A big welcome to author Martha Reynolds, whom I discovered on the Amazon Free Bestseller List a few months ago. Her book CHOCOLATE FOR BREAKFAST just delighted me and I wrote to tell her how much I enjoyed it. I’m so thrilled she’s written a sequel and very pleased and excited to have her here today.

Martha  ended an accomplished career as a fraud investigator and began writing full time in 2011. Her debut novel, CHOCOLATE FOR BREAKFAST, was selected as the 2012 Book of the Year in Women’s Fiction by the readers of  Turning the Pages Books.

CHOCOLATE FONDUE is the sequel to CHOCOLATE FOR BREAKFAST, and both books are available in digital and print versions through Amazon.

She and her husband live in Rhode Island, never far from the ocean.

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/MarthaReynoldsWriter

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheOtherMartha1

Take it away, Martha!

My Top Five Places to Visit in Switzerland

5.            Arosa – located in eastern Switzerland, Arosa is both a summer and winter resort. I traveled there with my mother in the early 90’s. We didn’t ski, but enjoyed gorgeous views from the train window for the entire train ride to Arosa, as we climbed impossibly steep mountains to an elevation of 5,800 feet. A mile high! The delight was in getting there, and the memory I made with my mom, who was in awe of the spectacular mountains. We stopped for lunch at a nearby café, and neither of us could read the menu, which was in German. I ordered pig’s liver for both of us (ugh!). Arosa has been a famous Alpine health resort since 1877, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Thomas Mann both stayed there, giving it more notoriety.

4.            Vevey – Vevey lies on the north shore of Lake Geneva, in the canton of Vaud, and is French-speaking. Nestlé has its world headquarters in Vevey, and milk chocolate was invented there in 1875. It’s known as one of the “pearls of the Swiss Riviera,” and boasts gorgeous views and vineyards. Its most famous inhabitant was Charlie Chaplin, and there’s a statue of him at the shore.

3.            Lugano – Lugano borders Italy, in the southern canton of Ticino, and is about as Italian as you can get while still in Switzerland. It takes a few hours to get to Lugano from Zurich, since they’re at opposite ends of the country, but once you spot the palm trees, you know you’ve arrived in a totally different place. Although the area doesn’t have the majestic mountains of other regions, you can still climb, hike, and bike. And the food! Everything is regional and exquisite.

2.            Grindelwald – hey, this is why you go to Switzerland. The three mountains – Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau (translated from German to Ogre, Monk, and Maiden) each top 13,000 ft.  In May of 1987, I ventured to Grindelwald and was surprised to find that the Grindelwald-First lift was celebrating an anniversary and tickets to the summit were half-price. I couldn’t wait! Dressed for a late May day in light clothes and no socks, I quickly discovered how the climate changes. The three-stage lift was once the longest chair lift in Europe, and by stage two, I’d rolled down the canvas side flaps for protection. At the summit, it was a blizzard! (The lift came equipped with a heavy coat, so I didn’t freeze). A respite with “chocolat chaud” and a croissant had me ready to descend, back to verdant meadows and eidelweiss.

1.              Lucerne – If I retire to Switzerland, I want to live in Lucerne. Smack in the center of Switzerland, Lucerne has it all. Set on Lake Lucerne, it is surrounded by breathtaking mountains, including Mt. Pilatus. The old town is car-free, and the city is easy to navigate. Tradition and modernity stand side by side in Lucerne, and, of course, it has the Blue Balls Music Festival (don’t ask me, I don’t know!).

My latest novel, CHOCOLATE FONDUE, continues the story of Bernadette Maguire, whom readers met in CHOCOLATE FOR BREAKFAST. Read the first book before the second if you can. It picks up right where the first one left off, at the Hotel de la Rose in Fribourg, Switzerland. Both books are available in digital and print versions through Amazon.

My Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Martha-Reynolds/e/B008ZUH11I/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1367666576&sr=8-1

Last week, I gave you a snippet of my novel, Rule Number One, which was published last year. Here’s another quick eight for you from that book. Hope it intrigues you enough to go here and buy it, or here if your e-reader of choice is a Nook. FYI, Rule Number One is also available in print from both Amazon and Barnes & Noble for those of you who still read by turning pages.

Setting up the scene, we’re still in the very beginning of the book, where Jack has shown up at Katy’s and she’s mistaken him for her hired escort…he hasn’t actually figured it out yet…

“We’re dating?” Jack asked, watching her finger style her auburn bangs.

What the hell is going on here? Who does she think I am?

“Well, yes.” She gave him a what-kind-of-idiot-are-you look. “At least this time, Andrea sent me someone who looks older than seventeen and understands what black tie means. The last guy she sent for a formal event actually wore a Bob Marley Rasta guitar T-shirt under his tux jacket, and God save me, flip-flops!”

I’m having a great time sharing these snippets with you! Thanks for stopping by and please don’t miss the other Weekend Writing Warriors.   Head on over and check out the work of dozens of other writers. You’ll be so glad you did!

It’s been a busy week and it’s only going to get busier as we head out to spend a week with Grandboy and Son and DIL. Can’t wait to get my Nanny hands on that sweet baby! He’s growing up so fast, I can hardly stand it.

I’ve been offering snippets from my two WIPs for last nine weeks, so for week 10, I thought I’d do something different and give you 8 sentences from my published novel Rule Number One, which is available at Amazon and Barnes&Noble both as an e-book or in print. The book blurb is “Decorator and home stager Katy Ruth Gilligan has sworn off men. She’s been married to two no-good cheating weasels, so when handsome book publisher Jack Walsh shows up on her doorstep and pretends to be her hired escort, she’s not one bit amused. Jack’s back home from traveling the world as a journalist, ready to take over as CEO of his family’s publishing business. Not only does he want to hire Katy’s firm to renovate his family’s historic building, he’s also very interested in exploring the attraction between them. At first, she’s humiliated and furious, but the job will put her on a fast track to success. Despite the fact that she’s drawn to her new client, Katy’s determined to protect her heart. Can Jack convince her that the third time’s a charm?”

This snippet is the first eight sentences in the book:

“You’re late.”

She didn’t even say hello when she opened the door. Jackson Walsh stepped back. She was unbelievable! Tall, probably about five nine and curvy—like Marilyn Monroe or Jennifer Lopez curvy—bosomy, wide hipped, and…delicious. A woman you just wanted to strip naked and ravish. Her eyes were huge and dark brown, they reminded him of rich chocolate. Jack felt those eyes all the way to the center of his soul, but that wasn’t where the feeling was manifesting.

Thanks for stopping by and please don’t miss the other Weekend Writing Warriors.   Head on over and check out the work of dozens of other writers. You’ll be so glad you did!

I’m deep into rewrites/revision on The Music Is You, so I’m sticking with another snippet from  Like Fine Wine this week. The revision work is hard, but satisfying when I reread what I’ve done and realize how far I’ve come in the past three years. My writing is maturing and I’m learning so much. In spite of how arduous it is to cut and cut and cut, and then rewrite and rewrite, I know that my stories are getting better with each pass, and that I’ll be proud to put them out there for everyone to read.

So, to set the scene: Last week, we saw Will and Julie post-kiss and Julie’s appalled to realize that Will has reawakened her libido. She’s racked with guilt because her attraction to Will feels like she’s betraying Charlie, even though he’s been dead a year. The other problem is Will is younger by 13 years, and she’s not at all interested in playing cougar, not when she’s almost a grandmother. After the kiss, Will announces that he’s attracted to her, but Julie is giving him all the reasons why their getting together is a terrible idea, and she’s just told him she’s way too old for him:

“Bullshit.” Will’s voice trembled. “I’m thirty-nine years old—in most cultures that’s considered an adult.”

“Well, I’m fifty-two and in this culture that’s considered practically a senior citizen.” My heart still pounded. My face was feverish and a trickle of sweat ran between my breasts.

Oh great, a hot flash.

I was mortified and frustrated…and longing to hurl myself back into his arms and kiss him stupid.

More of both Like Fine Wine and The Music Is You as the weeks progress. Thanks for stopping by and please don’t miss the other Weekend Writing Warriors.   Head on over and check out the work of dozens of other writers. You’ll be so glad you did!

The first two weeks of 8-Sentence Sunday, I gave you snippets from my completed novel, Like Fine Wine—the story of Julie Miles, a widow who’s come to Chicago to try to regroup after losing her husband of over thirty years. Just for fun, I’m returning to that story this week. After all, I need to keep you intrigued with two different novels that are both releasing this year. Here we go…

In the last snippet, Will Brody, the hot guy across the hall, stopped by to check on Julie. He’s attractive and kind and funny, and Julie can’t seem to help responding to him. She’s shocked to realize that her libido didn’t die with her husband after all. But Will misinterprets her confusion, thinking she’s having a bad moment of grief. She doesn’t disabuse him…

With a little sympathetic cluck, he tugged me into his arms. “Julie, it’s okay…it’s okay. I know this must be hard.”

He’d completely misread me, but my arms slid around his waist anyway. I pressed myself against his chest, inhaling the scent of him—clean, crisp, woodsy. Dear God, I’d forgotten how it good it felt to be in a strong man’s arms. How delicious to have a man’s hands smoothing over my back, a man’s body warm and hard next to mine. He stroked my hair, murmuring little comforts. Shamelessly, I basked in his embrace.

This book is the first time I’d tried writing in first person and I really thought it was fun! I even tried it in third, just to see how it would work, but somehow, Julie’s story just came out in first. More of both Like Fine Wine and The Music Is You as the weeks progress. Thanks for stopping by and please don’t miss the other Weekend Writing Warriors.   Head on over and check out the work of dozens of other writers. You’ll be so glad you did!

My pal Skye Hughes  nominated me for the Liebster Blog Award. Thanks, Skye!

The Liebster Award requires the following (which I snagged directly from Skye’s post):

1. You must tell 11 things about yourself
2. Answer the questions your nominator gives you.
3. Create 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate.
4. Choose blogs with fewer than 200 followers and link them to your post.
5. If you’re nominated, please leave a comment on this post with the URL of  your Liebster Award post.

In the interest of keeping this blog post down to novella size, I’m going to say that answering the 11 questions below covers the first rule, which is to tell 11 things about myself. So here go the questions Skye left for me:

1.  If you could go anywhere in the world for a long visit, say three to six months, where would you go?

Paris. Always, always Paris, with the option to travel around to see more of France.

What’s your favorite kind of movie to watch?

I’m pretty eclectic about movies—just entertain me, and don’t scare the pee out of me or gross me out and I’m onboard. I probably enjoy a good romantic comedy best though.

If money were no object, what kind of home would you have?

For summers, a  big cedar and glass house overlooking Lake Michigan in Saugatuck or Whitehall or Frankfort with lots of porches and decks and plenty of  room for family and friends, and an apartment in Paris for the rest of the year—one in an old building with high, bas-relief ceilings and huge windows that overlook a park or the river.

Have you ever wanted to be in movies or on TV?

Nope. Although I’ve often dreamed of really being a character from a movie (not the actor, the actual character they’re playing). You know, imagined myself in the situation…

What is your dream job?

My own job is pretty perfect, but the dream job would be to be a world-famous, wealthy novelist with houses in Paris and Michigan and San Francisco and all the time in the world to write.

Do you prefer to wear dresses/skirts or pants?

I prefer yoga pants–they’re unbelievably comfortable and they always look great.

What is your favorite kind of weather?

I like warm sunny summer days, especially if I’m at the lake or crisp fall days anywhere.

Do you like to work with your hands? If so, doing what?

I like to use my fingers on my keyboard to write my books. Is that working with my hands? I’m not at all crafty and arty, but I do like to bake.

Do you prefer to drive or be driven?

To be driven, unless I’m traveling alone, then obviously, I’d rather drive.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done?

Weirdest? Really? I’m very ordinary. When we were kids, my sister, PJ, and I used to go into the grocery store and pretend one of us was blind. It was kind of a hoot. Or I’d speak French and she’d traslate everything for me. Other than that, not much weird going on here.

Do you prefer to shop at stores, through catalogs, or over the Internet?

I hate to shop in any way, shape, or form.  If  forced to pick one, I guess I’d say thank heaven for Amazon.com and LandsEnd.com.

I’m nominating the following three people:

Liz
Kate
Christine

And here are your questions:

1. What is your favorite season or time of the year?
2. Do you play or have you ever played a musical instrument?
3. What’s the easiest way to make you laugh?
4. What’s your favorite color?
5. Name the best movie kiss ever.
6. What’s the meanest thing you’ve ever done?
7. Have you ever eaten something until you got sick? What was it?
8. What have you taught others that you are most proud of?
9. Where’s one place in the world you’ve never been that you’d love to visit?
10. What’s one book that inspired you to be a writer?
11. What’s your fondest childhood memory?

Have fun, Mes Amies!

As for the rest of you, pick a question from the list above and answer it here in the comments just for kicks and giggles, okay?

Another snippet from The Music Is You, my current WIP. Carrie has confronted her old friend and former teacher, demanding to know how Maestro Liam Reilly has shown up in Frankfort, Michigan. Eliot confesses he invited him, telling her she needs to face him and deal with their issues. Carrie spends a sleepless night wondering how she’s going to cope with Liam’ s sudden reappearance in her life after all these years, but the next morning…

Barefoot, she ran down the steps from the loft. Eliot had a lot of nerve showing up this early. Surely he knew she didn’t get any sleep last night. She threw open the door. “I’m not speaking to you.”

“You haven’t spoken to me in over fifteen years. What else is new?”

She gasped as her sleep-drugged mind registered the identity of the man standing on the other side of the screen door.

Thanks for stopping by and please don’t miss the other Weekend Writing Warriors.   Head on over and check out the work of dozens of other writers. You’ll be so glad you did!

Last week, I posted a first scene snippet from my current work in progress/revision, The Music Is You. Carrie Halligan’s worst fears are realized when her former lover, symphony conductor Liam Reilly, suddenly appears in the small Michigan town where she’s raising her son as a single mom. Liam’s surprised to see her too, and in this later scene, he’s in his hotel room, trying to wrap his mind around the events in the bar earlier.  Here’s another snippet from that book, this time from Liam’s POV.

What he’d recognized was the way she played—leaning into the piano, her slender fingers dancing lightly across the keyboard, emotion caressing each and every note. Only one person in the world played with such passion and effortless grace. Caroline Halligan. Apparently she’d taken a stage name—Beth Davis—but there was no doubt in his mind it was his Carrie at that piano.

He’d sent the request up with the bartender on a whim, then sat stunned by her dismay when she read it. Her eyes had widened in panic as she gazed out into the audience. Then she bolted—not quite the reaction he’d hoped for—or expected.

Even more bewildering was his own reaction to seeing her again—she stole his breath away, exactly as she had the very first time he saw her in Montreal.

Thanks for stopping by and please don’t miss the other Weekend Writing Warriors at http://www.wewriwa.com/. Head on over and check out the work of dozens of other writers. Is there a better way to spend a cold, winter Sunday afternoon?

I’m stepping away from Like Fine Wine for a week to give you a tiny taste of another book  I’m doing revision work on, The Music Is You. I think I might go back and forth between them for a few weeks because LFW’s main character, Julianne Miles was a secondary character in Music, which is her best friend Carrie’s story. Carrie Halligan is a single mom, raising a teenaged son on the shores of Lake Michigan in a small town near Traverse City. Her world gets turned upside down when her son’s father, sexy symphony conductor Liam Reilly, suddenly appears on the scene after almost sixteen years. Carrie once believed she was going to be a concert pianist like her mother, but life took a different turn, but now, for fun, she plays requests at bar every other Saturday night.  This snippet is is from the first scene:

Haydn’s Concerto in C Major.

She gazed at the paper, uncomprehending as her heart pounded in her ears, shutting out the chatter in the bar.

Dear God in heaven. Who requested this?

Her fingers shook and the words on the paper blurred. Only one person would ask her to play that particular piece, and there was no way on Earth he was in this bar. She closed her eyes, releasing a long, shuddering breath before glancing as casually as she could at the crowd.

Is he here? Is it possible?

There are a bunch of us doing 8-Sentence Sunday each week. Be sure to check out other Weekend Writing Warriors and enjoy their previews, too!

This is my first time to try something like this, but the idea intrigued me. So here are seven sentences from my current WIP, Like Fine Wine. Julianne Miles has just arrived in Chicago to stay in her friend’s apartment for a few weeks. She’s believes she’s alone until she hears a man come in…uninvited…

I was supposed to be here, this guy certainly wasn’t.

He was tall and his spiky blond hair, backlit by the sun, shone in a gold halo around his head. “Do I know you?” he asked. “Are you Jules?”

I brushed past him and headed for the kitchen.

“I’m the widow fucking Miles,” I said. “And I need a drink.”

Be sure to check out more participants and see what else is new out there…enjoy!