Chapter Forty-Two by Cyrus Keith, Author of Unalive

For those few of you who have not read The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, be warned: What follows is a major spoiler. Six times nine equals forty-two. When I got my brain wrapped around that, my mouthful of cola flew out my nose.

Of course, those of you who haven't read The Hitchhiker's Guide have no idea what I'm talking about, and that's fine. To be frank, some of you who have read it still don't know what I'm talking about. Which is fine. Let me explain it, then.

I first read Mr. Adam's trilogy of five books when it was still a trilogy of three books. The other two came out long before I figured out that six times nine equals forty-two. (Hold on a minute, I'm getting to it, all you math whizzes out there).

My first mistake was thinking that the statement had anything to do with mathematics. It doesn't. I can hear the steam hissing from the algebra professors' ears now. Forget math for a minute. Okay, for a second.

We all know that six times seven equals forty-two, mathematically. And here's how the number forty-two figures in our explanation. An ancient race of pan-dimensional beings built a super-computer to find "the Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything." After mulling over the situation for a billion or so years, the computer blew its nose, broke wind, and spouted the Answer: "Forty-Two." It then fell upon the ancient race of pan-dimensional beings to come up with some kind of sense from this. The super-computer in question suggested that the pan-dimensional beings were so confused only because they didn't know the Ultimate Question to the Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. It could design another super-fangly computer to deduce this, and of course, it would only take another billion or so years to figure out. In the meantime, the agreed upon question was "How many roads must a man walk down?" Of course. Forty-two. Hallelujah, we have our question, and our answer! Right? Wrong-O!

Okay, here's the cool part: We remove the mathematics from the equation. For those of you already ahead of me, slow down for those of us who just aren't there yet, okay? People stress out so much over what life means, and if there's more. I just want to put as many psychiatrists out of work as I can here. How many of you can look around you and say for a certainty that your life makes perfect sense, and you can understand everything that has happened to you? Are you getting it yet? Let me illustrate.

My older son has had seven major spinal surgeries. We lost him on the table three times, and he remains severely handicapped from the genetic disorder that twisted his spine and threatened to crush his heart with his own rib cage. My younger daughter has a rare form of epilepsy that should have taken her life before she was five. I spent time in jail for a crime of which I am innocent. My father, older brother and younger sister have all gone, taken before their time by cancer or heart failure. Numerous times throughout my life, all rights and odds, I should have been killed. Drowning, asphyxiation, shooting, cutting, hey, folks, I've been through it. Tell me what makes sense out of all that. I won't even go through the litany of my own surgeries. I have precious friends among my comrades at the Muse who make my list look like a child's vaccinations.

Now, I'm not here to complain. I know that, in the grand scheme of Life, the Universe, and Everything, six times nine equals forty-two, and it's not up to me to make sense of it. I have the life I have, and you have yours. We are all who we are from the lives we experience and how we handle the curve balls the Universe throws at us. And whether we have our faith on which to lean, or no faith to which to adhere, the bottom line is the same.

So stop freaking out trying to make sense of things. Take each year, each month, each day, each breath and make it count for what you can. Be the best person you can be.

Might as well fill your glass, raise a toast and love it. Because six times nine equals forty-two.

In the second installment of The NADIA Project, the potential stakes are raised even higher. The lab where Nadia was built is no more. But when The Pinnacle strikes back at the government agencies trying to crack its secrets, a horrible truth emerges: The evil cabal of kingmakers is still building living weapons of mass destruction somewhere on the globe.

Jon Daniels and Nadia Velasquez must find the lab and stop it before a new wave of terror erupts across the world. In order to succeed, though, they must get through The Pinnacle's most deadly weapon: Jenna Paine. 

All who stand between evil and the innocent are two ancient warriors, a misfit genius, a rogue FBI agent, and a living antimatter bomb named NADIA.

Buy Unalive:  https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=70&category_id=25&keyword=Unalive&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

Connect with Cyrus:  www.facebook.com/cyrus.keith


NOTE:  I've reviewed Unalive over at Rochelle's Reviews.  Hop on over to see what I thought of it.  http://rochellesreviews.blogspot.com/2011/10/unalive-by-cyrus-keith.html

Welcome Author, Poet, and Newspaper Editor Collin Kelley

This week I would like to welcome Collin Kelley.  I just finished reading his second book, Remain In Light which came out yesterday, and will post my full opinion next month on Rochelle's Reviews.  I definitely recommend this book.  It is a thought-provoking page-burner.  And now... Collin!

RW:  Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I’m a journalist by day and poet/novelist by night. I really enjoy all types of writing and have dabbled in play-writing, screenplays and I’m about to start working on a memoir about all my travels to England.

RW:  How long have you been writing?

I started writing when I was a child. My parents taught me to read and write very early. I always read far above my grade level. I got into poetry in high school, dabbled in fiction, but poetry came first. While other kids wanted to be firemen and astronauts, I always wanted to be a writer.

RW:  What is/are your favorite genre/s?

I love literary fiction, mysteries, thrillers, paranormal. I used to work in a bookstore, so I read a little of everything – from Danielle Steele to John Updike—because I wanted to explore every kind of writing and find my own voice, style and genre.

RW:  Who are your favorite authors?

Margaret Atwood, Jeanette Winterson, Don DeLillo, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, John Irving, Anne Sexton, Walt Whitman, Raymond Carver, Ray Bradbury, Stan Rice, Michael Cunningham—far too many to name.

RW:  What is a typical day like for you, and when do you get your best writing done

I have a very busy day job as a newspaper editor in Atlanta, so my creative writing happens in the evening. I’ve found my sweet spot is from about 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. I finished writing and edited Remain In Light during those hours, accompanied by BBC Radio 2 streaming from London.

RW:  What else have you published?

I have a novel called Conquering Venus, which was published in 2009 and is a literary mystery. I’ve also got three poetry collections: Better To Travel, After the Poison and Slow To Burn.

RW:  If you went to “that God-forsaken rock the Moon,” what one special thing would you take?

Will there be wi-fi on the moon?  I can’t live without my laptop.  

RW:  Tell us about your current book.  How many words/pages is it?

Remain In Light is about a Parisian widow, Irène Laureux, whose husband was murdered during the student and worker riots in 1968. She’s been looking for his killer for 30 years and finally catches up with him with the help of American expat writer, Martin Paige. But finding the killer reveals a much larger conspiracy. There’re crooked cops, detectives with questionable motives and stolen identities. The e-book version came out October 1 from Vanilla Heart Publishing and is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. The print version will be out in January. It’s 88,000+ words, so probably something readers could get through in a couple of sittings. It’s very fast-paced, so I hope folks will find it to be a page-turner.

RW:  Where did the idea come from?

Both Conquering Venus and Remain In Light are part of what I’m calling The Venus Trilogy, since the books are connected but can be read in any order. I was inspired by a trip I took to London and Paris in 1995. It was an amazing experience and I got to meet some very interesting people and immerse myself in the cultures. Paris is usually portrayed as a city of love and romance, but it has a dark underbelly that most tourists never see. I wanted to look beyond the guidebooks and explore the Paris that is just beneath the surface of the postcards. As the character Irène Laureux says, “This city is not always full of light.”

RW:  How did you choose your setting?  Have you woven any of your own life or environment into it?  If not, how did you research the details of the area?

I’ve been very fortunate to be able to travel back and forth to London and Paris over the years to be able to soak up that flavor. I wrote a big chunk of Remain In Light while I was in the UK and France last summer. I tried to go and spend some time in all the locales I wrote about, especially in Paris, and took hundreds of photographs.

RW:  Who is your favorite character in the story?

That’s a bit of a Sophie’s Choice, but Diane Jacobs is a very opinionated and slightly unhinged school teacher who takes no guff from the other characters in both Conquering Venus and Remain In Light.  She’s a little xenophobic, doesn’t really like kids and has no business being a teacher, so the snarky and sarcastic things that come out of her mouth are a hoot to write. She’s also just an average citizen who gets swept up into the mystery and intrigue in the novels, when she’d rather be drinking a bottle of wine while a hot guy kisses her toes.

RW:  How many drafts did you do before the manuscript was ready for submission?

Remain In Light went through four drafts before I had it the way I wanted it and my editor said it was coherent enough to publish.  I didn’t agonize too much over the storyline, since I had outlined it and knew exactly what was going to happen. I didn’t use an outline for Conquering Venus, and realized later that was a mistake. The outline kept me focused and help me get from point A to point Z quickly.

RW:  What's the one thing you hope readers will take away with them when they finish reading Remain In Light.

I hope they’ll be thrown a little off-kilter by the characters and the situations they are put into. As I mentioned with Diane, the characters in Remain In Light are not detectives or secret agents, but ordinary citizens who must step up to solve a series of mysteries because the police and government are in collusion. I also hope readers will see the great bond the characters have with each other. None of them are related, but they become a tight-knit, if slightly dysfunctional, family.

RW:  Where can we buy Remain In Light?

The E-Book version will be out Oct. 1 for Kindle, Nook and in various e-pub formats at Smashwords. The print version will be available from Amazon and B&N in January 2012.

RW:  How can we reach you?

Website:  http://www.collinkelley.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/collinkelleywriter

Twitter:   @collinkelley

Blurb:

In 1968, Irène Laureux's husband was murdered during the Paris student and worker riots. Thirty years later, she is still on the hunt for the man who knows how and why Jean-Louis died – his secret lover, Frederick Dubois.

Aiding in her search is American expat Martin Paige, a writer still reeling from a love affair gone wrong with a student, David McLaren. Martin meets a young poet, Christian, and the two fall in love, but their happiness is shaken when Martin's friend, Diane Jacobs, arrives in Paris with news that David has gone missing.

Diane discovers that David's disappearance is more than just a missing person case with connections to drugs, stolen identities, long-hidden government secrets and a shocking connection to Irène's past. This literary mystery takes readers from America to London and into the dark underworld of the fabled City of Light.

Excerpt: You can read the first four chapters of Remain In Light at this link:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/56800699/Remain-in-Light-Sample-Chapters

RW Note:  This was post was prepared on September 29.  Therefore buy links were not yet available for the e-pub edition.

Meet S J Clarke Author of Mind Over Matter Coming Soon from MuseIt Up Publishing

RW:  Tell us a little bit about yourself.

SJC:  I'm a wife, mother, friend and writer. The order changes depending on the day. I strive to create what I imagine most writers do – stories that touch the soul of a reader. Just one will do, for me anyway. Knowing the reader took something away with them lets me know all that hard work meant something, that it had a purpose. When I'm not writing I'm reading, or dreaming up ways to get characters into, and if I'm in a good mood, out of trouble.

RW:  How long have you been writing?

SJC:  When I was in grade two, so age six or seven, we often had show-and-tell in class. When I didn't have anything cool to show, I'd entertain the class by telling stories. I told this one story about a fire in my brother’s house, and how they couldn't get one of my nieces out in time. I painted gruesome pictures with words, right down to the spill of red stains from the flashing lights on the fire engines pooling on wet pavement. I must have done a good job because the teacher called home at recess to convey her condolences to my mom. My poor mom had to explain to her that none of it happened. When the teacher gasped, saying she couldn't believe I'd lied, Mom just smiled. I wasn't a liar, she said, I was a story-teller. That's when I knew I could be a writer. I started writing a couple of years later, in grade four.

RW:  What is your favorite genre?

SJC: I write paranormal romance, and it's got to have an element of suspense to it. This touches all my hot buttons. It's what I read voraciously, so it's what I gravitate to when I write. I read a lot of urban fiction as well, and one day, I suspect I'll try my hand at writing one. I don't think I'll be able to resist. I need to read more of them first though, to understand all the elements of the genre. But my passion will always be paranormal. Even in grade four, I wrote paranormal stories. And when paranormal goes out of style, I'll still be writing them. It's not a fad to me, but a genuine love and facination for the genre.

RW:  Who are your favorite authors?

SJC:  Nora Roberts/J. D. Robb tops the list. Followed by Christine Feehan, Christina Dodd, Juliana Stone, Ilona Andrews, Jayne Ann Krentz, Allyson James, Nalini Singh, and when I'm in the mood for a little – okay a lot – of spice, Shelly Laurenston. I could go on indefinitely, of course, so I'll stop there.

RW:  When do you get your best writing done?

SJC: It took a while to figure out when my peak writing time was. I finally realized I'm an early bird writer, (not to be confused with being a morning person) turning out my best work before noon. On a really good day, momentum carries me through the afternoon. Evenings are out. I have no creative juices left by that time. I'm home full time at the moment, writing, freelancing and taking on editing clients, but for the bulk of this book, I wrote around a full-time job outside the home. Writing my second book, I still worked a full time office job, so I wrote an hour a day while I ate lunch at my desk. I wrote almost the entire book in four months writing only on my lunch hours. It takes discipline, but it sure helps that I love what I do. The bottom line is that we don't always have the luxury of having our ideal writing time to work. And we can't use that as an excuse for not getting the work done.

RW: What is the toughest part about being a writer and how do you get past it?

SJC:  For me, the hardest, yet most essential, part of writing any story is plotting. I am an extensive plotter. Coming up with all the ideas for the book in one or two sittings is hard. But I use a system a mentor/teacher taught me. I come up with one sentence for the whole story, containing a protagonist, an antagonist, a need for each, an interesting setting, a conflict, and a twist – oh and it has to be thirty words or less. The result is the sentence that becomes the tag line for the book. Then I do the same thing for each scene. If I'm staring at a white screen with a blank look on my face I pull out my scene cards. All the necessary ingredients for a perfect scene are right there. Then I just have to write it. I need that solid foundation to work from. I might veer away from the plan now and again, but it's there to guide me on those days when my muse hides under the covers. This is how I'm able to maintain the discipline to write every day. No excuses. (For those who might be interested in the system of writing I described above, you can visit her site at: http://hollylisle.com/)

RW:  What kind of research did you do for this type of story?

SJC:  Mind Over Matter is set at the base of the Superstition Mountains in Arizona, and the mountain range plays a big part in the story, though we had to change the name of the mountains in the book. Townspeople, specifically city officials, prefer not to read about murder and mayhem in their backyards. I've never been to Arizona, or to any desert environment, so I had to rely on good research to get the details right. I poured over the internet and through books noting down the big things. Then I reached out to online communities I'm active in, asking people in the region for tidbits about the area, smells, textures, local slang, names of specific flowers that only bloom under moonlight – things only someone who lives there would know. Writers are a knowledgeable and generous group of people. Never hesitate to reach out to other writers for help. For the paranormal angle, I deferred to a couple of writer friends who have experience with the phenomena.

RW: What is your marketing plan?

SJC: I know some writers out there will cringe when I say this, but online media is your friend when it comes to marketing your books. We're an e-society now, as much as we might hate to admit it. Traditional marketing is expensive, and depending on your target audience, not always effective. I used this ten week social media marketing plan as a model. It's an excellent start.  http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5490760/the_social_media_marketing_plan_for.html

RW:  What else have you published?

SJC:  I co-authored Touretties, a collection of short stories sharing what life is like living with Tourette's as told from the perspective of both patients and their families. I've also published over fifty articles on a variety of human interest websites on the subject  of families and women's interests. I have another novel, The Missing Time, that I'm shopping around right now, and a third novel – a sequel to Mind Over Matter – well underway.

RW:  Tell us about Mind Over Matter.

SJC: This is the story of a mother who faces her worst nightmare when she discovers her missing daughter is schedule to die.

For three years Rebecca McKenney grieved the loss of her daughter. Now, a vision showing Sabrina three years older, suggests her baby is still alive, and the FBI agent who gave up the search is the only one who can help find her. Rebecca once witnessed a psychic connection between Agent Cooper and her daughter. She only hopes their fragile bond remains – and that the coward has the decency to pursue it.

Special Agent Dan Cooper, haunted by a tragic mistake made early in the investigation, agrees to help Rebecca to ease his conscience, if nothing else. Together they fight inner demons, all too real bad guys, and an attraction neither wants to admit to. Each step closer to finding her daughter unearths wide-spread deception and an evil so vile it threatens to break Rebecca's spirit. The thought of having her daughter back in her arms is all that keeps her going. Until she learns the horrifying truth – her daughter is scheduled to die in mere days.

RW:  How can we reach you?

SJC: I love to hear from readers! Feel free to contact me through any of the following mediums.

·         At my website. Sign up to receive updates from my blog at http://sjclarke.com

·         Follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/sandrajc 

·         Friend me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=558392550.

Unedited Excerpt:

Rebecca knew from experience she didn't have much time left. A vision came at her, hard and strong...

The child's face from the milk carton, about six or seven years old, hovered before her, similar yet different. Shivers wracked her body as she huddled in a corner, her long brown curls limp and dull. Smudges on her face spread when she used a dirty forearm to swipe away tears, and a cut bled through the tear in her dress. A flickering light illuminated the dark room, hinting at secrets in the shadows. The sound of dripping water, slow and steady like a leaky, faucet met Rebecca's ears and her nose crinkled at the stench of urine and human waste. The child looked up. All trace of color drained from her face when a deep voice crept out of the darkness.

“It’s time.”

“Rebecca, did you hear me?” Ruby’s voice penetrated the fog surrounding Rebecca’s mind.

“W-What?” She lifted her head, taking in the dining room around her. The tourist family still sat waiting for their breakfast. “I’m sorry Ruby, what did you say?”

“You okay, hon? You were in another world there for a minute.”

“I’m fine. Really,” she added at Ruby’s doubtful expression. “Didn’t sleep well again last night, I guess.” She forced a grin. “Good thing you caught me before I nodded off and started drooling in my coffee.” The mention of coffee drew Rebecca's gaze to the carton of milk again. The girl’s innocent face stared back. Something seemed wrong. Rebecca leaned in, reading the caption under the photo. Nicole Wilson; missing for six years, before Bree even.

“I hope you don’t mind that I helped myself to the milk.,” she said, explaining what happened. “Didn’t want to be a bother.”

“Honey, it’s no problem at all, but you didn't have to do that.”

“Not to worry, it’s over and done now.” Rebecca looked down at the pancakes and fruit before her and knew little would make it past her lips “Breakfast looks delicious, as usual,” she lied.

Ruby held her gaze for a moment longer, and then nodded as if confirming something in her head. “Okay then. Enjoy.” Ruby picked up the milk carton as a bell dinged from the kitchen area. “Let me know if you need a refill on your coffee.” Smiling, Ruby went off to deliver the next order.

Rebecca’s stomach roiled at the thought of eating. Nausea and a headache overwhelmed her. She needed to  get home where she could decipher what this vision meant. With Ruby monitoring her every move, coming up with a way out of the diner proved difficult.

Forcing another smile, Rebecca picked up her fork and knife and waved them in the air for Ruby to see. At Ruby's disappointed frown, Rebecca cut the pancakes, and placed a small piece between her lips. Once Ruby smiled and turned away, Rebecca spit the bite out into a napkin. She spent another few minutes cutting and moving food around, hiding small bits under the second pancake. Pulling some money out of her wallet, she kept an eye out. As soon as Ruby went back to the kitchen for the next order pick-up, Rebecca threw the bills down on the table and made her escape.

Rebecca’s first deep breath came when she  sat safe inside her car at the other end of Main Street. Home. She had to hold it together until then. Shoving the key into the ignition, she crossed her fingers, and then groaned at the dull grind that met her ears.

“Crap. Not today!” Rebecca cursed for putting off taking the car in to Joshua. Hands shaking, she tried again, holding her grimace until the engine caught.

 The edge of another vision crept in while she pulled into the driveway. “Shit. One more minute, come on, one more minute.”

 She fumbled at the keyhole, hands shaking too hard to fit the key in the lock. Rebecca crossed the threshold and fell to her knees as the pain sliced in again, worse this time. Never before had two visions come so close together. What the hell?

Rebecca’s world faded and in its place…

 Sabrina appeared. Her baby. Sitting on the floor in a room of shadows, chin resting on drawn up knees. “Where are you Mommy? Why haven’t you come?” The shadows opened up, pushing forward to swallow both the light and Bree.

“Nooooooooo.” Rebecca came back tears streaming down her face, and fell to the floor. Limp, she laid there, an arm thrown across her eyes. “So close.”

Rebecca rolled as her stomach revolted, giving up its meager contents. Pushing herself to her knees with the last heave, she drew the back of a hand across her mouth.

The memory of losing Sabrina burned in her mind forever, but these fresh images; God, they made it so much worse. Rebecca crawled the few feet to the still open door, shoved it closed and leaned against it, shaking with sobs.

Keeping Secrets by Barbara Ehrentreau

My guest today is Barbara Ehrentreau, author of If I Could be Like Jennifer Taylor, available now at MuseItUp Publishing.

Keeping Secrets

In the YA novel, If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor, the main character, Carolyn Samuels, has to keep a lot of secrets from her friends and family. Have you ever had to keep a secret? What was the reason?

Carolyn finds herself in the middle of a very bad situation. She learns a terrible secret about the mean girl who has been bullying her since middle school and she doesn’t know what to do about it. Jennifer Taylor, the mean girl, is no one to cross. So Carolyn starts doing things she would never do. She winds up doing things for Jennifer and she lies to her parents and her best friends. Yet she keeps the secret.

Should she have kept Jennifer’s secret? Maybe she should have told someone. If you find a person who has a serious problem, when is it right to tell on them so they can get help? Are you being helpful by keeping that person’s secret or are you hurting them by keeping the secret?

As the author I felt I had a responsibility to write this story as true to life as possible. In my own life I have had to keep secrets. Sometimes these secrets were very painful, yet my friend or relative depended upon me keeping that secret for them. I felt I could not let them down. Carolyn goes through a lot of soul searching about the secret and in the process of keeping the secret winds up needing to cover up more and more of her own activities to protect the secret. In other words, needing to keep the secret caused a series of events associated with the secret. None of the things that happen to Carolyn happened to me, and also I was a little older than she. But she does have some pretty tempting moments when all she needed to do was reveal Jennifer’s secret and her life would go back to normal.

Does she give Jennifer’s secret away and face the consequences or does she keep it? All the answers are in If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor the debut YA novel available at MuseItUp Publishing 16th as an e-book. You may get more details here:

http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=203&category_id=64&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1&vmcchk=1&Itemid=1

Also please visit Barbara Ehrentreu’s blog:

http://barbaraehrentreu.blogspot.com

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/behrentreu

Twitter:

@Barbehr

Please leave a comment about your own experience with secrets to be in the drawing to win a free book when it is published.

Barbara Ehrentreu, a retired teacher with a Masters degree in Reading and Writing K-12 and seventeen years of teaching experience lives with her family in Stamford, Connecticut. When she received her Masters degree she began writing seriously. If I Could Be Like Jennifer Taylor, Barbara’s first YA novel, was inspired by Paula Danziger. Barbara is a NY Literature Examiner for Examiner.com with several articles for them. Her blog, Barbara’s Meanderings, http://barbaraehrentreu.blogspot.com/, is networked on both Facebook and Blog Catalog. She hosts Red River Writers Live Tales from the Pages on Blog Talk Radio every 4th Thursday. In addition, her children's story, “The Trouble with Follow the Leader” and an adult story, “Out on a Ledge” are published online She has written book reviews for Authorlink.com. and several of her reviews have been on Acewriters and Celebrity Café. She is a member of SCBWI. Writing is her life!

Carolyn Samuels is obsessed with the idea of being popular. She is convinced that the only thing keeping her from happiness is her too heavy for fashion body and not being a cheerleader. Hyperventilating when she gets nervous doesn’t help. When she is paired for a math project with the girl who tormented her in middle school, Jennifer Taylor, she is sure it is going to be another year of pain. With Carolyn’s crush on Jennifer’s hunky junior quarterback, Brad her freshman year in high school looks like a rerun of middle school. When Jennifer is the only student who knows why she fell in gym class, Carolyn is blackmailed into doing her math homework in return for Jennifer’s silence. Jennifer takes on Carolyn as a pity project since she can’t be seen with someone who dresses in jeans and sweatshirts. When Jennifer invites Carolyn to spend the night to make her over and teach her to tumble, Carolyn learns Jennifer’s secret and lies to her own friends to cover it up. Will Carolyn become a cheerleader and popular? Does she continue to keep Jennifer’s secret? Or will she be a target of this mean girl again?

The Importance of Love by: Cassandra Carr

Before I introduce my guest, I'd like to say on behalf of myself and my family that our hearts go our to the survivors and the families who lost loved ones on that tragic day ten years ago.

Cassandra Carr lives in Western New York with her husband, Inspiration, and her daughter, Too Cute for Words. When not writing she enjoys watching hockey and hanging out on Twitter. Her debut novel, Talk to Me, was released by Loose Id on March 22, 2011. 

One of the things that annoys me when people ask me about what I write is the insinuation that my books aren't really romance. I joke around that I write smut, but what I really write is romance, albeit more graphically connected to the sexual side of love. Make no mistake, though—my books are about love.

As I sat in my recliner earlier this week trying to figure out what I wanted to talk about, knowing today was the 10th anniversary of 9/11, it came to me: I should write about love. Love, is, after all, the most important thing. So on this reminder of one of the greatest tragedies in our history, tell your loved ones how much you care. Show them how much you care.

For the excerpt portion of the post, I'm showcasing the "I love you" moment from my current release, Talk to Me.

“I know it must sound crazy, and I wouldn’t blame you if you told me to go to hell, but I want this. I want you. I could fall in love with you. Hell, I think I am falling in love with you.” Jamie gasped, and he continued. “I haven’t said that to any woman in years, not since Jenn.” He reached for her, stroking her cheek lightly. “But I’m willing to say it now. You’re special, Jamie, and I’d be an idiot if I didn’t pursue this. So what do you say? Will you take a chance on me?”

She looked heavenward and blew out a harsh breath. “Yes.” His heart almost stopped. He realized how afraid he’d been that she would say no. Brushing her lips against the fingers still caressing her face, she smiled. “I’ll take a chance with you.”

Buy links for Talk to Me are on Cassandra's website.   http://www.booksbycassandracarr.com

You can "like" Cassandra on Facebook at:  http://www.facebook.com/AuthorCassandraCarr

or

Follow her on Twitter at:  http://www.twitter.com/Cassandra_Carr