Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Guest Blog: My Dark Highlander by Nancy Lee Badger

My Dark Highlander
Kilted Athletes Through Time
Book 2
Nancy Lee Badger

Genre:  Scottish Time Travel romance
Publisher: Nancy Lee Badger
Date of Publication: Nov. 1, 2014
Number of pages:  330
Cover Artist: Nancy Lee Badger

Book Description:

Plucked from her timeline, and stranded in 1603 Scotland, veterinarian Jenny Morgan is eager to get home before someone discovers her secret ability. Reading auras is a curse, and the rainbow of auras surrounding the villagers at the Highland festival is more than she can bear.

Aided by a powerful witch, she returns to New England. She will miss the North Sea, and the man who stole her heart during one dark night, but danger follows her home.

Laird Gavin Sinclair is pulled in too many directions; a missing brother, a murderous father, and a dark-eyed beauty he spent one sin-filled night protecting. When Jenny returns to the future with a witch and another man, danger follows her. Gavin must set aside his obligations, use his sorcery to follow her forward in time, and protect her.


Before returning home, jealousy and lust ravage his dark soul, but his heart lightens when Jenny helps him fight every evil. 

Amazon ebook | Nook | Smashwords  | All Romance | Amazon Print | iTunes

MRP would like to extend a very warm welcome to Nancy Lee Badger, today's guest blogger and author of My Dark Highlander. Enjoy!

When Kisses Taste Like Scottish Shortbread

Scottish Shortbread cookies are tasty, rich, and easy to make. Whenever I attend a Scottish Highland games or festival, I search for these yummy hunks of flour, butter, and sugar mixed with vanilla, almond flavoring, or maple syrup. Shortbread has a long history as an easy sweet made with easy-to-find ingredients, and cooks have baked them since the twelfth-century.

Even hundreds of years later, not much has changed, nor have the Highlands of Scotland. For quite some time only wealthy people such as Mary, Queen of Scots, could afford to make shortbread, and others baked it only at Christmas, Hogmanay (New Years), weddings, and other special occasions.

With a crumbly texture, for years shortbread was baked at a low temperature, such as beside a banked peat fire in a crofter’s hut or behind the stables in a beehive oven. Cooked in various shapes, such as a pizza cut into wedges, you can also find it in bricks and rounds. It molds easily, and tastes great. When I bake them, I add chocolate-chips.

This classic Scottish dessert has gone through several changes throughout history, but the basic flavor is different from any other cookie I have ever tasted. In my latest release, My Dark Highlander, I mention the treat several times along with my characters because my story takes place at modern-day Highland games and a festival back in 1603 Scotland.  


Here is an excerpt from My Dark Highlander

“Trust me, laird.”
“I hope I doono’ come to regret this.”
When the brownie’s warm fingers closed around Gavin’s hand, now free of blood, the air shimmered. A shiver coursed through him, and his body grew light as air. Intense illumination made his eyes clamp shut. His skin crawled, because the sensations were oddly familiar.
“Here we are, my laird. Open yer eyes, and go find yer woman.” Jaden-Tog pointed to an army of large tents holding court beside a huge three-story edifice. Thunderous applause filled the air at intervals, and the sounds, roars, and smells stirred his recollection of a recent event, back in Scotland. The aroma of roasted meat and fresh-baked Scottish shortbread tempered the odor of cow and sheep dung. “A Highland festival?”
Jaden-Tog chuckled, and released Gavin’s hand. “Aye, the 21st century version. ‘Tis no’ much different. However, I believe she headed that way. See?”
Gavin’s gaze followed the direction of the brownie’s finger, which pointed away from the crowds and tents. Taking a chance, he strode along the gravel trail, toward the odd metal carriages that he had noticed near Jenny’s home, while the brownie kept pace.
Had only a fortnight passed since he last traveled to this time in search of his betrothed? As he increased his pace, an object on the ground, in the middle of a trail ahead, caught his attention.
“A doeskin slipper!”
“Aye, ‘tis the footwear yer Jenny was wearing. Can ye no’ sense her, laird?”
Gavin glared at the little man, then closed his eyes. Using his sorcery-aided senses, he searched for the truth. He was too new at magic to sense her, but Jenny’s fragrance invaded his nose, proving she had passed by this way.
On the distant edge of the lot, and farther along the trail, a low hillock muted the sounds of rushing water, beyond. “Is that the same water I fell in?”
“Nay, my laird. ‘Tis a large river, and--”

“A scream! ‘Twas a woman’s cry for help, I swear it.” He felt in his heart, that the voice belonged to Jenny. 

Thank you so much for joining us today, Nancy. We really enjoyed the visit. Good luck and great sales with My Dark Highlander


About the Author:

Award-winning author Nancy Lee Badger loves chocolate-chip shortbread and wool plaids wrapped around the trim waist of a Scottish Highlander. Her stories tempt you with the clang of broadswords, and the sound of bagpipes in the air. After growing up in Huntington, New York, and raising two handsome sons in New Hampshire, she moved to North Carolina where she writes full-time. Nancy is a member of Romance Writers of America, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal Romance Writers, Triangle Area Freelancers, and the Celtic Heart Romance Writers.

Author Links:
Blog   | Website  | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads  | Amazon Author Page           

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Thank You Veterans!!!!

For All Our Veterans ~ 

Thank you for your service to our nation and the world. This kiss is for you!


“The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.” —Patrick Henry


Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Book Spotlight & Giveaway: Laying Low in Paradise by Kristy K. James

Laying Low in Paradise
The Casteloria Series
Book One
Kristy K. James


Genre:  Romance
Number of pages:  191
Cover Artist:  Vila Design 

Book Description:

He's hiding out because someone wants him dead...

Cameron Rafferty is keeping secrets. Dangerous secrets that could endanger the lives of everyone around him. His plan was simple...keep a low profile until the would-be-killer was found. And it was working - until an accident changed everything. Before he knows it, he finds himself becoming more involved with the family next door, and wishing for things he shouldn't. Things that will put their lives in jeopardy, too.

Her summer plans didn't include secrets and danger...

Spending summers on Bois Blanc Island was a tradition for author Laura Keane and her young son. Filled with special memories of the husband she'd lost to war, she looked forward to days of reminiscing, playing, and working on her newest novel. She didn't expect this year to be any different - but that was before their sexy neighbor came to her rescue like a knight in shining armor. Will that armor be tarnished when she finds out what he is and why he's living next door?

Amazon  | Smashwords


About the Author:


Kristy K. James' first goal in life was to work in law enforcement, until the night she called the police to check out a scary noise in her yard. Realizing that she might someday have to investigate scary noises in yards just as dark as hers if she continued on that path, she turned to her other favorite love...writing. Since then her days have been filled with being a mom and reluctant zookeeper (7 pets), creating stories, and looking for trouble in her kitchen.


Author Links:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Tour giveaway 
5 digital copies A Cool Summer in Paradise (book 2 The Casteloria Series)

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Author Interview: Stranger in Paradise by Barbara Bretton

Stranger In Paradise
Home Front
Book Two
Barbara Bretton


Genre: Post -World War 2 Romance
Publisher: Free Spirit Press
Number of pages: 347
Cover Artist: Tammy Seidick

Book Description:

Before they became The Greatest Generation, they were young men and women in love . . .

The year is 1953 and London is throwing the party of the century. Even though the ravages of World War II are still visible throughout the kingdom, the world is gathering on the Mall to celebrate the coronation of England's beautiful young queen.

For almost ten years, journalist Mac Weaver has been far from his New York home. America has changed since the war ended and he wonders if there's still a place for him in the land of backyard barbecues and a new Ford in every driveway.

However a chance encounter with beautiful English reporter Jane Townsend is about to change his life forever. As the new monarch waves from the window of her fairy-tale glass coach, a homesick Yank and a lonely Brit fall in love.

One week later, Mr. and Mrs. Mac Weaver board the Queen Mary for New York and a guaranteed happily ever after future in the land where dreams come true.

But there are dark shadows on the horizon that threaten Mac and Jane's happiness and family scandals that just might tear them apart . . .

"This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny."
--Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Amazon  | Kobo  | Smashwords  | BN  | iTunes

Sneak Peek! 

MRP would like to extend a very warm welcome to Barbara Bretton, author of The Home Front series. Barbara, who or what most influenced you to become a writer? 
That’s a great question but one I’m not sure I can answer, mainly because I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a writer.

If you were to be left alone on an island, what three books would you take with you? 
MOVING ON by Larry McMurtry.  FAMILY HAPPINESS by Laurie Colwin. A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN by Betty Smith. They each speak to me in different ways and they all live deep inside my heart.

What are your most and least favorite movie genres? 
I love movies that make me cry. I hate cartoonish action movies, gross frat-boy comedies, and anything that features cruelty to animals or human underdogs.

If you could choose any man for your next book cover, who would he be? 
A young Liam Neeson. (Although the older Liam Neeson isn’t half bad either.)

When you are on a deadline, what aspect of your ‘regular’ life suffers most? 
The social life is the first to disappear. Home-cooked meals vanish next. Hair and makeup aren’t far behind. It ain’t pretty!

What advice would you give aspiring authors? 
Finish your book. Sit down and write the whole thing from beginning to end before you even begin trying to sell it. You will gain enormous confidence from completing the task and you will prove to editors (who rarely buy on spec from first-time novelists) that you can go the distance. There is no downside to this advice. Finishing a book is a major accomplishment and can only help propel you forward.

What advice would you give seasoned writers? 
I repeat the advice given to me by Vivian Stephens, the legendary romance editor who purchased my first book: “Run your own race.” There will always be authors who are more popular than you are, more prolific, more talented. That’s a given. It’s pointless to measure your progress against their standards. Find what works for you and then aim a little higher with each book.

When reading for pleasure, do you prefer a physical or electronic book? 
No contest. I’m a total ebook fan.

From the first stroke of a pen (or laptop), how long did it take you get published? 
I was first published in comic books as a kid, then in magazines like TEEN and SEVENTEEN. My first novel was both written and purchased in the month of February 1982. I was fortunate enough to get in at the very beginning of Harlequin American Romance with the right thing at the right time. I am eternally grateful for whatever writing gods or goddesses put my manuscript in the hands of Vivian Stephens.

Did you ever feel like calling it quits? 
Only every other day. This is a tough business!

What did you do when you got your first contract?  
My husband and I went to Hawaii! I figured there’s only one first book and it deserved a major celebration. And Hawaii, to me, was as major as it got.
Thanks so much for hosting me again!

Thank you so much for joining us today, Barbara. We really enjoyed the visit. Good luck and great sales with The Home Front series.

About the Author:


A full-fledged Baby Boomer, Barbara Bretton grew up in New York City during the Post-World War II 1950s with the music of the Big Bands as the soundtrack to her childhood. Her father and grandfather served in the navy during the war. Her uncles served in the army. None of them shared their stories.

But her mother, who had enjoyed a brief stint as Rosie the Riveter, brought the era to life with tales of the Home Front that were better than any fairy tale. It wasn’t until much later that Barbara learned the rest of the story about the fiancĂ© who had been lost in the war, sending her mother down a different path that ultimately led to a second chance at love . . . and to the daughter who would one day tell a little part of that story.

There is always one book that’s very special to an author, one book or series that lives deep inside her heart.  SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY and STRANGER IN PARADISE, books 1 and 2 of the Home Front series, are Barbara’s. She hopes they’ll find a place in your heart too.


Author Links:
Website | Blog Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Book Spotlight: Dark Genesis by A.D. Koboah

Dark Genesis
The Darkling Trilogy
Book 1
A. D. Koboah


Genre: Historical Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Twenty Four Publishing
Number of pages: 278
Cover Artist 


Book Description:

Life for a female slave is one of hardship and unspeakable sorrow, something Luna knows only too well. But not even she could have foreseen the terror that would befall her one sultry Mississippi evening in the summer of 1807.

On her way back from a visit to see the African woman, a witch who has the herbs Luna needs to rid her of her abusive master’s child, she attracts the attention of a deadly being that lusts for blood. Forcibly removed from everything she knows by this tormented otherworldly creature, she is sure she will be dead by sunrise.

Dark Genesis is a love story set against the savage world of slavery in which a young woman who has been dehumanized by its horrors finds the courage to love, and in doing so, reclaims her humanity.


Amazon | Smashwords  | Kobo | iTunes

About the Author:


I am the author of The Darkling Trilogy, an unconventional and epic love story between a vampire and a slave girl. The trilogy was inspired by my thoughts on dehumanization.
I was fascinated by the ways in which people are able to dehumanize others, the impact it has on the psyche and whether it is possible for people to find their way back from being dehumanized.
This led me to a slave called Luna and the ruins of a haunted chapel deep in the heart of Mississippi.


Author Links:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads 

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Guest Blog: Straight from the Heart by Breigh Forstner

Straight from the Heart
Book One
Breigh Forstner


Genre: YA, Contemporary Romance
Number of pages: 338
Cover Artist: Madelene Martin

Book Description:

This is a story about a girl discovering and experiencing life for the first time.

Bryn Schaefler grew up rich. Her parents expected the best out of her, picked her boyfriend for her, and groomed her to be the next trophy wife fresh out of High School.

But when they discover she wants to pursue music instead of following in her mothers footsteps, they wanted to hear nothing about it.
That was when Bryn left for good.

By chance, she auditioned for main stream rock band Everlasting. Never in a million years did she think she would make it.

Cale Pelton knew it was his fault for the band scrambling around to find a new guitarist. Once he saw Bryn audition, he knew he had to have her. Not just in the band, but in his mind, body and soul.

Amazon US | Amazon UK | BN 

MRP would like to extend a very warm welcome to Breigh Forstner, author of Straight from the Heart.
I started writing Straight from the Heart back in Winter of 2014. I was working on another book, which I’ve thrown away the project, and even if it was 100 words a day, I finally had finished the book in June 2014, published in July. I was so incredibly nervous, especially when I’ve read all of these amazing books by some of my favorite authors. I thought “Could I do this?”
But my main inspiration for the lead male in the book was some of the rockstar novels I have read and fell in love with like the Black Falcon Series. I wanted to create my own twist on telling the story of a rockstar, but adding in the twist of Bryn. That was my first idea: A girl leaves her rich parents house and joins a rock band.
And there you have the finished product :) 

Thank you so much for joining us today, Breigh.We really enjoyed the visit. Good luck and great sales with Straight from the Heart.

About the Author:


Breigh Forstner currently resides in her home town in south east Michigan with her two daughters. While she works full-time during the week, at night she spends time with her kids and writes until her fingers can’t type anymore. Her goal is to make it onto a best sellers list at some point in her career, and writes any chance she can get. She is a lover of all types of music and is a sucker for rock bands and tattooed bad boys.


Author Links:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads



Tour giveaway:
5 Bookmarks
5 Ebook copies 
5 Paperback copies open to US Shipping
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Guest Blog: Sentimental Journey by Barbara Bretton

Sentimental Journey
Home Front
Book One
Barbara Bretton


Genre: World War 2 Romance
Publisher: Free Spirit Press
Number of pages: 347
Cover Artist: Tammy Seidick

Book Description:

Before they became The Greatest Generation, they were young men and women in love . . .

It's June 1943. From New York to California, families gather to send their sons and husbands, friends and lovers off to war. The attack on Pearl Harbor seems a long time ago as America begins to understand that their boys won't be home any time soon.

In Forest Hills, New York City, twenty-year-old Catherine Wilson knows all about waiting. She's been in love with boy-next-door Doug Weaver since childhood, and if the war hadn't started when it did, she would be married and maybe starting a family, not sitting at the window of her girlhood bedroom, waiting for her life to begin.

But then a telegram from the War Department arrives, shattering her dreams of a life like the one her mother treasures.

Weeks drift into months as she struggles to find her way. An exchange of letters with Johnny Danza, a young soldier in her father's platoon, starts off as a patriotic gesture, but soon becomes a long-distance friendship that grows more important to her with every day that passes.

The last thing Catherine expects is to open her front door on Christmas Eve to find Johnny lying unconscious on the Wilsons' welcome mat with a heart filled with new dreams that are hers for the taking.

"This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny."
--Franklin Delano Roosevelt

MRP would like to extend a very warm welcome to Barbara Bretton, author of Sentimental Journey.

Before they became The Greatest Generation, they were young men and women in love.

A few weeks after my mother died, my dad dropped a bombshell.  “Did you know that your mother had been engaged before I met her?”

Now I’d had a vague idea that there had been someone before she met my father and obviously I knew it hadn’t worked out, but beyond that the details were lost in the fog that surrounds the lives of our parents. (Especially the parents of Baby Boomers.) I wasn’t sure where my dad was going with us and since we were still very raw after her unexpected death, I nodded and waited for him to continue.

“He was in the Army,” my dad went on. “He died during the War.”

I was in shock. I’d always supposed my beautiful, blond, devil-may-care mother had broken up with the poor guy and fallen in love with my father.  The idea that my mother’s heart had been broken long before I was born, that she had actually loved someone other than my dad, that if life had been kinder to an unknown American soldier in north Africa I wouldn’t be here at all, threw me into a whirlpool of “what if’s” that had my head spinning.

My parents had been one of my primary research sources when I wrote SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY, which was originally part of Harlequin’s Century of American Romance series. My mother, in particular, had provided me with rich detail about life in New York City during World War II. The clothes, the music, how it felt to be Rosie the Riveter by day and then dance at the Stork Club by night.

But now I found myself wondering if she saw herself in the character Cathy Wilson, a young woman who lost her fiancé to the war then found her heart again when a brash young sailor showed up on her doorstep one snowy Christmas Eve.

She never said and now it’s too late to ask. But her help in researching and writing SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY was invaluable. I loved spending the time with her, listening to her stories, sharing as much of her life as she had been willing to share with me. Writing my Home Front series was pure joy and remains one of the best experiences of my life.

I hope you’ll add SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY to your TBR list and let yourself be swept away to the time and place that created the Greatest Generation. And if you’re lucky enough to still have your parents and grandparents around, sit down and listen to their stories. Tape them. Write them down. Don’t let them get away because when you come down to it, family is where all stories start.

Thanks so much for taking time to visit me today, and a big thank-you to More Romance Please for giving me the opportunity.

Thank you so much for joining us today, Barbara! We really enjoyed the visit. Good luck and great sales with you Sentimental Journey.


Amazon  | iTunes  | Kobo  | BN  | Smashwords

Read a Sneak Peek  



About the Author:


A full-fledged Baby Boomer, Barbara Bretton grew up in New York City during the Post-World War II 1950s with the music of the Big Bands as the soundtrack to her childhood. Her father and grandfather served in the navy during the war. Her uncles served in the army. None of them shared their stories.

But her mother, who had enjoyed a brief stint as Rosie the Riveter, brought the era to life with tales of the Home Front that were better than any fairy tale. It wasn’t until much later that Barbara learned the rest of the story about the fiancĂ© who had been lost in the war, sending her mother down a different path that ultimately led to a second chance at love . . . and to the daughter who would one day tell a little part of that story.

There is always one book that’s very special to an author, one book or series that lives deep inside her heart.  SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY and STRANGER IN PARADISE, books 1 and 2 of the Home Front series, are Barbara’s. She hopes they’ll find a place in your heart too.


Author Contacts:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Blog