Fun Friday–Summer Reading Promotion (i.e., RANSOME’S HONOR IS ON SALE FOR $2.99)
Today through Monday July 9, Ransome’s Honor will be featured as part of Harvest House’s Summer Reading promotion . . . meaning that it’s on sale in e-book format for only $2.99. (And even if you don’t have an e-reader device, you can download the Kindle app onto your smartphone or computer and read it with that).
Julia Witherington swore she would never fall in love after seeing her mother slowly fade away and eventually die while pining for her navy-officer husband. After her mother’s funeral, Julia accompanied her father back to England from Jamaica. Now, Julia desires nothing more than returning to Tierra Dulce, the sugar plantation that has been her home since childhood.
Royal Navy Captain William Ransome believes women are just a distraction, something that pulls men’s hearts away from their duty to King and country. But that hasn’t kept him from thinking Julia Witherington would make a perfect wife.
Forced by a conniving aunt and wastrel cousin into forging an arrangement to marry William Ransome to protect her inheritance—and return to Jamaica—Julia must set aside her prejudice and learn what love and honor really are.
Here’s what others have said about Ransome’s Honor:
- “Ransome’s Honor left me sneering at the bad guy and rooting for the good one, but still wasn’t sure how she would pull it off until the end.”
(Krista Phillips, author of Sandwich, with a Side of Romance)
“Captain William Ransome is a noble and admirable hero who distinguishes himself by his dedication and protective love.”
(Jennifer Bogart)
“I have only one complaint…..I couldn’t put it down.”
(Candace Rae)
“Kaye Dacus did a wonderful job of whisking me back in time. Her attention to detail and descriptions is exceptional! I really enjoyed learning about the royal navy, and look forward to reading more. She did her homework with her research, and her writing. I am anxiously awaiting the next two novels in this series, as I have fallen in love with William Ransome, and Julia Witherington.”
(Jalana Franklin)
“Needless to say, once you are drawn in, prepare to read the other two stories and let me tell you, each chapter and page just gets better and better!!”
(AvidReader)
If you’ve read Ransome’s Honor, what would you tell someone considering downloading it to read? (Try not to give any spoilers!)
Thursday Thought Provoker–Family Traditions
Writer-Talk Tuesday–A Writer’s Life for Me
I have a lunch meeting with my editor and a marketing person from B&H today. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am about this. I never knew just how much fun working with a local publishing house could be!
For those of you who are published—what’s been the most exciting thing to happen to you since being published? How has your life changed since being published?
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For those of you pursuing publication—what’s your dream for getting “the call”? Who would it be from (dream editor/publishing house)? Where will you be when you get it? Who will you celebrate with? How will your life change?
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For those of you who are readers—what’s your idea of what it’s like to be a published author? What do you think the writer’s life is like?
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Dream BIG. Let’s have some fun today.
Reading Chat Monday: Before, After, or Never–Movies from Books and Books from Movies
Sunday afternoon, I went with a friend to see the movie Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Now, let me explain—I was annoyed when I saw the title of this book when it came out a couple of years ago. It seemed like vampires were to general-market fiction what the Amish were to Christian fiction—put a vampire in it, and it’s sure to sell, right? (In CF, it’s “put a bonnet on it . . .”) So when I saw that they’d corrupted one of the heroes of American history—not to mention the historical president with whom I’m most familiar, given that I minored in Civil War history many moons ago—I was quite put out.
When I heard they were making it into a movie, I paid little attention. It wasn’t on my radar at all . . . until we saw a preview for it when we went to see The Avengers (which still stands as the best movie I’ve seen in the theater in a long time). Liz and I looked at each other with an “uh-oh” and realized that we’d been sucked in by a great preview. So we decided to catch a matinee yesterday afternoon.
And I’m so glad we did. It was a fun, entertaining movie. (As far as being scary—I didn’t find it so at all. Not a single “jump” moment for me, though there were a few times I was holding my breath and feeling a little tense waiting to see exactly where the vampire was going to jump out from.) The costumes were superb (well . . . with the exception of the 1980s-style white tuxedo they had Abraham wear at his wedding). The actors were fantastic. (Benjamin Walker—hubba-hubba! I’m ready to see him in more stuff!) The cinematography, lighting, and sets were all great (though they did get a little carried away with the slooooooooooow-moooooooootion in the action scenes).
And now I’ve downloaded the sample of the book to my Kindle, because I enjoyed the story of the movie so much, I think I might want to read the book. Which brings me to the Reader Chat question for this week.
When a movie comes out that is based on a book, do you read the book before or after seeing the movie or never? Also, do you ever read the novelizations that are written from movies that don’t originate from a book?
Fun Friday–The Wesen Connection, Irish Wristwatches, and Smell Like a Book
Since I didn’t do a “favorites seen around the ’net” post last week, this one may be a little long. But hopefully worth a few smiles and maybe even a chuckle or two. Let’s get started, shall we?
The Avengers—Firefly Style
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Tea, Earl Grey, Hot
Because of that line, made famous by Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generration, I tried Earl Grey tea, and it quickly became my favorite. But was there really an Earl Grey?
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Hey, Christian Girl
If you’ve been on Pinterest, it’s likely you’re familiar with Hey, Girl images—photos of male celebrities and/or movie/TV characters with pick-up line captions starting with “Hey, Girl . . .” It was just a matter of time until we got Hey, Christian Girl. (Yes, it’s a spoof site.)
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Eight Misconceptions About Animals
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Instant Sound Effects!
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That New Book Smell
Is the smell of new books your favorite smell in the world? Well, now you can smell that smell all day long—by wearing it.
Paper Passion fragrance by Geza Schoen, Gerhard Steidl, and Wallpaper* magazine, with packaging by Karl Lagerfeld and Steidl.
“The smell of a freshly printed book is the best smell in the world.”
Karl Lagerfeld
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Say Irish Wristwatch Out Loud
Eleven Classic Tongue Twisters
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Romance Cover Spoofs
Two sites which spoof romance-novel covers (click cover to visit):
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Do You Remember the Colors of the Original Trivial Pursuit Categories?
My sister and I got Trivial Pursuit for Christmas the year I was in ninth grade. The summer before I started my freshman year of college at LSU, before we really knew anyone in Baton Rouge and with no cable TV and very few movies on video (yes, I said video), Trivial Pursuit (and our Bible trivia game) was one of our main sources of entertainment—and it got to the point at which we had a lot of the answers memorized. So I was able to match up the colors with the categories in no time flat. What about you?
Can you match the colors to the original Trivial Pursuit categories?
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My Newest Pinterest Board
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And Finally, for All of My Grimm Friends
Thought-Provoker Thursday: Advice You’d Give Your Younger Self
If you could go back in time to 2002 and give yourself ONE piece of advice, what would you say to your younger self?
Writer-Talk Tuesday: Writing with Accountability
Back at the beginning of May, I posted this about my summer writing goals:
So here’s my summer writing goal, and I need some accountability partners to help me stick to it.
My goal for An Honest Heart, Book 2 of the Great Exhibition Series, which is due October 15, is to begin writing it on June 1, write at least 1,000 words every single day and have the first draft finished by August 31. That, then, will give me until the due date to work on revisions/edits/rewrites. And to possibly even turn it in a little early.
Because of the time spent on revision to Follow the Heart and the need to take a break after getting that turned in, I haven’t yet started writing the second book in the Great Exhibition series, An Honest Heart.
- Also, last night when I went over to Storytoolz.com to set up a new wordcount tracker for AHH, I realized I’d never gone back and put in my final wordcount for FTH—which clocked in at 92,718 words when I finished the revised draft. That makes it my second shortest novel—coming in about 200 words longer than Stand-In Groom, which sits at just over 92,500 words.
This afternoon, I’ll be meeting up for what I hope will be come a weekly writing “date” with my friend Liz, who is published by Love Inspired Suspense and is working on a trade-length contemporary romance she’s had a couple of requests for from big Christian publishing houses. We’ll meet at Panera after work with our laptops and our ideas and spend at least one solid hour blitzing our stories to see how many words we can write during that time (a.k.a. 1k1hr). It’s a way of supporting each other, but also a way of being accountable to someone else to stay on track to meet our deadlines.
So, pray for me as I start this book and try my best to be diligent and disciplined and write on it every day. I’d still like to get in at least 1,000 words a day if I can. And I’d love for you all to watch that progress meter and get on me when it doesn’t move for more than one or two days. Don’t let me do that “wait till the last month” thing again!
What are you working on, and what kind of accountability do you have in place to make sure you meet your goal(s)?
And just as a reminder for you and for me, here’s the template for Dr. Neal Stradbroke, the hero of An Honest Heart:
Reading-Chat Monday: What Upcoming Books Are You Excited About?
Any reader worth her salt can get really excited when she hears about a new book coming out from a favorite author, in a favorite series, or one that’s brand-new to her but just tickles her fancy.
So let’s talk about some books like that today.
What are some upcoming books that you’re really excited about? So excited, in fact, that you may have already pre-ordered them, or you’ll request the galley from the author or publisher or Net Galley as soon as it’s available so that you don’t have to wait until the actual pub date to read it?
Or to put it another way . . .
What are some of the books you’re so excited about that you’ve pinned the cover your Books I Want Pinterest board?
Fun Friday–10 Life Lessons Learned from Watching Crime and Paranormal Shows
In my spare time recently, I’ve been rewatching favorite episodes of TV shows like Criminal Minds, Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hawaii Five-0, etc. Because I have this love of both crime/procedural shows and paranormal kick-’em-up shows, I’ve learned some very important life lessons that I thought I should pass along.
10. In Hawaii, if someone doesn’t drive a General Motors vehicle, they must be a villain.
9. Never trust the demon or vampire who swears they’re on your side and they just want to help you. They’ll always bite you in the end (figuratively or literally).
8. Every town in America, no matter the size, apparently has a fleet of brand-new, black Chevy Suburbans just waiting for a super-elite team from the FBI to come and solve one case.
7. Don’t ever have a romantic relationship with someone on your “team.” It never ends well.
6. Partners with whom you share witty repartee are VITAL TO YOUR SURVIVAL. Treat them well!
5. What’s dead should stay dead. But what’s buried doesn’t always stay buried.
4. Never have sex (clandestine or otherwise) outside. You’ll either find a dead body or you’ll be attacked by a serial killer, vampire, werewolf, demon, or Wesen.
3. It’s possible for two people with one or two shovels to dig a rectangular hole (complete with perfect 90-degree corners), with only a small pile of dirt beside it, to unearth a coffin . . . and not be covered in dirt from head to toe when finished.
2. Never, ever say, “Things can’t get any worse,” because that’s the invitation for things to get worse—because things always get worse.
And the numero uno, most important thing I’ve learned . . .
1. The big-name guest star is ALWAYS THE MURDERER! (Or almost always.) When are these guys going to figure that out???
Just because I can.
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Just because I want to.
Thursday Thought Provoker
KayeDacus.com 