Jenyfer Matthews

Please welcome author Sandra Cox!

A vegetarian and animal lover, Sandra lives with her husband, their dog and six cats in sunny North Carolina. Sandra is a member of Romance Writers of America and From the Heart Romance Writers. From The Heart Romance Writers has been the source of many treasured friendships.

Besides paranormal romance, Sandra also writes western romance, time-travel romance, young adult fantasy and non-fiction. When she’s not writing, you can probably find her out shopping!

Amulets - Boji Stones
By Sandra Cox

Maureen Sinclair, an independent kick ass woman, has a secret that could rock the modern world. More than just a charming antique set with unusual stones, the copper band she wears on her forearm is an ancient amulet forged by the gods with healing powers.

Her world is turned upside down by danger and betrayal when two men discover her secret, one a scholar, one a madman.

Now Maureen must fight for her very life and that of the man she loves while protecting the secret of the BOJI STONES.

Amulets - Rose Quartz
By Sandra Cox
The sequel to Boji Stones but may be read as a standalone story.

Isabella Tremaine’s credo is always look your best even when you’re running from the bad guys. Bella is the possessor of a primeval amulet empowered by the gods with creativity and beauty. And the spunky blonde has an abundance of both. Unfortunately a madman has discovered Bella’s secret and is determined to gain possession of the amulet, even if he must kill her to do so. It will take every wile in Bella’s formidable arsenal of tricks to outwit the megalomaniac who is after her.

At the same time as the madman is trying to steal her amulet, a ranch hand is trying to steal her heart. Bella is determined not only to stay alive but to keep her size-five stilettos footloose and fancy-free. Who will prove the great danger, the madman who wants her amulet or the ranch hand who wants her heart?

Amulets - Black Opal
By Sandra Cox
Book Three in the Amulets series but may be read as a standalone story.

Sabina Comte has two passions — singing and Adam Morelly. One has brought her fame and fortune. The other just might get her killed. Sabina possesses a power amulet given to her by the gods. Megalomaniac Victoria Price not only wants the amulet, she wants Adam as well. Killing Sabina would give her both.

If dealing with Victoria isn’t enough, Sabina discovers Adam’s uncle belongs to the mafia. She becomes increasingly suspicious of Adam when he keeps showing up right after someone’s tried to kill her. Sabina begins to wonder if Adam and his uncle know about her amulet and are after it too. But even doubt and suspicion cannot alter the growing attraction she has for Adam. When he is badly injured, Sabina puts her heart on the line and races to his side, determined to save him. She is about to find out if love will send her careening toward the celestial heavens or plant her six feet under.

Black Opal, the third in the Amulets series, was released May 22 by Cerridwen Press.
Here’s an excerpt.

Prologue

She stared intently at the computer screen. She’d broken the code and figured out her father’s password. It’d been easy. The warden said her father had written her name and the word amulets in his own blood before he died.

Scanning the screen, she read:

’Legend has it that out of all the mortals on earth five women found favor with the gods:
Sophia whose face was pitted and ravaged by pox,
Pelagia who had the body of a woman and the mind of a child,
Olympia a poor widow with children to feed,
Helen, who lost four of her children to the plague and begged the gods to spare her remaining child, and
Zoe, a young queen whose village was razed and plundered and, she herself taken as a slave.
Moved, the gods created five special amulets in the form of armbands for the women to wear on their forearms.
For Sophia an amulet forged with beauty and creativity.
For Pelagia an amulet forged with knowledge.
For Olympia an amulet forged with wealth.
For Helen an amulet forged with healing and
For Zoe a golden amulet, with a black opal at its center, forged with power.’

The air conditioning in the room was cold enough to leave goose bumps but Victoria Price didn’t notice. The black leather chair creaked in protest as she leaned back, her breath leaving her lungs in a hiss.

The pain in her hands made her glance down. They were fisted so tight the moon-shaped crescents in her palms, where her nails dug in, were filling with warm red blood.

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moar funny pictures

My children’s school is having International Day next week. Do other schools do this? Basically it is a day where the children can go in dressed in their national dress and the mothers are strong armed into cooking lunch for all the children at school. I will be working the American stall handing out hot dogs and chocolate chip cookies among other things next Thursday. My contribution (other than my presence) will be Rice Krispie Treats.

But it is the national dress thing that has got my daughter in a tizzy. What to wear, what to wear?! There is no true national dress of America unless you count blue jeans and a t-shirt. I suggested her baseball jersey, jeans and baseball hat - which is pretty much her off-duty uniform anyway. That wasn’t good enough though because it wasn’t her idea.

Mommy’s (and Daddy’s) word wasn’t enough. She actually wanted to research America so she could get ideas (a ploy to get on the computer!)

As an alternative, I suggested she could dress in red, white and blue. She then went with jeans, a white Gap t-shirt and a red baseball hat - a decision which lasted a nanosecond I think. Then she announced she wanted to be a Canadian hunter, an outfit which consists of a Canada t-shirt printed with black bears and green and navy plaid flannel pants. Not sure how wearing her pajamas to school qualifies as a national dress, but whatever.

I am going away for a the weekend to visit some friends so I’ll have a break from listening to her obsess over it. I can’t wait! Every mommy needs a little downtime sometimes. There is only one month left of school and then they’ll be my shadows until the end of August. Gotta have some me-time while I can!

And as if the International day angst wasn’t enough, her grade is having a Greek day shortly as well. I have to construct her a Greek tunic and send in a bowl of olives. She’s not happy about the tunic as it is too close to a dress for her taste, nor am I since outside of Halloween I don’t relish costume design. And she did requested an olive wreath crown as well! I’m sure the teachers are getting a big laugh out of all this.

Don’t forget to stop by over the weekend. Author Sandra Cox will be here to give a taste of the books in her Amulet series.

This new site is so lovely that I’m almost at a loss for words. What can I say to live up to my new surroundings?

I guess I will just go on as I have before with fluff and nonsense.

The redecorating bug has got me. Some of it is necessary. My daughter’s birthday party is coming up in a couple of weeks, but just look at what you get when you ask for a baseball pinata in Egypt. I would have been fine if I had asked for a “football” (that’s soccer for all the Americans out there), but they have no idea what a baseball looks like. It looked like a Chinese lantern!

So I took off the ribbons and rearranged a bit. Not perfect, but much better! And since the children are going to bash it to pieces anyway, I think it will do

And I didn’t stop there. Every now and then I buy a piece of quilting cotton that I like so much I want to wear it. So I entertained myself by decorating a plain t-shirt.

It’s not half bad, if I say so myself.

What can I say? Little things amuse me!

Welcome to my new home! I’ve been in the mood for a new look and I finally have it. Please feel free to have a good look around - and do let me know what you think of the place. All suggestions are taken seriously by the management

The water delivery saga goes on and on and on…

At first it was kind of funny but now it’s just absurd. I haven’t called the water company in a week because they call me every day - Has the water come yet? No? Okay, tonight inshah allah.

I get the same phone call. Every. Day.

Today there was a new twist. I still don’t have water, but they sent out a letter announcing that due to rises in fuel costs, etc, there will be an increase in their prices - starting today. So if they had delivered my water last week as I had requested, my coupon book would have been fine. But they’ve been dragging their feet so now what? My coupons are no good anymore?

Need I say that once I do get someone on the phone I’m canceling the service (what service!?) and sending their bottles back. And when I get my water from the grocery store it won’t be THAT brand.

Harumph.

By the way, the funniest (and most alarming) search phrase that has brought anyone to my blog recently is guilt free way of getting pregnant without husband’s knowing. I never have and never will be dispensing any advice on this topic - nor is it something I would advise trying…

Barbara Millerteaches in the Writing Popular Fiction graduate program at Seton Hill University and is Reference Librarian at Mount Pleasant, PA. Public Library. She has published historical romances (one of which was nominated for a RITA), mysteries, and young adult books and is now writing Regencies for Cerridwen Press.
She lives in a creepy old farmhouse with her husband, a pack of unruly dogs and cats, and guppies too numerous to count. You may email Barb at scribe@zoominternet.net.

Regency Writer Masters Deep POV But Can’t Give up Her Historical Fix

After writing seven Regency-set historicals for Harlequin as Laurel Ames and four for Pocket Books as Barbara Miler, I was in despair at the shrinking Regency market — especially since I wanted to try my hand at traditional Regencies.

Was it me who had caused Regency sales to drop off? I went back and reread all my historicals, looking for reassurance that my career was not a fluke and that I am leading students in the right direction.

It was a relief to discover that I still love my characters and frequently I surprised myself with dialogue or a plot twist I’d forgotten. You really start to wonder about your memory when you are twenty pages from the end of one of your own published books and wondering how you are going to wrap everything up.

The only unpleasant surprise was that I had not mastered point of view until I had been writing for seven years. Since I started back through the books in reverse order the change was reassuring. The early books are still good stories, but I used to change POV too frequently, give POVs to not just secondary characters but minor characters as well, including a couple or horses. I had even slipped into the dreaded omniscient POV.

Noting when I did these things leads me to some conclusions. Mastering deep POV is linked to mastering showing rather than telling and avoiding back story. Any time I summarized past history I was tempted to tell it and get it out of the way, floating from one POV to another as needed. Now I treat back story like old wine. I don’t get it out often and serve it in small doses only to readers who have gotten to know the characters already. This has the added advantage of making each book a mystery. The reader has to wonder about the character’s internal conflict and try to guess until I show them what makes the character tick.

Although it’s sometimes necessary to present an opening in omniscient POV and zoom down to the characters, this camera-like opening is easy to avoid if you have mastered deep POV. It’s best to start the book deep in the POV of one of the main characters and with a line of dialogue even if they are talking to themselves. This is natural if you know the characters really well before you start writing the opening.

I take my heroines on walks with me and work out their personalities and quirks as the dogs and I explore the farm. The heroes I take to bed with me, usually after they have fallen off a horse or been shot. That’s when they introspect on their past the best. A good dose of regret can hint at a inner conflict and make the man more mysterious than labeling him.

By the time I start the book I know both characters and can write a scene with valid emotion to it. It may not reveal the deepest problem the character has but a longstanding one is good. I also give my characters enough family to be provoking. If a character is a orphan they still need secondary characters to aggravate them.

And finally I have figured out how to eliminate the minor POVs by having the POV character guess the thoughts or emotions of the minor characters for the reader. Of course the POV character can also read in the other main characters’ faces and actions any nuance not delivered by dialogue.

Mastering deep POV means knowing when to go shallow as well. During action scenes or when the character is hiding something, you stay in shallow POV. It provides a contrast to those plunges into deep POV when the reader can really empathize with your character. Cerridwen came to my rescue by publishing Music Master last October and now Two Hearts in April. Of course I publish in other genres, including a series of cozy mysteries, a middle grade series and a paranormal that still freaks me out. (Cerridwen will also publish Eye Walker, the paranormal detective series no one wanted to look at. But the Regency is my home. I don’t know if it’s the language, the clothes or the horses. I just feel like I fit in there.

E publishers both keep alive small niche markets and are willing to take chances on the bizarre or innovative. Most of the recent trends have come out of the e-publishing marketplace. The large publishing conglomerates are too ponderous to switch gears that fast.

Grace Montrose is a passionate auburn-haired beauty so in love with the theater that she does set design and costuming secretly at the Pantheon. Brandon White, Earl of Morewood, a bored aristocrat, writes plays he pays to produce at the Pantheon under the pen name William Marlowe. He is trying to create the perfect woman with words since he has never met her until he encounters Grace. Brand and Grace are both looking for friendship and intellectual stimulation but find far more in each other. Yet Brand is afraid to even mention marriage since Grace has been hurt in the past by managing men and unwanted offers. His heart has been bruised by fortune hunters as well. A murder at the Parthenon and a disaster backstage prompts them to sacrifice their reputations to save the play and bind their two broken hearts together forever.

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I went swimming yesterday and on my way out of the door I grabbed a notebook and a pen. My mind will often start to compose paragraphs while I’m walking but by the time I get home again they have either vanished into the ether or I’ve lost my mood.

I arrived at the pool a few minutes early so I got out my notebook and started to jot down the first part of the synopsis for my current WIP. And once I started, I kept going. I wrote about half of it, went for my swim, then came out and wrote the rest. It’s rough, but I’m thrilled. I typed it up when I got home and it’s nearly three pages single spaced. With some polishing I think it might just work.

I’m in the process of planning my summer vacation. Only my vacation isn’t really an escape into a world of relaxation and pleasure. There is a lot of planning and aggravation that comes before I get to the good part - seeing family and friends. I’ve got my ticket purchased and now I have to book a couple of nights in a hotel near JFK on either end of my stay.

It’s not going well.

I don’t need anything fancy. Just a safe, clean place to take the children for a night, preferably some place with a restaurant on site or next door. Every time I think I’ve found something I see some review horror story. Does anyone have any recommendations for me? I’m all ears!

Don’t forget to drop by over the weekend. Historical romance author and writing instructor Barbara Miller is going to be here talking about the art of mastering POV (point of view).

I’m guest blogging on Shelley Munro’s blog today. Stop by and say hello!

Another great review for ALL THE WAY HOME:

Along with a taut and compelling plotline and dealing with a life like situation, ALL THE WAY HOME has the quality of a real life fairy tale. Ms. Matthews has tackled the difficult issue of love, marriage and relationships with ease. The result is a story filled with rich and full characters you can really care about, a little twist at the end, and a very happy ending to satisfy the romance bug in the brain.

In my opinion, a book as beautifully written, heartfelt and sweet as ALL THE WAY HOME truly deserves the Golden Blush Recommended Read award. It just makes you hope that Ms. Matthews keeps writing with the tenderness, understanding, and compassion that she showed here. Brilliant!

Literary Nymphs

On the heels of the review I got from Romance Junkies last week, imagine how high I’m floating right now? And if validation like that doesn’t help me get my butt in the chair to write, nothing will!

So sometimes you have plans for your day and then things just…happen. My day was like that today - but in the best possible way.

I started out making a planned trip up to the school to watch a swim meet. Darling daughter did well in her events and seemed pleased that I was able to hitch a ride to see her. I was home by 10am and had plans to spend the rest of the day writing.

But instead of sitting down and opening up a Word document and just getting to work, I first dropped an email to a local quilter regarding a pesky problem I’ve been experiencing with my sewing machine. She happened to be online at the time and offered to come over and check it out - and all for the cost of a cup of coffee and some quilt chat. Since she is a world-class quilt teacher, I wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to have her come over. And I upped the ante and made a chocolate cake besides.

Of course, once she got here the machine was absolutely FINE. Apparently it was just user error.

Ahem.

Though I didn’t do any writing, I wouldn’t call the day a total loss. I had a lovely visit with my quilt friend (how excited was I when she complimented me on my quilt shapes??) And did I mention the chocolate cake? Sometimes the unexpected detours can be quite pleasant.

As for the writing, tomorrow is another day…