Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Multi-Author Book Giveaway and $100 Amazon Gift Card, Part 1 by Karen Rose Smith


From June 1-11, to celebrate the release of my new Caprice De Luca mystery DEADLY DECOR, I'm hosting a ten-author book and $100 Amazon Gift Card giveaway.

To enter, go to my KarenRoseSmithBooks Facebook page.  The button is on the left (or top!) and says GIVEAWAY.



Below are five of the participating authors and blurbs from their featured books.   



THE TEXAN'S BABY by Donna Alward

As a powerful Dallas oil executive, planning is what Lizzie Baron does the best.  But she certainly didn't plan on getting pregnant following one memorable night after a rodeo in Fort Worth.  Now she needs to figure out how she's going to raise a baby with a man she barely knows.

Aspiring bronc rider Chris Miller always hoped he'd see Lizzie again, though not quite like this.  The pregnancy is a surprise--and so is finding out she's a member of the powerful Baron clan--but the more Chris gets to know Lizzie, the more he realizes he wants to be with her.  When Lizzie learns Chris works for a rival company, she feels betrayed.  Can two perfect strangers trust each other enough to become the perfect family?

CHEY'S COWBOY by Becky Barker

Trace Mitchem is the foreman at Bridleton and a confirmed bachelor whose main goal in life is to build a ranch he can call his own.  Cheyenne Bartell is the youngest heir to the Texas ranching dynasty.  What she lacks in self-confidence, she makes up for in spirit and determination.

Trace and Chey have known each other for years and worked side by side to save Bridleton.  He prefers to keep a safe distance between them.  She wants to explore the smoldering attraction they share.  It's a standoff until an unexpected accident changes everything.  Suddenly, Chey is the wary one and Trace is demanding so much more.  Until something happens that changes everything again...

DEAD IN RED by L.L. Bartlett

Sometimes it seems like murder and mayhem follow Jeff Resnick, challenging his psychic "sixth sense" to solve crimes.  Since the vicious mugging that changed his life, he's tried to keep his unwanted gift in check.  But when a bartender at his favorite watering hole is murdered, visions of a sparkling red woman's high-heeled shoe and a pair of bloody hands linger in his mind--and hit too close to home.  When Jeff's older brother, Richard, last helped him with an investigation, it nearly cost him his life.  Still, Richard is determined to tag along as Jeff is drawn into the seamy world of fetishes and drag queens to find a murderer before another life is taken.

THE MERRY-GO-ROUND by Donna Fasano

When Laura divorces her husband, she has one thought on her mind...stepping off the merry-go-round.  However, her life quickly turns into a three-ring circus:  her hypochondriac father moves in, he ex is using her shower when she'd not home and her perky assistant is pushing her out into the fearsome dating world.  She also has to decide if the dilapidated barn and vintage merry-go-round she was awarded in the divorce settlement is a blessing or a bane.  As if Lauren's personal life isn't chaotic enough, this slightly jaded attorney is overrun with a cast of quirky characters who can't stay on the right side of the law.  What's a woman to do?  She can allow life to spin her in circle forever.  Or she can reach out and grab the brass ring.

SINK OR SWIM by Stacy Juba

Ambitious personal trainer Cassidy Novak has gained fame for starring on Sink or Swim, a hit reality show.  Not only does she lose and have to walk the plank, but after the game show ends, the terror begins.  Upon returning home, Cassidy discovers she has attracted a stalker masterminding his own twisted game.  She struggles to focus on her health club job and celebrity endorsement opportunities, but her stalker has other plans.  As her former competitors get knocked off one-by-one, Cassidy refuses to play by the stalker's bizarre rules.  She's also being shadowed by hunky photographer Zach Gallagher, who has been assigned to capture her personal moments for a spread in the local newspaper.  She wants to trust Zach, but fears he may not be what he seems.  When the stalker forces a showdown, Cassidy must once again walk the plank...this time for her life.


Be sure to check  here-- Five More Authors-- to learn more about books by Tonya Kappes, Laura Levine, Susan Meier, Terry Odell and Karen Rose Smith.




  

Monday, June 2, 2014

DEADLY DECOR Release by Karen Rose Smith



DEADLY DECOR, the second book in my Caprice De Luca Home Staging Mystery Series for Kensington Books is now available.

DEADLY DECOR is about family as much as it is about murder!

Caprice De Luca, home-stager extraordinaire, sees her sister's marriage falling apart and wants to help.  But Bella has never taken her advice well.  Isn't this the way with sisters?  I was an only child and always wanted a sister as well as a brother.  That's probably why I gave Caprice two very different sisters--Nikki and Bella--as well as protective brother Vince.  Family interaction comes easily to me because I did come from an Italian family with lots of cousins, aunts and uncles.  Weekends were all about visiting them and catching up.

Caprice spends a lot of time with her family.  They all get together once a month for a dinner at her childhood home.  Family is everything to Fran and Nick De Luca, Nana Celia, Caprice and her sisters and brother. Fran and Nana believe food is love and the best way to share it is around that dining room table.

With Bella and her husband Joe being seriously considered as murder suspects in DEADLY DECOR, Caprice sets out to find answers about who murdered her painter, Bella's high school sweetheart.  She never expects to find a stray pregnant cocker spaniel or to bond with her brother's law partner Grant Weatherford as they watch the pups enter the world.  Might her relationship with the handsome Dr. Seth Randolph be in danger of falling apart?

After writing over eighty romance novels in the past twenty years, I'm enjoying branching out into mystery where I can delve into everyone's relationships as well as create an intriguing puzzle.  My third Caprice De Luca home-staging mystery revolves around Valentine's Day.  GILT BY ASSOCIATION will be available in February 2015.



Sunday, June 1, 2014

DEADLY DECOR Garden Launch Party by Karen Rose Smith





I'm so excited about the launch of my second CAPRICE DE LUCA Home Staging mystery that I'm having a Facebook Garden Party!!!  


Chat, news, photos and 18 trivia questions with prizes
Come join in the fun at my KarenRoseSmithBooks Author page on Facebook.  Link below. Just "like" and have a blast.



FACEBOOK LAUNCH PARTY for DEADLY DECOR
June 3, 7-10 p.m. EST



#1 on Amazon's COZY BESTSELLER LIST







FACEBOOK LAUNCH PARTY
June 3, 7-10 p.m. EST


Ten Author Book Giveaway and $100 Amazon Gift Card by Karen Rose Smith


This is an exciting week for me.  My second Caprice De Luca Home Staging mystery will be released on June 3 in print and ebook by Kensington Books.  In celebration I'm throwing a Facebook DEADLY DECOR Garden Launch Party on Facebook and...

I'm hosting a ten author book and $100 Amazon Gift Card giveaway.

Go to my KarenRoseSmithBooks Facebook page to enter.  The button is on the left and says GIVEAWAY.

Friday, May 30, 2014

#Prayer Of Quiet by Donna Fasano


Are you wrapped up in email, internet searches, family crises, and a to-do list that's too long to ever accomplish? Then you might want to consider PRAYER OF QUIET by Donna Fasano. Donna is a USA TODAY Bestselling Author whose fiction novels have sold nearly 4 million copies worldwide.  PRAYER OF QUIET is Donna's first work of non-fiction.

About PRAYER OF QUIET--
Do you wish you could escape the chaos of the world?  The PRAYER OF QUIET is a spiritual practice that can be used every single day to help you do just that.  Communing with God in utter stillness is a method of devotion that is deeply rooted int he Christian tradition and has life-changing potential.

PRAYER OF QUIET is a short, simple instruction book offered as a means to open our eyes and our hearts so we might become more aware of God.  It might be time to stop talking and start listening.







Monday, May 26, 2014

A #Cat #Cozy #Mystery by Elaine Faber


Cat lovers are special people!  And we seem to find each other.  So when I learned that Elaine had published a cat cozy mystery, I offered to post information about her book on my blog.  I'm especially fond of black cats since we have two!

Read about Elaine Faber and her cozy mystery BLACK CAT'S LEGACY below.



FROM ELAINE


My new novel, BLACK CAT'S LEGACY, is a cozy mystery featuring Thumper, the tuxedo cat with six toes on each foot.  The story is partly written from the POV of Thumper who, with his ancestors' memories, knows where the bodies are buried and must help solve a cold case murder.  About 20% of the story is seen through his eyes.  A romance between the protagonist and a pulp fiction writer intertwines with the mystery as someone at the lodge will stop at nothing to hide the Fern Lake mysteries.

When I started writing BLACK CAT'S LEGACY, I thought the story was about a shy divorcee and her child seeking a new life in Oregon.  Little did I know that before we even got to Oregon, Thumper appeared and, as is often the case, he took over the story.

Writing from a cat's point of view is a balancing act between giving the cat human emotions, thoughts and incentives, yet keeping him a real cat who is motivated by all things cat.

Having "belonged to cats" all my life, I think I have a pretty good idea of what makes them tick and I've been told I do a fair job at giving Thumper a combination of human yet decidedly feline characteristics.

BLACK CAT'S LEGACY is the first of a series of three novels with Thumper and his family.  I am also working on a humorous novel set during World War II.  The protagonist is an eccentric older woman who has a tendency to see conspiracies and Nazi spies everywhere she looks.  Never let a disaster such as war go to waste.  Now, we can look back at the deprivations and rationing of the war years, make jokes and laugh.  I'm sure it wasn't very funny to the folks who lived through it.

Click here to visit Elaine Faber's Mind Candy Mysteries Blog

Excerpt from BLACK CAT'S LEGACY:

Thumper hunkered beneath the bushes.  The moon cast a yellow glow across the boat and passengers as it glided through the water.  The engine roared and Jack pulled Amanda onto his lap.  The boat chugged out of sight onto the dark and silent lake.

There was nothing Thumper could do to change the facts.  Sadly, Jack had taken Amanda.  The situation would have to resolve itself.  Fate.

Chirp.

Thumper's head shot up.  There!  Fallen from the nest in a nearby tree.  A mother bird's distress call answered.  By jingo, important cat things were afoot.  He slipped from beneath the bush and padded toward the sound.  A squirming baby bird lay on the ground while the mother squawked and dived over Thumper's head.  She'd lost her baby...just like Kimberlee.

Thumper picked up the baby bird in his mouth and crept back to Kimberlee's cabin.  She's be sleeping inside. He dropped the baby bird on the porch and scratched at the door.  

Wouldn't she be pleased? Perhaps his gift would make her feel better, now that her child was gone and she was alone...







Saturday, May 24, 2014

#Irises and Mason Jars--Memorial Day Musings by Karen Rose Smith


Irises are usually blooming for Memorial Day.

When I was a child, Memorial Day was a special holiday.  I'd lost an uncle in WW II.  Another uncle as well as my dad served, too.  Back then my dad drove a Ford Country Squire station wagon that was blue with wood on the sides.  My mom and aunt, grandmother and I would fill the back with Mason jars full of irises, peonies, lilacs and anything else that was pretty and blooming in the gardens.  Then we'd drive to an old cemetery, one with 3-4 foot high statues and memorials.

It was like a church service as we placed the jars, not only on service members graves but also on those graves of anyone in the family we'd lost--or on those plots of lost one in our friends' families.  And then we'd say a private prayer.

That evening, we had a picnic with family, sharing memories and making new ones.

Memorial Day was important.  It meant remembering and family and history and prayer.

Hoping your Memorial Day is filled with all of those too.



Copyright 2014 Karen Rose Smith