Author: Marcia Meara

#ShareAReviewDay Tuesday – Unclear Purposes by Joan Hall

/ Marcia Meara / 34 Comments

This afternoon, let’s welcome back Joan Hall, here to share a lovely review of Unclear Purposes, the 3rd book in her Driscoll Lake series. This sounds like one you’ll want to read, for sure, and I know you’ll be happy to share this review far and wide! Thanks so much!

REVIEW:

Mae Clair 5 out of 5 Stars
June 2, 2019
A well-plotted mystery/suspense novel

I’ve followed the Driscoll Lake series from book one. Each novel is excellent, but the final is in a league of its own. The author clearly owns her small-town setting and the people who populate it. When a woman is found murdered in Driscoll Lake, and two women die by similar means in a neighboring town, ex-FBI agent, Vince Green (now a private investigator) finds himself center stage trying to solve the murder. He and Christine Lawrence are the ones who found the victim in Driscoll Lake—a victim with a secretive past who has ties to multiple people in the town, including Christine’s ex mother-in-law. Toss in an old, unsolved crime, an arrogant police detective, art gallery clues, and the blossoming attraction between Christine and Vince, and you have book that will keep you entertained from page one.

Hall doles out her clues a little at a time, dropping them like breadcrumbs into a forest of divergent paths. Just when you think you’re starting to fit the pieces together, a new twist sends you down the wrong trail. The strong ensemble cast is handled with dexterity, each character awarded moments in the spotlight. Several of the secondary players are particularly notable. Equal parts mystery and romantic suspense, this intriguing novel presents a fabulous close to an excellent series. Each Driscoll Lake novel can be read as a standalone, including Unclear Purposes. Highly recommended!

BLURB:

Some people take secrets to the grave…

Three years after her husband’s murder, Christine Lawrence still struggles for balance. She has a rewarding career and a close circle of friends but feels oddly unfulfilled. Worse, the close relationship she once had with her teenage daughter has grown increasingly strained.

Former FBI agent, Vince Green, is battling demons of his own—painful secrets that drove him from Driscoll Lake. Newly resettled in the small town, he makes his living as a private investigator.

When Vince and Christine cross paths, stumbling over the body of a murder victim, he’s forced to confront memories he thought long buried. The circumstances surrounding the killing are eerily similar to a victim from his past.

As the body count continues to rise, Christine finds herself drawn to Vince. With a murderer stalking the streets of Driscoll Lake, neither is aware the killer has targeted her as the next victim—or that Vince’s past is key to unmasking a disturbed and deadly killer.

BUY Unclear Purposes HERE

Contact Info, Website, and Social Media Links:

joan@joanhall.net

Website   |  Goodreads  | Twitter   |  Facebook   |   Pinterest    | Instagram   |   BookBub

#ShareAReviewDay Tuesday – Eclipse Lake by Mae Clair

/ Marcia Meara / 47 Comments

This morning, I have the great pleasure of welcoming Mae Clair to The Write Stuff. Mae is sharing a review of her book, Eclipse Lake, and I know you’ll enjoy it. Hope you’ll check it out on Amazon, and will also pass this post along on your social media. Thanks!

REVIEW:

Intriguing Family Dynamic
5 Stars ~ Christina Thompson

As a fan of Mae Clair’s other novels, I was not disappointed with Eclipse Lake. I enjoyed her vivid description of the sleepy town near Eclipse Lake. Although I liked the mystery and suspense, I loved the family dynamic even more. I’m a sappy sucker for a man with a healthy relationship with his son. The funny banter and touching interactions of the Carlisle Clan (Dane, Jesse, & Jonah) made me laugh and cry. Ms. Clair has done a superb job delving deep into the many levels of the Carlisle family. 5-Stars!!

BLURB:

Small towns hold the darkest secrets.

Fifteen years after leaving his criminal past and estranged brother behind, widower Dane Carlisle returns to his hometown on the banks of sleepy Eclipse Lake. Now, a successful businessman, he has kept his troubled past a secret from most everyone, including his seventeen-year-old son.

But memories in small towns are bitter and long.

Ellie Sullivan, a nature photographer for a national magazine, has a habit of ping-ponging across the map. Her latest assignment leads her to Eclipse Lake where she becomes caught up in the enmity between Dane, his brother Jonah, and a vengeful town sheriff. When freshly discovered skeletal remains are linked to an unsolved murder and Dane’s past, Ellie is left questioning her growing attraction for a man who harbors a long-buried secret.

PURCHASE Eclipse Lake  FROM AMAZON

You can find Mae Clair at the following haunts:
BookBub | Website | Blog | Twitter | Newsletter | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon

Book Signing, #PennedCon2019, and #BadMoonRising

/ Marcia Meara / 5 Comments

Teri Polen just returned from a Victoria Schwab book signing, and I’m so jealous! I wish I could have been there to meet BOTH Teri and Victoria, since I’ve thoroughly enjoyed books by each. Fun post, and Teri has another great event coming up soon, too. Thanks for mentioning Kell and Rhy to Victoria, too, Teri. (See, now I’m on a first name basis with her, as well. Hahahaha.) Check out Teri’s post, folks, and don’t forget to pass it along. If you haven’t read Teri’s “The Gemini Connection,” I highly recommend it and anything by Victoria Schwab, as well. 🙂

Teri Polen's avatarBooks and Such

Vacation was fabulous!  And I’m ready to go back.  Out on the beach by 9 am under the umbrella where I stayed, book in hand, until 5 pm.  Perfection.

Yesterday I attended Victoria Schwab’s book signing at Parnassus Books in Nashville, and it was a full house.  She’s one of my favorite authors, and I’ve often said I’d love to spend a day in her head to see how her mind works.  Marcia, if you’re reading this, I told her you had cats named Rhy and Kell, and she asked why I didn’t have their pics.  But I do have the pic you requested I take with her!

This week, I’ll be leaving on Thursday for Penned Con in St. Louis.  Last year was my first time signing, and it was one of most well-organized book festivals I’ve attended – plus, the organizers donate the majority of the profits to…

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Anyone Use Publisher Rocket? (Formerly KDP Rocket)

/ Marcia Meara / 24 Comments

I have known for some time that my books are not in the right categories and I haven’t selected the best possible keywords for them. This is something I plan to work on after September 28, when I finish the last of my local wildlife presentations. I’ll have all of October, November, and December to sort things out, and hopefully lead more people to my books. 

My biggest problem is that I don’t sit down to write a story that fits a specific genre. I tell the tale as it unfolds, and it generally touches on (or wallows in) several genres. I started by placing Wake-Robin Ridge in Romantic Suspense, because–well, because I didn’t know where else to put it. But actually, most of my books are more Suspenseful Romance, with romance being the dominant theme.

One difference this makes to readers who might be misled by the category is that Suspense and Mystery lovers expect the book to wrap up as soon as the big reveal happens. Once they know “who-dun-it,” in other words. Romance readers can get downright angry if they go through all the drama with a couple, and yet the book doesn’t deliver the HEA they’ve been waiting for. So, putting books into the best category can help writers avoid readers who either end up bored with the last few chapters of the book, or who feel shortchanged because they didn’t get invited to the wedding.

I keep reading great reports about the effectiveness of the new version of KDP Rocket, which is now called Publisher Rocket. Not only does it help you “drill down” to specific categories, but it helps you find the best possible keywords, so folks can find your books. I’ve read posts by some pretty knowledgeable folks in the writing/blogging world, and I’m seriously thinking of investing in this to help me find the best way to market my books, past and future.

Before I commit, I’d like to know if any of you have tried Publisher Rocket, and if so, are you happy with it? I’ve been impressed with the videos and testimonials, but I’d like to hear from people I know a bit better. 

Any and all comments, pro or con, would be useful in helping me decide if this is the right choice for me. THANKS!


Click the Image Above to Learn More About Publisher Rocket

Sally’s Cafe and Bookstore – Book Marketing – Attracting your readers, Covers, Book Titles, Tag Lines and Key Words by Sally Cronin

/ Marcia Meara / 12 Comments

A very helpfpul post by Sally Cronin on book marketing, covers, titles, and more. Check it out, and take notes. (I bookmarked this one for future reference.) And as always, pass it along! Thanks, and thanks to Sally for such a useful post! 🙂

Central Florida’s Ordeal is OVER!

/ Marcia Meara / 50 Comments

Though Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia are still in danger, Hurricane Dorian is officially crossing the state line and no longer menacing us here in central Florida! Hallelujah! I was beginning to think being stalked by a Deadly Turtle was the new normal. And I confess, I’m exhausted from all the preparations and the stress of not knowing for five long days whether we would take a hit or not. 

We did have some tropical storm force winds here during the night and throughout the morning, but let’s assess the damage, in comparison to what Irma did two years ago.

Here’s what Hurricane Irma left us on September 10, 2017:

Yes, our house is under there.

Another view, showing the size of the massive trunk of this tree.

The roof is lifted off the garage and the lintel is broken.

Top of the garage, with rafters poking up through the  roof. (The other ends of the rafters are poking into the seriously damaged Honda, which  was holding up the attic.

See? A good add for the Honda, which they were able to repair because, believe it or not, the frame didn’t buckle. (Even under the combined weight of our attic and contents, the garage roof itself, and the weight of a tree with a trunk 5 feet in diameter!

There are tons more pictures of the smashed gardens, the broken trellises and lamp posts, fence damage, and of course, the entire roof ruined. But enough about Irma.

Now let’s take a look at what Hurricane Dorian wrought:

Yep. That’s it. A dead moss monster next to the driveway. 

Seems like an unbelievable amount of labor and stress just to be ready for this, but the good news is, we can clean it up in about 30 seconds. (We’re still working on yard clean-up and replanting from Irma!) 

In all seriousness, it could just as easily have been as bad as or worse than Irma. Catastrophic, even. So it’s always better to over-prepare, and not need it, than to find yourself under-prepared and in danger. We’ll do it again the next time we’re menaced and we will pray all we end up with is a dead moss monster in the front yard.

Sadly, The Tale is Still Ongoing!

/ Marcia Meara / 22 Comments

I swear, I’ve never been through a hurricane that moved this slowly before, and after 75 years of Florida living, I’ve been through quite a few. The Stalking Turtle reference becomes more obvious every day. The image above shows you very clearly that the danger of this storm is not in the eye, which is a quiet, calm area in the center of the storm. The danger is in the bands of powerful winds which circle the eye in a counterclockwise direction. Yellow, orange, and red are the DANGER colors.

I’ve used an image from last night because it gives you a good idea of just how far these bands can reach out to wreak havoc. The eye of the storm was approximately 100 miles off the coast of Florida when this image was taken. I’ve tweaked it a bit to show you roughly where it is now, in relation to Daytona Beach and us.

We got significant winds during the night and some downed branches here and there, but so far have been lucky. However, these bands will be arcing through Florida for hours before clearing the state line, so we certainly aren’t in the clear, yet. And then it’s the folks in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and even Virginia that have to be on the alert. (The Carolinas look to be in for some rough times ahead.)

If our house doesn’t take a hit today from one of these bands of wind, we’ll be okay. Just soggy and tired of it all. If we do, and another tree comes down, that changes everything. Mark had to go in to work, so I’m sitting here by myself, watching the heavier wind gusts and trying not to panic. 😯 It’s going to be a long day, but so far, no damage or power loss, so I’m very grateful for that.

I have discovered that one can only “hunker down” for so long before it gets really uncomfortable! 😀 

Here’s a photo I saw yesterday, long before the storm itself was even close to this particular location (St. Augustine, in north Florida). This is what even an outer, outer, outer band of the hurricane looked like yesterday morning. 😯

Please forgive me if it takes me some time to respond to all your lovely comments. I thank you so much for your support and well wishes and prayers. ALL are much appreciated and have helped me stomp down the incipient panic attacks. I’m taking deep breaths this morning and trying not to worry about what I’ll do if a limb smashes a window or damages the roof–other than running around in circles while shaking my fist at the sky, I mean. I’ve got that covered! 😀 

See you on the other side! ❤ ❤ ❤ 

Tonight Will (Probably) Tell the Tale

/ Marcia Meara / 25 Comments

The new header image is what I’d love to think our coastline will be like by Thursday, instead of the hovering black clouds, bands of rain and wind, and possible massive storm surges that might be going on. For us in the Orlando area, it is currently dark, dismal, and raining like crazy–but the worst of what we are going to get will likely happen tonight, probably between 2:00am and 8:00am, so we’ll see how it plays out. There was a tiny shift eastward again overnight, but not very much, and it can swing back. However, it’s beyond our control, and we’ve done all we can do, except wait. 

I figured if I tried visualizing clear skies and beautiful, calm water along our beaches, maybe that’s what will soon be going on. I’m OVER this waiting and waiting, and after seeing what happened to the Bahamas, it has been a pretty scary wait, too. But one way or the other (preferably The Other), Dorian should be moving along into history. 

Meanwhile, please send your well wishes and prayers to everyone in the storm’s path, and especially to the poor folks in the Bahamas, which I think suffered the worst destruction I’ve ever seen from a hurricane. And thanks for all the love that you’ve sent our way! ❤  Will stay in touch as long as we have power. 🙂

It’s going to be a very long day around here. 

#Hurricane Dorian – Looking Grim Again!

/ Marcia Meara / 17 Comments

I guess it was too much to hope this one would move far enough offshore to leave Florida alone. Saturday’s optimistic predictions have morphed into Monday’s abysmal ones. 

Yes, the eye of the storm is still over the water in the update above, but it is substantially closer to the shore than before. In fact, if it wobbles to the west even a tiny bit, it will make landfall on us. As it is, even if it follows the path currently predicted, the coast will take a major hammering. The worst winds of the storm are the bands on the west side as they whirl counter-clockwise around the eye. 

Mandatory evacuation orders are in place for the red zone areas along the coast, and I do hope people will leave! They are predicting an enormous storm surge all along that area, and that is one of the most dangerous things about the storm. (Notice that “the storm” and I are no longer on a first name basis!!) 

Here in Seminole County, we are already under a tropical storm watch, and will no doubt be getting at least that much wind and rain through the duration of “the storm.”  We are located just about 40 miles west of the 2AM Wed “M” in the graphic above. In a storm this huge and WIDE, that means we won’t know until it’s here just how bad things might get in Sanford/Orlando. 

This image shows the probability of wind speed, with the purple area being full-on hurricane wind. (You can see that a significant portion of the coastline is in the purple area.) We are in the narrow brown band of 50 to 60 mph winds, and close enough to the orange 60 to 70 mph range to be worrisome. And that’s if the storm does not move more inland.

This one is scary, folks.

We’ve done pretty much all we can do to be prepared, and now it’s just wait. And as they say:

WAITING FOR A HURRICANE
IS LIKE BEING STALKED
BY A TURTLE!

I will update again later today, if possible, but since we are already getting some rain and wind, power outage is very likely in the cards. Please continue to keep us and everyone in harm’s way in your thoughts and prayers.  And thank you so much for all the love and support you’ve sent our way!  ❤ ❤ ❤