Elysandra Winters has always yearned for a life of adventure on the rolling seas and is willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill her dream. When her Privateer father continually refuses to allow his only daughter to sail, Ellie defies him, disguises herself as a boy, and goes in search of a captain who will give her a chance to prove her worth.

Thanks to the cursed selkie blood coursing through his veins, Daniel O’Rourke needs the sea to survive. After giving up on his humanity and spending three years in seal form, he decides to give his human side another chance. Daniel goes in search of a job and a sense of normalcy, earning himself a position aboard Captain Winter’s ship, The Surf Runner. However, his new captain’s first assignment has nothing at all to do with sailing, and everything to do with his headstrong young daughter.

Years later, when the leader of a band of bloodthirsty pirates murders Captain Winters, Daniel and Elysandra’s lives come crashing back together with the force of a hurricane. Both experts in deception, they must find a way to trust each other if they are to have any hope of hunting down the captain’s killer.

Congrats, girl!  It was only a matter of time.

Check out Rebecca and her wonderful writing:

Website: www.rebeccahartwriting.com

Blog: www.rebeccahartwriting.wordpress.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Rebelhart69 (@rebelhart69)

GIVEAWAY – International

(These books are intended for adult audiences)

Here’s what I’m offering one lucky commenter:

A signed paperback copy of

The Glass Man

e-book copies of

Into the Unknown

AND

Touch of Frost

AND a signed bookmark for The Glass Man (front & back shown)

What do you have to do to win?

It’s simple.  Just tell me where your favorite place is to read a book in the comments below.  Please include a way to reach you, email, Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, etc. (it will only be used for the purpose of sending your prize if you should win)

I’d also be grateful for a like on Facebook and a follow on Twitter, but it’s not mandatory.

On February 22ndm I’ll choose a commenter using random.org, announce it on my blog and contact the winner, who will have 48 hours to respond.  If I don’t hear from them, another winner will be chosen.

Cheers, and good luck!

And the winner is ….

Ashley (chezzybear)!

Congrats, Ashley!  I’ll be in contact shortly to arrange your prize.

Make hay while the sun shines.

I really hated that expression as a kid, because for me, it was literal.  It might be one of the reasons I love the rain.  Okay, so I’m a tiny bit lazy, but I mean, who likes to get hot and sticky and covered in itchy chaff on a nice day?  Not me, that’s who.

In July and August, if the sun shone, it was pretty much a guarantee we’d be pulling on our jeans and T’s and heading out to the fields to bail up a massive field of hay somewhere and put it in  the barn for the cows’ winter dinner.  The picture below is how we used to do it, having to stack it on the wagon by hand. 

I can’t tell you how many times I rode on the top of a load like that, not been paying attention, and been clothes-lined by a tree branch and knocked down onto the ground.  Usually on top of the stubble left behind after the hay was cut.

Ouch.

Good thing kids bounce!

There are so many stories I could share, and I have a few entertaining ones planned.  Today I’ll center on one involving my paternal grandma.  First, you have to know a little about her, rest her hardworking soul.

She was a hardcore farmer’s wife.  She lived and breathed hard work and never complained, because that’s just the way it was.  At least, unless you weren’t working hard enough in her eyes, and then, holy hell, look out!  Nope, my grandma minced no words, nor spared your feelings if she decided you needed to be told something.  If not working in her giant garden, she’d be whipping up a freshly made batch of her famous jam-jam cookies or making us a jug of homemade lemonade to bring out to those of us who were putting hay into her barn.

This particular day, she had done just that.  She appeared out of her house holding the glass pitcher with the blue flowers on it, jingling with ice cubes and lemon slices just as we’d finished offloading a backbreaking, heavy load.  A neighbor boy had come to help us, and had brought along a friend he had over for the day.  I would have been around twelve, putting the other two boys at around ten.

This boy, let’s call him James because I can’t, for the life of me, remember his name, found a dead snake in one of the hay bales.  He nudged me as the thing dangled from his fingers, its innards half hanging out, and said, “Watch.  I’m going to scare the jeepers out of your grandma.”

Snickering, I said, “Pfft.  Go ahead.  I dare you.”

So, snake held behind his back, James strode up to my grandma and chatted her up, acting all casual.  Meanwhile, the neighbor boy and I watched and waited.  I knew she’d do something, I just had no idea what, and it tickled me all kinds of pink watching the events unfold.

My grandma, being the woman she was, offers the kid a drink.  After all, he did work hard, right?  When she bent to pick up the lemonade off of the walkway where she’d set it and the cups, James stuck the snake in her face.

She didn’t even flinch.  Standing up straight again, she stared down at him for a moment.  I don’t think he knew what to do, so he jerked the dead thing at her again.

Well, if she didn’t grab his collar in one fist and the snake with the other.  Then, to my dropped-jaw astonishment, she shoved that snake down his shirt and said, “There you go.  How do you like that?”

I’d never seen a boy move so fast in my life.  Screaming, he stripped off his shirt and went running down the lane way, probably looking for his mommy.  Ha!  Grandma cackled loud and long, and I laughed right along with her.  Geez.  I bet he developed a snake phobia and probably breaks out in a sweat every time he sees one, even now.

That’s what you get for messing with a lifelong farm girl!

Next week I’ll tell you about my hard lesson on how NOT to fix a piece of machinery in the field.

GIVEAWAY – International

(These books are intended for adult audiences)

Here’s what I’m offering one lucky commenter:

A signed paperback copy of

The Glass Man

e-book copies of

Into the Unknown

AND

Touch of Frost

AND a signed bookmark for The Glass Man (front & back shown)

What do you have to do to win?

Do you have a valentines day ritual including romance?  Or do you refuse to participate in the highly commercialized occasion?  Leave me a comment at the bottom of this post and give me your take on the subject.  Or, if you’d rather keep your opinion to yourself, just say hi!  Please include a way to reach you, email, Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, etc. (it will only be used for the purpose of sending your prize if you should win)

I’d also be grateful for a like on Facebook and a follow on Twitter, but it’s not mandatory.

On February 15th, I’ll choose a commenter using random.org, announce it on my blog and contact the winner, who will have 48 hours to respond.  If I don’t hear from them, another winner will be chosen.

Cheers, and good luck!

Keep in mind that all of his knowledge is self taught and designed without the use of computers or engineering drawings.  Check it out.

I remember so many blustery winter mornings I’d bundle up and sit inside the cab with him as he blew the snow out of the neighboring lanes while telling me one story or another, thinking that’s just what being neighborly meant.  I had no idea not everyone would take so much time out of their day just to do something nice for someone else.  We could all take lessons from that, I think!

Unfortunately his beloved bobcat loader he built burned along with the shop when I was about 10 despite his and my brother’s harrowing attempt to rescue it before the acetylene tanks blew up and drove us all back.  The heat from it was insane, and it was a miracle the gas house only a few feet away didn’t go up and take the house–and us all–with it, too.  I remember crying myself to sleep that night because I knew how much he loved that bobcat and how proud he was to have fabricated it himself.

We all spent hours on the giant swing set he made from logs and the metal monkey bars he welded for us.  Although I don’t really remember the snowmobile with the ironing board seat, I remember the pictures and the stories of him and Mom getting dumped into the creek.  Here it is!

This is the one I remember, the snowmobile–affectionately named Big Wilb by my brother–we used to take into the back territory to pick out our Charlie Brown Christmas tree.    If anyone knows who is in the sled, leave it in the comments! 

For this week’s Touch of Frost blog tour stop, on February 8th, I’ll invaded Aimee Laine’s blog, where you can read about our heated debate on the glories of winter.

Until … THE ONE came along

Although it wasn’t a unanimous vote, we’ve now chosen a name for our newest edition.  Before I spill the beans as to who won the contest, let me tell you why we chose this particular name.

1. This little guy has serious wheels.  He is so fast most of the time I only see a white streak when he runs by and half of the time he spins for a while before he goes anywhere.

2. Trying to sleep with this kitten wrapped around my neck is tantamount to sleeping in an old Volkswagen Rabbit TDI running on two cylinders.

3. He needed a manly name because of his little goatee.

4.  He shares a name with one of the sexiest actors that ever lived.

Any guesses yet?

No?

Okay, okay, I’ll tell you.

The winner of the Name the Puffball contest is:

Tammy D’Aigle

And the name is … dun, dun, dun, duuuuuuun

Diesel!

It’s more of a big kitty name, so right now we’re calling him Little D, and it just feels right.  Asher, from my big sister, Susan, came a close second. Thanks to everyone, especially Tammy, for all of your suggestions.

I’ll be in touch to arrange your prize, Tammy!  Congrats!

Another day I’ve been waiting for has arrived all of a sudden.

RELEASE DAY!!!!!

I’m so excited to share this one.

Here’s the little beauty hitting the virtual markets today in e-book format.  Isn’t it pretty?

Even the simplest of touches between Will Frost and Lauren McLean are forbidden.

To share love will surely mean death.

Since her granddad’s passing, Lauren has existed a few steps out of sync with the world. Desperate to feel the love only he offered her as a child, Lauren returns to the haven they once shared — a snow-covered cabin at the foothills of the Rockies.

It’s not the memory of her granddad that warms her ice-cold, frost-bitten body after being caught in a blizzard, though. It’s the man in whose bed she wakes.

Along with bringing life to her soul, Will stirs deep-rooted memories in Lauren and brings out the love she seeks.

What Will knows about himself — the secrets of his kind — he keeps hidden, forcing Lauren to search for answers, to question and ultimately put her life, and his own existence, in danger.

In love though, there is always a way.

Can Will get around the rules? Or will Lauren give up her life simply to have one last touch from Will Frost?

So raise your glass and help me celebrate.  ::clink::  Cheers!

If you’d like to pick up a copy of this one, here’s a link for you:

To celebrate this release, there are lots of cool posts coming up in the next several weeks featuring lots of giveaways and deep, dark secrets I’ve spilled to only a select few hosting me for my blog tour.  Check back for dates and locations.

Today, check out J. Taylor Publishing’s blog for a great giveaway going on right now!  Win yourself a copy of Touch of Frost.

Click here to participate in a fun little contest I have going on right now, with a signed paperback, bookmark and an e-book up for grabs.

Our family has grown!

Our new little boy is four months old.  His older sister isn’t terribly impressed yet, but I hope she’ll warm up to him soon.

We have one little problem.  Our little boy doesn’t have a name.  So, I thought, who better to help me come up with some good ones than a bunch of authors and readers?

Anyone game?

Yeah?  Cool.

Here’s his picture:

Isn’t he cute?  He’s actually tiny, but next to WeeB he looks full grown.

Here’s another:

Here’s your task.

Drop by as many times as you like and leave name suggestions in the comments below this post.  My family will choose the best one from the list on Friday, February 3rd.  The winner will receive:

1) An ebook copy of Touch of Frost

2) A signed paperback of The Glass Man

3) A signed bookmark for The Glass Man

And I have to say, I LOVE THIS COVER!  The colors, the underwater paradise feeling of it, the innocent curiosity in her eyes, fits the stories so well.

Without further ado, here is the little lovely:

Heart’s Desire by Julie Reece

After a terrible accident, Tessa returns to her family beach house to heal. She doesn’t expect to see her first summer crush from seven years before. Cameron, though, reappears and ignites a relationship that’s far more intense than ever before. The only problem? Summer is once again coming to an end, and this time, Tessa will have to decide whether to choose life with Cameron or to never see him again.

The Sweetest Song by Claire Gillian

Under Poseiden’s rule, Circe is the most destructive siren in the Pacific ocean, her songs luring ships and their crew to their watery graves. Not Otis, the best halibut fisherman in the Alaskan waters. His ship, the Calypso, has avoided disaster each time Circe set her sights on him.

Given one last chance to deliver Otis to Davy Jones’ locker, Circe takes to land to waylay the handsome captain. Instead, it may be Otis himself who hooks the Siren.

Pearl of Pau’maa by Kelly Said

Should Miki choose to wed the local wealthy boy she doesn’t love, her stomach will stop grumbling. Her soul, however, will suffocate. With one last opportunity before she must concede, she sneaks off for a final dive to her hidden crate at the bottom of the seabed. What waits for her is more than a captured lobster. It’s a treasure she cannot claim without great sacrifice or true love.

The Undergarden by Jocelyn Adams

Nixie, a water sprite, lives a solitary existence as she struggles to understand the strange world beyond her waters.  When she meets one of the pink ones, a curious boy named Wyatt, their friendship blooms into a love that can exist only upon the sands that divide his solid ground from her underwater paradise. Some love, though, once born, cannot be undone, even in the face of death.

I’ve read all but one of these stories so far, and I can tell you, they are GOOD!  I’m humbled to be in the company of such talented authors.

Want to check it out?  Click below and add it to your TBR list on Goodreads.