Thursday, January 29, 2015

Ian's Image now available!

Ian's Image, the 5th book in my Bone Cold--Alive series is now available for Kindle. I'll have it up on Nook and for purchase as a print edition via CreateSpace in a few days.

The back cover:

"He should have been a concert violinist...

Ian Murray shucks the McMurray name the night he leaves Portland, Maine, and his family. His dreams weren't theirs. He may return periodically, but they never acknowledge what he's become, a top musician in the top rock band. He may have made a fortune, but money can't buy the one thing he longs for.

She was never his equal…

Bostonian cellist Phillipa Gray envied Johnny McMurray his talent on the violin, the way his music teased her on her summer trips to her grandmother's. Their families drove them apart once, but when she hears the sweetness of his strings again, the years fall away.

Life isn't fair and sometimes the time isn't right. Can they look beyond Ian's image, not to the way it once was but the way it should have been all along?"

Ian, aka Johnny McMurray, and Phillipa,aka The Princess Next Door, have a rocky past. They're drawn together like bees and honey but neither his family nor hers thinks the other is worthy. But when circumstances bring them back together one summer night it's all they can do to stay away from each other--and then it's all they can do to stay together.

Monday, January 19, 2015

The sick bed

When I was little, I was sick quite a bit. And if it wasn't me, it was my sister. This was before the vaccinations for measles and chicken pox and whatever else. So I had all the measles varieties and scarlet fever and earaches galore. And with every ailment, our sickbed wasn't our bed. It was the living room sofa.

Was it because that's the room with the black and white TV, something to be turned on so our little minds could zone out? So Mother could be in the kitchen and still hear us? So the doctor who was making the house call (oh, yes, he did) had to only walk a few steps into the house and his patient was there?

I don't know the reason, but I do know we continue the practice. Once ailing, your bed becomes the den couch. There's a straight shot view of same from the kitchen and while there are other TVs in the house, this is the biggest. As to the house calls, well, that has fallen by the wayside.

I bring this up because I've spent my day on the couch in the den. The TV has been off but I have a straight shot view of the empty kitchen and a cat to ease my ills. I guess there are still doctors who make house calls, they just live there, have four legs, and provide (if they're in the mood), the proper care and comfort.



Wednesday, January 07, 2015

The Change-able Habit

Most days, days without gale force winds and precipitation, I walk in the local park where there is a one-mile path. I've been doing this for nearly two years thanks to a friend who couldn't believe I would exercise on a treadmill when there was the great outdoors. It didn't take much to convince me that out was better than in, that two miles amid Nature was better than two miles with the TV. Besides, I used to walk outdoors all the time, but a spell of bad weather and a convenient treadmill had driven me indoors and indoors I had stayed. I'd changed the habit once, I could change it again.

Like any activity done with regularity, we would see the same people at the same time each day. Invariably, we'd speak, perhaps just a friendly 'good morning,' and then only the first time, whether meeting them going the other way or passing by. If someone wasn't there, we'd wonder and if they were gone several days in a row, query them about their vacation or ask after their health the next time we saw them. It didn't matter if we didn't know their name.

So it was with a woman who walked alone. Most of the time, she would already be on the path when we arrived. We knew her car, knew she was there. Sometimes, she'd run a little late, or we a little early, and we'd catch up or pass or meet. And we'd speak. She wouldn't unless spoken to first! It became a bit of a game, to say 'hello' or 'good morning' and then she'd have to answer back to be friendly.

But then, this fall, she disappeared. Was she coming later, I wondered? It couldn't be earlier because it was very dark earlier. Was she all right? Had something happened? The mystery deepened. I didn't see her or her car at Walmart or anywhere around town. Not that I had before, but if she'd changed one habit, perhaps she'd changed others. We thought her a bit older, so could she have become ill? We were worrying about someone we didn't know.

I mentioned this to the friend who had reintroduced me to outdoor walking. She had changed to a different route, one more convenient to her home. She smiled broadly: "our woman" was walking in her neighborhood now. And… best of all? She always said 'hello' first!

Guess we'd all changed a habit.

Friday, January 02, 2015

A New Year--A New Book Arrives!

Yesterday I successfully loaded Ron's Run, the fourth book in my Bone Cold--Alive series, to Amazon Kindle. I'll do a CreateSpace file as soon as the cover artist tweaks the spine of the print pdf.

The back cover copy:

"Guilt drives him away…

Drummer Ron Gregory isn't responsible for the tragedy which encompasses his family when he's a teen, but they make him feel like he is. He runs away… to New Orleans, to gambling, to a life of irresponsibility. It's a sorry combination, easy living and bad luck. Now he's broke, in danger, and hiding at band manager Levi Fletcher's Texas cabin.

She shouldn't feel guilty…

British fashion photographer Bettina Montgomery is shocked to learn that her biological father is Levi Fletcher. Temptation may drive her to his cabin, but her quick reflexes give her the photo of a lifetime: a nude Ron Gregory! She won't give it up until he straightens out his life, even if that means risking her heart all across Texas.

Which will be surrendered first: the photo, her secret, or the end of Ron's Run?"

This book can stand alone in the series. I mention the other characters, and of course if you've read the first three you'll have ALL the background, but I think this one works well on its own.

Take a look! Here's the cover: