I’m happy to welcome author Kate Ellington. Today, Kate shares her new release, The Secret Cottage.

Blurb

Isabel Tate yearns for the simple pleasures she took for granted before scandal rocked her family two years ago. On May Day, she’s determined to forget her troubles and enjoy herself at the Claremont family’s annual festival.

Meanwhile, Robert Claremont steels himself to begin courting the haughty heiress next door, but his bashfulness is only one obstacle to winning her hand. Despite a deep sense of family obligation, he dreams of choosing his own bride.

Captivated by each other from the moment they meet, Robert and Isabel are kept apart by a misunderstanding until a chance encounter leads to friendship and more.

With opposition on all sides, they must overcome inconceivable odds to claim happiness.

Excerpt

Isabel turned her horse into the woods, directing him to a gurgling stream under a canopy of trees. The forest was quiet but for the splashing of the water, bird songs and the rustle of branches. They hadn’t been there long when Isabel heard a new sound. Hoofbeats and muffled voices. She urged her horse closer to the road, and easily heard the riders’ conversation.

“What makes you think she came this way?” a man asked.

A deeper voice answered, “Merely a guess. It seemed as good a place as any to look, but I’m thwarted again.”

“Let’s turn back, we can look for her tomorrow.”

“I’m sitting for the portrait tomorrow.”

Isabel’s pulse quickened as she recognized the deeper voice. Robert Claremont. So he’d been looking for her. Why hadn’t he come to the house? She started back toward the stream, but suddenly reason left her and she guided her horse through the trees, emerging just as Robert and his companion rounded the bend going in the opposite direction. They hadn’t seen her.

Isabel paused for a moment, thinking what to do. Go back home and hope he came to the house soon? Or seek him out for herself? Her reckless side won. Spurring her horse to a gallop, she chased after them. Robert turned in his saddle and Isabel was delighted with the look of shock on his face as she sped past him and who she could now see was Mr. Kensington.

Author Bio and Links

Kate grew up in a woodsy New England town where summer days at the lake seemed to last forever. She read her first historical romance at age eleven when a teacher challenged her to find a book in the library written by an author she’d never heard of. Thus began a life-long love of love stories.

After graduating from college with an art degree she settled in the Pacific Northwest, where she currently resides with her family.

Kate wrote her first romance when she was sixteen, then set her pen down for years until another story floated into her head out of the clear blue sky. She jotted it down, just for fun, but soon it took on a life of its own.

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Giveaway

Kate Ellington will be awarding a $20 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

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

I’m happy to welcome back Wild Rose Press author Alana Lorens. Today, Alana shares her creative journey and her new release, Cruel Charade.

Here’s Alana

I knew I would be an author from the time I was eight years old.

My first story was a more journalistic-leaning adventure called, “My Cat Moonbeam Caught and Ate a Rabbit.” Apparently in gory, step by step detail. I don’t have a copy of it, but I do remember my mother carrying on about it at great length. She even told my teacher, who made me read it to the whole class.

Jump forward five years, and I am all of 14 and my writing tastes graduated from Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time (one of my all-time favorite books) and The Island of the Blue Dolphins to romantic suspense. I read everything by Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, Jane Aiken Hodge, and Dorothy Eden. Back in those days, romantic suspense was more about the mystery and danger than it was about sex. I knew in my heart I could write stories like this, and I wrote my first, a terribly Gothic time travel story about a young woman who enters an old house and is mysteriously transported back a hundred years, becomes the governess, falls in love with the young master of the house…you know. Pretty formula stuff. I DO have a copy of that. Oh boy. What the heck? I was 14.

Sure this was the next great thing, I packed it up (yes, we still sent snail mail submissions then) and mailed it to the Romance Editor at Doubleday. Looking back on that now, I’m flabbergasted. What’s even more amazing is that in 1970, a 14-year-old wannabe author without an agent could be read by a Doubleday editor and receive a polite and encouraging rejection letter, personally written and signed by said editor.

I wrote another novel in high school, and was mentored with one as a senior thesis in college. I got the chance to be a newspaper reporter in south Florida, which gave me a solid writing base over the several years I worked there. I wrote a number of articles and short stories that sold in bits and pieces. I took a break and went to law school, and in 1999 I managed to sell a self-help divorce recovery book to Impact Publishers in California.

But it wasn’t until 2009, when I was over 50, that I found a publisher for my novel-length fiction. As Lyndi Alexander (since I was still practicing law under my own name!) I sold THE ELF QUEEN. The urban fantasy went on into four more books in the series, as well as another sci-fi series and more—16 more.

When I decided to write romance and suspense, I picked the name Alana Lorens. I’ve now got a half- dozen novels under that name, including historical romance, romantic suspense and even a supernatural thriller!

CRUEL CHARADE combines a lot of these pieces of my history all in one. Bet Lenard is a lawyer practicing in Miami, as I did. She is fighting a mysterious disease that causes her chronic pain, as I have. Fortunately, I got my answers because it happened 20 years later. Back in 1996, the answers weren’t there yet. But neither of those is her worst problem right now. Someone wants her dead.

Excerpt

“Did you tell the detectives what Rich said?”

“No. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Until he confesses. In full.”

She stayed only an hour, distracted by the creeping pain. Maybe Mela was right. I should recuperate at home. I’ve got more control over my work environment there. She gave Mela the satisfaction of knowing she’d been right, then took her laptop and a briefcase of mail and case files home with her.

At home, she marched swiftly to the door and let herself in, locking up behind her. A quick trip to change into a loose caftan necessitated washing her face and changing the bandages yet again. She stared at the angry red blisters with a mixture of disgust and rage. Who were those people and how dare they? How dare they?

Too uncomfortable and anxious to work, she debated calling Hyacinth, but settled for a thorough meditation with the Five Things. A Vicodin dialed back her pain, and a shot of Jameson’s topped it off. Instead of working, she curled up in her living room chair and watched a TV rerun of Heathers.

She’d always identified with Veronica. Part of the wrestling cheerleader squad, Bet had played the game just long enough to establish it on her high school resume, then she’d left the group. These days, I’d just rip the rug out from under those mean girls. She’d purposely chosen a small school, Muskingum College, and joined a sorority dedicated to serving others rather than being popular.

Bad enough still having to play games as an adult. At least now, I have weapons of my own.

Her first weapon for the evening was a spritz of Joy, by Jean Patou, a perfume Rich had bought her years before. The combination of jasmine and rose was once a favorite of Jackie Kennedy; it certainly was Rich’s favorite, too.

Her second weapon was a short maize-and-navy dress with wide diagonal stripes, a real eyecatcher. If Rich thought he’d shove Bet under the rug—or perhaps the bus?—he had another think coming.

Her most valuable weapon would be the small recorder she slipped into her clutch before she left. If she had the chance to get information that could finally give her the upper hand over Rich, she intended to grab it.

Maybe I’m a Heather after all…

Author Bio

Alana Lorens (aka Barbara Mountjoy) has been a published writer for over 45 years, including seven years as a reporter/editor at the South Dade News Leader in Homestead, Florida, after working as a server, a pizza maker, and a floral designer. She writes non-fiction, romance, adventure, and suspense novels. She is the author of the Pittsburgh Lady Lawyers series, which draws on her years as a family law attorney in the state of Pennsylvania. One of the causes close to her heart came from those years as well–the fight against domestic violence. She volunteered for many years at women’s shelters and provided free legal services to women and children in need. Alana resides in North Carolina, and she loves her time in the smoky blue mountains. She lives with her daughter, who is the youngest of her seven children, and she is ruled by three crotchety old cats, and six kittens of various ages.

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon Author Page | BookBub

I’m happy to welcome author Ann M. Trader. Today, Ann shares her new release, Truth and Dare.

Blurb

A bright and talented environmental engineer, Goldie Vreeland understands facts and figures, but Max Corda, her secret office obsession, remains a puzzle. On the eve of a business trip to a coastal island, fate intervenes, pairing her with her sexy crush. As she thinks about sharing the same space with Max for a week, her world veers dangerously off course.

Fueled by success as engineer and president of his family’s firm, recently divorced Max needs to jumpstart his life. When his father unexpectedly assigns him to Goldie’s project, his closely guarded attraction to her comes front and center. Thoughts of spending a week alone with this beautiful intelligent woman make his internal compass glitch.

Romance stirs with the island breeze, so simple when they’re hundreds of miles away from normal. But as Goldie and Max return to reality, will they discover real love is more than a game?

Excerpt

A trio of knocks interrupted my thoughts, and I glanced at my watch. Right on time. My shoes—timeless black Italian leather pumps worth every dollar I doled out on them—clicked on the parquet tile as I approached the door…and opened it to him.

Max’s muscular frame filled the doorway, a mesmerizing vision, sexy as hell and completely effortless on his part. He had the lean, sculpted torso and long legs of a runway model, but none of the cushy edges. I leaned on the door, imagining his physique was every tailored suit’s dream. Every woman’s, too. I swallowed a tiny sigh, convinced God must’ve cashed in all His chips when He created Max Corda.

I straightened, holding my purse in my hands. “Hi.”

“Hello,” Max said, smiling.

I caught myself gazing at his lips a little too long, and looked away, praying I wasn’t wearing a blush to match my heated cheeks.

“You look lovely.” He crossed his arms, the move accentuating the breadth of his chest. “I know we’re here on business.” His gaze skimmed up and down my body. “But when you come to the door looking like this, Shembery’s integrated water management strategies are the last thing on my mind.”

My breath hitched, awestruck his thoughts mirrored mine. I’d studied Max to distraction for seventeen weeks, four days—no, make that three—and I liked him. Very much.

Author Bio and Links

I enjoy spending time with my family and exploring recipes on the lighter side of southern comfort foods. I’m a member of Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, and I love relaxing on my back porch to read and write. These days I take walks around my neighborhood, but when I was sixteen, I hiked the Grand Canyon with a group of friends. I love watching television dramas (in no special order): Palm Royale, The Buccaneers, The Bear, Mary and George, Emily in Paris, Outlander, Shrinking, Shogun, Bridgerton, Outer Banks, Stranger Things, The Crown, and Peaky Blinders and reading a great romance book.

Website | BookBub | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Amazon Author Page | Amazon Buy Link

Giveaway

Ann M. Trader will award a randomly drawn winner a $20 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card. Find out more here.

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

I’m happy to welcome author Aly Mennuti. Today, Aly shares her new release, Broken Fortune.

Blurb

Elizabeth Sunderland—a forty-three-year-old wife and mother of two teenagers—is the oldest of five children in a blended family that never quite blended. The only thing that has held them together is the iron will of their wealthy parents: Benjamin Sunderland, a venture capitalist, and Kate Bernard, a partner of a hedge fund. Together, Benjamin and Kate create and rule over a Manhattan dynasty of which their children each bear their own unique scars.

Elizabeth has been trying to keep the family together since she was ten years old, hoping to convince everyone they have more in common than just their fortune. This stance will be put to the ultimate test when Kate dies with one final request: that the family travel together to the island of St. John and spread her ashes in the ocean. However, Kate’s plan to fix the family will involve more than just a family trip to the sea.

As the hidden secrets and quiet betrayals built up over thirty years begin to ripple and crash like the ocean surrounding the sinking family, Elizabeth not only faces each of her sibling’s personal inflection points—moments that could lead to reconciliation or ruin—but she has to face her own demons that have laid dormant. What happens next will shock Elizabeth into recognizing a reality she had no idea existed.

Excerpt

“How much money did you get?” Paul drops in, trying not to seem as outright aggressive as my other siblings but still trying to ferret out the information.

“It was nothing,” I say, trying to shut this conversation down.

“Oh, it wasn’t nothing,” Benjamin says. “It was over five million dollars.”

Everyone at the table looks ready to either spill their drink, fall off their chair, or turn me upside down to try and shake the five million out of my pockets.

“Can I have some?” Winnie says, shifting her attention for the first time this evening from my father to me.

“No,” Benjamin says sternly to Winnie. “Your mother is giving that back.”

“What about,” Paul says, daring to get between Benjamin and his money, “if you give us all five million dollars, so Lizzie doesn’t feel so alone. I mean…I’m sure my mother left something for all of us and Lizzie’s just came through first.”

“No,” Benjamin says. “Lizzie won’t feel alone when I have it back. Because none of you are getting any extra money. Everything that was Kate’s is now mine. That’s what we decided. And upon my death—which should be noted, won’t be happening anytime soon—you will all receive the entire inheritance split into five.”

“Wait,” Paul says, clearly upset. “Wait. She’s our mother. Mine. I’m her son. I mean, no offense to your kids Benjamin, but me…and Julian, we should get something now. Not have to wait until you die. You’re not my father.”

Paul’s words visibly cut through Benjamin, like an unexpected knife in the back. Even I can’t help but wince on his behalf—considering he’s spent the last thirty-three years trying to convince Paul he’s a reasonable, viable father. Meanwhile, he’s made not one corresponding overture in my direction, relegating me to the status of just an afterthought that will always linger…

Author Bio and Links

Aly Mennuti has always had two passions: philanthropy and literature. She satisfied one of those by being an executive at an international nonprofit consulting firm and has helped a diverse range of high-profile clients reach their philanthropic goals.

However, she’s always had a desire to express herself creatively and carve out her own role as a writer in a writing family. Finally, upon turning 40 (and with two children hitting their teens and deciding Mom is really uncool and not needed to hang out with anymore) she had the time and head space, to tell her first story.

Broken Fortune is her second novel. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband, Nicholas Mennuti, a novelist and screenwriter and their two children, Charlie and Lilly.

Instagram | Twitter | Amazon Buy Link

Giveaway

Aly Mennuti will be awarding a $15 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

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

I’m happy to welcome multi-published author Jeanette Watts. Today, Jeanette shares her creative journey and her new release, Jane Austen Lied to Me.

Here’s Jeanette!

What was your inspiration for this book?

I was driving home from the Jane Austen Festival they used to have at Locust Grove in Louisville, KY. I had spent the weekend doing one of my favorite things, romping through the past. (There’s a reason my YouTube and TikTok channels are called “History is My Playground!”) At that point, I had only written historic fiction.

The thing about a weekend like the Jane Austen Festival, you get to talk to a LOT of people. I had so many conversations with, of course, Jane Austen fans! There are fans who can quote Sense and Sensibility from beginning to end and get in arguments over her juvenilia or The Watsons. There are also fans who are completely in love with the actor Colin Firth from the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, but have never even heard of Northanger Abbey.

Talking with such a broad range of fans was so stimulating! Listening to them, though, made me think, and the whole drive home I had questions I wished I’d asked. “Are you really in love with Mr Darcy, or just the actor? Would he still be romantic if he wasn’t rich – or good-looking?” “Why is it icky that there’s an age gap between Mr. Knightley and Emma, but you find Colonel Brandon and Mariann Dashwood okay?” The questions just wouldn’t stop coming. That is, of course, how books get started.

What is the best part of being an author? The worst?

Best: The book festivals! I love talking to readers. There is nothing so satisfying than to see someone hurry across the street, exclaiming, “I’d know your book covers anywhere! What new book do you have out?” And I always wear a costume at book festivals, so I’m a walking billboard for my books. It’s fun playing dressup, and it’s fun having people who want their picture with me, even if they don’t want to buy my book…

Worst: The publishing “biz.” Figuring out how to let people know you have a really good book they should read is daunting. With so, so many new books being published every year, the marketing is a slog that sucks up all your time, so you have no time to write anything new! And it’s never enough. A breakout author with a smash hit isn’t discovered because the writing was so good, it’s because they spent a LOT with a publicist. I’m so grateful for blogs like yours, since I love connecting with readers, but I also needed a new car…

Describe your writing space.

I prefer to write in pretty places. When I write at home, I have a wonderful patio in my backyard overlooking yards and trees and people walking their dogs on the walking path. Which is lovely. But of course, home is full of distractions like laundry and neighbors. My local coffeeshop has a charming porch on one side, shaded by a vine-covered trellis. It’s where I’m writing this right now.

I love to travel, and I do it a lot (sometimes to book festivals). I always try to book a few extra days someplace fun, where I can hole up and write. I’ve rented a cabin for $50 a night in Allegheny National Forest and written between a babbling brook and a tree-covered mountain. I’ve had an Airbnb next to the ocean, borrowed a friend’s cabin in Canada overlooking Lake Erie, and written in some really neat hotel lobbies. One had this giant atrium filled with palm trees, another lobby felt like being in an Irish pub, with all the beautiful stained woodwork.

Which authors have inspired you?

grew up on Laura Ingalls Wilder and Louisa May Alcott, adored Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind as a teenager, but most everything else I’ve read has always been biographies. I love David McCullough (and got to meet him before he passed away!) and I’m also a fan of Ron Chernow and Shelby Foote.

What is your favorite quote?

I have two favorites. “Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.” Martha Graham.

“I’d rather be lucky than good.” Lefty Gomez

The first is my favorite because I teach social dancing, and I find it tragic people don’t dance in our society because they think it’s about being good at it. That’s not what dancing is all about! Dancing is about spending quality time with other people.

As for the “lucky” quote: it’s just so true. So much of life is about getting lucky, being in the right place at the right time. Margaret Mitchell HAPPENED to have the complete manuscript for Gone with the Wind hidden in bundles around her apartment when a friend mentioned this particular publisher was actively seeking novels by southern writers. Timing is everything. Mine is almost always bad…

If you had a superpower, what would it be?

Probably teleportation. I love traveling, but sometimes I’d rather just save the four hours of driving across Illinois and Indiana, and just get to my destination, already! I know what cornfields look like.

Besides writing and reading, what are some of your hobbies?

Dancing and costumes! I do historical dancing in all kinds of eras. The Renaissance (and earlier) to the 1960s. My life is a costume party, most often with dancing involved. It’s what most of the aforementioned YouTube channel is about. Making costumes, wearing costumes, dancing in costumes, teaching dances that people will be doing while in costume…

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Know why you’re writing, and whom you are writing for. Grow a thick skin and get others to edit your work. Every mistake you make (and you will make them), you want your editors and beta readers to find BEFORE you go to print. It’s your name on the cover. You are the one embarrassing yourself if you don’t get other eyes on your work.

What are you working on next?

I have far too many books that are out of the starting gate, but not very far along! The two books I have that are set in Pittsburgh need to be a trilogy, then because I live in Illinois I have a trilogy about Abraham Lincoln that I need to write. But then I just started scribbling down some ideas on a different book that are very linked to my life right now because I just filed for divorce, and I just submitted the first page of that in a writing contest. The divorce is going to occupy a lot of my attention right now (talk about distractions!), but I miss writing when I’m not doing it. So here’s hoping I win the contest and have to make finishing that book a priority!

Blurb

What college girl doesn’t dream of meeting Mr. Darcy? Lizzy was certainly no exception. But when Darcy Fitzwilliam comes into her life, he turns out to be every bit as aggravating as Elizabeth Bennett’s Fitzwilliam Darcy. So what’s a modern girl to think, except….
How could my hero be so wrong?

Excerpt

Feb 28

I’ve been thinking about my conversation with Professor Jacobson over and over. The thing about formulas and people. It makes a certain kind of sense, but does it lack a romantic sensibility?

Ha! Sense and Sensibility!

This is the second time that Professor Jacobson has me thinking about S&S. Well, if I’m no Lizzie Bennett, there are worse things in life than being a Marianne Dashwood. She had youth and beauty and high spirits. She wasn’t good at the dating thing, either, and overlooked the better man at first. Why was that? Did Colonel Brandon seem unromantic at first impression?

Even though I’ve got an assignment due in Spanish, as well as the inevitable calc and chem homework, I grabbed Sense and Sensibility to take with me to read while I went to dinner. I wanted to read everything in the book about Colonel Brandon.

Anne spotted me in the dining hall while I was halfway through a tuna sandwich and a really big pile of potato chips. “Hey, Roomie.” She slid her cafeteria tray onto the table across from me and plopped her book bag down beside it. “You having a really bad day?”

“Um, no I don’t think so, why?” I asked.

“Usually, if you’re having a bad day, you pick up Jane Austen and read a little something before you start to study. Since instead of sitting here doing your homework, you’re sitting here reading Jane Austen, I take it you had an exceptionally bad day today.”

Author Bio and Links

Jeanette Watts has written three Jane Austen-inspired novels and two short stories for Jane Austen Fan Fiction anthologies, two other works of historical fiction, stage melodramas, television commercials, and historical dance manuals. She is a regular contributor to MOMCC Magazine.

When she is not writing, she is either dancing, sewing, or making videos for her YouTube channel and TikTok accounts, “History is My Playground.”

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest | Instagram | YouTube

Giveaway

Jeanette Watts will be awarding a Jane Austen Coloring Book (US only) to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter. Find out more here.

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