tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3918200218823414612024-02-18T23:02:23.997-06:00Brant FlakesRandom Observations of a Suburban Writer-Mom
with an Unhealthy Attachment to Carbs,
Neighborhood Relationship Intrigues & '80s MusicMarilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.comBlogger452125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-40012257010201709622018-05-05T15:04:00.004-05:002018-05-05T15:11:10.591-05:00Marilyn Brant's Blog Archives<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgazIyQmtDEM8j1Ym91h6IjC3UHeX3y2bV_tjpe68vUPWsjGiYcnEthC2kGQXIiL1tTbmAbBitTPsFdCUWtbKAX0l3sOnLdxNX4_9FgGSmXiC8mtqU9RDPmSAJhAaA-e9xPLTaNt4wFiy0/s1600/Fridays+cover+400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgazIyQmtDEM8j1Ym91h6IjC3UHeX3y2bV_tjpe68vUPWsjGiYcnEthC2kGQXIiL1tTbmAbBitTPsFdCUWtbKAX0l3sOnLdxNX4_9FgGSmXiC8mtqU9RDPmSAJhAaA-e9xPLTaNt4wFiy0/s320/Fridays+cover+400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
For over 10 years, I kept this blog active...now, it's simply the archives of posts past 😃. Still, if you take the time to scroll through a few, I hope you'll enjoy them! Comments are no longer accepted, but any original ones remain. For more information about me and my writing, please visit me on my <a href="http://www.marilynbrant.com/" target="_blank"><b>Website</b> </a>(MarilynBrant.com) or on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/marilyn.brant" target="_blank"><b>Facebook</b> </a>& <a href="http://twitter.com/marilynbrant" target="_blank"><b>Twitter</b></a>. Best wishes!!<br />
xo<br />
Marilyn ❣<br />
<br />
p.s. In the spring of 2018, I had the pleasure of releasing a second edition of my 2010 women's fiction book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Friday-Mornings-Nine-Marilyn-Brant-ebook/dp/B07BPNV3H1/" target="_blank"><b>FRIDAY MORNINGS AT NINE</b></a>... Check out the lovely updated cover! How did the years zip by so fast?!Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-90748434207500848492017-08-22T19:36:00.000-05:002018-05-05T14:34:54.451-05:00COMING HOME - Arriving September 10th!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrmfqyMxODnwMu_vbrAzaxUx75M_O_JfZMqCGU_ZMWX8qyHMYCt_lt8ckI2XhE6uvmMCJWq5RJJStTSXYw2PzsTgp5NZlgoMgSu2KSC6OXIKTad5LNIL7c8nfFDxcyiFT5ZZG237B4j30/s1600/RM+%2526+SLY+-+Front+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1063" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrmfqyMxODnwMu_vbrAzaxUx75M_O_JfZMqCGU_ZMWX8qyHMYCt_lt8ckI2XhE6uvmMCJWq5RJJStTSXYw2PzsTgp5NZlgoMgSu2KSC6OXIKTad5LNIL7c8nfFDxcyiFT5ZZG237B4j30/s400/RM+%2526+SLY+-+Front+cover.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.15pt; margin-bottom: 6.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">ADVANCED PRAISE:<br /><i>“I
love coming home to Mirabelle Harbor! This duet is my favorite of the whole
series, truly the best for last. I have enjoyed my time in this cute little
seaside cove and I am a little sad it has come to an end. I adore everyone in
town, including Rick and Abby from Rocket Man but Chandler and Jaleina's story
was just so different than all the others. I feel Marilyn outdid herself in
Someone Like You. She was able to capture the passion of Jaleina's culture and
the determination of a man who knew what his heart always wanted. Sweet and
sexy, a romance so passionate, it had me blushing!”</i></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <b>~Margie’s Must Reads</b>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.15pt; margin-bottom: 6.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.15pt; margin-bottom: 6.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b><i>COMING HOME: A Mirabelle Harbor Duet featuring Rocket Man & Someone Like You </i></b>will be out soon! </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The ebooks are available for pre-order on </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0721JN2MV/"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Amazon</span></a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/coming-home-marilyn-brant/1126550946?ean=2940157605711"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">B&N</span></a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/coming-home-mirabelle-harbor-duet-featuring-rocket/id1247337354?mt=11"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">iBooks</span></a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/coming-home-a-mirabelle-harbor-duet-featuring-rocket-man-and-someone-like-you"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Kobo</span></a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">—they’ll be released
September 10th—and the paperbacks are out right now: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Coming-Home-Mirabelle-featuring-Someone/dp/0998396435/"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Here</span></a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">!!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.15pt; margin-bottom: 6.25pt;">
This is the final chapter in the Mirabelle Harbor series, and it's a thrill to know that it's ready for you all to read :). I truly hope you'll enjoy this last installment!!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.15pt; margin-bottom: 6.25pt;">
Check out <a href="http://www.marilynbrant.com/books/the-mirabelle-harbor-series/coming-home-mirabelle-harbor-6/" target="_blank">my website for excerpts from each novella</a> and here are the book details below:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.15pt; margin-bottom: 6.25pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s double the trouble
in this romantic story pairing when ex-lovers, Abby Solinski and Chandler
Michaelsen, both return to their hometown of Mirabelle Harbor, only to find
that the happily ever after they thought they’d given up may, in fact, still be
a possibility…just not with the person they’d expected!</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">ROCKET MAN</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Abby had a crush on “Rocket Rick” Zimmerman way
back in high school, but he was her brother’s best friend and graduated a
couple of years ahead of her, leaving town for an international life of
top-secret, science-nerd intrigue. She didn’t understand a fraction of what he
did professionally, and he wasn’t allowed to tell her anyway. Abby, meanwhile,
meandered around the country with her then-boyfriend, Chandler, eventually
winding up alone and working at a couple of part-time jobs in Florida. She’d
resigned herself to being single forever and living on the sunny Gulf Coast, a
thousand miles away from her Midwestern origins.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">But when her parents need her help back in
Mirabelle Harbor, she flies home for a week and runs into Rick again, who’s
back in the Chicago area for a big physics convention. Immediately, she’s
caught up in a surprising game of “Booster Ignition and Liftoff,” where the
object seems to be an answer to this scientific question: Just how fast can
things heat up between them without somebody getting burned?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">SOMEONE LIKE YOU</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">As for Chandler, he had no intention whatsoever
of coming back to Mirabelle Harbor. When he and Abby broke up, he headed north
on his motorcycle from Sarasota to Atlanta, and a life on the road was how he
wanted to roll. But then his twin brother, Chance, goes and gets himself
engaged, and the groom insists that Chandler needs to be the best man. Fine.
He’ll drive back for a few days, for the sake of his twin, but no one had
better expect him to stay in town. Of course, that’s before he knows his dream woman—beautiful
bookstore owner, Jaleina Longoria—is going to be at the wedding.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jaleina is not only eight and a half years his
senior, she’s also the ex-fiancée of his eldest brother, who’d broken up with
her to marry someone else years earlier. That never stopped Chandler from
considering Jaleina to be his Ultimate Fantasy. Getting her to stop thinking of
him as the restless teen boy he’d once been, however, is going to prove quite a
challenge. Especially since the restlessness is still there, even though he’s
now a very passionate—and very determined—full-grown man.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Sometimes what you think you’re returning to
isn’t what you’d really left behind. COMING HOME, a pair of Mirabelle Harbor
stories.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">**NOTE: All of the romances in the Mirabelle
Harbor series take place over roughly a two-year time frame, and every book
listed below can be read as a standalone story. Details on each book and links
to excerpts & extras can be found on my website </span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.marilynbrant.com/books/the-mirabelle-harbor-series/"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">HERE</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Year One:</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Take a Chance on Me (Chance & Nia) –
April/May</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The One That I Want (Julia & Dane) –
June/July/August</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Stranger on the Shore (Marianna & Gil) –
June/July/August</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">You Give Love a Bad Name (Blake & Vicky) –
September/October</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Year Two:</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Going for It - Kindle World Bonus Story (Trevor
& Tina Marie) – June</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">One Night Love Affair (Sharlene & Declan) –
July</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Rocket Man - Coming Home (Abby & Rick) –
October</span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Someone Like You - Coming Home (Chandler &
Jaleina) – December</span></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfAKF51kRykJ6JGTkKvtGfogaJMiuyZqeagYUAg_s2oD-hAiuQ_GvxcOW2A41isCXvxlk-6r7n-dmuD17lJLEEWpC5TWiKJpZF9kfnlg5gmiFKZ2s2CUeED2IRkbdroGLdUNAPo3GJV6Q/s1600/Mirabelle+-+complete+series+-+horizontal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1254" data-original-width="1600" height="499" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfAKF51kRykJ6JGTkKvtGfogaJMiuyZqeagYUAg_s2oD-hAiuQ_GvxcOW2A41isCXvxlk-6r7n-dmuD17lJLEEWpC5TWiKJpZF9kfnlg5gmiFKZ2s2CUeED2IRkbdroGLdUNAPo3GJV6Q/s640/Mirabelle+-+complete+series+-+horizontal.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.15pt; margin-bottom: 6.25pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></span>Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-72443840236695592172017-05-07T21:28:00.000-05:002018-05-05T14:35:32.259-05:00Final Mirabelle Harbor Book - Coming in September!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq3mwZlKjrX6dwL2tlx1trH1jLjUSi-X2hqxRku_7KYc03qrpu0lnjF4tEr5WiehqoM86TASoSZb7fSwFU-ef49KCTWheuUkmoZZQIrbXeGttrOccpmuYA7ao4ce19bE06fgrmQ_JXE-4/s1600/MH5-bookmark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="960" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq3mwZlKjrX6dwL2tlx1trH1jLjUSi-X2hqxRku_7KYc03qrpu0lnjF4tEr5WiehqoM86TASoSZb7fSwFU-ef49KCTWheuUkmoZZQIrbXeGttrOccpmuYA7ao4ce19bE06fgrmQ_JXE-4/s640/MH5-bookmark.jpg" width="333" /></a></div>
This fall, it'll be three years since I started writing<b> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XC2K689?ref=series_rw_dp_labf" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">the Mirabelle Harbor series</span></a></b>, and the final book to wrap up the Michaelsen family's (and their friends') romances will be released then!!<br />
<br />
To date, there are five books (<b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011W01AF0/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Take a Chance on Me</span></a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0106BJVUW/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">The One That I Want</span></a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019UNGBVO/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">You Give Love a Bad Name</span></a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GQSN2HW/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Stranger on the Shore</span></a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06X9HK8Q4/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">One Night Love Affair</span></a></b>) and one crossover novella (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Falls-Kindle-Worlds-Novella-ebook/dp/B01FV7OB0Q/" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">Going for It</span></b></a>) in this contemporary romance series. The final two novellas -- <i>Rocket Man </i>& <i>Someone Like You</i> -- will be combined into one book called <b>Coming Home</b>. (Story summary and cover to be revealed soon!!)<br />
<br />
This has been such a fun journey as an author, and when I was writing the final pages of the last book, I felt myself missing these characters already... And yet, it's time to give them their happily ever afters, and it's time for me to begin a new project I'm just as exciting to write 😃. Hope you'll be ready for that next adventure, too!!<br />
<br />
If you'd like details on the Mirabelle Harbor stories, please check out the series page on my website <a href="http://www.marilynbrant.com/books/the-mirabelle-harbor-series/" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">HERE</span></b></a>. Hope you're all having a wonderful May!!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
💖 💖</div>
Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-69078329599028963412017-03-27T07:00:00.000-05:002018-05-05T14:38:39.886-05:0099-Cent Sale for ACCORDING TO JANE - This Week Only!<h4 style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: open_sans, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px 0px 0.688rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">BIG BOOK SALE!!!!!!!! </strong></em></h4>
<h4 style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: open_sans, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px 0px 0.688rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">For this week only, the ebook edition of ACCORDING TO JANE is available on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/According-Jane-Marilyn-Brant-ebook/dp/B01NCX9IJ5/" style="border: 0px; color: #b88d28; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span style="border: 0px; color: magenta; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kindle</span> </a>– <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/according-to-jane-marilyn-brant/1100306798?ean=2940157619916" style="border: 0px; color: #b88d28; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span style="border: 0px; color: magenta; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nook</span> </a>– <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/according-to-jane/id1197030635?mt=11" style="border: 0px; color: #b88d28; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span style="border: 0px; color: magenta; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">iBooks</span> </a>– <a href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/according-to-jane-4" style="border: 0px; color: #b88d28; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span style="border: 0px; color: magenta; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kobo</span> </a>for just 99 cents!! </strong></em></h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEtXB5pRv_8AkwQ7eGuJrHvSiOePpxtxaqtI9EIaFr6cv_tjtzD60JCifj4PhXlAEsMdXp3I05E0mas-vWluD6Bbc4RSXj2RTB11hR-e-kR_mLOCnfP3PAOvSAU4N9C9IQOECEGG51SlA/s1600/According+to+Jane+-+front+1621+x+2518.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEtXB5pRv_8AkwQ7eGuJrHvSiOePpxtxaqtI9EIaFr6cv_tjtzD60JCifj4PhXlAEsMdXp3I05E0mas-vWluD6Bbc4RSXj2RTB11hR-e-kR_mLOCnfP3PAOvSAU4N9C9IQOECEGG51SlA/s640/According+to+Jane+-+front+1621+x+2518.jpg" width="412" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you haven't yet read my award-winning, bestselling debut novel, I hope you'll check out the links and grab a copy while it's discounted to $0.99 (regular price $5.99). 😊 If you've already enjoyed the story and would like to help spread the word, please share the buy links and sale news with other friends who you think may enjoy the book as well -- it's the only scheduled sale for the novel this year!</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Here's a little bit about the story:</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">In Marilyn Brant's smart, wildly inventive fiction debut, one modern woman in search of herself receives advice from the ultimate expert in matters of the heart: Jane Austen. </span></span></span></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<br />
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It begins one day in sophomore English class, just as Ellie Barnett's teacher is assigning Jane Austen's <i>Pride and Prejudice</i>. From nowhere comes a quiet "tsk" of displeasure. The target: Sam Blaine, the cute bad boy who's teasing Ellie mercilessly, just as he has since kindergarten. Entirely unbidden, as Jane might say, the author's ghost takes up residence in Ellie's mind, and seems determined to stay there. </span></span></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Over the next two decades, Jane's wise and witty advice guides Ellie through the frustrations of adolescence and into adulthood, serving as the voice she trusts, usually far more than her own. Years and boyfriends come and go--sometimes a little too quickly, sometimes not nearly fast enough. But Jane's counsel is constant, and on the subject of Sam, quite insistent. <i>Stay away,</i> Jane demands. <i>He is your Mr. Wickham. </i></span></span></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Still, everyone has something to learn about love--perhaps even Jane herself. And lately, the voice in Ellie's head is being drowned out by another, urging her to look beyond everything she thought she knew and seek out her very own, very unexpected, happy ending...</span></span></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">ACCORDING TO JANE ~ <i>A Novel About Pride, Prejudice & the Pursuit of the Perfect Guy</i></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">**Note: This book has adult language and content and is recommended for mature audiences.** </span></span></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">WINNER of the Romance Writers of America's prestigious Golden Heart Award, the Single Titles Reviewers' Choice Award, the Aspen Gold Reader's Choice Award, and the Booksellers' Best Award.</span></span></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Named one of the 100 Best Romance Novels of All Time by Buzzle.com.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A #1 Kindle Bestseller!</span></span></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">PRAISE for the Novel:</span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Brant infuses her sweetly romantic and delightfully clever tale with just the right dash of Austen-esque wit." ~<i>Chicago Tribune </i></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Fresh, original, and lots of fun." ~<i>Barnes & Noble Review </i></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"A charming book." ~<i>Family Circle</i> </span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"A warm, witty and charmingly original story." ~Susan Wiggs, #1 <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author </span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"An engaging read for all who have been through the long, dark, dating wars, and still believe there's sunshine, and a Mr. Darcy, at the end of the tunnel." ~Cathy Lamb, author of <i>What I Remember Most </i></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"This is a must-read for Austen lovers as well as for all who believe in the possibility of a happily-ever-after ending." ~Holly Chamberlin, author of <i>Tuscan Holiday </i></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"What an unexpected, uplifting, and urbane debut novel! To paraphrase Jane Austen's character Lady Catherine, Marilyn Brant has given us a treasure... Like Austen, Brant excels at characterization offering a heroine in Ellie Barnett that I could totally identify with, and a hero in Sam that is so endearingly flawed that any woman worthy of her worn out VHS copy of the 1995 Pride and Prejudice miniseries will be happy to swoon over. Subtly powerful and amusingly acerbic, you will be gently reproved into agreeing in the power of love to transform us all." ~Laurel Ann Nattress, Austenprose, editor of <i>Jane Austen Made Me Do It</i></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span></span>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>If you'd like to read an excerpt, check out this one on my website <a href="http://www.marilynbrant.com/books/according-to-jane/" target="_blank"><span style="color: magenta;">HERE</span></a>!</b></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>ENJOY!! 💕</b></span></span></span></div>
</div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span></span></span></div>
Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-20959520800791414542017-02-24T14:34:00.000-06:002018-05-05T14:38:50.128-05:00One Night Love Affair is Here!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifr2pLCrjrkfFc1_NiAYN0aqizOT_Mcoq3e25A4tGBVdSUkR_R9agObgeK39IFsXjciZnY8PifhHAzWjDMOcVmXecyVX4Mi8Aex9cCGpl-HoUp7ftFWlCTerws5TzjkhkHpmgsCGweshs/s1600/OneNight+-+30+percent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifr2pLCrjrkfFc1_NiAYN0aqizOT_Mcoq3e25A4tGBVdSUkR_R9agObgeK39IFsXjciZnY8PifhHAzWjDMOcVmXecyVX4Mi8Aex9cCGpl-HoUp7ftFWlCTerws5TzjkhkHpmgsCGweshs/s640/OneNight+-+30+percent.jpg" width="432" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Just out today on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X9HK8Q4/" target="_blank"><b>Amazon </b></a>and <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/one-night-love-affair-marilyn-brant/1125838434?ean=2940157242091" target="_blank"><b>BN</b></a>, and available for pre-order on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1209250137" target="_blank"><b>Apple</b> </a>and <a href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/one-night-love-affair" target="_blank"><b>Kobo</b> </a>(to be released March 1st), ONE NIGHT LOVE AFFAIR is finally here!!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
This is the 5th story in my Mirabelle Harbor series, and it's a stand-alone romantic novella featuring Sharlene and Declan 💕. I've been waiting so long to be able to give them their happily ever after, so it's a thrill to get to share this fast-paced and sexy story with you all!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Here are the details on the book and a short excerpt for you to enjoy:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>After her first marriage ended in a divorce that
left her heart in tiny shreds, Sharlene Michaelsen Boyd vowed to keep her
distance from men, at least emotionally. An occasional one-night stand wasn’t
out of the question, though, and with her closest friends hooking up with new
loves, she finds herself in the mood for a little male company... Being the
only sister with four brothers, not to mention the glue holding the Michaelsen
family together after the death of their parents, Shar is used to being strong
and in control. She’s a junior high English teacher who's persuasive,
personable, and who knows just about everyone in the center of Mirabelle Harbor
society, including her brother Blake’s super-sexy buddy, Declan Night.<o:p></o:p></b></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><br /></b></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>As a former pro hockey player turned sportswriter
and businessman, Dec has had his share of relationships, mostly meaningless,
short-term flings. He always thought Blake’s little sister was a hottie, but he
knew she was off limits—until one Friday night when the stars aligned and the
opportunity to hook up presented itself. Shar’s intentions couldn’t have been
clearer: This was for One Night Only. But, for the first time in his life, Dec
wonders if, maybe, there isn’t something to be said for sticking with just one
woman. Especially if that woman knows how to fulfill his every sensual fantasy.<o:p></o:p></b></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="color: #20124d;"><b><br /></b></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="color: #20124d;"><b>Could one sizzling night turn into a love that has a
shot at lasting forever? ONE NIGHT LOVE AFFAIR, a Mirabelle Harbor story.
</b></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">*Note: This is a steamy romantic novella with adult language and situations, and it's intended for mature audiences.*</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Books in the Series:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">TAKE A CHANCE ON ME (July 2015) - Chance & Nia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">THE ONE THAT I WANT (July 2015) - Julia & Dane<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME (Jan 2016) - Blake &
Vicky<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">STRANGER ON THE SHORE (June 2016) - Marianna &
Gil<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">ONE NIGHT LOVE AFFAIR (Mar 2017) - Sharlene &
Declan<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">More coming soon!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Bonus Novella - GOING FOR IT (May 2016) Kindle
Worlds crossover story - Tina Marie & Trevor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For info on each of the Mirabelle Harbor books, check out the series page on my website <b><a href="http://www.marilynbrant.com/books/the-mirabelle-harbor-series/" target="_blank">HERE</a></b>!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><u><b>Story Excerpt</b></u><b>:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The only excuse Shar could give for what she
said next was that she’d had half a bottle of wine at The Lounge, one jumbo
margarita and three whiskey sours here at Max’s, and she hadn’t gotten laid in
more months than she could count. Her ability to think straight was definitely
impaired and her willingness to filter her thoughts was even more limited. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“What’s stopping us from sleeping together?” she
asked him. “I mean, Dec—” She glanced around the room. “Aside from you, there’s
no one here that I’d want to pick up. You’re hotter than anyone else in the
bar. It’s only because of Blake that I wouldn’t flirt with you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Same here!” Dec banged the bar counter with his
fist for emphasis, making their drink glasses rattle. “I would’ve hit on you in
a heartbeat, Shar,” he sort of slurred. “Because you’re a seriously sexy woman.
But Blake—man, he’d have my head. He told me, like four or five years ago, that
he’d kick my ass if I touched you or even looked at you funny. And I believed
him. So that was that. I mean—”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Wait. My brother told you not to go near me? Not to
touch me?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Damn right he did. Why do you think I never flirted
with you? I’d already lost a couple of teeth in hockey games. I didn’t wanna
lose any more.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Shar sighed. “Well, Blake’s interference when it
comes to you is ridiculous,” she said, feeling the full force of indignation
hitting her. “We can make out or hook up if we want to and not be stupid about
it or get overly attached or anything.” A statement that seemed to make perfect
sense after multiple drinks and very few hours of sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I know, right? We should show ‘em how it’s
done,” Dec suggested.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Yeah,” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"Yeah," he said back. Then he studied the
almost empty whiskey glass in his hand, set it down, and eyed her warily.
“Sharlene, do you really mean that?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="color: red;">***</span></b></h3>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Wishing each of you a wonderful end of February, and here's hoping spring is right around the corner!! 😎</div>
Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-23135471534964767812016-07-13T17:21:00.000-05:002018-05-05T14:39:04.665-05:00STRANGER ON THE SHORE is Available Now!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqS4fC98-91SCostb7GOoMXqka1NoSwzacC7IwPYibYLtCm3TQtaMNWy6eCumV2oHzw6xOWcmTsy-WiGSFQkmyUFj4muakIRUSUvMVBTKeL2_PyzzlQ6-FCUIHiwUUozGCyW4ycw9X2kc/s1600/small+Stranger+full+wrap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="460" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqS4fC98-91SCostb7GOoMXqka1NoSwzacC7IwPYibYLtCm3TQtaMNWy6eCumV2oHzw6xOWcmTsy-WiGSFQkmyUFj4muakIRUSUvMVBTKeL2_PyzzlQ6-FCUIHiwUUozGCyW4ycw9X2kc/s640/small+Stranger+full+wrap.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b>The newest story in the Mirabelle Harbor series is available in ebook and paperback now, and I'm so excited by this release!! For anyone who hasn't yet read the premise, here's the back-cover blurb:</b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: #fffcf4; color: #121212; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1em; word-wrap: break-word;">
<em style="word-wrap: break-word;">On the verge of turning forty and having just lost her job, Marianna Gregory flees Mirabelle Harbor for the summer with little more than a suitcase, her beat-up car, and the blessings of her good friend Olivia Michaelsen. Her ex-husband is living a new life in California. Her college-aged daughter is spending her vacation with her boyfriend in Michigan. And the house Marianna once called her own finally sold, so she has nowhere to live in Illinois now anyway.</em></div>
<div style="background-color: #fffcf4; color: #121212; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1em; word-wrap: break-word;">
<em style="word-wrap: break-word;">However, her wealthy sister Ellen owns an empty bungalow on the beach in Sarasota, Florida, so Marianna turns to the sea for a chance to go shelling, regroup, and figure out what to do with this new chapter in her life. She doesn’t bargain on having to face down several family crises while she’s away, nor does she count on meeting a handsome beachcomber who bears a striking resemblance to Elvis. Just as surprising is the craft project she gets roped into volunteering for and the new group of friends who might just change the way she views the world and her future.</em></div>
<div style="background-color: #fffcf4; color: #121212; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1em; word-wrap: break-word;">
<em style="word-wrap: break-word;">The most unexpected gifts can be found where the land meets the sea. STRANGER ON THE SHORE, a Mirabelle Harbor story. </em></div>
<div style="background-color: #fffcf4; color: #121212; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1em; word-wrap: break-word;">
<strong style="word-wrap: break-word;">**AVAILABLE NOW on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Shore-Mirabelle-Harbor-Book-ebook/dp/B01GQSN2HW" style="background: transparent; color: #006d15; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Kindle</a>, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stranger-on-the-shore-marilyn-brant/1123907541?ean=2940158394591" style="background: transparent; color: #006d15; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Nook</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/stranger-on-the-shore/id1123660463?mt=11" style="background: transparent; color: #006d15; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">iBooks</a>, and <a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/stranger-on-the-shore-mirabelle-harbor-book-4" style="background: transparent; color: #006d15; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Kobo</a> in ebook form, and in paperback on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Shore-Mirabelle-Harbor-Book/dp/0996117873" style="background: transparent; color: #006d15; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Amazon </a>and <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stranger-on-the-shore-marilyn-brant/1123907541?ean=9780996117876" style="background: transparent; color: #006d15; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">B&N</a>!!</strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="color: #121212; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffcf4; line-height: 24px;">A few lovely reviewers have already said:</span></span><br />
<strong style="background-color: #fffcf4; color: #121212; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: red; word-wrap: break-word;"><em style="word-wrap: break-word;">“The summer on the beach and the stranger on the shore is more than a shallow summer read. Though light with characters who keep you in stitches, as only Marilyn knows how to write about, each one adds her piece of blessing to the recipe for a wonderful story with a magical ending.”</em> </span>~Blogging Under the Shade Tree</strong><br />
<strong style="background-color: #fffcf4; color: #121212; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; word-wrap: break-word;"><em style="word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: blue; word-wrap: break-word;"><br />“I have fallen in love with Ms. Brant’s Mirabelle Harbor series, and its characters. #4 in the series, Stranger On the Shore, is no exception. A FUN. Sexy. Perfect Summer read. For the beach. Or just a lazy Summer day.” </span>~</em>Brandy</strong><br />
<strong style="background-color: #fffcf4; line-height: 24px; word-wrap: break-word;"><em style="color: #121212; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: teal; word-wrap: break-word;"><br />“This one just makes me crave the beach.”</span> ~</em><span style="color: #121212; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16px;">Austen Coffee & Music</span><em style="color: #121212; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /><span style="color: #ff6600; word-wrap: break-word;"><br />“Have thoroughly enjoyed the Mirabelle Harbor series and this story is no exception. Marilyn’s descriptive language makes you feel like you are at the beach feeling the sand between your toes…I highly recommend this story.”</span> ~</em><span style="color: #121212; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16px;">Deborah</span><strong style="word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span></strong></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 1em; word-wrap: break-word;">
<strong style="background-color: #fffcf4; line-height: 24px; word-wrap: break-word;"><strong style="word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"</i></span></strong><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><i><b>Sincere and emotionally charged. This wonderful story had me in its grip and transported me to the delightful Sarasota...</b></i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b>The descriptiveness throughout the novel was mesmerizing and brilliant."</b></i></span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> </span><b style="color: #111111;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">~Vee</span></b></span><span style="color: #121212; font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></strong><strong style="background-color: #fffcf4; color: #121212; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; word-wrap: break-word;"><em style="word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: magenta; word-wrap: break-word;"><br />“I have enjoyed every book so far, and I am looking forward to what’s to come next.”</span> ~</em>Gina Rose</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: #fffcf4; color: #121212; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1em; word-wrap: break-word;">
<strong style="word-wrap: break-word;"></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: #fffcf4; color: #121212; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1em; word-wrap: break-word;">
**If you’d like to read an excerpt, I have one <a href="http://www.marilynbrant.com/books/the-mirabelle-harbor-series/stranger-on-the-shore/" style="background: transparent; color: #006d15; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank"><strong style="word-wrap: break-word;">HERE</strong> </a>and another one <a href="http://austenvariations.com/austen-at-the-seaside-an-excerpt-from-stranger-on-the-shore/" style="background: transparent; color: #006d15; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank"><strong style="word-wrap: break-word;">HERE</strong></a>.**<br />
<b>Hope you'll enjoy reading this book half as much as I enjoyed writing it!!</b></div>
Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-37356503474349064822016-05-19T03:00:00.000-05:002018-05-05T14:43:47.105-05:00GOING FOR IT - Out Today!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZNpIjkqQZ8PIMX-FD-APNq25TWN_H6jR6smFVZt2aIDZdSBlyxsDmR3NYUAzQBc4lxbsaiMV05wldt_prSCMDcw_R37G2gP-h97rN_90vB3098kdk2DpvbwXFU1Bsjnn7NRaoKZSKBmc/s1600/small+book+cover+-+going+for+it.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZNpIjkqQZ8PIMX-FD-APNq25TWN_H6jR6smFVZt2aIDZdSBlyxsDmR3NYUAzQBc4lxbsaiMV05wldt_prSCMDcw_R37G2gP-h97rN_90vB3098kdk2DpvbwXFU1Bsjnn7NRaoKZSKBmc/s400/small+book+cover+-+going+for+it.jpg" width="252" /></a></div>
In this crossover novella between my contemporary romance series (Mirabelle Harbor) and my friend <a href="http://erinnicholas.com/sapphirefalls_kw.html" target="_blank">Erin Nicholas's</a> contemporary romance series (Sapphire Falls), my characters Trevor and Tina Marie have a whirlwind love story...<br />
<br />
This is one of the launch books for Erin's Sapphire Falls Kindle World, which means it's a digital-only release on Amazon, but it's a standalone novella that can be read independently of either series. And it was a lot of fun getting to take Trevor (who's one of Blake Michaelsen's friends from <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Give-Love-Name-Mirabelle-Harbor-ebook/dp/B019UNGBVO" target="_blank">YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME</a>) on a road trip to Nebraska, where he could finally meet the redhead of his dreams!<br />
<br />
Here is the summary of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Falls-Kindle-Worlds-Novella-ebook/dp/B01FV7OB0Q" target="_blank">GOING FOR IT</a>:<br />
<br />
<div class="Centered">
<i>Mirabelle Harbor meets
Sapphire Falls...<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="NoIndent">
<br /></div>
<div class="NoIndent">
Journalist Trevor Cayne is working on the biggest feature
story of his career, and he’s on a road trip from his home in the lakeside
Chicago suburb of Mirabelle Harbor to Colorado Springs to get the final
details. But a quick stop to see his grandmother in Sapphire Falls threatens to
derail his carefully constructed plans. Between Gram and her friends, the
weather whims of Mother Nature, and the most stunning redhead he’s ever laid
eyes on in his life, he may not make it further than the western edge of Nebraska.
</div>
<div class="NoIndent">
<br /></div>
<div class="NoIndent">
Aspiring singer-songwriter Tina Marie Moran has vowed to
leave Sapphire Falls for Nashville after this week’s big fireworks—she’s not
even waiting for the Annual Town Festival to come to an end. She’s put her
music dreams on hold for long enough and has no intention of postponing her
plans yet again, least of all for another potentially untrustworthy man. But
between her loving but meddlesome relatives and friends, a broken heart that’s
in desperate need of mending, and a handsome stranger who can play her body
like a virtuoso lead guitarist, she may find herself engulfed in a new passion
that’s as strong as her love of music.</div>
<div class="NoIndent">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="NoIndent">
<i>When it comes to their
creative lives, both Trevor and Tina Marie know all about GOING FOR IT—but are
they willing to put that same drive into what just might be the love of a
lifetime?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="NoIndent">
<br /></div>
<div class="NoIndent">
Hope you'll enjoy it!!!<br />
<br />
<h5 style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: open_sans, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; font-weight: 400; line-height: 21.008px; margin: 0px 0px 0.688rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: blue; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">KINDLE EXCLUSIVE! Buy it <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Falls-Kindle-Worlds-Novella-ebook/dp/B01FV7OB0Q" target="_blank">here</a>:</strong></span></h5>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.008px; line-height: 21.008px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Falls-Kindle-Worlds-Novella-ebook/dp/B01FV7OB0Q" style="border: 0px; color: #b88d28; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><img alt="Amazon" class="alignnone wp-image-217 size-full" src="https://www.marilynbrant.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Amazon.png" height="40" style="border-bottom-style: solid; border-color: rgb(120, 165, 182); border-width: 0px 0px 8px; display: inline-block; float: none; height: auto; margin: 8px 0px 20px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" width="147"></a></div>
</div>
Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-5271671152447504882016-01-19T17:12:00.001-06:002018-05-05T14:43:05.812-05:00You Give Love a Bad Name -- Out January 24th!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuH4ukW_RAdAnDD_Vl-5ReSE8EttGkZdD7nqUdwGVfh0wvD5w77-EHx8-ujR0Nlu8ILkHsjIMFSLWDnZ4DFxc_yE_Y40OcZpIQiQSxDs8fkPDwulBA8rU9CBIS9e7m0v7h4Nz6XVimJkc/s1600/Bad+Name+-+small+full+wrap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuH4ukW_RAdAnDD_Vl-5ReSE8EttGkZdD7nqUdwGVfh0wvD5w77-EHx8-ujR0Nlu8ILkHsjIMFSLWDnZ4DFxc_yE_Y40OcZpIQiQSxDs8fkPDwulBA8rU9CBIS9e7m0v7h4Nz6XVimJkc/s640/Bad+Name+-+small+full+wrap.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
I can't express how excited I am about this new release!! <b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Give-Love-Name-Mirabelle-Harbor-ebook/dp/B019UNGBVO/">You Give Love a Bad Name</a></b>, Book 3 in my Mirabelle Harbor contemporary romance series, will be available on January 24th, and it's up for pre-order on Amazon right now! (Kindle version is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Give-Love-Name-Mirabelle-Harbor-ebook/dp/B019UNGBVO/">here </a>and paperback is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Give-Love-Name-Mirabelle-Harbor/dp/0996117857">here</a>.)<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
All of the books in the series can be enjoyed as standalone stories, and this one is no exception. Check out the back-cover details:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>“Nothing but love, 24/7” is the slogan of Mirabelle Harbor’s only radio station, 102.5 “LOVE” FM. On the verge of turning thirty-five, local DJ Blake Michaelsen is well-known for several reasons: his very sexy on-air voice, his omnipresent family, his eligible bachelor status, and his reputation as one of the most impulsive men in Chicago’s northern suburbs. </b></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>High-school French teacher and lifelong romantic Vicky Bernier is not at all wild about people who exhibit reckless conduct. (Blake.) Or men who have gigantic egos. (Blake.) Or grownups who still act like teenagers. (Blake, again.) She deals with enough adolescent behavior during the school day. Unfortunately, she’s the staff advisor to the Homecoming Committee, and they’ve chosen him as their DJ for the big fall dance. </b></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>What happens when a man whose job it is to play love songs for a living is forced to admit his deepest secret—that he doesn’t believe in true love—only to discover that the one woman who might capture his heart is the same woman who distrusts him the most? </b></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>No matter what you call it, with love there’s an exception to every rule. YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME, a Mirabelle Harbor story.</b></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<b>**I hope you'll all enjoy reading Blake and Vicky's romance as much as I enjoyed writing it! (And that you'll like meeting Blake's dog, Winston, too. ;) Here's a peek at a never-before-seen excerpt from the novel:</b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My friends and I</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> settled our bill and stepped outside of The Lounge just as a ruckus
was getting started next door at Max’s</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Pub</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“You asshole!” this
dopey, burly, drunk guy screamed, ineffectively swinging at another drunk guy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“You witless
dickhead!” slurred the second guy. But that didn’t mask his identity. As soon
as he spoke, I knew who it was. Everyone did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Isn’t that Blake
Michaelsen?” Janet whispered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Yep,” I whispered
back. I’d only seen him in person once before—at a big event at the radio
station this summer—and it was, literally, across a crowded room. But Blake’s
voice on 102.5 LOVE FM was one of the sexiest I’d ever heard. I listened to him
on the radio all the time. And he was my friend Sharlene’s older brother, so I
knew a few additional facts about him than I might have otherwise. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Like that he was
impulsive. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And loud. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And kind of a
manwhore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then again, he had a
rep in town, so most women knew these things, too. It was just that Shar had
actually confirmed them for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Blake landed a
decent punch and sent the other guy stumbling. But Dopey Dude got back up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Oh, boy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Shar was going to be
<i>so</i> pissed when she heard about this.
And she would. Probably within three minutes or less. Gossip traveled at the
speed of sound in Mirabelle Harbor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There was more yelling
between the men, along with a bunch of shouts from the sports-bar crowd
surrounding them. It reminded me of the stupid hall fights I’d had the
misfortune to have to try to break up at the high school. Dumb boy behavior at
its finest. Guys who fought each other because they couldn’t rationally reason
their way through a discussion. So foolish and immature. And, worse, so painful
to the people who actually cared about these cretins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dopey Dude landed a
crushing blow to Blake’s abdomen. He doubled over and fell to the pavement.
Then the other guy started to seriously pummel Blake while the crowd
alternately jeered, taunted, and screamed their encouragement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I winced. Blake’s
dark hair was matted against his forehead with sweat and, also, with some fresh
blood. He had a gash across his cheekbones, dirt on his face and neck, and more
blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And he was
devastatingly handsome, even then. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Although, with the
angry eyes and the snarl on his lips, he looked like the poster child for one
the French revolutionary insurgents in <i>Les
Misérables</i>. If he decided to build a barricade, storm the Bastille, or lead
the crowd in the first verse of “Do You Hear the People Sing?” I wouldn’t dare
to stand in his way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The fact that I
couldn’t guess whether he’d be more like a hero or a terrorist in any uprising
made me immediately uncomfortable, though. I hadn’t known he’d be like this.
His sister could get a little fiery sometimes, but Shar had a marshmallow
heart. Blake, by contrast, looked both self-destructive and vicious. Like he
could quite effectively kill someone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Finally, an officer
came on the scene and broke up the fight. He ordered us all to leave, but I was
rooted to the spot. I couldn’t take my eyes off Blake’s cut-up face. So many
bruises, and he was even spitting blood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Lisa nudged me.
“Let’s go, Vicky.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Before I could make
my feet move, Blake looked up at me and our gazes collided. I kept imagining
the shock Shar would feel if she saw her brother in this horribly battered, sweaty,
and drunken state. She was very protective of her family. But nothing was going
to protect Blake from the wrath of one massive hangover and the need for some
serious first aid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">His eyes turned even
darker and they narrowed dangerously as he continued to stare at me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Christine tugged me
away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“They were like a
couple of wasted jocks after a football game,” she observed on the drive home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I know. I was
thinking the same thing. Like those boys that get into fights in the school
cafeteria. With them, it’s all crazy levels of testosterone and impaired
judgment, leading to damage of property and reckless endangerment of themselves
and others. Imagine someone acting that way after being out of high school for
fifteen years? It’s like they never got all the way through adolescence.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Christine nodded.
“Although I can’t say being a mature grownup all the time is a barrel of
laughs.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I smiled. “True. But
anything is better than being forever seventeen.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I remembered myself
at seventeen and suppressed a shudder. That was one time of my life I’d <i>never</i> want to relive, and I had daily
witness as to why in my classroom. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Though, if forced to
be completely honest with myself, one of the main reasons I’d been drawn to
teaching was to see if I could make high school a better experience for kids
like me. For those quirky, quiet, culture-loving, rule-following bookworms who
really wanted to learn. Not that I was so different now, really. It was just
that, back then, I’d felt so alone. I hadn’t realized there might be others like
me out there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I said goodnight to Christine, went inside my
apartment, and leaned against the door with a deep sigh. I should go to sleep,
but I just couldn’t. All I’d be able to see behind my closed eyes would be
Blake Michaelsen’s bloodied, infuriated face.</span></div>
Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-10737670348200331162015-12-04T23:50:00.001-06:002016-02-10T17:52:22.517-06:00Being on the Set of "Chicago Fire" as an Extra!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoaoXAGg7hOZwK3LiO3CxgjdBVltBgJikzKGD97GXWQttGVWNBgh4aVklIx6mcF5tZ0fk0tsD8H-R_av42wQ75Sa1u6DAzQhSQFPRqtJpp2YMV35Wi8GFgLSRWIJ-kRQpJxmXbjBarygg/s1600/chicago+fire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoaoXAGg7hOZwK3LiO3CxgjdBVltBgJikzKGD97GXWQttGVWNBgh4aVklIx6mcF5tZ0fk0tsD8H-R_av42wQ75Sa1u6DAzQhSQFPRqtJpp2YMV35Wi8GFgLSRWIJ-kRQpJxmXbjBarygg/s320/chicago+fire.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
I shared this story on Facebook earlier today, but I wanted to post it here as well because it was just such fun! :) </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
The city of Chicago is home to some fabulous TV shows, including NBC's "Chicago Fire." A couple of weeks ago, I came upon their casting alert page for extras... Now, I've never done anything like this -- it's been 25 years since I've even been onstage in a community theater production, LOL -- but I really enjoyed this show and the others in set in the same world ("Chicago P.D." & "Chicago Med") and thought it was incredibly cool that they included so many locals as extras.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
So, when there was a casting call at the end of November for a group scene with people of various ages and backgrounds, I submitted my picture and the required info. It was a totally spontaneous thing, and I knew there would be a lot of applicants. I wasn't at all surprised when the film date came & went and I didn't hear back from them... I was, however, utterly stunned this week when one of the casting people left a voice mail for me and asked if I was available to play a "paralegal" extra during their shoot in Chicago yesterday. I had to replay the message 3x before I believed it!! Of course I said YES!!</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
It was such a marvelous experience, and everyone involved -- from the actors to crew members to other extras -- were really nice and very professional. In the snapshot below, Mariana (far left), Sharella, Nancy, and I bonded over being lawyers/paralegals for the day. A couple of them had been extras before, so it was great chatting with them about the shows they'd worked on, as well as books and real-life stuff. For me, the realities of being on a film set, even in a teeny tiny capacity, were just fascinating. You all know how much I love TV. And all forms of storytelling. And actors!! So, truly, it was a feast of delights getting to see how a couple of short scenes were done from beginning to end.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0SiKZzFv_XfmmLJrS1IIjkaSHauqrHODxMk0WnHq1pGQvKfGqbPEMuUPezx9iYuXHvkazDUPmjltV0ogNS8SXDYiO_PgULTY6KhoOAMaYEOVbCBf4I7KPSboqP-534PfDPVHsS2jEzdw/s1600/Mariana%252C+Sharella%252C+Nancy%252C+Me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0SiKZzFv_XfmmLJrS1IIjkaSHauqrHODxMk0WnHq1pGQvKfGqbPEMuUPezx9iYuXHvkazDUPmjltV0ogNS8SXDYiO_PgULTY6KhoOAMaYEOVbCBf4I7KPSboqP-534PfDPVHsS2jEzdw/s400/Mariana%252C+Sharella%252C+Nancy%252C+Me.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
A few observations: There was a lot of standing around and waiting, but I knew to expect that. There was quite a bit of repetition, too, as far as the shooting of each scene (for blocking, for rehearsals, for filming multiple takes and camera angles), but I expected that as well. What I hadn't expected were certain details I'd never thought to consider -- like needing to attach something to the soles of our shoes to muffle the sound they make on the tile. (In one scene, several of us are walking down a hallway, and all of the women's heels were clicking too loudly!) In the other scene, I was sitting on a bench in that same hallway with a male extra who was playing a lawyer, and he was explaining his notes to me -- <i>silently</i>. We were told that even whispering could get picked up by the mic, so we should only mouth the words of our conversation. And there was a crew member running around with a dozen rolls of masking tape in different colors. I saw him use a couple of them to mark spots on the tile for the main actors. And the sweetest lady with hair-styling products, who was determined to get my curly hair to stop frizzing. (A task I'd failed at for <i>decades</i>, by the way. So, she was pretty heroic, in my book!)</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Anyway, I have no idea if I'll actually end up onscreen after the final edits are in...and if I am, I'll most likely be a passing blur with slightly tamed hair, LOL, but I had a blast!! I was told the episode we were shooting was for Season 4, Episode 12. The fall finale of "Chicago Fire" will be this coming Tuesday, December 8th, and that will be Episode 9. So, the one we were working on yesterday should air sometime in the New Year. I'll keep you posted!!</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-top: 6px;">
If you could be cast as an extra on any TV show currently on right now, which would it be?!</div>
Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-1947919377511526912015-10-01T12:29:00.001-05:002021-05-03T11:50:13.084-05:00Happy October!October is here and, with it, some of my favorite images and foods of the year... ;)<br />
<br />
I <b><i>love </i></b>fall leaves, and though the trees have only just begun changing in my part of the world, I'm looking forward to later this month when the roads will be lined with trees tinged red, orange, and gold.<div><br /></div>And I <i><b>love </b></i>pumpkin-spiced chai tea lattes... They're warm, sweet, deliciously scented, and they just make me happy. I want to share the joy, so here is a recipe for a homemade version that I recently tried, and I hope you'll like it, too:<br />
<br />
Makes 2 Servings<br />
<br />
1 teabag of spiced chai<br />
1 cup 2% or whole milk, almond milk, soy milk, or coconut milk<br />
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or use a combination of cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, and ground cloves)<br />
4 tablespoons pur<span class="hvr" face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;">éed </span>pumpkin<br />
1 teaspoon vanilla extract<br />
2 tablespoons maple syrup<br />
A few swirls of whipped cream (optional)<br />
A dash of cinnamon for garnish<br />
<br />
Boil 1 cup of water in a saucepan, add in the teabag and let it steep for 5 minutes. Remove teabag. Add the milk, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract, maple syrup, and pur<span class="hvr" face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;">éed </span>pumpkin to the pan. Mix well by hand (or put it all in the blender for a minute). Then pour it back into the pan and warm it up on the stove top. Divide between two mugs. Swirl some whipped cream on top (if desired) and add a dash of cinnamon to each. Enjoy!!Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-26425901301751594902015-07-28T14:00:00.002-05:002021-05-03T11:57:38.110-05:00Read-A-Romance Month 2015 - The Joy of Romance and a Giveaway!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBNqtJp5YRBH3nZCyCiuUpL3AMMVZBPuGJwu795NRUcXSItHsIiT7FtPGvEVYh0qwrxe3W1b6GkrBuso9b8tRGV4e3SIbXDXAgoUTUIUhFOJOmv17Adu6RVOernYI0H_hffcJvJiniEfg/s1600/the+one+that+I+want+-+404+x+612.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBNqtJp5YRBH3nZCyCiuUpL3AMMVZBPuGJwu795NRUcXSItHsIiT7FtPGvEVYh0qwrxe3W1b6GkrBuso9b8tRGV4e3SIbXDXAgoUTUIUhFOJOmv17Adu6RVOernYI0H_hffcJvJiniEfg/s320/the+one+that+I+want+-+404+x+612.jpg" width="211" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The One That I Want (Mirabelle Harbor,<br />
Book 2) - just released!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Many thanks to Lorelei from <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Loreleislitlair?fref=ts" target="_blank">Lorelei's Lit Lair</a> </b>(read her essay <a href="http://www.readaromancemonth.com/2015/08/loreleis-lit-lair-a-joyous-journey-to-romance/">here</a>)<b> </b>for inviting me to participate in this year's celebration and also to Bobbi Dumas who created the<b> <a href="http://www.readaromancemonth.com/" target="_blank">Read-A-Romance Month</a> </b>event!! Such a fantastic idea, and I'm so pleased to be a part of it, ladies!<br />
<br />
<b>A Few Thoughts on Romance:</b><br />
<br />
I don't know what's going on this summer, but it's been a time where several people close to me have gotten some very difficult news. There have been a few health crises, the sad loss of loved ones, deep frustrations with relationships or careers, and worries about children...<br />
<br />
In a couple of cases, the first thing I did after giving that friend a hug was to offer her a romance novel by one of the many authors whose work I enjoyed. Something joyful and uplifting that would hopefully make my friend laugh and provide for her a short-term mental escape from the darker, daily-life realities. I can't tell you all the number of times that a reader has sent me or another romance author a message through social media thanking us for writing stories that are funny, touching, and ultimately optimistic and hopeful. I've personally received some beautiful emails from readers who were sitting at hospital bedsides with a sick parent/spouse/child, and they told me how grateful they were to read a story that brought a smile to their faces during a time when they most needed it.<br />
<br />
This is one of the reasons that I love to write humorous contemporary romances and romantic women's fiction. Because the reader in me does the very same thing when I'm sad -- I reach for a romance novel to remind me of some of life's most joyful moments. The authors whose books I escaped into were lifesavers. They helped me keep my spirits up and gave me mental images that were -- for a brief while, at least -- as real to me as the world I was inhabiting. I'll never stop being appreciative of that gift!<br />
<br />
<b>The Questions:</b><br />
<br />
<b>1. Tell us about a moment in your life when you experienced sheer joy:</b><br />
When I got the call from RWA that the manuscript that later became my debut novel -- <b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/According-Jane-Marilyn-Brant-ebook/dp/B002OFVOVS/" target="_blank">According to Jane</a></b> -- was a finalist for the Golden Heart Award. A few months later, at the 2007 national Romance Writers of America's conference in Dallas, it won! That was so exciting. I still smile when I think of it :).<br />
<br />
<b>2. Tell us about a place that brings you joy or is attached to a memory of joy: </b><br />
Seeing Venice, Italy for the first time. I was utterly spellbound. It looked just as I'd imagined it would be, but even better. We came around the Grand Canal in a water bus and saw San Marco's Square, and the sight of it in the sunlight took my breath away. It's simply gorgeous. (I got to write about the city in <b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Europe-Marilyn-Brant-ebook/dp/B005G023VI/" target="_blank">A Summer in Europe</a></b>, and I gave my character Gwen some of my real first impressions!)<br />
<br />
<b>3. Tell us about a sound that brings you joy: </b><br />
Music is a huge part of my life. I've enjoyed being a singer in a women's barbershop choir, a cast member in a community theater musical, and a dancer in a touring dance group that traveled through Europe with a live band. I also studied viola, piano, and guitar. So live music -- in a multitude of genres -- always brings me joy!<br />
<br />
<b>4. What recent book have you read that brought you joy?</b><br />
I loved THE ROSIE PROJECT by Graeme Simsion. It's an unusual romance that I found to be really heartwarming and humorous.<br />
<br />
<b>5. And, for fun, the joy of choice -- which Chris: Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pine, Chris Pratt, Chris, Rock, Chris Evans, or Christopher Plummer?</b><br />
This was the hardest question!! I really like all of these actors...but I posted a picture of my personal favorite below. Mmmm!!<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNsDXAq22sYbVeKA9n-K0BiFsTotW0CZwd18_T_DdREIPrIcaxzsNrfzAOSMmqE1UJx54Rs4AY8BHTIvZZM82E4TkbBSPnhXsJpp29UiFxAlIaLihvBmubLWhn0dnNLz59PqWi-SM57LI/s1600/TakeAChanceOnMe-EBook-412x625.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNsDXAq22sYbVeKA9n-K0BiFsTotW0CZwd18_T_DdREIPrIcaxzsNrfzAOSMmqE1UJx54Rs4AY8BHTIvZZM82E4TkbBSPnhXsJpp29UiFxAlIaLihvBmubLWhn0dnNLz59PqWi-SM57LI/s320/TakeAChanceOnMe-EBook-412x625.jpg" width="210" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Take a Chance on Me (Mirabelle Harbor,<br />
Book 1) - out now!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>The Giveaway:</b><br />
In celebration of the release of my new Mirabelle Harbor series, I'm giving away a digital copy of the opening novella (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Take-Chance-Mirabelle-Harbor-Book-ebook/dp/B011W01AF0/" target="_blank">TAKE A CHANCE ON ME</a> - Book 1) to one commenter on this post! Winner's choice of format (epub, mobi, or pdf). The contest is open internationally, and I'll do a random drawing for the winner around noon Central Time on August 18th. PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS in the comments, so I can easily contact you if you win the ebook!<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Here's some info about the first two books in this new romantic series:</b><br />
<br />
<b>TAKE A CHANCE ON ME </b><br /><i><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="background: white; line-height: 115%;">Take a Chance on Me is a standalone romantic-comedy
novella and Book 1 in Marilyn Brant’s Mirabelle Harbor series. Dedicated
personal trainer Chance Michaelsen falls hard for Nia Pappayiannis—his complete
opposite and a member of the family that owns the Greek bakery just down the
street from his gym. He considers their pastries to be the enemy of good health,
but he can’t quite shake his attraction to Nia, who doesn’t seem nearly as
impressed with him or his sculpted physique as most of the women around town</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: white;">Unfortunately,
between her doctor’s orders and the interfering ways of Chance’s crazy-making
ex-girlfriend, who just happens to be one of Nia’s long-time friends, Chance
gets assigned to be Nia’s fitness coach for the month. Pure torture. And if his
ex weren’t already causing enough problems, he also has to deal with Nia’s
current boyfriend—some hotshot Chicago CEO who talks big but, in Chance’s
opinion, is as fake as a Styrofoam barbell.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: white;">Nia may have her
doubts about a romance with him, but Chance has a well-developed competitive streak and
might just be willing to give it a shot...if he can convince her to do the
same.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: white;">In
matters of the heart, would you risk it all?</span></span></span></i><br />
<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: white;"><br /><b>[Available now on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Take-Chance-Mirabelle-Harbor-Book-ebook/dp/B011W01AF0/" target="_blank">Amazon</a>,<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/take-a-chance-on-me-marilyn-brant/1122325339?ean=2940151025256" target="_blank"> B&N</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/take-a-chance-on-me/id1021377315?mt=11" target="_blank">iBooks</a>, and <a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/take-a-chance-on-me-mirabelle-harbor-book-1" target="_blank">Kobo </a>-- as well as in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Take-Chance-Mirabelle-Harbor-Book/dp/0996117830/" target="_blank">paperback</a>!]</b></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<b>THE ONE THAT I WANT</b><br /><i><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The One That I Want is Book 2 in the Mirabelle Harbor series, and it's a full-length standalone novel. <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.32px;">The summer after her beloved husband died in a car accident, Julia Meriwether Crane is still picking up the pieces of her life in Mirabelle Harbor and trying to help her ten-year-old daughter adjust to this difficult new reality.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.32px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.32px;">After her best friend Sharlene—one of the well-connected Michaelsen siblings—talks her into finally going out on the town again, Julia finds herself stunned to be the object of interest of several different men: The boy who’d broken her heart back in high school. The college ex she’d left behind. And most surprising of all, the movie actor she’d always fantasized about but had never met in person...until now. Can one woman have more than one “great love” in the same lifetime? And, if so, how can she be sure which man that’ll be?</span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.32px;" /><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.32px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.32px;">Sometimes the person you think will be best for you isn’t the one you really want.</span></span></i><br />
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">[Available now on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/That-Want-Mirabelle-Harbor-Book-ebook/dp/B0106BJVUW/" target="_blank">Amazon</a>, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-one-that-i-want-marilyn-brant/1122220599?ean=2940150992863" target="_blank">B&N</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-one-that-i-want/id1016717611?mt=11" target="_blank">iBooks</a>, and <a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-one-that-i-want-mirabelle-harbor-book-2" target="_blank">Kobo</a> -- as well as in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/That-Want-Mirabelle-Harbor-Book/dp/0996117814/" target="_blank">paperback</a>!]</b><br />
<br />
<b>Some Favorite Writers I Recommend:</b><br />
I love all of these authors! Each of them writes wonderfully romantic stories (sometimes blended with mystery, suspense, paranormal, fantasy/sci-fi, or historical elements...) and, what's more, they're some of the kindest and most generous people I know ;). At one point, we all blogged together on <a href="http://magicalmusings.com/" target="_blank">Magical Musings</a> -- a fabulous site for both readers and writers -- and it was always a pleasure to spend time with them there!<br />
<br />
Please check out their websites/posts below:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://robinbielman.com/"><b>Robin Bielman</b></a><br />
<a href="http://www.michellediener.com/"><b>Michelle Diener</b></a><br />
<a href="http://magicalmusings.com/2015/07/21/sisters-and-south-of-the-border-romance-by-misty-evans/" target="_blank"><b>Misty Evans</b></a><br />
<a href="http://magicalmusings.com/2015/07/20/love-murder-books-are-live/" target="_blank"><b>Edie Ramer</b></a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHWzvamCafCknWNjqe1JMkG0uRNGN1PBHjVF3oq7-Dd2GW4CkCtNeuI0_xHGHw6H21ucjJy6b0ZCvs7AokQCG8xW5LQFEZQr0VVJQ3RXWHSAsiTBytwZ3L6EYOkasNICZ-VPTh7bCtWrM/s1600/Marilyn+Brant--author+photo.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHWzvamCafCknWNjqe1JMkG0uRNGN1PBHjVF3oq7-Dd2GW4CkCtNeuI0_xHGHw6H21ucjJy6b0ZCvs7AokQCG8xW5LQFEZQr0VVJQ3RXWHSAsiTBytwZ3L6EYOkasNICZ-VPTh7bCtWrM/s200/Marilyn+Brant--author+photo.jpg" width="160" /></a></div>
<b>My Author Bio:</b><br />
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: "PT Sans", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.008px; line-height: 21.008px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="bodyText style29" style="border: 0px; color: blue; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="bodyText style25" style="border: 0px; color: #3300cc; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="bodyText style28" style="border: 0px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Marilyn Brant is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary women’s fiction, romantic comedy and mystery. She was named the Author of the Year (2013) by the Illinois Association of Teachers of English. She loves all things Jane Austen, has a passion for Sherlock Holmes, is a travel addict and a music junkie, and lives on chocolate and gelato. Visit her website: <a href="http://www.marilynbrant.com/">www.marilynbrant.com</a> and keep an eye out for more novels this year in her new "Mirabelle Harbor" series.</span></span></span><span class="bodyText style30" style="border: 0px; color: #3300cc; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></div>
<div>
<span class="bodyText style30" style="border: 0px; color: #3300cc; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></div>
Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-8517578728439299662015-07-22T00:13:00.003-05:002015-10-01T09:53:07.604-05:00TAKE A CHANCE ON ME is Released This Week - 99 Cents for a Limited Time!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6hNxqvivrbDqBVSe2VvXdMvmvXdBS3tX4Nf5sV1ZyU62W1RjbO6GGA2AQzR_UmZanSAP7Asm0qat5sgJ5_G6qMTT35VS-CLzlrE1HYDI-5MJgL1bi_5XmRMl7ujiOVKmZt5eUfkn4bSE/s1600/TakeAChanceOnMe-EBook-412x625.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6hNxqvivrbDqBVSe2VvXdMvmvXdBS3tX4Nf5sV1ZyU62W1RjbO6GGA2AQzR_UmZanSAP7Asm0qat5sgJ5_G6qMTT35VS-CLzlrE1HYDI-5MJgL1bi_5XmRMl7ujiOVKmZt5eUfkn4bSE/s400/TakeAChanceOnMe-EBook-412x625.jpg" width="262" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
The first release in my new Mirabelle Harbor series -- TAKE A CHANCE ON ME -- is out this week!!!</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
**Pausing to throw confetti in the air & do a happy dance, LOL.**</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
For anyone who isn't familiar with the premise for this stand-alone romantic novella, here it is: </div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<i><span style="color: #4c1130;"><span class="yiv6483577189" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437250725301_3205" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 16.1000003814697px;"><b>Dedicated personal trainer Chance Michaelsen falls hard for Nia Pappayiannis—his complete opposite and a member of the family that owns the Greek bakery just down the street from his gym. He considers their pastries to be the enemy of good health, but he can’t quite shake his attraction to Nia, who doesn’t seem nearly as impressed with him or his sculpted physique as most of the women around town</b></span><span class="yiv6483577189" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437250725301_3203" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 16.1000003814697px;"><b><br class="yiv6483577189" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437250725301_3208" /><br class="yiv6483577189" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437250725301_3210" /><span class="yiv6483577189" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437250725301_3212">Unfortunately, between her doctor’s orders and the interfering ways of Chance’s crazy-making ex-girlfriend, who just happens to be one of Nia’s long-time friends, Chance gets assigned to be Nia’s fitness coach for the month. Pure torture. And if his ex weren’t already causing enough problems, he also has to deal with Nia’s current boyfriend—some hotshot Chicago CEO who talks big but, in Chance’s opinion, is as fake as a Styrofoam barbell.<span class="yiv6483577189" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437250725301_3214"> </span></span><br class="yiv6483577189" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437250725301_3216" /><br class="yiv6483577189" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437250725301_3218" /><span class="yiv6483577189" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437250725301_3220">Nia may have her doubts about a romance with him, but Chance has a well-developed competitive streak and might just be willing to give it a shot...if he can convince her to do the same.<span class="yiv6483577189" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437250725301_3222"> </span></span></b><br class="yiv6483577189" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437250725301_3224" /><br class="yiv6483577189" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437250725301_3226" /><span class="yiv6483577189" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437250725301_3228"><b>In matters of the heart, would you risk it all? TAKE A CHANCE ON ME, a Mirabelle Harbor story.</b></span></span></span></i></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<b>**</b></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<b>Review</b></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="background-color: white;">"Take a chance and get lost between the covers of this delightful summer novella." ~Blogging Under the Shade Tree Reviews</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: PTSans, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0px; line-height: 18px;">I loved this story, while reading it, I kept flashing back to My Big Fat Greek Wedding whenever Nia's family is around, such a wonderful big crazy Greek family, loved it. And I loved Chance, the turmoil he feels about Nia was amazing, fighting that inner battle on what to do, it's a love story that is beautifully written. If you want a love story that makes you feel good, then this is the book, a must read!</span><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: PTSans, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0px; line-height: 18px;">I loved this story, while reading it, I kept flashing back to My Big Fat Greek Wedding whenever Nia's family is around, such a wonderful big crazy Greek family, loved it. And I loved Chance, the turmoil he feels about Nia was amazing, fighting that inner battle on what to do, it's a love story that is beautifully written. If you want a love story that makes you feel good, then this is the book, a must read!</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<span id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1436639670429_2586"><b id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437167017767_2679">**</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<b>Buy Links</b><br id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437167017767_2677" />Amazon: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Take-Chance-Mirabelle-Harbor-Book-ebook/dp/B011W01AF0/" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437167017767_2669" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: blue; cursor: text !important; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/Take-Chance-Mirabelle-Harbor-Book-ebook/dp/B011W01AF0/</a></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<span id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1436639670429_2690">B&N: <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/take-a-chance-on-me-marilyn-brant/1122325339?ean=2940151025256" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437228677439_2637" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: blue; cursor: text !important; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/take-a-chance-on-me-marilyn-brant/1122325339?ean=2940151025256</a></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<span id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1436639670429_2689">Apple: <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/take-a-chance-on-me/id1021377315?mt=11" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437512430774_4325" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: blue; cursor: text !important; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/take-a-chance-on-me/id1021377315?mt=11</a></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<span id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1436639670429_2688">Kobo: <a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/take-a-chance-on-me-mirabelle-harbor-book-1" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437496311994_13136" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: blue; cursor: text !important; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/take-a-chance-on-me-mirabelle-harbor-book-1</a></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<span id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1436639670429_2691">Smashwords: <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/561319" id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1437228677439_7325" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: blue; cursor: text !important; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/561319</a></span></div>
<div id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
Paperback: (coming soon!)</div>
<div id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div id="yiv6483577189yui_3_16_0_1_1435788555854_6610" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
Wishing you all a wonderful end of July...and looking forward to celebrating THE JOY OF ROMANCE through the month of August! :) </div>
Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-77007205932240582072015-07-04T15:50:00.002-05:002021-05-03T11:53:21.418-05:00Welcome to Mirabelle Harbor!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggvx4GtCOWyrAvi_Z2qyPPNWFwV_zk4DI8Kau7lraWy6O7LLsK3f6L6hUpXX0nnBvipeMViVzF3SAi_pkb7yj1n6gZaBWN4B_gZ3lWmEKKQs0p3CSaJvVQW0i4Bc70beZ-2anMSNl_eto/s1600/the+one+that+I+want+-+404+x+612.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggvx4GtCOWyrAvi_Z2qyPPNWFwV_zk4DI8Kau7lraWy6O7LLsK3f6L6hUpXX0nnBvipeMViVzF3SAi_pkb7yj1n6gZaBWN4B_gZ3lWmEKKQs0p3CSaJvVQW0i4Bc70beZ-2anMSNl_eto/s1600/the+one+that+I+want+-+404+x+612.jpg" /></a></div>
It's been a long time coming...but I can finally share the news about my upcoming contemporary romance series -- Mirabelle Harbor -- and the release dates for the first 2 books in the series!!<br />
<br />
The first is a romantic novella called TAKE A CHANCE ON ME, and it'll be coming out on the 21st of July. Can't wait to reveal the cover in about ten days (!!), but here's a bit about that story:<br />
<br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;">Welcome to Mirabelle Harbor! In this scenic suburb on Chicago’s North Shore, overlooking the sparkling waters of Lake Michigan, the Michaelsen family has made their home for generations. Although their parents and grandparents are now gone, siblings Derek, Blake, Sharlene, and the twins—Chandler and Chance—all have fond memories of growing up in town, and most still live there. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;">Chance Michaelsen, the youngest member of the family (by two minutes) and the quietest (by far), is a dedicated twenty-eight-year-old personal trainer at the local gym. While he might not say much, Chance has made it clear that he’s not a fan of toxic people, unhealthy habits, or sharing too many of his emotions. With anybody.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;">Enter Antonia “Nia” Pappayiannis—the prettiest member of the loudest and most overly demonstrative family in town. They’re also the owners of The Gala, a Greek restaurant and bakery known for its decadent pastries and located just a few steps from Chance’s gym. He considers their entire family business to be the enemy of good health, but he can’t quite shake his attraction to Nia, who doesn’t seem nearly as impressed with him or his sculpted physique as most of the women around Mirabelle Harbor. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;">Unfortunately, between her doctor’s orders and the interfering ways of Chance’s crazy-making ex-girlfriend, who just happens to be one of Nia’s long-time friends, Chance gets assigned to be Nia’s fitness coach for the month. Pure torture. And if his ex weren’t already causing enough problems, he also has to deal with Nia’s current boyfriend—some hotshot Chicago CEO who talks big but, in Chance’s opinion, is as fake as a Styrofoam barbell. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;">The road to romance is going to be a rocky one, and though Nia has her doubts about moving forward, Chance has a well-developed competitive streak and might just be willing to give it a shot...if he can convince her to do the same.</span></i><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;" />
<em style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;"><b>In matters of the heart, would you risk it all? TAKE A CHANCE ON ME, a Mirabelle Harbor story.</b></em><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
And coming out just a few days later, on July 26th, is a full-length novel and the second Mirabelle Harbor book -- THE ONE THAT I WANT -- which is up for pre-order on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0106BJVUW/" target="_blank">Amazon</a>, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-one-that-i-want-marilyn-brant/1122220599?ean=2940150992863" target="_blank">B&N</a>, <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/552940" target="_blank">Smashwords</a>, and <a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-one-that-i-want-mirabelle-harbor-book-2" target="_blank">Kobo </a>right now (coming soon to iBooks)!! Check out the book cover above, designed by the talented Sarah Hansen -- I love it! And here is the back-cover blurb for this novel, a story that involves some of my favorite things...movie stars, modern characters inspired by Austen, and caramel brownies:<br />
<br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;">The summer after her beloved husband died in a car accident, Julia Meriwether Crane is still picking up the pieces of her life in Mirabelle Harbor and trying to help her ten-year-old daughter adjust to this difficult new reality.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;">After her best friend Sharlene—one of the well-connected Michaelsen siblings—talks her into finally going out on the town again, Julia finds herself stunned to be the object of interest of several different men: The boy who’d broken her heart back in high school. The college ex she’d left behind. And most surprising of all, the movie actor she’d always fantasized about but had never met in person...until now. Can one woman have more than one “great love” in the same lifetime? And, if so, how can she be sure which man that’ll be?</span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span></i>
<em style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;"><b>Sometimes the person you think will be best for you isn’t the one you really want. THE ONE THAT I WANT, a Mirabelle Harbor story.</b></em><br />
<em style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></em>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;">All of the books in the series are stand-alone stories, connected through the town and a relationship to the Michaelsen family, so they can be read in any order! Looking forward to sharing more book launch details and celebrations soon! </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.8px; line-height: 19.32px;">And Happy 4th of July :) .</span>Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-23766070234572315552015-05-03T00:45:00.003-05:002015-10-01T09:54:34.359-05:00Wanderlust in Suburbia -- Out Now!!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKX2_eHOfCTsBJqqFPMK2G7BfdTK4ZmN_phoDWr9cthTV5hNwGfXagm9F8r7LrRKgkLs6XzEzygm0HH0cRuKQAiRlyll753YA7yYLcV8DWZASfnW7NG2up0uIwJG9xdhZhLK6MziFLtcI/s1600/Wanderlust-Brant+400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKX2_eHOfCTsBJqqFPMK2G7BfdTK4ZmN_phoDWr9cthTV5hNwGfXagm9F8r7LrRKgkLs6XzEzygm0HH0cRuKQAiRlyll753YA7yYLcV8DWZASfnW7NG2up0uIwJG9xdhZhLK6MziFLtcI/s1600/Wanderlust-Brant+400x600.jpg" width="266" /></a>This is a project I've wanted to see on the bookshelves for a long time...<br />
<br />
Back before I got my first publishing contract for contemporary women's fiction, I spent a decade as a freelance magazine writer for a number of parenting magazines. <b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wanderlust-Suburbia-Other-Reflections-Motherhood-ebook/dp/B00WUYN1Z0" target="_blank">Wanderlust in Suburbia and Other Reflections on Motherhood </a></i></b>represents some of my favorite personal essays (21 of them, in fact, along with a handful of published poems) that I'd written about being a new mom during that time.<br />
<br />
In honor of Mother's Day, the ebook version is on sale for just 99 cents right now on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wanderlust-Suburbia-Other-Reflections-Motherhood-ebook/dp/B00WUYN1Z0" target="_blank">Kindle </a>and <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wanderlust-in-suburbia-and-other-reflections-on-motherhood-marilyn-brant/1121834279?ean=2940151559058" target="_blank">Nook</a> (regular price $2.99). And there's a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wanderlust-Suburbia-Other-Reflections-Motherhood/dp/0989316092/" target="_blank">Paperback </a>edition available, too, for only $8.99 on Amazon.<br />
<br />
I hope you'll take a peek at the book -- and if you'd like to read one of the essays, I have a complete one excerpted <a href="http://www.marilynbrant.com/books/wanderlust-in-suburbia/" target="_blank">HERE</a>! If you're looking for a fun gift idea this month for your mom, stepmom, mother-in-law, grandmother, aunt, sister, or friend...please check out the collection!!<br />
<br />
Happy May, everyone! :)Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-24270983173956444302015-03-14T19:37:00.001-05:002015-10-01T09:54:19.865-05:00THE ROAD AND BEYOND Giveaway!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFs6uX8PWkM7pkUmJxfPiqLGzEk4FJ_7JtCC5J1Log4cN3Tm6wl14fbWNMl07oKUraAR5L1aFo0idN-TBcjjvMSScp1c3weMnZ95xXdSynJkmvUUPoAeqUcDF6YHfpUVLw3EJR6gnHr7Y/s1600/The+Road+and+Beyond+-+small+270x407.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFs6uX8PWkM7pkUmJxfPiqLGzEk4FJ_7JtCC5J1Log4cN3Tm6wl14fbWNMl07oKUraAR5L1aFo0idN-TBcjjvMSScp1c3weMnZ95xXdSynJkmvUUPoAeqUcDF6YHfpUVLw3EJR6gnHr7Y/s1600/The+Road+and+Beyond+-+small+270x407.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
In honor of the recent release of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Road-Beyond-Expanded-Book-Club-You-ebook/dp/B00NGUGRB2/" target="_blank">The Road and Beyond </a>in paperback, I'm giving away one ebook (PDF) copy of the novel to one commenter on this post! It's open internationally, and all you need to do to enter is to tell me in the comments below about a road trip you've either taken or want to take :) .<br />
<br />
This contest is open until March 31st (noon, Central Time), and I'll draw the name of the random winner that afternoon/evening. Looking forward to reading about your trips!<br />
<br />
I have pictures from my own trip -- the journey I took to research this story, which is the expanded version of my coming-of-age romantic mystery <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Road-You-Marilyn-Brant-ebook/dp/B00FIXEVY0/" target="_blank">The Road to You </a>-- when my family and I took a long trek down Historic Route 66. Check out the photos from Chicago to Albuquerque/Santa Fe right <a href="http://www.marilynbrant.com/books/the-road-to-you/the-route-66-road-trip/" target="_blank">HERE</a>!!<br />
<br />
And below is a short excerpt from the story:<br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Pasadena, California ~ Friday, August 15, 2014</em></span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> No one else was home, of course, when I got the call that my twenty-eight-year-old son was missing.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The Benson Plastics people are already here for the eleven o’clock presentation, but Charlie isn’t,” Gloria, the company’s secretary, informed me, her piercing voice tinged with an edge of hysteria. I’d only spoken with the woman on the phone twice before, but I got the distinct impression that her circuits were forever at risk of being overloaded.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“He’s not answering his cell?” I asked, surprised more than anything, actually, because both of my boys had their iPhones all but super-glued to their palms.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Aurora, I’ve tried to reach him for an hour and a half,” Gloria insisted, the shrillness in her tone rising like high notes in a chorus and dancing for dear life on the other end of the line. “There’s no answer at home. His cell goes straight to voicemail. And I even called his girlfriend because she’s his first contact. She has no idea where Charlie is either. You’re his second contact, so I hope you’ll know where we can reach him.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">For a long, uncomfortable moment I was distracted by something ridiculous. The fact that I was only my son’s <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">second</em> contact. Well, he was practically living with Cassandra, so I supposed it made sense that she was his first. But still…</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Then the deeper meaning of the secretary’s comments seeped in. <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">No one knows where Charlie is.</em> I tried to be calm, reasonable, rational and not like some TV sitcom mother who’d overreact to everything. But, naturally, given my family’s history, that was impossible.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I fought back the panic and asked, “Was he at work yesterday?”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes,” Gloria said. “He was here when I left at four-twenty, and one of the department heads said he saw Charlie still working at his desk when <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">he</em> left at five. Martin, the team leader, was going to give the presentation to the plastics people this morning, but his wife called in saying he was sick with bronchitis. So, Charlie is the one who should be leading the meeting, but he didn’t come in or call in an absence, and none of the managers here were told about any changes in his plans.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I understood instinctively that Gloria’s first priority and much of her loyalty was to the company—Cornman, Grabher & Pressly—a financial firm my youngest son had worked at for these past three years. But it irked me that her focus remained on not disappointing “the plastics people,” rather than on my son’s safety.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“He never said anything to me about being gone from work today,” I admitted, my mind reeling with that ever-present parental worry, which spun a dangerous path from my head to my gut. It settled there and began its slow, painful twisting.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Where is he? Is he okay? Why didn’t he tell anyone where he was going? Unless, of course, he wasn’t able to tell because he was hurt or in danger…or worse.</em></span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The questions started, and it was like 1976 all over again.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“I’ll call his father and his brother,” I told the secretary. “If either of them know anything, I’ll contact you immediately.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Thanks,” the secretary said, but I could tell her attention was still fixed entirely on the wrong things, at least in my opinion. Then, finally, she added, “This just doesn’t seem like him.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“No,” I said. “No, it doesn’t.”</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I hung up. I knew my son. He was a risk taker, an adventurous type, the kind of guy who loved thrill rides and fast cars and extreme sports. Different from his computer-obsessed older brother, who played Xbox when he was in the mood for <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">serious</em> activity and read ebooks when he was tired of programming things on his PC.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">But Charlie wasn’t irresponsible. If he was going to be gone from work, he would have told somebody. Maybe not me, but <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">someone</em>.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I thought back to when I’d spoken with him last—on Wednesday night. I’d asked him about his girlfriend Cassandra. <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">She’s okay</em>, he’d said. And about work. <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Yeah, it’s fine</em>. And if he had any special plans coming up. <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nope</em>.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The ticking clock on the wall marked the passing minutes as my worry flooded the rest of my body. Ripples of dread meted out in sixty-second increments. Everything had seemed all right with him just two days ago but, then, kids often lied to their parents or, at the very least, withheld crucial information.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I should know.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.0080003738403px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPBBzzd2Sw65HmmEOB6fvp3pzCR4FR9Ooc-yohLHFsEBHpov2MS0aKnjP6d9gvMbPAZWJyalcQ42DBvchQD_-RqJWOOBO8bpvOOVUD-u_Bf-UAikjB5jKvtNIS5GyxpYfvQeZgG8sfKPI/s1600/pi+day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPBBzzd2Sw65HmmEOB6fvp3pzCR4FR9Ooc-yohLHFsEBHpov2MS0aKnjP6d9gvMbPAZWJyalcQ42DBvchQD_-RqJWOOBO8bpvOOVUD-u_Bf-UAikjB5jKvtNIS5GyxpYfvQeZgG8sfKPI/s1600/pi+day.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">~*~*~<br />For all of my math-loving friends, Happy "Pi Day" (3.141592653...) by the way!! Hope you celebrated with a little pie treat or two. I know I did :D . </span></div>
Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-36115695499934079482014-12-05T23:03:00.002-06:002014-12-05T23:03:33.271-06:00THE PERFECT PAIR Boxed Set is Out Now!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrmYjrhfGhXI27jCnBF1t3zvrQkMMTtC7mJJxEr9Ae-sWX63XHXpN3dQtzedmoex52Q-EVew0qAFsvZn-AGyvCN5mLexwxEfzracdZPQ3QaGdEFepGtXyjsOztFFC1tETcHR12E6jlcX0/s1600/Perfect+Pair+boxed+set+-+NEW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrmYjrhfGhXI27jCnBF1t3zvrQkMMTtC7mJJxEr9Ae-sWX63XHXpN3dQtzedmoex52Q-EVew0qAFsvZn-AGyvCN5mLexwxEfzracdZPQ3QaGdEFepGtXyjsOztFFC1tETcHR12E6jlcX0/s1600/Perfect+Pair+boxed+set+-+NEW.jpg" height="400" width="310" /></a></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b>THE PERFECT PAIR</b> of Austen-Inspired Modern Romantic Comedies ... is available now on <b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Pair-Marilyn-Brant-ebook/dp/B00QGY3U7E" target="_blank">Kindle</a></b>, <b><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-perfect-pair-marilyn-brant/1120845972?ean=2940150192287" target="_blank">Nook</a></b>, <b><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/498128" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></b>, and <b><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-perfect-pair/id948396279?mt=11" target="_blank">iBooks</a></b>!! (Coming soon to <b>Kobo</b>, too. ;)</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
It's here in time for the holidays! The boxed set containing my duo of fast-paced contemporary romantic comedies with a nod to Jane Austen is finally on the digital bookshelves.<i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Perfect-Match-Marilyn-ebook/dp/B00AYLN5TI/" target="_blank"> Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Match</a></b></i> & <i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Perfect-Marilyn-Brant-ebook/dp/B00LROV6NI/" target="_blank">Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Bet </a></b></i>are companion novels but they can be enjoyed as stand-alone stories. For anyone who hasn't read them yet, below are the plot details for each book, and you can read excerpts from both stories on my website as well (check out the links: <a href="http://www.marilynbrant.com/books/pride-prejudice-and-the-perfect-match/" target="_blank">Perfect Match excerpt</a> & <a href="http://www.marilynbrant.com/books/pride-prejudice-and-the-perfect-bet/" target="_blank">Perfect Bet excerpt</a>). Hope you'll enjoy, and best wishes for a safe, healthy, and joyous Holiday Season!</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">***</span></b></em></span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></em></strong></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Match</em></strong></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAo6IuxddgbHO-0avBygwTWIz0l4fxM4_xZOw655pNtL4lmFDKxqX0lwJj6nA0Sr3zvjMkfChn82BbwBBnkNWKW-1COV3CLlI4xOl-H9l-FM-Ke0gETwleaVuKN9CYc2p-21Qj_mNnwt0/s1600/Pride,+Prejudice+and+the+Perfect+Match+-+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAo6IuxddgbHO-0avBygwTWIz0l4fxM4_xZOw655pNtL4lmFDKxqX0lwJj6nA0Sr3zvjMkfChn82BbwBBnkNWKW-1COV3CLlI4xOl-H9l-FM-Ke0gETwleaVuKN9CYc2p-21Qj_mNnwt0/s1600/Pride,+Prejudice+and+the+Perfect+Match+-+small.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
A single mother and an ER doctor meet on an Internet dating site—each for reasons that have little to do with finding their perfect match—in this modern, Austen-inspired story. It’s a tribute to the power of both “pride” and “prejudice” in bringing two people romantically together, despite their mutual insistence that they should stay apart…</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Would an Elizabeth Bennet by any other name be as appealing to a Darcy?</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Beth Ann Bennet isn’t looking for love. She’s an aspiring social worker using an online alias to study sex-role stereotypes. Dr. William Darcy isn’t looking for love either. He’s just trying to fund his new clinic by winning a major bet. Both think Lady Catherine’s Love Match Website will help them get what they want—fast, easy and without endangering their hearts. Both are in for a big surprise.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Match…where true love is just a fib and a click away.</div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Bet</em></strong></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlTd6FCAWbBrDBRjyGNBH2F_ktSYTlNZ84we8sLX0V8jPdtnjBpz74xDCNv5qFElDXu3qxN_l4WaSogCCQht2MkTfJ1ekLQzgO6cbw4uRSq4FEKoxX-CG5hXVNrgQ-QyX7E3TZ0WtFaRM/s1600/PerfectBet+-+Brant+-+FINAL+-+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlTd6FCAWbBrDBRjyGNBH2F_ktSYTlNZ84we8sLX0V8jPdtnjBpz74xDCNv5qFElDXu3qxN_l4WaSogCCQht2MkTfJ1ekLQzgO6cbw4uRSq4FEKoxX-CG5hXVNrgQ-QyX7E3TZ0WtFaRM/s1600/PerfectBet+-+Brant+-+FINAL+-+small.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The course of true love doesn’t always run smooth -- not even for millionaire bachelors…</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Everyone thought Beth Ann Bennet and Dr. Will Darcy had an unexpected romance in Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Match. Now, Beth’s best friend, Jane Henderson, and Will’s first cousin, Bingley McNamara, begin their own unlikely love story in Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Bet, which starts at the Darcy/Bennet wedding when they find themselves in the roles of maid of honor and best man for the newlyweds.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Jane is an interning school psychologist and a woman who wears an angelic mask in public, but she’s not as sweet tempered as she’d like everyone to believe. Turns out, she may have just crossed paths with the one person who’ll unnerve her enough to get her to reveal her true self.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
As for Bingley, he’s a wealthy, flirtatious and compulsively social guru of finance, who likes to wager on stocks and, let’s face it, on just about anything that strikes his fancy. But this dedicated ladies’ man may have finally met the woman who’ll challenge his bachelor ways!</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #747474; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.007999420166px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Bet…where life’s biggest gamble is the game of love.</div>
Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-17540809744324212014-11-03T21:34:00.003-06:002014-11-03T21:35:45.122-06:00ALL ABOUT US - a Romantic Release and a Giveaway!!<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<b>NEW RELEASE by New York Times Bestselling Author Marilyn Brant! </b></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRFfdl9yb_3eMnGyDu5nITzmzbCmrb2voUqE-ozOAjduF7YaJgMlSMG2WMuu8ZOTzNnQ6W57ZQrOV0GV2hCYatqxFKdMjqyEz77eudp-_ufQNboRuXImYhXCCG7ach-2x8JOZHxTZW0kM/s1600/ALL+ABOUT+US+Nook+Kobo+iTunes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRFfdl9yb_3eMnGyDu5nITzmzbCmrb2voUqE-ozOAjduF7YaJgMlSMG2WMuu8ZOTzNnQ6W57ZQrOV0GV2hCYatqxFKdMjqyEz77eudp-_ufQNboRuXImYhXCCG7ach-2x8JOZHxTZW0kM/s1600/ALL+ABOUT+US+Nook+Kobo+iTunes.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<br />
<b>AVAILABLE NOW! </b><br />
<br />
<div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/All-About-Us-Springs-romantic-ebook/dp/B00P5DVE84/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415070370&sr=8-1&keywords=All+for+Us+Marilyn+Brant" target="_blank">Amazon</a> </div>
<div>
<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/all-about-us-marilyn-brant/1120671295?ean=2940150665811" target="_blank">B&N</a></div>
<div>
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/all-about-us-abbott-springs/id935156056?mt=11" target="_blank">iBooks</a></div>
<div>
<a href="http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/all-about-us-1" target="_blank">Kobo</a></div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/488705" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></div>
</div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<b>*SYNOPSIS*</b></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
Winterfest is heating up in Abbott Springs...</div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
As the town’s yearly festival kicks off, cold days turn into steamy nights, new flames will be ignited, and old romances will be rekindled.</div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
All Sami Abbott ever wanted was permission to be herself. At home, she aims to be the perfect daughter but never measures up. At college, she’s the bold girl who had a one-night stand with sexy musician, Alex Hamilton. When he arrives unexpectedly in Abbott Springs, her worlds collide and she must reconcile the girl she tries to be with the person she really is.</div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
ALL ABOUT US is a light, contemporary, new-adult romantic novella by New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Marilyn Brant. It's also available as part of the ALL I EVER WANTED anthology!</div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<b>*EXCERPT*</b></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Mom had put a batch of orange-cranberry scones in the oven just before she’d headed to the parade. I was in the middle of drizzling the icing on the last row of them when the bells on the front door jingle-jangled. I glanced up, expecting to see a local person I’d known forever, who needed a break from the parade crowd.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I expected wrong.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">“Alex?”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">“Hey. Heard through the grapevine you were here.” He grinned briefly at me, and my heart became a puddle of melted icing.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">“Eavesdropping on the townspeople again?” I said lightly. “Collecting Abbott Springs gossip or maybe just inferring it?”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">He shrugged. “Somethin’ like that.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">He was dressed much like he had been yesterday—black leather jacket, different jeans, old sneakers—but he didn’t look the same. It wasn’t anything obvious, like his hairstyle or his piercings. It was more like an intensity in his expression. Like he was searching for something.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">He took several strides toward me. We had the serving counter between us, but it didn’t seem like much of a barrier. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I saw him swallow and glance at my hands. I was holding the icing bag off to the side of the scones, twisting it so my fingers had something to do. Little dribbles of sweet white icing had leaked out and begun to run down my hand, but I’d barely noticed.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">He pointed. “You’re, uh, dripping.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">“Yeah,” I said, looking down. Time to finish putting the drizzles on the remaining scones. He watched me do this with interest but in silence. When I was done, I saw him lick his lips.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Must be hungry.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I set down the icing bag, wiped my fingers clean and slid a fresh scone onto a plate. “Would you like one? They’re good. Just out of the oven.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">He nodded but didn’t take the plate from me. “Can I come back there?”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">“Sure.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Alex slipped through the swinging door and joined me. I was still holding the plate out for him. He took it from me this time…and immediately set it on the counter.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">“Oh, sorry! Did you want a fork?” I asked, reaching toward the silverware.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">But he put his hand on mine, stopping me. “No, Samantha,” he whispered. “That isn’t what I want.”</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">He swallowed again and nudged me toward the kitchen wall nearest us until my shoulders were touching it. Until the zipper of his leather jacket pressed against the red Abbott’s Sweet Confections apron I was wearing. Until I could feel his breath on my forehead.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Then he looked into my eyes and waited. Waited until I’d tilted my head up toward him and licked my lips and leaned a little closer. Then he smiled and brought his mouth down on mine.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Everything about our kiss said hunger to me. We were in a place filled with heaping platters of food, but Alex was the only thing in the whole building I wanted to devour. It was like my dream from this morning, only better because it wasn’t a simple dream. Because I could really feel the roughness of his stubble on my cheek, smell the crisp January air when he exhaled, taste the warmth of his tongue as it mingled with mine and left me wanting more. More of him. All of him.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">He broke away, pulling back and breathing hard—then he kissed me again, this time deeper and wilder.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" />
<span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">The jingle-jangle of the door had us both springing apart.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>*ABOUT THE AUTHOR*</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div>
Marilyn Brant is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author of contemporary women's fiction, romantic comedy & mystery. She was named the Author of the Year (2013) by the Illinois Association of Teachers of English. She loves all things Jane Austen, has a passion for Sherlock Holmes, is a travel addict and a music junkie, and lives on chocolate and gelato. Visit her website at <a href="http://www.marilynbrant.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.marilynbrant.com</a>.</div>
<div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>*GIVEAWAY* </b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e54da78617/" id="rc-e54da78617" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//widget.rafflecopter.com/load.js"></script></div>
Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-49576894090848602812014-09-24T22:42:00.002-05:002014-09-24T22:43:35.092-05:00New Release: THE ROAD AND BEYOND!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi4Aw2V92dKYniQkCzOWknCN_A1BzZUrNGPfzsqw_C45Mhq3c5pko-6BcBYDH2zoxUZV7ehMwsD-glttqw9o_BSYuJ5h4dbPFgbh5NcmOpYaMet0DX5CGlmjxqxIOjh99EYqSF-fIecHQ/s1600/The+Road+and+Beyond+-+brighter+front+-+NYT+&+USA+343x510.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi4Aw2V92dKYniQkCzOWknCN_A1BzZUrNGPfzsqw_C45Mhq3c5pko-6BcBYDH2zoxUZV7ehMwsD-glttqw9o_BSYuJ5h4dbPFgbh5NcmOpYaMet0DX5CGlmjxqxIOjh99EYqSF-fIecHQ/s1600/The+Road+and+Beyond+-+brighter+front+-+NYT+&+USA+343x510.jpg" height="400" width="268" /></a></div>
The release of this novel has been a long time coming! <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Road-Beyond-Expanded-Book-Club-You-ebook/dp/B00NGUGRB2/" target="_blank">The Road and Beyond</a> is the expanded, book-club edition of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Road-You-Marilyn-Brant-ebook/dp/B00FIXEVY0" target="_blank">The Road to You</a> -- along with the original narrative from the 1970s, it also has a new parallel story, set in the present day, as well as discussion questions for book clubs. I truly hope you'll enjoy it!<br />
<br />
This is a digital-first release, available as an ebook on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Road-Beyond-Expanded-Book-Club-You-ebook/dp/B00NGUGRB2/" target="_blank">Amazon</a>, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-road-and-beyond-marilyn-brant/1120331799?ean=2940150341807" target="_blank">B&N</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/road-beyond-expanded-book/id917072254?mt=11" target="_blank">iBooks</a>, <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/473672" target="_blank">Smashwords</a>, and <a href="http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-road-and-beyond-the-expanded-book-club-edition-of-the-road-to-you" target="_blank">Kobo</a>. The story blurb is below:<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><b><i>One Disappearance Had Been Enough To Last Her A Lifetime… </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Aurora Gray is no stranger to tragedy. In the summer of 1976, when she was just sixteen, her world turned upside down when her big brother Gideon and his best friend Jeremy disappeared. For two years, there’s no word from either of them. No trace of their whereabouts. But then, shortly after her high-school graduation, she unexpectedly finds her brother’s journal and sees that it’s been written in again. Recently. By him. </span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">There are secret messages coded within the journal’s pages and Aurora, who is unusually perceptive and a natural puzzle solver, is determined to follow where they lead, no matter what the cost. She confides in the only person she feels might help her interpret the clues: Donovan McCafferty, Jeremy’s older brother and a guy she’s always been drawn to…even against her better judgment. </span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">The two of them set out on a road trip of discovery and danger, heading westward along America’s historic Route 66 in search of their siblings and the answers to questions they haven’t dared to ask aloud. The mystery they uncover will forever change the course of their lives. </span></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><b><i>…But Now It Was Happening Again </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">Decades later, in the summer of 2014, fifty-four-year-old Aurora receives a terrifying phone call—her adult son Charlie is missing—and this news inevitably brings the memories of her adolescent years rushing back. Haunting recollections she’d hoped to keep buried. </span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Were the choices she’d made in her youth responsible for her son’s disappearance now? And how on earth can she find him—quickly—so that she might be able to prevent the trauma of the past from repeating itself? </span></span></i><br />
<br />
If you'd like to read an excerpt, check out this one <a href="http://www.marilynbrant.com/books/the-road-and-beyond/" target="_blank">HERE</a>!!<br />
<br />
Hope you're having a wonderful start to fall (or spring, for friends in the Southern Hemisphere :) and that the months ahead will bring many pleasures your way!!Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-34675920050672579602014-07-31T20:00:00.000-05:002014-08-04T22:56:09.797-05:00Read-A-Romance Month 2014<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkH1LB87g0ooXmk1lwt_6Y__ad18a4lcZisWIrVos-VIEJrxL3l-103YPgei7vMFOhQSr0L0XATvY33yxJ9jM6HwpV-mxELiLPz3wz6yseKDMibnzM-si_Rv_d_7MepvGK8x2-CnzRExA/s1600/Perfect+Match+-+cover+-+Brant+-+470x710.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkH1LB87g0ooXmk1lwt_6Y__ad18a4lcZisWIrVos-VIEJrxL3l-103YPgei7vMFOhQSr0L0XATvY33yxJ9jM6HwpV-mxELiLPz3wz6yseKDMibnzM-si_Rv_d_7MepvGK8x2-CnzRExA/s1600/Perfect+Match+-+cover+-+Brant+-+470x710.jpg" height="400" width="263" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Perfect-Match-Marilyn-ebook/dp/B00AYLN5TI/" target="_blank">Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Match</a> --<br />
On sale for a few more days in celebration of<br />
the release of the new companion book: <br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Perfect-Marilyn-Brant-ebook/dp/B00LROV6NI" target="_blank">Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Bet</a>!<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Let's Celebrate ROMANCE!<br />
<br />
I'm so honored to be invited to participate in <a href="http://www.readaromancemonth.com/" target="_blank">RARM </a>(Read-A-Romance Month) this year by a wonderful contemporary romance writer, who also happens to be one of my good friends and critique partners -- national bestselling author <a href="http://www.lauramoorebooks.com/RARM.html" target="_blank">Laura Moore</a>! I love ALL of her books, and I have copies of all of them on my keeper shelf, too!! Definitely check out <a href="http://www.lauramoorebooks.com/current_moore.html" target="_blank">her Rosewood Trilogy and her latest Silver Creek Series</a>. Such fabulous heartthrob heroes -- mmmm! ;)<br />
<br />
I fell in love with romance novels when I was in junior high and discovered Phyllis A. Whitney and Victoria Holt at my tiny local library. I'm pretty sure I read every single one of their Gothic romances in the collection. Not only did these stories make me long to meet a tall, dark, and handsome stranger from a foreign land, but they also spurred my interest in international travel, castles, and mystery plot lines...<br />
<br />
As far back as I can remember, my favorite songs, movies, and novels were love stories -- sometimes with a dash of danger, frequently with a bit of humor, and always with some strong emotion. I'm thrilled to be a part of the community writers that gets to publish romance today and, hopefully, give a whole new generation of readers the joy of discovering tales of passion for the first time!<br />
<br />
<b><u>Questions</u>:</b><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrv56rOKBoy7imxyDRtYI2Vu6FyXSXla0TvX05Rha5OkuhDWFZp9ANJlIuLtivG7bHD9vs-N306K_S3XcjW_RV6d9VqSbq4a2Q024b6rya9f7sFyFCd488gzAk2d31Wtx6YseEeMmPzRA/s1600/The+Road+to+You+-+Brant+-+a+coming+of+age+romantic+mystery+-+front+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrv56rOKBoy7imxyDRtYI2Vu6FyXSXla0TvX05Rha5OkuhDWFZp9ANJlIuLtivG7bHD9vs-N306K_S3XcjW_RV6d9VqSbq4a2Q024b6rya9f7sFyFCd488gzAk2d31Wtx6YseEeMmPzRA/s1600/The+Road+to+You+-+Brant+-+a+coming+of+age+romantic+mystery+-+front+cover.jpg" height="400" width="261" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My coming-of-age romantic mystery (which was<br />
chosen by The Reading Frenzy to be one of<br />
their Top 20 Novels of 2013) <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Road-You-Marilyn-Brant-ebook/dp/B00FIXEVY0" target="_blank">The Road to You</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>1. Describe the most daring, adventurous or inspiring thing you ever did.</b><br />
I'm not a big physical risk taker. I haven't skydived out of any airplanes or skied down a slope much higher than a bunny hill. However, I've taken some fairly major emotional risks... Like auditioning for a community theater musical, even though I didn't have any formal vocal training. (I did get a chorus part in the show, though!) And auditioning for a university dance group that was going to tour Europe, even though I didn't have any formal training in dance either. (I was lucky enough to get accepted into that, too, although I really had to work hard to come up to speed on those Charleston steps, LOL.) But probably the most adventurous thing I ever did in my life -- aside from motherhood -- was to apply to be an AFS exchange student as a high schooler. I was 16 and there was a lot of work involved. My parents were supportive of me, but they made it clear that if I wanted to do it, all the initiative would have to be mine. So, I filled out stacks of papers, got teacher recommendations, officially applied, did the in-person interview when I'd made it through to the second round of the submission process, and waited for what seemed like an eternity... I got a placement and was able to spend the summer between my junior and senior years in high school in Brisbane, Australia. I *loved* it, and the world just seemed to open up like a treasure box once I'd had a chance to travel halfway around it... It was a fabulous and truly memorable experience.<br />
<br />
<b>2. Tell us about your journey to becoming a writer. (How did you decide to get started? Did you always know or was there a specific moment when you knew?)</b><br />
I always loved both reading and writing -- and I do think the two go hand in hand. (Someone once wrote that reading is the "inhale" and writing is the "exhale"... Love that.) I wrote songs and poems in elementary school, but it wasn't until 6th grade that the notion of writing professionally even occurred to me. But I didn't pursue it. In fact, aside from being on both the newspaper and yearbook staffs in high school, I didn't take writing seriously at all until I was in my early 30s with a newborn baby at home. Then I started writing about <i>him </i>(he's never fond of hearing this!) -- articles, parenting-related essays, and poems at first. When my son, who's now in high school, was just a toddler, I began drafting my first novel, and the end result was <i>dreadful</i>. No one will EVER see that book! It took five completed (different) manuscripts before I got my first contract with a New York publisher, and it's been a roller-coaster ride ever since.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbIrZcx6ANW_Ze0v3S_4jYtegqO-YoaSL2tMzEX0gZ2v_kQmAUavez7DLrk_oKCQUhSdDBkurIT-QujsDtO9zJ0m6oPtY0lTAoKS8UlfBvypxYi4KIFlWhybnaOWgpiuX4TC-48qJrTlI/s1600/accordingtojane%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbIrZcx6ANW_Ze0v3S_4jYtegqO-YoaSL2tMzEX0gZ2v_kQmAUavez7DLrk_oKCQUhSdDBkurIT-QujsDtO9zJ0m6oPtY0lTAoKS8UlfBvypxYi4KIFlWhybnaOWgpiuX4TC-48qJrTlI/s1600/accordingtojane%5B1%5D.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My debut novel, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/According-Jane-Marilyn-Brant-ebook/dp/B002OFVOVS" target="_blank">According to Jane</a>,<br />
which won RWA's Golden Heart<br />
Award & was a #1 Kindle bestseller...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>3. Tell us about The (or A) Book That Changed Your Life. (Why?)</b><br />
There are MANY novels I've loved, but the one that changed my life -- hands down -- is Jane Austen's<i><b> Pride and Prejudice</b></i>. (I even wrote a blog post about it <a href="http://girlfriendbooks.blogspot.com/2013/01/happy-200th-birthday-pride-and-prejudice.html" target="_blank">HERE</a> for the 200th anniversary of its release.) In my opinion, it's a work of stunning brilliance, and I'm just as much in awe of it now as I was when I first read it at the age of 14. Austen knew human behavior. She understood they way people thought, acted in public (and in private), dealt with difficult news, with tedium...or with joy. Her characters are timeless and universal and, more than any other author, she's made me recognize many of the traits of her most famous characters in the real people I know from my life, including my own family members. Her novels have greatly influenced the direction of my writing as well. My debut novel, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/According-Jane-Marilyn-Brant-ebook/dp/B002OFVOVS" target="_blank">According to Jane</a>, along with the new contemporary romantic comedy series I'm working on now (<i>Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect</i> ___ ), are both direct nods to Austen's genius. I'm forever grateful to my high-school English teacher for assigning that novel!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTe-mWgMSAGSQkKGG3rDcMvUNjiqj_A8bGhpwbqH1BXmAY6fD97mfGgLVVvJ5XpubJ6zS674fJ6eTDTYWqLREproRhDE8MRiu6Wr1firMxIavyf-BvVHTApb9Fd5f7Z4zWsOxoOe-N7Y/s1600/author-reader-badge-2014-author.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTe-mWgMSAGSQkKGG3rDcMvUNjiqj_A8bGhpwbqH1BXmAY6fD97mfGgLVVvJ5XpubJ6zS674fJ6eTDTYWqLREproRhDE8MRiu6Wr1firMxIavyf-BvVHTApb9Fd5f7Z4zWsOxoOe-N7Y/s1600/author-reader-badge-2014-author.jpg" /></a></div>
<u>My Official Bio</u>:<br />
<div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; border: 0px; font-family: 'PT Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21.007999420166016px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="bodyText style29" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="bodyText style25" style="border: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="bodyText style28" style="border: 0px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #990000;">Marilyn Brant is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author of contemporary women’s fiction, romantic comedy & mystery. She was named the Author of the Year (2013) by the Illinois Association of Teachers of English. She loves all things Jane Austen, has a passion for Sherlock Holmes, is a travel addict and a music junkie, and lives on chocolate and gelato. Visit her website:</span> <a href="http://www.marilynbrant.com/" style="color: #3300cc;" target="_blank">www.marilynbrant.com </a><span style="color: #3300cc;">.</span></span></span></span><span class="bodyText style30" style="border: 0px; color: #3300cc; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></div>
Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-29409753575165764462014-07-19T15:28:00.001-05:002014-07-19T15:28:07.968-05:00Release Week for PRIDE, PREJUDICE & THE PERFECT BET...and the NY Times Bestseller List!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ8NcWE5Zxoq15ab2LJQ4QiBHzn6qciV4LeyB_QDUG-WQQaqJRCHaup9WJXdiGjpiVRlWF7dQR80t5m-zENvrEBb4QxFBlhzrQ5KkwDzMhIxp6qMB7n8T77EY4aqD2k0cRYhmjzFQVlOI/s1600/Perfect+Bet+-cover-+Brant+840x1260.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ8NcWE5Zxoq15ab2LJQ4QiBHzn6qciV4LeyB_QDUG-WQQaqJRCHaup9WJXdiGjpiVRlWF7dQR80t5m-zENvrEBb4QxFBlhzrQ5KkwDzMhIxp6qMB7n8T77EY4aqD2k0cRYhmjzFQVlOI/s1600/Perfect+Bet+-cover-+Brant+840x1260.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></a></div>
I'm so thrilled to finally announce the release of my latest romantic comedy, <i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Perfect-Marilyn-Brant-ebook/dp/B00LROV6NI" target="_blank">Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Bet </a></b></i>(Perfect #2, Bingley & Jane's story), which is the follow up to <b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Perfect-Match-Marilyn-ebook/dp/B00AYLN5TI" target="_blank">Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Match </a></i></b>(Perfect #1, Will & Beth's story).<br />
<br />
*Throwing confetti in the air!!*<br />
<br />
About the book:<br />
<br />
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<i>The course of true love doesn’t always run smooth…</i></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br class="yiv4471789128" /></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
Everyone thought Beth Ann Bennet and Dr. Will Darcy had an unexpected romance in Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Match (Perfect #1, January 2013). Now, Beth’s best friend, Jane Henderson, and Will’s first cousin, Bingley McNamara, begin their own unlikely love story in Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Bet (Perfect #2), which starts at the Darcy/Bennet wedding when they find themselves in the roles of maid of honor and best man for the newlyweds.</div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br class="yiv4471789128" /></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
Jane is an interning school psychologist and a woman who wears an angelic mask in public, but she’s not as sweet tempered as she’d like everyone to believe. Turns out, she may have just crossed paths with the one person who’ll unnerve her enough to get her to reveal her true self.</div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br class="yiv4471789128" /></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
As for Bingley, he’s a wealthy, flirtatious and compulsively social guru of finance, who likes to wager on stocks and, let’s face it, on just about anything that strikes his fancy. But this dedicated ladies’ man may have finally met the woman who’ll challenge his bachelor ways!</div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<br class="yiv4471789128" /></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<i>Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Bet…where life’s biggest gamble is the game of love.</i></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
It's available all over the world and at most e-tailer sites right now!!</div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="background-color: #fffdf9; color: #22242b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px;"><b>Perfect Bet:</b></span></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Perfect-Marilyn-Brant-ebook/dp/B00LROV6NI" style="background-color: #fffdf9; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">US – Kindle</a><span style="background-color: #fffdf9; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pride-Prejudice-Perfect-Marilyn-Brant-ebook/dp/B00LROV6NI" style="background-color: #fffdf9; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">UK – Kindle </a><span style="background-color: #fffdf9; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Pride-Prejudice-Perfect-Marilyn-Brant-ebook/dp/B00LROV6NI/" style="background-color: #fffdf9; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">CA – Kindle</a><span style="background-color: #fffdf9; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com.au/Pride-Prejudice-Perfect-Marilyn-Brant-ebook/dp/B00LROV6NI" style="background-color: #fffdf9; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">AU – Kindle </a><span style="background-color: #fffdf9; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pride-prejudice-and-the-perfect-bet-marilyn-brant/1119946092?ean=2940149822409" style="background-color: #fffdf9; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">US – Nook</a><span style="background-color: #fffdf9; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<a href="http://www.nook.com/gb/ebooks/pride-prejudice-and-the-perfect-bet-by-marilyn-brant/2940149822409" style="background-color: #fffdf9; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">UK – Nook</span></a><br style="background-color: #fffdf9; color: #22242b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px;" /><span style="background-color: #fffdf9; color: #22242b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px;"><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/pride-prejudice-perfect-bet/id899736357?mt=11" target="_blank">iBooks</a></span></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="background-color: #fffdf9; color: #22242b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px;"><a href="http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/pride-prejudice-and-the-perfect-bet" target="_blank">Kobo</a></span></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="background-color: #fffdf9; color: #22242b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUIWQwxLx3zf4m1syUys2LoYAXSW0HtTC9qeitxm33mcTrDa3_HQDhzPRRaJrntp3_XUhRwoIaR25YhR-_MjKe_sG5WOVsZJhOJCppW3HT20RACbB7wLxnZ11Jd_gzngMluuyrf7qbJh4/s1600/Perfect+Match+-+cover+-+Brant+-+470x710.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUIWQwxLx3zf4m1syUys2LoYAXSW0HtTC9qeitxm33mcTrDa3_HQDhzPRRaJrntp3_XUhRwoIaR25YhR-_MjKe_sG5WOVsZJhOJCppW3HT20RACbB7wLxnZ11Jd_gzngMluuyrf7qbJh4/s1600/Perfect+Match+-+cover+-+Brant+-+470x710.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="background-color: #fffdf9; color: #22242b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px;">ALSO, <i><b>Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Match</b></i> is on sale for a limited time for just 99 cents! If you haven't read that novel and would like an ebook copy, here are those links, too.</span></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="background-color: #fffdf9; color: #22242b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px;"><b>Perfect Match: </b></span></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Perfect-Match-Marilyn-ebook/dp/B00AYLN5TI" style="background-color: #fffdf9; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">US – Kindle</a><span style="background-color: #fffdf9; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pride-Prejudice-Perfect-Match-Marilyn-ebook/dp/B00AYLN5TI" style="background-color: #fffdf9; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">UK – Kindle</a><span style="background-color: #fffdf9; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Pride-Prejudice-Perfect-Match-Marilyn-ebook/dp/B00AYLN5TI" style="background-color: #fffdf9; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">CA – Kindle</a><span style="background-color: #fffdf9; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com.au/Pride-Prejudice-Perfect-Match-Marilyn-ebook/dp/B00AYLN5TI/" style="background-color: #fffdf9; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">AU – Kindle</a><span style="background-color: #fffdf9; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pride-prejudice-and-the-perfect-match-marilyn-brant/1114081740?ean=2940016076669" style="background-color: #fffdf9; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">US – Nook</a><span style="background-color: #fffdf9; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.nook.com/gb/ebooks/pride-prejudice-and-the-perfect-match-by-marilyn-brant/2940016076669" style="background-color: #fffdf9; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">UK – Nook</a> </span></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/pride-prejudice-perfect-match/id594048413?mt=11" target="_blank">iBooks</a><br /><a href="http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/pride-prejudice-and-the-perfect-match" target="_blank">Kobo</a> </span></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
<span style="color: blue;"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv4471789128" id="yiv4471789128yui_3_16_0_6_1405264911290_4" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light, 'Helvetica Neue Light', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
And, finally, in very exciting news, the boxed set my story <b><i>On Any Given Sundae </i></b>was a part of this summer -- the <i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K8HWYOA" target="_blank">Love, Laughter & Happily Ever Afters</a></b></i> collection -- has hit *two* <i>New York Times </i>Bestseller Lists (the E-Book list and the Combined Print & E-Book list), and it has been on the <i>USA Today</i> Bestseller List for *three weeks* in a row!! All I can say is THANK YOU to all of you for reading our stories and spreading the word! We all truly appreciate it :).</div>
Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-47778299458658081392014-05-28T00:30:00.000-05:002014-06-03T19:00:38.313-05:00All-Star Romantic Comedy Boxed Set - Just 99 Cents in June!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbcKJxfLC_6PS5N4E-OsM2g0q3YRWf8O176BKMDDE1MKmAtore6ZYOJXgLFQLch0HwNuilXdnVE5bDJkdUH13bmRAE-XH3zT3cffrx4pjyqvydH8rHGl-UQsnYQCcUu465mr76LesmwDE/s1600/LLHEA_CoverFinal_3D-smaller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbcKJxfLC_6PS5N4E-OsM2g0q3YRWf8O176BKMDDE1MKmAtore6ZYOJXgLFQLch0HwNuilXdnVE5bDJkdUH13bmRAE-XH3zT3cffrx4pjyqvydH8rHGl-UQsnYQCcUu465mr76LesmwDE/s1600/LLHEA_CoverFinal_3D-smaller.jpg" height="308" width="400" /></a></div>
I said last month that I would still post all of the really exciting book updates on the blog...and this is one of them! I'm thrilled to be part of this incredible boxed set of EIGHT full-length romantic comedies, all by bestselling authors, but it's only going to be available for a very limited time...<br />
<br />
While it's here, though, <i><b>LOVE, LAUGHTER & HAPPILY EVER AFTERS</b></i> (June 2014) will be just 99 cents for readers, and there are pre-order buttons coming soon (see below -- the iTunes one is already available and I'll add the rest as we get them). So don't miss it! Grab a copy before it disappears!!<br />
<br />
Check out this information about the set:<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">LOVE,
LAUGHTER, AND HAPPILY EVER AFTERS COLLECTION<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eight
Fun, Romantic Novels by Eight Bestselling Authors<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just in time for
summer! An all-star collaboration by
some of today’s most popular bestselling romance authors. From the funny and sweet to the steamy and
heartfelt, this collection has eight full-length FUN, romantic love stories
hand-picked to bring a smile to your face while you’re lounging out in the sun
this summer. This limited edition boxed
set will only be available until July so get yours today! <br />
<br />
Total length is <i>1,800 pages</i> and at
just **$0.99** for eight novels, <b>that’s
a $27 savings!</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">COLLECTION
INCLUDES:<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>ON ANY GIVEN SUNDAE</b> </span>-- by USA Today Bestselling
Author <a href="http://www.marilynbrant.com/" target="_blank">Marilyn Brant</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>FINDING THE RIGHT GIRL</b> </span>-- by NY Times and USA Today Bestselling
Author <a href="http://www.violetduke.com/" target="_blank">Violet Duke</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>SWEET TO YOU</b> -- by
iBooks and Barnes & Noble Bestselling Author <a href="http://www.jessieevansauthor.com/" target="_blank">Jessie Evans</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>UNAFRAID </b>-- by USA
Today Bestselling Author <a href="http://melodygracebooks.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Melody Grace</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>LOVE LOVE</b> -- by
Amazon Bestselling Author <a href="http://www.bethmichele.com/" target="_blank">Beth Michele</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>TEMPTING LOVE</b> -- by
Amazon Bestselling Author <a href="http://www.melanieshawn.com/" target="_blank">Melanie Shawn</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>NOT OVER YOU</b> -- by
NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Author <a href="http://www.marquitavalentine.com/" target="_blank">Marquita Valentine</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>And
in her much-anticipated indie debut</i>,
Samhain bestselling author <a href="http://www.erinnicholas.com/" target="_blank">Erin Nicholas</a> with the never-before-published novel<span style="color: #222222; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, <b>GETTING OUT OF HAND</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><u>99-CENT PRE-ORDER LINKS</u>:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K8HWYOA" target="_blank">Amazon</a> (up and running now!)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/love-laughter-happily-ever/id882159886?ls=1&mt=11" target="_blank">iTunes</a> (up and running now!)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">Barnes and Noble, GooglePlay, and Kobo (pre-order links
coming soon - yay)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">And there's also a <u>RAFFLECOPTER </u>giveaway going on for just the next few days in celebration of the cover reveal. Enter below!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/5c838e18/" id="rc-5c838e18" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//widget.rafflecopter.com/load.js"></script>Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-5369196481733087802014-04-08T04:30:00.000-05:002014-07-01T23:24:36.228-05:00Seven Years...and a Time for Change<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGsS1KCSaHf2yBnHoQ5FyYAPVRDaEv8X37sQhDqugS1dtkMM2JzFEaIul0bcTjtOl7MyDjfvJdZ4SmHzEl8-mBW-EAcxxxxfcpNVyC9xr5-bajyAIDpmOWjW-iuoRxPCxKhsqfa775zWU/s1600/PerfectBet+-+Brant+-+FINAL+-+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGsS1KCSaHf2yBnHoQ5FyYAPVRDaEv8X37sQhDqugS1dtkMM2JzFEaIul0bcTjtOl7MyDjfvJdZ4SmHzEl8-mBW-EAcxxxxfcpNVyC9xr5-bajyAIDpmOWjW-iuoRxPCxKhsqfa775zWU/s1600/PerfectBet+-+Brant+-+FINAL+-+small.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Coming Summer 2014! Design by E.M. Tippetts<br />
(http://www.emtippetts.com)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It's nearly impossible for me to believe that seven years (to the day!) has gone by since I began this blog. I remember exactly when and why I started it: I'd gotten the very exciting call two weeks prior that I was a 2007 RWA Golden Heart finalist for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/According-Jane-Marilyn-Brant/dp/B007R939C8/ref=la_B003B2BGBG_1_4_title_1_pap?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396243239&sr=1-4" target="_blank">According to Jane</a> and, with that, the thrilling launch of my online professional life, along with my very first author website ;).<br />
<br />
A lot has happened in the years since. I won that Golden Heart award, sold several novels (eventually!) to a traditional New York publisher, indie published several others, hit the <i>USA Today</i> bestseller list and the #1 spot on both the Amazon and the B&N Top 100 lists...and, best of all, made some WONDERFUL friends in the writing world, online and off. I'm incredibly grateful to you all.<br />
<br />
Many more professional publishing-related tasks have been added to my workday in the past few years, though, and not much has been taken away, so I'm sure it's no surprise to anyone who's been a regular visitor to Brant Flakes that I'm not blogging with the frequency that I used to. Most of my readers and fellow writers have told me that if I needed to make a choice between writing blog posts and writing novels...that I should choose the novels. And so I shall.<br />
<br />
However, while there will be longer periods between posts, I'm not completely closing down this site. The archives have seven years worth of fun conversations, book info, guest visits, recipes and hot guy pics, after all! And I still intend to pop back on this page occasionally -- to share a new book cover or a release date or a piece of particularly exciting news -- but, for the most part, you'll probably find me more often on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/marilyn.brant" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, where I'll post the majority of my updates (I hope you'll join me there -- if we're not FB friends already, please send me a request!) and on <a href="http://austenvariations.com/" target="_blank">Austen Variations</a> (their FB page & the blog), too. Less frequently, I'll be on <a href="http://twitter.com/marilynbrant" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2978367.Marilyn_Brant" target="_blank">Goodreads</a>, <a href="http://magicalmusings.com/" target="_blank">Magical Musings </a>and the <a href="http://girlfriendbooks.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Girlfriends Book Club</a>. And, of course, there will always be updates/events/release info on my <a href="http://www.marilynbrant.com/" target="_blank">website</a>.<br />
<br />
In that spirit, I'll share the first of these updates here with the latest book news -- the official cover reveal for PRIDE, PREJUDICE AND THE PERFECT BET -- coming out this summer!! What do you think?!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxZCZjWNkn4p3lFcNQHE_rQds0d3y7A-woxtjgdSk4lQGn-0dxGM7BN_btl_WF0lRhGTUhU0U5QfMiH8utgXiRlOHtrG-yQtY5ZLEbpCFxy4dRuieLOV0ZpEKEY6riJP4ZrB0uwuJG3Jg/s1600/Pride,+Prejudice+and+the+Perfect+Match+-+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxZCZjWNkn4p3lFcNQHE_rQds0d3y7A-woxtjgdSk4lQGn-0dxGM7BN_btl_WF0lRhGTUhU0U5QfMiH8utgXiRlOHtrG-yQtY5ZLEbpCFxy4dRuieLOV0ZpEKEY6riJP4ZrB0uwuJG3Jg/s1600/Pride,+Prejudice+and+the+Perfect+Match+-+small.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a></div>
This is Bingley McNamara and Jane Henderson's love story, the cousin and the best friend respectively of Dr. Will Darcy and Beth Ann Bennet from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Perfect-Match-ebook/dp/B00AYLN5TI" target="_blank">Pride, Prejudice and the Perfect Match</a>. Jane is a school psychologist and a woman who wears an angelic mask, but she's not as sweet tempered as she'd like the world to believe. At Beth and Will's wedding, Jane crosses paths with the one person who unnerves her enough to get her to reveal her true self. As for Bingley, he's a wealthy, flirtatious, compulsively social guru of finance, who likes to wager on stocks and on just about anything that strikes his fancy. But this dedicated ladies' man may have just met the woman to finally challenge his bachelor ways...<br />
<br />
I'm so excited about this story and can't wait to share it with you all soon!!Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-7167195791493625992014-03-12T05:30:00.001-05:002021-05-03T12:02:05.669-05:00Prepping for St. Patrick's Day<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>
Technically, I'm not a drop Irish, but my husband is and, thus, so is our son... During this time of year, all of us like to celebrate the inexplicable delights of green beer, shamrock cookies, and cupcakes featuring leprechauns or clovers. Who wouldn't, right?! 🍀🍀<br />
<br />
For those of you who are Irish -- or at least Irish in spirit on March 17th! -- here are links to a few fun recipes from various baking sites to help you kick off the holiday:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Irish-Soda-Bread-I/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=irish%20soda%20bread&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page&soid=sr_results_p1i3" target="_blank">Irish Soda Bread</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/shamrock-cookies" target="_blank">Shamrock Cookies</a><br />
<a href="http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/irish-potatoes-and-cabbage/7be6368f-d2b2-4961-9bbd-9224f06fc75b?src=SH" target="_blank">Irish Potatoes and Cabbage</a><br />
<a href="http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/corned_beef_and_cabbage/" target="_blank">Corned Beef and Cabbage</a><br />
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/st-patricks-day-cupcakes-leprechaun-cupcakes-with-easy-buttercream-icing" target="_blank">Leprechaun Cupcakes</a><br />
<br />
Enjoy!! And may the luck of the Irish be with you!! :)Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-13092601721812901932014-02-28T14:20:00.001-06:002014-07-01T23:25:16.122-05:00A Summer in Europe ~ Book Club Pick!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbUBUVD6O0eG0ngLYOnNywjsqqqxmbMlHLKt-Hqcs9rEmKAUlCWjBNe-d48FD5kfC0W5vlcAWeHrBMyM5JkB-ZidEnD3Xt7A5Ceefyxaa4aQ7-RIL9wFWpfVfYr_SowwPERxy3bEjZNjo/s1600/A+Summer+in+Europe+--+Kensy+small.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbUBUVD6O0eG0ngLYOnNywjsqqqxmbMlHLKt-Hqcs9rEmKAUlCWjBNe-d48FD5kfC0W5vlcAWeHrBMyM5JkB-ZidEnD3Xt7A5Ceefyxaa4aQ7-RIL9wFWpfVfYr_SowwPERxy3bEjZNjo/s1600/A+Summer+in+Europe+--+Kensy+small.bmp" height="320" width="217" /></a></div>
Just want to jump in quick and share this bit of fun news: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Europe-Marilyn-Brant/dp/0758261519/" target="_blank">A Summer in Europe</a> is the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/123257-women-s-fiction-book-club" target="_blank">Women's Fiction Book Club</a> pick for March!! The discussion will be taking place on <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/123257-women-s-fiction-book-club" target="_blank">Goodreads</a>, and it's completely open to the public and free to join. So if you're interested, I hope you'll come along on this virtual European trip with us ;).<br />
<br />
<b>About the novel:</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>On her thirtieth birthday, Gwendolyn Reese receives an unexpected present from her widowed Aunt Bea: a grand tour of Europe in the company of Bea's Sudoku and Mah-jongg Club. The prospect isn't entirely appealing. But when the gift she is expecting -- an engagement ring from her boyfriend -- doesn't materialize, Gwen decides to go. </i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: italic; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">At first, Gwen approaches the trip as if it's the math homework she assigns her students, diligently checking monuments off her must-see list. But amid the bougainvillea and stunning vistas of southern Italy, something changes. Gwen begins to live in the moment: skipping down stone staircases in Capri, running her fingers over a glacier in view of the Matterhorn, racing through the Louvre, and taste-testing pastries at a Marseilles cafe. Revelling in every new experience -- especially her attraction to a charismatic British physics professor -- Gwen discovers that the ancient wonders around her are nothing compared to the renaissance unfolding within...</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">"Brant's newest...distinguishes itself with a charismatic leading man and very funny supporting cast, especially the wonderful elderly characters with their resonant message about living life to the fullest." <i>~ Publishers Weekly</i></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">"Brant's charming and engaging tale will allow readers to immerse themselves in the magic and beauty of Europe along with the characters. Although the descriptions of the scenery are amazing, the development of the characters and their unique personalities are what really make this novel shine. What an enjoyable escape!" </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: italic; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">~ Romantic Times</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: italic; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><b>Have a wonderful weekend and a lovely start to March, everyone!!</b></span></span>Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-391820021882341461.post-64565188073746292552014-02-13T18:51:00.000-06:002014-07-01T23:25:34.208-05:00Short Stories and Sweet Treats<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQaWlfr0GNelHej4i83N1_AamS6ymm3lRcJvc_jN5U79HmuSDWNL4N8q-R9rOAzhTFpG9N8mKQ8uAHSJGUilm6B8DWCIZ0jJNIXqpqG_mReUYflpgiUWPp2m5OMGYp6sq9pbncjT8YWJM/s1600/iStock+-+6+hearts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQaWlfr0GNelHej4i83N1_AamS6ymm3lRcJvc_jN5U79HmuSDWNL4N8q-R9rOAzhTFpG9N8mKQ8uAHSJGUilm6B8DWCIZ0jJNIXqpqG_mReUYflpgiUWPp2m5OMGYp6sq9pbncjT8YWJM/s1600/iStock+-+6+hearts.jpg" height="398" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
On our new <a href="http://austenvariations.com/" target="_blank">Austen Variations</a> blog and in honor of this heart-filled holiday, several of us (myself included) have Valentine's Day excerpts up from our stories. I also have a <a href="http://austenvariations.com/free-books/" target="_blank">free short story available</a> to anyone who'd like it called "A Tale of Two Matchmakers" (featuring the ever-meddlesome Emma Woodhouse, Mr. Knightley, and a fairy name Sylvia, LOL). Hope you'll enjoy both!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTdvXtX94zmAPDyMuBpVX4Dev1Hy2uknw2sd9lPiwI_V0NQcD7pj5VXWQy7fgm9ThYxTuhDNV06GiE5V9cw-_WGpG7n0VR0AfXyTmPGjJEQMjHFzhHVzmKNH-6afGS4C3mVTbCuvUZbKc/s1600/A+Tale+of+Two+Matchmakers+-+smaller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTdvXtX94zmAPDyMuBpVX4Dev1Hy2uknw2sd9lPiwI_V0NQcD7pj5VXWQy7fgm9ThYxTuhDNV06GiE5V9cw-_WGpG7n0VR0AfXyTmPGjJEQMjHFzhHVzmKNH-6afGS4C3mVTbCuvUZbKc/s1600/A+Tale+of+Two+Matchmakers+-+smaller.jpg" height="200" width="146" /></a></div>
And, of course, what would be a romantic holiday without a few sweet treats, right? Well, it turns out that February 5th was "World Nutella Day!" Yes, a celebration devoted to one of my favorite foods... I didn't know about it until this week, but better late than never, right?! <a href="http://www.thekitchn.com/its-world-nutella-day-heres-how-to-eat-nutella-all-day-long-199812?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Kitchn+2514+-+How+To+Eat+Nutella+All+Day+Long&utm_content=Kitchn+2514+-+How+To+Eat+Nutella+All+Day+Long+CID_2f2e58b6ab475858d03942c66513727d&utm_source=email_newsletter&utm_term=How+To+Eat+Nutella+All+Day+Long" target="_blank">Here are a bunch of recipes</a> to make sure you can eat something Nutella laden all day long, if you so desire :). And I've included the one I most want to try below, because I think it's a PERFECT treat for Valentine's Day. Hope you'll enjoy it, too, and that you'll have a wonderful and romantic weekend!!<br />
<br />
~*~*~*~*~*~*~<br />
<br />
--- See the step-by-step instructions with pictures on <span style="color: #b45f06;">"The Kitchn"</span> Blog <a href="http://www.thekitchn.com/strawberrynutella-pop-tarts-fr-143478" target="_blank">HERE</a> ---<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #3c3c3c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.512001037597656px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<big style="font-size: 1.133em;"><strong itemprop="name">Strawberry–Nutella Pop Tarts </strong></big><br />
<em>adapted from <a href="http://www.macheesmo.com/" sl-processed="1" style="color: #bf8221; text-decoration: none;">Macheesmo</a>, makes about 8-10 Pop Tarts</em></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #3c3c3c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.512001037597656px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<span itemprop="ingredients">2 cups, plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour</span><br />
<span itemprop="ingredients">1/2 teaspoon of salt</span><br />
<span itemprop="ingredients">1 teaspoon of sugar</span><br />
<span itemprop="ingredients">2 sticks of chilled, unsalted butter, diced</span><br />
<span itemprop="ingredients">4 tablespoons of ice water</span><br />
Best quality strawberry jam/preserves and Nutella, for filling<br />
Powdered sugar for dusting</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #3c3c3c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.512001037597656px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
Combine the flour, salt and sugar in a food processor and pulse until mixed. Add the butter and pulse until it is roughly the size of peas. Next, add the water, and process until the dough starts to form a ball. Split the dough into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to an hour. Roll out the dough into a rectangle on a lightly-floured surface until it is about a 1/4-inch thick. Cut the dough into evenly-shaped rectangles using a knife or a pizza cutter. Repeat with the second ball of dough. Line two baking sheets with foil and place the squares of dough down on them, about an inch apart.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #3c3c3c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.512001037597656px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<a href="http://questionof.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/341299-nutella.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://questionof.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/341299-nutella.jpg" height="320" style="background-color: transparent;" width="238" /></a>Spread the preserves or Nutella (or both) in the center of each rectangle (I used about 1-2 tablespoons).<br />
Top each rectangle with a second sheet of dough and seal the edges by gently pressing dough on the dough with a fork. Work your way around the entire tart with the fork, making sure the edges are sealed.<br />
Prick each pop tart with a fork. Now, freeze the tarts for several hours. Bake them for about about 25-30 minutes, at 375 degrees F. Let the pop tarts cool slightly, before dusting them with powdered sugar. (you can make a glaze, but I like them lightly dusted with sugar).</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #3c3c3c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.512001037597656px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em;">
<em>(part of The Kitchn's "Breakfast with a Blogger" series)</em></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3c3c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.512001037597656px;">•</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3c3c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.512001037597656px;"> </span><strong style="color: #3c3c3c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.512001037597656px;">You definitely want to visit Kasey and Matthew's blog for LOTS of amazing recipes and music to go along with them:</strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #3c3c3c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.512001037597656px;"> </span><a href="http://www.turntablekitchen.com/" sl-processed="1" style="color: #bf8221; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.512001037597656px; text-decoration: none;">Turntable Kitchen</a>Marilyn Branthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303846770348840645noreply@blogger.com8