5th Annual Spooktacular Giveaway Hop

This is one of my most favorite giveaway hops of the year! Yay!

What can you win on my blog?

A Spooky Booklovers Basket including:

• Gourmet hot chocolate
• A new warm fuzzy blanket, 
• and the first two books in my Hostage Negotiation Team series!

You know you want this Booklovers Basket, so what do you have to do to win?  It's easy! Enter the rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now you can head on over to the other blogs in the hop and enter to win their cool prizes!

Castle Review: The Invisible Man

All right, last night had me fooled.  I had watched the sneak peeks and was thinking this show was going to be a little edgy. As in, for my scaredy-cat heart, maybe a little scary.  It wasn't. It was funny and awesome.

We start out with this guy playing pool in his apartment when he hears a knock at the door. He looks out the peephole and there's no one there. So, he opens it.  Doesn't he know you should never do that? All of the sudden he says, nooo and runs back into his apartment.  Next thing we know, Caskett is getting a phone call (interrupting their romantic, yes, I'm ready moment) to head down to the crime scene.  The pool player was killed with a pool cue. (What a terrible way to go!)

The place is trashed, but Castle notes that the glass is all left to right, like this guy was trying to defend himself and trashed his own apartment.  So weird. Ryan finds $20,000 in the guy's sock drawer and it isn't long before they figure out that the murder victim, Will, was a pool hustler.  He usually hustled in uptown joints, but the proprietor of one tells them that he asked Will one time where he got his talent and he says he made a deal with the devil.  And that his time was up and the devil was coming after him. Spooky.  Especially when you see the security footage of Will's door opening and closing after the murder, but no one was there.  The devil? Maybe.

The team finds a couple of leads.  Will's girlfriend from MIT mentions that Will used to go there until he had a breakdown. They'd recently reconnected, but she hadn't heard from him for a couple of days and had been worried.  He'd been acting paranoid, but maybe he'd been right all along, she said. Maybe someone had been following him. Ya think?

Ryan tracks down the guy that Will hustled the $20,000 from--Jiggy.  Now that's an awesome nickname. They bring Jiggy in for questioning and he tells them that Will offered to give the money back for information on how to break into someone's house. (Because Jiggy has a history of B&E and is known as The Ghost.)  When they look closer, our team finds out that there was, in fact, a break in at Tom Talmadge's house where he was beaten, but refused to provide a description or press charges. Caskett goes to visit him and he doesn't want to tell them anything because it will sound crazy, and Castle is all, "you won't believe the stuff we've heard." Haha. Isn't that the truth?  They get him to admit that an unseen force attacked him.  Another clue pointing to the invisible man as the murderer!

Caskett goes back to Will's apartment to get his work keycard and while there, Castle gooses Beckett and is all, "did the invisible man goose you? How gauche."  So. Funny. They find the card, but before they can leave, Beckett is attacked by the unseen force. Castle thinks she's kidding at first, but then realizes it's not an act and rushes in to help her.  He shouts, whatever it was, I touched it! Haha and then gets punched to the floor and is struggling himself with the invisible man.  Beckett is standing there awkwardly with her gun. It was so realistic and well-done. I mean, what would you do if the invisible man was attacking your partner?  The invisible man gets away and Beckett thinks he got the keycard, but Castle managed to hang onto that. The guy got Castle's credit card instead.

They start investigating where that keycard came from and after a few brick walls, it leads them to a secret government facility. Where they are inventing an invisibility suit! It is so cool! Castle is having a heyday and the techy stuff really was awesome.  Will didn't have a breakdown, that was a cover. He was really a talented quantum scientist recruited by the government. Unfortunately, his death sets the project back years, especially since there was also a virus downloaded to their files.  They think it comes from the Chinese, but Castle figures out that Will's neighbor downloaded that virus.

They track the neighbor down through an online game like Clash of Clans and Castle gets to battle with him in virtual reality and then in, well, real reality. I love it when Castle gets those moments. He just looks so little boy happy.  The neighbor, Henry, confesses that Will asked him to help on the project and they figured out the last equations needed to make the invisibility suit work.  Then they used it to break into Tom's house to get revenge. Apparently Tom stole some info for an app that cost Henry billions, but he couldn't prove it. So, he just beat the guy up, instead.  But he swears up and down he didn't kill Will.  They just worked on the research.  He makes a comment about how who knew cuttle fish had the key. Oh wait, the girlfriend had cuttle fish.  Uh oh.

Caskett heads to the girlfriend's office, where they've put the pieces together. She was mad because Will used her.  Oh, and they found Castle's credit card in her office. She runs away and gets the suit on, then tries to kill Caskett in her lab.  They get the fire extinguishers out and realize they can see her, even in the invisibility suit because of the "smoke" from the extinguishers (or whatever that stuff is called) so then they are able to take her down. It. Was. Awesome.

The government people come and take the suit away.  And Espo gives Ryan a gift for his new second job as security for a strip club, protecting male strippers.  When he finally admitted what he was doing to Espo, his comment that those women acted like the male strippers were the last men on earth made me laugh.  But Espo's gift of a little bikini bottom with security across it made me laugh harder.

Caskett has been trying to get back to where they were in their relationship (even going so far as to wonder if they were being watched in their bedroom, so Castle set up a bunch of pots and pans on strings. His zombie apocalypse preparation weekend wasn't for nothing after all! It was hilarious, especially when they caught Martha.)  Anyway, they finally get their alone time.  I love them. They are so sweet together.

This episode was full of laughs and charm.  Caskett is back on their groove with all the one liners. Castle says he missed their connection when they both figured something out at the same time, and I thought, me too! It was a really fun episode.

Did you watch? What did you think?

Book Review: Loving Lucianna

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving and I am in a turkey daze. So. Much. Food.   But I still want to tell you about this awesome book, Loving Lucianna, by one of my favorite historical romance authors, Joyce DiPastena.  This one is a bit unique because it's a love story of older people, in their forties and fifties, but I still found an amazing hero and a strong, yet tender heroine.

I love how carefully Ms. DiPastena researches the time period.  The setting is truly like another character in the book and makes the time period so real, which adds another dimension to the story. Her characters are her true talent, however, and they jump off the page with their depth and emotions. I really enjoy Ms. DiPastena's writing style and I know that I need to clear some time if I'm going to start one of her books because I won't want to put it down!

I was pulled into Loving Lucianna from the first chapter.  Lucianna has had a difficult life, but finds a friend in Elizabetta.  Fast forward twenty years or so, and Lucianna is helping chaperone Elizabetta's daughter, Siri, when the unthinkable happens---Lucianna falls in love with Sir Balduin.  She is so happy, until her brother shows up to ruin everything and force Lucianna to face the secrets of her past.  I felt so sorry for Sir Balduin who truly loved this woman, even when she was making him crazy with all her secrets.  There is so much great dialogue between the two of them. I especially loved the misunderstandings when Lucianna was trying to teach Sir Balduin Italian  So funny!

The other thing I like about Ms. DiPastena's books is that they are romantic and clean.  I can get lost in the story without having to worry about having to skip pages.  And this is definitely a book worth reading.

Here is the back copy:

Sir Balduin de Soler gave up long ago on love. He never had the means to support a wife until an unexpected advancement in his fifties allows him to reassess his future just as the lovely Lucianna enters his life.

Lucianna Fabio harbors a secret, painful memory from her past that has kept her unwed, as well. Now in her forties, she thought herself too old to marry until she meets Sir Balduin. Now suddenly their lonely autumn lives feel very much like spring again . . . until Lucianna’s brother appears without warning and threatens to revive the secret that will destroy Lucianna’s second chance at love.

“Loving Lucianna" is the first in my new “Hearts in Autumn” romance series, medieval romances revolving around heroes and heroines “in the autumn of their years.” Because you’re never too old to fall in love!

If you are interested, you can click hereto buy the book for $1.99

Hawaii Five-O: A Cross Between Point Break, Holes, and National Treasure

Last night's episode was like a movie mash-up:  Surfer babes robbing people so they can live to catch waves, a treasure hunt complete with a postcard clue, and Danny digging holes.

Let's start with the surfing robbers.  Obviously, I would have preferred Keanu or Patrick Swayze, (or Alex O'Loughlin, haha) dressed in some swimwear, but we get three chicks dressed in bikinis getting on a tour bus.  One holds the tour guide hostage while the other two relieve the passengers of their wallets and other valuables. One tourist puts up a fight, though, and gets shot for his trouble.  Uh oh.  Surfer robbers run away.

Apparently there have been a rash of these sorts of robberies, but the new ME tells the team she thinks the murder victim was targeted because he had an X on his shirt that could be seen with the special UV glasses one of the robbers was wearing.  (Charlie Fong is actually the one that tells Kono there was wax and sand and stuff on the wigs and other things found at the crime scene, so he thinks they're surfers.)  Back at HQ, Kono is tasked to go undercover since she's the only one who can go on the beach and not look like a cop.  Doesn't everyone know she's a cop, though? Their task force is high profile enough that they can just yell Five-O when they ram down doors and no one questions it. And I was sort of hoping that Steve might run back up, and you know, need a swimsuit as well, doing his SEAL thing, but no such luck.  Grover---I shall pass on seeing him in a swimsuit. Ever.

Anyway, Kono gets close to the suspects and pretty much announces she's a cop. (Definitely not as smooth at infiltrating surfer criminals as Keanu was.)  But, seriously, what was the point of "undercover" other than to see her in a bikini? Oh well. There's a cool surfboard chase and Kono gets one of them.  The takedown was awesome for sure, like the airplane takedown was in Point Break. Sort of.  Okay, airplane takedown was more than cool. But the surfboard chase was original.  Kono starts to question the suspect in the blue room, but surfer robber isn't talking.

The new ME gets some screentime when the victim's wife comes in and spends some time with the body, only the ME realizes that the woman took his thumbprint.  The team figures out that she's not really his wife and the case twists a bit more.  Our victim is head of a high tech security firm and that thumbprint would give people access to highly sensitive information.

They track the "fake wifey" down as she's ransacking the surfer robbers apartment and the team shoots her henchman, but Fake Wifey gets away.  (And honestly, with all the firepower they had, either that car she got away in was bulletproof or our team needs to spend some serious time at the gun range. Practicing how to hit large targets or something.)

The team goes back to HQ and shows pics to the robber they have in custody and she breaks and tells them where the other two are hiding out.  Once they get there, Fake Wifey has already shot one of the surfer robbers and the other surfer robber is trying to get away by climbing over a balcony.  Kono gets another nice sniper shot to save her and Steve and Grover head in to take care of Fake Wifey.  (I'm so very glad Kono's not stuck at the table this week!) Turns out, our poor murder victim was being held up by Fake Wifey for his cell phone so she could get access to some banks and steal from them, but then the surfer robbers interrupted that and ended up stealing what Fake Wifey wanted.  Two robberies in one day for the poor guy.  But it gets all sorted out, except for the extremely odd voice-over at the end while the women are being marched onto a prison bus. Kono is waxing poetic about surfer lives and the crazy people who take it one step too far or something.  Weird.  So Point Break meets Hawaii Five-O.  Not bad, really.

Danny's story this week was more of him reacting emotionally to his brother's kidnapping and not like a detective at all.  Why doesn't he go into professional mode and get info on this guy, Reyes, who is just claiming to have Matt? Call in some favors, figure out a plan, do some detective work to see what this is really all about and how his brother is truly mixed up in it.  But, no, Danny just uses the guy for a punching bag which doesn't do anyone any good and makes Danny look like a terrible detective. How many hostage/kidnappings has he been a part of investigating? This isn't his first time at the rodeo. But whatever. Danny figures out Matt probably didn't have the money on him, and remembers he got a postcard from his brother and hey, that might be a treasure map/clue as to where he hid the money. He calls Steve to talk about it, and then declines his offer of help. He's doing this on his own, bro. No Nicolas Cage friends and family treasure hunt for him.

So Danny heads out with a shovel in the dark to some park that matches the picture Matt sent.  He makes a lot of holes trying to find the money, and after quite a few holes, he finds it. And he's not even sweaty! Maybe that's why he did it in the dark. At least he didn't recruit any little kids to help him, but still, reminiscent of the movie Holes.  Anyway, not much else I can say about that.  At least we didn't have the cliche scene of a bad guy walking up behind him to grab it as soon as it was found. I guess next week we'll find out what he's going to do with it.

Jerry was also on, and I try to tune him out in his scenes and concentrate on the other actors he's with. For example, in his scene with Steve, Jerry is talking and I'm thinking things like, oh Steve is wearing a nice blue shirt today. I like him in blue.  Oh, there's Kamekona. I've missed him.  Jerry waxed on and on about his dad and counterfeiting and other stuff. Maybe the counterfeiters will kidnap him and take him away.  Then he can be lost. Get it? haha. Sorry.

So, to sum up, a nice twisty case, some awesome Kono scenes, movement in Danny's brother's story, and Grover got a good takedown, Chin was mostly background, way too much Jerry, and not enough Steve.  But, in my opinion, a fairly solid episode all in all.

Did you watch? What did you think?

Freebie Friday--Healing Creek

Today's Freebie Friday is Healing Creek: A Love Story by Jaclyn Hawkes.  This clean romance looks interesting and has been downloaded to my TBR pile.  Here's the back cover copy:

Were they opposites? Or soul mates?

Finding she had a perpetually unfaithful husband had been hard to cope with as a newlywed and newly certified marriage counselor. Still, that wasn’t as hard as finding her husband had a newborn daughter with a teenager—effectively ending both her marriage, and the career Monet McLaughlin had spent seven years building. That’ll leave a mark.

It’s why she absolutely knows not to trust the hunky male model who shows up two years later at her therapy horse stable to do a photo shoot for romance novel covers. Certainly no one who looks like that, and makes a living being that intimate with that many women, has a shred of moral integrity—do they?

They both know they are far too opposite for even a casual relationship, so then what the heck is going on here?

Cynics can heal—if they’re brave enough.

If this book sounds interesting to you, download your free Kindle copy here.

Making Our Books Memorable

So tonight I was at a teacher training where we were talking about how to engage our students.  That when we just tell them things, they don't retain it.  When we have them engaged, thinking, and doing things, then they remember it.

As I sat there, I thought of how that can be true with writing as well.  When we have a story that is just being told to us, skimming the surface of character's emotions, not engaging us with the conflict, it becomes not memorable and easy to put down.  But the books that move us, that we remember and that change us, are the ones that bring us in, that make us experience the character's story in a way we'd never thought of before.

But how do we do that as writers?  There are the basics, like don't use words like "he felt" or "she wondered" which are key indicators that you are telling the story.  Show how they felt.  Let me get inside those emotions with the character. Get inside the character's head, dig deep to make their emotions believable and standout in the reader's mind because they can relate to it.

But we also have to draw the reader in with our conflict.  Make the readers think about how they would react if that was happening to them.  For example, in my novel Ring Around the Rosie, I have a man in a hostage situation with every person he loves (including his ex-wife) and he's forced to bargain for their lives as well as his own.  As a reader, it's easy to put yourself in that position and think, how would I handle that?  How would I handle a hostage situation (external conflict) and the emotions of seeing my ex-wife in danger (internal conflict)?  Make both the internal and the external conflict deep and believable for the reader to keep them turning pages.

As writers, it's important to make sure we are always engaging our readers.  Let them experience our story along with our characters and make our writing memorable.  Tell me and I forget, engage me and I remember.

Do you have a book that was memorable to you?

Word Count Wednesday

This has ended up being an incredibly busy week for me! I've only been doing revision, so my word count is low, just over 700 words.  I'm consoling myself that any progress is good and this novella is going to be awesome and a lot better than it was.

After the last few days I'm realizing more and more that I really have to guard my writing time and sometimes no has to really mean no.  It's hard, though.  I want to help others, I want to check off everything on my to do list, but it's just not possible and I don't want it to be if I have to sacrifice my writing time.  I know I have to say no more often, for my own sanity's sake, but why is saying no so hard?

Anyway, how did you do? How's your week going?