – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Anna-Alexander/282170065189471?ref=hl

Twitter – https://twitter.com/AnnaWriter

Amazon Page – http://www.amazon.com/Anna-Alexander/e/B008IAKLOO/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1418701356&sr=8-1

Goodreads –https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1335912.Anna_Alexander

Heather Long

National bestselling author, Heather Long, likes long walks in the park, science fiction, superheroes, Marines, and men who aren’t douche bags. Her books are filled with heroes and heroines tangled in romance as hot as Texas summertime. From paranormal historical westerns to contemporary military romance, Heather might switch genres, but one thing is true in all of her stories—her characters drive the books. When she’s not wrangling her menagerie of animals, she devotes her time to family and friends she considers family. She believes if you like your heroes so real you could lick the grit off their chest, and your heroines so likable, you’re sure you’ve been friends with women just like them; you’ll enjoy her worlds as much as she does.

Social Media Links

Website – http://www.heatherlong.net

Blog – http://heatherlongauthor.blogspot.com

Facebook Author Page – http://www.facebook.com/HeatherLongAuthor

Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/HVLong

Amazon Page – http://www.amazon.com/Heather-Long/e/B002BMBCUC/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1420695270&sr=8-2-ent

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2959976.Heather_Long

Pinterest – http://www.pinterest.com/hvlong/

Sabrina York

Her Royal Hotness, Sabrina York, is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of hot, humorous stories for smart and sexy readers. Her titles range from sweet & sexy to scorching erotic romance.  Connect with her on twitter @sabrina_york, on Facebook or on Pinterest. Visit her webpage at http://www.sabrinayork.comto check out her books, excerpts and contests. Free Teaser Book: http://sabrinayork.com/home-2/sabrina-yorks-teaser-book/ Get updates, alerts and giveaway announcements from Sabrina here: http://eepurl.com/bj8tKb And don’t forget to enter to win the royal tiara!

Social Media Links

Website – http://sabrinayork.com/

Blog – http://sabrinayork.com/

http://thedecadentdivas.blogspot.com/

http://sweetnsexydivas.blogspot.com/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/sabrina.york.14

Facebook Author Page –  https://www.facebook.com/SabrinaYorkBooks

Twitter – @sabrina_yorkhttps://twitter.com/sabrina_york

Amazon Page – http://www.amazon.com/author/sabrinayork

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5817917.Sabrina_York

Pinterest – http://www.pinterest.com/sabrinayork/boards/

Rebecca Royce

As a teenager, Rebecca would hide in her room to read her favorite romance novels when she was supposed to be doing her homework.

She is the mother of three adorable boys and is fortunate to be married to her best friend. They are transplants from the northeastern part of the United States to the great state of Texas, specifically Austin.

She is in love with science fiction, fantasy and the paranormal and tries to use all these elements in her writing. In her world anything is possible, anything can happen, and you should suspect that it will.

Social Media Links

Website – https://www.rebeccaroyce.com

Blog – https://www.rebeccaroyce.blogspot.com

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/rebecca.grimaldi

Facebook Author Page – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rebecca-Royce/172551376131638?ref=bookmarks

Twitter – https://www.twitter.com/rebeccaroyce

Amazon Page – http://www.amazon.com/Rebecca-Royce/e/B004E50FPW

Goodreads – http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3005246.Rebecca_Royce

Pinterest – http://www.pinterest.com/rebeccaroyce/

Saranna DeWylde

Saranna De Wylde has always been fascinated by things better left in the dark. She wrote her first story after watching The Exorcist at a slumber party. Since then, she’s published horror, romance and narrative nonfiction. Like all writers, Saranna has held a variety of jobs, from operations supervisor for an airline, to an assistant for a call girl, to a corrections officer. But like Hemingway said, “Once writing has become your major vice and greatest pleasure, only death can stop it.” So she traded in her cuffs for a full-time keyboard. She loves to hear from her readers and to check out her contemporaries you can find her at http://www.sarasasek.com

Social Media Links

Website – https://www.sarannadewylde.com

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Saranna.DeWylde.3

Facebook Author Page – https://www.facebook.com/SarannaDeWylde

Twitter – https://www.twitter.com/SarannaDeWylde

Amazon Page – http://www.amazon.com/Saranna-DeWylde

Goodreads – http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1228621.Saranna_DeWylde

Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/SarannaDeWylde

A Prince of a Guy by Eileen Dreyer

Tags

aristocracy, castles, commoner, contemporary romance, Eileen Dreyer, Goddess Fish Promotions, new york times best selling author, prince, principalities, Regency Romances, royalty

 

Eileen will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

GENRE: Contemporary Romance

BLURB:

When New Yorker Casey Phillips visits the tiny country of Moritania, she simply wants to see where her ancestors came from. Instead, she’s mistaken for a princess.

The real princess has been kidnapped, and Crown Prince Eric von Lieberhaven insists Casey—a dead ringer for the missing royal—step into the princess’s shoes until she can be freed.

As Casey upends royal tradition, Eric finds himself hoping the cheeky American never returns home. But can a secretary from Brooklyn really find happiness with a prince?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt:

The Royal Palace of Moritania, the Alps, 1987

Eric handed her up the steps before him as a silent groom appeared from somewhere and took the Bronco away. Casey half expected him to sweep the cobblestones behind them. When they reached the door, it magically opened, another liveried servant bowing and smiling as he passed them on.

“Rolph,” Eric said, easing Casey along when she slowed, “is Her Majesty the queen available for visitors?”

“I shall check for you, Your Highness. Refreshments?”

He stole a look at Casey, who was rubbernecking the paintings on the walls with undisguised astonishment. After a moment he nodded. “Yes, I believe they will be needed. In the Great Hall, if you please.”

Rolph dispatched a discreetly questioning look, but bowed and moved away. Casey was still trying to take in the extent of the entryway.

Train stations were smaller. The walls extended up some thirty feet, decorated with what looked suspiciously like old masters and terminating in a high, vaulted ceiling that some brave painter had gotten his hands on. It was all light and froth, cherubs and swirling gold banners swimming around a vault of milky white. The floors were of gleaming dark wood covered in what had to be priceless Oriental rugs. The effect was one of immense space, the inside of the building mirroring the image given by the outside. Quiet, understated grace and wealth.

No need for ostentation here. It only made her want to see more.

“Like your decorator,” she finally managed, casting a sidelong glance over to where Eric was enjoying her reaction.

“Moritania might not be big—” he bowed a little in acknowledgment, “—but it is a country rife with good taste. I’d like to show you something, if you don’t mind.”

“The only thing you could show me to beat this would be the Sistine chapel.”

Walking to the right side of the hall, Eric opened a great oak door. Casey walked past him into an even more impressive room. It was long, with six matched sets of crystal chandeliers and floor-to ceiling windows that reflected in the mirrors along the opposite wall.

“Been to Versailles, had they?” she breathed, coming to a stop.

Eric wouldn’t let her. Instead, he took her by the elbow and gently propelled her down the parquet flooring. “I’m sure you don’t know,” he was saying, “but my brother just died recently.”

Casey immediately turned to him. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t.”

He nodded with a sad little smile. “He was much older than I, and his heart was bad. The upshot of it is that next week his daughter, my niece, will become the new queen of Moritania. She is his only child, and his wife is also dead.”

Casey had no idea where the conversation was leading. He seemed so reluctant to tell her that she knew it was something important to him. She couldn’t think of anything more to do than nod.

Then he stopped walking. Turning to her, he took hold of both of her arms, his eyes trying to communicate something of import. They had softened. Casey felt even more confused.

“What?”

“The portrait here at the end of the Great Hall has just gone up. It is a painting of the next queen of Moritania, Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess Cassandra.”

He turned Casey to face the painting. Casey’s jaw dropped. Looking back at her from the canvas was a young woman with delicate features, a gently molded face with deep, wide-set hazel eyes and a small, straight nose. A small mouth curved just at the ends as if she was amusing herself immensely with a private joke. Diamonds and rubies glittered at her throat, and a mane of tawny hair swept back, thick and styled sleekly away from tiny ears where teardrop diamonds hung.

Casey turned to Eric and then back to the picture and then back to Eric again, unable to speak. Then she turned once again to the portrait and finally admitted what he’d been trying to prepare her for. She was staring at a portrait of herself.

“And here I thought losing the car was going to be the high point of my day.”

Copyright Eileen Dreyer

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

New York Times bestselling, RWA Hall of Fame author Eileen Dreyer has published 31 romance novels in most genres, 8 medical­forensic suspenses, and 10 short stories.

2015 sees Eileen enjoying critical acclaim for her foray into historical romance, the Drake’s Rakes series, which Eileen labels as Regency Romantic Adventure that follows a group of Regency aristocrats who are willing to sacrifice everything to keep their country safe. She is also working on her first non­fiction book, TRAVELS WITH DAVE, about a journey she’s been taking with a friend’s ashes.

A retired trauma nurse, Eileen lives in her native St. Louis with her husband, children, and

large and noisy Irish family, of which she is the reluctant matriarch. She has animals but refuses to subject them to the limelight.

Website – http://eileendreyer.com/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/EileenDreyer

Twitter – https://www.facebook.com/EileenDreyer

Purchase Link

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Korbel-Classic-Romance-Humorous-ebook/dp/B015ES5NZO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442885725&sr=8-1&keywords=a+Prince+of+a+Guy+Eileen+Dreyer

Eileen will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow Eileen on tour for more chances to win:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2015/10/book-blast-prince-of-guy-by-eileen.html

Travel Bites by the Hungry Traveller

Tags

anecdotal travel stories, culinary advice, cultural culinary advice, food in other countries, international culinary advice, non-fiction literature, travel, travel tips

The Hungry Traveller will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

BLURB:

Travel Bites is a collection of anecdotal travel stories that crisscross the globe. It is the first work by The Hungry Traveller who has combined his two great life passions: travelling and eating! The Hungry Traveller has been travelling for the last fifteen years and, along the way, has experienced many different sights, tastes, and cultures. Central to his travel experiences has been the role of food. Through his unique and very personal style of storytelling, you too can share in the highs and the lows of his stories from around the world. At the end of each story is a recipe for a dish inspired by his adventure. Travel Bites will capture your imagination and curiosity; and will leave you yearning to plan your next holiday, adventure or escape!

Excerpt:

Oh, I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside

Location: Brighton, England

My first visit to Brighton was everything that I had imagined the English seaside to be. Despite it being July and approaching the peak of summer I was dressed for a wintery day, in long pants and a jacket. The combination of the gray sky, drizzling rain, and the extremely blustery conditions, as well as the fact that it was a weekday, made the seafront look rather forlorn and desolate. Down on the beach, the solitary form of a lifeguard huddled in his shelter was the only object that broke up the landscape of larger, palm-sized pebbles.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

The Hungry Traveller is a travelling enthusiast who loves to eat! When travelling, he enjoys meeting new people and engaging with locals to learn about their culture, history and the food that they eat.

Excerpt: http://travelbitesbythehungrytraveller.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Travel-Bites-excerpt-americanized-text2012.pdf

Twitter:               @Travel_Bites

Facebook:           https://www.facebook.com/TheHungryTraveller

Website:             http://www.travelbitesbythehungrytraveller.com

Publisher Twitter:   @wattlepub

Publisher Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/WattlePublishing?sk=app_190322544333196

Publisher website: http://www.wattlepublishing.com

Buy Links:

Kindle Edition:

US http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007D92F0Y/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwwattlepubl-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B007D92F0Y

UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007COBA74/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wattlpubli-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B007COBA74

iBooks:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/travel-bites/id508894628?mt=11

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/travel-bites/id508891669?mt=11

Kobo:

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/travel-bites-americanized-text

Paperback Edition:

US http://www.amazon.com/Travel-Bites-The-Hungry-Traveller/dp/1908959134/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412162248&sr=8-1&keywords=9781908959133

UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Travel-Bites-The-Hungry-Traveller/dp/1908959134/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368378279&sr=8-1&keywords=Travel+Bites+by+the+Hungry+Traveller

Wordery: https://wordery.com/travel-bites-the-hungry-traveller-9781908959133

The Hungry Traveller will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner during the tour.   a Rafflecopter giveaway

For more chances to win, follow the author on tour at:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2015/08/blurb-blitz-travel-bites-by-hungry.html