12 Days of Clean Romance: Author Liz Isaacson, Freebie, Sale & Giveaway

 

   

A Marriage for the Marine by Liz Isaacson  

A Marine, a maid, and a match made in heaven. 

Tate Benson can't believe he's come to Nowhere, Utah, to fix up a house that hasn't been inhabited in years. But he has. Because he's retired from the Marines and looking to start a life as a police officer in small-town Brush Creek. Wren Fuller has her hands full most days running her family's company. When Tate calls and demands a maid for that morning, she decides to have the calls forwarded to her cell and go help him out. She didn't know he was moving in next door, and she's completely unprepared for his handsomeness, his kind heart, and his wounded soul.  

Can Tate and Wren weather a relationship when they're also next-door neighbors? 

  

Bent over the tub, she heard the distinct sound of boots entering the house.

“Hello?” a man called, and he sounded softer, kinder, than he had on the phone.

Wren scraped her bangs off her forehead, cursing her hair for the tenth time that morning as it stuck to the back of her neck. It wasn’t quite long enough to pull into a ponytail, and she had the fleeting thought that she’d like to shave every last hair from her head.

She hadn’t even made it to her feet when he said, “You call this cleaning?”

Wren faced him and put her hands on her hips. She felt red-faced and sweaty and her guard went right up as she drank in the boxy shape of his shoulders. The deep brown hazel color of his eyes. The way his jaw already held a day’s worth of facial hair. It matched the rich brown color of his hair, and Wren suddenly needed a very cold glass of water.

“Yes,” she managed to clip between her lips. “I call this cleaning.”

“There’s dust on the shelves in the living room.”

“Impossible,” she said. “If that’s true, it settled there in the past half-hour.”

His eyebrows went up as if he wasn’t used to being questioned. And it was clear he wasn’t. “You want me to show you?”

Frustration boiled in her, and though her momma had always taught her to clean until the customer was satisfied, she bent and extracted a duster from the box she’d brought. “I’d rather you just wiped it up.” She held the blue duster toward him, satisfied when he looked at her like she’d grown a second head and told him he would too if he touched her.

Who was this man?

Your new next door neighbor, her mind whispered, and Wren regretted her decision to quip at him to do the dusting himself. She started to withdraw her hand, but he reached out and snatched the duster from her, spinning with military-precision on his toe, and marching down the hall.

 

   

 "Wonderful addition to the Brush Creek series and a good reminder of the ongoing sacrifices & struggles so many of our brave service members face after returning home." 

"A Marriage for the Marine is a sweet feel-good book. Liz writes a good paced love story that is easy to believe. If you want to lose an afternoon in a good book, please buy a copy and enjoy." 

"Liz is a wonderful writer and I will recommend her books to everyone!"

      

 

    

Grab these other Brush Creek Brides Romances for just 99 ¢!

   

Author Liz Isaacson 

USA Today bestselling author, Liz Isaacson, writes inspirational cowboy romances. Her Three Rivers Ranch Romance series has multiple #1 bestsellers in half a dozen categories. She loves all things to do with contemporary cowboys, and will write romance in Texas, Montana, and anywhere else she can find horses and mountains.  

  

 

       

Giveaway Details $25 Amazon Gift Code or $25 in PayPal Cash Ends 1/6/19 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner may be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, BookBub, Instagram, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. This giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader & Clean Wholesome Romance and is sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.    

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Author Interview, Freebie & Giveaway: Swell Time for a Swing Dance by Cindy Vincent

Synopsis

December 31, 1941. Young Houston socialite Tracy Truworth, Apprentice P.I., can’t imagine a better way to send off the old year and ring in the new than by dancing through the night with her fella, Pete Stalwart. But a swell evening soon takes a terrible turn when a fellow dancer with moves like Fred Astaire ends up dead on the dance floor. And before the hands on the clock can point to midnight, a finger is pointed at Pete, accusing him of murdering the young man.

Then after Pete is hauled away in handcuffs, the night goes from bad to worse . . . and Tracy’s sweet grandmother is accused of stealing an ancient artifact from the museum. Now Tracy must team up with her boss and mentor, Sammy Falcone, in order to find the stolen statuette, unmask the real murderer, and restore the reputations of those she loves the most.

Yet as America becomes embroiled in another world war, the risks and sacrifices intensify—even on the homefront. And Tracy soon finds her own home invaded by a near parade of questionable characters, while unsavory suspects lurk in the shadows, and a ruthless reporter makes her life miserable. With time ticking against her, Tracy must be willing to swing past the setbacks and hop through the hazards if she hopes to solve a mystery that involves a lot of dancing . . . and a lot more danger.

Interview with author Cindy Vincent

Thank you so much, Heidi, for hosting me and my new book, Swell Time for a Swing Dance, here today!

1. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

For twenty years, I had a business where I wrote, published, and sold my own line of murder mystery party games.  My games went all over the world, and were shipped to more interesting places than I’ve ever been myself.  One of my large party kits was used for a birthday party at a French restaurant in Cairo.  I also had games shipped to several U.S. embassies in different countries, including China.  Though mostly I just sold my games to wonderful people in the U.S. and Canada.  

I’m also an absolute fanatic when it comes to Christmas.  While I never forget the reason for the season, that doesn’t mean I’m not an extreme decorator.  I put up three large trees in my house (and plenty of small trees, too!), and my entire front hallway becomes a winter wonderland.  We usually don’t even turn on the lights in the front rooms during Christmas, since the twinkle lights provide plenty of light for us to walk around.  The effect is magical!

2. What do you do besides writing?

The truth is, I have so many more things that I love to do than I ever have time to do them.  J  I love to paint, mostly doing landscape scenes with watercolors and acrylics.  My new favorite type of painting is Impasto, which is applied with a small trowel.  It creates thick layers instead of smooth strokes, and gives a painting a nice 3-D effect.  It’s so much fun to paint and there really is no right or wrong to it. 

But my favorite creative outlet, (next to writing, of course), is sewing.  I make everything from tops to skirts to dresses, and creating evening gowns is a favorite hobby.  I especially enjoy art quilting and free-motion sewing.  Then, I’m also trying to learn how to play the piano via a series of DVDs, but that isn’t going so well . . . turns out I really don’t have much musical talent.  Oh, well.

3. Do you have images you can share that come close to how you picture your characters? Do you like to find visual inspiration for your characters before or during your writing process?

I love these questions!  Let’s see, I picture Tracy Truworth, the lead character in my book, as looking a little like Betty Grable.  I’ve always imagined her boyfriend, Pete, as looking more like Van Johnson. Then there’s Tracy’s boss, Sammy Falcone, who bears a striking resemblance to Humphrey Bogart, so much so that he’s often mistaken for the actor.

Unlike lots of authors, I don’t use visual inspirations beforehand.  I usually know what my characters look like in my mind’s eye before I even start to write a book.  My characters come to life in my imagination long before they come to life in my books. 

4. What are some songs that you listened to or inspired you while writing your book?

Great question!  Of course, I love to listen to swing music because it truly puts me into the era of my 1940s books.  This includes any and all Glenn Miller songs, and Sing, Sing, Sing by Benny Goodman. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2S1I_ien6A

But I am also a lover of classical music, and for some reason, I find that having certain songs playing in the background helps my focus and concentration when I write.  Here are a couple of my faves:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC44L5T0FVA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC-USAB530A

5. What message would you like readers to ultimately take away from the book?

First, I hope people will be entertained by this book and have a chance to step back in time for a moment.  There is so much to enjoy about the 1940s—the clothes, the music, the dancing, and the slang.  But I also hope that people will pick up on a few of the lessons to be learned from WWII.  The morale of our country was amazingly high back then, and it played a huge role in our winning the war.  The war also taught us that we needed everyone’s help, regardless of race, age, or gender. 

Of course, it’s also important to know WWII history, so that we never let such atrocities happen again.  The National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazis) killed around six million Jewish people and around seven million Soviet civilians.  Imperial Japan invaded a dozen countries, with a death toll in the millions as well.  They brutally murdered anywhere from 200,000 to 500,000 in what was known as the “Rape of Nanking, China.”  During the war, both Germany and Japan were part of what was known as the “Axis Powers,” and they both had fascist governments.  So I am hoping my books will spark an interest in WWII, so readers might be curious and want to learn more.  Because you know the old adage: Those who don’t know history are bound to repeat it. 

6. What can we look forward to coming from you in the future? 

Bunches, if all goes well!  Naturally, there’ll be at least a third Tracy Truworth novel.  And if all goes really well, I’m looking forward to adding a fourth and fifth book to the series, too.  There is simply so much material for a series like this, that I could easily continue her story throughout the entire war.

And then, I’m already well into the next book in the other series that I write, the Buckley and Bogey Cat Detective Capers.   This will be book number five for the crime-solving cats, and this newest title is: The Case of Too Many Clues.  It is such a fun series to write!

Finally, I have hopes to write a third mystery series someday, too, something with a modern setting.  So I’ve got plenty to work on.  Elizabeth Peters and Sue Grafton both wrote books well into their later years, and I hope to do the same!

Thanks again, Heidi, for hosting me here today.  Your questions have been wonderful, and I hope you continue your blog for years to come!

Free E-book

Beginning Tuesday, October 16th, Swell Time For a Swing Dance will be FREE until the end of the blog tour!

 Giveaway

Time to get “in the mood” with a fun 1940s-themed giveaway! Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter for a chance to win a pewter ornament from The National WWII Museum, a Glenn Miller CD, and paperback copies of the first two books in the Tracy Truworth series: Bad Day for a Bombshell and Swell Time for a Swing Dance. Due to shipping costs and varying international laws, this giveaway is open to US residents (age 18 or older) only. Good luck!

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Guest Post, Freebie & Giveaway: Swell Time for a Swing Dance by Cindy Vincent

Synopsis

December 31, 1941. Young Houston socialite Tracy Truworth, Apprentice P.I., can’t imagine a better way to send off the old year and ring in the new than by dancing through the night with her fella, Pete Stalwart. But a swell evening soon takes a terrible turn when a fellow dancer with moves like Fred Astaire ends up dead on the dance floor. And before the hands on the clock can point to midnight, a finger is pointed at Pete, accusing him of murdering the young man.

Then after Pete is hauled away in handcuffs, the night goes from bad to worse . . . and Tracy’s sweet grandmother is accused of stealing an ancient artifact from the museum. Now Tracy must team up with her boss and mentor, Sammy Falcone, in order to find the stolen statuette, unmask the real murderer, and restore the reputations of those she loves the most.

Yet as America becomes embroiled in another world war, the risks and sacrifices intensify—even on the homefront. And Tracy soon finds her own home invaded by a near parade of questionable characters, while unsavory suspects lurk in the shadows, and a ruthless reporter makes her life miserable. With time ticking against her, Tracy must be willing to swing past the setbacks and hop through the hazards if she hopes to solve a mystery that involves a lot of dancing . . . and a lot more danger.

Guest Post

Why I Love the 1940s

Cindy Vincent

People often tease me that I don't belong in this day and age, and that I seem to be a throwback to the 1940s.  And in all fairness, they may have a point.  Not only do I have a vintage clothing collection with lots of fabulous dresses and gowns from the forties, but I also collect the hats and gloves and jewelry that would have accessorized those dresses, too.  Plus, I write mysteries set during WWII.  Add all this up and it sounds like I have an obsession.  But let me tell you why this era fascinates me so.  Here are my top five reasons:

1.  THE ATTITUDE OF THAT GENERATION

Tom Brokaw dubbed this group “The Greatest Generation.”  And with good reason.  The WWII generation grew up during the Great Depression and had been raised with little or nothing.  They knew a type of poverty that most of us could barely imagine. Through my research, I heard stories of people who literally had holes in the bottom of their only pair of shoes, and people who only ate one meal a day, since that was all they could afford.  Yet instead of thinking about what they didn’t have, many of this generation grew up happy and full of optimism.  As a general rule, they tried to look on the “Sunny Side,” using humor to deal with their troubles.  They found ways to entertain themselves on a shoestring—they attended movies and dances and sang songs in groups.  Generally speaking, people looked out for each other, and being selfish was considered immature and unacceptable. They came of age just as the world was exploding into war.  And then this generation, the ones who’d been raised with next to nothing, were willing to give their very lives to stop the horrors of the Nazis and Imperial Japan as they tried to invade the world.

2.  THE MUSIC

Wow, is there anything else that’ll get your toes tapping and your fingers snapping like Big Band music and swing music?  It’s upbeat and happy, and yes, it’s great to dance to.  But the music went farther than simply something a person listened to on the radio or from a live band at a dance.  During that time, lots of people knew how to play the piano or another instrument, and they would happily do so on the spur-of-the-moment.  Just to entertain others.  They did it on buses or trains or just about anywhere in public.  Remember, they didn’t have TV, Internet, or cell phones back then.  And people also sang along, since most people knew the songs and the words, and singing with a group of strangers in public was somewhat common, depending, of course, on where you lived.  Can you just imagine being on a train trip and having the whole group break out in song?  But people also whistled, and not in a way just to get someone’s attention.  Instead, someone might whistle an entire song as they walked along.  In fact, “whistling in the dark” was considered a way to deal with a scary situation.  When was the last time you heard someone whistle a full song?

 3.  THE DANCING 

Back then, dancing went hand-in-hand with socializing, and going out to dances was very popular.  While plenty of people swing danced, others did the Foxtrot, or the Waltz, or just generally swayed back and forth with their partner.  If you attended a dance in those days, people often danced with different partners, as it was considered polite to dance with someone who asked.  (Unless that person was drunk or just generally being obnoxious.)  Everyone was expected to have good manners and good hygiene.  And, it wasn’t uncommon for people to “dance the night away,” meaning, people might dance to nearly every song the band played.  Sound like fun?

This brings me to another reason why I have such an appreciation for this generation.  Even with all the turmoil of the era, and all the horrors that were happening in the world, this generation didn’t hold back from having fun.  They put a smile on their faces, danced when they could, and sang when they could, too.  And since singing and dancing are known to be great stress relievers, my guess is that these activities really helped them keep up their morale.  Of course, we know that good morale is so important and played a role in winning the war. 

4.  THE WAY OUR NATION PULLED TOGETHER

Shortly after WWII started, Life Magazine ran an article titled “Six Ways to Raid the U.S.,” and it did, in fact, show different scenarios on how Germany and Japan might try to invade and take over the United States.  So people feared for our country and our freedom.  After all, we’d already seen the horrors of a Nazi and Japanese takeover of Europe and much of Asia.  And, we’d already seen the horrors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  As a result, nearly everyone wanted to pitch in and do their part to help the war effort.  From the frontlines to the homefront.  Soon our military became comprised of mostly “citizen soldiers,” people who left all walks of life—including those in good-paying professions—to go off and fight. 

On the homefront, people endured government rationing with little complaint, since they knew their sacrifice helped those serving in the military.  Citizens who stayed stateside signed up to be air raid wardens, plane spotters, and more.  Nearly everyone grew a Victory Garden, so they could supply their own food, rather than take food supplies needed for soldiers.  Hollywood even released movies to encourage people to do their part, and to boost morale.  All in all, our country stepped up to answer the call, like never before. 

5.  THE MELTING POT

When it came to fighting WWII, it took the help of everyone to win it.  And I do mean everyone!  So strangely enough, the war proved to be a great melting pot for our nation, since we needed the contribution of the talents and abilities of all.  Because of that, we saw the rise of the Tuskegee Airmen (the first African-American fighter pilots), the Navaho Code Talkers, the WASPs (Women Air Service Pilots), and more.  Women entered the work force—many for the very first time—since the roles once filled by men were now vacant.  It was essential that women step in and take their place, especially as the war industry worked overtime to supply the military with airplanes, tanks, and more. And while that melting pot certainly wasn’t perfect, it was a very good start.

And all that, folks, is why I have such a fascination with the 1940s.  I hope all this information encourages you to take a closer look at the era, too!

Free E-book

Beginning Tuesday, October 16th, Swell Time For a Swing Dance will be FREE until the end of the blog tour!

 Giveaway

Time to get “in the mood” with a fun 1940s-themed giveaway! Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter for a chance to win a pewter ornament from The National WWII Museum, a Glenn Miller CD, and paperback copies of the first two books in the Tracy Truworth series: Bad Day for a Bombshell and Swell Time for a Swing Dance. Due to shipping costs and varying international laws, this giveaway is open to US residents (age 18 or older) only. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway