Jagged Feathers - @jansikes3 #NewRelease #RomanticSuspense #WhiteRuneSeries

MUSE MONDAY

Jan Sikes is my guest today, and one of her favorite things is mine too...Dream Catchers.

Thank you, Brenda, for inviting me to your blog site today to talk about my new book, JAGGED FEATHERS! I appreciate your generosity.

I have always loved dreamcatchers and what they signify. It was believed by the Native American tribes that both good and bad dreams filled the air at night. The dreamcatcher was designed to act as a spider's web by trapping the bad dreams or visions while allowing the good ones to filter through. The bad dreams caught in the web would get destroyed when the sunlight of morning hit the dreamcatcher, while the good dreams would filter down through the feathers and gently reach the sleeping person below. The design itself held great meaning. The circular frame represented mother earth and each intricate design within the frame symbolized different aspects of nature and spirituality.

In my book, Jagged Feathers, Vann Noble received an unexpected gift of a dreamcatcher.

EXCERPT: 

The woman followed him out. “Mister, I want to give you something for your kindness.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“Well, now I know it ain’t, but humor me just a little.”

Vann shrugged. “If it makes you happy, ma’am.”

He waited while she shuffled things around in the back of the van, then dug through a box. Three pairs of frightened eyes peered over the seats, and he waved to the children. Only the smallest waved back. 

She pulled out a dreamcatcher and handed it to him. “It ain’t much, but I make these back home and sell them on the side of the road. I use only raw materials I find on the ground, so it’s all natural. This one has some jagged feathers, and I can’t sell it. Maybe it’ll bring you good fortune.”

Vann sucked in a breath when he took the piece from her. “Thank you, ma’am. You have no idea what this means.” He patted her shoulder awkwardly.

She squinted and stared for a long minute. “All I know is I can’t sell it, and I want you to have it.”

Vann nodded. Anxious to show it to Nakina, he knew the significance of the feathers in the piece would be overwhelming.

What about you? Have you ever owned a dreamcatcher, or perhaps like me, you still do. I’d love to hear from you!

BOOK TRAILER LINK: https://youtu.be/CwGRyRVMyLE 

BLURB:

Vann Noble did his duty. He served his country and returned a shell of a man, wounded inside and out. With a missing limb and battling PTSD, he seeks healing in an isolated cabin outside a small Texas town with a stray dog that sees beyond his master's scars. If only the white rune's magic can bring a happily ever after to a man as broken as Vann.   

On the run from hired killers and struggling to make sense of her unexplained deadly mission, Nakina Bird seeks refuge in Vann's cabin. She has secrets. Secrets that can get them all killed. 

A ticking clock and long odds of living or dying, create jarring risks.

Will these two not only survive, but find an unexpected love along the way? Or, will evil forces win and destroy them both? 

UNIVERSAL PURCHASE LINK: 

https://linktr.ee/Rijanjks 

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

WEBSITE: http://www.jansikes.com

BLOG:   http://www.jansikesblog.com

TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/jansikes3

FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorJanSikesBooks

PINTEREST: https://www.pinterest.com/jks0851/

GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7095856.Jan_Sikes

BOOKBUB:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jan-sikes

LINKEDIN:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jansikes/

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE: https://www.amazon.com/Jan-Sikes/e/B00CS9K8DK

Reading and #Reviews (Sandford, Anderson, Henderson)

I'm a writer, but I'm also a reader. Each month, I'll share with you what I'm reading and some reviews. My available time to read is limited because I write, but I love to curl up with a book or a reader at night for the last hour of my waking day.

I tend to read what I write, which is Romantic Suspense, but not exclusively. My current read is a Romantic Suspnse by Jannine Gallant entitled Hidden Secrets. I also like detective thrillers, WWII historicals, mysteries, and some main stream character driven novels.

I'm sharing three more books with you today. Maybe you'll discover a new book or author!

Amazon Buy Link

Sudden Prey by John Sandford

It's been a couple of years since I read this Crime Thriller, but I wanted to introduce you to the series if you haven't read it. There are a ton of Prey books. You can read them out of order, which is what I did with the first couple, but you'll enjoy them more if you start at the beginning. Lucas Davenport is the main character, a cop that is tough and is a character I fell in love with. The series follows him as he climbs the ladder of success to detective and on into the political side of law enforcement. There's a new murder to solve in every book. Sandford's secondary characters are great. And Lucas has a love life that eventually has him settling down with an equally engaging character.

Amazon Buy Link

Fear Land by Rolynn Anderson

Ms. Anderson tackles a tough subject in this Romantic Suspense...emphasis on the suspense. PTSD in children is Tally Rosella's focus as an acclaimed psychiatrist. But someone doesn't want her to tie her findings about troubled children to PTSD. Tally meets Army Major Cole Messer who won't admit his Afghanistan experience and PTSD have disrupted his life. You'll enjoy the suspense and romance and get yourself educated about PTSD at the same time.

Amazon Buy Link

Undercover Nanny by Alison Henderson

This is the 3rd book in Ms. Henderson's Phoenix, Ltd. series about female bodyguards. You don't need to read them in order. I can't begin to give a quick summary of the plot of this Romantic Suspense. It involves kidnapping, extortion, antiquities smuggling, and arson. The inexperienced Casey isn't quite prepared for her body guard duties when it turns so suspenseful. She's not too prepared for handsome Alec either. And no one knows how to handle a pesky monkey. This is a fun read. Adding the monkey was a funny touch.

The Story Behind Whatever It Takes by JM Stewart

MUSE MONDAY

Hi Brenda! Thanks so much for having me! Since I have a new release out, I thought I’d share a bit about how the book came to be. WHATEVER IT TAKES is book 2 in my Morgan Family Romance series. And it took a while to come into being. At one point, I didn’t think I’d finish it.

Becca and Jackson’s story began over eleven years ago now. I met Becca while writing book one, Risking It All. In the original writing of RIA, Becca loathed her ex-husband, but there was an undercurrent of love there too she was trying not to feel. It intrigued me. I had to know…could I make their relationship work again? In other words, this book began as a challenge to myself. ;)

In truth, I got about five chapters into the book (then titled…dun dun dun…Second Chances) and quit writing. I stopped writing altogether for a period of about six years. So the book sat, unfinished, on my hard drive. It was a bunch of little things that all heaped on top of me at the same time. Something had to give.

About that time, I’d submitted Risking It All (under a different title) to Harlequin. It earned me a revision request, but ultimately got turned down. For whatever reason, this particular rejection hit me really hard.

I also hit a snag in my personal life. Something cropped up (which is a story in and of itself but one I won’t talk about, because it still has the power to sink me—I’m also not sure you’d believe me *wink*) that triggered my PTSD, and I spiraled into what I now call flashback hell. This is kind of an aside here, but I’ve been writing a war veteran lately and I’m reminded I’m not the only one who suffers from this disorder. One thing all those websites about PTSD don’t (and can’t) really tell you is that PTSD takes your reality…and skews how you view it. Flashbacks aren’t always straightforward. Imagine your worst fear. Now imagine that fear has a voice and it’s screaming in your face. Despite knowing it’s not real, when it hits you, you still feel the pain.

What it amounts to, though, is my writing had to take a back seat for a while. I missed it though. In fact, part of my motivation to get better…was to get well enough that I wanted to write again. When I did, the first book I picked up was Risking It All (b/c it was already written).

Whatever It Takes didn’t actually get completed until I’d gotten the rights back on Kyle and Ceci’s story. Like RIA, I decided one day to see if I could make something of the story. I’m glad I did, though, because I fell in love with Jackson in the process.

The story did get a little help from my editor at Berkley during the revision process. That scene in chapter 3 or 4, where Becca goes back to her burned out house, was born out of a note my editor made. The ending I’d originally written also got changed. The changes my editor had me make meant that the ending I’d written no longer made sense.

This whole process taught me a lot of things, though. Namely, never give up and crap can be fixed. :) Oh, and I hate revisions. lol

She’s been dying to hear the words…

Walking away from her husband was the hardest thing Becca Morgan has ever done, even if it was the only way to save her heart from being broken by a loveless marriage. Still, when a terrible accident forces her to stay at her ex’s house, emotions she thought she’d buried for Jackson Kade long ago start coming to the surface—and, to her surprise, seem to be reciprocated…

…he just doesn’t know how to say.

Jackson Kade has never known love like he knew with Becca, but his cold upbringing left him unable to show her how deeply he feels. When Becca winds up under his roof once more, he knows it’s his only opportunity to prove his devotion—and passion. But old habits die hard, and even one mistake could shatter their last chance at love…

Penguin: http://ow.ly/CZii4

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FFFSZDE
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FFFSZDE
B&N: http://ow.ly/CZijn

iTunes: http://ow.ly/CZiko

Kobo: http://ow.ly/CZipW

About the author:

JM writes passionate, heartfelt contemporary romance. She’s a wife, a mother, a spiritualist, and lover of puppies, and happily addicted to coffee and chocolate. She lives in the rainy Pacific Northwest with her husband and two sons. She’s a hopeless romantic who believes everybody should have their happily-ever-after and has been devouring romance novels for as long as she can remember. Writing them has become her obsession.

Find Joanne here:

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