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Book Spotlight: CAN’T STOP THE MUSIC by C.D. Hersh!

The second novella of THE SOUL MATE TREE SERIES is now available! My contribution, SWEET SACRIFICE, is slated for release in Sept. 2017 (can’t wait!) but check out the next story of the series, a contemporary romance by another fab duo, C.D. Hersh. 😀

The Legend of The Soul Mate Tree:

I am old, I am ancient, my purpose is clear

To give those who are needy a treasure so dear.

They who come to my roots, touch my bark, stroke my leaves

Find the soul of their lives if they but believe.

When I call and you listen, your prize will be great

If your heart remains open and you don’t hesitate.

Do you yearn? Be you lonely? Is your time yet at hand?

Reach for me and I’ll give to you. I’m yours to command.

For your trust, for your faith, keep my secrets untold

And I’ll gift you forever, to have and to hold.

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An ancient legend spanning eras, continents, and worlds. To some, it’s nothing more than a dream. To others, a pretty fairy tale handed down through the generations.

For those in critical need of their own happy ending, a gift.

For college senior and hippie wannabe Rosemary—Rose for short—a teaching job is within her grasp, but she wants more. She wants love, the kind of love that has bound her parents for so many years. When she’s dumped by her current boyfriend because her morals can’t bring her to give in to free love, she finds herself at Woodstock in the middle of the biggest free-love, music festival of the Sixties. Alone, again. Until a magical tree grants her wish and she finds the man of her dreams—and loses him before she really knows who he is.

Dakota meets the girl of his dreams at Woodstock, but a jealous wannabe girlfriend drives them apart before he can discover Rose’s last name and where she comes from. After he sees a disappearing tree that promises him true love, a frantic search to find Rose comes up empty-handed.

Magic and music brings them together at Woodstock in 1969. Misunderstandings tear them apart. Will two flower children find one another again, or live with missed opportunities?

Can’t Stop The Music order on Amazon: https://amzn.com/B01N9RDN96/

Book Trailer for CAN’T STOP THE MUSIC: https://youtu.be/ItRDZ5G-5Cw

Book Trailer for The Soul Mate Tree: https://youtu.be/VjxyyD3TVoA

Short Excerpt:

As they made their way to the festival site, Rose and her friends grooved to the music coming from the stage.

When they reached the makeshift bridge over the road, someone yelled, “Hey beautiful! You with the red hair.”

She looked around to see if there was anyone else with red hair. Then she glanced up and spotted two guys, one blond and the other dark-haired, leaning over the side of the bridge.

“Yeah, you,” the blond called out as he caught her gaze.

Willow halted beside her. “He’s cute. How about him?”

Rose looked away, her gaze landing on the other guy.

He jabbed his companion in the ribs. “Quit trying to pick up every girl you see.” Then he leaned farther over the rail. “Don’t pay any attention to him. He’s high.”

“So she’s not beautiful?” Willow yelled to the hippie.

She poked her friend. “Stop it, Willow, you’re making a scene.” In spite of her protest, her gaze remained on the dark-haired guy.

He rested his elbows on the rail and stared back at her. The intensity of his expression shot heat into her belly.

“I didn’t say that, just that she shouldn’t pay attention to him.” He flapped a hand at his blond buddy, then tapped his own chest with his thumb several times as if to say, ‘Choose me!’

Does he want me to pay attention to him? Her heart thumped in rhythm to his jabbing thumb.

“Take that one,” Willow whispered. “He’s the real cutie.”

Before she could respond, the crowd pushed them forward. When they reached the other side of the bridge, she looked back, searching for the dark-haired hippie, but the spot where he’d stood was empty.

Just my luck. I see someone who’s intriguing and he disappears.

With a sigh, she continued the trek to the festival grounds.

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ABOUT C.D. HERSH: Two hearts creating everlasting love stories.

Putting words and stories on paper is second nature to co-authors C.D. Hersh. They’ve written separately since they were teenagers and discovered their unique, collaborative abilities in the mid-90s. As high school sweethearts and husband and wife, Catherine and Donald believe in true love and happily ever after.

The books of their paranormal romance series entitled The Turning Stone Chronicles are available on Amazon. They also have a short Christmas story, Kissing Santa, in a Christmas anthology titled Sizzle in the Snow: Soul Mate Christmas Collection, with seven other authors.

They are looking forward to many years of co-authoring and book sales, and a lifetime of happily-ever-after endings on the page and in real life.

Where to find them:

Website: https://cdhersh.wordpress.com/

Soul Mate Publishing Author Blogsite: http://smpauthors.wordpress.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cdhershauthor

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/cdhersh

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorCDHersh

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/CDHersh

 

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Interview with multi-genre author, Claire Gem!

Claire Gem is back on my blog for a special author interview! She’s talking about her latest rockstar romance, THE PHOENIX SYNDROME, and it sounds positively AWESOME! Read on to find out more about Claire and her fabulous books. 

Welcome, Claire! Tell us about your latest release. 😀

The Phoenix Syndrome is a rock star contemporary romance that’s set in Boston. My heroine, Lannie Marvin, is a research tech in a pharmaceutical lab who has a very bad birthday. First, she’s turning forty. Second, she finds out her marriage is over—has been for quite a while, she just didn’t get the memo. And then at work she gets bitten by one of the mice they’re testing a new drug on—one that’s designed to enhance the libido. Lannie snaps, kidnaps her sister-in-law, and heads off to chase an old dream—a career in music, and a new crush—the drummer of a heavy metal band.

Now THAT is awesome!

Said drummer and composer for the band, Tristan Allard, has a cancer benefit concert every year for his late wife. He’s having a hard time writing new music since he lost his muse. So when a sexually charged Lannie nearly plows him over at the backstage reception, he’s more than ready to get to know her better—along with her interest in music composition.

But their frenzied affair can’t last long. Tristan is headed back to the U.K., and Lannie discovers an elevated sex drive isn’t the only effect of the new drug.

The testing mice have gone deaf.

*gasp* Wow, Claire! That’s a fantastic premise! I love it! ❤ What was the hardest thing about writing this book? The easiest?

I’m going to answer these in reverse order. I had a lot of fun writing this book, since the idea came to me after an actual incident much like the one in the first chapter. I am a heavy metal fan, and attend live concerts often. After one concert, I really did jokingly threaten to run off with the drummer. That was the spark that brought this story concept to life. I do work in a scientific research lab, so researching details about the mouse testing took only a walk down the hall. That was the easy part.

The hard part was putting myself into the shoes of my heroine, Lannie, whose husband has been cheating on her for years, and announces he’s leaving on her fortieth birthday. I have been very lucky in my marriage, having just celebrated 38 years with the same hero. If this really did happen to me, I think I would def go a little crazy. The drugged mouse bite just gave Lannie that much better an excuse for her antics.

I can totally understand that as I would have the same difficulty as you. And I’m also a heavy metal fan! \m/ Woot! If you could bring one of your characters (villain or hero) to life, who would you choose? Why?

I would love to bring Lannie to life, because I think she and I would become besties. She’s a soft-hearted romantic, a gritty realist, and a never-give-up fighter. I think she and I are a lot alike.

Awesome. 🙂 Paramount Pictures wants to make a movie about your latest novel. Who plays the main characters?

 

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Penelope Cruz for my heroine. Not sure if she can hide the Spanish accent for this role, but if she can’t, I’ll change the script—and Lannie will be Spanish too.

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Colin Farrell for my hero, without hesitation. I may have to run that audition myself, though. For obvious reasons.

*swoon* I love Colin Farrell! And Penelope Cruz is gorgeous. ❤ So tell us a little about yourself.

I was born and grew up in New York, then lived in several other states over the years before settling in Massachusetts nine years ago. My husband and I have three children—twin sons, and a daughter who made us grandparents four years ago. Before my debut novel was published in 2015, I was a regular feature writer for a number of national magazines. My memoir and my debut novel came out within months of each other. Since then, I have written and published three other romance novels, and am almost ready to release my fourth.

Besides writing, marketing, and designing book trailers, my hobbies include collecting exotic orchids, and raising freshwater angelfish. I love spending time with my family, eating out, chocolate, and good wine—preferably all at the same time!

I’m with you on the latter! 😀  Tell us one thing about yourself your readers may not know about you.

If they didn’t, they know now—I’m a closet heavy metal fan. At concerts, though, I’m never the oldest one there. My older brother, who goes with me, is.

Ha! Love it! So what are you working on now?

I’m working on another paranormal ghost romance, Spirits of the Heart. This story takes place on the grounds of an abandoned mental asylum in the town where I grew up. The hero is a nighttime security guard, and the heroine works in an addiction unit on the grounds. They are drawn together by the persistent ghost of a little girl who is desperately seeking the spirit of her father who died in the asylum years ago.

Another premise to love! Looking forward to it. 😀 Thank you so very much for stopping in and telling us about your great stories, Claire. Where can we find you?

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

Amazon Author Page

Pinterest

And now for more about THE PHOENIX SYNDROME:

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Rock Star Contemporary Romance

Turning forty rocks a research technician’s world. Her husband leaves her, and then she’s bitten by a mouse at work. She snaps, taking off to chase after her old dream of a music career and her new crush: a rock band drummer.

Lannie Marvin‘s 40th birthday is rough. It’s the day she discovers her marriage has been over for awhile. . .she just never got the memo. At work, a crazed lab mouse brutally bites her–one being treated with a libido-enhancing drug. Lannie snaps and takes off for a wild weekend.

Tristan Allard, drummer & songwriter for a heavy metal band, lost his wife and muse to cancer five years ago. So when the sexually charged Lannie literally plows into him at the backstage reception, Tristan is ready to learn more about her–and her long-buried interest in musical composition.

But their frenzied affair can’t last. Tristan is headed to the UK to audition his next album. And Lannie soon learns an elevated libido isn’t the only effect of that experimental drug.

The treated mice have gone deaf.

Winner 2014 FCRWA The Beacon Contest

Trailer: http://bit.ly/2bpRSqG

BUY LINK: http://amzn.to/2bIMkHJ

EXCERPT:

But then there was the drummer. If not for the overhead monitors panning in for close-ups during the performance, I might never have known he existed. What a travesty that would have been.

In a word, he was . . . magnificent. He sat like a king on his throne at the elevated rear of the stage, sparkling silver-flake drums surrounding him like loyal minions. The monitor directly over our seats focused on him often, so close and so clear I could see the sweat glistening on sculpted upper arms, bare beneath a black muscle shirt stretched taut across a broad chest. Some sort of ink crawled over one bicep. A black-and-white paisley bandanna covered most of his head, but long, dark curls framed his face and clung damp against his neck. His facial hair, limited to a sparse mustache and goatee, was chocolate brown. I indulged in the fantasy that his eyes were that same sweet, smoldering color.

His passion for his work was palpable. Hands flying, head bobbing, he was completely engrossed, as if the music were a drug he was tripping on. His hooded eyes gave him the look of a sleepy lover, but when he did open them, I could swear he was gazing directly at me.

Looking back on that night, I can’t be sure how long we’d sat there before I fixated on my drummer boy. The music, which at first grated on my senses as way too loud and completely discordant, gradually began to permeate my brain. Before long, my bare toes started tapping against the carpeted floor. I freed one hand from my cup of wine to pat my thigh in time with the music. When my head began to bob, almost of its own accord, I smiled.

Ah, now I know why they call progressive metal fans head bangers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

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Strong Women, Starting Over

   ~Redefining Romance~

Claire is a multi-published, award winning author of emotional romance—contemporary, paranormal, romantic suspense, and women’s fiction. She writes about strong, resilient women who won’t give up their quest for a happy-ever-after—and the men lucky enough to earn their love. No helpless, hapless heroines here. These spunky ladies redefine romance, on their terms.

Her paranormal/romantic suspense, Hearts Unloched, won the 2016 New York Book Festival. Her latest release, The Phoenix Syndrome, won the women’s fiction division in FCRWA’s The Beacon Contest.

A New York native, Claire has lived in five of the United States and held a variety of jobs, from waitress to bridal designer to research technician—but loves being an author best. She and her happily-ever-after hero, her husband of 38 years, now live in central Massachusetts.

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Little Things Blog Hop! Welcome!

Blog Hop Face Book Post

🍀 Little Things Blog Hop 🍀

Hey everyone!  I’m Linda (writing as L.D. Rose) and I’m one of over 100 authors and bloggers on the Little Things Blog Hop! Make sure you visit each stop, enter the posted giveaway, and be sure to enter the amazing Rafflecopter too–there are tons of prizes to be won!

For those of you don’t know me, I’m the author of RELEASING THE DEMONS, a dark PNR released last summer (and coincidentally, it’s on sale right now!). The next novel in the series, BLACK BULLET, is slated for release late this summer/early fall. Feel free to look around my website for more information about my work. 😀

Here are a few little things that make me happy:

My animals (Milk, Oreo, and Kaia):

Coffee…strong coffee!

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Listening to music after a long day.

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The beach (especially this one in the Azores, Portugal)!

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And last, but definitely not least, sweet random notes from my hubby. ❤

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🍀Giveaway for this stop is a $5.00 Amazon gift card!

🍀To Enter:

➜ Like my FB page: https://www.facebook.com/ldroseauthorpage/

➜ Like and Share this post (on any social media outlet)

➜ Comment with your favorite song/artist/band (brownie points for pics and/or videos!)

🍀 Visit Elle Jacklee next: http://www.ellejacklee.com/blog/

🍀 Rafflecopter Link: a Rafflecopter giveaway

🍀 Join the Little Things Blog Hop Event for more fun:  https://www.facebook.com/events/562506680576207/

🍀 Link to all the Blog Hop spots: http://theclubbookpromotions.blogspot.com/2016/02/LittleThingsBlogHop.html

Thank you for hopping by!

*Winner(s) will be chosen by random and announced on this page and on the Little Things Event Page by April 6th.*

*WINNER*

Christina Wagner! \o/ Congratulations!

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Revival of the Muse.

So…I want to know.

What inspires your writing?

I know, I know…LIFE, right? But what specifically drives your muse the most?

For me, it’s all about the music.

One of my co-residents recently introduced me to Spotify which is THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER AND YOU SHOULD ALL GO AND GET IT NOW (/plug). But seriously, SPOTIFY. I’ve created a playlist for every one of my novels or soon to be novels (and even for PUBLIC ENEMIES, my short story featured in Horrors of History). When I’m gearing up to get into the writing groove, I hit play on one of those babies and my muse goes NUTS.

But, you know what? I write in silence. I have so many voices in my head that music becomes distracting to my trance-like state. But when I’m away from the computer, my brain absorbs all of those notes and lyrics, and DAMN, a scene blasts through my mind like a hurricane and I write it down (or at least make notes about it) once it’s quiet again.

Art comes in at a close second for muse fuel and I’m a lurker at DeviantArt. I used to be a member (shhhh) when I did crappy art (SHHHH), but I keep my account active so I can continue to follow all the amazing artists I’ve discovered there.

Also, Tumblr–you are a giant inspirational timesuck. I don’t even want to sign up for Pinterest or I’ll never get shit done.

Of course, day-to-day experiences inject themselves into my writing, but I think they often do with many writers. For instance, in my current WIP, the heroine is based off a woman I met in the emergency room who’d been through a horror of all horrors. It left me feeling sick for quite some time and I had to somehow purge this experience from myself–what better way to do it than write about it?

So tell me, fellow reader, what inspires you? Drop a video, image, line of poetry, whatever your creative heart desires. I’d love to see it!

P.S. I’m going to leave you with this because we all need a little RDJ sometimes. And, you know, muse fuel. 😉

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Wash the sorrow from off my skin, show me how to be whole again.

Releasing the Demons revision status:

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I’m reaching the point where I’m getting extremely obsessive compulsive and nitpicky about word use, tense, punctuation, and grammar. I’ve slowed down considerably because of this and it makes me want to yank my hair out. I don’t know how people can become copy editors, SRSLY! I might have to do another blast read when I’m through just to make sure I didn’t screw it up worse than before.

In other news, I recently picked up the new Linkin Park CD Living Things and I am LOVING it. Although, there isn’t a Linkin Park CD I don’t love, so this was expected. 😉 And OMG, the music videos they’ve released! HEART! Let me share them with you!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!

/fangirling

They definitely ease my revision pain. 😉

Hope everyone is doing well and achieving their goals!

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Maybe we’ll show some mercy, maybe you’ll get what you deserve.

Releasing the Demons revision status:

19900 / 106850

I rewrote a scene, and I’m not sure if I’m quite happy with it, so I’m going to read it over again tomorrow. Sometimes giving it a few days helps me figure out if it works. I had to revamp (ha!) my big baddy into a whole new man (not Cyrus, Mathias for those who have read it). He has a new name, new face and a new story–I like him a whole lot better. Still has an “old world” attitude with a more modern edge. And he’s Russian. 😉

I also had to rename my heroine. Her name was Olivia, but then a friend of mine pointed out that there’s an officer Olivia on the CSI show (which I’ve never watched) and that Rachel Vincent has a cop named Liv in her Blood Bound book. Considering my heroine is an NYPD detective, well, that wasn’t going to work out. So now her name is Valerie, but everyone calls her Val.

I realized I had a lot of tense issues throughout the draft, so I’m glad I’m going through this with a fine tooth comb. I’m cutting all the pop culture references and anything that could make the book age. Granted, it’ll age no matter what, but I can try to keep it as fresh as possible. I’m also cutting the medical jargon…sometimes I cannot control myself, lol.

I’m really happy and excited about this though. It’s good to feel that way again. 🙂

I leave you with some of my musical inspiration for this book. Trent Reznor is my musical god, I swear.

Hope everyone is accomplishing all of their goals. 😀