End-of-the-Year Giveaways: Print books, e-book, and cookie recipe

Print books--get 'em while they're hot!

Goodreads has changed their policy on giveaways, so I'm sorry to say these four print books are my last offering on their platform. Enter by Dec. 15 for a chance to win BLOODSTONE. For a chance to win PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE, enter Dec. 15-23. Use the links to the right.

To learn how I cope with the wonderful Winter Wonderland, check out my guest blog on LASR Blogfest on Dec. 28: https://wp.me/p2ZcT9-iwC. I'm posting a favorite family recipe for healthy-ish cookies and also giving away one Kindle copy of BLOODSTONE, the winner drawn from those who leave a comment before the end of the year.

Keep warm, stay safe, and enjoy the holidays!

Holiday Season Giveaways!

'Tis the season for giving! 

I'm offering two fantastic giveaways on Goodreads this month. First I'm giving away two (2) print copies of BLOODSTONE. Enter Dec. 7-15 for a chance to win an autographed copy of this Beauty-and-the-Beast-inspired fantasy romance. Starting Thursday, Dec. 7, click on the BLOODSTONE icon to the right to go to Goodreads and enter.

Next, I'm giving away two (2) print copies of THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE. Enter Dec. 15-23 for a chance to win an autographed copy of my first fantasy romance, the one packed with Game of Thrones intrigue and enemies-to-lovers, forbidden romance. After Friday, Dec. 15, click on the PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE icon on the right to go to Goodreads and enter.

Keep warm this holiday season and keep reading. There's nothing like a little romance--or a lot!--to heat up cold winter nights!

Amazon Giveaway!

Winter is making an early start here, and it's putting me in the mood for curling up with a blanket, hot beverages, and a stack of good books so I can read, read, read till the snow melts.

In that vein, I've set up an Amazon Giveaway for THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE. Click on the link and enter from now through Nov. 24 for a chance to win a Kindle copy of a romantic adventure that will heat up your sense of romance and adventure and keep you warm while the snow flies. No purchase necessary, but you have to sign in to Amazon to enter. (See Official Rules http://amzn.to/GArules)

Also, BLOODSTONE is still on sale on Amazon for only $1.49. That's half price.

Keep warm and happy reading!

Snow and a Sale

Winter has officially arrived--in my book anyway. We had almost 2 inches of snow this week, and temps are more than 10 degrees below normal. It may be 7 weeks early by the calendar to call this winter, but once the snow sticks on the ground for any length of time around here, it's winter.

To celebrate--or commiserate--I've put THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE on sale on Kindle for 99-cents through Nov. 10. If you're in the mood for a sweeping romance with characters and intrigue akin to Game of Thrones, or you need to give a gift to a hopeless romantic friend or relative, here's the link: PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE

September Giveaway!

To celebrate back to school, I'm trying my first Amazon Giveaway. As a prize, I'm giving away a Kindle copy of BLOODSTONE. Here's the storyline: To save her father Mirianna promises the Shadow Man she’ll do "anything," but the beastly, insensitive creature needs her heart, freely given, and all her courage to help him defeat the mage who cursed him.

For a chance to win a Kindle copy of BLOODSTONE, enter at Bloodstone giveaway and sign up to follow me on Amazon. Contest ends Sept. 26 or earlier if the prize is claimed. (See Official Rules http://amzn.to/GArules.)

More Summer Giveaways and Sales

Time for great summer reading deals! This upcoming week brings a giveaway and an ongoing sale.

Giveaway--BLOODSTONE--July 18-26 at Goodreads. I'm giving away one autographed print book. Use the link at the Goodreads box on the right to enter.

Sale!--BLOODSTONE on Kindle is a bargain at $1.49 for as long as the sale lasts: https://www.amazon.com/Bloodstone-Helen-C-Johannes-ebook/dp/B0145P8JC6/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8[/url

Giveaways and Sales!

It's summer, time for great deals! This upcoming week brings two giveaways and an ongoing sale.

Giveaway #1--BLOODSTONE--Sunday, June 11 only, I'm offering a Kindle copy to one lucky trivia winner at The Romance Reviews Sizzling Summer Reads Party. To enter you have to log in to The Romance Reviews and then play BLOODSTONE trivia (using my provided hint, of course): http://www.theromancereviews.com/event.php

Giveaway #2--THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE--June 12-20 at Goodreads. I'm giving away one autographed print book. Use the link at the Goodreads box on the right to enter.

Sale!--BLOODSTONE on Kindle is a bargain at $1.50 for as long as the sale lasts: https://www.amazon.com/Bloodstone-Helen-C-Johannes-ebook/dp/B0145P8JC6/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8[/url

Hello, Summer!

June 1st ... the official start of summer in our neck of the woods. Hooray!

There are three months we can count on to provide temperatures of 70 and above, and they are June, July, and August. After a cold spring in which I have shifted from down-alternative comforter and regular bedspread all the month of May, and a year so wet we have doubled our usual moisture (snow and rain), we are especially excited to see SUMMER!

We can open windows! And go outside without coats. And wear shorts and t-shirts. When you wear sweatshirts for 8-9 months of the year, this is a big deal.

To all those who live in large parts of the country where summer seems to last forever, don't feel sorry for us. We love our 4 seasons. We just really, really get excited about summer.

I have been to see the dragon’s skin ...

I have been to see the dragon’s skin … and this is what it looks like.

Where I live, the Earth is a mellow creature. It doesn’t move beneath my feet or spew into the sky or break open very often. Folk here are focused more on the sky and the changeable—sometimes wicked—weather it brings us. We never doubt the solidity of the ground we’ve built our lives upon because it so rarely fails us.

We shouldn’t be so trusting.

The Earth is a living, breathing entity … a dragon, if you will. And that is never more evident than where this dragon is daily making itself new. On the island of Hawaii, the Big Island, the ground swells, it puffs poisonous, sulfurous smoke from open red sores and hundreds of bottomless cracks. It disgorges slow-moving lava fields that surround and torch homes, highways, and fields. It creeps downhill to fill a once-beautiful cove with 20-30 feet of solid black rock, rippled like skin.

The Earth lives here, and the people live with it, and nature takes hold of the rock—very quickly, it seems, finding footholds for pollen and seedlings in seams filled with windblown dust. Dragon skin is fertile, apparently, or the islands built by these forces wouldn’t be so lush.

We think of dragons as mythical creatures, armor-plated and breathing fire. I think of them as having skin like this, and sleeping—ever so restlessly—beneath our feet.

(For my version of dragon lore, check out BLOODSTONE. Goodreads Giveaway Feb. 22-Mar. 2.)