Cover Reveal! To Heal a Heart by Jana Richards - #smalltownromance #TheWildRosePress @JanaRichards

Blurb

Garrett Saunders' world changed two years ago on a road in Afghanistan. Back home, he feels like a stranger. As he struggles to find his place in the world, he meets a horse destined for the slaughterhouse and a woman bent on rescuing the strays of the world, including him.

Blair Greyson moves to Masonville to look after her ailing grandfather and give her rescue horses a home. Right away she butts heads with a surly former Marine. Despite a rocky start, they come to an agreement: Blair will board Garrett's rescue horse and he'll help with repairs around her farm.

Garrett finds purpose working with Blair—and falls in love with her. But she's hiding a secret. Can she forgive herself and accept Garrett's love, or will she let guilt and regret continue to rule her life?

About the Author

Jana Richards has tried her hand at many writing projects over the years, from magazine articles and short stories to full-length paranormal suspense and romantic comedy. She loves to create characters with a sense of humor, but also a serious side. She believes there’s nothing more interesting then peeling back the layers of a character to see what makes them tick.

When not writing up a storm, working at her day job as an Office Administrator, or dealing with ever present mountains of laundry, Jana can be found on the local golf course pursuing her newest hobby.

Jana lives in Western Canada with her husband Warren. You can reach her through her website at http://www.janarichards.com

Jana Richards’ Social media links:

Website: http://www.janarichards.com

Blog: http://janarichards.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JanaRichardsAuthor

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JanaRichards_

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/janarichards

Amazon UK Author Page: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B002DEVWWG

Newsletter Signup: http://janarichards.com/contact.html#newsletter

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2892274Jana_Richards

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jana-richards

Show Australia some love - #CharityAnthology #ValentinesDay #Giveaway @WildRosePress

Coming on Valentine’s Day from The Wild Rose Press!

Stories in this collection are contributed by authors who care about Australia and the relief efforts from the devastating bushfires. All profits from the book will be donated to charities involved with the recovery efforts. The publisher and authors are not affiliated with the charities. They simply want to show Australia their love and support.

Each of the three volumes highlights a different set of genres. The anthology series includes some of my favorite authors of romance and women’s fiction.

Volume 1

A collection of Short Stories in Mainstream Fiction,

Women's Fiction, Thrillers, and Mystery

A Solicitous Wife by Madeleine McDonald

No One Knew by Larry Farmer

Pinochle by Brenda Whiteside

The Tuesday Night Meeting by Peggy Jaeger

911, What's Your Emergency? by D. V. Stone

Tall Tales by Laura Strickland

Fare Gain by Alexandra Christle

The Note by Stephen B. King

Three Ghosts by Julie Howard

Detective Paws and Lip Gloss by Maureen L. Bonatch

The Ring by Margaret Ann Spence

Portrait of a Gunfighter by Hywela Lyn

Six Hours or So by Lisa Wilkes

Prussic Acid by Melody DeBlois

Volume 2

A collection of Romance, Young Adult, and Women's Fiction Short Stories

Che Gelida Manina by M. S. Spencer

Recipes for Love by Carol Henry

Waiting for Caleb by Gini Rifkin

Wings of Fire by Jana Richards

A Lark by Gabbi Grey

Apple Crisp by Terry Graham

Goody Twoshoes by Mark Love

The Number by Barbara Bettis

Deadly Homecoming by Peggy Chambers

An Egg-Cellent Witness by Marilyn Barr

Season of Withered Corn by Judy Ann Davis

Beneath the Pines by Debby Grahl

Christopher Reisner by Linda Griffin

Unexpected Love: Chase Allen by Anna Lores

The Cowboy and the Lady by Jean Adams

The Heart Necklace by Amanda Uhl

The Relaxation Response by Darcy Lundeen

Dancing Through Tears by Jeny Heckman

Volume 3

A collection of Paranormal, Horror, and Sci-Fi Fiction Short Stories.

The Pilot's Son by CJ Zahner

The Vengeance by Rhonda Gilmour

A Climb to Kill by ML Erdahl

Born of Fangs by Sydney Winward

Johnny Appleseed by Robert Herold

Rebellion in Slot III by Roni Denholtz

Home, Sweet Mobile Home by Alana Lorens

The Filthy Human by Tori V. Rainn

Baby Daddy by Kerry Blaisdell

The Witch of Calico Island by Cat Dubie

Stained-Glass Vision by Mary Morgan

A Witch's Protocol by Tena Stetler

I Choose Life by Kristal Dawn Harris

Together Forever by N. Christine Samuelson

Where Is Your High School Sweetheart? by Donna Kunkel

Lost and Found by Joanne Guidoccio

Nursery Chimes by D.S. Lucas

Why not buy all three volumes? Every purchase means more help for the responders, and the victims, human and animal.

Volume One Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0848W2HQT

Volume Two Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0849MSLBT

Volume Three Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084H4J37S

Want to do more? Click over to my Charity Sunday post from last month and leave a comment. For every comment I receive between now and the third Sunday of February, I'll donate $2 to the Australian Red Cross.

The publisher is giving away a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter. 

 

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Writing in an established fictional world - @Luanna_Stewart #beachread #DeerbourneInn #friendstolovers

By Luanna Stewart (Guest Blogger)

Love Proof, my new release, is part of a series created by my publisher, set in a fictional town in Vermont, and centred on the historic Deerbourne Inn. At twelve books and counting in the series, there is something for everyone no matter which subgenre of romance you enjoy reading.

In no particular order, here are five things I learned while writing this book:

Writing in a series established by someone else was fun! The grunt work of creating the setting and describing the location was done, and the town map was drawn. Even the streets were named. As someone who struggles with naming things, this was a huge benefit. Also, a core group of town-folk existed and were busily running around town going about their various businesses. And those businesses were named, too – oh, joy!

Writing in an established series was hard! I wasn’t in charge of the setting or most of the secondary characters. I had to make sure my storyline wouldn’t interfere with another author’s ideas. And if I wanted to use one of the established secondary characters in my story, I had to make sure my idea fit with the character development already in place in the series “bible” (an outline of the town’s history, brief descriptions of the core characters, etc.).

Collaborating with the other authors in the series was fun! I enjoyed bouncing story and character ideas around with other writers. And I learned how to work with other writers’ stories – their plots and characters. I’ve collaborated before but the thing that connected those other books was a talisman, and even that was open to interpretation by the individual authors. Writing Love Proof worked writing muscles I didn’t know I had.

Writing a shorter book was a challenge. But I’ve done it previously, four times in fact, and so I knew it was possible. The key is to understand the limitations placed on the book by the lack of page space. With only 150 pages, give or take, crafting a sweeping saga would by impossible. Even writing a story that stretched over several months would be too much of a challenge for this writer. An added bonus of a story with a short time span is the inherent “deadline”. A ticking clock is helpful for moving the story along and can be used in more than a suspense or a thriller. “Can she save the ranch before the wrecking ball arrives?” “Can he win her heart before she’s deployed next month?” Or in the case of my story, “Can she bake 300 cupcakes in time for the town’s garden party in two weeks, while also resisting her attraction to the handsome man from her past?”.

Writing a shorter book was freeing because there wasn’t room on the page for a lot of extras. In my case, all I had room for was a hero, a heroine, their internal and external conflicts, and a few extra characters. No big secondary plot allowed. The constraints of a short time spent in the story world was liberating as well. I used a page from an old wall calendar, noted the day my hero, Raynor, arrived in town, and the day of the mad River Garden Party, and that was my story’s time frame. All the good stuff, the bad stuff, and then the good stuff, had to happen within those days.

Do you enjoy reading shorter books? If so, what do you find most appealing?

Blurb

Unemployed photojournalist Raynor Elliot stops at a bakery near the famous Deerbourne Inn. Not only does he get a lead on a job but the bakery’s owner is that awkward kid he knew in high school, only now she has fabulous curves and an irreverent sense of humor. The cozy bakery, with its aroma of sugar, vanilla and spice, has more to offer than tasty cookies.

Fiona MacLeod has been plagued for years by the need to make amends for telling The Big Lie. When the lie’s victim strolls into her bakery with his icy blue stare and killer charm, she feels like she’s standing too close to a hot oven.

Between running her bakery and frosting cupcakes for the Mad River Garden Party, she's pretty sure she's falling in love with this infuriating, sexy man. Can Fiona dredge up the courage to confess, face the consequences, and hope for forgiveness?

Excerpt

“I remember those days.” She pushed the calculator to the side, too tired to worry about planning the week’s baking schedule. “Why’d you study journalism?

“Truth is important to me. I was tired of all the lies in government, at every level. I wanted to change that. Ultimately make the world a better place. Easy peasy, right?” His lips quirked and he shook his head.

“That’s why I decided to be a baker. Brighten someone’s day with a special treat.”

He scooted his chair closer and pointed at the column of numbers on the page. “You want me to do the rest?” His arm, bare to the bicep, lightly tanned, dusted with blond hair, a little lighter than on his head, rested less than an inch from her own spindly pale arm. Not spindly compared to other women, hefting bags of flour and moving trays of baked goods did take some muscle power. But spindly compared to his manly toned muscles flexing under skin that she’d bet her last jar of sprinkles was smooth and warm. She clenched her hand.

No touching allowed.

“We have cupcakes to frost.” She bounded from the chair and rushed into the kitchen.

Holy moly, the guy oozed sex. In a good way. A very good way. She pulled a clean apron off the shelf and cinched it around her waist. An extra layer of armor between her and temptation in the form of Raynor. The seeker of truth. The man whose mission in life was to expose lies. The reporter who thought liars were not decent human beings.

Buy links

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Proof-Deerbourne-Luanna-Stewart-ebook/dp/B07S2SBP4V

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Love-Proof-Deerbourne-Luanna-Stewart-ebook/dp/B07S2SBP4V

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Love+Proof+Luanna&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/Love-Proof-Deerbourne-Luanna-Stewart-ebook/dp/B07S2SBP4V

Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/love-proof-luanna-stewart/1131669284?ean=2940161211489

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/love-proof-5

About the Author

Luanna Stewart has been creating adventures for her imaginary friends since childhood. At the tender age of twelve she discovered her grandmother's stash of romance novels, after which all plots had to lead to a happily-ever-after.

Luanna spends her days writing sexy romantic suspense, steamy paranormal romance, and spicy historical romance. When she's not torturing her heroes and heroines, she’s either in her kitchen baking something delicious, or protecting her garden from the chickens. She lives in Nova Scotia with her incredibly patient husband and two spoiled cats.

Social media links

Website: http://www.luannastewart.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Luanna_Stewart

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luanna_stewart/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LuannaStewartAuthor/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/luannastewart/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14104212.Luanna_Stewart

Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.com/author/luanna_stewart

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