Happy Birthday

AND...

A huge thanks to Rockin Ro  for a lovely post that's helping me get the word out on Mateo.

Friday's Great Read

I’m so pleased to have the opportunity to help get the word out on D.L. Finn’s new release THIS LAST CHANCE and share some ‘behind the scenes’ information regarding her new book that I enjoyed and think you will too.

Thank you for having me here today, Sandra, and sharing the new release of This Last Chance 😊

Behind This Last Chance

Bears make an appearance more than once in This Last Chance, which is why one is on the cover. The picture used was when a young bear came out of a storm to snack on some dog food in the garage while taking part in my impromptu photo session.

I live in a forest surrounded by wildlife, which includes bears. I’m not afraid of bears; I feel a connection to them. Yet the word ‘pest’ has been used more than once by my husband when he cleans up the mess bears leave behind on garbage pickup day. Then there was the time one tore the door off our chicken coop, but no chickens were harmed.

A bear experience that stands out was when I returned home from taking the kids to the bus stop early one morning. A huge bear was standing motionless in the middle of the street by our driveway. Intrigued, I stopped my car and watched her, watching me. I guess she decided I was okay when she allowed her two hidden cubs to race from one side of the street to the other. Mama bear threw one more look at me and galloped after her babies.

So, when I needed an animal to let Amber know she was not alone, a bear was the first thing that came to mind. Her spirit animal and perhaps mine, too.

Blurb:

Six months after Amber’s sister is brutally murdered, she’s still looking for answers, and now someone is stalking her and no one believes her. Home alone with a powerful snowstorm approaching, Amber is determined to take control of the investigation by hiring a private detective, but her plans are disrupted when she finds herself snowed in with people she may not be able to trust. Meanwhile, Nester the evildwel, whose entire existence has been feeding on fear and pain, is seeking help from the angel who’s protecting Amber. Nester and Amber need answers. Can Amber figure out what’s going on with some subtle help from an angel? Will Nester find what he needs from his enemies? The worlds of good and evil clash, and the outcome will determine not only Amber’s and Nester’s fate but life as they know it.

 

FUN FINN FACTS:

1.      Five cats, one dog, and a goldfish live with me, along with my husband of almost thirty-seven years.

2.      My favorite games as a child were Yahtzee, Monopoly, and Crazy Eights.

3.      I love to stargaze and watch meteor showers.

 

 

 

Excerpt from This Last Chance.

Chapter 1

“My name is Nester. I’ve been around a long time, way before humans invented their first stone tool. My kind migrated from a distant planet that couldn’t sustain us anymore, in case you’ve been wondering where we came from. Although I doubt you winged ones—that’s what we call you angels—give evildwel history much thought. Your attention goes to the humans, including this young woman, Amber. You hardly leave her side. It’s an unsettling thought, but I can almost understand your devotion. I feel something from Amber that used to repel me, but now it draws me to her, much like you. Not sure what it is, though.

 

“I’m attempting to communicate with you, like winged ones do, by thoughts. I can’t take the chance of speaking out loud and being overheard by another evildwel. Anyway, it’s my hope you can hear me because my life is literally spinning out of control.”

 

Nester paused and studied the beautiful winged one. Zelina didn’t indicate she wanted him to stop, so he continued to push his thoughts to her.

AMAZON ORDER LINK

Author Bio:

D. L. Finn is an independent California local who encourages everyone to embrace their inner child. She was born and raised in the foggy Bay Area, but in 1990 she relocated with her husband, kids, dogs, and cats to Nevada City, in the Sierra foothills. She immersed herself in reading all types of books but especially loved romance, horror, and fantasy. She always treasured creating her own reality on paper. Finally, surrounded by towering pines, oaks, and cedars, her creativity was nurtured until it bloomed. Her creations include adult fiction, poetry, a unique autobiography, and children’s books. She continues on her adventure with an open invitation to all readers to join her.

D.L. Finn Links:

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Pinterest

D.L. Finn blog

Purchase Links:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble  Smashwords

Did You Know

Did you know the phrase in a pickle originated with Shakespeare?

Tuesday

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend and Monday. We got buckets of rain, but luckily no flooding so far.

Mr. Nosy sporting his spring do.  The HH says he looks like a French kitty:)

AND...

I couldn't decide on Bleeping Idiots or How I Solved My Problem for my subheading. Feel free to choose whichever you favor.

We got a new toilet paper holder, the open-ended that you can just slide the roll on and off the holder without taking it apart. We have one in the master bath and it's soooo much easier to use. This one wasn't a cheap one. The blankety-blank-blank-blank factory cut the blankety-blank thing too short so whenever you use it the roll goes flying off. Engineering trying to save money?  After I semi got over my mad, I decided that I could fix the problem. A friend gave me a synthetic gemstone one year for Christmas that I never got around to making into a piece of jewelry so I glued it to the end.  It did the trick.

AND speaking of bronze holders...A friend of a friend cleans homes for the upper-crust in the area and was cleaning the bronze holders with a cleaner that caused the plating to flake right off. Yikes! Can you imagine? The moral of this story: better stick with soap and water if you are cleaning bronze holders.

AND I got a couple of new plants. Delphinium and...drumroll...a little lilac bush. I'm so excited. I've been bemoaning not having one for years. I ordered the bush from Brighter Blooms. What I liked about this site: it popped up messages about whether the plant I was looking at would do well or poorly in my zone.

And here's Miss Faux. She's eighteen, blind and deaf but still getting around.

Got critters? Got flowers?

Weekend Wishes

Did You Know

Did you know that navy bean soup is also called Senate Bean Soup because it's served every day in the Senate dining room?  It was first put on the menu in the early twentieth century.

We had bean soup, with ham and onions, and cornbread every week when I was growing up in the Midwest. Who knew we were eating the same food as the senators were being served. 

Really:)

AND...

Thanks to Heather Holden , Alex Cavanaugh, and Tara Tyler for helping me get the word out.

Tuesday

Garden pics.

Remember this little guy?

AND

Penny with her baby.

Got flowers? Critters?

AND...

Birth in Defiance of the Virus written by a dear family member who recently birthed a daughter and as you can gather from the poem named Juniper:)

FYI: There are several poems at this link. Hers is a little more than halfway down.

Weekend Wishes

Did You Know

This factoid came from Diane Wolfe:) Thanks, Di.

Did you know, there was a lethal American flu pandemic going on during the time period the Woodstock Concert was held?

Tuesday

What we've been doing in the garden:

And just for fun, I've added 'gem' stones:)

AND

From a clinician on the frontlines.  I can't mentally stop drafting my obituary. This article was written by a relative that we hold near and dear. 

AND

I decided to make navy beans and cornbread the other night. The beans were bitter so I added some baking soda. Remember the volcano in the school science projects? That was my beans in their pot.  And in case you're wondering, after the eruption subsided, it did take care of the bitter:)

AND

More family factoids. We have new grandparents in the family that will go by the grandparent handles of: Loli and Poppi.  I love it:)

AND

Got masks?

AND

For a limited time: a freebie, where offered, for the moms, front liners, essential workers, stay-at-homers and mask wearers.

Get it here.

Happy Mother's Day

AND...

AND...

Thanks to Valerie at Bastelmania for helping me get the word out.

Friday's Good Read

Voyagers: The Third Ghost
An Insecure Writer’s Support Group Anthology

Journey into the past…

Will the third ghost be found before fires take more lives? Can everyone be warned before Pompeii is buried again? What happens if a blizzard traps a family in East Germany? Will the Firebird help Soviet sisters outwit evil during WWII? And sneaking off to see the first aeroplane – what could go wrong?

Ten authors explore the past, sending their young protagonists on harrowing adventures. Featuring the talents of Yvonne Ventresca, Katharina Gerlach, Roland Clarke, Sherry Ellis, Rebecca M. Douglass, Bish Denham, Charles Kowalski, Louise MacBeath Barbour, Beth Anderson Schuck, and L.T. Ward.Hand-picked by a panel of agents, authors, and editors, these ten tales will take readers on a voyage of wonder into history. Get ready for an exciting ride!
Release date – May 5, 2020
$13.95, 6x9 trade paperback, 168 pages
Print ISBN 9781939844729 / EBook ISBN 9781939844736
Juvenile fiction – historical/action & adventure/fantasy & magic
Founded by author Alex J. Cavanaugh, the Insecure Writer’s Support Group offers support for writers and authors alike. It provides an online database; articles; monthly blog posting; Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram groups; #IWSGPit, and a newsletter. A Writer’s Digest 101 Best Website for Writers and The Write Life’s Best 100 Website for Writershttps://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/
Links:Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/dp/193984472X/
Barnes & Noble - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/voyagers-yvonne-ventresca/1135912991?ean=2940163430857
ITunes - https://books.apple.com/ca/book/voyagers-the-third-ghost/id1493413956
Kobo - https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/voyagers-the-third-ghost
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50364415-voyagers

Did You Know

Did you know that titan arums, also known as corpse or carrion flowers, smell like decaying flesh and the flower can grow taller than a man? 

Picture from Wikipedia.org

AND...

Many thanks to Elizabeth Seckman, Sue at Elephant's Child and D. L. Finn for helping me get the word out.

IWSG Wednesday

The first Wednesday of every month is officially IWSG day. Members post about their doubts and fears, discuss struggles and triumphs, and offer words of encouragement to others who are struggling.

Thanks, as always, to Alex Cavanaugh, founder and Ninja Captain extraordinaire and our awesome co-hosts.

The IWSG monthly question can be found under the IWSG Sign-up tab on the Insecure Writer's Support Group Blog.

May 6 question - Do you have any rituals that you use when you need help getting into the ZONE? Care to share? 

Great question.  Good books and good movies and if that doesn't get my muse's interest, I go back to the beginning of the story and reread to remind her where we are going.

REVIEWS

SUBLIME SHADOWS OF LIFE by Balroop Singh

The verse in this book is beautifully written and leaves the reader with the feeling they've been given a glimpse into the author's soul. A glimpse the author freely shares. It's also a reminder that there are places in this world were life for a woman is a dreary existence at best. 

I especially enjoyed reading this at the end of the day when I could let the words flow over and envelope me.

Order Here

THE TEASE by Melissa Alexia

A steamy short.

This story starts with two young people in junior high who become, and remain, friends. Always 'teasing' each other. Seven years later, the 'teasing' begins in earnest as they try to figure out if they are going to continue to be friends, lovers or both.
If you like a steamy read, sprinkled with humor, you'll enjoy this sexy, well-written short.

Order Here

AND...

Happy Birthday, Heather.

Rebirth and New Beginnings

About the time Captain passed, I was pruning my shrubs. Yes, it was December, but December in the South. I took a handful of the cuttings and stuck them in the ground near his grave. When spring arrived the only thing that could be seen was dry twigs peeking through overgrown grass. Finally, having enough of the eyesore I decided to clear the whole mess out.  In the middle of clipping I saw, to my surprise,  this lone bloom. It reminded me of rebirth and new beginnings, and gave me comfort.

Did anyone else see this article? I found it fascinating and hopefully helpful to folks with Covid or breathing issues.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/how-a-free-extremely-low-risk-er-technique-is-saving-lives-from-coronavirus-215640425.html

For those on blogger, what do you think about the new setup? I think it will be fine when I get acclimated. Right now it's taking me forever to set up posts.

Thanks to Jacqui Murray for the shout out.

Mateo's Law

Blurb:

A modern day, shape-shifting sheriff.

He’s the sheriff of a sparsely populated county in Montana. His blood brother and childhood best friend is Chief of Police on the Blackfoot Reservation, but they no longer speak. His deputy is a Southern transplant with the body of a high-priced call girl, a voice of honey and a mouth of a trucker. And if that’s not enough, he’s got a secret that would stun those that know him best. Other than that, it’s business as usual for Sheriff Mateo Grey.

 

Excerpt:

A chill March wind lifted Chief Deputy Blair Delaney’s ponytail and nipped her skin as she stepped out of the patrol car, snapping a twig beneath a sturdy boot. With a flick of her thumbs, she turned up her collar and burrowed deeper into her worn, brown bomber jacket.

The setting sun hovered on the horizon and outlined a dark-barked, bare-leaved oak that arced over the porch of Sheriff Mateo Grey’s cabin.

The temperature dropped. A wolf howled.

She spun on her heel. The large gray predator stood at the edge of the property, watching her. As seconds ticked, he held her gaze but came no closer. Finally, as if bored by the whole situation, he turned his head and loped behind the cabin to disappear into the trees.

Whoosh. Blair didn’t realize she’d been holding her breath until she expelled it. She’d seen the wolf before. That one and an older version that melted into the forest whenever she appeared. Apparently, they considered Mateo’s property part of their territory. And speaking of which, where the hell was he?

She took an impatient step forward then faltered as the hair on the back of her neck rose. The sense of a malevolent presence increased with the disappearance of the wolf. Her hand on the pistol at her waist, she whipped around and stared into the trees that surrounded the house. She appreciated Mateo’s desire for privacy but did it have to be in the middle of bum fuck nowhere?

Blair considered herself a pragmatist and seldom gave way to flights of fancy. Still a ripple of unease stole over her like a thick, tangible mist smothering her senses. She drew her gun, forcing her hand not to tremble.

“Delaney.”

She whirled. The sheriff stood on the porch shirtless and shoeless, worn jeans riding low on lean hips. Her heart gave a hard thump and her blood pooled at her feet. Dammit to hell, why couldn’t she work for someone who was overweight, balding and ate too many donuts? Though, on the plus side, he did have a way of heating her up and keeping the chill at bay.

He took one swift glance at the gun and was off the porch and at her side in four long-legged strides. Even in the biting wind she could feel heat pouring off him.

“Aren’t you cold?”

He ignored the question and cut to the heart of the matter. “What’s wrong? Why is your gun drawn?”

Feeling like an idiot, she cleared her throat. With his appearance the malevolent sensation dissipated like smoke. “I thought someone was watching.” She holstered her gun.

He took a step past her, alert, dangerous.

 

Bio:

Sandra is a vegetarian, animal lover and avid gardener. She lives with her husband, their dog and cats in sunny North Carolina.

Her stories consist of all things western…and more. She is a category bestselling Amazon author, Eppie finalist and Golden Ankh Award winner.

You can find her at: https://www.sandracox.blogspot.com .

Her twitter handle: Sandra_Cox

Her Amazon Page: http://tinyurl.com/SandraAtAmz

Buy Link

If you were a shapeshifter, what animal would you be? Where would you live?

Friday's Good Read

I’m thrilled to have good bud and author D.L. Finn sharing her new cover with us today. Welcome, D.L.

Thank you for hosting me today, Sandra:) I’m super excited to be here and share the cover of my new book, “This Last Chance,” along with some new Fun Finn Facts.

BLURB:

Six months ago, Amber Dodges’ sister was murdered at the hands of an unidentified killer. While searching for answers, she realizes her own life might be in danger, too. Nester, the evildwel, has always fed on fear and pain, but now finds his way of life is making him sick. Unfortunately, his weakness could result in a painful death by his own kind, so he does the unthinkable by trying to communicate with the angel assisting Amber. Both desperately need answers. With a powerful snowstorm approaching, Amber must decide who to trust, and Nester’s only hope comes from his enemy. The outcome not only determines if Amber and Nester survive but the world as they know it.

AMAZON PRE-ORDER LINK

Fun Finn Facts:

1. Amber’s house in "This Last Chance" is set in a vacation home we used to rent.
2. The first ride I go on in Disneyland is, "The Pirates of the Caribbean."
3. The drive from my house to Lake Tahoe takes approximately an hour and a half. 
   

Author Bio:

D. L. Finn is an independent California local who encourages everyone to embrace their inner child. She was born and raised in the foggy Bay Area, but in 1990 she relocated with her husband, kids, dogs, and cats to Nevada City, in the Sierra foothills. She immersed herself in reading all types of books but especially loved romance, horror, and fantasy. She always treasured creating her own reality on paper. Finally, surrounded by towering pines, oaks, and cedars, her creativity was nurtured until it bloomed. Her creations include adult fiction, poetry, a unique autobiography, and children’s books. She continues on her adventure with an open invitation to all readers to join her.

D.L. Finn Links:

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Pinterest

D.L. Finn blog

Purchase Links:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords