Today is RELEASE DAY!

I’m so excited.

Donald - Sons of Sagamore

He surrendered his heart and would give his life for her to succeed.

Andrea Ricard, an inquisitive scholar of antiquities travels with her uncle to help him with his trade business. When she finds her mother’s family name on a piece of a map associated with the location of a rare relic, she is compelled to find it. Nothing will get in her way to unearth its secrets.

Donald MacDougall Tyler Eden has enjoyed a carefree life, but over the last year he has found satisfaction working with his brother Hugh, who has a successful investment business. He has forged a close relationship with one of their business partners, Andrea’s uncle. On a visit to Hugh, Donald meets Andrea and is smitten. When Andrea finds that an antique in Hugh’s collection contains another piece to her mysterious map she is more determined than ever to find the relic. Donald is drawn into her adventure and volunteers to accompany her on her quest.

Andrea has only told Donald half-truths for fear he would not join her. The relic is surrounded by mystery and prophecy. A disgraced soldier with hopes of repairing his relationship with the king has found out about the relic and is just as determined as Andrea to secure it for himself.

Andrea and Donald’s belief in what’s right as well as each other will be tested on a journey filled with adventure and hardships as they race across the vineyards of the Champagne region in France, up the east coast of England to an ancient church in Bamburgh.

Can Andrea and her MacDougall warrior resolve the mystery, face the prophecy, vanquish the villain… and find their happily ever after.

Available at Amazon

Excerpt from Donald – Sons of Sagamore

 

They had traveled about an hour when Donald turned and looked past her down the trail.

She turned quickly to see what caught his attention and scanned the area as best she could.

She came up next to him. He said nothing. They kept going.

“I felt it, too. Someone is watching us,” she said.

“I think you are over tired and imagining things. If someone was following we would have heard them tramping in the woods or horse’s hooves on these stones. No. There is nobody about. There’s a clearing up ahead. We can stop there.”

They coaxed the horses off the trail to the clearing. While Donald took care of the horses, she went for a bit of privacy.

She came to the bushes and froze at the sound of a low rumble. She slowly turned her head. Her heart leapt into her throat. A wolf with its teeth bared crouched close enough for her to see the spittle dripping from its muzzle.

“Rea.”

She dare not call out. The wolf’s eyes were locked on her.

“Rea, where are you?”

Keeping her head still, she glanced for something to protect her. She found nothing.

Out of nowhere there was a high-pitched whistle.

The wolf turned toward the noise. Donald raced at the animal.

The beast forgot about her and took off for Donald. The animal leaped at him and knocked him down.

The wolf growled and snapped. Donald rolled and got to his feet. Standing his full six-foot three-inch height, he yelled, threw his arms wide, and came at the wolf.

The wolf bared its teeth and hunkered down ready to spring.

Donald was not put off. Was the man crazy, screaming and lunging at the beast? The wolf sprang at him, but he was ready. Donald caught the wolf by the shoulders and kept the animal at arm’s length.

The wolf, on its hind legs, snapped at Donald and tried to bite his arm, but only got a taste or two of his tunic.

Donald kicked the animal’s underbelly over and over until the beast cried out and tried to get free. But he would not let go. The beast needed to be convinced it wasn’t a match for the man. Donald kept kicking until the wolf finally wrenched itself free. Donald stalked the animal as it backed away. Each time the wolf snarled, or growled, Donald came at him.

Cowering, the wolf backed away from him. Still Donald pursued him. The animal still cringing raised its head snarling and growling. Donald rushed the beast. Finally, the animal turned tail and took off back into the woods yelping.

Donald hurried back to Andrea and took her into his arms.

“I’m not hurt,” she said. “Again, you’ve come to my rescue.”

“It is my destiny.” He put his arm around her as they went back to the horses.

“We must leave. This wolf was old and alone. We don’t want him to come back with his friends.”

“Stay close to my side and don’t stop, no matter what you see or hear,” Donald said as they mounted up and raced full out down the trail.

While they rushed down the trail the incident played over in his mind. He was sure the wolf would fulfill the prophecy the sword will fail.

Seeing Andrea defenseless, at the wolf’s mercy, tore at him. Whatever threatened her would have to get through him first. He would always be there for her, with her, or die trying.

They came out of the forest, the horses lathered and breathing hard. He glanced at Andrea. She was made of strong stuff for certain. Her face showed determination. Out of immediate danger, he slowed from a full gallop to a canter and continued the ten miles into Calais stopping only when necessary to rest the horses.

 

It's a Book Tour for The Guardian's Witch

http://bewitchingbooktours.blogspot.com/2013/06/now-on-tour-guardians-witch-by-ruth.html

I'll be here, there, and everywhere talking about The Guardian's Witch. You can read a character interview, an excerpt, and even some great questions they forced asked me to answer. 

Book Cover Contest at Book Boost: Just leave a comment to vote for The Guardian's Witch.

We are among the winners! 

Several winners were selected. Thank you all for voting for The Guardian's Witch cover. 

Tour Wide Giveaway

Grand Prize: $50 Gift Card to Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winner's choice)
2nd Prize: eBook The Guardian's Witch
2nd Prize: US Only - print copy of Knight of Runes
3rd Prize: Signed post cards and swag for The Guardian's Witch and Knight of Runes

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Look at the side bar to see where we're traveling ...


And enjoy the video!

Guest Author ~ Shawna Thomas

Today's post is an interview with Carina Press author Shawna Thomas. Her new book, Journey of Awakening, was released this past Monday. It's an epic fantasy, my kind of story. 

Shawna Thomas - Website

Winner of a 2011 RT Reader’s Choice award for her debut book, Altered Destiny, Shawna Thomas has been making up stories ever since finishing Gone With The Wind. Once she put her own ending in writing, there was no looking back. A wife and a mother of seven, (yes seven!) Shawna lives in California where she gardens, writes, and drinks lots of coffee.

Here is a short description of Shawna's Journey to Awakening. 

Trained from birth for one purpose, Sara must reunite three ancient stones to restore balance to the land but one of the stone keepers has other plans.

To get to know Shawna better, she has answered a few questions. 

Available at Amazon and Carina Press

1.     How long did it take you to write Journey of Awakening? Well, it depends which time. I started writing this story over ten years ago. It’s changed much since then. The last version was done like a speed round. I had a newborn who did not sleep and a two month deadline to rewrite the manuscript. It’s a blur.  

2.     How much research did you conduct for Journey of Awakening and what was the most interesting thing you did while conducting your research? Unfortunately, a lot of researched material ended up on the cutting room floor. But Sara is a healer, so I spent hours researching herbal cures for different ailments. I found it fascinating and I tried several of them. They do work!

3.     Why did you decide to write fantasy? I’m not sure I ever decided to write fantasy. Rather it’s the way my brain is wired. However, I did publish erotic contemporary romance and gave it up for a chance to write and publish fantasy.

4.     Do you write multiple drafts or barely need revisions when typing, The End? Hah! I write fairly clean. (Looking over my shoulder to see what my editor might say) but I love revision. The first draft is usually bare bones. The next draft I’m adding flesh and bone, the next I’m dressing it up. I guess I write in layers.

5.     When you are writing, who is in control? You or your characters? It depends. I give my characters a lot of say. I think it’s one of the marks of a writer that they can argue with a character. These people have personality and depth. We just bring it out. But ultimately, I’m in charge. LOL I can almost hear my characters arguing with me.

6.     Have you had any "ah ha" moments as a writer? Oh yes, some of them embarrassing. Ah ha, this isn’t poetry, it’s narrative. Ah ha, no one will read my book just to glance around my world, something has to happen...

7.     What advice do you have for other writers? Don’t compare yourself to others. I have to tell myself this often, especially in regards to productivity. I don’t have much time to write so I’m not typically going to publish a book every six months. (This year is an exception)

8.     What was the most exciting thing that happened to you after you signed your contract – besides receiving your first check as a published author? My sister works for a hotel chain. She was across the country and mentioned to one of the managers that her sister was a writer. The man had read my book! It was amazing and humbling and wow!

9.     How does your family feel about your career as a romance writer? Hmm... My kids think I’m playing on the computer. From time to time one of my daughters will ask me how much money I’m making. (As in can we get a pool yet) My husband loves it. I don’t think most of them really understand what it means.

10.  What do you want your readers to take away with them after reading the story? I want them to fall in love with the characters. I want it to plant a seed in their imagination. I want them to want more. I want them to say, Ahhhh.

11.  What was the defining moment that you considered yourself an author? Defining moment... I’m not sure there has been one. I think it’s been a gradual thing. I do consider myself an author, but it wasn’t the first or even second book published that did it. Maybe when I won the RT reader award. That was pretty epic!

12.  With so many changes in publishing over the past year, where do you see the future of publishing going? I think we’re heading more toward electronic books. Two years ago it shocked me that my family didn’t know what an e-reader was. Now most of them have one or at least know what it is.

13.  What makes a man attractive to you? A good sense of humor. Oh, and he must have nice eyes and a good voice.

14.  What is the most interesting thing you’ve ever done? LOL. Do you really want to know that? I’m not sure it’s the most interesting but I’ve trapped and skinned a beaver. I used to live in Washington State and there was Indian trapper that wanted to teach me how to live like my ancestors. He took me trapping, taught me to make moccasins. FYI: You only eat the tail. The rest of it is inedible.

15.  What’s your biggest dream? Ten or twenty things came to mind, but you know, I am living my biggest dream. I would like my books to be successful. So I guess my biggest dream is to captivate people with my words.

16.  If you were a millionaire would you still write? Oh yes. I write because I love it. Because it’s part of who I am. But I’d have a maid come in once a week to take care of the house. Okay maybe twice. And someone to come in a few hours a day to watch the kiddos.

17.  Seven children! How do you find the time? Coffee! Their ages range from 24 to 8 months. The older ones help out with the younger ones. With a new baby I plot and plan during diaper changes and laundry and write during nap time. But definitely coffee keeps me going.

      To tempt you even more, here is the back cover copy of Journey of Awakening.

      After her grandfather's death, Sara inherits an ancient pendant and a near-impossible quest—master the mysterious pendant's source of magic. Driven to do so, she must find the other two stones of power, long considered lost, while preventing an unknown enemy from finding her first.

      Unprepared and alone, she travels to where the keepers of the stones, the Siobani, were last seen. Along the way she meets Tobar, leader of the nomadic Heleini tribe. As Sara wrestles with feelings for this intriguing man, she is also invigorated with her grandfather's passion to find the ancient Siobani race.

      After a rival tribe kidnaps Tobar's son and heir, Sara must harness the stone's healing magic to unite the tribes and save the boy. But as the dark power stalking her gains ground, will she continue on her quest to reach the Siobani or risk everything to save the warring tribes from eliminating each other?

You can find Shawna on Twitter: authorSThomas and Facebook: Shawna Guzman (Shawna Thomas)

She also loves to hear from readers so drop her a line at Shawna@shawnathomas.com 

Thank you Shawna!  

Presenting Guest Author, Liz Flaherty

Today Liz Flaherty joins us. She is a good friend and, as you will see, a fellow Carina Press author. Liz, tell us what you've been doing.

Life is new and wonderful for me these days. I retired from the post office in 2011, promptly gained 15 pounds--overnight, I swear!--and promised my grandkids, The Magnificent Seven, that I would make each of them a bed-size quilt. I also planned to write all day, every day.

What was I thinking?

I've learned to write when I feel like it, sew when I feel like it, and maybe even to eat a little less--or maybe not. For the first time, we're wintering in Florida and I'm enjoying the newness of it. I'm having a Very, Very Good time.

I recently finished the sixth quilt and my sixth book--I'm not an overnight success, but I never give up. JAR OF DREAMS, is a new release by Carina Press. I am thrilled to the point everyone I know rolls their eyes as soon as I open my mouth. 

Six quilts! I'm impressed. Liz, tell us a little about JAR OF DREAMS. 

For as long as she can remember, Lucy Dolan has been jotting down her hopes on slips of paper and saving them in a pickle jar—her jar of dreams. It was the first thing she saved when the beloved family diner went up in flames, and it's safely buckled in her beat-up minivan when she lands in Taft, Indiana, to start over. She rents a room and goes into business with her landlady, but then Gert's nephew comes charging in to "rescue" his aunt.

 Boone Brennan will be damned if he'll let Lucy take advantage of Aunt Gert, who raised him and his sister. Believing that she's just passing through, he's deeply suspicious of her—despite the sparks that fly between them.

Just as Boone and Lucy are starting to open up to each other, a series of fires throws Lucy under suspicion. Boone wants to trust her and his feelings, but with the whole town against her, will he stay by her side? Or will Lucy move on and find another place to make her dreams come true?

This sounds like a great story. I have a few questions for you.