Holiday Cheer - St. Nicholas Eve

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Released

By Amber Polo

(The Shapeshifters' Library: Book 1)

 

Both “Released” and Book 2 “Retrieved” are filled with holidays. 

 “Retrieved” has Valentine’s Day, a St. Patrick’s Day Parade, and a magical ending at the Summer Solstice.

“Released” has Halloween, St. Nicholas, and a magical ending on the Winter Solstice Eve.

And food! Lots of food! 

 

 

The St. Nicholas Eve Excerpt from “Released” 

Gregory and Liberty paraded back into the rotunda and on to the entrance to the Children’s Room. Children in pinafores and breeches clustered around Bliss in her shimmering princess dress. The children turned, saw Gregory, and little voices called, “St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas.”

Gregory placed his hand on Liberty’s waist and escorted her to the middle of the room. “Children, this is Lady Liberty.”

Children cheered and tiny hands clapped. “Lady. Lady.”

Gregory whispered to Liberty, “Say something.”

“Welcome children. To the library. On St. Nicholas Eve.”

The quartet’s violin player fiddled a merry tune, as a huge Newfoundland in a silver-studded harness pulled a cart to the doorway.

Gregory smiled. “And now, it’s time for presents.”

The children cheered. The dog lumbered in and small hands reached out to pat the gentle giant who, compared to the toddlers, appeared as large as a draft horse. Gregory stepped to the cart. “Stand back.” The children obeyed. “Now, one at a time.” He reached into the cart and took out a small toy horse and beckoned to a little girl in a crisp petticoat. She skipped forward to receive her painted wooden horse and a large orange. Liberty selected a book from the cart for the girl, who skipped off to show her friends.

Bouncing in stiff, shiny shoes, children waited their turns. Next a boy was given a miniature dog and cart. He held it high for all to see, then accepted his book. One by one, each child received a small toy, an orange, and a book. Every child seemed more thrilled with simple wood animals than if they’d received the latest electronic wonders. The entire scene was reminiscent of another more charming century.

When all the children had received gifts, the fiddler announced, “Time for St. Nicholas to leave,” and the children let out a collective, “Ah.”

Gregory reached one more time into the cart and presented a wrapped gift to Bliss. “Dear lady, for your kind ministrations to the children.” Bliss curtsied.

As children raced past to show toys to parents and grandparents, Gregory took Liberty’s arm. No longer the center of attention, the couple walked to the rotunda. Sparkling lights reflected like stars on the glass dome above.

“I cannot stay,” Gregory said softly. “I’m tired.”

Liberty nodded. “Thank you for making this night so beautiful.”

“Shipsfeather always celebrated St. Nicholas Eve like this. I am grateful your library made it possible once again. Now you see why this town and people are so special.”

“Where did the children’s gifts come from?” She looked around. “And where is the dog cart … and the music? This was the most magical night of the year.”

He laughed. “Ah, now you want magic explained. Tonight is only the beginning of the Season. The true magic will happen on the night of the Winter Solstice.”

“What could be more beautiful and amazing than tonight?”

“Nothing could be as amazing and beautiful as you. You are a most good and wonderful woman, Liberty Cutter, my Mistress of the Fete.” He leaned down and kissed her lips. A tender kiss tasting of cinnamon and warmed cider. Straightening, his eyes held her gaze.

“Tonight,” she whispered, “I feel like a princess.”

“You are a princess. My princess, dear one.” He lifted her hand to his lips. “Sweet Liberty.” He slid his hand into his jacket pocket. Holding her left hand, he slipped a ring onto her finger. “Forever, my princess, my love.”

She gasped as warm gold encircled her finger. She looked down at the intricately carved band. When she looked up, he was gone. Over the music and laughter, she heard the sound of boots descending the stairs.

 

St. Nicholas Wassail

From The Shapeshifters’ Library celebration in “Released”

4 cups apple juice or cider

4 cups cranberry juice

1 cup orange juice

1 cup pineapple juice

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 t. ground ginger

½ t. grated nutmeg

½ t. cardamom

3 sticks cinnamon

Fresh orange slices for garnish

Combine ingredients in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 1 hour. Then turn to low for 2-8 hours.

(In a hurry? Heat in just to boiling in a saucepan, then pour into a slow cooker to keep warm.)

Oranges on top make a pretty addition. 

What I love about this recipe is you can vary it to suit your taste in juices and spices (or what you have on hand). With our without alcohol (some revelers) add dry sherry or Madeira), a cup with fill you with warm holiday cheer. 

Amber Polo has had a lifelong love of libraries. A fascination with ancient libraries and curiosity about why werewolves outnumbered dog-shifters in literature inspired her new cozy urban fantasy series The Shapeshifters' Library filled with librarian dog-shifters. She’s not sure she loves all holidays, but she loves writing about them.

If you love dogs and books and shifter romance, “Released” and “Retrieved” will warm your reader’s heart.

Amazon
Website
Wordshaping Blog (with more St. Nicholas posts)

And read Amber’s ebook novella Christmas on Wherever Island (light paranormal romance) for a quick Christmas escape. Find the magic Christmas cake recipe.

 

Ghosts, Ghosts Everywhere

by Kathryn Knight

I’ve always wanted to see a ghost. If there’s a Haunted Walking Tour, I’m there. But still no luck. I love all those paranormal reality shows on TV. I’ve even considered paying to spend the night in a haunted colonial jail a few towns over. If they had indoor plumbing, I would do it!

But the other night, I thought I heard someone climbing the stairs over and over, up and down, accompanied by the sound of change jingling from a pocket. Now, my husband runs a few mornings a week, and sometimes he does the stairs a few times to warm up, but I lay there in the dark thinking, why does he have a pocketful of change when he’s going running? Then I rolled over and saw that he was still in bed next to me, and both our sons were at sleepovers.

The noise stopped, but I still had to get up and investigate. I didn’t find anything, but in the darkness of 1:30 a.m., I decided maybe it wouldn’t be so cool to see a ghost. At least not in my own home!

But I admit I had a lot of fun writing the scenes in Silver Lake when our heroine Rain Anderson actually sees the ghost. As much as she wants to help her old friend’s spirit find peace, encountering her ghost is terrifying. Luckily Jason is at the lake house too—but even he, a Fourth degree black belt in Karate, can’t do much about a ghost determined to get her message through!

How about you? Has anyone seen a ghost? I’d love to hear your haunting stories!

 

Blurb:

Rain Anderson can't decide which is more unsettling—encountering the ghost of her missing friend, or reuniting with the man whose love she foolishly rejected. But one thing is certain: the past has come back to haunt her, quite literally.

Five years ago, Rain's tight-knit group of high school friends unraveled when one vanished during their senior year. Now, a parent's deathbed request has reunited the friends at Silver Lake, including Jason Lansing, the man Rain discarded. Rain and Jason discover the powerful attraction between them has survived, but though Jason is willing to forgive, he can't let himself forget. The possibility of falling for Rain again is too risky.

Slamming doors, crashing objects, flaring fires—clearly the ghost has a message to share. As Rain and Jason struggle to unravel the truth, they must face a desperate spirit in need of help…and a burning passion that refuses to die.

Excerpt:

“I saw...a figure. A figure with dark hair, and I think it was Brandy.” She shuddered and put her forehead back on his chest. 

Reluctantly, he moved their bodies apart a bit and scanned her face. He held on to her shoulders and asked calmly, “You saw Brandy? Brandy is here?”

She shook her head. “No, I saw… like… an image of Brandy. I woke up, because it was cold, and I saw something moving. It was Brandy, I’m sure of it, although I didn’t see her face clearly. And then she, um, disappeared.”

“An image of Brandy? Are you saying you saw a ghost, Rain?” He was pretty sure she’d had another nightmare, but the way she had flown out of her room gave him the impression it had been an extremely vivid one.

“I know, it sounds ridiculous. But that’s what I saw. And she sort of, well, went through the wall. I’m sure you don’t believe me,” she added miserably, lifting her stormy eyes to his.

He pulled her back into a hug before he could stop himself. “I absolutely believe you. Whether you were awake or asleep, you saw Brandy and that’s scary. I don’t think we can deny that weird things are happening here.”

Jason smoothed her hair and waited patiently for her trembling to subside. If a ghost really was lurking in her bedroom, there wasn’t a whole heck of a lot he could do about that. A rare sense of powerlessness caused his jaw to clench in frustration.

He stopped watching the door and instead focused on the gorgeous woman in his arms. She clung to him, and his body responded to hers with a familiar ache. He knew he was losing the battle to keep his feelings platonic.

Buy from The Wild Rose Press

Buy from Amazon

 

Author Bio:

As a child, Kathryn Knight kept her parents on a constant quest to find enough reading material to last her through each week. An early fondness for books about horses later gave way to a lasting preference for both love stories and ghost stories; as a writer, the paranormal romance genre is a perfect fit. Silver Lake is Kathryn's first novel; her second novel, Gull Harbor, has also received a contract from The Wild Rose Press and will be released in 2013. She lives in New England with her husband, her sons, and a number of rescued animals. Please visit her at www.kathrynknightbooks.com or on Facebook at Kathryn Knight books.

Saturday's Salacious Suggestions-Paranormal Romance

Starting this month, I'm going to do genres on my Saturday's Salacious Suggestions.  This week is Paranormal Romance...it does need romance in it.  Just post your blurb and buy links in the comments section.

Here's the coming attractions:

Feb. 18 - Historical
Feb. 25 - Contemporary
Mar.  3 - Young Adult
Mar. 10 - Historical Western
Mar. 17 - Regency
Mar. 24 - Sci-Fi
Mar. 31 - Erotica (historical or contemporary)

Carrying a Theme through Several Generations

by Toni V. Sweeney

Thanks for inviting me, Anna Kathryn.  Wish I had more of my new WIP done.  It’d be a little more in tune with your Western theme.  It’s called (tentatively) The Lily and the Shamrock and is set in Nebraska.  However, I’ve only gotten through Chapter One, so guess I’d better concentrate on my latest release and talk about it. 

So, here goes.  Ahem…

One thing about writing about a dynasty--it covers a lot of territory and a whole lot of people...centuries of events...millennia of generations...  I took the easy way out.  I decided to write about the beginning and the end of a dynasty--the rule of the kan Ingans of the Emeraunt Galaxy.  My series, The Chronicles of Riven the Heretic (Bloodseek, Blood Curse, A Singing in the Blood, and Barbarian Blood Royal, and soon to come, The Man from Cymene) told the kan Ingans' origins.  My series, The kan Ingan Archives, told of their inglorious end thirty-one hundred years later.  The series didn't start out that way, but--as usual with characters with which I have more than one dealing, familiarity bred contempt—and Aric kan Ingan and his Black Shield friends yanked the book out of my hot little hands, and, in their superiorly militant way, took over.  If they'd let me handle things, the story might have ended differently; then again, knowing my penchant for Unhappily-Ever-After endings, it might have been worse!   As it stands now…

Family sagas are a lot of work because you have to keep track not only of the characters' names and physical appearances, but also of their ages, especially if each novel encompasses a number of years.  Sometimes it's easier to make a tangible chart, a family tree or spreadsheet with all the relationships, ages, etc., so it can be referred to from time to time.  In Sinner, the main character, Aric, goes from age twenty to thirty; the second novel (tentatively titles Exile) opens ten years later and covers five years of his life.  In the third novel, at the age of 46, Aric returns to his  home.  When Aric left, the woman he will eventually wed was six-years-old.  When he meets her again in the third book, she's twenty-two, and his decision to marry her scandalizes his best friend because he's now twice her age.  To add insult to injury, she’s also the best friend’s niece and he’s only five years older than she though he’s fifteen years younger than Aric!  Confused yet?  Age plays a very important part in these stories so I had to keep close tabs on how old everyone was and when.

So…

What is all this leading to?  To the promo for my new book. Sinner, the story of a man who falls in love with the wrong woman. (Don't they all?)  A man who was destined to be the most powerful person in the galaxy until Cupid skewered him with one of those little darts.  A man accused of committing a crime and unable to prove himself innocent because to do so would reveal he's committed an ever greater crime.  It's got plenty of love, sex, and violence.  A real winner!

Check it out.

Blood Sin is available from Double Dragon Publishing. Buy it now HERE. 

Toni V. Sweeney

The Amazing Author Event continues with Barbara Edwards. Read the Blogs ~ Win the Prizes

Saturday's Salacious Suggestions

BLOOD HUNTER-THE RETURN

By Robin Badillo

Raven Prince, a vampire, and Thorne Abbott, her human lover, have endured secrets, lies and even murder. The only task remaining is for Thorne to become a vampire as well. Eternity never looked so good.

***

Haunted by the shame of deserting his first true love, Jason Craft, became a hunter of his own kind. Brought together on a mission of revenge, he found sanctuary in the arms of Jazmine Fabré and together they uncovered a startling truth.

***

Jason, now an enemy of the Vampire Lord for whom he’d been employed, sets out to save the coven he’s been commissioned to eradicate, which leads straight to the woman he left behind thirty years before, Raven Prince.

Will fate lead them to where they were meant to be? Or will evil forces destroy them all?

Sometimes the only way to get something right is to go back to where it all went wrong.

Excerpt:

Her stomach fluttered, hearing the sound of his car engine rev as he pulled up the long drive to their family’s estate. He was home.

Raven dabbed a bit of tuberose scented perfume on her neck, then dipped down between her breasts and made a quick swipe across her wrists, hitting all the pulse points as though she were still human. Some habits were hard to break.

She glanced down and smiled as the sheer fabric skimmed across her breast, prompting her nipples to ball into tight, sensitive buds. Thorne’s warm tongue lapping at her hardened peaks would have them softened and wet in no time.

“Raven,” Thorne called out as he neared their bedroom door.

Raven bit back a giggle, dove onto the bed and stretched across it on her side, making sure she bent one knee ever so slightly to force her rounded hip to rise up from the indention of her narrow waist. The negligée clung tightly to her shapely form and the split up the side revealed enough flesh to get a rise out of him the instant he walked through the door. What little skin the slit didn’t show off, the sheer fabric would surely expose.

“Raven? Why aren’t you downstairs?” Thorne froze, wide eyed, as he rounded the corner of the entryway leading into the bedroom of their private suite.

Raven ran her tongue over her lips and eyed him up and down. “Would you prefer I be down there with the entire family, or up here waiting for you?”

His heart pounded so loud she heard it from across the room. “Well that depends,” he said as he inched toward her.

“On?”

“On whether or not you want me to take that off of you.”

Raven rose up on her elbow and glided her fingers up her thigh. “Oh, this better come off.” She giggled.

He came to her and stood next to the bed. “What’s gotten into you?” The left side of his lip curled as his hooded gaze took her in.

“You, if you hurry.”

Visit me on the Web:
http://www.robinbadillo.com/
http://www.robinbadillo.blogspot/

add me as a friend on Facebook or Twitter
https://www.facebook.com/robin.badillo
https://twitter.com/#!/Robin_Badillo

Saturday's Salacious Suggestions

SOMETIMES, THERE REALLY ARE

MONSTERS UNDER THE BED

by Will Graham



In 1996, SSA Michael O'Leary of the FBI's Child Abduction and Serial Killer Unit (CASKU) investigated the abduction of Amelia Reardon, the five year old daughter of textile heiress Annabelle Sinclair Reardon. Annabelle was attacked by the kidnapper, brutalized, and left for dead. Michael found Amelia, but what happened after that horrific discovery sent him into a spiraling depression, resulting in his resignation.


Annabelle Reardon survives her attack, coming out of it to learn she possesses a very slight psychic ability, a talent causing more awkwardness and embarrassment than any concrete benefit. Using her considerable personal resources, she founds the National Center Victims Advocacy Group (NCVAG), an organization dedicated to assisting and supporting the victims of violent crimes. One of her first actions is persuading Michael to come into the fold and use his training and skills.


December 23, 1999. When a member of a local boys' choir performing at a shopping mall brushes against her, Annabelle has a vision of an actual vampire; swirling cloak, bloody fangs, emanating an aura of menace that staggers her. The 'vision' induces such terror in her Annabelle is compelled to look into the matter, dragging a reluctant Michael with her.


Using the resources available to them through the NCVAG, Michael and Annabelle begin an investigation on Christmas Eve that takes them from Washington, D.C. to the beauty of the Virginia countryside, a compassionate doctor, a private institute, and a confrontation with genuine evil on the most special of days, Christmas Morning.

Buy it now at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Visit Will at his blog, http://www.wmsimon.blogspot.com/.

Saturday's Salacious Suggestions

HEARTS THROUGH TIME

By Marie Higgins

A love story that transcends time . . .


When a woman claiming to be a ghost from 1912 appears in Nick Marshal's office and begs for help in solving her murder, he thinks he has lost his mind. A scandal that rocked Hollywood almost destroyed his law practice, so he doesn't need any more fireworks as he rebuilds his life. Still, he is intrigued by Abigail Carlisle's plea, and he needs clients, even if this one insists she's dead. The more secrets Nick uncovers, the deeper he falls for the beautiful ghost.

Abigail believes Nick is her heart's true desire, but how can happily-ever-after happen when she's already dead? The more time she spends with him, the more real she becomes, until Nick can finally touch her.

In a strange turn of events, Nick is suddenly whisked back to 1912, two weeks before Abby's murder, but she doesn't remember him. When he attempts to win her over so he can save her from a tragic destiny, Abby thinks Nick is courting her for her inheritance. But even if he can rescue her and make her trust him again, how can they be together forever?
 
Buy now: Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Kindle
 
Visit Marie at her website and blog.