“Don’t pay the ferryman, don’t even fix him rice” Sung by Scooter (age 7), loudly, to Don’t Pay the Ferryman by Chris de Burgh.

I love, love, love this cover! Her Wildest Dreams should (fingers crossed) be available in July!

For those of you who know my story, you can just skip to the end and grab your free book. For those who don’t, here goes…

I’ve worked full-time practically since the moment I graduated college. There’s been a few short sabbaticals, when I lost my first baby to SIDS and took a few months off, then, when I had my daughter, I was able to stay home with her for almost a year. In my spare time, I wrote some short stories, sent them off to be published, and got rejected. A lot.

Over the next few years, my marriage disintegrated. I was working as a technical editor and writer. I’d always loved writing, so this seemed like a perfect marriage of making a living doing something I loved. I did that for 10 years. During that time, I met my current husband, got married, and we adopted two little boys.

I was terrifically blessed to be able to stay at home with my two baby boys. However, I’ll admit that the entire first year I was off-balance. Diapers, feeding, playing, singing songs… wasn’t there more? I loved being a mom, but I missed being “me.”

I started writing fiction again…mostly still as a hobby until I entered a contest. Not only didn’t I suck, I placed in the top 10 finalists TWICE. I also met so many lovely ladies… mostly members of the Romance Writers of America. A couple of them were published in the digital market. I’d only written short stories up to this point, they were selling “novellas”, about 10 times as long as the stories I wrote. But I figured I’d start small and work my way up to learning how to write a novel.

I wrote a novella and sent it off. In a few weeks, I got a rejection. Not an outright rejection, but a “please make some changes and resubmit.” I did. Within a few months, I was working with an editor and had received a stunning cover for my “book” Needless to say, I was hooked.

And…I’ve been doing it ever since. This May marks my five year anniversary of being a “full-time” author as well as a stay-at-home mom.

As many of you know, the face of publishing is changing rapidly…faster than most authors can keep up. When I first began writing, traditional publishing was where it was at…digital first was an ugly step-child, and self-publishing was akin to a four-letter word. Not anymore. Last last year, I began recouping rights to my early works and working on re-editing the text and putting fresh new faces on their covers.

So, to celebrate May and my anniversary of being a career author, I’m giving away my reissued backlist books every Friday at Amazon. Today, I give you Crystal Clear. It was my first, and as such holds a special place in my heart. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Detective Parker Ling just met the woman of his dreams and didn’t even catch her name. Too bad, because now he suspects she’s a serial killer’s next victim.

Sexy psychic Sara Dawson is a life coach and owner of a small independent bookstore. When she’s hired by a daytime drama star needing career advice of the psychic kind, she’s unable to foresee his future but is instead plagued by visions of murder — including her own.

Here’s the link to grab your free copy at Amazon. Today, May 4th only!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007XL0BAI

Given the success of many other authors, I, too, have dipped my toes into the self-publishing waters. I’m going through some of my out-of-print manuscripts, giving them a spit and polish (new covers and another editing pass). Today, I worked on combining two of my favorite stories, Postcards from the Dead and Phone Calls from the Dead. They will be released under one cover titled Beyond the Grave. Today, I worked on the cover and have to say that I’m really pleased with the way it turned out.

In these two linked novellas, sisters Cassandra Moore and Rosalie Hopkins are led to find love again through messages from beyond the grave.

Postcards from the Dead

The dead don’t speak to her; they send her postcards.

When Cassandra Moore receives a cryptic postcard from her dead husband, Drew Brinkman offers to help her discover the meaning of the postcard. But she doesn’t know he’s an investigative reporter out to prove the ghostly postcards are fakes.

Cassandra Moore is the personal property supervisor at the coroner’s office in charge of giving the decedents’ possessions back to the grieving families. She’s often also able to give them other information. For she receives postcards sent by dead residents of the morgue. Drew Brinkman is a journalist for The Chronicle. Given the assignment of reporting the historical facts of the ghosts of Crescent Cove for the Halloween edition, Drew decides to give the old story a new twist. He’s going to lay those ghosts to rest once and for all, starting with the ones sending postcards from the morgue.

Phone Calls from the Dead

When Rosalie Hopkins receives a mysterious phone call from her missing ex-fiance, she suspects he is trying to contact her from beyond the grave. But can she prove it?

Left standing at the altar, Rosalie has a myriad of reasons to forget her ex-fiance, Kyle Clayton. The evidence says he’s still alive, but her heart tells her something different. Just as she starts a new job, she receives a mysterious phone call…from Kyle. After a series of coincidences remind her of him, she realizes she needs to find him to forget him. And who best to help her with that than the oh-so-sexy private investigator, Tavon Williams?

Tavon Williams has a dark secret. He was one of the last people to see Kyle simply because he was hired to investigate him. After tailing Kyle over a period of months, Tavon had discovered two things. One, Kyle was cheating on his fiancée. And two, Tavon had fallen in love with Rosalie. After Kyle disappeared, Tavon ignored his instincts and let the case drop — for Rosalie’s sake. She deserved a man who loved and cherished her, not Kyle, and certainly not Tavon himself! Then, a chance encounter with her makes him rethink his decision, but before he can come clean to Rosalie, the case takes an interesting turn. Someone breaks into his apartment, plants listening devices, and steals Kyle’s file. Although that isn’t enough to open the case again, something else is. A phone call from Kyle himself…

Beyond the Grave should be available for Kindle within a day or so.

Passion, Betrayal And Killer Highlights by Kyra Davis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Checked out the author’s website and found out she’s having to self-publish her most recent contribution to the series. So sad, because I’m really loving these books on audible.com. Makes my commute dropping off and picking up kids so enjoyable. I’m off to get the third book in the series and keep my fingers crossed that she’ll be able to do audio books of the most recent ones.

View all my reviews

Since I signed up with Amazon’s KDP program, I’m offering two of my titles exclusively through Amazon. Hanky Panky, a fun little erotic title about a woman wanting to lose her virginity before her thirtieth birthday (and oh-does she lose it!). The other is Beckon the Dark, a very dark paranormal romance with a haunted lighthouse, ghosts, and a demon. I’m taking advantage of the KDP select program and offering these books for free on assorted Fridays (thus the Free Book Friday title).

Tomorrow, Friday the 13th (of April 2012), Beckon the Dark will be free on Amazon.com for 24 short hours. So, here’s the link. Grab your copy today.

When Maidens Mourn by C.S. Harris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’ve had this book pre-ordered for months. When it came in the mail, I dropped everything to read it. Finished it in *almost* one sitting (had to take a break to feed my family, darn them anyway). I admire the twists and turns of the plot, the surprise endings, the way the characters are growing and changing, while still staying true to the “people” I fell in love with in the first few books. All I can say is…Ms. Harris…WRITE FASTER! LOL.

View all my reviews

Just found out that my very hot little erotica short story, Hanky Panky, is FREE today on Amazon. What a lovely leap day surprise.

Click on the cover -or copy and paste this address into your browser – to get your copy for free today!
http://www.amazon.com/Hanky-Panky-ebook/dp/B0076BVOX8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330538988&sr=8-1

The Sherlockian by Graham Moore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’d have given this book 10 stars if I could.

View all my reviews

Cupid has surely hit this hop with a golden arrow!

So here’s how the hop goes. Each of the participating authors will run a contest on their blog for the readers to enjoy! Romance a plenty at each stop. Participate for a chance to get swept away in love and lust just in time for Valentines Day. Make sure you stop by all the stops on the hop. I know you won’t be disappointed!

Click here for The Blog Hop Event Page

I’ll be participating in this blog hop, so make sure you stop back by from Feb 11th thru the 14th. I’ll be giving away a lovely silver heart-shaped pendant, a signed copy of Once Upon a Midnight — and did I mention? — chocolates.