Category Archives: Guest Blogging

Spotlight on Judge Debra H. Goldstein and One Taste Too Many

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome Judge Debra H. Goldstein. Today, Debra shares her author journey and new release, One Taste Too Many, the first book of the new Sarah Blair Cozy Series from Kensington.

Here’s Debra!

Six months after my first book, Maze in Blue, a mystery set on the University of Michigan’s campus in the 1970’s, was published by a small publisher, I was on cloud nine. Maze had received an Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY), I had speaking engagements planned for the next year, and I had just appeared on my first conference panel. My euphoric mood ended when I received an e-mail telling me the publisher was going out of business.

Not ready to accept my series was one and done, I sought advice from authors and agents about what to do next. Everyone told me the same thing: “Write something new.”

Although it wasn’t what I wanted to hear, I began a new work in progress. In 2016, a larger publisher released Should Have Played Poker: a Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Players Mystery. Once again, I was flying high dreaming about the books I’d write in my new series. At least, I was until the publisher announced it was dropping its mystery line.

Orphaned twice, there was no question what I needed to do: “Write something new.”

I focused on writing short stories and the first book of a third potential series. In 2017, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine published by short story, “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place” and Kensington offered me a three-book contract for the Sarah Blair cozy mystery series. I didn’t think I could get any happier — but I did. “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place” was named an Anthony and Agatha short story finalist and I received a cover for One Taste Too Many, the first book in the Sarah Blair series, that I absolutely love. One Taste Too Many will be released on December 18, but it already is available for pre-order. In fact, as you can tell from the cover, One Taste Too Many is a perfect gift or stocking stuffer for people who love cats, are cooks of convenience (it has recipes like Jell-O in a Can and Sarah’s Spinach Pie which is made with Stouffer’s spinach souffle), or simply want to be rewarded for surviving the holiday season.

One Taste Too Many Blurb

For culinary challenged Sarah Blair, there’s only one thing scarier than cooking from scratch—murder!

Married at eighteen, divorced at twenty eight, Sarah Blair reluctantly swaps her luxury lifestyle for a cramped studio apartment and a law firm receptionist job in the tired town she never left. With nothing much to show for the last decade but her feisty Siamese cat, RahRah, and some clumsy domestic skills, she’s the polar opposite of her bubbly twin, Emily—an ambitious chef determined to take her culinary ambitions to the top at a local gourmet restaurant . . .

Sarah knew starting over would be messy. But things fall apart completely when her ex drops dead, seemingly poisoned by Emily’s award-winning rhubarb crisp. Now, with RahRah wanted by the woman who broke up her marriage and Emily wanted by the police for murder, Sarah needs to figure out the right recipe to crack the case before time runs out. Unfortunately, for a gal whose idea of good china is floral paper plates, catching the real killer and living to tell about it could mean facing a fate worse than death—being in the kitchen!

Bio

Judge Debra H. Goldstein is the author of Kensington’s new Sarah Blair cozy mystery series. Its first book, One Taste Too Many, debuts in January 2019, but is available for pre-order. She also wrote Should Have Played Poker and 2012 IPPY Award winning Maze in Blue. Her short stories, including Anthony and Agatha nominated “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place,” have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, and Mystery Weekly. Debra is president of Sisters in Crime’s Guppy Chapter, serves on SinC’s national board, and is vice-president of the Southeast Chapter of Mystery Writers of America.

Contact Debra

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Email

Buy Links

One Taste Too Many is available in print and e-book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books a Million, Hudson Booksellers, Target, Walmart, Indiebound and local indie bookstores. One Taste Too Many will also be published in a large print edition in 2019.

From the Courtroom to the Classroom

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Soul Mate author Patti Smith sharing her multi-act life and her debut novel, Head Over Feet in Love.

Here’s Patti!

I spent much of my life saying that I wanted to go be a lawyer. Almost everything I did was towards that end—do well on the LSAT, earn stellar grades in college, be involved in everything on campus. I went to a top 20 law school, passed the fifth hardest Bar in the nation and then I discovered that I hated practicing law.

Cue the “womp, womp” sound.

After giving it a go for eight years—taking increasingly lower paid jobs every year—I finally cried “uncle” and decided to try something else. I must say that I am extremely privileged; most people would not be able to make this change. But I had no debt from law school and was married so I had health benefits and could therefore work part-time in the legal field while figuring out what to do next.

By chance, I sent in an application to teach part-time at a nearby community college. I completely forgot about even applying and was therefore rather surprised to get a call at my job from the head of the Political Science department. He asked me to come in the next day for an interview. I got all ready, put on the one suit I had left, and prepared as best I could. When I walked in the department head handed me a book and some papers and said, “Here’s the text, a sample syllabus, can you teach the Friday classes?”

Boom. I was a teacher.

I now must mention that I spent my earlier years saying I would never, ever be a teacher. Who on earth could put up with the bratty behavior and the low pay? But something happened to me as I stepped up to the front of the room. For the first time in many years, I felt like I was in the right place. I started talking, teaching, sharing.

I spent two years in this job while I got certified to teach special education. Now it’s 13 years later and I’m still talking, teaching, sharing. The pay is low, the kids can be trying but ultimately, I love the profession and look forward to what each day brings.

Again, I realize how entirely privileged I am to get a second chance and I shared this with my main character. In her reality, she failed the Bar Exam and had to reinvent herself as a teacher. I think we’re both gonna be okay.

New Book Features Feminist, Gen X Heroine We’ve Been Waiting For…

Author Patti F. Smith’s feminist romance book, HEAD OVER FEET IN LOVE, will be released on November 14, 2018. Set in Ann Arbor and highlighting local places and events, Smith’s book features a 40something heroine who keeps moving forward, no matter how many setbacks her brain deals out to her—and that’s really a main focus of the book—that mental health issues are part of your life, but not the sum total. You can still fall in love, live your life, tell your story. “I’ve lived with mental health issues my whole life,” Smith says. “It’s important for people with invisible disabilities to see themselves represented, particularly in love stories. This is the book for Gen Xers, people with mental health issues, or anyone who thinks they can’t find love.”

Blurb

Rebecca Slater is running away from a stay in a mental health facility, a writing career that never got off the ground, and a dying best friend. She has nowhere to go, but nothing can stop her—until she crashes her car into a tree (possibly on purpose, but probably not). Without a cell phone and in a strange town, Becca starts knocking on doors looking for someone to help her. The only person who answers her knock is Mike Riley.

Becca is a lot of things—feminist, teacher, wannabe author, person with a bipolar condition, lover of all things Gen X—but she has never been in love. Becca and Mike begin a friendship that neither realizes they need. Becca shares her unique life view with Mike, who becomes her friend, her muse, and the love of her life.

When Becca thinks Mike is dead she impulsively runs away again, this time to a place where she thinks no one will ever find her. She prepares for a life without her true love, committed to remaining mentally healthy and strong, continuing a story she now believes will have an unhappy ending.

Like other people with mental health issues, Becca struggles but also lives her life. She keeps moving forward no matter how many setbacks her brain deals, and that’s really the focus of her story: that mental health issues are part of your life, but not the total. You can still fall in love, have a great life, tell your story. And have a happy ending.

Opening Words

I’m driving away. I’m driving away as fast and as far as I can. I’m never going back. I’m going to drive until I get so far up north that no one will ever find me. I’m going to—

Except that I’m not. I can’t leave home now. Not with my best friend in a coma, not with my parents tripped out, not with all that’s going on. Not with bipolar disorder and anxiety and everything else. I’m still driving away, mind you, but I’ll have to go back. As soon as the rain lets up, I’ll turn around and head back to US-23. It’s really pouring though, and I don’t like driving in the rain, so I might have to find a hotel and stay the night. I’ll have to call my parents, except I don’t have a phone anymore, and with Rick in the hospital, it all means—

It means that I have no way to call anyone when my car hits the tree.

buynow

Bio

An enthusiastic Gen-Xer and feminist, Patti Smith writes about the generation sandwiched in-between the Boomers and Millennials. Lover of all things flannel, grunge, and slacker (although she is not a slacker herself!), Patti focuses her books on women in their 40s facing major challenges in life and love. Her heroines are independent women who don’t want to follow the life path of marriage-children but rather forge their own paths. Often they, like their writer, live with mental health issues but make it clear that they are not their illness and that their lives are full and rich.

Patti lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and is a former legal aid lawyer and current special education teacher. She is the author of two books: Images of America–Downtown Ann Arbor and A History of the People’s Food Co-op Ann Arbor and is co-authoring Forgotten Ann Arbor (due out in 2019). She writes for as many local publications as she can and is involved in many local commissions and activities. She is a frequent public speaker around town and is founder/curator of GROWN FOLKS READING (story time for adults) and HERSAY (all female variety show). She lives with her husband, Ken Anderson, her own Gen-X hero.

Where to find Patti…

Website | Twitter

Joanne here!

Patti, Thank you for sharing your inspiring journey. Best of luck with sales.

Spotlight on Debbie DeLouise

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome author Debbie DeLouise to my blog. Today, Debbie shares her writing journey and novels.

Here’s Debbie!

My writing journey began when I was a child and enjoyed and excelled at creative writing in school. My publishing journey, however, took a bit longer. My first published piece, unless you count the articles I wrote for my college newspaper, was an article about my cats for Cat Fancy Magazine. Several pet articles followed before I published my first story, “Stitches in Time,” in Cat Crimes Through Time, a mystery anthology compiled by Edward Gorman and Martin Howard Greenberg in 2001. It took seven more years before I published my first book, Cloudy Rainbow, that was recently reprinted by my current publisher. I wrote this paranormal romance after my cat Floppy died and featured him in it as a character. Told through flashbacks of each of the five main characters, this book was originally self-published and contained some of my own personal experience working as features editor on my college newspaper.

The original Cloudy Rainbow was self-published and, as a new writer, I had no experience marketing it, so not many people purchased it. Also, at the time, I had a young daughter and was working full-time as a reference librarian at my local library. I couldn’t find the time to write another book. I would’ve been a one-hit wonder if it wasn’t for a patron at my library who’d read my book and encouraged me to keep writing. I kept putting it off but finally, in 2015, I started a mystery that I ended up selling to a small publisher. That mystery, A Stone’s Throw, became the first book of my Cobble Cove cozy mystery series. When I first published it, I didn’t consider it a cozy or the start of a series. I thought it was a romantic suspense standalone novel, but reviewers called it a cozy because it took place in a small town, featured quirky characters, and even two pets – a library Siamese cat called Sneaky and a golden retriever dog named Fido.

After I finished A Stone’s Throw, I decided to write another book with the same characters because they’d grown on me, and I had an idea for a mystery that took place in the town near the holidays. When I finished Between a Rock and a Hard Place, I found a different publisher who I not only sold the manuscript to but who also requested the first book. I’ve been with that publisher, Solstice Publishing, since 2016 and now have four books in the Cobble Cove mystery series. My latest, Love on the Rocks, is a Valentine’s Day themed mystery that introduces a Calico kitten. KittyKai is the name of a real-life cat whose owner won my newsletter contest when I was seeking the name and breed for a new character cat for my series.

Besides my Cobble Cove books, I also have a standalone mystery, Reason to Die, that involves murders of handicapped residents of a small town, nearly a dozen short stories of various genres, and a romantic comedy novella, When Jack Trumps Ace.

I’m currently working on another short mystery story and hope to finish a half-way completed paranormal mystery that includes a ghost cat. In addition, I have a psychological thriller and the first book of another cozy mystery series that I’m querying to agents in the hope of publishing with a larger publisher. However, I also want to continue my Cobble Cove series with Solstice, as I have an idea for the fifth book.

As with most writers, my journey has had its ups and downs. I never realized how much time and work went into publishing books and how difficult it is to gain followers in the overcrowded book market. I’m active on social media where I promote my eBooks as well as my paperbacks on Facebook and Twitter and also try to reach local fans by appearing at author events at libraries and book fairs. I’ll be at a holiday book fair in Islip with the Long Island Author’s Group on Saturday, December 8 and at the Broadway Commons in Hicksville on Sunday, December 15.

Where to find Debbie…

Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | Website/Blog/Newsletter Signup

10 Things That Inspire Me to Write

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome back Soul Mate author Carol Warfield to the Power of 10 series. Today, Carol shares ten sources of writing inspiration and her latest release, The Unexpected Wife.

Here’s Carol!

1. True love! I’ve been married for almost fifty years and the healing magic of being with another never fails to inspire me. Human beings are born to join with the Other, and the myriad ways we do that never fail to attract me.

2. Families—What is a story without drama, pain, conflict, and ultimate growth and success. Nothing creates more drama than the things families do to and with one another. Nothing cuts deeper into our emotions.

3. Good books—when I become completely absorbed in an author’s world and the real world fades away it is a joy. When I put the book down, I’m challenged to up my game as a storyteller.

4. So-So books—on the other hand, writing has made me more critical. Sometimes I pick up a book and by page two I’m mentally rewriting it. I put that one down and think, “I can do better.”

5. Castles and mansions—I love touring grand houses. When I do, I’m often populating them with characters for books.

6. Bus and train rides—seriously! When I’m stuck on a crowded train, or in a lobby, or anywhere in a crowd I find myself casting the strangers I see. I play “If this were a Regency novel, which of these people would be the hero/heroine? The villain? The domineering father? The eccentric aunt?”

7. Travel—settings inspire me of course. When I’m someplace fabulous (Rome, Venice, Singapore, or just plain Philadelphia near home) I often think “I could put a story here…” And I do.

8. History—my favorite escape and fantasy world has always been inside a history book. Tudor England? I spent much of my teens there. Regency? It got me through raising children. Ancient Rome? I’ve walked with Cicero. Of course I want to write historical fiction!

9. Other authors—relationships with other authors have enriched my life beyond measure. We push, prod, and inspire each other.

10. Inner voices—somewhere deep inside there’s a well of stories that just demand to be told. They come to me unexpectedly and they talk in my ear. When I get an idea and I want to write some grand prose, however, they sometimes go into hiding.

Blurb

The Duke of Murnane expects work to heal him. He doesn’t expect to face his past and find his future in China.

Charles Wheatly doesn’t expect to find his great love when he accepts an unofficial fact-finding mission to Canton on behalf of the queen. He certainly doesn’t expect to confront his wreck of a marriage in such an exotic locale. Zambak Hayden follows her brother to China to escape pressure to make a suitable marriage. She finds the brother drawn into the world of greed, smuggling, drugs, and corruption and resolves to both sort out the truth and protect her brother from becoming prey to all of it—if only she could stop yearning for the one man she can’t have.

buynow

Other Books in the Children of Empire Series

The Renegade Wife

A desperate woman on the run with her children finds shelter with a reclusive businessman in the Canadian wilderness. Rand may be a recluse, but his heart isn’t as hard as he thinks. Can he save them all?

The Reluctant Wife

A disgraced Bengal army officer finds himself responsible for two unexpected daughters and a headstrong widow. When he’s forced to choose between honor and career, and people depend on him, failure is not an option.

Book Trailer

Bio

Award winning author Caroline Warfield has been many things: traveler, librarian, poet, raiser of children, bird watcher, Internet and Web services manager, conference speaker, indexer, tech writer, genealogist—even a nun. She reckons she is on at least her third act, happily working in an office surrounded by windows where she lets her characters lead her to adventures in England and the far-flung corners of the British Empire. She nudges them to explore the riskiest territory of all, the human heart.

Where to find Carol…

Website | Amazon | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Newsletter | BookBub | Email

10 Fun Facts About New Hampshire

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome back award-winning Wild Rose Press author Peggy Jaeger to the Power of 10 series. Today, Peggy shares fun facts about her state and her new release, Dearly Beloved.

Here’s Peggy!

Joanne – I love visiting you and your readers! Thanks for this opportunity to tell you a little about my adopted state, New Hampshire.

All of my books are centered on the East Coast of the US. Hey, I’m an East Coast girl – so take that Katy Perry! Hee Hee.

My newest romance series, A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN, is set in the fictional New Hampshire town of Heaven, a charming quaint New England town filled with history and a bunch of quirky residents.

I simply love New Hampshire – especially in the Autumn. I’ve lived in NH for over 25 years, my daughter was raised there, and I can’t see myself moving any place else, any time soon. I’d like to tell you a few fun facts about my state so you can get a better feel for why I’m so happy to live there.

#10. Every autumn, millions of travelers drive up the Eastern Coast of the USA to view the fall foliage. In New Hampshire, we call these tourists Peepers and autumn we refer to as Leaf Peeping Season.

#9. Maple syrup is a NH commodity and it takes approximately 40 gallons of sap to make I gallon of maple syrup. And in my opinion, NH maple syrup is the best in the nation!

#8. New Hampshire science teacher Christa McAuliffe, was the first non-professional astronaut ( civilian) to go up in space. The Christa McAuliffe Planetarium is located in Concord, NH and is a state-of-the art science museum dedicated to this brave woman who perished in the Challenger Space Shuttle explosion.

#7. The beautiful town of Dover, NH was settled in 1623, making it the oldest permanent settlement in the state.

#6. The state bird is the purple finch.

#5. The state flower is the purple Lilac ( New Hampshirites, apparently, lovelovelove the color purple!).

#4. The first potato planted in the USA was at Londonderry Common Field in the year 1719.

#3. NH adopted the first legal lottery in the 20th century in 1963.

#2. Of the 13 original New England colonies, NH was the first to declare its independence from England 6 months before the Declaration of Independence was signed. Even back then NH was a trailblazer!

#1. (and my favorite fact of all!) in 1833, the very first free public library in the US was established in Peterborough, NH, a town just over beautiful Mount Monadnock and 15 minutes from where I live!

If you ever get the chance to drive up through New England during autumn, make sure you stop along the way through New Hampshire and take pictures. Lots of them! The colors are phenomenal.

Blurb

Colleen O’Dowd manages a thriving bridal business with her sisters in Heaven, New Hampshire. After fleeing Manhattan and her cheating ex-fiancé, Colleen still believes in happily ever afters. But with a demanding business to run, her sisters to look after, and their 93-year-old grandmother to keep out of trouble, she’s worried she’ll never find Mr. Right.

Playboy Slade Harrington doesn’t believe in marriage. His father’s six weddings have taught him life is better as an unencumbered single guy. But Slade loves his little sister. He’ll do anything for her, including footing the bill for her dream wedding. He doesn’t plan on losing his heart to a smart-mouthed, gorgeous wedding planner, though.

When her ex-fiancé comes back into the picture, Colleen must choose between Mr. Right and Mr. Right Now.

Excerpt

I stared at him for a moment, mulling over how I wanted to ask him what I’d been dying to ask since we’d been in my office.

Finally, because there was no other way to get around it but bluntly, I said, “I feel like we need to discuss your father. Come to a decision about where he fits in the wedding.”

When the warmth in his expression shifted to ice, a weaker-willed person might have stopped there. Since I’m not weak and my parents have always told me I have a real problem with knowing when to quit, I pushed on. “It seems to me as if Isabella wants him to be included. Whether in a father-of-the-bride role, or simply as a guest, I really do think she’d like him to attend, but, for whatever reason, she’s reluctant to press you on it.”

Did I say ice? What’s colder than ice?

Because whatever it is, that was the expression floating in Slade’s eyes right then as he glared at me.
Warning bells blared in my head, but that thing about me not knowing when to quit? Yeah, it’s real.

“I think Isabella’s afraid of upsetting you if she tells you how she feels or asks your permission. She loves you so much and respects your opinion.”

“You don’t know anything about my sister. Or me.” He lowered his hands from his hips, kept them fisted at his sides. “Or our relationship with our father.”

“True, but I get the sense—”


He barreled over me as if I hadn’t said a word.

“You’ve been hired to do a job, Miss O’Dowd. I suggest you do it and keep your thoughts about my family to yourself. You’re a wedding planner, not a family counselor.” His voice dropped a level, deepening as it became softer. The cadence became clipped, the tone more…lethal.

If this was the way he acted in business, it was a wonder he hadn’t been convicted of corporate homicide yet.

“Look, I’m not asking simply to be nosy,” I said, my voice rising in opposition to his. “I really do have to plan all this out. There’s still the rehearsal and the dinner after it left to deal with. Then there’s the reception seating. Plus, if he is included, I’ll need to make sure he has a room, a tuxedo, and find out if he’s bringing a guest.”

“What aren’t you understanding about this, Miss O’Dowd?” Slade asked, taking a step toward me. If he’d thought to intimidate me with his height, he’d miscalculated. Retreat wasn’t a word in my lexicon. I simply lifted my chin and stared right back at him.

“I understand a lot more than you think, Mr. Harrington. About all sorts of things. Arrogant and pigheaded men included.”

When he continued to stand like a plank of wood in front of me, his mouth turning down and creasing the sides of his jaw, I knew—knew—I should stop.

But…

Buy Links

Amazon | Wild Rose Press | Barnes & Noble

Bio

Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance writer who writes about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them.

Family and food play huge roles in Peggy’s stories because she believes there is nothing that holds a family structure together like sharing a meal…or two…or ten. Dotted with humor and characters that are as real as they are loving, Peggy brings all topics of daily life into her stories: life, death, sibling rivalry, illness and the desire for everyone to find their own happily ever after. Growing up the only child of divorced parents she longed for sisters, brothers and a family that vowed to stick together no matter what came their way. Through her books, she has created the families she wanted as that lonely child.

Tying into her love of families, her children’s book, THE KINDNESS TALES, was illustrated by her artist mother-in-law.

Peggy holds a master’s degree in Nursing Administration and first found publication with several articles she authored on Alzheimer’s Disease during her time running an Alzheimer’s in-patient care unit during the 1990s.

In 2013, she placed first in two categories in the Dixie Kane Memorial Contest: Single Title Contemporary Romance and Short/Long Contemporary Romance.

In 2017 she came in 3rd in the New England Reader’s Choice contest for A KISS UNDER THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS and was a finalist in the 2017 STILETTO contest for the same title.

In 2018, Peggy was a finalist in the HOLT MEDALLION Award and once again in the 2018 Stiletto Contest.

A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, she is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.

Where to find Peggy…

Website/Blog | Twitter | Amazon Author Page | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads | Instagram | BookBub | Book Gorilla | YouTube

Happy Release Day!