This is a year of milestones for my family. My husband and I celebrated our fifteenth wedding anniversary, the Velvet Revolution just marked its 25th anniversary, and our oldest child, a son, will …
Source: On Making a Man
Month: February 2017
Khloe’s Flower Shop Book Tour
About The Book: As the owner of a successful florist shop, Khloe Harper trusts her instincts. She has a strong bond with her family and friends, but after being betrayed by her last love, she’s kep…
Source: Khloe’s Flower Shop Book Tour
Cards From Khloe’s Flower Shop by Isabella Louise Anderson
As the owner of a successful florist shop, Khloe Harper trusts her instincts. She has a strong bond with her family and friends, but after being betrayed by her last love, she’s kept herself at arms’ length from romance. When dashing entertainment attorney Derek Thomas walks into her store, Khloe’s interest is piqued. What at first seems like a business relationship quickly turns into romance, and Derek slowly plucks away the petals she’s been hiding behind. Just as Khloe lets down her guard, she discovers that Derek may not be worthy of her love after all.
Frumpy Connie Albright has a faux fascination with an imaginary man named Walt, thinking that by sending herself flowers from him she’ll feel less out-of-place with the “mean girls” she works with. When she comes face to face with her possible prince charming and thinking she might have a happy ending, when a truth is revealed, she wonders if she’ll ever have a Cinderella story.
A recently widowed senior, Gabby Lewis, isn’t ready to give up on love—which means releasing herself from survivor’s guilt and taking a chance on finding happiness and companionship again. After signing up for an online dating site for senior citizens, much to her surprise, she’s matched with Harry, an energetic and loving man, who quickly eases himself into her heart. Will Gabby take the leap of falling in love again, knowing it’s possible to have two loves of her life?
As each woman’s story develops through flowers and cards sent from Khloe’s shop during the Fall months, they begin to learn that love can only truly blossom when you trust your heart.
**Find “Cards From Khloe’s Flower Shop”: Amazon-US (Kindle and paperback) * Amazon-UK * Amazon-Canada * Barnes & Noble * Kobo * Goodreads
Connie Albright
Connie typed anxiously on her keyboard, looking up from her cubicle every few seconds, waiting for Sharon from Khloe’s Flower Shop to come through the glass entryway doors. She had checked her email first thing that morning, and like always, once a week, there was a confirmation about her order.
Dear Connie Albright,
Your order to CONNIE ALBRIGHT has been created by one of our team members and is on its way to the recipient.
If you have any questions, comments, or complaints, please call Khloe Harper at 1-800-555-1212.
As always, I wish you a bouquet of happiness! Khloe Harper Owner of Khloe’s Flower Shop
With a sigh, Connie looked back down at her keyboard and continued entering patients’ data into the Excel spreadsheet. Six years ago, to pay for her college education, she had started the medical data entry job, where she found mundane tasks enjoyable, and had been looking forward to making new friends. However, these days, she was now a college graduate with a degree in marketing who hated her job, finding it boring and repetitive, nor had she made friends with any of her co-workers. In fact, they barely noticed her.
Compared to the thin, sexy bombshells she worked with, Connie wasn’t anyone to be desired. She was tall, frumpy, wore glasses, and, thanks to a conversation she overheard, was known in the office as “the ugly girl who wore tacky sweaters.” With the exception of a few that her grandmother had sent her for her birthday, having crocheted each one, Connie didn’t think the sweaters were tacky.
So, after hearing enough of what was being said behind her back, and after complaining to her best friend—her diary—she came up with an idea to change things, and, so far, it seemed to have worked like magic.
“Connie!” Mia, the office receptionist, squealed. “They’re here!”
With a slight pause to get ready for the weekly act she performed, Connie popped up from her chair and watched Sharon approach. After signing her name to the page on the clipboard, she gave Sharon, the only other person besides Khloe who knew her secret, a quick nod.
Suddenly, Connie found herself in the center of a circle of women hovering over her desk, eagerly waiting for her to read the card that came with the bouquet.
“Well, what does it say?” asked a co-worker. “Yeah, come on. Tell us,” begged another. She took in the moment, wishing she had a real man who would say the things she had written to herself. “Your beauty captures me more each day, and my love for you grows each time I touch you. I’m looking forward to this weekend…in bed! Walt.”
Holding the card close to her chest, Connie forced tears from her eyes, forcing herself to blush in front of her co-workers. “Oh, I love that man so very much.”
“Seriously, that has to be the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard,” Mia said, dramatizing her voice and placing her hands on her chest. “Oh, Connie, you’re so lucky to have a man like him.”
“Yeah, Con, that’s cute,” began Nicola, the bitchiest of them all. “But the last time I got flowers, just yesterday as a matter of fact, they certainly weren’t carnations,” she joked, motioning her hand like she was shooing the flowers away from her. All the co-workers joined in her laughter, and then shuffled back to their desks.
Connie looked at her flowers and smiled, her feathers not ruffled by Nicola’s comment. She felt accomplished and desired. For a few moments, she’d been the center of attention of a group of women who she knew despised her. Even back in high school, she had been a female nerd, which crossed her out from being friends with the beautiful and popular girls, and in college it was pretty much the same story. It’s not that she didn’t try to make an effort, because she did, but after failing time and time again, whether it be at orientation, working together in groups for school projects, or the few times Connie went to a pub near the university in hopes of meeting up with a few girls who she thought she could be friends with, it never worked. They either laughed in her face, said that the empty seat next to them was already taken (when it really wasn’t), or simply ignored her.
Though it was beginning to get expensive and difficult to keep the lies about Walt straight, Connie had no other choice but to continue the weekly charade.
It’s just the right thing to do!, she told herself, taking a seat in her chair before continuing to enter the endless data, while thinking of what Walt’s card would say the following week.
About the author: Isabella grew up with a book in her hand, and to this day nothing haschanged. She focuses her time on featuring other writers on her blog, Chick Lit Goddess, along with organizing Goddess Book Tours, and is a member of the Romance Writers of America.
She lives in Dallas with her husband, enjoys spicy Mexican food, margaritas, gin on the rocks (with a splash of lime). She loves spending time with family and friends and cheering on the Texas Rangers. Not only is Isabella an author, she’s also a Scentsy consultant and hoarder.
Isabella is the author of The Right Design and Cards From Khloe’s Flower Shop. Her short story, “Meet Me Under the Mistletoe,” was featured in Simon & Fig’s Christmas anthology, Merry & Bright. She’s currently working on another book.
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The University of Corporeal & Ethereal Studies
At the University of Corporeal & Ethereal Studies meddling with unknown powers can be dangerous work. Courses in arts and sciences experiment with supernatural forces to solve the mysteries of the universe, but when school projects go awry, the students may discover more than they would like to about the madness of the cosmic ‘Beyond’.
Eight interwoven stories follow students whose school work, social lives and inner demons crash together, leading to fantastic and horrible experiences, supernatural powers, and a fuller understanding of the dark depths of their world.
Classes include subjects such as time travel, alchemy, oneironautics , psychedelic transformation, rogue automatons, cosmic ghosts, reality-warping crystals, and more.
Inspired by many authors of science fiction, fantasy and horror, including H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, J.K. Rowling, Neil Gaiman, William Gibson, Kurt Vonnegut and Isaac Asimov.
Buy on Amazon / Nook / Book Baby
Wolfgang Edwards was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1987. He has been an aspiring writer since he was a child and intends to keep writing the rest of his life.
Get the first book for FREE on Instafreebie when you sign up for Wolfgang Edwards’ newsletter
EXCERPT
“Gods! I forgot the vicious insanity of being ambitious and young with other such people as my so-called friends!”
Her voice, strong as I remembered, rang out in the chamber – somehow clearer than anything I could recall hearing for some time. Her words cut through an invisible film that made the air thick and muffled.
Madam Armiarma’s wrinkled cheeks were more detailed than the hairs of the nearest mounted animal. The white of her bonnet shone more clearly than the candle lights all around us. Everything was more focused, with the old woman as the centre, radiating clarity itself. My mind was sharpened as by a jolt of caffeine shot straight into the brain.
“What is happening?” I asked, touching my face, feeling how firm and real it all had become. “Where are we?”
“Your dreams of course! And quite the telling dreams they are at that! You seem bright enough; a student taking on the forgotten art of Oneironautics and all, but really, dear, what kind of daft tart is so shallow and self-absorbed?” She berated me coolly.
Her strong voice was a formidable weapon when she wielded it so. The kindly old cupcake I met in the asylum had transformed into a bitter lump of coal.
“How dare you speak to me that way!” I snapped, surprised by my own lucidity. This is all a dream? A hint of dizziness twisted at the thought, “You may be my elder but you should remember your place, you mad old bat!”
Armiarma’s little eyebrows rose up into her bonnet, a deadly twinkle of amusement in her eyes, “Oh, I am more than just a mad old bat, dear.”
She was changing. There was no other word for it. I blinked and gasped as her body transformed – a smoother evolution than the ugly melding of Audrey and Valerie.
The little crone stretched, her round, squat form turning slender and tall.
Her ancient dress and bonnet flashed to new colours, shifting to new designs.
She wore a skin-tight black body-suit. The thin, fine lace left nothing to the imagination – except how anyone could don such a piece. It must have been sewn over her body, never to be taken off without ripping it to shreds.
A lean, powerful, young lady loomed four metres tall. When had the ceiling stretched?
“I am a master Oneironaut,” she informed me proudly.
It’s just a dream. I reminded myself, the concept less foreign by the second, I stood strong, unfazed, sneering up at her. “So, what of it?” was the best I could come up with.
The ground trembled in a subsonic bellow setting the very air aquiver. The vibration was so fierce I briefly hoped someone was shaking me awake and I would be freed.
I spun around at the rousing movements throughout the room. The taxidermy monstrosities were flexing and stretching like athletes preparing for exercise.
Twin rapiers were picked up by the speckled cat, its paws abruptly possessing opposable thumbs. Sharp, glowing green eyes turned on me with fury.
The darts guarded by the stuffed eagle took on a life of their own, flying in rapid circles around the bird of prey as it flapped giant wings to rise toward the ceiling.
With a snort the bison at the far end of the room pawed at the hardwood floor, rolling is neck – adjusting for the weight of the hand-cannon branching out between its massive horns.
“So?” The sharp, authoritative soprano inquired, “Your dreams are my domain.”
Wolfgang Edwards was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1987. He has been an aspiring writer since he was a child and intends to keep writing the rest of his life.
Guest Post ~Christopher Hansen On magicians and the magic in The Magician’s Workshop:
One of the joys that came from writing The Magician’s Workshop was getting to create an entirely different world, where magic is different than how we think of it in our world. The magicians in our book are not like sleight-of-hand magicians, illusionists such as David Copperfield, or the wizards and witches in Harry Potter. Instead, these magical powers enable people to create. Whatever a person can imagine can come into existence.
I (Chris) have the great honor of being the father of three kids. One of the things we enjoy doing is reading books and watching movies together. We have been transported into many fantastic worlds where there are some people who have been fortunate to be born a witch or a wizard, have the force, or have some super power. These stories draw out of my kids a longing to be special. Wouldn’t it be so cool to fly or have some supernatural power? Jon and I feel it too.
Yet, neither one of us can fly. We’re pretty common. So, instead of creating a world where only a small portion of the population is special, we decided to create a planet where everyone alive possesses the ability to use magic.
People here are born with the innate capability to “project” immaterial objects. It could be a flower or a monster, a melody, or a smell. They can project flavors onto their food, and project clothing onto their bodies. One person may work to create a projected pet, another a dolphin swimming in the ocean. But none of their projections are solid. While they look real, they are in many ways similar to what we would call augmented reality, and people can just make them the way we can just open our mouth and sing a song or take our finger and draw something in the sand.
To us on Earth the ability to create a projection would look like pure fantastical magic. We would call every one of them a magician. But this isn’t true in their world. There, only a few people are given the title of magician. This is because, as everyone is born with the same ability, they don’t view it as anything special. To them, what they are born with is just a base skill, one that they need to practice and perfect.
The people known as magicians are the ones who have gained the most skill and mastery over these magical abilities. Our story is about a collection of kids who aspire to become magicians. It follows their journey to perfect their skills and become the best. Some will succeed while others will fail. In this the characters are confronted with the question of what their magic really is, where it comes from, and what it was given to them for.
About the Books:
The Magician’s Workshop, Volume One
Authors: Christopher Hansen, J.R. Fehr
Published by: Wondertale, California
Publication Date: November 8, 2016
ISBN: 1-945353-11-2
ASIN: B01MQGHGBH
Genre: Coming of Age, Fantasy, Magic
Ages: 12 and up.
Length: 85,000 words / 290 pages
Book Links:
Everyone in the islands of O’Ceea has a magical ability: whatever they imagine can be brought into existence. Whoever becomes a master over these powers is granted the title of magician and is given fame, power, riches, and glory. This volume of books follows the journey of a group of kids as they strive to rise to the top and become members of the Magician’s Workshop.
Layauna desperately wants to create beautiful things with her magical powers, but all she can seem to do is make horrible, savage monsters. For years she has tried to hide her creations, but when her power is at last discovered by a great magician, she realizes that what she’s tried to hide might actually be of tremendous value.
Kai just wants to use his powers to have fun and play with his friends. Unfortunately, nearly everyone on his island sees him as a bad influence, so he’s forced to meet them in secret. When one of the creatures they create gets out of control and starts flinging fireballs at their town, Kai is tempted to believe that he is as nefarious as people say. However, his prospects change when two mysterious visitors arrive, praising his ability and making extraordinary promises about his future.
Follow the adventures of Kai, Layauna, and a boatload of other characters as they struggle to grow up well in this fantastical world.
The Magician’s Workshop, Volume Two
Authors: Christopher Hansen, J.R. Fehr
Print Length: 273 pages
Publisher: Wondertale
Publication Date: November 22, 2016
ASIN: B01N988TW7
Genre: Coming of Age, Fantasy, Magic
Ages: 12 and up.
Book Links:
Return to the world of The Magician’s Workshop: Where Dreams Become Reality.
In Volume Two, the Festival of Stars has finally arrived, and the Color Ceremony is about to commence. As children from all over the islands gather to stand before a puller, one question remains: who will have a Color, and who will be found void?
Rejoin your favorite characters as they step forward and receive a label that will have the power to dramatically alter the course of their lives forever.
About the Authors:
Christopher Hansen
The first glimmering Chris Hansen had that there was far more to reality than he had ever imagined occurred six days after his ninth birthday. “Christopher!” cried a wise, old sage. “Life is full of deep magic. Miraculous things happen all the time and all around us, if you know where to look for them.” Full of expectation and childlike optimism, Chris began searching for this magic, prepared to be surprised and amazed by it. And he was: he found Wonder! Now he’s chosen to write stories about it.
J.R. Fehr
When J.R. Fehr popped out of the womb, he knew there was more to the world than the four boring hospital walls that he was seeing. “Zango!” his newborn mind exclaimed as he saw people appear and disappear through a mysterious portal in the wall. As a child he found life wowtazzling, but as he grew older the cold water of reality hit him, and the magic he once knew vanished. After spending some wet and shivering years lost in a joyless wasteland, he once again began to see magic in the world. He writes because the Wonder of true life is far grander than anything he ever thought possible.
Contact the Authors:
Kate Murray: “Writing my way out of dyslexia”
Reblogged on WordPress.com
#MCVEganBOOKS
African American Fiction/Urban Fiction, Contemporary Fiction ~ by Ben Burgess Jr
Character Interview ~ Grow Up Messy
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Title of the book : (A Hilarious Coming of Age Series Book1)
Author : Paromita GoswamiGenre : Middle School, Teen and YA1) HOW OLD ARE YOU?
I am five year old. But that’s just officially.
Technically I consider myself almost nine years old. Most of my friends are older to me. 2) WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TOY?
I love playing outdoors with my friends. It’s
more fun outside, climbing up the trees or go swimming in the river. But I also yearn for my Talking Doll which Ma will be getting for me soon. 3) WHAT MAKES YOU SO MESSY?
I am not Messy. It is Raju who teases me by
calling me that and I hate him for it. Now all my friends have started calling me Messy. I know I mess up work sometimes but not always. 4) CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA?
Hmm..Can I have both?
5)FAVORITE FOOD?
I love the langar Tadka Dal and Roti. And of
course the tasty Panjiri Prasad which Panditji gives in the temple. 6) FAVORITE COLOR?
I love blue. All the shades. Especially the The Blurb: |
SUGAR & SPICE by R.E. Hargrave
SUGAR & SPICE
by R.E. Hargrave
❧Defining Ways❧ 