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Sunday, February 21, 2016

Sunday Funday - Made for Us!

🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆 Sunday Funday 🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆
Peek into: Made for Us
Series: The Shaughnessy Brothers, Book 1
Author: Samantha Chase
Available NOW!!!

🎆🎆 Buy Links 🎆🎆
Barnes & Noble: http://goo.gl/P955rn

🎆🎆 Blurb: 🎆🎆
Can't make time for love?
The Shaughnessy brothers have spent the years since their mother's untimely death taking care of each other and trying to make their father proud. Oldest son Aidan is hard-working, handsome, successful-and still single. Sure, he'd like to have his own family someday, but who has the time?
She'll show him how to find it
Zoe Dalton, a stunning designer Aidan meets on one of his construction jobs, has the beauty and heart to make Aidan realize how much he could be missing. But it's not easy to break down walls you've spent years building up. Now there's a major storm bearing down on the North Carolina coast, and it could be catalyst enough to force Aidan and Zoe into some major decisions of the heart.

🎆🎆 Excerpt 🎆🎆
“What are we doing?” she whispered. The smile he gave her in return finished the job of melting whatever parts of her were holding out.
“If you have to ask, then maybe I’m not doing it right.” Leaning his head down toward hers, Aidan stopped when there was barely a breath between them, his lips almost touching hers. “I’ve wanted to do this since I first saw you touching the flowers outside the model home.”
Zoe laughed softly, unable to help herself. She removed her hands from his and slowly looped her arms around his neck. “You wanted to invade my personal space and talk to me?”
He chuckled and rested his forehead against hers. “Yes. That’s exactly what I wanted to do. And now that I’ve done it, I guess I can move away.”
“Take one step and I may have to kill you,” she said with a small laugh of her own as she did her best to pull him closer.
 
 

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Hoping for a Healthier Year...

And although I'd like to say that I'm talking about getting in shape and losing weight, at this point, that is the least of my worries.

So about this time last year, I went in for an outpatient procedure (a uterine ablation) and it was beyond painful but I was sort of promised that it would end a lifetime of issues I was having.  I was pretty damn psyched about it and was counting down the days until I wouldn't have to deal with cramps and PMS.   Okay, so I get it done and wait.

It has not been the dream I was promised.

But that got me thinking - I'd been avoiding dealing with several health issues and being that we were paying a fortune for health insurance, I figured I'd might as well use it.  So I made an appointment to find out how to get my acid reflux under control.  I thought I'd get a prescription and be on my way.

Nope.

After an endoscopy, a colonoscopy, an upper-GI, I found out that I had a rather large hiatal hernia.  AND - because that wasn't exciting enough - the doctors decided it was time to do something to get my anemia under control.  THANK YOU.  I'd only been asking about that for 15 years!  So that got taken care of through iron transfusions - fairly uneventful since it turns out that you don't get super-human strength or even turn into Wonder Woman after the transfusions are done.  

Bummer.

The hernia.  Yeah, it was large - like a third of my stomach was up in my esophagus.   It was amazing how much of years of discomfort all started to make sense.  The only option was surgery.  At the end of October, I had that done and I was told that the recovery was going to be about six weeks.  Six weeks of eating next to nothing - liquids, very soft foods in very small amounts.  As a foodie, this was a little traumatic for me.  Plus, with Thanksgiving coming up, I was pretty disappointed that I might not get to enjoy our traditional meal.  

Recovery went well and I was eating somewhat normally Thanksgiving week.  Except...something else went wrong.  

I tried to blame it on the recovery - maybe I was doing too much, eating too much, etc.  I went for a follow up with my surgeon and he agreed that I needed to go back to the early days of my recovery and see how I felt.  Long story short, there was definitely something wrong.  I was in pain a lot and at times it felt like I was having a heart attack.  Another call to the doctor and they sent me for more tests.  Two days before Christmas, I found out that I had gallstones and needed to get my gallbladder taken out.

I cannot even tell you how upset I was.

The last time I had had surgery, I was four and it was open heart surgery.  I thought I was done.  And now, in less than three months I was having TWO surgeries???  Not a happy camper at all.

So mid-January, I had my gallbladder out.  I feel like I've been in a mental fog for months and I am finally coming out of it.  So yes, that is why I am hoping for a healthier year.  I know that I am blessed because I was able to have all these things done and none of them were life-threatening.  I'm just a really bad patient and I hate not being able to live my life due to illness.  I am thankful every day that I am recovering and for all my friends who were there to help me out and keep me from getting too depressed during it all.
 
So I guess I'll have to start that diet soon.
And exercising. 
Dammit.    

All that being said, I'm behind on a lot of things - writing, blogging, housework...all of it.  I'm trying desperately to get back into the swing of things.  

Again. 

Monday, February 8, 2016

Hope Falls Kindle World!!

So I have been so blessed to be a part of this new Kindle World - Melanie Shawn's Hope Falls Kindle World!  If you've never heard of Kindle Worlds, you're not alone.  In an over-simplified explanation, this is essentially what it is:  Your favorite authors who have created a fictional town, setting or world, now invite other authors to come and write stories in those worlds.  So Melanie Shawn had a series that was set in the fictional town of Hope Falls - and now nine authors (including myself) have stories set there!  Easy-peasy, right?

 So my story is "Wildest Dreams".  It is a sweet novella and I absolutely LOVE it!!  

She’s looking for a future with roots from her past…

For Alesha Reed, coming back to Hope Falls is bittersweet. Twenty years ago it was her home, but that was when her family was still together. Now she’s returning to take over her father’s beloved book store – Read Between the Lines – while he deals with a health crisis. For years Alesha longed for the town, the people, the sense of belonging she once felt and she’s ready for her fresh start amidst the familiar.

He’s seeing an important part of his past as a key to his future…
 
Reece Brooks has called Hope Falls home for most of his life, but when the opportunity arose to give him a little breathing room from the close-knit community, he took it. It’s normally business-as-usual when he comes home for a visit, so imagine his surprise when this visit home brings him face to face with the first girl to ever break his heart. Granted, they were only seven years old at the time, but still. Fate has brought the girl he’s never forgotten back into his life. Unfortunately, Reece is only in Hope Falls for a limited time and Alesha’s ready to lay down roots there.


Can you really find your soulmate at the age of seven or walk away when you find them again? In their wildest dreams, Reece and Alesha never imagined that their first love would be their greatest love.

 BUY LINK: http://bit.ly/SamanthaChaseWD

So go and check it out!  And all of the other great Hope Falls stories!  You won't be disappointed!

Sunday, February 7, 2016

🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆 Sunday Funday 🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆
Peek into: Made for Us
Series: The Shaughnessy Brothers, Book 1
Author: Samantha Chase
Available NOW!!!


🎆🎆 Buy Links 🎆🎆
Barnes & Noble: http://goo.gl/P955rn


🎆🎆 Blurb: 🎆🎆
Can't make time for love?
The Shaughnessy brothers have spent the years since their mother's untimely death taking care of each other and trying to make their father proud. Oldest son Aidan is hard-working, handsome, successful-and still single. Sure, he'd like to have his own family someday, but who has the time?
She'll show him how to find it
Zoe Dalton, a stunning designer Aidan meets on one of his construction jobs, has the beauty and heart to make Aidan realize how much he could be missing. But it's not easy to break down walls you've spent years building up. Now there's a major storm bearing down on the North Carolina coast, and it could be catalyst enough to force Aidan and Zoe into some major decisions of the heart.


🎆🎆 Excerpt 🎆🎆
Aidan had been watching this woman since her arrival. It hadn’t been intentional, but he had been in one of the upstairs bedrooms when he saw her car pull up, and had watched in fascination as she inspected the yard. While he felt mildly guilty for causing the other decorator to lose her job, he couldn’t help but be intrigued by her replacement. From what he’d observed so far, this woman was somebody who took notice of details. It wasn’t hard to see the appreciation in her eyes as she looked at the house.
 
And he couldn’t help but look at her with appreciation. The woman before him had fiery red curly hair and a body with the kind of curves that made a man want to…scratch an itch. Damn it. This was so not the time for that thought to come to mind. As she straightened before him, he had to admit she was even more stunning up close. Tall. In heels, she was maybe only four inches shorter than he and that was saying something. Most women didn’t come close to his six-foot-two-inch height.
 
Aidan’s mouth went dry when she took off her sunglasses and he caught sight of the greenest eyes he had ever seen. She smiled and held out her hand in greeting. “Mr. Shaughnessy, hello,” she said, her voice was just a bit husky. “I’m Zoe Dalton.”
 
For a moment, Aidan couldn’t speak. He reached out and took her hand in his, fully intending to give her a business-like handshake, but as soon as he felt her soft skin, he pretty much forgot his own name.
 
You really have been without a woman for too long, he admonished himself. “Miss Dalton,” he murmured, forcing himself to focus. He shook her hand a little too roughly and released it as if she’d burned him. 
 
Zoe was equally speechless. Why did no one mention that this man was the sexiest thing on two legs? His rock star brother may have been nominated one of the sexiest men alive, but Riley had nothing on his older brother. Dark hair, blue eyes, and hands rough enough that Zoe wanted to feel them all over her. It was rare for a man to make Zoe feel small and delicate, but Aidan was built like a linebacker and managed to make her feel it now.
 
Zoe fanned herself briefly as Aidan turned and walked away.
And the view was just as spectacular from behind.
She almost groaned.
 
Her gaze was lingering on how fine he looked in those faded jeans when he cleared his throat. “I want you to look around this house, Miss Dalton, and tell me everything you see that’s wrong.”
 
She swallowed hard and stepped forward. “Everything?”
 
Aidan turned to face her, crossing his large arms across his chest. “I want you to start at the front door and walk through the entire house.”
 
There was the potential here for things to go south very quickly. Beyond what she’d read in Sarah’s files, Zoe wasn’t familiar with his work, so she didn’t want to risk offending him, but Martha did tell her to do whatever Mr. Shaughnessy wanted done without argument. With a brief nod of her head, Zoe placed her soft leather briefcase on the granite countertop, pulled out her tablet and began to type furiously, creating her own document on the house.
 
Walking to the front door, she stepped out onto the porch and swung the door closed before opening it again. “The door sticks a little,” she began as she walked back inside. “There’s some paint on the hardware on both the interior and exterior sides.” She closed the door and looked around the entryway. Stepping to the right, she opened a closet door and looked inside. “There should be electrical in here. It’s a deep closet so I’m pretty sure people would appreciate having a light inside.” She closed that door and noticed that Aidan hadn’t moved from his spot in the living area.
 
Pretending not to be bothered by him watching her like that, she stopped and made some notes on her tablet. There was a fabulous cubby unit across from the closet. It had coat hooks and plenty of compartments to house baskets and all kinds of decorative items. She ran her hand over the built-in bench and frowned. “This needs to be sanded down more and another coat of paint added.” Turning to face him, she said, “Chances are, a homeowner would cover this area with a cushion, but that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be smooth.”
 
If she wasn’t mistaken, he actually smirked.
 
Next to the entryway closet, she found a half bathroom and turned on the light inside. Unimpressive. “The paint is sloppy in there. It’s not plumb, either. The dark paint on the walls against the white ceiling accentuates that. There’s a wave going on in there that almost makes me seasick.”
 
Zoe crossed the entryway and opened the door to the two-car garage. She peeked her head in to look around quickly and shut the door before turning back to Aidan. “There’s a crack in the concrete floor by the electrical box. Sometimes concrete does that but if you’re going to patch it, make sure that it doesn’t look like a patch.”
 
The smirk broadened slightly.
 
Zoe typed a couple more notes and walked into the living area until she was standing about three feet away from Aidan. She met his eyes briefly before turning around and facing the entryway from this angle. With a tilt of her head she stopped and frowned. “It’s out of plumb on the garage side of the entryway. If you stand here you can see the curve in the wall.” She didn’t wait to see if he’d look; she had a feeling he was already well aware of all of the problems.
Doing a slow three-sixty turn, she stopped and typed, then faced the living area. “The color is wrong in here.” Lifting her head, she looked directly at him. “Granted, I don’t know what color you were going for but this is too yellow. You can see those beautiful, dark chocolate-colored cabinets in the kitchen from here. Between those and the dark floors, the walls are all wrong.”
 
“Tell me why,” he said deeply.
 
“You’ve got some amazing colors going between the floors, the cabinets and the stone in the fireplace. This color on the walls doesn’t do any of it justice. It’s a yellowish beige, and it’s boring. You want something that is going to complement everything that you’ve done. You want a color that people are going to walk in here and go ‘wow’.” Looking around again, Zoe shrugged. “This doesn’t inspire. This is the weekend-warrior-handyman special.”
 
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Zoe regretted them. Maybe he liked that yellow. Maybe he’d chosen it and it was the one color Sarah hadn’t substituted. Why couldn’t she just keep it professional? She’d never had trouble focusing with any of her other clients. 
 
She turned and looked at him and noticed that the smirk was gone. He looked pissed. Okay, there were two ways she could play this. She could immediately apologize and grovel a bit or she could move on and hope she was just blowing it out of proportion. 
 
“I think we can do something better with the furniture.” And option two it is! 
 
“The sectional is fine but we can jazz it up once we change the colors in here.” Moving to the kitchen she went on for about five minutes about the things she saw that weren’t quite right—brush strokes in the paint, crooked glass tile in the backsplash—and decided to stop there. His silence was killing her. She typed a few last notes on her tablet before putting it down and leaning against the countertop. 
 
“Do I pass?” she asked.
 
“Excuse me?” 
 
“I take it that this is a test to determine if I can see that the problem is in the details. Let me assure you, Mr. Shaughnessy, that I do. I have a real problem with craftsmen who rush through a job and put out shoddy work. I think the homeowner deserves a house that has been put together perfectly. And as for the finishes and decorating,” she said as she stood a bit taller, “we want potential buyers to come in here and not only want to buy this house, but to want their own to look as perfect as the model. If not better.” She paused and shrugged. “Not that it will be possible because the model will be perfect on steroids.” There, Zoe thought, he can’t be pissed at me if he knows that I’m a perfectionist too.
 
He quirked a dark brow at her. As much as Aidan hated to admit it, he was impressed. And he wasn’t impressed easily. Zoe Dalton had not only seen everything that he wanted her to see, but she had even picked up on an issue or two that had escaped him.
 
Not an easy thing to do.
 
Aidan continued to stand there and look at her, so Zoe figured she’d better nudge him along. “Are we ready to hit the upstairs? I have a list of problems with that staircase.”
 
And in that moment Aidan Shaughnessy thought that he just may have met his match.