Elizabeth Seckman talks romance

Happy Valentine's Day, folks. I'm not a very romantic person myself, so when Elizabeth suggested a Valentine's post, to celebrate the launch of her latest book Defying Reason, I wondered if she was on the right blog for the 14th. Turns out, she was :-)


Hi Annalisa! Thanks so much for letting me stop by on this lovely, love filled holiday. Now, you may think I am on a chocolate high, but I am here to convince you that some of the world's most famous love stories really do suck.


Romeo and Juliet? Seriously, they were kids! Imagine it. Your fifteen-year-old sneaks into a party, sees a hot girl (I'm assuming there were some glandular issues involved in this love.) and is so totally smitten, people will die. He dies, she dies, Tybalt dies, Paris dies, Mercutio dies...all dead because these two co-dependents needed an intervention.

Rhett Butler and Scarlet O'Hara (Gone With the Wind)? Scarlet  is a bitch. She hardly even likes her own children.  She is a survivor and will do anything and marry anyone to make it. Bring on Rhett. He sees her for the evil that she is and loves her. He's operating on true love. Scarlet could care less. She wants her best friend's husband...all the way up until the friend dies and her husband is up for grabs. Then Scarlet wants Rhett. Hmm. I'm kind of glad he tells her to go to hell...he no longer gives a damn. High fives to Rhett for growing a set!

Heathcliff and Catherine (Wuthering Heights): Mean people, both of them. They are hateful, selfish, and cruel. Too bad Catherine was too uppity and snotty to marry him. Then they could have pooled all their evil in one household and saved a whole lotta people a whole lotta misery.

Meggy Cleary, Father Ralph, and Mary Carson (The Thornbirds): I'm not getting kinky here...this love triangle has to be fully laid out to make sense. Old Mary Carson first loved the hot Catholic priest, Ralph. Then her niece Meggy moves to Drogheda, and the little whipper snapper grows into a hot babe. who catches the eye of  the priest. Mary sees it and she hates him for it...not because he's in love with her niece, but because there will never be any Ralph + Mary carved into a tree, So, when Mary dies. she leaves Ralph her money, thereby forcing him to choose: Meggy or status in the church. Meggy loses. True love didn't conquer all, not even pride. But there is one helluva a hot love scene on an island.

Now, for the record. I love all these books. Each one (with the exception of Romeo and Juliet...I read that because an English teacher made me) is on my top ten list of must read books. Each is epic. Each could be read a hundred times and something new found. The only thing I don't get is how did these couples become icons of the love story? But then, I suppose if these guys are the epitome of love, no wonder the divorce rate is so freaking high. `

The Blurb:

Jo Leigh Harper comes from a long line of trouble-making, white trash stock.

Tanner Coulter comes from a longer line of wealth-creating, blue blood stock.

Jo graduated college top of her class, moving toward a future full of possibilities.

Tanner dropped out of college, trading a law degree for drinking games and one night stands.

A family crisis throws the rich party boy and the poor genius girl together. The attraction is immediate, though neither one is a heart-in-the-sand-drawing believer in true love. But as the summer sun heats up along the shores of the Outer Banks, so does the connection between them. Maybe, just maybe, they can win at love by defying reason.

 

Author Bio:

Elizabeth is a multi-published author of books for people who are believers in happily-ever- after, true love, and stories with a bit of fun and twists with their plots. The mother of four young men, she tackles laundry daily and is the keeper of the kitchen. She lives along the shores of the Ohio River in West Virginia, but dreams daily of the beach. 

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Look what I did!

Hint: look at the right sidebar. Down a bit, a little further...

Yep! I signed up for the 2015 A-Z Challenge!

After several weeks thinking about it, and several days asking for advice, I decided I would give it a go. I took part in 2012, and that's when I met most of my current blog readers and friends. But I figured I had room for a few more.

Am I scared? Yep! I have no idea how many blogs I'll be able to visit, or whether I'll be able to keep up with the number of visitors that I might get... especially as for two of those weeks my kids will be off school for the Easter holidays, and I'll be working, and those Easter Eggs really aren't going to eat themselves.

But apart from that, piece of cake, right?

Polar Day by Julie Flanders

Whoo-hoo, Polar Day is published today! Congratulations, Julie.

I've avidly read everything Julie has published so far - I think she's fantastic - and I can't wait to get my hands on this one too.

Polar Day is the sequel to Polar Night and The Turnagain Arm, a novella which tells the story of Aleksei's origins.

Book Blurb:

The midnight sun bakes Fairbanks, Alaska as residents gather for the annual summer solstice baseball game. Amidst the revelry and raucous shouts of “Play ball,” a spark alights and a jogger bursts into flames. Detective Danny Fitzpatrick, still reeling from his near death at the hands of vampire Aleksei Nechayev, watches in horror as the man burns alive.

Someone is burning Fairbanks and its residents and leaving nothing but smoldering embers behind. As the city sweats under a record-breaking heatwave and unexplained fires claim more victims, Danny and his colleagues struggle to find an arsonist who can conjure fire out of thin air.

To Danny’s horror, the only one who may be able to help him stop the arsonist is his nemesis Nechayev. Will the vampire help in the hunt for a witch?

Buy on Amazon 

Author Bio:

Julie Flanders is a librarian by day and a writer all the rest of the time. She is also a television show addict with a particular fondness for Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead and a slightly obsessive sports fan who cheers for the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Cincinnati Reds. Julie is an animal lover and animal rescue advocate who shares her home with her rescued dog and cat. She has written about the joys of pets for outlets such as Cat Fancy, Thrive in Life, and Best Friends Animal Society. Visit Julie at julieflanders.net.

Links:

Website // Blog // Twitter // Facebook // Goodreads  

Have you read Polar Night, or The Turnagain Arm?

IWSG in a hurry

It's the first Wednesday of the month, and I completely forgot. In fact, I forgot it was a Wednesday and a new month too! I'm in too much of a flap to link to the list this month, but you know the drill by now.

If you read my last post, you'll understand how this error occurred - I'm alone with two kids, a naughty dog and an ageing cat. I am trying to fit in some peculiar shifts at work, cooking... and I've just broken a nail.

Insecurities this month? Well actually, none. I'm not writing at the moment, because of the aforementioned other stuff. It's very liberating, because I don't feel I have to write - although, earlier, I was sitting in Costa drinking a hot chocolate and realised I'd taken my notebook out of my bag.

Sometimes, by letting yourself not doing something, you realise it's the one thing you really, really want to.

Now, I'm off to finish my wine... because it's been that kind of day!