NEW DIRECTIONS.....

I’ve finally done it. I’ve quit my day job. I worked only 3 days a week, but it felt like 9. It took sooo much “thinking” time away from my writing. Beyond that, when I thought about the stress level compared to the pay, I just couldn’t find a reason to do it anymore.

Now I’ll be able to concentrate more of my time and energy on writing. I have several projects underway or on the back burner.

#1 is THE HORSEMAN, Book #3 of my Sons of Texas trilogy. I’ve blogged here about it before. It will present a romance for Troy Rattigan, horse whisperer and youngest son of the Lockhart family. It will also complete the arc that began in Book #1, THE TYCOON and solve the riddle of who is threatening and harassing the Lockhart family and the Double-Barrel Ranch. My books usually are between 25 and 30 chapters. I’m up to 15 chapters now, so I don’t have too far to go.

#2 is MAN OF THE WEST, Book #2 of the Strayhorn trilogy. This book was traditionally published as a mass market paperback and I FINALLY have the rights back. I’m going to revise it a little and re-lease it with a slightly new story and a new cover.

 

 #3 is CLAIMED, the 2^nd book of Miranda’s Chronicles. The first book, DESIRED, is a 40,000-word erotic novella. CLAIMED will be a full novel. I want to complete this duet because I really liked writing in first person and I liked the 2 main characters in this story. When I wrote DESIRED, I believed I had created one of my strongest, therefore best, heroines in Miranda.

#5 is to write Book #3 of The Strayhorn trilogy. This will be Cable Strayhorn’s story. I haven’t settled on a title yet, but I’m toying with MAN OF THE HIGH PLAINS. I’m also thinking about THE PRODIGAL because it will be the story of a Strayhorn heir who leaves the fold for a different life, then returns after personal tragedy. I know—soap opera. 😊 I don't yet have a cover. I have to settle on a title before I can choose a cover. ..... What do you think about the 2 titles?

Woven between all of these is a new Dixie Cash zany adventure for the Domestic Equalizers. I’ve got the title: WHEN I SAID YOU'RE THE BOMB, I DIDN'T DREAM IT WAS TRUE. I've also got the basic plot idea formed in my head and am doing research, but so far, I have on 3 chapters on paper. The title is a clue to the story. 😉 ..... This will be the biggest challenge of all of all my writing projects because I no longer have my sister as a partner and she is the funny one. I don’t have that “Saturday Night Live” sense of humor that she does.

Also woven among and in between all of this is an attempt to narrate my own audio books. The fees for narrators makes them too expensive to do very many. If I can do a decent job on my own narration, I'll be releasing more audio books.

As you can see, just because I've quit my day job doesn't mean I won't be busy. 😟 I only hope to live long enough to complete all of these projects. Wish me luck!

FOUR WHITE ROSES - May 17th Release Date

by Judy Ann Davis

"Can a wily old ghost help two fractured hearts find love?"

  

FOUR WHITE ROSES  is now available for Amazon Kindle Pre-Order for $4.99

https://www.amazon.com/Four-White-Roses-Judy-Davis-ebook/dp/B06XPBKY7F/

BLURB:

     When widower Rich Redman returns to Pennsylvania with his young daughter to sell his deceased grandmother’s house, he discovers Grandmother Gertie’s final request was for him to find a missing relative and a stash of WWI jewels.

     

     Torrie Larson, single mom, is trying to make her landscape center and flower arranging business succeed while attempting to save the lineage of a rare white rose brought from Austria in the 1900s.

     

     Together, the rich Texas lawyer and poor landscape owner team up to rescue the last rose and fulfill a dead woman’s wishes. But in their search to discover answers to the mysteries plaguing them, will Rich and Torrie also discover love in each other’s arms? Or will a meddling ghost, a pompous banker, and an elusive stray cat get in their way?

AUTHOR NOTES:

"Four White Roses" was a fun book to write since it's a sweet romantic mystery with lots of comedy. It's the story of two people, Torrie Larson, a widow landscape owner,  and Rich Redman, a widower Texas lawyer, who reunite in their small hometown. They each have a small daughter, but Rich's daughter, Estella, is an eight-year-old who can give anyone around her a run for their money.  

Is A Kiss Just A Kiss? by Joan Reeves

Is a kiss just a kiss? That's what Herman Hupfeld wrote in the song, As Time Goes By, better known as the love song from the movie Casablanca.

I've blogged before about kisses because a kiss is significant. To borrow part of something Mae West once said, it too is "an emotion in motion."

A kiss is magical, and a first kiss is something more. Something very special because of what it means emotionally, but also because of what it means physiologically.

In 1971, Desmond Morris published a ground-breaking book, Intimate Behavior: A Zoologist's Classic Study of Human Intimacy. In his book, he doesn't talk about the magic of a kiss. Instead, he talks about the 12 steps of human intimacy, of which The Kiss is just one step.

Human Intimacy

Morris begins with Step 1: Eye To Body – visually sizing up a potential mate – and ends with Step 12: Genital To Genital Contact – which you probably don't need defined.

Step 7 in Morris's study of intimate behavior is Mouth To Mouth – Kissing. In most romance novels, that first kiss is a seminal event in the growing relationship between heroine and hero. By the first kiss, the couple in question are acting on their desire, and they're curious as to how that kiss will make them feel. Will it knock their socks off or put the damper on their growing desire?

Romance Novel First Kiss

Obviously, much depends on that kiss. If it increases their desire, which it should, then they face the problem of backing away from each other if there are circumstances that keep them apart. Of course, they may, for their own reasons, disavow the effects of the kiss. After all, a romance is all about overcoming obstacles to achieve a worthy goal – each other.

I tend to believe that a kiss, especially a first kiss, is pure magic. Hollywood pays a lot of attention to the first kiss in romantic movies. I pay a lot of attention to the first kiss in the romance novels I write.

Here's an excerpt – the first kiss – from my latest contemporary romance, SCENTS and SENSUALITY, available at most ebook sellers.

Scents and Sensuality Excerpt, The Kiss

Was it really all right to be herself with him? To show her true personality? "Nicole said men prefer women who aren't so serious. She said men like women who are sexy and flirty. I'm not like that. I'm serious and thoughtful and introverted. And shy."

She was shy? Oddly, Harrison liked that. Most of the women he'd had in his bed didn't know the meaning of the word shy. He'd never had a woman hesitate to tell him in detail what to do, where to touch, how to touch, and when to touch as she pursued her own orgasm. As if he were so unskilled that he didn't know anything about women.

"I really don't know much about pop culture and clubbing and all the stuff that Nicole knows," Amanda said.

"Your friend doesn't know what she's talking about," Harrison said. He stopped moving. Now they weren't dancing. They were just swaying in time to the music. "There's nothing wrong with the real you, sweetheart."

With that one sentence, he had her. She could smell him, and his scent was strong. Musky. Maybe it was just physiology, she thought, with the tiny part of her brain that still worked. Something about her female pheromone receptors went bonkers when he was near. He'd said sweetheart. Amanda didn't know if it was what he'd said or the endearment that warmed her so completely.

In a voice so intense that it made gooseflesh break out on her arms, he said, "You don't have to pretend to be someone you're not. I like you just the way you are."

The song stopped. Still they swayed, cheek to cheek, breast to chest, heat to heat. The song started again.

"You're beautiful," he whispered against her cheek. "And you're incredibly sexy without playing silly games. You're sexy without even trying. And I want you."

His words wove a spell around her lonely heart. "I want you too," she confessed.

Harrison smiled and nuzzled the tender flesh of her neck where her pulse throbbed.

In a voice so soft that he had to strain to hear, Amanda said, "You don't have to say that...that I'm sexy. I...I won't change my mind about...about...you know." She fell silent.

Harrison pulled away from her a little so he could look at her, gauge her reactions. "Are you trying to say you won't change your mind about having a raging affair with me?"

Amanda took a deep breath and exhaled. She met his eyes directly. "Despite what you say, I know I'm not sexy. I just want to be honest with you. It's important to me to be honest. I don't like lies. They just cause problems. So here's the bald truth. I'm a flop with men, and I was desperate for a date for my cousin's wedding. Nicole helped me hook you. She tutored me on how to be a hot babe because that's what men want."

Harrison found it hard to accept that she believed all that. "That's a hell of a lot of honesty."

His comment was like the release gate on a dam. A flood of words poured out of Amanda. "I don't want you to be confused by Nicole's tricks and think I'm something I'm not. Even though I'm more than willing to...you know...have that raging affair with you."

Amanda spoke faster to get all the words out before she lost her courage. "I was just pretending. So you may not really want me now that you know the truth. I'm not a sexy hot babe, and you don't have to tell me I am just to--"

Harrison's mouth swooped down and captured hers, shutting off the frantic torrent of words. Amanda was frozen for a split second, then the feel of his mouth on hers broke through the paralysis. His lips were warm. They pressed against hers, teasing, shaping hers. The tip of his tongue licked, demanded entrance. She sighed, and his tongue plunged into her mouth. She forgot that she didn't know much about kissing. She welcomed him. She pressed her body as tightly as possible to his and couldn't hold back the moan that rose to her lips.

Win A Copy of Scents and Sensuality

Make a comment and be entered to win a $5.00 Starbucks Gift Card and a Smashwords Coupon for a free copy of Scents and Sensuality. Just leave your email address where I can contact you if you win and make arrangements for delivery of your prizes.

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Bottom Line

I hope you'll enjoy watching Amanda and Harrison navigate all the steps of intimacy in a book that's sassy, sexy, and funny.

Joan Reeves is a mild-mannered reporter for the Daily Planet who – no, wait, that's someone else. Seriously? Okay, if we must be serious. Joan Reeves is a multi-published author. Her books are available in ebook, audio, and print editions from all major retailers. Joan's Motto: "It's never too late to live happily ever after."

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