Chidren's Book Sale & Giveaway

Looking for some back-to-school reading for your favorite child? Now through October 1st, my middle-grade chapter book FREDERICK FLY-CATCHER is on sale for just 99 cents in e-book. Find FREDERICK at these retailers: Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Apple, Universal Link

Personal appearances for FREDERICK next week: 

Tuesday, Sept. 21, visit Cherie Colyer's blog to find out what inspired FREDERICK: https://cheriecolyer.blogspot.com/ 

Wednesday, Sept. 22, hop over to NN Light Book Heaven's Bookish Event to check out FREDERICK's profile at https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/super-reads-bookish-event and enter the rafflecopter for a chance to win a $20 Amazon gift card: Giveaway 

Hope to see you there!

Tomato Season = Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

I love fresh tomatoes. I can literally step outside my back door and pluck a ripe tomato growing alongside the steps. This year's harvest has been astounding--and from only three plants (two grape tomato plants and one Super Fantastic). 

We've been enjoying BLTs almost daily and making lots of spaghetti sauce to freeze for winter. Our homemade sauce is heavy on the tomatoes and light on the spices with a decidedly sweet taste. No garlic, no meat, but plenty of hearty flavor. Perfect for the finicky kids we raised.

If you too have finicky kids or are looking for a way to use a HUGE tomato harvest, here's my family's recipe. Enjoy!

Sweet Spaghetti Sauce (Meatless & Mild)

4 cups diced fresh tomatoes, simmered briefly (5 min.) with…

½ teaspoon salt

Cool pot in a water bath. Fill blender with cooled tomatoes and chop.

In a large saucepan (3-4 quart) add…

1/8 cup diced onion

1 tablespoon olive oil

Fry onions in oil until done. Pour chopped tomatoes over onions. Set to simmer. Stir in…

One 12-ounce can of tomato paste, stirring until all lumps are gone

1/8 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1 packed tablespoon brown sugar

2 tablespoons dried parsley

½ cup water

Simmer until flavors combine. If sauce seems too thick, add another 1/3 cup water. Serve over cooked spaghetti noodles.

Sauce freezes well. It also tastes great over cheese ravioli.

If you don’t have fresh tomatoes, you can use one 28 oz. can of petite diced tomatoes AND one 12 oz. can of petite diced tomatoes.

Dog Days of Summer 99-cent Sales & Giveaways

Load up your e-readers! Half of my titles are on sale for just 99-cents across e-book platforms.

Now through Sept. 3rd, get LORD OF DRUEMARWIN for 99 cents at Amazon, B&N, & Apple. 

LORD OF DRUEMARWIN is my Princess-and-the-Pea story, an outsider heroine has to prove her worth to the family and folk of the man she loves. She’s given up everything she knows for him; will it be enough?

“I read this book in a span of hours. I have work I should have done yesterday that I did not do today because I had reading to do damnit …. The romance was well done, steamy. A good book!” Netgalley Reviewer 613674

“This is what epic fantasy book lovers rejoice over: sweeping stories, intertwined plot lines, interesting characters.” 4 stars, Paranormal Romance Guild. 

For a chance to win an autographed PRINT copy (and other great prizes), hop over to NN Light Book Heaven's Dog Days of Summer Book Giveaway by Aug. 31 to enter.  

On and after Aug. 26, go to Long & Short Reviews Anniversary Blogfest and check out my post about LORD OF DRUEMARWIN. Play trivia and enter for a chance to win gift cards: http://www.longandshortreviews.com/guest-blogs/lasr-anniversary-scavenger-hunt-lord-of-druemarwin-by-helen-c-johannes-2/ 

Now, to entertain that favorite child or children, I've put FREDERICK FLY-CATCHER e-book on sale at 99 cents for a WHOLE MONTH! 

You can find FREDERICK FLY-CATCHER at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Apple, and other e-book retailers: https://books2read.com/u/4Ekjo0

“A fun adventure that was a hit with my nine-year-old!”

What happens when Frederick, a champion fly-catcher, is confronted with a human? After all, humans are dangerous! And worse, this human is carrying a thing of troublesome, powerful magic. What if Frederick can’t get it to stop?

“The best thing I could do was to relax and enjoy the ride, so that’s exactly what I did.”

And one more giveaway: On and after Aug. 25, go to Long & Short Reviews Anniversary Blogfest and check out my post about FREDERICK FLY-CATCHER. Play trivia for a chance to win gift cards: http://www.longandshortreviews.com/guest-blogs/lasr-anniversary-scavenger-hunt-frederick-fly-catcher-by-helen-c-johannes-2/

Renewing with Nature

There's something about being by the water, hearing the gulls, watching the waves curl into shore, feeling the spray on the breeze. 

I've really, really missed this over the last two years. We live land-locked, and we usually would take two to three trips to ocean or lake to reconnect with the shore. 

Last week we finally had a chance to do so again, heading to our favorite peninsula, Door County, where we can go bayside to lakeside as the wind or whim takes us. Here's a few highlights.

On the Lake Michigan side are the caves carved into the bluff by constant wave action. Trees hang onto the edge by tenacious and gnarly root systems.

One of the amazing new sights was this ramp through the treetops to a cliff-top tower overlooking Green Bay. It's a replacement for a deteriorating 75 foot tower with only stairs. Folks in the area fund-raised for two years to build this new, amazing and accessible structure so that all visitors can enjoy the fabulous view.

There's nothing like a healthy dose of nature to put right one's perspective on the world. I hope you get a chance to "get out in the 'out there'."

Happy July!

I'm halfway through a year of giving away one autographed print book per month of my award-winning fantasy romances. This month's prize is THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE, perfect for those who devour enemies-to-lovers stories. 

She’s all wrong for Prince Arn, this lowborn healer who keeps meddling in his march to conquer her homeland. If only she hadn’t helped him, and he hadn’t kissed her, he could stop looking for her everywhere, hoping to find her…again.

If you long to be swept away from today’s worries, what better way than joining larger-than-life characters on an epic quest where honor matters, a broken land’s future is at stake, and forbidden love requires world-altering sacrifices?

For a chance to win THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE and dozens of other free books including print, e-copy and audiobooks plus Amazon and Starbucks gift cards, hop over to NN Light Book Heaven's Summer in the Sun Book Giveaway. If there’s a particular book or prize you’d like to win, be sure to say which prize you want when you enter via Rafflecopter. Enter below and good luck! 

Summer in the Sun Book Giveaway: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/92db7750122

Literary Giveaway Portal:  https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/literary-giveaway-portal

Celebrating Fathers with Audiobook and Print Giveaways

June is the perfect month for BLOODSTONE giveaways. 

First, this fantasy romance celebrates a strong father/daughter relationship. Tolbert is the somewhat absent-minded artist in gemstones who nonetheless dotes on his daughter. Mirianna is the loving protector who subverts her own dreams because one of them has to be practical in order to survive. Their journey into the Wehrland leads to the ultimate test of devotion and sacrifice.

Second, June is Audiobook Month and BLOODSTONE is available in Audible (4.9 stars!). Are you an audiobook addict? There’s a huge event going on at N. N. Light’s Book Heaven Celebrate Audiobook Month. 34 audiobooks featured plus a chance to win one of the following:

One lucky reader will win a $50 Amazon Gift Card

One lucky reader will win a $50 Amazon Gift Card

One lucky reader will win a $25 Amazon Gift Card

One lucky reader will win a $15 Amazon Gift Card

One lucky reader will win a $10 Amazon Gift Card

I’m thrilled to be a part of this event. BLOODSTONE will be featured on Tuesday, June 22. Wait until you listen to my audiobook clip. My narrator Dawson McBride nails the characters and I’m so proud of it. Trust me, you won’t want to miss it: https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/celebrate-audiobook-month 

Finally, who doesn't love print books? E-readers just don't do justice to BLOODSTONE's cover. If you'd like a chance to win an autographed print copy, enter by June 30th for a chance to win it and other great prizes: https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/literary-giveaway-portal

Review--Up and Coming New Paranormal DRAGON(E) BABY GONE

If you follow me on Goodreads or Bookbub, you know I love a good mystery, no matter the genre or time period. If it has action and snark, all the better. That's why I jumped at the opportunity to read an ARC by this first-time author.

DRAGON(E) BABY GONE by Robert Gainey 

Fans of Mulder and Scully, you’ll be delighted to know there’s a new investigator on the scene. Diane Morris is a Special Agent in the FBI’s branch of Intangible Assets, code for the management and containment of dragons, fire demons, wizards, and other such interplanar ‘tourists.’

Robert Gainey’s debut novel drops the reader into the action on page one, literally into a sewer, as Diane races to reclaim something she’s been told is important from human thieves trying to sell it to fire demons. What ensues is right out of the opening of an Indiana Jones movie, action multiplied. There’s barely time to take a breather in this extremely fast-paced novel, taking place over mere days. That being said, there’s plenty of time for the sharp delineation of several intriguing characters, including Diane’s coworkers, her cats, and her somewhat reluctant allies.

Diane reminds me of Sandra Bullock’s FBI agent in Miss Congeniality, pre-makeover: focused, driven, sarcastic, and unwilling to let her femininity interfere with her mission. But she cares, and since the story is told through her first-person narrative, the reader quickly identifies with her mission to save the world, even if it hasn’t always dealt her a fair hand. After all, she lives alone—with cats—and has to pretend to perform tax audits for the FBI as cover for her real job.

The author’s experience as a firefighter shows in his vivid descriptions of the fire demons and the many instances of fire in this story. He knows his bureaucracy too. But his imagination steps up and shines in the depictions of the interplanar denizens and their powers. Fans of both Harry Dresden and Buffy the Vampire Slayer will enjoy this unique world and the sometimes-prickly partnerships Diane makes in pursuit of her mission.

A five-alarm debut for the first book in what promises to be a wildly entertaining new series. Available now for preorder.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the author in the hope I would leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that...my opinions.