A Greek vampire, Celtic kings, vengeful goddesses, an ancient faery curse…

Thanks for inviting me to the Goddess Fish Party blog to promote my new Print release. I am excited that my Dark Goddess trilogy is now complete and all three books are available in Print and Ebook.

Set in Dark Age Scotland, I mixed history with a Samhain/Beltaine myth that revolves around an Irish clan and the goddesses Brigit and Cailleach.

http://kelleyheckart.com/cats_curse.html

Cat's Curse, Book 1: Dark Goddess Trilogy, Celtic historical romance/fantasy

Enter Dark Age Scotland—a mysterious, dangerous & exciting place…

Blurb: Cardea is cursed to live an eternity as a blood drinker. Aedan mac Gabrain, prince of Dal Riata, trusts no one after suffering a curse that keeps him from touching any females. Can two tortured souls find love while battling a dark goddess determined to destroy them?

Reviewer Top Pick! This amazing story is very refreshing in the current romance genre. The storyline had a bunch of twists and turns that kept my attention and intrigued me with anticipation. I am eagerly looking forward to reading the next book (Beltaine's Song), Book Two in the Dark Goddess Trilogy, as I have become addicted to the strength, courage and real human facets of the characters in this saga.
Reviewed by: Lydia Ferrari at Night Owl Romance Reviews

****

http://kelleyheckart.com/winters_requiem.html

Winter’s Requiem, Book 3, Dark Goddess Trilogy, Celtic historical/fantasy

Blurb:

Three different women, one ancient curse…

An ancient curse is revealed, leading Domelch, Brigit and Cailleach into certain danger amid a web of deceit.

Can they break the curse and put the shattered pieces of their lives back together?

‘4 Cups! This story is a remarkable one on so many levels. The theme spoke to my soul and touched my heart. The warrior women made this story sing for me…I adored the way Ms. Heckart tangled religion and politics into a

tale that held my interest to the very end.’ 

Kimberly
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More

****

http://kelleyheckart.com/BeltainesSong.html

Beltaine’s Song, Book 2, Dark Goddess Trilogy, Celtic historical/fantasy

Blurb: For each of them, spring's song has a different meaning.

Aedan and Domelch must battle earthly foes—enemy kings and traitorous allies. For the first time, the arrival of spring heralds the sound of a harsh battle horn as their foes close in. Through all this turmoil, can their love survive?

For their son, Gartnait, spring brings with it the promise of new love and the thrilling sound of the battle horn, putting those he cares about in danger.

'Ms. Heckart draws the reader into the pages and enchants them with her words.'

Karen McGill, Coffee Time Romance

****

 

Kelley Heckart

'Timeless tales of romance, conflict & magic'

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

My book page at Mundania Press: http://www.mundania.com/author.php?author=Kelley+Heckart

My author page on amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Kelley-Heckart/e/B002BMOQ3C/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

E-Books Versus Print Books-Which will Survive?

Which would you rather have: an e-book or a print book? I just got an e-reader and am finding that print books suddenly have less appeal. They are more expensive and take up more space. It's so much easier to have my books stored in one place on a compact e-reader. And I wonder, ten years from now, how many bookstores will still be around in the same way they are today. I don't buy as many DVD's (in fact none) since I have a DVR. I also published my last book "The Montezuma Secret" as an e-book on www.amazon.com. If people don't have an e-reader like a Kindle, they can also read it on their PC, MAC, iphone, Blackberry, iPad, and Android, which makes it very convenient.

Here's a blurb and an excerpt: "The Montezuma Secret"
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004JU0IX6 -Only $2.99

Murder and passion meet head-on in the steamy jungles of Belize.

Hunky Trey Zacco, gritty survivalist and host of the hit "Wildman" series and glitz and glamour girl, Erica Kingsley, host of the "Lap of Luxury" show, are thrown together in the steamy jungles of Belize as a publicity stunt and to search for Montezuma’s lost gold. Zacco cannot hide his resentment at having to share the spotlight with the flighty fashionista Erica, and he locks horns with her every step of the way even as both try to ignore the strong physical attraction growing between them. But when Erica’s father's plane goes down in the jungle, Trey and Erica launch a desperate search to find him. And when members of the crew are killed and the equipment sabotaged, Trey and Erica find themselves stranded in the middle of the jungle, where no rescue crew can reach them.

An Excerpt from "The Montezuma Secret"

"Up?" she pointed, unable to believe her ears.
Trey gave her a hard shove.
"Get going!"
"But how?"
"Grab the vines and pull yourself up!" he shouted over the thundering rain.
"You must be joking! It’s got to be one hundred feet high!"
"Good calculation. Now move!"
She stood her ground. "But why?"
"A. There’s no other way. B. I’m ordering you to. And you’ll listen if you ever want to get out of here."
Trey stifled an urge to smack her luscious wet bottom and watched in amusement as she struggled to grab hold of the slick vines, then smirked as she scrambled up a few feet and then landed in the muck with a splat. Her thick mane of black hair, once so splendidly coifed, was heavily matted and caked in mud.
"Again!" he yelled.
Raindrops, big as bullets, pelted her mercilessly. "I can’t do it. It’s impossible."
"Watch the master," he said, stowing the camera in his backpack.
He brushed her aside and grabbed one of the sturdier vines, then pulled himself up arm over arm with the agility of a spider monkey until he reached the top of the cliff where he had a perfect view of the lush jungle canopy and could see for miles.
"Now you know how it’s done. Get your ass up here or I’ll leave you behind."
"You can’t do that. You wouldn’t."
"Pull yourself up, Kingsley. If you have to, use the side of the cliff to push off and boost yourself higher. But watch out for the holes. There may be spiders and bats hiding in those nooks and crannies."
Erica re-tied her sagging ponytail and pinned it to her scalp. Her breath was ragged, her heartbeat erratic.
From above, she heard the sudden monotonous drone of a plane’s engine cutting through the rain splatter, then listened to the sputter as the motor spit and coughed, struggling to stay aloft. Wings slashed through the jungle over her head five hundred feet from her, both turbo props flaming. The plane wobbled and rolled before hitting the ground with an ear-splitting shriek of steel against steel followed by a blinding explosion of light that knocked her off her feet.
A sickening sensation shot through her and she suppressed the urge to vomit. The stench of black smoke as dark as blood filled her nostrils. She knew what had happened. She hoped to God she was wrong, but more than ever she wished with all her heart and soul that she was still safely home in Miami Beach and that she had never come.

From a safe distance, comfortably positioned to witness the entire spectacle, a smiling figure breathed a sigh of relief. It had all gone according to plan. On schedule and on time. They were right where they needed to be. Soon they’d both be dead and no one would be the wiser. Untimely accidents. Marauding terrorists. Ancient Mayan curses. Any excuse would do. Completely believable, considering the dangers of the jungle. They’d just disappear. Perfect. Simply perfect."

The world of publishing certainly will be very interesting. What do you think the future holds?

Alison Chambers
www.alisonchambersromance.com

Famous Love Quotes

Love may mean different things to different people, but this is what some famous people have said about love.

"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye."
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

What the world really needs is more love and less paperwork."
Pearl Bailey

Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your heart or burn down your house, you can never tell."
Joan Crawford

"Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour.
Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity."
Albert Einstein

"Love is the flower you've got to let grow."
John Lennon

Do you love me because I am beautiful,
or am I beautiful because you love me?"
Cinderella

"It's better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all."
Alfred, Lord Tennyson

"Who, being loved, is poor?"
Oscar Wilde

"LOVE: The irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired."
Mark Twain Quotes

"Marrying for love may be a bit risky, but it is so honest that God can't help but smile on it."
Josh Billings

"The first duty of love - is to listen."
Paul Tillich

“Love is a game that two can play and both win by loosing their heart”
Eva Gabor

Which one is your favorite? I like the one by Joan Crawford best.

Thanks for reading!
Elaine Cantrell
Hope. Dreams. Life... Love
http://www.elainecantrell.com
http://www.elainepcantrell.blogspot.com

A New Dream

A New Dream will be available on March 8 at http://www.astraeapress.com In this excerpt my hero's brother interrogates him after his first date with my heroine.

Thanks for reading!
Elaine Cantrell
Hope. Dreams. Life... Love
http://www.elainecantrell.com
http://www.elainepcantrell.blogspot.com

Matt didn’t quite get his bedroom door closed before Chris showed up. He poked his head around the corner and demanded, “Did you kiss her?”

“Chris, that’s none of your business,” Matt protested, feeling warmth spread up this face.

“You did kiss her,” Chris declared, satisfaction oozing from his voice. He moved into the room and threw himself down on the bottom of Matt’s bed. “If you hadn’t kissed her you’d oh so virtuously tell me so.”

“Chris…”

“Is she the first since Stacey?”

“Chris…”

“She must be the first. Way to go, bro. It’s about time you woke up and realized your life isn’t over.”

“Chris…”

“That includes women too, Matt. Violet looked at you like you walk on water. Do you think you could be serious about her?”

“Chris…”

“I hope you won’t think I’m out of line, Matt, but I don’t think Violet’s the same kind of woman as Stacey.”

“Chris…”

“I mean, Stacey didn’t have a problem sleeping with you, but I think Violet would. Pam’s family knows Violet’s family, and she said Violet’s father is real strict. He raised the girls to have high moral standards.”

“Chris…”

“You should think about getting married. You’re old enough, and you have a good job. If you got married you could move out of here. Just think about that.”

“Chris…”

“But the best part of it would be that you’d have a woman to cuddle with at night. Don’t you miss female companionship?”

“Yes, but…”

“But nothing. You think about it, Matt. Violet’s beautiful, and you need a wife. You could do worse.”

“Chris…”

“I’ve got to go to bed, Matt. I enjoyed our talk.”

Chris slammed the door behind him, leaving Matt with a smile on his face. “I enjoyed it too, Chris.”

A New Dream

Have you heard of Astraea Press? They're new, and I've signed a contract with them for a book to be released March 8 at http://www/astraeapress.com. The book is called A New Dream, and in this excerpt my hero and heroine share a first kiss. This is unedited, but you can see how the kiss went.

Thanks for reading!
Elaine Cantrell
Hope. Dreams. Life... Love
http://www.elainecantrell.com
http://www.elainepcantrell.com

Here's a blub and excerpt from A New Dream.

Blurb:

After an auto accident destroys his pro-football career, Matt McCallum struggles to find a new dream for his life, but nothing engages him the way football did. After a stint in rehab, he takes a job managing a grocery store where he meets Violet Emerson.

Violet works in the bakery department, but her dreams carry her far beyond the doors of Chef’s Pantry. As soon as she can save the money, she plans to open a catering business. And she thinks the new manager’s broad shoulders and blue eyes are simply divine.

Thrown together at work, Matt and Violet find a common dream for their lives, but a loose end from Matt’s past returns to jeopardize their future. Will love be enough to save their new dream before it turns into a nightmare?

Excerpt:


They drove in a companionable silence for a few minutes before Violet exclaimed, “Oh, Matt, it’s a lovely evening for a drive! The moon’s so big and glorious, and the air feels like silk against your skin.”

It surprised Matt to find that he enjoyed the drive too. He’d rather have died than admit it, but since the accident, moonlight drives scared him to death. However, with Violet chatting happily beside him, the night didn’t seem so big and frightening, and the enjoyable present submerged the hurtful memories of the past.

He parked his car in the Emerson’s drive and escorted Violet to the door. “I had a good time tonight. Thank you very much for going with me.”

“Thank you for asking,” Violet returned with a smile. “I like your mother and your brother, and I had a good time too. I hate I didn’t meet your father, though.”

“I’m sure he’ll hate it too.”

They both fell silent, caught in the spell of the evening. Violet glanced at him and moved a fraction closer, her face obligingly tilted upward.

She doesn’t want to kiss me, Matt thought. I have to stop thinking about it. He’d do well to forget such nonsense, but naturally that was easier said than done. Violet was beautiful, and she looked at him as if he were whole and worthy of her kisses.

All I’d have to do is bend my head. He closed his eyes as his lips grazed hers.
Soft and warm, they yielded beneath his own. Violet trembled in his arms, and Matt nervously moved away from her. “I scared you. I’m sorry.”

“Scared me?” Violet giggled. “You didn’t scare me.”

“Then why…”

“Matt McCallum, I’m nervous! This is our first kiss, and I was afraid you wouldn’t like it.”
Matt breathed a sigh of relief. “I was afraid you didn’t really want to kiss me.”

Violet reached for his hand. “You’re joking. Who wouldn’t want to kiss you? You’re handsome, kind, and loads of fun.”

How absurd! Matt opened his mouth to say so, but at that moment the porch light came on. From behind the door they heard Fred Emerson clearing his throat.

“Thanks again,” Violet whispered. She opened the door, and Matt caught a glimpse of her father radiating disapproval from his chair in the living room.

He doesn’t like me, Matt thought. It must be my legs. I don’t know that I blame him. I don’t like myself too much either.


Do check out Astraea. They've signed some good authors.

Famous Lover's Quiz

How many of these lovers do you know? The answers are at the bottom of the page.

1.He was a Roman general, and she was the queen of Egypt.

2.Their love destroyed Camelot.

3.He gave up his throne for her because he couldn’t marry a divorced woman.

4.They met each other while filming a movie about ancient Egypt. They married once, divorced, and then married again.

5.Both star crossed lovers died in this Shakespearean tale which told of a bitter feud between two noble families.

6.She lost him, but tomorrow is another day.

7.A short man, he ruled the French Empire, but he divorced his true love because she couldn’t bear him a child.

8.They were two gangsters who enjoyed robbing banks.

9.The king of rock and roll, he married a girl he met while he was in the army.

10.He’s faster than a speeding bullet, and she keeps trying to guess his secret identity.

11.They fell into a burning ring of fire.

12.He lived in the jungle and swung through the trees, but she loved him anyway.

13.She was a governess who fell for a man with a dreadful secret hidden in the attic.
14.She gave him an apple that he wasn’t supposed to eat.

15.He was only a stable boy, but he loved her with all of his heart. Then she married another man.

16.He was the captain of The Millennium Falcon, and she was a princess on a mission.

17.She wrote a book called A New Leaf, and he went to the bookstore and bought the first one on the shelf even though they had plenty of copies at home.




Answers.

1.Antony and Cleopatra

2.Lancelot and Guinevere

3.Edward VII and Wallis Simpson

4.Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor

5.Romeo and Juliete

6.Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara

7.Napoleon and Josephine

8.Bonnie and Clyde

9.Elvis and Priscilla

10.Super Man and Lois Lane

11.Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash

12.Tarzan and Jane

13.Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre

14.Adam and Eve

15.Heathcliff and Cathy

16.Han Solo and Princess Leia

17.Wallace and Elaine Cantrell

Thanks for reading!
Elaine Cantrell
Hope. Dreams. Life... Love
http://www.elainecantrell.com
http://www.elainepcantrell.blogspot.com

How'd You Meet Your Valentine?

HI, my name is Elaine Cantrell, and I'll be joining you today as we all celebrate Valentine's Day. For those of you who don't know me, I'm a social studies teacher, I'm married, and I have two sons and three grandchildren. I also have a new puppy who's somewhat of a challenge. Writing wise, I write contemporary romance which is on the sweeter side.

Every year I like to tell the story of how I met my Valentine, so here goes. True story.

Call it fate. Call it destiny. I don’t care what term you use. All I know is that from the first moment I saw him I knew that our futures were linked.

It happened the summer after I graduated from high school. My mother had gotten me a job in the place where she worked, and after finishing my shift I was eager to get home. I had a date that night and wanted to shower and change before I went out. Okay, maybe have a date is a little bit of an understatement. We’d been going out for almost a year, and he’d been throwing out hints that he’d like our relationship to be a little more permanent. I told him I had college ahead of me, but he said he was willing to wait.

My friend Pam and I were waiting together for the final buzzer to sound when this guy who had reported for work on the second shift called to her. He wasn’t especially tall, maybe five ten or so with dark, wavy hair and beautiful sun kissed skin. He was wearing a tee shirt so I couldn’t help noticing those nice shoulders of his.

Pam introduced us. It turned out that he was her boyfriend’s brother. This was a surprise because for some reason I had gotten the impression that her boyfriend was an only child. Guess the joke was on me because there were four children in the family.

Anyway, for the rest of the summer we’d talk a little bit right before I left for the day. We never said anything really important, and he never asked me out, but each and every time we spoke the feeling of destiny grew stronger.

Both of us went away to Clemson University that fall. We saw each other a couple of times during the school year. Each and every time we did his eyes sparkled like blue sapphires. My friend Pam told me she’d given him my number, but he never called. Still, I couldn’t forget him.

Time passed. Near the end of my freshman year I broke up with my boyfriend. Things hadn’t been going well for some time, so it was a relief to end the relationship. I made sure he knew it. It took him a month or so to work up the courage to call me. We went on a picnic, and after that we were inseparable. He was everything I’d been looking for and more besides. We complemented each other in so many ways!

We had two years together at Clemson before he graduated. I missed him so much that I took extra courses and finished school a semester early so we could get married. Two sons and four grandchildren later we’re still together and looking forward to retirement. Of course this is the real world so he drives me crazy from time to time. He’s a man, isn’t he, but I wouldn’t trade him for anything.

As I was writing this blog I asked him why it took him so long to call me. He said it was because I intimidated him. After much coaxing he finally explained. He said he was shy, and he knew that I’d dated more than he had so he was scared to ask me out. Isn’t that sweet?

I like to tell our story near or on Valentine’s Day, mostly to show that there are happy endings in the real world just as there are in my novels. Honestly, I doubt that my characters could overcome the obstacles they do if in my heart I wasn’t a hopeless romantic who got her happy ending.

Now it’s your turn. Leave a comment telling me how you met your Valentine.