GREEN BAGELS, GREEN BEER, AND A .99 CENT SALE

Woo-hoo! It’s St. Patrick’s Day, and that means Spring is right around the corner. While you wash down your green bagels with green beer today, you can also celebrate the end of the winter doldrums with some murder, mayhem, crafts, and laughs because throughout March, the Amazon #1 bestselling Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, Books 3-4 is on sale for only .99 cents. Sláinte!

Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, Books 3-4

Revenge of the Crafty Corpse and Decoupage Can Be Deadly

 

Revenge of the Crafty Corpse – Anastasia Pollack’s dead louse of a spouse has left her with more bills than you can shake a crochet hook at. Teaching craft classes at her mother-in-law’s assisted living center seems like an easy way to supplement her meager income. But when Lyndella Wegner—a 98-year-old know-it-all with a penchant for ruffles and lace—turns up dead, Anastasia’s cantankerous mother-in-law becomes the prime suspect in her murder. Upon discovering that Lyndella’s scandalous craft projects—and her scandalous behavior—made her plenty of enemies, Anastasia sets out to find the real killer before her mother-in-law ends up behind bars.

​

Decoupage Can Be Deadly – Anastasia and her fellow American Woman editors are steaming mad when minutes before the opening of a consumer show, they discover half their booth usurped by Bling!, their publisher’s newest magazine. CEO Alfred Gruenwald is sporting new arm candy—rapper-turned-entrepreneur and now Bling! executive editor, the first name-only Philomena. During the consumer show, Gruenwald’s wife serves Philomena with an alienation of affection lawsuit, but Philomena doesn’t live long enough to show up in court. She’s found dead days later, stuffed in the shipping crate that held Anastasia’s decoupage crafts. When Gruenwald makes cash-strapped Anastasia an offer she can’t refuse, she wonders, does he really want to find Philomena’s killer or is he harboring a hidden agenda?

​

Craft projects included in both books.

 

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--FALL DECORATING WITH AUTHOR TERRI REED

Romance and romantic suspense author Terri Reed has notched up many writing awards and landed on quite a few bestseller lists during her career. She’s also had one of her books, A Family Under the Christmas Tree, adapted into the Hallmark movie Picture a Perfect Christmas in 2019. Learn more about Terri at her website where you will also find links to her other social media sites. 

Hello everyone! It’s a perfect fall day with its crisp air, cooler weather and changing of the leaves. I love the burst of color on the hillsides and the comfy clothes I get to unearth from the closet--like snuggly fleece jackets, cozy sweaters, and cute hats. One of my favorite things in fall is to stop by the apple orchards and bring home fresh picked apples to make all sorts of apple inspired desserts. 

 

There is one aspect of fall, however, that I don't look forward to—cleaning up all the fallen leaves and acorns. 

 

We have a giant oak tree in our front yard and for the past couple of years it's been throwing acorns like snowflakes. I hear them hitting the ground and the roof of our house all day and all night. I’ll admit the acorns fall every year, but not like this. I Googled to find out why this was happening and learned way more than I probably needed to know about trees that drop nuts, which by the way, are called mast. 

 

Apparently, because our weather here in the Pacific Northwest has been so warm and we've had no spring frosts, the trees are overproducing acorns. One theory I read, said the trees were throwing more acorns in hopes new trees would sprout. I can’t have another big oak tree in my yard; there’s no room!

 

I also learned that trees don’t drop nuts until the tree reaches 50 years old. Our tree is estimated to be 150 years old. 

 

While this overabundance of acorns makes a mess, it also brings an overabundance of birds—so many different kinds, though, I love to see the Blue Jays. There are also squirrels out in droves. We've even had raccoons and possums snacking on the acorns. It makes me happy to see the animals coming for nature's bounty. 

 

A few years ago, I made some fall decorations for our Thanksgiving table. I recently got them out and decided to incorporate some of our abundant acorns into my fall decorating. I have them sitting on my entryway table for now. And I just love how adding some acorns really makes it more festive.

 

To make these centerpieces, these are the items you need:

Mason jar [colored ones look nice]

silk flowers and fall foliage

glass rocks

ribbon trim

leaf stickers

a glue gun

an LED candle

acorns

 

In celebration of fall I wrote a novella, Protecting the Heiress, as part of the Dangerous Pursuits collection. These 15 original novellas of suspense are available for preorder now. The collection releases October 12 on all online retail platforms.

 

Protecting the Heiress

Time is running out...

On a damp Seattle night, Cecily Fairhaven is rescued from a mugger by the man who broke her heart, Malcolm Cruz. When she learns it’s not a coincidence that Malcolm has shown up out of the blue and that her life is in danger, she must set aside her hurt and anger to trust the man she once loved. But is she really safe? Or will she suffer another broken heart when he leaves? 

 

US Air Force Operations of Special Investigations Agent Malcolm Cruz received a cryptic message begging him to protect Cecily. To honor the man who’d been instrumental in his career, Malcolm wasted no time traveling across the world to safeguard the only woman he’s ever loved and to ensure she makes its home to deal with her father’s estate.  But as the threats against her escalate and his feelings for her resurface, he begins to wonder if either of them will come out of this unscathed. 

 

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR VICKI BATMAN BAKES UP TOMATO SOUP FRUITCAKE

Photo credit

Award-winning, bestselling author Vicki Batman has written numerous romantic comedies and two humorous romantic mysteries. She describes herself as an avid Jazzerciser, handbag lover, Mahjong player, Yoga practitioner, movie fan, book devourer, chocaholic, and Best Mom ever. Most days begin with her hands set to the keyboard and thinking, "What if?" Learn more about her and her stories at her website/blog. 

Vicki's Grandmother

I Confess: My Love for Fruitcake

When I grew up, our family baked and crafted special things at Christmas time. Mom and her best friend spent hours and hours making oodles of divinity, and yes, it was divine. My sisters and I wrapped gifts for Wrap-a-thon. My grandmother baked her special holiday dessert: Tomato Cake.

The interesting ingredient in the cake is tomato soup. Sounds…strange, but you know what? If you didn't know soup was an ingredient, you'd love it too. I’m serious. You can’t taste tomato anything.

Tomato cake’s texture is dense, like regular fruitcake, and could be labeled a “fruitcake” when fruit is included. If you research online, you will see a bundt cake version. Grandmother mixed in raisins, walnuts, and chopped dates. And once, she got all radical and threw in chopped canned pears. She always baked hers in a loaf pan, yet, she didn’t frost it. Today’s version is topped with a decadent pineapple cream cheese frosting.

Our family believed Tomato Cake to be a wartime recipe. (Link to the original)

Before you get all weirdly freaked out about tomato soup in a cake, know this: I was a finicky eater; however, I loved this dessert. In fact, I adore fruitcake. There are many varieties of fruitcakes; some aren’t made with the candied fruit or alcohol we've come to associate with the treat.

Care to be daring and try a variation on Grandmother's holiday cake?

Tomato Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/3 cups sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Tomato Soup

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

2 eggs

1/4 cup water

Heat the oven to 350°F.  Grease a 13x9-inch baking pan.

Stir the flour, sugar, baking powder, allspice, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves in a large bowl.  Add the soup, shortening, eggs and water.  Beat with an electric mixer on low speed just until blended. Increase the speed to high and beat for 4 minutes. 

Pour the batter into the pan. Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. 

Frost with:

Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting:

½ C crushed pineapple with juice

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened 

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened 

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

Beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 2 minutes or until the mixture is smooth and creamy. 

Beat in the confectioners' sugar. 

Add the pineapple and juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the frosting is the desired consistency. 

So why all this chatter about fruitcake? I wrote a hilarious short story entitled "The Great Fruitcake Bake-off” which is included in the Whispers of Winter holiday anthology:

The Great Fruitcake Bake-off

When five-time champion Samantha Greene teams up with her new neighbor, Dixon Roberts, for The Great Fruitcake Bake-off, they discover baking a prize-winning entry is complicated, bad guys are plotting to take the crown, and first prize isn't just about a ribbon.

Other authors in the Whispers of Winter anthology are: Nicole Morgan, Stephanie Morris, Caitlyn Lynch, Maya Bailey, Krista Ames, Sharon Coady, Donna R. Mercer, Jan Springer, Carma Haley Shoemaker, Livia Quinn, Amber Skyze, Rebecca Fairfax, Jane Blythe, Suzanne Jenkins, Stacy Eaton, Rene Webb, Marie Mason, Joann Baker & Patricia Mason, Karen Cino

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ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END...

No, we're not ending Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers. But today author Lois Winston, who writes my eponymous series (and constantly risks my life and limbs), is here to talk about a joint venture that is coming to an end. If you want to read about me and some of my fellow sleuths for only a few pennies, you don't have much longer to take advantage of this great deal.

A few years ago sales of multi-author ebook box sets became very popular. For authors it was a way of getting their books in the hands of readers who may never have heard of them or their titles. For readers it was a way to try a book by one or more authors they’d never read without having to spend a lot of money. At .99 cents for ten full-length books, it was a hard-to-resist bargain. The participating authors didn’t make much money, but the goal was to increase their readership, not their pocketbooks. If a reader liked one or more of the stories, hopefully that reader would then go on to buy other books by those authors.

After participating in several romance box sets, I came up with the idea of creating a box set comprised of the first book in ten different mystery series. Sleuthing Women: 10 First-in-Series Mysteries launched on May 1, 2016. Now two years later that box set is retiring at the end of the month. If you never picked up your copy, now is the time. You only have until the end of this month. Come May those ten titles will cost $30.90.

Sleuthing Women: 10 First-in-Series Mysteries is a collection of full-length mysteries featuring murder and assorted mayhem by ten critically acclaimed, award-winning, and bestselling authors. Each novel in the set is the first book in an established multi-book series—more than 3,000 pages featuring amateur sleuth, caper, and cozy novels.

Stories include:

Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, an Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery by Lois Winston—Working mom Anastasia is clueless about her husband’s gambling addiction until he permanently cashes in his chips and her comfortable middle-class life craps out. He leaves her with staggering debt, his communist mother, and a loan shark demanding $50,000. Then she’s accused of murder…

Murder Among Neighbors, a Kate Austen Suburban Mystery by Jonnie Jacobs — When Kate Austen’s socialite neighbor, Pepper Livingston, is murdered, Kate becomes involved in a sea of steamy secrets that bring her face to face with shocking truths—and handsome detective Michael Stone.

Skeleton in a Dead Space, a Kelly O’Connell Mystery by Judy Alter—Real estate isn’t a dangerous profession until Kelly O’Connell stumbles over a skeleton and runs into serial killers and cold-blooded murderers in a home being renovated in Fort Worth. Kelly barges through life trying to keep from angering her policeman boyfriend Mike and protect her two young daughters.

In for a Penny, a Cleopatra Jones Mystery by Maggie Toussaint—Accountant Cleo faces an unwanted hazard when her golf ball lands on a dead banker. The cops think her BFF shot him, so Cleo sets out to prove them wrong. She ventures into the dating world, wrangles her teens, adopts the victim’s dog, and tries to rein in her mom…until the killer puts a target on Cleo’s back.

The Hydrogen Murder, a Periodic Table Mystery by Camille Minichino—A retired physicist returns to her hometown of Revere, Massachusetts and moves into an apartment above her friends' funeral home. When she signs on to help the Police Department with a science-related homicide, she doesn't realize she may have hundreds of cases ahead of her.

Retirement Can Be Murder, A Baby Boomer Mystery by Susan Santangelo—Carol Andrews dreads her husband Jim’s upcoming retirement more than a root canal without Novocain. She can’t imagine anything worse than having an at-home husband with time on his hands and nothing to fill it—until Jim is suspected of murdering his retirement coach.

Dead Air, A Talk Radio Mystery by Mary Kennedy—Psychologist Maggie Walsh moves from NY to Florida to become the host of WYME's On the Couch with Maggie Walsh. When her guest, New Age prophet Guru Sanjay Gingii, turns up dead, her new roommate Lark becomes the prime suspect. Maggie must prove Lark innocent while dealing with a killer who needs more than just therapy.

A Dead Red Cadillac, A Dead Red Mystery by RP Dahlke—When her vintage Cadillac is found tail-fins up in a nearby lake, the police ask aero-ag pilot Lalla Bains why an elderly widowed piano teacher is found strapped in the driver’s seat. Lalla confronts suspects, informants, cross-dressers, drug-running crop dusters, and a crazy Chihuahua on her quest to find the killer.

Murder is a Family Business, an Alvarez Family Murder Mystery by Heather Haven—Just because a man cheats on his wife and makes Danny DeVito look tall, dark and handsome, is that any reason to kill him? The reluctant and quirky PI, Lee Alvarez, has her work cut out for her when the man is murdered on her watch. Of all the nerve.

Murder, Honey, a Carol Sabala Mystery by Vinnie Hansen—When the head chef collapses into baker Carol Sabala’s cookie dough, she is thrust into her first murder investigation. Suspects abound at Archibald’s, the swanky Santa Cruz restaurant where Carol works. The head chef cut a swath of people who wanted him dead from ex-lovers to bitter rivals to greedy relatives.

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ANASTASIA’S EASY-TO-KEEP NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION SUGGESTION

We’re four days into the New Year. Did you make any resolutions? If not, may I suggest you resolve to discover some new mystery authors this year? What? You’re reluctant to give a new author a try because too often by the end of the first chapter (or even sooner) you realize you don’t like the book and have no desire to continue reading?

I’ve been there. Sometimes I keep reading, hoping the book will get better, but it rarely does. It’s so frustrating to have wasted both time and money on a book I didn’t like. If you know anything about me, you know I have neither time nor money to waste.

After too many negative reading experiences some readers wind up swearing they’ll only read their tried-and-true favorite authors, never again giving an unknown-to-them author a try. However, when you only stick with authors you know, you never experience the joy of discovering a new favorite author. Think about what you could be missing!

I have the perfect solution, and it will only cost you a mere .99 cents. And that’s for not one but ten full-length mysteries. That’s right—ten books by ten different authors for less than a dollar. Invest another .99 cents, and you can try ten companion novellas, eight by the same authors of the mystery novels, plus two additional authors.

Sleuthing Women: 10 First-in-Series Mysteries features works by authors Lois Winston (she’s the author who writes about me!), Jonnie Jacobs, Judy Alter, Camille Minichino, Mary Kennedy, Maggie Toussaint, Heather Haven, Susan Santangelo, RP Dahlke, and Vinnie Hansen. Each full-length mystery is the first book in an ongoing series.

Sleuthing Women II: 10 Mystery Novellas features companion stories to existing series by the writing team of Allison Brennan and Laura Griffin, Lois Winston, Maggie Toussaint, Jonnie Jacobs, Camille Minichino, Heather Haven, Vinnie Hansen, Mary Kennedy, Judy Alter, and Rita Lakin.

So resolve this year to discover some new favorite authors. If you find you don't care for some of the stories in the collections, move on to the next. Taste is subjective. However, you never know. Even if you only like one book in each set, that author just might become one of your all-time favorite authors.

Sleuthing Women: 10 First-in-Series Mysteries

Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, an Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery by Lois Winston—Working mom Anastasia is clueless about her husband’s gambling addiction until he permanently cashes in his chips and her comfortable middle-class life craps out. He leaves her with staggering debt, his communist mother, and a loan shark demanding $50,000. Then she’s accused of murder…

Murder Among Neighbors, a Kate Austen Suburban Mystery by Jonnie Jacobs — When Kate Austen’s socialite neighbor, Pepper Livingston, is murdered, Kate becomes involved in a sea of steamy secrets that bring her face to face with shocking truths—and handsome detective Michael Stone.

Skeleton in a Dead Space, a Kelly O’Connell Mystery by Judy Alter—Real estate isn’t a dangerous profession until Kelly O’Connell stumbles over a skeleton and runs into serial killers and cold-blooded murderers in a home being renovated in Fort Worth. Kelly barges through life trying to keep from angering her policeman boyfriend Mike and protect her two young daughters.

In for a Penny, a Cleopatra Jones Mystery by Maggie Toussaint—Accountant Cleo faces an unwanted hazard when her golf ball lands on a dead banker. The cops think her BFF shot him, so Cleo sets out to prove them wrong. She ventures into the dating world, wrangles her teens, adopts the victim’s dog, and tries to rein in her mom…until the killer puts a target on Cleo’s back.

The Hydrogen Murder, a Periodic Table Mystery by Camille Minichino—A retired physicist returns to her hometown of Revere, Massachusetts and moves into an apartment above her friends' funeral home. When she signs on to help the Police Department with a science-related homicide, she doesn't realize she may have hundreds of cases ahead of her.

Retirement Can Be Murder, A Baby Boomer Mystery by Susan Santangelo—Carol Andrews dreads her husband Jim’s upcoming retirement more than a root canal without Novocain. She can’t imagine anything worse than having an at-home husband with time on his hands and nothing to fill it—until Jim is suspected of murdering his retirement coach.

Dead Air, A Talk Radio Mystery by Mary Kennedy—Psychologist Maggie Walsh moves from NY to Florida to become the host of WYME's On the Couch with Maggie Walsh. When her guest, New Age prophet Guru Sanjay Gingii, turns up dead, her new roommate Lark becomes the prime suspect. Maggie must prove Lark innocent while dealing with a killer who needs more than just therapy.

A Dead Red Cadillac, A Dead Red Mystery by RP Dahlke—When her vintage Cadillac is found tail-fins up in a nearby lake, the police ask aero-ag pilot Lalla Bains why an elderly widowed piano teacher is found strapped in the driver’s seat. Lalla confronts suspects, informants, cross-dressers, drug-running crop dusters, and a crazy Chihuahua on her quest to find the killer.

Murder is a Family Business, an Alvarez Family Murder Mystery by Heather Haven—Just because a man cheats on his wife and makes Danny DeVito look tall, dark and handsome, is that any reason to kill him? The reluctant and quirky PI, Lee Alvarez, has her work cut out for her when the man is murdered on her watch. Of all the nerve.

Murder, Honey, a Carol Sabala Mystery by Vinnie Hansen—When the head chef collapses into baker Carol Sabala’s cookie dough, she is thrust into her first murder investigation. Suspects abound at Archibald’s, the swanky Santa Cruz restaurant where Carol works. The head chef cut a swath of people who wanted him dead from ex-lovers to bitter rivals to greedy relatives.

Buy Links

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Kobo

iTunes

Sleuthing Women II: 10 Mystery Novellas

Frosted, A Moreno & Hart Novella by Allison Brennan & Laura Griffin—Three years ago LAPD Detective Scarlet Moreno and rookie cop Krista Hart were nearly killed during a botched sting operation. Now, they’re best friends and partners in the Orange County private investigation firm of Moreno & Hart. But their routine assignments are anything but safe.

Crewel Intentions, An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Novella by Lois Winston—Craft editor Anastasia Pollack receives a desperate call for help from former fashion editor Erica Milano, now in Witness Protection. Erica is being stalked and is afraid to notify the authorities. She once saved Anastasia’s life. Will Anastasia be able to return the favor before the stalker strikes?

No Quarter, A Cleopatra Jones Novella by Maggie Toussaint—Amnesia, the doctor says when accountant Cleopatra Jones wakes in a distant hospital. Hours later most of her memory returns. Detective Jack Martinez visits Cleo’s nearby wealthy client, only she’s dead and broke. To Cleo’s horror, she’s a murder suspect. Will she totally recover her memory before the killer returns? 

What the Widow Knew, A Kali-O’Brien Novella by Jonnie Jacobs —Attorney Kali O’Brien takes on the case of a young woman accused of murdering her much older, very rich husband. As evidence mounts and other possible suspects are eliminated, Kali’s doubts about her client’s innocence grow. Meanwhile, Kali is also grappling with her feelings for longtime boyfriend Detective Bryce Keating.

The Magnesium Murder, A Periodic Table Mystery by Camille Minichino—While freelance embalmer Anastasia Brent prepares the body of a young bride-to-be, she learns the girl’s mother suspects foul play. Once again Anastasia is pressed into service as a sleuth, following a trail of clues in search of a murderer and justice.

Honeymoons Can Be Murder, A Lee Alvarez Novella by Heather Haven— When PI Lee Alvarez goes on her honeymoon with bridegroom, Gurn Hanson, they find a dead woman practically on their doorstep. Kauai breezes may be soft, but there are gale force winds of accusation against Gurn. Will Lee find the real killer before her new hubby gets sent to a Hawaiian hoosegow?

Smoked Meat, A Carol Sabala Novella by Vinnie Hansen—Baker and wannabe sleuth Carol Sabala visits her mother for a family Christmas get-together. It’s murder, in more ways than one.

A Deadly Fundraiser, A Talk Radio Novella by Mary Kennedy—When radio talk show host Dr. Maggie Walsh and her pals start digging up clues in a scavenger hunt at a glitzy fundraiser, the game suddenly turns deadly. Will Maggie and her team be able to crack the case and solve the crime?

The Color of Fear, A Kelly O’Connell Novella by Judy Alter—Kelly receives a written kidnap threat targeting her infant daughter, Gracie. Kelly’s assistant Keisha narrates as Kelly and her family plot their precautions, but as time passes and the threat still looms, fear takes a toll on the family…and on Keisha.

Papa’s Ghost, A Gladdy Gold Mystery Novella by Rita Lakin—Gladdy and her girls accept an assignment iat a famous resort in Key West, thinking it will combine business with pleasure. Once they arrive, Gladdy suspects something is strange. Not only is their client an unexpected shock, but so is the case of murder they are expected to solve. Can they succeed when a whole city is against them?

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--CHRISTMAS BABIES ROMANCE BOX SET

The ebook box set has become a great marketing tool for authors and a way for readers to discover new favorite authors. Today Jill James shares the evolution of the Authors of Main Street, a group of romance writers who have come together to produce themed box sets. Learn more about the Authors of Main Street and their other books at their website/blog. 

Christmas Babies on Main Street

Christmas Babies on Main Street by the Authors of Main Street is our boxed set of 9 novellas for the 2017 Holiday season. Back when we formed in December of 2011 I never imagined we would not only still be doing boxed sets but have all become great friends and fellow writers. With our sixth set we are still going strong.

Our original group formed on the Indie Romance Ink Yahoo group. That group helped us find like writers and brought us together into subgenre groups. We decided to find our niche with contemporary romance in the cool-to-warm heat level of romance and start our own website and do joint projects. The original Authors of Main Street members were E. Ayers, Bella Street, Kelly Rae, Kristy Tate, Tori Scott, Susan R. Hughes, Leigh Morgan, Joan Reeves, Stephanie Queen, Carol DeVaney, Mona Risk, Pepper Phillips, and myself.

Over the years, we’ve lost members to life changes, different writing genres and heat levels, and to death in the case of Pepper Phillips, who was our organizing force and a wonderful lady and writer. We’ve also added members as we invite others to join the Authors of Main Street.

The boxed sets grew out of our wish to do a project together. We decide on a theme for the sets, one of us does the cover, another does the formatting, and together we market our sets.

This year’s set went with the theme of babies at Christmas. Not all our babies have plump fingers and cuddly toes; one has a tail and mane and four shiny hooves. Christmas doesn’t have to take place in December, either. Magic and miracles and true love happen all the time. But all the stories are contemporary romance in the cool-to-warm range and have a happily-ever-after.

Our latest set, Christmas Babies on Main Street includes the following novellas:

Baby Blue Christmas by Kristy Tate

As Christmas nears, Sophie and Luke’s love for baby Jamison draws them together, causing them to rethink their plans for the future and redefine their ideal family.

The Christmas Stocking by Carol DeVaney

While caring for an injured, recent widower and his two motherless children, Ellie discovers more than she bargained for. Does she dare dream of them becoming a family?

Baby Steps and Snowflakes by Jill James

After years of fostering, Krista dreams of being a forever mom to baby Max. When the father of the child shows up will he destroy her dreams or give her new ones?

A Sister’s Christmas Gift by E. Ayers

Brandy loved her fast-track life and her steady beau, but when her nonconformist twin sister dies, she leaves behind more than a box full of memories.

Once Upon a Vet School 7, Lena Takes a Foal by Lizzi Tremayne

She was a veterinary student.  He was a resident at her school. She needed help—he needed to stay away.

A Family Christmas by Jude Knight

She's hiding out. He's heading home. It'll be storms for Christmas.

Small Town Christmas Baby by Stephanie Queen

She was pregnant. He was patient. But their mothers-in-laws were impossible...

Christmas in Eastport by Susan R. Hughes

A holiday visit to her hometown brings Carly face to face with Mitch, the boy she loved and lost when they were seventeen. Can they make it work this time, or does Mitch have a secret that will tear them apart?

Christmas in July by Leigh Morgan

For Drew Selleck, Maddy’s return to Door County, Wisconsin, in July, after being away for twenty-five years, was just the Christmas present he needed.

Christmas Babies on Main Street

This year, The Authors of Main Street have combined their talent to bring you stories about love, the holidays, and babies from around the world. From the small hamlet of Eastport in Canada, to the gorgeous landscapes of New Zealand, to Main Street, USA... you'll find the Christmas spirit and warm love stories on every page. And not all of our babies have pudgy little fingers and adorable toes... one of them has hooves and a mane!

Snuggle up with your favorite blanket, grab a cup of hot chocolate, and let the Authors of Main Street help you celebrate the holiday season.

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR LINDA O'CONNOR

Linda O’Connor started writing a few years ago when she needed a creative outlet other than subtly rearranging the displays at the local home décor store. It turns out she loves writing romantic comedies and has a few more stories to tell. When not writing, she’s a physician at an Urgent Care Clinic (well, even when she is writing she’s a physician, and it shows up in her stories :D ). Learn more about Linda and her books at her website. 

Along with the other authors of the Sultry Nights Boxed Set, I’m very excited to share a bit about our stories. We’ve put together a collection of contemporary romances in a variety of settings. My favourite ones are set in small towns. How can you not love them? The neighbors are nosy and the townspeople quirky, but they care about each other and look out for one another. Despite the slow pace of a small town, there can be excitement and intrigue simmering under the surface. I always imagine that passion runs deeper and love lasts longer in a small town, so for my happily-ever-after-craving heart it’s the perfect setting. Whether you enjoy the tranquil façade of a small town or the fast-paced, edgy thrill of a big city, you’ll find our stories have one thing in common – steamy sultry nights.

I’m very excited to share my latest release, Perfectly Crazy in Love, one of twenty-two romances featured in Sultry Nights.

Perfectly Crazy in Love

A Perfectly Series novella

Dr. Patty Kelt is trying to get Dr. Ken Marshall’s attention. They’ve been friends for four years, and it’s time to turn it up a notch. She wants him to see her as smart, competent, strong, and sexy. So far she’s just managed crazy.

Ken’s used to solving problems and giving advice. Crazy he could handle. But dealing with crazy in love? That’s entirely new.

Perfectly Crazy in Love…it’s not as easy as it looks.

Sultry Nights

Love, passion, romance and desire… No matter what your preference, this set of 22 hot and sexy reads has just what you need. From surprise love affairs to bad boys that we can’t help but fall for, and couples that were meant to be, this compilation from Romance Collections is sure to please. 

Authors include Nicole Morgan Jocelyn Dex, Alison Foster, Kate Richards, Linda O’Connor, Samantha Holt, Jerrie Alexander, Whitley Cox, Krista Ames, Ursula Sinclair, Measha Stone, Tuesday Embers, Siera London, Rachel Shane, Bonnie Phelps, Misha Elliott, Alyson Reynolds, Jenna Bayley-Burke, Madison Michael, Pepper Goodrich, Marcia James, and Destiny Blaine.

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