.#PlottingPrincesses - welcome Ashantay Peters who wows!!! us with her new book

The royally fun girls, the Plotting Princesses, welcome author Ashantay Peters to the blog. She's got tons of stuff up her sleeve. 

Check out her bio:

Ashantay Peters lives in the North Carolina mountains, where she loves escaping into a well-written book. She loves to hear from readers and promises not to stalk anyone who contacts her. 

Speed Round:

Favorite movie: His Gal Friday  (BTW: Vicki loves this movie)
Favorite book: any by Amanda Quick 
Last book read: The Secret Language of Leah Sinclair 
Favorite color: Rainbow! 
Stilettos or flip-flops: Neither 
Coffee or tea: Water 
E-book or paperback: Paperback 
Pencil or pen: Pencil
Favorite song: Bad Love
Streak or not: Not
Favorite dessert: Fruit
Champagne or gin: Champagne
Paranormal or Historical: Historical
Ginger or Mary Ann: Mary Ann
Favorite TV show: Dead Like Me
Hot or cold: Hot
POV: First
I'd die if I don't have: Light

#PlottingPrincesses: guest author Rebecca Stevenson is Under the Princess Crown #MFRWorg #RLFblog #interview

The Plotting Princesses are thrilled to have author, Rebecca Stevenson, be under the Princess Crown today!

Here's a bit about her: Rebecca Stevenson is a freelance editor and writer whose frequent visits to New England have become the inspirations and settings for her stories. She is a member of RWA and DARA and currently lives in Texas with her husband.

Speed Round:  

Favorite movie: Now, Voyager   
Favorite book: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger 
Last book read: Blue Hole Back Home by Joy Jordan-Lake 
Favorite color: Red 
Stilettos or flip-flops: Flip-flops 
Coffee or tea: Both 
E-book or paperback: Paperback 
Pencil or pen: Pen
Favorite song: In My Life (Beatles)
Streak or not: Not
Favorite dessert: Cheesecake
Champagne or gin: Wine J
Paranormal or Historical: Contemporary
Ginger or Mary Ann: Mary Ann
Favorite TV show: Downton Abbey
Hot or cold: Hot 
POV: first and third (sometime second) J
I'd die if I don't have: a creative outlet

Sit back, relax with the Plotting Princesses! #MFRWorg

The latest information, tidbits, and of course, books is in this special Summertime edition of the Plotting Princesses newsletter.

Take a peek. You never know....

http://ymlp.com/zu0ELp

Life Hacks You'll actually Use

You've probably seen or heard about life hacks, which are essentially super-cool ideas to make your life a little easier. You may have seen a few on tumblr, or pinterest. Heck, there are entire websites devoted to them. But if you're like me, you scroll through blog posts titled 153 best life hacks at the speed of light, all the while thinking, "Holy cow, I've got to use some of these!", only to promptly forget every single one of them to stumble through the rest of your thoroughly un-hacked life. If an idea requires me to collect something, prepare something a month in advance, or doesn't provide semi-instant gratification, I'm out. I'm just too busy. Which is why I give you this post... a bite-sized sample of life hacks YOU MIGHT ACTUALLY USE.

Number 5

#PlottingPrincesses : Under the Royal Crown author interview with J. C. McKenzie. Shift Happens. #MFRWorg

The PP gals welcomes J. C. McKenzie for our speedy Under the Crown Interview. Welcome, J.C.

Born and raised on the Haida Gwaii, off the West Coast of Canada, J.C. McKenzie grew up in a pristine wilderness that inspired her to dream. She writes Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. Lover of the ocean and all things chocolate.

Speed Round:

Favorite movie: Willow Favorite   

Book: Mermaid’s Song, by Alida Van Gores
Last book read: Gull Harbor, by Kathryn Knight
Favorite color: Blue
Stilettos or flip-flops: Flip flops, FTW!
Coffee or tea: Coffee
E-book or paperback: ebook
Pencil or pen: pencil
Favorite song: right now? Boa Sorte, Vanessa de Mata & Ben Harper
Streak or not: Streak
Favorite dessert: Anything chocolate

Does an anniversary make you feel nostalgic? #PlottingPrincesses #MFRWorg

Have the Years Passed Quickly for You?

After I had been secretly writing for a few months, I sat down to have dinner with Handsome who had been mega traveling. We chatted about the usual—kids, cats, house, his trip, my upcoming class reunion. Then he asked, “What have you been up to?” meaning besides Jazzercise, needlepoint, and reading.

I drew a deep breath and let this rip quickly, “I’ve been writing.”

Honestly, I don’t stun Handsome much. But this admission did. His eyes went large and he went from a reclining position to sitting straight. Then his eyes narrowed, “Writing what?”

Michelle Miles: #TuesdayTeaser from Her Fierce Knight

Hey, gang! I'm running late today so I'm giving you a quick tease of my forthcoming fantasy romance release, HER FIERCE KNIGHT. It will be out August 28!

BLURB:

As the king’s health declines, Prince Ainthas takes the throne but his rule faces war with the Fomorians, enemies who have carved a path of devastation throughout the realm. When the Fire Elven princess, a striking beauty, arrives in his kingdom with a plea for help, he knows he cannot refuse her. Nor can he resist her and vows to fight for her hand from any challengers no matter the cost.

Princess Laerwen’s people are mercilessly massacred and facing annihilation, so she turns to the ones she blames—the Wood Elves. Upon meeting Ainthas, she learns who the true enemy is and enlists his help to regain her realm and destroy the Fomorians once and for all. But undeniable passion ignites between them and she is powerless to resist. And one kiss will never sate her desire for the prince. Even though she battles her growing feelings, he has made it quite clear he would do anything to have her.

When a twist of fate intervenes, Laerwen risks her heart for a seduction neither will forget and a love that will always endure.

EXCERPT:

Wild Vacation Stories

So my 18-year-old daughter just returned from a trip to Taos, New Mexico. While there, she went white water rafting with her dad, step-mom and step sisters. Well........she had such a tall tale to tell when she returned that I had to retell here...snicker!

While white water rafting, it's not uncommon to fall out. And of course they all had life jackets on but after hitting a rock and trying to save one of the twin step-daughters from going overboard, her dad fell out and poor guy lost his hat and glasses. The step mom reached over like a protective mama bear and saved her child from the rapids so whew! Glad she didn't fall out. Welllll........why the white water guide was trying to save her dad, he also went over and his arm came out of the socket! In total pain, he guided the raft to a giant rock where he pushed the raft up on it to anchor it. He saves her dad..now here comes the funny part.

Tales from the Crate - How to Train Your Puppy in Three (not so) Easy Steps #puppyproblems - by Karilyn Bentley

I'm happy to announce we got a new puppy! Isn't she cute??

Our little cutie

Favorite sleeping place

She's seven months old, we were told a Lab/Border Collie mix (but she's not supposed to get bigger than 30 pounds), and came with the name Angel. Yeah, right, a misnomer for any puppy. We changed it to Arya, one of our favorite characters from GoT. The character carries a sword named Needle. Our puppy comes with teeth and baby claws that function the same purpose. The Hubster named her. The Hubster also picked her out.

We weren't looking for a puppy. Our jobs keep us away from home during the day and puppies are a lot of work. Not to mention the whole housebreaking thing (still working on that one. Maybe I can get new carpets???). A couple of Saturdays ago we were looking at a group of rescue dogs, I turn around and the next thing I know Hubster has Arya on his shoulder. She climbed over the other puppies in the pen and jumped up, reaching for him. We were like: but she's a puppy. Don't want a puppy. But she clicked with us so a couple of hours later (after a bit of discussion) we went back and got ourselves a puppy.

Yikes.

Keep up-to-date with the #PlottingPrincesses #MFRWorg

The latest information, tidbits, and of course, books is in this special Summertime edition of the Plotting Princesses newsletter.

Take a peek. You never know....

http://ymlp.com/zu0ELp

Ok, I'll admit it.  I basically shot myself in the foot.  I was supposed to post yesterday's blog and got so busy with other stuff that I totally spaced and forgot to schedule it, and it sat on my computer in a word file instead of posting to the Plotting Princesses, where it was supposed to be.

So I'm rewriting it a bit and posting it today.  TA DA!!!  (Well at least I'm getting something up – better late than never, don't you think?)

Fireworks Anyone?

I'm on deadline and completely forgot it's my day to blog. So forgive me for running this one a second time around, but I think it's worth a repeat. It's the funniest fourth I've ever experienced.

Happy Birthday America!  It's almost the fourth and this month I wanted to do something a little different.  I want to hear from you what you love about living in America.  We say we're the greatest country in the world, but I want to know what makes you appreciate living here.

Here's mine: