Linda O'Connor

Author: Linda

  • Sharing the Awesome Author ~ Madison Michael

    My life is filled with love and laughter thanks to the amazing people I get to hang out with. As well as being awesome, they’re creative, talented, generous, and fun! I thought you might like to meet some of the authors I know, so I’ve asked them to come and give us a behind-the-scenes look at what they’re passionate about. I have to warn you though – creativity is contagious!

    Today I’d like to introduce Madison Michael, a fellow contemporary romance author. 

    Meet Madison ~ She traded 28 years in Fortune 500 companies for sassy heroines, sexy, rich heroes and nothing but happy endings. The daughter of a librarian, she learned to love books, especially classics and romances, and spent childhood winters cuddled under blankets losing herself in books. She lives in Evanston, IL with two feline editorial assistants and great views of Chicago’s famous skyline.

     

    Madison, what genre do you write? M: I write contemporary romance. Romance because I love writing happy endings. It seems that life is tough enough. I find I need to escape reality now and then and I believe my readers need that same escape and entertainment. Contemporary because I love modern Chicago, strong women and hunky sexy guys, and writing a little hot sex. But I do have a time travel book up my sleeve that is a little less contemporary.

    I definitely read to escape, too! Is there anything you learned when writing the story? M: Oh my yes. I learn from researching every book. For “Bedeviled” I learned about marathon running, new Chicago restaurants, some corporate law and even surfing. I had worked with a stylist once, so I added her to the story, but I asked her a ton of questions before she joined my characters. So, I learned more about her too.

    I love that you never stop learning when you write ~ about the craft or the characters. If you could do one thing over differently what would you do? M: In life or in this book? I think about the question in life often – I might have gone to a smaller, private college where I could have stood out and stood up more instead of getting lost in the crowd. “Bedeviled” went through numerous rewrites thanks to great editing and thoughtful beta readers. I wouldn’t change it now. I am happy with the book.

    A lot of students are choosing which university to attend next year, so that’s timely insight for them to consider. Any advice for aspiring writers? M: Write, write, write. Do not be afraid to start. Do not listen to that little voice that says you can’t do it. The difference between an aspiring writer (and there are plenty of them out there) and a writer is just actually doing the work. Do the work then get a great editor. Also, start with something shorter so you can see your published work faster. It will encourage you to keep going.

    Positive reinforcement! 😀 What song would be your theme song? M: Madness by Muse

    I think Stephanie Myer was inspired by Muse when writing the Twilight series! What would you pick as a superpower? M: Eating without gaining any weight.

    Ooh, good one – especially desserts haha. What’s your favourite dessert?  M: Oh, how to choose just one? Coconut cake I guess, a really big piece of coconut cake with lots of layers and oodles of frosting.

     

    Madison is excited to share her latest release, Bedeviled (Book 3 in the Beguiling Bachelor Series)

    Charlotte is on the run…

    Charlotte Roche escaped dangers lurking in Boston by accepting a job in Chicago. A new name, a new beginning – all built on lies. Thinking she is safe, Charlotte drops her guard and sets her sights on her ruggedly handsome and wildly sexy running partner, Alexander Gaines. Can she advance their relationship from the track to the bedroom and still maintain her charade, or will Alex’s probing questions pierce her carefully rehearsed story?

    Alex, with unrevealed secrets of his own, struggles to hold the irresistible Charlotte at arm’s length. But when Charlotte sustains a suspicious injury, Alex seizes the opportunity to cuddle up to the sassy beauty. Does he dare risk his reputation, his fortune, his friends, and his heart?

    With exposure imminent, they appeal to their friends for help. Join Alex and Charlotte, along with characters you’ve met and loved in “Bedazzled” and “Beholden”, as they tackle the maze of half-truths and cover-ups threatening the lovers.

    How can they build a bond with deceit on both sides? With malevolent forces advancing, is their love Bedeviled?

    Available on Amazon

    Other books in the Beguiling Bachelor Series – steamy, Contemporary Romance

    Bewildered – a prequel, short story How can Sloane choose between two hunky millionaires?

    Bedazzled – Can Wyatt overcome tradition and family to seize Kelli for his own?

    Madison loves to connect with readers:  Website   |   Blog   |   FB   |   GR   |   Twitter

    Thanks so much for stopping by Madison. I love reading a series and yours sounds scorchingly hot!! Happy reading!

  • C.D. Hersh New Release!

     

    I’d like to welcome C.D. Hersh who are celebrating the release of Can’t Stop the Music, part of The Soul Mate Tree Collection! Congratulations! 

    Meet C.D. Hersh ~ Two hearts creating everlasting love stories.

    Putting words and stories on paper is second nature to co-authors C.D. Hersh. They’ve written separately since they were teenagers and discovered their unique, collaborative abilities in the mid-90s. As high school sweethearts and husband and wife, Catherine and Donald believe in true love and happily ever after.

    The books of their paranormal romance series entitled The Turning Stone Chronicles are available on Amazon. They also have a short Christmas story, Kissing Santa, in a Christmas anthology titled Sizzle in the Snow: Soul Mate Christmas Collection, with seven other authors.

    They are looking forward to many years of co-authoring and book sales, and a lifetime of happily-ever-after endings on the page and in real life.

     

    The Soul Mate Tree legend:

    I am old, I am ancient, my purpose is clear

    To give those who are needy a treasure so dear.

    They who come to my roots, touch my bark, stroke my leaves

    Find the soul of their lives if they but believe.

    When I call and you listen, your prize will be great

    If your heart remains open and you don’t hesitate.

    Do you yearn? Be you lonely? Is your time yet at hand?

    Reach for me and I’ll give to you. I’m yours to command.

    For your trust, for your faith, keep my secrets untold

    And I’ll gift you forever, to have and to hold.

    An ancient legend spanning eras, continents, and worlds. To some, it’s nothing more than a dream. To others, a pretty fairy tale handed down through the generations.

    For those in critical need of their own happy ending, a gift.

     

    Can’t Stop the Music (The Soul Mate Tree)

    For college senior and hippie wannabe Rosemary—Rose for short—a teaching job is within her grasp, but she wants more. She wants love, the kind of love that has bound her parents for so many years. When she’s dumped by her current boyfriend because her morals can’t bring her to give in to free love, she finds herself at Woodstock in the middle of the biggest free-love, music festival of the Sixties. Alone, again. Until a magical tree grants her wish and she finds the man of her dreams—and loses him before she really knows who he is.

     

    Dakota meets the girl of his dreams at Woodstock, but a jealous wannabe girlfriend drives them apart before he can discover Rose’s last name and where she comes from. After he sees a disappearing tree that promises him true love, a frantic search to find Rose comes up empty-handed.

    Magic and music brings them together at Woodstock in 1969. Misunderstandings tear them apart. Will two flower children find one another again, or live with missed opportunities?

    Buy link: Can’t Stop the Music 

    C.D. HERSH loves to connect with readers: Website     | Soul Mate Publishing Author Blogsite     |   Facebook     |     Amazon Author Page     |     Twitter     |     Goodreads 

     

  • Visiting Nicola Noble

    The spotlight is on me (and my books, of course)!! I’m visiting Author Nicola Noble. Join me HERE

  • Visiting StoryBroads 😀

    Perfectly Honest coverI’m very excited to be visiting Tara Taylor Quinn and her StoryBroads blog. There’s an excerpt from Perfectly Honest! It’s HERE

     

     

  • RT 2017 Shenanigans

    Look what I put together for the RT Scandalicious Shenanigans Loot Bags – earrings and a free Perfectly Series e-book! Lucky ducks 😀 Have fun to those going in May 2017!

     

     

     

     

     

    Perfectly ChristmasPerfectly Christmas (Book 5, The Perfectly Series)

    On the first day of Christmas, his true love said to him, “Sorry, I have to work.”

    That’s the life of a surgeon, and Dr. Madison Hayes wouldn’t have it any other way.

    Dr. Quinn Malone has another priority. In the countdown to Christmas, he needs to convince his old flame that there’s more to life – and love – than the job itself.

    This time, his heart is in it for the long haul. Really.

    Romantic and . . . complicated – it’s Perfectly Christmas!

     

     

  • Sharing the Awesome Author – Tara Taylor Quinn

    My life is filled with love and laughter thanks to the amazing people I get to hang out with. As well as being awesome, they’re creative, talented, generous, and fun! I thought you might like to meet some of the authors I know, so I’ve asked them to come and give us a behind-the-scenes look at what they’re passionate about. I have to warn you though – creativity is contagious!

     

    Today’s guest author is Harlequin Superromance author Tara Taylor Quinn. She’s written over 80 novels – wow!!  She’s a USA TODAY bestselling author with more than seven million copies sold (the mind boggles!). She is known for delivering intense, emotional fiction. Tara is a past president of Romance Writers of America. She has also appeared on TV across the country, including CBS Sunday Morning.

     

    Tara, what genre do you write? T: I write romance, romantic suspense, and women’s fiction.

    Besides writing, what are you passionate about? T: I support the National Domestic Violence Hotline. If you or someone you know might be a victim of domestic violence in the United States, please contact 1-800-799-7233. For a list of resources in Canada click HERE

    It sounds like your latest release, Her Secret Life, addresses domestic violence – a conversation that never needs to stop. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers? T: Write. Don’t judge. Don’t validate. Don’t defend. Just write. Everything else will come in its time, but the first step is the most vital. And that’s to just write.

    Great advice! I found it really helpful to have 2 or 3 stories ready to go when a publisher accepted a manuscript. What song would be your theme song? T: Silence and I by Alan Parsons Project

    Sounds like me and writing too :D. What would you pick as a superpower? T: Telepathy – I would love to be able to send messages to my loved ones and to receive them as well. I actually fully believe this is possible if we are able to quiet our minds and go into deep enough focus.

    Love it. What’s your favourite dessert? T: Striped Delight – an old family recipe with a graham cracker based crust, chocolate pudding based center, and a whipped cream based top layer.

    Sounds delicious! Thank you very much for stopping by, Tara Taylor Quinn! It’s been an honour and a pleasure 😀

     

    Tara Taylor Quinn loves to connect with readers ~  Instagram    |    Facebook    |    Pinterest    |    Goodreads    |    Twitter    |    Website

     

     

     

    Enjoy an excerpt from Tara Taylor Quinn’s latest release, Her Secret Life  

    “Uh-huh. Yes.”

    Mike Valentine listened unabashedly to the half he could hear of his lunch companion’s phone conversation the first Monday in March.

    “I know. Mmm-hmm.” Her tone was more flirty than not. Glancing at Mike, Kacey rolled her eyes. And then mouthed, Bo.

    A guy she’d been talking to in LA for the several months. She said she wasn’t in love with him, but she liked him a lot. He fit her life in the city. She’d never, ever bring Bo to Santa Raquel, which was where Mike lived, and where he and Kacey volunteered at a local domestic violence shelter, The Lemonade Stand. Bo was part of her Beverly Hills life. And, Mike assumed, her sexual partner.

    A subject that had nothing to do with Mike.

    “Okay, tomorrow night. But only if it’s just a few of us. I meant it when I told you I don’t want to go clubbing.”

    While she listened, she ate a French fry. Or as much of one as she’d allow herself. Just the tip. Off Mike’s plate.

    She fell for the wrong guys. It didn’t take a genius to figure that one out. Besides, she’d told him so herself.

    “No, I’m not going to change my mind…” Her tone of voice changed from playful to deadly serious.

    While she couldn’t seem to control her propensity to date the wrong types, she was determined to make serious changes to her life and had already.

    Like the drinking. She still did it. Socially. She might have been teetering on being a drunk, but she wasn’t an alcoholic. Her body didn’t have a chemical dependency on the stuff. And she hadn’t been drunk in ten months, not since she’d made up her mind to change her life. He knew…because she’d told him.

    “I do want to be with you! It’s the clubbing I don’t want.” She was smiling now—not at Mike. She’d never smiled at Mike that way.

    For which he was utterly thankful. That smile…it was the one reserved for the disposable men in Kacey’s life. The ones who were part of the soap opera star’s Hollywood life.

    He’d take friendship with her any day. Getting her inside scoop was a whole different kind of intimacy. A more lasting one.

    If you’d like more, the buy link for Her Secret Life is HERE.

  • A Perfectly Unpredictable Moment

    I was at the train station yesterday, and I started chatting to a woman who was traveling to Montreal. She was flying to Paris and then taking a connecting flight to Nice. I asked her if she was attending the International Forum of Neuroscience. She said …. no. 😀

     

    Perfectly Unpredictable 

    Kalia Beck always dreamed of starting a family, living in a house with a white picket fence, and finding her soul mate. Just not in that order. Kalia is coping with an unplanned pregnancy when she learns the father has passed away. She soon finds out that single parenthood isn’t easy, especially when the only thing that soothes the baby is the guitar-playing of a reluctant and reclusive next-door neighbor.

    Mack Challen, lead guitarist in a rock and roll band, knows it takes a village to raise a child. He just doesn’t think there’s a village big enough to help “gay momma” and her screaming baby.

    Kalia and Mack aren’t looking for love and aren’t ready for each other, but when the future unfolds, it’s … Perfectly Unpredictable.

  • Visiting Author L.A. Sartor

    I’m sharing my inspiration for Perfectly Together on author and screenwriter Leslie Ann Sartor’s Indie Adventure Blogspot. Join me HERE!

     

    Perfectly Together ~ Perfectly Series, Book 6

    Newly graduated naturopathic doctor Jayden Locke has a dream – start a practice in small-town Emerson and never move again. She’s found the perfect office building to buy. It passes an inspection, design plans are drawn up, and the bank okays the loan. Only one problem.

    Dr. Cole Cameron scoops it before she has a chance to submit an offer. What?

    It’s a good investment. Cole isn’t interested in settling down. He works three jobs in three different towns and would just as soon keep moving. But something about Jayden’s defiant eyes and sexy smile makes him pause and reconsider.

    What are the chances that a heart filled with wanderlust and a soul longing for a home fit Perfectly Together?

  • Writing a Series

    I’m over at author Catherine Castle’s sharing behind-the-scenes fun about writing the Perfectly Series! Will Perfectly Together be the final book in the series? Come join me to find out HERE

     

  • Celebrating with Joanne Guidoccio

    I’m celebrating the release of Perfectly Together with author Joanne Guidoccio! Join me at her blog HERE