#Thursday13 Facts About #MFRWauthor Linda Bond @AuthorLindaBond

MFRW Author Linda Bond  is an Emmy award winning journalist by day and an author of romantic adventures by night.  She’s also the mother of five, four athletes and an adopted son from Cuba. She has a passion for world travel, classic movies, and alpha males. Linda currently lives in Florida, where the sun always shines and the day begins with endless possibilities. You can become a Bond girl and share in her continuing adventures at www.lindabond.com.

Today, for Thursday 13, Linda shares 13 things you might not know about her...

13 FUN FACTS FROM LINDA BOND

• I have two stepdaughters, one adopted son from Cuba, and two biological daughters, so I’ve been blessed to know motherhood in many different ways.
• I’m afraid to fly, yet accepted a ride in a U.S. Air Force Thunderbird – which travels twice

the speed of sound. I’m still afraid to fly.
• I love ketchup but hate tomatoes.
• I love late afternoon thunderstorms in Florida, the big boomers, where the thunder and lightning shakes the house.
• I named my bulldog, Sanford, after Sanford Stadium at the University of Georgia, where I spent four years performing as a majorette with the University of Georgia Redcoat Marching Band.
• I was Ms Greenville, South Carolina 1985 – while using my stepfather’s name Linda Yokum.
• My favorite movies are Gone with the Wind, Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice. Oh, love The Notebook, too.
• My favorite music is 80’s hair band rock and roll. In fact, I run to Guns – n – Roses and Bon Jovi most mornings.
• My guilty pleasure is watching reality TV. (Any of the housewives shows – please don’t’ tell anyone)
• I love dark chocolate and full‐bodied red wine.
• I’ve worked in television news, at the same TV station, with the same wonderful folks, for more than 20 years.
• I survived a fight with breast cancer, and it changed the way I enjoy my life.
• I write because I can’t stop. It’s been a life long addiction.

She recently released Alive at 5, a Mainstream Suspense, with Entangled in July.

BOOK BLURB
TV news reporter Samantha Steele is one panic attack away from losing her job. Future on the line, she sets up an easy feature story – following her mentor on an exhilarating adventure vacation.       When her mentor dies while skydiving, Samantha suspects he was murdered, and her investigative instincts lead her to gorgeous thrill-seeker Zack Hunter.

Zack is an undercover police officer investigating his uncle’s death through the same adventure vacation. Zack doesn't want Samantha investigating alongside him. The emotionally wounded loner is afraid of being responsible for a partner again, especially a journalist whose goal is to splash evidence all over the evening news.

But the striking reporter’s persistence is quite a turn-on, and Zack’s overpowering desire makes it harder for him to push her away. When the killer turns his attention to Zack, Samantha could be the only one who can save him, forcing the anxiety-riddled correspondent to finally face her greatest fear.

Meet Sam Steele and Zack Hunter.

A reporter on edge. 

A reckless, undercover police officer on a very personal mission. 

A high-octane, adrenaline rush of a journey to find a murderer begins.

Will they live to be Alive at 5?

http://bit.ly/Aliveat5Amazonlink | http://bit.ly/Aliveat5BandN  |  http://bit.ly/Aliveat5iTunes

What Reviewers Are Saying...
"Oh my gosh! I just finished proof reading this book for Entangled and I am blown away. I can't remember the last time I held my breath in fear while reading a book! THIS book is great! I read a lot of books and I very rarely leave reviews but this one calls for it. Linda Bond has written a page turner in romantic suspense. Alive at Five has everything: romance, suspense, action, alpha hero and a strong female lead! I think release is set for July 14th. I just had to sing its praises as soon as I finished reading! You have to read this one!"
- Sherry Willingham – copy editor and reviewer - Posted on Goodreads

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: The River Leith @LetaBlake #MFRWauthor

MFRW Author Leta Blake self-published The River Leith, a GLBT Contemporary Romance on May 13, 2014.

Memory is everything.

After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain.

For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach's choices may come back to haunt him.

Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer. If memory is everything. Can love survive when the memory of it is gone?

Amazon Buy Link  |  Smashwords Buy Link  |  Barnes & Noble Buy Link  |  iTunes Buy Link

What Reviewers Are Saying...
"Leta Blake is fast becoming one of the most exciting new voices in the romance genre." - I'm With Geek Reviews

"Raw, beautiful, lyrical, painful, sensual, hopeful. This author gets inside all of it and then lays it open, exposed, for us. The writing. The dialogue. The characters. The love. They're all here. I recommend this to everyone." - Prism Book Alliance

Excerpt

Memory, as it turned out, was both everything and nothing. It had no substance, no form, no weight, and no color. It was described, in technical terms, as deposits of proteins within cells of the brain. However, these were words that at their heart were as mysterious and ultimately magical as any other metaphor used in an attempt to understand the concept: memory as a storehouse or set of books—a way to keep track of life’s checks and balances; or memory as meaning—a mode of life, and a way of being.
Leith knew now that all these metaphors and all these words boiled down to one thing: memory is the sum of us, the total, and if it is divided, then we are lost.
There were other people in the occupational therapy ward, and Leith studied them with a mixture of horror and envy. There was the droopy, sagging stroke victim Jan Troxell, who could tell anyone the weather report from that morning, but couldn’t remember anything else—not her daughter’s name, not her age, and not her favorite color.
There was David Mueller, for whom every day began as April 12, 2006, until he found out again, and again, and again that he had suffered a brain injury and couldn’t make any more memories.
In some ways these people repulsed Leith, leaving him breathless with terror and disgust at how close he’d come to joining their ranks. People who were shells of the beings they were before, empty and unable to give anything back to the world except for the memory that once they were more, and that they never would be again.
But in other equally scary ways, Leith watched these people with envy. They were free, utterly rudderless in a thrashing ocean, but still free. Their options had been removed from them, and they were at the mercy of the elements and the grace of people’s kindness. But they weren’t tied down to memories of who they were, of what and who they’d loved, the things they’d once dreamed, and the things they’d valued.
Leith was not free. He knew who he was, give or take the last three years of his life. It had been almost two weeks since he’d come out of the coma. The illegal blow to the back of his head during the New York Amateur Boxing Championship match had cost his opponent his career, but it had cost Leith a hell of a lot more than that.
His last memory was learning that he would soon be released from prison. In his sparse, clean cell, he’d sat on a bunk and composed a letter to Arthur asking if it would be all right to start over in Brooklyn instead of going home to New Jersey and their father.
Leith had no memory of finishing that letter. No memory of a bus trip from the jail in Florida to Arthur’s apartment in Manhattan. No memory of meeting a girl named Naomi on the ski slopes of Vermont. No memory of his father’s death and no memory of mourning by his dad’s grave. Leith only knew of these things because he’d been told. And he still didn’t know how to believe them.

About Leta Blake
While Leta Blake would love to tell you that writing transports her to worlds of magic and wonder and then safely returns her to a home of sparkling cleanliness and carefully folded laundry, the reality is a bit different. Instead, piles of laundry and forgotten appointments haunt her life, but the joy of writing and the thrill of finishing a book make the everyday chaos all worth it.

Leta’s educational and professional background is in psychology and finance, respectively, but her passion has always been in writing, and she most enjoys crafting romance stories that she would like to read. At her home in the Southern U.S., Leta works hard at achieving balance between her day job, her writing, and her family.

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BOOK SPOTLIGHT: Hearts In Ruin @JCConwayWriter #MFRWauthor

MFRW Author J. C. Conway released Hearts In Ruin, a Mainstream Contemporary Romantic Suspense, with Liquid Silver Books on May 4, 2014.

Andrea’s career-making “sure thing” archeological dig has just been transferred to her super-hot colleague Daniel, whose questionable ideas could sink both their careers. But what if he’s right? When the site is threatened, Andrea must choose: run, and save her career, or stand with Daniel against crushing odds. Passion, lies and betrayal clash in the wake of a plot to destroy an ancient truth

Buy Links
amazon  |  liquid silver books  |  barnes and noble  |  kobo  |  all romance ebooks

What Reviewers Say...

Hearts in Ruin is a delightful romantic romp through an archaeological dig. The author has successfully melded a serious story with a wry sense of humor that keeps it a light and happy romance. Use of details about how a dig comes about and is managed entertain and move us through the plot to become an integral part of the story. I look forward to J.C. Conway's next book.
Amazon Customer Review, Elsa Bayly

This ""sweet"" level romance has academia politics and a realistic view of the challenges involved with an archaeologic dig. There are many conflicts and entanglements to keep the reader guessing. The hero is a lovable and sexy beta hero and the first kiss scene is the best I've ever read. The heroine is bold, self-confident and competent, and I want to be just like her.
Amazon Customer Review, S. Humphreys

Excerpt

With most of her team set, Andrea approached the sadly underused keg bucket under the pergola at the side of the yard. She slowed her pace only slightly to give Kirby Johnson the chance to reach it first—and therefore the chance to fill her cup for her.
“Hey, Andrea.” Kirby lifted the tap.
“God, who invited you?” She thrust her cup forward.
He took the cup and shrugged. “They didn't warn me you'd be here. I would've gone bowling.”
“Very sophisticated of you,” she said. “Where's Donna?”
Kirby carefully minimized the foam head. “Um…shopping.”
“Her dime or yours?”
Kirby smirked. “I'm as dimeless as you.”
“Technically.” Andrea took the cup. Kirby didn't have his own money. But his parents were loaded.
Andrea liked Kirby—as a friend. Shacking up junior year was a mistake. He was still a boy. And the breakup?—Well, she learned how whiney and annoying boys could be that semester. But that was four years ago. Kirby was with Donna now, who was much better for him. Thank God. The kid was growing up.
Kirby peered over Andrea's left shoulder, “Hello, Dr. Fuchs.”
Dr. Fuchs?
Andrea knew everyone at Horvath Levy College. Who was Dr. Fuchs?
A calm, male voice responded, “Kirby, right? Everything coming together okay?”
“Uh…yeah, sure.”
Andrea turned. Wow. Dr. Fuchs was definitely a newcomer. He was about her age. Tan, outdoorsy skin, a sinewy rock-climbing frame, sandy hair a little looser than the local style. His intense, blue-gray eyes landed on her.
Now she regretted dressing hastily. Safari pants, faded tank top, hair pulled into a quick bunch—no style, no class. She broke her stare, wrestling for composure.
“Doctor…Fuchs?” She extended a hand and squinted inquiringly. “I'm—”
“Andrea Hollister,” he said with an easy half smile. His grip was…just right.
And he knows me?
“I've been looking forward to meeting you.”
“Um—”
This was just too much. Something was up. And Kirby knew this fellow. She sliced her subtlest I'll-kill-you-later dagger at Kirby, whose expression telegraphed feigned confusion and an it's-not-my-fault plea. Then the bastard slinked away, leaving Andrea face-to-face with Dr. Fuchs, alone at the keg.
“I'm afraid I don't—”
“First, call me Daniel.” He reached for a cup.
“Okay,” she said. She detected the scent of Professor Dougherty's greenhouse on him. A small scar on his chin added an extra layer of ruggedness.
He cleared his throat. “Frank Dougherty asked me to oversee this summer's dig. I think we'll be working together.”
She blinked.
The dig?…My dig?

About the Author
J. C. Conway is a romance, science fiction, and fantasy author, writing novels and short stories for adults, young adults, and teens. He is a grand prize winner of the Yosemite Romance Writers Smooch contest. His writing passion began with a grade-school assignment to write anything he liked, which, at the time, included dinosaurs, robots, army heroes, and alien invaders. He's added tense internal conflict and emotional dilemmas since then.

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