Tag Archives: Judith Sterling

Medieval Monday ~ A KNIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

20 Monday Jan 2020

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Welcome back to Medieval Monday!  Our theme of “Celebrations” continues, and I’m delighted to feature Laurel O’Donnell’s A Knight Before Christmas.

If you’re following my excerpt from Night of the Owl, you can find the tenth snippet on Laurel’s blog.

Now, let’s enjoy her tenth snippet:

She wiped at her eyes and sniffled. “I’m sorry.” She lifted her gaze to him. “I didn’t mean that.”

Gabriel’s heart broke at her misery, at the tears that streaked her cheeks, her clumped lashes. And he knew with certainty that if she married Michael her life of misery would have only just begun.

“I’m certain that when I get to know him… when we are man and wife –”

But there was no excusing what Michael had said. No true man spoke that way about his wife-to-be. Definitely not to others. Gabriel lifted his chin. “Eve.” He took her hand into his. She tried to pull away, but he held it firmly, allowing the sleeve to cover it so she felt better. “This is not what will make you a good wife.”

Go to Laurel O’Donnell’s website next week to read the rest of the excerpt from A Knight Before Christmas – https://www.laurel-odonnell.com/

A little more about the book:

Blamed by her father for her twin sister’s death on Christmas Eve, Lady Eve Chandos agrees to marry a man she does not love to please him and appease his years of wrath. Betrayed by his brother at an early age, Sir Gabriel Bedford decides it is time to make amends and attends his brother’s marriage, but he is unprepared for the beauty Lady Eve has grown into and the attraction that quickly sparks between them.

As Christmas approaches, can Eve and Gabriel find the happiness they seek, or will the secrets of their past doom them to remain apart forever?

Where to buy it:

Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YZS3D3B

Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07YZS3D3B

Amazon CA – https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07YZS3D3B

Amazon AU – https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07YZS3D3B

See you next Monday, when I’ll feature the final snippet of my own Night of the Owl right here!  🙂

Medieval Monday ~ TO WEAVE A HIGHLAND TAPESTRY

13 Monday Jan 2020

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Welcome back to Medieval Monday!  Our theme of “Celebrations” continues, and I’m thrilled to feature my dear friend Mary Morgan’s recent release, To Weave a Highland Tapestry, a tale from the Order of the Dragon Knights.

If you’re following my excerpt from Night of the Owl, you can find the ninth snippet on Mary’s blog: https://www.marymorganauthor.com/blog

Now, let’s enjoy her ninth snippet:

A hushed silence descended when Angus gave a curt nod to silence the musicians. The doors to the hall were opened wide. Within moments, the druid, Cathal, entered. His long robe flowed gently with each step. In his right hand he held a gnarled staff, and in his left, the Yule log. Adorned with greenery, the log would be placed on top of all the other wood and lit by the druid.

Cathal’s steps stilled before the leader of the Dragon Knights. “I bid ye greetings on this longest night of the year, Eldest Dragon Knight.”

Angus dipped his head in greeting. “’Tis an honor to welcome ye into our home and at this feast.” He paused as he swept his gaze to his brothers and then outward to those gathered at the table and within the hall. “Generations of the MacKays have fought many battles in and around this mighty fortress. Though it grieves us that our time has come to relinquish our home to another, I ken other generations of our clan will fill the future home—Aonach Castle—with abundance.”

Follow along next week on Ruth A. Casie’s blog here: http://ruthacasie.blogspot.com/

A little more about To Weave a Highland Tapestry:

Patrick MacFhearguis, hardened by battles won and lost, desires what he can never have—peace within his heart and soul.  Yet, the ever-meddling Fae weave a new journey for him to conquer—a task this highlander is determined to resist.

When skilled weaver, Gwen Hywel, is commissioned to create a tapestry for the MacFhearguis clan, she embraces the assignment. While seeking out ideas, she finds herself clutching the one thread that can alter the tapestry of her life and heart.

A man conflicted by past deeds. A woman with no family of her own. Is it possible for love to unravel an ancient past, in order to claim two badly scarred hearts? Or will the light of hope be doused forever?

Where to buy the book:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | Book Page

See you next Monday!  🙂

New Year, New Books Spotlight ~ N. N. Light’s Book Heaven

08 Wednesday Jan 2020

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Today, N. N. Light’s Book Heaven is featuring my recent release, Night of the Owl, as part of their NEW YEAR, NEW BOOKS FETE.  Check it out here!

They’re also spotlighting a brother Rose (published by The Wild Rose Press), Stephen B. King, so look for his feature, too.  And if you haven’t already, enter the giveaway.  You could win Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift cards!

Hope to see you there.  Happy Wednesday!  🙂

Peggy Jaeger’s New Release ~ A PRIDE OF BROTHERS: RICK

07 Tuesday Jan 2020

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I’m thrilled to welcome sister Rose (published by the Wild Rose Press) Peggy Jaeger back to my blog!  She’s written a lovely guest post about Abigail Lane, the heroine in her upcoming release, A Pride of Brothers: Rick.  Take it away, Peggy!

Lawyer Abby Laine made an appearance in my first WILL COOK FOR LOVE series book COOKING WITH KANDY. Abby is the second oldest of the Laine girls (right behind Kandy) and when we meet her in the first book she is working as a paralegal in a law firm and attending law school at night.

Abby’s backstory is a deep one. Her father left the family after multiple affairs when Abby was a child. His defection impacted her greatly because she saw what it did to her mother emotionally and to the family financially. Left with no means of support and with nothing but a high school education, Abby’s mother, Hannah, had to work 3 jobs to support herself and her 7 girls, and the family was forced to live with Hannah’s parents. Abby saw the way her mother was treated by her father – dumped and discarded – and by society – an uneducated, unskilled woman – and vowed to never allow herself to be treated so horribly by anyone. She was determined to be self sufficient and financially sound, get a good education and be successful.

Since she was the second oldest, she and Kandy were tasked with taking care of the younger girls while Hannah worked, and it instilled a great sense of family obligation in her. She loves her sisters, there is no doubt of that, but she never really got to be a kid. Assuming adult responsibilities at such a tender age left no room for friends, outside the home activates, or anything fun related.

When we meet Abby in A PRIDE OF BROTHERS: RICK she is confronted by the angry abusive husband of one of her clients in her office while Kandy is visiting. Abby stands up to him and when he threatens her, has him arrested. The fact that her sister deals with such violent people in her practice scares Kandy, and she asks her Private Investigator/Bodyguard husband to place someone in Abby’s office as protection. Abby, of course, refuses the help.

When Rick Bannerman, Josh’s partner, hears about what happened, he wants to help protect Abby. The two of them have a subtle history that ended when he walked away from her after they shared a hot kiss 4 years ago. Abby has always had a thing for Rick, but his dismissal hurt, so she has kept her distance from him, despite the fact that their families are together a great deal.

Abby has a three-legged cat, adopted from a shelter, and whom no one wanted because she wasn’t deemed “perfect.” In her cat, Abby saw a kindred spirit and it was love at first sight. Despite the hardened, take no prisoners personality Abby shows the world, she is truly a softie at heart and wants nothing more than to be loved for the person she is.

A peek between the pages:

“Right there.” She aimed her fork at him as if it were a spear. “Perfect example. You know I hate being called Abigail. I’ve lost count of the hundreds of times I’ve told you and you still do it, knowing it pisses me off. And”—she cut him off before he could speak— “your usual response is to lift your hands and say ‘and still’ when you’re called on it. Who does that? What kind of person persistently and purposefully annoys people?”

“So you’re saying I’m intentionally annoying?”

“Persistently, so. Yes. Makes the lawyer in me wonder why.”

Just the lawyer? “Any answers come to mind?”

“Plenty.”

“Care to share?”

She placed her fork down next to her plate and regarded him across the table. “You really want to hear this? Because if you know anything about me, you know I’m truthful. I don’t hold back.”

Oh, he was sure she didn’t. And wouldn’t. Her tenacity was one of the things he’d first been drawn to.

That and her fabulous ass.

“I’m a big boy,” he said with a grin. “I can take it.

She took a sip of water first, her eyes trained on him the entire time. “Okay. If you really want to hear this.”

He waved his hand for her to continue.

“I think you use your cocky, aren’t-I-simply-too-witty attitude to keep people at a distance.”

Buy the book:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | Books-a-Million

More about Peggy:

Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance writer who writes Romantic Comedies about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them. If she can make you cry on one page and bring you out of tears rolling with laughter the next, she’s done her job as a writer!

Family and food play huge roles in Peggy’s stories because she believes there is nothing that holds a family structure together like sharing a meal…or two…or ten. Dotted with humor and characters that are as real as they are loving, she brings all topics of daily life into her stories: life, death, sibling rivalry, illness and the desire for everyone to find their own happily ever after. Growing up the only child of divorced parents she longed for sisters, brothers and a family that vowed to stick together no matter what came their way. Through her books, she’s created the families she wanted as that lonely child.

When she’s not writing Peggy is usually painting, crafting, scrapbooking or decoupaging old steamer trunks she finds at rummage stores and garage sales.

A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, Peggy is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.

As a lifelong diarist, she caught the blogging bug early on, and you can visit her at peggyjaeger.com where she blogs daily about life, writing, and stuff that makes her go “What??!”

Where to find her:

Website/Blog: http://peggyjaeger.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/peggy_jaeger

Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00T8E5LN0

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peggy-Jaeger-Author/825914814095072?ref=bookmarks

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/peggyjaeger/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13478796.Peggy_Jaeger

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peggyjaeger_author/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/peggy-jaeger

You-Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDR8RRIlssIyS0FYZWeGqsg/videos?view_as=subscriber

Thanks so much for being my guest, Peggy.  Best of luck with the new book!

Medieval Monday ~ DAUGHTER OF THE OVERKING

06 Monday Jan 2020

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Welcome back to Medieval Monday!  Our theme of “Celebrations” continues, and I’m delighted to feature Ashley York’s Daughter of the Overking, the third book in The Warrior Kings series.

If you’re following my excerpt from Night of the Owl, you can find the eighth snippet on Ashley’s blog: https://www.ashleyyorkauthor.com/blog

Now, let’s enjoy her eighth snippet:

“Ye believe she’ll resist ye?”

“D’ye see the way she is with her brothers? She may now dress like her mother, but she sees herself the same as a man. More importantly, she sees nothing of value in what a man can offer her. Just the opposite.”

“I see.” Tadhg rubbed his chin in a thoughtful manner. “So they fear she will continue to resist. And with the onlookers—” Tadhg raised a hand at Darragh’s gasped protest. “—not exactly onlookers.”

Darragh relaxed his shoulders.

A little more about Daughter of the Overking:

A mistaken identity. A gruesome murder.

Trained as a warrior…

Brighit of Clonascra despises the trappings and demands of womanhood and is far more comfortable training for battle. Long held alliances require she set aside selfish dreams and take Darragh as her husband. The union intended to promote peace between the clans is interrupted by the shocking murder of a neighboring king, and she quickly discovers there are far worse things than being wed.

Trained to be king…

Darragh of Drogheda has no wish to be king, but he is an obedient son and supports his father’s plans. His marriage to Brighit, however, will be no hardship at all since he finds her most intriguing when she fights him at every turn. A she-warrior indeed. Her persistent dismissal of him merely blows the fire aflame and sets him down the path to discovery of all her most tightly held secrets—secrets that could cost him his life.

Where to buy the book:

Available in e-book or paperback at https://www.ashleyyorkauthor.com/daughter-of-the-king

See you next Monday!  🙂

Resolve to Read More Books Giveaway ~ N. N. Light’s Book Heaven

02 Thursday Jan 2020

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It’s a brand-new year and decade, and many of us have made resolutions. Here’s one that should be easy to keep: read more books in 2020! N. N. Light’s Book Heaven is sponsoring an incredible giveaway where you can win books, both e-copy and print. Everything from romance to nonfiction to young adult and everything in between is up for grabs, and you might win one of my books: Flight of the Raven, the first of The Novels of Ravenwood.

If there’s a particular book or prize you’d like to win, be sure to say which one when you enter via Rafflecopter. Enter below and good luck!

Resolve to Read More Books Giveaway: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/92db775045

Literary Giveaway Portal:  https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/literary-giveaway-portal

New Year, New Books Fete ~ N. N. Light’s Book Heaven

01 Wednesday Jan 2020

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Calling all readers! It’s a brand new year and I’m ringing in 2020 with N. N. Light’s Book Heaven’s NEW YEAR, NEW BOOKS FETE. 39 books from multiple genres featured plus a chance to win one of the following:

~ $50 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card

~ $50 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card

~ $25 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card

~ $15 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card

~ $10 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card

I’m thrilled to be a part of this event. My recent release, Night of the Owl, will be featured on January 8. I even talk about my resolutions/goals for 2020.

Bookmark this bookish get-together and tell your friends:

https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/bookpromos/categories/new-year-new-books-fete

Here’s the direct link to the giveaway:

https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/92db775044

Open internationally.

Runs January 1 – 31, 2020.

Drawing will be held on February 1, 2020.

Good luck, everyone!  🙂

Reflection and Resolution on New Year’s Eve

31 Tuesday Dec 2019

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It’s hard to believe we’re saying good-bye to 2019.  Didn’t it just arrive?

For me, 2019 was a busy year, with many challenges but so much more good than bad.  I’m grateful for all of it, and for you.

As for New Year’s resolutions, I intend to write the final books of my two current series–Return of the Raven (medieval romance) and The Spear Alight (YA paranormal fantasy)–by the end of 2020.  And if all goes to plan, we’ll see the release of The Sword Unsheathed (Guardians of Erin, Book 3) in the first quarter of the year.  I’ll be revealing the cover soon!

I want to thank each and every one of you for following my blog, and I hope you have a beautiful and blessed 2020.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Medieval Monday ~ FOR THIS KNIGHT ONLY

30 Monday Dec 2019

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Welcome back to Medieval Monday!  Our theme of “Celebrations” continues, and I’m excited to have the talented Barbara Bettis here today.  We’re featuring For This Knight Only from her Knights of Destiny series.

If you’re following my excerpt from Night of the Owl, you can find the seventh snippet on Barbara’s blog: http://www.barbarabettis.com/index.php/blog/

Now, let’s enjoy her seventh snippet:

Sliding his hand down to cover hers, Roark led her to the side, away from curious ears. He would make one last effort.

“Understand lady, I do this for your protection.” His low voice was fierce. “Luck has been with you. For whatever reason, no one has used the kind of force needed to capture this place. Once word about your brother is out, they will come.

“It won’t take much, believe me. I’ve overrun castles manned by more fighters than you muster, and I have done it with fewer soldiers. I’m here now, and I will defend you and your people. Consider their safety, if not your own.”

Is Roark at last making a reasonable argument? See next week on Cathy McRae’s blog: https://www.cathymacraeauthor.com/bits-n-bobs-author-blog

Read last week’s snippet here: http://ruthacasie.blogspot.com/

A little more about For This Knight Only:

He’ll do anything for land, even marry her; she’ll do anything for her people, except marry him.  If only either had a choice.  It’s a marriage only love can save.

Sir Roark will do anything to gain land, even beguile an unwilling lady into marriage. He knows she’s much better off with a man to take control of her besieged castle, to say nothing of her desirable person. But it isn’t long before he discovers that, although her eyes sparkle like sunlight on sea waves, her stubbornness alone could have defeated Saladin.  

Lady Alyss is determined to hold her family’s castle, protect her people, and preserve her freedom— until her brother’s dying wish binds her to a stranger. Still, she’ll allow no rugged, over-confident, appealing knight to usurp her authority, even if she must wed him. Especially since he thinks a lady’s duties begin and end with directing servants. Alyss has a few surprises for her new all-too-tempting lord.

But when a common enemy threatens everything, Roark and Alyss face a startling revelation. Without love, neither land nor freedom matters.

Where to buy the book:

Amazon | B&N | iTunes

See you next Monday!  🙂

Medieval Monday ~ THE HIGHLANDER’S CRUSADER BRIDE

23 Monday Dec 2019

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Welcome back to Medieval Monday!  Our theme of “Celebrations” continues, and today I’m featuring Cathy MacRae’s The Highlander’s Crusader Bride, the third book in the Hardy Heroines series.

If you’re following my excerpt from Night of the Owl, you can find the sixth snippet on Cathy’s blog: https://www.cathymacraeauthor.com/bits-n-bobs-author-blog

Now, let’s enjoy her sixth snippet:

“Ego congelo vos in matrimonium in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen,” Father Sachairi concluded.

Arbela jerked her gaze to the priest and Alex’s shoulders shook. Caelen made to rise, but Arbela did not budge. He sent her a look of surprise.

“’Tis a bit late to balk, my lady,” he murmured.

To read Cathy’s seventh snippet, follow her next week to Laurel O’Donnell’s blog: http://www.laurel-odonnell.com/blog.html

A little more about The Highlander’s Crusader Bride:

Born in the Holy Land only a few years after the Third Crusade, half-Armenian, half-Scot Arbela MacLean is a true daughter of the desert, beautiful and untamed. Trained to be a warrior to avoid her gentle mother’s fate, Arbela has honed her skills with Turkish bow and arrow, sword, and throwing darts—and dreads the day her father chooses a man for her to marry.

After more than thirty years in the Holy Land, Donal MacLean, Baron of Batroun, is recalled to Scotland, the last son available to take up leadership of clan MacLean. He brings with him knights, treasure, trade—and a daughter of marriageable age.

Caelen MacKern, known as the Bull of the Highlands, is cynical about women. His first marriage formed an alliance, and he did not grieve when his spoiled, immature bride passed away. He has agreed to marry again—against his better judgement—for the men, means, and coin to recover from a devastating pestilence that all but wiped out his clan.

More than a little resentful at finding himself forced to remarry, Caelen’s proposal to Donal MacLean’s headstrong daughter nevertheless piques her interest. Each will receive what they want most from life—the ability to live as they please without interference from a meddling spouse. But their marriage of indifference will soon change to one of passion that neither Arbela nor Caelen could have predicted.

Where to buy the book:

Amazon | B&N | Kobo

See you next Monday!  🙂