http://honeybeebooks12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/virginia-wright-and-crying-bear.html

May Preschool Project – Spring showers bring May flowers Theme Activity Page (s) for preschool children – Count how many flowers in the picture. Write the letter F, draw a flower. Number and Letter Recognition, plus art. This is just …

Honey Bee Promotions Presents

April 30, 2012

Hi Everyone, Thank you for joining me as I host Alexa Bourne, author of  Her Highland Champion, on my blog today.  Alexa’s book is available from Decadent Publishing. So grab your tea, coffee, or favorite beverage and join the party for HER HIGHLAND CHAMPION, a brand new contemporary Scottish romantic suspense! Learn more about Alexa Bourne as she makes her last blog stop in April here today on Virginia Wright Blog. Leave a comment and be in the running for a free copy of HER HIGHLAND CHAMPION, a $10 Amazon gift card, and a Scottish surprise! The more you comment, the better your chances of being the winner! Now set back and meet Alexa Bourne…

Thank you for stopping by,

Virginia Wright

Alexa Bourne

Alexa Bourne is a teacher by day and a romantic suspense writer by nights, weekends and all school holidays. She also teaches online classes for writers throughout the year. She is thrilled to be writing for Decadent Publishing and to have the chance to share her love of Scotland with readers everywhere.

When she’s not concocting sinister plots and steamy love scenes or traveling and exploring cultures, Alexa spends her time reading, watching brainless TV and thinking about exercising. She loves to hear from readers. To find her, visit www.alexabourne.com or http://alexabourne.blogspot.com,

http://www.facebook.com/AuthorAlexaBourne or follow her on Twitter @AlexaBourne.

HER HIGHLAND CHAMPION

A Decadent Honor Guard story….

Heather Winchester leads a charming life. With good friends, a beautiful flat in one of the most amazing cities in the world, and a promising future once she finishes her Ph.D, she is finally pursuing her own dreams instead of catering to everyone else’s…except she doesn’t remember any of it.

Malcolm Fraser has returned to his Highland village to forget his failings as a professional bodyguard. Believing he could just lose himself in the mundane activities of running his bed & breakfast, he finds a woman’s lifeless body by the loch instead….

Captivated by Heather as she regains her memory, Malcolm is thrown into the line of duty. As danger comes knocking on their doors, will he be strong enough to love her and keep her safe?

Genre: Contemporary romance, adventure, suspense/thriller

Heat level: 3
Word count – 23k

HER HIGHLAND CHAMPION

Champion Excerpt:

She turned to the bedside. A man stood there dressed in dark green sweats, with both hands clenched around the silver bedside bar. He was handsome, with light eyes, dark hair cropped close to his head, and a firm jaw. It was his hands, though. They drew her attention. Clean skin, defined knuckles, large fingers. Hands rough from a hard day’s physical labor, and yet, she imagined, gentle enough to caress the afternoon’s sufferings away.

“It’s good to see you awake.” He smiled. “You gave us all quite a fright.”

Okay, the Scottish accent drew her attention, too. At once, it both melted away some of her fears and sparked a whirlwind of questions.

“Where am I?” Her throat scratched like sandpaper.

“St. Catherine’s Hospital.”

She swallowed hard. “Where is that?”

“Fort William.” He reached for something on the table by her bed and brought back a plastic cup with a straw. “Here.”

“Thank you.” The warm water coated her sore vocal cords. She handed the cup back to him.

Wait a minute. Fort William? The only Fort William she knew was in Scotland. “I don’t understand. How did I get here?” Ignoring the aches in her body, she pressed both palms to the sheets on each side of her and pushed herself up. The blanket fell away from her chest and a new chill surrounded her. “What’s going on?”

Her arms shook, and she collapsed back to the bed.

“Relax.” The man set his palm on her shoulder, as if to keep her flat against the mattress. The heat of his fingers seeped through her hospital gown and into her skin. “I found you unconscious on the beach in Glenhalish. I called for an ambulance, and they brought you here.”

“I was in Glenhalish?”

“Aye, on a three day tour of the Highlands. Do you not remember being there?”

“No.” She squinted and studied him. No memories surfaced. “Do I know you?”

He shook his head. “Only from the beach. I’m Malcolm Fraser.”

She opened her mouth and then closed it again. Her gaze drifted to her lap as tears burned in the corners of her eyes. Panic swelled in her chest and into her throat.

“What is it, lass?” he asked with such tenderness.

“Can you tell me my name?”

Buy Links

Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Highland-Champion-Honor-Series-ebook/dp/B007PJ1GM0%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAJBDF5XQBATGDX4VQ%26tag%3Dspea06-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB007PJ1GM0

 

Decadent Publishing: 

http://www.decadentpublishing.com/product_info.php?cPath=75_197&products_id=508&osCsid=jh2l9gpp7ne49cevf4ujdcvrm1

 

All Romance Ebooks:

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-herhighlandchampion-769535-149.html

 

Bookstrand:

http://www.bookstrand.com/her-highland-champion

Heather Winchester’s Diary Excerpt:

Dear Diary….Good grief that sounds so ridiculous from a grown woman.

Today is the day I’m getting out of the hospital. The doctor says I’m good enough for now besides the fact that I can’t remember anything. I shudder to think about what it’s going to be like. I mean I’m leaving the hospital with a man I don’t know. Am I scared? Terrified is more like it. I mean, someone’s trying to kill me and I don’t know who or why. And it’s not like I can think back to the even that landed me in here. I’ve completely lost my memory. Okay, I do know I’m from the US and I know who my president is, but that’s about it.

Ugh. As I stare out the window down at the streets of Fort William, I can’t help the shiver running through me. Physically I’m feeling better. A few aches and pains, but that’s not what scares me. I’m like a baby, everything is new and strange and unfamiliar. If the man who tried to kill me came up to me now, would I even know?

I’m lucky to have Malcolm. He seems like a decent man. He must be. He saved my life. I owe him everything and I can’t even pay him back. My gut tells me I’ll be safe with him even if he’s reluctant to have me around. Maybe it’s Scottish pride that’s making him continue to help me. As kind and sweet as he’s been since finding me unconscious at the loch’s edge, I can still feel some tension coming off him. I hate to interrupt his life, but at this moment, he’s all I have. I hope I’ll be able to repay him at some point. I’ll start by being as little trouble for him in his bed & breakfast as I can.

Speaking of the Kierlain House, I better get changed out of this flimsy hospital gown. The nurse says the doctor will be in to check on me and sign my release papers soon. Then I’ll be totally dependent on a man I hardly know in a country that’s not my own.

Wish me luck. Something tells me I’m going to need it.

Maybe I’ll write some more tonight when I’ve had my 1^st glimpse of the Kierlain House and Glenhalish. From the way people describe the village, it sounds like it might be just the place for me to relax. I’ll let you know.

Blog Tour by Honey Bee Promotions http://www.honeybeepromotions.com  

-Virginia Wright

Book: TRUMPET

Authors:

Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes

Publisher: Decadent Publishing

Hello, Susan and Bill Hayes. Welcome!

(1)   Can you tell us where the inspiration for TRUMPET comes from? We chose to tell a story of theatricals, because that’s what we are.  Real-life characters from history showed us the heights and pitfalls of reputation, today called celebrity. Actors of the Regency age lived in a profligate time, before Victorian restraint made society “polite.” For example, since 1985, we kept a magazine article on Giovanni Battista Belzoni, whose life was amazing. Our heroine, Elizabeth Trumpet, a remarkable creature herself, just had to meet him. Lots of adventurous story spooled out of that.

(2)   What was the hardest part of writing TRUMPET? Choosing which historical moments were indispensible. We adored our heroine Lizzie and stayed with her for a long eventful arc, from sixteen-year-old innocent to wise maturity. The parallels to our own time are very great, the runaway disaster that fame can be was just as true then as now. The years of our story—1803 to 1821—were times of war and conflict. Our Trumpet family lives and loves through experiences the modern reader understands perfectly. Of course, we plunged into research, read over a hundred books, traveled all over the world to touch in person the places we describe. But that wasn’t hard. Over seven years we grew more and more connected to the age, and it was electrifying.

(3)   When and why did you first become interested in writing your genre? Historical fiction is the fiction of choice in the Hayes house. It was a challenge to see if we could do it. After our first book, LIKE SANDS THROUGH THE HOURGLASS, a double memoir, we knew we were a good team with pen and paper—excuse us, computer and keyboard. Creating a whole world together, Lizzie’s London and worlds beyond kept us keyed up and on fire. We highly recommend writing a book as a bonding experience for the long-married. We have been together for forty years, and writing TRUMPET was sweet icing on the cake of our life.

(4)  How do you plan your stories? And what tools do you use on a frequent basis? Bill wrote back-stories for every character, some covering several generations. Susan loves to study portraits in museums and find the faces of the people we are writing about. She has a collection of several hundred photos now. Our tools are imagination, memory, melding two voices into one, and editing each other without ego. (That’s big, my dears.)

(5)   How important do you think it is for female readers to identify with the heroine in your book? We think every woman who has loved the wrong man passionately, lost her place in the world, found another, took a chance, protected her family, had to work to buy bread, turned defeat into victory, faced an uncertain future with a smile—in short, every woman who breathes—will embrace Lizzie Trumpet, understand and cheer for her.

(6)   What three features would you say are vital to a good story? Truth, wit and change. We love good dialogue and really got into the scenes, reading them aloud together. Our characters are people we have known well, and we can hear them talking in our dreams sometimes. Really! So, there’s truth. Wit? We love humor, because life is largely funny—especially for actors with their large egos and strong grasp on unreality. As for change, all drama is based on it. Circumstances change people, so our ladies and gentlemen move through plots that are guaranteed to make them twist and develop.

(7)   Trivia:

1. Favorite game: We are both into Spider Solitaire; it is a fascinating, frustrating challenge!
2. Favorite fruit: Susan – peaches; Bill – berries, dipped in chocolate.
3. Favorite vegetable: Susan – artichoke; Bill – forget the veg, go straight to the chocolate.
4. Dream date: Susan – Leonard Bernstein; now quite unavailable. Bill – an 18-year-old blonde tapdancer.

Thank you for joining us today, Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes. It’s been a pleasure to talk with you.

Virginia Wright

Excerpt:

“Elizabeth, you must perform. I will teach you a style of acting that is revolutionary. You have seen my work. You understand the art I worship.”

She took a step closer. “Since I was a child, watching my father on stage, I longed to be there with him.” Jack watched Lizzie struggle to go on. “You have just described the dream of my life. There is nothing I want more, but…Mr. Faversham—Jack…I am not free.”

He reached for her hands and pulled her down beside him on the stump. “Explain why you are not free.”

In a long and tearful soliloquy, Lizzie told her story of the past year. She was too candid for propriety and too wrought-up by his presence to withhold anything. In this soulful state, she was so beautiful and vulnerable that Jack had to fight to keep his hands off her.

“You need, as in a play, an ailing uncle to leave you a great inheritance,” Jack suggested with sympathy.

“Indeed, I have just been offered ‘protection’ by a gentleman.”

“It must be Dampere, the creature! I guessed as much! That’s why I broke in upon your privacy in such haste. Listen to me, Elizabeth. I promise you a weekly income, not of shillings, but of pounds. From the sound of it, your first concern is caring decently for your family. Join me and you will be able to provide for your father and aunt and whoever else you are carrying on your lovely back.”

The emotional girl looked at him as though he were a god.

Jack turned on his serpent-of-Eden charm. “Why take up with that toad Dampere? Come with me and live your passion while you keep your reputation. I can turn you into a real princess, Pocahontas—a princess of the stage.”

That did it. Dazzled, Lizzie said something irrational that meant yes: “The honor…do all I can…prove your faith.” It was the grateful garble of a person saved.

Satisfied to have gotten his way, Jack sealed the bargain by taking her head in his hands and kissing her full on the mouth. “Gad, we’ll be good; I know it.” He bowed and strode to his hired horse. “I have urgent business in the city. Be glad, Elizabeth. I certainly am.”

He leaped into the saddle and cantered away. Actually, he was off to a backstage intrigue at Covent Garden. Waiting in his dressing room, another would-be actress, of no performing ability whatsoever, was ready to audition what talent she did have on the chaise lounge.

Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes Blurb

Brilliant and sassy Elizabeth Trumpet fantasizes starring on the London stage, but to become an actress in 1803 is tantamount to losing her virginity in the most debasing way.

After watching her mother die and her father lose his mind, the courageous sixteen-year-old must find a way to save her family. She scores her first acting job as a fencer – the deadly skill she learned from her brother training for the military. Blessed with talent and a rare singing voice, Lizzie pursues her career, learning from theatrical characters high and low.

When reckless actor Jonathan Faversham sets eyes on Miss Trumpet, he knows he’s found the partner of his life. But Faversham carries ruinous baggage from a dark past. Entangled in lust and ambition, Lizzie gives him her heart and they reach the heights together. Until Lizzie gets more applause than he…

From the magnificence of Regency palaces and the Theatre Royal Covent Garden to the sun-baked pyramids of Egypt and the arms of a real-life Samson, Lizzie is never far from trouble. As her brother rides to glory with Wellington in the Napoleonic Wars, great events threaten her survival. Danger lurks behind stage curtains, when a madman sets fire to take her life and she lifts a sword in revenge.

Will this once innocent girl, with her rise to stardom, be remembered for her art? Or for her shame?

Lizzie watched Faversham until she could see him no more. A freshening breeze lifted the leaves of the oak tree. She touched her tingling lips and thanked God for escaping a sordid life. He is my savior. Now I won’t have to do as Octavia does.

Buy Links

http://www.decadentpublishing.com/product_info.php?products_id=504&osCsid=7g2e0pp3ak99agp3sk297u6eu1

http://bonobookstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_45&products_id=63&zenid=pdrpbud0ecujr7khs0hpjr11m4

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Honey Bee Promotions

http://honeybeepromotions.com

http://honeybeeauthors.blogspot.com

http://twitter.com/honeybeepromo

Happy Earth Day Everyone! I’ve been reading messages in one form or another all over the internet today. Google’s home page, on Blogs, in the Online Newspapers…but what is EARTH DAY and what does it mean to you?

Earth Day is a day that is planned for April 22 each year, for the next three years anyway, to help bring awareness and gratefulness of the Earth’s natural environment. It is a day for mankind to reconnect with the Earth and globally appreciating its existence. Earth Day has been around since April 22, 1970 when John McConnell Pioneered Earth day, and this day is now being coordinated by the Earth Day Network.

GETTING ONE WITH THE EARTH and nature is good for the soul!  Some of the best therapy, in my mind, is to take your bare hands and dig in the soil.

How can you get your green on? You can start by giving back to the earth by planting your favorite plants, or favorite pollinator flowers…

Have you planted your pollinator garden yet? Earth Day, would be a good time to start!

Earth Day | Dave from Dave's Bees Planting

Source (s):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day

http://www.earthday.org

http://www.epa.gov/superfund/kids/earthday.htm

http://www.davesbees.com

Pollinators

The greatest pollinators, bees, are responsible for one out of every three bites of the food we eat. Most of the food grown i.e., vegetables, fruit, need pollination by insects, such as the honeybee.

Her Highland Champion

By Alexa Bourne

Available from Decadent Publishing

Please visit Virginia Wright’s Blog on April 30th

to meet Alexa Bourne!

HONEY BEE PROMOTIONS  http://www.honeybeepromotions.com  Blog Tours

In the early years of my children’s lives– we lived in Maine; my husband was a drilling reservist in the USN, drilling once a month out of Bangor. Eventually he went in the USN as a career man, 24 years…and that took us away from Maine, until he retired, and when we returned last summer. But before all that…Click for the rest of the story!

Recipes @ The Recipe Weekly

I’m so excited how The Recipe Weekly is starting to shape up! It was suggested by fans that I start posting my recipes on a separate Web site from here on my author blog (virginiawright.com). So…based on the requests, I am going to post recipes on our new website:                                                               (http://www.therecipeweekly.com)

If you have a “Tried and True” recipe you would like to have posted on The Recipe Weekly, send in the recipe to:        [recipesubmission] [at] therecipeweekly [dot] com. In the subject area type: Recipe Submission. Please include your full name, and the state you are from along with your recipe. All recipes are reviewed for publication consideration, and if your recipe is chosen, you will be notified when it is in the queue for publication. Please read Submission Guidelines for full details prior to submitting recipe.

-Virginia Wright, Author

The Queen of Recipe Adaptation

The Recipe Weekly

http://www.therecipeweekly.com

For ten years, before authoring my books, I was the Senior Writer for Lowfat Weekly, a website, I founded. (If you’ve read my other blogs, then you are familiar with a post that told about why I closed down that website). In brief, while working at Lowfat Weekly part of my job was a recipe developer, and included adapting recipes to healthier Low Fat versions. I LOVED that challenge! As a food blogger, I was known as “The Recipe Lady,” and I enjoyed interacting with our viewers, emails, chats, and such.  The problem I was having is that I didn’t want to only develop low fat recipes, as it left no room for old-fashioned recipes that make you think of your “Mum and home.” I literally have hundreds of recipes that I’ve developed and adapted before Lowfat Weekly, during, and since working there. My recipes are made from ingredients that I already have in my cupboards, on hand– and trust you do too! They are mostly recipes that you will be familiar with, but in some cases, will be posted with “this cook’s” designer twist. These recipes are also some of “my families” favorites, and will become yours too. You will find recipes on my blog that have been passed down from my mother, grandmothers, aunts, sister, friends, and friends of friends. All my recipes (most) are “quick and easy” to make including: Old-Fashioned Heirloom Recipes, Low Fat Recipes, Gluten-Free Recipes, Low Carbohydrate Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes, Italian Recipes, Fish and Seafood Recipes, Desserts and more… The Recipe Weekly is still being developed but please come back often to check out my progress!

-Virginia Wright                                                                                                                                    The Recipe Weekly                                                                                                                          Queen of Recipe Adaptation                                                                   http://www.therecipeweekly.com                                                                                                     info [at] therecipeweekly [dot]com

Please visit my blog often for recipes, and to see what I’m cooking up next…

These are my granddaughter’s Abigail and Elisabeth. They were visiting with their grammie, The Recipe Lady, and receiving a cooking lesson.

Cooking Lesson