Marian P. Merritt - Lagniappe

Where the Bayous Meet the Mountains

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Christmas Extravaganza 2016 - Tanya Hanson and Clare Revell

Happy Thursday Morning Readers!

Today, we continue our 
Christmas Extravaganza 2016 showcase.
Each Thursday in the month of December two Christmas titles are featured on Lagniappe!


Today:

Christmas Lights by Tanya Hanson

The Christmas party at Hearts Crossing Ranch is the highlight of the Season in Mountain Cove, Colorado, but Lori Lazaro longs to be anywhere else.
Until a handsome cowboy driving a one-horse open sleigh starts a journey of the heart. Deep down, she doesn't want it to end, but it must. Heston Calhoun lives life in the spotlight, and after past trauma, Lori needs the comfort of a life in the shadows.
Lori Lazaro stirs Heston like no woman ever has before. Sure, his family stars in a popular unscripted television show about ranch life, but he’s not going to let Lori’s skittishness end their story before it even begins. Having faced dark moments in his own past assures him God can brighten her future. He simply needs to convince Lori that together, they’ll write a happy ending after all.







Purchase link:

California native Tanya Hanson loves cowboys so much she and her husband took a wagon train trip around the Tetons! That awesome experience inspired her Hearts Crossing Ranch series at Pelican Book Group, of which Christmas Lights is the latest installment. Self-described as both a beach girl and country grandma, she loves family, wine tasting, travel, and Jesus.






Down in Yon Forest by Clare Revell

Having suffered a panic attack on stage during a performance, violinist Meredith Stranraer flees to the small town of Paradise where her grandparents live. For some strange reason, they don’t want her around and their rejection is more than unsettling, it’s downright alarming.

Jeremiah Mantle is the local forest ranger. He watches the girl in the grey cloak from a distance, his assignment to protect her as well as the forest. However falling in love is definitely not in his job description.

Thrown together at the annual Christmas ball, things soon escalate. There is something wicked in the woods and a dark past is determined to rip them apart.


Tagline:
There will be trouble in Paradise this Christmas

Purchase Links:



About the Author

Clare is a British author. She lives in a small town just outside Reading, England with her husband, whom she married in 1992, their three children, and unfriendly mini-panther, aka Tilly the black cat. Clare is half English and half Welsh, which makes watching rugby interesting at times as it doesn’t matter who wins.
Writing from an early childhood and encouraged by her teachers, she graduated from rewriting fairy stories through fan fiction to using her own original characters and enjoys writing an eclectic mix of romance, crime fiction and children's stories. When she's not writing, she can be found reading, crocheting or doing the many piles of laundry the occupants of her house manage to make.
Her books are based in the UK, with a couple of exceptions, thus, although the spelling may be American, the books contain British language and terminology.
The first draft of every novel is hand written.
She has been a Christian for more than half her life. She goes to Carey Baptist where she is one of four registrars.
She can be found at:
http://www.revell124.plus.com/clarerevell/
https://www.facebook.com/ClareRevellAuthor
https://twitter.com/ClareRevell
http://telscha.blogspot.co.uk/
https://uk.pinterest.com/ClareLRevell/
https://www.instagram.com/clarerevell/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B005NZT2O2
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005NZT2O2

Readers I hope you find 
"a little something extra" 

in your life this Christmas Season!

Monday, December 12, 2016

Cynthia Toney - 6 Dates to Disaster

Good Monday Morning Readers!

Today, 
Cynthia Toney 
visits Lagniappe to discuss her latest release, 
6 Dates to Disaster

Welcome, Cynthia!

Tell us a little about 6 Dates to Disaster
Released December 6, it’s the third book of the Bird Face series. The main character, Wendy, is a half-Cajun 14-year-old in the second semester of ninth grade. She has matured since the first book, 8 Notes to a Nobody, and even a little since the second book, 10 Steps to Girlfriend Status. In this story, Wendy’s new blended family must deal with sudden financial hardship, and she decides to try to make money on her own to reach a personal goal. Of course, she creates trouble for herself, as Wendy often does in spite of her good intentions.


The official blurb:
When her family has money problems, Wendy must find a way on her own to see Mrs. V and Sam again—but will she lose David forever in the process?

For her mom’s birthday, Wendy finds an old jewelry box at a flea market—the perfect gift for someone who loves salvaged junk. But inside the box is a cryptic note that appears to have been written recently. Who wrote the note, and did the intended recipient ever see it?

Wendy’s curiosity leads her on a search with boyfriend David at her side and eager to help.

But Wendy needs more personal and urgent help—the financial kind—because her stepfather has lost his job. The family’s plan to visit Alaska on vacation is headed down the sewer like a hard Louisiana rain. How will Wendy ever see Mrs. V or Sam again?

When an opportunity arrives in the form of tutoring Melissa, one of the Sticks, Wendy’s money problems appear to be solved. Until the arrangement takes a turn that gets Wendy into trouble like never before.

And in the final months of ninth grade, she might lose everything she counted on for the
future.
 
QUICK ANWER    
Favorite smell or fragrance?
Fresh basil from my herb garden

Favorite Flower?
Any kind of daisy. They’re so cheerful, come in lots of colors, and last a long time when cut and placed in a vase of water.

Most treasured possession?
My dad’s old leather wallet from 1979.

LIGHTNING ROUND

Birthday Card: Email or Snail Mail? Snail mail

Favorite Decorating Color? Just one! Turquoise

Laptop or Desktop? Desktop

Steel Magnolias or Fried Green Tomatoes? Fried Green Tomatoes

Crawfish or Crawdads? Crawfish


What is the best NON-writing advice you’ve received?
It’s the same advice I’d give to a young person looking for someone to marry and spend a lifetime with. Find someone who is kind and caring to animals and to the elderly. That person will be good to you in your old age and a good parent to your children.

What is the best WRITING advice you’ve received?
Write your story without worrying if anyone will like it.

Give readers your brand/tagline and share how you came up with it.
“I write character-driven novels with twisty plots—because life is complicated.” I came up with that because I’ve been told by one or two people that my stories have too many plot threads. But that’s the kind of novel I prefer to read, so that’s the kind I write.

If you weren't a writer, what would be another dream job?
Veterinarian


What can we expect from you in the future?
I’ll write at least one more book for the Bird Face series, to wrap up questions readers have about Wendy and her friends. But the next book to be published will be a tween/teen historical, The Other Side of Freedom, which takes place in the 1920s and has a 13-year-old boy protagonist. Look for it in late summer/early fall of 2017 from Write Integrity Press.




Cynthia's writing workspace!








Cynthia T. Toney
author of the Bird Face series for teens


Blog:  http://birdfacewendy.wordpress.com

Facebook Author Page:  https://www.facebook.com/birdfacewendy

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/CynthiaTToney

Twitter:  @CynthiaTToney

Instagram:  @CynthiaTToney

Pinterest:  Cynthia T. Toney, YA Author








Question for readers:
What is the hardest thing about being a teenager or being the parent of one?


Cynthia, thanks for sharing!
Readers thanks for stopping by Lagniappe.

I pray you find
"a little something extra"
in each of your days.



Marian