My children haven't quite grasped the concept of sharing and giving, even though I model for them all the time. I love to give presents, bake for others, share ideas and suggestions (only when asked--I'm not pushy, really). And I want to share with YOU as well. 

Click here to see if you're an instant winner of a paperback copy of Sweet on You (Amazon controls the winners otherwise I'd pick all of you). If you don't win this time, you can sign up for my newsletter and be entered to win FOUR contemporary romance novels graciously donated by Kimberly Kincaid, Savannah Blevins, Brittney Coons and me :-) 

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY for either contest. The Amazon contest ends on Mar 2, 2016 11:59 PM PST, or when all prizes are claimed, and the winner of the ebook four-pack will be announced on March 29th in my newsletter. See Official Rules http://amzn.to/GArules.

Sign up for my newsletter and you'll be entered to win this lovely prize pack of digital books by the fabulous Kimberly Kincaid, Savannah DeZarn Blevins, Brittney Coon and Marianne Rice Author!

How simple is that? Newsletter subscribers will get sneak peeks at upcoming releases by some of your favorite authors, and special freebies and sales. You can click on the link below or scoot on over to my Connect page. Super easy and quick. 

Jessica Cale is the talented author behind The Southwark Saga books. Today I had the honor of sitting down with one of her characters, the meek and humble heroine, Alice Henshawe, from The Long Way Home. Alice has an honest air about her that truly captivated me. I can't wait to read about her and Jack's adventures.

Oh, and Ms. Cale has a lovely Rafflecopter giveaway at the end so be sure to enter!

1. What’s your spirit animal? I can climb like a monkey, but if I were an animal, I’d be a mouse. I’m small and common, not particularly noteworthy, and my hair is an indeterminate color. I’ve a talent for hiding and fitting into small places. I’m easily overlooked, but there’s not much I don’t see. Ysabeau calls my hair color ‘mink’, but this is only another way to say I look like a rodent.

2. What is your idea of perfect happiness? I’ve never experienced it myself. I’ve seen it, though. Jane Virtue is the happiest women I’ve met. She’s married Mark, our carpenter, and she has a new baby every year. I’ve not seen her look anything less than radiant in five years, ten months, and two days. I don’t think it’s only him keeping her happy--although he has a singular talent for making women smile--I think it’s that she is estranged from her family and does as she chooses with her life. Under duress I would confess to loving my sisters, but I believe I could be perfectly happy without them.

3. What do you most dislike about your appearance? That I do not look like my sisters. I have four of them, all tall and blonde with angelic faces and perfect figures. I am short, small, dark, and plain, with eyes far too big for my head and the figure of a thirteen year old boy. I used to want to be beautiful, but I have grown to appreciate the merits of invisibility.

4. What is the quality you most like in a man? Do I have to choose one? I suppose my favorite quality in Jack is his kindness. He’s always looking for ways to be helpful. When I am rushed off my feet at the inn, he helps me to clear the tables. Whenever Harry gets into trouble, he’s the first at Newgate with the money to feed him. In the nine years I’ve known him, he’s never set a foot wrong or said an unkind word.

5. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? I very seldom speak. If I say the wrong thing--and I always do--I carry that embarrassment with me always. I find it is better not to speak at all. 

6. What or who is the greatest love of your life? Jack Sharpe. I saw him for the first time in late September the year I was twelve. He was the carpenter’s new apprentice, short as I was and half-starved. They came to the inn for supper, him and Mark, and Jack gave his bread to Toby the beggar. I risked my sister’s wrath to bring him another loaf. He smiled at me, and that was it. I haven’t seen him since he joined the army five years ago, but I love him as though he’d never left.

7. When and where were you happiest? Working at the inn, years ago. When Jack was here, before Harry was transported to America, before Carys left for Wales. Everyone’s gone now. Southwark is rougher these days, and the boys seem to get crueller every year.

8. Which talent would you most like to have? I would like to have Bess’ courage, or Meg’s self-assurance. I’d like to be able to speak without putting my foot in my mouth, and I’d like to be able to ask for what I want. I’ve never been able to speak my mind and I am convinced if I could, my life would be very different, indeed. 

​
​The Long Way Home
(The Southwark Saga, Book 3)
By Jessica Cale
Release Date: February 29th, 2016
Genre: Historical Romance, Adult Fairytale, Romantic Comedy, Action/Adventure
 
A paranoid king, a poison plot, and hideous shoes…it’s not easy being Cinderella.             
 
After saving the life of the glamorous Marquise de Harfleur, painfully shy barmaid Alice Henshawe is employed as the lady’s companion and whisked away to Versailles. There, she catches King Louis’ eye and quickly becomes a court favorite as the muse for Charles Perrault’s Cinderella. The palace appears to be heaven itself, but there is danger hidden beneath the façade and Alice soon finds herself thrust into a world of intrigue, murder, and Satanism at the heart of the French court.
 
Having left his apprenticeship to serve King Charles as a spy, Jack Sharpe is given a mission that may just kill him. In the midst of the Franco-Dutch war, he is to investigate rumors of a poison plot by posing as a courtier, but he has a mission of his own. His childhood friend Alice Henshawe is missing and he will stop at nothing to see her safe. When he finds her in the company of the very people he is meant to be investigating, Jack begins to wonder if the sweet girl he grew up with has a dark side.
 
When a careless lie finds them accidentally married, Alice and Jack must rely on one another to survive the intrigues of the court. As old affection gives way to new passion, suspicion lingers. Can they trust each other, or is the real danger closer than they suspect?
 
“Really brilliant writing that's so engaging with such endearing characters! I especially love the way Jack and Alice are both so devoted to each other! I was totally absorbed in this exciting and fascinating world Jessica Cale created from the very first paragraph to the last! I read this all in one sitting, staying awake late to finish, just had to!” – Romazing Reader
 
Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28499321-the-long-way-home
Save 20% when you pre-order with Liquid Silver Books: http://www.lsbooks.com/pre-order-coming-soon-romance-books-c322.php

Find the rest of the series here: http://www.amazon.com/Jessica-Cale/e/B00PVDV9EW
 
You’re Invited! RSVP to The Long Way Home Leap Year Ball to chat with your favorite authors and enter to win fabulous prizes all day Saturday, February 27th: https://www.facebook.com/events/1040328009352362/

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Rafflecopter: Win a 7” Kindle Fire. Open from 2/22-3/14.
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A short and sweet post today since I'm under deadline to get my edits done and back to my editor by Tuesday. Sometimes it can get confusing...writing one book and then jumping back to a book you wrote a while ago and edit. 

​To help me out, I'm drooling, I mean staring at my two hero inspirations.
Here's Blake Riley, the outdoor enthusiast who designs crazy obstacle course for those intense mud runs. He's my current muse in my--still untitled--book. 

And here's Grayson Montgomery, the multi-millionaire New York City architect in ​Then Came You who lives in the lap of luxury--but at a cost--and is told he's "inherited" his five year-old daughter he didn't know he had.

Two totally different guys with totally different behaviors, mannerisms, attitudes and love interests. 

Okay, back to work. These books aren't going to edit or write themselves. 

Happy Friday.

Hubby loves to tell others he's the inspiration behind all of my heroes. Um, yeah. Those who know him laugh at his silly joke. While I love Hubby dearly, he's far from romantic and more like...a bra. Supportive, always there when I need him, lifts me up when I'm feeling down, nice to look at, plays an important role, and is close to my heart. If he really wants to he can be romantic (which has happened about five times in the twenty-three years we've been together), but he prefers to be practical (much like my bras).  

Most days Hubby and are like a Playtex 18-hour bra, straight from the box. What you see is what you get. There's nothing wrong with it, but nothing glamours either. Fully functioning, supportive, comfortable, and hey, even breathable (we don't hover and give each other plenty of space). 

​It's nice, isn't it?

More often then not, our time together ends up being sports bra days. We do chores, work on project inside and outside the house, run errands, and sometimes even exercise together. 

Necessary, sometimes fun, not very flattering and often sweaty. Sports bra relationship.

​At the end of the day--just about every day--I'm thankful for my unromantic, hard working and very practical husband because he takes care of our family and I know he loves me and is loyal and faithful and kind and a wonderful daddy to our crazy kids.

What kind of bra is your significant other?

   ​He’d gone three months without sex and functioned nearly fine. But forty-eight hours without Rayne and he was climbing the walls. Was the ball still in his court? He went over to her place and screwed her brains out.
   No, that’s not what it felt like. It wasn’t cheap. It was amazingly wonderful…hell, might as well sign himself up for a pedicure at the spa to help sop up the PMS oozing out of him. Sex wasn’t wonderful. Sex was great or freaking awesome. He needed to get himself some right now.
   Deciding the caveman act would be the only way to build his gonads back up to par, he picked up his cell and dialed Rayne.
   And then hung up. No, calling still reeked of estrogen. A simple text listing his demands would be better.
   My bed’s getting cold. Come warm it up.
   He hit Send before he could analyze it. Damn, he should have waited. He intended for the text to sound demanding but it sounded too poetic to him. He should have said, Give me some sex.
   But that wasn’t the type of guy he was. He’d never demanded sex from a woman before. Hell, he never had to ask. Women just offered.
   Allowing his inner female to take over--damn you, Rayne for thinking I was gay—he changed his sheets and took a shower. Settling into his recliner, he turned on ESPN and popped the top to his beer when his doorbell rang.
   Like Pavlov’s dog, he sprang out of his chair, and nearly his shorts, and pulled open his door. Like a mystical creature she stood on his front porch haloed in the streetlight, a light mist falling like shimmer on her hair.
   Forget the mani/pedi, he needed to get himself a box of tampons.

​Do you think I should have gone to jail for this? I rather like seeing Trent in a state of lustful confusion.

Amazon:http://amzn.to/23nWRe9

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sweet-You-Wilde-Sisters-Book-ebook-x/dp/B01AMSYBYK/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1453062483&sr=8-6&keywords=sweet+on+you

Reviews for Seduction in Seville are in!
 
Nerd Girl Official:
"We are taken on a wild ride and I loved every minute of it. I like to read books that have action and move at a fast pace and this one was just what I wanted. I look forward to reading more from this author. "
Seduction in Seville (The Men of FTI, Book #2)Author: Olivia Night

Blurb
In a hospital in Seville, Spain, Patrick Kane lies in a coma. Ambushed and shot while protecting someone important to him, he fights to survive.

She never thought she would see him again. Patrick, the man who’d brought her back.
Eight years ago, Patrick Kane, a joint partner in Fairlane Trade International, descended into a basement of horrors. That horrible day he rescued many women, but one he would always remember. Her beautiful doe eyes filled his dreams and haunted his nightmares.

Madison Lockwood, a nurse, has struggled to put her past behind her, trying to forget the time she spent in captivity. But she recognizes the man who rescued her and brought her out of that terrifying reality. She owes him her life. Patrick is gravely injured, and Madison vows to see him through.
​
When Patrick opens his eyes, he instantly knows that he made a mistake leaving Madison after freeing her from the clutches of a human trafficking ring. She is meant to be his. As Patrick tries to win over a wary Madison, the past they both thought was gone for good comes back with a vengeance. One by one, the survivors of the horrific ordeal are being murdered. Patrick knows that Madison will be next if he doesn’t protect her.

Together they must fight for their survival. Seduction In Seville, book two in the Men of FTI series, is a tale of redemption, murder, new beginnings, and love that takes the reader on a wild, exotic ride.
Add to your Goodreads TBR
​
     NOW Available on:Liquid Silver Books | 

Amazon | 

KOBO

 | 

iBooks | Barnes and Noble 

​Excerpt from Seduction in Seville, The Men of FTI Book Two
                                                           
He was struggling internally, she could feel it. She knew why, and so did he.
 
“I’ve been on my own for a long time now.”
 
He tensed, his fingers flexing on her hips. Whoops, wrong thing to say.
 
“I know that, Madison.” She opened her mouth to speak. “You’re not anymore.”
 
She opened her mouth again.
 
“Not ever again,” he added.
 
He turned her then and looked down at her with determination in his eyes. Daring her to negate his statement. “Patrick—”
                                                           
“I found you again. Or you found me. Whichever. But never again, Madison.”
                                                           
She was silent for a beat, and then she felt her heart begin to thunder. Oh God, she was going to hyperventilate.
                                                           
She shook her head and then asked the question that had been on her mind for a month. “What are you doing?” It came out a bit like an accusation. She looked up at him and watched him grind his jaw, his hands on her hips using the same rhythm.
                                                           
“What am I doing?”
 
“Yes.”
 
“What I should have done eight years ago.”
 
She glanced over his shoulder, thinking back to those eight years. She had woken up to her parents, and as much as she’d hated it, she’d wanted him there, too “What do you mean?”
                                                           
He looked at her for more than a few seconds, his gaze searching hers, and then he just seemed to look into her. “I knew your eyes the second I opened mine,” he said as if it were some sort of explanation. Goosebumps erupted all over her arms. “I could never forget them. Ever.” Still, she said nothing. “I saw them all the time. Every day for eight years.”
 
She looked down. Their waists were almost touching. He had done that before. Careful not to connect them there. She leaned her lower half into him. Another first. And then he pulled her closer. She looked back up.
                                                           
“I should have never walked out of that hospital, Madison.” He sounded so sure.
 
“Patrick...” She shook her head. “It’s okay that you did.”
 
“No. It’s not.” He said it with finality. “I knew it was wrong then. I just ignored what I knew or maybe thought that I couldn’t be right. That I was misidentifying the feeling. That it was inappropriate for me to have those feelings then.”
                                                           
What was he talking about? “What feelings?” she asked.
                                                           
But he ignored her and kept going. “You were so scared. I didn’t know you, and I wanted to take it all away. All the time you spent there. Clear it from your mind.” His gaze was now over her shoulder, staring out the window.
                                                           
“And you needed me. You leaned on me, slept on me. Held my hand when we got to the hospital. I should have never left. At first, I told myself it was the right thing to do. You didn’t know me. You didn’t need me. I convinced myself that I was making it up. That what I was feeling was to make me feel better. I couldn’t save them all. I saved you. So, I told myself that this was all just me trying to take away my guilt...and that you really didn’t need me. But then, after time had passed and I saw your face more clearly...the way you had looked up at me in that basement. The way you looked at me in the Jeep. In the hospital. I knew leaving was a mistake. You did need me.”
                                                           
Madison was silent through it all. His explanation, though disjointed, was perfectly clear. She continued to look up at him. She had no clue what to say, so she didn’t say anything.
                                                           
“And then I realized it wasn’t just about what you needed. It was about what I needed. I needed you and to be there for you. To see you through it. And I could’ve found you, but...I didn’t. I stayed away.”
                                                           
“Why?” she whispered.
                                                           
He looked down at her then. “Because I knew Madison. I knew.” As if this were an entirely understandable explanation.
                                                           
“You knew what, Patrick?”
 
He stared at her, unblinking, and then said, “That you were mine.”

Give Away: 

​You can enter to win an e-copy copy of Seduction in Seville by visiting Olivia Night's FB page or following her on twitter

Other titles by this author: Seduction in Sierra Leone, The Men of FTI Book One

Reviews for Seduction in Sierra Leone, The Men of FTI Book 1
Night Owl Reviews

“Seduction in Sierra Leone has a great combination of action and romance. This book is well written and fast paced. There is enough hot sex to keep you reading and cheering on the couple. I recommend this book to all suspense and military romance readers. I’m looking forward to next book.”
​
Seduction in Sierra Leone, The Men of FTI Book 1
Buy Links
Liquid Silver Books | 

Amazon | 

KOBO

 | 

iBooks | Barnes and Noble
 

Author Bio:
Olivia Night, a fictional character herself, has always been an avid reader and writer. She found the romance genre in college and has never been able to get enough. One sleepless night, the main characters of Book One in her Men of FTI  series sprang from her head fully formed. They demanded she tell their story; so she did. As they revealed themselves, so did two other intriguing characters. Those characters convinced her to give them their own books because their stories were worth telling too. And so Olivia suddenly became a romance author. When Olivia is not writing, she has the best job in the world, which, too, will remain a secret. In her free time, she reads, write, drinks wine, or is, most likely, out emulating Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Olivia lives in one of the most diverse and vibrant cities in the U.S.—Baltimore. She lives with her cat, which she is convinced was a gladiator in his past life. Olivia plans to continue being awesome at this thing called life. Really, that’s her only goal.

​Connect with Olivia Night:
Facebook | Goodreads | Website | Amazon | Twitter