My last orphaned book has found a home at last

My last orphaned book (that lost its home at Desert Breeze Publishing when it closed its doors) has found a new home at Devine Destinies Books. If you've never read this contemporary romance set in the Texas Hill Country, then why not give it a try now?  ;-)

Preachin' to the Choir
http://www.devinedestinies.com/978-1-4874-2136-6-preachin-to-the-choir/
 
Jonathan could do nothing to stop his wife’s losing battle with cancer. With twenty years into the ministry, he can't believe the Lord would leave him with both an empty nest and empty spot on the other side of the bed.

Kat, music teacher and mother of grown twins, feels settled in small town Texas. Life may be dull, but it's predictable, unlike her life with her late husband. Kat concludes a happy, committed relationship with a male is impossible, so she makes peace with herself and with God. If nuns can live celibate, why can't she?

One Sunday, Jonathan spies a golden beam of light descending upon Kat while she is directing the choir. Why hasn’t he noticed how beautiful she was before? From here on out, Jonathan knows he’ll be preachin’ to the choir, but will Kat—and his congregation and their children—let him?

Read an excerpt at my blog by clicking here.

Click on the link on the bar above to read more about my contemporary releases.

A Short and Sweet Story!

Now available from Devine Destinies Books...

If You Give A Time Traveler A Cookie

(Book 4 in the Loving Who series) 

http://www.devinedestinies.com/if-you-give-a-time-traveler-a-cookie/

John and Cici return to St. Louis just in time for Cici to make her eye doctor appointment, but for some odd reason her apartment door seems jammed. The alien time traveler John Smith confesses he might have created a box that produces an endless supply of Thin Mints to assuage Cici's junk food habit. Will they be able to break the door down, stop the inter-dimensional cookie manufacturing, and save the building from collapsing before it's too late?

Excerpt: Never underestimate a sweet tooth.

“What is wrong with the door? Strange. I sure hope my landlord hasn’t locked me out of my apartment for non-payment of rent.”

“Impossible—remember, this is only twenty-four hours after we left, and the last time before we left Earth we jumped ahead to the distant future, took out your accrued interest on your savings, and pre-paid your rent all the way up to 2075. Your landlord absolutely adores you.” John fished in his jacket pockets for a small device that somewhat mimicked the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the lock. Nothing happened. “Maybe it’s rusty.” 

“Are you sure we’ve returned to Earth in the right time zone?”

“Of course we have.” He didn’t look too happy that I was questioning his expertise again, but after helping him thwart a number of attempted alien invasions of my home planet, John Smith wasn’t always the most reliable of time travelers. He put his device away, crossed his arms and stared hard at the door. “I think something is blocking it.”

“What could possibly be blocking it? I mean, I know my place isn’t exactly a mansion, but I don’t have any furniture located near the door that could have fallen across it and caused it to jam the lock. It doesn’t make any sense.”

He sniffed. “Who says it has to make sense? You humans rarely make sense to me.”

I laughed. “Ha! You’re one to talk, Mr. Junk Food Junkie. Who scarfed down all my Girl Scout cookies in one sitting and then asked for more?”

“I solved that problem as you recall.” He frowned at my forgetfulness at his thoughtfulness. “I reached into the twelfth dimension and redirected the end of the production line so the cookies would end up in your last empty box of Thin Mints so you wouldn’t ever be without… Oh, dear.” John’s eyes widened. His draw dropped. “Do you smell chocolate?”

I followed his sight line to the door and sniffed the air. “Hmm… Now that you mention it, yes, yes, I do smell a strong scent of chocolate—and mint, too. You can’t mean…” I gasped as the implication of his words hit me. My voice came out as a whisper. “You’re saying you didn’t turn off the cookie generator before we left?”

He shrugged. “Seems not.”

If You Give A Time Traveler A Cookie, now available at Devine Destinies Books.  

Check out the whole Loving Who series and enjoy the romantic-comedic sci-fi adventure!

Losing Who--Book 3 in the Loving Who series now available!

Losing Who
http://www.devinedestinies.com/losing-who/
(Book Three in the Loving Who series)

Cici Connors is losing her mind—or is she? She has vague memories of living another life where she time traveled and explored the universe accompanied by an alien with psychic abilities, but these memories can't be real, can they? Losing her job doesn't make her life any easier, so Cici decides it's time to grow up and give up Doctor Who fandom once and for all.

Alien time traveler John Smith had to leave Cici on Earth for the sake of clearing up Earth's muddy timeline. Now he vows to return to his adopted world--and return Cici's memories as well. But nothing is ever easy or simple where John is concerned. With the aid of his alien partners-in-crime, Captain Mac and Babbling Brook, John devises a clever plan to gain Cici's attention. Will hiring Cici to run John's sci-fi convention attract another invasion of Earth by artificially intelligent life forms? 

Excerpt--Cici and John Smith meet again, but she doesn't recognize him...

Cici blinked twice and took a long, shaky breath. Out of nowhere a rescuer had rushed to her side and helped her to her feet. The gentleman stood tall and thin with bright blue-gray eyes and a distinguished touch of silver in his graying blond hair. If she wasn’t mistaken, he had the most charming Scots accent. She gazed up into his questioning face and felt a connection. Had they met somewhere before? Odd, but she somehow thought they had. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember where or when.

“Y-yes, I’m fine,” she sputtered. “Just a bit breathless. Thank you.”

He nodded. “You’re welcome.”

She took a step forward and felt a sharp stab of pain in her right ankle. “Ow!”

“You’re injured. Here.” He took her hand and placed it on his forearm. “Lean on me.”

“You're so very kind.” 

“Really?” His silver eyebrows arched, and his eyes widened. “There’s a first time for everything.”

Cici did her best not to grimace as they hobbled together toward one of the few benches located along the trail. Her rescuer helped her to sit and then knelt in front of her foot to check for damage.

“You’re not a doctor, are you?” she asked, trying to make light conversation as the stranger gently manipulated her injured ankle.

“A doctor?” He smiled. “Funny you should say that, but some people do think I resemble one. Does this hurt?” He pressed along the side of her arch.

“Ow!” She winced. “Not too much. After the shock wears off in a few minutes I’ll probably be fine.”

“That’s a good sign when you can handle shock well. How about this?” He pushed her foot upward, her toes pointing toward her body. 

Cici bit her lip hard to hold back a scream. She saw stars and almost passed out from the pain. “Yep. It hurts. Lots.”

“I thought it might. It’s more than likely a sprain, but you might want to get it x-rayed to check for broken bones.”

“I can’t afford the x-ray, so we’ll go with the sprain, shall we?” Her new companion didn’t seem to get her dark sense of humor. His eyes bulged in his long face as he considered her reaction. “What’s wrong? Have I grown a horn in the middle of my forehead, or am I turning a particularly sickening shade of green?”

He smiled. He got it. “More pale than green, and the horn quite suits you. I like horns.”

“That’s good. I wouldn’t want to scare you off so easily.” Did I say that out loud? Get a grip! Flirting when you’re unemployed isn’t a good thing. You can’t afford new clothes and make-up to keep him interested.

“Don’t worry. I don’t scare easily.” Her savior stood and looked at her, thoughtfully rubbing the lapels of his navy jacket. “We just passed an access parking lot, but unfortunately I don’t have a car to take you home in to recuperate. What could we use to get you home without causing further pain?”

“Too bad we don’t have a little red wagon or a rickshaw handy,” she suggested.

“That’s a good idea. Very good indeed.” He spun on his heels and disappeared into thin air as quickly as he had appeared originally.

Cici blinked twice. Her tall and handsome Scotsman, in a rather dashing red-lined navy blue suit with a buttoned-up white shirt, had simply vanished. Just my luck. She waved at where he’d once stood. “Uh, thanks again for your help.”

What to do now? She took several deep breaths and tried to prepare herself for the hobble home up the trail. Perhaps she could find a tree branch strong enough to hold her wait while she limped? Unfortunately for her, it appeared the county parks’ groundskeepers had recently been in the area to mow and pick up fallen branches along the trail. Her luck this week had gone from bad to worse to dismal. Go figure.

“There’s nothing for it. Cowboy up, Connors.” With a groan of determination, Cici rose to her feet. “Ye-ow! Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot…”

She had barely made it a yard before the distinguished Scotsman reappeared behind her.

“Hold it right there,” he commanded. “We’ve got to fit you into this contraption.”

Cici stared until she thought her eyes would pop out of her head. Was it really a rickshaw? “W-where on Earth did you get that?”

He frowned and scratched his head. “On Earth? Well, you could say a friend in China owed me a favor, so he let me borrow it.”

“A friend from China, you mean?”

“Yes, of course. That’s what I meant. From China. It is, in fact, an antique Chinese rickshaw.” He lay the cross piece down and stepped over it to help her. “All aboard.”

 

Losing Who is now available from Devine Destinies Books, Amazon (in print and Kindle format) and wherever fine books are sold online. And don't forget to check out books 1 and 2, Loving Who and Leaving Who, while you're at it.

An excerpt from Preachin' to the Choir

Preachin' to the Choir
http://www.desertbreezepublishing.com/preachin-to-the-choir-epub/

Jonathan could do nothing to stop his wife’s losing battle with cancer. With twenty years into the ministry, he can't believe the Lord would leave him with both an empty nest and empty spot on the other side of the bed.

Kat, music teacher and mother of grown twins, feels settled in small town Texas. Life may be dull, but it's predictable, unlike her life with her late husband. Kat concludes a happy, committed relationship with a male is impossible, so she makes peace with herself and with God. If nuns can live celibate, why can't she?

One Sunday, Jonathan spies a golden beam of light descending upon Kat while she is directing the choir. Why hasn’t he noticed how beautiful she was before? From here on out, Jonathan knows he’ll be preachin’ to the choir, but will Kat—and his congregation and their children—let him?

Also available in print at Amazon. 

An excerpt from Preachin' to the Choir... 

Kat pounced on the stack of sheet music he had brought to the lesson. "Um, would you like me to play the version you brought?" 

"Please do."

She sorted out the copy from the others and opened it across the music stand. "Sorry, but we need to switch places. I need to sit where you're sitting to play properly."

Jonathan stood and side-stepped over to the left to give her access to his stool. 

Kat flashed him a grin in gratitude and sat down without looking. Immediately she found herself deposited on her rear end.

"Ouch!" she cried, rubbing her bruised tailbone. "I missed." 

"You seem to be doing quite a bit of falling on your backside lately." Jonathan chuckled. Placing his large hands under her arms, he lifted her to her feet in one easy motion. "There you go. You all right?"

"I... I'm fine," she managed, taking a step back. The warmth of where his palms contacted her bare flesh lingered, sending tingles of awareness down her arms. "I just need to adjust the height a little."

Kat bent to twirl the stool to raise the seat. To her horror, it stuck.

Jonathan grimaced. "Did I break it? I apologize if I did."

She straightened slowly and shook her head. "Don't worry. It isn't broken. It probably needs to be greased a bit. Why don't we try relocating the bench?"

Jonathan removed the stool. Kat grabbed the bench and started dragging it into position. Without a word, both seated themselves side by side, thighs touching. 

Kat shuddered at the delicious sensation of Jonathan's near presence. This isn't the appropriate time or place for playing footsies, but wouldn't it be nice?

Swallowing hard, Kat focused her attention on the music. Just as she was about to turn to the first page over there came a small moan of wood, then snap! The wounded bench decided it couldn't handle their combined weight any longer as a back leg collapsed. The seat tilted left, throwing her against Jonathan's hard body as they tumbled to the floor.

Preachin' to the Choir is now available from Desert Breeze Publishing.