Drake Adams and Jessie Depre want the same thing: peace. For Drake, peace will only come when he can rid his memory of Jessie’s heart-wrenching betrayal nearly two years earlier, at the altar. What began as a fairytale love between childhood sweethearts ended when Jessie married another man and left the Wyoming territory. Since then, Drake has given up his law career to become a bounty hunter, and when he sees Jessie’s wanted poster, he knows he has only one choice, track her down and return her to the man she ran off with.
Following a life-changing misunderstanding, Jessie married the first man she saw, but it wasn’t long before her would-be hero turned into a real-life monster. She will only find peace when she is far away from her homicidal husband, Robert. However, when Drake captures Jessie, both realize their own peace just might come from rekindling their love for each other.
Lynda J. Cox’s Seize the Flame is a story of reconciling the past. Both characters are emotionally and physically damaged. Jessie’s story will touch home with any woman who’s been the victim of abuse. Her fear, her panic, are so real the reader will instantly identify with her even if he/she has never suffered from that unfortunate malady. The strength she has in not only running from her husband but also in ensuring the safety of another innocent woman celebrates the determined female spirit. Despite the scars on her body and, more importantly, in her mind, Jessie manages to find her own way and create her own destiny.
Drake has a genuinely unique story. Kidnapped at the age of nine and forced to work for a ruthless thief until he’s rescued by Royce, Jessie’s father, Drake loved Jessie from the first moment he saw her. His continued devotion to the woman who shattered his dream of a home and family of his own is touching and endearing. Although the backstory is as winding as a Wyoming mountain trail, the story unravels slowly enough to allow the reader to soak it all in and experience the complexity of these characters, and though the genre is historical romance, the romantic content is limited enough that fans of the western genre will still enjoy the novel without blushing.
Seize the Flame by Lynda J. Cox won First Place in the Laramie Awards for Western Fiction in 2016.
Welcome to Chicago, 1935 in the midst of the Great Depression where the beautiful and vivacious Henrietta Von Harmon, the oldest of eight children, fights to save her family and solve a crime. Her father has recently committed suicide, and her mother is bitter and fretful about making ends meet. Henrietta does all she can to help, working at a local tavern and then in a dance hall as a “taxi girl,” dancing with any man who has the price of a ticket. She’s earning a modest salary when the job ends abruptly because her boss, the formidable and acerbic Mama Leone, is murdered.
Opportunity knocks when the detective working the case, Inspector Howard, suggests that Henrietta apply for work as an usherette at a burlesque theater, The Marlowe. He needs someone on the inside to report back to him on shady activities. The pay is twice that of a taxi girl, but the job is far more dangerous. Some of the dancers and an usherette have gone missing—and all the employees are afraid of Neptune, the theater’s owner.
Because one of the missing girls is a friend’s sister, and because Henrietta wants to prove her worth to the detective, she agrees to the job. Detective Howard, a handsome but inscrutable man, is secretive about his personal life. In his mid-thirties, Henrietta fears he couldn’t possibly be interested in her the way she is interested in him, unless, of course, she could dazzle him with her amateur detective skills.
It’s a challenge given Henrietta’s naivety. She sees things at The Marlowe that make her jaw drop. The dancers perform a seductive choreography in scanty costumes, and some of the usherettes are sexually intimate with one another, though none of these scenes are graphic in nature. She learns fast, however, and presents herself as more assured than she feels. There’s a marvelous camaraderie amongst the usherettes, sweet women who look out for one another and are also trying to put two and two together about the missing girls. They caution Henrietta about “the green door,” each believing there are goings-on behind it that point a link to the disappearances. Determined to crack the mystery and impress Inspector Howard, Henrietta is willing to put herself in the most dangerous of situations.
There is so much to admire about Cox’s romantic mystery novel and even more to enjoy. Readers will feel that they’re walking the streets of Chicago in the 1930s, the author conveys the neighborhoods, the people, the sights and sounds so convincingly. She’s equally adept with her portrayal of a large family living in cramped conditions, Henrietta, a substitute mother to her youngest siblings because her own mother is often emotionally absent. Even if a mystery didn’t enfold, this would be a thoroughly satisfying novel because of the historical details and the excellent characterization of the very sympathetic main character. The embedded mystery, however, takes this book to another level, a feat of successful merging of genres.
A Girl Like You will appeal to those who relish romances, mysteries, historical fiction, and especially to those for whom all three hit the jackpot! Great news for fans of Henrietta and Inspector Howard, two more titles in the series, A Ring of Truth and A Promise Given, already grace the booksellers’ shelves.
We are excited and honored to officially announce the Grand Prize Winner and the First Place Category Winners for the 2017 CHATELAINE Book Awards for Romance and Women’s Fiction at the fifth annual Chanticleer Authors Conference and Chanticleer Book Awards Ceremony. This year’s ceremony and banquet were held on Saturday, April 21st, 2018 at the Hotel Bellwether by beautiful Bellingham Bay, Wash.
We want to thank all of those who entered and participated in the 2017 CHATELAINE Book Awards, a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards.
When we receive the digital photographs from the Official CAC18 photographer, we will post them here and on the complete announcement that will list all the genres and the Overall Grand Prize Winner for the 2017 Chanticleer International Book Awards. Please check back!
Congratulations to the 2017 CHATELAINE SHORTLISTERS!
Janet K. Shawgo,the author of the 2014 Chatelaine Grand Prize Winner Find Me Again, announced the First Place Award Winners and the Grand Prize Winner for the 2017 CHATELAINE Book Awards at the Chanticleer Awards Banquet and Ceremony.
Congratulations to the First Place Category Winners of the 2017 CHATELAINE Book Awards.
An email will go out to all First Place Category Winners and Grand Prize Winners with more information, the timing of awarded reviews, links to digital badges, and more by May 21st, 2018 (four weeks after the awards ceremony). Please look for it.
2017 CHATELAINE Book Awards First in Category Winners for Romantic and Women’s Fiction are:
Dear Mr. Hitchcock by Elizabeth Crowens
Watch Over Me by Eileen Charbonneau
The Passage Home to Meuseby Gail Noble-Sanderson
Love’s Misadventure by Cheri Champagne
Mask of Dreams by Leigh Grant
Magic of the Pentacle by Diane Wylie
And now for the 2017 CHATELAINE Grand Prize Winner for Romantic and Women’s Fiction:
MASK of DREAMS
by Leigh Grant
a manuscript
This post will be updated with photos from the awards ceremony. Please do visit it again!
When the stress of Manhattan Wall Street builds, James Hensley retreats to the solace of the wood at Oberon Woods, New Hampshire for a two-week respite. He’s hoping to shake off the responsibilities of his job as a financial market forecaster and find some peace and quiet indulging his private passion for painting. The rat race of the city has been replaced with fresh air, pastoral scenery, and inspiration. As he works to bring the setting to life on the canvas, his co-worker’s teasing words ring in his ears – something about having a summer romance amidst the beauty of woods and water. He shuts out that thought and continues with his paints.
As if on cue, the Burnett sisters arrive and James’ plans for an uneventful sojourn in the country take a turn. The older sister, Sophie, is a brunette beauty, sensitive, quiet, and a reader and writer of poetry. She often carries an anthology of Emily Dickinson’s poetry with her.
In contrast, younger sister Kelly is a vivacious blond, chatty and flirtatious, the yang to her sister’s yin. The sisters are well-educated and affluent, living in their parents’ co-op on Park Avenue. Sophie works as the editor of a law review journal and Kelly does secretarial work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Neither job pays well, but that’s of little consequence because there’s plenty of family money.
Of course, James can’t help but notice the sisters – and he soon learns they have boyfriends. Sophie is dating a Harvard Law School grad who works in mergers and acquisitions, and Kelly is dating a wealthy socialite boy who loves to party. So much for a summer romance.
Looks can be deceiving, though, and soon it becomes clear that the sisters’ romantic entanglements are far from perfect. Before his two-week vacation is finished, James will be attracted to both sisters. He paints them, and by doing so discovers the truth about himself.
This is a very romantic, seductively charming novel that celebrates nature and affirms the therapeutic value of nature. Here, author Yorker Keith gifts us with alluring, enchanting prose. We inhale crisp mountain air and easily envision Keith’s Arcadian wonderland. The novel includes several poems of Emily Dickinson’s as well as Sophie’s original poetry. The selections are perfect prose accompaniments for romance blooming in a resplendent countryside. Keith, in many ways, has “painted” this novel; it remains in the reader’s mind as a series of scenes rendered with the patient and astute eye of an artist.
“One man escapes to the quiet of the Oberon Woods only to be seduced by two young women of exceptional quality; as he paints each stunning beauty, he discovers more about himself and learns to trust his heart in Yorker Keith’s latest literary romantic novel.” – Chanticleer Reviews
“Seductively charming and romantic literary novel set in an Arcadian wonderland.” – Chanticleer Reviews
Mae Keaney is looking for a way back to her childhood, back to safety, and finds it in a property on Chappaquiddick Island. A wind-tattered cottage and an old boathouse she envisions as a café will be her haven, as long as she can keep her regrets and sorrows hidden.
With determination, she brings her talents as cook and waitress to bear, attracting locals and tourists alike with her hearty sandwiches, delicious cakes, and teas. She has her privacy and her shelter, and that is all she craves – until she meets Tobias, a quiet, kind, dark-skinned fisherman who begins the difficult process of enflaming her cold heart. Tobias is the son of the chief of the island’s Wampanoag tribespeople and scurrilous rumors begin to fly about Mae and her lover.
Set during the Second World War years and beyond, The Boathouse Café reminds us of a time when an unwanted pregnancy could ruin a woman for life and prejudice against Native Americans was status quo. These factors affect the star-crossed, inter-cultural relationship between Mae and Tobias, twisting it into a complex carpet of unanswered–and unanswerable–questions. Only strong, sincere, honest love can hold them together to face the storms that will beset them before their union can be secured.
This is a story that breaks through the barriers of race and challenges tradition and social mores for love.
Award-winning writer Cardillo planned out this stunning family saga with extreme care. Though the motivations and histories of her well-constructed characters may be mysterious at first, the author will thoughtfully tie up every thread as the story progresses. Her setting, a tiny dot of land hanging out in the Atlantic Ocean, subject to torments of both harsh weather and human weakness, gives the tale great power, somehow presenting more potential for drama than similar yarns spun on safe, dry land. When a fire rages on Mae’s property or a vindictive enemy vandalizes her cozy home, there will be people on “Chappy” who value the land and the traditions of the island and will step in to help and widen the circle of Mae’s support. The island, in Cardillo’s skilled hands, becomes not just an enthralling environment but a shared ethos.
Ultimately, this beautifully written, passionate, page-turning adventure of a blended family history and a romance of grand proportions will have readers yearning to continue the series with The Uneven Road and Island Legacy.
Diana Forbes writes romantic historical fiction. Her debut novel, Mistress Suffragette is easy to pick up and hard to put down. Recently, I had the opportunity to interview thisauthor and I think you’ll enjoy what she had to say…
Chanticleer: Tell us a little about yourself: How did you start writing?
Forbes: I started writing when I was 6 years old. First I wrote poetry. Then I wrote diary entries, heavily influenced by Harriet the Spy. After that, I wrote articles for my school paper. Then I wrote restaurant reviews for the school paper. In college, I wrote features for the college paper.
Chanticleer: So, basically as soon as you could form cohesive sentences, you were off to the races! Nice job, Diana. But when did you realize that you were an author?
Forbes: I met with a career coach in 2003 and I told him, “I want to be a writer.” He said, “Why don’t we just say you are a writer since writing is in the doing?”
Chanticleer: Smart – writing is an active verb… Let’s chat about genre. What genre best describes your work?
Forbes: Mistress Suffragette, my debut novel, is best described as a romance. It’s historical, so sometimes it’s described as cross-genre: historical-romance. It also has a lot of humor in it.
Chanti: Cross-genre sweet spot – best of both worlds. What inspired you to write historical/romance?
Forbes: I take two writing classes a week in Manhattan where I live, and one of my writing teachers used to tell me, “Don’t worry about the genre. A debut novel is what it is. Just write it.” But, I basically wrote the story I wanted to read. It’s a romance against a very interesting historical backdrop – the late 19th century or Gilded Age.
Chanti: I love the fact that you continue to work on your craft by taking writing classes. That’s such an important thing to do! Do you find yourself following the rules or do you like to make up your own rules?
Forbes: I like to break rules selectively. In other words, I love to know what the rules are, then break them if there is a very good reason.
Chanti: Good. Know the rules, so you know when, why, and how to break them. What do you do when you’re not writing? Tells us a little about your hobbies.
Forbes: I am an art buff. I like to go to museums and galleries and look around. Recently I have also started going to plays and musicals in Manhattan. I like to poke around antique stores and fairs, too. I have a great respect for history, so if I can learn a little history while I am having fun, that’s even better.
Chanti: You’re in the perfect place to do all that! Tell us a little about how you structure your writing day.
Forbes: I am very structured. I am fortunate to have an office that is separate from where I live. I roll into the office at 9 a.m., trying to get in one full hour of reading before the day officially starts, so from 7:30 a.m.-8:30 a.m. Then I write from 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., trying to stay off social media and email completely. At 3:30 or so, I return all my emails and hop on social media. After that, I work till between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. on marketing Mistress Suffragette.
Chanti: That’s a fantastically structured day! What has been the most helpful marketing tool you’ve used so far?
Forbes: I really like awards shows. They offer the chance to have the work receive a little recognition as well as a great marketing push. Award shows can also help introduce the work to new readers.
Chanti: What areas of your writing are you most confident in? What advice would you give someone who is struggling in that area?
Forbes: Readers often tell me that my strengths are my research, the setting, and the voice. I love stories that whisk me away, and that’s what I aimed for with Mistress Suffragette. I also want to tell untold stories. Some of the things I learned while researching M. Suffragette, I had never ever heard before – even in Political Science classes at my university. Anything I discovered that was really new and really interesting about the time period I made sure to include in the novel.
Chanti: That’s pretty cool. So, we know that you take two writing classes a week, what other things do you do to grow your author chops?
Forbes: My writing classes in Manhattan require that I turn in 20 pages at a time to early readers (my classmates) who give me feedback. One of the classes concentrates more on the craft of writing. I also read books about writing. In addition, I look for award show contests that provide feedback, so that I can learn and grow and my writing can improve before I show my work to an agent or editor.
Chanti: This is how we discovered each other! We’re thrilled you entered your novel into the Chatelaine Awards. What are you working on now? What can we look forward to seeing next from you?
Forbes: I am working on the sequel to Mistress Suffragette. I see the story as a trilogy. I am not sure when the sequel publication date will be. I write many drafts of my novels before I show them to my agent and editor, so I am somewhere in the revision process.
Chanti: I certainly hope we get to see the sequels of Mistress Suffragette. Thank you for stopping in!
If you love romance (and who doesn’t?) and the Gilded Age, you know what to do! Check out Diana’s website and follow the links to purchase her book, Mistress Suffragette.
Like her Facebook page and follow her. Trust me, there is more to come from Forbes, and you’ll not want to miss out.
Interested in a holiday cruise? Surround yourself with luxury, romance, secrets and multiple murders while traveling through the Caribbean with author Kaylin McFarren in her new sexy, action-packed book, Twisted Threads. There is only one assignment for a Japanese crime lord’s favorite assassin: take out a dastardly couple in less than ten days. But can Akira Hamada complete her mission without losing her head and heart during her most steamy and complicated hit thus far?
It isn’t part of the assignment to fall in love with someone close to murder suspects, Sara and Paul Lyons, but then Akira has never been bound by rules. Devon returns Akira’s feelings with all his being. However, there are notorious secrets between them, and now this surging romance is putting his life at risk as well. With no avenue for escape, multiple disappearances and murders increase the onboard tension. And that’s not all. Descriptions of the steamy scenes behind closed doors are beyond intense, with exhilarating adult situations and language.
So, will Akira successfully hit her assigned targets? Will she find out who is murdering cruise guests before becoming the secret assassin’s next victim? If Devon and Akira survive this murder mystery and the truth is revealed, will their hot romance flounder? There is only one way to answer these questions, and we are confident readers will be delighted in picking up Twisted Threads and finding out for themselves.
There is only one assignment for Mitsui-san’s favorite assassin, but can Akira complete the mission without losing her head and heart? Get on-board for Kaylin McFarren’s most steamy and complicated assassination suspense thriller so far!
Samantha’s lost practically everyone important in her life, her self-made career now lay in ruins, the romantic dream man she’d found had suddenly disappeared, and then, of course, there’s also The Body Next Door.
As Samantha Newman ponders the steps to put her life back on track, murder and intrigue come knocking close to home. Now she’ll need to follow her instincts and gather clues, like a child tracks a summer ice cream truck, and lick this mystery.
As the girl next door to the body, Samantha’s intelligence, generosity, and engaging humor combine to delight all amateur sleuths reading along. First, she wants to help calm and soothe others living in the condominium. That leads to some interesting clues and suspects begin to surface. But with the police investigation in full swing, will Samantha and her mystery man/love interest be able to coax their relationship into full bloom? That’s a lot to handle when your life is in tatters.
Readers will fall for Yellen’s wonderfully light, conversational writing and fall for Samantha as she tells the story. Of course, she doesn’t always come to the right conclusions, but she’s a very honest spirit who always reaches out to do the right thing. Wherever Samantha goes, she goes with all her heart. While you can certainly dive right in with this second book in the Samantha Newman series, the recommendation is to start at the beginning with The Body Business because you won’t want to miss any of Samantha’s exciting adventures, and romantic entanglements.
Yellen creates dynamic and interesting characters, a skill, no doubt she honed as she gained her start as an actress in theater and film. Later she moved behind the camera as Assistant to the Director of Production at the American Film Institute. Her writing background comes as a former magazine editor and national journalism award winner, now an award-winning novelist. The best news is that she’s currently working on the third book in this series.
A cozy mystery with exceptional heart. A satisfying read to curl up with this Fall.
Author Spotlight Series focuses on M.A. Clarke Scott, an Award-Winning Women’s Lit Author
Mary Ann Clarke Scott took home the Grand Prize ribbon for the Chatelaine Book Awards in 2016. She not only writes women’s fiction – but sci-fi and fantasy, too! Who knew? I had a chance to catch up with Mary Ann recently to chat about writing and reading and life. Here’s what she had to say. Enjoy!
Mary Ann Clarke Scott
Chanticleer: Tell us a little about yourself: How did you start writing?
Clarke Scott: I was always an avid reader and a daydreamer. There were voices in my head, alternate realities playing out in my imagination, and I’ve always loved words. I tried to write my first novel at the age of nine, but abandoned it for other pursuits until 2005, once my son was in preschool and I’d pretty thoroughly given up on architecture as a career. Then I started seriously to learn to write, with purpose and discipline.
Chanticleer: Oh, that sounds so familiar! You either talk to yourself or talk to your characters… it makes more sense to talk to your characters! So, Mary, what do you do when you’re not putting words on the page?
Clarke Scott: I like to hike on mountain trails and I do Pilates and yoga. These things keep me limber and healthy, but also centered. I read a great deal. As I’ve got older I’ve become a bit indifferent to things I used to love, like gardening and cooking, but that may be because my focus is on writing. I still enjoy those things. I love to travel, and I love art and history and metaphysics. Recently we were in Europe for the summer, so I had my fill of museums for a while, but I never really tire of that. I aspire to be a visual artist, but never prioritize it with regard to time. It’s for ‘someday’.
Chanti: How do you come up with your ideas for a story?
Clarke Scott: Stories come to me primarily via character, but also through place and, what I guess I’d call ‘situation’ as a starting point. I put these elements together and the story grows up out of them, out of necessity, logically, as a response to what the character needs to grow.
Chanti: Do you find yourself following the rules or do you like to make up your own?
Clarke Scott: Both, I guess, but mostly I’m a rebel. I’m an Aquarian, and we tend to be rule-breakers. I’ve never been a conformist with regard to story or genre, but at the same time, I’m quite passionate about universal story structure. But I don’t see that as rules so much as patterns, and I love patterns. I think they have meaning.
Chanti: I totally agree with you! How structured are you in your writing work?
Clarke Scott: The stories are structured; my workflow is not. I work organically, which is to say, often
Mary Ann’s writing room.
chaotically and in an undisciplined, random way. I procrastinate. I binge. I don’t recommend it!
Chanti: I’m so glad to hear you say that – as I am the same way…. So, how do you approach your writing day?
Clarke Scott: I don’t have writing days, per se. I have a writing life. I know coffee is involved, though. I’m trying to incorporate meditation and visualizations into my process, to get a bit of control and rhythm. I’m also experimenting with dictation. It might not work because I rather enjoy touching my keyboard. But we’ll see.
Chanti: Name five of your favorite authors and describe how they have influenced your work.
Clarke Scott: Only five! I’m a great fan of Barbara O’Neal. I love the way she builds and paces a story gradually, and layers in so many strands of character and relationship, history and mystery. Nothing is wasted or gratuitous. She makes excellent use of the objective correlative. I admire her use of colour as symbol and leitmotif and the way she weaves vaguely spiritual and mystical elements into her stories, as an element of psychology almost, more than ideology, or anything overtly paranormal. For similar reasons, I’m a huge fan of Canadian author Susanna Kearsley, although the magical elements are often more explicit in her work. I love Georgette Heyer, and Mary Balogh, for their rich and well-researched Regency romances, populated by very believable characters. Classically, I adore Jane Austen, for the same reasons. The way they all paint a universal picture of humanity in a very singular social, political and economic context. I admire British authors Freya North and JoJo Moyes I think because they both take vulnerable, flawed protagonists and build them up through adversity, but make it all very ordinary and relatable (Oh, you poor thing…. Uh oh, don’t do that… Fight back, damn you!) and yet extraordinary in terms of character growth, pushing the readers’ emotional boundaries.
Chanti: I can see that. Good choices, M.A.! How does being an author influence your
Mary Ann with her critique group.
involvement in your community?
Clark Scott: I think a lot of writers are introverts. But publishing means you must build a platform and build an author presence, both online and in the physical, local community. It’s forced me to embrace who I am, what I create and be willing to advocate for that. Becoming more comfortable online has also made me less shy in person. I’m also able to share my knowledge with other writers and support them because I know how hard it is, and that we need each other. Writers are an incredibly warm, generous and supportive community, so it’s easy to feel a sense of belonging. It’s hard to find that anywhere else.
Chanti: I agree, it’s so important to find your tribe! What areas in your writing are you most confident in? What advice would you give someone who is struggling in that area?
Clarke Scott: I suppose my strengths would be story structure, character arc and description of setting. It’s hard to give advice. Those are just things that come more naturally to me. I struggle with other things. About description I’d say, use your senses. Creative visualization helps. It also helps to keep the description filtered through the point of view character and limit what you describe to what is important to them and to the story. I’ve had to learn to do this, to limit my description from ‘everything.’ I think my training and work as an architect made me very observant, but perhaps too much so. So filter it. Story structure is something that comes through study and analysis, reading, but also interest and desire. And about character arc, I’d say, study archetypes, and use the structure of stories to make sure your characters go where they need to go, but that you challenge them enough to change them.
Chanti: Give us your best marketing tips, what’s worked to sell more books, gain notoriety, and expand your literary footprint.
Clarke Scott: Well I’m pretty active on social media, and continue to build a community and an online brand that way. I’ve entered and won a few contests (like the Chanticleer Chatelaine!), and I think that helps build familiarity and credibility with readers as well as a presence in the writer’s community. I’ve taken a two-pronged approach to marketing my books: the first is to follow all the advisors and use loss leaders (freebies, giveaways, etc.) to build my email list – although my efforts in this area are in their infancy – and as yet I’m not very good at newsletters and blogging; and secondly, creating an author profile and posting samples of work on reader sites such as Bublish, iAuthor and Goodreads. I think my approach so far has been: try everything! At the moment I believe publishing more books to build my backlist is pretty important to build my credibility as an author, and leverage what marketing I do, so that’s what I’m focused on.
Chanti: Backlist is so important. Thank you for mentioning that. #tryeverything I think we can make that a thing! Speaking of building a backlist, what are you working on now? What’s next?
Clarke Scott: The WIP I’m focused on right now is called Coming About (although I’m still searching for a better title), and it’s Book 2 in my Having it All series. It’s been 75-80% complete for several years, so I’ve been working on finishing and releasing it in 2017. After that, I have two virtually complete books in the Life is a Journey series that need a little attention before they’re ready to publish. One thing at a time. Life interferes a fair bit.
Chanti: Life does interfere!Who’s the perfect reader for your book?
Clarke Scott: I think I write primarily for women, though men who’ve read my books say they enjoy them a lot. My audience ranges from quite young women to older women. Readers who are looking for experiences that are a little deeper and more thoughtful, rather than glossy, glamourous or action-packed dangerous fictional situations. There are no murderers or spies in my stories (not yet, anyway) and I’m not drawn to psychological thrillers. I write about real life, real people, and real relationships and hope that my stories are engaging at an emotional, psychological and maybe even a philosophical level. My stories are romantic and entertaining but also hopefully channel healing and personal growth. I believe the human heart is really the last frontier. Fiction is a powerful tool that enables learning and empathy, and therefore can help people reexamine their lives, and the lives of people they know, and hopefully understand that everyone suffers in their own way, and that human beings can always change, grow and move toward enlightenment, contentment, fulfillment and love no matter what lies they were told, what pain they’ve suffered, no matter their handicaps. I’m not writing self-help or how-to books. But I’ve always processed life through narrative and I believe others do, too. It’s in our DNA. So I think I’m looking for readers who aren’t afraid of this conversation.
Chanti: What is the most important thing a reader can do for an author?
Clarke Scott: Review and rate their books on Amazon and Goodreads and other sites. Such a tiny percentage of readers actually leave reviews, something like 1%, it’s extremely difficult for authors, even with excellent books, to build up social proof. And yet this is a significant part of what book buyers use to make their choices. And of course, if you admire an author’s work, tell other people about her! Obscurity is the curse of most authors in today’s overcrowded marketplace.
Jaytanie veers off the sister track with her introduction to brand-new characters in her latest sizzling Winters Sisters Series read, Corralling Kenzie.
Kenzie Vaughn leaps out of her bed in the dead of night, responding to a cry from her horse. She discovers Boone shot and bleeding out. Kenzie contacts her neighbor, Victory Winters, who happens to be the closest vet in the area. While Victory is tending to Boone and Kenzie, Logan Mendoza, one of the DNA-enhanced Special Operations Command team (SOCOM) who investigates her ranch, is confident that the notorious Kaleidoscope Group (KG) used the mysterious shooting to get to Kenzie. Further probing indicates that Kenzie’s background may provide essential clues, particularly from her brother, Marcus who was sent to an institution when he was seven.
It is during an attempt on Kenzie’s life that she encounters Marcus. He, in turn, sets up a meeting with SOCOM to divulge the connective tie with KG. Indeed, KG is in the process of furthering their diabolical DNA experimentation, and Kenzie is a key player. More information unfolds with each day as Kenzie develops friendships with the Winters sisters. During Logan’s assignment to guard Kenzie, the two become close, and their friendship evolves into a steamy romance. Logan determines to keep her safe even while he’s away on a brief mission. But upon his return, Kenzie is not around. She’s been kidnapped!
For fans who are caught up in the lives of the Winters sisters, they are in for a big surprise with Jaytanie’s fourth installment. Up to this point, books one thru three have mainly concentrated on Victory, Payton, and Willow and KG’s sinister schemes directed toward the girls. But with the addition of the sisters’ neighbor Kenzie, Jaytanie opens the door to a whole new world of outsiders who have fallen prey to DNA tampering. Although pseudo-realism in design, this chilling realm into the dark side of medicine is reminiscent of the grisly experiments on children throughout history.
Jaytanie does a stellar job balancing the bad and ugly with the good, and “good” comes in various forms, the most obvious from the alpha-male SOCOM team and the Winters sisters. But on a deeper level, Jaytanie has created relatable characters; their near-realistic personas are riddled with strengths and weakness, even on a romantic playing field. Certainly, when Logan and Kenzie get their mojo on, it’s steamy. Leading up to those moments, Jaytanie sets an example of what a beautiful friendship should look like—slow but steady.
As with all of the books in this series, Corralling Kenzie functions perfectly well as a stand-alone read. There is richness when readers start from the very beginning of the series. Let’s just say that Jaytanie is a master of all things and will thrill and delight new readers as well as her loyal fans with this new installment.
The exciting aspect of this series is that book four does not complete the set. Closing on a major cliffhanger, Jaytanie has much more in store for her beloved audience. Stay tuned!
We are excited and honored to officially announce the Grand Prize Winner and the First Place Category Winners for the 2017 CHATELAINE Book Awards for Romance and Women’s Fiction at the fifth annual Chanticleer Authors Conference and Chanticleer Book Awards Ceremony. This year’s ceremony and banquet were held on Saturday, April 21st, 2018 at the Hotel Bellwether by beautiful Bellingham Bay, Wash.
When the stress of Manhattan Wall Street builds, James Hensley retreats to 
Mae Keaney is looking for a way back to her childhood, back to safety, and finds it in a property on Chappaquiddick Island. A wind-tattered cottage and an old boathouse she envisions as a café will be her haven, as long as she can keep her regrets and sorrows hidden.
Forbes: I am very structured. I am fortunate to have an office that is separate from where I live. I roll into the office at 9 a.m., trying to get in one full hour of reading before the day officially starts, so from 7:30 a.m.-8:30 a.m. Then I write from 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., trying to stay off social media and email completely. At 3:30 or so, I return all my emails and hop on social media. After that, I work till between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. on marketing Mistress Suffragette.
