Musical Monday: Diamonds (Rhianna)

   

Today is release day for the second book in the POUR DECISIONS wedding series--Kate Davies' My Wine and Only!

This song is one Kate mentioned listening to while writing the book. As I understand it, her daughter recommended it. Fun fact: it also features on the Heated Rivalry soundtrack.

My Wine and Only

Kate Davies

https://books2read.com/u/mvkXPJ

​​

Rosa and Jake are getting married–again! 

Jake

 

Rosa and I have been married for twelve years, but it seems like just yesterday we got together. 

 

Okay, that could be because just days after our quickie, teenage elopement to Vegas we separated and didn’t see each other for a decade. But now that we’ve reconnected, it feels like the perfect time to renew our vows, right? Have that do-over wedding of our dreams, one that includes family and friends and all the trappings of a wedding we didn’t get the first time around. But Rosa’s avoiding anything to do with planning for our do-over wedding, and I’m worried that maybe she doesn’t actually want to do this. 

 

So I’ve got six weeks to figure out what’s really going on with Rosa, kick-start the vow renewal planning, and ensure that whatever we do, it’s exactly the way we want it.

 

Easy peasy, right? 

 

Please send wine.

Musical Monday: Better Together by Jack Johnson (Stringspace String Quartet)

   

This is another song that Kelly Jamieson picked for our joint playlist for the POUR DECISIONS wedding stories. Her book, Eat, Drink and Be Married released last week. And if you haven't picked up a copy yet, what are you waiting for? 

Links below!

Eat, Drink, and be Married 
By Kelly Jamieson 

Bianca

I’m getting married and this wedding has to be perfect. I’ve planned everything down to the minute, and approved every flower, bow, and candle. With a brilliant wedding decorator and my meticulous planning and attention to detail, what could possibly go wrong?

It turns out…a lot.

All my life, I felt overshadowed by my two sisters and felt I could never measure up to the family winemaking name. That’s why this has to be flawless. So when things start going wrong on our wedding day, I’m distraught. Not only am I embarrassed but…are we even really married?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H3FV8HQ4

https:tinyurl.com/NapaWeddingPlaylist

Wine Wednesday: Three Thieves Cabernet Sauvignon

I never heard of this wine until a few weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised. It's such a California Cab. Velvety mouth feel. Black cherry on the nose along with hints of dark chocolate. It made me homesick. I drank it with a flank steak topped with onions and peppers. It was an okay pairing. I think this wine needed something with more of an umami edge to it--maybe the fabulous roasted Brussels sprouts they make at the Paso Robles Inn.

Nice Day for a Wine Wedding 
By PG Forte

There are a lot of reasons people choose to elope. We’ve already figured out most of them.

Clay

​How hard could it be to plan a simple wedding? If recent experience has taught me anything, the answer is very. Once Legs’ Uncle Geno got involved things started spiraling out of control. We really should’ve eloped.

 Allegra

​I’m not saying Clay’s wrong about Geno, but it was his family who turned our rehearsal dinner into a circus. But we’re not eloping. We’re going to work out the problems and have the wedding of our dreams. Assuming we both show up for it.

Read an excerpt HERE

Musical Monday: I Choose You Wedding Version (Forest Blakk)

   

First of all, Happy Release Day to Kelly Jamieson! Her new POUR DECISIONS story, Eat, Drink and Be Married is out today! You can get it here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H3FV8HQ4

This is one of the songs she picked for our joint playlist. I'll post the link below to that, as well.

Eat, Drink, and be Married 
By Kelly Jamieson

Bianca

I’m getting married and this wedding has to be perfect. I’ve planned everything down to the minute, and approved every flower, bow, and candle. With a brilliant wedding decorator and my meticulous planning and attention to detail, what could possibly go wrong?

It turns out…a lot.

All my life, I felt overshadowed by my two sisters and felt I could never measure up to the family winemaking name. That’s why this has to be flawless. So when things start going wrong on our wedding day, I’m distraught. Not only am I embarrassed but…are we even really married?

https:tinyurl.com/NapaWeddingPlaylist

Wine Wednesday: Grape Creek Vineyards 2022 Right Bank

So this wine has the most wonderful nose--I smell blackberries and cherries, vanilla and candied violets. This is a Merlot-dominant red blend with soft tannins and more than a hint of cocoa on the finish. The grapes were grown on the High Plains in 2022. Coincidentally, that was the year I moved to Texas. It was a really hot summer and this wine definitely gives me a sense of that. It's a, "too hot to do anything but lie in a hammock and drink wine" kind of wine. It reminds me of foggy mornings and 

I'm currently at the last stages (I hope) of writing Nice Day for a Wine Wedding. I like to think Clay and Allegra would be enjoying a wine like this at their reception. Now, if only I could figure out what's on the menu...

But I guess you'll have to check back next month (when the book releases) and find out what I came up with!

Nice Day for a Wine Wedding 
By PG Forte

There are a lot of reasons people choose to elope. We’ve already figured out most of them.

Clay

​How hard could it be to plan a simple wedding? If recent experience has taught me anything, the answer is very. Once Legs’ Uncle Geno got involved things started spiraling out of control. We really should’ve eloped.

 Allegra

​I’m not saying Clay’s wrong about Geno, but it was his family who turned our rehearsal dinner into a circus. But we’re not eloping. We’re going to work out the problems and have the wedding of our dreams. Assuming we both show up for it.

Read an excerpt HERE

Musical Monday: Come Away With Me (Norah Jones)

   

There's no real reason for this song. I just like it, and I like the weird, dream sequence video. It's peaceful and evocative. 

This Week's Free Read: Let Me Count the Ways

So...I saw this cute video about a cockatoo (see below) and it reminded me of the parrot in Let Me Count the Ways, which was such a fun book to write, and that was all it took for me to decide that this would be my free book of the week.  Well, that and the fact that I'll be raising the prices on a lot of my books this week--particularly the novellas, including this one. Basically, anything that's currently 1.99 will be either 2.99 or 3.99 (depending on word count) starting sometime soon (whenever I get around to it, it's a busy time of year). And many of my longer books may go up as well. Everything but the Carina and Entangled books, because I don't control the prices of those. Unless I decide to get my rights back and republish them myself--always a possibility. 

Up until now, I've tried to keep my prices low because I sympathize with people who read a lot and don't have a lot of money to spend on books. I mean, I am one of those people, after all. But libraries exist for a reason. And I've had enough people tell me that readers don't buy inexpensive books because they think they mustn't be very good that I've started to think that I might have been making a critical miscalculation all along. I mean, personally, I don't understand that logic, but I do realize that other people might see things differently And I do believe in math, so I have to believe that the people who've run the numbers--and who insist that higher priced books sell better--know what they're talking about. 

Life's weird right now, anyway; logic doesn't seem to enter into much of anything, anymore. And since I'm once again at the "either start selling more books, or stop writing altogether," point, I figure I'll give it a try.  

So...TL/DR: this book can be picked up for free at the link below (this week only) and if you want to pick up some bargains, check out any of the online vendors for the rest of this series and the first three Games We Play books--because those are all definitely going up in the very near future. 

Let Me Count The Ways

LA Love Lessons 3.0

She's thinking fling, he's thinking forever.

Sexy former film star Claire Calhoun is used to having her pick of studly young men. Now that she and Derek have called it quits, however, the actress-turned-entrepreneur is feeling vulnerable. After one mojito too many at a party one night, she decides it would be fun to try something new-in this case, Mike Sherman, her staid accountant and long-time fan.

Claire has been Mike's fantasy since the first time he saw her bare it all for the camera. Now that she's in his bed he'll do whatever's necessary to keep her there. But he's not a stalker, right? He's just a devoted fan.

NEW: look for a new Christmas story featuring Mike and Claire available this Christmas:  Click here to learn more.

https://BookHip.com/ZRDADJT

Musical Monday: A Million Dreams (Pink)

  

All right, I know I said that Rewrite the Stars was going to be THE song for Clay and Allegra to dance to, but this was a serious contender. At the very least, it's going on the playlist!

Musical Monday: America (Jack and Daisy)

  I've always loved Simon and Garfunkel but I have to admit that this is a sensational cover of one of my favorite of their songs. It's the New Jersey Turnpike reference. And I'm feeling intensely political this year (in case you haven't noticed) so...there will probably be more songs like this showing up in here. Sorry, not sorry.

  

This Week's Free Read: Being Mom (A Collection of Poems About Motherhood)

Just in time for Mothers Day

https://dl.bookfunnel.com/6aihh96he3

Wine Wednesday: Sirin Sonoma Valley 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon

 

So, we know I like wine. But my favorite thing is pouring a glass of a really good California red wine--usually a Cab or a Zin--and taking that first sniff, that first taste. It transports me back to happier times. My love affair with California reds dates back to my first trip to California, when I was a newlywed. We camped in Marin, just outside San Francisco--I'm pretty sure it was Mt. Tamalpais State Park. There was an older couple (probably younger than I am now) in a camper set up in the site directly across from us, who invited us over for grilled oysters and wine. My husband doesn't like either one (well, he's learning to. slowly.) but I was in pig heaven. It was a magical night. Later, it started to rain, our tent flooded, we left before dawn, and all of our gear stayed wet for days. 

But this wine--with its deep purple color, its soft tannins, the notes of cedar, violets, and crushed blackberries on the nose, with its bold mouthfeel, the hints of toasted oak, the lingering taste of raspberry and cocoa--brings it all back. It tastes like night in a redwood forest--dark and earthy and smoky and herbaceous. 

I'd pair it with grilled oysters, if I had them. Since I don't, I'm enjoying it by itself. 

This Week's Free Read! A Taste of Honey

So, last Friday was Bealtaine--one of the cross-quarter holidays that fall between the equinoxes and solstices. Bealtaine celebrations are all about fertility, marriage, growth, abundance, etc. And I was surprised by how many of the people I mentioned it to had never heard of it. 

But then again, I'd grown up with the soundtrack from Camelot playing in the background (basically on repeat) ALL. THE. TIME. Or at least that's how it felt. Not that I'm complaining. The music is great, and the lyrics--chef's kiss!

I do love it when song lyrics are clever, grammatical, AND they make sense. 

Anyway, in honor of the holiday, I'm making my Bealtaine-set Oberon book (A Taste of Honey) free for a limited time. 

It's always been one of my favorites.  Grab it while you can!

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://dl.bookfunnel.com/2srbtprmkt

Musical Monday: You Gotta Be Tough to Grow Old (Delta King's Blues)

  Okay, I gotta admit I love this song. I may have had it on repeat for a while. Yeah, that's pretty much all I have to say. It's a vibe. 

Wine Wednesday: Serial Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon (2021)

 

Oh, this was a lovely wine. There were a lot of cedar and dark fruit notes in the nose, with just a hint of sweet smoke--like candied bacon. It's a dark, full-bodied wine (typical of Paso Cabernets) without the aggressive tannins Paso Robles Zins are known for. It's a complex wine, it was quite jammy (in the best way) and yet I tasted a lot of tart cherry notes along with violets, blackberries and baking spices. I found the finish very peppery, almost like a Syrah. 

I paired this with a hearty, Sicilian pasta with eggplant. 

Musical Monday: Marry You (Bruno Mars)

  Okay, so...I'm writing a wedding story. So everything is about weddings right now. In fact, there are times when I forget that the people whose wedding I'm planning are not real. And also: no, I will not be able to attend said wedding. 

Anyway, I think this video is of the very first flash mob wedding proposal ever. Or, at least, ONE OF the first. I may have watched it many, many times when it first came out. 

The couple is still together, AFAIK. The woman in the red dress choreographed the whole thing. The gay couple are shown wearing (cheap, fake, plastic) leis because, at the time, Hawaii was one of the few (possibly the only) state where gay marriage was legal. I'm still not sure how I feel about the lyric "dancing juice" having been misinterpreted/re-imagined as "dancing jews".  I believe the family is jewish, and it gives them a chance to get in on the act, but it's a grammar thing. If I could convince myself that Bruno Mars was singing "these" instead of "this" I'd be a lot happier. 

But, even all these years later, it's still just the cutest thing!

Musical Monday: Smoke 2 Joints (Sublime)

   

It's 420. Of course I was going to post something like this. Stay blazing. 

This Week's Featured Read: The Name Game

So...this book has a bit of an interesting background. Ever since I'd introduced Kristi DiLuca in the second Games We Play book, Never Have I Ever, I'd known that someday I'd want to write her brothers' stories. But other than the fact that they're family ran the best bakery in Atlas Beach, I knew next to nothing about them. Then author Tiffany Carby put out a call for books involving sandwiches.

Coming from New Jersey--a state with its own, iconic sandwich--I knew I had to get involved. And, wouldn't you know it? I just happened to have a New Jersey based series already in the works. The title practically wrote itself. Because I wanted it to be game related and the Taylor Ham vs Taylor Pork Roll name dispute has raged up and down and across the state for a hundred and twenty years.

Because if there's one thing Jerseyites can't help but fight over, it's food. 

The Name Game

He knows what to do to save her business. She knows what he needs to fix his life!

Atlas Beach is experiencing a retail-renaissance—and Carly Meyer is determined to be part of it.  But her sandwich shop-slash-food-truck, The Lunch Box, is struggling to stay afloat.

Luckily, help is on the way thanks to the Chamber of Commerce’s innovative mentoring program—partnering successful Atlas Beach business owners with some of the newer start-ups. Too bad the mentor assigned to her is the delectable—and highly annoying—Tino DiLuca.

Tino knows exactly what’s hurting Carly’s business and—exactly how to fix it. But his number one solution, changing the name of her signature sandwich, is the one thing she’s not prepared to do.

https://books2read.com/The-Name-Game

Musical Monday: Whatever Gets You Through the Night (John Lennon & Elton John

    

I'd never seen this version before, but I kind of love it. I mean...vocally, it's rough and a little fast (?) but the energy and the HAIR are fire! The multiplicity of cuts to Yoko was an interesting editing choice.  

Wine Wednesday: Decoy 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon

 

So Decoy is put out by Duckhorn and I talked about Duckhorn's 2021 Cab recently. Decoy is a little more affordable, but also quite good.   

This has a lighter feel than the Duckhorn. There's a lot of black fruit--cherry, black raspberry, etc.--on the nose, along with hints of toasted oak and California chapparal. It's an easy drinking wine with mild, silky tannins and a creamy mouth feel. I enjoyed this with pizza

Musical Monday: Sweet Child O Mine (Piano and Cello cover by The Piano Guys)

 

So, I know I said that Clay and his mom would be dancing to Wind Beneath my Wings, but I might have to change that, because this would be pretty sweet as well. Currently, I'm trying to convince one of the other POUR DECISIONS authors to choose it for their groom. 

Guess you'll have to wait a couple of months to see how that played out. lol!

This Week's FREE Read: Giada Mazzi is Living her Best Life

So...I probably should have made this book free LAST week, to coincide with Trans Day of Awareness, but this year has already gotten away from me. So it's free through Wednesday of this week--run and get it! 

I'm enormously proud of this book, but it's been out for about a year now and I don't think anyone's read it. Thanks in part--I can only assume--to the one crappy review it got from someone who didn't bother to read past the first chapter. 

And don't get me wrong--if you don't like a book, by all means write an honest review. But maybe at least be accurate and/or give a character arc a chance to, you know, arc a little bit? 

Mostly I'm disappointed for Giaza's sake. I've been in love with her since her first appearance in The Name Game. And I really think that she deserves a chance to shine a little bit, so I'm making the book free from April 4th through the 8th. 

If you love it, we'd love to hear about it! If you don't, well we're both big girls, we can handle that, too. But maybe give Giada and Ben a chance before you decide you hate them. I try and make my characters realistic, which means that sometimes they make mistakes out of the gate, sometimes there's a bit of a learning curve, sometimes the "course of true love" doesn't always run smooth.  

Giada Mazzi is Living her Best Life

Games We Play 7.0

Life is more than just the lies we try and tell ourselves about what we’ve done and who we are.

 I guess the truth is that I never stopped loving Ben. And I never stopped imagining how different my life might have been if he were only the person I needed him to be, instead of the person that he is. Which is silly, right? I mean, truly; it’s laughable. Because if he were someone else, he wouldn’t be him.  And the world is already full of people like that. What good is one more gonna do me?

Besides, if I’m honest, Ben wasn’t ever the problem. That was me. I was never the person he believed me to be. Oh, I thought I was, in the beginning. I tried hard to be, and that worked for a while. Sort of. But eventually I reached the point where I had to make a choice between living life for myself, or for everyone else.

And when it came right down to that…how could I not choose me?

https://books2read.com/GiadaMazzi

Musical Monday: War (Edwin Starr)

  

Yeah, this is another one that needs no explanation. And requires no notes. F*ck everyone who's brought us to this place yet again. 

Wine Wednesday: Tenuta di Gambini 2023 Primitivo Rosé

 So, the Primitivo grape is the Italian version of Zinfandel. Which makes it a dicey choice for Rosé since there's so much really bad white Zinfandels. In fact, I used to have a wine-dyed T-shirt from Crazy Shirts that claimed, "Friends Don't Let Friends Drink White Zinfandel". Which was a play on the slogan, "Friends don't let friends drive drunk," which--IYKYK--tells you how long ago THAT was. 

Hint: I believe I was writing Scent of the Roses, at the time. But I digress...

This was quite a nice wine made in the Italian style from grapes grown in the Texas High Plains. It's a young wine (as Rosé tends to be). And it was a very pretty salmon color, but oddly cloudy. It actually looked like a Pét-Nat wine, to be honest. 

There were notes of burnt orange, fresh berry, and caramel on the nose. I tasted cantaloupe, strawberry and dried wild blueberry...which makes it sound sweet, which it was not! Lots of minerality, though. Not a bad thing. 

I enjoyed this at the Texas Hill Country Olive Company Bistro along with a lovely salad and a chicken caprese sandwich. I think they paired very nicely. 

This Week's Featured Read: Dream Under the Hill

So...this book ended up being really dark. Every romance book has a black moment where everything appears to be going wrong. This entire book is the black moment for the series. And to make things worse--it's really long. But it ties up most of the loose threads from the entire series in what I think is a very satisfactory manner. 

Yes, there are a few threads left for book nine, but there would have to be, wouldn't there?

It's set around the Spring Equinox, which is why I've chosen to feature it this week. And Cara turned out to be one of the most compelling characters in the entire series--at least in my opinion. 

Dream Under The Hill

Oberon Book 8.0

The Spring Equinox falls in the month that nearly all Native Traditions recognize as being one of Big Winds--big changes.  And big changes have certainly come to Oberon this spring, along with an ancient evil that must finally be laid to rest.

Cara Matthews is a girl with a troubled past and a very troubling present.  The teenage girlfriend of Oberon's newest guru has always looked for love in all the worst places.  And it doesn't get much worse than the Church of Truth, Light and Vision.

Former cop Liam McKnight could have told her that, but he's infiltrated the cult in hopes of discovering some clue to the whereabouts of his missing family members, and he can't jeopardize his mission--not even for love.

In a month marked by birth, death and marriage, the inhabitants of Oberon must all come to terms with what's really important to each of them--important enough to die for. Only one thing is certain; when the winds of change finally stop blowing nothing, and no one, will be the same.