Welcome to those who have hopped over to my blog via Hallee Bridgeman‘s! And if you’re just dropping in as one of my readers, let me explain what’s going on!
The authors of the Smoke and Mirrors Romantic Suspense Collection are conducting a blog hop, with TWO Grand Prize Giveaways at the end for two random winners who comment on each post. The Kindle Fire Prize Giveaway includes some of our ebooks and a KINDLE FIRE, and the Book Lover’s Giveaway includes a $25 Starbucks gift card and some of our signed softcovers!
The authors’ blogs, in order of the hop, are:
(Author Sally Bradley is not participating in this hop, but she is an author in the boxed set!)
PLEASE NOTE: ***You will need to visit each of the 7 blogs above and comment on each one by 5 pm EST on May 30th to be eligible for a chance to win one of our grand prizes.***
The theme of this blog hop is “My Favorite Summer Vacation Destination.” We chose this because each of our novellas is set in the summertime. (Yes, even Alana Terry’s, which is set in Alaska!).
I’ll be the first to admit that we rarely “vacation” vacation. Usually we travel to visit family or our kids travel with friends.
So those times we pay for an extended vacation are rare. We have traveled to Nags’ Head and Emerald Isle, and had a wonderful time both places. I grew up loving the ocean (quite enamored with it, really–I wanted to be a marine biologist for a period of time). But now we’re living in the very land-locked hills of West Virginia, and I’m perfectly content. Still, nothing can make me relax and forget my worries like the sun and salty ocean water. Or a pool.
Even my feet are trying to relax
Sound view at Emerald Isle
However, if I had to choose my favorite summer vacation destination, the place I would LOVE to visit someday, it would be Newfoundland. My Viking historical readers will immediately understand why I’m choosing this–because I’d have first-hand understanding of the place Leif Eiriksson, Freydis Eiriksdottir, and Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir likely sailed to over a thousand years ago. I would also love to see Iceland, Gudrid and Finn’s home, and Greenland, where Eirik and fam lived.
So in the spirit of a Nordic adventuring vacation, here are some photos of what I would do:
Check out the reconstructed longhouses at L’anse Aux Meadows in Newfoundland:
Photo by D. Gordon E. Robertson
I would also visit Eirik the Red’s family farm, Brattahlid, in Greenland. I would definitely poke around and take lots of pics of Eirik’s wife’s chapel–she was a Christian, just like her son, Leif Eiriksson:
Photo taken by Hamish Laird
Finally, besides trying to visit plenty of Viking museums in Iceland, I’d want to visit the Icelandic Blue Lagoon spa. Here’s a pic of that:
Photo taken by Sarah 1990
So relaxing! But to energize myself, I’d also love to see Icelandic volcanoes or trek through some lava fields there! I can’t imagine how cool that would be!
Photo by Hansueli Krapf
So there you have it–my fave summer destination–maybe someday I’ll get to one or all those places!
Does any of this relate to my romantic suspense novella, Out of Circulation, that you’ll find in the Smoke and Mirrors set? Not really, outside the fact that my main character, Katie McClure, is also land-locked in West Virginia!
Here’s a blurb on Out of Circulation:
When Russian mobsters threaten small-town librarian Katie McClure, she is forced to accept an offer of protection from Manhattan bodyguard Ace Calhoun. As they race the clock to find a long-hidden bank stash, Katie discovers too late that Ace might be the wrong man to trust with her life…and her heart.
And here’s a blurb on the next book in the set–Kelli Hughett’s novella, Dangerous Alternative. You will hop over to Kelli’s blog next!
Summer in Southern California doesn’t get any hotter than this. When Levi Boulter agrees to work for the FBI behind the scenes in Hollywood, he never plans on becoming an operative working to thwart a plan to assassinate the President’s wife—or on keeping a deadly secret from Mahari, the love of his life. When Mahari is kidnapped, Levi makes the gamble of his life in order to save her. Will Levi’s secret divide them forever, or will they come together in time to stop an assassination?
I have read Kelli’s novella, and I think it would be lovely to visit Southern California sometime, too!
So, dear reader, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to comment on EACH of the 7 author’s blogs linked above by 5 pm May 30th. Then, at 7 pm on May 30, two winners who have commented on all the blogs will be chosen for the following grand prizes:
THE KINDLE FIRE GRAND PRIZE:
Includes one brand new Kindle Fire and the following ebooks by the Smoke and Mirrors authors:
The second grand prize is:
The Book Lover’s Grand Prize:
This prize will include a $25 Starbucks gift card, as well as the following signed softcovers by the Smoke and Mirrors authors:
We will email the winners on May 31, but first, come visit us on May 30th starting at 7 pm EST on Facebook here for the announcement of the winners and a Week-Long Virtual Cruise to the destinations in our collection!
During the Facebook cruise, readers will ask the eight Smoke and Mirrors authors questions and we’ll be asking our readers questions! It is a leisurely pace, so you can drop in and out, leaving questions and reading up on the answers later, if you like. It’s a great chance to fellowship with some of your fave romantic suspense authors–and some of your soon-to-be-faves!
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***And now, I have a question for you to answer in the comments! Please be sure to also comment on all the other 6 blogs for a chance to win a Grand Prize! Your question is:
What is the most unusual vacation experience you’ve ever had, and why?***
Hope to see you at our Facebook party on May 30th at 7 pm EST!
I am.looking forward to reading your book in Smoke&Mirrors!
Thanks so much, Paula! I hope you enjoy it. All the books in this set are so suspenseful!
Unusual vacation experience? Probably the time we went with my parents and sister to Denver. Why unusual? Because my sister had a random seizure one morning. She was fine, but it was super unusual!
OH my, that would be so scary. I’m glad she was fine!But that was definitely memorable!
Most unusual vacation memory – NO FIGHTING between kids who were then 10, 8, and 6 on a 2 week road trip from Pennsylvania to Arizona and back.
Now THAT is a great memory! That’s a long road trip, but I’ll bet they loved it!
I would say when we took all eight kids to Disney. We took a camper from Texas to Florida having a flat and a few extra stops across the way. Stayed at the Disney campground and had a blast. But what made it very unusual is every morning when we would go outside there was always a frog in one of my kids shoes. Now same frog I don’t know they all look alike and one morning there were 2 frogs in the shoes. My kids found it funny, their shoes were a hotel for the frogs.
Oh, how cute! A memorable froggy vacation! And 8 kids to Disney! I’m sure they had a blast!
I am reading your story in Smoke & Mirrors right now. Loving this collection.
Your story in Smoke & Mirrors is excellent.
Thank you, Robin!
For me it was Christmas day 2014. We went to my husband’s grandma’s house for Christmas Eve (eating, gift exchange, games) and his sister showed up with sick children (which we had no idea since we arrived after they did). We didn’t know they were sick!because she medicated them before they came so we had no idea they were sick until medication started wearing off (few hours into get together). We left as soon as we found out they were sick because every time we are around them, they are sick and they get us sick. We left and went to hotel which we reserved so we can spend the day with kids bowling, arcade and food on Christmas day. Well when Christmas day came, we were all sick. We couldn’t do anything but take the 1+ hour drive back home through the mountains. My son vomited in!his car seat and my husband had to sidestepping for us to get out to vomit. Worst and most unusual mini vacation ever! So now we ask before we show up If her children are sick or have been sick recently.
Oh no! Ugh. Sick vacations are always memorable in the not-so-great ways. Here’s hoping you have lots of healthy vacations in the future!
I remember Disney World being closed to everyone but Employees of th State of Florida. We loaded up a Greyhound bus in Pensacola drove to Orlando and did the park and back to Pensacola all in a 24 hour time span
Oh wow! That must’ve been a drive, but worth it!
I love all the photos you posted. Very beautiful! Most unusual vacation experience? I don’t know about unusual, but when we visited Yosemite in 2006 my dad got sick and almost died 🙁 It was frightening to say the least. Unusual in that we had to camp in one of the emergency campgrounds while he was in the Yosemite hospital on the grounds of the valley. I slept in the van b/c we arrived at 1am and really didn’t feel like setting up more than one tent… So to keep the story brief, basically, we were planning a long, round about hike to Half Dome, and on the way we stayed at Cathedral lakes. My dad ended up with altitude sickness, and had to be flown out of the campgrounds. That was an excessively long day. My bf at the time, and my brother’s friend, hiked down to notify rangers of his failing health, and THEN they hiked back up, and THEN we ALL had to hike back down b/c the helicopter could only carry 2 extra passengers.
OH my goodness, what a harrowing tale! I have heard of others who have gotten altitude sickness. Not a laughing matter. So glad you all made it out okay.
Vacation memory: Camping, wading in a creek and cutting the bottom of my foot open.
AGH! Was it on a rock? One time my hubby went with the younger boys on a camping trip and I believe one dived into the lake and cut his foot open, as well. Tough when you can’t see the bottom or aren’t looking for things! Hope yours healed well!
Back when my late husband and I were young we used to go camping in the High Desert of AZ.
We were sleeping in the back of the truck when I woke up suddenly.
Our Poodle mix was missing, I started to climb out of the truck and noticed her ,tail wagging, headed for a coyote at the edge of our camp.
AGH!!! I would be terrified! Did she come back quickly?
I went to Niagara Falls with my nephew back in 2004. He was 12 years old and at that time we didn’t need documents to cross the border. Had no problems getting into Canada, but on the way back, they told me without a birth certificate and a signed letter from his parents, I couldn’t bring him into the USA. After being detained for a while, they finally let us through.
Oh no! That’s strange they did that. I remember back in the good ol’ days before you needed a passport for Canada! 😉
getting stuck at the airport all night
Ugh. Never fun!
My husband, daughter and I took 60 people to Alburque, NM to Fine Arts and then stayed an extra week. What a wonderful 2 weeks that was, Did I mention that 40 of these people were between 12 and 18 years old!!! I love teenagers they are so fun!!!
I’ll bet that’s a lovely area–I loved Arizona when I got to visit there. So different. And that is a LOT of teens!
Most unusual vacation experience? 2 years ago we took our camper to Atlanta GA to the Third Day Faith and Family Camp. (Ask Connie Almony about Third Day!) It was unusual because you don’t think about Atlanta as a camping destination and because we got to spend quality time with our favorite band and their families in a beautiful setting! I’ll never forget.
Oh wow! With the band AND their families!? How fun is that! I know Connie is a huge Third Day fan!
One year, my sister was on summer project with Campus Crusade. We went out to visit her and were camping near where she was staying. It rained and we must have been in a flood plane, the bottom of our tent felt like a water bed and we dug trenches all the way around it to get the water to flow around!
Oh no! So did the water get in the tent? I hope not! That would be a weird feeling!
The most unusual experience was when we visited a small town in PA. While at a light an older gentleman walked around the back of the car and was mumbling as he looked at the car. When we got home we had called my dad who was out of the country (in India) and being new to dialing with a country code I punched in the numbers. A short time later a policeman came to the house and being protective of my mom and thinking it had something to do with older gentleman, I asked the cop, “Can I help you?” I thought the cop was the older gentleman stirring up some trouble. Here I found out it was me who instead of dialing 011+91, I somehow managed to dial 911 in starting off the call! We always laugh about that whole vacation situation.
Oh my goodness! That’s hilarious! Yes, 911 is serious business! 🙂
Beautiful pictures! My most unusual vacation experience is also my worst vacation experience. When I was a sophomore in high school, my dad won a cruise through the company he worked for. The cruise was in December and two of our quick stops were Cozumel and Key West. It was during the year of El Nino is you remember that. Anyway, the weather was awful-extremely windy. Just about EVERYONE on the ship was seasick, including many of the people who worked on the ship and usually didn’t get seasick. It was no fun. It was too cold and windy to do much on deck, but the seasickness was worse if you stayed below deck. I can still feel that seasick feeling when I think about it. Ugh, not an experience I ever hope to repeat.
Oh my goodness! I’m so hesitant about cruises, having watched one of those horrifying TV specials about the one that crashed, etc. It just kind of makes me feel claustrophobic to be stuck on a big boat I couldn’t easily and safely jump out of. And it sounds like your experience was definitely memorable in a BAD way. 🙁 Sorry you had to go through that!
I totally get that claustrophobic/trapped feeling when I think about being on a ship in the middle of the ocean. It’s kind of funny because you’re in the middle of the whole wide ocean-there’s lots of open space, BUT when you can’t go anywhere, but the ship you’re on, yeah, I feel trapped.
Maybe not unusual, but my best-ever vacation was to Maui. We love the ocean, and our favorite vacation spots include relaxing on a beach. What was different about our Maui trip was that, in addition to plenty of beach time, we experienced some things we had never done before, including parasailing off Maui, snorkeling at Molokini, taking a trip to the ocean floor in a submarine, going to the top of a volcano to watch the sunrise, and going to a luau. We also attended a beachside worship service. It was so wonderful to sing praises with other believers from various locations, with the beautiful ocean and blue sky as a backdrop. It was the best vacation ever!
You are so right–there is such a sweet and special communion of believers, no matter where you go, when you can visit another service. My parents always took us to church when we visited the beach, and it was nice to meet new people there. All your adventures sound so fun!
I just finished reading both of your Murder in the Mountain books. I was reading the second one yesterday as we drive through West Virginia (we were driving from Philly to St Louis). I loved both books! Will there be more in the series?
Hi Lois! Yes, there will definitely be more Murder in the Mountains books! I am hoping the next one will release next year. We will get to know more about Tess’ mom, Pearletta. Thanks for commenting and reading!
Loved your gun toting librarian, and her relationship with her sister. I don’t think I’ve had an unusual vacation experience…yet. Most of them involved malls, Starbucks and walking. Although I remember a time in San Francisco when my daughter and I walked DOWN to Union Square, had a ball and shopped. Forgot we had to walk back UP the hills…with bags, to get back to the condo. It was fun.
Lonzine, I’m so glad you enjoyed Katie and Molly McClure. I had such fun writing those siblings and I’m looking forward to getting Molly’s story, UNDERCUT, out to readers, maybe next year. I’d love it if you’d drop in for our Facebook virtual cruise, so we could chat some! And that’s funny about going down those hills and forgetting you had bags–I know San Fran has some SERIOUS hills, too!
Several years ago I had the pleasure of swimming with a Belgua Whale at SeaWorld in San Antonio, TX. It was an incredible experience! 🙂
Oh, that would be amazing! I’d love to swim with dolphins someday!
We took a road trip from Nebraska to Las Vegas.. Beautiful scenery & we got to top it off with our son getting married in Las Vegas! 🙂
I’ll bet it was lovely!
Most unique vacay was the time my friend who is a flight attendant with Alaska Airlines (and the most serving lady I know!) took me to Kona, Hawaii with her for a weekend. All expenses paid! Her husband wasn’t able to go and I was the most fortunate friend who repaid her with an truly awful morning photo post of the 2 of us. LOL We sunbathed, walked down the beach into Kona, ate amazing food at Lava Java with 180 degree view of the ocean and (this is super secret) thumbed our 1st (and last) ride with a man who turned out to work at the local hospital in order to get back to our hotel on time. I felt rich to be treated by a wonderful friend and in such a beautiful spot in the world.
I enjoyed Trial by Twelve and posted your recent Miranda Warning giveaway to share the love with followers. I’m looking forward to that book next. 🙂
Thanks so much, Bethany! I love my loyal readers! 🙂
OH, that is so dreamy! I think Hawaii is definitely on my want-to-visit-someday list. It just seems like such a paradise. Thanks for commenting, Bethany!
I don’t think I have any unusual experiences to share but I do love vacationing with my family in the South Dakota mountains.
I have never been to SD but I’m sure it’s lovely!
I took several weeks vacation to go to Russia with several ladies to teach women how to lard women in prayer, evangelism and ministry. When we arrived in Russia four of us traveled to St Petersburg from Moscow by train. We were met at the airport by a man who only spoke German. We got in his van having no idea where he was taking us. We arrived at a large very dark building during the night. He unloaded our luggage and left. A woman showed up at the door who only spoke Russian who lead us to a dorm room with two metal bunk beds. Our first priority was to find bathrooms. What we found was more antiquated and filthy than anything we had ever seen. We were able to make connections with the Churches where a few ladies spoke English and served as our intepeter. When it was time to travel back to Moscow we purchased our train tickets and boarded. When the conductor came to get our tickets he did not speak English but he wanted more money. We gladly have him more.
Now THAT is an adventure! Thanks for sharing, Sue! I’m sure you’ll never forget that trip!
Most unusual vacation experience? I’d have to say the trip we went on as a family….we had just left home about 2 hrs and were driving along on the interstate and we heard a thump and then a wheel comes rolling alongside us in our lane and then picked up speed and rolled into the ditch. We stopped to find out where it came from….only to find one of the camper wheels missing. Well we unhitched the trailer and put the wheel in the van and took off for the next exit. Got the wheel fixed (needed new rim) after about another 2 hrs and proceeded to go back to the trailer (hoping it was still there). We continued on and when night came we couldn’t find a place to camp so we stayed in the parking lot of a truck stop. The next morning 1/2 of us were sick (we figure it was from the diesel exhaust all night. We kept going on to our destination with people feeling better as the day went on. We finally got to our destination (Washington DC) and were touring the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum when my brother got really sick. We ended up taking him to the emergency room at one of the university hospitals. We stayed there until probably 8pm or so when they decided to transfer him to another hospital where they had a pediatric unit. They figured out he had pneumonia. So, needless to say we had quite the adventure that trip!