Celebrate Mother's Day with a Sweet Romance Novel by Josie Riviera

 Welcome to May!

With the start of beautiful weather, I'm excited for all that the Spring and Summer have to offer.

Mother's Day is coming up, and what better way to say "I Love You", then with the gift of reading, and a great romance novel? 

Why romance? Because these books are incredibly entertaining. They make us laugh and cry and feel inspired. Many romances carry important messages about acceptance and self-love, as well as teaching readers to nurture their relationships.

Gifting your mother a book for Mother's Day will offer you and your mother quality time together without interruptions. You can take turns reading chapters out loud and have meaningful conversations afterwards.

When choosing a book, consider your mother's interests and hobbies. Does she prefer historical or contemporary romances? Comedies or dramatic stories?

The perfect gift doesn't need to be fancily wrapped or tied with ribbon. Find an amazing romance novel that suits your mother's interests, and plan to spend quality time together. Show your mother how much she means to you, and Happy Mother's Day!

I have a new release in May. The 1-800-Series complete.

SIX clean, sweet, and wholesome contemporary romances—exclusively in one giant collection.

Small-town romance at its best. Cozy up with your favorite beverage and lose yourself in these delightful stories.

This collection includes the following books:

1-800-CUPID
A house flipper looking for quick profit. A survivor with a dream. Can two broken hearts find a place to call home?

1-800-CHRISTMAS
Taking the high road is a whole lot easier with someone to love…

1-800-IRELAND
A strong minded Irishwoman pursuing her dream. A disillusioned businessman ready to retire. Can two determined people separated by years find true love at the end of a rainbow?

1-800-SUMMER
The last thing she can fix is her own life. Until one man's offer changes everything.

1-800-NEW YEAR
Her lost love is back in town. Is he back for a second chance…or closure?

Christmas in the Air
What if you told your innermost secrets to a guy you assumed you'd never see again?

FREE on Kindle Unlimited. Grab your copy of the 1-800-Series Complete set today before price goes up. Available in ebook and paperback. Audiobooks for each book sold separately.

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

Celebrating Mother's Day

Mother’s Day is a holiday most of us celebrate. Some celebrate their birth moms, some their adoptive moms, stepmoms, and some celebrate the mother they have chosen. Grandmothers and aunts play a huge role as well. Most of us honor more than one of these women, and I believe you can never have too much love and support.

Regardless of how these women came into our lives, they are there to love us, to nurture us, to care about us. They listen, give opinions, and help guide us. They show their love by always wanting what is best for us and help us find our way.

And, many of us are mothers. What a joy it is when those that you pour your heart into want to tell you how special you are and how thankful they are to call you Mom. It feels like our hearts will explode!

Wherever you fall in this spectrum of women in your life, I hope you enjoyed your Mother’s Day. Remember though, there is never a bad time to reach out and connect with those special people who mean so much.

How did you celebrate Mother's Day? Please leave a comment below.

Love new recipes? Grab your copy of Recipes From The Heart. Now on pre-order and releasing May 13th. 

Are you drawn back to certain recipes because they bring up memories?

A heartwarming story is the hallmark of a romantic read, and every one of my books contains a recipe submitted by a reader, my beloved mother or grandmother, or friends in Ireland.
Now these recipes are all together in one book for easy referral.

Savor the magic of my sweet reads—from Tudor to Contemporary, Holiday to Homemade fudge.

Enjoy your happiest moments spent in the kitchen, and bring back the joy and memory of my sweet romances, and the recipes created by my characters.

Each recipe is a grand celebration of love.

Available in ebook, Paperback, and Large Print Paperback. 

Josie Riviera is a USA TODAY bestselling author of contemporary, inspirational, and historical sweet 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 renovations.

To see her latest family adventures, follow her on Instagram.

And remember to join our Sweet Romance Reads Facebook cafe.

If you read one of our SWEET ROMANCE READS blog posts here and leave a comment if you wish, then click this link and enter the giveaway

May 10th-31st. Winner will be announced on June 1st!

https://kingsumo.com/g/qz9kua/visit-sweet-romance-reads-blog-enter  

While I am not ignoring what is going on, I wanted to make this blog post positive and a bright spot in your day. I hope you and your loved ones are safe and well during this challenging times.

Memorable Mother's Day Quotes by Josie Riviera

In honor of Mother's Day and my Mom, who I miss more every day since her passing, I'm sharing these beautiful Mother's Day quotes:  

"All that I am, or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." - Abraham Lincoln

My mother is a walking miracle.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/leonardo_dicaprio_127833?src=t_mother%27s_day

 "My mother is a walking miracle." - Leonardo DiCaprio

"Motherhood: All love begins and ends there." - Robert Browning

"Motherhood is ... difficult and  ... rewarding." - Gloria Estefan



Do you have a favorite Mother's Day quote? Please share your comments below.

My newest sweet romance bundle, 1-800 Series, is on pre-order!

Savor the magic of sweet and wholesome, contemporary romances in my exclusive 3 book Flipping For You bundle.

The 1-800 Series

Included in the bundle:

1-800-CUPID 
A house flipper looking for quick profit. A survivor with a dream. Can two broken hearts find a place to call home?

1-800-CHRISTMAS 
Taking the high road is a whole lot easier with someone to love…

1-800-IRELAND
A strong minded Irishwoman pursuing her dream. A disillusioned businessman ready to retire. Can two determined people separated by years find true love at the end of a rainbow?

All in one bundle!
Pre-order now. Also available in print and Large Print. FREE on Kindle Unlimited.


 Josie Riviera is a USA TODAY bestselling author of contemporary, inspirational, and historical sweet 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 renovations.

 

Follow her on Instagram

Remember to join our Sweet Romance Reads Facebook Cafe!

My mother is a walking miracle. Leonardo DiCapri
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/leonardo_dicaprio_127833?src=t_mother%27s_day

My mother is a walking miracle. Leonardo DiCapri
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/leonardo_dicaprio_127833?src=t_mother%27s_day

 

Say It with Flowers by Jean C. Gordon

Does your area have an annual event to celebrate Mother's Day? Here it's the Albany Tulip Festival, which takes place in Washington Park near the state capitol on Mother's Day weekend. This year it features 150 different kinds of tulips.

According to the Albany Institute of History and Art, the city of Albany started the festival to celebrate its Dutch heritage. In 1940, Mayor John Boyd Thacher II proclaimed the week of May 18 to 26 “Albany Tulip Week,” with festivities centered around the tulips planted in Washington Park. World War II interrupted celebrations. After the war, Albany adopted the Dutch city of Nijmegen as a sister city and sent supplies to help the residents rebuild their war-ravaged city. In return, they sent Albany thousands of tulip bulbs. Mayor Erastus Corning, who took a leave of absence from his mayoral position to serve in the armed forces during the war, proclaimed the tulip Albany’s official flower in 1948. He sent a request to Queen Wilhemina of the Netherlands to name a variety of the flower as Albany’s tulip. The Queen selected Orange Wonder, a bronze-orange and shaded-scarlet variety. The first official Tulip Festival took place May 14 to 22, 1949.

Today's three-day event still begins with the traditional scrubbing of State Street by young women wearing costumes inspired by traditional
Dutch dress. The tradition of cleaning the street is based on the perception associated with the cleanliness of Dutch housewives. The rest of the festivities and the crowning of the Tulip Queen take place in Washington Park where more than 100,000 tulips radiate a rainbow of color.

As a personal aside, for many years, my daughter's mother-in-law was the Albany city gardener in charge of designing and supervising the planting of all the city park tulips. She traveled to the Netherlands several times to buy bulbs for the yearly planting.

But the Tulip Festival isn't the only thing going on here this week. I also have a new sweet romance out for pre-order practically everywhere. Both the ebook and the print book will release June 11.

Is three the charm?

Lauren Cooper is on her way to her life’s dream. She’s financed and finished college and law school all on her own. And she’s up for partner at the largest law firm in Indigo Bay. There’s nothing to stop her from concentrating everything on achieving that goal. Until Jesse Brewster, the man who broke her heart twice, shows up sleeping off the night before on the beach, and she’s called in to serve as his public defender.

Looking to make a new start after the racing accident that ended his lucrative motocross career and sent him spiraling into darkness, the former champion had envisioned an entirely different scenario if he ever saw Lauren again. That vision was more along the lines of the successful businessman he’d be once he rehabbed the seaside mansion he’s inherited from his uncle and sold it to open a custom bike shop.

Sparks fly between them, and Jesse vows to fan those sparks once he’s got the project successfully underway. But someone starts sabotaging it, putting Jesse behind on the deadline he has to meet to get the property off the Indigo Bay Planning Board’s condemned property list. And Lauren has a sick suspicion that her bosses are somehow involved.

Jesse and Lauren had once promised they’d wait for each other while they pursued their career dreams. Despite that broken promise, neither can deny the love that’s still between them. But now that they are on the cusp of reaching those dreams, are they willing to risk everything to renew that love?

Team Macachek: Fall in love with the strong women and fearless men of the motocross circuit.

This is the 12th novel in the Indigo Bay Sweet Romance Series, but all books can be read as standalones.

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Grandmothers on Mother's Day

While browsing through my old blog posts I came across the following one that brought tears to my eyes. It was published on my own blog in May 2008:

Today I celebrated Mother’s Day as a daughter, mother and grandmother. My son-in-lay invited four generations of women to lunch: my mother and me, my daughter and her two little girls, 4 and 2, and my son’s daughter, 3. 

Lunch was lovely. We ignored the spilled glass of orange juice, the I-don’t-like-it whining and the crumbles forming a hidden mess under the table.

It took fifteen minutes to sit the ladies for the picture of the century. Moving my mother and her walker to a strategic place, and then having her hold on the rail of the restaurant's entrance stairs wasn’t too difficult, but gathering three laughing, squealing and squirming little girls and having them stand still for two seconds was an enormous challenge. But the effort was worth the pain. The children are growing too fast and we don’t know how long we will be blessed with my mother’s presence.

Sometimes Mother’s Day is a difficult time. I know it is extremely difficult for my cousin who lost her mother a week ago. For her and her family, Mother’s Day consisted in a trip to the cemetery to deposit flowers on a new grave.

 Enjoy your mothers and enjoy your day as a mother.

My mother left us two years later.

To honor her I wrote a romance novel called MOTHER'S DAY BABIES, a novel full of emotion and humor. 

I had two great models for my middle-aged heroine, my mother and mother-in-law. Both spoke their minds and distributed good advice whether you wanted them or not.

Most of my books include a grandmother among the characters. Depending on the setting of my stories, the children call her grandma, momom, abuelita, nonna, yaya, or baboushka, but the grandmothers in my various novels have a lot in common. Like my mother and my mother-in-law, they adore their grandchildren, cook delicious meals, and often meddle in their children’s life —for the children’s good, of course. They are strong women who have encountered their shares of problems and learned life’s lessons from personal experience. They are also generous mothers who would go out of their ways for their families.
 

 This book is dedicated to the mothers we celebrate and those we remember with love.

Amazon

Widowed for seven years, Barbara Ramsay lives and breathes for her five grownup daughters and their babies. She's also used to chatting over the phone with her good friend, Lou, and soothing his stress. But why has he invited her to come to Paris with his TV Network crew?

Powerful News Director, Lou Roland is certainly not marriage material, yet he has suddenly decided he wants Barbara in his arms. Not an easy task when his pretty confidante from Kentucky proves so difficult to date--unless he follows her rules. Can the over-fifty confirmed bachelor and the widow loyal to her husband's memory find true love and share a future?

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Grandmothers on Mother’s Day

While browsing through my old blog posts I came across the following one that brought tears to my eyes. It was published on my own blog in May 2008:

Today I celebrated Mother’s Day as a daughter, mother and grandmother. My son-in-lay invited four generations of women to lunch. My daughter and her two little daughters, 4 and 2, and my son’s daughter, 3, visiting from Chicago, my mother and myself.
Lunch was lovely. We ignored the spilled glass of orange juice, the I-don’t-like-it whining and the crumbles forming a hidden mess under the table.

It took fifteen minutes to sit the ladies for the picture of the century. Moving my mother and her walker to a strategic place, and then having her hold on the rail of the restaurant's entrance stairs wasn’t too difficult, but gathering three laughing, squealing and squirming little girls and having them stand still for two seconds was an enormous challenge. But the effort was worth the pain. The children are growing too fast and we don’t know how long we will be blessed with my mother’s presence.
Sometimes Mother’s Day is a difficult time. I know it is extremely difficult for my cousin who lost her mother’s a week ago. For her and her family, Mother’s Day consisted in a trip to the cemetery to deposit flowers on a new grave.
 Enjoy your mothers and enjoy your day as a mother.

My mother left us two years later.

To honor her I wrote a romance novel called MOTHER'S DAY BABIES, a novel full of emotion and humor, and dedicated the book to “the mothers we celebrate on Mother’s Day and those we remember with love.”

 I had two great models for my middle-aged heroine, my mother and mother-in-law. Both always spoke their own minds and distributed good advice whether you wanted them or not.

My mother-in-law was a funny person with a sharp wit.

My mother told us to always 'look your best'. She practiced what she preached. Mom professed that being nicely dressed, combed and jeweled helped her forget she was a very sick person. The assisted living residents complimented her and tried to follow her example. The staff admired her positive attitude.

Most of my books include a grandmother among the characters. Depending on the setting of my stories, the children call her grandma, abuelita, nonna, yaya, or baboushka, but the grandmothers in my various novels have a lot in common.

Like my mother and my mother-in-law, they adore their grandchildren, cook delicious meals, and often meddle in their children’s life —for the children’s good, of course. They are strong women who have encountered their shares of problems and learned life’s lessons from personal experience. They are also generous mothers who would go out of their ways for their families.



This book is my contribution to a box of mostly sweet romances, LOVE BLOOMS ON MAIN STREET.
Barnes & Noble Pre-Order: http://ow.ly/LCayI
Kobo Pre-Order: http://ow.ly/LCaC4
Amazon http://ow.ly/LF60i

Mona Risk is a USA TODAY bestselling author of sweet--and not-so-sweet--romantic comedies. You can view all her books at www.monarisk.com or sign for her newsletter. 

BTW, HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR OUR SWEET ROMANCE READS NEWSLETTER YET? The second of our three yearly issues will come out in June--OUR SUMMER READS issue. This will feature a few very short NEW romance stories and info about our authors and their latest books. Look to your right for NEWSLETTER SIGN UP and enter your email. It's that EZ!