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Happy Birthday @MFRW_ORG 16 years of Marketing for Romance Writers #MFRWauthor #RLFblog #Authors
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Start a series: Single Santa by Zee Irwin @ZeeIrwinRomance #RLFblog #HolidayRomance
The pull of the stage or the heart of the home? Which one tempted him most?
Zee, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Please tell us about your series.
Single Santa in the Welcome to Kissing Springs Series
Genre: Small Town Romance, Holiday Romance
Book heat level (based on movie ratings): Steamy; rated R
A struggling singer suddenly playing sultry Santa. A mayor with hopes too high for love. A town reinventing itself. One Christmas wish will make everything right.
Which book is this in the series?
First book
How many books do you plan for the series?
27
How many books are completed?
9 books this holiday season, 2022, but there will be a total of 27 books in the series by Fall of 2023.
What characters are the main stars in your series?
Dillon and Meadow start off the romance in book 1, Single Santa. Dillon is a struggling musician, leaving Nashville for good. His brother sends him to do some business in Kissing Springs, and has to deliver bad news to the mayor. It turns out Meadow, his old high school flame, is now the mayor. The news he’s delivering is going to ruin all her plans for the town. All kinds of conflict ensues, but will Dillon help her succeed in the end?
What is the overall theme in this series?
Single fathers, struggling, and eventually finding what they need, getting what they want.
Please list the series titles below, in any order you prefer.
Santa Season:
Single Santa, by Zee Irwin
Secret Santa, by Kristin Lee
Silver Santa, by Joi Jackson
Salty Santa, by Annie Rae
Shy Santa, by M. R. Becker
Scoring Santa, by Britney Bell
Shameless Santa, by Tracy Broemmer
Snappy Santa, by Grace Grahme
Scorching Santa, by Ellen BrooksWhat did you like best about writing this series?
Working with the 9 authors involved. We collaborated great together, writing this series in the same small town of Kissing Springs. We have continued our closeness talking bout marketing our books and encouraging each other to succeed. And we are continuing the series. Welcome to Kissing Springs will have two more seasons, and when finished will be 27 books total from 9 authors.
What other books (not in this series, have you written?)
Zee Irwin has a few other books. The Fated Loves series is complete and involves billionaires in Boston. The Steele Valley Billionaires series takes place in a small mountain resort dedicated to the rich and famous. The Return to Glendale Falls series is just starting and is about friends and lovers in a small town outside of Boston where some of the billionaires have lived. Off-Duty Holiday is a new series coming out involving military men meeting the loves of their lives while off-duty or just out of the military.
Where can we find links for all your books?
(I suggest a link to your author page on a publisher or bookseller website, such as your Amazon author page. Please delete this paragraph after answering below.)
Where to buy Single Santa
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B6KJTBZL
Available in Kindle Unlimited.
Zee Irwin Social Media
Zee is a bit of sunshine, living in Pennsylvania with her own grumpy alpha guy, two teenagers, and a faithful golden retriever. While writing in a cottage on her property, she believes luck is just a four-letter word for work and takes pride in building her self-publishing empire.
Website https://www.zeeirwinauthor.com/
Twitter https://twitter.com/zeeirwinromance
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ZeeIrwinRomance/
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/ZeeIrwin/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/authorzeeirwin/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21472685.Zee_Irwin
BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/zee-irwin
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B5FDV12Y
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New #SciFi from Kayelle Allen – Bringer of Chaos Bundle 1 #PietasFans #RLFblog
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Fear – the dreaded words “You have cancer.” Author Pia Manning @piamanning3 #RLFblog #CancerAwareness #Authors
All my fears – of surgery, radiation, chemo, puking my guts out on a daily basis, losing every hair on my body, and dying – every one of them walked into the exam room right along with the guy in the white coat.
And then he uttered those words we all dread hearing: “You have cancer.”
The world, your world, stops.
I know this from personal experience as both myself, my husband and several other family members have heard those words. I’m not sure anyone can say they don’t know someone who has been touched by cancer.
Sure, we try to reduce our risk factors – quit smoking, lessen alcohol consumption, eat right, and exercise – you’ve probably heard this before. Unfortunately, there are factors that simply cannot be minimized. Everyone ages. Family history based on genetics can be a harbinger of future disasters waiting to happen.
That’s scary as hell.
One way to combat the risks associated with aging, lifestyle risks, and genetics is through early detection. No one (that I know of anyway) wants a colonoscopy or a pap smear, but the exams find cancer in its early stages. Other tests are simple blood draws, like the PSA (Prostate-specific Antigen) test, which measures a protein associated with prostate cancer.
The love of my life celebrated his thirteenth cancer-free year because a PSA test found his disease before it spread.
For women, a mammogram is the best way to protect themselves against dying of breast cancer. Caught early, breast cancer is highly curable. I have been cancer free for fifteen years.
This does not mean that I worry any less when the mammogram reminder pops up on the calendar every year. A parade of ‘what ifs’ prances through my head. Should I cancel this year’s test? After all, I can’t feel any lumps – not that I felt my tumor fifteen years ago. Neither could the surgeon. And there it is. The reason I need to make that appointment. I shove the fear aside and call.
In the years post-diagnosis, My husband and I have experienced the joy of watching our children fall in love and had the pleasure of welcoming their wonderful spouses to our family. We’ve played with our grandchildren. Hugged each other. There have been countless joyful experiences that, but for our screening tests, we might not have had.
Isn’t that reason enough to pick up your phone?
P.S. Still scared? That’s okay. If you’d like to talk about it, email me: at piamanning@yahoo.com. Or contact me through my website at: www.piamanning.com
Pia Manning Social Media
I live in the northwoods territory of Wisconsin with my spousal unit, Blondie girl, and three spoiled felines. When not writing, I can be found dog walking, reading, playing Clash of Clans or crocheting.
Twitter https://twitter.com/piamanning3
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pia.manning.71 -
Life with Cancer is a journey onward – Lloyd A Meeker author of The Companion @LloydAMeeker #RLFblog #GayRomance #CancerAwareness
Over the last year I’ve re-learned that my experience with cancer is a journey, and I’m not necessarily finished when I think I am. To honor this stage of my life, I now often sign correspondence with the closing, “Onward”. Onward is one directive I know to be relevant about my life journey. Plans, not so much. This is an update on my journey, both figurative and literal.
During Cancer Awareness Week in 2019, I shared how prostate cancer saved my life — that during pre-op screening I learned I first needed a quadruple bypass. Unexpected Detour! I’d had no symptoms, never been seriously overweight and had always kept a basic level of fitness, but my heart’s arteries were 98% blocked. So we took care of that, and then I had the prostate surgery. The cancer in the prostate was a little outside the margins, but there was nothing in the lymph glands they removed. Good news. So, onward.
Last summer, my PSA number began to climb, and living without a prostate I understood it was a red flag I couldn’t ignore, much as I wanted to. Not what I’d planned on. Suddenly, both my husband Bob and I were dealing with unexpected health challenges.
In one of those intimate, tender, deep, calm, no-holds-barred conversations partners can have, we decided this was a sign. It was time to change our lives and live a different way. We decided to sell our house in south Florida, and rent for a year as we prepared to move to Europe. I know we’re not supposed to talk politics here, but I’d be lying to you if I omitted that one of the factors in our decision was the cultural and legal deterioration for men like me and Bob in the US, and especially in Florida. One of the factors, not the only.
So Bob got his pacemaker, and I scheduled hormone therapy and 34 radiation sessions. I resolved to start taking mandolin lessons again, as I realized making music was an important but neglected part of how I want to live. I hope to one day play and sing with others in a jam. Onward!
Our house sold quickly in the hot market, and ensconced in our Fort Lauderdale rental apartment we set about preparing for an open-ended European adventure. The preparation took more time than I expected – so many moving parts. After research, we set our sights on a French long-stay visa good for a year and renewable for a second. Our plan was to rent for relatively short (3 months or so) periods in Spain and various spots in France, getting a feel for places in those countries so when our visa was getting close to ending, we could decide whether we wanted to renew, apply for permanent residence, or return to the US. We even created a FB page: Two Old Men Move to Europe.
On October 8th, just a couple of weeks ago, it happened. We flew to Paris and began our grand, silver-haired adventure/experiment. We’re now in Málaga, Spain, where we’ll stay until the end of January. Then it’s back to France for the rest of the year.
In the middle of all this, in March I found an agent who was ready to go to bat for me and my work. Even as I write, the amazing Amy Collins of Talcott Notch Agency is flogging my latest project, The Garden Witch. Onward, to who knows where?
Living post-cancer is as much part of the journey as diagnosis and treatment. Same journey, different country, so to speak. While it also wasn’t the deciding factor, my cancer warning signs certainly contributed to our decision to translate our health/age/bucket list journeys into a geographical one. There’s no time to waste — adventure awaits!
Onward…The Companion by Lloyd Meeker
Genre Gay Romance, Suspense
Heat level R
Shepherd Bucknam hasn’t had a lover in more than a decade and doesn’t need one. As a Daka, he coaches men in the sacred art and mystery of sexual ecstasy all the time, and he loves his work. It’s his calling. In fact, he’s perfectly content—except for the terrors of his recurring nightmare and the ominous blood-red birthmarks on his neck. He’s convinced that together they foretell his early and violent death.
When Shepherd’s young protégé is murdered, LAPD Detective Marco Fidanza gets the case. The two men are worlds apart: Marco has fought hard for everything he’s accomplished, in sharp contrast to the apparent ease of Shepherd’s inherited wealth—but their mutual attraction is too hot for either of them to ignore.
Shepherd swears he’ll help find his protégé’s killer, but Marco warns him to stay out of it. When an influential politician is implicated, the police investigation grinds to a halt. Shepherd hires his own investigator. Marco calls it dangerous meddling. As their volatile relationship deepens, Shepherd discovers his nightmares might not relate to the future, but to the deadly legacy of a past life—a life he may have to revisit before he can fully live and love in this one.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09VCPK5YK/
Lloyd A Meeker Social Media
Born on a farm in the Colorado foothills and having led what can only be described as a checkered life, Lloyd Meeker can honestly say he’s grateful for all of it. He’s been a minister, an office worker, a janitor, a drinker, and a software developer on his way to finishing his first novel in 2004. He is a three-time cancer survivor.
A number of his stories have been published, including Traveling Light (DSP Publications), Enigma (Wilde City Press), Blood and Dirt (Wilde City Press), Blood Royal, (Wild Rose Press) and Stone and Shell (NineStar Press). His novel The Companion (Dreamspinner Press) was a finalist in the 2015 Lambda Literary Awards.
Meeker and his husband have been together since 2002. Between them they have four children and five grandchildren. They live in south Florida, and work hard to keep up with the astonishing life they’ve created.
Twitter https://twitter.com/LloydAMeeker
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lloyd.a.meeker
Amazon Author page https://www.amazon.com/Lloyd-A.-Meeker/e/B008FC5VF4 -
Authors and Dancers Against Cancer #anthology Get the inside scoop on Cosette Binet from The Red Slippers by Ruth A Casie @RuthACasie #RLFblog #Historical #Regency
From Ruth A Casie: This story is on pre-order and releases Nov 30, and was part of the Authors and Dancers Against Cancer anthology, The Write to Dance. I have gone to their Conference in Ohio since its inception before the pandemic. Their next one will be in 2024.
Dancers Against Cancer (DAC), helps the dancing community fight cancer. The organization hosts fundraising events and benefit dance concerts, to educate and provide a platform for impacted dancers.
A group of authors partnered with DAC and created Authors and Dancers Against Cancer (ADAC), to bring awareness and to support DAC as they demonstrate how the arts of all types can really make a difference.
Authors and Dancers Against Cancer holds book signing events in Ohio. This past year, nineteen amazing authors from different genres got together for one great cause and created an anthology The Write to Dance in which The Red Slippers originally appeared.
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A ballerina obsessed with perfection. A man who will do anything to grant her wish. Are the second-hand red slippers he found magical, or is he the only one who can conjure the spell and make her the world’s greatest ballerina?
Ruth, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Please tell us about The Red Slippers.
The Red Slippers by Ruth A. Casie
Genre: HistoricalRegencyRomance,
Book heat level (based on movie ratings): Sweet
It will take magic for Cosette to believe in her abilities.
Is Avery the only one who can conjure the spell?Cosette Binet has been in the service to Queen Marie of France, since she was a young girl. She watched private ballet performances for the queen and was fascinated by the great Marie Camargo’s footwork and high leaps. Cosette studied to become a ballerina and earned a rare opportunity to audition for the Paris Opera Ballet’s corps de ballet where she met and found her soul mate, Avery, the ballet director. Her first performance brought the audience to their feet, but when she was chosen for a principal part in another ballet, a fellow dancer had her doubting her ability and Avery’s devotion.
While searching for additional dancers for the corps de ballet, ballet master, Avery Parsons DuBois, watched Cosette dance and was captivated when she performed a grand jetè that soared further and higher than anyone he has ever seen. Mesmerized, he was drawn to the dancer and fell in love with her. He offered her a position in the ballet, but when she began to doubt her ability and his love for her, he had to do something. He gave her red slippers and told her they were Marie Camargo’s dance shoes… filled with magic.
Did the red slippers hold the magic that made her a great ballerina or was it Avery’s love?
Insider Information about Cosette Binet Dubois
Welcome! We’d like to know more about you. Please add info you’re comfortable sharing.
Nickname:
Age: Mon chéri, a lady never gives her age. Ah, but if you and reader promise not to breathe a word of it, I am in my late thirties.
Gender: Female
Birthplace: Paris, France
Profession: I am a dancer in the Paris Opera Ballet Company.
Please provide a physical description of yourself.
In the world of classical ballet, our instrument is our body, which is complicated, diverse, functional, imposing and at the very least – aesthetically pleasing. What I mean is, my profession demands what I look like. In dance, the body creates the illusion that goes from head to toe, limbs and torso create the reach and length. Weight, bulk and bulges, and yes, breasts, must never interfere with a seamless, sculptured quality. The only place I can declare my individuality is my face and even then, often make up is used to make that part of fade so all that is seen are the shapes we create with our dancing and bodies.
That is a long answer to tell you I have been describes as slight, willowy, without curves, and small waisted.
What are your pronouns?
Madam is my pronoun. It is more a title awarded to the company’s prima ballerina. It is how the dancers in the company address me.
Do you believe in love at first sight?
(Madam smiled and gave a slight chuckle) I would say it was love at our first dance. I remember it quite well. I could never forget it.
I was waiting for my turn to audition for the ballet master, Avery Parsons. The orchestra was rehearsing. I was so nervous, and I needed to warm up. You see, I lived with my parents in an apartment at the palace. My parents both worked for the royal family. I had little room to practice. And here I was in a great room, the orchestra playing. I couldn’t not dance. I knew every step, every gesture.
I never saw Avery standing at the door until I danced in front of him. I stopped not because he was there, but rather the next part was a pas de deux. I required a male partner. On cue, he began to dance with me. We have been dancing ever since.
Do you believe in magic?
How can I not. I did get my place on the corps de ballet and even a solo. I was nervous. Not only was I to dance for the Queen of France, but also for the great prima ballerina, my idol, Maria Carmago.
No matter how much I practiced I wasn’t perfect enough. That was when Avery brought me a gift.
It was the afternoon before the performance. He gave me red ballet slippers. They were tattered and used, but he told me they had belonged to Maria Carmago herself and held the magic that would make me a great dancer.
I knew they weren’t the great ballerina’s dancing slippers. But I fell deeper in love with my Avery, if that is at all possible. He was all the magic I needed.
What is your astrological sign?
Avery is an excellent astrologer. He descends from a long line of druid grand masters. Of course he thinks that part of his family history is fantasy. I don’t know, there are times I believe he can make anything happen. But I digress. You asked about my astrological sign. I was born in early April mine is the fire sign, Aries.
I’m told, mostly by Avery, that the sign fits me. I am a gifted, eager dancer that is intellectual and affectionate. I do try my best.
Do you enjoy dressing up or prefer to dress casually?
I dressed in my costume at every performance and never tired of it. I actually miss it. What I haven’t told you is I have had to leave my beloved dance. I have taken ill, quite ill, in fact.
Avery has done everything he possibly could, but even my druid grand master cannot cure me.
I am content to teach others, make them the best dancers they can be.
If a place where you shop installed benches in various sections, where would you sit?
If I were to sit on a bench, I would sit as close to my Avery as possible… wherever he was sitting. (a small chuckle) He would sit squarely in the center of the bench.
What color best describes you?
Red, the color of fire describes me best. I can sometimes be stubborn, volatile, and passionate.
Who is the one person who can convince you to do something you know you shouldn’t?
Avery. Avery. Avery.
Where to buy The Red Slippers
Amazon https://tinyurl.com/TheRedSlippers
Ruth A Casie Social Media
Ruth A Casie is a USA bestselling author. She writes historical adventures from the shores of medieval Scotland to the cobblestone streets of Regency London. Her stories embrace strong woman and the men who deserve them. Within the pages you’ll discover ‘edge-of-your-seat suspense, mind boggling drama, and heart melting emotions. Grab your favorite cup of tea, or an ale if you prefer, and join her heroes and heroines as they race across the pages to find their happily ever after. Ruth hopes her stories are your next favorite adventures!
Website https://ruthacasie.com/
Blog http://www.ruthacasie.blogspot.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/RuthACasie
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RuthACasie/
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/ruthacasie/
Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4792909.Ruth_A_Casie
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Ruth-A.-Casie/e/B005V0YEVU/
Newsletter http://ruthacasie.com/contact.html#newsletter