I’m sorry I’ve been silent the last few days, but I’ve been home due to a minor illness and trying to juggle a number of things! I hope to be back with you on Monday, December 23 before taking a few days for the holidays and to get ready for a new release on Christmas Day!

Well, I hope I can get it released. I’m pushing right now to have it ready as an e-book with the print copy to follow within the week.

Which book is it? Well, it’s a re-release of a book originally released by Simon & Schuster. I’m giving it my original title, TORI GOT LUCKY. I’ve also done some editing and made some changes so that the book is more like I envisioned it when I first wrote it. I hope you’ll like the changes to this story about four friends and what happens when one of them decides to elope and upsets the entire balance of their relationship.

So here goes! The cover for TORI GOT LUCKY. What do you think?

With the winter chill and snow, there is nothing better than a nice hot bowl of soup to chase away the chill! I love Mexican food, so this is my little take on tortilla soup. This soup is relatively east except for possibly the shredded cooked chicken, but there are two ways to get that. The first is to buy a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from your local store. The second is to place the chicken in your slow cooker/oven with Rotel and cook for about two hours. If you don’t have chicken broth, well just cook your chicken breasts together with some carrots, celery and onions to make the broth. Once they chicken breasts are tender, they’ll be perfect for shredding at that point!

Ingredients

1/2 cup onion
2 chopped garlic cloves
1/2 cup red pepper chopped
1/2 cup green pepper chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
4 cups chicken broth
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can ROTEL
1 spoonful tomato paste
2 cups shredded chicken
Cumin
Chile Powder
Bay leaf
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions

Place olive oil in a sauce pot. Saute onions, peppers and garlic in the oil.

Add the cumin and chili powder and just toast them for a moment to release the flavors. Then add the drained black beans, chicken, Rotel and spoonful of tomato paste. Give a few stirs to break up the tomato paste and add the chicken broth and bay leaf. Stir and cook for about 30 to 45 minutes to let the flavors meld together.

Place in bowls and top with sliced avocado, strips of baked/fried corn tortillas, cilantro, cheddar cheese and a wedge of lime!

You’ll love this! To make it spicier, use a poblano chile instead of the red pepper or add a shot or two of your favorite hot sauce.

Today’s Friday Read is a blast from the not to distant past. August 2013 to be exact.

This book is one of my personal favs. I love the whole Russian royalty aspect and the glamour of Monaco. I also got to love the “villain” of the story, namely the cat burglar.

I liked him so much, that you’ll be seeing at least one story with him some time next year!

I hope you enjoy this little excerpt and have a great weekend!

If you can’t read the excerpt below, you can click here.

TO CATCH A PRINCESS Romantic Suspense

So sorry to miss you yesterday, but we had a hack attack on one of the sites that took them all down. Big sigh. . .

Why do people do stuff like that?

Anyway, we had our annual day in NYC and also, our day of getting our Christmas tree. It was an adventure since the snow was falling fast in the morning. We easily had 4 to 5 inches within the space of about 2 hours, but then it luckily held up a bit. Still, it made the Christmas tree fields look lovely.

We were all bundled up as we headed out, found our tree and then rushed home so we could then go into New York City for our annual visit. Lots of fun as we walked around, saw the windows and visited some of favorite places, like the reading room of the NYC Public Library on 42nd Street.

We had a wonderful meal at The Smith right across from Lincoln Center. Hubby later discovered that one of the waiters there had been given one of those amazing Tips of Jesus tips a few days earlier.

After that, we rushed across to watch the Nutcracker and then headed home to go to work the next day. Whew! A whirlwind.

Here’s a picture of Lincoln Center at night! Lovely place.

You can click here to see more pictures!

One fun thing I have to share with you is the picture down below from the public library. Before the library was there, the Murray Hill Reservoir was on this spot. It was a 4 acre man-made lake that provided water to the residents of NYC. It was also a place for people to meet and promenade along the tops of the walls.
Murray Hill (Croton) Reservoir
There are spots in the library where you can still see the remnants of this reservoir. Look carefully toward the bottom of the photo for the big grey stones that were part of the reservoir’s foundation!

Thanks for coming by today! Don’t forget to visit with me at these blog spots for a chance to win a REBORN t-shirt & $25 gift card!

Real World on Writing {Guest Post}

I took a walk in the clouds this morning, the fog was so thick and dense. Here’s a shot of it, although the fog has started to lift somewhat. When I first walked to work, you could barely see most of the Chrysler Building. It had rained earlier as well, so the streets were glistening from the headlamps of passing cars and the street lights.

It’s these kinds of gloomy mysterious mornings that have inspired so many of the scenes in THE CALLING/REBORN. Yep, mornings and not nights because as you might know from reading the various blog posts, I’m a scairdy cat and not too enamored of the dark.

Of course, come the late fall/winter/early spring, I spend a lot of time in the dark as I go to work and come from from work. I guess I can call that time in the darkness inspiration! LOL!

I’ll be sharing some more inspiration tomorrow, but for today, don’t forget to visit with me at the Wedding Week blogs and at the various stops along the blog tour (listed below) for a chance to win some goodies!