Showering You With Possibilities In The Form Of A Free Download by Margo Hoornstra

Possibilities.

When I tried to come up with my definition of possibilities, options and opportunities came to mind. According to Noah Webster and others, the word possibilities means a future prospect or potential, the power of happening. All of which conjure up images of optimism and confidence. The skies the limit, if you will. And don’t we each have our own dreams and aspirations to fulfill?

My small way of showering you with possibilities, and maybe doing some dream aspiring too, is to share a free download of my latest release, Night Stars and Mourning Doves. This is the story of Eric and Elyse and sixth of the Dearly Beloved series from the Last Rose of Summer Line of The Wild Rose Press.

 

Today marks the middle day of a five day, April 9-13, giveaway on Amazon KDP Select. One click here takes you there.

 

Two pasts riddled with grief, one chance for happiness. Unless fate decides otherwise.

 

These are a couple of excerpts:

“Remodeling your home to accommodate Jay and me. Isn’t that a little extreme?”

Lips pursed, he shook his head. “Your mother and I have talked about adding on for years. Anyway, whatever we put into this house should increase its value eventually.” Setting aside the paper once and for all, his expression mellowed as he regarded his son. “Helping you out is helping us out.”

“It’s nice to hear you say that. And I want you to know I do appreciate what you’re doing for us. Especially Jay.”

“Losing your mother at any age is tough,” he replied as he stood. “It’s gotta be especially devastating when you’re as young as my grandson. He still needs someone to care for him like a mother, and Iris is more than up to the task.”

“She is that,” Eric began, then made himself quit talking.

Hard to admit, but he wanted someone to care for him, or at least listen when he needed them to. It wasn’t easy to look for a woman when you’re mortally injured and still require time to heal. Right now, it seemed all the time in the world would never make him whole again.

 

“You know how to work the security system.” Elyse pushed the necessary buttons on the installed coffee machine to make her morning brew.

“I know. But, I didn’t want to do that then walk in while you were asleep and scare you.”

There was no need to verbalize what they both knew too well. For all of the take charge exterior and fearless attitude displayed in her professional life, big sister scared easily when she was alone. Which became evident to both of them after an incident a couple of months after Elyse left Vince for good.

Angela had walked into the house without knocking and surprised her in an upstairs bedroom. It had taken her a full minute to stop screaming. Double that and more before she quit shaking.

 

Also, visit my Blog or Website to find more of my stories. Some of those are free too!

Enjoy!!

 

 

A Question for Our Readers by Amber Leigh Williams

While pondering my subject for this month’s “possibilities” post, I came across an intriguing question I wanted to ask our readers here at the Roses of Prose. While exploring everything that possibility means to me as a fiction writer, it occurred to me that all roads lead back to the reader. Before I was a writer, I was an avid reader. After I became a writer, reading remained one of my favorite pastimes. Wherever I can find the time nowadays, I still love to lose myself in a good book. When you crack open a new read, the pages breathe possibilities. Anything could happen. And when turning the last page of a truly unforgettable novel, sometimes we feel a bit sad – a sense of longing that the story would continue…or we could keep reliving it word for word again and again. I believe this sense of longing is why we so often go back and re-read our favorites. Whether a book is good or bad, we feel a bit sad at the end of it because all those possibilities we were so thrilled to uncover in the beginning have been revealed to us. Whether we’re disappointed in how it turned out or satisfied that all the plot threads and character arcs were tied up, that sense of longing is usually there.

 

This all meanders back to my question for readers, just as a line from Nathan Fillion in an early episode of the television show Castle. When finding out that a suspect is suffering from amnesia, the lead character, Richard Castle, contemplates one of the few benefits of profound memory loss: reading your favorite books for the first time all over again. Think about it. We can re-read our favorites again and again and achieve some of the thrill and satisfaction we received from their pages to begin with. But we can never go back to that moment we cracked open their spines for the very first time and sensed all those possibilities beckoning us forward. We can never really relive the rush of watching all those plot points unfold before our eyes and in our imaginations. We can never fly into the unknown of these stories again and grasp that knowledge in the end that we’ve discovered something amazing. Just like falling in love for the first time in our lives, we can sadly never get these moments back.

 

This brainstorm leads me to my question for you, readers. If you could go back and read any book for the first time again, what would it be? Think carefully. If I could go back and read the Harry Potter books for the first time all over again, other than reliving my first love, I can’t imagine anything more exciting! How about going back and finding what seemed like the words of a kindred spirit in The Diary of Anne Frank in eighth grade? Or Pride and Prejudice junior year? Or perhaps I would go back to the summer I was fourteen when I went to my mother and complained that I was bored of my own reading material and she handed me my first romance novel – Carnal Innocence by Nora Roberts. That was definitely a game-changer. Or maybe I could go back to that book I read in third grade literature class that made me want to be a writer to begin with….

 

There are others, more guilty pleasures than those pivotal books mentioned above. Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind. The J.D. Robb books. (Rediscovering Roarke for the first time all over again? Sign me up, please!) Kathleen E. Woodiwiss’s Ashes in the Wind. The Black Dagger Brotherhood. The Enchantment by Betina Krahn. Nora’s romantic suspense Honest Illusions, her western romance Lawless, or any of her Irish trilogies. Boy’s Life by Robert R. McCammon. Jillian Hart’s Homespun Bride.

 

I can’t choose. The possibilities are endless. Now you try! I’m dying to know what book you would choose to read for the first time all over again – and why….

 

Happy choosing and may spring shower you with many blessings!

Amber Leigh Williams

 

 

 

 

 

 

Possible Possibilities? Always an Open Door

By Jena Galifany -

How is your year going so far? Mine has been quite busy but it's a good kind of busy. I enjoy the chaos of too much to do. I must because every time I get it under control, I feel like I'm not doing enough and have to add a few more projects. I'm always looking for new possibilities.

While I'm in the midst of editing Day Labor, I'm finishing my 2012 NaNoWriMo project, Rhoades Through a Storm. I've let it sit for almost four months and have two short pieces left to finish it. I'm touching it up in between other things and it is coming along nicely. It's possible I will have another manuscript to submit in the next month or so.

Opus Owl

I've borrowed a T-shirt Press and began applying transfers to shirts for my children's clothing store. It's fun and easy. I get to put Jen's expertise in graphic design into practice. I've added our first creation that was designed by my son's lady friend, Caitlin Thompson. His name is Opus Owl and I love him.
 
My son drew a portrait of Jen's favorite zebra, Zag, wearing glasses. I hope to have him ready for the press soon. These little fellows add originality to the clothing. I'm looking for new and unusual transfer subjects to make my shirts stand out. It is possible that we will be increasing our sales by adding these originals.

My answering service is growing and doing well. I am in the process of training to be an operator. I know that sounds crazy. Everyone knows how to answer a phone. That part is easy. It's the computer program that we use to take the messages and send a text, fax, or page to the client that has me intimidated. I know I'll get it after a short time. My hands-on training begins on Tuesday. I believe that since it is my business I really should know how to do the work. Of course, there is the possibility I will tear my hair out in frustration.

I make crochet items for a store that is in the same mini mall as my clothing store and my book store. Did I mention I have a book store across the hall from the clothing store as well? I make purses, blankets, ponchos, and other "specialty" items for her store. I also make children's sized purses, blankets and ponchos for my store. I want to get my sewing machine out and make a few sets of culottes and some skirts for the store. I made them for Jen when she was younger and I think they will do well.

I see possibilities every where I look. I need to be three or four people in order to do everything I'd like to do. I know that is not possible so I hope to get all of these businesses established, hand them off to family members to run and be able to collect a little from each one every month. Then I can sit at home with a steady income in place and spend my time writing! Oh, what a happy day that will be! It will be possible for me to actually finish writing all of the dozen stories that I have waiting in my computer and in my head. It's always possible!

______________________________________

What were the possibilities of a half-blood man being free to love a white woman in 1880s Oregon Territory? Not very good but it didn't stop Cole Jackson from falling for Shyanne Bennett.

Shyanne's Secret

Cole Jackson promised to take care of Shyanne Bennett, to keep her secret. It was a promise he intended to keep—and then her father lynched him. It might take time, but he’d find a way.
Shyanne Bennett loved Cole Jackson, that sassy half-blood. She lost her mind when he died to keep her secret. Cole promised to take care of her but how could he once Harvey Bennett hung him? Maybe her heart might find solace in becoming the wife of his look-alike cousin, Will Marshall. And then again, maybe the heartache will only begin again. 

 ______________________________________ 

 Dex kicked the foreleg of Cole's horse. The wagon lurched as the horse cried out. Cole leapt to the ground, his boots accenting his landing with a plume of dust. He stood face to face with Dex.
    Dex grinned.  "Well, I finally got through to him.  You can take your eyes off the girl.  If anyone gets that one, it'll be me."
"We'll see," Cole challenged, his glare drilled into Dex's eyes.  They stood equal in height but Dex had quite a few pounds over Cole.
    "He can talk.  I didn't think he spoke English."  The cronies laughed.  Dex's grin melted to a smug frown.  "There's nothing to see."
Cole glanced past Dex at the girl.  She stood on the raised sidewalk now, and watched the exchange along with a few other people.  Cole could toss this fool to the ground but it would only get him reprimanded by Sheriff Olsen. That would either impress Shyanne or she'd never speak to him because of it.  Dexter Heims wasn't worth the trouble.
    "Right."  Cole tried to step around Dex with the intent of loading the rest of his supplies.  Dex grabbed a handful of Cole's jacket, and shoved his back against the buckboard.
    "I didn't tell you to go yet." As the fool stepped back, his cronies fanned out beside him. Dex turned his back to Cole for a moment, taking something from one of the others.
    "What ever."  Cole hooked his thumbs in his back pockets, cocked his head in annoyance, eyes on the building across the side street. A few others had gathered behind the idiots. Great.  Cole smirked as he waited.
    Dex turned back to Cole. "You remember General Custer? That run in they had up in Montana territory?"
    Cole glared at Dex.  "Last year. What about it?"
    "Did it look like this?"  In a synchronized attack, all four of the boys pelted Cole with balls of mud.  Cole didn't flinch as the globs thudded against the wagon and the stacked supplies, startling the horse, and splattering him.  He didn't take his eyes from the grin on Dex's face.
    Cole smirked. "If you had half a brain, you'd remember that the other blonde horse's ass lost that battle. The Indians won."  Cole headed toward the supplies, undeterred by the show of stupidity.  "But you're not long on brains, are you."
    Dex puzzled for a moment.  He glanced around and laughed, the others following his lead, as usual. Cole continued his task as Dex and his band moved off down the street.  Cole worked, his head held high as he turned his back to the laughter.  As he hefted another bag of seed, he chanced a glance into Shyanne's kind blue eyes as she strolled past him into the mercantile.  At least she wasn't laughing.  Another memory he could keep.

  ______________________________________ 

Shyanne's Secret is available from Whiskey Creek Press, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.
For more from Jena Galifany, visit my WEBSITE.

Life is full of possibilities. Reach out and grab them before they get away!

Cheers!
Jena'