Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score

 A delightful read as Naomi Witt runs far and fast at the last moment from the aisle and still wearing the white dress.

Always a planner, she has only one sense of direction toward her twin sister, Tina, in need of help, as always.  The only "twin" thing about the sisters is their looks.  Otherwise, her sister is a complete troublemaker and completely irresponsible.

Naomi arrives in Knockemout, Virginia and finds an unknown eleven-year-old niece, Waylay, waiting for her.  

No wedding, no money, no home, no job, and an abandoned niece.  What else can upset Naomi's planned existence?

Knockemout is a charming and tight community with the necessary coffee house to ease anxieties.

Knox Morgan owns the cafe plus a lot more in town, yet he's not a people person.  He makes it plainly clear when confronting the new girl in town.  He's a bad-boy biker with a hidden heart of gold.  He wants to keep that a secret and be left alone.

The funny thing is, Knox has it hard for Naomi, and she can't help but search for his good qualities.

The story is loaded with Knox attempting to secretly help Naomi, Naomi falling for Knox, Knox falling for her, and both holding back.  

As I read the love story, I wanted to tell them to "Quit being stubborn!", and "You're perfect for each other!".  Knox and Naomi will have to figure it out themselves as they didn't listen to me!

Happy reading,

Dawn

WYATT'S WAY by Lexi Post is Available for Preorder

 

Wyatt's Way

(Last Chance #7) 

by Lexi Post

After the loss of his grandfather, Wyatt Ford is homeless and rudderless when he lands at Last Chance Ranch with the last of their horses. His mood is anything but pleasant, so when he inadvertently hurts the feelings of the sweetest woman in town, he’s determined to make it up to her. But she has a backbone, which attracts his full attention, and he finds himself willing to go the extra mile for her. That is, if she’ll let him.

Alyssa Parker, Ms. Parker to her third-grade students, has a strong moral compass, a strict code about only dating locals, and a goal to purchase her very own home. Her interest in Mr. Ford is fleeting…until he comes to her rescue. Just when she thinks her cowboy hero seems too good to be true, she discovers his biggest fear, one that looms large between them.

Wyatt knows letting Alyssa go is the right thing to do for her, but it’s the worst move he could make for himself. It means tackling his past on his own. But even if he comes out a winner, what good will it do him if he’s lost the woman he loves?

Releasing April 21st

Preorder links:

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About Lexi

Lexi Post is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of romance inspired by the classics. She spent years in higher education taking and teaching courses about the classical literature she loved. From Edgar Allan Poe's short story “The Masque of the Red Death” to Tolstoy’s War and Peace, she's read, studied, and taught wonderful classics.

But Lexi's first love is romance novels so she married her two first loves, romance and the classics. From hot paranormals to sizzling cowboys to hunks from out of this world, Lexi provides a sensuous experience with a “whole lotta story.”

Lexi is living her own happily ever after with her husband and her two cats in Florida. She makes her own ice cream every weekend, loves bright colors, and you will never see her without a hat.

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Update on The Maverick & Miss Miller

  

            Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

        Okay, so this happened.

My beta readers returned their copies of The Maverick and Miss Miller. Some suggestions were small and easily fixed. Some were a little bigger, but that’s to be expected. When you’re so close to a story, you don’t see the plot holes or the fact that you changed a horse’s gender from one to the other then back again. And one change/suggestion was pretty drastic, but doable.

So, I’m going along and I’m making my changes and what smacks me in the face? The fact that the last six chapters need to be…well, beyond just fixed, but ripped out entirely. Did that hurt? Oh, you bet! Cutting almost five thousand words in never easy (simply because getting those words is difficult…sometimes, I have to pull them kicking and screaming from my brain…hmmm, maybe I should have listened…maybe that was the reason they weren’t coming easily…because they weren’t right).

The new stuff is better (I hope), more in keeping with the first half of the story, more exciting and not so darned convenient, all tied up nicely with a bow! That’s just not how it works! And I hadn’t seen it!

I’m in the middle of rewriting/replacing those chapters now and almost done (yes, I’ve been on a roll, working on the manuscript every day, not just the weekdays before my day job begins).  

And I’ve done something else beside ripping out those words...I’ve set a deadline for myself. I don’t normally do that for my writing (for my work stuff, oh, yeah, I have deadlines galore!), but since I have, I should get back to it…

Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go! Marie

Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson

 Nora Hughes is a real person in a multi-cultural world, or so it seems from her story.  She has a complicated life created from the job as an editorial assistant at a publishing house, which isn't as magical and perfect as she originally assumed.

Five years at the San Fransisco job hasn't let her edit or touch the great writings she thought would be available for her to examine.  Her pay makes her position even more depressing.

The story is a heavy read of real issues that many people in their twenties may find when all they want is a good job that they enjoy.

Granted, the story is about books, and I love that!  Books are also what keeps Nora working.  She needs a larger paycheck, so she outsources herself to another publisher, which helps.  

Thank goodness Andrew Santos writes books and is published by Parsons Publishing, Nora's main job.  Andrew brings a smile to Nora's lips and her heart as they find ways to mix business and fun.  

Yet, another calamity is brewing as Nora has to separate her two business dealings, her social life, and her anxieties.

Reading the book, Nora made errors along the way, but isn't that what really happens?  A connection to the character is when the reader wants to tell her "No, don't do that!"  An enjoyable and realistic fiction novel.

Happy reading,

Dawn

I Did It

          Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

Well, I did it!

The last time I wrote to you, I stated that I was going to submit Wife for Hire before the week was out. Well, I didn’t quite make it to that Friday (I was still tweaking that most important query letter), but I did send it and now the waiting game begins. I am relieved. I’m also nervous and kicking myself in the butt for taking so long.

Seriously. Let’s just change my middle name to ‘Procrastination’ because that’s what I’ve done for the past two years! I know! Two years! The whole time I’ve been working on The Maverick & Miss Miller, I could have (and should have) submitted Wife for Hire. I’ve come to several conclusions as to why I held off for so long.

1)    Writing the story is hard enough. For some authors, it’s not, but for me, it is. I’m a slow writer (steady, but slow). I have a small window of time (very early in the morning before the rest of my day begins). You invest in the characters. You try your hardest to make the story come to life. You may cry when it ends (or breathe a sigh of relief), but still you hesitate to let go.

2)    Editing the story isn’t too bad. You just have to trust your beta readers then be willing to carve out small (sometimes large) chunks of the story (I tend to get a little wordy). Sometimes, it can feel a little brutal (Oh my gosh! You want me to get rid of all those words? But I sweated over them, cried over them…I couldn’t possibly…okay, deep breath…delete, delete, delete!). Done!

3)    Now you can submit (or be like me and let it sit for…too long). You go back and forth in your own head. “Don’t submit. They’ll hate it. It isn’t what anyone is publishing. It’s a hard sell. It stinks.” Yeah, this is the conversation that plays out in my brain far too often (and sounds suspiciously like Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada—you know, that voice of deep contempt and derision and pessimism). Of course, there’s the other little voice, the one of optimism. The one of hope. The one of reason that says “Go ahead and submit. They could love it and say yes.”

So there it is, the reason it took so long…ambivalence and fear and indecision. Getting over that is just as hard as writing the darned story, but I did it. Finally. Now it’s back to The Maverick & Miss Miller, where, once again, I face the decision of which words to cut, which to rewrite, and which to keep. Wish me luck.

Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

ON HIGHLAND TIME and A POCKET IN TIME by Lexi Post on sale for 99¢ this week only!

On Highland Time

(Time Weavers, Inc #1)

She must choose between mankind’s future and the life of the man she loves.

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When someone changes history, affecting the future, Diana Montgomery, the most experienced agent of Time Weavers, Inc., travels back to 1306 Scotland to change it back. Her mission, to find the culprit and ensure a minor clan chief dies in battle as he originally had. What she’s not prepared for is Torr MacPherson, the ruggedly handsome warrior with a kind heart and a steadfast loyalty—the Laird she’s supposed to ensure dies.

A Pocket in Time 

(Time Weavers, Inc. #2)

Katz Almira’s mission is clear—travel to the past, steal the note that ruins the world, travel back to the present. Easy. But when she picks the pocket of Lord John Byron, she finds more than she bargained for.

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Katz Almira’s mission is clear—travel to the past, steal the note that ruins the world, travel back to the present. Easy. She’s the best pickpocket Time Weavers, Inc. has ever had. Posing as a poor widow in Regency London, she convinces her target, Lord John Byron, a man as sexy as he is wealthy, to take her in off the streets. But at her request to keep her hidden, instead of his cushy manor, he allows her to stay in a warehouse full of orphan boys he cares for there.

It’s the perfect place to hide, and bonus, her new roommates can help her find the mysterious note. With John as their pseudo-father, they know what he does every day, and with who. Katz can’t afford any distractions, but she soon finds herself getting attached to the orphans—and John—even helping him plan for their futures.

Each day she spends in the past is another day closer to her deadline, another day closer to returning to her own time, and another day John and this makeshift family get dangerously closer to her heart. But Katz staying in the past would have dire consequences for them all… 

Come Viking Time

(Time Weavers, Inc. #3)

Coming Fall 2022

Jane must go back to 1000 A.D. to make sure a Viking camp in Nova Scotia doesn’t become permanent. Now she has to make sure her growing feelings for the scarred Viking leader don't become permanent either.

Lexi Post is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of romance inspired by the classics. She spent years in higher education taking and teaching courses about the classical literature she loved. From Edgar Allan Poe's short story “The Masque of the Red Death” to Tolstoy’s War and Peace, she's read, studied, and taught wonderful classics.

But Lexi's first love is romance novels so she married her two first loves, romance and the classics. From hot paranormals to sizzling cowboys to hunks from out of this world, Lexi provides a sensuous experience with a “whole lotta story.”

Lexi is living her own happily ever after with her husband and her two cats in Florida. She makes her own ice cream every weekend, loves bright colors, and you will never see her without a hat.

Website

Lexi Post Updates

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The Paid Bridesmaid by Sariah Wilson

 Being a paid bridesmaid has its perks and its secrets.  Rachel Vinson's current gig is stationed in Hawaii, and all she has to do is be Sadie's BFF.  They may have only met at the start of Sadie's wedding planning, but the form she completed gave Rachel full knowledge of what their friendship contains.

Well, there might be a few cracks in the armor.  

The best-man, Camden Lewis, meets Rachel on the first day, first hour, of the week-long wedding rendezvous.  A tiny crack splits in Rachel's planning. 

Camden has a big account being finalized in his software company.  As pretty and charming as Rachel is, he's not sure she knows Sadie enough to be the maid-of-honor, let alone her BFF.  Maybe Rachel is a business spy.

Rachel truly wants her clients to have magical and perfect weddings.  There are all kinds of reasons a bride doesn't have enough good friends to stand-up in their weddings.  Darned if she is going to let Camden reveal the disguised bridesmaids.  He's so handsome and nearly perfect, though.

Must stay away from Camden.  All work and no play. 

We'll see how well that works.  

So many goofy and funny mix-ups throughout the week.  A weekend is much easier for Rachel to deceive the party goers.  It's no help that her heart is working against her.  Camden is having a hard time between his assumption of a spy in the midst and the beautiful woman he has to stand up with.

A warm and charming mix-up and match-up making new friends and new romances!

Happy reading,

Dawn