tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91116965019691261892024-03-14T03:01:25.671-06:00Aileen HarkwoodAileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.comBlogger75125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-67881264582372844052017-02-19T08:00:00.000-07:002017-02-19T08:00:11.873-07:00Enter to Win $760 in Amazon Giftcards! - Cool Giveaway for Romance Readers<div style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.714285714; margin-bottom: 1.714285714rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Join me and 38 other writers who have joined together to offer a whopping $760 in gift cards! </em></span><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">One simple entry will give you one chance to win. Check out the bonus entries for additional chances!</span></em></span></h3>
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<span style="border: 0px; color: #6fa8dc; font-size: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Participating Authors:</em></span></h1>
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<span style="color: white;">Taige Crenshaw | McKenna Jeffries | Amy L Gale | Liz Gavin | Sarah J. Stone </span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Pablo Michaels | Anna Paige | Laxmi Hariharan | Eden Ashe | Jennifer Locklear </span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Anne Stone | Kelli McCracken | Colleen Charles | Kelly Moore | A K Michaels </span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Ann Omasta | Talina Perkins | Aliyah Burke | M.M. Chabot | Kelly Collins </span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Lola Jamieson | Tracy Ellen | Jade C. Jamison | Normandie Alleman </span><br />
<span style="color: white;">L.A. Remenicky | Kaiden Klein | Piper Rayne | Elisabeth Grace </span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Ysa Arcangel | Saskia Walker | Bethany Lopez | J.K. Harper | Em Petrova </span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Eva Winters | Monica Corwin | Charlotte Casey | Lena Bourne </span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Heather C. Myers | Aileen Harkwood</span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-99af03b1-4a15-5d74-eb52-cf1ce85043cb"><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 13pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><i style="background-color: black;">Enter here: <a href="http://steamybookbargains.com/index.php/spread-the-love-giveaway/">http://steamybookbargains.com/index.php/spread-the-love-giveaway/</a></i></span></span></span></h2>
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Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-2241047836206875232017-02-11T09:45:00.003-07:002017-02-16T22:27:12.419-07:0090 Authors, 90 Prizes! Valentine's Hop February 11-13<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZH2qvP_EwUIuv4a_Tn9HaUbZu-4XVYbL63gKTs-S_-YoIQuK1TxjAvZgQZgib4PzncW7jC0xNYJCXfq8__q-MFR_wouXKQxnBpsAAhbrH7nE4p5jKi1P-Gf9Skju__8zmFF8l03Ro-Ok/s1600/Valentine%2527s+Day+Hop.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZH2qvP_EwUIuv4a_Tn9HaUbZu-4XVYbL63gKTs-S_-YoIQuK1TxjAvZgQZgib4PzncW7jC0xNYJCXfq8__q-MFR_wouXKQxnBpsAAhbrH7nE4p5jKi1P-Gf9Skju__8zmFF8l03Ro-Ok/s320/Valentine%2527s+Day+Hop.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Join me for a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AileenHarkwoodAuthor/" target="_blank">Valentine's Hop on Facebook!</a> With tons of prizes from over 90 authors and bloggers, including Amazon gift cards, it’s a great way to spend your Valentine’s Day Weekend! Starts at 12 pm EST on February 11 and ends at 12 pm EST on February 13.<br />
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As part of the hop, I'll be giving away a stunning pair of modernist pink shell and sterling silver earrings. <b>UPDATE: Congrats to Beverly G. who one these lovely earrings at my stop on the hop!!</b><br />
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Don’t miss out! Visit one, or all to participate. Easy entries.Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-33814371432425853532017-01-27T09:52:00.000-07:002017-02-11T09:53:03.994-07:00FREE NA Paranormal Anthology with Rebecca Hamilton...and Me!Super thrilled to have my new novella, <i>Splintered Magic</i>, appear in Rebecca Hamilton's anthology of short fiction, <i>Not Just Voodoo</i>. My story joins one from Rebecca and a dozen other authors (503 pages) who have gotten together to celebrate Rebecca's upcoming release <i>Something Like Voodoo</i>.<br />
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<i>Splintered Magic</i> is my first foray into writing New Adult Paranormal and I can't tell you...How. Much. Fun it was. Why haven't I tried this genre before? Anyway, get your copy now. It's totally free and totally rocks, especially Rebecca's <i>Leave Like Magic</i>.<br />
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Available at Amazon, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and more. <a href="https://books2read.com/u/3RByVL" target="_blank">Get your copy now!</a><br />
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Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-43735870909546207882017-01-23T14:15:00.000-07:002017-01-23T14:15:19.543-07:00FREE SWAG - Hunks to the Rescue Box Set Calendar<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw5l7AaJJCfhusyhqfxhyPk6v3kEpjw_MX1PU3ngb9obREEipMsajyf1odxGtprK1NKM0QaDtWLXiF2W3MWyQ1PtLAJj1CUjqSqWqVaVkjdMkv5pyDvkpTiPsZIN3lvCelwGKYDHs-7p0/s1600/Hunks1-Up.FebTeaser.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw5l7AaJJCfhusyhqfxhyPk6v3kEpjw_MX1PU3ngb9obREEipMsajyf1odxGtprK1NKM0QaDtWLXiF2W3MWyQ1PtLAJj1CUjqSqWqVaVkjdMkv5pyDvkpTiPsZIN3lvCelwGKYDHs-7p0/s320/Hunks1-Up.FebTeaser.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I have exciting news. My novella, UNREACHABLE HEART, will be part of an upcoming box set, HUNKS TO THE RESCUE, available for pre-order on March 8. Unreachable Heart features Eckhardt “Hart” Renker, a mountain rescue pro who helicopters in and rescues plane crash victims high in the Sierra Nevadas of California.<br />
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To accompany the box set, the authors of Hunks to the Rescue have created a 15-month calendar, similar to a firefighters calendar with 15 super hot hunks to steam up your months one-by-one. Downloadable and printable on a regular home printer, the full calendar will be released the same day HUNKS is available for pre-order. Absolutely no purchase is necessary to get the calendar. It’s a gift to you from the authors.<br />
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As a teaser, here's the <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BypVDD9Kui_GMnExeUJ0dzg4bFU" target="_blank">February hunk</a> from the calendar, ready for you to download and print out now.Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-26784420037546501502016-11-29T12:16:00.003-07:002016-11-29T12:16:37.619-07:00Christmas Giveaway! Celebrating The Christmas Spell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUakk4p8rwxSssieHVR8ovBBO6zyDvxi4oWr3hKYfvAD-wbpXo1UeASrrNIRj1Di1DqoC7JDitqpE2dN0FD42r_-mC0BokMGMVcf3l8PMBOjeS8rUj-67uKwrtin9jAt5BAQNmpfhNHmM/s1600/crystal_sterling_silver_necklace_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUakk4p8rwxSssieHVR8ovBBO6zyDvxi4oWr3hKYfvAD-wbpXo1UeASrrNIRj1Di1DqoC7JDitqpE2dN0FD42r_-mC0BokMGMVcf3l8PMBOjeS8rUj-67uKwrtin9jAt5BAQNmpfhNHmM/s320/crystal_sterling_silver_necklace_1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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To celebrate the release of the third book in my Breens Mist Witches series, I'm giving away this stunning ice crystal and sterling silver multistrand necklace. Retail is $159. Enter the rafflecopter below for your chance to win, and don't forget to check out <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Spell-Breens-Mist-Witches-ebook/dp/B01MQOGY8R/ref=la_B006T2PQBG_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1480446310&sr=1-10" target="_blank">The Christmas Spell</a> on Amazon. It's just 99 cents for a limited time.<br />
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<a class="rcptr" data-raflid="3ab15db26" data-template="" data-theme="classic" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/3ab15db26/" id="rcwidget_imfdqgdj" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a> <script src="https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js"></script>
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<br />Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-4775428225270879482016-11-29T12:10:00.002-07:002016-11-29T12:10:21.486-07:00New Release - The Christmas Spell - 3rd Breens Mist Witches Book<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Spell-Breens-Mist-Witches-ebook/dp/B01MQOGY8R/ref=la_B006T2PQBG_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1480446310&sr=1-10" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_iWAQcOTIBSGA3y0m0msXsJcdBFyrsqzgMKGK5YSJLGya5cS9c0Ybto2Y7a6CldX6gRODeniDivkYXbRWVz5eMjoSZM8QjXl7EBpu4vp7uUXR1W7GlrAIi31lISfK58jkIroOblKqM4/s320/TheChristmasSpell.1000x1600.jpg" title="" width="200" /></a></div>
So thrilled to announce the third book in my Breens Mist Witches series is now available. <a href="http://amzn.to/2g2xj2q" target="_blank">The Christmas Spell</a> features Chloe Ballard, the healer witch from <a class="" href="http://amzn.to/2ez8AVg" target="_blank">Spell Touched</a>.<br />
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<i><b>Sometimes forgiveness is the most powerful gift of all...</b></i><br />
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Breens Mist witch, Chloe Ballard, has a Christmas Eve tradition. Leave her little cottage in the woods and head into town to find a man to keep her warm that night, the loneliness at bay. What she doesn't expect when she encounters Thaddeus Cole, standing in the display window of a storefront from the Victorian Era, is to confront a past that ripped her life apart 130 years before on the Oregon frontier.<br />
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Part-contemporary, part-historical, The Christmas Spell weaves a story of seduction, danger, and magical healing from a grief too long put aside.<br />
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Length: 40K words (160 pages)<br />
Heat level: spicy<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Spell-Breens-Mist-Witches-ebook/dp/B01MQOGY8R/ref=la_B006T2PQBG_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1480446310&sr=1-10" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-1Uohfc0FU23JklddbMIDFs9ZeRNUDaSrllKpbmAA8KlPTqcDduweTASm6xLfTGs9Ovu8aGVqCCic8nZXHk8sV5b9hm3POyhUIXBdJ-nONR7TvM11ahc8uyNKuJxm_1i6yoPQYeMyMdw/s1600/AmazonBuyButton.gif" /></a><span id="goog_1325406656"></span><span id="goog_1325406657"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div>
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<br />Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-18687731342856841542016-10-27T10:01:00.003-06:002016-10-27T10:01:39.991-06:00October 27 Giveaway! Visit Me at The Fall Festival of Books <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Sg4FgqC1F0MegOLEw72aWbEEq7qNshvIO28QU3M9hwTXTYhwQ0G0MTzYhRqKots-ibWWltxBjhopYLPWnKmhOVfSHUmNAlGTAdq0swk8k_rZOHPxFYPSES6q4OuRY04mUquWTRh4csM/s1600/marcasite_sterling_silver_pendant_leaves_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Sg4FgqC1F0MegOLEw72aWbEEq7qNshvIO28QU3M9hwTXTYhwQ0G0MTzYhRqKots-ibWWltxBjhopYLPWnKmhOVfSHUmNAlGTAdq0swk8k_rZOHPxFYPSES6q4OuRY04mUquWTRh4csM/s320/marcasite_sterling_silver_pendant_leaves_1.jpg" width="219" /></a></div>
Want a chance at winning this lovely marcasite and sterling pendant? Visit me later today, Thursday, October 27, at the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1598975417075050/" target="_blank">Fall Festival of Books Reader and Author Open House</a> on Facebook. The party runs from 3 pm to 8 pm EST. (Even if you miss me there, my giveaway will be open for 24 hours, so you'll have plenty of time to enter!)<br />
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I'll also have a link to a free book I'm giving away today only.<br />
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Hope you'll join me!Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-68936358595753971982016-08-26T09:53:00.000-06:002016-10-27T09:53:29.409-06:00Release Day! Spell Touched (Breens Mist Witches) <div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqlqw2235D5Mvqy9N4jvzBDKHGwQpYHA1OLLYhc-5fvpd_roGFZBFsrkmXYlfTpfw5dIVqRpPoddPv3t9g2ekSABKEgxgDg2BNwKQ0Vdzn7YA8MVFLhG7XzWn3qHhLvjQjfeqF9zSkv7Y/s1600/AileenHarkwood.SpellTouchedMedium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqlqw2235D5Mvqy9N4jvzBDKHGwQpYHA1OLLYhc-5fvpd_roGFZBFsrkmXYlfTpfw5dIVqRpPoddPv3t9g2ekSABKEgxgDg2BNwKQ0Vdzn7YA8MVFLhG7XzWn3qHhLvjQjfeqF9zSkv7Y/s320/AileenHarkwood.SpellTouchedMedium.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
<i>Would you dare to fall in love, if you knew you’d be dead by midnight...? </i></div>
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I'm thrilled to announce that SPELL TOUCHED, the second title in my Breens Mist Witches series, is now available on Amazon, and is also free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. It's been a long time coming and I'm in love with the world of Breens Mist, so expect plenty more in the series.<br />
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Here's the blurb: </div>
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Gisela Marton doesn’t know what to make of the mysterious gift left on her doorstep, with its strange card that reads, Happy Death Day, Gisela! Everywhere she goes people she’s never seen before in the small town of Breens Mist, Oregon, wish her the same. Is this a tasteless joke meant to terrify, or a genuine threat?</div>
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Maddeningly calm, with a seductive grin that makes her hope this isn’t her last day on Earth, Sean MacLenna appears out of nowhere at the restaurant where she works to confirm the worst. She is going to die. At midnight. What Gisela and the other humans in town don’t know is they share it with a hidden society of witches, one that has protected the community for two hundred years. Every spell of protection woven comes with a price, however. In Gisela’s case that price is to sacrifice her life for the good of the town, and Sean, one of Breens Mist’s warlocks, is willing to risk everything to prevent that from happening.</div>
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<a href="http://amzn.to/2ez8AVg" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-1Uohfc0FU23JklddbMIDFs9ZeRNUDaSrllKpbmAA8KlPTqcDduweTASm6xLfTGs9Ovu8aGVqCCic8nZXHk8sV5b9hm3POyhUIXBdJ-nONR7TvM11ahc8uyNKuJxm_1i6yoPQYeMyMdw/s1600/AmazonBuyButton.gif" /></a></div>
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Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-30105257478892464292015-08-27T17:25:00.001-06:002015-08-27T17:26:13.891-06:00Release Day for I LOOKED AWAY<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://amzn.to/1JmqEak" target="_blank"><img alt="Cover and excerpt graphic for I Looked Away, a romantic women's suspense story" border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLn70_NH9fSbATGFXehKgVx045uy11Z12T8MtexDcUS6PT5hW1x7_LYL_BZJvno7wcIuDLJXiGDIwXEzk-aQdyVjZc_U_ospGxh1e3NYfWJ5AeVfB47fqYfiGN8oT9RyLa4f9ffAYPO7w/s400/Ilookedaway.jpg" title="I Looked Away " width="400" /></a><span id="goog_474937765"></span><span id="goog_474937766"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div>
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Congrats to my fellow Written Fireside authors on the release of <i><a href="http://amzn.to/1JmqEak" target="_blank">I Looked Away</a></i>, a heartpounding romantic suspense novella written jointly by Lori Connelly, Elsa Winckler, Elise Forier Edie, Patricia Sands, Eve Devon, Bella Osborne, Kari Lemor, Jennifer Faye, Mandy Baggot, Jane Lark and me! I'm Part 3. Only 99 cents. If you're a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you can get it for free!Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-44057599751853255912015-08-26T11:49:00.002-06:002015-08-26T11:49:39.709-06:00What's Your Favorite Piece of Music to Use When Writing?Writers get asked a lot, do you listen to music when you write? If so, do you use it to inspire your writing? Answering this question today, among others, in an interview on Leslie Ann Sartor's <a href="http://anindieadventure.blogspot.com/2015/08/take-five-and-meet-author-aileen.html" target="_blank">My Story, My Way ~ An Indie Adventure</a> blog.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDUAMrfZGPhBORAoA-GTWnbTB7oh0Q9fzvxu2NGgegno2punk37mv_2EVUg7RYM0UK_Y2djmwp9z1YWizerwPU-CeFngrpacWdPZ_HASJDgycl0TpTxz9kx5_yjNlttFjejQnHrLw9rII/s1600/LeslieAnnSartor.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="71" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDUAMrfZGPhBORAoA-GTWnbTB7oh0Q9fzvxu2NGgegno2punk37mv_2EVUg7RYM0UK_Y2djmwp9z1YWizerwPU-CeFngrpacWdPZ_HASJDgycl0TpTxz9kx5_yjNlttFjejQnHrLw9rII/s400/LeslieAnnSartor.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Hint: Yes, I do use music, mostly movie soundtracks. Whenever I start writing a new book, scene, or story, I'll cruise through YouTube, hunting for the perfect "sound" to match my vision for what I'm writing. Today, I'm working on the rewrite/expansion of Spell Touched (Breens Mist Witches) and have been listening to Florence and the Machine's <i>Seven Devils</i>, one of the few times I choose a piece of music with vocals.<br />
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I also love Enya's music and have a tendency to choose those of her songs that others have found inspiration in, as well. I've never seen any of the Lord of the Rings movies, nor read Tolkein's novels (his writing style puts me off for some reason), but those are the ones I tend to pick, too, <i>Aniron</i> and <i>May It Be</i>, among them. Hard to think of an Enya song that doesn't have a romantic spirit to it.<br />
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So writers, do you listen to music when you write? If you do, what's your go-to "theme song" to wake your creative muse?Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-32287518581414218832015-08-18T03:33:00.002-06:002015-08-18T03:35:33.989-06:00Magical Weddings Now Available<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2fgYZEiMQ9429InHln7J1-a-nIh2jU4N0yu8EniMSibh_KVbHQeAaX5cK1OPNQVHItHoP9nwVNQs8Ojj2MK_wI8txiPFOhZibIndGmKC5-eIzORV3FQVvCfJ3VgbJ0GbMMhtTWtT4Tws/s1600/Harkwood.SexyHeroes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2fgYZEiMQ9429InHln7J1-a-nIh2jU4N0yu8EniMSibh_KVbHQeAaX5cK1OPNQVHItHoP9nwVNQs8Ojj2MK_wI8txiPFOhZibIndGmKC5-eIzORV3FQVvCfJ3VgbJ0GbMMhtTWtT4Tws/s400/Harkwood.SexyHeroes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Now available on Amazon, my novella, <i>The Last Wedding at Drayhome (Breens Mist Witches)</i> appears with 14 other fantastic wedding romances in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Magical-Weddings-15-Enchanting-Romances-ebook/dp/B00Y1PUA3W/ref=la_B006T2PQBG_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1432291480&sr=1-6" target="_blank">Magical Weddings</a>. So many talented authors in this set, which recently boosted many of us into the Top 100 Popular Paranormal Romance Authors rankings. (A super Woo-Hoo for that!) If you're a member of Kindle Unlimited, you'll be able to borrow the set through that program starting August 27th.Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-89836124476350647012015-03-02T23:31:00.000-07:002015-03-03T05:09:15.950-07:00Be Mine, Marshal ~ Part 5<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">It's time for another round robin short romance from the authors of Written Fireside! This time the group is taking on a Valentine's Day western set in 1871 in the fictional pioneer town of Cold Spring, Idaho. If you haven't been following <i>Be Mine, Marshal</i> so far, you can catch up easily via the links below:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><a href="http://writtenfireside.blogspot.com/2015/02/written-fireside-be-mine-marshal-cold_3.html" target="_blank">Part 1 by Lori Connelly</a></span><br />
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><a href="http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com/2015/02/be-mine-marshal-part-two-by-paty-jager.html" target="_blank">Part 2 by Paty Jager</a></span><br />
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/7889766-be-mine-marshall-part-3-by-julie-lence" target="_blank">Part 3 by Julie Lence</a></span><br />
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><a href="http://susanhorsnell.com/2015/02/23/be-mine-marshall-part-four-by-susan-horsnell/" target="_blank">Part 4 by Susan Horsnell</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">As a public service announcement, I should warn you I've never written a western before (and probably never will again, considering how hard it was). My apologies in advance to my fellow writers. Hope I haven't messed things up too badly for you with this attempt. ;)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">And now, picking up from Part 4 of <i>Be Mine, Marshal</i>...</span></div>
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“Her
name was Marigold,” Doc said. She struggled to recall the last name. “I can’t
quite…Fisher! Marigold Fisher. Tragic situation. Just tragic. Her folks were killed
by outlaws a while back.”</div>
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“Here?”
Fannie said, professing surprise. “In Cold Spring? When was this? I don’t
remember hearing about any killings.”</div>
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“They
didn’t live in Cold Spring proper,” Doc said. “Had a farmstead, oh, ‘bout eight
miles out, in the opposite direction from your granddad’s place, which is why
you probably didn’t hear of it.”</div>
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“What
happened?” Daniel asked.</div>
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“Well,
let me see if I can recall the exact–”</div>
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A
tiny howl interrupted Doc Hartworth from the basket Daniel had brought inside
and set at his feet. Once the first puppy started crying, all joined in,
whining loudly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ranger,
who had come indoors with him, nosed the squirming, whimpering bundles of fur
and then looked up at Daniel as if to say, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">aren’t
you going to do anything about this?</i></div>
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“When
was the last time your Sophie nursed her pups?” Doc asked.</div>
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“I
don’t know, exactly,” Fannie said. “So much has happened. It would have to be
before she was hurt, I think. Perhaps even before the fire?”</div>
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“I’d
say it’s about time then. Follow me,” Doc said. “Daniel? If you will?”</div>
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The
woman gestured at the puppies. Daniel answered his cue and hefted the basket to
carry it where Miss Laurel-Anne directed. </div>
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“I’ve
got Sophie laying on my Taffy’s bed next to the stove.”</div>
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“Doesn’t
Taffy mind that someone’s taken her bed?”</div>
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“She
would, if the old dear hadn’t passed on a month ago.”</div>
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“Oh!”
Fannie said. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. Please accept my condolences.”</div>
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If
Daniel thought it strange that Fannie treated Doc’s loss of a canine with the
same gravity she would family, he didn’t show it. In fact, his green eyes
softened in sympathy.</div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Perhaps he understands how much the loss of
companionship would devastate a woman of Doc’s age who has no husband or other relatives,
</i>Fannie thought.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Whatever
his reasons, the gentle expression with which he favored Doc Hartworth endeared
Fannie to him.</div>
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“Are
you sure Sophie can do it?” Fannie asked. “Injured and all like she is?”</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You
tell me how else these little ones are going to get fed,” Doc said.</div>
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“I
see your point.”</div>
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“Besides,”
Doc said, “Sophie has been agitated since we finished sewing her up. I haven’t
been able to get her to rest. She wants those pups.”</div>
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Sure
enough, Sophie fought to stand up when they entered the kitchen and she
recognized the first desperate whimper.</div>
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“You
stay put, darlin’,” Daniel said to Sophie, as he held the basket for Fannie, and
she reached in to retrieve the pups, placing them at her dog’s side, one by
one. </div>
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As soon as the first chubby little body latched onto a nipple and began to suckle,
Sophie quieted, now willing to take it easy on the late Taffy’s plush bed.</div>
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“Let’s
make us some coffee and let her play mama to her young ‘uns,” Doc said. “And
I’ll see what I can remember about the sad affair with Marigold’s parents.”</div>
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Taking water from a pail, the woman poured it into a coffee pot, and added coffee,
plus a couple of clean eggshells to settle the grounds. Then lifting up the stove
lid on the left side of her cook-top, she jabbed at the embers inside, prodding
them to life. She must have been in the midst of cooking supper when Fannie and
Daniel arrived because Fannie could feel the heat from where Doc had invited
her to sit at the table. It wasn’t long after the woman placed the pot on the
closed lid, that the coffee began to boil.</div>
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Doc
fell quiet at first. Her fingers gravitated to the place where she might
have once pinned a piece of jewelry to her shirtwaist. Fannie suspected she was
thinking about her mother’s missing broach.</div>
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“Doc?”
Daniel prompted her. “You were going to tell us about Marigold Fisher and her
family?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yes!
Right! Of course. Marigold.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At
once industrious, Doc set out three cups, one in front of each of them, poured
coffee all around and plated some biscuits to go with them. She set these and a
jam pot in the center of the table.</div>
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“The
parents were an ill-fated couple. The husband, Russell, had wealthy folks of
his own from somewhere back east. I don’t rightly recall where, but they were flush.
Annabelle, on the other hand, was dirt poor, the fourth, or maybe fifth daughter
of some hardscrabble farmers down in one of our southern counties. When
Russell’s family learned he wanted to marry Annabelle, they forbid it. Seems
they planned to marry him off to some fine society miss. He did it anyhow,
married Annabelle against their wishes. Russell’s father disowned him without a
nickel. Whatever he had when they murdered he and his sweet wife, he’d earned or
built himself, and I can tell you it wasn’t much. The children were always
dressed one step up from rags.”</div>
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“The
murders, ma'am?” Daniel shepherded Doc back to the main reason for the story. “Who was
responsible?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Doc
seemed reluctant to answer. Instead, she took a biscuit off the plate,
slathered it in jam and invited her guests to do the same. Fannie wasn’t
hungry, but took one to be polite. </div>
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“How
were they killed?” Fannie tried a different question from the marshal’s.</div>
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“Shot.
Point blank while driving into town with a load of apples on their buckboard,”
Doc said.</div>
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“Witnesses?”
Daniel said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Just
one. Marigold wasn’t with them, but her younger brother, Will, he was riding in
the back. I think he was about 8-years-old then. He was sleeping under a
blanket when his parents were stopped.”</div>
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“What
did he see?” Daniel asked.</div>
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“Nothing.
That was the problem,” Doc said. “He was too afraid to peep out from under the
blanket and hid the whole time. Whoever killed his ma and pa, they never saw
him and he didn’t see them. I don’t think he remembered much at all of what
happened. He couldn’t even say how many of them there were that
slaughtered his parents. When it was over and the poor little thing tried to
wake dead Russell and Annabelle and failed, he left their bodies and the
buckboard where they were and ran the rest of the way into town crying for
help.”</div>
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Doc
paused to pour more coffee. Fannie still hadn’t taken a bite of her biscuit.
Daniel frowned.</div>
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“Why
is this the first I’m hearing about this?” he asked. </div>
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“You
were in Cedar Camp,” Fannie stated the obvious. “Look at me. I live here and
didn’t even know about it.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yes,
but a crime like that, every lawman within a hundred miles should have gotten
the news,” Daniel said and then asked. “What was done to find the men
responsible? <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Did</i> they find them?”</div>
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He
half-expected to be told vigilante justice was served and the town had strung
up whichever party or parties they deemed guilty without a trial, but Doc
doused that fear right away.</div>
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“No
one was caught that I know of,” she said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Any
suspects?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Doc
shrugged. “None so I’ve heard.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Are
you telling me no one tried? No one even looked for the culprits?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Don’t
try to blame me,” Doc said. “I didn’t have any part of it.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No, ma'am. I
wasn’t,” Daniel said, barely holding onto his equanimity. </div>
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That
no one had even bothered to report the deaths—and that was the only conclusion
he could draw given what he’d just heard—was not just callous, it bordered on
irresponsible. The law should have been made aware at once that two, possibly
three, dangerous criminals were on the loose in the area. Vandalism toward
local merchants and tipping over outhouses was one thing, mischief at most, but
cold-blooded murder was a whole other matter.</div>
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“What
happened to the two children?” Fannie asked. Being a teacher and dealing with
young souls during the day, the fate of these two concerned her most. “Marigold
and Will?” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Seems
to me she had two brothers,” Doc said. “Not just Will. Another one older than her, but not by much, not grown. What was his name?” She tapped her temple repeatedly,
as if that could dislodge the memory. “Lester! That’s right. He would be
somewhere between hay and grass by now, maybe sixteen-years-old? Sort of a
rebel. His ma and pa, God rest their souls, didn’t discipline him enough, if
you ask me.”</div>
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“Three
then?” Daniel said, with emphasis. “And the girl, Marigold, has emerald green
eyes?”</div>
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“That’s
right,” Doc said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“But
you didn’t tell us, Doc,” Fannie said. “What happened to them, the children?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For
the first time since she’d begun her tale, Doc appeared troubled.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You
know, I’m not sure. I assume a relative took them in. Someone from
Annabelle’s side of the family.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“But
you don’t know that for certain,” Daniel said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Who
would know?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Doc
shrugged and shook her head.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Conversation
around the table went cold, while Daniel worked through the puzzle in his mind,
and Fannie started to wonder about something else.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What
I want to know is why burn my granddad’s barn?” Fannie asked. “And why take a
knife to Sophie?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The
barn I can’t give you an answer for yet,” Daniel said. “As far as Sophie goes,
she was probably what they call in the lawyering trade <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">collateral damage</i>.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I
don’t like you referring to my dog as damaged,” Fannie said, offended.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What
I mean,” Daniel said. “Is that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
You said she liked to sleep in the barn. When whoever was there set it ablaze,
her first instinct would have been–”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“–to
protect her pups,” Doc finished his sentence before he could.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Exactly,”
Daniel said. “She probably started to raise a ruckus, the perpetrators didn’t
want anyone to hear, and they tried to silence her, hence the slash across the
throat.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’m
going to kill them,” Fannie said. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No,
you’re not,” Daniel said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Says
who? I have a rifle and I know how to use it.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You
leave the law keeping to me.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fannie
pointedly ignored his edict and changed the subject. “I don’t know how to pay
you for what you’ve done for Sophie,” she told Doc.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Easy,”
Doc said and looked over her shoulder at the charming tableau in the corner
next to the stove. Sophie curled around her six offspring on Taffy’s bed, each
puppy suckling from one of her teats, while Ranger lay on the floor in front of
them, alert and on guard. “You see that roly-poly girl with one black ear? When
she’s ready to let go of her mama, you give her to me. We’ll be even.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Done,”
Fanny said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“And
Marshal, you bring me my mother’s broach.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I
promise I’ll try my best to find it and return it to you.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Don’t
try,” Doc said. “Do it. I want–”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gunfire
outside on the street cut her off. Three shots came in quick succession,
followed by unintelligible shouts and a woman’s scream.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What
the–” Fannie began.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">That's it for Part 5. To continue the story with Part 6, click over to <a href="http://ajnuest.com/" target="_blank">A.J. Nuest's website</a> on March 10!</span></div>
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Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-36131338017439082562014-11-17T23:58:00.005-07:002015-01-18T13:05:32.296-07:00I Looked Away ~ Part 3 <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucuZ9hdS9CYtUMqfPdLnkpGC_pHAVx-TguK58f6YzpCfe2UKt4_gSLKDPl4w5dQ7MVtZ7Y4Bh7KF7RDJdkP2hYqi62KgrRZ1K49331TMqVtpziDmCqy0pOvxPeAn23RHcu5UXLxty0oY/s1600/LookedAway12.10.14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucuZ9hdS9CYtUMqfPdLnkpGC_pHAVx-TguK58f6YzpCfe2UKt4_gSLKDPl4w5dQ7MVtZ7Y4Bh7KF7RDJdkP2hYqi62KgrRZ1K49331TMqVtpziDmCqy0pOvxPeAn23RHcu5UXLxty0oY/s1600/LookedAway12.10.14.jpg" height="320" width="188" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Lori Connelly, the creator of <a href="http://writtenfireside.blogspot.com/">Written Fireside</a>, which puts out several fantastic free reads per year, has given those of us in the group an incredible challenge with our first ever story in the women's fiction category. </span><br />
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Lori started us off with <a href="http://writtenfireside.blogspot.com/2014/11/written-fireside-i-looked-away-part-1.html">Part 1</a>, centered around a frantic mother and her missing child.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">Elsa Winckler continued the story with <a href="http://elsawinckler.com/written-fireside-i-looked-away/">Part 2</a>, adding to the drama. Here is my contribution, Part 3 of <i>I Looked Away</i>, a story in eleven parts by the writers of Written Fireside...</span><br />
<br />
<br />
Like a rock the size of a boulder landing in Garrett’s stomach, the other ranger’s mention of little Noah Tucker made his gut clench. He didn’t want to be reminded of last year’s failure. His failure.<br />
<br />
<i>Not again. I’m not losing another. Damn. Why can’t parents do their jobs? Don’t they even care these days?</i><br />
<br />
“I left her sitting at the picnic table over there,” the mother, Madeline Buell said, and pointed down the path.<br />
<br />
“And why did you do that?”<br />
<br />
“Like I told your colleague, Judy, I went back to fetch our jackets because of the rain.”<br />
<br />
“Leaving her sitting alone over there.”<br />
<br />
“She wanted to watch the ducks. She could see them from there.”<br />
<br />
“At what time did you lose track of her?”<br />
<br />
Madeline Buell frowned at him. It wasn’t the frown of an uncertain person trying to recall details. It was the frown of someone offended by his question and tone.<br />
<br />
“The time,” she said. “You’re expecting me to have thought to check the time at the precise moment I noticed Megan gone? I was busy…<i>looking</i>.” <br />
<br />
Her focus left him. He watched her gaze jump from spot to spot in the distance past his shoulder, never resting on any one thing. Garrett couldn’t read her. Was this the behavior of a young mother who was worried sick? Or did she have something to hide? <br />
<br />
“I don’t know what time it was,” she said.<br />
<br />
With those words, a near echo to those another woman had uttered, he was instantly thrown back to last summer.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>“How long has Noah been gone, ma’am?” Garrett stood in the open doorway of the Tucker’s RV. </i><br />
<br />
<i>It was a little after 11am on July 5th, a Monday. The Tuckers had rolled in on Friday evening, the 2nd, for the three-day holiday. According to park reservations, they were scheduled for departure that afternoon.<br /><br />Natalie Tucker, Noah’s mother, had wedged herself up into one corner of the camper’s dinette. She was slender, in her late twenties. Her upper body hunched over into itself, while her legs stretched out across the dinette’s bench seat, crossed casually at the ankles. Going by her eyebrows, he guessed her to be a dishwater blonde, but black was her current color choice, the dull black of shoe polish in a tin. Stiff and brittle from over-processing, it had a life of its own. Red rimmed her eyes. They weren’t puffy from tears, just red. She wasn’t crying. She didn’t sound too upset. She didn’t sound much of anything.<br /><br />“I don’t know what time it was when I saw him,” Natalie said. She didn’t look up at Garret, but instead picked at a hangnail, raising her thumb to her mouth to chew at it with her teeth. “Jordan?”<br /><br />Jordan Tucker, the boy’s father, sat across from his wife at the dinette. Forearms resting leadenly on the tabletop, he looked ready to keel over in a face plant. “What?” he asked.<br /><br />“He wants to know when we saw Noah last,” Natalie said.<br /><br />Jordan was slow to respond and when he did, Garrett could see he had trouble formulating his answer. The man reached for it, but his recollections of the previous hours weren’t coming. “Next to the campfire? I don’t know. Maybe one o’clock? One-thirty?”<br /><br />“One-thirty yesterday afternoon?” Garret said. He barely succeeded in clamping down on the incredulity he felt, preventing it from leaking into his voice. They hadn’t seen their child in close to 24 hours and were just now coming forward?<br /><br />“One-thirty in the morning,” Jordan said absently, and then shook his head “No. Couldn’t have been that late.”<br /><br />“No,” Natalie said. “Sometime around dinner I think?” The way she said dinner, it sounded like a guess, not about when she’d last noticed her son’s presence, but whether or not there had been dinner. “He was sitting by the fire, playing with it with a stick. I remember I….I looked away…at…at…” She shrugged. “It was just a minute, I think, and then I don’t remember what we did after that.” Her voice rose toward the end of her statement, making the sentence into a question. She looked up at Garrett at last. Was she expecting him to fill in the blanks for her?<br /><br />Garrett could supply an answer easily. Their camper reeked of pot smoke. Were he to conduct a search of the vehicle right now, he wagered he’d find more than the odd recreational baggie of weed.<br /><br />Jordan groaned loudly and his chin dipped closer to the tabletop. “Poor kid. Can you find him?”<br /><br />“We’re organizing a search now,” Garrett told them.<br /><br />“Do you need me…us to help?” Jordan asked.<br /><br />“It’s best if you stay here, in case Noah comes back.”<br /><br />“Okay.” Jordan pursed his lips and lifted an eyebrow. “Whatever you say.”<br /><br />Garrett emerged from the RV grim in the knowledge he had no timeline to use as a starting point for the search. When had six-year-old Noah gone missing? Last evening, late last night, early this morning? He knew he wouldn’t be successful in pulling additional information out of the couple. Yes, he’d leave another ranger, Judy Willis, behind to go over it all with them again, but he didn’t kid himself. Jordan and Natalie Tucker had probably spent most of the weekend getting wasted.<br /><br />He immediately assigned two rangers to organize ground search teams. He couldn’t contact the Forest Supervisor for a helicopter or other equipment until they had more to go on. Logically, there was only so far a six-year-old could wander, and it made sense to start with the easiest possible answers first, commonly used trails, public restrooms and—he shuddered—the river. He also dispatched teams to spread out through the campgrounds, talking to other campers who hadn’t already packed out for the weekend, asking if anyone had seen the boy and when.<br /><br />Garrett did everything right. He pushed his people, but no harder than they pushed themselves. Vehicles exiting the park were stopped and drivers questioned, even more intensely when initial search parties turned up nothing and he and his teams feared Noah might have been abducted. An amber alert was issued. Water rescue covered the river. Hundreds of volunteers came out for the search.<br /><br />Six hours, nine hours, working until darkness forced a halt to the search, they turned up squat. Not a single hint of Noah or what might have happened to him emerged. Their best shot at last known whereabouts had been the retired couple in the space next to the Tuckers who thought they might have seen him around the Tucker’s campfire at five-fifteen the evening before.</i><br />
<i><br />A full day passed. Garrett tried not to think about temps that had dipped into the twenties during the predawn hours. To their credit, none of the volunteers showed any signs of giving up on the second day; combing the forest well beyond the range even the most curious and determined child his age could have traveled.<br /><br />Not once did the Tuckers stir from their RV. They couldn’t continue to use, not with Judy Willis and others watching, but sobered up they weren’t any more help. They remained curiously detached about Noah’s fate until it eventually sank in an arrest for child neglect was in their future.<br /><br />Garrett couldn’t say if it was desperation or a hunch that prompted him to search the old logging trail at the far north end of the park. Just before sunset on the second day, he got in his truck, utterly frustrated with himself and the boy’s parents and drove eighteen miles over terrain only a dedicated off-roader could handle until he reached the trailhead.<br /><br />Noah lay curled up at the base of a Douglas fir less than a hundred yards in. A stuffed toy, a tiger with its bright orange and black stripes, gave away the child's location. Noah, wearing only a tank top, shorts, and sneakers with no socks, lay curled around the animal as if sleeping peacefully. He wasn’t asleep. He’d died of exposure, no doubt during the early morning hours before light, when not even a helicopter would have been of assistance in locating him. How had the boy come to be here? Where had the stuffed animal come from? He already knew it didn’t belong to Noah.<br /><br />He knelt next to the motionless form, touched the tiger’s face, traced a finger along that happy, childish grin and broke down, too exhausted to do anything but weep.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
Yanking himself forcefully out of the past, Garrett studied Megan Buell’s mother, and wondered if he had another Natalie Tucker on his hands. Madeline's shoulder length honey blonde hair was fine and wispy, but it suited her equally delicate face. She appeared frazzled, not just worried, but permanently frazzled, and again, he received the impression she was hiding something. She was also livid with him.<br />
<br />
“Look,” she said. “Believe anything you want about me. Call me anything you want. Irresponsible. A bad mother. I’m not who matters. Megan does. Find my baby!”<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgADdCBl0k3cEOIDtCvf2w1l31rBvyxF5h9uA6JRZfej0KOgFkHVDzM9TJKCfdAK7s58BcayLjoysNJ_Sy465cqwyDYlPR8I_BYD39FF5J1yyhZKE8GzJWuwmn3MYe9sbbWS9oylCxe-Qo/s1600/Devil_in_Midwinter_cover-210.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgADdCBl0k3cEOIDtCvf2w1l31rBvyxF5h9uA6JRZfej0KOgFkHVDzM9TJKCfdAK7s58BcayLjoysNJ_Sy465cqwyDYlPR8I_BYD39FF5J1yyhZKE8GzJWuwmn3MYe9sbbWS9oylCxe-Qo/s1600/Devil_in_Midwinter_cover-210.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a><i>Where is Megan? Will Garrett and Madeline find her in time? The incredibly talented Elise Forier Edie, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Devil-Midwinter-Elise-Forier-Edie-ebook/dp/B00JITRFK2/ref=la_B00HFEFOGE_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416294624&sr=1-3">The Devil in Midwinter</a>, and contributor to the holiday-themed anthology, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Krampusnacht-Twelve-Krampus-Kate-Wolford-ebook/dp/B00P6NDFB2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416294587&sr=8-1&keywords=krampusnacht">Krampusnacht</a>, continues the story with Part 4 on <a href="http://ehub45.webhostinghub.com/~keithe9/eliseforieredie.com/?page_id=40" target="_blank">her website</a>. </i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ehub45.webhostinghub.com/~keithe9/eliseforieredie.com/?page_id=40" target="_blank"><b>READ THE NEXT INSTALLMENT NOW</b></a><i> </i></div>
Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-8581918238586635382014-10-01T00:00:00.000-06:002014-10-01T00:39:31.092-06:00Release Day for SPELL TOUCHED (Breens Mist Witches, Book 1)Happy October 1!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho1-4eJFXJdu7CfPQH61829a5E0Im3Taq_hRLEBTpyE5zUaoO910bxr46-IvWB08v-WEmaBee0qww1If-OfCCfiC8wOEayai9WqxC9E69yM8fDWQqkj2U1wWmMS1lZ2fLBPOni6ZlLmA4/s1600/SpellTouched500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho1-4eJFXJdu7CfPQH61829a5E0Im3Taq_hRLEBTpyE5zUaoO910bxr46-IvWB08v-WEmaBee0qww1If-OfCCfiC8wOEayai9WqxC9E69yM8fDWQqkj2U1wWmMS1lZ2fLBPOni6ZlLmA4/s1600/SpellTouched500.jpg" height="320" width="229" /></a></div>
Release Day has finally arrived for SPELL TOUCHED, the first in my five-part series <i>Breens Mist Witches</i>. Currently, the book is available <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spell-Touched-Breens-Mist-Witches-ebook/dp/B00O2LCU60/ref=la_B006T2PQBG_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412142789&sr=1-5" target="_blank">here on Amazon</a>. Coming later this week to Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple iBooks, Smashwords and more.<br />
<br />
Genre: Paranormal romance<br />
Length: 45K words<br />
Heat Level: Spicy<br />
Intensity: Action sequence includes graphic violence.Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-3063829791235947662014-09-26T01:41:00.003-06:002014-09-26T07:23:04.837-06:00Visiting Today with Fantasy & Western Romance Author ~ Lori ConnellyFor a sneak peak at <i>Spell Touched</i>, releasing in just six days, pop over to <a href="http://loriconnelly.blogspot.com/2014/09/first-fight-friday-spell-touched-by.html" target="_blank">Lori Connelly's blog</a> and her weekly "First Fight Friday" feature. Hosted by her pal, Cowboy Marvin, Lori invites a different romance author each week to share the first "fight" scene between the hero and heroine of their latest novel.<br />
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<a href="http://loriconnelly.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="http://loriconnelly.blogspot.com/" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjseWSL_-9xeqsSxfekK72-k2Bv-YlHXqo6obipIDSccIrdrrdIsfzOuZWK5GK-Ab5A4xeMPZbSX4l_AMAiMeTnBp3yM9kVaEuo6PgE4v84pUogcclQugaemIUtiOSDclxYLQ5R8LUozME/s1600/LoriConnellyHeader.jpg" height="150" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Though the heated discussion I've shared between Sean and Gisela of <i>Spell Touched</i> is brief, it's one of my favorite "scenelets" in the book.<br />
<br />
While you're there, but sure to check out another of Lori's projects, <a href="http://writtenfireside.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Written Fireside</a>, a series of free reads told by writers she brings together around the virtual campfire. Running currently is the sexy Halloween Fae romance <i>Of the Storm</i>. <br />
<br />
Lori is the author of the Men of Fir Mountain western romance series, including <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lawman-Silver-Creek-HarperImpulse-Historical-ebook/dp/B00G1TOJSS/ref=la_B00E3ND0UM_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411737397&sr=1-1" target="_blank">The Lawman of Silver Creek</a> ("The steam rolled off the pages of this Novella.") and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Outlaw-Cedar-Ridge-HarperImpulse-ebook/dp/B00DY0A2FG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374710021&sr=8-1&keywords=lori+connelly" target="_blank">The Outlaw of Cedar Ridge.</a> Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-28867048469313234722014-09-16T18:11:00.003-06:002014-09-16T18:11:12.012-06:00Book Trailer ~ Spell Touched (Breens Mist Witches)Thrilled to have my first ever book trailer, courtesy of the brilliant Lori Connelly of <a href="http://writtenfireside.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Written Fireside</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Outlaw-Cedar-Ridge-HarperImpulse-ebook/dp/B00DY0A2FG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374710021&sr=8-1&keywords=lori+connelly" target="_blank">The Outlaw of Cedar Ridge</a> fame. Thank you, Lori!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/9otpiEF835g?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-1984810070421836152014-09-09T00:00:00.000-06:002014-09-16T00:49:33.264-06:00Written Fireside ~ Of the Storm: Part 2<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">...Fae Meets Halloween in a Romance Free Read</span></h3>
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<br />
Last year, Lori Connelly, of <i>Written Fireside</i> fame, invited me to participate in a Halloween round robin story with her and seven other writers. That story, <i><a href="http://writtenfireside.blogspot.com/search/label/a%20witch%20by%20chance" target="_blank">A Witch By Chance</a>,</i> was so much fun to read and write, I secretly hoped she would ask me back again this year. Yay! She did. Below is my contribution to this year's free romance story, <i>Of the Storm</i>.<br />
<br />
If you haven't already read Part 1, you'll want to read it first, <a href="http://writtenfireside.blogspot.com/2014/09/written-fireside-of-storm-part-1.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Of the Storm</span></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">
Part II by Aileen Harkwood</span></h3>
<br />
“The queen requests the Samhain Torc,” Brishen said. “I am to collect it from you and deliver it to her majesty before the hour changes.”<br />
<br />
He might use the word <i>request</i>, and speak in bland tones normally suited to <i>please pass the potatoes</i>, but Amaya knew better. This was not a polite entreaty. It was a demand.<br />
<br />
“Well, she can’t have it,” she said. “The torc has been in the sacred trust of my family for over 800 years. It’s not the Queen’s to command.”<br />
<br />
He raised one moon-silver brow in disbelief which she thought might also be tinged with admiration, or, knowing Bri and the fae, was more likely delight at her stupidity. In refusing Tasaria—her great-grandmother twenty-one generations removed, with far too much human blood running through Amaya's veins to ever be considered one of them — she not only denied the Queen of the Fae what she desired. She risked death. Tasaria wasn’t squeamish. She’d do it herself, executing Amaya by her own hands, in full view of the court.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPhfoiWKDmfZz0h-5ig475ZsamCxeZo9-ymQxskuVwenqHuT5F0HsZgRxToZPRQKTh3gRu1KOHRjUV5O0TEv929Xo14grYE7s_M14L1IY0GmeF_xlsqLTe20zn83UJiTDrZvVzhd5DtrU/s1600/Goldtorc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPhfoiWKDmfZz0h-5ig475ZsamCxeZo9-ymQxskuVwenqHuT5F0HsZgRxToZPRQKTh3gRu1KOHRjUV5O0TEv929Xo14grYE7s_M14L1IY0GmeF_xlsqLTe20zn83UJiTDrZvVzhd5DtrU/s1600/Goldtorc.jpg" height="299" width="320" /></a></div>
Amaya didn’t know who had created the Samhain Torc, that part of its story had been lost to the centuries, but she understood its role in human-<i>sídhe</i> relations, and the dire necessity of keeping it out of fae hands. The torc was not simply an obscenely priceless historic artifact. It was a door between the realms only someone attuned to it by blood could use, and only on a single day of the year.<br />
<br />
Today was that day, Halloween, or as the fae preferred it, Samhain.<br />
<br />
“In case you hadn’t noticed…” Bri nodded significantly at thunderheads visible through her kitchen window, thousands of feet high, ignited by lightning, and boiling up into a storm no one in their right mind would consider natural.<br />
<br />
“Her armies?”<br />
<br />
“They’re prepared to force the border if you don’t hand over the torc.”<br />
<br />
“Good luck with that.”<br />
<br />
“You assume she won’t be able to?” That too-silver-to-be-human eyebrow went up again.<br />
<br />
Odd, she’d known her counterpart from the other side of the border most of her life, but never before noticed; Brishen’s eyebrows were neither symmetrical nor perfect. Distinctly unfae-like. His stance, hip leaning into her countertop, arms folded across his upper body, may have communicated trademark sídhe boredom, but his broad chest couldn’t carry off the fae’s boneless dissipation.<br />
<br />
<i>Too much human in you, Bri. You’re a throwback, aren’t you?</i><br />
<br />
Contrary to the fae way of thinking, the imperfections made him more, not less attractive.<br />
<br />
“You’re unwise to underestimate the queen’s–”<br />
<br />
“I don’t have it.” She blurted out the catastrophic news she’d learned the moment she’d stepped over her threshold.<br />
<br />
“Excuse me?”<br />
<br />
“I don’t have the torc. It’s gone.”<br />
<br />
His face showed no reaction. “Some sacred trust.”<br />
<br />
“Makani’s missing,” she added. “You didn’t see the disaster in the living room?” Her worry over her sister’s absence gnawed at her.<br />
<br />
He gave a precise shrug. “I figured…typical human housekeeping.”<br />
<br />
“Wow. Thanks.”<br />
<br />
She abandoned him and returned to the living room. This wasn’t an ordinary mess, not even for Makani.<br />
<br />
“So,” Bri said, having followed her. “Where do you think it is?”<br />
<br />
This room, the sign on the door, Bri’s lack of surprise at hearing of the torc’s disappearance...felt off, so off. She turned to him.<br />
<br />
“Why the sudden build up at the border?” she asked. “What aren’t you telling me?” <br />
<br />
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<i>Ready to go on to Part 3? The fabulous Elise Forier Edie continues the story on <a href="http://www.eliseforieredie.com/blog.htm?post=969743" target="_blank">her blog</a>. You won't want to miss it. Definitely some fae fireworks between Bri and Amaya!</i></div>
Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-56437478026766493082014-09-03T21:21:00.000-06:002014-09-03T21:21:50.905-06:00Spell Touched (Breens Mist Witches) ~ Cover Reveal!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw7KLrsu1jbBddhzzCjNKW15x4cd8pwLR8gWS3E6vT4iFjII74UUpgnB6q_-7sjG_mJOEEkipW_Z-A9c0jzCu_x4ShAlPUMNnqWHFi8ng9q8sCiG6BRUqXP5thHcy5DQHualsTPu_fmIA/s1600/SpellTouched500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw7KLrsu1jbBddhzzCjNKW15x4cd8pwLR8gWS3E6vT4iFjII74UUpgnB6q_-7sjG_mJOEEkipW_Z-A9c0jzCu_x4ShAlPUMNnqWHFi8ng9q8sCiG6BRUqXP5thHcy5DQHualsTPu_fmIA/s1600/SpellTouched500.jpg" height="320" width="229" /></a></div>
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~~~~~~~~ <b><i><br /></i></b></div>
<br />
<b><i>Would you dare to fall in love, if you knew you’d be dead by midnight...?</i> </b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
~~~~~~~~ <b><b><i> </i></b></b></div>
<br />
I'm thrilled to have a cover to show you for SPELL TOUCHED (Breens Mist Witches) due out October 1. Check back here next week for an excerpt from the book, and visit me September 26 on Lori Connelly's <a href="http://loriconnelly.blogspot.com/search/label/first%20fight%20friday" target="_blank">First Fight Friday</a> blog, when you'll get a peek at the first, shall we say, "heated discussion," between SPELL's hero and heroine.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Here's the blurb: </b><br />
<br />
Gisela Marton doesn’t know what to make of the mysterious gift left on her doorstep on Halloween morning, with its strange card that reads, <i>Happy Death Day, Gisela!</i> Everywhere she goes people she’s never seen before in the small town of Breens Mist, Oregon, wish her the same. Is this a tasteless joke meant to terrify, or a genuine threat?<br />
<br />
Maddeningly calm, with a seductive grin that makes her hope this isn’t her last day on Earth, Sean MacLenna appears out of nowhere at the restaurant where she works to confirm the worst. She is going to die. At midnight. What Gisela and most others in town don’t know is they share it with a hidden society of witches, one that has protected the community for two hundred years.
Every spell of protection woven comes with a price, however. In Gisela’s case that price is to sacrifice her life for the good of the town, and Sean, one of Breens Mist’s warlocks, has vowed to make her final hours the most pleasurable possible. Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-22771934140947686652014-08-12T21:50:00.002-06:002014-08-12T21:50:25.116-06:00Facebook Book Party Alert ~ Saturday, August 16th<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKtioyKVMbKdNfBgQB7Q6rbH2nCzzG_nElU_PXGz6xkfQUIuaiRFAD2G9c-RlthU6Pchj-aHLukeUSGimixaz2ubZNE2ZHr-Q0Vzuwkplp0ujikbQByeRu61X24sMtupWfaU-aw77Q3S0/s1600/Platinum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKtioyKVMbKdNfBgQB7Q6rbH2nCzzG_nElU_PXGz6xkfQUIuaiRFAD2G9c-RlthU6Pchj-aHLukeUSGimixaz2ubZNE2ZHr-Q0Vzuwkplp0ujikbQByeRu61X24sMtupWfaU-aw77Q3S0/s1600/Platinum.jpg" height="265" width="320" /></a>Have you ever been to a giant multi-author book party on Facebook? Well, I haven't. That's about to change, however, and I'm looking forward to the games, prizes, and hanging out with you!<br />
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This Saturday, August 16th, I'll be joining 29 other authors at the <a href="http://on.fb.me/VhJKMv" target="_blank">"Platinum" Multi-Author, Multi-Genre Online Book Celebration</a>.<br />
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My author slot takes place at 4:15 pm Central Standard Time, during which host Vicki Rose Stewart will no doubt cook up some devious challenges for your chance to win several cool prizes. Take a look at the photos below to see what I'll be giving away.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Coldwater Creek Necklace</span></h3>
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This stunning necklace is made of liquid sterling silver and crystal teardrop beads with a copper flash overlay. Retail is $159!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCmvpz5XuUNvU2pqJ9XI2m2XAQiCbxxqrmbLm9jej-5UIKjg-LfjFdOFbsDrYerfnbafnz2O9ndU3wDPeKXX0ZG1_FD9eunrr2dSXhXHZ0u0isW1IwYnaHCZatk6ZObBSKxZMpkhIRpoU/s1600/Coldwater3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCmvpz5XuUNvU2pqJ9XI2m2XAQiCbxxqrmbLm9jej-5UIKjg-LfjFdOFbsDrYerfnbafnz2O9ndU3wDPeKXX0ZG1_FD9eunrr2dSXhXHZ0u0isW1IwYnaHCZatk6ZObBSKxZMpkhIRpoU/s1600/Coldwater3.jpg" height="228" width="320" /></a></div>
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> </span></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Artist Made Steel and Amethyst Crystal Bracelet</span></h3>
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Steel rings and amethyst crystals make up this fun and funky bracelet from a New Mexico art gallery.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVesN86SbpBoZYpwGKJkcbQwx-UHMv6YXSJmCz5zG-90xYaswO4xBsjeRLJkYfNNhzzDyu9G3aCN2pq25_tKcTa3OOgZrOnad9FRcaiqz1XyKU5oG-AAzD2rae60dnRMU5m5YRy6csd0o/s1600/O-links2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVesN86SbpBoZYpwGKJkcbQwx-UHMv6YXSJmCz5zG-90xYaswO4xBsjeRLJkYfNNhzzDyu9G3aCN2pq25_tKcTa3OOgZrOnad9FRcaiqz1XyKU5oG-AAzD2rae60dnRMU5m5YRy6csd0o/s1600/O-links2.jpg" height="217" width="320" /></a></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> </span></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Plus a Kindle Book Prize Package</span></h3>
<br />
That includes one ebook copy each of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Paranormal-Christmas-Romance-Novella-ebook/dp/B00H2L65GI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407901640&sr=8-1&keywords=sapphire+ridge" target="_blank">SAPPHIRE RIDGE</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Dreams-Dreamrunners-Society-Book-ebook/dp/B00DGL0HBC/ref=la_B006T2PQBG_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407901659&sr=1-1" target="_blank">DANGEROUS DREAMS</a>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wolfs-Den-Aileen-Harkwood-ebook/dp/B003V4B6HS/ref=la_B006T2PQBG_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407901659&sr=1-3" target="_blank">WOLF'S DEN</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMwWXI2HyKy_FCbbti4TYsBtOwhTTWBrqPOIGA2zzSpQO-OdY05ORrRtGU_i5J6K4PAyZFWUnSatW-7JeFKD0LnaRA-II9lipr9JGbrvDt1x8MAEilWTnBbb8Oq_EXmTJZ75LxX9220oE/s1600/BlogIllustration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMwWXI2HyKy_FCbbti4TYsBtOwhTTWBrqPOIGA2zzSpQO-OdY05ORrRtGU_i5J6K4PAyZFWUnSatW-7JeFKD0LnaRA-II9lipr9JGbrvDt1x8MAEilWTnBbb8Oq_EXmTJZ75LxX9220oE/s1600/BlogIllustration.jpg" height="170" width="400" /></a></div>
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Hope you'll join me there!<br />
<span id="goog_299084145"></span><span id="goog_299084146"></span><br />
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<br />Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-18861266860552337882014-07-17T12:22:00.001-06:002014-07-17T12:22:11.152-06:00Christmas Romance in July Winners Giveaway AnnouncedMy thanks to all the entrants in my July giveaway. Rafflecopter's random selection bot has done its thing and the winner of the top prize, a $25 Amazon gift card goes to Maureen C. !!!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH94jqDSrJAntjAMZKBjq5_6mUbW4iWm8lLliwTUf1ABuJxFbVqcWmHqm5YXr0Giwtk_szizYXhtR4IpM2y-Y-2xwme0048MYOh6gWJNb23J89-maCqbz37WBgxspGDBQc81plraexoOY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-07-17+at+12.12.00+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH94jqDSrJAntjAMZKBjq5_6mUbW4iWm8lLliwTUf1ABuJxFbVqcWmHqm5YXr0Giwtk_szizYXhtR4IpM2y-Y-2xwme0048MYOh6gWJNb23J89-maCqbz37WBgxspGDBQc81plraexoOY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-07-17+at+12.12.00+PM.png" height="230" width="320" /></a></div>
Winners of the other prizes are:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">eBook Copy of <i>Dangerous Dreams</i> ~ bn100</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">eBook Copy of <i>Wolf's Den</i> ~ Alan S.</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">eBook Copy of <i>Sapphire Ridge</i> ~ Elliot W., Colleen C., Martina W.</span><br />
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All winners have been notified by email and sent their prizes via Amazon. Enjoy! This was a fun contest to run.Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-89908036574375379342014-06-25T03:37:00.003-06:002014-06-25T17:35:20.326-06:00What Makes a Good Romance Author Giveaway? Survey, Plus Win Prizes!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv1S4gtozoZOdhccnrKmH3_fusn5zFrRl-N9VELq2eCfwSTuamxdpEQeauSBjIAN544zUbYpmYjeD4uBNQ-WQdYnifVX49qjZ8EmFXHx4kmAIAZumHJN3OwTyze9FGDXCawBQ20j7iJLA/s1600/dreamstime_xs_30528733-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv1S4gtozoZOdhccnrKmH3_fusn5zFrRl-N9VELq2eCfwSTuamxdpEQeauSBjIAN544zUbYpmYjeD4uBNQ-WQdYnifVX49qjZ8EmFXHx4kmAIAZumHJN3OwTyze9FGDXCawBQ20j7iJLA/s1600/dreamstime_xs_30528733-1.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Have you ever entered a romance author's giveaway? What are your favorite
prizes? What are you willing to do (or not do) to earn an entry? I started wondering what makes the BEST romance giveaways and, on the flip side, what really bugs people about them, so I created a survey. Share your opinions and help romance writers like me improve them! Results will be posted on this blog.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #cfe2f3;"><span style="background-color: black;"><a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5DB22H9" target="_blank">Click Here to Take Survey</a> <span style="background-color: white;"></span></span></span></h3>
<span style="color: #cfe2f3;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cfe2f3;"><i>Note: clicking on the link will open a new window and take you to Survey Monkey, the service I'm using to host this poll. The free version only allows 100 people to answer the questions, so once we reach that limit, the survey will be closed.</i></span><br />
<i> </i><i> </i><br />
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">And Enter My Current Giveaway!</span></h3>
<br />
While you're here, be sure to enter the <a href="http://aileenharkwood.blogspot.com/p/giveaways.html" target="_blank">Christmas in July Giveaway</a>, featuring <i>Sapphire Ridge (A Paranormal Christmas Romance)</i>. You'll have a chance to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card or copies of my books on Kindle! You don't have to take the survey to enter the contest, though it would be really helpful.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/3ab15d5/" id="rc-3ab15d5" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//widget.rafflecopter.com/load.js"></script>Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-11711843943674988042014-05-31T15:53:00.001-06:002014-06-01T13:26:58.116-06:00Dangerous Dreams a Finalist for the 2014 Readers' CrownWoo-hoo and a half! <i>Dangerous Dreams</i> is a 2014 Readers' Crown Finalist in the Paranormal category.<br />
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Received the good news in an email last night. I am so grateful to be included among the incredible group of ladies who are finalists in the category. You know how Hollywood actors and actresses always say they're happy just to be nominated for something, but you kind of doubt them? <i>They're only saying that</i>, you think cynically, <i>in case they don't win</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ5TFOwpJ2vyT0lexaiFfdWxg3se82eba3wYysTSF-6yUayuQDPFPi_9KoAG2wFCAVdbK9DC2xMvXXnRs4feaR7OvWKlFwNH4OhePg-wjJBmj1UzeNYAkjBe_V6eKYvHB6XaU_kekUzR4/s1600/rc_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ5TFOwpJ2vyT0lexaiFfdWxg3se82eba3wYysTSF-6yUayuQDPFPi_9KoAG2wFCAVdbK9DC2xMvXXnRs4feaR7OvWKlFwNH4OhePg-wjJBmj1UzeNYAkjBe_V6eKYvHB6XaU_kekUzR4/s1600/rc_logo.jpg" /></a>When it comes to this contest, however, I'm here to tell you the cliché is true. I am absolutely thrilled. I feel like I've won by joining this list of authors and their superb novels:<br />
<ul>
<li>Alicia Sparks ~ <i>Primitive Fix</i></li>
<li>Angela Campbell ~ <i>Something Wicked</i></li>
<li>Ashley Robertson ~ <i>Death Dealer</i></li>
<li>Brenda Dyer ~ <i>Prophecy's Child</i></li>
<li>Caryn Moya Block ~ <i>A Siberian Werewolf In Paris</i></li>
<li>Dena Garson ~ <i>Ghostly Persuasion</i></li>
<li>Erin Quinn ~ <i>The Five Deaths of Roxanne Love</i></li>
<li>Holley Trent ~ <i>A Demon in Waiting</i></li>
<li>Jessie Donovan ~ <i>Blaze of Secrets</i></li>
<li>Jody A Kessler ~ <i>Death Lies Between Us</i></li>
<li>J.M. Kelley ~ <i>Almost Magic</i></li>
<li>Kathryn Knight ~ <i>Gull Harbor</i></li>
<li>Lisa Kessler ~ <i>Moonlight</i></li>
<li>Lynn Cahoon ~ <i>Return of the Fae</i></li>
<li>L. A. Kelley ~ <i>The Naughty List</i></li>
<li>Molly Ringle ~ <i>Persephone's Orchard</i></li>
<li>M.L. Guida ~ <i>A Pirate's Curse</i></li>
<li>Shelli Rosewarne ~ <i>Love Reawakened</i></li>
<li>Suza Kates ~ <i>Suffering of a Witch</i></li>
<li>Suzzana C Ryan ~ <i>Before I Wake My Soul to Take</i></li>
<li>Torie James ~ <i>Timeless Night</i></li>
<li>Zoey Derrick ~ <i>Give Me Reason</i></li>
<li>Zoey Derrick ~ <i>Give Me Hope</i></li>
</ul>
A HUGE shout out of thanks to the readers who rated my book and helped it make it into the list above. <br />
<br />
Romcon 2014 takes place in Denver this year, June 20-22, where the winner in this and other categories will be announced during the annual Readers' Crown Luncheon on Friday. If you haven't already read them, support these deserving paranormal romance writers by buying and reading their books. And while you're at it, I'd love for you to give <a href="http://amzn.to/1rur76r" target="_blank">Dangerous Dreams</a> a try!<br />
<br />Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-1661159421922988402013-12-01T09:26:00.000-07:002013-12-01T23:41:04.334-07:00My Grandmother's Homemade Rocky Road FudgeMy grandfather had a sweet tooth and my grandmother had no problems indulging it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYkd2VcPUmdk8Sh91R6oA_kC6pblOKqtk2kxzWP0S30dOkJFowwriC1dK-ebVayn9wCma-JzwIriWRJg08p4Y1d5Iv5Qw0ZUqisay684bys9B5ifWG1PfC9AME0X5gzvo-HDiYv8QFcxY/s1600/ribboncandy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYkd2VcPUmdk8Sh91R6oA_kC6pblOKqtk2kxzWP0S30dOkJFowwriC1dK-ebVayn9wCma-JzwIriWRJg08p4Y1d5Iv5Qw0ZUqisay684bys9B5ifWG1PfC9AME0X5gzvo-HDiYv8QFcxY/s200/ribboncandy.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Visiting my grandparent's house each Christmas was a kid's fantasy with treats everywhere. Some were easy to spot, fancifully-shaped ribbon candy displayed in a glass apothecary jar, melt-in-your-mouth butter mints and chocolate nonpareils set out in crystal dishes. Others, such as my grandfather's favorite peanut brittle, were carefully concealed from grubby little hands, though I always knew his favorite hiding spot (built-in pine cabinet to the left of the fireplace).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh6_Dy2WsVFCQhIlAo8wRhBCQGzOMuVtobNx_ZqNUWbdhu5zhtUJw4ftGltWfmuGL1T-YgnT3tUuzH1iKRsqzXg0iFYyAss8TJ81SwRDpgoWodgFygYSu4sSMYbLWeGxF_ivgnwR-WoZM/s1600/rockyroad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh6_Dy2WsVFCQhIlAo8wRhBCQGzOMuVtobNx_ZqNUWbdhu5zhtUJw4ftGltWfmuGL1T-YgnT3tUuzH1iKRsqzXg0iFYyAss8TJ81SwRDpgoWodgFygYSu4sSMYbLWeGxF_ivgnwR-WoZM/s200/rockyroad.jpg" width="200" /></a>None of these store bought candies, however, could compete with my grandmother's homemade rocky road fudge. Hers was the classic sweetened condensed milk version (shown to the left), with chocolate melted in a double boiler on the range. Yet she wasn't content unless she made the recipe her own with dark chocolate instead of milk, giant marshmallows instead of mini, and walnuts from her own tree in the backyard. At Christmas, she added crushed peppermints. <br />
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I may not have a walnut tree, but I've since added my own distinct twist to the recipe with the addition of dried cherries. I've also discovered that a microwave is much easier to use than a double boiler, with less clean up.<br />
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<h4 style="text-align: center;">
Rocky Road Fudge with Dried Cherries and Crushed Peppermint</h4>
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1 package (12-oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips <br />
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk<br />
1 teaspoon vanilla extract<br />
3 cups marshmallows (about 1/2 of a 16 oz. bag)*<br />
1 1/2 cups walnuts, broken in pieces<br />
3/4 cup dried cherries<br />
1/3 cup crushed candy canes or peppermint candies<br />
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Lightly grease a 19 x 13 inch baking pan (glass is best) and set aside. Some recipes suggest a foil liner as well, but I've never used one.<br />
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Melt together the chocolate chips and condensed milk in a microwave-safe bowl large enough to later accommodate the other ingredients. Microwave for one minute on high (oven wattages vary, so you may need to adjust timing). Stir in the vanilla and continue heating for short bursts of 10 to 20 seconds, checking each time, until the chocolate is just melted.<br />
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Fold in the remaining ingredients and press mixture into greased baking pan (careful, melted chocolate will be hot!). Refrigerate until cooled and ready to serve. Cut into squares. Keep leftovers refrigerated.<br />
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<i>*For a gourmet touch, substitute chopped Belgian chocolate and check out the better grocery stores in your area for handmade marshmallows. Whole Foods often has these in their baked goods section at holiday time.</i><br />
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<!-- end InLinkz script -->Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-40815783789469664682013-11-25T00:00:00.000-07:002013-11-29T07:54:21.984-07:00Cover Reveal for SAPPHIRE RIDGEI've wanted to write a Christmas romance for the longest time, but have always been stumped on how to write a holiday story that also incorporates elements from my favorite subgenres, paranormal and action-thriller. Luckily, inspiration struck this year with just enough time to pull off a short novella.<br />
<br />
To give you a taste, here is the cover reveal for SAPPHIRE RIDGE, set in Lake Tahoe on Christmas Eve morning. Release date is December 3.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc-AtESuhtmiikHgdDUYyBz8TPoCJp6gJUcArmOawmK_a0t8Ig2ixGZVqhwoAvrAuvKMNJb4vgs2sM0aALwM1pncjZ4heTYm6Rite5UQ8JwKd0zauJWGaO7wNq6TGZLikRfnuLOKXpD9s/s1600/sapphireridge500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc-AtESuhtmiikHgdDUYyBz8TPoCJp6gJUcArmOawmK_a0t8Ig2ixGZVqhwoAvrAuvKMNJb4vgs2sM0aALwM1pncjZ4heTYm6Rite5UQ8JwKd0zauJWGaO7wNq6TGZLikRfnuLOKXpD9s/s1600/sapphireridge500.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9111696501969126189.post-74928621814210075272013-10-31T00:00:00.000-06:002013-10-31T07:44:15.433-06:005 Weird & Wacky Phobias ~ Guest Post with Author Traci Douglass<i>It's that magical day of the year, October 31, when witches rule and adorable little goblins dress up to trick or treat us in masks meant to scare. In the spirit of this spooky 24 hours, it's my pleasure to host Traci Douglass, author of the Seven Seals series of paranormal romances, who has an unusual list to share with us. </i><br />
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<h4>
<span style="color: #e69138;">5 Weird &<i> </i>Wacky Phobias</span></h4>
<i>by Traci Douglass</i><br />
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Happy Halloween! <br />
<br />
I'm so happy to celebrate this time of the macabre, the strange, the wack-a-doodle with all of you.<br />
<br />
Since Quinn, the heroine in my new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Seal-Awakening-Seven-Seals-Series-ebook/dp/B00G8MZMWU/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1382915187&sr=8-16&keywords=Seal+Of+Awakening" target="_blank"><i>Seal of Awakening</i></a>, suffers from claustrophobia, I thought it might be a good day to take a look at the wacky world of phobias. Here is a countdown of the top five strangest phobias I've found (and yes, apparently I have way too much time on my hands and far too much access to Google Search):<br />
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<h3>
<span style="color: #e69138;">#5 Pogonophobia - Fear of Beards</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTV69xmzABs8rhBDFQUkuedWtRt5xcb2eVzk4nOGB9QtG2nZwRuCxZrMfetS6HO0D1ss5m_kOKSv7GfqwPqF6xywXjohR-wV65gSv_ZO5Wa74G7NxRfZY5KrjVomozO940MADxxvPe2AI/s1600/duckdynasty.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTV69xmzABs8rhBDFQUkuedWtRt5xcb2eVzk4nOGB9QtG2nZwRuCxZrMfetS6HO0D1ss5m_kOKSv7GfqwPqF6xywXjohR-wV65gSv_ZO5Wa74G7NxRfZY5KrjVomozO940MADxxvPe2AI/s320/duckdynasty.png" width="320" /></a></div>
‘Nuf said.<br />
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<h3>
<span style="color: #e69138;">#4 Oenophobia - Fear of Wines</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHv1MI32dstTFk-Ae4d4RGjCicmHKw-EcgeChSN8yBvvGjh6SokqMOx-3s7n_-UZEhCqle89BMlfcRbSNd9DhRQ_zXbaiqfleoU-M8v5Kse4bq1B9xP4vj7U1_qjvAZaxnD5g4xT2_L0s/s1600/wines.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHv1MI32dstTFk-Ae4d4RGjCicmHKw-EcgeChSN8yBvvGjh6SokqMOx-3s7n_-UZEhCqle89BMlfcRbSNd9DhRQ_zXbaiqfleoU-M8v5Kse4bq1B9xP4vj7U1_qjvAZaxnD5g4xT2_L0s/s1600/wines.png" /></a></div>
Wine? Really? What’s not to love?<br />
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<span style="color: #e69138;">#3 Mertophobia - Fear or Hatred of Poetry</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZma_QRS9R9wHreVvX-pzVl_V0OmaVCjbIT0DwNxDw2_qrcSDQ6bzR-B1fpGoZxjhM3AOl-ja3n-3ISzey18sqptoLzvynCd62Zl8zpiClIsfQ10a2uDasnyUrhq6TVN0OSeMb-EAIgNc/s1600/poetry.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZma_QRS9R9wHreVvX-pzVl_V0OmaVCjbIT0DwNxDw2_qrcSDQ6bzR-B1fpGoZxjhM3AOl-ja3n-3ISzey18sqptoLzvynCd62Zl8zpiClIsfQ10a2uDasnyUrhq6TVN0OSeMb-EAIgNc/s320/poetry.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Poetry is a beautiful thing. Except when it’s bad. Then it’s just awful.<br />
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<h3>
<span style="color: #e69138;">#2 Geniophobia - Fear of Chins</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5BZgVChqCZIfnLwdCoLCQDHofoo5QzE0G57ohaoW9D3VfxKmC1KNZWkLmm41O0ucYtRQ59fyNJedrnPRPn_mioB7_3nmGy53dk2RjS_Rj3iqau4vMN7_PEO6TO5z416MzBfAf3KLpogw/s1600/chins.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5BZgVChqCZIfnLwdCoLCQDHofoo5QzE0G57ohaoW9D3VfxKmC1KNZWkLmm41O0ucYtRQ59fyNJedrnPRPn_mioB7_3nmGy53dk2RjS_Rj3iqau4vMN7_PEO6TO5z416MzBfAf3KLpogw/s1600/chins.png" /></a></div>
Yeah, ‘cause that’s not creepy at all…<br />
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<h3>
<span style="color: #e69138;">#1 Bogyphobia - Fear of Bogies or the Bogeyman</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fQJWFpBWne4BiijRUSH1XVlJRuASfKhtUReWn76S0zSecCbJ41Llwjw7BjbJUEZOQFodYyLoavexTYoaO2X8-Jr_WSdKC38axc26Ttcr7WHWNPD_1R1GgXKf5IUmONulgqBzxQ1XLGk/s1600/bogey.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fQJWFpBWne4BiijRUSH1XVlJRuASfKhtUReWn76S0zSecCbJ41Llwjw7BjbJUEZOQFodYyLoavexTYoaO2X8-Jr_WSdKC38axc26Ttcr7WHWNPD_1R1GgXKf5IUmONulgqBzxQ1XLGk/s1600/bogey.png" /></a></div>
Hey, it’s Halloween. There had to be one Bogeyman in the bunch right?<br />
Happy Halloween Everyone!!! Stay safe!<br />
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<i>Fun post, Traci! Who doesn't love this holiday? Except maybe sufferers of Samhainophobia, who have a fear of, you guessed it, Halloween?</i> –AH<br />
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<h3>
<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Be Sure to Check out Traci's Newest Novel</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB18CzVUtS_IG7BpXJdMl6AAtDZwcK3cUr_oMxhTSRv1UOmDz2hjTTu3YIvJKPDa3Z6PtZh2TwjRcTFj3IPMy7Pn22aE8XwkCGX618JlDk_okpIWE3g5xnkKOzoWpSbL1_0_xMIALkIDU/s1600/SealAwakening.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB18CzVUtS_IG7BpXJdMl6AAtDZwcK3cUr_oMxhTSRv1UOmDz2hjTTu3YIvJKPDa3Z6PtZh2TwjRcTFj3IPMy7Pn22aE8XwkCGX618JlDk_okpIWE3g5xnkKOzoWpSbL1_0_xMIALkIDU/s320/SealAwakening.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
Title: Seal Of Awakening<br />
Series: Seven Seals Series: Book Three<br />
Author: Traci Douglass<br />
Publisher: SpinTale Publishing<br />
Genre: Paranormal Romance<br />
Length: 70,000 words/261 pages<br />
Cover Artist: Kim Killion<br />
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<b><i>Embrace the geek, save the world…</i></b><br />
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Socially awkward geneticist Quinn Strickland has willingly forgone the pleasures in life to reach her career objectives. Alone and approaching thirty, she uses her independence to mitigate any risk of a broken heart. Her strategy works until the day a handsome stranger bursts into her lab and her orderly plans shoot straight to Hades. He claims to be her personal divine protector, a powerful, ancient warrior sent to defend a prophetic time bomb existing within her own genetic code.<br />
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The Scion’s alpha-geek Wyck is offered the opportunity of his immortal lifetime as head of his own covert operation. He arrives at a Colorado lab expecting starched white coats and sterile surroundings—not a redheaded spitfire in charge of both his project and his libido. His skills have carried him from the battlefields of ancient England to the pits of Hell and he has no plans to be felled by one woman, regardless of her shag-worthy charms. Divine duty requires him to protect the apocalyptic Seal encrypted within Quinn’s DNA, but his heart has other ideas. When his personal feelings interfere with his age-old vendetta, he’s forced to decide between desire and retribution.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Buy <i>Seal of Awakening</i> Now</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Seal-Of-Awakening-Series-Volume/dp/0989782913/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1382915187&sr=8-11&keywords=Seal+Of+Awakening" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP2p8T8IIKlZIf6DECMtXyng41LzvrShalzQSVM6UPMQAuGSBvPC3k17IRQEEMC07GUGPRbM7VB2Qy_7BJiF5gFNdXQpjxITuaB-g5kqUjvSgmFmsLnGNBlp-NpBjRf5_6y9GZooyhMPI/s1600/AmazonBuyButton.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Seal-Of-Awakening-Series-Volume/dp/0989782913/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1382915187&sr=8-11&keywords=Seal+Of+Awakening" target="_blank">Paperback</a></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">About Traci Douglass</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7E-xllzpu7H_nJpvWX6E8RHNwxrQGaGDBj5K-lamsw3K7rl7jBx6nfM11VryQ0mg4b-w7Ac141bhiIn2EbaCZciIE2PRvHFomzTvKNM7YWb8O9gUSI9DqcvvXTRN26OMwn7dqYSsveuU/s1600/TraciDouglas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7E-xllzpu7H_nJpvWX6E8RHNwxrQGaGDBj5K-lamsw3K7rl7jBx6nfM11VryQ0mg4b-w7Ac141bhiIn2EbaCZciIE2PRvHFomzTvKNM7YWb8O9gUSI9DqcvvXTRN26OMwn7dqYSsveuU/s320/TraciDouglas.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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Traci is the author of paranormal romance/urban fantasy and contemporary romances featuring a sly, urban edge, including her current Seven Seals series. Her stories feature sizzling alpha-male heroes full of dark humor, quick wits and major attitudes; smart, independent heroines who always give as good as they get; and scrumptiously evil villains who are—more often than not—bent on world destruction. She enjoys weaving ancient curses and mythology, modern science and old religion, and great dialogue together to build red-hot, sizzling chemistry between her main characters.<br />
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She is an active member of Romance Writers of America (RWA), Indiana Romance Writers of America (IRWA) and Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal Writers (FF&P) and is pursing a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Writing Popular Fiction through Seton Hill University. Her stories have made the final rounds in several RWA chapter contests, including the 2012 Duel on the Delta, the 2012 Molly Awards, and the 2012 Catherine Awards. An earlier draft of the first book in the Seven Seals Series, Seal of Destiny, won the paranormal category of the 2012 Marlene Awards sponsored by the Washington Romance Writers.<br />
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Other current projects include upcoming books in the Seven Seals series, a new contemporary novella series due out in early 2014, and a new futuristic suspense series with hints of the paranormal and plenty of romance.<br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> </span></h3>
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Traci would love to hear from you. You can connect with her on:</span></h3>
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Her Website: <a href="http://www.tracidouglass.net/">http://www.tracidouglass.net</a><br />
Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TraciDouglassAuthor">https://www.facebook.com/TraciDouglassAuthor</a><br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/Traci_Douglass">https://twitter.com/Traci_Douglass</a><br />
Goodreads: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6767293.Traci_Douglass">https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6767293.Traci_Douglass</a><br />
Pinterest: <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/tracisdouglass/boards/">http://www.pinterest.com/tracisdouglass/boards/</a><br />
Amazon: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/author/tracidouglass" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/author/tracidouglass </a><br />
Wattpad: <a href="http://www.wattpad.com/user/TraciDouglass">http://www.wattpad.com/user/TraciDouglass</a><br />
RebelMouse: <a href="https://www.rebelmouse.com/TraciDouglassAuthor/">https://www.rebelmouse.com/TraciDouglassAuthor/</a><br />
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<br />Aileen Harkwood ~ Romance Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15274550619903361416noreply@blogger.com4