Bell Bridge Books

Making the New Year’s Resolution

Last year was an awful year on a lot of fronts. We lost so many talented people–actors, musicians, writers, artists. It feels like the Grim Reaper took an extra big haul–like he was taking notes from George. R. R. Martin. So many of those who died had a great deal of impact on me through their work. Losing them is like losing bits of myself, of my past, of the world itself. Many important moments of my life have been punctuated by their art.

It made me wonder what they were thinking as they created their works. Did they have any idea how much impact they could have? Or would have? I can’t imagine that they did. They each had something they wanted to say, some emotion or idea they wanted to capture. I know that when I write, I want to make the rest of the world go away. I want to entertain. I want good to triumph against evil, even though it doesn’t always. I always want there to be heroes, even when it seems there are none to be found. I look around in this world and I see those heroes everyday in the news. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things, is what some people like to call them. But they aren’t ordinary, are they? None of us are. We are all extraordinary in our own way. We all have the ability to be somebody else’s hero.

So that’s my New Year’s Resolution: to be somebody’s hero as often as I can, in all the ways I can.

Be entertained by Diana Pharaoh Francis! Pick up Trace of Magic! Only $0.99 until til the 14th!

4 ½ Stars TOP PICK –RT Magazine

“Best book of the year!” –Faith Hunter, New York Times Bestselling Author of the Jane Yellowrock series

Even the most powerful tracers can’t track you if the magical trace you leave behind is too old. But I can track almost anything, even dead trace. That makes me a unicorn, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and the Loch Ness Monster all rolled into one. In a word, I am unique. A very special snowflake. And if anyone ever finds out, I’ll be dead or a slave to one of the Tyet criminal factions.

Riley Hollis has quietly traced kidnapped children and quietly tipped the cops to their whereabouts one too many times. Now she’s on the radar of Detective Clay Price, a cop in the pocket of a powerful magic Tyet faction. When he blackmails her into doing a dangerous trace for him, Riley will have to break every rule that keeps her safe. Or become a Tyet pawn in a deadly, magical war.

“Diana Pharaoh Francis has crafted a winning paranormal mystery that mixes sizzling sex, magic, and a decades old search for artifacts that could change their world.” –Jeanne Stein, Bestselling Author of The Anna Strong Chronicles

“Trace of Magic caught me up fast and pulled me in tight for a fun, action-and-sass adventure full of deadly magic and dangerous romance. Diana Pharaoh Francis delivers a downright terrific read.” –Devon Monk, nationally Bestselling Author of Hell Bent

And make sure you pick up the rest of Diana Pharaoh Francis’s wonderful selection!

Diamond City Magic Novels:

The Crosspointe Novels:

Regency Sea Travel 101

Shereen Vedam

Hang on, there’s stormy weather ahead! And a bit of a history lesson.

The “Regency” era covers the period 1811 to 1820, when Prince George IV became Regent of England because his father, King George III, due to a malady, was declared incapable of performing the necessary royal functions.

During most of the Regency period and before, passengers who wished to travel by sea had to make do with paying for the privilege of boarding a vessel that primarily carried cargo and mail. It was only in 1818 that the Black Ball Line was founded to provide a regular service for passengers aboard its packet ships from the United States to England.

“I shall go the way our brave Sailors do, so take care of my petticoates, Captain and chair the Bishop!” Is not She a Spunky one…or the Princess and the Bishop

Before then, the best way to travel from England to Europe or elsewhere was on board a merchant vessel. As an island, England needed to conduct trade to and from India, China, West Indies, Canada and elsewhere, bringing in raw goods like rice, rum and precious spices, and carting away manufactured textiles, pottery and metallic goods. Therefore, lots of merchant vessels plied their trade between Britain and many of its colonies.

These sea voyages came to a crashing halt once the Peninsula War between England and France began. You see Napoléon Bonaparte had placed his brothers as kings of neighboring countries in order to create puppet states and dominate Europe. The moment he tried that ploy with Spain and Portugal, it instigated a widespread populace uprising against French occupation. And thus began the Peninsula War.

This war lasted from 1808 to 1814, and during that time, travel by the general public to Europe was hindered by Britain imposing a series of decrees (Orders in Council) in 1807. These decrees restricted the movement of merchant vessels seeking to trade with European countries.

Side note: these trade restrictions imposed by Britain was partly responsible for the American War of 1812.

Moving on. After Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated in April of 1814, the Peninsula War ended, and trading vessels once again sought ways to make money through sea travel to Europe. Despite the war ending, however, travel by sea remained perilous and uncomfortable. Cabins were cramped, food was terrible and the cost exorbitant.

Nowadays, we can simply board an engine powered cruise ship or ferry knowing that if trouble arose, there would be lifeboats and marine evacuation chutes to take us to safety. We can be fairly confident the crew will be well-trained to combat emergency situations because regulations require that vessel crew regularly practice evacuation drills. We also know that when we are served a meal, the quality is covered by food safety laws.

During Regency times, however, travel by sea wasn’t so safe, well catered or easy. For a woman, simply getting on board was an impediment. Take a quick read of the excerpt below and see how my heroine reacts to having to climb up a slippery ladder in order to board a tall ship.

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EXCERPT from A Perfect Curse

As their skiff neared the Magdalena, sailors greeted them with shouts and cheers. Nevara was dismayed to see that she would be required to climb aboard by way of a long slippery rope ladder.

Lord Terrance strapped his dog to his chest with a rope he had brought for that purpose and scaled upward as if he did this sort of thing every day. His lordship’s valet, Ellison, a meticulously groomed slender man, stood ready to assist the others. Lady Terrance confidently tied her skirts higher, exposing her ankles but allowing her to climb the ladder and follow her husband.

Once his employers were out of earshot, Ellison began to mutter about the dire consequences of this accursed voyage. He bent to offer Nevara a hand up. On closer inspection, the valet’s proud manner did not match his red-rimmed eyes or his unsteady footing. She wondered if his swaying movement had more to do with the smell of spirits on his breath than the rocking of the skiff. He was more likely to tip her overboard than help her ascend the ladder. Behind her, the other servant, Lady Terrance’s maid, Mendal, a gaunt woman in her late forties, crossed herself and murmured a psalm.

Nevara hitched up her skirts as she had seen Lady Terrance do and grabbed onto the rope ladder. She then made her careful way up. Her skirts still proved a nuisance as they caught beneath her feet at the back. Taking one hand off the rope ladder to free herself, she swayed dangerously to the side.

“Careful,” Lord Terrance called from the top. “Keep both hands on the ladder, Miss Wood.”

Easier said than done. Her tight grip kept slipping on the slimy rope ladder. She hiked her skirts again until both her feet could find purchase on the steps. Still on the skiff, Mendal was reciting a gloomy biblical verse in rhythm to Nevara’s every slippery step.

At the top, Lord Terrance pulled her over the railing with a strong heave and a stout, “Well done, Miss Wood.” His mischievous grin and a glance down to his servants suggested he understood her misgivings. His beautiful wife, too, seemed to be hiding a smile.

Nevara was not amused. She had to share a cabin with Mendal during the upcoming voyage. She hoped the lady’s maid would desist from this worrisome praying. She had enough concerns to accompany her all the way to Cadiz.

Pick up A PERFECT CURSE for just $0.99! Only through the end of September!

Around Christmastime that year, Josh and I were talking about trips and places we’ve been and he started talking about how much he loves Universal Studios, how many times he’d been, how he hadn’t been since they opened up the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and how he’s been dying to go for that reason. And I told him how I had been once on a trip in high school, but I didn’t really get to enjoy it. I also told him how I barely remembered anything about it. So Josh insisted that we take a vacation, but then he told me he wouldn’t take me until I watched all the Harry Potter movies since I had never seen any of them or read the books. We then watched all eight movies in a two week period. We saved our money and bought a trip and in April 2016, we went to Orlando. I had never been on a plane before and I thought it was really cute that Josh wanted to be the one to take me on my first airplane experience.

            We arrived on Friday and Saturday was our first day at the park. Saturday night after dinner we took a walk on the City Walk and Josh started peppering me with questions. Wondering if I’d had fun, what my favorite section of the park was (It was Harry Potter World, BY FAR, by the way), and what my favorite ride was. I didn’t think anything of it, so I answered his questions and asked him the same things. Well the next morning we got up and went back to the park again for our second day. The only part of the park that’s open the first hour of the day is the Harry Potter rides. So we headed there, rode those, and afterwards we just walked around checking out all the stores and stuff. Josh asked me if I wanted to take a picture together. I should have known something was up right then because he never wants to take pictures. Because of that fact, I was excited and said yes! So we found a costumed park employee and asked him to take a picture of us. He was super nice and agreed. He took several shots of us, even getting all artsy trying to make sure he was getting some good ones. Then suddenly as the employee went to hand me my phone back, Josh intervened and said to him “Actually, could you take one more picture?” and got down on his knee! I was so surprised. My face turned red and all I could say was “Nuh uh.” There were people walking around all around us and a lot of them stopped to watch and were already clapping for us. He asked me to marry him and there was so much going on, I swear he whispered it because I could barely hear him. Luckily I couldn’t take my eyes off him, so I know what he said by reading his lips. Of course I said yes! Our “photographer” took photos of the whole thing on my phone, and I was really glad he did because those are some of the sweetest pictures that I have. Not to mention, it was one of my requirements of being proposed to. I always told Josh that if he wanted to propose to me, he had better plan a secret photographer to capture it. After our celebration, filled with lots of hugs and kisses, we finally came back to reality. Josh told me to be sure to call my dad and tell him that he did it. I asked him what he meant and he explained that before our trip, he’d asked my dad’s permission to propose. After my father agreed, he told Josh to tell me to call him to tell him as soon as it happened. I’m very much a Daddy’s girl, so that was another one of my requirements to being proposed to. That was actually the first one on the list. It makes me feel so relieved that my dad loves Josh as much as I do and I just felt so incredibly blessed that the perfect guy had just given me the perfect proposal.

I guess some people really do get a second chance at love. And if you do get a second chance, don’t waste it! Josh and I are getting married June 10, 2017, and we couldn’t be more grateful that we get a second chance at happily ever after.

THANK YOU FOR READING! REMEMBER TO LIKE AND COMMENT ON THE FACEBOOK POSTS TO WIN A FREE EBOOK OF HEALING A HERO BY SKYE TAYLOR!

Fast forward all the way to 2014. Josh and his previous girlfriend had broken up that March and I had been dumped in August of the year before. One day that May, I posted a picture on Facebook of my friend and I that I had taken at church that same morning. Little did I know that that picture was going to cause Josh to send me a private message. Apparently, in that photo, the way I had my hair pulled to one side and my friend blocking the side my hair was pulled to, it appeared that I had cut all of my hair off. Some people had already commented on the photo bringing it to my attention when Josh said something about it. His message said that he had noticed the picture I had posted and had to look twice because he thought I cut all my hair off. When the other people had told me I found it annoying, but when he said it I laughed. From that message, we continued talking and eventually one of us suggested texting instead of communicating via Facebook. We continued texting every day until one day Josh asked me to hang out. And we attempted to hang out several times, but things kept coming up where one of us couldn’t meet. I think Josh even got a flat tire halfway to see me once. But one night we were both finally free. I went over to Josh’s house, and I have to admit, when he answered the door, it was a tiny bit awkward since it had been so long since we had seen each other last and I was nervous. But I went in and we just talked with the TV playing something in the background. We sat there all night and talked. It didn’t take long for my nerves to go away. Nothing was off limits, we talked about everything. I went home sometime in the wee hours of the morning but we continued texting every day whenever we could, and hanging out more and more.

On June 10, 2014, Josh and I were hanging out at my place watching TV and he said to me “If you wanted to tell people I’m your boyfriend, that would be okay with me.” I laughed and immediately said to him “No way! You have to officially ask me.” So he cheesily said “Will you be my girlfriend?” or something like that. I, of course, said yes. We were dating for about a year when Josh suggested I move in with him and his roommate. I was nervous at first because what if we didn’t work out? And I didn’t know what my parents would think about it. But I talked to them about it and I moved in, in July of 2015. And later that month Josh surprised me by texting me at work one day asking me if I wanted a kitten. I thought he was joking. I had wanted a cat for so long. Before I moved in and after, we would be watching TV and someone would get a kitten and I would be like “Awww babe!” and he would say “No!”. The first thing I said to his was “Are you for real?” because I didn’t think he would get me a cat. The next text that came through was a picture of a litter of kittens that needed homes and Josh told me how a co-worker was trying to find them homes and if I wanted one, we needed to tell him right away. I picked out the one I wanted from the picture and the next day Josh picked up and brought home our precious fur child. I came home from work and he and our roommate had already named her.

READ THE FINAL CHAPTER IN OUR SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE SERIAL TOMORROW!

That July, Josh went to Oklahoma on family vacation and called me, as young people did back then before texting was a thing, on a Sunday night. We talked for a little while then, out of nowhere, Josh broke things off. I just sat on the phone and cried for what seemed like a really long time. For me, it was a total shock. After a while of sitting on the phone while I cried, he told me he couldn’t just sit there and listen to me cry on the other end so he said he should go and hung up. I was a mess that whole week. That Friday night, five days after the breakup, my best friend and I went to the movies to see a movie Josh and I had been planning on going to see for a while. When the movie ended and the lights came back on, everyone started getting up and we stood up to exit and looked around the theater and who did we see several rows behind us? Josh. With a girl. A girl that I knew for a fact was a pretty good friend of his who he talked to fairly often. I was hysterical. He had moved on that fast. Of course when I got home I had to get on MySpace to see what I could find out. They were dating. We had only been broken up a few days! Of course I assumed since he had a girlfriend so soon after we broke up that he had been cheating on me with her. Even if they were just talking behind my back and not even spending any one-on-one time together yet.

First day of junior year, I went to English class and there was Josh. I was so mad. I didn’t want to see him every other day for the rest of the school year. Luckily our teacher seated us in alphabetical order so I got to sit far away from him. I pretty much avoided Josh our entire junior year. However, during my junior year I started dating someone else and I started slowly getting over Josh. Eventually I got over the whole thing but we really didn’t communicate much because he was still dating that girl.

Fast forward to senior year, Josh and I have economics class together. By that point I had long forgiven him for what happened between us and had put it all in the past. I still made it a point, though, to joke with him about it here and there mentioning how he broke my heart. We enjoyed having that class together and we talked all the time. I looked forward to going to that class because of him. I remember a few specific conversations we had in that class that I will never forget. He always knew how to make me feel better about myself. We became pretty good friends again by the end of senior year, and eventually graduated in the class of 2010.

I don’t know if it was because we ran in different crowds or because I had a boyfriend, but we didn’t keep in touch after graduation. But we did seem to run into each other fairly often it seemed. It didn’t matter if either of us was dating someone or not, every time we ran into each other, we always stopped to talk to one another. I remember a few times when we ran into each other he would have his girlfriend with him or I would have my boyfriend with me, and we saw each other and had to stop and catch up. And we always hugged before we went our separate ways. I remember one time a few years after we broke up he called me on my birthday just to wish me a happy birthday. It made me feel special that he still had my number and that he remembered my birthday. Of course I always remembered his too. There was just something between us I can’t explain that was always there.

Read more tomorrow in SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE: THE REKINDLING!

Josh and I first met in eighth grade, in algebra class. Our desks were right next to each other. Josh was nice but quiet. I wouldn’t say we were close friends but we were friends who talked occasionally in class. Fast forward to high school, I don’t really remember ever seeing Josh during freshman year but, during sophomore year, Josh and I were in Algebra 2 together. Again, we sat right next to each other. That class was horrible, but we made the best of it. In February of that same year, I had to have back surgery and I was out of school for a month. My last day of school before I was out for surgery, My best friend at the time and I were waiting in the car pick-up line for her sister to pick us up. Josh was there waiting too. I don’t remember whose ride got there first but, before we parted, he came up to me, wished me luck on everything, and gave me a hug. Having never really been hugged by a boy before, I felt rather special.

Even though I was not able to go to school during my recovery time, I felt well enough to attend church as I always had. Well, somewhere around the same time that I was having surgery, a mutual friend of ours had invited Josh to come to our church. So on my first night back to church, Josh was there. At the time it was still a little difficult for me to get up and down out of chairs and such, so Josh would offer his hand to help me. I thought he was so sweet. From then on, we became even better friends and he continued to come to church. In April, Josh asked me to be boyfriend and girlfriend. Apparently we were walking side-by-side when he asked me and he tripped over a bush, but I have no recollection of that part at all. I said yes. We “dated” for the next few months. You know how it is when you’re fifteen and can’t drive on your own yet, so I would hardly call it dating, but we had fun together. I loved being around Josh’s family and my parents liked Josh as well. I thought everything was going great with us….

Tune in tomorrow to find where the ellipses lead!

Power of Perseverance

By Shereen Vedam

“Death is Peaceful, Life is Harder”

― Stephenie Meyer, Twilight

Right after I read the above quote, a friend mentioned a line from an old TV show called St. Elsewhere: “Death ends a life, it doesn’t end a relationship.”

Both quotes are so very true. When someone dies, the love of those left behind does not die with their loved one, it lingers on. As for the one who died, he or she can be drawn to the vibrancy of life they were left behind, especially if the one who they once cared for, is still grieving their passing.

Deep love perseveres.

Breaking the lure of life isn’t easy. In my Regency romance, A Beastly Scandal, the heroine discovers this when a widow asks her to cleanse her home, Clearview Manor, of a persistent ghost. The first thing the ghost does when Belle arrives is try to kill her. She perseveres. Because the last time she tried to help this man, it was when he was still alive, and she failed. This time, she will not abandon him. Not if he refuses to accept her help, not even if his son throws her out of his home.

Perseverance has the power to overcome obstacles, shrug off discouragement and surmount fear. When life seems hard – and believe me, it will get hard because that is the nature of life – remember to believe in yourself, and to not give up. If you can do that, you will get through this day, the next, and the one after that. In the end, you will triumph, because the power of perseverance is magical. Like love. Dead or alive.

EXCERPT from A Beastly Scandal:

 “That is a desolate looking house, is it not?” Winfield said. “I would have it torn down and rebuilt in a more flattering style, but Terrance seems fond of this monstrosity. So what brings you so far north, my lady?”

She faced the gentleman. “I have come for a visit with Lady Terrance. She is my grandfather’s friend.”

“I had heard the countess still wore dark colors.”

Before she could respond, a loud crack sounded. She sensed danger stab from above. With a shouted warning, she pulled Mr. Winfield out of harm’s way just as an icicle crashed and shattered where they had stood. She protected her face as splinters flew in all directions.

Mendal screamed. The owl fluttered its one good wing and screeched. The dog barked ferociously.

Mr. MacBride spoke first, his voice quivering and eyes wide with terror. “It is an omen, ah tell ye.”

“He is right,” Mendal said, sounding unusually timorous as she crossed herself. “We should leave. Bad luck comes from going where we are not wanted.”

The front doors opened then, and a footman descended. Immediately, the dog raced up the stairs and inside.

“Dog!” Belle called out in alarm. The animal might wreck the place. This was not how she had hoped to introduce herself to the countess.

An older woman, dressed in black, moved to the open doorway. Belle recognized her from a drawing her grandfather had shown her. This was Lady Terrance. She gave off waves of fear as she looked toward the roofline.

Belle’s worries drowned beneath the lady’s emotional assault, leaving her head pounding with a headache. Through that onslaught, Belle’s purpose became crystal clear. This is why she had come here. Lady Terrance needed her.

A BEASTLY SCANDAL is only $1.99 through the 15th! Grab it today!

Night After Night

by Kathleen Eagle

Where do characters come from? From life, of course. From people. Even if the character is an animal, if it has thoughts, it’s a personification. Every writer’s characters come from people the writer has somehow experienced. Fiction is about the human experience—yes, even sci fi, even fantasy—fiction is about us. Writers find stories and characters in the world around them.

One of my most memorable characters is just a boy in THE NIGHT REMEMBERS, which was published in 1997. His father is black, his mother Lakota Sioux, and Tommy T—the nickname his father gave him—lives on the streets of Minneapolis. He’s resourceful, independent, witty, irrepressible, already a brilliant artist at the age of 12, when he “adopts” Angela, a woman who is out of her element and on the run. His older brother is a sad case, so Tommy T tries to look out for him, too. But Tommy T needs a hero, and he finds one in Jesse Brown Wolf, the enigmatic troubleshooter Tommy T calls Dark Dog.

Tommy T is one of my favorite characters, and he was inspired by a student from my early teaching days. Oliver was a terrific artist, a wonderful basketball player, a very smart young man. Years later—soon after we moved to the Minneapolis area—we ran into Oliver at an art show. It was so good to see someone from Standing Rock, the Lakota reservation where most of the Eagles live, where my husband and I met, where I taught high school for 17 years and where our 3 children were born. But here we were, out of our element, and here was Oliver, who was also glad to see people from back home, and who said, “I’m really doing good now, Mrs. Eagle.”

It wasn’t long after that meeting that Oliver died tragically. Heartbreakingly. Senselessly. Years later I wrote a story—not about him, but for him. And readers began to let me know that it wasn’t finished. Tommy T was one of their favorites, too, and he ought to be more than a secondary character. Tommy T had to grow up.  I knew who Tommy T was as a man, and I wrote NIGHT FALLS LIKE SILK.

Tommy T is now Thomas Warrior, a reclusive graphic novelist. He’s crazy successful and drop-dead handsome, but he’s also troubled by his past. He visits Angela, his adoptive mother, but only when Jesse isn’t home. He blames Jesse for his drug-addicted brother’s troubles. And now the characters in Thomas’s stories have begun to haunt him. They want him to go back to his roots, reclaim his heritage. Maybe that’s why he finds himself bidding on a set of century-old ledger drawings and feeling more than simply challenged by Cassandra Westbrook, the beautiful but outrageously privileged woman who outbids him. I believe NIGHT FALLS LIKE SILK is worthy of the irrepressible Tommy T as well as the irresistible Thomas Warrior.

Thank you, Oliver.

NIGHT FALLS LIKE SILK is only $1.99 through the 31st. Pick it up today: 

Second Chances

by Sandra Hill

How many times in your life have you wished for a do-over?  How many times have you said, “If only…” with regard to some past event, or person?  Does your heart ever ache at the thought of a second chance to do something differently?  If only we could turn back the clock!

Sometimes it involves carelessly spoken words that wounded. Or words not spoken that should have been.   Or a poor choice of career…or even a spouse.  Wasted time, lost years.  Desertion.  Betrayal.  Or lost love.

The heart aches at the finality of some of our actions.  If only…, if only…, if only…

It’s a favorite theme in many books and movies, sometimes with satisfying conclusions, other times the sorrow of lost chances.  The movies “An Affair to Remember,” “The Way We Were,” “The Notebook,” or “Casablanca.”  Or how about Scarlett in GONE WITH THE WIND?  Wouldn’t she have liked to turn back the clock?  One of my favorite examples is Diane Gabaldon’s OUTLANDER.  When Claire returns to the future, she thinks Jamie is dead.  What a fabulous plot angle when Claire discovers twenty-some years later that Jamie never died in the Battle of Culloden, and she goes back to find him.  <sigh>

Second Chances!  That’s what happens in HEART CRAVING.  Poor Nick DiCello, a Trenton cop, has only one week until his divorce from his wife Paula become final.  He loves Paula desperately, but he’s made so many mistakes.  He has to do something, though.  Clueless about where to start, Nick goes to a wacky fortune teller for advice.  She tells him to find his wife’s “heart craving,” but Nick hears only the word “craving” and thinks she refers to sexual fantasies.  What ensues is Nick’s hilarious, but poignant, and dare I say erotic, setup of a series of sexual events to woo Paula back.

I love novels about couples who have a broken relationship and somehow find their way back to each other.  They know how to push each other’s buttons, in all ways.  The hurts are deep; for that reason, the reunions are that much more emotional when they get another chance to change.

In my own personal life, there are so many things I wish I could do over.  How about you?  Well, in books, we get that chance.

Sandra Hill is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 40 romantic humor novels.  Whether they be contemporary, historical, or paranormal, the underlying theme in all of them is humor…and sizzle.  For more information about her books, check out her website at www.sandrahill.net or her Facebook page at Sandra Hill Author.

HEART CRAVING by Sandra Hill is only $1.99 through January 15th! Grab it today!