Thursday, September 26, 2019

Our Story BEFORE The Story ~ Malcolm MacGregor and Alanza Cantalamessa

Hello, I’m Malcolm MacGregor. My family members are direct descendents from a Laird in Scotland’s Clan MacGregor. My father is the current Laird for our part of the clan. In the 1700s, our part of the clan emigrated to the United States and settled in the hills that are in the state of North Carolina. During the 20th century, many of the clan members moved to various areas of the United States, and my family chose Texas for their new homes. I’m currently working for a company that creates portable hospitals for 3rd world countries. Although not many people know about, my family is involved in various philanthropic endeavors.

Hi, I’m Alanza Cantalamessa. I work in my family’s gourmet pizzeria near Fort Worth, Texas. My Poppa is Italian, and my mother is Brazilian. They met when he went to Brazil on Spring Break while in college. When he first saw her, He thought her as his “girl from Ipanema,” because was tall and tan and beautiful. People often tell me that I look like her, and she and I share a love of art. Both of us painted the murals on the walls of the restaurant. I paint more for fun, but she is a well-known artist. While working in the restaurant, I became fascinated by the tall, redheaded Scotsman who started coming for lunch very often.

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 Our Story Title:   The 12 Gifts of Christmas

Our Story Genre:  Contemporary Romance ~
  Sweet Billionaire Romance

Our Story Released:   September 2018
     Happy Anniversary!

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The Author of My Story:    Lena Nelson Dooley

Multi-published author Lena Nelson Dooley has had more than 950,000 copies of her 50 books sold. She is a member of ACFW and the local chapter, ACFW - DFW. She’s a member of Christian Authors’ Network and Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas.
She has been on the ECPA and CBA Bestseller lists, Publisher’s Weekly bestseller list, and several Amazon Bestseller lists as well as a reviewer’s Top Ten Books of 2011. She has won over a dozen major awards.

She hosts “The Lena Nelson Dooley Show” on the Along Came a Writer Blogtalk radio network.

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Get Connected:



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WHERE can the book be purchased?

  • Amazon Author page
  • Goodreads
  • Twitter
  • my Facebook profile
  • LinkedIn
  • Official Fan Page on Facebook

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The author will be honored to gift a winner a signed copy of
Sweet Billionaire Romance

Be sure to leave a comment with an email address where you can be reached should you win.

DRAWING TO BE HELD WEDNESDAY EVENING ~ October 2, 2019.

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Thursday, September 19, 2019

My Story BEFORE The Story ~ Steve Gableman... Gainer? ~ The Other Neighbor

I'm Steve Gableman, but for now, I'm calling myself Steve Gainer. I'm an FBI agent, but I'm not sure for how much longer. A few months ago I was injured in the line of duty. I know it's always a risk, but no one really expects it to happen to them. I thought I was being realistic, knowing it could happen to me, but still, it wasn't like I expected. I always thought I'd have some down time, and I'd be back on duty.

But that's not what happened. I'm back on duty, but it's light duty. Not much better than sitting behind a desk. I hate it. But at the same time, I'm not sure I'm ready to jump back in and risk life and limb for the good of my country and its citizens. I almost died, but in the big picture, I don't know if it made much difference to win this one.

I still have time to figure things out. For now I've been assigned to surveillance. But I'm not pretending to be a drug addict or petty criminal. No. I've got a room full of top grade equipment, in a fully furnished house. Hot and cold running water. A full fridge. I can cook three meals a day. My team is close by, a cell-phone call away, twenty-four seven.

The tip line got a report about the owner of a hydroponics store making plans to build a bomb, and it's my team's job to discover the target, and arrest all the perps, not just the leader.

It's my assignment to do surveillance on the bomber's neighbor who lives on the other side of his duplex - every few days he gives her a bag, then quickly leaves. I need to find out if she's involved, and if she's not involved, use her to find something out, after all, they share a wall. I'm going to close my file soon, I'm sure she's clean. In fact, from what I've seen, she's so clean she probably squeaks.

I've never been so bored in my life.

But I have a feeling something's going to change...

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My Story Title:   The Other Neighbor

My Story Genre:  Romantic Suspense

My Story Released:  November 2018 ~ 
          coming up on an anniversary!

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The Author of My Story:    Gail Sattler

Gail Sattler lives in Vancouver BC Canada (eh!) where you don't have to shovel rain. When she's not madly writing (Gail Sattler has over 40 published novels and novellas, plus a few works of non-fiction) she plays bass for an Elton John tribute band as well as a community jazz band, plus she plays piano for a smaller private jazz band. When she's not writing or making music (or at her day job) Gail likes to sit back and read a book written by someone else, along with a good cup of hot coffee.

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Get Connected:

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WHERE can the book be purchased?


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journeystojoy will be honored to gift a drawing winner an Amazon gift card within the U.S.

Be sure to leave a comment with an email address where you can be reached should you win.

DRAWING TO BE HELD WEDNESDAY EVENING ~ September 25, 2019
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Thursday, September 12, 2019

Our Story BEFORE the Story ~ Claire Bennett & Patsy Kowalski ~ Chapel Hill Revival

Hey, there! I’m Claire Bennett, and this is my best friend since kindergarten Patsy Kowalski.

“Hello.”

Patsy isn’t as outspoken as I am. In fact, when we were in Kindergarten, I always spoke for her. She’d whisper to me, and I’d tell the teacher whatever she wanted. If the teacher called on her, she’d cry. They finally tried to separate us into different classes. Ha! They didn’t count on her mama storming into the school to stop that nonsense.

“We’re the owners of The Painted Loon, our art gallery. I paint and Claire’s a potter.”

Patsy, do you remember the morning my Joel left without kissing me goodbye? He’s kissed me every morning before he leaves since we got married, but somewhere in twenty-seven years of marriage, I’d become a LazyBoy recliner. A steady, comfortable piece of furniture. How utterly humdrum.

“At least he wasn’t like Nathan. He was doing sixteen of the Twenty-One Signs of a Cheating Husband.”

True, but nobody likes to be taken for granted. So, we embarked on Operation Marriage Revival. At the same time, the new widow on the hill, Lydia, hesitantly mentioned how Chapel Springs had grown a little shabby and could use reviving.

“And she was right. Since Claire and I were already in ‘revival’ mode, she pulled everyone together and we began a town-wide campaign to freshen up Chapel Springs. Of course, we got a lot of flak from the mayor and his cronies. They’d prefer to leave us stuck in the 1950s and not enter the Twenty-first Century.”

That’s the truth. Then, in the midst of all of it, my son Charlie got engaged to Sandi, and she wanted to have the reception at our house. Her mama erroneously thought I was the cook in our family. I had to learn how fast, so I could cook the dinner she coerced me into. Sandi’s mother was a piece of work. But you’ll have to read the book to learn how I managed it. And the fire was not my fault!

“Our story has been out for 5 years now, and it has remained in the top 100 books in its category on Amazon that entire time. We’re pretty excited about that. Should we tell them what happened with Operation Marriage Revival?”

No way. They need to buy the book to find that out. They can go to Amazon and find it there.

“Or they can leave a comment to be entered into a drawing to win it.” (See below)

They can? Well, isn’t that nice!

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Our Story Title:   Chapel Hill Revival 1st Edition

Our Story Genre:  Southern Women's Fiction ~ Ane's brand - Southern Fried Fiction

Our Story Releases:    HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
            CHAPEL HILL REVIVAL 1st Edition !!!! ~ Sept. 2014

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The Author of Our Story: Ane Mulligan

Ane Mulligan writes Southern-fried fiction served with a tall, sweet tea. She's an award-winning bestselling novelist, a multi-published playwright and contributor to the award-winning blog, The Write Conversation

She resides in Sugar Hill, GA, with her artist husband and a rascally Rottweiler who thinks he’s a teddy bear.


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  Get Connected:

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WHERE can the book be purchased?

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The author will be honored to gift a winner a signed copy of
Chapel Hill Revival .
Be sure to leave a comment with an email address where you can be reached should you win.

DRAWING TO BE HELD WEDNESDAY EVENING ~ September 18, 2019.

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Thursday, September 05, 2019

The Story Behind THE LADY & THE LAWMAN

Howdy y’all. The name’s Jodie Ross, but my big brother calls me “Jo.” Now don’t go getting the wrong idea about a gal like me sitting behind bars. Sure, I may be dressed like a man and not keep the best of company, but I can explain. What the handsome new greenhorn of a marshal doesn’t know is that I didn’t realize what I was getting into when I went to live with my brother after our folks died. I was only ten at the time after all.

You see, Jerry’s fourteen years older than me, so he’s seemed more of an uncle to me than a brother. We get along pretty well. He taught me lots of things Mama never would’ve allowed, like shootin’, ‘n’ trappin’, ‘n’ fishin’—things I really enjoyed. Only after I got good at it, he started takin’ trips for work. I hated it. He always left me behind. He said a neighbor would check on me, but they hardly ever did. He’d leave me alone in our cabin for days, then sometimes weeks at a time.

When he missed our first Christmas together without Mama and Papa, that was it. I’d had enough of being alone. I demanded he start taking me on his work trips. For a time, Jerry kept his line of work hidden from me, just asked me to mind the camp and occasionally hold the horses for him and his buddies.

Once I got used to having a full belly again, I started asking more questions. He said he did work like Robin Hood, taking from the rich to feed the poor. Considering the hard winter I’d endured alone, I didn’t want anyone, including myself, to ever have to go through such an experience again. I guess that’s why I never said anything. Although, I think deep down I knew my brother didn’t really care about helping other people, but he never complained when I’d share my portion of the spoils with those I saw who were down on their luck.

Lately, however, I’ve been rather longing to cut out on my own and put down some roots, instead of hopping around from abandoned shack to empty cavern or sleeping out under the stars, or cooking for slovenly men who only keep their hands off me because I’m better with a gun than they are and the fact my brother nearly killed the last guy who tried to get, shall we say, “fresh” with me.

Sigh. Maybe one day my life will get better, but from where I’m sitting, I don’t see how. Maybe the God my mama taught me about can help, but would He even hear a cry from a gal like me?

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My Story Title:   Mistaken Marshal
The Lady and the Lawman: 4 Historical Stories of Lawmen and the Ladies Who Love Them

My Story Genre:  Historical Romance

My Story Releases:   August 2019

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The Author of My Story:    Crystal L Barnes
Other Authors in the collection include: Vickie McDonough, Annette O’Hare, Kathleen Y’Barbo

A best-selling author, bona fide country girl, and former competitive gymnast, Crystal L Barnes tells stories of fun, faith, and friction that allow her to share her love of Texas, old-fashioned things, and the Lord—not necessarily in that order. When she's not writing, reading, or singing, Crystal enjoys spending time with family, exploring on road-trips, and watching old movies/sitcoms. I Love Lucy and Little House on the Prairie are two of her favorites. You can find out more and connect with Crystal at www.crystal-barnes.com.

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  Get Connected:

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WHERE can the book be purchased?

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The author will be honored to gift a winner a signed copy of
THE LADY & THE LAWMAN.
(Contiguous US Addresses only. Sorry.)
Be sure to leave a comment with an email address where you can be reached should you win.
DRAWING TO BE HELD WEDNESDAY EVENING ~ September 11, 2019.

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