Blurb:
Traveling companions. That’s how it began. She was a widow, alone after a long and happy marriage, struggling to rebuild around the hole in the center of her life. He was at loose ends after retiring from a successful business and a string of unsuccessful marriages. All they had in common were empty days to fill and an urge to tour the open road, but as they travel side-by-side, their feelings grow. Serendipity brought them together, but every journey has to end. What happens when they reach the end of the road? 


Find out more about our hero, Ben.


Charm. Some people are born with it. You know the type. In high school, teachers always let him get away with turning assignments in after the due date. He never gets a speeding ticket, just a warning. Nobody complains when he’s late; they’re just happy he’s there. A few rules get bent or broken here and there, but nobody really minds, because he’s just so darn likeable. The trouble with charmers is that it’s too easy for them to drift through life, taking the easy route, and never getting anywhere.

Ben was a natural charmer, sincerely interested in people, and who could resist someone who wanted to know all about them?  Fortunately, he grew up on a ranch with a mother who brooked no nonsense. She instilled in him a strong work ethic, and he and his brother founded a business that brought prosperity for the whole family. An incident when he was a young man gave him something to prove, and a workaholic was born. However, this work ethic never applied to Ben’s love life.

Ben always had a weakness for beautiful women. Every time there was a lull in Ben’s business, he would look around and some gorgeous creature would catch his eye. Turning on the charm, he would sweep her off her feet, marry her, and then go back to work. The high-maintenance women he tended to favor didn’t appreciate the neglect, and another marriage would bite the dust.

After selling the business for a huge profit, early retirement found Ben fit, healthy, rich, and lonely. He was intelligent enough to know that his loneliness was his own fault, but he wasn’t sure what to do about it. Now that he had time on his hands, he found that a pretty face was no longer enough. He wanted a real wife, a true partner, and he had no idea how to find her.

He decided to fill the time traveling. The nostalgia of a trip along the old Route 66 appealed to the romantic in him. He enjoyed the trip, taking his time to explore the sites, meet the local people, stay in historic places, but he was still alone. That all changed when he dropped in on his favorite ex-wife. She had a friend there, quite an ordinary-looking woman, and yet there was something about her …

Ben, the charmer, was charmed. Marsha was funny, intelligent, and enthusiastic. The lure of the road ran just as strong in her as it did in him, but she was fragile. She had been shattered when she lost her beloved husband and was just starting to put the pieces of her life back together. Ben couldn’t let himself put her emotions at risk. He held back, afraid of hurting her, afraid of hurting himself.

Still, he couldn’t resist inviting her along on his road trip, just as a travelling companion, “no funny business.” She agreed, and the journey began for this unlikely couple. Recalculating Route is their story.

Author Beth Carpenter is going to be giving a gift pack highlighting the various places her characters traveled.
**Giveaway limited to mailing addresses in the 50 United States. Must be 18 years or older to enter.** Entries accepted from 9/26/13, 12:am through 10/13/13, 12:am. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Prize worth $50. Winner will be chosen at random and notified by email. If winner does not respond within 7 days, the prize if forfeited and another random winner will be chosen. Contact information will only be used to contact the winner and will not be shared.
Follow the tour by clicking here.

Blog Tour Giveaway  Prize package includes a $20 Amazon gift certificate, a quilted tote bag, note cards, a mouse pad, a print, bead bracelets, and other swag for a total package worth $50.

RECALCULATING ROUTE BOOK REVIEW
(Four Stars)

I recently discovered Beth Carpenter’s Recalculating Route and Detour on Route 66. This is a tender love story between a vulnerable widow and a lonely retiree. There are two very unusual things about this tale. First, that the characters are retirement age and are portrayed as vital, interesting people. Second, the relationship evolves naturally, as it should.

The unexpected friendship draws Marsha out of her self-imposed isolation after the death of her husband. Their relationship and attraction builds as they tour Route 66 together. Research is evident by the involved descriptions of their various stops. The author even goes as far as detailing shopping in Nordstrom’s Rack and the intricacies of cooking on the road. For a credibility constable, her efforts are greatly appreciated.

As a reader, I was on guard against the wealthy love’em and leave’em Ben, but subtle acts reveal his true character.  Marsha proves herself ready to explore life with Ben by her side. With a woman closer to his own age, Ben experiences what it is to be liked for who is as opposed to his net worth.

 All I could think when I read Ms. Carpenter’s gentle romance is how much I wished I had written it. Two thumbs to Ms. Carpenter for giving the over thirty set a second chance at love. This is book to be savored and considered long after reading it.   

When Beth Carpenter was a little girl, she read everything she could get her hands on and entertained herself on the school bus by making up stories in her head. Today she’s still at it, but her reading material magically appears on her tablet, and the stories in her head get published to share with everyone. Isn’t technology wonderful?

Beth believes that romance has no expiration date, and people of all ages deserve their chance at happily ever after. She loves to hear from readers. Drop by her blog at http://www.bethcarpenterbooks.blogspot.com/ to leave a comment, or click on the “About Beth” tab to email her.

 







Recalculating Route is available at these fine booksellers.

Amazon link: http://amzn.com/B00F4KL1WM

Barnes & Noble link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/recalculating-route-beth-carpenter/1116892125?ean=2940148565888

iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/recalculating-route-choices/id685079206?mt=11

Just Once in a Verra Blue Moon by Dawn Marie Hamilton is book two in the series. If you loved Just Beyond the Garden Gate, then you are bound to love this tale too. Laurie’s handsome cousin Finn is the star of this tale. The man who had trouble believing in fairies and time travel finds himself hurtling through centuries.

Elspeth discovers the unconscious warrior in a stream. Although his language is peculiar, his manner and form are fine. So fine, she must remind herself that she is engaged to Alexander. An alliance forged at her birth. Her fiancé, who once filled her with awe, now feels more like a weight around her neck. For a man eager to marry, he has certainly taken his time. She finds herself enjoying bantering with the handsome stranger and wishing it were he, and not Alexander, who she’d marry.

Finn fell through time in an effort to capture the man who tortured his cousin, Laurie. His goal is to regain his strength to begin his search. He discovers his strength and ability may have more to do with an enchanted sword he carried from his time. Unfortunately, the sword disappears with a little help. Finn survives only on his natural ability, wits and charm as tries to unravel the intrigue in the castle, fight his attraction to Elspeth, and find loathsome McKay.

This tale included familiar characters from the previous tales making it easier to understand. Reading the first book is not a requirement for the second. It is interesting to see what mischief the fairies are up to in each book though. There is a feel of unrequited love about Finn and Elspeth almost Romeo and Julietesque, but they have a better ending.

Do you like men in kilts, passion, battles with two-handed claymores and brownies and fairies interfering in the affairs of men? If so, Just Once in a Verra Blue Moon is the book for you.

Today, I will be talking about editing and giving away a $20 Amazon gift certificate to a random commenter. After I  completed 68,000 plus words of of my story, I pasted a chunk of it on Grammarly. I use Grammarly for online proofreading because to check if my work is original. I know I wrote it, but I wanted to see if I actually came up as something new. It did. :) Grammarly also showed me areas where I could improve. 












My First Step

This is my novice journey into the world of self-publishing. I did learn self-publishing and vanity publishing are very different.

Please do not fall prey to vanity publishers. Author House contacted me early in the game and offered to publish my book for $10,000. Lucky for me, I didn’t have that type of money. They sent me copies of slick paperbacks they did publish.  One book had Los Angeles spelled Los Angles in the title.

The big difference between vanity and self-pub, besides the price, is the ability to change your work. I pointed out a mistake to a friend in her children’s book that she was able to correct in five minutes. If someone else publishes your book, you’ll learn to live with the mistake and move on. This is one of the major lures of self-publishing. The other lure is that it is cheap, but it’s not as cheap as you think.

Pick up a copy of The Naked Truth about Self Publishing to find out the real nitty gritty. Popular self-published authors who learned the hard way compiled this book. I downloaded a free Kindle book where the author told me she published her own book on Kindle free. She created the art work with Power Point and did her own editing. She admitted it didn’t look too hot, but it was a learning curve. Do any of us need a sloppy book out there with our name on it?

You really can’t do it on your own at first. No one edits her own work well. Even editors seek help.  Most people want to know how much will it cost. It depends. I've heard some people brag they publish for zero. Others paid thousands of dollars.  You can expect to pay for editing, proofing, cover art, formatting and an ISBN number. It depends on whom you use. A higher price doesn’t mean someone is better. Case in point for me was editing.

Sometimes you can get what you want.  Most writers want a copy editor who highlights mechanics mistake, flow, inconsistencies and sometimes  research inaccuracies. A content editor basically tells you how to write your story. This type of service doesn't come cheap. The lowest you can expect to pay is $3000 and it goes up from there.

I shopped for my editor. Editing is such a personal thing that there needs to be a good relationship between the author and editor. I interviewed several people. If you are wondering how you interview an editor, you allow them to edit a couple pages of your work. Here are some of my results.

*One woman rewrote my work in her own voice.

*Another one cleaned up my Western characters’ language, so they spoke proper English.

*Another seemed clueless about what she was doing. She didn’t understand fiction editing and wanted to take out any extraneous adjectives and adverbs, which meant all of them.

*One woman came highly recommended from several published romance authors and she’s very good.

They all offered me different prices. The most expensive wanted a five hundred dollar retainer and would bill me hourly. I had this woman edit one page I wrote. It took her one hour to edit it. It didn’t take me that long to write and research it. With this is mind, a 300 page novel would cost me almost $11,000 dollars.

Normal rate for an experienced copy editor is .008 a word for an edit. Keep this in mind when you are having prices thrown at you. I am thankful for all the helpful authors who broke down the prices for me at the conference.

This is the tip of the iceberg. Next, I’ll address cover art.

Character Interview with Leah Carpenter

Today, we are talking with Rayna Noire, the high school heroine of Initiation.

What do you consider your most pressing issues?

RN: Well, uhm, there’s school. Not that it is that hard, but the social part is always hard for   me to navigate.

Why is that?

RN: There are all the cliques and unspoken rules. By the time, I discover who to avoid, we move again. Not that I blame my parents entirely for the moves it’s a pagan thing?

What do you mean it’s a pagan thing?

RN: (Exhales deeply, puts out hands about a foot apart.) Well, it’s hard to explain if you’re not pagan. My family is Wiccan to be more exact.  We never mention this when moving into a neighborhood because of what might happen.


What has happened to you?

RN: Our landlord asked us to leave after Nana put a pentacle on our front door. He just told us it would be best if we left.

Didn’t you try to fight it? That’s illegal.

RN:  Technically, yes, but after someone left the dead cat on our doorstep, we decided it was best to move. My cat, Theodora could be next.

Why do people do these things to your family?

RN: I wish I knew. Shows their ignorance. If they understood that being Wiccan is about honoring all life, then they might understand it’s a good thing to have a Wiccan family in the neighborhood.

How can people be educated in regards to the nature of Wiccan and witches?

RN: There’s the problem. For centuries, people have believed things that were not true. Such as witches are evil. People who are Wiccans worship Satan. The only way I can see of correcting some of these tales is going back in the past to stop them where they started.

You can’t go back in the past.

RN:  Well, (bites bottom lip before speaking) I thought that too. It appears the past wants me and keeps pulling me back.  My only problem, besides the local villagers trying to burn me as a witch, is why I am drawn back into the past.  Nana, that’s my grandmother, believes if I can figure out the problem, then I can solve it, and remain in the now.

As witches, can’t you just wiggle your nose and make it stop.

RN: See, there you go, television witches. Nope, this is my destiny I just have to figure out how to stay alive…and that will take a major dose of magick.



 INITIATION coming in January 2014

Blurb:
The woman who will one day wear Richard Lynsted's ring will be genteel, dainty, and well-bred.

This eliminates Grace MacEachin on all three counts. A hellion of the first order, the alluring, infuriating woman would be nothing more than a passing temptation to an upstanding gentleman like Richard—if it weren't for the fact that she's trying to blackmail his father!

Or, as Grace sees it, trying to get justice—and maybe just the slightest hint of revenge on the family that tore her life asunder when she was just a girl. And as for Lynsted, well, the stuffy, humorless man wouldn't suffer for time spent in company more exciting than that of his company ledgers. Only when Richard gets Grace alone, she discovers he may know a thing or two about excitement after all . . .

The Marriage Ring by Cathy Maxwell is a historical romance by a master of the genre. Who else would have two character diametrically opposed to one another in every way? Only Cathy Maxwell could make it work. Grace MacEachin has a bone to pick with the Lynsted family. They bore false witness against her father, which sent him to the penal colony for several years. This crime busted up her happy family and sent her fleeing Scotland for the London stage.

Grace wows audiences with her beautiful voice and voluptuous figure. When she’s not on stage, she’s fighting off ardent suitors who want to make her their own personal songbird.  The real reason she is in London is to blackmail the devious Lynsted twins who let her father take the blame for their misdeeds.  She has a wee bit of dirty laundry they might not like public. Her only goal is justice.

Richard Lynsted is a giant of a man. Beneath his mammoth proportions beats the heart of a romantic. Make that a romantic puritan. He keeps to himself while enriching his family with his financial acumen. Then one day, he overhears his father and uncle talking about being blackmailed by a Grace MacEachin. It is his duty to prove himself to his father by confronting the evil blackmailer.

Grace and Richard are thrown together as she convinces him to meet her father to prove how he’s been wronged by Richard’s family. Richard agrees to go, unaware that his uncle and father have sent servants to accompany them whose sole purpose is to kill Grace.

Grace and Richard’s attraction is a delight. Richard naïve assumption that honesty wins in the end gets him in all sorts of situations.  When Grace finally returns to Scotland to vindicate her father, she encounters a surprise.  I never saw this coming. Great job, Ms. Maxwell.

The Marriage Ring is another romantic treat. It is best if you have time to read it in one setting. Romance and historical romance fans should both enjoy it.

I will say my husband is a better person than I am because he finishes every book he starts. I don’t. I read for pleasure, knowledge and reviews. As for the reviews, I’ve been told not to read past the fifth chapter because I might give the story away. If I enjoy the book, I still finish it. However, a few things stop me cold.

1.       Mechanics can cripple a tale - I am not an editor. I need an editor to edit my work. Still, when I see glaring errors even I can pick out, it makes for difficult reading. It is almost as if the work has to be edited to make any sense.

2.       An unlikable character is another reason - Philip Roth, a masterful writer, may be able to make a pedophile into a sympathetic character. Trust me; most authors do not have this skill. I declined to review a book that included a selfish heroine who refused to have anything to do with her a father because he married a woman she didn’t like. She even kept her grandson away from his grandfather. When her father dies suddenly, she complains about how inconvenient it is and how she looks bad in black. I could not force myself to continue to read the book enough to find out if she developed a soul. I found out almost every  reviewer refused it too. The publisher was shopping it around for positive reviews only.

3.       Lack of research - I once read a book that took place on an Indiana farm. The author’s unfamiliarity with farming, the crops that grow in Indiana and the general geography hurt her credibility with anyone from Indiana, or with a farming background, or had the ability to use the Internet. Many people want to write historical novels, but they don’t want to do the research. Historical readers are great historians. They recognize an out of period item or even a word.

4.       Believability - Fantasy and science fiction get a pass on this. I understand fiction is pretend, but some things only happen in comic books. A cougar novel had the fifty-year-old former model heroine more beautiful and toned than her twenty year old model employees. Whenever she walked into a room, men’s mouths fell open. She was also a billionaire, owned most of the town and ran several businesses. The poor woman couldn’t find an available man to date. Which part do you find hard to believe?

5.       Sameness - I think people read novels by a particular author for some sameness. They’re comfortable with reading the same thing over and over. However, when it is the exact same plot line in the same place with different main characters, it’s still the same novel.

6.       Vulgarity factor - I don’t think of myself as a prude. I used to be a beta reader for several different types of erotica a few years back. While some of the books I read were funny, far-fetched, or just plan goofy, they do not compare to what’s out currently. Some writers have their characters tortured, kept hostage and raped by several men. They liked to call it bondage. Yeah, right.

7.       The agenda peddlers - You don’t have to read more than a chapter into these books to see what the agenda is. It could be pro-gun or anti-gun. It might be anti-meat penned by a vegan. Everyone has opinions. That’s fine, but an opinion is not a story arc.

8.       The story doesn’t go anywhere - I will freely admit to finishing these books thinking they will get better. Sigh. The best example I’ve seen is a mystery with twenty-two possible murderers. After persevering through 500 plus pages, the detective announces he can’t figure it out.

9.       Too little conflict - Everyone is wonderful in the story and there are no problems. What is the plot line again?

10.   Too much conflict - Some writers, hearing that conflict drives the story, manage to pile on endless twists, from unknown brothers to counteragents. After about the thirtieth conflict is introduced, I realize I no longer care.

11.   Great beginnings that melt into miserable middles - The book had so much promise, but then it went nowhere. The first part of the book was the contest entry, which explains why it was better than the rest.

12.   No explanation - This tends to happen more in fantasy or science fiction, where the writer uses language or terms that hasn’t been explained to the reader. He created the word so he knows what it means. The rest of us, however, might like a clue.

All in all, there really aren’t that many books I don’t finish. I really hate it when I read an entire series only to have a sucky ending. I persevered through six books for that ending.  When do you stop reading?  

BLURB:
To their friends, Nick and Cathy Chance have the perfect marriage. High school sweethearts who’ve been together for ten years, they’ve weathered challenges and are as committed as they were when they first fell in love. Cathy trusts Nick, Nick’s world revolves around his wife, and the future looks golden.

To everyone who knows them, Cathy Chance and Roxanne Ruiz have a perfect friendship. They connected in grade school and since then have been each other’s confident and trusted advisor. Cathy loves the gorgeous Roxanne like a sister, Roxanne has fun-loving Cathy’s back in every situation, though lately there’s been tension between these two best friends…

And then, on a sunny summer morning, the unthinkable occurs, throwing into doubt the truth of what each of these people really know about themselves and one another.

Will Roxanne’s sacrifice be too little, and too late? Should Nick’s love for his wife be strong enough to risk trusting his heart more than logic? Can Cathy’s devotion to Nick give her enough strength to convince him to see her for who she really is?

Secret Sister proves how strong, how stubborn, and how trustworthy love can be as Nick and Cathy and Roxanne are challenged to overcome the secrets, the lies … and one extraordinary twist of fate that turns their lives upside down.


Follow Secret Sister tour by clicking on the book cover. Earn more chance to win $100 Amazon Gift Card at each stop.

 Hi Writer Wonderland Readers! Emelle Gamble here. My new book, Secret Sister, is a women’s fiction/romance/paranormal element story about Nick & Cathy. And Cathy and Roxanne. But before your mind goes frolicking off to ménage a trois land, let me caution you. As many readers and reviewers have found out, Secret Sister is not your average triangle. To peak your interest in the story, here’s some questions to think about it when your read it! Enjoy, and let me know what you think on my FB Author page or send me an email!

Top 10 Weird and Wonderful Questions about Secret Sister

10. This novel plays the amnesia card with a Joker…can you say ‘trading places’ body swap?

9. Someone  has hot sex with a man she thinks she knows…but is his identity the real issue?

8. Sister Zoe might see dead people…but then again, isn’t that a good thing?

7. Nick drives everyone crazy with his mourning…is he dense or just missing the obvious?

6. There are a lot of references to  great old songs…can’t any of these people get some Satisfaction?

5. There’s a cat named Pittypatt…what movie character is she named after?

4. Cathy Chance learns she doesn’t know everything about her best friend Roxanne…with apologies to every philosopher since Socrates, can we ever know another person?

3. Most of the characters eat at a restaurant named Simone’s …is great food sexy to read about or does it just make you hungry?

2. Roxanne Ruiz is drop dead beautiful, Cathy has a great personality…HA... would most women rather be Roxanne or Cathy?

And the #1 most weird and wonderful question about Secret Sister is…(take it away Paul Shaffer)

1.  Is the girl living in France with Nick at the end of the book who she thinks she is?

Excerpt:
When I ‘woke up,’ strange words to use after being unconscious for what was surely days, not hours, I felt remarkably lucid. Which is to say, I opened my eyes and saw and understood that I was in a hospital bed, there were nurses working in the area outside my glassed-in room, and I was hooked to an I.V. and some other kind of machine.

I didn’t know the story of how I got here, but assumed it was bad. I remembered hearing, somewhere, that I had been in a terrible car accident, but I was blank to any other details.

For instance, I didn’t know my name.

I examined the contents of my brain and started a list of unknown things. Where was I? No clue. What day was it? I looked outside and saw blue sky. Zero. I was blank to the most basic of information.

My chest tightened and a roar began in my head. Don’t panic. I gulped air, blinked; fought to stay awake.

 “Roxanne. Roxanne Ruiz. Do you know where you are?”

I didn’t recognize that name. In my brain I saw a face. A kind face, smiling. A great looking guy with strong arms and blue eyes.

But I had no idea who he was either …

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Emelle Gamble was a writer at an early age, bursting with the requisite childhood stories of introspection which evolved into bad teen poetry and took her first stab at full length fiction in an adult education writing class when her kids were in bed. As M.L. Gamble, she published several romantic suspense novels with Harlequin. She has contracted with Soul Mate Publishing for Secret Sister, summer of 2013, and Dating Cary Grant, an early 2014 release.

Always intrigued by the words ‘what if’, Emelle’s books feature an ordinary woman confronted with an extraordinary situation.  She most enjoys reading stories that surprise and amaze her, and hopes her readers will enjoy the challenging and exciting journeys her characters take. 

Emelle lives in suburban Washington D.C.  with her husband, Phil, her hero of thirty years,  and two orange cats, Lucy and Bella. These girls, like all good villains, have their reasons for misbehaving. Her daughter, Olivia, and son, Allen, are happily launched on their own and contributing great things to society, their mother’s fondest wish.

Email: emellegamble@aol.com

Website:  www.EmelleGamble.com

FaceBook:  Author Emelle Gamble

Twitter: @EmelleGamble