How Charity Sunday works: for every comment made on this blog post, I will donate money to the charity named. The same promise is made for every blog site listed in the group–click the Linky Links link at the bottom of this post to see the list of participants and read/comment on any of them to see a donation go to that blogger’s charity. We’re all different! Thanks for your help and your participation!
I’d like to make a huge donation to the Idaho Food Bank this month. This 4 star charity (according to Charity Navigator) has a mission to: “To help feed, educate and advocate for Idaho’s hungry through collaborative partnerships to develop efficient solutions that strengthen individuals, families and communities.”
Idaho, for all its beauty and being nice place to live, is not a wealthy state. We value our way of life here, though, and want to care for our own. Please comment and help me help!
My book this month is one that is coming soon, The Cinderella Curse. Here’s a preview!
Blurb:
One evening, in a land far away, a wife spins an adult, erotic fairy tale for the amusement of her husband. Like the original tale, this contemporary Cinderella is definitely for those who love romance and a HEA. As Charlotte dreams of her prince, James, but learns about beauty and love from her fairy godfather, Cooper, will she lose a glass slipper or her heart? One thing for sure, by the time our Cindy arrives at the ball, she’d sure like to know which man is her Prince Charming.
Excerpt:
Katherine walked into her daughter’s bedroom with a warm smile for the little girl. “And who do I find here?” she asked. “Is it a rock star, a fashion model or an award winning actress?”
“Oh, mommy, you know who I am,” the girl said with a giggle. For just a moment Katherine’s breath caught and her heart overflowed with love for this four year old person. She and Cole had made this child, had conceived her in love, trust and respect, but it still seemed incomprehensible that she was as beautiful as she was, as sweet and wonderful as she was. Katherine could so clearly see Cole’s eyes and her mouth reflected in their daughter’s face, but there was more there that was a combination of them both, and therefore all Alyssa’s. Katherine had to remind herself that probably all parents felt their children were perfect and wonderful, but with their little Alyssa, she knew it was true beyond any doubt.
“Yes, I know who you are, my little love. You are queen of my heart, princess of my mind, ruler–”
“–of all I hold dear.” Alyssa finished the oft heard phrase in triumph. She had bouncy curls of brown hair that hung down to her chin, gleaming blue eyes and a pert nose. Her mouth was most often formed around a smile.
“You’re getting too smart for me, Munchkin. What story would you like to hear?” Katherine settled her daughter under the covers, and positioned herself at the head of the bed next to Alyssa’s pillow, so that the child could see the pictures in the book and also be in place to fall asleep.
“Cinderella!”
“Okay, Cinderella it is.” Katherine reached for the book from the stack of those on the bedside table and opened it to the first page.
“Once upon a–”
“No, mommy. You’ve got to start with the title.”
With a small smile Katherine turned to the title page and started over. “Cinderella.” She flipped back to the story. “Once upon a time…”
Minutes later, long before the clock had struck midnight and the glass slipper had been lost, Alyssa was sleeping. Katherine stood and moved her slightly, so that she was in the center of the bed. She smoothed Alyssa’s hair from her face and kissed her forehead, making sure that her stuffed bunny was firmly secured in her arm and that she was warmly covered. As Katherine turned, she saw Cole leaning against the doorjamb, watching her with a tender expression.
“You know that I think you’re the most beautiful woman on the face of the earth, but when I see you with Alyssa, it’s almost too much. You two are the most important things in my life.”
Katherine turned out the bedside lamp and walked into Cole’s arms, stretching into him as he stroked her back and nuzzled her hair.
“As the two of you are to me,” Katherine responded. “Let’s go downstairs.” With Cole’s arm wrapped around her shoulders they made their way to the living room.
Cole had started a fire and the room was warm and softly lighted by the flames; crackling of the burning logs and popping as sap hit the heat of the fire were the only sounds.
Cole poured glasses of wine and they rested, Katherine against his chest in the circle of his arm, Cole leaning against the rounded arm of the sofa. They sat peacefully for several moments, staring into the fire. With his hand over her shoulder, Cole caressed Katherine’s breast; she rested her hand on his leg, with her elbow covering and lightly putting pressure on the bulge in his pants.
“Are you going to tell me a bedtime story now?” asked Cole.
“Would you like one?” He kissed the top of her head and nodded.
“Okay, do you like Cinderella, too?”
“Sure. The adult version, however. I didn’t mind the children’s version when I was a child, although I always thought the prince was too much of a sissy. I thought she should find a good warrior to marry.”
“You would, you blood-thirsty man.”
“Now, I think the prince would be looking for a bit more in a wife than simple beauty and strange taste in shoes.” He looked at Katherine’s platform shoes. “Although unusual taste in footwear isn’t always a negative.”
“Thank you,” she said smartly.
He chuckled. “So make sure that Cindy has all the requisites to be the wife of a prince.”
“And what might that entail, do you think?” Katherine sat up and turned so that she could see her husband.
“Make her like you.” Katherine gave her husband an appreciative look as he continued. “Definitely she has to be a sexy number. The dress is okay, but it’s what’s under it that counts. She has to know things. Even if she’s hot in bed, you can’t spend all your time in bed, right? And she should be a good cook.”
“Good cook? And why is that m’lord? Hasn’t the prince cooks aplenty?”
“Sure, but when they’re finished having sex late at night after the little princess is asleep, who will get up to fix him something to eat if not his wife?” Cole looked at his wife through his long, thick lashes, with just a hint of a smile. “She has to know her way around the castle kitchen. That’s a must. You wouldn’t suggest waking the kitchen staff for a ham sandwich, would you?”
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This year I made a big, fat boo-boo. I had in mind to fix a ham for dinner. Ham is something we rarely have, so it sounded appealing—a treat in this year that has been no treat. So I bought a ham. Jack, at nearly the same time, said that a local grocery had turkey thighs and breasts on sale. Since he doesn’t like white meat and I don’t care for dark, and there are only two of us, so we didn’t need a whole bird, that seemed like a great solution. Without conscious thought, we ended up with both turkey and ham for Thanksgiving dinner. Talk about a plethora of goodness! We’ll have a little of each for dinner and then I will cut and package the rest to use in leftovers or to freeze.
ham and mac & cheese, and of course sandwiches. But with the turkey I’ll make turkey pot pie. Here’s my recipe, give or take. I kinda make it up as I go along but this is a reasonable facsimile. I make two—one with white meat and one with dark. I know, I know. I spoil the man but what can I say? I love him.
The question this week is whether characters are more fun as idealists or pragmatists. You know, do you prefer to write (or read) those characters who always strive for the vision and tilt at windmills, perhaps, or characters who see tings as they really are—and who maybe take advantage of that realism, as J.R. did. I think the answer is, too much of anything can be, well, too much.
dream a little bit are necessary. In my newly (re)published erotic romance The Cinderella Curse, heroine Charlotte dreams of meeting and capturing her Prince Charming, the head of her publishing firm. He’s somewhat out of her league in that he’s rich, influential, and worldly. And she’s…not. But still, she sees her goal and simply won’t accept that she can’t have him. We all know what happened to Cinderella when she made her wish and then made it to the ball: Katy bar the door!
Would I have enjoyed these two if I had written them too strongly in one direction or another? No. Charlotte had to have some common sense and Cooper some flexibility in order for them to be fun and realistic. A good book is composed of characters of both stripes. That can create good conflict and fun reading, no matter which type of character you tend towards.
Excerpt:
Someone asked me a while back if my book, Burning Bridges, was romance or women’s lit? She said the description sounded like women’s lit, and she doesn’t review that genre. Gosh, this was something I hadn’t considered before. I thought of my book as romance. I think of women’s lit as centered around a woman and how she solves her life problems, but with elements of romance. In fact, so many books I read as “women’s lit” were actually (in my mind) romances. The woman’s problem was so often being alone (after a long-term breakup or a failed marriage) and finding a new partner while solving her problems. I fail to see how that is different from most romances.
there is very little romance or bonding with someone else? Is that women’s lit? 
Second Chance blurb:
While I know that eating healthy is best for all of us, and it’s darn hard to eat healthy and not cook the food yourself, I still like food that someone else cooks, serves up, and lets me eat at home without all the hubbub of preparation and clean-up. Plus, timing is always right. There’s no having the potatoes done at one time and the meat done at another. If necessary, I can stick the carry out container in to be zapped and have everything hot and ready at once.
restaurant, and their chicken parmesan is fantastic! For that dish alone, I’d have to say that’s our favorite and most used takeaway restaurant. When things were locked down pretty tightly, we could call in our order and they would bring it out to the car. Yummy!
Award-winning author Linda O’Connor started writing romantic comedies when she needed a creative outlet other than subtly rearranging the displays at a local home décor store. Her books have enjoyed bestseller status. When not writing, she’s a physician at an Urgent Care Clinic. She shares her medical knowledge in fast-paced, well-written, sexy romances – with an unexpected twist. Her favourite prescription to write? Laugh every day. Love every minute.