ARC Contests!

If you’re interested in the chance to win some ARCs, check out Jaci Burton and Lauren Dane’s blogs. They both got ARC contests for their upcoming books, RIDING ON INSTINCT (by Jaci in April) and RELENTLESS (by Lauren in May). Go forth and enter. Good Luck! 🙂

Read Full Post »

HOT FLASH by Kathy Carmichael

On Jill Morgan Storm’s fortieth birthday, she declares she is through with love. A conviction well justified, considering her first husband didn’t leave her for another woman; he became one! More recently, her love affair came to a screeching halt when her lover dumped her for a young undergraduate. To make matters worse, the teeny-bopper stole Jill’s “well-seasoned” frying pan, and when you’re a sous chef, that’s no small offense; it’s a major felony.

When financial obligations threaten her son’s dream of attending art school, Jill and her friends devise a foolproof plan to audition candidates for a new husband. The search for Mr. Right is on.

There is one problem, however. His name is Davin Wesley, an annoying third-grade schoolteacher, who relentlessly plagues her days, haunts her nights, and propels her libido into overdrive. She knows he is absolutely, undeniably wrong for her. So why, then, does Mr. Wrong take her breath away, curl her toes, and give her a hot flash every time she sees him? More importantly, what will she do if Mr. Wrong is actually Mr. Right?

Fatin: Thank you so much for inviting me to guest blog on Novel Thoughts! You have a great blog and I’m very happy to be here!

Dear Reader: Sometimes an author has a tougher time communicating with her characters than you can ever imagine. For instance, Jill Morgan Storm, of HOT FLASH, is incredibly stubborn. Once she gets going in one direction, it’s hard to get her to change course. It wasn’t easy to convince her to go along with her adventures in Hot Flash.

Below is a conversation we recently had:

Jill: What kind of mother doesn’t have the money to send her only child to college?

Me: A broke mother. There’s always loans.

Jill: Loans? I can’t believe you want me to saddle my kid with loans.

Me: You could always pay them off yourself.

Jill: Like I could ever afford to? ::She slaps herself on the head..:: I’ll tell you what kind of mother I am. A lousy one!

Me: No you’re not. You’re a great mom. You’ve loved and cared for your son, put him first in your thoughts, and nurtured him to the best of your ability. You did what you could to prepare him to enter the world. You gave him the morals and ethics needed to be a good person.

Jill: You teach by example, not words. And my example is that I don’t have money to send him to college.

Me: What about honesty, hard work and kindness? I think you showed great examples of all three.

Jill: Kindness doesn’t pay the electric bill. And what about how he talks to me — or, actually, doesn’t talk to me?

Me: Do you know any teenaged boys who spend a lot of time communicating with their mothers?

Jill: In French slang????

Me: Okay you got me on that one. But I still say you’re a great mom.

Jill: The least you could have done was given me a rich boyfriend. One who adores me and I adore just as much.

Me: Them’s the breaks.

Jill: I don’t even have a decent sex life. What kind of fiend are you?

Me: That’s why I’m writing your story. So you can learn, grow and find what you need for yourself

Jill: What I need is another author. A nicer one. One who gives me college money.

Me: Don’t worry. I’m sure it will all work out as it should!

Jill: You truly are a fiend. I’ll tell you what I’m going to do.

Me: What are you going to do?

Jill: I’m going to send out a survey to happy heroines to find out what makes for a good author.

Me: I think you’ll find that once your story is finished, you’ll be a happy heroine, too.

Jill: How about a little hint about what’s going to happen?

Me: No way. You have to experience it for yourself.

Jill: You are so mean. At least tell me this. Am I going to find a way to pay to send my son to college?

Me: I can’t tell you that. It’ll mess up your journey of self-discovery.

Jill: Self-discovery my as-pic. If you’re not careful, I might refuse to discover myself.

Me: If you do that, then you won’t get your happy ending, now will you?

Jill: ::preens:: I get a happy ending?

Me: You sure do! Now go cook something, okay? Cooking always improves your mood.

Jill: How about if I make my Southwestern Chicken Breasts a la Jill Storm? Heaven knows I make it often enough at La Papillon, I could make it in my sleep. But it’s good and people are always asking me for the recipe.

Me: Great idea. Why don’t you share the recipe with everyone here?

Jill: Okay. It’s up on the following link: Hot Flash Recipe Blog

As you can see, Jill is definitely a character! I hope you find HOT FLASH as much fun to read as I had in writing Jill’s story — well, most of the time.

Happy Reading! And if you’d like to add a recipe of your own to the Hot Flash Recipe Blog, that would be awesome 🙂

Kathy Carmichael

*****Leave a comment for the chance to win HOT FLASH by KC! Two winners will be chosen. Good Luck! 🙂

Read Full Post »