Thirteen rainy day activities

It’s summertime, which means daily rain showers here in Florida. Personally, I love rainy days. They don’t bore me in the least. Here are 13 things I like to do on rainy days.

1. Curl up on the couch

2. Do absolutely nothing

3. Read a good book

4. Take a nap

5. Surf the net

6. Write a rainy day scene

7. Play solitaire

8. Listen to the pitter patter of the rain

9. Work on my never-ending cross-stitch project

10. Watch an old movie

11. Break out the board games

12. Watch the lightning show

13. Figure out new ways to torment my son

Rainy days are so much fun!

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Have you entered the Hussies Smokin’ Hot Summer Contest yet? If you haven’t, there are only a few more days to do so. With 40 of Ellora’s Cave amazing authors and Lady Jaided giving out prizes it’s definitely a contest you don’t want to miss out on! Isn’t it time to put some sizzle in your summer? To qualify you must enter by July 31st.

 

Blurb:

 

The last thing Jackson Connors wants is a housekeeper. He likes his life just as it is — solitary and uncomplicated.

 

Emerald Jewel is a New York designer with a stalker on her trail. She needs a place to hide out and Jackson’s farm is the perfect solution to her problem. The last thing she wants is to be attracted to her sexy new boss.

 

Neither of them is prepared for the explosion of passion that flares between them. They try to resist, but the desire will not be denied. Jackson knows Emerald’s life is in New York and his is on the farm. He’ll eventually have to let her go, but he’s not about to let her face this threat on her own.

 

But the stalker is getting closer to finding Emerald and will stop at nothing to possess her. As the threat around her escalates, she must face leaving Jackson to draw the danger away from the man she’s coming to love.

 

Nic’s Recommendation:

 

Jackson’s Jewel is book 5 in NJ Walter’s Awakening Desires series and is not to be missed. This book has everything—heart-wrenching emotion, edge of your seat suspense, and it’s so hot you’re going to need gallons of ice water.

 

The only thing that disappointed me was that the characters from the first and fourth books didn’t make an apperance, but they really weren’t necessary for the story to be complete. The first book, Katie’s Art of Seduction is one of my all-time favorite books, and I kept watching for Katie and Cain to make an apperance. I miss Cain. That must mean its time for another re-read of  his story. *g*

 

 

I was thrilled that Jackson finally got his story and his HEA. There were times I wanted to smack both Jackson and Emerald for making assumptions and failing to communicate. Thankfully, their families finally did the job for me and got them to open their eyes.

 

 

Jackson’s Jewel is available from Ellora’s Cave Publishing and is a must read that will be going on my to be read again shelf!

 

Flyboy, my first book in The Hussies series, is releasing today from Ellora’s Cave Publishing. This is a paranormal with time travel elements.

Blurb:

Take an ancient Hussy warrior hunter with a Scottish castle that changes before your eyes. Mix in a computer geek with a wild imagination, an unemployed biker scarred by the past, and task them with saving the world. Add a dash of freaky past-life regression along with some cool spy stuff and you’ve got one heck of a recipe for adventure.

They just may succeed at their mission—stranger things have happened. However, the consequences are deadly and failure is not an option for Twyla or Jhett. Surviving the seedy underworld of weapons dealers requires learning to trust each other if they’re to have any chance at breaking the endless cycle of repeating their mistakes…over and over…in one life after another.

To read an excerpt visit my website by clicking here.

Thirteen things about my birthday

It’s my birthday, woohoo! Happy Birthday to me.

1. When I turned 35 I started counting backwards

2. That means this year I’m turning 28

3. I know you’re doing the math right now…LOL!

4. I was born in Bayshore New York

5. My birthstone is the ruby

6. I am a Leo

7. I get 2 birthday cakes – one at work and one at home

8. My favorite is ice cream cake

9. My family is taking me out for a steak dinner

10. They got me the new iPhone but it’s on backorder

11. I got to open all my other presents a day early

12. My family spoils me!

13. I always get myself something and this year it was a tattoo

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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I’ve got to get out of the lazy days of summer mode and get writing! Vacation is over and its time to do some work. No more aimlessly surfing the net, procrastinating by playing on-line scrabble, or wasting time adding pictures to my collection. I’m going to be focused and disciplined. I’m going to write 10,000 usable words a day.

Sound good? Yeah, I thought so. But seriously, y’all know better, right? My muse has absolutley no concept of discipline and wanders from one story to another without rhyme or reason. *deep, long-suffering sigh*

I am going to attempt to get the muse under control and get some work done. Just wanted to let y’all know so you don’t worry if I disappear for a while. *crossing fingers* That will mean it worked and the muse is behaving.

Oh, stop laughing. Stranger things have happened! In fact, stranger things do happen all the time in my world of fantasy and fiction. *G*

Thirteen national parks I want to visit

Yes, I just came back from vacationing in the Smoky Mountain National Park and I’m ready for another trip. Reality sucks! I’ve been taking a mental vacation and here are 13 parks in the U.S. I’d like to visit.

1. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii

2. Shenandoah National Park, Virginia (I’m headed there in November)

3. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona (I’ve only seen it for a mile above through an airplane window)

4. Yellowstone National Park, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming

5. Yosemite National Park, California

6. Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico

7. Petrified Forest National Park, Airzona

8. Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska

9. Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

10. Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota

11. Badlands National Park, South Dakota

12. Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

13. Glacier National Park, Montana

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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Blurb:

 

Businesswoman Skylar Ellison is firmly in control of her life. So getting tangled up with a sexy Wyoming cowboy—and conceiving a baby in the parking lot of a honky-tonk—wasn’t in her plan. Since it appears the daddy has taken off for greener pastures, the only thing to do is pull up her bootstraps and carry on alone.

 

Cattle rancher Kade McKay returns home after a year on the range, and is knocked for a loop when he learns he’s the father of a three-month-old baby girl. When Skylar refuses to marry him, Kade grits his teeth, moves in and plays house by her rules to prove he’s a man in for the long haul.

 

Despite Skylar’s insistence they are to remain strictly parenting partners, their old passions flare hot as a brush fire, spurring Kade to demand absolute sexual surrender from the headstrong woman. Skylar willingly submits her body to the hot-blooded cowboy but she’s leery of handing Kade the reins to her heart.

 

Can Kade convince Skylar the wicked sex games aren’t a temporary distraction? Or will he have to bust out the ropes to show her he wants to be tied to her…forever?

 

Nic’s Recommendation:

 

Tied Up, Tied Down is book 4 in the must read Rough Riders series. I love this scorching hot series and have highly anticipated each new release. I’m so glad Ms. James wrote Skylar and Kade’s story. They captured my interest in Cowgirl Up And Ride when Kane—Kade’s twin—wronged Skylar and Kade pulled a switch on her, assuming his brother’s identity. A surprise pregnancy is only one of the major hurdles Kade and Skylar must overcome. They both have a lot of mistakes to make up for in order to redeem themselves.

 

*Spoiler alert*

I have a few issues with this installment of the series. There has to be a book missing between 3 and 4—the story of Chassie and Trevor. In Long Hard Ride, book 1, Trevor was in a relationship with Edgard, who returned home to Brazil when Trevor couldn’t give him what he needed. In Cowgirl Up And Ride, Trevor was working for Chassie’s father and was her “squeeze”. There’s wasn’t much about them in the story. Shockingly, in Tied Up, Tied Down, Chassie and Trevor are now married. *insert sound of tires screeching on asphalt* How’d that happen and how’d I miss it? I have so many questions about this couple.

 

My other picky issue with the whole series is that there are way too many characters with “C” names. LOL! Many times its difficult to remember which “C” is who and how they are connected to the others.

 

That said, the Rough Riders are a great set of books, Tied Up, Tied Down is not to be missed, and Ms. James is a wonderful writer whose name is at the top of my autobuy list. Good stories draw you in and give the reader a vested interest in the characters, as this series has done that for me. I can’t wait to read what’s happening with everyone and want to know more about all of the characters who feel like old friends. I really hope there will be more steamy and emotional stories of the McKay and West families in the future!

 

If you have not read the Rough Riders series, I highly recommend you pick them up from Samhain Publishing. You won’t be disappointed. And psst, Ms. James, if you happen to read this, we need Chassie and Trevor’s story. Please!

Why not watch some porn? You just might learn something.

Thirteen things about my group vacation

I highly recommend everyone take a week off work and spend it relaxing with friends. Even though there were tons of vacationers in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge creating a traffic nightmare we still had a blast.

 1. The Great Smoky Mountain National Park is beautiful. There are lots of places to stop and hike or relax.

  2. Rafting on the Pigeon River was amazing. Our guide had a great personality and made the trip a lot of fun. (You can’t see me in the picture, but I’m the 3rd yellow helmet back on the left side)

3. I got to spend time with my son-in-law and daughter, who I don’t get to see very often.

4. My daughter and son fell right back into their old habits of bickering over almost everything. Yes, some things never do change!

5. With so many people in one house I expected there to be difficulties but friends, new and old, got along great.

6. Our kids made great new friendships that will hopefully remain strong over the years to come.

  7. The husbands went grocery shopping and even cooked for us. They totally spoiled us.

8. Keeping such a large group fed was a challenge. We mostly kept things simple by cooking on the grill.

9. The ladies took over the dining table and turned it into laptop central. Many late night talks happened around that table.

10. Avoiding the crowds and watching fireworks from our balcony was very nice.

11. We had a great view from the balcony, which was a popular spot for reading and chatting.

12. Mornings made it obvious why they were named the Smoky Mountains.

13. I really love the mountains and hope to one day make a move from Florida to mountains in the west.

Our group vacation was so much fun that plans are already underway for our 3rd annual vacation next summer in either Las Vegas, Colorado or West Virginia.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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