#OnSale for #99Cents: THE GIRL MOST LIKELY

 My contemporary romance, THE GIRL MOST LIKELY, is on sale for .99 cents until January 22. Pick up your e-copy of this May/December romance with a twist!

Cara McLeod, the girl most likely to have the perfect marriage, is now divorced and, in her own words, “fat, frumpy, and over forty.” The thought of facing former classmates—and the ex-husband who dumped her—at her high school reunion terrifies her. Cajoled into attending by her kids and her best friend, Cara enlists help at the gym to lose weight and look great for the reunion. Personal Trainer Finn Cooper is more than willing to help—but does he have to be so to-die-for gorgeous?

Finn thinks Cara is perfect just the way she is. She’s everything he wants in a woman, except for one thing—she can’t get past the fact that he's eight years younger. To Finn, age and weight are just numbers. But can he convince Cara the numbers she worries about add up to only one thing for him—love?

Excerpt:

“I think you’re beautiful. You know that, don’t you?”

No, she really didn’t know that, but she nodded anyway. What happened when he woke up one morning and realized that she had a few more lines on her face? Would he still think she was beautiful or would he tire of her, just as Peter had? 

“Are you sorry about last night?” 

Her head rose sharply. He looked away, not meeting her gaze. However mixed up she felt this morning, she couldn’t let Finn believe he’d somehow failed her. Setting her mug on the night table on her side of the bed, she caressed his unshaven cheek.

“Of course I’m not sorry. I loved our night together. Don’t mind me, Finn. I’m in a mood this morning.”

He tugged at her sheet once more. “Then let go of the sheet and let me hold you before I have to go.”

Cara held her sheet tighter. It was one thing to get undressed in the dark and another to let him see her body in the cruel light of day. “No, please. I’d rather not.”

Would he look at her in the cold morning light and see all her imperfections, her scars, her forty-three years of living? Would he look at her and want to trade her in for a newer model?

Buys Links:

Amazon  ~  Barnes and Noble  ~  iBooks 

Secondary Characters with Kat Henry Doran

Kat Henry Doran wrote me a letter about her favorite secondary characters. Here's Kat to tell you her thoughts.

 Hi, Jana, 
Thanks so much for having me pay a return visit to your enchanting blog. I was just there a few weeks ago, promoting my reunion trilogy, Vengeance Is Mine. 

Since much of VIM involves the lead characters exacting revenge on the bullies who tormented them back in the day, I decided to talk in general about secondary characters and their worth to a story. 

Instead of boring your readers with the same characters from Vengeance, I decided to go to some of my favorite books, movies and TV shows. In particular, I thought about those which I often go back and revisit whenever I need a day to veg out or recuperate from a grinding physical event.

It came to me that secondary characters add color without claiming the whole palate. They follow because they chose not to lead. They often add comic relief. In my world, if a man [or woman] doesn't make me laugh, I don't want to spend a lot of time with them. They support the lead character without assuming control. 

They are memorable without the need to win the prize for Best Actor.

So . . . without further ado, I ask where would 
Walt Longmire be without Henry Standing Bear.
Raylan Givens without Boyd Crowder
Brenda Leigh Johnson without Louie Provenza & Andy Flynn
Benny Rosato without Mary DiNunzio
And, last but certainly not least, Stephanie Plum without Lula

Thanks for having me, Jana. This has been fun because you made me think. That's always a challenge!
Kat

Vengeance Is Mine, a contemporary romantic trilogy by Kat Henry Doran

Blurb: 
Ever think about going back to study hall to face down the school bully?
The mean girls?
The brainless jocks who made your life a pure misery?
For Dru Horvath, gypsy orphan turned Pulitzer Prize winning photo-journalist; Rafe Archangeli, Scourge of Summerville who now heads a multi-million dollar trust; and Fiona “Fat Aggie” Thorpe who recreated herself into an A-list model with her own A-list agency, the opportunity to exact revenge is too good to pass up.
Will they find the vengeance they crave?
Or something more valuable?

An excerpt from The List, featuring Mick and Fiona Thorpe:

  Frustrated with the holdup, Fee glanced around for points of entry, hoping she'd be able to spot Dru the second she entered the ballroom.

A hand on her arm claimed her attention; Rafe Archangeli leaned close. “Here comes someone you should meet.”

Without taking her eyes off the entry door, she murmured, “Who?”

“Last year's Eastman winner and a helluva of a nice guy.”

“Where?”

“There. Coming toward us.”

One nano-second later all thoughts of revenge left Fee's mind like steam escaping a kettle.

The weathered appearance of his face announced he'd lived ten times over. Thick gold hair flecked with gray grazed the collar of his suit jacket. Broad through the shoulders and chest, narrow at the waist and hips, he had the long legged grace of a broken field runner.

Moving across the parquet floor as if born to a runway, he carried himself with an innate confidence. Without disrupting that fluid stride, he undid his tie before shrugging out of the suit jacket which he slung over one shoulder with the tip of his index finger.

She'd almost given up finding a man so perfect.

This one had The Look.

To purchase Vengeance Is Mine, go to:

www.CreateSpace.com/6269528
www.Amazon.com/dp/1533214514
www.Amazon.ca/dp/1533214514
www.Amazon.co.uk/dp/1533214514
www.Amazon.de/dp/1533214514
www.Amazon.es/dp/1533214514
www.Amazon.fr/dp/1533214514
www.Amazon.it/dp/1533214514

Author bio:

Kat Henry Doran lives in western New York State with her husband, three children, four grandchildren and assorted cats, dogs, rabbits and fish. A retired nurse and occasional advocate for the disadvantaged, she now devotes her free time--what there is of it--to designing and creating tote bags and aprons, writing the stories she loves to read and spending as much time as possible with the four brightest lights in her life: Meredith and Owen, Kieran and Ashlin.

To learn more about Kat and the stories she creates, go to:
Blog:  www.WildWomenAuthorsx2.blogspot.com
www.ApronsWithAttitude2.blogspot.com

Facebook:  www.Facebook.com/WildWomenAuthors

Pinterest:  www.Pinterest.com/KatHenryDoran

Blog Tour with Kat Henry Doran

I'm participating in Kat Henry Doran's blog tour today. She's promoting VENGEANCE IS MINE, three stories about going back to their high school reunion to face the bullies and the people who didn't believe in them. Kat also sits down for an interview and talks about these stories and other stuff. Don't forget to enter the Rafflecopter below! Please welcome Kat Henry Doran! 

Vengeance Is Mine
 a contemporary romantic trilogy 

by Kat Henry Doran

Kat Henry Doran has put together an incredible list of prizes for this tour. They are just beautiful! Please use the RaffleCopter below to enter. Join us on an exciting tour of great blogs to read more about Vengeance Is Mine, interviews, and guest posts. Remember you may enter every day for a chance to win the prizes. You may find the list of tour location here and you will also find pictures of the prizes here too.

Where did you get the idea for your novel? 

It started out as a series featuring four guys in their late 30’s—early 40’s who return to the town where they were raised after their best friend from back in the day dies suddenly and leaves them each something in his will. When that idea failed to fly, it morphed into a high school reunion series. The “Dead Guy” remained an interesting, though unseen, secondary character in the book. The inheritance became a source of external conflict in “Mad Dog and Archangel”, the first story in Vengeance Is Mine. 

What do you want readers to come away with after they read your book?

That through hard work and tenacity it is possible to overcome a dismal past [e.g.--domestic violence, morbid obesity, drug and/or alcohol abuse, societal bias] and triumph over all. Plus, getting revenge on the school bully—someone we all knew—is great fun. 

Do you work on more than one book at a time?

I am right now an it’s killing me. Kill-Ing Me!

What comes first for you – plot or character? And why?

First, last and always, characters come first. I must know who I’m writing about, right down to their favorites in food, music, TV and movies or underwear, their family background and a detailed physical description. Once I’ve finished with a multi-page character outline, I go to work on the plot. If I don’t know my characters inside and out, I won’t know how they’ll react to conflicts and motivations will I?

Tell us a bit about you. Where do you live, and how long have you been writing?

For the past 40 something years I’ve lived with my husband and 3 children in Western New York, near the shores of Lake Ontario. I’ve been writing, quite badly at the beginning, for more than 30 years. 

How do you think your life experiences have prepared you for writing?

For many years I often had to work at more than one job at the same time to keep food on the table and my kids in parochial school uniforms. The hubs and I worked odd shifts so that one of us was always home for the kids. I’ve had a lot of different and interesting jobs; it’s taught me to manage my time well so being idle makes me nuts. I always have to have something to do—and writing fills up the time. Plus, those interesting jobs gave me a lot of fodder for plot lines and characters.  

Name two authors we might find you reading when taking a break from your own writing. 

Actually, I don’t read books any more but I do listen to audio books; in fact, I’m addicted to them. I really like John Sandford’s series featuring Virgil Flowers and Lucas Davenport. If a man can’t make me laugh out loud I don’t want to hear it. I also like Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon books. Wonderful alliterative names, fascinating locations, incredible tension and suspense. 

I'm something of an audiobook addict myself, Kat. What are two (or more) of your all-time favorite books in any genre?

Carnal Innocence and Carolina Moon by Nora Roberts; Envy by Sandra Brown; Mila 18 and Trinity by Leon Uris.

We have some of the same tastes in books. Those are two of my favorite Nora Roberts books. I read Trinity way back in university when I should have been reading my textbooks. What do you like best about your hero?

I have three heroes on Vengeance Is Mine. I like Rory McElroy for his dry humor; Mick Dineen because he works every day to make amends for past behaviors yet doesn’t advertise it; and Rafe Archangeli because he’s a redeemed man thanks to his [dead] best friend and works every day to help others. 

What do you like best about your heroine? 

Vengeance features three heroines: Dru Horvath never gives up in her drive to help those who are victims of political and moral abuses; Fiona Thorpe changed herself inside and out then went on to make herself a star; and Grace Dunavan has a whippy sense of humor and doesn’t hesitate to laugh at herself.


How do you choose the names and physical characteristics of your characters?

The names I give characters come after I’ve chosen their occupations and heritage. For example, Grace Dunavan is of Irish heritage. I named her after Amazing Grace, a local nun who advocates for the homeless in our community. Druzilla Horvath is a Hungarian Gypsy by birth. I picked her first name because I wanted the nuns who raised her to mis-pronounce her name as Droo-zheela; Horvath is a common Hungarian name. Rory McElroy is named after my daughter and NOT the current golf phenomena. I hate golf but I like watching Rory on the links. He has a nice . . . swing and an interesting twinkle in his eyes. 

 

Blurb: Ever think about going back to study hall to face down the school bully? The mean girls? The brainless jocks who made your life a pure misery? For Dru Horvath, gypsy orphan turned Pulitzer Prize winning photo-journalist; Rafe Archangeli, Scourge of Summerville who now heads a multi-million dollar trust; and Fiona “Fat Aggie” Thorpe who recreated herself into an A-list model with her own A-list agency, the opportunity to exact revenge is too good to pass up. Will they find the vengeance they crave? Or something more valuable? 




Buy Links:

• Amazon Print
• Amazon Kindle
• Amazon CA 
• Amazon UK 
• Amazon DE 
• Amazon ES 
• Amazon FR  
• Amazon IT

Excerpt:

“Tough way to find out about the other woman.”

“Other woman, hell,” Dru groused. “The assistant was some young stud from Tommy's gym with abs to die for.”

With that. she side-stepped him and reached for the knob on the bathroom door.

Fast on his feet, Rory's counter move brought them nose to nose. “Play much poker, Horvath?”

“I don't know what you mean.”

“Before you started trash talking the cheating ex-husband, your face lit up like the Fourth of July. That tells me you've got something stashed in the tote. Until you let me look inside, it stays out here.”

Clutching the canvas tote to her chest, she sneered, “The only thing in here is my outfit for tonight's event. If you think I'd go naked, one of us is a couple fries short of a happy meal.”

His response came in the form of another gimme motion with those thick, blunt fingers. “How about I close my eyes if I encounter any lacy unmentionables?”

“As if.”

She knew the instant he found the back-up phone. The screw-you look morphed into a smirk. “It's not smart to mess with Homeland Security, sweetie. Those guys eat small rodents for breakfast.”

Author Bio: Legal nurse consultant, victim advocate, sexual assault nurse examiner Kat Henry Doran and her alter ego, Veronica Lynch, has been there and done that--many times over. She often travels to the wilds of Northern New York State, witnessing the wonders of mother nature at her best. From the shores of Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River to the historic Adirondack and Catskill Mountains, she creates stories featuring strong women and the men who love them. When not writing, she can be found lashed to one of her sewing machines--or chauffeuring the four brightest stars in her life: Meredith and Ashlin, Owen and Kieran.

For more information on Kat and Veronica, go to:

• Email: WildWomenAuthors@gmail.com
• Blog:WildWomenAuthorsx2.blogspot.com
• Goodreads: Goodreads.com/author/show/2905614.Kat_Henry_Doran
• Facebook: Facebook.com/WildWomenAuthors
• Amazon: amazon.com/Kat-Henry-Doran/e/BO1M5861P7
• Pinterest: Pinterest.com/KatHenryDoran
• Twitter: @Kathenrydoran1

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