Another wonderful read: No Greater Glory.

Debut author, Cindy Nord, has written a beautiful love story set in the Civil War called "No Greater Glory". Colonel Reece Cutteridge commandeers the plantation belonging to widow, Emaline McDaniels, as a command post.

Against Emaline's will, her home soon becomes an infirmary for wounded soldiers. Despite being on opposite sides of the war, Reece and Emaline cannot deny their attraction and growing love. Despite Emaline's resentment at the intrusion in her life, she finds compassion for the wounded and dying men, and ends up helping the doctor tend to the sick.

Anyone who loved "Gone With the Wind" will love this book. Emaline is a spunky, courageous woman who softens the hard colonel. The ups and downs of their love story makes this book hard to put down!

Can't wait for Cindy's next book!

The Colonel's Lady

Finally got a copy of  Laura Frantz's "The Colonel's Lady" and I was not disappointed. Every one of Laura's books gets better than the last!!

Let me just say that Colonel Cass McKinn was an absolutely wonderful hero. So courageous and honorable. He definitely evoked a few sighs from me! And Roxie Rowan was a delightful heroine.

Laura manages to evoke the most romantic of stories with such subtlety. The softest of glances and touches, along with one or two kisses that leave the reader breathless with longing for these two to finally get their chance at happiness. And the lovely child, Abby, added such a sweet touch.

Thank you, Laura, for another story that lingers in your heart long after the last page is turned!

A Writer's Thrill!

Whew! Just got back from vacation last night. Will post about the beach later, but today I wanted to relive the thrill I got on Saturday.

Coming back from New Jersey, we opted for a different route and hubby wanted to go to Washington. So we went that way and after an extremely HOT walk to the White House, we decided not to spend much more time in DC.

Nora's Bookstore

Looking at the map, I was excited to note that we would be passing by Boonsboro, Maryland and asked hubby to make a slight detour. For those of you who aren't fans of Nora Roberts, this name probably wouldn't mean much. But for me, a huge fan, this was better than seeing the White House! Nora and her husband own a bookstore there called Turn the Page Bookstore. They also bought and restored an historic inn, now called Inn BoonsBoro which is the setting for her latest trilogy. And her son has recently opened a restaurant just across the street. 

Hubby standing in front of the Inn.

After much rolling countryside, past many cute rural areas, we finally came upon the quaint town of Boonsboro. I knew Nora would be in Anaheim at the RWA conference and that the store would be closed by the time we got there, but that didn't matter. Just to see these places in person and capture some photos was all I wanted.

Inn BoonsBoro

This thrill capped off my lovely week's holiday. Maybe someday I'll go back to experience a book signing in the quaint Turn the Page bookstore! In the meantime, I'll enjoy my pictures and await the release of the third book in the trilogy. This time I'll REALLY be able to imagine it!

VACATION TIME!

It's official. I am on holidays!!  Soon the family and I will be off on a road trip - Destination Wildwood, NJ.! 

This will be nostalgic for me. As a kid, we used to go every summer with our grandparents. Haven't been back for MANY years and I'm dying to see what's it like now. A little sand, sun, and the ocean! Can't wait!

See you on the flip side!!

Mememe - Tagged in Julie's Blog

Okay, I'm not real up on this, but my critique partner Julie Jarnagin tagged me in her blog and now I have to follow the instructions.

Here are the Rules:

1. Go to page 77 of your current manuscript.

2. Go to line 7.

3. Copy the next 7 lines (sentences or paragraphs) and post them as they're written. No cheating!

4. Tag 7 other writers to pass this meme on to.

 

  So here is page 77, line 7 of my current work in progress, tentatively titled "Irish Meadows".

 

He turned to Aurora and bent over her offered hand. “Thank you for the dances, Miss Hastings. You are a most accomplished dancer.”

Her cheeks reddened. “As are you, Mr. Whelan. You must come and visit us at Belvedere now that mother and I are here for the summer. Papa comes home on weekends, but during the week we are quite lonely.” She nudged her mother slightly.

“Oh, yes. Of course. Come for lunch one day. We’ll call with a date.”

Tension banded his shoulders, but his smile did not falter. “That would be … dreadful … lovely, I’m sure.”

Hope you enjoyed this tiny glimpse into Gilbert Whelan's life!!

Cheers,

Sue

 

Another winner!

I had the pleasure of receiving Karen Witemeyer's newest release "Short -Straw Bride" in the mail this week. I started it last night and finished it in less than 24 hours! 

What a wonderful read! The heroine, Meri, is sweet, and loyal, and feisty! The hero, Travis, is honorable and rugged and fiercely loyal. What a great combination. Could not put this story down, yet I hated for it to end.

Thanks Karen for another amazing romance! When does the next one come out??

Teacher's Day

According to the radio this morning, today is Teacher's Day!  The radio announcer asked the question: "Did you have a teacher who influenced you?" And he proceeded to name a whole list of teachers who had had a great impact on his life. One was a teacher that made him read his story in front of the class and told him he was a good writer. That brought back so many memories for me!!

My Grade 6 teacher, Mr. Guistini, did the same thing for me. Mine was a Halloween story, I believe. He was the first person (only person) to tell me I should write a book. And I did. Started then and continued into Grade 9 when I then learned to type and began to type it all page by page! Daunting compared to today's computers! I even submitted that manuscript (I cringe now) to a publisher and received a very nice rejection letter. That put my writing career on hold for 25 years! Life got in the way, high school, university, marriage, job, kids. Yup -- that's about 25 years worth!

Anyway the writing bug hit again around the time I hit age 40. Not sure why then. Maybe because I started reading again like crazy and got the urge to write my own stories. And one of these days, I will be a published author. It's just a matter of time.

Moral of the story - you never know how you influence someone's life with a few tiny words of encouragement. To all you teachers out there - THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Genesis Semi-Finalist!

Had some good news yesterday! A wonderful phone call from one of the Genesis coordinators to tell me that my entry is a semi-finalist in the GENESIS!  I floated the rest of the day.

Such fun that I knew so many names on the various lists! It will be a close call for the finals, I'm sure.

Hoping all these positive results for this particular piece may mean a sale one day!
Doing a penguin happy dance!

Some good news!

I'm finally getting around to posting this after being sick and having company for a week.

This bit of news gave a nice boost. I came second in the Inspirational category of the Great Expectation contest! And the first place winner is a multi-published Harlequin author so somehow in my heart, I feel I won! LOL.

Now just waiting to hear back from another Agent Query contest. Fingers and toes crossed!

Check out my website!

It's an older website, thinking of updating it, not many views.. so take a look! Comments and suggestions are welcome!
http://www.susanannemason.com/

A New Challenge - SPEEDBO!

Well, here we are at the beginning of March. Two months in 2012 have passed. Where does the time go?

I have been busy revising my first historical - a project still in progress. But now I have accepted Seekerville's latest challenge. SPEEDBO (speed book) for the month of March! We get to set our own goals and our own pace. The purpose is to get those of us participating to set daily word goals and get WRITING!

So I'm taking a stab at a new book - one that's not as fleshed out as the one I wrote in November's NaNoWriMo! But any progress is better than no progress! So I have been doing a ton of research and have now written the first two scenes.

Starting a new project is always exciting. This should keep March from being dull and hopefully I'll have at least half a book done at the end! Now if I could just get someone to cook for me!