Brendan McNally | Twenty-five random things about GERMANIA and the Flensburg Reich

Brendan McNally want people to know 25 things they may not have about the Flensburg Reich -- the three weeks after the death of Hitler, a forgotten part of 20th century history.

Did you know:

1. at the start of the Flensburg Reich, the Reich territories consisted of Norway, Denmark, pieces of Holland, France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Russia, Czechoslovakia and Crete.


2. There were THREE surrenders


3. The last German aircraft to fly out of Berlin was flown by a woman pilot named Beate Uhse. She landed in Flensburg and founded a sex toy industry which is still based there. She died in 1999.

There's MORE!!!! Don't stop here...

Click here to read more and be entered in a contest to win a signed copy of GERMANIA

Darlene Gardner | Secondary Romances

Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingley. Willow and Oz. Betty and Barney Rubble.

You've probably figured out by now what the couples from the book Pride and Prejudice, the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the cartoon The Flintstones have in common: They're involved in secondary romances.

Now here's my shameless confession: I adore secondary romances, often considerably more than the main event. In THE HERO'S SIN, my February release from Superromance that starts a new series, the secondary hero relentlessly -- and, I hope, charmingly -- pursues his ex-wife. Part of the reason their marriage broke up was because his favorite pasttime was getting drunk with his buddies. I wouldn't give the primary hero that flaw unless there was a deep, dark reason he was drinking.

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Sharon Ashwood | When Your Brand New Book Leaves Home …

Launching a book is a peculiar business.

First, the concept of “launch” is a bit different from the writer’s end. She’s already sent the manuscript away over and over again – to the editor, to the copy editor, for page proofs, and on and on. And yet the darned thing keeps coming back like a pesky cat and, sadly, editors are about as easy to ignore as a yowling Siamese hanging from the screen door. What began as infatuation with one’s literary child quickly morphs to irritation. That’s a sure sign Baby Book has hit the difficult toddler stage.

But books grow up too fast. When it finally launches, the author doesn’t actually have much of a role to play anymore. Sure, a party is nice, but all the stuff that matters is all beyond her control, subject to grand and incomprehensible market forces. Baby Book is all grown up, out in the cold, cruel world and about to encounter fast cars and loose readers. Will the universe be kind?

Click here to read the rest and enter Sharon's one day blog contest.

Kimber Chin | Invisible - A Race Against Time

Excerpt From Invisible:

“No TV. Sleep Hagen,” she advised. She felt like she was talking to a five year old.

“You tired?” Blond eyebrows raised.

Yeah, of listening to you. “If we're to do this, we'll need all the extra hours we can get.” There was no use of her going if they didn't find the deed.


That gave him pause. “We have fourteen business days, Maeve.”

“Eighteen days in total.” He didn't understand. “And we'll need every single hour in those eighteen days.”

“Every single hour? You think it's going to be that tough?” His thick thigh rested against hers.

Maeve couldn't move any further away. “Yeah.” Tough wasn't the word for it. Birger would have them running.

“You'll be there for the entire time?”

Maeve didn't commit to anything halfway. It was all or nothing. “Yeah.”

“You don't talk much, do you, Maeve?” And he talked way too much. What was his point?

“Sleep.”


*******
Whew, makes me tired simply reading about Maeve and Hagen's adventures!

In my latest contemporary romance, Invisible, Hagen,has fourteen business days to find the deed to his Great-Uncle's house. If he doesn't succeed, he loses the estate to his devious cousin. Fourteen business days, almost three weeks, to find a piece of paper hidden somewhere in the world. It is a race against time.

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Linda Bilodeau | The Story Behind The Wine Seekers

I've always been a foodie, one of those souls who wonder the earth wondering what's for lunch? What's for dinner? As a young girl I would spend time in my mother's kitchen learning her secrets to good tasting food. I enjoyed many a meal with a large crowd of family. As a young mother, I felt I needed to make nutritious meals for my family and would go out of my way to find fresh produce, good cuts of meat and of course, a crowd a people to enjoy it all with. So it never came as a surprise that I would want to write a book that takes place around the best of food and wine.

On a trip through the Tuscan country side, I became enchanted with the simple country fair, and though she wasn't Italian, it reminded me of the simple things my mother taught me about food, One need not be extravagant with spices, sauces or expensive wines, stick to the basics. It doesn't take a master chef to put together a good dinner.

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Monica McCarty | With a little help from THE DA VINCI CODE

A big thank you to everyone at Fresh Fiction for inviting me here today to celebrate the release of HIGHLAND WARRIOR, the first book in my new back-to-to back trilogy, featuring the “bad boys” of the Highlands, Clan Campbell. Back-to-back means you won’t have to wait long to find out “what’s next?” HIGHLAND OUTLAW comes out at the end of this month and HIGHLAND SCOUNDREL at the end of March.

Like my first trilogy, featuring Clan MacLeod, you’ll find plenty of sexy Alpha heroes and “ripped from the headlines” history, bringing to life actual people and events with a sensual fictional twist.

Click here to read the rest of the blog.

Sandi Shilhanek | To Keep or Not To Keep, that is MY Question!

Saturday afternoon, the DFW Tea readers celebrated Valentine’s Day with a special tea. A lot of people were in attendance, we maxed out the tea house's largest meeting area, and books were traded amongst the members.

Valentine Tea
Valentine Tea at Patti's Place Tea Room & Bakery

Originally uploaded by freshfiction

One very important book trade rule is don’t bring a book that you want to get back. It might or might not come back to you. So it's better to solve future problems by just having a simple rule.

This rule really doesn’t apply to me, as I don’t keep anything but the books that have been personalized to me from various signings I have attended. Naturally, those books don’t go to tea, and rarely get lent to anyone, even my closest, nearest, and dearest friends. You just never know when there could be a book accident.

I am continually amazed at how amazed people are that I don’t keep books. Since I don’t keep them you would think I would be a more regular library user, but I really don’t use the library as much as I should. I like the idea of buying a book and being able to share it with my friends, should I want to, or should they want to read it.

So, are you a keeper? If you are do you have a keeper copy, and a loaner copy? That is something I also find fascinating…the idea that people will have two copies of a book just so they can share.

Hope you had a happy Valentine’s Day, and I’m off to rejoice in the new books I picked up at the tea.

Until next week...

Sandi
DFW Tea Readers
Readers 'n 'ritas...celebrating literary obsessions

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