Flaming Crimes Blogfest: Christmas Cactus Saved From the Flames!
Well, I thought I start 2018 off in a blaze of glory! Today I’m joining Chrys Fey’s Flaming Crimes Blogfest: Christmas Cactus Saved From the Flames!
Prompt: The whole idea is the list something ridiculous you would save if there was a fire? Colorado has had it’s share of wildfires in recent years. We posted a list of things to be saved in case of evacuation. Keep in mind, This prompt is not meant to make light of how serious fires are. It’s meant to be different from the traditional question of If your house caught on fire, what’s the one thing you’d grab?
Now, when I say ridiculous, I mean something that is important to you (something worth grabbing), but other people might find odd. After your family, pets, and important items are safe and sound (that includes anything writing related), what is the one odd thing you’d want to grab from your home?
In my case, it would have to be my forty-five year old Christmas Cactus. It’s approximately three feet high, including it’s pot and four feet across. I bought this Christmas Cactus when it was in a two inch pot. It caught my eye because the plant itself blooms orange and red flowers from the day I bought it and still forty-five years later blooms both red and orange. The flowers are approximately four inches long. That Christmas Cactus and I have been through three moves, various family trauma and it enjoys a place of honor in my bedroom in front of it’s own two large west-facing windows. It loves the afternoon sun. My Eclectus parrot enjoys it too.
It might seem strange but I am nearly as attached to the Christmas Cactus as I am to my dog, parrot and turtle. Yes, ridiculous, but still what I’d save! What would you save?
Series: Disaster Crimes #4
Page Count: 304
Digital Price: 4.99
Print Price: 16.99
Rating: Spicy (PG13)
A little about Flaming Crimes’-
Beth and Donovan are now happily married, and what Beth wants more than anything is a baby. Her dream of starting a family is put on hold as fires burn dangerously close and Donovan becomes a victim of sabotage.
Donovan escapes what could’ve been a deadly wreck. Their past enemies have been eliminated, so who is cutting brake lines and leaving bloody messages? He vows to find out, for the sake of the woman he loves and the life they’re trying to build.
Amidst a criminal mind game, a fire ignites next to their home. They battle the flames and fight to keep their house safe from the blaze pressing in on all sides, but neither of them expects to confront a psychotic adversary in the middle of the inferno.
Their lives may just go up in flames…
A Peek Between the Pages of Flaming Crimes’
Beth’s heart clenched at the sight of the smoke stacks, as if a fist had driven through her chest and was squeezing the meaty human drum, paralyzing it. She gripped the door handle. The faster Donovan drove and the closer they got to home, to those tiers of billowing, dark smoke, the more anxious she became. Donovan’s words replayed in her head.
It looks like it’s right next to our house.
Her heart woke from its coma and punched her ribcage like a boxer attacking a speed bag. Perspiration dampened her underarms and slicked her palms. Please, God, no. I can’t lose my home again.
The smoke stack was soon right in front of them, right where their home was located. Donovan turned down their street, and the tower of smoke loomed above them. Fire consumed the empty lot next to their house. Flames ate their way up the bark spines of pine trees. Orange flickers slithered along the length of the branches, reaching toward the roof. The fire was descending upon their forever home as a raiding army would race toward a city with swords drawn.
Donovan floored it down the street and brought the truck to a jerking stop in the driveway. He jumped out of the truck without taking the key out of the ignition. Beth shoved the door open and stumbled out onto the driveway.
“Call the fire department, pack some clothes. I’m getting the hose.” Donovan raced toward the fire and slipped around the side of the house.
Beth dug her keys out of her purse and ran to the door. Her hand shook as she unlocked it. The heat of the fire beat against her. The rancid smell of burning nature clogged her nostrils. After two failed attempts, she grasped the key with both hands and managed to get it into the hole. She threw the door open, not even bothering to shut it again, and let the smoke roll in after her as she dashed up the stairs. In her bedroom, she grabbed the portable landline headset and jabbed 9-1-1. While she waited for the operator to answer, she hurried to the closet. She yanked down two duffle bags from the top shelf. They fell to the ground. Out the window, she could see red, orange, and yellow flickering sparks drifting in the breeze.
“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”
“There’s a fire right next to my house,” Beth panted as she rattled off their address.
“We’ve received calls about it. Firetrucks were dispatched. They should be there soon.”
“Hurry,” Beth told her. “Tell them to hurry.” The fire was nearly at their doorstep. If they took too long, there wouldn’t be a house left to save. Their entire neighborhood would be gone.
“Try to stay calm, ma’am. Help is on the way.”
Beth hung up and dropped the phone on the carpet. She ripped clothes of the hangers and tossed them into the duffle bags. Now was not the time to worry about wrinkles. If they lost everything, at least they’d have clothing, wrinkled or not. She shoved in the contents from their drawers—underwear and socks—until she could barely zip the bags shut.
Donovan stood at the edge of their property, spraying the flames burning the pine trees and creeping along the grass, when she ran back outside to her car. The trunk was blanketed with soft dove-gray ashes. When she opened it, they slid back and fell through the crack into the trunk. She hefted the duffle bags inside and dashed back into the house. In a large white garbage bag, she stuffed in their bed comforter and two pillows. Then she snatched a backpack from the closet. Before she left the closet, she grabbed one last thing that hung at the very back—her wedding dress. She wasn’t an overly sentimental woman, but she didn’t want her dress to become ashes. After depositing the garment bag with the bedding, she hurried to the filing cabinet that contained all their important papers and family photos. She tucked the folders into the backpack.
Outside, she found Donovan had brought out their ladder. She craned her neck to look for him and found him standing on the roof, near the edge, attacking the fire with their garden hose.
BUY LINKS for Flaming Crimes: Amazon / Barnes & Noble The Wild Rose Press
About the Author: Chrys Fey is the author of the Disaster Crimes Series, a unique concept blending romance, crimes, and disasters. She’s partnered with the Insecure Writer’s Support Group and runs their Goodreads book club. She’s also an editor for Dancing Lemur Press.
Author Links:
Powered by Linky Tools
Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…of other blogs participating in Flaming Crimes BlogFest.
Views: 2
Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Chrys Fey, Disaster Crimes, Flaming Crimes, Romance by Tena Stetler with 11 comments.
The Key To His Heart by Barbara Burke
Happy holidays to all! Give a big welcome to Barbara Burke, author of The Key To His Heart, a Steampunk Christmas Fairy Tale, released December 1, 2017. Have a seat and grab an insulated mug. I’ve got hot chocolate, hot 
cider and coffee. Choose your pot, they’re labeled. Pick your choice of a Snicker-doodle, Chocolate Chip or Peanut butter cookie from the plate. Yep, I baked them myself. Barbara I see your brought guests.
Yes, meet Andres Barbot and Arabella Pike
Nice to meet all of your. Thanks for joining us!
First, Barbara, tell us what inspired this particular story?
Beauty and the Beast has always been my favourite fairy tale so I felt quite cheeky having a go at rewriting it. However, I really enjoyed putting it in a new setting: a steampunk version of Newfoundland at Christmas. Now my only regret is that I didn’t make it longer.
Characters act true to themselves. Sometimes the way they do that can be surprising, but if you know them well enough you can tell if they’re acting authentically or just trying to mess with you (and some of them really enjoy messing with you).
I like to have a general idea about a story and a good grasp of the characters. Then I just let them get on with it while I try to get as much down on paper as possible.
Oh, I have to agree some of my characters love to mess with me! Now Andre, would you mind answering a few questions for me?
Not at all.
What event in your past has left the most indelible impression on you?
The airship crashed that caused my mother’s death. We struck the rocks and my body was so badly damaged no one thought I would live. My father…repaired me, is the only suitable way to phrase it. And turned me into a monster thereby.
What do you most value?
My privacy. If I’m forced to live life as a monster then let me do it outside the public eye. Having rocks thrown at you, being jeered at in the street, seeing revulsion on people’s faces. I’ve had enough. I simply want to be left alone.
What is the type of woman you want to spend the rest of your life with?
No woman would want to spend the rest of her life with me. I don’t allow myself to dream about the kind of woman I would want to be with always.
What is your biggest secret?
My biggest secret is that I don’t want to live out my life alone and I do sometimes dream of a woman who will accept me for what I am, who won’t feel repulsed by my appearance and my mechanical heart.
Thank you so much, It was wonderful learning about you.
Arabella it’s your turn on the hot seat.
Who were the biggest role models in your life?
Hmm, I didn’t really have any growing up. I’m from a small town – we call it an outport here – and most of the people around me, kids and adults, thought I was pretty strange. I was always mucking about with bits of machines or airships if I could get my hands on one. Fortunately, my father found a way to get me the education I needed to pursue that life.
What kind of man do you want to spend the rest of your life with?
One who recognizes that I’m not just messing about in my chosen career until I get married and settle down. Machines need love and attention, too, and I could no more stop tinkering than I could stop eating.
What kind of man would you never choose?
One who expects me to sit at home knitting and producing babies on an annual basis. Also, one who wasn’t inherently kind.
What is most important to you in life?
Love. It doesn’t matter what the subject is, be it another person or a sunset. Love makes the world a better place and it makes you a better person.
What is your biggest fear?
I try not to let fear take hold of me. Life is a challenge and you never know what’s ahead. Embrace life, don’t be held back by the fear of it.
Those are great words to live by. Thank you so much for dropping by.
Click the cover to read more or buy.
Tell us a little about The Key To His Heart. A Steampunk Christmas Fairy Tale.
Since he was a small child Andre has been treated like a monster because of his mechanical parts – scorned and reviled by children and adults alike. He’s learned to hide himself away from people.
Arabella, an airship engineer in training, doesn’t believe he’s a monster at all. But can she convince him of that?
When she’s forced to join him on his airship, The Rose, on a flight through the winter skies it’s an opportunity to teach him that love is for everyone and humanity is more than just flesh and blood.
How about a sneak peek between the pages of The Key To His Heart.
By late afternoon they had traversed most of the island. Barbot explained that they would put down for the night so they could cross the water in the daytime.
“And of course you must sleep,” Arabella said. “You can’t keep this up all day and night as well.”
“I could if I had to, but I prefer not to. We have everything we need onboard. Do you mind putting down away from a town? It will make it easier to get off quickly in the morning.”
“You’re the boss.”
“I wish I could believe you think so, but my mind is full of doubt,” he replied, and Arabella could hear a smile in his voice. “I know a spot not half an hour’s flight from here that will do very well. We’ll dine as soon as we touch down. In the meantime if you’d like to freshen up I will meet you in the salon at -” he pulled a large timepiece out from under his cloak “- 6 o’clock.”
“Nonsense,” Arabella exclaimed. “You’ll need help getting the ship powered off and battened down for the night. I’m not swanning off like some lady of leisure to powder my nose and tighten my corset while you do all the work.”
“And yet less than one minute ago you informed me, with a completely straight face, that I was the boss.”
“But that was-“
“It was not different,” he interrupted. “I know what I’m doing. Go.”
Arabella went.
The Key To His Heart is available at most online retailers including Amazon
About the Author:
Barbara Burke’s peripatetic life means she’s lived everywhere from a suburban house in a small town to a funky apartment in a big city, and from an architecturally designed estate deep in the forest to a cedar shack on the edge of the ocean. Everywhere she’s gone she’s been accompanied by her husband, her animals and her books. For the last fifteen years she’s worked as a freelance journalist and has won several awards. She was a fan of Jane Austen long before that lady was discovered by revisionists and zombie lovers and thinks Georgette Heyer was one of the great writers of the twentieth century. She lives by the philosophy that one should never turn down the opportunity to get on a plane no matter where it’s going, but deep down inside wishes she could travel everywhere by train. Ironically she now lives on an island in the middle of the Atlantic that has no trains at all.
You can find Barbara at the links below.
barbaraburke@nl.rogers.com
https://www.facebook.com/Barbara-Burke-162847103814669/
https://barbaraburkeauthor.wordpress.com/
It was wonderful having you with us today. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with The Key To His Heart!
Views: 2
Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Barbara Burke, Christmas, Romance, steampunk, The Key To His Heart by Tena Stetler with 18 comments.
Charlotte O’Shay, Author of A Model Engagement
Happy holidays to all! Give a big welcome to Charotte O’Shay, author of A Model Engagement. Have a seat and grab an insulated 
mug. I’ve got hot chocolate, hot cider and coffee. Choose your pot, they’re labeled. Pick your choice of a Snicker-doodle, Chocolate Chip or Peanut butter cookie from the plate. Yep, I baked them myself. Lets find out a little about Charlotte and see what Model Engagement is all about. Thanks for joining us!
Thank you Tena for the opportunity to visit your fun blog!
It’s my pleasure! Charlotte, tell us what inspired this particular story?
My new release deals with a topic that has been much in the news lately—sexual assault and harassment. You may wonder how one can write a romance with such a backdrop or premise. I hope I have done so. My heroine, Lacey starts off blaming herself for the decisions that led to the blackmail crisis she faces. But she finds herself and the man of her heart in the process of taking charge of her life.
Something that people may not know about me very early in my legal career I worked undercover and wore a wire. I think it worked to have me do it because at five foot two I appeared younger than my age, so no one expected it. And yes, it was nerve wracking but I guess I was pretty good at keeping a poker face.
Anyway, there is a connection to my experience and that of Lacey Reed in my latest release A Model Engagement.
Okay, now lets have some fun.
Speed Round: (one word only answer): Yep, I know torture for a writer!<evil laugh> Most cheat, with more than one word. LOL
Favorite Movie: The Terminator
Favorite Book: Zen and the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel
Last book read: SPQR by Mary Beard
Favorite color: Blue
Stilettos or Flipflops: Flipflops
Coffee or Tea: Coffee!
Ebook, Audiobook or paperback: ALL
Pencil or Pen: Pen
Favorite Song: Ave Maria
Streak or Not: Not
Favorite Dessert: Icebox Cake
Favorite junk food: Fritos
Favorite thing to do to relax: Walk
Champagne or Gin: Champagne
Wonder Woman or Top Model: Top Model
Favorite TV Show: This is Us
Hot or Cold: Cold
POV: 3rd person
I’d die if I don’t have: wine
Review or Not: Review
Click on the cover to read more or buy.
A little about A Model Engagement:
Lacey Reed jumps at the chance for independence with a career in the big city. But her naivety and ambition blind her to the lure of a blackmailer.
With her savings gone she has nowhere to turn when she literally runs into financier Connor Devlin.
Though dazzled by Lacey, Connor sees the desperation she tries to hide. He hires her as his fake fiancée. Now Lacey has a job and he has a bandage for a family crisis.
When the blackmailer ups the ante, Lacey resolves to face him down— no matter what the consequences.
Does that mean Lacey will lose the only man who’s ever seen who she truly is?
A peek between the pages of A Model Engagement.
In that moment, she relived just why she needed a job so damn bad. In that moment, all she could remember were the targeted emails, the strategic telephone calls and the persuasive texts she’d received from Barry as he set out to reel her in like the very gullible fish she was.
It all came back like a rush of filthy sewage.
How he’d drawn her in. Discovered her desire to reap the most financial benefit from her career before retiring. Then, in a seemingly normal progression, he set up a meeting at his office. Designed for shoptalk so that they could discuss photographic details of her breakout exclusive ad campaign for Mon Secret.
His home office as it turned out, complete with multiple couches and a closet full of evening wear and fur, props for the shoot. Lacey had developed a veneer of sophistication during her four plus years in the business. Or so she’d thought. But Barry’s lavish living and working space wowed her. She cringed as she remembered telling him how eager she was to start.
Lacey relived it all in that split second and Connor, who’d done nothing more than offer her his jacket and then a ride home was suddenly a stand in for the monster who had taken her piece of mind along with practically every red cent she possessed.
Amazon, Nook, The Wild Rose Press, Kobo, and ibook
About the Author:
Charlotte O’Shay was born into a big family and married into another big family.
The drama! The noise! The inspiration!
Negotiating skills honed at the dinner table led her to a career in law. After four beautiful children joined the crowded family tree, Charlotte traded her legal career to write about happily ever afters. She lives on the far westside only 3 subway stops from where she grew up.
When Charlotte isn’t reading or writing steamy contemporaries featuring heroines in crisis and swoony heroes with issues, she’s on the hunt for that perfect pair of sunglasses.
She LOVES to hear from readers.
Sign up to my newsletter to find out about giveaways and new releases: http://eepurl.com/b4lbvn
The City of Dreams series are standalone books linked by the wedding in The Marriage Ultimatum.
Book 1, The Marriage Ultimatum ~ Sabrina & Vlad
Book 2, A Model Engagement ~ Lacey & Connor
Book 3, Their No Strings Affair ~ Honey & Jake
Website: (wordpress) http://charlotteoshayauthor.com
Email: charlotteoshay@gmail.com
Facebook: Authorcharlotteoshay http://facebook.com/charlotteoshayauthor
Twitter: @charlotte_oshay http://twitter.com/charlotte_oshay
Instagram: charlotte_oshay_author
Amazon: amazon.com/author/charlotteoshayauthor.com
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/coshayauthor
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/charlotteoshay
It was wonderful having you with us today. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with A Model Engagement!
Views: 0
Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged A Model Engagement, Contemporary, Harrassment, Romance, Sexual Assault by Tena Stetler with 19 comments.
Donna Simonetta Author of A Sweeter Spot
Happy holidays to all! Give a big welcome to Donna Simonetta, author of A Sweeter Spot. Have a seat and grab an insulated mug. I’ve got hot chocolate, hot cider and coffee. Choose your pot, they’re labeled. Pick your choice of a Snicker-doodle, Chocolate Chip or Peanut butter cookie from the plate. Yep, I baked them myself. Lets talk a little with Donna then see what A Sweeter Spot is all about. Thanks for joining us!
Donna, tell us something no one knows about you.
I write contemporary romance with heart, humor, and a little steaminess. A native New Englander, I now live in Maryland with my husband, who is my real-life romance hero. I’m kind of an open-book, so I don’t know that there’s much that NO ONE knows about me––lol!––hmm…I guess, I love to travel by train, and greatly prefer it to flying.
Speed Round (one word only answer): Yep, I know torture for a writer!<evil laugh>
Favorite movie: Bringing Up Baby
Favorite book: The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer
Last book read: Southern Spirits by Angie Fox
Favorite color: Purple
Stilettos or flipflops: Flipflops
Coffee or tea: Coffee
Ebook or audiobook or paperback: ANY book!
Pencil or pen: Pen
Favorite song: Carey by Joni Mitchell
Streak or not: Not
Favorite dessert: Cake
Favorite junk food: Potato Chips
Favorite thing to do to relax: Read
Champagne or gin: Champagne
Paranormal or Historical: Both
Wonder Woman or Top Model: Wonder Woman
Favorite TV show: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Hot or cold: Hot
POV: 3rd person
I’d die if I don’t have: Phone
Review or Not: Review
Thanks so much for answers the questions, even though you could help yourself in using more than one word. Curse of a writer! LOL How I love to make them try!
You can find Donna at the social media spots below:
https://www.facebook.com/donnasimonettaauthor
https://twitter.com/donna_simonetta
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15422407.Donna_Simonetta
https://www.amazon.com/Donna-Simonetta/e/B06X415TWW/
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/donna-simonetta
What’s A Sweeter Spot all about?
Magda knows a 28-year-old shouldn’t run away from home, but Rivers Bend is the ideal escape. Helping out her best friend will get her away from her uber-wealthy, controlling grandmother and duplicitous ex. She doesn’t expect the quirky little town to feel so much like home. Add in hotter-than-the-sun Jeff and his daughter, and leaving seems as unthinkable as it is inevitable.
Raising Sam alone, Jeff knew he wanted her to grow up in his supportive hometown. The arrival of a feisty new tenant sends Jeff’s world spinning. Magda fills a void in his life that he’d like to make permanent.
Will love triumph over the most powerful woman in the country, and can they figure out how to make this happy-for-now in Rivers Bend into their happy-ever-after?
GIve us a peek between the pages of A Sweeter Spot.
An errant curl had escaped her grandmother- approved French Twist, and she tucked it behind her ear. She smiled and said, “I am. I’m Magda Horvath. Bethanne and her family are the only ones who call me Maggie. That’s how I know you are who you say you are. Even without the photo I.D.” She picked up the wallet and tossed it to him. He caught it one-handed and tucked it into the rear pocket of his shorts.
“Sorry. Do you prefer being called Magda?”
She rolled her eyes. “As long as you don’t call me Elizabeth, or any of its corresponding nicknames, I don’t really care.”
“Okay,” he drew out the word. “I don’t know why I would ever call you Elizabeth, but since it means that much to you, I’ll be sure I don’t. How about I go with Maggie? You look like a Maggie to me.”
He squatted and held out his hand to the dog. “Who’s this little cutie?”
Maggie readied herself to intervene in case Petunia snapped, as she sometimes did with strange men. “Oh! Don’t do that. She doesn’t like…” She abruptly stopped talking as Petunia walked to Jeff, sniffed his hand, and wagged.
Jeff seemed to realize the wagging was an invitation to pet her, and he scratched Petunia behind her ears. The little dog wagged so hard that Maggie was afraid her back end was going to break off, and her one eye was closed in bliss. As Magda watched her dog bask in Jeff’s attention, she had no doubt he could use those big hands to bring any woman to a state of bliss.
When he smiled up at her, his eyes crinkled, and Maggie could swear her heart stopped for a moment. He wasn’t handsome in the way Pierce was—all delicate bone structure and whippet thin. Combined with his baby-fine blond hair, Pierce was almost pretty. Jeff was all man. Tall and muscular with his messy brown hair that looked in serious need of a cut. He wore a sloppy T-shirt and olive colored cargo shorts, but the baggy clothes did nothing to hide the hard body underneath. His nose was just a little too big and a tad crooked, as though it had been broken. His tan skin stretched across strong cheekbones, but it wasn’t the kind of orange tan you got in a booth. It was the tan of a man who spent a lot of time outdoors. But it was those gray eyes, with the little laugh lines around them that really drew her to him. They were full of intelligence and kindness—now that he knew she wasn’t a trespasser.
“She doesn’t like what?”
Magda shook her head in amazement, “Men. She’d been abused before I got her, and she doesn’t usually like men.”
He grinned as the dog rolled on her back to reveal her belly for rubbing. He obliged, and winked at Magda. “Maybe she’s just been around the wrong men.”
Her and me both. Magda felt her knees go weak at his playful expression. Cold fish, indeed! Watching this man pet her dog had her hot enough to melt the zipper on her skirt.
Buy links.
Amazon, TWRP, Barnes & Noble, Amazon UK, and Kobo,
Author Links:
https://www.facebook.com/donnasimonettaauthor
https://twitter.com/donna_simonetta
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15422407.Donna_Simonetta
https://www.amazon.com/Donna-Simonetta/e/B06X415TWW/
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/donna-simonetta
It was wonderful having you with us today. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with A Sweeter Spot! Have a safe and happy Holiday Season!
Views: 1
Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged A Sweeter Spot, Contemporary, Donna Simonella, Romance by Tena Stetler with 26 comments.
