Welcome

Crazy Love Blogmania Contest

I am participating in the online extravaganza called Blogmania. For two days – September 15th and 16th – a hundred and seventy five blogs will be offering fabulous prizes to people who visit and comment. I’m offering over $300 worth of prizes so far with more to come.

My top prize is a quilt that I am making specifically for my Crazy Love give away. This isn’t your average quilt. In fact, when I went searching for a way to price it, I couldn’t find anything even remotely like it online. The only ones like this I’ve seen in real life are the ones I make. They are kind of what M.C. Escher might do if he made a patchwork quilt. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see how it’s coming along.

A fair number of authors have graciously provided me with copies of their work for you to win. Check it out:

From Michele Hart
Mind Blown

Jon Paige discovers his employer is developing illicit mind control techniques. He quickly learns how to hijack the system and breaks down his beautiful assistant’s persistent walls. Will Holly forgive him for sneaking into her mind, if she ever learns of it?

Holly Maddox is determined not to dip her pen in the company ink, a policy that’s served her well…until Jon comes along. He steals her mind when he’s in the room, weakens her fortitude with every flash of his flirty eyes and secretive smile. How will she keep herself from falling in love with her boss when he melts her impulse control?

When Jon and Holly decide to sabotage the brain-washing experiments, they learn they’re up against a greater power than they’d bargained for. Doing the right thing risks lives. Will the truth of their beginnings wreck their sizzling affair?

ebook

From JM Stewart
Staking His Claim

Kyle Morgan’s in love with his best friend. Unfortunately, he’s honor bound to keep a secret from her that not only prevents him from confessing his feelings, but also has the power to destroy their relationship.

Cecelia Anton has only ever wanted one thing—to find the answers to her mysterious past. But the search leads her into the arms of her best friend. While the attraction frightens her, she can’t deny the way he makes her feel.

The deep connection they share as friends only heightens the passion, forcing them to reevaluate their relationship. Are they willing to risk their lifelong friendship for the promise of love?

ebook

From Anastasia St. James
A Visit from Sir Nicholas

Sir Nicholas has forgotten the allure of the night sky, until on the Eve of Christmas the North Star guides him to Mary’s door. Now his greatest Christmas wish is to crash down the walls that have kept them apart and to have a second chance with the woman he loved and lost years before.

Christmas has always been a magical time for Mary, but never so much so as when a love she thinks lost to her forever makes his appearance at her door and steals kisses beneath the mistletoe.

Long separated by social intolerance, will Nicholas and Mary allow the spirit of Christmas to reunite their love?

ebook

From P.L. Parker
Aimee’s Locket
An antique ivory locket catapults Aimee Reynolds back to the year 1847. Alone in St. Louis, Missouri, she has to find a way to get home to present day Seattle. She needs a suitable male willing to marry her or be left behind when the emigrant train departs for the Oregon Territory.

Jake Marshall, scout for the Markham Party, is the perfect, if unwilling choice. Undaunted by his overt rudeness, Aimee entices Jake to the alter, promising her diamond earrings as payment for a marriage of convenience. Properly wed, she secures passage on the wagon train, and discovers her future may be in the past.

Autographed trade-size paperback

From Beth Trissel
Somewhere My Lass

Neil MacKenzie’s well ordered life turns to chaos when Mora Campbell shows up claiming he’s her fiancé from 1602 Scotland. Her avowal that she was chased to the future by clan chieftain, Red MacDonald, is utter nonsense, and Neil must convince her that she is just addled from a blow to her head–or so he believes until the MacDonald himself shows up wanting blood. Mora knows the Neil of the future is truly her beloved Niall who disappeared from the past. Although her kinsmen believe he’s dead, and she is now destined to marry Niall’s brother, she’s convinced that if she and Neil return to the past, all will be right. The only problem is how to get back to 1602 before it’s too late. The balance of the present and future are in peril if she marries another, and the Neil of the present will cease to exist. An ancient relic and a few good friends in the future help pave the way back to the past, but will Mora and Neil be too late to save a love that began centuries before?

ebook

From Margaret Tanner
Holly and the Millionaire

Fleeing from her ruthless English in-laws who are intent on stealing her child, Holly Kirwan boards a flight home to Australia and meets Justin Devereux. They are instantly attracted to each other.

Justin doesn’t want a permanent woman in his life, particularly one with a baby in tow. Holly, still grieving for her soldier husband who was killed in Iraq , doesn’t want to be disloyal to his memory.

Can the young widow and the commitment shy tycoon ever find happiness together?

and

Frontier Wife

Can a highborn young Englishwoman and a tough frontier man bridge the social and emotional chasm between them and find happiness together?

Tommy Lindsay arrives in colonial Australia to claim the rundown farm she and her brothers have inherited.

Hidden behind her fragile English rose beauty, beats the heart of a courageous young woman. She will need all this strength to survive the unforgiving heat and dangers that confront her, not to mention her ruthless neighbour, Adam Munro, who is hell-bent on getting rid of this interloper.

She hopes to find true love in the harsh frontiers of colonial Australia , but it will have to be a special man who can love her little orphaned brother as well.

Adam Munro, a rugged frontier man, has no room in his heart to love a woman. All he wants is a presentable wife who will provide him with heirs. When he meets Tommy he is captivated, but fights his feelings because he doesn’t need passion to complicate his life.

both in ebook

Alice Audrey (That’s me) I’ll be giving away several copies of
Moving In

A woman who is convinced there is no honor in being a housewife finds herself acting the part for the ER doctor who moves in next door. The more she resists her own inclinations, the more he shows his appreciation. She helps him stay true to his calling even as he forces her to recognize her own. This is the book that came from the Suzie’s house series.

ebook

From Ilona Fridl
Silver Screen Hero

What happens when a motion picture studio in 1920 is taken over by a crime family? Addy and Zeke, a stunt double and a director’s assistant, work with the police to bring the gangsters to justice. But Addy’s cousin has married into the crime family. When Addy is given a key to bring down the family and the studio, will she use it?

ebook

From Leigh D’Ansey
Kincaid’s Call

Nathan Kincaid reckons any man’s testosterone would go into overdrive at the sight of a dynamite looking woman with topaz eyes, a gorgeous pair of legs and a peek of satin panties right there on his desktop. But the last thing Nathan needs is a pocket dynamo from his past complicating the life he’s just begun to salvage.

Kate Summers has created the life she wants and knows exactly the kind of man she needs: someone compliant, steady and calm. When Nathan Kincaid strides back into her life with his disturbing reminders of her fractured past, Kate’s well-charted plans fall into disarray!

ebook

From Susan Helene Gottfried
Trevor’s Song:
Fame and fortune have destroyed many a rock star, but Trevor Wolff has a bigger problem when his best friend Mitchell Voss commits an act of monogamy with sexy artist Kerri Broadhurst.

ShapeShifter band dynamics will never be the same with this new woman on the scene, and the distractions of two girlfriends and a world tour aren’t enough to keep Trevor from feeling like his carefully constructed world is crumbling around him. The pesky little illness he’s been hiding from his band mates isn’t helping, either.

Trevor is determined to drive Kerri away so life can run properly. He’ll do whatever it takes, or die trying, and not just because if he doesn’t get well soon, time might be up for old Trevor. The last person he expects help or sympathy from is Kerri herself, but he may have to make common cause with his enemy if he’s to survive the fallout from the secrets he’s been hiding.

and

The Demo Tapes
The Demo Tapes were born out of the demand of the groupies who hang around the Meet and Greet. They are collections of short fiction that introduce you to Trevor, Mitchell, and the rest of the fictional band, ShapeShifter — as well as the world in which they inhabit.

For all three books I have a print copy and ebook copies available.

From A.Y. Stratton
Buried Heart

A perilous quest
An ancient Mayan codex
Jealousy and desire
Set in frigid Milwaukee and among Mayan ruins smothered by the Mexican rain forest, Buried Heart sizzles with desire and adventure. Cautious and precise PR consultant Lauren Richmond astonishes herself by rescuing a man from muggers. The mysterious victim is archeology professor Luis Hernandez, on a quest to find an ancient Mayan document more valuable than gold. Their first kiss ignites a lightening flash of danger, death and desire.

Warning: be prepared to enter dank, winding caves littered with bones and covered with haunting images.

ebook

* * *

And the latest on the quilt:

I wanted to have an intricate bit of piecework right in the middle of the quilt; something part way between a heart and a flower. Taking various scraps, I assembled this shape and decided to go with it. Notice that on the left the green weaves through the blue. I really like that effect. To get it, I have to make a notch in the material, like so:

.
.
.

I then stitch it down right through the notch. The results?

Well, The Girl said it’s ugly. It isn’t quite what I had visualized either. I’ve decided to make two changes to the plan. First, I’ll be adding some pink petals around this shape to make it more flower like. Second, I’m going to move it off-center I think doing so will give it more visual interest.

By the way, if you look closely toward the bottom of this last picture, you will see the bit of interestingly-shaped fabric i thought I’d use at the bottom. On second glance, it seems to me to be shaped a bit like a can opener, which I don’t think is right for the theme. I still like the shape, but maybe not for this quilt? What do you think?