New Author - First Novel "Chasing Athens"

I really enjoyed Marissa Tejada's first book. The character, Ava, had me laughing in the opening chapter. Her encounter over not getting her ticket validated sounds like something I would do in one of my rush about madly moments. To be hauled off to the police station in a foreign country only adds to Ava's misery, but the way Miss Tejada describes the situation I could only laugh. A book that combines humor with the pain of self-growth.


CHASING ATHENS
Author: Marissa Tejada
Publisher: Musa Publishing       

Suddenly dumped, a heartbroken American ex-pat stays on in Greece, confronting culture shock, crisis, and the charm of Mediterranean men as she redefines the true meaning of home.

When Ava Martin’s new husband unexpectedly ditches her months after they’ve relocated across the world to Greece, the heartbroken American ex-pat isn’t sure where home is anymore. On the verge of flying back to the States with her tail between her legs, she makes an abrupt decision to follow her gut instead and stay on in Greece. She soon discovers that the tumultuous, culture-rich Mediterranean country is coloring her life in a way no place else can, changing her forever. But is it where she belongs?

Ava’s newfound independence throws her into the thick of Athenian reality, where she has brushes with violent police riots and gets a taste of both the alluring islands and the city nightlife. Despite pressure from her mother, uncertainty over her impending divorce, and unresolved issues with her long-estranged father weighing on her, she’s determined to make it on her own. With the help of two very colorful Greek friends, she laughs and learns while facing culture shock, language barriers and the charm of Mediterranean men, until a life-threatening medical emergency back home in sleepy Ithaca, N.Y., forces her to decide where she truly belongs – and what truly matters.

- See more at: http://musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=773&zenid=7f9f20892937ae97b66460e281115d21#sthash.2DNGhJLC.dpuf

Some Naughty Wenches are Partying at Coffeetime's Mocha Milieu on the 17th!

 

The Who?

A whole lot of naughty Wenches

The Where!

The Mocha Milieu on Facebook

April 17th, from 10-2:00 EST

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1417860181799911/

 

Join authors, Lizzie T. Leaf, Sam Cheever, Sloane Taylor, Sara Daniel and Emilia Mancini for a few hours of fun and get entered into a drawing for all the prizes!

 

Three at Once! I Must Be Nuts!

Where I think I can be!

Yep, that would be working on three books at once here. To make the fun even more intense, they are all in new genres. I can never be happy with the status quo.

1. My first Mystery and collaboration. Hey if you're going to jump in to new waters, do it with both feet. And why make it a simple mystery set in a location you or the other author live? We wouldn't want to do anything sane would we? So this book is set in a foreign country which means reaching the laws. Now that will keep you with dents in the forehead from the old *head/desk* routine.

2. When the headache gets too bad from banging on desk with the Mystery, move on to the Women's Fiction. Get things really rolling with the POV of three women of various ages. How complicated can that be...right? So what if they wake you up at 3:00 freakin' A.M. (like this morning) with ideas on what you need to go back and rewrite so their new suggestions will work better!

3. And when the other 2 books have you close to crazy, cross over into insanity...go with a Young Adult. All the angst of this character can actually be therapeutic in an odd sort of way. Once it's done, the Teens have promised to read and give their input. That's enough to make a grandmother cringe.

So there you have it...my fun life these days.

What fun do you have in your life?

And then reality hits!

Kathy Cagney Rossi Shares How We Can Flash & Still be Sexy!

This book made me laugh as well as giving me new insights into menopause. Ladies, we all get to travel down the road of The Change, so may as well have some fun with the experience and look good too! 

Loved her fashion advice: "If you don't love it, don't wear it." That statement can apply to any age!

Hot Flashes Cool Insights addresses the reinvention of how women today will experience menopause. Every day in the U.S. alone, 6,000 women start menopause. Approximately 60 million American women between the ages of 39 and 53 will be perimenopausal this year. It’s estimated that by the year 2015, 1.7 billion women worldwide will be experiencing some form of menopause. That’s a lot of women hot flashing all at the same time! Talk about global warming! In this fun and informative book, you will learn and discover: ~What it means to be hormonious – balancing your hormones and why it’s so important ~How to be a Passionista and keep your passion even while hot flashin’ ~Why humor and a flash flood of creativity play an important role in this process ~Easy ways to stay in fashion - ample size or sample size, you are beauty full! ~Mindset principles for your state of mind during your change of life Over 150 women were surveyed for this book. They responded to questions regarding midlife, menopause and much more. This “broad minded” approach resulted in some very cool insights! So, dear reader, please know that you are not alone and you are not going crazy. We are a divine sisterhood of yo-yo hormones and together, we will triumph over the tribulations.

Amazon buy links:

Print: http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Flashes-Cool-Insights-Menopause/dp/1492221341/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397166297&sr=8-1&keywords=kathy+cagney+rossi

eBook: http://www.amazon.com/Flashes-Insights-Fashion-Mindset-Menopause-ebook/dp/B00G00T7F8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1397166297&sr=8-2&keywords=kathy+cagney+rossi

Kathy’s blog: http://hotflashionista.com/blog-blog-blog/

Dream Trips

There are lots of places on the "I want to go" list, including spending a couple of months (or longer) using London as home base and exploring ALL of Great Britain.

But here are a couple of dream trips.

Machu Picchu by JP

 

 

Galapagos Islands


So what are your dream trips?

 

Hot Flash Fun and Lip Ripping!

The fun started in my early forties. Mood swings, depression, sleeplessness, exhaustion and the ever fun…hot flashes.  Yes, said the doctor, you are in perimenopause.

Joy!

Like a good girl, I did my research.  Read everything I could find on the delightful period of life I’d just entered.  Some of the symptoms had started to let up…except the hot flashes which by now included night sweats. But, l could get through this with the aide of drugs.

No—wait. Drugs aren’t good for you. Being on the pill too long can cause cancer.  Okay, then homeopathic is the way to go. And I did.

Soy. Nope, still flashing. Wild Yam cream, slathered my body in it. Did nothing. Black cohosh, red clover, dong quai…you get the picture.  Tried and gave up on those and a lot of other things.  Full blown menopause would take care of the issues.

So, I waited—and am still waiting.  Leaning to live with the hot flashes, I adapted. Cool temperatures at night, fanning during the day. Recently, I discovered another way, a cold gel pack from the freezer under my pillow helps keep then down, and if one hits, I move my pillow up enjoy the refreshing coldness unit it.

As far as the mood swings, they aren’t too bad. But there are moments when the idea of ripping off lips  of someone who doesn't know when to shut up appeals. That can be avoided for the most part by the annoying individual keeping their mouth closed or sewing it shut until the urge passes.


Have you entered the peri or post menopause stage of life? How do think it affects your interaction with others?

The Wenching Emilia Mancini!

This weeks Wench is the sizzling, Emilia Mancini! Thanks for stopping by Emilia and spicing things up. Boomers are well aware spice isn't always something tossed into the pot to season the food. We know what you dish up seasons our lives in the bedroom!

As I sat reading the galley for Seducing Kate, I realized what an incredible labor of love this book had been. If you’ve ever raised children, you can relate to the publishing process.

The pregnancy—the creating a new being, the hopes and dreams of what this being will eventually grow up to be, then finally, you start pushing thing out of you. Painful as it may be, there’s just no stopping it. You. Just. Have. To. Push.

Once it’s out, it’s not the most attractive thing, but you love it all the same.

Then it starts growing up and you realize that, much as you love it, your baby isn’t perfect. It’s colicky, cranky, and sometimes it takes a dump on you. You and your parental partner, your editor, go to task to mold this thing into a respectable fully-grown manuscript.

It hurts you, it breaks your heart, but at the same time, you swell with pride as you get ready to release it upon the world.

Seducing Kate was like this. The pushing out process was fairly easy. Kate and Kyle had a solid story and they were ready to share it with the world. It was the growing (editing) part that nearly killed me. Luckily, I have an incredibly patient editor who can see through all my personal writing ticks to the beauty that lies beneath.

She saw through my repetitive wording and my filtering and all those other bad author things I do. She saw through all the bullshit I pile on, scraped it away, polished this up, and made it shine.

I am so excited and so proud to be sending this respectable and fully-grown manuscript out into the world. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into this one, and those disgusting bodily fluids weren’t just mine. Jeanne De Vita did a fantastic job helping me raise this little bugger.

I feel like a proud mama and I can’t wait for you to meet my baby.

It took Kyle one look to realize he wanted to seduce his best friend’s mother. And one kiss to realize he didn't have to.

It was lust at first sight for Kyle when he met his roommate Justin’s mother Kate. Kyle, a college transfer, was too far from home to visit on short school breaks, so Justin took him to Minneapolis where his mother was serving up a family meal for Thanksgiving.

One look left Kyle with a healthy obsession for Kate which grew with each visit. When he landed an internship in Minneapolis, he moved in with Kate for the summer, and got in touch with his voyeuristic side. It wasn’t until one late evening and a few too many glasses of wine that Kyle began to suspect his attraction wasn’t one-sided.

When he dared to push the issue, he found Kate more than willing to succumb to his seduction.

To read an excerpt from Seducing Kate, please click HERE.

Today's Wench is the sizzling Emilia Mancini. Thanks for stopping by to spice things up for us, Emilia. Boomers do know that spice isn't always something up put in the pot to flavor the food!

 

Emilia Mancini is the naughtier side to author Marci Boudreaux. Emilia stays hidden in the shadows like a nefarious side kick, slipping out only when the stories Marci wants to share are a little too grown up to be called  sweet romance.

Seducing Kate is Emilia’s second release and, at least for the moment, her crowning glory.

Be sure to check out the Pinterest board for Seducing Kate.

Visit Emilia on her website. Stay connected on Twitter and Facebook.

 

 

Travel Wednesday - Beast Arrangements Made!

Yes, I'm doing it again this summer...TRAVELING! Reality is, if we had the budget we'd be traveling a lot more than now. But, that's not the case so have to plan events and with the budget planning also comes the Beast planning. The question becomes, who is going to move in for 2 or 3 weeks and take care of BEAST, as well as housesit?

Thought this year would be a local friend who would be in-between packing up her current adobe, hanging here a few weeks, and then making the move out of state. Guess what? Things changed...she got a job offer and is moving earlier than planned, and to a different state than she originally thought too.

So where does that leave us and Beast? Why with his favorite human...BIL. Yep, had to turn to the brother-in-law again this year. Last summer went so well (not) that when he walks through the door the day before we leave, I'm sure cat will let us know how unhappy he is over the houseguest. Tough! The way I see it, when he starts paying for all that cat food, kitty litter, toys, etc., plus cleaning the litter pan and dishing out the demand food in his dish, the four-legged creature can complain.

Don't get me wrong here. BIL does not abuse him, he just doesn't cater to his every desire. Seems I forgot the minor detail (okay, major in the cat's world) of telling brother-in-law that laundry is essential in this household. Not so much for clean clothes the humans wear, but for the warm ones that come out of the dryer. Those


Excuse me, napping here!

need to be piled on the bed so you-know-who can curl up in the middle of them for a nap.  Nope, BIL couldn't understand why said cat kept howling in front of the laundry room until he got chased away. Totally, my bad. Especially since internet on last year's cruise wasn't the world's best and he couldn't reach to ask what's the deal. Actually, it sucked.

Then add in BIL's reluctance to feed the Beast tastes of what he was having. That one he can blame on his brother who takes delight in seeing what a cat will eat.  Nor is BIL into cat toss and fetch the his brother is.

But, all the unhappiness of not having his every whelm met makes our adorable cat happy to see us after we return.

Oh, and another thing...there will be a contest centered around this summer's fun!!! Stay tuned for details!!!

DO YOU HAVE A "BEAST" BE IT CAT OR DOG, THAT RUNS YOUR LIFE TOO?

Commericals I HATE!

We are slammed with commercials. In fact, the cable channels are even worse than regular programming since there's last FOREVER, or at least it feels that way when you are wanting to get back to your show. But, that irritation aside, the ones I hate the most at the moment are these two.

1. Political ads. Hello, we aren't in the middle of elections and I don't need to see some blonde chick proclaiming how much she hates POLITICAL ADS then goes on to make a political ad! If you hate them so much, Darlink, why the hell are you doing the ad? Oh yeah, that's right...you're actress getting paid to read lines!

2. At the Beach! This was almost #1 until the political crap started, and is still a strong contender. If I were into tanning salons, guess where I wouldn't go!

Not to worry, Donna. Won't buy, won't wear!!!!

But in thinking about it, maybe I'm missing a lot of bad commercials with my habit of tuning them out these days.  So help me out!  What commercial do you hate the most?