Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Cruise Your Troubles Away


enjoy cruises. Have you ever been on one? If you haven't, I hope you can go one of these days.

The first cruise I ever went on, I went by myself.  Yes, that's right, alone, me, without hubby.

I boarded a flight in Houston, flew to Los Angeles, and boarded a Royal Caribbean ship headed to Mexico. One of the excursions was Catalina Island.

So now you know how the book, Sarah and a Midnight Cruise to Catalina Island came about.

Carolyn, the heroine in the book, must go alone. She works in a retail establishment, and no vacations are allowed after September 1.  

At the time, so did I.

Carolyn's dad dies, and her vacation plans change. She must go alone or not at all.

True. Same as me.

When Carolyn arrives in LA, the airline reports her luggage went to Dallas.  They assure Carolyn they will get her bags on the ship.

Yep. That actually happened.

Authors often write from personal experiences. This book is one of those.

We'd buried my dad three weeks earlier and my life felt out of control.  Hubby couldn't go with me, and I needed a time out.

Sure, I was a bit scared to take this adventure, but it turned into a serendipity experience.

The small, organized stateroom was perfect for me. Everything had a place. The tiny room was peaceful. It was totally the opposite of my current, chaotic, life.

At a time when I couldn't put my life together, it was wonderful to have someone who could.  The ship's personnel did their job, and as they did so, they comforted a bereaved woman.  

I wonder how many times we go through life doing our job, and unknowingly bring solace and help to a hurting soul?

It takes a mere smile and a happy greeting to turn someone's dark moment into a brighter one.

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Tell Secrets




Five Star Review on amazon! 

"Two widowers find themselves in love with the same woman, Rebecca, but she has vowed to never marry or have children. Family secrets keep her estranged from her family, but with the love of her suitors and trust in God, her past is resolved.

This interestingly written novel delves into the emotions of the well-rounded characters set against the backdrop of tumultuous changing times in the 70s. Each of them have issues in their past for which they find forgiveness and amends are made. The emotions are raw and the author’s prose squeezes the reader’s heart. Your tears will flow before the beautiful ending." --Vicki Caine.https://amzn.to/2YSS1YP


Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Devil or Angel?



Which cake do you like best? 
Angel food or Devil's food?

In our house, hubby prefers the angel and I prefer the devil.

What does that say about us?

One of us is in heavenly trouble.


My mom made them homemade.

If I bake them, I get help from Betty and Duncan.







Thursday, July 18, 2019

First Kiss


Do you remember your first kiss? 

What did you feel as you anticipated the lips to yours? Scared? Excited? Nervous? Inexperienced? 

Did you have someone teach you the art of kissing? Maybe you learned at home. Practised on your hand. Watched movies to see how it was done. We all knew one would come our way, but when, where, and with whom was another question.

Does the memory of the first kiss bring excitment to this day?''

A kiss leads to other things.  

The era of the Women's Liberation and Free Love came along in 1975.  It was permissible, even expected to kiss strangers and proceed with whatever came next.

I suppose that still goes today too.  For some, anyway.

In my latest book, Rebecca's hormones rage when she's in the presence of two men. It's free love, if she wants it, she can have sex with either one. How about one on one night, and the other the next night? Try them out? See which one is the best in bed? But she knows love isn't free. Sex isn't always love, nor is it free. Consquences come with an intimate act.

She lives with the secrets of an intimate act. She understand the heartache. 

What to do? She hasn't spoken to God in years, and she doesn't plan on visiting with Him now. Options: She can live a lonely life or she can have one man after another in her bedroom. Either option brings consequences.

Available now through Amazon
Print or eBook





Sunday, July 14, 2019

Free Love in 1975





Dallas, Texas, 1975. A dark time in history but also a time of change. President Kennedy had been assassinated twelve years earlier. Although civil rights were revolutionizing, Dallas schools weren’t integrated until 1971.
Rebecca Davis, a nurse, has suffered racial bigotry, and due to it, she hasn’t seen family in fifteen years. They hid secrets from her, and she won’t forgive them. Ever.
A drunk man killed Marshall Donavan’s wife and baby. Marshall, a minister, can’t forgive the drunk and feels like a hypocrite to his church for preaching forgiveness.
Sam Bradford, former druggie, has forgiven himself for his foolish Woodstock behavior. He and his five-year-old daughter, KC, love Rebecca, and Rebecca loves KC—the daughter she can’t have.  Due to her secrets, Rebecca vowed to never marry.
Marshall develops a friendship with the reluctant Rebecca. Rebecca tells both Marshall and Sam that friendship is all she can offer.
Sam, unaware of Rebecca’s friendship with Marshall, is shocked to find him and Rebecca in the hospital cafeteria. The chemistry is obvious. Conflict arises and Rebecca finds herself caught in an emotional tug-o-war between the two men.
Is it possible to love two men at once? Rebecca is distraught, but regardless, she can’t marry. The only solution? Move away.
Desperate not to lose her, Marshall convinces her to reveal to Sam and him the skeletons in her past.
Rebecca was engaged fifteen years earlier. When her fiancĂ©’s father discovered Rebecca’s Cherokee, Indian blood, he grew angry. The aristocratic, narrow-minded, father determined Rebecca not good enough for his son. To prove her unworthy, he hired detectives to unravel family history and revealed the detective’s report hours before the wedding ceremony. Her parents were not who she thought they were. Her fiancĂ© abandoned her.
            After her disclosure, Marshall and Sam assure Rebecca they don’t care about her DNA, but she believes marriage legally impossible due to laws preventing marriage between cultures. Marshall informs her the Supreme Court had overturned such laws in June, 1967. Even though pockets of racial hatred existed in Dallas and other places, the views of inter-racial marriage were changing. Legally, she was free to choose one of them to marry—but her heart is bound to both. She loves them both but in different ways, and what happens to KC if she chooses Marshall?
Which man should she choose? Only God can bring about a solution to her dilemma.




Saturday, July 13, 2019

Tell All Book




She covered up what he uncovered 



After she discovered the awful secrets, she vowed to never let anyone else know about them. At all costs to her, she'd never tell.

No one would experience racial bigotry at her expense. Never again. Secrets hurt.

A book of redemption and forgiveness.

Available in eBook or Print.

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Cooking Is Not A Good Idea



I set the smoke alarm off again.  No, thank goodness, I didn't cause a fire, just smoke.

Cooking is not my natural talent.

Hubby eats a lot of burnt offerings.  So much for the steak. It was too burnt to eat.



When the smoke cleared, I opened up a can of greens, added bacon, and baked cornbread from a mix.

It was quite good and tasty. My Alabama mom used to cook greens from scratch. Canned greens work for me.

I have a new book coming out on Friday. It's not a cookbook. I know, you're surprised, right? You thought I'd bring you tried and true recipes from my kitchen.

Look for Family Secrets on Amazon tomorrow. Rebecca, the heroine, knows how to cook. Alabama style. She learned nothing from me.




Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Yoga Now or Yoga Later?




I tried this pose the other day.

And I'll never do it again.

The head injury wasn't worth it.

Sunday, July 7, 2019

Do You Have Secrets? I Do.




FAMILY SECRETS
coming July 12, 2019

Two men vie for Rebecca's love.  Marshall discovers Rebecca as she grieves in a public place.   Her charm draws him with magnetic force.  Sam and his precocious daughter gain her admiration when they meet her in the apartment complex, but Rebecca's secrets prohibit her from relationships. Her past mortifies her.  No man would wants her if she revealed her hidden mysteries.  In her panic, she rushes to escape both men, but what of the sweet child?  Her desire pulls her one way, and secrets tug another.

FAMILY SECRETS, set in Texas, year 1975 is a faith-based, historical, romance. What are the secrets?  Which man will win her hand?  Is it possible for Rebecca to forgive and reunite with her estranged family?  Is Marshall capable of forgiving the intoxicated man who killed his wife and baby?  Will Sam forgive himself for drug abuse and find someone to mother his child?






Here's an excerpt. Rebecca has managed to keep Sam from knowing about Marshall, but Sam shows up unexpectedly and finds Rebecca with Marshall.


***

She stormed from the dining room before either man could get to his feet.
Marshall widened his eyes as Rebecca spun off. He turned to Sam. "That went well."
Sam grinned. "We deserved it."
Marshall nodded. "Have you ever been told off in such a charming fashion?"
Sam shook his head. "Nope, have you?"
"I can't say I have." Marshall guffawed. 
Sam joined him.



My latest book, Family Secrets, is one of my favorites!  I've written over a dozen books, but this one has my heart. Do I say that about all of them?  Maybe, but I really do like this one. Like Rebecca, I'm in love with Marshall and Sam. And KC, the sweet, funny child? How could I now love her?

Family Secrets will be available on Amazon July 12. Please buy, read, and review. I hope you enjoy my characters as much as I do.

Wednesday, July 3, 2019

America: A Young country with Growing Pains


July 4, 1776
America Declares Independence.

July 4, 2019
America is 243 years old.




The week of June 6, 2019. 
Pictured above, President Trump in England as he views one of the documents sent to King George III from the colonists.

I'm a patriot.

I make no apologies for loving this country.

I'm a Christian.

I make no apologies for that, either.

I heard on the news this morning that patriotism is at an all-time low in America. How sad.

Why is this? Citizens born in other countries show a sense of pride of their country, even those who come to America continue to love their native land. We currently have people elected to Congress who were born in other countries, and they condemn America. I suppose they wish the good ole US of A to be more like the land they left.

If it was so wonderful, why did they leave it?

What's wrong with loving America?

Sure. We have problems. Arguments. 
Political hatred. Racial issues.

But you don't see people leaving this great land.

Celebrities promised they'd leave if their candidate lost the presidential election, but they're still here.

At 243 years, we're still a young nation.

How will we grow up?

What changes will take place?


Well, here we are, forty-three years later. Now we can look back and remember events.  Most of us can recall where we were when these events happened. The young who don't know about them should look them up.

Vietnam.
Oil spills.
Iran released 52 hostages.
Race riots.
Space shuttle Challenger explosion, killing all on board.
World Trade Center bombed.
Iran-Iraq Wars
9-11.
First black president elected, Barack Obama.
Congress passed the Affordable Care Act.
First non-politician elected, Donald Trump.

Incidents that shaped history. Some of these occasions affected each of us, other times we had private game-changers. What personal events shaped your life? Do you have family secrets? Will they interfere with your future?

Family Secrets, my latest book, comes out in two weeks. It's set in 1975 in Dallas, Texas. I was a big Dallas Cowboy fan back in that day, and I included a bit about the bi-centennial celebrations in the book. Marshall and Rebecca, two characters in the story wonder what the next forty years will bring to them.

 Family Secrets, due out in July.

"Shhhh. Don't tell."


Here's an excerpt.


Since we're celebrating Ameria's birthday, I'm choosing a portion where the 1976 theme is discussed. 

"Two-hundred Years, and Just a Baby."



Rebecca had missed seeing the game due to her schedule, and Marshall hadn’t seen much of it because of the evening church service. They’d both had read accounts in the newspaper and heard from others who had seen the game. Eight days had passed since the match between the two popular teams, and the citizens of Dallas continued to analyze their 21 to 17 loss to Pittsburgh. Marshall grew animated when he talked about the four passes Lynn Swann had caught during the competition. He shrugged in disbelief. “Imagine! Four passes for a total of 161 yards in one game! It’s a record! I hear he made a diving catch that was spectacular! And he wasn’t even supposed to play. We all thought he would be eliminated from the game because he was recovering from a concussion, and the guy won the most valuable player award! Unbelievable! The man has unusual determination and ability. He’s an artist with a football. I wish he played for our side.”

Rebecca nodded. “I heard about it at the hospital. Staubach played an outstanding game, but he got sacked seven times, and yet he still managed to complete 15 out of 24 passes.

“I thought it fitting for each player to wear a bi-centennial patch on their jersey, and I considered the half-time tribute to America’s two hundredth birthday appropriate. I was proud of the half-time performances. The program’s tribute was profound: ‘Two Hundred Years, and Just a Baby.’ It is hard to believe our country is only two hundred years old and we have accomplished so much as a nation.”

Marshall's eyes grew large with awe. “God has truly blessed America in a short period of time. I doubt America would’ve received this large measure of God’s grace if our forefathers had not placed so much importance on God and His precepts.”




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