A Thank You.

As we scurry around this Christmas eve, finishing up our Christmas shopping, or traveling to visit family, or grumbling about the traffic, or grouchy people, or how your [insert your annoying relative here] is driving you crazy, I hope you will take a moment to remember how lucky you really are.

Tonight three little kids will be going to bed without their father. They'll wake up on Christmas morning, and while so many other kids in the country are tearing into their pile of presents, they'll be missing their father that didn't get to come home.

Yesterday morning, firefighter Jim Rice's kids got to hug him before he went to work. Last night, they learned that he was never coming home.

You can read the news story here.

Family members mourn the loss of Peabody firefighter Jim Rice: MyFoxBOSTON.com

So, as you are settling down to enjoy your Christmas, I hope you'll take a moment to thank those men and women who put their lives on the line every day for our safety and freedom.

If you would like to contribute to the funds to help the families of Jim Rice and/or the families displaced by the fire, here's the information:

Donations to family of fallen Firefighter Jim Rice and fire victims can be made at any North Shore Bank.

To the many people who have inquired in regards to making donations to the family of fallen Firefighter Jim Rice, and also to the families that have been displaced by the fire on Hancock Street, there have been to two funds set up at the North Shore Bank for this purpose. The first is the Firefighter James Rice Memorial Fund and the other is the City of Peabody Fire Victims Relief Fund. Donations are being accepted at any North Shore Bank branch office, or can be mailed to the North Shore Bank, 32 Main Street Peabody, MA 01960. Mayor Michael J. Bonfanti, and all the members of the Peabody public safety community, thank you for your caring and concern for the many families affected by this tragedy. (Source:  http://local.nixle.com/alert/4768055/)

Winner of Busted In Bollywood!

And the winner of the e-book of BUSTED IN BOLLYWOOD by Nicola Marsh from Entangled Publishing is......

Susie Medwell!!!!!

Congratulations Susie, please email lewis@entangledpublishing.com to claim the ebook.

My blog resolutions for 2012

Hi guys!

I just wanted to take a second to tell you a little about what will be happening with my blog in the next few months.

First off, I'm going to be participating in a little blog fun for Jodi Meadow's upcoming release, INCARNATE. So stay tuned for that.

Expect more book reviews coming up. I've got a bunch of galleys to review, so you can expect to see more in the future.

Agent-judged contests. I'm working on setting up a few agent judged contests as well. Not in December, but in the new year. (Who isn't swamped right now?)

Author interviews. I have some awesome author friends, both published and up-and-coming. I'll be posting interviews with them as well.

So stay tuned! Lots of fun stuff happening here soon!

Brenda Drake's "Can we guess your character's age" Contest Entry

Hi Guys! I am participating Brenda Drake's blogfest where we are supposed to post our first 250 words and people blog hop and see if they can guess the character's age.

So without further ado, here is the first 250 of my YA fairytale retelling, AWAKEN:

Life-saving kisses only happen in fairytales. My eyes raced across the page even though I’d read the story a billion times. I was always anxious to get to the part where Prince Charming kissed Aurora and woke her from her enchanted sleep.

It’s the part where he bends, ever so slightly, his gaze fixed on Aurora’s rose-colored lips. He hears the witch’s crackly voice replay in his head. “The spell will be broken with true love’s first kiss.” He cups her cheek and his thumb brushes across her bottom lip. Her skin’s so soft, so delicate, he fears she might crumble into dust in his trembling hands.

I mouth the words along with him as he whispers “awakened with a kiss” and dips his head, his lips slowly inching towards hers.

“You look like a bunch of wet noodles!” a nasally voice called out, causing the prince and Aurora to dissolve before me and be replaced by a ballet studio.

“I want a pirouette! Like this!” Belina Sanchez, my sister’s ballet teacher, extended one shapely leg behind the other, pushed into a turn with her toe at her knee and her arms poised in a graceful circle in front of her. Everything about the woman screamed grace. 

The same could not be said about the ten-year-old students who tried unsuccessfully to duplicate her graceful move. Casey, my little sister, almost managed to copy it, were it not for the fact that instead of coming to a stop at the end, she toppled into the unsuspecting girl beside her.

So - guess away! Good luck to the other contestants!