Bumps in the Road by Liz Flaherty

I started out writing sweet romance. 

Of course, I did. I was nine years old, typing a princess story on my aunt's portable Royal typewriter at a table on my grandparents' enclosed front porch. From there, I moved to stories about 13-year-olds who crushed on their brothers' friends. (Think Trixie Belden without the mysteries.)  They were much like me, only my heroines had good hair and were allowed to wear lipstick. 

As I went through junior high, writing stories in longhand on looseleaf note paper I kept in double-pocketed folders, the stories stayed sweet. Several first kisses were exchanged, some noticing of how guys looked in letter jackets because they all had broad shoulders and hair just a little longer than was actually acceptable. Everyone drove really cool cars and the girls never sat at home on Friday nights; if they didn't have dates they were perfectly happy to go out with girlfriends in yet another cool car.

And yes, they all had good hair.

Sometimes they swore a little. Not a lot, but likely more than I could have gotten by with. 

Time out for marrying, having children, working full time, raising said children, and being a terrible housekeeper, and then I got serious again. I had a ton of Chapter Ones in folders, several main characters whirling around in the back of my mind (behind the insanity of teenagers in the house) I joined RWA. I was a charter member of a chapter. I loved ... no, I loved being part of the whole romantic fiction industry long before I was published.

Which took several books and many, many submissions of expensive photocopies of paper manuscripts in Courier font--remember those? And then I sold a Precious Gems novel, Always Annie. In addition to the lukewarm love scene I'd already written, editor Hilary Sares required another one. A not especially lukewarm one. And a little more sizzle here and there, thank you very much. 

For that book and several others, I sizzled. Not a lot, not especially happily, but I wrote a couple of love scenes I was actually proud of. Even now, I think they were pretty good. 

I still swore a little, sometimes a little more ... what  ... earthily? Not coarsely (in my estimation), not the Bad Words that I never said anyway. But sometimes it was like a United Methodist bishop once said, paraphrasing, if he hit his thumb with a hammer, the first word he said wouldn't be darn. 

I wasn't writing sweet anymore. While I may insist I don't know how it happened, I do. Yes, I do. 

But personally, when I read, I either skipped or skimmed love scenes. I thought euphemisms were often dumb but I didn't enjoy the clinical terms, either. They felt forced. Sometimes it felt as if the love scenes were held together by mere threads of story. 

As I went along, with different publishers, trying different things, I gave up writing love scenes that included eithe body parts or consummation. Just as I gave up always writing women who had good hair. Yes, that was me you may have heard cheering as I slammed the bedroom door shut. Not because I have any kind of problem with other people writing or reading anything up to and including erotica. 

But, as Bob Dylan wrote so eloquently so long ago, It ain't me, babe. 

Frankly, it's not always easy to say what I want in a story without swearing, so sometimes I do. Not often, but I refer back to what the bishop said. 

So, here are the bumps. I think you can write too sweet, but what that means is that it's too sweet for me, not for your readers. I think you can be too crude , but doing it just because you can isn't reason enough. For me. 

As usual, I don't have a solution to what is sometimes a problem, and I am the first to admit and complain about the constant obstacles in the publishing road. I do have thoughts, though.

Should we have ratings like movies do? I think it would be a good idea, since what one person considers merely spicy yet another person finds to be unmitigated filth. What one person considers sweet or clean is insipid and colorless by someone else. 

Regardless, we will all continue to do what we've done all along. We will tell--and hopefully sell--our stories. We will wend the way to happily-ever-after over whatever bumps get in our way. Aren't we the lucky ones?

P. S. If you're looking for a sweet and clean marriage resurrected story, Early and Nash's is way up there in my list of my own favorites. It's a story of family, faith, and quilting. I hope you'll give it a look.

 

Then and Now--home sweet home USA! by Lyn Cote

This photo is dated July 4, 2014 and shows what I see from my front porch. Things haven't changed much which is fine by me! Hope you're all getting ready for the 4th and are happy to be Americans. I am! God bless American!!! Lyn Cote

The Treasure Hunt Within Museums by Pat Simmons

I don't care what city or country I'm in, if someone suggests a roadtrip to a museum, save me a seat. Not just any musuem--it has to be history, especially Black history--the artifacts, the oral history, and more. My latest museum find was in Phoenix area while in townfor a family reunion. While other relatives shopped, Kerry and I took an Uber to the Musical Instrument Museum. I didn't have any pre-conceived notions about what I would see.

From the moment we walked through the doors and were handed headsets, Kerry and I were blown away. Not only did they display historic instruments, but music from around the WORLD---a lot. There were so many impressive displays, but one was worth the cost of the $20 admission--the orchestra display and the "show and telling" of the instruments in the orchestra. But there's more. The museum had captured music not only from different eras, but countries too.

I was not disappointed in our field trip. As a matter of fact, I sold the idea of visiting the MIM to my local cousins. My tip of anyone is to explore what's in your backyard. You'll never know what you will find. ------------------------

Pat Simmons is a multi-published author of fifty-plus Christian romances. She is a self-proclaimed genealogy sleuth, a five-time recipient of the RSJ Emma Rodgers Award for Best Inspirational Romance, and the 2022 winner of the Leslie Esdaile “Trailblazer” Award. Pat lives in St. Louis and holds a B.S. in Mass Communications from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, and has worked in radio, television, and print media for over 20 years. She serves as a publicist on the board of the Christian Book Lovers Retreat (CBLR). Visit her at www.patsimmons.net.

Dangerous Secrets and Afternoon Tea

What happens when a determined Regency widow suspects her oldest friend is keeping dangerous secrets?

In this scene from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 1: Archer, Lady Wynwood invites Solomon Drydale to tea—and promptly begins an interrogation.

“Tea?” Laura offered.

Sol eyed it. “Is it poisoned?”

“Would you believe me if I told you no?”

“No,” he answered baldly.

“No tea, then.” She took a slightly perverse satisfaction in sipping her tea while studying him.

Sol shifted in his chair in the silence. “I was surprised to receive your note today, asking me to call upon you when I had seen you only a few days ago.”

“Eighty-four hours ago, in fact.”

Sol cleared his throat. “Just so that I’m aware of the situation, are you upset with me or with something that happened while we were at Lady Meynhill’s birthday celebration?”

Her eyes narrowed at him.

He sighed and answered his own question. “Both.”

“You promised me that long discussion, did you not?”

He colored slightly but gave a smile full of all the charm he could infuse it with, including that adorable—er, lone dimple on his left cheek. “But I sent you that note as soon as I returned to town late Saturday—actually, quite early Sunday morning.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Oh. The one that said, ‘All are well. Thanks for your help this weekend.’”

“It was not that terse, surely.”

“It was nearly that terse. But it was not your letter, Sol. I realize there are certain things about which you cannot speak.” She had purposefully never spoken to him about his clandestine work for the government officials in the Home Office. She had suspected—how could she not, when she and Sol had been such close friends in the ten years since her husband died? Although she had not known about Sol’s work for the government when they had first met decades ago at her debut into society, she had observed him closely enough in the past few years to know that he was involved in some way in the government’s efforts against France’s secretive infiltration of these shores. And then his mysterious agenda at the birthday celebration this past weekend had solidified it in her mind, although he had never overtly spoken about it.

—from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 1: Archer

Enter the Goodreads Giveaway

Pride and Prejudice meets Mission: Impossible—Christian Historical Suspense with slow-burn romance and a touch of the supernatural.

An alchemist’s potion creates monstrous soldiers who could turn the tides of war. Can a team of misfit aristocrats stop the sale to Napoleon?

Ready for More Regency Intrigue?

Click below to enter the Goodreads giveaway for an ebook copy of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 1: Archer and step into a world of Regency intrigue, danger, and slow-burn romance.

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📖 Alternately, read the first 3 chapters now

What Scotland Taught Me About Storytelling by Merri Maywether

This summer, America is sharing a phenomenon I experienced in 2018. After spending any amount of time with a Scottish person, you walk away a changed person  

For those just hearing this. The Tartan Army, a.k.a. Scotland’s fans, have been in Boston for the World Cup, and they brought the cultural conversation. 

They’ve anointed statues with the bright orange traffic cones. 

They have consumed enough beer to render a bar dry. 

Social media and news posts have shared countless stories about the Scottish-American love fest. 

This was nothing new to me. The summer of 2018 was my first trip to Scotland. I met with a group of authors. We talked books, hunkered down in an estate, and wrote. By day, we were storytellers.

The night was ours to do whatever we wanted. We hiked Arthur’s Seat and returned to hang out in a pub. We visited cemeteries. We danced in a ceilidh. We roamed the cobblestone streets and visited places authors before us frequented. 

I came home delighted. Randy and I had made friends, and even more important, my book was done.

Or so I thought.

When I sat down to revise it, something felt off.

There was a distinct difference in the writing styles.

In the first half of the book, the Lane family had always been warm. But after spending time with Scottish people, the candid stories, banter, and shenanigans in the second half were livelier.

It was like the book was written by two different people. And in a way, it was.

After spending time in Scotland, I noticed people differently. I listened differently. That’s a picture of me with someone who started out as a stranger and became someone I’d share photos and life’s fun lessons with. The teasing between family members, the stories shared around a table, the way complete strangers could become friends by the end of the evening—I wanted more of that on the page.

That’s one of the reasons I love traveling. We often think we’re collecting memories, but sometimes we’re collecting pieces of ourselves we didn’t know were missing until another culture helps us see them.

And then, those pieces find their way into a story.

So I rewrote Paradise Hills Thanksgiving—eventually I had to go back and rewrite the prior books, too, but that’s a different blog.

So when I see another post about the Tartan Army charming Americans, I smile. It happened again. An encounter with a Scottish person added color to the story.

And more people get it.

Scotland is beautiful, but the real magic has always been her people. No matter where they are, they have a way of turning strangers into friends and ordinary moments into stories worth sharing.

💖💖💖 Merri’s Newest Release 💖💖💖

One overheard conversation. And a second chance that hinges on trying again after a secret is revealed.

Alana wasn’t looking for trouble at a friend’s wedding — but she found it when she overhears her Jimmy say exactly what he thinks of her. The words sting more than they should, considering they’re based on the person she’s pretended to be.

Jimmy isn’t proud of what he said. His apology is genuine — until it unravels something neither of them expected. Because Alana’s secrets, when they surface, look a lot like a woman who never trusted him at all.

In the warmth of Three Creeks, where everybody eventually knows everybody’s business, Jimmy and Alana must decide what’s worth salvaging — and whether an honest mistake is still a mistake when the truth is more complicated than it looks

\

One More Chance is an Amazon Kindle Unlimited story.

National Strawberry Shortcake Day by Merrillee Whren

 June 14th is National Strawberry Shortcake Day. Is there a better summer treat than fresh strawberries served over a shortcake biscuit with whipped cream or ice cream. I personally like ice cream because it melts and soaks into the biscuit. Yum! 

We can get fresh strawberries any time of year now, but when I was younger strawberries appeared only in the summer. I remember my grandparents' garden. They had strawberry plants in abundance, and my grandmother made strawberry jam. But the best strawberries served from their garden were in strawberry shortcake. 

This talk of strawberry shortcake definitely brings summer to mind. These are some of my books that are set in summer.

 

 

  

You can find more information about these books here. 

 

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.

Wildflowers, Wide-Open Skies, and a new release by Josie Riviera

 There is a reason women have always loved cowboys.

Not only the boots and the broad shoulders.

 The cowboy represents a man who keeps his word, who works the land with his hands, and who shows up. 

Here's what surprised me: the golden age of the American cowboy lasted only twenty years. From1865 to 1885, after the Civil War and the cattle drives began, an entire culture was born. Men as young as sixteen drove longhorns thousands of miles up the Chisholm Trail, earning about thirty dollars a month, sleeping under the open sky, and going months without seeing a town. Their handshake was their contract. Their reputation was everything they owned.

That code of loyalty and honest labor never went out of style. It moved into our fiction, where it belongs.

That's what drew me to write Wishes and Wildflowers, my newest sweet cowboy romance set in Bitterroot, Montana. My heroine, Lily, arrives in Montana carrying a grief she hasn't yet named. My hero, Reid, is a man holding his small family together with sheer stubbornness and love. Neither of them is looking for the other. But Montana has a way of stripping a person down to what matters.

I wrote this story for every woman who has ever needed a reminder that second chances are real. Sometimes it finds you in a dusty field full of wildflowers.

I'm so excited about my new release, Wishes and Wildflowers! Order your copy today.

Tell me in the comments — have you ever visited Montana, or is it on your dream list?

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 supportive 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

A Neighborly Day by Liz Flaherty

Good morning. It's sunshiny and breezy here in the middle of the Indiana cornfields. Mr. Rogers' song about the beautiful day in the neighborhood always trots through the side yard to greet me when I sit down at my desk beside the west window. The title of this post comes from the lyrics of that song, too, although I never gave them much thought before. 

As I said the other day when I talked about Patches of Red, I'm Liz Flaherty, the new kid at Sweet Romance Reads. I've written romance for a very long time. My books now lean hard into being women's fiction, but the truth is there's always a love story in there, too. A romantic one, I mean, and other kinds of love, too. The family, friends, memories, joys kinds.

I'm also a shameless blogger. Not just on my own blog, Window Over the Sink, but on Substack and anywhere I am invited. Or, I must admit, anywhere I invite myself. I think I'm a good guest, although I do go on sometimes, but I seldom leave a mess and if the host rolls her eyes about the going on part, she does it when her back is to me.

There is a reason for my love for blogging and for reading blogs. While I understand that the internet is huge and social media is ... well ... whatever it is, these days, I think of blogs as a big neighborhood. It's not a crowded, unruly one anymore, but you can always find a laugh on someone's blog, or information, or someone whose heartbeat is keeping the same time as yours. 

You can find a Bible study on a blog, someone whose health challenges mirror yours, a blog where the family dysfunction being discussed is one your family has. You can follow your favorite author if she blogs--or he does, journalists who help you to understand the news, quilters, musicians, pastors. And ... oh, thank goodness ... there are grammar blogs who show writers just how far we can bend the rules before they snap back and leave a bruise. 

All in all, pretty much like a neighborhood.

Besides being a women's fiction writer and a blog devotee, I've been married to Duane for 55 years. We have three kids, three more kids whom they married, and grandkids we call--with absolutely no bias, mind you--the Magnificent Seven. 

My latest two books are Books 1 and 2 of Colors, the Harper Loch Trilogy. While they both stand alone, I think they read better in order; therefore Pieces of Blue is 99 cents at the present time. It is my great hope that you'll love it and will read Patches of Red next. The main characters in the stories are friends of long standing, strong women both, whose lives are having a major overhaul in their 50s. Personally, I think they rock. 

Amazon: https://a.co/d/09fZR7nt 

D2D: https://books2read.com/u/mZ98YJ

Thanks for reading. I'd love to hear from you. Wishing you a neighborly day. 

Patches of Red ~ New Release by Liz Flaherty

Hi! 

I'm Liz Flaherty, the new kid at Sweet Romance Reads. I won't be blogging until June 6, but since I had a new release yesterday, I thought I'd introduce myself--and Ellie Wentz--a little early. 

I've written romance for a very long time. My books now lean hard into being women's fiction, but the truth is there's always a love story in there, too. A romantic one, I mean, and other kinds of love, too. The family, friends, memories, joys kinds.

Patches of Red, my new release, is Book 2 in Colors, the Harper Loch Trilogy. It's about second chances, starting over, and community. While it's a standalone, Book 1, Pieces of Blue, is a 99-cent download for a few weeks if you want to get a look at it first. Either way, I hope you enjoy visiting the little lake in Michigan, and I'll see you on the 6th!

Patches of Red

He’s handsome but couldn’t even remember her name. She’s pretty, but her finickiness drives him crazy. And yet … 

After twenty years as a nurse practitioner in the same practice, Ellie Wentz gives notice. When office politics interferes with her job, it’s time to get a new one. When her son and daughter-in-law buy her house and she has sold and given away everything else that’s not attached to her heartstrings, she packs up what remains and goes to Harper Loch to spend time with her best friend. She’ll decide what to do and where to go from there. No matter how much the handsome friend of her friends annoys her.

Jesse Grant comes to Harper Loch to help out his niece for a few weeks. He’s retired from the navy, his boys are grown, and he’s at loose ends. But he really likes the little lake community in Michigan—he thinks he might stay. Long widowed, he has no interest in getting married again, and neither does the redhead he can’t seem to avoid. And yet … again. 

Buy links:

Amazon: https://a.co/d/09fZR7nt

D2D: https://books2read.com/u/mZ98YJ

Excerpt:

She found Mom’s wedding ring right away, too. It wasn’t the diamond circlet Dad had given her for an anniversary … maybe the twenty-fifth … but the slim white gold band they’d started with. Ellie slipped it onto her little finger—her hands resembled her dad’s more than her mom’s—and sat and looked at it. She had the diamond one, too, but this one somehow meant more. This was the one bought by the young, hopeful lovers, not the successful real estate team they’d become.

She sorted out the sapphires—Mom would want Maggie, who loved blue, to have them—and set aside the others. Selena and Jan and their daughters would have a good time making their choices.

A few aprons were neatly folded in the tote. Delighted, Ellie got up and put one of them on. Like her mother, she always wore an apron in the kitchen. Neither of them had ever been the best cooks in any group of two or more, but Mom had been the sloppiest and Ellie the tidiest—which explained the aprons, although Ellie seldom needed hers.

At the bottom of the tote was a folder. She recognized it as one from the real estate office, one of her dad’s. All the partners had specific colors. The tabs would have clients’ last names on them, addresses of listings, or occasionally something cryptic.

Something like the name Declan.

Where had she heard that?

She lifted the folder out. It was heavy, full enough that she was surprised the contents hadn’t been divided into more than one receptacle.

In the background, Jimmy Stewart’s voice hoarsened in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Soon the corrupt senator portrayed by Claude Rains would speak out against him on the senate floor and the betrayal would nearly break young Jefferson Smith, the character played by Stewart. It was her favorite part of the movie. It had been Mom’s, too. They used to watch it sitting together on the couch with popcorn. Dad waved off their sentimentality, but he watched it, too. Or maybe watched Mom watching it. They were attached at the hip.

Weren’t they?

Lyn Asks Do You Like a Discount?

 A Life for Verity

Book 1 “More Women of Courage” series

I have another new book coming out June 10th and it's discounted if you pre-order it!

 A courageous widow, a wary Union veteran, and a dangerous mission in the aftermath of the Civil War…

Verity Hardy lives up to her name—true, steadfast, and unafraid. Raised in a Quaker family who risked everything to aid runaway slaves, she once stepped outside her faith to marry. Now widowed by the Civil War, she is determined to help rebuild a broken nation.

Matthew Ritter, a Union veteran returns to his Rebel hometown. After four years of war and a crushing defeat, his town is poor, humiliated, and angry and will not bend. But Verity believes reconciliation is possible, but he knows that hope may come at a deadly cost. How far will he have to go to keep Verity—and her little girl—alive?

Can a love born amidst conflict survive a town determined to tear them apart?

This  is A LIFE FOR VERITY, Book One in the sequel series, “More Women of Courage” to Lyn Cote’s “Three Women of Courage”—featuring another determined, courageous heroine.

Click here to pre-order for $2.99. After June 10^th, the price will rise to $4.99.

Spring in the Northwoods. 

The fawns are out with their moms!--Lyn

New Release From Laura Scott

 

Good morning from Laura Scott!

June is almost here and with the warmer weather comes relaxing time outdoors. Or in my case, spending time in my sunroom. As someone who has had several basal cell skin cancer spots removed from my body, I am often compared to a vampire, hiding away from the direct sunlight. It's not that I don't like the sun, but I'd rather not have any more scars added to my face. 

For me, the lazy days of summer are best spent reading. Or listening if you're into audiobooks (which I love!) And there's nothing better than spending time with a new series. 

Have you tried my new Grayson's Guardians series? The third book, Deadly Secrets is available on June 2nd. Don't wait to get your copy now.

Deadly Secrets $3.99

A dangerous partnership...

Former Army soldier, Di Milbrath is determined to keep the troubled secrets of her past buried deep. And that means avoiding law enforcement. Yet when she's targeted by gunfire, Di is forced into a dangerous partnership with a former army soldier turned detective, Jarek Brooks.

Jarek knows Di is holding information back, but is determined to protect her anyway. Even when he becomes a target too. When their former animosity fades, he realizes there's a lot to admire about Di. But she won't let him get too close. Until her past secrets erupt to the surface. Now he just needs to keep her alive long enough to have a future. 

Amazon B&N Apple GooglePlay Kobo Audible Chirp

The Clock Is Ticking: Second-Season Jitters and the Heart of Regency Romance

If you've ever fallen in love with a Regency romance novel, you've probably cheered for a heroine racing against the social clock. But what exactly was that clock—and why did it matter so much?

During England's Regency era (1811–1820), upper-class families descended on London each spring for “the Season,” a glittering parade of balls, concerts, dinner parties, and carefully choreographed social events.

For a young woman making her debut, it was exciting, terrifying, and loaded with expectation. The unspoken goal was to capture find a husband before summer arrived and everyone retreated to the countryside.

Most girls entered society between the ages of seventeen and nineteen. They'd be formally presented at court, then escorted to event after event by a watchful mother or chaperone. A ball wasn't just an evening of dancing—it was an audition. A gentleman requesting a dance was one of the few socially acceptable ways for a young couple to actually speak to each other.

And if the Season ended without an engagement? Back home she went—and back to London the following year.

Here's where it gets interesting for those of us who love romance fiction.

The second Season carried a quiet, particular pressure that the first Season didn't. A young woman returning for another year knew that a fresh crop of bright-eyed debutantes was entering the ballrooms for the very first time. She was still young—perhaps barely twenty—yet she might feel positively ancient by comparison. Mothers fretted. Aunts offered unsolicited opinions. And the young woman herself often wondered what she had done wrong, or whether she would ever find the right match.

That tension—the fear of falling short, the pressure to perform, the longing to simply be seen and known rather than evaluated—is exactly the kind of emotional terrain that makes for a wonderful romance story.

Because society's expectations never accounted for the fact that the right love story rarely arrives on schedule.

Many real women married in their second or third Seasons, or not at all, and lived full and meaningful lives. But for our heroines, the second Season is the perfect storm—just enough disappointment to make her guard her heart, just enough hope to keep her searching, and just enough social pressure to push her into exactly the situation she’s been trying to avoid.

That's where the sparks fly.

My own Regency heroine, Lissa Gardinier, arrives in London for her second Season having learned her lesson—blend in, stay quiet, and don't attract the wrong kind of attention. Of course, the best-laid plans have a way of unraveling, especially when an intriguing stranger suddenly makes that very difficult.

When reading Regency romances, the second-Season dilemma is one of those timeless setups that never gets old. The stakes are real, the emotions run deep, and love, when it finally arrives, means that much more.

If you enjoy Regency romance with adventure and a dash of humor, you can receive my novella Lissa and the Spy free when you join my newsletter.

Lissa and the Spy

A Regency Romantic Suspense Novella

In her quest for a marriage of convenience, plain and unpopular Lissa finds herself entangled with the enigmatic Lord Jeremy Stoude, who has a secret mission for the Crown. As danger stalks them, they must navigate a labyrinth of society’s expectations and their own insecurities to find love.

Click here to get Lissa and the Spy