A #Holiday Gift from Karen Rose Smith--Toys And Baby Wishes #99cents

This time of year thoughts turn to gift giving. I like to give my readers a bargain for the season. This year I'm running a sale for the ebook format of my romantic comedy, TOYS AND BABY WISHES, for 99 cents. My hero, Josh Flannigan, owns a toy store and is young at heart.  My heroine, Lexa Kittredge, is a job counselor who is helping Josh's aunt find a new lease on life. They clash at the beginning but soon find their attraction trumps all.  Christmas plays an important role in the finale. 

I hope TOYS AND BABY WISHES brings you joy in the season and warm, fuzzy feelings that can last all year. 

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Excerpt from TOYS AND BABY WISHES...
Available audiobook format too!

Josh stood and went behind his desk.  "I apologize for my attitude yesterday.  I'd driven all day and was looking forward to taking Clare to dinner.  When I found chaos instead..."  He shrugged and smiled.

It was a disarming smile.  She'd known many men who didn't know how to apologize.  She relaxed and smiled back.  "I'm afraid I didn't help much.  I'm sorry I...blew up."

"Maybe I needed to hear what you had to say.  I really do have Clare's best interests at heart."

Lexa sat forward, feeling she was making progress.  "I know.  She's told me you're more of a son than a nephew."

He pulled out the swivel chair and sat behind his desk.  "And what else did she tell you?"

An imp made Lexa say, "Something about catching you skinny dipping with your girlfriend after your high school graduation party.  How difficult it was to teach you how to drive under the speed limit.  How you traded two of her oldest silver dollars for a frog..."

"Stop.  Stop!" he pleaded.  "Or you'll have me blushing before your eyes."

"As if anything could make you blush."

"I could think of a few things," he teased.

That winsome smile of his could melt Antarctica.

TOYS AND BABY WISHES on sale for $.99 at Amazon

TOYS AND BABY WISHES on sale for $.99 at Barnes and Noble

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USA TODAY Bestselling Author Karen Rose Smith is an only child who delved into books at an early age. She learned about kindred spirits from Anne of Green Gables, solved mysteries with Nancy Drew and wished she could have been the rider on The Black Stallion. Yet even though she escaped often into story worlds, she had many aunts, uncles and cousins around her on weekends. Her sense of family and relationships began there. Maybe that's why families are a strong theme in her novels, whether mysteries or romances. Her 91st novel will be released in 2016.

Readers often ask her about her pastimes. She has herb, flowers and vegetable gardens that help her relax. In the winter, she cooks rather than gardens.  And year round she spends most of her time with her husband, as well as her four rescued cats who are her constant companions. They chase rainbows from sun catchers, reminding her life isn't all about work, awards and bestseller lists. Everyone needs that rainbow to chase.

Karen looks forward to interacting with readers. They can find her at the links below. 

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Karen's Newsletter IN TOUCH

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Karen Rose Smith's romance website 

Karen Rose Smith's mystery website 

Karen's Cat-Themed Zazzle Store

Karen's Facebook Author Page

Karen on Twitter

Sneak Peek: GILT BY ASSOCIATION by Karen Rose Smith

I'm taking part in a Sneak Peek blog hop by my writer's group. GILT BY ASSOCIATION, a Caprice De Luca Home-Staging mystery, will be released on February 1.  Caprice is an amateur sleuth who likes vintage fashion, retro design and cooking.  Her large Italian family constantly gives her advice, but she follows her heart when rescuing stray animals and finding her Mr. Right.  

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Caprice quickly searched through the first floor, then called up the wide stairway, "Louise?"

She received no answer.

Louise had said she was going to putter in her greenhouse this morning. Caprice gardened and her mom gardened even more. She knew how easy it was to become distracted by watering, examining, sorting. Maybe Louise was still in the greenhouse and was unmindful of the time.

"I'll check the greenhouse," she told Nikki as she passed her in the kitchen, her head deep in the refrigerator.

Caprice hurried to the greenhouse and saw the door was almost closed, but not completely. She pushed it open, calling, "Louise?"  There was no answer.

When she stepped inside, she spotted Louise crumpled on the floor. She let out a loud "No," ran toward the older woman, and stopped at her prone form, aghast at what she saw.  She was dead. 

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GILT BY ASSOCIATION on Amazon

GILT BY ASSOCIATION on Barnes and Noble

©2015 Karen Rose Smith 


Karen Rose Smith's Romance Website

Karen Rose Smith's Mystery Website



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Sneak Peek Sunday Excerpts

Sneak peek--WHEN MOM MEETS DAD

Writing about kids and parents seems to come naturally to me. Maybe because I taught both elementary and high school, or just maybe because I have a son and can still remember the days when I often didn't know what would happen next. Kids bring surprises and can cook up plots that seem totally feasible to them.

WHEN MOM MEETS DAD was originally published as MOM MEETS DAD in its first edition. It was easy to update and revise this one because the story is one of my favorite kid plots. Two little nine year old girls who are best friends decide their parents would be perfect for each other. Both of them need two parents and they want to be real sisters. What could be easier than bringing their parents together so they can fall in love?

So...  Kristi has let her math grade fall during the last quarter of the school year so her best friend's mom who is a teacher can tutor her.  And when Amanda's mower won't start, the girls see this as a perfect opportunity for ... When Mom meets Dad.

As she took oatmeal cookies from a canister and arranged them on a plate, Amanda glanced out the window.  Good heavens!  Alex Woodsides had removed his shirt.  All she could do was stare as he pulled on the starter rope.  Muscular arms.  Broad back shoulders.  Slim waist.  And when he turned...

She quickly moved to the table with the plate of cookies. but not before she'd glimpsed thick wavy dark hair arrowing down his chest.  She'd no sooner carried the glasses to the table when her back screen door opened.  Suddenly the man from her dreams was standing in her kitchen--hot, sweated and exceptionally male.

At first she couldn't find her voice.  Finally she managed, "Did you find the problem?"

"Sure did.  A gummed up spark plug."  He set it on the counter.  "Just take that to the hardware store for a replacement."

She gave a sigh of relief.  "I thought the mower was on it's last leg.  Thanks."

They stared at each other for a few moments, neither of them moving.  Amanda was too aware of Alex's scent, both male and cologne, and the heat that seemed to rise up between them.  She had to break the spell and distance herself.  Now!


WHEN MOM MEETS DAD will soon be in audiobook.  Johnny Peppers who narrated TOYS AND BABY WISHES will be narrating this one, too. Again he tells my story expertly, with humor and feeling. Thank you, Johnny. Hopefully the audiobook will be available in May. Check with me anytime for more information. You can contact me here on my blog or through my websites.

WHEN MOM MEETS DAD on Smashwords

WHEN MOM MEETS DAD on Amazon

WHEN MOM MEETS DAD on Barnes and Noble

Copyright 2013 Karen Rose Smith

IN TOUCH with KAREN ROSE SMITH ezine

Karen Rose Smith's romance website 

Karen Rose Smith's mystery website 

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Sneak Peek, HER SISTER, How book 7 opens

HER SISTER, book 7 in my Search For Love series, is contemporary women's fiction, part romance, part mystery.  For this sneak peek I've given you the opening of the prologue which happened 27 years before the present day storyline. I hope it draws you in!

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Where is Lynnie? Where did she go?

In her mind, five-year-old Clare Thaddeus called to her little sister—Come back, Lynnie. Please come back.

The huge policeman crouched down in front of Clare's mother at the sofa and said in a deep, slow voice, "Mrs. Thaddeus, I know you're terribly upset. But I need details. We've got an hour before daylight. If your daughter wandered outside—"

Clare's father, who'd been talking to another man in blue, glanced at her, and Clare huddled down deeper into the big green armchair. Her dad didn't come to her but rather went to her mom, sank down beside her and wrapped his arm around her. Then he spoke to the officer. "Our daughter, Lynnie, is three. She would never go outside into the dark on her own."

"Tell us again where you were last night," the policeman demanded in a not-so-nice voice.

"I worked late, preparing a brief."

Excerpt from HER SISTER by Karen Rose Smith, Copyright 2013

   

      

HER SISTER on Amazon.

IN TOUCH with KAREN ROSE SMITH ezine

Karen Rose Smith's romance website 

Karen Rose Smith's mystery website 

Check out more Sneak Peeks from these authors: Sneak Peek Sunday excerpts

Sneak Peek WISH ON THE MOON

My sneak peek this week is my contemporary romance WISH ON THE MOON which has just been produced in an audiobook!  This was my first Special Edition but I've updated and revised it for ebook form now.  It's part of my FINDING MR. RIGHT series.  In it a prodigal daughter is reunited with her dad at her childhood home.  But Mitch Riley has entered the picture now.  Not only did he fetch her from a different life, but he might have even taken her place in her father's affections.  They clash from their first meeting until Mitch realizes there are two sides to every story.  This mother with a young daughter isn't the wild child his mentor described and...his heart is at risk. 

I hope you enjoy it.  See book trailer below for a preview.

Laura stepped away from Mitch, away from the shadows of a tall maple, into the moon's full light.  "Do you ever wish on the moon?"

Her profile was perfect.  It tugged at him as much as the fancy of her question.  "I thought people wished on stars."

"The moon's bigger, closer, more touchable."

"That's not very scientific."

"Neither is wishing.  But it works."  She glanced at him, her smile small and mysterious.  "Wishes are like pictures you draw in your mind.  They're always there whether you know it or not, just waiting to come to life.  When you picture something, you can make it happen."




Book Trailer WISH ON THE MOON 

AUDIOBOOK Wish On The Moon  Sample audiobook here.

Buy on Amazon WISH ON THE MOON

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Another Sneak Peek from HER SISTER, Clare and Shara clash

I'm taking part in another Sneak Peek.  This week peek in on Clare and her daughter Shara  from HER SISTER, Book 7 in my Search For Love series as an emotional explosion rocks their house! (Brad is 18 and Shara is 16.  Both have skipped classes when Clare comes home early to booming music and...)

Clare knew that for the rest of her life, as she pushed Shara's door open, the scene in front of her would be indelibly printed on her brain.  Shara and Brad were naked.  Her daughter's brown hair lay tousled across her pillow, while she looked up at a boy that Clare believed she didn't really know, her hands gripping his shoulders.

Rage propelled Clare forward first.  She wanted to throw the kid off her daughter, knee him where it would hurt most, and shake him until he understood that Shara was too young to know what she was doing.

Reason told Clare that confrontation in anger never turned out well.  But how could she be reasonable when her daughter was having sex in front of her eyes?

Shaking, holding onto her temper with both hands, biting back words before they could spill out, she finally shouted, "Get off of her.  Now!"  Her voice seemed to get lost in the thumping song lyrics in the background so she yelled louder.  "Get off of her before I call the police."

The two kids on the bed froze.  Their heads swung toward her. Then in fast forward Brad scrambled to the side of the bed.

Shara squeaked, "Mom!  What are you doing home?" and pulled up the covers while Clare went to the IPod dock and switched it off.

 

©2013 Karen Rose Smith

HER SISTER on Amazon   

IN TOUCH with KAREN ROSE SMITH ezine
Karen Rose Smith's romance website 
Karen Rose Smith's mystery website


Check out more Sneak Peeks from these authors: Sneak Peek Sunday excerpts