#WriteWed Asbury Park Inspiration for Under the Boardwalk

When we first moved to our little piece of the Jersey Shore, Asbury Park was still attempting to recover from the malaise of the 1960s and 1970s. For decades, people were hoping the city would be revitalized and over the last six or so years, there has been an amazing change in the city. In fact, in a recent NY Times article, a local lawyer dubbed it “Brooklyn on the Beach.”

New restaurants and a new hotel as well as cornerstones like the Stone Pony, Wunder Bar, the Convention Center, and the Paramount Theater have made Asbury Park the “hip” place to be!

It was that new sense of energy that inspired the choice of the Asbury Park boardwalk for my UNDER THE BOARDWALK novella.

Here are some photos of the boardwalk for you!

You can purchase UNDER THE BOARDWALK at these retailers!

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2ae3AU8
B&N: http://bit.ly/2a6vKPc
iBooks: http://apple.co/2a9fZ9X
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2a6xdES
Page Foundry: http://bit.ly/2a6wkfO
Scribd: http://bit.ly/2a6vM9A

#TeaserTuesday Under the Boardwalk

Happy Tuesday! You know what that means: a teaser!

Today I’m sharing a teaser from UNDER THE BOARDWALK. I loved exploring how two people who truly love each other go about repairing a marriage that’s gone wrong. I truly believe that with love, you can fix something that’s broken. It just takes time and patience and in this case, a little bit of passion. Okay, maybe a lot of passion, not that passion alone is enough necessarily.

In UNDER THE BOARDWALK, Chase and Natalie have lost the passion as their lives have pulled them apart. The love is still there, but caught up in a lot of other things that are keeping them from being real with each other. In this story, they get real again and try to rekindle their love and marriage, but also find themselves again.

Teaser

Natalie Ramirez has spent less and less time with her husband over the last year and more and more time alone. She longs for the happy days of summer when she and Chase would pass the time together on the beach and under the boardwalk, exploring the passion that simmered between them as hot as any summer sun.

Chase Smith had to work hard for everything he ever had, including his wife Natalie. His wife had never wanted for anything in her life and Chase didn’t want to disappoint her. But somewhere along the way, Chase lost sight of the most important thing she wanted: his love.

A passionate night under the boardwalk brought them together, but can Chase and Natalie rekindle that lost love and save their marriage?

Excerpt

Click here if you cannot see the excerpt below!

Additional Info

You can purchase UNDER THE BOARDWALK at these retailers!

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2ae3AU8
B&N: http://bit.ly/2a6vKPc
iBooks: http://apple.co/2a9fZ9X
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2a6xdES
Page Foundry: http://bit.ly/2a6wkfO
Scribd: http://bit.ly/2a6vM9A

Ocean Grove Inspiration for the At the Shore Series #WriteWed

I am busy working on the first book in the Jersey Girls Bridesmaid series, tentatively titled SINCE WE WERE 18. This is a Romeo-Juliet kind of story about the son and daughter of two wealthy families that have had a feud going on for a couple of decades.

The heroine, Maggie Sinclair, is trying to save her family’s chain of upscale department stores while the hero’s father would love nothing more than to see them fail so he can gobble up the prime real estate where the stores are located.

The hero, Jax Pierce, can’t understand his bitter and very unhappy father nor the fight with the Sinclair family. If anything, Jax has kind of been in love with Maggie since a moonlit kiss on the Jersey Shore when they were both 18 (hence the title).

The two family businesses are in NYC and Jax and Maggie live there, but both families have homes on the Jersey Shore and at heart, Maggie is a Jersey Girl as are Maggie’s two BFFS, Connie and Emma.

There will be lots of scenes in New York, but also lots of time spent on the Jersey Shore as the three friends come to terms with always being bridesmaids and never brides, and try to find their own happily-ever-after.

Today I’m leaving you with some photos of the Jersey Shore locations that have inspired me as I write this book.

The Jersey Girls Bridesmaid series will be available starting in 2017.

#FreebieFriday Cooking with the SUMMER HEAT Authors #FreeRead

CookingGood morning! It’s #FreebieFriday and this morning we have a free cookbook loaded with outstanding recipes from my fellow SUMMER HEAT Box Set authors.

All of the recipes are connected to our stories in the anthology and they all look incredibly tasty. The cookbook is a perfect way to find out more about some of the things that inspired our stories.

You can download the free cookbook at these various online retailers:

I hope you have a fabulous Friday and please don’t forget that the SUMMER HEAT box set releases on May 24! The SUMMER HEAT Box Set is specially priced at 99 cents for a limited time and is now available at:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1SXcNjW
BN: http://bit.ly/1VIZ7qJ
iBooks: http://apple.co/1Ovw5MB
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1XPUCvS
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/20CGJBa
SummerHeatAuthors.com: http://bit.ly/1oI4s7c

SummerHeat_BoxSet_LRG-trans

#ManCandyMonday Chase & Natalie from UNDER THE BOARDWALK

I’m counting down the minutes to the release of UNDER THE BOARDWALK in the SUMMER HEAT box set! I hope you’ll like Chase and Natalie’s story since it was such a fun one to write.

Today’s Man Candy choice is Chase Smith, the hero of the story. I wanted a really upper crusty sounding name for him and Chase just fit the bill. The reality is that Chase is anything but rich. Chase grew up poor and had to work hard for everything he ever got. It’s important to Chase to be able to provide for Natalie, who did grow up with much much more.

Unfortunately that drive to succeed is a large part of what drove him away from his wife. I loved exploring how Chase tries to find himself again so that he can be the man with whom Natalie fell in love.

This is how I pictured Chase and Natalie during happier times, sharing some time on the Jersey Shore and just having fun!

Chase&Natalie

The SUMMER HEAT Box Set is specially priced at 99 cents for a limited time and is now available at:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1SXcNjW
BN: http://bit.ly/1VIZ7qJ
iBooks: http://apple.co/1Ovw5MB
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1XPUCvS
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/20CGJBa
SummerHeatAuthors.com: http://bit.ly/1oI4s7c

SummerHeat_BoxSet_LRG-trans

#FreebieFriday JUST ONE NIGHT #Military #Romance

Happy Friday! I love Fridays and thinking about a fun weekend. There’s a town wide garage sale going on that I plan to hit and it’s Mother’s Day on Sunday which means I get to visit my wonderful Mother-in-law and plant her gardens for her! Of course, I’ll just have to pick up my own veggies and flowers for my garden. I hope it gets and stays warm because it’s long past time for spring to get here so I can put out the plants.

I’ve got a free read of JUST ONE NIGHT for you today! JUST ONE NIGHT is the first book in the Take a Chance Military Romance series.

Here is a little blurb for the story! You can download the free read here: http://www.instafreebie.com/free/mpx6b

JUST ONE NIGHT Military RomanceHe has just one night to prove to her that anything is possible…

Jason Hart, Jase to his friends, has just graduated college and earned his commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps. It’s the night of the graduation party and she’ll be there. His best friend’s slightly older sister, Nickie. Nickie is the only woman he’s really wanted for a long time. He has just one night to make it happen.

She has just one night before the man of her dreams leaves, maybe forever, but can she find the courage to take a chance…

Nicole de Salvo has been in love – and lust – for her little brother’s best friend for years. For years she’s watched from afar and done nothing about her attraction for Jason Hart only now their time together is almost at an end. On their last night together will she find the courage to do something about her feelings, or will she live with regret for the rest of her life?

I hope you all have a great weekend and to all the moms out there, Happy Mother’s Day!

#WriteWed Inspiration for Natalie from Under the Boardwalk

When it comes to fashion, I am hopeless. I’m told that as a kid, I was always worried about my dresses and shoes. But for a long time, I’ve been a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl. That’s not to say that I don’t like dressing up every now and then and that since I’ve lost some weight, I’m a little more fashion conscious. But, big but, that fashion gene passed me by for the most part.

That’s why I rely on my daughter, who inherited my mom’s fashion sense. My daughter knows how to put clothes together and I often turn to her for advice. I also often buy things at her surf and skate shop because she brings in clothing that’s pleasing and different. She’s also really big into sourcing her items from local companies, small surf and skate brands, and companies that support sustainability and other causes.

As a small business owner, she’s also a risk taker, and I admire her for that.

In Under the Boardwalk, the heroine, Natalie, is a fashion designer and a risk taker. She’s the one who is creative and willing to try different things, unlike her husband Chase, who has become way more set in his ways and distant as he tries to do what he thinks is right for himself and his wife.

Chase’s drive to become successful has driven Natalie away from him and it’s up to the two of them to try and understand their very different personalities and see if they can find a way back to the love they had shared in the first wonderful years of their marriage.

I hope you enjoyed finding out a little bit more about Under the Boardwalk and about the inspiration for the heroine.

SummerHeat_BoxSet_NOBCK