Saturday, October 31, 2015

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!



Halloween use to be one of my favorite holidays. I loved creating costumes for my children. We use to take the art of dress up to new heights. But those days are long gone! I'm tempted to get dressed myself but it's only a very mild maybe, not an intense got to do it kind of thing. I am however enjoying the neighbors and their children and may take a trip to the mall later to see the kiddies do their trick or treat thing. So to everyone who sees the craft, and art, and simple joy in the holiday, have fun with it. There is so much negative in the world these days that to take a moment for the frivolous and nonsensical just makes all kinds of sense!

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

LET'S PLAY!


Wanna play for KEEPS?
 Click the link and order your copy of PLAYING FOR KEEPS today.
Then tell TWO (2) friends to order their copies.
Tell those friends to tell TWO (2) more friends!
How far and wide does your friend list go?
How many friends can you get to come play?
I say the sky's the limit!
So, let's PLAY!




Monday, October 19, 2015

RUINED...or NOT?

So, I’m watching one of my favorite ratchet reality TV shows. One of the story lines this season involves a young gay male who has just told his high school sweetheart that there is no future for the two of them because...well...he likes men more than he likes her. Of course, she is devastated, throwing herself to the ground and crying for her mommy.

Now the mental health expert who was supposed to be facilitating this conversation lost complete control as cutie-patootie stormed into the bathroom to avoid the conflict and baby girl hurled herself out the front door. Later, Ms. Psych 101 told him that his best female friend was hurt but that his disclosure HAD NOT RUINED her. This has led to an interesting conversation in my home.

I didn’t agree. I think Ms. Psych 101 might be wrong. How a woman handles heartbreak depends on the woman. And this woman may very well be ruined. Who’s to say she won’t be embittered for years to come? And clearly, she may have a multitude of trust issues that will hinder her future relationships. The baggage this devastation has left her with might carry over into her next relationship and the one after that and the one after that. Baby girl might walk away from this completely unscathed and then again, maybe she won't. I surely don't know and neither does the expert.

My beloved grandmother was a woman who was ruined by heartbreak. At the tender of age of sixteen she fell in love with a man who loved her and a few other young women at the same time. Discovering she was pregnant before her eighteenth birthday had her intent on a happily ever after. Then it hit the fan. Granddaddy was forced into a shotgun wedding but grandmother wasn’t the bride. It seems she wasn’t the only eighteen-year old about to mother granddad's offspring. But she was the eighteen-year old whose father found out way too late to make gramps do right by her!

Granny took a lifetime of resentment to her grave. The hurt she experienced was so magnanimous that it impacted every decision she would later make for herself and her son. It also kept her from opening herself to love later in life, unable to approach new relationships with an open mind and hopeful heart. As a young girl I would often think about the advice she’d offer, always warning me to be cautious with my own heart because no man could be trusted. She was never able to let what grandpa did to her go. It made her bitter and angry and calculating when it came to men and matters of the heart. Heartbreak ruined her and unlike the stories I love to tell, her happy ending was never the stuff of a good romance novel.


Thursday, October 01, 2015

SOULMATE by Deatri King-Bey

It's my pleasure to welcome Deatri King-Bey to the house with her newest addition to her Precious Jewels series. Enjoy a little tease from Soulmate!

The heart of the Precious Jewels Security Agency, Pearl Nicolas’s life has become one undercover assignment after the next. Happy, yet jealous, that her sisters are finding their soulmates, Pearl reluctantly accepts there is no soulmate out there for her… Or is there?

Tariq Suárez Anzar’s life changed when he became a single father of a teen. When a possible drug ring is suspected on his daughter’s prep school campus, the Precious Jewels are called in to find out exactly what is going on. But Tariq discovers so much more—Pearl. From the first moment they met, everything within him screamed, “She is your soulmate!”

Timing would be perfect for Tariq to go after his soulmate except one tiny thing—his daughter is Pearl’s only lead in the case. Patient as much as he is determined, he will not let this once in a lifetime chance slip by to have the family he wants.

Available in:
Print: Coming soon

EXCERPT:

Amber had never been more right in her life! Pearl continued staring at the headshot of Tariq Suárez Aznar in the Newton Academy’s staff gallery on the school’s website via her iPad. Teachers were not supposed to look like this. Had Professor Suárez been her math instructor, she wouldn’t have learned a thing from dreaming about him all day.

Sincere hazel eyes to gaze into, strong facial features to admire, lips plump enough for kissing, short wavy hair to run her fingers over—if his body were half as nice, she’d never solve the case from drooling over the man.

Resisting the urge to conduct a background check on him, she turned off her tablet and put it away. He’d hired them and deserved his privacy. This was business. Plus a man like him had to be married. Then again, what would she do with a boring teacher anyway? Good looks be damned, she needed a man who could keep up with her. One whose lifestyle matched hers enough that they wanted to share their lives together. She wanted someone who didn’t exist—her soulmate.

Disheartened, she walked from the bench in the main office over to the bulletin board. Pep rally, fundraiser, Halloween party, volleyball game schedule, football game schedule, math club meetings, science club meeting… nothing out of the ordinary.

“Excuse me, Ms. Nicholas?”

That soft, sexy voice had to belong to the new star of her fantasies. Much calmer than she felt, she turned and smiled politely. “Yes. Oh, Mr. Suárez.” Following Spanish tradition, she said his middle name, which was his father’s family name.

Appreciation burned in his bright eyes as he took her in from head to toe. She knew when a man was attracted to her, and Mr. Suárez definitely was.