Happy Friday All, Sorry I didn't post yesterday. At night I've been going to bed instead of posting. Last night I had some sort of allergy reaction to something (not sure WHAT triggered it, yet) and I had shortness of breath. I'm doing better today (thank you humidifier and Tylenol--and a very helpful doc whom was on call last night and called me back almost right away--I love my doctors' office, they are so awesome and I am NOT a fan of going to the doctor). Anyway, it looks like next week (unless I'm told otherwise) will be the next Write By Bethany giveaway event. Yep, this is a big event...this time I'm giving away jewelry, made by someone I know (who I'll reveal her name and company next week--but it's really awesome and beautiful work). Yours truly (meaning me) is sponsoring a necklace and earrings set representative of something one of my heroes would give one of my heroines. No, I'm not published yet, but this is how much I love this pe...

Happy Wednesday All, Yesterday I woke up around 5:45 a.m. for the second or so time in the night. Why? I have no earthly idea. My offspring decided after hearing my husband's voice that it was time to get up. I stayed in bed. Then I found out husband was taking a sick day (turns out he has inflamation in his throat and is on an antibiotic and a thing to soothe his throat). My throat was dry and sore, but I figured based on previous experience--allergies! So all day long I was tossing back water and hot tea. I discovered my throat does  not like Ocean Spray's Cran-Raspberry Juice when it's sore (usually I love this juice, but apparently not when I have a sore throat). So I stuck with water and Apple Cinnamon Tea. The bathroom and I became very well acquainted thanks to all these liquids being forced down my throat with regularity. The sad thing? I got a new Critique Partner and she sent me her manuscript. I hadn't the energy to sit at the computer and critique it...

Happy Tuesday Everyone, Do you remember your first kiss? Was it awkward? Romantic? Early in life? The first kiss (on the lips) I remember was senior year of high school. It was very awkward. The second kiss I had when I was young I heard This Magic Moment playing in my head. Cheesy, I know, but I'm telling the absolute truth. I was 19 years old, so I'll blame it on being 19. First kisses in books are usually so much more romantic and fun than in real life. But, they wouldn't be half so much fun to read if they weren't written the way they are. So, what about you? What was your first kiss like? Have A Tremendous Tuesday!

Happy Monday All, Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend and Easter! I'm back from my mini-vacation and will be returning to posting. I have some big plans coming up, so don't be a stranger! Have A Marvelous Monday!

Hello Everyone, Due to Holy Week, the Easter Festivities, and family obligations, I'm going to take a mini vacation from posting. I'm returning on Monday (I'm not going anywhere, just not going to be posting any new posts until Monday). In the meantime, you can check out the review I did for Second Chances , and the post I did on Historical Novels this week . I'll be checking comments and emails, so if you have anything to say, feel free to comment here or email me . Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week and a very Happy Easter!

Happy Wednesday Everyone, Today is Tess St. John's release day! YAY! It's also my day to review said release, Second Chances. (By the way...y ou can purchase her book on Kindle  / Nook--my computer started misbehaving, so for Nook click here: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/SECOND-CHANCES/Tess-St-John/e/2940012305152/?itm=1&USRI=tess+st+john  / or Smashwords ...and soon you can get Second Chances in print through Amazon). Second Chances tells the story of Emma Easton, a not-yet-21 year old wife/care giver to the much older Harmon Easton, who is on his deathbed. When Harmon dies Emma fears her father will come and claim her...after all the estate wasn't left to Emma, but to Harmon's children and Emma is underage. By Regency rules, Emma is back under the guardianship (and control) of her father who has no love for her and until she is twenty-one she's at his mercy. Knowing that Emma's father was a threat, Harmon's dying wish was for Emma to...

Happy Tuesday All, Thank you so much for all the support for Tess St. John in yesterday's post. It was wonderful to see everyone backing her up. She rocks! Wednesday is her release and on that day I will be posting my review of her release, Second Chances . Since this is the eve of the review and Tess's release, I thought I'd go along with the genre. Tess actually writes in more than one genre, but since Second Chances is a Historical Romance, I thought I'd go with that. I haven't read a lot of Historical Romances...well, unless you count the 13 Georgette Heyer or the 14 Lynn Kurland novels I've read. Georgette Heyer's Historical Romances are typically set in the Regency Era...complete with the ton and everything--fashion, dances, young girls being introduced into society and all that. Here's a list of the Georgette Heyer books I've read (by the way, they've reprinted pretty much all of hers and some of her mysteries , too). (You ca...

Happy Monday All, This week is a special week. My incredibly awesome Critique Partner, Tess St. John, is getting ready to release some of her stories. I'll be reviewing one of them on here this week and giving you information on how to get your hands on them. Tess and I belong to the same chapter of RWA (which is how I met her). At the time I was joining the chapter, she was the treasurer. I was signing up for the annual Conference (which just so happens to take place around my birthday--so it's my birthday present from my husband the last couple of years and this year it's ON my birthday). We started emailing back and forth. I met some of the other chapter members at a couple of meetings before the Conference happened, then I met Tess at the Conference. Those first few emails have sparked a friendship plus Critique Partnership that I feel very blessed to have. She's encouraging, smart, and extremely helpful. I am thrilled she's releasing her work. I'v...

Happy Friday All, Thinking back on all the books that have been popular, it makes me wonder what we're going to leave behind. Some of us grew up reading such literary giants like JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters. Ray Bradbury and Beverly Cleary come to mind as literary giants (for different reasons than the ones mentioned above) with a more contemporary feel, but ones that will be recognizable for a long time. Who will this next few decades be remembered for? I'd like to think folks I've come to know and gotten to be friends with will be mentioned in the same conversations as the success stories of JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer (those authors will go down in history as things that caught the fancy of the late 20th and early 21st centuries...if not, I would be surprised--simply because there's been so much ado over them--whether you like them or not, you can't fail to notice). There's so many wonderful authors I'd love to na...

Happy Thursday Everyone, I just read Sundays At Tiffany's by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet . I first found out about this story from the Lifetime Channel Movie, starring Alyssa Milano and Eric Winter , Stockard Channing and Ivan Sergei . I liked the movie quite a bit (it's going to be showing again on Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 11 a.m. and 11 p.m.). I wanted to see what the book was like...and I ended up really liking the book. The book follows the story of Jane Margaux, daughter of big time Broadway producer, Vivienne. Who doesn't have much to do with her daughter, aside from taking her to the Tiffany's store every Sunday. Lonely and pretty much ignored by her mother and her estranged father, Jane finds solace in the company of Michael, a man who appears to be somewhere in his thirties. Although, not everyone can see him. Michael is an imaginary friend, assigned to Jane as a companion, comforter, and support until she turns 9 years old. On her 9t...

Happy Wednesday All, Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I had something I had to do and I was hanging out with my family. (Both things went well, by the way, no worries). Two things before I get to today's topic: 1.  If you're a Kerrelyn Sparks fan and you haven't read Vampire Mine It's a good one. I won't give anything away, but Connor has met his match. (I stayed up until 4 a.m. the other night to finish this one). 2. Be sure and check out the NWHRWA's Lone Star Contest . It looks like it's going to be a good one this year. Looks like they got some awesome final judges. Early entry means you get a $5 discount. Best wishes to those who enter his contest. Okay, so today's topic is also the Question for the day:  What's your favorite animal? Mine are cats. I like horses, too, but mostly cats. I prefer the fluffy ones, although I generally don't gravitate towards Persian cats . I do like Maine Coons  as well as some other breeds. Gro...

Happy Monday Everybody, Did you all have a good weekend? Mine was pretty good. I watched the Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, Jack Nickolson, How Do You Know . It had a cute ending but it was a very different kind of romantic comedy. I also finished reading Nightshade by Andrea Cremer . It was interesting and I'll have to pick up the next one just so I can see what will happen. Sunday night I watched on ABC Family, My Future Boyfriend . It's a sweet romance (yes, I do like those). I liked it. Today I'm thinking in chocolate. (Thanks to a  Ghirardelli Chocolate commercial). I am a big chocolate fan. Favorite Godiva truffle: Cappuccino.  Favorite Grocery Store Truffle:  Lindt Milk Chocolate Truffles. Favorite Chocolate Candy Bars:  Twix and Three Musketeers. Favorite Chocolate Ice Cream:  Baskin Robbins' World Class Chocolate.  Growing up used to have chocolate cake with chocolate icing decorated with M&M's candy. Then I switch...

Happy Friday All, Awhile back I picked up a book called The Secret Ingredient . Not sure of what to expect, I read it. I laughed and had a fun ride. Then I looked at the author's bio . Jane Heller . Hmm. I picked up more by Jane. Some Nerve became my favorite and I enjoyed Lucky Stars   (I haven't read all her books, yet, but I've definitely enjoyed the three I mentioned here). Then I got to talking to Jane in email and over on her blog, Mainly Jane . I'm pleased to count her among my author friends and I am excited to introduce her to you: Me: Can you tell us a little bit about the difference between your fiction and non-fiction writing? Jane: The great thing about writing fiction is having the opportunity to create characters and stories entirely out of my imagination. It’s so liberating to make things up! And because I write romantic comedies, I get to make people laugh, which is such a joy for me. And then there’s the happy ending. I’m a big fan of happy e...

Happy Thursday Everyone, Wednesday evening I finished reading Firelight by Sophie Jordan , which center around a type of dragon. Speaking of dragons, I've found out Ciara Gold just put out a new novel.  Dragon King is now available on Kindle . (It's got a gorgeous cover, by the way). Firelight was an interesting YA novel. It was based on the idea of Draki--a type of dragon shifter. They can shift into human shape (which they generally keep unless threatened or under the cover of night). Their main enemy are the hunters, who hunt them for their blood (which has incredible healing powers for humans), their ability to find jewels, and their skins. Jacinda comes face to face with a young hunter near her age one day when she's disobeying her pride when she "manifests" (as their shape shifting is called) into their dragon form and the hunters ambush them. The young hunter (whom she finds out is named Will) lets Jacinda go, but she never forgets him....

Happy Wednesday All, First of all, right now out of physical books I'm reading Firelight by Sophie Jordan . I just started, but it looks good. ( Apparently it's been optioned for a movie, here's the article by Variety ). On my E-Reader I've started reading Nina Cordoba's Not Dreaming Of You . My friend, Loretta Wheeler has just put out a short story available on Kindle and Nook . It looks really good (I plan on getting and reading it, believe me). She told me the god, Pan is involved. It's entitled, The Pan Man . That sparked my interest (I love Greek/Roman Mythology. My hopeless romantic side has read several versions of Cupid & Psyche ). Tess St. John (my marvelous CP) is working on getting her novels ready for release, so don't put away those Kindles and Nooks anytime soon! You won't want to miss out on her work. Oh and Kerrelyn Sparks fans...September is only 5 months away...then we finally get to see Gregori's story ! (He's...

Happy Tuesday All, For those who are wracking their brain about where the quote from my title comes from, it's from Disney's Snow White And The Seven Dwarves . I know this post is a bit late in the day for me to post, but at the time when I normally post I wasn't completely satisfied with any of the ideas that I had. (Although, I think some of you might've enjoyed talking about cakes, ice cream and donuts, right?) In any case, looking at the margin of my blog sparked any idea. If you look on the right hand side (where my big margin is on here) and arrow down a bit, you'll find my play list for my novel, SURREAL.  Now, I don't always listen to music while I work, but every now and again it comes in handy. Like one day I was listening to The Cure 's Friday I'm In Love   while I worked on one of my novels. (Yeah, I really like 1980's music...I like some other music, too, of course, but there are several titles from the 1980's that I really l...

Happy Monday Everybody, Here's hoping everyone had a great weekend. I had an awesome one. The NWHRWA annual Lone Star Contest is now open for entries! There's an early bird discount for those who are interested. So come on and check out NWHRWA Lone Star Contest page . There's some really great final judges, so come check it out. As I mentioned last week, Friday was Christie Craig ( C.C. Hunter ) launch party for her YA book, Born At Midnight , book one in her new Shadow Falls series . Even if you couldn't make it to the launch party at Katy Budget Books , I thought I'd provide you, my readers, with a taste of it, so you can get a little taste of what it was like (a lot of fun). I don't have a lot of pictures, but here they are: Christie (C.C.) answering questions More of Christie (C.C.) answering a question. Christie (C.C.) signing copies of Born At Midnight Christie (C.C.'s) cake--it looks just like the cover of Born At Midnight...