BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR JANIE EMAUS

Janie Emaus writes time travel romance, young adult novels, and humorous essays. She's also a staff writer for In The Powder Room and blogs frequently for The Huffington Post, Better After 50, and Generation Fabulous and was named a 2013 BlogHer Voice of the Year. Janie believes that when the world is falling apart, we're just one laugh away from putting it together again. Learn more about Janie at her website. – AP

Time Traveling Possibilities

Lately, I’ve been thinking a great deal about the future. And not the near one where my granddaughter will become a teenager (Ohmygod, already?) or where I’ll celebrate my thirty-fifth wedding anniversary (Ohmygod – even louder).  No, a future several centuries from today. One in which time traveling could possibly be a reality.

Imagine if there existed an organization called the Time Traveling Matchmakers Inc., whose mission statement would be “to bring soul mates together, to live as one, in harmony, peace, and love.” 

This is the premise of my latest novel, Before the After. Of course, even in the future, nothing will be perfect. And a matchmaker sent after his own soul mate could turn  the entire future upside down.

Writing about what may be possible ahs caused me to reflect on how much has changed in the past one hundred years.

I’m sure my grandparents could never imagine a world in which almost everyone walked around with a handheld electronic device. Where people were constantly scrolling up and down a screen, communicating with people they’ve never seen in person.

Sometimes it’s even hard for me to fathom how much has changed since my high school days.

Take this scene for instance. I walk into my daughter’s house and in a boisterous voice, I yell, “Hi everyone.”

Silence.

My granddaughter is texting on her  iPhone. My grandson is playing on his Kindle. My son-in-law is on his computer. My daughter is on her iPad. Even the toddler thinks he’s on a “real” phone, sliding his thumb across his toy.

Why, the only one who acknowledges my presence is their crazy, sixty pound boxer. He could knock me down for all they care.

And this has me worried about the future.  Have we become so plugged into our cyber worlds that we are ignoring the “real” one around us?

What about that “heart pounding, groin pulsating, got-to-have-it now” feeling?  The one where we actually touch each other.

If this ceases to exist, if people become satisfied by “virtual” love-making, then I do hope time traveling becomes a reality.

I’d employ the services of the Time Traveling Matchmakers, Inc. and travel back in time, perhaps to the 1950s, to once again experience life before technology took over the world.

How about you? Where would you go?  

Before the After

Love takes on a new meaning when soul mates are brought together through time and space.

Like every goal-oriented twenty-something, Jessica Singleton, an aspiring filmmaker, is obsessed with finding her future as quickly as possible. Tick Tock. What she doesn't know is that the future is obsessed with finding her, too. Renn Porter, an agent with Time Traveling Matchmaker's Inc, blasts back in time—and into her life—in order to transport Jessica to the soul mate who has paid for this service...in the future. But things turn dangerous when it's revealed that Renn has been sent after his own soul mate.

Jessica wants nothing to do with this strange guy and his crazy romantic notions. Who has time for a soul mate anyway? But tell that to her heart.

Caught between two times, Jessica and Renn must struggle to stay alive. Falling in love is the biggest risk either of them has ever taken—because, as they are destined to learn, the very existence of Time Traveling Matchmakers, Inc. rests in Jessica's hands.

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BUY A BOOK; FIGHT BREAST CANCER

As I've previously mentioned, author Lois Winston, who writes those books about moi, decided I didn't take up enough of her time and recently took on a pen name to publish books not about moi. There are now five Emma Carlyle penned romances, romantic suspense books, and chick lit books available. To celebrate, instead of throwing a party with caviar and champagne, Lois has taken a cue from her fellow author and good friend CJ Lyons. She's decided to make a charitable contribution. And you determine how large a check she writes. 

For the month of August, Lois will be making a donation of $500 to breast cancer research for every 1,000 Emma Carlyle books sold. Blurbs and buy links are listed below and can also be found at http://www.emmacarlyle.com along with excerpts of each book.

HOOKING MR. RIGHT (romantic comedy):

After writing a doctoral thesis that exposed fraud in the pop-psychology genre, thirty-two year old professor Althea Chandler has to sacrifice her professional integrity to save her family from financial disaster. She secretly becomes best-selling romance guru Dr. Trulee Lovejoy, a self-proclaimed expert on how to catch a man, even though Thea's a miserable failure when it comes to relationships -- especially those with the opposite sex.

Burned by a failed marriage, Luke Bennett finds himself pursued by Dr. Lovejoy toting women after a gossip columnist dubs him New York's most eligible bachelor. When he at first mistakes Thea for one of the women out to snare him, sparks fly, but the two soon find themselves battling sparks of a less hostile nature, thanks in part to an alley cat named Cupid. Luke believes he's finally found an honest woman. Unfortunately, Thea is anything but honest. She's got more secrets than the CIA and a desperate gossip columnist out to expose her. Cupid definitely has his work cut out for him.

(Note: This book is currently only available through Amazon as it's part of the Kindle Select program.) Amazon 

LOST IN MANHATTAN (romantic suspense):

One by one members of the Montgomery family have died in tragic accidents. Sarah Montgomery, the last surviving member of the aeronautics dynasty, suffers amnesia and extensive injuries that leave her unrecognizable when she's hit by a cab. Industrialist Trent Caldwell already harbors guilt over the death of his wife and now feels responsible for Sarah's injuries. After her surgery, he brings her to his home to recuperate. Mrs. Kearn, his housekeeper and surrogate mother, sees in Sarah someone capable of bringing Trent back to life. She begins playing matchmaker. 

But the Montgomery family deaths weren't accidents. Someone harbors a deadly secret and using skills perfected as a youthful IRA operative, has systematically eliminated the family out of a need for revenge. Realizing Sarah's true identity, the assassin now has one more kill to make in order to fulfill a promise made long ago.
Amazon  Nook  Kobo  Smashwords 

SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME (romantic suspense):

Dori Johnson's life is built on lies and deceit. Six years ago she committed a series of felonies in order to flee Philadelphia and save herself and her siblings from a ruthless Russian crime boss. They've lived under the radar ever since. But now Dori's been offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that her siblings insist she take. Within days her carefully constructed world begins toppling around her, and when her life is threatened, the one man who can help her is the one man she doesn't dare trust.
Amazon  Nook  Smashwords  Kobo

FINDING HOPE (romance):
Being offered a position at a prestigious architectural firm is a dream-come-true for thirty-four year old widow Hope Morgan. For twelve years she's attended college while working full-time and fending off family efforts to find her a new husband. Hope's long-exiled libido escapes confinement the moment she sets eyes on Ben Schaffer, her married boss. When Ben's wife walks out on him and their young sons, Hope steps in as temporary nanny, a bad move, considering all those traitorous hormones.

Ben finds himself developing feelings for Hope, feelings he knows better than to act on, given the mistakes of his past. But Hope refuses to take no for an answer, and her three-year-old accomplices are a triple threat of determination when it comes to finding everyone a happy ending. Amazon  Nook  Kobo  Smashwords 

FOUR UNCLES AND A WEDDING (chick lit):Back when thirty-one year old Polly Faith Harmony's feminist mother burned her bra, she wasn't thinking ahead to the day she'd want grandchildren.  Behind Polly's back, her mother enlists the help of her four great-uncles -- the Catholic priest, the Episcopalian priest, the Jewish rabbi, and the gay Unitarian minister.  The  five relatives  embark on an all out campaign to find Polly a mate in time to beat her biological clock.  Like all loving relatives on a mission, they play dirty. My Big Fat Greek Wedding morphs into My Big Fat Multi-Ecumenical Wedding in Emma Carlyle's Four Uncles and a Wedding.Amazon  Nook  Kobo  Smashwords