Romance Writers Weekly ~ Keeping Busy ~ #LoveChatWrite

This week, on the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop, we're asked, "Evening is falling sooner and the dark days of winter are near. What do you do to keep yourself busy?"

I'd like to say I write. And, in the past, that would have been true. Night was always the best time to write for me. In recent years, I've spent more time marketing and promoting than I have writing. I'd really like to change that.

Now, hop on over to Leslie Hachtel's page to find out how she keeps busy. And don't forget to check out her book, The Dream Dancer.

The Dream Dancer

Lady Bryce has a gift.

She can enter dreams and persuade her will onto others. It has served her well, especially in eliminating unsatisfactory suitors of her father's choosing. But when she encounters Lord Rowland she wants him more than any-thing and decides to visit him in his sleep and make him desire her above all others.

As a virgin, she has discovered a diary from a leman who describes seduction in detail. When she has driven Rowland to the edge of longing, she extracts a promise that he will marry her.

As time passes, Bryce and Rowland fall in love. But will their love be able to conquer all once Bryce’s secret is revealed? Rowland must decide if he truly loves her or he has been bewitched.

https://amzn.to/3lI8pfw

Meet the Martinelli sisters: Rosa, Bianca and Allegra. These partners in wine have just inherited a once-storied winery in the heart of Napa Valley. They’re living the dream, right?

 

Not so fast! Because, as it turns out, not everybody is happy for them. And that includes their Uncle Geno who’d assumed the property would come to him.

 

There are hoops to jump through, barrels to get over, and a mountain of regulations they'll have to scale. But the sisters are crushing it—and we don’t just mean the grapes. They’re making wine, falling in love, and working together to restore their inheritance to its former glory, one pour decision at a time.

https://Books2Read.com/Pour-Decisions

Musical Monday: Heart of Gold (Neil Young)

 

So, it's my husband's birthday this week, and this is sort of for him. Well, he does have a heart of gold, after all. Although I doubt he'd be happy with the reminder that we're both getting old. lol  But like I keep reminding him, it beats the alternative. 

But, OTOH, given the current political situation, that's probably a matter of opinion.

Wine Wednesday: Silver Gate Merlot

 

Silver Gate is a new-to-me wine brand. In theory, the grapes come from California. It's not a bad Merlot. In fact, it made me remember why I actually used to like Merlot. Back before it became A. overly popular, ubiquitous, and subsequently, B. ruined by the movie, Sideways. I tend to steer away from Malbec and white Zins for many of the same reasons. Popularity often breeds a lot of not-so-great wines.

But I digress. 

This is a decent, serviceable Merlot. Medium bodied, low tannins, black cherry notes. I paired it with steak and roasted Brussels sprouts, a meal that I'd usually choose a bolder Zinfandel for, and it was surprisingly good.  

Romance Writers Weekly ~ Enemies-to-lovers ~ #LoveChatWrite

This week, on the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop, we're asked, "What’s your take on the “enemies-to-lovers” trope? How do you make this dynamic feel fresh and believable?"

Um...okay, this is probably an unpopular opinion but I'm not a big fan of this trope. I don't think it happens much (if at all) in reality, and if it does...it's probably not that healthy. I don't like Alpha-holes either, and the two definitely seem to go together.

I guess you could say that Pride and Prejudice is an example of this trope, but honestly, I think that's a stretch. They weren't really attacking each other, they were just prejudiced. 

Anyway, hop on over to Jill Haymaker's page to learn what her take is. And don't forget to check out her book, Montana Pines Christmas Rescue.

MONTANA PINES CHRISTMAS RESCUE

Now available for pre-order, get this heartwarming story of two unlikely people who just may find love at Christmas with the help of some adorable animals.The beautiful Montana mountains form a perfect backdrop for this opposites attract romance.

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXT4JVBX 

https://books2read.com/Que-Sera-Syrah

Que Será, Syrah

Pour Decisions: Book Three

 

They may be keeping secrets and telling lies, but a little white wine never hurt anyone.​

Allegra

It’s not every day that you inherit one-third of a winery. I should be on top of the world, floating on Cloud Wine, as they say. Instead, don’t you just know it? I’m about to make one of the biggest mistakes of my life. And that’s saying something. My family has always viewed me as something of a screw-up, not always fairly. But in this case? They’re not only dead right about me messing things up; they don’t even know the half of it. Yet.

Complicating my quest to redeem myself, earn my sisters’ respect, and help them turn our winery into a straight fire success, is my low-key relationship with Sheriff’s Deputy Clay Romero. Sure, there are risks involved in sleeping with the enemy, but ‘what’s meant to be will find a way,’ right? And whether Clay believes it or not, I know we’re fated. With a capital F.

Clay

We’re Capital F somethin’ all right; but I don’t think it’s fate. Ever since Legs (AKA Allegra Martinelli) blew back into town, I’ve been flirting with disaster. Literally. I doubt that woman’s ever met a rule that she didn’t want to at least bend. And, as luck would have it, it’s my job to try and stop her. I love my job, and I think I love her. But there’s not enough wine in Napa to convince me that I’ll be able to hang on to them both. 

Legs keeps likening us to Romeo and Juliet.  And as I keep trying to remind her; that kind of story tends not to end well. I’m sure there are exceptions, but are we gonna be one of them? I guess we’ll find out.

Musical Monday: Power to the People (John Lennon)

 So, tomorrow's election day here in the states. I hope everyone who can is getting out the vote. Here in my neck of the woods we're voting on a new mayor, two city council seats and seven pages worth of propositions and amendments. Longest ballot I've seen in a while. 

In any case, here's a little music to put you in the mood. And, if you want more, I've included a link to my new Protest Playlist that I created after No Kings Day. 

Romance Writers Weekly ~ Halloween Costumes ~ #LoveChatWrite

This week, on the Romance Writers Weekly blog hop, we're asked, "What was your favourite Halloween costume when you were a kid? Do you still dress up now?"

Um...all my favorite costumes from my childhood would probably be considered cultural appropriation now, so let's not go there. I do occasionally still dress up for Halloween--usually if there's a party involved. One of my most favorite recent costumes was when I dressed up as a Dead Unicorn Trope. 

In case you're not familiar with this literary device, allow me to explain. 

You've doubtlessly heard the expression, to beat a dead horse--meaning to continue to do something even after it's pointless. An example of that in writing would be to use the cliche of having the butler be the murderer--the butler did it!--if you were writing a cozy mystery set during a Victorian era house party. The idea being that it's pointless. That particular trope is so overused that it would be immediately obvious and anti-climactic. 

EXCEPT! Plot twist! It's not overused at all. In fact, it was never actually a cliche at all. There are very few books in which the butler is revealed to be the murderer and--fun fact!--almost all of those were parodies written after the phrase was coined.  

So...what's a type of horse that never actually existed? A unicorn, obvs! So a dead horse trope that is based on a cliche that was never really a cliche in the first place becomes: a dead unicorn trope.

For more info about dead unicorns, check out this article here: https://tropedia.fandom.com/wiki/Dead_Unicorn_Trope

But to continue: I'd already had my hair dyed in my usual pastel unicorn shades, so for my costume I simply added a matching unicorn horn headband, and then paired that with a colorful, Day-of-the-Dead skeleton costume. And voila! 

Now, hop on over to Jill Haymaker's page to learn what she has to say about costumes. And don't forget to check out her book, Colorado Golden Sunrise.

Colorado Golden Sunrise

Get in the holiday spirit with this heartwarming romance set in a small town in the Colorado mountains. When Kelly Charm leaves her home in Nebraska for a new life in Peakview, Colorado for herself and her teenage son, the last thing she expects is to find love. But when her son suffers an asthma attack, handsome EMT Jake Midnight is there to help. Can these two find love and family over the holidays?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07828MFF1 

https://books2read.com/VisionMidnight

https://books2read.com/HungryHeartOberon

Musical Monday: Fancy Like (Walker Hayes - featuring Kesha)

 There's no real reason for posting this song right now. I mean, I am supposed to be working on a short story involving my characters from Que Será, Syrah, and I guess this would fit their dynamic. Sort of. At least from Clay's perspective. But that's still a stretch. I mean...boxed wine? Hard pass.

But anyway, it's a fun song and I really like this particular version featuring Kesha.