Have You Read Any Good Books Lately?

The Texan’s Secret Daughter is a book that I briefly mention on this blog post.

This was a nice sweet book. I enjoyed reading it. It’s a book about second chances. The book also dealt with alcoholism, and that is a subject on which I’ve often focused on with my own writing. I thought the hero (Elijah) was so hard on himself regarding his past mistakes. The heroine (Jazmine) has made mistakes as well. I thought the second-chance lesson pertained to Jazmine’s and Elijah’s relationship, as well as our relationship with our Creator. The biggest takeaway from this book is that God gives all of us a second, third, fourth…etc. chance. Forgiveness is also a major lesson learned from reading this insightful novel.

I initially sold a novel (First Mates) to Love Inspired back in 2003. My novel was released in 2005. At the time, Love Inspired did not publish many romances with ethnic characters. There were a few Love Inspireds which were released within the span of a few years, with African-American characters. I only sold one book to Love Inspired. I kept submitting, but was not able to sell another book to them. I was glad to see Love Inspired publish The Texan’s Secret Daughter. If you know of any other Love Inspired novels with ethnic (non-Caucasian) hero or heroine, then please share the titles.

I recently received the publishing rights back to First Mates (it’s out of print) and am re-releasing it as Coffee and Kisses.

This was a nice, sweet story about a billionaire and his young daughter’s live-in schoolteacher. I honestly believe this was the first billionaire romance I’ve ever read. (I’m not counting Fifty Shades – which is not really a romance). Sure, I’ve read countless romances with rich heroes, but, not one with a billionaire.

The billionaire lived in a regular house. He’s renting his current home, waiting for his mansion to be built. So, although you know this guy is mega-rich, with his body guards and successful business, he still lives like a regular guy, otherwise. You don’t see expensive fixtures and tons of servants, as you may see in other rich-hero romances.

There’s also a bit of suspense in this novel. I liked the relationship between the hero and his daughter. He’s a bit overprotective of her, but, given his background his temperament is understandable.

Both of these novels are nice, sweet cozy reads to enjoy at the beach.

So have you read any good romances, lately? If so, please share!

Raspberry Kisses is FREE for the next couple of days! The rest of The Bakery Romance Series and A FEW TITLES from The Candy Beach Series are 99 cents! Grab all of them before the price goes up!

Do you want to publish your romance novel?

I’m now offering critique and writing advice on a limited basis. Details are here.

Just popping in to say hello. I’ve had some people to tell me that they have more time to read during this pandemic. Bookbub is a cool place to hang out if you’re an avid reader! Sign up for their daily featured-deal email. You pick your favorite categories and each day, you’ll receive an email with cool deals. A lot of the featured deal books are FREE!

So, check out their site and come follow me on Bookbub!

Silently they continued to eat. He finished his coffee and poured another cup. “Would you like some dessert?”

“Dessert after breakfast?” She’d never heard of such a thing. Who ate dessert after breakfast?

He opened the refrigerator and removed a glass bowl covered with Saran Wrap. The bowl contained…well, it looked like perfectly round balls of milk chocolate. He tore the Saran Wrap off the bowl and the amazing lemony chocolate smell practically shouted from the bowl. “These are chocolate lemon buttercreams. I got up extra early and made a batch this morning. I make them quite often.” His deep voice filled with pride as he stared at the bowl of candy.

“You can eat this whole bowl of candy yourself?”

He shrugged. “It stays fresh in the fridge. Sometimes, I take a batch to church to share at meetings. Like yesterday, I made a batch and shared it at a youth group meeting.” Well, that explained why he’d smelled of lemons and chocolate the previous day. She glanced at his shirt and noticed that it was stained with chocolate and yellow. She figured he was messy and spilled chocolate and lemon filling on his shirt when he made the candy. That’s why he smelled so amazing. He pushed the bowl closer to her. “Have some.”

He didn’t have to ask her twice. Curiosity and…something else seemed to erupt within her as she selected one of the balls of candy. She’d never met a man who cooked like Keith Baxter and made his own candy. She bit into the chocolate.

Oh. My. Goodness.

The fresh lemon cream center coated with milky chocolate exploded in her mouth like a cloud of perfect sweetness. She moaned and finished the piece of candy in two bites. Chocolate had melted on her fingers, and heaven help her, she just couldn’t resist.

She licked her fingers.

Keith’s laughter filled the kitchen. His eyes twinkled and his dimples winked as he looked directly at her. She eyed the bowl. In spite of her full stomach, she wanted to select another piece of candy. But, she couldn’t sample another piece. It just wouldn’t be right, especially since she’d been so enamored with the candy that she’d lost her mind and had licked her fingers.

Still chuckling, Keith removed a box of aluminum foil from the cupboard. He tore off a piece of foil and, as if he were reading her mind, he placed half a dozen pieces of candy into the foil and wrapped it up. He then presented it to her. Their fingers touched when she accepted his offering. Warm sparks of delight shot up her palm. Her hand felt so warm that she hoped the candy wouldn’t melt before she got home. Finally, she remembered her manners. “Thank you.”

His eyes twinkled as he quickly winked at her. “You’re welcome.”

Bittersweet Dreams

Milk Chocolate Kisses is now available on Amazon. Come and enjoy this delicious, sweet tale today.

For those of you who have been reading my books for awhile, Milk Chocolate Kisses is a re-release of my old novel, Milk Money. I got the rights back from my publisher and am now publishing it under my company, Divine Desserts Publishing LLC.

This story is near and dear to my heart since it deals with the subject of alcoholism. I loved researching dairy farm life for this novel. Come give it a read. It’s on Kindle Unlimited.

Have you ever thought about how people suffered in the Bible?

The Coronavirus has really had an impact on the world. Never, in my entire lifetime, have I recalled entire states closing schools for weeks to avoid an outbreak. Sure, I’ve seen epidemics, and weather-related school closings which are local, but, nothing of this magnitude.

My job has even told us that we need to begin working remotely. We are not allowed in the building and they will assess the situation weekly to let us know when we can return to our building.

The Covid 19 disease – the quarantines – etc. made me think about Biblical times. I started thinking about biblical diseases. Leprosy was the first disease that popped into my mind. Lepers were sometimes moved to leper colonies since the disease was believed to be contagious. (From my research, it appears the disease was not as contagious as folks initially thought).

Naaman, an army commander, was healed from leprosy:

2 Kings 5:1,13 New International Version (NIV)
1 Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.

13 Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

The Bible does speak of other physical ailments, such as people having seizures, sores, as well as other being blind and lame. Jesus healed people and it’s amazing that having faith enabled folks to believe in Jesus and be healed.

So, does the Cornoavirus make you think about how people have suffered in the Bible?