Cover Reveal - Risking It All by JM Stewart

My friend, author JM Stewart, has a brand new book coming out in a few months, and I'm thrilled to be able to share the cover with you here at The Second Half. Isn't is gorgeous?

Title: Risking It All

Author: JM Stewart

Publisher: Penguin Intermix

Date published: Sept 16, 2014

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Word count: 80, 000

AISN: B00FFFSZB6

ISBN: 9780698147980

Originally published in a shorter form as Staking His Claim

Blurb:

She’s everything he wants…

For years, Kyle Morgan has hidden his true feelings from the gorgeous girl next door that he grew up loving and protecting. But when she shows up at his apartment in the middle of the night, desperately needing comfort and support, his iron will begins to waver…

…and the only thing he can’t bear to lose.

Kyle was always the big brother Cecelia Anton never had, but suddenly her goofy best friend has become a sexy man she can’t keep her thoughts—or hands—off of. As their deep connection melts into uncontrollable desire, Ceci is willing to put it all on the line for a shot at true love. Only Kyle is keeping a terrible secret about Ceci’s past that could destroy not only their lifelong friendship but their happily-ever-after…

Trailer:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpzuxkFy_6I

Purchase links:

Amazon

Barns and Noble

iTunes

Books-a-million

About the author:

JM writes passionate, heartfelt contemporary romance. She’s a wife, a mother, a spiritualist, and lover of puppies, and happily addicted to coffee and chocolate. She lives in the rainy Pacific Northwest with her husband and two sons. She’s a hopeless romantic who believes everybody should have their happily-ever-after and has been devouring romance novels for as long as she can remember. Writing them has become her obsession.

You can find out more about JM or her books here: Website /Blog /Twitter /Facebook

Gardening with Deer - A Metaphor for Life

Life is a long string of challenges. Sometimes it's more like a braid than a string. 

Three months ago I spent thousands of dollars to have the yard at our new house planted with a wide variety of drought tolerant, deer resistant plants. Drought is a way of life in Monterey County, and our water bills are frightening, so choosing drought tolerant plants was a no-brainer. Deer resistant has been much more challenging. 

I love deer and was excited the first time I saw a family strolling through our yard. That was during construction, and there wasn't much here for them to eat. They looked around then moseyed on over to the next-door-neighbor's yard for dinner. That same neighbor had told me he gave up years ago worrying about what the deer ate. He simply went about his business and let them go about theirs. His yard is thickly planted native trees and shrubs, making it hard to notice the occasional nibble. He warned I would end up hating both gardening and deer if I went to battle against them. 

George is a wise man, so I decided to take his advice. I decided to forgo erecting a tall fence and chose deer-resistant plants instead. I have since learned there's no such thing. If the plants are unfamiliar or have tender, young leaves, the deer will at least try them if they're hungry, or merely curious. Our omnivorous deer have astounded both the landscaper and the owner of the local garden center with what they're willing to eat. Lately I've been told, "I've never heard of deer eating that" more times than I like to say. 

These flowers are an example.

Before

After

And these.

Before

After

Fortunately, I was able to enjoy both for a few weeks before the deer discovered them, and all the plants have new buds. If they're willing to try again, so am I. I've learned to enjoy the beauty around me while I have it, without expecting (or trying to force) it to last forever. There's always something new and beautiful around the corner. Like these spectacular Kangaroo Paws. They're from Australia, and the tiny florets look like fuzzy kangaroo paws. So far, the deer have shown no interest in them.

Kangaroo Paws

See the fuzzy, red feet?

And then are are the moments of unexpected delight, like this little volunteer succulent. It sprang from a piece broken off one of the larger plants and dropped, possibly even by a four-footed marauder. 

So far, I'm staying pretty Zen about sharing my garden with the wildlife. I don't know how long that attitude will last, but I'm trying. Hopefully, by the time I'm George's age, I'll just smile and take it all in stride. Gardening, like life, is most satisfying if you can learn to go with the flow. Yesterday around dusk, a doe and two tiny fauns ambled through the back yard without so much as a nibble. Maybe they've called a truce and I just don't know it yet.

My Latest Cover - An Uncertain Destiny by Jannine Gallant

I'm thrilled to share my latest book cover design project for Jannine Gallant's new historical romance, An Uncertain Destiny. This book, set in 17th century Massachusetts, is a project close to the author's heart, and I'm delighted to have been able to help her bring it to you. This cover is one of my absolute favorites, with its gorgeous, atmospheric background and mysterious young woman in red.

Here's a blurb about the story:

Haunting visions have plagued Megan Pendrake for years, a dire promise of a turbulent future. When Megan and her brother are forced to flee England aboard a ship bound for the colonies, trouble looms. In 1692, Salem, Massachusetts is a hotbed of suspicion and persecution where the mere hint of witchcraft is a death sentence. Remaining in Salem is courting disaster, but Megan’s heart won't allow her to leave the man she has grown to love.

Nicholas Thayer is mesmerized by the beautiful, unconventional young woman who boards his ship posing as a cabin boy. But his future is predetermined, including a fiancée waiting for him at home. When Megan faces inconceivable peril, Nicholas must make the ultimate choice between family and faith or a love he can’t deny. But will he be able to save them both from An Uncertain Destiny?

You can buy An Uncertain Destiny in Kindle format from Amazon here, and the paperback will be available soon!

The Value of Book Reviews

Many writers claim they never read reviews of their books. They are sufficiently confident in their own abilities and their editors' insights not to seek validation in the comments of readers and reviewers. Of course, by doing this, they also avoid contact with the dreaded Internet book trolls. I've been lucky, so far, never to have attracted the attention of one of those beasts. I can certainly understand refusing to allow baseless negativity to affect one's creativity and drive. However, I do think there's a lot authors can learn from their readers.

Reader response was especially important to me for UNWRITTEN RULES. I was changing genres from Western historical romance to contemporary romantic suspense. I also decided to try self-publishing for the first time. I asked a multi-published friend who writes in the genre to edit the manuscript for me. She was tough and pushed me to make substantial improvements prior to publication, but editing is not her primary occupation. I was basically relying on our combined writing experience to "get it right". Reader reviews have been the best way to judge if I succeeded.

My first three books garnered only a handful of reviews, mostly from people I know. This time I wanted more. Based on the advice of other self-publishers, I added a polite, personal request for a review to the Kindle version right after the end of the story. That did the trick. After my KDP Free Days, the reviews began pouring in. To date, UNWRITTEN RULES has garnered 67 reviews on Amazon, many times the number I've received for any other title.

So what have I learned from these reviews?

1. Many men have read and liked this book. This was a shock to me. As far as I know, I've never had a male reader before. Now I have to consider the possibility that my work has become more mainstream and choose whether to pursue that.
2. Readers overwhelmingly enjoyed the "mystery" aspect of the plot. I had never attempted suspense in any form before. I'm not even sure why it worked in this book. I'll have to study what I did and try to replicate it.
3. Readers would enjoy reading more about these characters. I had held off on putting the time into writing a series until I saw whether UNWRITTEN RULES was a success. Now I've decided to pursue the Phoenix, Ltd. series, although with a different hero and heroine for each story.
4. Graphic love scenes are neither necessary or expected in this "crossover" genre. Not one reviewer mentioned wanting more or less sex. I'm actually relieved by this. At some publishers, romance editors pressure writers to make their writing hotter. I'm glad so many ordinary readers were satisfied with the heat level I'm comfortable with.

Without the feedback from reviews, I would have wondered and worried about all these aspects of UNWRITTEN RULES. Reader comments have allowed me to make adjustments and move forward with confidence. 

Fellow writers: do you read your reviews? What do you get from them? Readers: do you ever write reviews? Do other's reviews help you choose books?

The Opposite of Easy

For the last two decades, one of OG's favorite observations of life has been "it isn't easy". This applies to minor daily annoyances as well as boulders in the path of progress. I usually agree politely then dismiss these comments as whining. I'm a "cinch up your belt and scale the boulders" kind of girl. However, the past couple of weeks have given me pause.

After a year of major remodeling, we moved into our new house four weeks ago today. Moving is always stressful, but we've moved ten times in the past, so I wasn't terribly concerned. Unfortunately, OG (who has always been a mountain of moving strength before) succumbed to the stress of this one. In the months leading up to the move, he allowed every complication and uncertainty to pile on top each other until they crushed him. After the move, he worked himself into a frenzy by trying to conquer his self-imposed to-do list faster than his mind or body would allow. The result was the worst headache of his life that ultimately landed him in the hospital for 3 days. 

OG has always jokingly referred to himself as a sufferer of DFS (delicate flower syndrome), but nothing could be further from the truth. He tries to do everything himself and ignores the fact that he'll be sixty-five next month. This hospitalization brought that truth home with a thud.

Because of his age and the fact that he has no history of headaches, the doctors had to rule out everything from a brain tumor to an incipient aneurysm. After he had a CT scan, they insisted on a spinal tap to make sure there had been no bleeding in the brain. OG fainted, and I don't blame him. I would have run screaming from the building. Even after that was clear, the neurologist insisted on an MRI. 

OG has crippling claustrophobia, and has physically broken out of an MRI machine in the past. We warned everyone, and saw that it was written on his chart. He needs massive sedation. However, on the morning of the test, the nurse missed the note. I'm glad I wasn't there to see the result. On the next try, they gave him a little sedation and let me go in with him and hold his hand. No go. By this time he was completely traumatized. However, the next morning he was willing to try again - anything to get out of that hospital! They gave him more drugs, I went in with him, and he psyched himself through it. Ten hours later, I finally got to take him home. 

To top it all off, he picked up a horrible respiratory bug in the hospital and gave it to me. No, it hasn't been easy.

Why were the doctors so insistent on the MRI, you might ask? Because they had seen the scar from a previous stroke on the CT scan. We had no idea. However, it does help explain some of the neurological symptoms he'd been complaining of for some time. We were actually relieved to know the cause wasn't some ongoing disease process like MS, but now we're both coming to grips with the fact that he may not be able to do everything he wants, the way he wants to, in the future. That's very sobering, especially for him. The adage "aging isn't for sissies" has come home to roost.

I'm very proud of OG for the way he's approaching things now. He's making a strong, and so far successful, effort to remain calm in the face of frustration (not like him at all). He's prioritizing his projects and completing them with my help. He's accepted that it makes more sense to hire people to do some difficult tasks. And he's looking at his bucket list to make sure he gets to do the things that really matter. Life doesn't come with guarantees.

As difficult as it's been, this experience may have taught us an important lesson about aging gracefully. We'll see if the lesson sticks.

Moving Day is Finally Here!

After one long year, moving day has finally arrived. Tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m., two men and a truck will arrive to whisk us away to our new house.

If you've been following this blog, you know that on March 29, 2013, OG and I set out on our grand adventure--moving from the Twin Cities in Minnesota to Carmel on the central California coast. We bought an uninhabitable wreck of a house with glorious views, moved into our vacation condo, and commenced work. Now, nearly one year later, we're finally ready to move in. We've sold our condo and are happy to be turning it over to a young, single woman (first time buyer), to begin her adult life as a homeowner. She's thrilled, and we hope she enjoys it as much as we have.

The house turned out to be a much bigger project than we initially anticipated. If I had it to do over, I'm not sure I would. Due to vermin, dry rot, and asbestos, we had to strip it to the foundation and studs and start from scratch. The upside is that we have a completely new house. The downside is that we had to pay for a completely new house. 

"Before"

As with any new house, there were hundreds of decisions to make, both large and small, and we didn't always make the right ones. For example: neither we, the designer, nor the contractor properly envisioned the laundry room door until it was hung and blocked half the cabinets. They were able to re-hang it to swing to the right instead of the left, but now it blocks the utility closet door. If we'd been thinking, we would have asked for a pocket door instead. As it is, OG will probably take it down and store it in the garage. Also, the master shower is enormous. We could have added a foot to the toilet room on one side and the linen closet on the other and still have had a plenty large shower. OG thinks the fireplace is out of proportion to the living room and we should have switched the locations of the guest bath and the laundry.

"After"

Oh well, live and learn. I'm sure we'll adjust to most of these things over time. The others will undoubtedly be changed (at great additional expense). However, I plan to concentrate on what we do have--a lovely, new home in a great location with a fabulous view. I'm excited to learn how to garden in this very different environment. Due to the daunting size of the project, I hired a landscaper to install the paths, irrigation, and basic plants, but I'm looking forward to adding things and tweaking the design over time. The deer came in the first night and stripped eight of the allegedly deer-resistant plants, so my first task will be replacing them with something less appetizing. 

Finished Back

The plants look tiny in the photos, but with the near-constant sunshine and twelve-month growing season here, they'll grow fast. I plan to post pictures of my progress, so stop back by from time to time and catch up!

Welcome Guest Author Liz Flaherty

I'm delighted to welcome fellow author and good friend Liz Flaherty to The Second Half. Liz's latest novel, 

The Girls of Tonsil Lake is free on Amazon from March 4-8 http://www.amazon.com/The-Girls-Tonsil-Lake-Flaherty-ebook/dp/B00HJESTYO Stop by and pick it up. I hope it gives you a few hours of pleasure.

Blurb: Four women whose differences only deepen the friendship forged in a needy childhood…

They were four little girls living in ramshackle trailers beside a lake in rural Indiana. They shared everything from dreams to measles to boyfriends to more dreams. As they grew up, everything in their lives changed—except their friendship. Through weddings and divorces, births and

deaths, one terrible secret has kept them close despite all the anger, betrayal, and pain.

Now, forty years later, facing illness, divorce, career challenges, and even addiction, the women come together once again for a bittersweet month on an island in Maine. Staring down their fifties, they must consider the choices life is offering them now and face the pain of what happened long ago.

Secrets are revealed and truths uncovered, but will their time together cement their lifelong friendship—or drive them apart forever?

Excerpt: 

I wanted Andie to come to New York, but she didn’t feel up to it. I felt a little shudder go through me when she said that. Andie’s always been so strong, and she’s cancer-free, so I found it startling and frightening when she admitted to feeling less than wonderful. But, as Let There Be Hope shows, cancer changes one in sometimes indefinable ways. Maybe this is one of those changes.

Mark and I visited some islands off the Maine coast once, in our early days. I was so enthralled that he bought me a house on one of them, a little strip of green called, appropriately enough, Hope Island. It reminds me of Bennett’s Island, the fictitious utopia of Elisabeth Ogilvie’s books, except that Hope has all the mod cons.

I love to go there. It’s a place I can be myself with little regard to what anyone else thinks. I sit in my bathrobe on the wraparound porch of the Victorian horror that is my house and drink coffee with Lucas Bishop, our neighbor. I read Jean’s books without worrying that someone will see the covers.

I’ve never taken anyone else—it was Mark’s and my private getaway—but I wouldn’t mind if it was Andie who was there. Or Jean and even Suzanne. Andie and I could work on her book. Jean could cook and keep house since she’s so crazy about doing that, and maybe even spin out one of her romances placed on an island. And Suzanne could...do our hair or something.

We would all be together as we are that single night every year when we drive to the lake and pretend we’re facing down our ghosts. I am a little afraid that the day will come that we’ll have to face them down for real.

I wonder if they’d come.

BIO: The Girls of Tonsil Lake is Liz Flaherty’s eighth book, and it is no less thrilling than the first one was. Retired from the post office, she spends non-writing time sewing, quilting, and doing whatever else feels good at the moment (like drinking wine on Nan’s boat). She and Duane live in the old farmhouse in Indiana they moved to in 1977. They’ve talked about moving, but really…30-some years’ worth of stuff? It’s not happening!

She’d love to hear from you at lizkflaherty@gmail.com or please come and see her at:

http://lizflaherty.com

http://www.facebook.com/lizkflaherty

https://twitter.com/LizFlaherty1

http://wordwranglers.blogspot.com/