Sleep, Creep, Leap

Posted on June 19, 2019 by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

One of my favorite writing craft books is Writing with Quiet Hands by Paula Munier. Here is one of my favorite passages:

There’s an old adage in gardening: Sleep, creep. leap. This typically refers to the growth pattern of newly planted perennials, provided they are nourished with sun and water and nutrients: The first year the plant will “sleep,” the second year the plant will “creep,” and the third year the plant will “leap.”

As your writing practice deepens over time, you will grow as a writer–in much the same way as a well-nourished perennial. You’ll take your seat, and you’ll write. You may think you are getting nowhere, but as you keep at it, and your pages pile up, you are literally growing yourself as a writer.

At first, this development may be unnoticeable–that’s the sleep part. But before you know it, you’ll find your prose creeping along toward good and then leaping right into great. Growth rates vary for writers just as they vary for plants, but whether your “sleep, creep, leap” development takes three months, three years, or three decades will depend on what you learn as you explore the many places your practice may take you and how quickly you apply that knowledge to your work in progress.

10 Interesting Facts about The Best Laid Plans

Posted on June 18, 2019 by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome Canadian author and editor Judy Penz Sheluk. Today, Judy shares ten interesting facts about her first anthology, The Best Laid Plans.

Whoot! Today is release day for The Best Laid Plans, 21 Stories of Mystery & Suspense, the first anthology published by Superior Shores Press. Here are 10 facts about the book:

1. The original call for submissions went out October 18, 2018, with a deadline of January 18, 2018. Seventy-two stories were received for consideration, with authors submitting from Italy, Norway, UK, U.S., Canada, Australia, and South America.

2. Authors included in the collection come from the U.S., UK, Canada, and a German millennial living in Norway. Three are members of Sisters in Crime Toronto.

3. Stories range from 1,500 to 5,000 words. Each story is preceded by a one-page bio of the author, with a link to their website or social media site.

4. One author, Mary Dutta, celebrates her first fiction credit in the collection, with her story, “Festival Finale.”

5. For the cover, I wanted an hourglass seeping blood instead of sand, and commissioned S.A. Hadi hasan to do the illustration. I also wanted all the authors names listed, and not just the names of two or three well-known authors. Graphic artist Hunter Martin designed the final layout.

6. Scene breaks in the book are…you guessed it…tiny hourglasses.

7. Stories are set in a variety of locations, including a ski resort, subway station, hair salon, nursing home, art gallery, coffee shop, rural Oklahoma, China during the Ming Dynasty, and a suburban McMansion.

8. Protagonists include a computer programmer with a unique plan to “help” single women, an unhappy wife looking for ways to kill her under-employed husband, a widow desperately in love with a married man, a paid-for-hire hit man, a pair of ATVing brothers with robbery on their minds, a financial planner with a questionable client, and two best friends with a dubious go-fund-me plan.

9. Every story has an unexpected twist at the end; all tie in to the underlying theme of the best-laid plans.

10. After reading, you might never again drink another daiquiri, order another latte, eat another chocolate chip cookie, or look at seafood in quite the same way. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Synopsis

Whether it’s at a subway station in Norway, a ski resort in Vermont, a McMansion in the suburbs, or a trendy art gallery in Toronto, the twenty-one authors represented in this superb collection of mystery and suspense interpret the overarching theme of “the best laid plans” in their own inimitable style. And like many best laid plans, they come with no guarantees.

Stories by Tom Barlow, Susan Daly, Lisa de Nikolits, P.A. De Voe, Peter DiChellis, Lesley A. Diehl, Mary Dutta, C.C. Guthrie, William Kamowski, V.S. Kemanis, Lisa Lieberman, Edward Lodi, Rosemary McCracken, LD Masterson, Edith Maxwell, Judy Penz Sheluk, KM Rockwood, Peggy Rothschild, Johanna Beate Stumpf, Vicki Weisfeld, and Chris Wheatley.

Bio

Editor Judy Penz Sheluk is the author of the Glass Dolphin Mystery and Marketville Mystery series. Her short stories can be found in several collections. Judy is also a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Crime Writers of Canada, where she serves as Vice Chair on the Board of Directors. Find her at http://www.judypenzsheluk.com.

The Best Laid Plans: 21 Stories of Mystery & Suspense is available on Kindle and in trade paperback at all the usual suspects, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Chapters/Indigo.

Happy Release Day!

Release Day: Edge of Danger

Posted on June 17, 2019 by Joanne Guidoccio

I am thrilled to announce the release of Edge of Danger: A Mystery Thriller Sampler featuring a collection of sample chapters from the novels of the following Wild Rose Press authors: Vincent Morrone, Oliver F. Chase, Lance Hawvermale, Karen C. Whalen, Sylvia Nickels, CJ Zahner, Randy Overbeck, Cynthia Harrison, June Summers, and Joanne Guidoccio.

Torn Away by Vincent Morrone

Drew Duncan swore he’d never go back to Ember Falls again. After he was wrongfully charged with his high school girlfriend’s murder, he waited for a trial that never came. When he was released from jail a year later, he left everything behind. But when his sister is murdered, Drew is forced to return to the hometown where he and his sisters were brutalized by their alcoholic father.

Camelot Games by Oliver F. Chase

When a secret political machine maneuvers California war hero, Scott McHale and his beautiful activist wife, Angie into running for political office, an entirely new and frightening evil is unleashed upon the American public. As the wildly popular Latino couple’s success and independence grow, hidden kingmakers quietly put into play a plan designed to plunge the nation into chaos.

The Echo Holders by Lance Hawvermale

Rookie anthropologist Emily Radsco has come to the Colorado mountains to investigate old and mysterious carvings on aspen trees. She soon finds herself at odds with the local logging industry. If she doesn’t work quickly, she’ll lose the very trees which hold the clues to the riddle she’s trying to solve. Complicating matters is her increasing attraction to soft-spoken Hopi, Mason Hitapwa, one of the loggers endangering her research.

Just What I Kneaded by Karen C. Whalen

While shopping for bread to serve at her gourmet dinner party, Jane Marsh overhears the pastry chef’s murder in the bakery’s kitchen. The killer also destroys an elaborate and expensive wedding cake made for a celebrity couple.

To recoup the loss, the bakery owner files a lawsuit against his insurance company, a client of the law firm where Jane works.

With a murderer on the loose, and Jane as the only potential witness, she must solve the crime in order to defend her client…and take a killer off the streets.

Disguise for Death by Sylvia Nickels

Royce Thorne had a good marriage, at least she thought she did. when her husband, a police officer, is killed in the line of duty, Royce’s life is turned upside down.

Royce soon finds out her life has been a lie- her marriage was not as good as she thought and her husband was not the man she thought he was. Lies and betrayal is what if left behind after her husband’s death, as well as a bank account with specific instructions for Royce.

The Suicide Gene by CJ Zahner

Doctor Emma Kerr had no right counseling them. Adopted and her birth records lost, she believed she was born a McKinney. Her face, intelligence, and depression resembled theirs. For years people mistook her for their sister. So she devised a plan. What begins as a scheme to counsel the McKinney family and determine if they are blood relatives, quickly causes Emma to wonder if she had truly done the manipulating. Is someone following her?

Blood on the Chesapeake by Randy Overbeck

Wilshire, Maryland, a quaint shore town on the Chesapeake, promises Darrell Henshaw a new start in life and a second chance at love. That is, until he learns the town hides an ugly secret. A thirty-year-old murder in the high school. And a frightening ghost stalking his new office. Burned by an earlier encounter with the spirit world, Darrell doesn’t want to get involved, but when the desperate ghost hounds him, he concedes. Assisted by his new love, he follows a trail that leads to the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and even the Klu Klux Klan. Then, when two locals who try to help are murdered, Darrell is forced to decide if he’s willing to risk his life—and the life of the woman he loves—to expose the killers of a young man he never knew.

Lily White in Detroit by Cynthia Harrison

Private investigator Lily White has a client with a faulty moral compass. When the client is arrested for murdering his wife and her alleged lover, Lily follows her intuition and her own leads. If she’s wrong, she’ll at least know she did her job.

Detroit police detective Derrick Paxton remembers Lily from another case. He understands she suffers from PTSD and thinks her judgment is impaired. He goes after her client and the evidence he needs to close the case. When Lily is kidnapped, the case takes an unexpected turn.

Before We Fade Away by June Summers

Horrific, recurring nightmares are making Danielle Reynolds’ life miserable. Losing sleep and falling grades lead her to seek help from her college counselor, a psychologist, and against her better judgment, a psychic medium. To her amazement, she discovers her dead grandfather is trying to contact her to prove his innocence in the murders of the Cunningham family on Halloween night back in 1971. Turning to the police, she convinces a handsome young officer to reopen the murder investigation.

A Season for Killing Blondes by Joanne Guidoccio

Hours before the opening of her career counseling practice, Gilda Greco discovers the body of golden girl, Carrie Ann Godfrey, neatly arranged in the dumpster outside Gilda’s office. Gilda’s life and budding career are stalled as Detective Carlo Fantin, her former high school crush, conducts the investigation. When three more dead blondes turn up, all brutally strangled and deposited near Gilda’s favorite haunts, she is pegged as a prime suspect for the murders.

Buy Links

Amazon (Canada) | Amazon (US)

Book Blast: Lacewood

Posted on June 17, 2019 by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Jessica James. Today, Jessica shares her latest release, Lacewood.

Blurb

Thrust together by chance. Bound together by destiny. A disillusioned socialite and a special operations veteran find a way to save a small town while healing themselves. A haunting read about the journey to restore an abandoned 200-year-old mansion and the secrets it reveals about a long-lost love.

Excerpt

Turning in a circle, Katie studied the room again. Faded wallpaper curled and peeled above the dusty wainscoting, but the walls themselves appeared sturdy. On the far side of the entryway, and dominating the wall, stood a mammoth fireplace with an ornately carved hearth. Her attention was immediately drawn to a painting of a woman in nineteenth century dress that hung prominently over the mantel.

“Who is she?”

The sheriff turned to the dusty, sun-bleached portrait in the heavy carved guilt frame. “One of the previous owners, they say.” He shrugged. “The family history kind of got lost with the house. Everyone around here calls her the Widow of Lacewood.”

Katie stood spellbound. The woman was clothed completely in black, but the magnificence of the gown gave the impression of sophistication and class. Her chin was slightly elevated as if to project strength, yet there was more than a hint of sorrow and pain in her eyes.

“She looks so sad.” Katie spoke without removing her gaze. “And so young. How could she be a widow?”

The sheriff had already started to walk away, but he turned back and glanced at the painting. “Not sure, but they say she never remarried.”

Katie’s heart suddenly struggled to beat. The anguish in the woman’s eyes kept her riveted. She could see the pain. Feel a heart ripped apart. Something was missing that could never be replaced. Katie had felt such loss before. In a way that’s why she was here.

“You coming?”

Katie heard the sheriff calling from the next room, and turned to follow. With one quick glance back, she noticed particles of dust now swirled and danced in a shaft of light, almost like a living thing. Her breath caught in her throat as the dust seemed to materialize into the form of a woman, her eyes dull with the same tortured despair and disbelief as the one in the portrait.

Katie jerked her head around for a closer look and blinked. The woman was gone.

Book Trailer

Author Bio and Links

Jessica James believes in honor, duty, and true love—and that’s what she writes about in her award-winning novels that span the ages from the Revolutionary War to modern day.

She is a two-time winner of the John Esten Cooke Award for Southern Fiction, and has won more than a dozen other literary awards, including a Readers' Favorite International Book Award and a Gold Medal from the Military Writers Society of America. Her novels have been used in schools and are available in hundreds of libraries including Harvard and the U.S. Naval Academy.

James is a member of the Romance Writers of America, the Historical Novel Society, and the Independent Book Publishers Association.

Buy Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Giveaway

Jessica James will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.

Follow Jessica on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

Zen Humor

Posted on June 14, 2019 by Joanne Guidoccio

20 Motivational Quotes That Will Inspire You to Succeed

Posted on June 12, 2019 by Joanne Guidoccio

Here are twenty quotations that inspire and motivate. At this point in time, the words of Maya Angelou, Tommy Lasorda, and Zig Ziglar resonate with me the most.

In Praise of Fruits and Vegetables

Posted on June 10, 2019 by Joanne Guidoccio

June is National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month, a month set aside to remind us that fruits and vegetables are essential components of a healthy lifestyle.

As a cancer survivor with a family history of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, I am always on the lookout for any dietary changes that can help support a healthy heart, mind, and immune system.

A few years ago, I took special note of the following research conducted by the American Institute for Cancer Research in 2004. If every American consumed 15 to 30 ounces of fruits and vegetables every day, the incidence of cancer could be reduced by at least 20 percent.

The Institute suggests we aim for nine servings or 4.5 cups of fruits and vegetables a day. This may sound daunting, but it is doable. With careful planning and a few doses of creativity, we can increase our daily intake of fruits and vegetables and stay within our budgets.

Here are 10 tips:

• Learn about serving size. In his book “Anticancer,” David Servan-Schreiber provides the following helpful guide: One serving equals ½ cup cooked or 1 cup raw vegetables, 1 medium fruit, ½ cup cooked fruit, ¼ cup dried fruit, or 6 ounces of fruit juice.

• Start small. At breakfast, top your oatmeal or cereal with sliced bananas, fresh berries, raisins, or apricots. Add one cup of fresh or frozen berries to pancake batter. Mix eggs and vegetables for a healthy and hearty breakfast or lunch. Adding minced broccoli or finely grated cauliflower will not change the texture of the eggs. At lunch or dinner, add strawberries, mandarin orange sections, and raisins to green salads.

• Use a spiralizer to create zucchini, squash, asparagus, or cucumber noodles. Top with your favorite sauce and enjoy! You won’t miss the carb-laden pasta dishes.

• Hide the vegetables if your children ignore or push away anything green. Instead, try incorporating vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, or spinach into your favorite pasta sauce, chili, lasagna, or stew recipes. As you stretch the recipe, you will obtain more servings and also cut back on the meat content.

• Pinch pennies on produce. Buy whatever fruits and vegetables are in season. Apples, oranges, grapefruit, and bananas are always available and usually last for a week. The cheapest vegetables are broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, celery and onions.

• Consider buying frozen fruits and vegetables. These foods are flash frozen at their peak and contain the same amount of nutrients as their fresh counterparts. Frozen vegetables can save dinner preparation time since washing and cutting are not required. Frozen fruit can be used in smoothies, low-fat muffins, yogurts and salads.

• Sneak in extra fruit servings with the right juice. Stick with the top four—orange, grapefruit, prune, pineapple—and check the sugar content on each label. Whenever possible, buy in bulk. This will cut down your costs and help avoid the excessive packaging associated with single-serving bottles and juice boxes.

• Create quick, no-cook meals using fruits and vegetables. Fill a cantaloupe or honeydew melon with low-fat cottage cheese. Combine fresh or frozen berries, a banana, whey or soy protein, water, and ice to make a delicious smoothie. Mix a bowl of low-fat yogurt with fruit.

• Create more fruit-based desserts and snacks. Cut up some plums into chunks and roast them in the oven. Serve warm over a small scoop of frozen yogurt. Mix blackberries or blueberries with a few chocolate chips to create a quick trail mix. Freeze individual grapes on a cookie sheet and serve later as cool, healthy treats.

• Plan ahead and add convenience to your day. Stock your glove compartment and desk drawer with apples, pears, and bananas. Cut up your favorite vegetables into snack-size pieces and store them in clear plastic containers at home and at work. This will cut down on visits to the vending machine and coffee shop.

Any other tips to share?

On the Road to Romancelandia

Posted on June 7, 2019 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, Wild Rose Press author Charlotte O’Shay shares a dramatic career change and her new release, Their No-Strings Affair.

Here’s Charlotte!

Joanne, It’s my pleasure to visit your uplifting and warm blog. My topic today is my second act. Keep reading and comment to enter the contest.

My first career was in the law. The law definitely didn’t choose me. I chose the law to obtain a professional degree that would pay the rent. (Totally unlike my husband, also an attorney, who dreamed of being a lawyer from the time he was a kid. Yes, he really did. He’s very cute that way.) As a lawyer I excelled at writing memoranda and legal briefs, I was good at amassing research to make my arguments and prove my points. I was told I was a good writer. I worked full time, later part time then in a pro bono capacity as I raised my children. But the law wasn’t the career of my heart. I always relaxed reading romance.

I had a come to Jesus moment when I was diagnosed with cancer at a relatively young age. It’s true what they say about life threatening illness. No one wonders about unimportant things when faced with the possibility of a premature passing. I was simply happy I had as much time with my family as I had. I was lucky. I recovered. But in those same years I lost four women very dear to me to various illnesses in quick succession. Four. Those losses hit me hard. That second oh sh*t moment screamed at me. Life is too precious a gift, and too short to squander on could haves and should haves.

So, I pursued what I always knew I was meant to do. I set a goal to become a romance author. I weathered a few remarks (and still do) at the concept of a lawyer choosing to write of all things— romance, but I’m not alone— former lawyers are legion in Romancelandia. These days I write. I read. I attend conferences. I promote my work. And I write some more.

And I couldn’t be happier.

You can guess my advice.

Don’t wait. If you can afford to switch gears and that’s a big if with a second act, do it. Even if it’s a side hustle as you segue into full time with the new venture. Believe in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will. Go after the dream. I wrote romance for years before I finally started to submit my work. I’m not the type to have regrets but if I were, my regret would be that I should have followed my heart’s desire sooner.

I thrive on learning every aspect of my second career as a writer. I’m getting better every day and that pursuit of excellence keeps me curious and interested in the writing world and the world in general. I’m challenging myself to push my inner boundaries of genre and style.

My motto? Never, never, never give up. If you’re reading this and I can tell you anything about your second act, it is this. Act on it. Do it now. Start small. Set goals. You will achieve them. Then set new goals. Keep learning, work hard and enjoy every small moment of success in your new venture. You may fail but you will learn and achieve success. I promise.

Today I have four romances published and three more books in various stages of completion. My latest release, Their No-Strings Affair is set in my hometown of NYC as are the other two books in the City of Dreams series.

In the Their No-Strings Affair Jake’s ex-military with a second career as a security expert. In my recently released novella Forever in a Moment, Samantha ponders a life altering career change.

For a chance to win an ecopy of Their No-Strings Affair or Forever in a Moment let me know in the comments if you’ve made a career change or are considering one, what you do/did and what you do now. Or what you want to be doing.

I will choose two random commenters to win one of my recent releases.

Blurb – Their No-Strings Affair

Honey packs everything she owns and heads to NYC to jumpstart her art career. Her cheating boyfriend is history, and she finally acknowledges the truth of her mother’s mantra: Careers are forever and happily ever after isn’t in their DNA.

All she needs is a job and a place to live. What she doesn’t need is a taciturn, sexy, ballbuster but she’s woman enough to know the difference between need and want. Isn’t she?

Jake’s childhood was marred by tragedy and his future hijacked to a promise born of guilt. His failure drove him to a career as a SEAL and a security expert.
But it’s not enough. Now he’ll give up his freedom in reparation for the life he lost. Honey may be the last sweet stop on the road to a joyless future. If it’s what they both want, where’s the harm in a no-strings affair?

Buy links – Their No-Strings Affair

Bio

NYC born Charlotte O’Shay was the middle child of a large, boisterous family. Any time she needed an escape from the noise and drama of family life, she stuck her nose in a book.

Fast forward to law school where reading romance was a treat as satisfying as cookie dough ice cream.

One marriage, four bouncing babies later and Charlotte was still reading. But then she started squeezing in time to write some stories of her own.

Today she writes contemporary romance full time.

Charlotte’s heroines are intelligent and loyal, her alpha heroes fiercely protective.

Her greatest wish is that her readers escape into happily ever after inside the pages of her books.

Where to find Charlotte…

Spotlight on Babies at Coconuts

Posted on June 6, 2019 by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Beth Carter. Today, Beth shares the top twenty reasons to visit Coconuts and her new release, Babies at Coconuts.

TOP TWENTY REASONS TO VISIT COCONUTS

1. To overhear the juicy gossip of long-time best friends Suzy, Alex, and Hope, who go to Coconuts weekly (or more if there’s an emergency, which is often!)

2. Getting a glimpse of the gorgeous, wealthy New York socialite, Cheri Van Buren, and ask if you can borrow her incredible designer clothes or shoes.

3. Having the cute flip-flop wearing server, Gus, who always knows what cocktail everyone wants for Happy Hour, serve your favorite drink—or possibly serve him!

4. Hoping to be handcuffed by sexy, bad-boy cop Lt. Tony Montgomery. He may be a rascal at times, but he sure is sexy. Those arctic blue eyes…

5. Adding your initials (or painting something tropical) on the floor-to-ceiling beach mural.

6. To ask hunky, dark-sunglass-wearing Gage for a ride in his limo and hoping he remembers the chilled champagne!

7. Showing Alex she isn’t alone with her OCD tendencies by tying a paper straw holder into a knot in solidarity—and handing her some anti-bacterial gel after you touch her hand.

8. Hugging Suzy for all she has been through.

9. Ditto for Alex.

10. Double ditto for Hope.

11. Giving Alex advice on whether she should ditch the cop once and for all and pursue Gage, Cheri’s limo driver.

12. Giving Suzy advice on how to handle her surly teen stepdaughter, Izzy.

13. To discuss wedding themes with Suzy and hire her company, Weddings by Suzanne, for a wedding.

14. To share (or gather) Italian recipes with Fernando’s mom, Mama Gia, but scooting away before you offend her and she thumps you on the head!

15. Commiserating with Hope for everything she’s gone through with her hippie parents and telling her that her frizzy hair is beautiful and to stop worrying about her weight!

16. To see newlyweds Jon and Fernando and hope Fernando teaches you to dance the salsa.

17. Requesting the infamous zebra print menu and scouring it to order every item on the menu—or at least the crab cakes or truffle popcorn.

18. Hoping to catch a glimpse of either Nikki, Tony’s hateful, spiteful ex, OR Hannah, Alex’s bank marketing intern who is gunning for her job, and possibly trip them or spit in their drink. Trust me, they deserve it!

19. To find out about the unique, hilarious cocktail the New York socialite insists the women drink.

20. To tell the women you admire their unbreakable bonds of friendship and wish you had friends like them. Who knows? Maybe they’ll invite you to join them at their high-top table at Coconuts!

Blurb

For Fans of My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Italian-style!)

A clash of cultures.
A chaotic wedding.
A surprise baby.
Just another day at Coconuts.

Coordinating the most joyous day of her son’s life should be easy. After all, Suzy is a wedding planner. But a meddling future mother-in-law wasn’t on the checklist. A wacky rehearsal dinner, a beach wedding, and a baby—not necessarily in that order—ensures bedlam, if not hilarity, among the two head-butting moms. The show must go on, with or without the wedding party.

Hope is adept at counseling students but has given up on dieting and having sleek hair. She has even gotten used to the fact that her adopted father no longer remembers her—until a surprise engagement and a newspaper article leave her in shambles.

Sexy banker Alex conveys totally in control while ignoring the simmering boil of her disastrous relationship. Her marketing rival is her kryptonite, but a disastrous bank event may spell her downfall.

Socialite Cheri Van Buren seems to have the perfect life. The New Yorker deftly juggles celebrity events but is growing concerned about her jet-setting parents’ strained marriage. After competing in a cake-decorating contest, another chef leaves her speechless.

More than a Happy Hour haven, Coconuts is the unknowing guardian of shared secrets, bombshell revelations, a few tears, and joy. Will the best friends ever find happiness? It doesn’t look good.

NOTE: Even though this is Book 3 of my Coconuts series, it may be read as a standalone.

Author Bio

At a certain mid-life crisis, er, age, multi-award-winning author Beth Carter shed her corporate bank suits and heels to pen novels and children’s books. She much prefers afternoon writing at Starbucks to 8 o’clock board meetings.

Carter’s novels include: THURSDAYS AT COCONUTS (Book 1), CHAOS AT COCONUTS (Book 2), BABIES AT COCONUTS (Book 3), SLEEPING WITH ELVIS, MIRACLE ON AISLE TWO, and SANTA BABY, a novelette. There will be six books in the Coconuts series, and all may be read as a standalone.

Voted Favorite Contemporary Runner-up in the 2018 & 2017 Raven Awards, winner of a 2015 RONE Award, and named Best Debut Author in 2015, the author pens romantic women’s fiction contemporary romance, and romantic comedy in what she calls rollercoaster romance. The author infuses plenty of humor, suspense, heartwarming romance, and page-turning plot twists.

Also a children’s picture book author, Carter has four children’s books published: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE?, SOUR POWER, SANTA’S SECRET, and THE MISSING KEY. All have been well received by kids, parents, teachers, and counselors.

You’ll likely find Beth Carter sipping a skinny vanilla latte while writing. That is, if she isn’t on a boat or at T.J. Maxx.

Where to find Beth Carter…

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

I read this delightful novel in two sittings and had trouble putting it down. Ms. Carter has a way of drawing me into her stories quickly and keeping me hooked until the end. It definitely helps to have an eclectic cast of characters, family and workplace drama, plot twists, and an unexpected ending. Away from the book, I found myself recalling and chuckling at Mama Gia’s antics. Having grown up in an Italian household, I could easily imagine many of those over-the-top scenarios.

Next, please!

Giveaway

Beth Cater is offering a $40 Amazon gift card and 10x ebook copies of Babies at Coconuts in a Rafflecopter giveaway. Find out more here.

Ask a What If Question

Posted on June 5, 2019 by Joanne Guidoccio

In the following reflection from The Path Made Clear, spiritual teacher Michael Bernard Beckwith advises us to focus on our possibilities and ask more What If questions.

There’s a shift that takes place when you’re talking about the possibilities more than you’re talking about your issues. With your issues, your energy goes into the lower frequencies. Doubt. Worry. Fear. Now you’re in that sediment. You’re in that dynamic.

But if you start talking about possibility, even if you don’t know how to get there, then your energy starts to go up. Ask a what if question. What if all my needs were met? What would I be doing in my life? What if everything is really working together for my good? What if all the bad things that have happened in my life are leading me to activating some great potential in my experience? What if God really is on my side?

You ask a what if question and you start to notice little miracles happening in your life.

Source: The Path Made Clear, p. 76