First Page Friday Follow-Up, Silver Linings Review, & My First CD Review!

First of all, if you had a First Page Friday critique done by Angela Eschler, you can sign up for free industry-insights at their website and be entered to win one of several editorial consults.  A really great prize from an awesome company!  All you have to do is go to EschlerEditing.com and sign up!

Early next week they''ll be picking the winners, so don't delay!

Second, I want to tell you about this amazing brand new CD from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir called He Is Risen.  When I first put the CD in, it was a gloomy, cloudy day and I'm afraid my mood was matching the weather.  This CD really lifted me, like sunshine breaking through the clouds.  It was especially moving for me as I prepare for the upcoming Easter season.

I liked how the songs went from a majestic He is Risen, with the full impact of the Orchestra at Temple Square, to a sweet rendition of In the Garden.  That is one of my favorite songs and the choir really gives it something special.  I thought the choir's voices hit all the right notes and this is a CD I will play long after Easter is gone.  A definite must-have for your own collection.

ABOUT THE CHOIR:  

The 360 members of this remarkable choir represent men and women from many different backgrounds and professions and range in age from 25 to 60. They reflect a medley of unique lives and experiences and are brought together by their love for singing and their faith. Their incomparable voices are the common chord that unites to form the choral group known all over the world as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Tour Schedule

Last, but not least, today I'd like to tell you about the second novella in the Ripple Effect series.  This one is about Drew Westfall, a minor character briefly introduced in the first novella, Home Matters.  Drew is traveling to Colorado after he's given up his family fortune. He's looking for a new direction in life and at first, is like a fish out of water.  When we are introduced to him in this book, his luck goes from bad to worse when he crashes his car in a snowstorrm, is only wearing an expensive leather coat with dress shoes on while he wades through inches of snow trying to find shelter. To top it off, some teenagers throw soda on him instead of helping him.  You can't help but feel sorry for this guy.  But that isn't even the worst of it.  He finds shelter at an assisted living center and while trying to find someone to help him get to his friend's house, he trips over a walker/wheelchair and whacks his head.  Yeah, talk about a bad day.

But the best thing about Drew's character is the way he gets up each time he's knocked down.  He's trying to overcome his past and really do something worthwhile with his life.  He's got a determination to him that I really liked and an easy manner.  He wasn't overbearing and when he meets our heroine, well, things get complicated fast in a good way.  

Our heroine, Eden, is so sweet and trying so hard to care for everyone around her.  She's in a tight spot with having to put aside her dreams to take care of her sick mother, and yet there's a fire inside of her that wants to reach for it.  She has a boyfriend, but when she meets Drew, well, let's just say I was turning pages as fast as possible to see how it would all turn out! I love a really good romance.

The story has a sweet cast of characters in the assisted living center and a really great message underneath the romance.  I like the author's writing style and thought the novella had it all---great characters and a solid story.  So excited for the third one! 

Here's the back copy:

Silver Linings by Kaylee Baldwin Drew Westfall wants nothing more than to forget what he had to do in the name of "smart" business. Cutting off all ties with his parents—including handing over the entire contents of his trust fund to a charity—he takes off for Bridger, Colorado where his best friend has an extra room for him. It doesn't take long for him to realize that his business degree won’t do him much good in a town as small as Bridger, but he's broke and has nowhere else to go.

 Eden Torresi has every reason to wallow. Not only did she have to sell her house to pay for her mother’s medical expenses, but she also had to drop out of school and is in a relationship with a guy unwilling to commit. But Eden isn't the wallowing type. Instead, she chooses to spend most of her time taking care of the seniors at Silver Linings Assisted Living. When she learns that her boyfriend's new roommate is down on his luck, her caring nature makes her want to reach out to him and offer what help she can. But the more time they spend together, the more complicated things get, especially when the seniors of Silver Linings decide to play matchmaker.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Kobo

Author Kaylee Baldwin When Kaylee Baldwin isn’t writing, she’s usually chasing after her four children, checking her email, trying to get motivated to train for that race she shouldn’t have signed up for, hanging out with her pretty awesome husband, and reading whatever good book she can find. She graduated from Arizona State with degree in English Lit. Her published books are Meg’s Melody, Six Days of Christmas (part of the All I Want collection) and Silver Linings.

Website * Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads

The Ripple Effect Romance Novella Series Enjoy this exciting new series of clean novellas by six critically-acclaimed authors. "Like a pebble tossed into calm water, a simple act can ripple outward and have a far-reaching effect on those we meet, perhaps setting a life on a different course—one filled with excitement, adventure, and sometimes even love." Book 1: Home Matters by Julie N. Ford Book 2: Silver Linings by Kaylee Baldwin Book 3: Righting A Wrong by Rachael Anderson Book 4: Lost and Found by Karey White Book 5: Second Chances 101 by Donna K. Weaver Book 6: Immersed by Jennifer Griffith

Tour Giveaway

$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Ends 4/14/14 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday Freebie--Rising

Today's Friday Freebie is Rising by Holly Kelly.  I haven't read this one, but it has some great reviews.  And who wouldn't want to read a mermaid story?

Here's the back copy:

In a war between the humans and the inhabitants of the sea—humans will lose. Xanthus Dimitriou—the most lethal Dagonian to rise from the ocean—is on a mission to save mankind from annihilation. But first there’s one small thing he needs to do… kill a beautiful young woman in a wheelchair.

Killing her doesn’t start out as part of his plan. He entrenches himself deep in the human world. Aligning himself with his enemies, he prepares to send them to Triton to face their punishment. Then Sara Taylor rolls onto the scene. Xanthus knows at once she’s a criminal. And her crime? Being born. She’s a human/Dagonian half-breed, an abomination. Killing her should be an easy job. All he has to do is break into her apartment, slit her throat, and feed her body to the sharks. Simple, right? Wrong. If only she weren’t so beautiful, so innocent, so sweet...

Saving the world may have to wait. It appears Xanthus has a woman to save. But protecting her may cost him his own life.

If this looks like a book you might be interested in, click here to download your free copy!

Negativity and the Writer

Several years ago I had a woman tell me that I shouldn't be a writer when my children were small because I was missing out on the joy of being a mother.

That floored me.

I felt defensive.  How could she judge me like that? She didn't know me or my family schedule or how hard I work to write in tiny snatches of time because I need to be a mom first.

And then I thought, if I waited for my kids to grow up to develop my talent in writing, I might very well lose that talent and my children would never have the opportunity to see their mom working hard on something that she loves and developing what she's been given.

But the truth is, being a writer can be hard sometimes.  It's hard to find time, it's hard to get in the zone, it's hard to learn how to refine your craft.  On top of that, you get negative reviews, rejections, people feel comfortable telling you to give up.  Some days you just can't dredge up the imagination or creative energy to write even one page.  

But then there are those glorious moments where you write a scene that is amazing and you feel it right down to your toes.  When you get a five star review, when you win an award, when you get an acceptance.  When someone tells you they loved your book.  Yeah, there are definite rewards of being a writer.

So, what do you do when you're feeling judged or down or defensive?

I found this quote going around Facebook and I've been thinking a lot about it lately.  I really want to print it out and put it by my desk to help me remember that I know what's best for me and my family.  To never compare and to be wise in using my agency.  And whenever I meet people who are interpreting how my time is spent, I can tell myself, hey, I'm making the best decisions I can.  And that's what counts.

Word Count Wednesday & Villain Names

Well, my friends, this week kicked my butt and I barely made 1500 words. It is so hard to get in the zone when you've got a million things going on! Hopefully this week will be better.

I did end up changing my villain's name and fleshing out his character a bit more, so that was productive I think.  Although I was a teensy bit sorry to see the name Dennis go.  I think Dennis could be a great villain's name under the right circumstances.  (Apologies in advance if your name is Dennis.)

So, how did you do this week?  What's the best villain name you've ever heard?

Castle Recap--Where We Meet Gates' Sister

Well, this one starts out with a gory murder scene of a guy on his bed, shot in the chest. Ick.  The killer is taking a picture of the body. Double ick.

Then we head over to Castle's where he's floating the idea to Beckett of getting married on the Cyclone. Like, the roller coaster.  Since it would be metaphorical, ups and downs of marriage, etc., haha.. Oh, Castle I love you.

The gang gets called to the murder scene and told that the victim is a Wall Street trader who died of a single gunshot wound to the chest and the only lead is that a woman called it in from a pay phone a block away. Espo tracks down security footage of her and the quest to find out her identity is underway.

Castle and Beckett go to his place of business, JP Morgan company and talk to the boss. He's trying to motivate his employees by dumping a million dollars on the table and telling them to go steal accounts from competitors.  He tells Caskett that he saw the victim in the stairwell with a tattooed guy giving him a package, but that's all he really knows. Yeah, right. He seems suspicious from the start.

Lainey tells the crew that the guy had adhesive residue on his chest---yeah, he was wearing a wire.  Beckett puts out the info to other law enforcement agencies and then guess what? The pay phone lady strolls into the station on the arm of Gates' sister.  And there's bad blood between them since she's a U.S. attorney and Gates is well, Gates.  (I still have a problem with liking her character.  She just doesn't fit in with the rest of the cast and never has.  Giving her family members won't help that, either, in my opinion. But I digress.) Anyway, the U.S. Attorney's office has a big undercover thing going on and the victim was their inside man. They're trying to get proof that the boss over at JP Morgan is doing insider trading and such. I kind of zoned out here. They ask to be kept in the loop, blah blah blah, and then leave.

This is where it got a bit boring and convoluted.  The team investigates the boss guy a little more, find out he had an argument with the victim two hours before he was killed. They find the tattooed guy and he tells them how his old friend, the victim (I forgot his name, sad!) called him up and asked him to deliver an envelope to a bank. Weird. The victim watched the transaction at the bank from an internet cafe. He was trying to get a Venezuelan passport under his old name. He had a bank account with $25 million in it that is now unaccounted for.  The team thinks he was playing the U.S. Attorneys office and was going to skip town, but then they find out something verrrry interesting.

The pay phone lady who works for the U.S. Attorney's office said he didn't hand in his wire that night, but the boss man (who knew all about the investigation) said he did.  The team finds it, realize the pay phone lady set up the victim and then when he didn't want to listen to her explain why he shouldn't skip town and should help them, she murdered him.  Surprise!  Yeah, it felt rushed and convoluted for me.

The sisters Gates make up and Caskett decide to narrow the list of wedding guests down to who would make them happy. They each say YOU on their list.  *awwww* Then they start to name off people, dad, mom, Alexis, Lainey, etc.

It was an okay episode, but the ninja one would be hard to top, so maybe that's why this one felt a little flat. Still enjoyable as always, though.  Did you see it? What did you think?

Book Review: Glimmer of Hope

Today I want to tell you about a book by Sarah Eden called Glimmer of Hope.  I wasn't sure I wanted to read this book, even though I'm an avid Sarah Eden fan, because I had heard that it was really depressing.  I picked it up, though, and was hooked at the first page.

Our heroine, Miranda Harford, is coming home from a walk when her estranged husband of three years, Viscount Devereaux, appears suddenly.  She's under the impression he wanted nothing to do with her and can't imagine what's really going on.  The Viscount tells her he's hosting a house party and she better be ready to put their differences aside and act like the hostess she should have always been.  He wants to put her in her place, to show her what she walked away from, but has a hard time when he sees how hard she's trying to please him.  His mother and guests arrive and there are complications galore.  As a reader, I was kept turning pages by the misunderstandings between the couple.  Each thought the other had left them, and there were huge gaps in communication that I couldn't wait to see resolved.

It was a tender love story and I won't reveal any spoilers, but I have to admit I was moved to tears several times throughout the book.  I didn't find it a depressing book, however, but an emotional one, that shows the human condition and draws you into the intricacies of human relationships.  Sarah Eden is a master of romance and I found this novel to be no exception.  Just have a tissue handy!

Here's the back copy:

Stunning Miranda Harford once had the world at her feet. She was young, carefree, and desperately in love. But when her new husband left for London without her, her world fell apart. Devastated by his abandonment, Miranda fled their home, taking residence at her husband’s rarely visited countryside estate. For three years, she lived alone. But now, as the holidays draw near, an unexpected visitor arrives . . .

Carter Alexander Harford, Seventh Viscount Devereaux, is a man driven to succeed. His work is his life, and the position of Prime Minister of England is within reach. But in truth, Carter is a man haunted by lost love. Estranged from his beautiful wife, Carter is shocked to find Miranda—the woman he’d loved and who he believes has left him—in residence at his country home.

As plans for a holiday party move forward, the uneasy couple realizes that to avoid further scandal, they must keep up appearances in a charade of marital happiness. Thrust together by fate, it quickly becomes clear that they have both been living beneath a conspired cloud of misunderstanding. As family, career, and social pressures threaten to keep them apart, can love have even a glimmer of hope?

Friday Freebie--Sun and Moon

Today's Friday Freebie is Sun and Moon by Lee Strauss.  I read and reviewed this book, (you can see that review here) and it was a fresh romance with a twist of mystery.

Here's the back copy:

She has a past. He has a secret.

Katja’s a risk-taking singer-songwriter hoping to make it in the indie music scene in Dresden, Germany. Micah’s a brooding uptown banker on a quest.

There’s an undeniable attraction between them, a gravitational pull they both struggle to resist. Katja knows she mustn’t fall in love with this handsome enigma. There’s something dark lurking beneath the surface. He could be dangerous.

And even if her life isn’t on the line,
her heart most definitely is.

To download your free Kindle version click here