The Middle Aisle

I've been busy editing my proof copy of The Middle Aisle, the sequel to Lancaster House. See all those little orange post it note markers? All edits!!

For some reason there are little mistakes that I don't see when I'm reading my manuscript on the computer screen. They jump out at me when I'm reading my manuscript in actual book form. That's why I ALWAYS order a physical proof copy and read it from cover to cover. I can also digitally proof my manuscript online, but it's just not the same.

I was really worried about this book. I felt like no matter what I wrote, it would never live up to its predecessor. So much pressure! I decided to send a proof copy to my daughter, who loved Lancaster House. She wouldn't let me tell her a single thing about the book, so she could read it and have everything be a surprise. Even though she's my daughter and loves my books because she loves me, she always gives me constructive criticism that is very helpful. She doesn't hold back, she tells me everything she loves and everything she hates!

Her opinion: The Middle Aisle is just as good as Lancaster House. She loved it! She said the ending left her shaking and reading just as fast as she possibly could, just like in Lancaster House.

I can't tell you how happy that made me feel! When I read a manuscript over and over and over while editing, I lose the ability to see things clearly. I begin to wonder if my story is good or not. I question myself. This is why you  need people you can trust to read your book and give you their opinions! Sometimes I'm just too darn close to my book. Sometimes I need to put it away for a week or so and go back to it, then I can see mistakes or inconsistencies that I didn't notice before.

That being said: The Middle Aisle is ready to see the light of day! The manuscript is ready to be sent off for ebook formatting!

 Release date: December 1st!

I'm BACK!!

Okay, it's been awhile since I last did a blog post, but I have a really good excuse! And here it is . . .

Yep, I just got back from a TWO week trip to visit my daughter and grandson. Sooooo, blogging and social media kinda got put on the back burner for awhile. And now, guess what? My daughter is expecting again, and very, VERY morning sick. So they came home with us! I feel like I've suddenly gone back in time and I'm the mother of a one year old again! I'm too old for this! Seriously, now I'm taking care of my very sick daughter and my grandson--and it's more than a full time job. In between I'm desperately trying to get work done on my book releases and blog tours! But, sometimes there are many more important things in life. And my daughter and grandson--and new grandbaby--are the most important things to me in my life.

Here we are! Me, my daughter, and grandson . . .

I felt like my life was over when all my children left the nest. (Of course, my hubby and I soon found that it suddenly felt like one long date!) Still, when I started writing, I found a new love. But, children come BACK! My first baby is BACK and she needs me now more than ever. I love that I can do this for her.

Don't worry, The Middle Aisle will still be released on time! I'm ahead of schedule on that one!

More on The Middle Aisle next time . . .

Spooktacular Giveaway Hop!

Welcome to the SPOOKTACULAR giveaway hop!
In honor of the 'spookiness' of Halloween, I'm giving away two paperbacks or two ebooks (Reader's Choice) of Lancaster House, my paranormal romance. (Enter with the rafflecopter below, after the linky list) There will be TWO winners!
Enjoy! Writing this novel left me looking over my shoulder more times than I care to admit!!! It's a great Halloween read!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to keep on hopping with the linky list below.




a Rafflecopter giveaway

I Have People Update

Here's the latest update on I Have People availability!
It is available in paperback on Amazon.
As an ebook, it is now available on Smashwords and Kindle.

Expanded distribution outlets take a little longer to post. (Barnes and Noble, etc)

To view my first review of I Have People, click here. Blog tour coming soon! (I'm visiting my grandson this week,  then it's time to get back to work!)

I love the title I Have People. I've mentioned this before, but in case you missed it, I'll mention it again. While I was writing this book, I was facing an empty nest for the first time in my life--and I was feeling just a little bit sorry for myself. I missed my children. I was used to an active house, with the constant flow of children--and their friends--coming and going. And I loved it. I loved the slumber parties and the late night movie marathons, the laughter, and the activity. Suddenly, the house was quiet. Suddenly, the house stayed perfectly clean. (okay, I liked that part!) I buried myself in my writing, feeling a little like I had nothing else to do. To my surprise and delight, I was inundated with phone calls from my children, and other family members too. I didn't have time to feel lonely. It was then that I realized that even though my children had left the nest, motherhood was far from over. I realized I Have People, and I always will. That's when the name of this book was born.

I'm so thankful for the 'people' in my life. It's so comforting to know that there are people who love and care about you. When my children call, and can't reach me, they say, "Where can you possibly be, Mom?" Guess they figure I have nothing else to do but be at home anxiously awaiting their phone calls!!

Somehow, I don't mind that assumption. As a matter of fact, I kinda like it. I like that my children call when they need me and know that I'll be there for them. Guess I'm their people!

Can you imagine going through life without any people? My heroine in I Have People faces this dilemma in her life. It affects her decisions and choices. Not in a good way.

Go give your 'people' a big hug and tell them you love them--and be thankful for every minute you have with them.

Lancaster House Review

My most recent five-star review of Lancaster House is from Clean Romance Reviews. 

Zoe Grayson insists that she isn't crazy, much to the opposition of her looney-bin psychiatrist. She has to get out of here, she has to get back to where it all began, to him. Zoe's problem started when she fell in love with Lancaster House. She bought it immediately, determined to return it to it's former Victorian glory - then flip it and triple her money. The house is fascinating, but like the architecture, not everything is as it seems. A terrible crime was committed here and there have been reports of a haunting ever since. Not that Zoe believes in that sort of thing. But when a man appears in her house, claiming it is his, well, there aren't too many reasonable explanations. Zoe is perplexed, sent down a road to discover the mysteries of the house and the mysterious man who appears at will within it. Though perhaps the answers will be crazier than she thought.

My Opinion: An enthralling tale that was skillfully crafted to keep you on the edge of your seat. Wonderfully created in a re-telling format, the author draws you into the world of Zoe Grayson, leaving you gripped in her story while leaving a niggling of doubt as to her actual sanity. The romance is sweet and tender and curl-your-toes kind of wonderful. Good characters created a chemistry all of their own, creating their own world and giving credibility to the psychiatrist's doubts. A few good twists help keep the plot going. I got completely caught up in this one, my heart silently pleading for a way for their love to work - and to be real. Definitely a great read and one I would highly recommend.

I Have People as an Ebook!

Good news! I Have People is now available as an ebook on Smashwords! Only $2.99! What I love about Smashwords is that your book is available to practically every reading device known to mankind.

Amazon Kindle will follow within the next few days! Yeah!!! (Smashwords has a format that works on kindle too.)

To purchase on Smashwords, click here.

I Have People Review

I received my very first review of I Have People and I LOVE it! It's from Brandy of Book Worm Brandy.

I think I'm going to start a Taylor Dean fan club and become President because she has seriously become one of my favorite authors of all time. I inhaled I Have People like there was no tomorrow! Once again, Taylor did not disappoint me at all.

I don't like to give spoilers BUT this book does deal with an extremely sensitive issue of physical abuse in a relationship. It hurt to read certain scenes, I won't sugarcoat it. Taylor delivered a very raw and painful story in I Have People. She did it with class though, and she kept the main character Holly a little naive in the beginning but matured her into an intelligent woman who does the SMART thing in the end.

I just kept thinking how I would feel if I didn't have my people in my life. How lonely and cold that must be for people who aren't lucky to have families like most of us. I felt so sympathetic towards Holly and rooted for her and Mr. Sinclair the entire time during the flashback.

This is a beautiful love story but it's also a LIFE story about what is important to an individual, what means the most to them. I was so happy that Holly finally found her 'people', because she truly deserved it!.

This is a beautiful story and deserves to be read immediately by all! You will not regret it! Bravo Taylor, great job!

RATING:





It doesn't get better than that! Thanks, Brandy!

Current Giveaways of SIERRA

I currently have two amazing giveaways going on at two amazing blogs! One is at Colorimetry and one is at My Devotional Thoughts. Both giveaways are for my romantic suspense novel, Sierra.

Ruth at My Devotional Thoughts says: I am so excited to be giving away my current favorite read. Love that! Sierra is her current favorite book! Wow!!

Laura at Colorimetry emailed me with a few of her favorite scenes! I LOVED hearing about her favorite scenes! Can I say WOW again! Wow! (Okay, that's enough!) Here's what she said:

I think my favorite scene, if you want to know... is when Alex is helping her in the bathtub and realizes how concerned he is for her safety, but how strongly he's attracted to her, too. There was so much tension and attraction and Alyssa was still clueless.

Or

The Memory Site when she said "goodbye". I needed that 'cause the first part was very traumatic for me. I was still in denial and horrified and I needed to say "goodbye" myself.

Lol. I get into my reading, I guess.

LOVE when a reader 'gets into' one of my books. There's no greater compliment!

Thank you so much to both Ruth and Laura!

AMAZING Reviews of Sierra

Below is a review of Sierra from Katrina at Kindred Dreamheart. LOVE THIS REVIEW!!

This is quiet frankly the best clean romance novel I've ever read in my whole entire life. Finally a “love story” I can recommend to my mom without blushing or her thinking I'm some kind of freak. This was such an emotional read. Sierra tells the story of a woman targeted by madmen on a mission. Her family is brutally taken away and she is held captive in the wilderness. In the mist of her suffering she finds a hero. I was outraged. I was hopeless. I cried along with the main character, Alyssa. I cast the e reader away swearing to not finish this novel. But at last, my curiosity got the best of me. This was such a charming story. Even in the super gushy parts, I hung to every word as if it was oxygen, I needed to see what would happen next. In the end a part of me wished this was a true story and that fairy tale romances like this could actually exist. Yet at the same time, I wouldn't wish the horrors she faced on my worst enemy. I would recommend this to any and everyone. This is a few readers away from an "American classic”!

This next review is quite possibly one of the best reviews I've ever received for Sierra. That's really hard to say, because so many have given me wonderful reviews that I LOVE and I don't want to leave them out. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my other reviews too! But, this is a truly amazing review. Thank you to Ruth of My Devotional Thoughts.

Let me begin by saying that any review I leave here will never do this book justice. Not since "Hunger Games" has a book so captivated me and taken me on such an emotional roller coaster! I thought I had read romances before, and books like "Jane Eyre" and "A Tale of Two Cities," I had always considered the peaks of romantic literature. Let me say this. This is the most romantic book I have ever read in my 38 years on this planet! In case you have not guessed by now, I loved this book!

When I began this book, I had no idea what I was getting into. I was horrified right off the bat, but I was so intensely drawn into the story that I savored every word on every page. Alyssa and Alex are fantastic characters, and Taylor Dean has made them truly three-dimensional. I connected with both in ways I never dreamed possible that I could connect with fictional characters. Alex gets my award for the most romantic character in a book--right alongside the Dumb as a Box of Rocks Award. No spoilers--read the book yourself.

I found myself tingling in unexpected ways and moaning (even when there were students in the room with me). More than once, I found myself crying over this story, and once I even threw the kindle down on the desk, determined to not finish it. It was too painful to read. Why? Well, let's just say that while I have not experienced anything like Alyssa did, I long for so much of what she and Alex expressed. And the book was so real to me that I found myself longing for what I don't have. Very rarely does a book ever affect me like this. I am a romantic at heart (which the majority of people would never guess), but so far, I can't find anyone who wants to share that romance with me. At least I was able to have some vicarious pleasure with this story.

Let me end by saying there is basically no profanity. No misuse of God's name--always makes me happy. And no sex before marriage. What? Really? What an amazing idea in this day and age! And I am glad the author had the decency to give the characters privacy in the bedroom. In fact, that makes it even more romantic, in my opinion. This book brought out the true romantic in me that often gets neglected.

Reviews of Sierra

Below are some reviews of Sierra.  I received the first one from Andrea at A Chick who Reads:

Review: If you look at the cover of this book, you may think you are getting a light hearted winter tale. That's definitely not the case here.

This is the kind of story that grabs you from the first page and makes you hold on until the last page is turned.

I always find books like this hard to review because of that whole spoiler thing.

So rather than try to sum the book up, I'll tell you this. When I first saw the cover and saw the genre as romantic suspense, I almost dismissed it. The cover gave it a kind of Harlequin-y look. A cozy suspense novel. (Not my favorite genre in the harlequin imprints) But something in the blurb made me give it a try.

It is nothing like the cover. And it isn't cozy.

This book will definitely surprise you and Taylor Dean will be an author you'll be adding to your must read lists!

Rating: 5 flowers

My next review is from Chasity at Batty for Books. Warning: Spoiler alert!!

My Thoughts:

“Sierra” Blew me away. The book started as a sort, cute, happy story and then bam tragedy struck and I didn’t see it coming. The whole feel of the book changed. It was suck an amazing thing to do and a very hard thing to do in writing. The more work of Taylor Dean’s that I read the more that I am impressed. She really knows how to tell an amazing story and how to grab your attention and hold it.

Alyssa’s life goes from picture perfect to horrid in a flash after her, her husband and her two year old son are all taken hostage by two crazed mountain men while they are on a vacation.

After brutally killing her loved one the proceed drag Alyssa through the forest with them so she can become the mother of their new community. Alyssa’s worst nightmares quickly become a reality.

But when the mountain men stumble upon a cabin in the mountains they are caught off guard by the man who lives there and the fact the he may be willing to risk his life to save Alyssa.

Taylor Dean’s writing is amazing. I love that her romance novels have other aspects. Like “Sierra” had the suspense/mystery theme to it as well. It wasn’t just a romance novel it was so much more. A very powerful, profound book! Another great read from Taylor Dean!

Thanks to Andrea and Chasity for two wonderful five-star reviews!!

Fangs, Fur, and Fey Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the FANGS, FUR, AND FEY Giveaway Hop!
My giveaway will have TWO winners! I'm offering one paperback OR one ebook (reader's choice) of my paranormal romance, Lancaster House, to TWO lucky winners. (Yes, fangs are included in this story!!)
All I ask is that you follow me through GFC!
The rafflecopter is below, after the linky list.
Good Luck and don't forget to keep on hopping with the linky list below!
Thanks for stopping by!





a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Weekend

I had a fun weekend with the fam! No writing, no editing, no blogging, no tweeting, etc. Took a much needed break! In our family, we CAN'T WAIT for the December release of Le Mis, the movie adaptation of the musical. In preparation, we went and saw the local theater's production of Le Mis, just to get us even more fired up over the movie! It was AMAZING! They did a tremendous job!

When writing, if you can capture the emotion contained in Le Mis, you have succeeded! It's a beautiful story and completely inspiring. If you haven't already, watch the movie trailer. Anne Hathaway does an amazing job! Enjoy!

Tell me about your weekend!