Giving a Heart of Lace: Sweet and Clean Regency Romance - book review

Giving a Heart of Lace: Sweet and Clean Regency Romance is a lovely, sweet read.

How many times has a novel left you wanting to ‘thunk’ the historical heroine in the head, and say, “Take control of your life, girl. Stop waiting for the inevitable.”? Too many times for me. Giving a Heart of Lace: Sweet and Clean Regency Romance is a great change of pace from that normal historical and often, hysterical female character. While staying true to the period, Ms. Richmond has linked two characters—one confined to rank by constraints of birth and one a true victim of circumstances beyond financial control—who find themselves on the outside of the TON plate-glass window looking in. If the protagonists are guilty of a bit of bemoaning their fates, they don’t dwell on it, but rather find ways to survive and then thrive.

These are my favorite types of characters: the pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootlaces characters.

Ms. Richmond also does a wonderful job of setting the scene for subsequent stories. Not to the degree where the reader is lamenting the fact that characters are introduced and then left hanging. No, it’s much more handily accomplished. Just a tease to know there’s more to come from this time period and this delightful author.

While some novels are meant to be deep and dark, full of plot twists, and crammed with villains, others are meant to provide a gentle respite from the world where heroes are obvious and the happy ending is guaranteed. Arietta Richmond has provided just such a delicate escape in Giving a Heart of Lace: Sweet and Clean Regency Romance.

Chasing Destiny - The Donovan Legacy, Book 2

As I'm currently working through edits -- CHASING DESTINY -- and always on the look-out for snippets to share during release, here are a few that caught my Tuesday morning muse.

My favorites for the day . . .

1)

Garrick glanced toward the unopened bottle and glasses. She seemed far too at home, too at ease in his house. How long had this lovely stranger been living here—alone—with his father? “Enough of the cat and mouse game. Who are you?”

Some strange woman, with endless mahogany eyes, was making herself quite comfortable. He would have his answer, and now. Sultry voice and cooking skills included, she could be a dangerous distraction for any guy, and certainly for an older man who happened to be worth a large chunk of money.

“Your daddy warned me that you were the difficult type.” There was strain in her face now, the smile not quite as bright, the eyes more reserved. “Pit bull persistent with a touch of cynicism thrown in for good measure. Looks like he was right on both counts.”

“If you have nothing to hide, then there’s no reason not to tell me.”

A tiny worry frown creased her brow. Laying the plates on the table’s edge, she resettled the ball cap and studied Garrick for several minutes. “I’m the graphic designer who’s going to save your GQ fanny on the capitol’s restoration campaign.” She looked pointedly at the bottle. “Now, are you going to open the wine?”

2)

Hot Texas summer storms marched across open prairie with less impact than an angry Garrick Shapiro.

The man quit the kitchen with a pivot turn that would do the military proud, only to return a short time later in his casual attire.

Without a word, he left the house and headed across the wide lawn.

Jaycee had known better than to follow.

If she learned anything with four brothers, it was that men needed their thinking space.

And God help the woman who infringed when their poor little brains needed room to expand.

3)

“Does this mean,” Garrick patted the sagging office couch, apparently intending to ignore her sarcasm, “that you’ve decided I’m too difficult to live with?”

Jaycee rested against her desk and clarified, “I wasn’t living with you.”

“So, is that a yes or no to the difficult part?”

“Who are you?” Abandoning her casual lean, she rolled up to her knees on the office carpet and squared off with him. His eyes twinkled, and she’d bet her last Oreo he was funning her. “You’re certainly not the same guy who came home from London.”

“Jet lag. I get a little…”

“Cranky?” she finished.

“Sometimes.”

“Irritable?”

He quirked an eyebrow at her, but answered, “Perhaps.”

“How about down-right scorpion-stinging, cactus-poking ornery?”

“You made your point.” He offered an olive branch. “Truce.”

Jaycee considered the tapered, but not pampered, extended hand. She was lousy at staying mad. It simply took too much energy, and at the moment she was desperately short of energy. Shrugging, she placed her palm against his then sucked in a fast breath when his fingers tightened, enclosing her in warmth.

Unfortunately, it's time to return to my other job . . . the one that pays most of the bills . . . so I must leave Jaycee & Garrick for later in the day.
But rest assured, they'll be jelling in my mind.

Teaching an Old Dog (writer) New Tricks. Secrets to Better Writing.

The Donovan Legacy (HARM'S WAY - current release) actually started with a prequel.

CHASING DESTINY

CHASING DESTINY was written a year in front of HARM'S WAY and then promptly buried among all my floppy disks. Yep, that long ago.
Having recovered my earlier works, I realized the characters of CHASING DESTINY (Garrick & Jaycee) deserved their own release.
To that end, the rewrites began.

The process has been enlightening: good & bad. And that tenuous, often painful, process deserved to be shared as well. Producing better writing is hard work. Short cuts are not generally the answer, but you can learn to be a smarter writer by following some of these writing tips.

New eyes on an old manuscript allowed my editor’s eagle eye to find:

1) Uh-oh, are all those TYPOs really mine? One editing pass or a dozen, some TYPOS are hard to spot because it’s often not about spelling. Becomes or becoming. Too or to. They’re or there. A new read will often find what’s actually written on page.

2) Wow! These characters are witty. How much more life can I breath into the page if I capitalize on that trait?


3) Grammar is an on-going learning process. The rules don’t change, but my ability to better utilize them evolves.

4) I will habitually overuse the same words. It’s as though my writing needle is stuck in the same vinyl groove.
This problem leads me to #5.

5) Use a word recognition program, which will highlight most commonly used or abused words in a chapter or scene. I use Wordle.net, but that’s my preference. There are other options – quite a few inside of Microsoft Word itself. See my blog: Wordle.net Turning actual words into ‘art’ never gets old for me. Writers are visual creatures; it’s how we bring black-n-white to full-life color. A program for generating ‘word clouds’ is a positive editing experience, and it’s just plain fun.

6) Older MS means newer, less experienced, writer = some written words are just drivel. My Southern editor says, “Just dump the dang drivel.” My professional editor says “Discard the dreaded drivel.” Whichever editor shows up for my proofing session, she is right. Don’t be afraid to eliminate writing that slows the pace, is redundant, or is sophomoric to your current style. Again, being a better writer is often about what should REMAIN on page - not what was originally written.

a. Don’t be afraid of ‘white’ page space. If the writing is awful: cut it/chop it/lop of its head – okay, almost a bit slasher movie language but the point is valid.
b. Read the older MS aloud. This is the quickest way to find trite dialogue or slow narrative. It also highlights redundancy. Your eyes might skip over the same phrase, but when read aloud, your editor’s ear will hear it.

7) Protect the white space! After I’ve exiled drivel to the junk folder, I’ll type the simple phrase – ‘something wonderful happens here’. I’m not required to know – in that one instantaneous instance – what the wonderful will be. Nope, I just need to give my MUSE time to think of what’s best to do with the white space. Maybe, it’s nothing. The deletion may lead to a better tightened scene or conversation. Or, maybe, there’s an actual point – an ‘Ah-ha’ moment – that needs to happen on page. On that page. Giving my MUSE time to consider the options can lead to effective writing.

8) Wordy internal dialogue. I talk to myself. Argue with myself. Sometimes silently. Sometimes . . . yep, aloud. When the house is empty, I’ll have detailed conversations. I’m brilliant with an argument after the fact. The point: most of us have an internal voice going on in our heads at any given moment. Characters will as well. But it’s not necessary to prooooooo-long the internal conversation.

*****Think it doesn't happen in big name, well-published authors' writing? Then think again. I have read more than one NYTimes Best Seller during the past year, who committed the same infraction. So, newbies & established indie authors take heart. Even the most experienced writer can commit this faux-pas. The point is to be aware of the tendency, find the offenses, then cut them out.*****

This sent me back to my own re-vitalized WIP with a figurative red pen.
1. Did my characters drone on for 10 sentences when 2 would do?
2. Did my characters ‘rehash’ the same point over and over again. Remember, we want our heroes and heroines to be SMART. (TSTL is never a good review)

Character emotions take time to develop; character attitudes – just like ours – will evolve over the course of the book; and character behaviors will adjust as he/she learns. But if my heroine is rambling on with the same internal argument on page 200 as she did on page 10, then I’ve committed the writing sin of prolonged internal dialogue.

I’m happy to report that my current hero & heroine are well on their way to becoming brilliantly succinct.

As my older MS is still a work in progress – very much so – I’m certain there will be more lessons learned from a new take on old work. I’ll share any tidbits of writing wisdom with you. We, as writers evolve; so, too, should our writing. Remember, better writing means happier readers.

Learn More! Additional Writing Tips.

Snapping Photos? Breathe LIFE into Writing . . .

Demystify Graphic Images for Easy Advertising.

Book Review - Tempting Mr. Townsend by Anna Campbell

Suffering from historical fever? Burning to read about past-times filled with heroes & heroines?

Then an Anna Campbell romance is the perfect cure.

In TEMPTING MR. TOWNSEND, author, Anna Campbell once again captures the incurable romantic heart. In this dashing widow selection, Lady Deerham has known and lost true love. Comfortable in her widow’s shell, Fenella’s resolved to raise her son alone and spend her remaining years without the comfort of a man’s presence. That is . . . until a bear of a man burst into her quite proper drawing room, and conveys her cross country to find her son.

Anthony Townsend has never wanted a woman as he does Fenella, and he’s determined to storm her carefully shielded heart. Mr. Townsend will use all his remarkable negotiating tactics to convince, cajole, and even seduce the proper Lady Deerham into his life – forever.

Author: Anna Campbell

Book Review - Michael's Blood by SS Bazinet

Michael’s Blood by SS Bazinet, is a unique exploration of angels – amongst us – and re-incarnation.

Have you ever turned your head just right, cut your glance quickly to the side . . . and believed that there was another presence over your shoulder? Surrounding you? Then you have already stepped across the threshold of guardian angels.

How about those tingles along your spine when you simply knew something – no true explanation for that insight, that glimpse of fact or feelings, but in your deepest soul, you knew them to be accurate?

Author, SS Bazinet takes readers on a journey into the concept that past-lives are more than New Age language, and might easily explain the fabric of our everyday world. Carefully woven into Michael’s Blood is the presence – warm and comforting – that none of us are truly alone as guardian angels stand the test of our stubbornness and never forsake their ‘keeps’ through the ages.

Michael’s Blood – the Vampire Reclamation Project – is so much more than another simple fantasy story.

When vampire protagonist, Arel, is given the gift of angel’s blood, his troubled past filled with tortures, old fears, and years of horrific abuse must be cleansed. In the process of Arel’s journey, which takes him from present to past to present again, he begins to build a new family. SS Bazinet breathes life into hero, Arel, as a complicated, scarred, stubborn, and needy soul: all identifiable characteristics in today’s world.

If you are searching for a story that crosses genres and dimensions, then Michael’s Blood is a read for you.

Author: SS Bazinet

Writing It Right with Wordle.net

Breathing new life into an older manuscript brought me back to Wordle.net

WRITERS

Do you want to know your most commonly used words in a chapter?
In a Blog post?
In a letter to your editor?

DIRECTLY FROM THE WORDLE WEBSITE:

'WORDLE is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to your own desktop to use as you wish.'

Wordle.net is a FREE Service that doesn't demand any Google Chrome EXT additions.

However - WORD ON INSTALLATION - you'll need Java RunTime in order to access Wordle, and you will need to download the 32bit version (actually, shows as X86 on the Java download site, which is old school for 32bit). My laptop is roughly a year old and the Win 10 version on my system is 64bit. Just be aware that you might need to handle this conversion depending on which version of Windows is loaded to your desktop/laptop, and which BIT size as well. If Java is currently downloaded to your system, Wordle should open. Also, there is a Wordle trouble-shooting help guide. I used Internet Explorer - not EDGE - just good ole Explorer to access Wordle, and it worked perfectly. Hopefully, these install tips will ease your Wordle path.

Pssst - any program that demands a Google Chrome EXT should be handled with extreme caution.
Check for reviews or malware alerts on these programs before you complete install and allow the EXT full access.
You might find your browser taken over by the EXT . . . never a good result.

CHASING DESTINY - CHAPTER ONE

Through the Wordle process, my nemesis of 'back' revealed its ugly redundancy,
and I dived into the chapter to obliterate its overuse.

The point of this exercise is to make certain - that you, the author - are fully aware of the most commonly used words, and phrases, in your writing.
Does the Wordle picture reflect the language that should float to the top like wonderful cream?
Or have you fallen into a vocabulary trap where the same tired words appear over and over?

Wordle is a bit of visual creativity to color our written world of black-and-white.

Ready to learn more? Additional writing tips @

Snapping Photos? Here's how to Breath LIFE into your Writing

Learn the Art of a Writer's Magic