Lyn Cote Asks: What’s with my cat? Has this happened…

To you? I noticed the other day that one of my two cats (Browser) has begun to act like me. I am a person that wakes up at the same time every day and breakfasts at 8AM, lunches around Noon, suppers at 6 PM, enjoys an evening snack and then goes to bed about the same time each night. Browser has adopted his own schedule! I’ve never had a cat do that. He is at my side when I wake in the morning, wanting breakfast. Later he wants a morning treat. Then in the evening he sits in front of me around 9 PM for his night treat. Cats!

PS: (I leave a bowl of dry food out all day which he grazes occasionally but it’s his brother’s main food!) 

Anyway are your pets on schedule????

The waiting is nearly over! My new title, A LIFE OF BLESSING, comes out Sept 10th!

Three Women of Courage series

Gripping and emotional historical fiction inspired by true events

“Rich and rewarding! Blessing will captivate you from beginning to end. A unique and compelling plot and well-drawn characters will bring you back in history to Cincinnati, Ohio, where women’s rights were nonexistent and racial tension permeated the city. I couldn’t put this book down until I learned their fate. A must read!” 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0F9LN38GV? 

 

Never Say Never by Pat Simmons

God has a sense of humor to make us eat our words. While visiting Texas, I doubted my eyes were seeing properly.

A self-driving car with a man in the passenger seat. After a double-take, I had to take photos. I thought the man was brave, and  'you couldn't pay me to ride in one of those things.' 

That was about six months ago. Fast forward to last week, and those driverless cars called Waymo seemed to have multiplied around Austin like ants.

It was eerie. I mean, you have humans who can't drive, and then you add a driverless car to the road. Not a good combination.

We needed to take an Uber to the hotel, and my husband said, "Hey, I just picked us one of those cars."

I thought he was joking. He wasn't. I don't know if I was scared or curious, but I agreed.

First, we had to find the car. Check. It was waiting at the corner with hazard lights activated.  Honestly, I felt like someone was playing a video game, directing the car down the dark side roads, and I was part of the script. We did arrive safely.

The next day, my husband wanted to ride in another one.

My response, "Absolutely not. I'd rather tip a human."

-------------------

Pat Simmons is a multi-published Christian romance author of forty-plus titles. She is a self-proclaimed genealogy sleuth passionate about researching her ancestors, then casting them in starring roles in her novels. She is a five-time recipient of the RSJ Emma Rodgers Award for Best Inspirational Romance and a recipient of the 2022 Leslie Esdaile Trailblazer Award. Christmas Dinner was also an Emma Award winner for Book of the Year. Christmas Dinner and Here for You were featured in Woman’s World Magazine.

As a Christian, Pat describes the evidence of the gift of the Holy Ghost as a life-altering experience. She has converted her sofa-strapped sports fanatical husband into an amateur travel agent, untrained bodyguard, and GPS-guided chauffeur. They have a son and a daughter. Pat holds a B.S. in mass communications from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, and has worked in radio, television, and print media for more than twenty years. Visit her at www.patsimmons.net.

A special assignment. The outcome is a matter of life or death.

Who will accept the challenge before time runs out?

Katherine Kincaid, a church mother from Christ Is For All, has been fervently petitioning Jesus to return and rescue His saints from this wicked world.

The Lord gives her a list of unknown individuals urgently needing deliverance. The intercessors and prayer warriors are charged with leading them to Christ. Once every soul is accounted for, Jesus will come to redeem His saints, and judgment will begin on the earth.

The caveat to God’s edict is that the timer has been set, and if the intercessors fail to witness to them, their souls could be lost forever.

God thunders, “Get set, get ready, GO!!!!!”

Falling for His Nashville Nurse by Janice Lynn

Yay! I have a book coming out next week. I've been out living life and haven't written as many books over the past couple of years. That makes me cherish each new release a bit more. 

In Falling for His Nashville Nurse, Wryn has made a big mistake in the past that he keeps locked away inside of himself. He's a successful doctor and convinces himself that that's enough in life, that he doesn't have to deal with the issues that have kept him from moving forward in his personal life. Meeting Everleigh changes that. She's a single mom and puts her son and family as her top priority. Spending time with her means having to relook at his own life and the sacrifices he's made.

I love the setting of Nashville for the story. Nashville is a fun, hopping place. There's a little bit of everything in the city or surrounding area. It's grown a lot over the past few years, so is super busy. I think one of the things that stands out is that it's become a bachelorette party hub. 

Everleigh had her heart broken when her husband left her and their infant at the time son. She's very family focused with her mother and son. To keep expenses down and to have help with her son, she and her mother live together. Everleigh's mother has insulin-dependent diabetes with widely fluctuating blood sugar readings. Incorporating their characters into the story allowed me to showcase Everleigh's big, protective heart and her determination for providing a better life for them all.

Do you enjoy romance stories that incorporate family into them or more couple centric stories that don't bring other characters into play much?

Amazon

Can a guarded doc take a chance on love with a sunny single mom nurse? Find out in the latest Harlequin Medical Romance by Janice Lynn!

FROM A FLING…TO FOREVER?

Dr. Wryn appears happy-go-lucky, but past pain bubbles beneath the surface. So it’s a surprise when Nashville Medical Clinic’s captivating new nurse, Everleigh, has his traitorous heart racing…which only worsens as he gets to know the single mom and her adorable son. Wryn should keep his distance—Everleigh swore off romance following her divorce. But when she admits to feeling the same, his restraint shatters. If a fling is all they can have, he’ll treasure every moment. Falling for Everleigh was never part of the plan…

USA Today, Wall Street Journal, & Publishers Weekly Bestselling author JANICE LYNN lives in Tennessee with her Prince Charming and their princes and princesses, her vivid imagination, an adorable Maltese named Halo who's the true royalty of the house, and bunches of unnamed dust bunnies that moved in after Janice started her writing career. In addition to writing romance, Janice is a nurse practitioner, a quilter, a military mama, and an avid supporter of the Quilts of Valor Foundation. www.janicelynn.com  

Wrapped Up in Christmas https://amzn.to/4gvI1wP

Wrapped Up in Christmas Joy https://amzn.to/47wB8qW

Wrapped Up in Christmas Hope https://amzn.to/3Twuye

And the newest, WRAPPED UP IN CHRISTMAS LOVE. Order your copy today. Amazon Barnes & Noble

Sunflowers, Sunshine, and a Dash of Inspiration by Merri Maywether

At the beginning of the summer, I visited the UK. Now that the kids are headed back to school and traffic isn’t so heavy, I’ve taken to visiting places that have been or will be the backdrop for my stores. 

Recently, I visited Sunflower Days in Craig, Montana. I had an idea for some fun and "growing" moments for a couple of characters. 

(This part is in a whisper voice...they live in Cottage Cove) 

It was more than walking through a field of twenty different varieties of sunflowers. Although that was an experience I’ll treasure. There were family-friendly games, opportunities to feed some animals, and best of all—an abundance of story ideas.

Now that I’ve strolled through rows of twenty different varieties, I can officially say sunflowers have stolen the top spot on my list of favorite flowers. 🌻 They’re bright, cheerful, and always seem to carry a little sunshine with them.

How about you—what’s your favorite flower, the one that makes you smile every time you see it?

****

✨ Looking for a sweet read? All of the Hope Springs, Montana, romances are gathered together in Porch Swings and Sweethearts.

Each story can be read on its own, but the fun part is that the characters are friends who step in and out of each other’s stories—like a true small-town community. 💕

📖 Read for Free on Kindle Unlimited!

Finding the Right Name by Merrillee Whren

Character names are important when writing a story, but place names are also important. I've created fictional towns for many of my books. The first series I wrote was set in my fictional town of Pinecrest, Washington, a small town near Spokane. I picked the name because there are lots of pines in the area and hills and mountains.

I also have my Kellersburg series set in a small fictional town in southwest Ohio, not far from Cincinnati. I patterned it after a couple of small towns I lived in for several years after I got married. I picked the name because the town was settled by the Kellers. 

My Christmas novellas are set in Hallburg, a small town in Maryland, not far from Baltimore. One of my daughters lives in Baltimore, so my characters find their way to Baltimore on occasion. I didn't have any particular reason for picking the name other than it wasn't a real place in Maryland. 

I'm currently working on a book set in Arizona, and I needed a name for the ranch where most of the book will be set. I asked my Facebook friends to help me with the name for the ranch. They gave me a lot of suggestions. Many of them I couldn't use because they were actually real places. Two of the suggestions were for Crooked Saguaro Ranch and Bent Saguaro Ranch. That gave me the idea for Twisted Saguaro Ranch, but I used the Spanish translation for the name because the original owners of the ranch were of Hispanic origin. The name in Spanish is Rancho Saguaro Retorcido. Here is a photo of the a twisted saguaro, the inspiration for the name. 

 If you owned a ranch, what would you name it? 

Merrillee Whren is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award presented by Romance Writers of American. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of forty-plus years, and has two grown daughters. Connect with her on her Facebook page and sign up for her newsletter.

 

Secrets of the Heart by Vickie McDonough

Wild Heart books is re-releasing my exciting South Carolina series about the Reed family. Don't miss this swashbuckling, heart-warming series that spans over sixty years of a southern family's legacy.

SECRETS OF THE HEART

Windswept Weddings book 2

Vickie McDonough

A Southern belle nursing a wounded stranger must choose between family duty and a love that defies everything she’s ever known.

Hannah Madison’s life is comfortable, well-ordered, and safe. She knows what to expect. Including her mother’s plans that Hannah marry Jamie Reed, the heir to the neighboring plantation. But her sheltered life is disrupted when she stumbles upon a seriously injured stranger in the Reeds’ barn. He seems to need her help. As she nurses him back to health, Hannah is drawn to the handsome man with amnesia that she calls Adam. And as her feelings for him grow, Hannah must decide whether to follow her heart or honor her family's expectations.

Adam remembers nothing prior to the day he met Hannah. Nothing of his true identity or the dangerous secret he carries. All he knows is he can’t help falling for his graceful and kind caretaker. But when his memories return, he's faced with an impossible choice— pursue his love for Hannah and betray his family, or sacrifice his own happiness to preserve his family's unity.

Can Hannah and Adam find the right path when duty and love collide?

Secrets of the Heart releases on October 7th. Be the first to read it by pre-ordering it now. Just $3.99 for ebook / $15.95 for paperback.

Pre-order on Amazon now

Mutiny of the Heart, Book 1 in my Windswept Weddings series, releases on August 19th. You'll love this story complete with a charming little boy, a woman with no one to call her own, and a swoony hero you can look up to. Oh, did I mention pirates?

Snag a copy here

The Midnight Garden Secret That's Changing Neighborhoods (and why I'm thinking of doing it, too) by Josie Riviera

Have you heard about the "Midnight Garden" trend? It's sweeping through neighborhoods this summer. The concept is simple—people garden in the cooler evening hours, often with landscape lighting, creating spaces that become gathering spots for impromptu neighbor meetups.

What started as avoiding the August Carolina heat has turned into a fun activity, while neighbors share gardening tips. Evening primrose, moonflowers, and night-blooming cereus are just a few flowers that open after dark, making nighttime gardens surprisingly beautiful.

Have you tried night gardening? Or found another way to connect with neighbors during these hot summer months? Please leave your comments below.

P.S. My video bird feeder captured a fascinating nighttime visitor this week. A crow!

If you're looking for your next great read, the complete Sweetwater Springs series is my newest release and now available in a boxed set. These three sweet romances will transport you to a charming small town filled with hope, heart, and the kind of community we'd all love to find.

The three books in the boxed set include:

WHISPERS OF LOVE IN SWEETWATER SPRINGS
One mysterious letter. Two childhood friends. A love story decades in the making.

WHISPERS OF MAPLE MEMORIES IN SWEETWATER SPRINGS
A century-old secret. A stolen chronicle. Could unearthing their past cost them their future?

WHISPERS OF HOLIDAY MAGIC IN SWEETWATER SPRINGS
A struggling baker, a determined financier, and a small-town mystery where secrets spark holiday magic.

Grab your copy of Whispers of Sweetwater Springs today. FREE on Kindle Unlimited.

Josie Riviera is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary, historical, and inspirational romances that read like Hallmark movies. She lives in the Charlotte, NC, area with her wonderfully support husband. They share their home with an adorable Shih Tzu, who constantly needs grooming, and live in an old house forever needing renovation.

Sign up for her newsletter and get a FREE ebook on her website: josieriviera.com