I’m happy to welcome Wild Rose Press author Janie Emaus. Today, Janie shares her creative journey and new release, The Time Traveling Matchmaker.

What was your inspiration for this book?

I’m a sucker for a happy ending. After hearing several news stories about missing people, I thought what if they weren’t being held against their will or in danger. What if they had been picked up by the Time Traveling Matchmakers and were living with their soul mate in a different time? And thus, The Time Traveling Matchmakers organization was founded.

What’s the best part of being an author? The worst

I love it when readers enjoy my books, blogs and essays. I don’t like the marketing and promotion part that is necessary so those readers know about my books.

Describe your writing space.

My office is “organized chaos! I write on a laptop which sits on an old desk. I’m surrounded by books and lots of photos. There is also a guest bed and a piano in the room, leaving a small path that leads to my desk. And when my characters join me, it gets very crowded. But it’s my favorite room in our house.

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

I love walking and swimming. Not only do they release the endorphins, but stories come to me while I’m doing laps or throwing a ball to my crazy lab.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Perseverance. I sold my first book, Latkes for Santa Claus, after twenty years of trying. I gathered hundreds of rejections, but never lost faith in my story or myself. Shortly after that sale, I sold The Time Traveling Matchmaker. Also, join a critique group, read, and don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t feel like writing every day.

What are you working on next?

I’m working on a women’s fiction book. Here is a short blurb. An aging rock star searching for an heir. Three women hiding from the past. A young girl searching for her identity. And the biographer with the power to write their futures. Will his quest be destructive or lead them back to The Notes Between Them?

As I said above, I’m going to persevere until I get this book into the world. My first husband was a drummer and I’ve always wanted to delve into that world.

Blurb

In The Time Traveling Matchmaker, love takes on a new meaning when soul mates are brought together through time and space.

Like every goal-oriented twenty-something, Jessica Singleton, an aspiring filmmaker, is obsessed with finding her future as quickly as possible. What she doesn’t know is that the future is obsessed with finding her, too. Renn Porter, an agent with Time Traveling Matchmaker’s Inc, blasts back in time – and into her life- in order to transport Jessica to the soul mate who has paid for this service…in the future. But things turn dangerous when it’s revealed that Renn has been sent after his own soul mate.

Caught between two times, Jessica and Renn must struggle to stay alive. Falling in love is the biggest risk either of them has ever taken – because, as they are destined to learn, the very existence of Time Traveling Matchmakers, Inc. rests in Jessica’s hands.

Excerpt

Ever was a word that didn’t do well alone. It goes much better with happily and after. The way my life used to be. The way I thought it never would be again after David, and then along came Renn. And the world opened up, even better than before.

His lips. His touch. His eyes. His voice. There wasn’t room in my mind for thoughts of anything else.

It didn’t matter that he claimed he came from the future. Maybe he did. So many things in this world defy logic. Especially love.

Please, God, bring him back to me.

My stomach growled. I opened the fridge again and picked up the healthiest looking apple, one without any bruises.

The apple tasted sour. I spit the skin into my hand and tossed the whole thing in the trash. The fabric in my pocket grew warm.

“Jessica.”

I spun around. Renn leaned against the wall, his trench coat open to expose a silky blue shirt. His lemony scent drifted into the room.

“It’s you,” I said, stating the obvious and feeling foolish for doing so.

His smile filled me with lightness.

“It’s me,” he said, as if he’d just returned from the store. In fact, he held a bag of donuts.

Donuts! He vanishes out of the bathroom and materializes out of thin air the next day with donuts?

A second later, the bag fell to the ground, and I was in his arms, kissing him. Putting the ever back into my life.

Buy Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop

Author Bio and Links

Janie Emaus believes when the world is falling apart, we’re just one laugh away from putting it together again. The Time Traveling Matchmaker is her debut adult novel. She is also the author of the blended holiday picture books, Latkes for Santa Claus, and the forthcoming Matzo Balls & Easter Eggs. Her essays, stories and articles have been published in numerous magazines, anthologies, and websites. In 2016 she won an honorary mention in the Erma Bombeck Writing competition.

Facebook | Twitter | Website | Instagram | Blog

Giveaway

Janie Emaus will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.

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

I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Claudia Riess. Today, Claudia shares her recent release, To Kingdom Come.

Blurb

Amateur sleuths, Erika Shawn-Wheatley, art magazine editor, and Harrison Wheatley, art history professor, attend a Zoom meeting of individuals from around the globe whose common goal is to expedite the return of African art looted during the colonial era. Olivia Chatham, a math instructor at London University, has just begun speaking about her recent find, a journal penned by her great-granduncle, Andrew Barrett, active member of the Royal Army Medical Service during England’s 1897 “punitive expedition” launched against the Kingdom of Benin.

Olivia is about to disclose what she hopes the sleuthing duo will bring to light, when the proceedings are disrupted by an unusual movement in one of the squares on the grid. Frozen disbelief erupts into a frenzy of calls for help as the group, including the victim, watch in horror the enactment of a murder videotaped in real time.

It will not be the only murder or act of brutality Erika and Harrison encounter in their two-pronged effort to hunt down the source of violence and unearth a cache of African treasures alluded to in Barrett’s journal.

Much of the action takes place in London, scene of the crimes and quest for redemption.

Excerpt

He wondered now why had it taken such an effort to decide which of his plans to set in motion. Walking off with an artifact or two from Franks House, the British Museum’s storage facility in East London, may have given him his political statement, but at what cost? The place was crawling with workers in lab coats and masks—conservators, project managers, photographers, interns, auditors, volunteers—the lot of them engaged in the end goal of moving 200,000 objects from the museum’s collection of Africa, Oceania, and the Americans to its nearly spanking new World Conservation and Exhibition Centre. True, it would not have been an insurmountable task, entering the quiet road where the quaint redbrick warehouse lay and unobtrusively blending into the workforce, but then what? Would he have been forced to shoot his way out of the place at the risk of being gunned down himself? How sordid and at the same time mundane to mow down an uncalculated number of individuals, only to find himself a mere casualty sprawled among them. Hell no, he was neither a loony terrorist nor a crack- head martyr. The plan in place was the more sensible course, no question about it.

It was restful, hearing below his thoughts the rhythmic phrase of train wheels clacking against the tracks in lulling repetition. His calmness surprised him a little, given what lay ahead. His scenario had been well choreographed, but only on an imagined stage with players moving about under his ironclad direction. In real life, even the most meticulous plan is apt to be disrupted by unforeseen circumstances. He knew that it was exactly 1.6 miles from Effingham Junction Station to the mansion on Ockham Lane in Cobham, Surrey, but was he certain that he would not be accosted by a madman or struck by lightning on his walk to the place?

If he allowed his thoughts to ramble on in this manner, his nerves would start acting up. He must lean into the physical moment and move with it into his destiny. He looked out the window past his reflection and focused on the indifferent stars.

Author Bio and Links

An award-winning author of seven novels, Claudia Riess graduated from Vassar and resides in Manhattan and Westhampton Beach. Her most recent novel is the fourth book in her art history mystery series. “To Kingdom Come” will be released in Spring 2022 by Level Best Books.

Last year, Riess signed a second three-book contract with Level Best Books to continue the series that began with “Stolen Light.” The plot involved murder, the Italian Renaissance, and the Cuban Revolution—as well as a love story. The book was chosen by the Vassar travel program coordinator and the Vassar Latin American professor for distribution to the participants in their 2017 “people-to-people” trips to Cuba.

The latest suspense novel set in the art world, sleuths Erika Shawn, art magazine editor, and Harrison Wheatley, art history professor. Now married, the couple is caught up in a multiple-murder case involving the repatriation of African art and artifacts seized by the British in the late nineteenth century during the colonial era. Much of the action takes place in London, scene of the crimes and quest for redemption.

“Riess uses words as an artist uses a paint brush; the pages come to life.”
~Joseph Epstein, Ph.D

“Mystery. Passion. Crime. What more could a book-lover want!”
~Elizabeth Cooke, author of the Hotel Marcel Series

An engaging speaker, Riess has recently given several author talks via Zoom for libraries* and is scheduled for future Zoom and podcast events at more venues. Subjects include “Anatomy of a Murder Mystery,” “Dangerous Liaison: Fiction and History,” and “The Joys and Perils of Creating a Mystery Series.” Her talks are of interest to both authors and readers.

*“Thank you for a fun evening. It was very interesting to hear about the process of writing.”
~Jocelyn Ozolins, Head of Reference, Shelter Island Library

Claudia Riess has worked in the editorial departments of The New Yorker magazine and Holt Rinehart and Winston. She has also edited several art history monographs. For more about Riess and her work, visit http://www.claudiariessbooks.com.

All four books in the art history mystery series are available through Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, IndieBound.org and at independent book stores. For bulk discount purchases, contact https://levelbestbooks.wordpress.com.

Website | Amazon Author Page | Amazon Buy Link

Giveaway

Claudia Riess will be awarding a $50 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.

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

I’m happy to welcome USA Today Bestselling author Darcy Burke. Today, Darcy shares an entertaining post about a writer’s life and her new release, Irresistible.

A Day in the Life

You probably know that writers’ lives are not that glamorous. For the most part, I get up, I feed the cats, I eat breakfast, I wake my son, give him breakfast, then I drive him to school. Or, maybe it’s a morning when I drive him to get allergy shots first. His school day is either three and half hours or just over five hours. On the shorter days, I often don’t drive home (school is 20-30 minutes away, depending on traffic and construction). Instead, I run errands, work at Starbucks, and usually grab lunch.

I like working at Starbucks or a lunch place because I am not distracted by cats! Or laundry (I am weird – I actually like doing laundry!). When I am in public, I tend to focus better for some stupid reason. So if I’m on deadline, I like to take advantage of that time to force myself to work. It feels even more productive now after so long at home due to the pandemic, but I don’t know how accurate that is.

I try not to run too many errands as it can be incredibly distracting. Running into Target for two things becomes an hour-long trek purchasing things I vaguely need, but probably not right now when I, um, should be writing. My favorite boutique is next door to one of the Starbucks where I write. That can be a total time suck! I am super proud of myself for avoiding it since new year’s! And I had a gift certificate!!

After I pick up my son, I typically go home and work some more or I’ll run on the treadmill. I bait myself with television to get myself to run—that’s where I do my best binge watching. I’m currently enjoying the show Barry starring Bill Hader and Henry Winkler. I laugh out loud several times every episode. I am lucky to have a husband who does most of the cooking. I just got really tired of it about five years ago, and he enjoys it, so it works out. I do still cook (I’m the taco, chili, and stew queen!), mostly when I’m not on deadline.

Evenings are spent either writing, ironing (I iron sheets because I hate when the top edges are all wrinkled), reading, or watching TV with the family. Or playing games! Oh, and always, always petting cats.

Blurb

Jessamine Goodfellow has spent six Seasons avoiding the parson’s trap, and spinsterhood is finally within her grasp. A brilliant scholar, she longs for adventure and new experiences, things her family frowns upon. Presented with the opportunity to use her puzzle-solving talent on a secret mission for the Foreign Office, Jess eagerly accepts. Even when it means posing as the wife of a scorchingly attractive Scotsman who she must also covertly investigate as a possible double agent.

Lord Dougal MacNair, the new Viscount Fallin, has always completed his assignments for the Foreign Office alone. Now he’s saddled with an overly enthusiastic amateur partner. She possesses a remarkable intellect, but something about her isn’t quite right, and after two failed missions, Dougal is certain someone is working against him. Battling their secret suspicions, Dougal and Jess dive deep into their cover as a married couple, which arouses temptations they find irresistible. Danger is all around them, but it’s their hearts that may be the most imperiled.

Excerpt

“Tell me why I’ve hurried back.”

“A mission to the Dorset coast. You leave in a week.”

Dougal frowned. “If I don’t leave for a week, why am I here now?”

Lucien hesitated the barest moment. “Because you need time to prepare with your partner.”

“My what?”

Voices in the hall interrupted further conversation because a moment later, Lucien’s butler announced the arrival of Lady Pickering and Miss Jessamine Goodfellow. Dougal was very familiar with Lady Pickering, but the other white woman was unknown to him. Taller than most ladies, Miss Goodfellow possessed vivid cobalt eyes that assessed him with a keen curiosity. Indeed, her unabashed attention could only mean one thing—that she was to be his partner.

Lady Pickering moved her vigilant gaze toward him. “I’m pleased you could arrive so quickly, Lord Fallin. I do apologize that you were called away at this time.”

Dougal inclined his head. “I am always eager to serve.”

“One of your best qualities.” Lady Pickering turned slightly toward the young lady. “Jessamine, this is Lord Fallin.” Lady Pickering then looked to Dougal. “Allow me to present Miss Jessamine Goodfellow. She will be your wife on this endeavor.”

“My what?” First, he had a partner, and now he had a wife?

Author Bio and Links

Darcy Burke is the USA Today Bestselling Author of sexy, emotional historical and contemporary romance. Darcy wrote her first book at age 11, a happily ever after about a swan addicted to magic and the female swan who loved him, with exceedingly poor illustrations. Click here to Join her Reader Club.

A native Oregonian, Darcy lives on the edge of wine country with her guitar-strumming husband, artist daughter, and imaginative son who will almost certainly out-write her one day (that may be tomorrow).

They’re a crazy cat family with two Bengal cats, a small, fame-seeking cat named after a fruit, an older rescue Maine Coon with attitude to spare, and a collection of neighbor cats who hang out on the deck and occasionally venture inside. You can find Darcy at a winery, in her comfy writing chair, or binge-watching TV with the family.

Her happy places are Disneyland, Labor Day weekend at the Gorge, Denmark, and anywhere in the UK—so long as her family is there too.

Website | Reader Group Newsletter | Instagram | Twitter | BookBub | Goodreads | Facebook | Darcy’s Duchesses Facebook Group

Impossible Buy Links

Amazon | Apple | Nook | Kobo

Giveaway

One randomly chosen winner via Rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card. Find out more here.

Follow Darcy Burke on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

I’m happy to welcome author C. M. Sage. Today, she shares her new release, Lost and Found, Book 1 in the Chronicles of Antecede Fantasy Adventure Trilogy.

Blurb

Sometimes things are lost for a very long time…and then they are found.

Take Gracie for example, a woman who lost everything, her life, her family, even her name, but now she is a Cathalian warrior of Antecede blessed with powers, which aren’t yet fully realized. Her elder and nemesis, Donavan, finally granted the former professor an opportunity to train a new warrior. Her joy turns to shock when she meets her great, great, great, great grandson, Henry, accompanied by his wisecracking best friend, Milo. Henry recognizes his long dead ancestor right away, and it doesn’t take the Cathalians long to realize that this meeting was no accident.

Gracie and the warriors of Antecede soon discover that they aren’t the only ones laying a claim on their new charges. Menacing enemies from the South and their hired mercenary assassin, Revilan, the Bowman, have also taken an interest. Come along with Gracie, Donavan, and their fellow warriors on a perilous quest to protect all that is good and right from the evil that threatens it, and along the way discover what else was lost.

Excerpt

Gracie tapped his shoulder, “Milo, did you notice anything unusual before I arrived to meet you? Did you see anyone on the shore, even from a far distance?” Milo reached down to ruffle Rosie’s ears before he answered, which was fortunate because at that exact moment a vicious arrow barely missed grazing his ear before flying by into the tall grass.

Gracie heard a sound like a muffled curse far off in the distance. The language wasn’t one she recognized. She knocked Milo flat to the ground, so that he was no longer a target and signaled for her little ones to stay down. Several more arrows flew in quick succession from the same direction. Gracie managed to pull a long dagger from under her coat before she also went down. Blue fell onto her back next to Gracie, a knife in each hand. Gracie looked at Obi, who knew what to do. He crawled away to search for and retrieve an arrow.

In the interim Blue and Gracie rose to their knees, keeping their heads down, and signaling for Milo to stay down. He nodded, and muttered in a shaky voice, “You don’t have to tell me twice. I may never get up!”

Author Bio and Links

Lost and Found is author C.M. Sage’s first book in the Chronicles of Antecede fantasy adventure trilogy. She loves writing, reading, and traveling. Most of all she loves spending time with her beloved family and friends…and yes, that includes her furry friends. Life would have been much less sunny without them.

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Amazon Author Page | Amazon Buy Link

Giveaway

One randomly chosen winner via Rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card. Find out more here.

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

I’m happy to welcome author Carol Nickles. Today, Carol shares five of her most embarrassing moments and her new release, Thumb Fire Desire.

Here’s Carol!

Oh Boy! This may be painful.

Episode 1: Color Day

From first grade through sophomore year in college, I attended parochial schools. An established dress code was consistently enforced.

In seventh grade, I was a new and enthusiastic sewist. As Color Day—the one day of the month students could wear civilian clothes approached; I strategized an outfit of my own creation. My mother suggested an easy sewing hack for a sleeveless A-line dress. If I made it out of felt, I could dispense with seam finishes, neckline and armhole facings, and a turned hem.

Embellishment choice and application were my opportunities to stand out. A popular pattern company designed a whimsical guide to sewing round characters they called Gonks. Gonks were the precursor of the smiley face, except gonks had long skinny arms and legs and a generous head of hair. Wouldn’t it be fun? I thought, to applique a gonk to my plain white jumper? I gathered the materials—pink felt for the face, flesh color felt for the appendages and thick, black rug yarn for the hair. And wouldn’t it be more fun to position the gonk upside down?

I completed the jumper before bedtime and drifted off to sleep with sweet dreams of the big reveal. Among a jovial, colorful cast of fellow students jockeying their way into our middle school classroom the next morning, I slipped off my winter coat.

A chorus of gasps followed by unchoreographed mouth claps met my Ta-Da moment. Hiccupy giggles and finger-pointing ensued.

A softhearted friend led me by the hand to the girl’s room. There, in front of the mirror, the upside-down gonk smiled, its bushy head of black rug yarn placed dead center over my crotch.

Episode 2: Office Blackout

It was a regular summer day in the office until the power went out. A bank of windows allowed natural light, so work continued. But utilizing the windowless restroom presented a challenge. With a familiar feel, I found the seat and the lever to flush the toilet. On my return to the office, I passed the receptionist.

“Carol, check your skirt!” Bonnie whispered.

Gah. The bank of windows allowed enough light for my colleagues to see my lightweight, flowy skirt tucked into the back of my pantyhose waistband.

Episode 3: Lake Huron Regatta

“Prepare to capsize!” Our ten-year-old captain screamed. As part of a four-man crew on a Summer School sailboat, I scrambled to unleash the ropes, slip into Lake Huron, and keep my head above water.

I knew the retrieval routine. This was not my first capsize. I swam to the side still atop the water and reached to grip the gunwale.

Whoosh. My home-sewn bathing suit bottom slipped off my waist, down my legs, and wafted to the sandy Lake Huron floor. Lesson learned: Use waterproof elastic constructing bathing suits.

Episode 4: Paranoia on Parade

I have hatbox phobia. This paranoia stems from my first-grade Halloween costume.

My mother repurposed a Bloomingdale hatbox into a paper cephalopod—squid cousin—an invertebrate animal with eight tentacles—an octopus. The tentacles were fashioned out of you guessed it—her supply of black rug yarn. She wove wire throughout the yarn braids and tied pink satin ribbons on the ends. Out of black card stock, she cut large black ovals. On the short top edge, Mother slashed long thin strips and rolled them in tight curlicues over a number two lead pencil. The resulting eyelashes were as dramatic as Madame Bovary’s.

Mother placed the upside-down hatbox on my head.

With a shrill whistle from Sister Mary Josetta, the school Halloween parade began.

The octopus tentacles bobbed.

The hatbox eclipsed my knees, narrowed my vision to a patch of sidewalk encompassing my feet, and restricted my stride to tentative baby steps.

I bounced blindly off of classmates like a driverless bumper car. In the privacy of my cephalopod-inspired hatbox costume, my cheeks burned hot with embarrassment.

Episode 5: The Grand Finale

Following the felt jumper hack, my sewing skills progressed to managing one hundred percent cotton that required seam finishes. At the end of my seventh-grade year, I made a sleeveless straight shift from a cotton fabric printed with varying blue hues——cornflower, navy, cobalt of stylistic apples. The construction of that dress marked my sewing introduction to interfaced armhole facings, a front neckline facing, a back neck facing, and a center-back zipper. Successful completion of those steps fostered a bubble of confidence. I marked and pressed the hem. I applied a hem tape impregnated with glue. Easy peasy! A no-sew hem!

The last Color Day of the year would be remembered as my triumphant exoneration of the gonk fiasco. And Sister Mary Verda had promised an outdoor parade to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima. How perfect! I could conquer my first-grade parade paranoia as well.

The sun shone on my brightly dressed classmates as they queued in line.

With our hands folded in prayer, the solemn procession began across the parish perimeters.

Parents lined the walkways.

Cameras clicked.

Stepping into the grassy trail leading to the stone shrine of the pious Madonna, I felt a faint touch on the back of one leg—like the swipe of a sable paintbrush. Trailing down my leg and through the trailing crowd, a length of failed-glue hem tape obliterated my exoneration.

Blurb

In the Spring of 1881, indigent seamstress Ginny Dahlke arrives in one of the earliest Polish American settlements-Parisville, Michigan. Deemed charmless and awkward by her mean-spirited sister-in-law, Ginny disparages her chance of securing love. But sought-after widowed farmer Peter Nickles is enamored by Ginny’s perseverance, her pioneer spirit and, her inclusive acceptance of the indigenous peoples of Michigan. The seductiveness of a buxom heiress, a twisted story of an old-country betrothal, and the largest natural disaster in Michigan’s history-The Great Thumb Fire of September 5, 1881, challenge their fledgling attraction and ultimate committal.

Excerpt

“Watch your step. Watch your step, please,” the steward beckoned from his place on the platform, offering his arm to leave-taking passengers. Ginny stepped down. The heel of her kid leather pump caught in the juncture of the aisle floor and the train ladder’s top step. The blankets in her arms dropped onto the backs of the descending nuns. Her valise—weighted with a treasured book collection, conveyed from her father’s study, and two pounds of beef jerky wrapped in butcher’s paper—whacked the starched veil of the woman who spoke on her behalf. The target’s knees buckled. The nun tumbled face down on the back of her traveling sister.

Ginny toppled next. Mark Twain’s bestseller, the Dahlke family Bible, and a cracked leather-bound copy of Aesop’s Fables fluttered open and sailed into the congregation of the fallen.

From behind them, platform-roosting farmers rushed to retrieve the books, the butcher paper, and the integrity of three ladies.

A man resembling her father’s daguerreotype tugged Ginny by the shoulders and plucked her from the rubble. She clasped his neck and crushed her bonnet against his cheek. “Joseph,” she whispered, kissing a prickly cheek and whiffing aromatic cedar. She sneezed.

“Ginny, so glad you made it safely, even though the very last step of the journey is a sure-as-hell chance you’re going to Purgatory.” Her brother laughed, claiming her. “I mean, Ginny, you almost killed some nuns—nuns, for God’s sake,” he whispered as he tipped his hat to the black-and-white-clad women scurrying to a waiting wagon.

Author Bio and Links

Carol Nickles is the sixth generation of a German textile aficionado family. In 1881, her great-great-great-grandfather founded Yale Woolen Mill—the longest-lasting of Michigan’s once twenty-nine woolen mills. Carol earned a Master’s degree in Historic Clothing & Textiles at Michigan State University. Her thesis is a narrative of the Yale Woolen Mill. She held faculty positions at both Utah and Michigan State universities. She lives in West Michigan and enjoys spinning a tale, weaving a story, and threading a luring hook.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Email

Giveaway

Carol Nickles will be awarding a $50 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.

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

I’m happy to welcome back Wild Rose Press author Jana Richards. Today, Jana shares her new release, Strong Enough, Book 4 in the Masonville Series.

Here’s Jana!

Five Things You Need to Know About the Masonville Series

1. This small-town series is set in the fictional town of Masonville, North Dakota. I’ve given the town a population of about 6,000 because I once lived in a town of that size. It’s big enough to have a lot of services, like restaurants, lawyers’ offices, and a veterinary clinic, but small enough that everyone knows your business! Despite being hotbeds of gossip, good things can happen in small towns, too. Small town romance is all about falling in love with your community, while at the same time falling in love with someone special.

2. In each of the books, the characters have a past trauma or unhappiness or hurt they must work through before they can be whole again. And before they can accept love into their lives.

3. There are four books in the series. Several of heroes and/or heroines of the books work at the town’s veterinary clinic. Several of the main characters come from two families in the town, the Saunders and the Greysons.

4. This is the fourth romance series I’ve written. I think I’m getting the hang of this thing! Each book in the series will be a stand-alone story, but as with every series, I think the reading experience is enhanced when read in order.

5. Animals play a huge role in the series. As I said several of the main characters work in veterinary health care. All the couples have at least one pet, and a couple of the heroines are deeply involved in animal rescue. In book four, STRONG ENOUGH, the characters unite to take on their biggest challenge, rescuing both people and animals!

Tagline

Love can make you stronger, if you let it.

Blurb

Charlotte Saunders has a full life—a rewarding career as a nurse, meaningful volunteer work at a dog shelter, and family, friends and pets she adores. But no matter how hard she tries; she can’t forget the horrible event that’s haunted her for ten years.

A survivor of childhood sexual abuse, Damon Greyson now helps others who have suffered trauma. His experience and intuition alert him to trouble in Charlotte’s past, and he wants to help her, if only she’d let him.

As they work together to help veterans suffering from PTSD and neglected dogs needing loving homes, their feelings for each other deepen. But when the trauma from Charlotte’s past roars back to life, both are forced to confront their painful histories—or die trying.

Excerpt

She looked away. “I’m sorry. I hate women who use tears to get what they want. It’s just that yesterday the shelter had to put down some dogs. There was this one old dog, Shep….” She shook her head, unable to finish.

He squeezed her elbow before letting her go. “I’m sorry, Charlotte.”

She nodded and again Damon sensed her vulnerability. Charlotte tried to give off an aura of strength. She was the caregiving nurse, the person others looked to for help. But who helped Charlotte?

After a few breaths, she straightened her shoulders and faced him, her composure once more back in place. “How long do you think it will be?”

“You mean until the retreat is up and running?” When she nodded, he blew out a breath. “I don’t know. My building’s in worse shape than I first thought.”

“If there’s anything I can do to speed up the process, let me know.”
“You know anything about unplugging sewer lines?”

She made a face. “You’re on your own, Greyson.”

Don’t I know it. “Hey, you asked. From now on I’ll only request your help when it comes to dogs.”

She chuckled. “Good plan.”

This time Charlotte’s smile was genuine, and for a moment Damon couldn’t breathe. He found himself wondering what it would be like to have the full force of her smile directed at him on a regular basis, and to know there was real affection for him behind the smile. The longing he experienced at that thought shocked him.

Better not to allow such thoughts to take root. Despite all the work he’d done over the years to overcome the harm done to him in the past, he still had questions. Would it ever be possible for him to have a normal, loving, long-term relationship with a woman? So far, the longest relationship he’d had lasted only six months.

Maybe he’d always be damaged goods.

Buy Links

Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | ibooks | Barnes & Noble

Author Bio

When Jana Richards read her first romance novel, she immediately knew two things: she had to commit the stories running through her head to paper, and they had to end with a happily ever after. She also knew she’d found what she was meant to do. Since then, she’s never met a romance genre she didn’t like. She writes contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and historical romance set in World War Two, in lengths ranging from short story to full length novel. Just for fun, she throws in generous helpings of humor, and the occasional dash of the paranormal. Her paranormal romantic suspense “Seeing Things” was a 2008 EPPIE finalist.

In her life away from writing, Jana is an accountant/admin assistant, a mother to two grown daughters, and a wife to her husband Warren. She enjoys golf, yoga, movies, concerts, travel and reading, not necessarily in that order. She and her husband live in Winnipeg, Canada. She loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website at http://www.janarichards.com

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I’m happen to welcome multi-published author J. R. Lindermuth. Today, John shares his latest release, By Strangers Mourned.

Sylvester Tilghman, the third of his family to serve as sheriff of rural Arahpot, Jordan County, Pennsylvania, would love to marry his longtime sweetheart Lydia Longlow. But Lydia has constantly turned down his proposals in the previous three novels in the Sheriff Tilghman historical mystery series set in the waning days of the 19th Century.

Lydia professes to love Syl. But she’s a busy and independent young woman. In addition to running a general store and caring for her elderly parents, she’s also postmistress, head of the Women’s Temperance League, a Sunday School teacher, sings in the choir and is substitute pianist for the Methodist Church.

Now in the spring of 1899, Syl is hopeful preparations for the wedding of his deputy Cyrus Gutshall and Emma, younger daughter of his neighbor and friend Doctor Hiram Mariner, will put his sweetheart in a marital mood.

Alas, crime in his small community has always had a way of interfering with Sylvester’s plans.

A woman is found drowned in a local creek and Doc Mariner’s autopsy reveals her death was the result of foul play. The sheriff’s investigation soon puts him on the trail of a mysterious man named Bauer and a gang preying on young immigrant women.

Sylvester Tilghman will need all his detecting skills and the help of his friends to unravel the many skeins of this case before he can dream again of marriage.

….

As noted above, By Strangers Mourned is the fourth novel in the Sheriff Syl series. The first two, Fallen From Grace and Sooner Than Gold, were originally published by Oak Tree Press. After the death of Billie Johnson, publisher, rights were returned to me. Lawrence Knorr, who had published The Bartered Body, third in the series, agreed to reissue them and publish By Strangers Mourned in the Milford House imprint of Sunbury Press.

Bio and Social Links

J. R. Lindermuth lives and writes in central Pennsylvania. A retired newspaper editor, he currently serves as librarian of his county historical society where he assists patrons with genealogy and research. He’s the author of 18 novels and two regional histories. He is a member of International Thriller Writers and is a past vice president of the Short Mystery Fiction Society.

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In addition to Amazon, By Strangers Mourned is available from the publisher Sunbury Press and other quality booksellers.