Welcome.

I'm glad you stopped by. I hope you'll stop by again.
Showing posts with label Teresa Blue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teresa Blue. Show all posts

Monday, June 1, 2015

Book Blitz - LETTERS FROM THE INSIDE by Teresa Blue #Giveaway


In lieu of my regular blog, I'm happy to share my friend Teresa Blue's newest story. I hope you'll check it out. Best wishes, Teresa.

About the Book
Picture
Letters from Inside
by Teresa Blue
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | All Romance | Kobo Books | Boroughs Publishing
Genre: Romantic Action/Suspense
Published by: Boroughs Publishing
Release Date: February 15, 2015
Length: 181 Pages

Detective Tom Harrington’s touch is like a warm balm, soothing life’s scratches from Linda Wheeler’s troubled heart, but he is also the last man she should trust: a stranger, a cop, a threat to all she holds dear.

 
INSIDE 
Leaving her two-timing, alcoholic husband was tough, but single parenting is harder. Still, waitress Linda Wheeler will do anything for her teenage daughter. Jessica might be rebellious, but at her core she’s sweet and good, and a mother’s love must remain deep and true. Even when her child makes a terrible, perilous mistake that might end her in jail—or worse.

AND OUT 
Detective Tom Harrington has personal reasons for keeping an eye on Carl Jenkins, so he follows the recently paroled rapist to the small Michigan town of Berrien. There he finds something even more personal…and confusing. Why would a seemingly decent woman write letters, pouring her heart out to such a dangerous convict? Is she really as lonely as she is beautiful? Linda Wheeler is a mystery that demands unraveling, just as her soft lips demand kissing and her wounded heart demands soothing. Above all, he must protect her—and his own secrets.
Excerpt
The bedroom door slammed behind her as Jessie threw herself on the ruffled spread stretched smooth across the bed, the one chore her mom still seemed willing to do as part of her motherly duty. 

Grabbing the slim-line phone, Jessie dialed her best friend. If she had a cell phone she could have called her sooner, like the moment she'd opened the mailbox and saw the cryptic handwriting, knowing immediately it was from him.

“Hey, Lisa. What’re you doing?” 

She turned on the small Holly Hobby lamp that had belonged to her mom and, with the phone cradled next to her ear, removed a wrinkled envelope from beneath the waistband of her jeans. 

“Not much,” Lisa said. “Same-O-bull.”

“Well…guess what?” Jessie lay back against the headboard. “I got another letter today.”

“Another one? That makes what? Four? Five?” Lisa’s high pitch squeal blasted through the receiver.

“Five, not counting the card he made me.”

“Seriously? I can’t believe you’re actually writing to a convict.”

“I am very serious. I stopped playing games a long time ago.” 

“Aren’t you the least bit afraid? I mean, convicts are dangerous you know.”

“First of all, I like to think of him as a kindred spirit. Like me, he’s someone whose rights have been taken away. He probably didn’t do much of anything, just couldn’t blend in with the so-called normal people.” She blew at the bangs hanging over her eyes. “As if we all can.”

“Yeah, but Jess–”

“But what? Mom’s doing her best to keep me a prisoner around here, I may as well find out first hand what being locked up is all about.”

Jessie rolled across the bed and placed her feet against the headboard. 

“Okay, I see your point,” Lisa agreed. “What will you do if he wants to meet you or something? Or, oh my God, what if he’s like, a sex pervert? He could be a real psycho.”

“You’re starting to sound just like my mom. I’m not going to write him forever, you know.” 

Her stomach fluttered and she wondered for a moment if maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea, and then envisioned her mom’s stern face and squelched the thought. With all the crap she’d been through lately, this diversion was just what she needed. 

“Don’t forget the guy’s locked up, remember? Unless he’s Houdini there’s not much he can do behind bars,” Jessie said, and let go a long exaggerated breath. “Guess what I asked him?” Her girlish giggles erupted and she dropped her voice barely above a whisper. “If they really make license plates,” she said and snorted with laughter. “Can you imagine? I get my permit next year. I could probably get a discount on my tags.”

The sound of her mom’s footsteps stopped outside her room.

“I’m leaving for work now, Jess. Be sure and lock the door, okay?”

“Okay, Mom. I will.” Soon after, her mom’s car started up and rolled down the driveway.

“I’ve heard those cons have humongous biceps. I mean all their spare time is spent pumping iron, right?” Her face became hot just thinking about what the mysterious pen-pal might look like. “I’ll bet he’s a hunk.”

“Well, I still think you’re crazy, Jess. What are you going do if your mom sees the letters? Or, even worse, suppose he were to call the house or something?”

“Relax. Our mail doesn’t come until late afternoon and I always get it first. And I didn’t give him the phone number. I’m not totally stupid, you know. Besides, it’d probably be collect and my mom would never accept the charges. You know how freaking cheap she is. I mean, come on, I'm probably the only living person on the planet who still uses an old-fashioned house telephone. I mean, would it kill her to shell out eighty bucks a month for me to have a freaking cell phone?"

“She told you she didn’t have the money, Jess.”

“Whatever.”

“I don’t think you should write him again. Besides, couldn’t he, like, get in trouble, you know, writing to a minor?”

“I already thought of that. I signed the letter Linda Wheeler. Cool huh?” 

“You did not!”

Jessie held the phone away from her ear until the yelling died down. “Chill out, will ya? I’m sure I’ll probably never meet the guy. And if by chance he does show up, so what? Mom doesn’t appreciate a good man. Let’s see how she deals with a bad one.”

About Teresa Blue
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon Author Page
Teresa Blue grew up in a Southwest Michigan town so small it didn't even have a stoplight. Sweltering summer evenings were spent on the front porch hoping to catch a breeze and life seemed to crawl. She discovered books and by the time she entered high school, had sailed the high seas with Captains and rode the English countryside with highwaymen, robbed stages--well, you get the idea. She fell head over heels in love reading romance.

And for awhile reading was enough, until the day it wasn't. For whatever reason, she picked up a pen and just wrote. And has been at it ever since. Happily married for thirty years, the mother of three, she's also a grandmother to four. Her favorite day of the week is Monday when the kids - and grandkids - all return home for a hot cooked meal. And for a few hours the house is filled again with kids, cartoons and chaos.

Teresa is a member of Mid-Michigan Romance Writers of America and Romance Writers of America.
The Giveaway
 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Haunting Nathan (Book 1 - Haunted Dreams Series)
by Lillie J. Roberts
Amazon
Published by: Crimson Rose Publishing
Release Date: September 28, 2014
Length: 61 Pages
A natural skeptic, Nathan Daniels is challenged by his professor to write his thesis on existence of spectral energy—supernatural in nature. Entertained by the idea and prepared to debunk the possibility, he’s in for a shock. Not only is his new apartment haunted, but he finds the hazy pull of the pretty blonde in white go-go boots and pink miniskirt irresistible. 

Ande Conners is caught in lonely limbo—and unfortunately—stuck wearing the Halloween costume she died in decades earlier. Pacing the same apartment without hope of change or release, she can almost feel her absent heart beating faster when Nathan moves in and sets up his ghost busting equipment. 

Reaching out to him in those moments between consciousness and dream, she seeks his help. Can they make a connection? Will he be the one to help her move beyond this world or does fate have something else in store for the two of them? 

Warning: Fantasy, ghost story with a hot twist! Ghosts can have fantasies too.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Guest Teresa Blue


My special guest today is author Teresa Blue whose first novel just debuted. Here's the blurb:

Travis Howland washes up on the shores of Lost Isle and into the arms of an angel. Known as the Night Bird, Emma Samson dedicates her afterlife to a solitary existence on Lost Isle, easing the passage of the dying. When she finds Travis weak and desperate, she gives him the only gift she has—a few more days to settle his affairs before his death. Sorely lacking in faith, Travis lives life with no thought for the future. When his lovely rescuer claims he has died, he can't believe it. He must warn his father that their ship was plundered by a greedy business partner, but only a leap of faith can save him. Together, Emma and Travis use his last few hours to avenge the traitorous deeds that torment him, and along the way discover that love can be found in any stage of life…even after death.

Welcome, Teresa. You must be very excited about seeing your first book published. How did it come about?

     The story Night Bird came after listening to a CD I purchased by Eva Cassidy that had a song with the same title. Eva’s sultry voice and haunting melody sent my imagination spinning. The song’s about a woman in some hotel room in Memphis, alone and one night she found a man on the streets who would surely die, so she took him in…and taught him how to fly. ‘Is the moonlight just a place, for his memory, now he’s gone.’ Sigh . . .  It’s a lovely song and I could listen over and over.

Tell us about your writing journey.

     I’ve always had my nose buried in a book and when I moved to California, I read from sun-up to sun-down. Anaheim is a big place and not knowing many people, my salvation came in the form of those wonderful characters found tucked between the pages of romance books. I devoured each monthly Doubleday book club selection, waiting impatiently for the next shipment. Later, once my kids were big enough to go to school, I picked up a pen and tried writing as a hobby, hoping to clear the voices in my head.
     In 1999 after reading a novel called, The Charm School, I wrote a fan letter to the author, Susan Wiggs. She actually wrote back and told me about RWA. I joined the local Mid-Michigan chapter and penned my first novel.
     The ink was barely dry in 2001 when I came home from a writer’s retreat, (a weekend filled with informative workshops- I think that year we had Deb Dixon) and a special guest, editor Linda Kichline, who actually requested my full manuscript, Dark Desire.
     The ride home was full of chatter as we (Annette, Jeanette & I) processed all we’d learned those two lesson packed days. And I’ll never forget turning into the drive and wondering where all the water was coming from. It ran down the gravel drive in ripples, pooling along the roadside. Because our house sits back in the woods, it wasn’t visible until reaching the top of the hill. People I’d never seen before stood scattered in the yard watching the charred remains of my house crackle and burn. The fireman said it probably took a matter of twenty or thirty minutes and everything I owned was gone. Poof! My family, thank God, was safe, and even my dog although I’ve never seen him look so sad.
     It took several minutes to sink in as I crawled out of the car. I no longer had a manuscript, my backup files were toast. Worse, I didn’t even have a home! My husband came up and reassured me we’d be fine. We had great insurance. Nice try…but I bawled like a baby.
     It took an entire year to build the new house and in the meantime try and return some order in my life. Determined not to lose sight of my dream, the first thing I did was buy a laptop. I would write (at least keep lists) of stuff I wanted to remember, and outlining the destroyed manuscript made me feel as if I were still in the game, so to speak, pursuing my desire to write. Although I may never rewrite that particular story, I do have an outline for it.  :-)

I remember that time and how devastated we all (your chapter mates) felt for you. I've always admired your strength in returning to writing after that disaster. Now, tell us about Night Bird.

     I love new beginnings. There so much to look forward to. The beginning of anything always raises my heartbeat and gets me thinking. What if . . .  Or, do you suppose . . .  The fun part of being a writer is the ability to play with all of those possibilities.
     Let’s suppose someone’s foot did accidentally hit the blasted gas knob, turning it on, like in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, and Captain Greg wasn’t ready to leave this life yet? Is there really a pull to the other side or is it a process, (sort of a beginning) that requires a few steps into the next phase?
     My story Night Bird is such a journey. Travis faces all this and more. The suddenness of his death has left him unprepared. But, Travis needs someone to guide him through the last final hours until he’s ready to cross into the next realm. That’s Emma, the Night Bird.

It appears that Emma is a ghost, an angel, or something more. I'm not telling. LOL The reader gets to figure it out. Is this your first venture into paranormal romance?

     No. Dark Desire was a paranormal. That story line had a female vampire who had been beaten and tossed out in alley to die with sunrise. She was desperate and my hero just happened to be in the wrong place. That first sip changed both their lives.

Sounds intriguing. What advice would you give an aspiring writer?

     Create the stories living in your head, and enjoy the journey crafting folks and universes unknown to the rest of the world. Something only YOU can build. It’s your voice and your strokes that turn the blank pages into something memorable to share with the rest of us. Don’t lose your power. Only YOU can write the book of your heart.

Great advice. Something even those of us who've been at it for a while can take to heart. All right then, what's next for Teresa Blue?

     I’m tickled to say that I’ve signed a contract with a new ebook publisher Crimson Romance, a project from Adams Media, the non-fiction publisher who delivered such books as Why Men Love Bitches (an excellent book for story characterization) and the Cup of Comfort series. I discovered a great page on their website aimed at writing: story middles, dialogue, titles and beginning a story. http://www.adamsmedia.com/cup-of-comfort
     Jennifer Lawler is the editor in charge of the romance line and has been very welcoming. And she’s actively seeking new authors. Although Crimson Romance is primarily an ebook distributor, there will be a POD (print on demand) version for those who want a paper copy.

That is marvelous news, Teresa. I'm so glad you shared it with us. It's been great having you here as your debut book launches. I thoroughly enjoyed your book, Night Bird. I'm so glad you stopped by to share some of it with us.

     You’ve done a great job of introducing me, Diane! And I’m honored to be your guest here today. Thank you so much.

You're very welcome. Teresa Blue can be found at

As a special treat, here's an excerpt from Night Bird:

    “Tell me, exactly what has transpired these last few days to change me from a man to a…monster?” He grabbed her by the shoulders. “Explain, damn you!”
     Emma watched the fleeting emotions score his face, understood his shocking disbelief at what he’d been told. “I told you. You have died, to put it frankly.” And then more gently, she said, “Upon the beach. I found you and transformed you.”
     She cast him a shrewd glance as she chewed on her bottom lip and waited for more—anger, tears, something to convince her he believed. Except for the rapid swell of his chest, there was none. Usually those chosen were willing, even eager, to make the deal. Typically, the lives she’d encountered were desperate enough to agree to anything if it granted them precious time to make things right before their demise. But since there’d been no time to gain Travis’s permission, she’d acted on instinct.
     Maybe she’d been wrong.

Night Bird is available at Amazon.com