Wine Wednesday: La Crema Pinot Noir

 

Today's wine is La Crema Pinot Noir, which is a wine I'd heard a lot about and tried several times to order without success. I did finally get a chance to try it, and here are my thoughts on it.

First of all, I ordered it at a steak restaurant and had very little expectation of anything due to the fact that when I asked our server what wines they had she told me, "We have red and white." Yeah, not quite what I meant. 

For the record, while I don't consider myself a wine snob, I can kind of see why some people might think otherwise. 

Eventually, I was able to get a partial list of wines and ordered the La Crema. The color is garnet. The wine had good legs. There was a lot of dark fruit on the nose. It's a dry wine with soft tannins and a slight oakiness--this is a textbook Pinot Noir. The predominant flavor notes are raspberry and something herbacious...rosemary, perhaps?

Very drinkable and, if you enjoy Pinot Noir, give it a try. I suffer from Reverse Sideways-effect Syndrome, meaning I have a chip on my shoulder when it comes to Pinot and tend to avoid it. 

Romance Writers Weekly ~It's Summer! ~ #LoveChatWrite

 This week, on the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop, we're asked, "It's Summer. What are your plans?"

Well, as luck would have it, I'm currently on the first of several short, summer trips. We're currently in the Bahamas. Later this summer, we have trips to South Padre and Fredericksburg planned. 

On the writing front--because, let's face it, that's what most of my plans center around--I'll be working on getting the next couple of Oberon books (and a second Omnibus) re-released over the summer. I'm also working on a couple of Christmas stories, one of which is due in August. So, eep! Deadline!

Now, hop on over to  Leslie Hachtel's page and learn about her plans for the summer.  And don't forget to check out her new book, Follow Me!

Harper Forbes embarks on a journey of a lifetime as she follows her friend to Scotland, only to discover that she, too, has been mysteriously transported back in time to the 1500s. In this unfamiliar and perilous world, Harper must navigate through dangers and challenges she never could have imagined. But amidst the chaos and uncertainty, she finds not only her friend but also a love that transcends time itself. What will fate have in store for her? Join Harper on an unforgettable adventure filled with romance, danger, and the timeless power of true love.

Now Available!

https://shorturl.at/DnYjN

Oberon Book 4:

A Taste of Honey

For Lucy Greco Cavanaugh, life is a dream come true.  She has it all. The perfect family. The perfect husband. The perfect marriage. What more could she wish for?  Other than the chance to do it all again. To experience once more the agony and ecstasy of falling in love with the man of her dreams. To recapture the joy and uncertainty that comes with starting over.

​

As far as Dan Cavanaugh is concerned, his life has become a nightmare. His storybook marriage is on the line when Deirdre Shelton-Cooper, the runaway daughter of a former girlfriend arrives in Oberon intent on proving Dan is her father. Even though he's convinced the girl's claims are false, Dan decides his only chance to keep from losing everything lies in keeping her very existence a secret from his wife and family.

 

But, sometimes, what you don't know can hurt you--and those you love. When Deirdre, masquerading as a surfer girl named Monica, accidentally hooks up with their son, Seth, Lucy and Dan are left to wonder: has their perfect, fairy-tale romance, turned into a classic Greek tragedy?

Sometimes you get exactly what you wish for.  And it's more than you'd ever dreamed.

https://books2read.com/TasteOfHoney

Bonus Read: You can download a free prequel novella here: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/5xxljdbblb

Such Fleeting Pleasures

An Oberon Prequel Novella

 

Love wasn't always strawberries and cream for Lucy and Dan Cavanaugh...or was it? In this Oberon prequel, we travel back in time to see how it all began. 

​

Most of the material in this prequel novella (set some eighteen years before the series begins) also appears as flashback scenes in A Taste of Honey.

Musical Monday: Last thing On My Mind Patty Loveless

 

This is an oldie that I listened to a lot while I was living in Paso Robles and writing the Oberon series.  We actually saw Patty Loveless in concert at the Mid State Fair, as well, which really cemented this song (and others) in my head as Oberon songs. 

I love the lyrics and the ironical way the title phrase, "He's the last thing on my mind," is used to mean two entirely different things. 

Here's an excerpt from A Taste of Honey that I feel is a good fit to this.

It was the relentless echo of his blood pounding against the surprisingly tender bones of his skull that woke Dan, very early the next morning.  His eyeballs felt parched, and even his tongue felt as though it had been pickled in brine.  But it was the realization that he was alone, that Lucy’s side of the bed was empty and cold, that got him to his feet.  She hadn’t come to bed?

In sixteen years of marriage, she’d never done that before.  Neither of them had.  No matter what, they had always at least gone to bed together.  Even when they’d been too rigid with anger to sleep, and had each clung to their opposite sides of the mattress, as tenaciously as shipwrecked mariners might cling to their only landfall.  More often than not, by morning they’d both have tumbled down into the soft trough in the middle of the bed.They’d awaken with their limbs tangled together, and reach for each other; eager to forget about whatever had come between them the night before, eager to merge and reconnect and rediscover one another.

So often, obstacles which seemed unyielding as icebergs in the night, appeared as insubstantial as a cold mist the following day.  Not this morning, though.  This morning, it felt as though the iceberg he’d smacked up against last night had maybe cracked his skull in two.

A Taste Of Honey

Oberon Book 4.0

​

For Lucy Greco Cavanaugh, life is a dream come true.  She has it all. The perfect family. The perfect husband. The perfect marriage. What more could she wish for?  Other than the chance to do it all again. To experience once more the agony and ecstasy of falling in love with the man of her dreams. To recapture the joy and uncertainty that comes with starting over.

​

As far as Dan Cavanaugh is concerned, his life has become a nightmare. His storybook marriage is on the line when Deirdre Shelton-Cooper, the runaway daughter of a former girlfriend arrives in Oberon intent on proving Dan is her father. Even though he's convinced the girl's claims are false, Dan decides his only chance to keep from losing everything lies in keeping her very existence a secret from his wife and family.

 

But, sometimes, what you don't know can hurt you--and those you love. When Deirdre, masquerading as a surfer girl named Monica, accidentally hooks up with their son, Seth, Lucy and Dan are left to wonder: has their perfect, fairy-tale romance, turned into a classic Greek tragedy?

 

Sometimes you get exactly what you wish for.  And it's more than you'd ever dreamed.

https://books2read.com/TasteOfHoney

Wine Wednesday: Frisby Cellars Blanc de Blancs

 

Today's wine is a Frisby Cellars Blanc de Blanc that I picked up at their tasting room in Lake Forest, which might no longer be open. It's been awhile since I've been there but when I was living in SoCal, I used to go there regularly with my sister. 

The grapes come from the Lodi AVA, which I have not been to for somewhat silly reasons. There's a Lodi in New Jersey, and one in California (duh) and I don't know which one CCR was singing about, but I've rather avoided the AVA because of it, just in case. 

In any case, the color is a pale to medium gold. There are hints of vanilla and baked apple on the nose, which might lead you to think it's sweet, but it's not. Flavor wise it's dry, which of course is what you'd expect from a Brut, Champagne-style wine. You often hear some sparkling wines described as "biscuity" and I've never understood what that meant (is it biscuits like we think of here? Or does it mean the UK biscuit, which is a cookie?) This wine tasted biscuity to me (US version) and by that I mean the dry aftertaste. Which is not a bad thing! If it were a Chardonnay, I'd say it was buttery...which makes it even more biscuity, I guess. 

I found it to be surprisingly full-bodied (although still light and delicate).I think this might be due to the fact that it was a 2017 vintage and probably was intended to be opened earlier. But I picked it up in 2019 and there hadn't been that much to celebrate since. 

I opened it in honor of having finished Giada Mazzi is Living her Best Life, which is a book I was VERY excited to have finished. But now I'm going to have to find a NEW sparkling wine to have on hand for my next release.

Romance Writers Weekly ~ Describe a Recent Outing ~ #LoveChatWrite

 This week, on the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop, we're asked to, "Describe a recent outing you took. Where did you go, who did you go with, and what did you do?"

Ooh, this is a tough one. I've actually been on several trips recently. This past weekend I drove out to Bastrop with my husband and our grandson. The sunflowers are in bloom right now, which made for a pretty trip. I think they're earlier than last year, but I could be wrong. We had lunch at Paw Paw's catfish house. I had catfish, they had shrimp, we all had hushpuppies and I had a margarita because I'd just hit publish (the night before) on a new book, and felt like celebrating. 

We did some Father's Day shopping; and visited the Bastrop County Museum and Visitor Center. And that's about it. It was a very pleasant couple of hours. 

Now, hop on over to  Brenda Margriet's page, And find out about one of her recent outings. And don't forget to check out her Father's Day Sale! 

Today is the last day of Brenda’s Father’s Day Sale! Six sexy single dad contemporary romances  only 99 cents each. Find out more here.

https://www.brendamargriet.com/dadromances.html

Oberon Book 4:

A Taste of Honey

For Lucy Greco Cavanaugh, life is a dream come true.  She has it all. The perfect family. The perfect husband. The perfect marriage. What more could she wish for?  Other than the chance to do it all again. To experience once more the agony and ecstasy of falling in love with the man of her dreams. To recapture the joy and uncertainty that comes with starting over.

​

As far as Dan Cavanaugh is concerned, his life has become a nightmare. His storybook marriage is on the line when Deirdre Shelton-Cooper, the runaway daughter of a former girlfriend arrives in Oberon intent on proving Dan is her father. Even though he's convinced the girl's claims are false, Dan decides his only chance to keep from losing everything lies in keeping her very existence a secret from his wife and family.

 

But, sometimes, what you don't know can hurt you--and those you love. When Deirdre, masquerading as a surfer girl named Monica, accidentally hooks up with their son, Seth, Lucy and Dan are left to wonder: has their perfect, fairy-tale romance, turned into a classic Greek tragedy?

 

Sometimes you get exactly what you wish for.  And it's more than you'd ever dreamed.

https://books2read.com/TasteOfHoney

Musical Monday: At Last ` Etta James

 I had a surprise release this weekend! A Taste of Honey dropped early! Which is great, since I'd originally hoped to get this re-release out the door this past April! 

So At Last is the perfect song to commemorate this event. First of all, A Taste of Honey is book 4 in the Oberon series. In book 5 (which I hope to release in early July) there's a dinner at a winery where Lucy and Dan get to dance with each other.  I can imagine them dancing to this song and being so, so, relieved that they weathered the storms in this book. 

Number two: this is kind of the way I felt after I'd originally finished writing the book. I loved these characters so much and I was so afraid I wouldn't be able to do their story justice, but twenty-some-odd years later, I am still happy with how it turned out.

Number three, of course, is my relief at finally having re-released it (in print and ebook). It's about time.

A Taste of Honey

Oberon 4.0

Lucy Greco Cavanaugh, life is a dream come true.  She has it all. The perfect family. The perfect husband. The perfect marriage. What more could she wish for?  Other than the chance to do it all again. To experience once more the agony and ecstasy of falling in  with the man of her dreams. To recapture the joy and uncertainty that comes with starting over.

​

As far as Dan Cavanaugh is concerned, his life has become a nightmare. His storybook marriage is on the line when Deirdre Shelton-Cooper, the runaway daughter of a former girlfriend arrives in Oberon intent on proving Dan is her father. Even though he's convinced the girl's claims are false, Dan decides his only chance to keep from losing everything lies in keeping her very existence a secret from his wife and family.

 

But, sometimes, what you don't know can hurt you--and those you love. When Deirdre, masquerading as a surfer girl named Monica, accidentally hooks up with their son, Seth, Lucy and Dan are left to wonder: has their perfect, fairy-tale romance, turned into a classic Greek tragedy?

 

Sometimes you get exactly what you wish for.  And it's more than you'd ever dreamed.

https://books2read.com/TasteOfHoney

You can download a free prequel novella here: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/5xxljdbblb

Such Fleeting Pleasures

An Oberon Prequel Novella  

 

Love wasn't always strawberries and cream for Lucy and Dan Cavanaugh...or was it? In this Oberon prequel, we travel back in time to see how it all began. 

​

Most of the material in this prequel novella (set some eighteen years before the series begins) also appears as flashback scenes in A Taste of Honey.

Wine Wednesday: Arrington Vineyards, Part 4

 Today's wine is Arrington Vineyard's Red Fox Red, which seems like a somewhat redundant name, but maybe that's just me. 

This wine has a beautiful garnet color, which set it apart from last week's wine. Very pronounced cherry scent on the nose (along with a bit of tobacco). I was a little concerned it would also taste like cherry coke, but nope. While it has loads of tart, cherry flavor (and a slight taste of oak) this wine is more like cherry juice than cherry coke. 

The tasting notes mention black tea, which I can see and baking spices, which I don't recall at all. 

This is not a particularly heavy wine, and while it's very fruit forward, loaded with cherry and berry flavors, it's not sweet. I think this would make a great brunch wine, which is odd because I rarely think of red wine in conjunction with brunch. I would pair it with things like goat cheese or smoked salmon. The vineyard's notes suggest pairing it with tomato based dishes like spaghetti and meatballs and/or marinara sauce. I think their idea of Italian dishes is very different from my own, so I would NOT be doing that.

This concludes the Arrington series. If you want to see more like this, let me know in the comments. Although, just so you know, I definitely plan on doing more regardless. Sorry, not sorry. Love visiting new wineries.

Romance Writers Weekly ! Plotter or Pantser? ~ #LoveChatWrite

 This week, on the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop, we're asked "Plotter or pantser and why?"

Total no brainer. I'm TeamPlotter all the way! It can be difficult when you have looming deadlines and haven't yet nailed down all your book's details. And I have occasionally had to jump in and just Pants my way through a book. It's never pretty and usually results in my having to re-write huge portions of it anyway.

Plotting ahead of time makes for easier writing. If you know where you're going, you're less likely to get lost. You're also less likely to waste time wandering down dead ends.

In my most recent WIP I spent an enormous amount of time going back and changing things I'd already written because they contradicted the brainstorms I kept getting while I pantsed my way through the second half of the book.

It turned out fine, in the end, but it was super stressful.

Now, hop on over to  Jill Haymaker's page And find out what she has to say.  And don't forget to check out her book, Rise Up to Love.

Rise up to Love

What if your past catches up with you just when you’re starting a new life? Sometimes the person who is hardest to forgive is yourself. A story of family, redemption, and love.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09R9GC5H8

Games We Play Series Two:

The DiLuca Brothers

The Atlas Beach  Chamber of Commerce’s innovative mentoring program—partnering successful  business owners with some of the newer start-ups—has just what food truck owner Carly Meyers and baker Stephanie Sands needed to get their businesses off the ground: The Delectable DiLuca Brothers.

These Jersey Boys might be cocky, but cooking's not their only talent, and the kitchen's not the only place where they'll be turning up the heat.

https://books2read.com/DiLucaBrothers

Musical Monday: My Way Frank Sinatra

So this is a little bit different. I mean, yes, I'm from Jersey and both old enough and Italian American enough to consider Frankie something of a homie. Or, you know, a goombah (okay, not really). 

This song is one I'm particularly fond of ever since I sang an extremely drunk duet of it with one of our neighbors while seated on a picnic table (in my parents' backyard) at my "wedding reception" ie a big party held a couple of weeks after we'd eloped. 

Suffice it to say we were never exactly traditional.  

But that's not the reason I'm posting it today. I've recently finished another book in the Atlas Beach, NJ series. I am so proud of Giada Mazzi is Living her Best Life. There were so many times during the writing of this book that I thought for sure I'd mess it up or never finish it or that it would completely suck and everyone would hate it...and hate me for having written it. Welcome to the paranoid world of a writer's mind. As Christopher Cross wrote: (in I Know You Well) "My head's a very scary neighborhood. Don't wanna walk it alone." 

But...I really feel like I nailed it and I can't wait for you all to read it.  Shortly after I sent the finished MS off, I was having a celebratory margarita (as you do) when this song came on and it's so very perfect for the Mazzi/DiLuca clan. So. Here you go. You're welcome. 

And if you're interested in reviewing an ARC, join my Facebook group, The Crone's Nest for information. https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheCronesNest

Wine Wednesday: Arrington Vineyards, Part Three

 Today's wine is Arrington Vineyard's Antebellum Red. Two of the things I find fascinating about this winery are A) their tasting notes, which are pretty spot on, IMO. and B) how much the flavor of their wines reminds me of other beverages. Like REALLY reminds me of other beverages!

Antebelllum is aged in whiskey barrels, which always imparts really interesting scents and flavors. The color is almost a russet red, very opaque with good legs.I detected strong leather, tobacco and spice notes on the nose. 

The taste was reminiscent of the kind of spiced wines I like to drink warm in the winter months. Drinking it at room temperature and without the actual spices, just that smoky, whiskey barrel oakiness was intriguing. This is the kind of wine I could imagine Adam Sasso (Oberon, books three, five, seven and eight) producing at his winery in an attempt to keep Siobhan Quinn from ruining (ie mulling) his wine for the holidays. 

There was an elusive flavor that I couldn't quite identify, very fruit forward, oddly familiar, ALMOST sweet, but not. THEN I read the tasting notes and they mentioned cherry cola and yeah. Spot on, again. 

I don't drink cherry cola--or any soda, really. It's not my thing. Other than Topo Chico, which I could happily mainline in the summers here. And I certainly NEVER looked for it in wine, but it's honestly very interesting.

This wine is made with grapes grown in Washington and Tennessee--some of them actually at Arrington. I always love that for the terroir effect. One of the grapes is a "new" grape called "Enchantment" which...don't get me started. Nevada does that too, and it's like inventing new cacao flavors (they do that too, God help us) and...can we just not?  I know. I'm weirdly rigid and traditional about some things. 

ANYWAY...I would pair this with apple pie--not a food I would previously thought to pair with wine, especially a non-sweet red wine--but there you go. 

This strikes me as being a very Autumnal wine...possibly because the book I'm currently working on is set in the fall? Or maybe it's just the oak and spices.

The tasting notes suggest pairing it with things like steak and smoked meats, which I personally don't see. Dark chocolate? I mean...possibly? But no, not really. Give the apple pie some thought, though. Because I bet that combo would be really delicious. 

Romance Writers Weekly ~ Advice ~ #LoveChatWrite

 This week, on the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop, we're asked "What advice would you give yourself when you first started writing?"

That's an interesting question. I think I'd tell my younger self to not take just any contract I was offered. To try and find balance between writing and life, but also writing and marketing. To maybe not try to write in a gazillion sub-genres at once. And definitely to try always stay passionate about the process.

Also to try to always stay ahead of deadlines. Because doing anything else just sucks!

Now, hop on over to Brenda Margriet's page to learn what advice she'd give her younger self. And don't forget to check out her books on Kobo! Just go to https://www.kobo.com and search Brenda Margriet!

Read all of Brenda’s books (and 1.5 million  more) for free with a KOBO PLUS subscription!

Get All-You-Can-Read Romance for a monthly fee that’s less than a couple of fancy coffees. Unlimited downloads, all genres, keep them as long as you subscribe. Check it out here! https://www.kobo.com

Available in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Europe, and more!

Love and Espresso

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSKS814M

This collection features meet-cutes that take place in a bookstore/coffee shop. The heroines are looking for their HEA but never expected it to happen while picking up a cup of coffee or picking out their next book boyfriend.