Tuesday Teaser

Tuesday Teaser is a weekly bookish meme (rhymes with “cream"), hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. (I’ve borrowed it from LDS Women’s Book Review.) Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share at least two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

I'm adapting the rules slightly. I'll be quoting some random lines from the last chapter I read before I post a teaser.

Actually I'm going to share two teasers with you from the same book today. Both are from The Winter Sea, by Susanna Kearsley. The narrator of this story is an author with whom I immediately bonded when she said:

I'd never been a fast writer, and five hundred words in one day was, to me, a good effort. A thousand words left me ecstatic. (9% Kindle version)

Yes! That is so me! :-)

Okay, now here's a teaser for non-writer readers.

Still, you couldn't just remember something if you hadn't had it in your memory to begin with.

Could you?

(From The Winter Sea, 19% Kindle version)

If you'd like to share a teaser from a book you're currently reading, I'd love you to do so in the comment section. And you don't even have to share it on a Tuesday! Be sure to include the title, author, and page number in case others would like to check out the book you're reading.

What Am I Reading Now?

I've fallen behind on my What Am I Reading Now updates. I got behind while moving into a new house over the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays and then trying to settle into my new home. But I did, indeed, continue to read during that time! Most of my print books were "somewhere" in packing boxes, so I've been relying on my iPad Kindle app to keep me entertained. Between Christmas and the middle of February, I reread three of my favorite books from childhood: The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, The Five Little Peppers Midway, and The Five Little Peppers Grown Up, all by Margaret Sidney. It's always a treat to discover that a book that was a favorite "then" (whenever "then" might be) is still a favorite when you read it again, and so it was for the Five Little Peppers books. These books were written in the late 19th/early 20th Century and have an old time feel with old time values. They may not be fast paced enough for kids today, but when I was a little girl, I wanted to grow up to be just like Polly Pepper. :-)

(Note: The Five Little Peppers series is free on Kindle, but be aware that whoever uploaded them failed to format them properly for e-books, and to say that the formatting is "haywire" is a vast understatement. I loved the stories enough not to mind, but it may bother "new" readers. The formatting in print versions is, to my knowledge, just fine.)

Okay, on to my current "read." The Winter Sea, by Susanna Kearsley, was recommended to me by a good friend who thought (correctly) that I might be interested in the early 18th Century Jacobites (those who wanted to restore the descendants of James II Stewart to the throne of England after James had been driven out of England for being a Catholic king in Protestant England). Here is the back cover blurb:

In the spring of 1708, an invading Jacobite fleet of French and Scottish soldiers nearly succeeded in landing the exiled James Stewart in Scotland to reclaim his crown.

Now, Carrie McClelland hopes to turn that story into her next bestselling novel. Settling herself in the shadow of Slains Castle, she creates a heroine named for one of her own ancestors and starts to write.

But when she discovers her novel is more fact than fiction, Carrie wonders if she might be dealing with ancestral memory, making her the only living person who knows the truth-the ultimate betrayal-that happened all those years ago, and that knowledge comes very close to destroying her.

Stop by on Tuesday and I'll share a Tuesday Teaser with you from The Winter Sea.

Blog Hop Winners!

Congratulations to:

Doodle Bug, winner of the For the Love of Swoon blog hop! Doodle Bug has won a copy of my sweet medieval romance, Illuminations of the Heart.

Farah Khalaf, winner of the Random Act of Kindness blog hop! Farah has won a $17.21 gift certificate to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or the Book Depository.

Thank you to everyone who entered!

Summary Sunday

I just got back from an AWESOME writers conference, hosted by the American Night Writers Association (ANWA) in Mesa, Arizona. I learned many informative and inspirational things over the past two days, but here's one thought I'd like to share with you from our keynote speaker, James A. Owen:

"Never, ever sacrifice what you want the most, for what you want the most at that moment."

Just think about it. :-)

Because of conference activities, I only got five days of writing in this week, and hence have only five new sentences to share with you. Four of the five are spoken by my heroine's cousin, Richard; one (well, two together) are thoughts by my heroine, Marguerite. All of these are from The Lady and the Minstrel.

Monday: (Richard:) “And you have Heywood to thank for finding yourself bound to a man shameless enough to bring his mistress to his own betrothal, for no other man is so conceited in his own power and cunning as to think he can rule Heywood’s manors and stamp out the danger from spreading to his own.”

Tuesday: (Richard:) “Lady Beatrice lost her position as one of Queen Isabella’s ladies-in-waiting and found herself and her husband both banished to their own estates, merely because Lady Beatrice gave a sniff one day that the earl interpreted as disdain of Lady Lovell.”

Wednesday: (Richard:) “Most of the barons have come to hate the king, and I can hardly blame them after what he did to William de Briouze and his family.”

Thursday: (Marguerite:) Minstrels did not fight wars. Unless he is more than a minstrel.

Friday: (Richard:) “Apparently I had rattled on about my ‘pestering little cousin’ to her whenever she asked me about my family.”

Random Acts of Kindness Blog Hop

Welcome to the Random Acts of Kindness Blog Hop, sponsored by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and Read for Your Future!

Here at JDP NEWS, my random act of kindness gift to you is an Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift certificate for $17.21 so you can choose your own book! For international entries, I will give away a book of your choosing on the Book Depository equal to $17.21 USD or less. All you have to do is enter via the Rafflecopter form below, then hop along on the linky-list below to find some more great giveaways!

Because I'm going to be at a writers conference on Feb 22 and won't be home to choose a winner, I will be leaving this giveaway open through Feb 23. The winner will be announced on February 24. This giveaway is open to international entries.

OFFICIAL RULES: NO PURCHASE NECESSSARY. Entrants must be 18 years or older. Winners will be selected on February 22 and have 48 hours to respond to an email notifying them of their win. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Questions? Contact me at jdipastena@yahoo.com.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Summary Sunday

Here are some new sentences from The Lady and the Minstrel. I'm off to a writers conference later this week. I don't know how much time I'll have to write between all those writing classes, but let's keep our fingers crossed that I can squeeze at least five new sentences in! ;-)

Monday: If the intrigues of the royal court had affected his minstrel’s life, it had done so in so tangential a way that Robert could not have cited an instance.

Tuesday: And yet the same instincts that warned Robert about the earl also convinced him that the kisses in her chamber had not been a lie.

Wednesday: Her voice had gone small, as though nervous of what he might think of her admission, but she rushed on before he could speak.

Thursday: Her lips drooped so sadly at what she clearly interpreted as a rejection that Robert held out his hand for the flute before he could stop himself.

Friday: She should dread what awaited her return to castle—her father, the earl—but instead, as she trotted her mare beneath the spiked iron teeth of the raised portcullis, her heart still sang with the final melody that Robert had piped for her before they parted.

Saturday: “She said you had probably gone to the village, even though she says you’re forbidden to do so—I don’t remember your mother having such a fearsome frown when I was a boy—so I rode into Lyndeard and searched high and low for you, but no one there had seen you.”

For the Love of Swoon Blog Hop

Welcome to the For the Love of Swoon Blog Hop, hosted by The Book Hookup and I Am a Reader, Not a Writer! What better way could there be to celebrate Valentine's Day than with a book with a deliciously swoony hero?

Here at JDP NEWS I'm giving away a copy of my sweet medieval romance, Illuminations of the Heart, featuring my own swoony hero, Triston. Here's the book description:

"Clothilde." He spoke the name on a breath like a prayer. Then he lowered his head and kissed her.

Her heart is lost in that first embrace, her world is shaken to its foundations. There is just one problem; her name is not Clothilde. It is Siriol de Calendri. Trained in the art of illumination in the far-off city of Venice, Siri is directed by her late brother's will to the county of Poitou in France, where she enters the guardianship of her brother's friend Sir Triston de Brielle. Once in Poitou, Siri hopes to find employment in an illuminator's shop - until Triston unexpectedly snatches her heart away with a kiss.

Triston is a man of quiet honor and courage, but the guild he carries for the death of his late wife, Clothilde, has left him numb and hesitant to love again. Worse yet, Siri bears an uncanny resemblance to his lost love. Or does she? Her merry laughter and twinkling eyes are very different from his late wife's shy smiles and quiet ways. Yet when he gazes into Siri's face, all he sees is Clothilde.

Then Triston's past returns to threaten them both. Will his tragic life with Clothilde be repeated with Siri? Trapped between the rivalry of the king's sons on the one hand and a neighbor out for vengeance on the other, Triston realizes it would be safer to send Siri away. But how can he bear to lose her again?

Siri is determined not to be cast off and not to live in another woman's shadow. She has illuminated many a priceless book with pen and paint. But can her own vibrant spirit illuminate the darkness in Triston's soul and make his heart beat for her alone?

If this sounds like a book you'd like to win, all you have to do is enter via the Rafflecopter form below. The winner may have her choice of a print or Kindle version. (Sorry, my publisher has yet to make it available for Nook.)

Because I'm going to be at a writers conference on Feb 22 and won't be home to choose a winner, I will be leaving this giveaway open through Feb 23. The winner will be announced on February 24. USA entries only this time, please.

OFFICIAL RULES: NO PURCHASE NECESSSARY. Entrants must be 18 years or older. Winners will be selected on February 24 and have 48 hours to respond to an email notifying them of their win. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Questions? Contact me at jdipastena@yahoo.com.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

All entered? Then hop along to the links below for some more great giveaways. Being as how it's Valentine's Day (more or less), I would recommend eating a piece of chocolate with each giveaway you enter!

Summary Sunday

Slow but steady wins the race. That's what I keep telling myself with my latest WIP. Here are some new sentences from The Lady and the Minstrel.

Monday: The convictions that had driven him for twenty-five years wavered in a rush of uncertainty.

Tuesday: If his mother had poured music into his soul, his father had branded his bold  heresy upon it.

Wednesday: He had been braced then for her to shrink . . . or to have subdued her doubts with his kisses

Thursday: He had lost himself for a few moments reliving happier times, but he had known such a question as this must come.

Friday: "That is where my mother herself dropped it on the day that she learned my father had fallen afoul of our baron.”

Saturday: In all the years Robert had remembered her with warmth and gratitude, it had never crossed his mind that she may have paid a price for the service she had rendered him that day.

Summary Sunday

I wrote my way through a cold this week, so a few of my writing sessions were a bit hazy. I hope these new sentences make sense. Hazy or not, I enjoyed writing them!

Monday: Let him go now, when she had only just found him?

Tuesday: She shot up from the stool and ran to her husband's side as William spewed a mouthful of ale across the table and burst into a coughing fit.

Wednesday: “What folderol you’ve learned to recite, Rob.”

Thursday: “Ye always made yer own choices, Rob, and remember what it cost ye.”

Friday: But in truth, the folly had already been done.

Saturday: Only one thought had rushed into his mind then, thrumming out everything else: This. This is my chance.

Blog Hop Winners!

Congratulations to the following blog hop winners:

Desiree D., winner of the No Strings Attached Giveaway Hop

and 

Joy F., winner of the Back to the Future Giveaway Hop

Desiree and Joy have each won a copy of my sweet medieval romance, Dangerous Favor.

Summary Sunday

This week involved a lot of revision that included slicing and dicing of already existing sentences and paragraphs, but here are a few brand new sentences that I added to the mix from The Lady and the Minstrel.

Monday: The fellow met Strode’s eyes briefly in the light of the torch held by one of his companions, his face as unreadable as it had been in the hall, save for that one ill-judged grin he had cast at the Lady Marguerite.

Tuesday: He would have to cool her temper before she would grant him the heat of her passion.

Wednesday: Illusion was everything between lovers, as it was at times between subject and king.

Thursday: She did not care that she had only been a child, that it was unreasonable to expect him to see in a seventeen-year-old woman the ten-year-old girl who had helped him all those years ago.

Friday: She had heard them sung merry, melancholy, sardonic, and bitter, but never in such fluid tones as his, or to a melody so plaintive that it hung shivering in the air, a poignant reminiscence, for moments after his voice had ceased.

Saturday: “But one kiss—just one!—I would cherish to the end of my days.”

Back to the Future Giveaway Hop Across Time

Welcome to the Back to the Future Giveaway Hop, sponsored by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and Book Haven Extraordinaire. All the books being given away in this blog hop are either set in the past or the future, none in the present. Mine, of course, is set in the past...the medieval past, to be precise. I am giving away a copy of my sweet medieval romance, Dangerous Favor, winner's choice of Kindle, Nook, or print copy.

This blog hop ends at 11:59 PM on January 28. The winner will be announced on January 29. Unless you are able to download a Kindle or Nook e-version, USA entries only this time, please.

OFFICIAL RULES: NO PURCHASE NECESSSARY. Entrants must be 18 years or older. Winners will be selected on January 29, 2013 and have 48 hours to respond to an email notifying them of their win. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.


a Rafflecopter giveaway



All entered? Then hop along for some more great Back to the Future prizes!

Summary Sunday

As with most things in life, some writing days were better than others this week. I missed Tuesday entirely because I was gone all day and went to a lecture on Catherine the Great that night (loved it!), but I got all the other days in, in spite of a rapidly developing head cold. Here's a sampling of what I accomplished.

Monday: “I am not a slackwit, lady, whatever your father came to think of me after that mischief-making churchman turned his mind against me.”

Tuesday:

Wednesday: She had racked her brains for hours for some way to smuggle word to Northumberland, but every possibility seemed bolted fast against her.

Thursday: Richard had been her father’s page and his lively, cheerful mischief had proved a happier distraction from the dismayingly ill-tempered man who called himself her father than had the pretty, soft-faced mother who coddled her one moment, and the next left her with strange servants to run eagerly off to attend Valette’s every whim.

Friday: He must have seen the defiance in her eyes, for his own gleamed a challenge in return.

Saturday: Almost immediately his face sobered again and his eyes darted away; his quick fingers did not drop not so much a beat on the strings as he sang on as though nothing had passed between them.

No Strings Attached Blog Hop

Welcome to the No Strings Attached Blog Hop, sponsored by I Am a Reader Not a Writer. No hoops to jump through for this one. No "follows", no "likes", just enter via the Rafflecopter form below for a chance to win a copy of my sweet medieval romance, Dangerous Favor. The winner can have her choice of print, Kindle, or Nook version.

The hop ends at 11:59 January 21. Winner will be drawn on January 22. Open to US and International entries. (An international winner may receive a print copy through Book Depository.)

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Entrants must be 18 years or older. Winner will be selected on January 22, 2013. Winners have 48 hours to respond to an email notifying them of their win. Sponsor name and contact info: Joyce DiPastena, jdipastena@yahoo.com. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW

a Rafflecopter giveaway

All entered? Then hop along for some more string free prizes below!

Summary Sunday

I've enjoyed spending time with Rob and Marguerite again. It feels good to be back to writing! Here are a few new sentences from The Lady and the Minstrel.

Monday: The Lady Marguerite’s sweet countenance flowed into his mind as distinctly as Agnes’s faded vaguely away.

Tuesday: If there was one thing Robert’s proud heart abhorred more than all the rest, it was pity.

Wednesday: “I mean I’ve seen that kindlin’ in yer eyes before and it always bodes trouble for someone.”

Thursday: But Robert realized now the baron had dealt his villein an unwitting favor, for Lucy had clearly brought a light to William’s life he would never have found on Beck Manor.

Friday: Not one day had passed in the last seven years that she had not recalled their meeting, the look of wild despair in his gaze when her footfall had whirled him around on the edge of the river’s bank, and then at her offer, a gratitude so fervent it had consumed the fears that had driven her to try to flee from the man she loved most in all the world.

Saturday: She should have trusted Grandfather to listen to her fears rather than trying to run away . . . but if she had, she would never have met the handsome young man by the river.

Summary Sunday

My writing took a break while I moved into a new house over the holidays (and had a plumbing crisis...click here for pictures), but with the New Year, I hope to get back on track with this important part of my life. The Lady and the Minstrel has been calling to me again. I was actually thinking about changing the name of this book, but friends on Facebook voted me down. They want me to keep it, so for now I guess I will. 

Here are some new sentences I wrote for it this week, beginning on New Year's Day:

Tuesday: “Are those your only clothes, man?”

Wednesday: “Aye,” William said with a snap to his voice that betrayed to Robert how sorely his playful obtuseness provoked his friend, “Robert the Harper, Robert of the Road, even Robert of Wiltshire would mean nothing to Beckford’s ears. But a Robert Marcel on his Dorset manor?"

Thursday: He spoke softly, and knew from William’s face that his friend understood every deathly quiet syllable.

Friday: "The saints forgive me, but when Beckford sent me away to Enford, I missed ye more than I missed my own kin."

Saturday: When he had recovered from his final debacle with Kit, it had been with a foreign coldness inside him, a coldness that had warred ever since with the fiery blood of his birth.

Books I Read in 2012

For 2012 I set a goal of reading at least 4 old favorites and 2 non-fiction books, as well as new titles that caught my fancy. Here is my yearly report. Books marked 2 **s in blue signify old favorites. Books marked in green were non-fiction. As you'll see, I surpassed my non-fiction goal by 3 books, but failed my old favorites goal by 1.

My favorite "new" book of 2012 is marked with 3 ***s in red.

My Fair Godmother, by Janette Rallison (fiction)

Killing Lincoln, by Bill O'Reilly & Martin Dugard (non-fiction)

Letters in the Jade Dragon Box, by Gale Sears (fiction)***

Fires of Jerusalem, by Marilyn Brown (fiction)

Isabelle Webb: The Pharaoh's Daughter, by N.C. Allen (fiction)

Miss Delacourt Has Her Day, by Heidi Ashworth (fiction)

Daughter of Helaman, by Misty Moncur (fiction)

Dead Running, by Cami Checketts (fiction)

A Mormon in the White House: Ten Things Every Conservative Should Know About Mitt Romney, by Hugh Hewitt (non-fiction)

The Conquering Family, by Thomas B. Costain (non-fiction)** (this book fell into 2 categories, non-fiction and old favorite, so I used both colors)

Taking Advantage, by Larry Hammersley (fiction)

Zenobia: the Birth of a Legend, by Russ Wallace (fiction)

A Lady by Any Other Name, by Jennifer Kitchens (fiction)

Black Ships Before Troy, by Rosemary Sutcliff (fiction)

The Wanderings of Odysseus, by Rosemary Sutcliff (fiction)

Cousin Kate, by Georgette Heyer (fiction)**

The Nonesuch, by Georgette Heyer (fiction)**

A Timeless Romance Anthology: Winter Collection 2012,various authors (fiction)

Mistletoe Magic: A Short Regency Romance, by Donna Hatch (fiction)

Frontier Wolf, by Rosemary Sutcliff (fiction)

During my move to Mesa I found myself having trouble focusing on a full-length novel, so each night I browsed a little book called Medieval Ghost Stories, compiled and edited by Andrew Joynes. I didn't read it from cover to cover, though, so I can't add it to my list. I also began a re-read of a favorite book from my childhood, The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, by Margaret Sidney, so I guess technically I've read 3.5 old favorites, but I haven't finished it yet, so it, too, can't go on my official list.

I decided to add my scripture reading report this year, since I read those, too!

Pearl of Great Price: Moses 4 - Articles of Faith 1-13

Old Testament: Genesis - Psalms 40

New Testament: Luke 1-24 (with my yearly chocolate advent calendar)

Goal for 2013: In addition to new reads, 4 old favorites and 2 non-fiction books.

Merry Christmas 2012!

Those of you who know me know that I love cats. So when I found this tender little song by David Archuleta, I knew I had to share it with you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Book Lover's Holiday Hop: Apologies, explanation, and winner!

My apologies for being late to choose the winner of the Book Lover's Holiday Hop here at JDP NEWS. I moved into a brand new house a week and a half ago and woke up yesterday morning to find this in one of my bedrooms:

That's a pocket of water inside the wall, traveling...well, down my wall. There was a leak in the ceiling which my builder spent all day attending to. (And thus distracting me from choosing a Hop Winner!) By the end of the day, the wall in the bedroom looked like this:

And the ceiling in my bathroom looked like this, because there was a water pocket hiding in there, too!

In addition to these lovely holes in my brand new house, there are three very large fans running day and night drying out the wet spots before the builder comes back and patches up these looming gaps. 

All in all, I became a little forgetful about my blog responsibilities, but happily my brain got back on track tonight and I am now ready to announce the winner of the Book Lover's Giveaway Hop:

And the winner is...Jamie Wells! Jamie has won a copy of my e-novella, A Candlelight Courting: A Short Christmas Romance.

Thank you to everyone who entered and for being so patient while I worked through my latest house crisis!

Christmas Books Giveaway Hop: Winner!

Congratulations to Lu Ann, winner of the Christmas Books Giveaway Hop on JDP NEWS! Lu Ann has won a copy of my sweet e-novella, A Candlelight Courting: A Short Christmas Romance.