Friday 24 July 2015

Innocence (book 1) 'Don't make promises you cannot keep!'

 
Calvin Edwards is celebrating the release of his first book in the Innocence Series.
A story that captures your heart, takes you down an incredible journey, of loneliness, scared, and a special friendship.
 
Calvin never imagined when visiting his parents up north what he would come across, a young woman hanging onto a rail above a fast flowing river, heavily expecting debating to end her life.
He has some decisions to make there and then. Only as the story unfolds, his past comes back giving him a massive shock.
 
Can he rescue Kacey Richards?
 
   


Buy links

Monday 20 July 2015

Second City Book Signing!

 

Wow, I am totally speechless, my breath had been snatched at times, overwhelmed and truly delighted.
 
What a totally awesome, mind-blowing day I had attending the Second City Book Signing in Birmingham at St Andrews Football ground. 
 


 
I had no idea what to expect form the day, having never attended a book signing before visiting or as an author, I had no idea how much swag to prepare, how many books to take, what other authors would be like, I mean we all sit and chat in the comfort of our laptops, are safe place, but when it comes to meeting these people its wonderful, finally faces to the names I'd wished to see for a few years example bloggers, reviews and the ten months interacting with authors attending the book signing. The whole event had taken me months to prepare, but I'll admit I pulled it off.
 
 
Once I had my table set up with black table clothes, placing Desires my erotic series and Innocence only having a scatter of leaflets and photo's of the cover due to not being in print yet. The gold covers looked fabulous with the black background then being cheeky and pinching my hubbies demonstration boards for his hobby, again having the black background the covers were up and fully displayed. I scattered a few lollipops to visitors to suck on...and love is sweets, which I personally love, (a few got pinched lol).


With Tina Williams for
A readers Review Blog

 
I talked to a few authors, gaining some advice, chatting about our hobbies and how to promote ourselves. The doors opened and in flocked the fans, readers, and authors.
 








I will say, I had a moment of shock when a lady hurried to my desk and said 'I have read Desires, my goodness it was hot. I wasn't aware there were four more in the series' Well there you go, Desires sold itself :). The rest of the day continued with my smiling proudly showing of my babies, and for me having not only erotica to promote but a sweet mainstream adult romance. One woman screamed at the cover of Innocence and insisted on having a picture taken with the cover in the background, how could I refuse? 
 
The steam of visitors were great, getting wrist ache for signing so much, kindle covers, books, notebooks, pictures, T-shirts even a bottom which threw me lol. My legs stiff due to up and down having pictures taken, just amazing.
 




Another thing for me was meeting some of the wonderful Secret Cravings Publishers authors, who had come to visit me, they were visiting for the day and well wonderfully arranged for us all to meet up, just sensational.
  
Secret Cravings Publishing Authors
Jodie Horton, Amanda Ward, Isobelle Cate,
me and Julie Dalglish

The whole experience made me lost for words, I would sincerely like to thank Cassie Hunt for organising the amazing event. She'd put together some wonderful volunteers to help on the day, all a great laugh, joining in and making us laugh.
 
A special thank you to the photographer who got a wicked picture of me, even if my hubby had been cheeky to me lol.  
 
The only regret I have...I didn't get to walk around the rooms and meet some further authors, I wasn't being rude, but as soon as I tried to go and see who was where and introduce myself, someone came to my table ;)
 
The whole day exceeded my expectations and cannot wait to take part in another one. I gave it my heart and soul.
.
I love my hobby!
 
Me signing!


Wow what a great report from 'A readers review blog' I have spoken, tweeted helped with social media for these two amazing ladies and to finally meet them was just incredible. Hope to see them again soon xx


**SPECIAL REPORT** SECOND CITY SIGNING - 18th July 2015 (St. Andrews, Birmingham, UK)
http://wp.me/p2QTq3-3zM via
 

Friday 17 July 2015

Spotlight The Penhallow Train Incident by M. S. Spencer


Thanks so much for having Rachel and Griffin and all the folks from Penhallow on your blog today, Holly! I’d like to introduce your readers to Griffin Tate, hero, retired Middle East history professor, and certified curmudgeon. He also has a pet theory about Middle Eastern recipes.
 
It is generally accepted that the similarity among many dishes found from the Horn of Africa to Kazakhstan is due to the influence of the Ottoman Turks. Turkish food, some would argue, represents the epitome of Middle Eastern cuisine. However, Griffin, hero of the Penhallow Train Incident has a different theory, worth considering for those of you interested in how recipes travel. A retired Middle Eastern history professor, he hypothesizes that dishes such as çaçik (yogurt cucumber salad) or tabbouleh (bulgur and tomato salad) actually came from the south and west and not from the north and east. In other words, perhaps they arrived with the cooks in the Queen of Sheba’s train when she visited King Solomon.
 

A little lagniappe: my recipe for çaçik (pronounced jajook)

 


 

 

RECIPE ÇAÇIK (TZATZIKI):

1 cup plain (full-fat or 2% yogurt)
1 clove garlic
½ teaspoon salt
2 cucumbers
2 tablespoons fresh or dried mint, or a combination of both
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon black pepper

1. Mash garlic.
2. Peel, seed, and slice cucumbers thinly. Laying them out on paper towels, sprinkle with salt and leave for half an hour. Squeeze out excess liquid. Chop or julienne as you prefer.
3. Mix all ingredients together and chill.
4. Garnish with fresh mint leaves. Serve with pita bread.

Serves 4-6.
 

 


M. S. Spencer

Sweet Cravings Publishing (June 23, 2015)

Romantic Suspense/Mystery, M/F, 2 flames

 
BUY LINKS:










 

BLURB:
In the sleepy coastal Maine town of Penhallow, a  stranger dies on a train, drawing Rachel Tinker, director of the Penhallow Historical Society, and Griffin Tate,  curmudgeonly retired professor, into a spider’s web of archaeological obsession and greed. The victim’s rival confesses that they were both after a map to the Queen of Sheba’s tomb, and with his help they set out to find it. Their plans are stymied, however, when a tug of war erupts between the sheriff and a state police detective who want to arrest the same man—one for murder and one for bank robbery. It falls to Rachel to solve both crimes…and two more murders, if she is to unlock the soft heart that beats under Griffin’s hard crust.

 

EXCERPT (G): WE MEET GRIFFIN

         “Another Geary’s, Rachel?”

“What? Yeah, I guess so. Just to keep you company, Maude.”

“Thanks.” Her companion, a woman of about sixty with close-cropped, iron-gray hair and the beginnings of jowls, gave the word all the sarcasm she had available. The bright brown eyes that reminded Rachel of an intelligent squirrel sought out the waitress. “Hey Katie, can you bring us a couple more?”

The waitress, a compact brunette with a wide grin, brought two bottles over. As she uncapped them, she nodded at the window behind the two women. “Looks like we’re in for a blow.” Rachel and Maude followed her gaze to Penhallow Harbor. The sky to the north held piles of white cloud, cascading down the cliff to hover over the mouth of the river as it flowed into Penobscot Bay.

Rachel stared at them dubiously. “They don’t look all that threatening to me.”

Katie shrugged. “Ask Griffin. He considers himself our resident weather expert.” All three shifted to stare at the tall man seated at the bar, his back to them. The cap, flannel shirt, and worn trousers with suspenders should have signaled an old salt, grizzled and wrinkled, but they knew better. Griffin was only about fifty, but he liked to pretend he was time-worn and crusty. It rarely worked. Any vulnerable woman who took note of his strong chin, deep blue eyes, and thickly curling, salt-and-pepper hair, would immediately recognize a sexy man with depths of feeling only a special strategy could penetrate. Add to that a barrel chest, long-fingered hands, and shapely legs, and you had what Maude described as a latter-day Prince Valiant—“Only without that stupid hairdo.”

Griffin twisted on his stool. “Cumulus. Five thousand feet. They’ll pass out to the bay.”

Katie shook her head, but Rachel noticed a gleam in her eye. “No sirree, those are storm clouds. You folks from away can’t read ‘em like we do. See that gray mass over there by Young’s?”

“Huh.” He peered at it, his eyebrows wiggling. “Most likely smog.”

“Smog! That’s ridiculous. How could we have smog in Maine?”

“Wood fires.” The man turned back to the bar.

Maude rolled her eyes. “Griffin gets less verbose every day.”

Rachel demurred. “To be fair, he’s never been much for words.”

“True. Hardly said two or three since he arrived in Penhallow…how long ago? Two years? Wait, wasn’t that just about the time you moved here?” She winked. “You sure there was nothing going on between you two down at Queenstown University?”

Her companion glared at her. “I told you before. I didn’t know him then. He was a professor of Middle Eastern history at the Institute and I was a lowly instructor in Anthropology in the college. Paths like ours never crossed.”

“Institute?”

“Institute of Higher Learning.” She raised her voice. “It’s a glorified think tank for the most eminent scientists and academicians. Gives ‘em an excuse to laze around dreaming up inoperable systems and unworkable theories to gum up our lives.”

“Whoa, somebody has a chip on her shoulder.”

“I can’t help it.” Rachel pondered her former colleague, his head bent over his plate, and whispered, “Griffin was a prick then and he’s a prick now. Too bad he’s so handsome.”

Maude sniggered. “Yeah, too bad.”

The subject of their abuse did not react and after a moment the two women returned to their beers. When Katie arrived with two plates piled with lobster rolls, French fries, and coleslaw, Rachel asked her, “So, have they identified the corpse yet?”

The waitress nodded, her eyes alight. “Yeah—Sheriff Quimby was in this morning. He says the guy was a foreigner—Omar something. I couldn’t possibly pronounce his name. Some kinda Middle Eastern type.”

Maude glanced toward Griffin. “Middle Eastern, huh? Hmm. And he was shot, you say?”

“That’s what the sheriff says. Shot with a .45 caliber—just like the ammunition in Elmer’s and Hank’s guns. Only theirs were blanks. Somebody used real live deadly bullets.”

“Gracious me.” Maude dunked a French fry in ketchup and splashed Tabasco sauce on it. “So how come no one heard the shot?”

Rachel snorted. “Maude, hello? Elmer and Hank were banging away at the same time. Come to think of it, the murderer must have planned it that way.”

“Oh, really. Now you’re Miss Marple. What makes you think it was murder?”

“Well, what else could it be?”

“Suicide? Accident?”

Rachel showed these suggestions the disdain she was sure they deserved.

Katie had remained standing by their booth, ignoring the increasingly desperate signals from the two tourists at the next table. “Say, Rachel, weren’t you taking tickets for the excursion on Saturday? You must have seen the victim. What did he look like?”

Before Rachel could answer, they heard an angry growl from the bar. “God damn it, can’t a man eat his lunch in peace? God damn ghouls around here.” Griffin scratched his stubbly chin and pointed a fretful finger at the women. “You’d think no one had ever been killed before, the way you people go on and on.”

Rachel, enchanted by the way his eyes shimmered in the sunlight, didn’t respond. Maude snapped, “Professor Tate, just because you’re an old roué doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a little mystery. Not much happens in Penhallow after all. We’re entitled to some excitement.”

Griffin bristled at her. “A man is dead, Maude. This isn’t a movie.”

“Well,” she bristled back, “At least he was from away.”

Griffin gave her a long, hard look and, before turning back to his plate, muttered, “Like me.”

For some reason his words struck hard at Rachel’s heart. She couldn’t see his face, and knew it wouldn’t show the hurt anyway, but she could feel it from across the room. To a Mainer, anyone who couldn’t trace his Maine lineage back to at least the French and Indian War was considered “from away.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Although M. S. Spencer has lived or traveled in five continents, the last 30 years were spent mostly in Washington, D.C. as a librarian, Congressional staff assistant, speechwriter, editor, birdwatcher, kayaker, policy wonk, non-profit director, and parent. She has two fabulous grown children, and currently divides her time between the Gulf coast of Florida and a tiny village in Maine.

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AUTHOR PAGES:
Secret Cravings Publishing: http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=products_all&filter_author=56



Amazon Author Page:


OTHER BOOKS BY M. S. SPENCER

Romantic suspense and mystery, they are available in ebook and print from Secret Cravings Publishing and all fine on-line book stores. For more information, visit http://msspencertalespinner.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html

Whirlwind Romance







 

 

Friday 10 July 2015

#Birminghamfirst Book Signing


 
  
Wow, I cannot believe its only 8 days until I am taking part in my #Birminghamfirst ever book signing. I have no idea what to expect and not even sure if anyone will visit my table, but either way I intend to have a good time. I still have so much to organise, getting my books and signing all my swag, so i'll definitely suffer with wrist ache.

I cannot wait to meet some amazing authors who all have crazy imaginations like myself. Just being in a room full of books excites me then I'll also be meeting some friends, who are coming to the event, and were sure to have a great time :)



 
 I am going to be there with my hot erotic series Desires and my recent release a adult sweet romance Innocence with book 2 coming out soon

     
All books available from Amazon
 
 

Wednesday 1 July 2015

CelebrateFreedomblogtour2-5July2015


I am delighted to be taking part in this amazing blog hop with so many fabulous authors. To stay in the hop and win some great prizes just follow the link

Celebrate Freedom Blog Hop click here!

Pepe Toth
Now with the weather being so hot  in the UK I thought I'd share an image of a place where I'd love to go to cool me down. So, I thought I'd share an image not only for a male who inspired me for my latest Innocence series but  who  I've been fortunate enough to track down and get on the front cover of the Innocence series. He appears on many front covers of books, some I have read and others have been added to my achieve.
 
What attracted me to him,  his eyes, boyish looks, sweet, cute, gentle and for me looks like he has a caring heart. His heart means a great deal in Innocence being a young man who stops a young woman from taking her life, only while visiting the area. He decides to help her, give her courage, be a friend give her a shoulder to cry on and do all he can to help her back on the right road. Only not everything works out that way what he discovers sends his life crashing!

'Don't make promises you cannot keep!'
 
Innocence Blurb

Book 1

 
Calvin Edwards has everything he could dream about— perfect lifestyle, running the family real-estate company back in London. He takes a holiday up north to visit his parents only to find a young pregnant woman attempting to take her life. Wishing to help, Calvin becomes a friend to her, only fears he’s out of his depth. Just when he thinks he can do this his past resurfaces, sending his life crashing.
 
Kacey is pregnant and her life is out of control with nowhere left to go. She descends on her mum for one last chance for help, only to have the door slammed in her face. At her wits end, she is alone, scared, and helpless until Calvin comes along. He becomes a dear friend giving her kindness, something she thought no longer existed in the world. Only she finds what she’d pushed to the back of her mind through selfish pain is back. Her past with all its mistakes has come back to life!


Excerpt



“I am sorry about asking you about your past,” he said softly.


“It’s fine…very hard though,” she answered, rubbing her hand against her swollen tummy thinking back on all those years ago.

“I understand it must have been a very difficult time for you. When you rely on support from the most important people in your life and they let you down. Did your father know?”

“I don’t think so. My mum sneaked me away.” Kacey turned her head to glance at him seeing him frowning.

“That is terrible.”

“Protecting the family reputation. What would you have done?” she asked curiously.

“Not sure, but not carted you to the clinic, well, unless that was what you had wished. I don’t wish to make you feel any worse.”

“Oh trust me, that is nothing compared to the guilt I carried for all these years, there isn’t a day goes by I don’t think about what happened and how I would’ve changed everything.”

“You mustn’t blame yourself.”

“Why not?” she snarled.

“You were young, and your mum should have known better.”

“I hate her.”

“I always say hate is a strong word, but for once I have to agree with you. Anyway, let’s talk about what we should do today,” he said taking his tea and making his way to the sofa.

Kacey would admit she liked him, but he lived in London. There was something remarkable about him that made her heart skip beats and her knees turn to jelly. The fact he appeared so understanding about her past, made him incredible.

“What about a drive to the Yorkshire Dales?” he asked, turning and adding an irresistible smile.

“Wow, that would be lovely, I’ve not been there in years,” she said, excitement heightening her voice.

“Then that is what we shall do. I only have today left as I leave to go back to London tomorrow afternoon,” he told her.

Her heart sank into her stomach. Quickly Kacey turned around, a large lump dominating her throat, feeling sick, chest tightening, she wasn’t ready to lose him yet, after all, he’d been the only person to show care. She inhaled a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“We could go and get some breakfast too, dinner and tea, I don’t mind, it’s something I would enjoy,” he continued to say behind her.

“Lovely,” she said, feeling a stinging sensation taking over her internal organs. She took a sip of her hot tea, trying to force the lump in her throat down.
 

 


Buy links
 
GIVEAWAY
To win a copy of Innocence in pdf answer the following question leaving your e-mail address.  What most attracts when looking for a character?
 
Happy Reading!