I got to name a Marine...

Heather Long is an outstanding author of military, paranormal, contemporary, and western romance and I've been lucky enough to call her crit partner for a few years. Actually, almost two years exactly since we just celebrated the anniversary of our friendship (which coincided with the end of a mutual publisher, sadly).

She's read all my books, offered invaluable advice, and been a cheerleader and boot in my ass when I needed it, so I'm maybe just a little fangirl over her work. Since I've read just about every word she's written in the past couple years, I feel like a proud auntie when a new book releases. With this story? A proud auntie who hung out in the delivery room.

You see, Heather bestowed a great honor on me and let me name the character in this story. I named him after a friend and rattled off a few characteristics of my uncle, a Marine himself, who served proudly. The uncle was a prankster, loving nothing more than making others laugh, and the friend was one who helped me through some really dark days.

That said, she then molded what I mentioned into a character I fell in love with. Rebel is injured in body and spirit and this Christmas tale is heartwarming. Capturing that spirit and the magic of the season, Long crafted a tale that made me laugh and cry in turns--while remaining sexy and sweet.

A portion of the proceeds of the sale of this and her other holiday Marines will benefit Toys for Tots, a campaign to put gifts in the hands of children in need. If you're looking for a well told tale which gives not only in the transformative and uplifting nature of the story, but literally GIVES this season, you should look no further than Have Yourself a Marine Christmas. Better yet, snag all of the holiday Marines and settle down with a cup of cocoa and gobble them all up. I know I'll be rereading them this season :)

Have Yourself a Marine Christmas
By Heather Long
Always a Marine Series
ISBN:

Buy Links

 

Amazon | ARe | B&N | Bookstrand | Decadent | Smashwords

Blurb:

Rebel with a holiday…

Ryan Edward Brun—Rebel to his friends—has always loved Christmas. Whether raising money for Toys for Tots, delivering presents dressed up like Santa Claus or driving his platoon crazy with Christmas ‘surprises,’ he never lacked for Christmas spirit—until he lost his legs to an IED.

Operation Good Cheer…

Noël Torres has watched over Rebel for months, holding his hand when he wanted to give up, and bullying him when he got lazy. But with Christmas right around the corner and decorations filling every room in their wing of Mike’s Place, the barren oasis Rebel surrounds himself with breaks her heart. He won’t call his family, he’s not sending out cards, he won’t pull any pranks—she decides to get this Marine back into the holiday action.

An elf on a mission…

With the help of some kids, a few good Marines, and Santa Claus, Noël is determined to give Rebel a very Marine Christmas…

Find it on Goodreads!
Heather Long's Website

Funny Things Kids Say - Thanksgiving 2012 Edition

Doing a fact check with the kids, because someone on facebook didn't want Lincoln spoiled for them (No spoilers, because...well, they wanted to be surprised by the ending...) we got into another one of our funny things kids say conversations.

When I asked my daughter who won the Revolutionary War, her answer was, "Who was that one between again?"

*headdesk*

Well, who won the civil war?  Other daughter answered...
"The bluecoats!"  Who were? "Um...the Americans?"

Apparently we've a bit of history to work on with the kids. It seems to take awhile for it to stick...
Why do we celebrate Thanksgiving?

"The pilgrams celebrated finding the new world!"
So they just got to the new world and threw a party?
"After a long journey and cold harsh winters that killed a bunch of people, they met Indians who taught them how to hunt, grow food and survive.  They were so thankful for this, they tried to convert the Indians to Christianity and built a villiage and were thankful so they threw a feast.
Me- Christianity?
Ash-Yeah, they wanted them to believe in one god rather than thousands of gods because it's less confusing to have just one so the Indians killed that guy with a poisoned arrow.
Me- What guy?
Ash- I read it in Social Studies weekly.  I don't remember what guy, but he made them mad. Drake!  Drake the Savage Sea Dog!  He was told to plunder places by Queen Elizabeth so he tried to get them to switch to Christianity so they killed them.

Dad- I don't think Sir Frances Drake had a thing to do with Thanksgiving.

Shell- Pumpkin pies and poison darts...

Dad- What was Sir Frances Drake the first Englishman to do?
Ash- Circumnavigate the world.
Dad- Forget all the poison darts stuff and remember that.

Dad... but what is circumnavigate?  Is it the same thing as circumcise?
Ash- No. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Funny Things Kids Say- Christmas Edition

Snow is falling with a gentle pitter patter outside that sounds like the whole world is saying, "Hush!" Even me, who has a very strong love-hate relationship with the white stuff, can't help but see it and think of Christmas.

Not that I have gotten any of my decorations up yet. This is the oddball year all around. Where usually my decorations go up the day after Halloween, this year I told the kids we were cleaning the attic first...

So it is the day before December hits and still no tree.

But this hasn't stopped the kids from getting in the spirit of things. They made letters to Santa last night.

Previous years have gotten me some memorable letters to the fat red home invader. For instance, David one year asked Santa to help his grandpa walk again (the year my dad had his stroke) and last year David asked for cornbread. After opening an amazing amount of presents (including things like a telescope...) David still looked sort of sad and lost. I asked him what was wrong.

"Santa forgot the cornbread."

So I know when the letters come out that I am in for a giggle.

This year, JFAB asked Santa to send one of his evil elves (Who knew he had evil elves?) to come down and take care of the dog that keeps crapping on her bike. Y'see, as she explained to the man in red, she knows it isn't her dog doing it. The crap is the wrong size.

(She also asked for a new house for her mom because her mom needed a study and an ipad. Smart kiddo, that one.)

Justice asked for a spiked leather collar, a flaming skull hoodie and a skirt with skulls on it. The scary child doesn't fall far from the scary tree?

Ash wrote this:

Dear Santa,
Can you please get me some stuff please? You do not have to but it would be really nice if you did. Here is a list if you would like to/
1. Lego's (any kind but I suggest the big stuff)
2. Amazon Kindle (Note from mom: Yes, he wrote Amazon. Smart shoppers, my kids)
3. PSP
4. PSP games
5. Sonic Screwdriver
6. Webkinz
7. Diary of a Wimpy Kid books (Look at my shelves and not those ones.)
8. Lego Dr. Who Tardis
9. Phineas and Ferb Soundtrack and Movie
10. Acen Figures (Mom translation: Action figures)
Thank you, your friend and believer
Ashton
(And then he drew a cartoon at the bottom with Santa, a tree and Santa is telling the kids to have a good day. Less disturbing than JFAB's sunbathing hairy Santa on vacation after Christmas...)

David cracked me up, as usual.
David's Christmas List (This was the header on the page)
1. Amazon Kindle
2. Slappy (mom note: this is a ventriloquist dummy from Goosebumps books)
3. Sonic screwdriver (11th Doctor)
4. Legos (any)
5. Comic books (any Marvel)
6. Walking Dead comics
7. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (last straw)
8. Freddy Kruger Figure
9. Origami book
10. Scary books on Kindle (Stephen King)
11. Bakugon
Merry Christmas Santa. Tell the elves hi and say hi to the halflings if they exist. Have a nice day and don't hurt yourself on the way down.
Sincerely,
David
P.S. Please send a letter back explaining how you go down the chimney please!!!
(Below all this there is a cartoon with an elf yelling ABORT ABORT!! We got A WAKER!! and a child with eyes literally popping from his head screaming AHHHH THERE IS A MAN IN MY CHIMNEY!! while Santa's butt is sticking out of a chimney with the words HO HO HO floating down in a cartoon bubble. The whole scene is made merry with a tree topped with a star.)

All in all... I love kids and Christmas.
Happy Holidays all. And may your kids amuse you as much as mine do me.

Holiday Extraaaavaganza!

The holidays are upon us. A time to gather family near and remember why you hid from them for a whole year...

No, seriously, the holidays are probably my favorite time of year. I used to put up seven trees. I have since lowered my cheer expectations considerably but I still love the smell of turkey roasting in the oven, the glitter of lights on fragile glass balls, the crisp whiteness of snow covering my yard...

To celebrate, Sapphire Blue Publishing has put all of my titles on sale. (Clothing Optional is now less than a dollar!) If you haven't read them yet, now is a super cheap time to do so.

I also had two books coming out this season. Writing as Virginia Ashley (My YA persona), I released Sleeping Garden (A modern paranormal retelling of the Secret Garden) in November. In early December, I have an adult title releasing (The Accidental Pirate). Pirate is a sexy story of love, the open seas and the kind of bumbling and dialogue I think my readers have come to expect from me.

But wait... There's more!!

I have wanted to say that since I saw my first infomercial. Sorry.

But there actually is more!! For the holidays, I am gonna treat you, my lovely blog fans, to a couple months of fun.

To start, I am going to do a week of reviews. I know, I have been remiss and neglectful of your book review needs. So I am going to play catch up. Some books you can look forward to?
Spells, Slots and Sirens (Anthology)
A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies
Sweetly by Jackson Pearce
Mockingbird by Katherine Erskine
And more!!

Aside from all that awesomeness, expect a week of blogs from the authors of the (coming soon) "Ladies of the Jolly Roger: Buccaneer Women" anthology from Sapphire Blue Publishing!

Exciting stuff, right?
Stay tuned...