Intention is out the window - and a free book! - by @MagdalenaScott

I adopted the word "intention" for 2018. As I did so, I could hear distant trumpets announcing my impending super-awesomeness. This, I knew, would be the year I finally checked off all those writing goals I set aside last year and the year before. 

I should have known better.

I filled my big markerboard with chronological, color-coded details of Stuff I Will Do, and When.

Now, when I think about how serious I was, feverishly making all those plans, I nearly break out in hysterical laughter. (It's that or tears, and I'll choose laughter.)

I won't even give you the short list of things that have happened to me in less than three calendar months. Let's just say "intention" isn't working. I erased the "I" word off my markerboard, and then erased everything else too. It felt good.

I'm switching gears. For way too long I've put my real life on hold, chasing that elusive thing called success. 

My new word for 2018? Love.

I've tucked the markerboard away, and instead of making another fancy, self-important list of Stuff I Will Do, and When (cue hysterical laughter) my guideline is much simpler. I'll try to take care of my health, spend time with family and friends, and find ways to make a positive difference. I don't know when I'll get to write another book, but I'm determined to be happy with the squiggly route. (See the road sign above. Although I'm sure it's not the case, that road sign could have been intentionally designed to depict my life.)

  

Now that you've suffered through all that, here's the free book.

Midnight Shelby moved to Legend, Tennessee to start over after life handed her a bushel of lemons. What she found in the close-knit small town was love--from new friends, an adopted family, and a hard-headed local guy who doesn't trust outsiders. Midnight started a business that benefited her and the people in the struggling community. You can download Midnight in Legend, TN (book 1 of The McClains of Legend, Tennessee series) free at these vendors:

IBOOKS: http://apple.co/2gpmahu

KOBO: http://bit.ly/2ikQkTO

NOOK: http://bit.ly/2yu7hjX

KINDLE: http://amzn.to/1rXlekd

By the way, I'm posting this blog from a borrowed computer, because my laptop stopped working this morning. Are you laughing yet?

Happy reading,

Magdalena Scott

Please visit my website to find out more about me and my books, and subscribe to my monthly-ish newsletter. http://www.magdalenascott.com

 

Love On The Run...

When your running for your life, falling in love can be difficult. As someone who writes romantic suspense, though, I know you have to temper the suspense with a generous amount of love to make a successful romantic suspense.

This month, I have three Christian romantic suspense novellas out. All three deal with love on the run.

In Love’s Deadly Secrets – A First Street Church Novella available at Amazon, Isabelle Dunn’s past was wiped away one night when the car she was driving went over the side of the mountain, killing her best friend. Isabelle knows she is lucky to be alive. If it weren’t for her fiancé’s quick action, she might have died that night. Yet it isn’t long before Isabelle comes to realize everything she was told about the accident was a lie, and the man who claims to be her fiancé, is really a cold-blooded killer.

To stay alive, Isabelle flees Buffalo Ridge, Wyoming while looking back over her shoulder. When she stops to catch some sleep just inside the city limits sign for Sweet Grove, Texas, she has no idea how much the quant little town, and Texas Ranger Seth Walker, will change her life for the better.

Ranger Seth Walker had written love out of his life after he watched his twin sister die at the hands of someone she loved. Seth wasn’t able to save Sarah. Can he protect Isabelle now?

Forced into hiding until they can untangle the web of deceit Detective Paul Hardwick has spun, unexpectedly, Seth and Isabelle can’t stop the attraction they feel for each other from turning to love.

With Seth’s help and God’s protection, will Isabelle remember what really happened the night her friend died before Paul Hardwick can silence those memories forever?

In Eye of The Storm – Available at Amazon,  Former CIA Agent Kate Reagan finds herself in the middle of storm that has disrupted her life for six years. When Kate’s entire team was killed by the terrorist they’d been chasing for months, Kate finds the only way to save her life is to pretend to lose it.

After moving dozens of times through the years, Kate ends up in the small mountain town of Soaring Eagle, Wyoming where everything about the place screams of the home she’s been longing for.

Running into Deputy Sheriff Brady Connors, Kate finds herself attracted to the handsome frontier lawman right away, but having a future is not possible while the enemy is still stalking her.

With Brady’s help, Kate is about face the showdown she’s been expecting for a long time, when the enemy coming after her proves to be closer than Kate could ever imagine.

And in Layers Of The Truth - now available at Amazon, Cady Russell receives aheartbreaking call from Deputy Sheriff Aamon Lone Elk, telling her that her sister has died in a fire that mimics the one that took her parents’ lives twenty years earlier. Cady knows she has to return to Wyoming to find out what really happened to Samantha.

Deputy Sheriff Aamon Lone Elk knows a little about grief himself. He lost his wife to a drunk driver five years earlier. Aamon still isn’t able to move beyond the pain. Yet meeting Cady Russell throws him. She is both beautiful and strong, and he is attracted to her right away.

Cady has been lost in the past as well, unable to move beyond the tragedy that claimed her parents. Now her sister is dead by the same means, and she is convinced the two fires are related.

As the attraction between then continues to grow, can Aamon keep Cady safe as they peel back the layers of lies connected to the two fires? Or will a killer bent on keeping his deadly acts secret send them both to their graves?  

Publishers Weekly Bestselling Author Mary Alford grew up in a small Texas town famous for, well not much of anything really. Being the baby of the family and quite a bit younger than her brothers and sister, Mary had plenty of time to entertain herself. Making up stories seem to come natural to her. As a pre-teen, Mary discovered Christian romance novels and knew instinctively that was what she wanted to do with her over-active imagination. She wrote her first novel as a teen, (it’s tucked away somewhere never to see the light of day), but never really pursued her writing career seriously until a few years later, when she wrote her first Christian romance and was hooked. Today, Mary still lives in Texas, and still writes about romance. In fact, she can’t think of anything else she’d rather do. Learn more about Mary Alford at: www.maryalford.net where you can sign up for her newsletter. Also feel free to send her an email to maryjalfordauthor@gmail.com.

Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter.

And remember to join the Sweet Romance Reads Cafe too.

All the best…

Mary Alford

What’s Love Got to do with it? Everything, When You’re a Caregiver by Pat Simmons

No two caregivers’ situations are the same. Join me on Facebook: Tuesday, March 27^th, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. CDT: My Rock, Caregiver’s Release Party.

My Rock is Book I in the Caregivers series. I had written the outline more than seven years ago, and I actually had forgotten about it until God whispered, “Someone needs to hear from Me.”

I powered up my laptop and began to craft the Caregivers series. 

One year and three hundred and sixteen pages later, My Rock makes its debut. Here’s the story:

Three sisters living in three different cities (Baltimore, St. Louis, and Nashville) make a pact to share responsibilities for their aging relative after authorities find Aunt Tweet across state lines. Her destination had been a neighborhood grocery store. The siblings soon learn the definition of caregiver includes a cup full of patience, a slight sense of humor, and when to cry out for help. Women juggle between career and family all the time, but Tabitha Knicely (St. Louis) is struggling to find a balance. Romance is the last thing she’s trying to add to her list. The Aunt Tweet she knew all her life is not the same one who is residing in her home when she accepts the role as a caregiver for six months. Overwhelmed can’t begin to describe her emotions. Marcus Whittington is an opinionated, successful business owner, but he has a soft side when it comes to the elderly. They remind him of good memories of his grandparents. When Aunt Tweet is the mystery woman who stakes out his porch, he becomes concerned that she is not being taken care of properly. He sheds his misconceptions about what Tabitha isn’t doing right when he discovers that every caregiver needs a caregiver. Marcus knows in order to win Tabitha's heart; he has to charm Aunt Tweet's too.

I’m interested in your story as a caregiver, so please join My Rock, Caregivers release Party

https://www.facebook.com/events/2003297979925368/

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

Pat Simmons is celebrating ten years as a published author with more than thirty titles. She is a self-proclaimed genealogy sleuth who is passionate about researching her ancestors and then casting them in starring roles in her novels, in the hope of tracking down any distant relatives who might happen to pick up her books.

She is a three-time recipient of the Romance Slam Jam Emma Rodgers Award for Best Inspirational Romance Pat describes the evidence of the gift of the Holy Ghost as an amazing, unforgettable, life-altering experience. She believes God is the Author who advances the stories she writes.

Pat holds a B.S. in mass communications from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. She has worked in various positions in radio, television, and print media for more than twenty years. Currently, she oversees the media publicity for the annual RT Booklovers Conventions.

In addition to researching her roots and sewing, she has been a featured speaker and workshop presenter at various venues across the country.

Pat has converted her sofa-strapped sports fanatic husband into an amateur travel agent, untrained bodyguard, GPS-guided chauffeur, and administrative assistant who is constantly on probation. They have a son and a daughter.

Readers may learn more about Pat and her books by connecting with her on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or LinkedIn; or by contacting her at authorpatsimmons@gmail.com.