1. February 20: Romance Reader - Big Time Romance with Small Town Feel
2. February 21: Fresh Fiction - with book giveaway!
3. February 27: Romance University - Character Questions – How to Dig Deeper

Now on to this week’s home blog topic:

The Characters in Courting His Favorite Nurse

So often the characters I see in my head and what goes on my book covers wind up being two different beasts.  Or, as in my book – One for the Road - there were no characters depicted on the cover at all.  I am happy to say that the book cover for Courting His Favorite Nurse is very close to what I envisioned when I wrote Anne and Jack.

SO HOW DID THE CHARACTERS LOOK?

When I write books, I usually make a small collage of the characters and the setting, and anything else of significance I want to remind myself about while I write.  I thought I’d share the pictures I posted for the lead characters in COURTING HIS FAVORITE NURSE.

ANNE AND JACK

What do you think?

Next week I’ll show pictures of the rest of the Grady family and cast of characters in:

Courting His Favorite Nurse.

Until then,

Make it a great one!

Lynne

This week’s blog stops on my tour for COURTING HIS FAVORITE NURSE include:

Seekerville – February 16th

Fresh Fiction blog – February 20th

I’ll be giving away a book or two.  Hope to see you there.

It’s that time of year again – Sweetheart Day – the day many women both long for and dread.  After many years of marriage, Valentines Day isn’t a biggie.  My husband and I don’t need a special day to tell each other we still love one another.  I don’t need an expensive gift to prove my husband loves me, though the gesture is lovely and always welcomed, and a romantic dinner out is always a good idea.

In the beginning of any relationship, I know how important it is to express your intentions through words, or to let a gift speak for you.  After a while though, you’ve got to live those intentions, or the gift is meaningless.

As I like to do every year on Valentine’s Day – I’m going to share one of my favorite love songs.  I love it because it is gritty, intimate and honest, and if you have any hopes of your love surviving, you’ll have to accept that good relationships have all elements included in the love package.

The Book of Love Click on this link for my favorite love song.

How do you like to spend Valentine’s Day? What’s your favorite romantic song?

Next week I’ll be back with more information about my upcoming Harlequin Special Edition debut available February 21st, and in stores beginning March.                             Best, Lynne

Over the next two months, I will be making several guest visits, and would love to “see” some friendly faces/names along the way.  For a complete list of the blog tour, go here.

Here are this week’s website stops.

• February 6th – Kylie Griffin blogspot author appearance and giveaways.
• February 12th – Sunday Smooch - Love Cats Downunder – First kiss scene revealed!
• February 16th – Seekerville blog - Craft blog on Not Quite There Yet POV (point of view) with book giveaway!

The Story of Whispering Oaks

Hidden in the rolling brown hills fifty miles northeast of Los Angeles, is a small city called Whispering Oaks.  The bedroom community is known for its breezy nights, quiet days, clean air, competitive schools and family friendly atmosphere.  Even with the Pacific Ocean only forty minutes away, nearby flat and fertile farmland, and countless outdoor activities, many of the restless teens of Whispering Oaks go off to college and never return…until they must.

Kieran and Beverly Grady set their roots down in Whispering Oaks thirty-two years ago.  Both teachers, they raised their three children with high expectations then sent them into the world as independent adults.  Now, a tragic motorcycle accident has robbed them of their own independence.

The Whispering Oaks series follows Anne, Lucas, and Lark, as their parents’
sudden trauma and subsequent special needs forces them each back home, they must deal
with their place in the family and their own private brokenness.

COURTING HIS FAVORITE NURSE is Anne Grady’s story.

Romantic Times 4 Stars – “A touching story that will tug at the heartstrings.”

Book Blurb:  Anne Grady knew better than anyone that love was complicated.  When she’d left her hometown, she thought she was leaving her past heartbreak behind for good, as well.  But practically the moment she returned to care for her injured parents, she stumbled headlong ino their confidant–her first love, Jack Lightfoot.

Jack had been unable to deny his feelings for Annie when he was a teenager dating her best friend, and he certainly couldn’t muffle the spark twisting between them now–even if memories of the past kept threatening to push them apart.  This time Jack wasn’t going to let history repeat itself–he was going to show Annie that the two of them were meant to be much more than best friends!

Follow my blog tour for COURTING HIS FAVORITE NURSE. For a full list of each blog stop beginning February 1 through March 29th, check the left sidebar here.

I hope to see some friendly faces as I hit the cyberspace trail on my blog tour for this Debut Harlequin Special Edition.  There will be giveaways involved…

All the best,

Lynne

Most of us have day jobs where we sit hunched over our desks.  Many others have jobs behind some sort of driving or flying device.  Again, sitting.  There are jobs that require lots of movement and exercise, but even then, I suspect most of us are not getting something (besides increased salary) we really need.  More air.

What Health Experts say:

Health experts tell us to get daily exercise for maximum benefits. Like every other muscle in our body, our lungs and the diaphragm they sit on, need to get daily workouts.

“We breathe 10 to 20 times a minute,” you say.  Yes, that’s true, but we’re still not expanding our lungs as they were intended.  Now I’m not saying put down all of your work and go outside to run a mile.  I’m suggesting we can support our lung health by doing something very easy – JUST BREATHE!  Deeply, that is.

The Techniques

Here’s a good link discussing eighteen benefits of taking several planned and slow breaths every few hours each day.  Link to technique.

Are you a believer yet?

To keep this blog about breathing fair and balanced, here is a slightly different take on the deep breathing fix. Go here.  Is nothing without conflict? Who would ever have thought deep breathing could cause pain?

Why not give deep breathing a try?

Whether you decide to do the five-second inhale using your diaphragm, hold it for three seconds, and release the air for five seconds, OR the shallower, more rapid breathing technique – I think you’ll be better off for adding a new item to your daily to-do list.

Conclusion: A little heavy breathing is a good thing!

Did you try either of the techniques?  How did the exercise make you feel? Until next week, make it a great one, and don’t forget to flex your breathing muscles!

Lynne

Genre: Romantic Suspense.

The Blurb: Fifteen years ago a young Colorado Springs police officer arrested a teen runaway accused of aiding a convenience store robbery and attempted murder. She was innocent, but still served prison time briefly. Her testimony sent the real thief to jail for much longer. Now she’s a young widow raising a son, and the man she put in prison is free and seeking revenge. She moves to a home in a new neighborhood—then learns that her next-door neighbor is the by-the-book officer who arrested her. Now he’s a Colorado Springs P.D. Lieutenant. Like it or not, he may be the only one who can protect her and her son from  the past he helped create.

The Review: Donnell Bell tells a fascinating romantic suspense story, forcing two of the most unlikely characters together.  Mel (Melanie) Norris is trying to forget her past by concentrating on her future, while dealing with being a widow with a teenage son. She is always looking over her shoulder, especially when she learns a man she sent to prison fifteen years ago, has served his time and is due to be released.  Lt. Joe Crandall is a dedicated police officer, also struggling to be a single dad.

To quote Casablanca “Of all the gin joints in the world, you had to walk into mine.”  This is what I found to be the premise for The Past Came Hunting, since Mel Norris buys her first house on her own, in a new city, next door to the cop who arrested her fifteen years ago.

• Does Joe write her off as an ex-con who can’t be trusted?  Especially, when his son and her’s form an immediate bond over basketball?
• Can Mel forgive the man who chased her down, tackled her, threw her in jail, and never believed a word about her innocence?

This is delicious conflict, which played beautifully throughout an unlikely love story.
Through Ms. Bell’s talent for story telling, Joe and Mel’s slow but steady path to love was both believable and engaging.  I love heroes like Joe, and Mel was definitely a likeable heroine.  Family issues such as a deceased spouse, an ex-wife, and teenage rebellion were realistically and satisfyingly dealt with. The supporting cast of police officers and gang
members were well crafted, and it is apparent that Ms. Bell did solid research on police procedurals.

The suspense portion of the story is believable and especially riveting during the last quarter of the book–where Mel held her own and Joe frantically did his part as her ally, by working in tandem to save the day.  I could not put the book down!

My recommendation: Read this book!

Until next week, make it a great one!

Lynne

Remember in grade school when anyone said something you didn’t like you’d make a face at them?  Whatever happened to that stress releasing technique as we get older?  Some of us catch on that weird faces aren’t attractive, and heaven forbid we should look anything but cover-model ready in the real world.  For others, society gently messages right out of us the make-a-face-when-someone-upsets-you strategy by making us feel weird and ostracized if we go around making faces at strangers.

So we grow up and leave our face making days behind, and slowly, while behaving primly as society suggests, tension and ugly feelings build up.  We shove food in our mouths to
push it down, drink too much, and possibly have sex with too many not-good-for-us
people.  The list goes on and on.  All because we’ve forgotten how to make really ugly faces.  (I understand the solution isn’t that simple – but it might be!)

Lynne’s theory

The world would be a better place if we all did the Lion Pose.

What is the Lion’s Pose?

It is a Yoga pose meant to release stress from the face and neck with other side benefits, but I’ve got good news for you, it relieves negative feelings, too.
Think John Coffey in The Green Mile – remember how he roared out the bad stuff?

You can roar out your uglies and foulness by doing the Lion Pose.  Sounds like a reasonable thing to do, if it means you won’t bite someone’s head off for no particular reason, or grumble at poor unsuspecting public servants – granted some of them deserve it! –or cuss out your spouse for not being perfect.  You get the drill.

Kids have all the fun

When my daughter and son were toddlers, I signed us up for Mommy and Me courses given at the local adult school and sponsored by the nearby community college.  We had some great times there, I developed some close friendships with other mothers, and I got to watch my kids interact with their toddlers buddies.

Before the instructor had the kids sit in a circle to listen to a story, she’d always play a song called Shake My Sillies Out.  By jumping around and shaking their hands, arms, and legs, the children made room for quiet time.  I think that teacher was on to something …for
adults, too!

Lynne’s Big Plan

Why not get out those ugly, foul feelings by doing the lion pose every morning?  Let’s release our built up stress, frustration, and anger by roaring it away.

Okay, everyone circle up, sit on your haunches, hands on your knees, on the count of three…

Question to commenters: What do you do to relieve stress?  Are you open to making faces?

Until next week, make it a great one!

Lynne

REVIEW

WHO DO VOODOO by Rochelle Staab (Berkely Prime Crime) 4 stars!

I love when a story unfolds effortlessly on the page.  From the beginning, I liked Elizabeth aka Liz.  She’s divorced, a “shrink” by profession, a good friend, and a woman plagued by her tarot card reading mother to go back to her ex-husband. (The professional baseball player, and also an all-around player – if you know what I mean.)

As Liz and her best friend Robin indulge in some triple mac and cheese, something strange happens – a tarot card is left on Robin’s doorstep.  This isn’t just any tarot card, it is the same card from the night Liz’s mother did a tarot reading the day before Robin’s husband was killed in a car accident.  Who could be so cruel?  It doesn’t stop there.  Three days, three cards, each with significance and a subtle threat.  Liz promises to help her friend find the culprit.

As the story progresses, we learn that Robin works for a big time music industry mogul named Sam, and he has a young girlfriend named Sophie, who he intends to break up with.  We also meet a cast of co-workers, music wannabes, charlatans, and true purveyors of the occult.  Liz isn’t a believer, but Nick, her brother’s best friend is a professor of the occult, and proves to be very useful – as well as nice to look at.

Robin invites Liz and Nick to the Greek Theater for a special concert by Sam’s biggest music star.  Sophie, Sam’s girlfriend, is giving him grief, and before the night is over, a murder had occurred. When Robin is taken into custody, Liz vows to find the real killer.

WHO DONE IT?

That’s the beauty of this fun and entertaining book, you don’t know until the author wants you to know.  I loved traveling the streets of my old stomping grounds in L.A., enjoyed the portrayal of LAPD, the group of power-work-out girlfriends, restaurants, Occult shops, funny spells (especially the lust gris gris), old movie quotes, Muddy Waters music, and the ever heightening relationship between Nick and Liz, as the story was told.  I never lost interest. Not once.

Ms. Staab solved the case and established herself as an expert cozy mystery, amateur sleuth author, and I look forward to her next book, hopefully also staring Liz and Nick!

Until next week, make it a great one!

Lynne

WISHING YOU AND YOURS A HEALTHY AND HAPPY 2012

Make it a great one,

Lynne

Some of the ladies of The Book Club

Invitation for the Hot Seat

• What did you think about D’Anne’s situation?  Did the author do a good job of drawing you in and making you feel sympathetic toward her heroine?
• How would you feel to be stranded with no money and far from your family?
• How would you deal with the suicide of a loved one?
• Did you think D’Anne’s children were too self-involved?  Did D’Anne make excuses for her grown children?
• What did you think of D’Anne’s list of rules?
• What did you like about Tyler?  Was there a specific moment when he endeared himself to you as a hero?
• How about the secondary characters?  Did you have a favorite and why?

What I Took Away  

I’ll be posting Robena’s questions for One for the Road at my Articles and Excerpt page in the next few days in case you’re interested (or if you’d like to read One for the Road for your book club!)

Christmas greetings from Lynne Marshall!

May your hearth be warm, May your days be merry,

May this Christmas bring not only the bowl, but also the cherry!

Sending special wishes for this holiday season

’Twas weeks before Christmas and all through my house, not a creature was stirring except me and my spouse.

Where were our stockings to hang on the mantle in hopes of a visit from our friend Kris Cringle?

And where were those ornaments especially picked for the tree, as the countdown-to-Christmas clock continued to tick.

At two weeks ‘til Christmas still nothing was ready; no lights or a tree, no shopping or planning or cleaning by me.

With jury duty, book deadline looming, and my plot running askew, it seemed I had lots and lots of catching up to do.

In days our family would arrive from distant homesteads, with visions of gourmet meals dancing in their heads.

And I in my apron, hubby in his vest, would have our entertaining skills put to the test.

While fretting and fussing and pacing the floor, I chewed on my nails, and softly swore.

When suddenly near the chimney arose a clatter, from the kitchen I looked to see what was the matter.

A tubby old dude with white hair and a beard, wore red velvet pants and looked totally weird.

He scratched his head and quirked a brow, “Looks like you need some help this Christmas, let me show you how.”

By laying a finger aside of his nose, the room seemed to spin and a whirlwind arose.

Decorations flew…landing in place on the tree, and yet-to-be purchased gifts appeared, wrapped perfect-ly.

The house was spotless. I looked on all agog. Our floors were shining by the light of the Yule log.

A heavenly scent from my kitchen did fly, and it wasn’t a candle, but a home baked pumpkin pie!

With business finished, he disappeared up the hearth, I worried he’d get stuck because of his girth.

I heard pawing of hooves, and jingling above the ground, So I looked out the window as his sleigh went air bound,

Now Dasher, now Dancer, now Donner and Vixen, On Comet, on cupid, on Rudolf, Prancer and Blitzen,

To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall, Now dash away, dash away, dash away all!

My spirits were lifted beyond imagination, when the old dude spouted his final incantation.

His holiday wishes were perfect and right when he said, “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Sincerest Christmas and Holiday
wishes to each and every one of you.

Lynne