BLOGGING WITH BEVERLEY

Hi everyone!
I have a theme in the books I write: Friendships, deep-seeded ones that stay with you for a lifetime. I have a group of friends I get together with at least once a month. Some of these ladies, I’ve known for over forty years. Simply amazing. How about you? Do you have friendships that have stayed with you for the long stretch?

Below are some shared memories and a giveaway!

Happy reading!

~Cait

GIRL CODE: an anthology

All proceeds from sales are going to the
Wounded Warriors Project.

Introduction by Julie Ann Walker.

Girl Code blurb:

Four best friends struggle with decisions that affect their lives, their hearts, and their futures. As sisters, they embrace the Girl Code.

         HOPE
Josephine "Joey" Lockhart escapes her past, herself and her home town of Pearl, Ohio to Florida after high school. Years later, she meets a man that refuses to let her hide behind her camera lens and encourages her out of her shell. Will he be the one to push her to feel for the first time?
         LIVE
After seven years in drug hell, detoxing Juliette "Juls" Carrington returns to her hometown Pearl to attend her grandmother's burial. Once more rejected by her family, she has a swim in a pond nearby when a mysterious camper, an ex-drunk, coaxes her to come to his hut in the woods. Together they must fight their inner demons for a chance to love...and live.
       FAITH
Selena Bodine escaped into the United States Air Force to leave behind a painful past and the one man who she refused to let herself love. Years later, an urgent call from her father brings her back to Pearl, Ohio and face to face with the man she still loves. But will the secret that Cullen is investigating her threaten their second chance?

PERSISTENCE
Laydi Michaels has been running away from her past and bad memories for years. Finding herself wasn’t an easy task, but she’s managed to finally get to a point to where she wants to be. Only to wake up married to her boss….who fired her the night before. Wrapped in a case that puts her life in danger, and dealing with a grave situation back home in Pearl, Laydi figures out she wasn’t close to finding herself, and now, she’s risked everything.

5 star Goodreads review!
It's not often you read an anthology and truly love every story in it but I really did. These four authors are amazing women who I'm sure will continue to give us well written, heart warming, action packed, and steamy love stories for years to come.

FAITH Excerpt:

Selena filled her lungs with country air and the aroma of honeysuckle. The scent blasted her over the edge of nostalgia, to her sisters playing along the pond after a rainstorm. She stopped on the sidewalk before crossing the road.

Joey had her hands buried in the bank, making mud pies. The thought of dirt burrowing under Selena’s nails irritated her as much as nails dragging across a chalkboard, but she’d jumped right in so her new friend didn’t play alone. Juls and Laydi joined them. It didn’t take long for brown-reddish splotches to cover them from head to toe. They had laughed so hard. Life was rough, their home lives not worth talking about, yet they giggled.

Nothing else meant as much to them as each other. She smiled, remembering how they jumped into the pond to get clean. Young, alone, and taking a bath in dirty water, she couldn’t have been happier. That day, she realized, the girls would be in her life for the long haul.

Shared Memories:

Joey, Juls, Selena, and Laydi
from the Girl Code stories sharing the memories!

My friends and me celebrating my big birthday in 2014.

Unfortunately, a few of us were missing in this pic.

Author bios and contacts:

Cait Jarrod
“I write what I love to read – Romantic Suspense/Mystery – I love writing and creating the meet-cue (the point where the hero and heroine meet) to the blossoming of the romance. Add a suspenseful plot or a good mystery to the equation and the perfect book is born to curl up to lose yourself in, taking you away from reality, troubles.”
As a child, I entertained myself for hours playing pretend, but not with dolls and such. I created stories and pictured them in my mind, sometimes even acted them out, my well preserved secret until now. I spent years after leaving school trying to figure out my niche. Not being a literary enthusiast, I never thought my childhood pastime would lead in this direction.

In life, one door closes and another opens, so I'm told. This was true for me. I lost my mother, my best friend, to cancer. After a year without her, I picked up her favorite hobby...reading. After one book, a romantic suspense, I was hooked. In the past, I'd fall asleep after a few minutes of reading. Now, books rank up there with a good red wine. It didn't take long for my childhood muse to come back in adult version urging me to put the scenes in my head on paper.

I hope I have provided you with the escape similar to the ones I conjured in childhood and rediscovered as an adult, and I hope you enjoy reading my books as much as I have loved creating them.

Cait's debut novel, Kidnapped Hearts won awards in the categories of Best Happily Ever After and Best Suspense. Cait lives in Virginia with her husband and three daughters.

Find Cait at:
Cait’s Classy Chicks Street Team: https://www.facebook.com/groups/629181983825796/
Cait's Newsletter https://confirmsubscription.com/h/i/76093C2B11569E7C
Website: http://caitjarrod.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cait-Jarrod-Author/500705936640529?ref=hl
Twitter https://twitter.com/CaitJarrod
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/caitjarrod/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6966274.Cait_Jarrod
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+CaitJarrod/posts
email: cait.jarrod@aol.com

D.C. Stone
"I write romantic suspense because I can connect with it, and love the thrill of kicking ass and being sexy while you're at it."

D.C. Stone is an e-book author and full-time fraud investigator when she isn’t diving into the world of Fiction. After serving eight years of service with the United States Air Force, she went on to transition into the world of Financial Crimes and became a lead investigator for many years. When she isn’t trying to solve a new puzzle in the world of fraud, she is engulfed with coffee, her laptop, and all those crazy characters in her head. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America, New Jersey Romance Writers, Kiss of Death, and the Liberty State Fiction Writers. Come stop by on Facebook, Twitter or her website and say hello!

Find DC at:

Website: http://www.authordcstone.com /
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorDCStone
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DCStoneauthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6541023.D_C_Stone

Jessica Jayne

“My writing interests vary much like my reading interests. Though I mainly write romance type novels with a spicy twist, I have lived what some might call a suspenseful life. As a survivor of a stalking and sexual assault, I learned the ins and outs of the legal system pretty quickly. It helped to precipitate my interest in getting my law degree…that and the fact that I grew up around attorneys. So adding suspense to my writing is no big surprise to me or anyone that knows me.”

I am a born and raised small town Ohio girl, who moved to the Sunshine State after graduating from college. I graduated with a bachelor's degree in English because I could not imagine doing anything else but reading and writing. It is such a pleasure to be able to share all the stories in my head!
In the journey of life, I got my law degree (and license) and also became a wife and a mother of three children. So, life is always an adventure.
I love to read and write... obviously!

I’m a huge sports fan, especially college football and the Ohio State Buckeyes! Go Steelers! Go Rays! Go Lightning! I LOVE to travel…Love, LOVE, LOVE to travel. And I love sharing my love to travel with my children. Did I say I love to travel? I love to drink coffee in the morning and tea at night. I love a good glass of wine, especially if it comes from a bottle made by the FOOLS wine club…yep, I’m a founding member of that crazy group! I love hanging out with my family and friends! Music makes me happy. I’m a mix between country girl and city chic. But I love nothing more than putting on my jean shorts, tank top, cowboy boots and hat and watching Tim McGraw or Eric Church belt it out! I’m a sucker for a cowboy hat!

Favorite quote: “If nothing ever changed, there would be no butterflies.”

Find Jessica at:

Website: http://jessicajayneauthor.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Jessica-Jayne/388268367912903
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JessicaJayne13
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6545547.Jessica_JaynePinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/thejessicajayne/

Lea Bronsen
"I love how well-chosen words can make your heart beat a little faster."

Lea Bronsen likes her reads fast, hot, and edgy, and strives to give her own stories the same intensity. After venturing into dirty inner-city crime drama with her debut novel Wild Hearted, she divides her writing time between psychological thriller, romantic suspense, and erotic contemporary romance.

She is signed with Evernight Publishing, Decadent Publishing, and Insatiable Press.

Find Lea at:
Website: http://leabronsen.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeaBronsen
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeaBronsen
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6966248.Lea_Bronsen
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lea-Bronsen/e/B00BTFT8KS

Email: leabronsen@yahoo.com

Girl Code print copy giveaway: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/75a42fab34/" rel="nofollow" data-raflid="75a42fab34" data-theme="classic" data-template="" id="rcwidget_vj1xb7mg">a Rafflecopter giveaway

This week author Victoria Adams joins us with her tip. Victoria lives and writes in Ontario, Canada where she is an avid gardener, active belly dancer and a slave to an adorable black kitten named Licorice

Victoria’s Tip Flash Fiction Turns to Romance Story

Several years ago I joined a flash fiction group. Rules were simple - each week a set of word and photo prompts would be emailed out to the group members and chapters were to be between 500 to 1,000 words and posted on our blogs. We were to use at least one of the prompts as inspiration to further our story along.

My reason for joining the group was to tighten my writing. My first and second books were – before editing – over 100K. I thought that having to work with a limited word count for each chapter would curb a bit of my verbal run-on. Which I think it did.

Also, I love challenges, especially word games and this sounded like great fun. I didn’t settle for trying to incorporate 1 prompt into the story; I went for as many as possible. I know of one chapter where I did use every word and picture prompt proposed that week. On the other side, there was at least one week were I didn’t put up a post as I couldn’t incorporate any of the prompts.

Sadly, I have not participated for many months. But I did take the original 15 episodes and turn them into a novella – just released – titled Red Tulip. It is volume 1 of a flash fiction based series called – Romantic Flashes. I kept the chapters short so it retained its episodic feel. Being a great fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I know that his Hounds of the Baskervilles was written and published in the same episodic way.

What genre is Red Tulip? Well…it’s a contemporary romance with a twist of mystery and maybe a bit of paranormal. This book evolved as I wrote it as I didn’t know where each chapter would head until I got the prompts. The excerpt I’ve included is the opening of the book and unfortunately I don’t know what many of the prompts were for that week. I didn’t include them in the original post, but I do know one prompt was a photo of a red tulip.

Excerpt from “Red Tulip”

"When was the last time you were offered the gift of a red tulip?"

I turned to see who spoke while I wondered if he was addressing me. A man sat on a park bench, dressed in a dark suit, with a bowler hat, holding a cane and his head bowed. I shifted to continue along the path when his face lifted and I found myself gaping at two glowing green eyes.

"When was the last time you were offered the gift of a red tulip?"

I blinked, trying to look away from those mesmerising orbs. "Uh, never. I mean, no one has ever offered me a tulip."

"A red tulip."

"Okay, no one has ever offered me a red tulip." Uneasiness slithered through me. "Nice chatting with you."

Smiling, I scurried down the path leading away from the park bench and towards the gardener's shed. With Jacobs being sick today, I had to hurry to get the last of the flower beds cleaned and prepared for spring plantings. The past winter had been bitter. It seemed tree branches and mouse damage wreaked havoc on every one of the one hundred and sixteen different flowerbeds.

I slipped my key into the lock, opened the shed door, stepped inside and shut it behind me. Closing my eyes, I allowed myself a moment to indulge in the beauty of his eyes. Emerald green. As brilliant as the gems locked among the diamonds at Tiffany's. Not that I shop there. Couldn't possibly afford anything on a junior gardener's salary, but I do fantasize when wandering the aisles.

What would it be like to be with a man like that? For those few moments in his presence, I was unable to think. My breath caught in my lungs. My palms were slick with beads of sweat. I shook my head, opened my eyes, and tugged the ever-present hair tie off my wrist. "Get over yourself, Darcy. A man like that wants a super model who can slink around on eight-inch heels. Not someone who digs in the dirt all day."

Buy Links:

Amazon – US http://www.amazon.com/dp/B012EQECQA

Amazon - Canada http://www.amazon.ca/Red-Tulip-Romantic-Flashes-Book-ebook/dp/B012EQECQA/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1437755459&sr=1-1&keywords=Red+Tulip

Barnes and Noble US http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/red-tulip-victoria-adams/1122370580?ean=2940152046687&quickview=true

Barnes and Noble Canada http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/red-tulip-victoria-adams/1122370580?ean=2940152046687

Barnes and Noble UK http://www.nook.com/gb/ebooks/red-tulip-by-victoria-adams/2940152046687

iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/red-tulip/id1021834718?mt=11

Kobo https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/red-tulip

You can find Victoria at: