The Amoveo Series: Paranormal Romance of a Different Breed

A Melody for My Muse

2012-01-26T09:06:00.000-08:00

People often ask where I get ideas or how I overcome an uncooperative muse and for me the answers lie in music. When I'm plotting out a book, one of the first things I do is create a soundtrack for it. When I'm at a crossroads with a character or a hiccup in the plot, I listen to the songs I selected and usually it helps trigger and idea. Sometimes, the soundtrack will get new additions.

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For example, I was driving up to our summmer home in Rhode Island (the backdrop for Unleashed) and the song "All Summer Long" by Kid Rock came on and conjured up all kinds of great images for Samantha and Malcolm. That wasn't originally on the soundtrack for Unleashed but you can bet your butt it was added. I hope you enjoyed Malcolm and Samantha's story and will want to read more about the Amoveo.

"Sleepwalking to Dreaming"--Amy Petty *used in the book trailer for Unleashed
"All Summer Long"--Kid Rock
"Katmandu"--Bob Seger
"The Way You Look Tonight"--Frank Sinatra
"Don't Stop Believin'"--Journey
"Unwritten"-Natasha Bedingfield

Coming April 2012

Pre-Order on Amazon

Pre-Order on B&N

If you read Unleashed, then you've already met the heroine and hero of Untouched

and I'm hoping you're excited to read their story.

Here's the soundtrack that I used while writing Kerry and Dante's story.

Enjoy!

"Honey on the Skin"--Amy Petty *song used in the book trailer for Untouched
"Hurts So Good"--John Cougar Mellencamp
"Teenage Dream"--Katy Perry
"November Rain"--Guns-n-Roses
"Fire Down Below"--Bob Seger
"Lay All Your Love on Me"--Mama Mia Soundtrack
"I'm So into You"--The Strike Nineteens
"Tipitina"--Professor Longhair *this gave me the Louisiana flavor when I needed it

Coming November 2012

Before I get to the soundtrack, can I tell you how much I'm loving the cover of Untamed?!

It is the arc (advanced reading copy) cover and will likely change a bit before the final version

but I love it so far. The art department at Sourcebooks is amazing and

somehow manages to capture the spirit of every single book.

Okay, on to the music.

William and Layla are a very different couple from the others you've read about. For starters, Layla knows what she is. She knows she's a hybrid. Half human and half Amoveo from the Cheetah Clan. She's spent her entire life in fear that her Amoveo mate will find her and

conk her on the head like a caveman and drag her away.

William is a cold, calculating attorney and member of the Gyrfalcon Clan.

He is used to everyone following his instructions without question so when he meets his firey red-headed mate...the poor guy is baffled.

"Promise's Demise"--Amy Petty *this song is used in the book trailer

"Paris (ooh lala)"--Grace Potter & The Nocturnals

"I Run to You"--Lady Antebellum

"Can't Be Tamed"--Miley Cyrus

"The Edge of Glory"--Lady Gaga

"I Go to Extremes"--Billy Joel

"Going Under"--Evanescence

Dream on....

Giveaway! Win an ARC of UNTOUCHED!

2012-01-11T06:50:00.000-08:00

Look what I got in the mail!! I am so excited for the release of Untouched and I think the art department at Sourcebooks did an absolutely amazing job with this cover. When I first saw it, I just sat and stared at it for for several minutes because the guy on the cover is Dante. I don't know how they do it...I'm just glad they do.

For those of you who read Unleashed, you'll recognize the hero and heroine in Untouched. Dante and Kerry's story is definitely different from Samantha and Malcolm. Kerry has hidden a dark secret from everyone in her life, including her best friend, Samantha. When she touches another human being it causes excruciating pain and evokes mind-numbing visions.Except when she touches Samantha. When she touches her friend, there's no pain and all she sees is the image of a wolf. She doesn't know why it's different with Sam and not one to look a gift-wolf in the mouth, she doesn't dare question it.

As a result of her bizarre curse, she's learned to navigate daily life without even the briefest of human contact. As a plus size model, she lives almost every day in the public eye but even amid all of these admirers she feels isolated.

Until she meets Dante.

Dante Coltari, the owner of Inferno Securities and an Amoveo warrior from the Fox Clan, has finally found his mate. He realizes that like Samantha, Kerry is unaware of her Amoveo heritage. However, her gift of second-sight gives him hope that she'll be able accept who and what she is with ease. Too bad she thinks he's a big Neanderthal and makes no secret of her opinion.

Most of this book is set in New Orleans, which is one of my favorite cities. My husband and I have been there several times and we're going back in April for a book signing at The Hotel Monteleone. I'm so excited for that trip! The Monteleone is one of only three Literary Landmark Hotels in the USA and it's featured prominently in Untouched.

The first time we went to New Orleans was about ten years ago and we stayed at the Monteleone. We knew a hurricane was coming but decided to go ahead with our trip because the folks at the Monteleone assured us that we'd be perfectly safe at their gorgeous hotel.

They were right.

When we landed the airport was a ghost town and all of the screens had CANCELLED CANCELLED CANCELLED written all over them. Our flight was the last one permitted to land in New Orleans because of the hurricane that was bearing down hard and fast.

We arrived at the Monteleone in a deluge of rain. It was coming down in sheets and they were sandbagging the entrance of the hotel as we checked in. We got into our room, which was just gorgeous, and decided to run down to the CVS on the corner and pick up a few things.

By the time we got out of CVS, the water in the street was up to our knees. I have to admit...I was getting nervous. We had a great dinner in the hotel that night and went to bed hoping that New Orleans and the French Quarter wouldn't be under water when we woke up.

The next morning, the sun was out and the water was gone! However, Bourbon Street, and the rest of the quarter, was completely deserted. Everything was boarded up and I wondered if our trip would be a complete washout.

Nope.

By five o'clock that night, you'd never have known that there was a storm. The entire quarter was bustling and Bourbon Street was full of folks out to have a good time.

I've never seen anything like it.

Needless to say, we had an amazing time and have been back twice since. It's a gorgeous city with a rich, colorful tapestry of people and places. I can't wait to go back!

How about you? What's your favorite vacation spot?

Leave a comment anytime from January 11-January 18 and be entered to win a signed arc of Untouched! Let me know if you Tweeted & FB'd it and get an additional entry for each. For every day you tweet or FB it, you get additional entries!

I'll announce the winner on January 19th.

UNLEASHED: Reader's Choice BEST BOOK of 2011 at Grave Tells!

2012-01-02T11:00:00.000-08:00

Whoo Hoo!!! What a great way to ring in the new year. I am thrilled to report that Unleashed won Best Book of 2011 at the Grave Tells Reader's Choice Awards!

I have to throw out an enormous THANK YOU to everyone who voted, posted the link, re-posted the link and relentlessly passed the word about the contest. My readers are the best! Thanks for telling folks how much you enjoyed Unleashed and for sharing this new shifter series with your fellow PNR junkies. I'm thrilled that you're enjoying the world of the Amoveo and hope you'll continue the journey this spring with Untouched.

I wish you and your loved ones a safe, healthy and happy 2012!

Dream on....

UNLEASHED is up for Best Book of 2011 at GraveTells: Vote here!

2011-12-27T08:08:00.000-08:00

Holy Cow! Unleashed is up for Best Book of 2011 over at GraveTells Reviews! I'm beyond psyched! I do hope you'll take a moment and pop on over to cast your vote. You can also vote on several other topics like, sexiest story, best cover and hottest hero. So get on over there and check it out!

GraveTells 2011 Readers Choice Awards: Vote here!

Unleash Your Pictures- $25 Gift Cards Up for Grabs!

2011-12-05T18:10:00.000-08:00

I thought it would be fun to have one last contest to close out 2011 and give away a couple of gift cards. 'Tis the season and all that good stuff.

I wanted to do something a little different that could give me a chance to get to know some of my readers a bit better.

Interested? Want a chance to win a $25 Amazon or B&N gift card? Have you read Unleashed?

If you answered yes to these questions then here's what you need to do to enter.

1. Upload a picture of you with your copy of Unleashed onto the Amoveo FB page. It could be your paperback or the book cover on your Nook or Kindle.

2. Make sure you do it by 11:59pm on 12/31/11.

That's it!

Here's an example from Robin C! Robin took it the extra mile and included her limited edition of the original release.

Looking forward to seeing your pics! I'll announce the 2 winners on New Year's Day!

Dream on...

Tenacity Tested

2011-11-13T12:28:00.000-08:00

As you may know, I run a contest for U.S. Military Wives every year from Memorial Day to Labor Day weekend. Last year's Grand Prize Winner was Carrie Reyes and part of her prize was for me to come have a book signing in her hometown. Carrie graciously agreed to hold off on her prize until the release of Unleashed. The plan was to hold it at the Columbus, Georgia Barnes & Noble from 1pm-4pm.

I was very excited because we were able to get some coverage in the local newspaper, the Ledger Enquirer. I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Katie McCarthy, who also happens to be a military wife and you can read the article here if you'd like.

At any rate, all of the planning looked like it was going to help us get the event off without a hitch.

Well you know what they say about best laid plans....

Needless to say the trip evolved into a series of planes, trains and automobiles.

I arrived at White Plains airport with plenty of time to spare and everything looked like it was going smoothly. Sitting in my aisle seat with the earbuds of my iphone nestled snugly in my ears, I waited patiently for the flight attendants to begin their familiar albeit slightly unnecessary here's-how-to-put-on-a-seat belt-bit.

However, the pilot came on to inform us that there was a mechanical problem with the plane. Apparently, they discovered a leak in one of the fuel pumps. Hmmm. I was just happy they found it before we took off. The flight attendants and pilots were really very accomodating and kept the passengers comfort their top priority. Bottom line: they let us off the plane and allowed us to wait in the terminal as opposed to beging squished inside the airplane.

After a couple of hours of waiting, the flight was cancelled but I was able to get booked on a flight out of LaGuardia that was scheduled to leave in just 90 minutes. I caught a van ride with ten other displaced souls, made it to the airport and ran through the place like I was on an episode of The Amazing Race.

Phew! I made it to the plane and arrived in Atlanta at 1pm....yeah....I was supposed to be in Columbus for the book signing at 1pm. Not so much.

Next step--the rental car.

If you're reading this and you've been to Atlanta International Airport you know that it's really like a small city. I disembarked my plane and hopped two separate trains to get out of the terminal and to the rental car center.

Then I had to drive about 90 minutes to Columbus. All I will say is that the speed limit on Georgia highways is 70 mph :)

I finally made it to the B&N in Columbus at 3:30pm and was greeted by the smiling faces of Carrie Reyes, her mom and two of her kids. I'd called ahead and kept them in the loop about my misadventures and they were very understanding.

Since Carrie won last year, we've become friends on Facebook so it was wonderful to finally meet her in person and get to know her kids. Carrie's mom, Joyce, was the one who actually sent her story in and nominated her daughter. They were real troopers and stuck around for the next three hours while we sold all of the copies they had in stock.

I'm a new author so when I have a book signing, I don't expect there to be throngs of people waiting for me. However, this time we had several folks show up who had read the Ledger article and came out to get their signed copies of Unleashed. I even had two guys who were sent there specifically by their wives to get a copy. Now that is romance!

I'm happy to report that we had a SOLD OUT event! The staff at the Columbus Barnes & Noble was absolutely fabulous and were very understanding about my travel conundrum.

After we ran out of books, I took Carrie and her family out to dinner. Good food, a very good beer and really good people.

Throughout this publishing adventure, I've had the opportunity to meet some pretty fantastic folks. Life is good.

If you know any military families, please feel free to tell them about the contest. I accept entries all year long and will start posting stories Memorial Day weekend 2012. People can send their story and picture to info@novelromance.net Please put 4th annual U.S. Military Wives contest in the subject line.

Dream on...

Ledger-Enquirer.com | 11/11/2011 | Katie McCarthy: Army wife brings author to Columbus

2011-11-11T03:23:00.000-08:00

Ledger-Enquirer.com | 11/11/2011 | Katie McCarthy: Army wife brings author to Columbus

Urban Girl Reader: Review: Unleashed by Sara Humphreys

2011-10-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

Urban Girl Reader: Review: Unleashed by Sara Humphreys

5 Star Review! Books Like Breathing: Review: Unleashed by Sara Humphreys

2011-10-27T11:14:00.000-07:00

Woot! A 5 star review of Unleashed from Books Like Breathing.

Books Like Breathing: Review: Unleashed by Sara Humphreys

Sia McKye's Thoughts...OVER COFFEE: THE JUGGLING ACT

2011-10-26T13:30:00.000-07:00

Sia McKye's Thoughts...OVER COFFEE: THE JUGGLING ACT

Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews: ARC Review: Unleashed (Amoveo Legacy) [Mass Market Paperback]

2011-10-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews: ARC Review: Unleashed (Amoveo Legacy) [Mass Market Paperback]

Urban Girl Reader: Giveaway &Guest Blog by Sara Humphreys: Things I Learned from Star Trek

2011-10-25T03:43:00.000-07:00

Urban Girl Reader: Giveaway &Guest Blog by Sara Humphreys: Things I Learned from Star Trek

SOS Aloha: Aloha to Sara Humphreys and UNLEASHED

2011-10-24T07:45:00.000-07:00

SOS Aloha: Aloha to Sara Humphreys and UNLEASHED

Night Owl Romance: Sara Humphreys - Top 10 Reasons Readers Will Fall in Love with Malcolm Drew, hero of Unleashed + Contest

2011-10-13T04:47:00.000-07:00

Night Owl Romance: Sara Humphreys - Top 10 Reasons Readers Will Fall in Love with Malcolm Drew, hero of Unleashed + Contest

Recap of the Book Launch & Signing for "Unleashed"

2011-10-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

Last night was the book launch and signing event for Unleashed at my local B&N and it kicks off a 10 city tour. I have to be honest. I was worried that nobody was going to show up but I'm happy to report that wasn't the case.

I had lots of family and friends who came out to show their support. I met new readers who came to find out more about the series and I even got to meet one of my FB and Twitter friends in person! It was such fun. I posted a few pics here but the full album is on my Amoveo FB page.

The highlight of the evening was when News 12 Westchester showed up to interview me and get some footage of the event. I was so nervous but managed to keep my composure and form a relatively coherent sentence. You can check out the video below :)

Two more stops on the book tour this week. Thursday October 6th from 6pm-8pm at B&N in Westport, CT and then Saturday October 8th at Walmart from 11am-2pm in Westerly, RI. For the rest of the book tour stops check out my website.

Dream on....

Release Day for Unleashed!!!

2011-10-01T00:05:00.000-07:00

Whooo Hoooo! It's release day for Unleashed and I'm freaking psyched! Yesterday I received my author copies of the book and when I held it my hand for the first time...I cried. I'll admit it. I'm a crier but these were tears of utter joy.

What a way to get started! Unleashed received a Best Book rating at LASR and is up for Book of the Week! Please stop by and cast your vote anytime on October 1st or 2nd! VOTE HERE!

Things have really started to take off and something tells me it's not going to slow down anytime soon and that's just fine with me. Today is not only the release date of Unleashed but it's also the kick-off day for my blog tour and book tour.

The blog tour was set up by my amazing publicist at Sourcebooks, Danielle Jackson. She is positively awesome! I am continually impressed by the unique support network that Sourcebooks provides for their authors. Their motto is, "Authors are our rock stars!" and they sure do back that up.

The first stop on the blog tour is today over at Spooky Legends so come on over and have a look at how my heroine Samantha deals with the Candyman urban legend. The whole Spooky Legends series is very cool and there will be a fresh post by a new author every day through October. I'm blogging up a storm all month and you can find the rest of my blog tour here.

Tonight is my first book signing and the beginning of at 10 city tour. I am hopeful that we'll have a good turnout tonight because it's in my hometown B&N and I'm looking forward to seeing some familiar faces. If you're adventurous and feel like coming to see me in person--I'd love it! You can find the full list of dates & locations here on the blog or on my website.

Hang on kids...it's going to be one helluva ride!

Dream on....

Even My Heroine is Annoyed with Facebook

2011-09-21T16:29:00.000-07:00

So with all the broo-haha over the Facebook changes, I started to wonder what Samantha, the heroine in Unleashed, would think about all of this and how she might chat about it with her friend Gunther. So then I thought, why not make a little FB post between the two of them and make a contest out of it?

Why...yes...I think I will...but first, here is a brief FB chat with Samantha and her fabulous NYC bestie, Gunther. As usual, the conversation goes off on a tangent because...well... most conversations with Gunther do.

Contest details are below. Enjoy and feel free to share on FB...if you can find the news feed and figure out how to work it. Buggers.

Samantha Logan Drew

Works at The Dugout/Starving Artist Studied Fine Arts at SUNY Purchase Lives in Westerly, RI Married to Malcolm Drew Speaks English, Latin and Telepathy

Samantha Logan Drew
Gorgeous day here at the beach! Can’t wait for date night this weekend at Paddy’s with Malcolm! It’s their last Saturday open for the season and hopefully this time I can avoid losing my necklace. But seriously? WTF is up with FB changing the format again? It's sooooo annoying.
1 hour ago • • Malcolm Drew and Kerry Smithson like this

Gunther’s Gallery
What in the hell happened to Facebook? I can't find a damn thing. Someone talk to me. I’m freaking out.
Today at 2:37pm Like

Samantha Logan Drew
OMG. Isn't it the most annoying thing ever? Just when I figure this thing out Zucker-what's-his-face has to go and change it.
Yesterday at 10:39pm Like

Gunther’s Gallery
Tell me about it, kitten. So are my clients even going to find my updates? Ugh. Where's the wine?

Yesterday at 2:41pm Like

Samantha Logan Drew
LOL! You are too much. What did you end up doing last night? I usually get updates through the news feed but clearly...that didn't happen.
Yesterday at 2:43pm Like

Gunther’s Gallery
Watched a good old zombie movie. Day of the Dead. The new one. You better watch out, kitten because there are lots of places that zombies could find a way into that giant old house you moved into with your big hunk of man. *fans self* He is quite the hottie.
Yesterday at 10:50pm • 1 person

Samantha Logan Drew
OMG Gunther. Believe me, the last thing I’m worried about is zombies breaking into my house. Sadly, there are plenty of other monsters out there--like the nasty little men at Facebook who keep switching things up. BTW-if you keep watching all these zombie movies you might end up one yourself. A tv zombie! Oh and I agree, Malcolm is a hottie. :)
Yesterday at 2:55pm • Malcolm Drew and Kerry Smithson like this

Gunther’s Gallery
Ugh. I know. When left to my own devices, I practically convince myself that the world is zomibied out and I’m alone and about to become food for freaks.
Yesterday at 2:58pm Like

Samantha Logan Drew
You mean you don’t even want to type about….ZOMBIES?
Yesterday at 2:59pm Like

Gunther’s Gallery
Stop it. That’s not funny.
Yesterday at 2:59pm Like

Samantha Logan Drew
ZOMBIES…..
Yesterday at 3:00pm Like

Gunther’s Gallery
Obviously all that salt air and great sex with Malcolm has gone to your head
and made you totally loopy. I mean it—cut it out or I'll spend the next five hours figuring out how to eliminate your stupid feed.
Yesterday at 3:02pm Like

Samantha Logan Drew
Z-O-M-B-I-E-S
Yesterday at 3:03pm Like

Gunther’s Gallery
Bitch.
Yesterday at 3:04pm Like

Samantha Logan Drew
ROFL! Sorry Gunther. I couldn’t help myself.
Yesterday at 3:11pm Like

Gunther’s Gallery
Sorry, Kitten. Gotta go. Milton got home and well…you know....I need my snuggles ;) See you at Christmas time? Probably not even sooner than that on FB because once I click out of this conversation good freakin' luck finding your posts on here again. Dammit.
Yesterday at 3:56pm Like

Samantha Logan Drew
Sounds good. I'm sure we'll figure it out...but if not we can always go to Twitter. Snuggles sound like a lot more fun than being annoyed with Facebook....I'm going to find Malcolm
Yesterday at 3:57pm Like

Malcolm Drew

You must have read my mind.
Yesterday at 3:58pm Samantha Logan Drew Likes this

***

I hope you got a kick out of this and will share it! Please spread the word about the contest.

Contest Low-Down: Leave a comment here on the blog by 11:59pm on September 30th to be entered to win a signed arc of Unleashed.

I'll announce the winner here on my blog on Saturday October 1st--the official release day of Unleashed (Book #1 Amoveo Legend).

You can find out more info about the Amoveo Legend series on my website http://www.sarahumphreys.com/ and if you haven't given up on Facebook come on by and friend me at http://www.facebook.com/sara.t.humphreys :)

Winners of the 3rd Annual U.S. Military Wives Contest

2011-09-05T06:31:00.001-07:00

Happy Labor Day everyone!! I can't believe summer is over already, every year it seems to go by faster and faster. I want to thank all of the men and women who submitted their stories this year and shared their lives with us. If there is one common theme throughout, it's love and devotion. I would also like to thank ASMBA-STAR for their continued support and I would encourage all of you to donate to this outstanding organization.

2nd Runner up and winner of a $25 amazon gift card, a t-shirt and a signed copy of Unleashed is......Semi-Finalist #7 Glena Walker! If you missed it you can read Glena's story here.

1st Runner up and winner of a $50 amazon gift card, a t-shirt and a signed copy of Unleashed is.......Semi-Finalist #2 Kimberly Meyer! You can read Kimberly's story here.

Grand Prize Winner of a $100 amazon gift card, a t-shirt and 4 signed copies of Unleashed to share with friends at a book signing in her home town is......

Semi-Finalist #9 Martha Chavarin! You can read Martha's story here.

Thank you again to everyone who participated and I look forward to next years' contest already!

Enjoy the weekend!

All the Best,
Sara
http://www.sarahumphreys.com/

Semi-Finalist #10: Jenny Baros

2011-09-04T08:02:00.001-07:00

**I would like to nominate my Daughter in Law (Jennifer Baros) who is a military wife of my son (Ivan Lee Baros Jr.) who followed his great grandfather, grandfather and father into the military and joined the Army! They are a 4th generation military family.**
"Jenny"
(My sons nick name for her)
My daughter in law (Jennifer), who's family has no military background was shocked to know how lonely it can be when her husband, my son, who was deployed to Iraq into combat last year and was left here in New Mexico to fend for herself after her parents moved to Arizona.

My son met her through his sister (Savannah) who went to school with her and they fell in love once they met and dated for a few months. she fell in love with the soldier who promised to care for her and provide her with all that she needed and dreamed of and my sons only request was to love him and provide him with children once they were married despite them being 5 years apart in age.

Once they were married they settled into an apartment at first then eventually moved into a rental home and eventually having a baby girl their first year of marriage. They were living the dream having a steady paycheck come in, military medical facility and PX within 30 minutes of their home and enjoying life as a young married couple with a brand new baby. Then the dreaded day my son received his orders that all his training in Combat Arms and Infantry tactics would be put to use in Iraq. The news was devastating to all of us since this was going to be his 3rd deployment to the middle East and the first for his wife.

Jennifer, did not understand at the time they received the news the loneliness and despair she would experience while he was overseas putting his life in harms way on a daily basis doing one of the most dangerous jobs imaginable, CONVOY SECURITY!

My son who understood that this was going to be his worst deployment did not want to scare his wife so downplayed his participation in the conflict and started the tedious process of leaving everything in her hands. The bills, the medical documentation and procedures in case of an emergency, the mortgage, the credit card pin numbers, the bank account information and the dreaded WILL he would have to write again and explain to her what it meant IF SOMETHING SHOULD HAPPEN TO HIM!

Jennifer was raised in a close family but not like like a military family. Military families are not afraid to ask for help, to seek out other military families for support and are very close nit speaking from experience myself. Her family as I said was close but did not ever have life changing experiences like military families do when a soldier is deployed into combat and it took her a good while to understand she was going to be ALONE and the worst part about it she was one of the most shy people we had ever met.

She rarely spoke without being asked questions she had to answer and would rarely make eye contact with anyone. My wife tried to get her to open up on occasion when her and our son would come over but was like pulling teeth with her shyness. Little did she know she was going to have to become a completely different person once our son left to Iraq. She had to pay bills at the same time she had to care for her little baby, she had to call and make doctor appointments for her and the baby, go to pay bills she had never paid before and drive herself to buy groceries with a crying baby in the cart ALL ALONE!

My wife and I tried to tell her to ask us for help or if she needed anything to give us a call BUT, she would not being so shy it was difficult for her to ask for anything or even come over. We would have to go to her house to see if they were OK but sometimes she wouldn't answer the door. Finally when we were persistent and our son would call her in advance to tell her we were going to go visit her from his MOBILIZATION STATION before going into actual combat, to our dismay the house was in disarray and we could see that she was eating out for almost every meal. She was very young and inexperienced and we could see that our son did most everything for her when he was home because he loved doing everything for her.

We had to take action and make it a priority to visit her every other day to let her know we cared and wanted to be a part of her life and to help her set up the computer for her and our sons SKYPE web cam visits she would get almost every other day as he trained at the MOB station in Georgia before his actual deployment! Once he would be in country he would try to get the web cam set up for a weekly call home which became few and far between once he did get his many missions...........it was long, long nights for us and his wife waiting to hear his voice or see him on the web camera and we know now she often cried herself to sleep in front of the computer waiting for her soldiers call!

One day while our son was deployed, the baby got sick throwing up and a high fever and she texted me that she had to take the baby to the hospital and if I would meet her there! I was shocked she even text me but could see the desperation in her misspelled text and once we arrived I could see the despair in her face as the tears rolled down her cheeks as we walked to the pediatric clinic on the base and got the baby seen by a doctor. Once the doctor saw her she was told the baby had gotten a virus and was dehydrated and needed an IV and she began to cry uncontrollably.........I think it was all catching up after a month of being alone.

My wife who got out of work that day and went with us, sat with her most of the day in the hospital till the baby began to recover from her dehydration and the color began to emerge in her little face. We decided once they were released to take her and the baby home that afternoon and feed them both a home cooked meal were sure she hadn't had since my son deployed. Once we arrived at our home and grandma and grampa began to play with the baby, we noticed our daughter in law had fallen fast asleep on our couch for a 4 hour sleep totally exhausted. We knew we had to intervene and keep her at the house a few days til the baby fully recovered. To our surprise, once our daughter in law woke up from her slumber, our daughter in law began to talk to us and tell us how proud she was of our son and how MUCH SHE MISSED HER SOLDIER!

After a few days she wanted to go home and we went with her and helped her get back to normal till her soldier called or web cam'd her in very sporadic times. Since the time difference was so drastic from Iraq to the United States, sometimes he would call or go online at 2 or 3 am but she was always ready to answer his call to support him and to tell him she loved him and needed her soldier home as soon as possible and so my son could see his daughter grow as she would hold her up to the camera. Our son would cry with his wife on occasion but always promised her she'd be in his arms soon as they hung up the call.

That year we saw our daughter in law grow in personality, in love and in maturity! We are so proud of her for getting her husband home safely through her untiring support, and keeping their home together and even learning how to cook for her and the baby so when her husband came home they could once again be the happy little family they once were with alot more knowledge of what a soldier REALLY DOES!

(Retired)SFC Ivan L. Baros Sr.

**Ivan, Thank you for sharing Jenny's story with us. I think it's fantastic that you nominated your daughter-in-law! Thank you as well for your service to our country.

Semi-Finalist #9: Martha Chavarin

2011-09-04T07:49:00.001-07:00

Five minutes 'till midnight and I'm wide awake. It's almost noon in Afghanistan, and as always, I wonder what my husband is up to. I wonder if he's eaten, if he got a good night's sleep, whether he got my weekly care package already, and of course, I mostly wonder when I'll be hearing from him again. This is our third deployment together, and our first as a married couple. This one is definitely the hardest.

My husband is SFC Jose A. Chavarin. Pronounced Chaw-va-reen, not Chevron. I met my husband almost 20 years ago, and we've been best friends ever since. He joined the military right out of high school. While I got ready to go out for my first 18 and over club , he was getting yelled at by his Drill SGT. When I graduated from college, and got ready to go into the "real world", he had already been to war and back. My husband's courage inspires me, his will to serve brings out the best in me. I'm trying my darn hardest to stay positive during this deployment, but sometimes sitting here rocking back and forth in his recliner, wearing his favorite vanilla scent makes it very easy for me to shed a tear. As I wait for my husband's return, I can't help to think of the day when I get to tell our children how their father is a three-time war veteran, a bronze star recipient, and the best friend God could have ever blessed me with.

Past midnight now. Past noon in Afghanistan... What do you know, time does pass by. Except that when you're waiting for the one man who you were destined for since you were 12 years old, it couldn't possibly pass by fast enough. Still, it's at these times when true love prevails, and something tells me that my husband and I-- we got that kind of love.

Sincerely,
Martha Chavarin

** Many thanks to Martha for sharing her beautiful story with us. I have to admit that this one tugged at my heartstrings in a big way. I'll be posting one more semi-finalist today and then tomorrow I will be announcing the three finalists.**

Semi-Finalist #8: Mary Lou Vandergriff

2011-09-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

**This story is a bit different because this semi-finalist was nominated by her husband who served in our military. Thank you for your service, Larry.**

Dear Ms. Humphreys,

I wanted to say thank you for what you're doing to help our veterans. Being a disabled vet, I can appreciate what your aid means. Also, I wanted to tell you of someone that is doing something similar. My wife, Mary Lou, wrote a cookbook last year based on Mexican recipes she grew up with. She donated all proceeds to helping feed the homeless in our area.

We live just south of St. Louis. During our first outing, we met several disabled vets livingon the street. Since then, we've joined forces with our church and two others to expand our efforts. Visit Youtube and search for Hopeville St.Louis, and you find one community that we help.

She is so shy that it's hard to find apicture of her relaxed and smiling. I like this one because Mary Lou is relaxed and smiling. Sorry, I can't afford a new camera so I wasn't in the shot. Seriously, I hope you can use the photo on your blog. I read your blog late last week, and what you've done for these young kids and their wives is fantastic.

Which is more rewarding,feeding a vet or seeing his tears when his child gets new clothes and toys?I don't know. Thank you for what you are doing.

Larry E. Vandergriff

Thank you, Larry!!! I think what Mary Lou is doing is simply outstanding and I'm honored you shared her story with us. To all the readers, Mary Lou is working on getting her cookbook out there so we can all buy one and help support our vets! I'll keep you posted and let you know how things progress.

Semi-Finalist #7: Proud Military Wife & Mom, Glena Walker

2011-09-01T07:46:00.001-07:00

My husband, Richard Walker, enlisted in the Army in 1975. After three years of active duty he joined the Colorado Army National Guard in 1980. He graduated from OCS in 1985 and retired as a Major in 1999. During his years in the Army he served as a radio operator, airfield operations, combat medic, field medical assistant, and medical service corps officer.
His unit was activated for Desert Shield in 1990 and continued into Desert Storm. Our son, Aaron, was four years old and our daughter, Bethany, was born just after he was activated. He commanded the main medical evacuation hub for the theater. When he returned Aaron was turning five and Bethany was six months old.

For the last 20 years he has suffered from Gulf War Syndrome, PTSD, and a disabling injury. They say that dying in service to your country is the ultimate sacrifice. I do not want to lessen the sacrifice of those who have died nor their families. However, being disabled and living with the after affects of your service is a tremendous sacrifice in itself for the veterans and their families. You are reminded of it every single day.

Now our son is following in his father’s footsteps. He enlisted in the Colorado Army National Guard in 2010 and has graduated as a combat medic. He loves serving in the military and is looking forward to his opportunity to serve his country.
I am very proud of both of them. They exemplify what it means to be a soldier, dedication, integrity, and honor.

Glena Walker
Pueblo, Colorado

**Thank you for sharing your story with us, Glena.**

I'll be posting a semi-finalist every day over the next few days and announcing the winner on Labor Day.

Remember you can donate to ASMBA-STAR and help our veterans and their families!

Semi-Finalist #6: Proud Army Wife, Jenn Elliott

2011-08-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

My Name is Jenn Elliott, I have been an army wife for over 7 years now in the 8 years my husband has served our country. We have been through thick and thin in the 10 years we have been together. We are not the common military marriage. Unlike most, we dated for 3 years before we got married. So we had a pretty good idea of each others habits before entering the vows of marriage, little did I know I was marrying the army as well.

You think I should of known since my one grandfather served 20 years and retired from the U.S. Army and my other grandfather served in the U.S. Air force. Back then the air force paid you with cash and cartons of cigarettes lol. My husband's side dates back many years in the military as well we have our great grandfather who served in the Italian army, as well as our grandfather who immigrated to America who served in the Sicilian Navy.

People say you know what you got yourself into, but it doesn't seal the hole that is in your heart every time your husband has to leave for training or deployment. My husband missed out on so many life changing events ie the birth of our daughter, her birthdays, first day of pre-k, losing her first tooth, I could go on and on, but I honestly think she makes more of sacrifice than I do at all most 6 years old. I am here to wipe the tears and comfort her that everything will be ok. This process makes paying the bills look like a breeze quite honestly.

My husband is scheduled to deploy the beginning of next year but has been gone on training so much since April and will continue to be up until deployment. Honestly, I rather have him deployed than have him miles away. I don't think I will ever get use to having an empty side of the bed, even if I have two Great Danes hogging it. Sure my life might have heartache, but you know what I would not change a thing. Its because of great people like my family and others, that serve this great nation that keep it a great one! Someone has to step up to do job, and I do it with honor for my loved ones and my country. I am a proud army wife and my child is a proud army brat! As us army wives say "Hoover", leave "hooah" to the soldiers.

**Thank you for sharing your story Jenn and many thanks to your husband for his dedication to our country.**

If you are a proud military wife, please send your story and picture to sarataneyhumphreys@Hotmail.com

Put 3rd Annual U.S. Military Wives Contest in the subject line.

You can find full contest info on my website http://www.sarahumphreys.com/events.php

Semi-Finalist #5: Proud Military Wife & Mom, Lori McPhate

2011-08-22T04:09:00.000-07:00

Douglas and I were High school sweet hearts, and we got married in 1985. We have been married through it all and we are still married. We will be celebrating our 27th Anniversary come March 2012. We have lived in Idaho, Connecticut, Georgia and Hawaii. Douglas is now retired but spent most of his time on submarines. We have 3 awesome children, all of who love our country.

Our oldest is currently serving in the Army and has done 1 tour in Iraq (I have included a picture of him as well).

I think my favorite time as a Navy wife was once my husband made chief, starting with chiefs initiation and until we retired. I really enjoyed helping wives while our husbands were gone and home if need be. I really miss the military life but I enjoy having my husband more often. He still works for a military company and is gone often but not as often than being on sea duty...

We have defied many statistics.
Being married young, being in the military, being from divorced families and having 2 special needs children.

Thank you-

Lori

Thank you, Lori for sharing your story with us! If you want to learn more about Lori and her journey, you can check out her blog.

Are you a proud military spouse like Lori? Then send in your story! All of the contest details can be found on my website http://www.sarahumphreys.com on the EVENTS page.

Entries welcome until September 1st!

Semi-Finalist #4: Proud Army Wife Diana Herrmann

2011-08-15T14:59:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd give this a shot and Enter. Win or lose I always enjoy sharing a bit about being a Army Wife with people. My husband serves in the Army and has been for the past 8 years. I myself come from a military family. My father is in the Army soon to retire, my grandfather is retired Air Force, my father in law was in the military and my brother is serving in the Army. Both my father and my brother just got deployed and my husband is due to deploy next year.

We have been stationed to Ft. Huachuca AZ, Fort Hood Tx, and many other places. We have 3 little boys, the youngest looks up to his dad and grandpa and wants to be in the Army like them. He is our little soldier. The toughest job isn't being a mother and holding down the fort at home while he is deployed, taking care of our children, finances etc....The toughest thing is saying goodbye to him every time he has to leave for a deployment or for his training. He has been gone for months on end this entire year, home maybe a week and then off again. It's really tough saying goodbye to him - Sometimes it feels like I am a single mother raising our kids by myself when he is gone.

The one thing that is most rewarding for me is when he comes home. Every time he is ready to come home I get those "first date" butterflies in my stomach and seeing him again is like I am falling in love all over again with him . It really is the best reward I could get to have him home even for just one week. I do NOT like that he has to leave as much as he does but I accept it because I am his wife and I understand the sacrifices that come with his duty as a soldier. I will never take anything for granted because I do know what I have, I have a best friend, a soldier, a hero, a father, a soulmate in a bundle! He is my rock I lean on when things get rough at home.

I really Am not sure what else I could/should Write as I've never entered contests like these but it seems I could go on for hours the pride I have for my soldier and my Family and being in their lives on a daily basis. I am proud To call myself his wife and a sister, daughter, daughter-in-law and granddaughter of U.S. Military Soldiers who have served in the past, present and future. I couldn't see my life any other way then what it is now.

--Diana Herrmann

Thank you for sharing your story with us! Are you a proud military wife like Diana? Then send me your story & picture! Email it to sarataneyhumphreys@hotmail.com

Please put 3rd Annual U.S. Military Wives Contest in the subject line.

Contest runs until Labor Day when the 3 winners will be announced. Here's what's up for grabs.

Second Prize: A $25 Amazon Gift Card, a signed copy of Unleashed and a Team Amoveo T-Shirt.

First Prize: A $50 Amazon Gift Card, a signed copy of Unleashed and a Team Amoveo T-Shirt.

Grand Prize: A book signing event at their local Bookstore and the winner will be the special guest of honor. 3 Free Signed copies of Unleashed. (1 for them and 2 of their friends) A $100 Amazon Gift card and a Team Amoveo T-Shirt.

There's more info on my website http://www.sarahumphreys.com/

Interview with Erotic Romance Author, Cheryl Brooks

2011-08-08T18:11:00.001-07:00

Hey there! Long time-no blog.

This has been one nutsy summer! Kids. Work. Deadlines. More kids. More deadlines...you get the idea. Things are really starting to crank up as the release date of UNLEASHED approaches. Only 54 days to go :) Woot~!

At RWA in June, I was able to sit down and get a one-on-one interview with erotic romance author Cheryl Brooks. She is a lot of fun and so are her books. (hubba hubba) She writes a very HOT sci-fi romance series called the Cat Star Chronicles. Very cool and very different.

Her latest release is Virgin (Book #7) and I really enjoyed it. I think Dax is my favorite hero from her novels....so far. Stud (Book #8) will be released in February 2012 and it sounds like a hoot! But don't take my word for it...check out the video below and let Cheryl tell you in her own words.

For more information about Cheryl and her books you can go to her website!

RWA 2011 Rocked!

2011-07-07T08:05:00.000-07:00

Anyone in the romance novel industry knows about RWA and their national conference. Last year was my very first conference and my only regret was that I hadn't been going for years! I was under the impression that it was only beneficial for published authors to attend...boy was I wrong!! The RWA annual conference is a crucial event for anyone interested in publishing their romance novel. There are craft workshops, business related workshops, opportunities to pitch to agents and publishers but best of all...you get to network and meet like-minded people.

It's a total blast!!

This year the conference was held here in NYC. It was a non-stop adventure from beginning to end. I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing some of my favorite people in the industry. I had a total fan-girl moment when I interviewed author Lori Handeland. She is so talented and such a doll!

I got so many cool interviews that I couldn't squeeze it all into one video blog. As a result, I'm in the process of creating a RWA '11 Video Series. A few of them are done and you can check them out below!

Next year the conference will be in Anaheim, California and I can't wait!

For the rest of the RWA series on Romance Roundup go to my youtube channel and subscribe :)

Week #3 Semi-Finalist: Proud Air Force Wife, Cheryl Chamberlain

2011-06-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

Hi there. My name is Cheryl Chamberlain and my husband, Scott, is a SSgt in the Air Force, waiting to find out if he makes Tech Sgt this month, and currently based out of Mountain Home, Idaho AFB.

We live in Boise, and just had our first son Dylan this past February, who was asphyxiated in the womb, and ended up in NICU for 5 weeks after an emergency C-section.

Scott has been deployed or stationed outside mainland USA for 3/4ths of his 15 years with the Air Force. He has been at Mtn. Home for the last 7 of those, but did two tours in Afghanistan, one in South Korea and one in Iraq. He was stationed at Spangdahlem, Germany, Iceland, and has been TDY more times than I can count. When asked where he's been, I always reply that it's easier to state where he HASN'T been!

He signed up for his last 5 yrs in the Air Force, so he can retire after 20 yrs in the Air Force while I tackle getting my bachelors in Nutrition Science, while running a home-based business with Just Jewelry LLC, as well as taking care of my new baby boy, and my eldest son, Liam, who is 13.

Throughout all of life's challenges and hardships, we've both survived divorces with our first marriages, and came together after 5 yrs of knowing each other, and marrying July 31, of last year. We are both away from family, as his family is in Altoona, PA and mine is in the suburbs of Chicago.

Thank you for recognizing military families! It's wonderful what you do, and we sincerely appreciate it!

-- Cheryl Chamberlain

Happy Father's Day to Scott and all the other devoted dads out there.

Many thanks to Cheryl for sharing her story!!

How about you? Are you a proud military wife? Then send in your story!

Send your story and picture to sarataneyhumphreys@hotmail.com

Please put 3rd Annual U.S. Military Wives Contest in the subject line.

You can find all the details and prize info on my website!

Week #2 Semi-Finalist: Proud Army Wife Kimberly Meyer

2011-06-09T04:49:00.000-07:00

My Husband is the best thing that has ever happened to me! We met when we were both 20 years old. I feel in love with him instantly! He has those baby blues that you can't stop staring at and the best personality that anyone could ever ask for! He is in the Army Reserves, but his Military life has been like he is Active Duty. His Unit is based out of Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, MO.

I found out I was pregnant a few months after we started going out and then we found out he was deploying on his first tour to Iraq. We decided to get married because we knew already we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together and then not even a month after we got married and when I was 4 months pregnant he left for Iraq. It is so hard watching the love of your life walk away and not knowing if or when you will see them again. I stayed strong for myself, for him and our unborn baby.

Our son decided to come 6 weeks early on November 12, 2007 while my Husband was overseas. My Husband had his leave planned for the time of birth but since our son came early, he missed it. My Husband kept telling me he was sorry and thought I was upset with him, but I wasn't. I knew he had a job to do. A month after our son was born, he met his Daddy the first time at the airport. It was the sweetest thing ever! He was only home on leave for 2 weeks and had to go back and then 6 months later came home for good, we thought.

My Husband was home for not even a year, I just found out I was pregnant again and we found out he was getting deployed yet again. Our daughter had major complications when she was born, but thank God she is doing well. When she was 2 months old and our son was 1 1/2, he left for Iraq again.

My Husband has missed a lot of our kids growing up, but I will never be upset with him that he did. Of course like any wife or Mom I would want him here, but I am so Proud of him and I understand he has a job to do and he loves doing it!

I am so happy and thankful to be married to my Hero! He does so much for myself and our family. We are going through so hard times right now with money, but he works so hard to provide for us so that we can have the necessities. If it wasn't for him I don't know where I would be and he makes me the happiest girl in the world!

I am so happy to be married to my Best friend, My Love, My Hero!

Huge thanks to Kimberly for sending in her story! Every single story I read tugs at my heartstrings. I must admit, I'm getting some great inspiration for the heroes in my novels.

How about you? Are you a proud military wife? Then send in your story!
Send your story and picture to sarataneyhumphreys@hotmail.com

Please put 3rd Annual U.S. Military Wives Contest in the subject line.

You can find all the details and prize info on my website!

Romance Roundup: Interview with Author Anne Elizabeth

2011-06-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

Recently, I attended the Book Expo of America here in NYC. It was very cool! Aside from checking out the various booths, publishers, and books, I decided to make the most of my time and set up some interviews.

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting author Anne Elizabeth.

I had just finished reading her graphic novel Pulse of Power and loved it! I got a kick out of the various references to Greenwich, Connecticut since I grew up there and I found myself giggling at the private school references. (Yes, I too wore the polyester plaid kilt.)

Anne and I hit it off. She's such a doll! She's smart, feisty, generous and an all around fabulous lady. I hope you'll enjoy our interview and be sure to check out Anne's website for more info about her graphic novel series with Sea Lion Books. By the way...the second book in the series will be out in October 2011. Look for it!

Week #1 Semi-Finalist: Proud Army Wife, Angela Streit

2011-05-30T07:38:00.000-07:00

Where to start of about us, I’m Angela and my husband is currently in the U.S. Army. We are stationed at Fort Campbell Kentucky. On April 25th 2011 my husband left our daughters Nevaeh who was 4 at the time and Shaylin 1 and myself for a deployment that changed us as a family. When he came home for his mid tour leave we became blessed with becoming pregnant with our 3rd child a boy. He missed birthdays of both of our girls, moving into a bigger house on post, all of the doctors appointments while I was carrying our son. While he was gone we made sure to take tons of photos, video chatted, and sending him care packages to make a place that was hard on him being at and away from the people that cared the most about him a little bit easier. All in the mist of it all the due date for our son was to be before his homecoming. I was considered high risk in my pregnancy with all the complications so he was trying to make sure he got home to me in time for his birth. Thankfully he has an amazing chain of command that helped him get home less than 2 weeks before he was born. Through out a crazy up and down roller-coaster year of loss of friends that was with him, being separated, somehow built our growing family closer in so many ways. I’m truly blessed to be an Army Wife to an amazing man and have such a support system from all over. Thank you for letting me share our family’s story.
Thanks again,
Angela Streit

Happy Memorial Day~

Thank you for sharing your story, Angela! Many thanks to your husband, and the thousands of soldiers like him!

If you are a proud military wife then send us your story! Entries are welcome all summer long and I'll be posting a semi-finalist and her story every week until Labor Day. So spread the word to any military families you know.

Remember, a portion of my annual book proceeds to ASMBA-STAR every year. You can support our veterans by donating directly to ASMBA-STAR or purchase your copy of Unleashed.

How to enter: Send you story and picture of your spouse in uniform to sarataneyhumphreys@hotmail.com

*Please put 3rd Annual U.S. Military Wives Contest in the subject line!

3rd Annual U.S. Military Wives Contest--Now Open for Entries!

2011-05-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of years, as a special thank you to our service members and their families, I have held a very special contest for Military Wives. It turned out to be an incredibly rewarding experience. I had the privilege of meeting several incredible women and their beautiful families. It's so easy to forget that there are real people who are deeply affected by the conflicts overseas. Hearing the personal stories of these families helped me remember that our troops are husbands, fathers, brothers and sons who are immensely loved and sorely missed.

Once again ASMBA-STAR, an outstanding organization for Vets and their families, has agreed to continue their partnership with me.

This contest will run from Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day Weekend. Once again, a portion of my annual book sales will be donated to ASMBA-STAR.

Who is eligible? Wives of any U.S. military service member may enter. Retired or active-duty.

How do you enter? Send an email to sarataneyhumphreys@hotmail.com with a picture of you and your family member in uniform. Tell us a bit about what branch he serves in, where you've been stationed, challenges and so forth. We want to hear your story!

Please put "3rd Annual Military Families Contest" in the subject line.

Once a week, beginning Memorial Day weekend, I will pick one entrant to be highlighted on my blog. These weekly entrants are semi-finalists. Labor Day weekend I will select three winners.

Second Prize: A $25 Amazon Gift Card, a signed copy of Unleashed and a Team Amoveo T-Shirt.

First Prize: A $50 Amazon Gift Card, a signed copy of Unleashed and a Team Amoveo T-Shirt.

Grand Prize: A book signing event at their local Bookstore and the winner will be the special guest of honor. 3 Free Signed copies of Unleashed. (1 for them and 2 of their friends) A $100 Amazon Gift card and a Team Amoveo T-Shirt.

I hope you'll help me spread the word about this contest. I look forward to meeting more incredible families! You can support our veterans and their families by purchasing a copy of Unleashed or donate directly to ASMBA-STAR .

Please spread the word to any military families you know.

All the Best,

Sara Humphreys

Book Cover for "Unleashed"

2011-05-05T04:47:00.000-07:00

It's here!!! This is the book cover for Unleashed and I love it! I know that the book doesn't come out for a few months, but I just had to share it. The Sourcebooks design team did an outstanding job. I absolutely adore the guy they put on here. Yummy. He is Malcolm. Whoa. You can pre-order your copy on Amazon today!

Sign Up to Be a CasaVIP!

2011-04-26T19:02:00.001-07:00

Hey! So I have three questions for you.

1) Do you love to read romance?

2) Are you interested in getting a free ebook download and other cool stuff?

3) Are you interested in entering to win a Nook Color?

If you answered YES to any or all of these questions then you need to become a CasaVIP!

What's that? Well that's easy. Sourcebooks Casablanca Publishing is launching a special newsletter and website just for avid romance readers. If you register to become a CasaVIP then you'll get the inside track on all the HOT romance happenings. Paranormal, Historical, Contemporary, YA, Cowboy...we got it all and we want to share it with you.

So just go HERE and register. It's easy :)

Romance Roundup-Cowboy Fever by Joanne Kennedy

2011-04-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

Cowboy Fever by Joanne Kennedy is a western romance with heart. You can't help but root for Jodi and Teague from the first page. The relationship with Teague's older brother--who has down syndrome-- adds an extra-special layer of sweetness to this love story. There's plenty of sizzle and several laugh out loud moments. The only character I couldn't stand was Courtney. The annyoing "Cowboy Barbie" type of floosie who is constantly throwing herself at Teague. I wanted to throttle her at sevearl points for getting in the way. It's an engaging and enthralling story from the first page to the last. The characters come to life for the reader and you feel as if you really know these people.

You should also read Cowboy Trouble.

And most definitely read the RITA Nominated One Fine Cowboy.

Congrats Joanne!!

I can't wait for more of her sexy cowboys. Giddy-up.

Romantic Times Booklovers Convention 2011

2011-04-11T17:43:00.000-07:00

This weekend I attended my very first RT Booklovers Convention. This year it was held out in L.A. at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel. Now, I had heard many things about this conference and it lived up to just about all of the hype. The conference lasted for most of the week but I flew in just for Friday-Sunday. What a whirlwind adventure! It was non-stop action from the moment I touched down at LAX.

On Friday I got to sit in on a Q&A session with author Dean Koontz!! I mean...come ON! How cool is that? Friday night was the much anticipated Vampire Ball. There were costumes and fanfare at every turn. The book fair and signing on Saturday was attended by 350+ authors and 2,000+ fans. I got to interview authors like Angela Knight, Ashlyn Chase, Mary Wine, Mia Marlowe, Susanna Kearsley, booksellers like Daphne at Jans's Paperbacks and publishers like Noble Romance, Ellora's Cave and Omnific Publishing. I have to say that the people who attended this conference were incredibly nice. From authors, to fans to publishers...just really cool, friendly people.

Check out the Romance Roundup Video Blog-Part 1 to give you a closer look!

Saturday evening's events were dominated by the Mr. Romance Contest. 9 incredibly handsome guys were all angling for the title. I had the opportunity to interview each of them and let me tell you that they are as charming as they are cute.

First Runner-up: Shane Rice. A cutie patootie from the Spokane, Washington. Shane is represented by The View Talent.

Mr. Romance 2011: Len Gunn. A genuine, down-home country boy from Oklahoma. That smile could melt buttah!

Check out Romance Roundup Part 2. It will give you an up close and personal look at each of the 9 Mr. Romance contestants. Say it with me ladies.....yummy.

I'm looking forward to next year already. For more information check out the official website for the 2012 RT Convention.

Holy Hotness!

2011-04-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

Oh. My. God.

I just finished Rock Hard by the incredibly talented Olivia Cunning. Quite simply...it ROCKS! This is the one of the best erotic romance series I have ever read. Many times with erotic romance the storyline or the romance is completely overlooked and the only focus is on the sex. Not here. Well, don't get me wrong. There's lots of sex. Lots of hot, interesting and sizzling sex. However, the love story dominates and pulls the reader in from word one.

Sed--the hero and lead singer of Sinners--is intense, sexy and dangerously addictive. Jessica--our heroine--is smart, funny and high spirited. I love both of these characters and found myself rooting for them for the moment I started reading.

I highly suggest you check out the Sinners on Tour Series. Backstage Pass is the first book in the series and you should read that too. Seriously, get it. Get 'em both.

Want to Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card?

2011-03-30T07:01:00.000-07:00

Do you love to read romance? Are you interested in entering to win a $25 Amazon gift card? Then go over to the Casablanca Authors today and check out my blog post to find out how!

Romance Roundup: Lisa Renee Jones

2011-03-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

I hope you enjoyed the Romance Roundup video blog for this week. Below are the links as promised.

Lisa Renee Jones

The Legend of Michael is an outstanding and original paranormal romance series. A race of G-TECH super soldiers have been created by the government. How? They've been injected with alien DNA. Such a cool premise. This book is filled with non-stop action, attraction and satisfaction!

This book is being released on May 1, 2011 and you can pre-order it here.

RITA and GH Finalists Announced!

HUGE Congrats to all of the authors and editors who are finalists in the 2011 RITA competition. I can't wait to cheer you all on at RWA this summer! Looking for a great book to read? Then go to the RWA site and check out the list of RITA and GH finalists.

Romance Roundup Featuring Authors Tamara Hogan & Joanne Kenrick

2011-03-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

Hello and happy spring everyone! It's a gorgeous day here in the NYC area and I can't wait to get out there and enjoy it with my guys.

I'm so excited about the two authors we're featuring this week on Romance Roundup!

Tamara Hogan

Taste Me is Ms. Hogan's debut novel and boy does it deliver! The world that Ms. Hogan has created is brilliant, intricate and vividly erotic. There's sex, love, rock-n-roll and a little murder to keep Lukas (the hottest incubus ever) on his toes. He's hopelessly in love/lust with Scareltt Fontaine a sexy siren he can't get out of his system. If you love Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance then you must get this book. Click here to buy Taste Me.

Joanne Kenrick

When a Mullo Loves a Woman is the first novel from paranormal romance author Joanne Kenrick. This sexy, fun and intriguing book is perfect for anyone who loves vampires. The hero, Adam, is positively delicious. The heroine, Pearl Kizzy, is fun and spunky. She's the kind of girl you can imagine being your best friend. There are various twists and turns...so no spoilers here! It's simple...Love Vamps=Buy this book!

Romance Roundup: Round 2

2011-03-12T14:35:00.000-08:00

Hey Gang! I hope you enjoyed the latest installment of the Romance Roundup video blog.
(Why is the freeze-frame shot always dreadful? Yikes.)

Anyway... I simply can't limit things to one author so from now on I'll be shinning a spotlight on two or three.

As promised, here are the links to the authors for this week!

C.H. Admirand: Tyler--Book 1 in The Secret Life of Cowboys Series. This cowboy is sexy, sweet and a hero you want to eat up with a spoon. He takes a job at the Lucky Star club in Pleasure, Texas.....oh, yeah....rancher by day and stripper at night. This series is not to be missed! You can get your copy here.

Karin Harlow: Enemy Lover is the first book that I've read by Ms. Harlow. I am SO glad that I found this author. The heroine, Jax Cassidy, is about as wounded as they come. The hero, Marcus Cross, is dead sexy. This book is action packed and intensely erotic. Get it.

Christine Feehan: She.Is.Awesome. I do adore her Carpathian Series and the Drake Sister novels but my absolute fave is her Ghostwalker Series. One word ladies.... Primal. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Run don't walk to buy her books. You can find everything at her website.

If you're on Facebook be sure to come on by and like our page :)

See you next week on Romance Roundup!

Romance Roundup: Lori Handeland Rules!

2011-03-08T18:09:00.000-08:00

Let me just say it...Lori Handeland rules! She is one of my all time favorite authors. In my first video blog for Romance Roundup I sang the praises of Lori's Nightcreature Series. I highly suggest you swing by Lori's website http://www.lorihandeland.com/ or hell...just go straight to Amazon and pick up your copy of Marked by the Moon and Moon Cursed!

Happy Reading :)

My Growing TBR Author List

2011-02-27T06:47:00.000-08:00

In the past couple of months, I've had the good fortune to meet some fantastic authors. As a result, it's introduced me to some amazing books. So here are just some of the Authors, whose books I want to read this year. For your convenience, I linked the authors names to their websites.

Cheryl B rooks: I read HERO and SLAVE already. Loved them! Now, Chery's novels are most definitely erotic romance but they are still romances. These outer space hotties are positively irresistible. One word. MEOW!

Carolyn Brown: I can't wait to read her Spikes & Spurs series! I loved the Honky Tonk series. Her cowboy romances are sweet and sexy. Be sure to check them out!

Olivia Cunning: One word for Olivia's books. HOT! Her Sinners on Tour series is sizzling. I Backstage Pass and Rock Hard looks equally enticing. It's a fresh and original erotic romance series. Come on, haven't we all fantasized about being a rock-n-rollers #1 woman? (Simon LeBon I still love you.) Not for the kiddies but great for the mommies.

Judi Fennell: I adored Judi's Mer Series and her Genie Series looks outstanding. All of Judi's books have a laugh out loud quality to them that makes them a uniquely sexy and funny read.

Catherine Mann: The first book in her Elite Forces Series--Cover Me--looks very, hot. I gotta tell ya...I have a soft spot for those sexy soldiers. Yummy.

Lisa Renee Jones: I just read an excerpt from Book 1 in Lisa's upcoming Zodius Series and I can't wait to read the whole book. These super soldiers have, unbeknown to them, been injected with alien DNA. The Legend of Michael will be released in May 2011.

These are just a few of the authors I've been introduced to recently. Every month, I'm going to post a few more. I hope you'll check out all of these talented writers.

Happy almost end of February!

Spring...where are you?

My First Post with the Sourcebooks Casababes!

2010-09-14T06:20:00.000-07:00

I'm psyched! Today is my first blog post with the Casababes from Sourcebooks Publishing. My head is still spinning from my 5 book deal with SB. I still can't quite believe that it's real....but it is!

It's such a honor to be a part of this group of authors. Here are a couple of fun facts about Sourcebooks Publishing.

They are the largest publisher in Chicago. My favorite fact? They are the largest female owned publishing house in North America. You gotta love girl power.

So if you've got a few minutes today, I hope you'll stop by the blog. You'll find several wonderful romance authors if you do. We've got it all! Romance of every flavor.

Every month they pick a different theme for the blogs. This month the theme is "Abundance". Hope you'll stop by.

Casablanca Authors Blog.

And the 2010 Winners Are.....

2010-09-06T18:45:00.001-07:00

Happy Labor Day everyone! I hope you've all had a fun summer. Every single year I am completely blown away by how quickly the summer months fly by. Although, with four boys at home...I don't know about you....but I'm ready for school to start! Mine go back tomorrow :)

First and foremost, I want to extend a heartfelt Thank You to all of the U.S. Military Service members and their families. The sacrifices made by our soldiers and their families can never be truly understood or appreciated unless witnessed first hand. This annual contest is my way of expressing my gratitude for all that you do for our country! As last years' Grand Prize winner Courtney Bishop Jackson said, "My husband is a U.S. Airman so you don't have to be!"

Thank you to all of the men and women who submitted their stories again this year. I enjoy reading every single one. I am already looking forward to next years' contest!

Without any further ado....I give you the winners for the 2010 contest.

Second Prize: A $25 Amazon Gift Card, a signed copy of "The Amoveo Legacy" and a Team Amoveo T-Shirt. This award goes to..... An Army of Five

First Prize: A $50 Amazon Gift Card, a signed copy of "The Amoveo Legacy" and a Team Amoveo T-Shirt. Is awarded to..... The Crouch Family

Grand Prize: A book signing event at their local Bookstore! Joyce and Carrie (Mother and Daughter) will be the special guests of honor. 5 Free Signed copies of "The Amoveo Legacy".

(1 for them and 3 of their friends) A $100 Amazon Gift card and a Team Amoveo T-Shirt.
And the Winner is.......A Mother's Tribute

I'd also like to extend my thanks to ASMBA-STAR for partnering with me again this year. I look forward to teaming up again in 2011.

Every year I will continue to donate a portion of my annual book sales to ASMBA-STAR. Keep your eyes peeled for my upcoming paranormal romance series. Book 1 will be released in Fall 2011 from Sourcebooks Publishing.

Although our contest (and another summer) has come to a close, I hope you'll continue to pop on by the blog and see what's happening. Enjoy this last little bit of summer! Boo-Yah!

Week #9 Semi-Finalist A Proud Army Wife!

2010-09-06T12:37:00.001-07:00

Hello! My name is Jon-Anne Fisher. I am a VERY proud Army wife! My husband Michael Fisher is serving in the Army. We have two beautiful children. Sofie is seven and Michael Jr. is two.
My husband has been serving for nine years now. Six of those years he was active duty and we were stationed in beautiful Germany. He is currently serving in the Army National Guard. While Mike was active duty he served in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

I would say our biggest challenge has been that my husband has unfortunately missed out on so many milestones in our daughter's life. While he was deployed to Iraq he left when I was five months pregnant. Mike missed Sofie's birth and entire first year. He came back home to us just in time to celebrate her first birthday. He's only been able to celebrate two birthday's with her since she was born.

When I became pregnant with our son my husband made the decision to move back to our hometown and join the Army National Guard so he wouldn't have to miss as much of Michael's life as he did Sofie's. That was one of the hardest decisions he has ever made. He loves serving his country!

I couldn't be more proud of my husband! My family is so lucky to have our very own hero!

Thank You!!
Jon-Anne Fisher

**A HUGE Thank You to all of the military family members who entered this year! I will be announcing the three winners later today!**

Week #8 Semi-Finalist: Momoko Noel

2010-08-15T11:23:00.001-07:00

My name is Momoko Noel; I am a Navy wife. My husband, Master-at-Arms First Class Bernard Noel is proudly serving in the US Navy.
We have a 3-year old son, named Julian (see family picture attached).

My husband has been in the Navy for 10 years now, and has worked in Seal Beach, CA, Coronado, CA, San Diego, CA, Pensacola, FL, Fort Leonard Wood, MO, Fort Jackson, SC, Yokosuka, Japan, Kuwait, Qatar, and also did a 1-year combat tour in Iraq.

Our biggest challenge being a military family is the countless days or weeks or months we have to live apart. Moreover, my husband moved to the United States from Europe, and I am originally from Japan (we met when he was stationed there), meaning we have absolutely no family nor any support from anyone in the United States.

However, our biggest pride is to have the privilege to live in America, to protect this beautiful country, and since we both lived overseas, we know this country is the best!

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Momoko Noel

***Remember--- I will selecting semi-finalists to highlight here on the blog through Labor Day Weekend ! There are some great prizes up for grabs. A portion of my annual book proceeds go to ASMBA-STAR--my favorite charity for Vets and their families. So spread the word to all those hard working, dedicated military families out there.***

TO ENTER: Just send me YOUR STORY and a picture to
sarataneyhumphreys@hotmail.com

2nd Annual U.S. Military Families Contest

2010-08-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

Guest Author, Sara & 2nd Annual Military Families Contest

2010-07-27T10:10:00.000-07:00

Guest Author, Sara & 2nd Annual Military Families Contest

Week #7 Semi-Finalist Petty Officer 2nd Class Catharine Lindsey

2010-07-26T07:14:00.000-07:00

The guy in the picture is my twin brother, SPC Christopher Lindsey. The girl in the other picture is me. While I was searching through my pictures, I kept thinking "I know I have one of us together!" but honestly, I can't remember the last time we were together long enough to have a picture taken together.

My twin and I haven't always been close. Spending too much time together can put a strain on any relationship, especially one where you've been together since conception. I joined the Navy just before I turned 19 and he was still struggling to find himself. He battled with depression, which led him down a dark path. I briefly feared that I'd have to come home to bury my twin before he called me one day to tell me that he couldn't keep living like this anymore, and he'd enlisted in the Army.

I wrote him daily while he was in basic training, and when he was sent to San Antonio for school, I was elated. I'd been stationed in San Antonio for a few years, and was pregnant with my daughter. I was due to give birth a few weeks before he finished with his school, and since he was going to be sent to Korea for a year, I figured God was stepping in and giving us a chance to reconcile our relationship.

My daughter was born just after 1:00 in the afternoon on July 29, 2005. Chris didn't have a car, but he didn't let that stop him from getting from Fort Sam to Lackland to be there for me. I still remember the tears in his eyes as he held her and said "Holy crap Cathy... you're a mother. I'm an uncle! When did we grow up??"

He was sent to Korea shortly after my daughter was born, then served 17 months in Iraq, and is currently serving in Germany. He's requested to extend his tour, as he is about to be married. I haven't met her, but I've managed to speak to her a few times over the phone, and she seems really nice. The important thing is that she makes my brother happy.

I got out of the military 2 years ago to raise my daughter and attend school to become a nurse. I want to go see Chris in Germany, but flights are expensive, and the school's fast-paced curriculum won't allow for more than 8 hours worth of absence. I miss my brother, but we keep in touch through sporadic phone calls, emails, and instant messenger (when we can - he's out in the field a lot). Sometimes I feel like I talk to his fiance more than him, and that's only on Facebook.

Is it hard? Definitely. He is -quite literally- the other half of me. But I wouldn't change it for the world. My brother is making a difference and doing something amazing with his life. He's contemplating the Physician's Assistant program, would would open the door for him to go to medical school when... if he ever decides to get out of the Army. To think, 5 1/2 years ago, I was worried whether or not my brother would end up in jail or dead, and he's saving lives now.

To borrow from my brother for a second... Hooah, SPC Lindsey!

Sincerely,
(former) Petty Officer 2nd Class Catharine Lindsey - sister to the most amazing twin brother in the world.

***Remember---Each week between now and Labor Day I will select 1 semi-finalist to highlight here on the blog ! There are some great prizes up for grabs. A portion of my annual book proceeds go to ASMBA-STAR--my favorite charity for Vets and their families. So spread the word to all those hard working, dedicated military families out there.***

TO ENTER: Just send me YOUR STORY and a picture to sarataneyhumphreys@hotmail.com

Semi-Finalist Week 6: A Multi-Generational Military Family

2010-07-16T11:52:00.001-07:00

My name is Michael Smith, and this is a short version of my family’s history as a military family. My grandfather, James Smith, was a coal miner in Scotland before Great Britain got involved in “The Great War” now known as World War I. He joined the British army and was sent to fight in Europe, leaving his wife, Georgeanne and 6-year-old son, James Andrew at home in Bannockburn. Unfortunately, during heavy fighting, my grandfather was killed by German cannon fire. My grandmother and my dad moved around Scotland and England for a few years, when things were very hard for a single mother. She finally decided to go to another part of the British Empire, Canada, hoping for a better life. She met an American gentleman in Ontario on business, and after a few years he asked her to marry him and move to Illinois. She accepted, and they lived in a small town in Illinois for a while.

By this time my dad was in his late teens, and felt like seeing more of this great country, so he set out first to St. Louis, the closest big city. He worked at a few odd jobs, then continued west to Kansas City. He fell in love with the City, and a young red-haired girl named Bessie Thomas. He got a steady job as a truck driver. He and Bessie dated for a few years, and he asked her to marry him. They were married in November, 1932. James, or Jimmy as he was known, wanted to give back to this great country, and decided to enlist in the Navy Reserve, even though he was not a permanent US citizen. He was very proud to have known a local political figure and supporter of the Navy Reserve, Harry Truman. Jimmy and Bessie tried for several years to have children, then in 1940 learned that Bessie was expecting. In January of 1941 Sondra was born, just a month after Jimmy’s 31st birthday. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, 3 weeks before his 32nd birthday, Jimmy again felt like he needed to do more to help this country however he could, but with a baby daughter, he couldn’t leave his two best girls at home. As the War progressed, through some dark times, he felt more and more like he just had to do whatever he could, so he enlisted in the US Army in early 1944, at the age of 34. He had been preparing to become a naturalized citizen, and during Army training at Camp Roberts California, one of his proudest moments was realized when he was officially sworn in as Citizen of the United States of America. Bessie and Sondra made the long train trip to California in July and stayed with Bessie’s older brother, Sidney. They wanted to spend as much time as possible with Jimmy before he was to be sent to Europe following his Army training.

He was sent to Europe and fought in the Battle of The Bulge, where he received several wounds. None were life-threatening, and he continued fighting until receiving a more serious wound and was captured by the Germans on December 16, 1944. By this time he had learned that Bessie was expecting another child, and Jimmy was determined to get back home to his family. After spending several months being moved from one POW camp to another, and Hitler’s forces being beaten on all fronts, the Russian Army liberated the camp where Jimmy was being held prisoner. Not a large man to begin with, Jimmy had lost more than 40 pounds during his captivity, and the doctors wanted him to put some of that weight back on before they would send him home. He also learned that Bessie had given birth to a son in April, 1945, and named him James Gary Smith. Finally, Jimmy was returned to Kansas City and his beloved Bessie, Sondra and now James Gary. Jimmy and Bessie bought a little house on the west side of Kansas City, Missouri which they called home for the rest of their lives. In 1949 another son, Michael Don was born. (That was me.) During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the US was committed to stopping the growth of Communism, especially in Southeast Asia. James Gary, who everybody just called Gary, convinced Jimmy and Bessie to sign for him to enlist in the Navy in 1962, when he was just 17 years old. Gary made several deployments to the Western Pacific and the Tonkin Gulf aboard destroyers. In March of 1966 Gary was released from active duty but remained in the Navy Reserve in Kansas City. In 1969 I decided to join the Navy, also, but was mostly interested in Navy aircraft, specifically fighters or whatever the Blue Angels were flying. After basic training in San Diego and avionics training in Millington, TN, I was assigned to a Navy A-6 training squadron at Oceana, Virginia. During my 2-year tour at Oceana, Gary decided to return to active duty, and was sent to a new, nuclear powered destroyer home ported in Charleston, SC.

Gary and I visited each other whenever possible, and were able to spend Christmas together at our parent’s house in Kansas City in 1970. In 1971 I was transferred to a carrier based A-6 squadron assigned to the carrier USS Forrestal. The squadron was the first to receive the new, A-6E aircraft, and required a lot of training. Also, the Forrestal was undergoing a long period in the shipyard for some repairs and upgrades. After coming out of the shipyard, and several short cruises up and down the Atlantic coast for sea trials and aircrew training, the ship was scheduled to deploy in June, 1972 to Southeast Asia. A fire just below the flight deck the night before scheduled departure forced another carrier to take the place of the Forrestal. After another 3-month repair period, the Forrestal was deployed to the Mediterranean for 10 months. Gary remained on active duty in the Navy until 1988 when he retired to his home in the Jacksonville, Florida area. I married a Virginia girl in 1976 and got 3 step-children in the bargain. We also had a son, Robert, in 1977. I was discharged from active duty in 1978 and moved to Michigan for what I thought was a good job.

It wasn’t, so I went to work for the US Department of Defense in 1984. My supervisor convinced me to join the Navy Reserve in 1985. As a DoD civilian employee I moved first to Atlanta in 1986 (where I got a divorce, and custody of my son) then finally, in 1987, I moved back to Kansas City, still in the Navy Reserve. One of my stepsons, David, is also a Navy veteran, having served on the USS Forrestal, too, before it was decommissioned. In 1988 I married my high school sweetheart, Kathy Hough, who had also been married before and had 2 children. In 1993 I was “hired away” from DoD by the Federal Aviation Administration. I retired from the Navy Reserve in 1995 at Naval Air Reserve Center Olathe, KS, formerly Naval Air Station Olathe, just before it was closed permanently and turned over to the State of Kansas. I was transferred to southern California, still with the FAA, in 1997. Jimmy and Bessie were very proud of their 2 sons and their devotion to their country. Jimmy passed away in 1988, and was given full military honors at his gravesite. Bessie passed away in 1992, just a month short of what would have been her 60th wedding anniversary with Jimmy.

Sondra, who loved her ‘little’ brothers, and shared her parents’ pride in them, passed away in 1993 from cancer. Gary passed away from leukemia the day before his 57th birthday in 2002. I still live in southern California where I am still employed by the Federal Aviation Administration. I take great pride in riding my motorcycle with a nation-wide organization, the Patriot Guard Riders, whose “mission” is to escort fallen military on their ride to their final resting place at Riverside National Cemetery, or, to greet and escort military units or individuals on their return home from deployment.

Thank you,

Michael D. Smith

USNR (Retired)

***Remember---Each week between now and Labor Day I will select 1 semi-finalist to highlight here on the blog. ! There are some great prizes to be had. A portion of my annual book proceeds go to ASMBA-STAR--my favorite charity for Vets and their families. So spread the word to all those hard working, dedicated military families out there.***

Semi-Finalist Week # 5: An Army of Five

2010-06-29T05:02:00.000-07:00

We are an Army family of 5 - Husband Tim (SM), me -Susanna, Alex 11 years old, Anna with Down Syndrome 13 years old and Tyler 15 years old.

We have been lucky to not have to move every 2 years. I believe in 17 years we've been lucky to have had to move only 7 times, my husband had 3 deployments. Hopefully, this is all behind us. I came to this beautiful country 15 years ago! I finally received my American citizen ship in 2007!
The last 4 years we have been stationed on JB Lewis McChord and we are currently on our way out to Ft.Carson, Colorado Springs.
Not sure what to tell you about us.

Our family is a very active family when it comes to little adventures...duathalons, little adventure races,runs. We love to camp and hang out with friends.

I have started a website militarydutystations.com that was started to help all milspouses get inside information about their new duty station. Getting first hand info about where to live and what schools are good is really essential for a family to move. I am hoping to pull that together on ONE site. I have also collected all the info about PCSing that I could and put it together in an every changing PCS Guide. I really don't want this to just be a plug for my site but this is a big deal for us. As all family members are involved in this (video: moving with a special needs member, Alex and Tyler are talking about their summer plans, Tim is talking about timeline planning, Reba(our 13 year old white lab) is included in a little pet relocation video, Tyler also developed my LOGO, Tim is working on my website LOL it's called free labor! HA)

What else can I tell you?

Regards,
Susanna
--
Make your experience count! Tell others about your current or past military duty stations or learn from others about your new installation:
www.militarydutystations.com
follow Susanna on twitter: @mildutystations
connect with Susanna on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/militarydutystations

***Remember---Every weekend between now and Labor Day I will select 1 semi-finalist to highlight here on the blog. ! There are some great prizes to be had. A portion of my annual book proceeds go to ASMBA-STAR--my favorite charity for Vets and their families. So spread the word to all those hard working, dedicated military families out there.***

SEND YOUR STORY TO: sarataneyhumphreys@hotmail.com

Week #4 Semi-Finalist: The St. Amand Family

2010-06-20T07:09:00.000-07:00

My husband, Michael, was active-duty in the Air Force for 8 ½ years, and continued to serve 14 ½ years in the Air National Guard and Reserves for a total of 23 years of service to retirement status. We were both young when we got married – Michael 21 years, and myself 18, just out of high school. We came from a very poor and rural Northern French Acadian area along the border of Northern Maine and Canada, when Michael decided to join the Air Force in order to support ourselves and attempt to get ahead in life. We missed our families and rural way of life terribly the first years while increasing our appreciation of the positive aspects of the rural French culture we had left behind.

On the other hand, military life seemed like an exciting lifestyle compared to where we came from. Having hardly strayed far from home during our youth, moving from one city or state to another over the years was exciting, yet daunting at the same time. For a shy country girl, I sure came “out of my shell” quickly overtime and also learned to be very resourceful. We took every opportunity we could to travel and sightsee all the areas we were stationed at. We learned to travel frugally but have fun at the same time and loved it. I had always liked history and geography classes in school, and the traveling opportunities brought those history books to life. Also, being exposed to other cultural areas gave us insight that regardless of the superficial aspects of any culture or race of people humans all have the same basic needs and qualities which we need to respect. Military life is also a unique culture in itself. Once you have learned and lived in it for a certain period of time, you miss it when you leave the service. Each base was its own little community, and the camaraderie of fellow service personnel who were experiencing the same thing was like a second family.

The military also provided basic needs that at most times were unmet while we were growing up, which many people take for granted such as medical care, housing and food. Granted, it may not always top-notch, but nothing is perfect, and something is better than nothing.
I cherish the traveling and touring experiences we have experienced and to this day, I always say that the ability to travel to new places and actually live in that community for awhile is a greater learning experience then just vacationing in a spot for a week or two. In fact, when the opportunity arose for my youngest son in sixth grade to take a three week educational tour to Europe, we made the financial sacrifice to send him, and to this day he talks about it, and would like to go back (but not before I do! Haha.)

After basic training at Lowry AFB in Denver, Colorado Michael’s first duty station was Shaw AFB, in Sumter, SC. What a weather adjustment, from cold, long Northern winters to the hot, humid south. Then on to South Korea for a year. This was my first time on a plane, not to mention it was a long flight from Maine to South Korea. This was our one and only overseas tour. Our desire was to go to Europe, but it never happened. We also kept trying to be stationed at Loring AFB, in Northern Maine, to be closer to home, as it was not very popular with many service persons to be stationed in the Northern frontier bases. As it was, we never did get that assignment, and subsequently, Loring AFB was shut down much to our chagrin.
From South Korea, we were stationed at Castle AFB, Merced, CA. We enjoyed this tour as it was situated in the San Joaquin Valley, the farming belt of California away from the larger cities. Castle AFB is no longer in existence today. Moving on, we went to Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas, then on to the Pentagon in the Washington, DC area. At this point, I was pregnant with our first son, and we decided we needed to settle down to raise him in a stable environment and so Michael left active duty service to return to Maine. We tried to restart our lives, but it did not work out as planned, and a second son was on the way, so Michael joined the Air National Guard, which brought him for basic training to Keesler AFB, Biloxi Mississippi and eventually moved on to Bolling AFB, Washington DC metro area, where he become employed with the Federal Government, and became a “weekend warrior” for the Air Force Reserves on the weekends. Having grown up working hard on the potato farms and families struggling to make a living, we carried that same work ethic and resourcefulness with us which helped Michael make positive impacts on his supervisors and career. During his reserve status, he also landed a full-time position working with the Federal Government.

It was at this point after 17 years of marriage, constant moves and apartment living that we decided to take a risk and purchase our first home 85 miles away from the city in the mountains of the Shenandoah Valley, a rural farming area which reminds us of the country life we came from. Michael’s unforgettable comment to me was “You put up with me, my military career and moving for so long, we will buy a small place with a few acres in the country for you to finally get the horses that you couldn’t have all these years since we left Maine.” Once settled in our newly purchased home, it was at this point that I was able to pursue college and invest in a long term career, as it was difficult to maintain an employment career when you were constantly uprooted. Just as I was settled into a good job, it was time to move on. Believe or not, though, after several years of living in our home, we began to get itchy feet, however, traveling days will have to wait until our full retirement age.

Both as a Reservist and federal employee, Michael’s career brought him to the Pentagon. His civilian job eventually transferred to an office in downtown Washington DC a few weeks prior to the 9/11 event. It was emotionally devastating to Michael as he had known some of the victims and some of the damaged parts of the Pentagon were ones he had previously installed equipment in. At that point, Michael was eligible to retire from the Air Force Reserves, but a stop-loss order was in effect, and his retirement was not granted until two years later when the stop-loss was lifted and he was granted retirement status. Michael continues his career as a public servant of the United States. Not surprisingly, our sons are following in his footsteps to some degree. Jonathon, our oldest son enlisted for a short tour in the Navy, and our youngest son is currently enrolled in college aspiring to eventually also become a public servant in the Federal Government for the United States.

During the two years Michael waited for his Air Force Reserve retirement status, we kept holding our breath as to whether Michael would be called back to active duty to serve in Iraq. Fortunately for our family, he did not go to Iraq, but I have the greatest respect for those who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families, as I know what a strain it is to have your husband away from home for long periods of time, even more, to wonder if he’ll even come back alive or in one piece. The times that Michael was away for temporary periods of training or other duties certainly reinforced my abilities to be resourceful and manage the everyday needs of a family and home without any other relatives geographically available to help and depend on. To be on alert 24/7, ready to deploy at a moment’s notice, and miss many family milestones and events, there is no sum of money to compensate for such a sacrifice. They deserve every benefit and support we can give them and then some.

To my husband, sons, and all military personnel and veterans,
“I SALUTE YOU!”

Susan St. Amand

***Remember---Every weekend between now and Labor Day I will select 1 semi-finalist to highlight here on the blog. ! There are some great prizes to be had. A portion of my annual book proceeds go to ASMBA-STAR--my favorite charity for Vets and their families. So spread the word to all those hard working, dedicated military families out there.***

SEND YOUR ENTRY TO: sarataneyhumphreys@hotmail.com

Week #3 Semi-Finalist: The Crouch Family

2010-06-13T07:43:00.001-07:00

I remember when I signed up for this 14 years ago. Sounds like I'm the one in the Army, doesn't it? I've been married to an Army soldier for 14 years. My husband Robert has been in the Army for 15 years. It really does feel like you join the Army too, when you marry a soldier. Robert and I have 2 beautifully devious children. Our daughter Hayley is 11 going on 20 and Joey, our son is 9. We have moved 9 times in the last 14 years. We go where the Army sends us. We have managed through 1 deployment to Iraq and are preparing for a deployment to Afghanistan this fall. So many near scares have come our way and I won't lie, it's not easy to answer the phone at any time when my husband is away from us. The feeling of terror when you see any military person approach your door when your husband is deployed is palpable. Once you have been through any of this, you are never quite the same.

My husband works as a physician's assistant providing medical care to the soldiers within his unit. He trains medics to take care of wounded in battle and takes his job very seriously. We are immensely proud of him. With the stress that comes with a job of this magnitude, I do what I can to make his life easier. The Army's slogan is "Be All You Can Be" and it's the same for the spouses. We have to be the best we can be in order to be good parents and spouses. We adapt and overcome as a family and our lives are truly filled with joy by just being together. We appreciate each other on a level that I don't think people not associated with the military can fully understand and I am grateful.

Kathy Crouch- Proud Army Wife
Major Robert Crouch- United States Army Physician Assistant- Father- Husband
Hayley Crouch- Proud Army Daughter
Joey Crouch- Proud Army Son

***Remember---Every weekend between now and Labor Day I will select 1 semi-finalist to highlight here on the blog. ! There are some great prizes to be had. A portion of my annual book proceeds go to ASMBA-STAR--my favorite charity for Vets and their families. So spread the word to all those hard working, dedicated military families out there.***

SEND YOUR ENTRY TO: sarataneyhumphreys@hotmail.com

Week #2 Semi-Finalist- Crystal Weatherington

2010-06-09T04:45:00.001-07:00

Hello

I am not going to tell you how difficult that life can be as a military family, because I am sure that you know first hand what life is really like.

A little about the Weatherington Family:

I am a stay at home mother and wife to a wonderful 5 year old little boy named Trenton. When my son was just 2 years old we all moved from the warm sunny state of Florida to support my husband in a military career. We had a huge shock the minute we crossed the state line into upstate NY. Always living in Florida this was a huge shock for us, to go from sun and sand to snow and endless months of winter. Anyways, enough about being up here in New York at Fort Drum, like I was saying we all moved up here to support my husbands military career, and we all couldn't be prouder of him. He is an Air-traffic controller in the US Army! We are getting ready to hit our second deployment in 3 years, I have found alot of things important by being a military spouse. Like lending a hand to a wife in need, or being there to listen and lend support. I am still a young wife (26) but I have learned alot in the time we have been here. My FRG was such a welcomed family I was happy to help when asked to be a key caller, not only did I get the opportunity to connect with alot of military families but I had the pleasure of learning what military family is really like. I was recently asked to be the new FRG leader and cannot wait. I love my military life and wouldn't trade it for anything.

As a side note....children are so invaluable that when my husband deployed for the first time my 4 year old son came to me one night while I was crying and said "mommy it's ok, don't be worried I am the man of the house now and will take care of you!" Children in the military live a completely different life from most children, my son has grown up so much...

Well I am sure this is long enough...

Thank you for reading
Crystal Weatherington

**I hope you enjoyed Crystal's story! I know I did. Keep those entries coming!!! Send your story to sarataneyhumphreys@hotmail.com and YOUR story could be next!**

Vlog: Following the Dream

2010-06-06T05:33:00.001-07:00

I'll be posting the Week #2 semi-finalist for the Military Family Contest later today. However, I thought I'd share this video with you. It's a peek at my experience yesterday at the open casting call for Oprah's reality show. Hope you'll get a kick out of it! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N93atH0jC6o

Week #1 Semi-Finalist: A Mother's Tribute

2010-05-30T05:48:00.001-07:00

I would like to enter my daughter, Carrie Reyes. This is her husband's fourth time to go to Iraq. They have four children, two with special needs. She spreads herself pretty thin to take care of them, and go to school but she has managed both very well. This year has been pretty rough because the state of Georgia doesn't have much knowledge or tolerance for children with Autism. She has had to stand up to the school system for not treating her child in the proper manner. Even an expert from Emery could not change the schools way of treating her son. It was good for her son to see that she was brave enough to stand up for him. She and Adam have another son who has sever medical problems. Both Carrie and Adam have treated this son as they do the others. He goes to the accelerated high school where they live and recently was asked to write an essay on how his handicaps have
helped him get to where he is. I think what he said is a great tribute to their parenting. He said, "I don't have any handicaps."

She is always sending her husband "care packages" and makes sure all the guys in the unit has a bag of snacks when they leave. She also bakes cookies and sends them to the whole unit. She is very thoughtful, but it doesn't stop at her husband, whom she loves very much. She checks on several of the wives to make sure things are going ok for them. All in all, I think she makes an excellent Army Wife.

And Adam, her husband is the best 1st Sergeant I've known. He has been in EOD for over 20 years with no mishaps. He is good to those under him and makes sure they are trained right. He also worries about them when they are out on a mission and he has to stay behind. He is sharp when he needs to be and concerned when he needs to be. He has had to watch his wife raise their kids almost on her own while he is serving our country. And what better praise can be given to him than, his mother- in-law loves him as her own son.

Joyce Phillips

***Remember---Every weekend between now and Labor Day I will select 1 semi-finalist to highlight here on the blog. ! There are some great prizes to be had. A portion of my annual book proceeds go to ASMBA-STAR--my favorite charity for Vets and their families. So spread the word to all those hard working, dedicated military families out there.***

Want to enter? Send your story & picture to info@novelromance.net

Jennifer Lee Dressel

2010-05-21T07:19:00.000-07:00

When I woke up this morning, I didn't immediately remember the significance of today's date. I was roused by the familiar sounds of my husband getting ready for work. The bathroom light flashing briefly before he closed the door, the whooshing sound of the shower, and the soft rustling of his clothes were all the comforting sounds of the morning routine. I closed my eyes for what seemed like moments before a gentle kiss brushed my bare shoulder. He whispered a quick, "Love you" and left for what would undoubtedly be a long day at work. Smiling, I drifted gently back into a light sleep, hoping to catch a few more winks before the day truly began.

What seemed like mere seconds later, the door creaked open and my nine year old son Jack tip-toed quietly in the room.

He placed a gentle kiss on my cheek and whispered, "Good morning, Mom. I love you. Can you make pancakes?"

I smiled and assured him pancakes would be made. He clapped and skipped happily out of the room. Realizing that sleep was now an impossible feat, I reluctantly crawled out of bed.

I came downstairs to find a much needed cup of coffee and do the morning check of email and so forth. As I often do, I went onto Facebook to see what my friends were up to. I do love the ability to stay in touch with my friends, especially the ones who are so far away.

My friend Jimmy's status stopped me in my tracks. It read, "...sooner or later it comes down to faith, I might as well be the one - only the good die young"

As any good Billy Joel fan would know, it's a quote from his classic hit "Only the Good Die Young." However, as anyone of our MCCTA college friends would know, it carries much more meaning. It is a reference to our friend Jenn.

My heart squeezed tightly in my chest and tears choked my throat. I forgot. How could I forget that today is the anniversary of her passing? Needless to say guilt and sadness are a potent combination. I wallowed momentarily in self-pity.

Then I heard Jenn's voice in my head.

"What the hell are you feeling badly about? I'm the one who's gone. Not you. You're here. With a husband and four boys who adore you. You're pretty God-Damned lucky, woman. Quit your bitching and look around you."

Now, did I really hear her? No. However, if she had been here that's probably what she would've said to me. Jenn was a straight shooter. She told it like it was. She was a dedicated, loving, supportive, and funny woman. She was the one who showed me how to be a really good friend. She was an incredibly good listener and gave very good advice. I remember several nights during college when all of us talked until the wee hours of the morning. Discussing everything under the sun. Sometimes laughing until our sides hurt and sometimes crying until there were no more tears--but usually it was laughing.

I know that all of her friends, and especially her Mom and sister, still miss her very much. Her laugh, her smile and her ability to be direct without being hurtful are the things that stand out in my memory. (Oh and of course her awesome ability to wield power tools.)

Today, I don't want to focus on her death. I will remember her life and everything she taught me. Because you see, even though she's not here anymore, she's still impacting my life.

Today she told me to be grateful for all of life's blessings. She asked me to be better about staying in touch with our friends. Today, and every day, she reminds me that although life is short...truly good friends never leave us.

I love you Jenn.

Top 10 Reasons to shop at Borders by Sue Grimshaw--National Buyer of Romance for BORDERS!

2010-05-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

Borders bookstores have been around since the early 70’s with their first bookstore in Ann Arbor, MI. Now, over 600 Borders stores across the country offer customers a vast assortment of books. Of course, I think Borders is the best place to shop & I want you to as well, so, I thought I’d give you ten, out of many good reasons to shop Borders for your Romance books . . .

10- Because you like me & the chance to win books on Sue’s Borders True Romance blog (www.bordersblog.com/trueromance)!

9- Borders is connected - Twitter, Facebook, & our Blogs! Of course, you can find me on Facebook & Twitter too - just follow Sue Grimshaw!

8-Borders carries Movies, Music, Ebooks, Digital Audio, AND of course, lots of books

7-Borders posts our weekly deals so you won’t miss out on the savings, click here

6-Borders has a media center with all your favorite authors from Romance & other genres, click here to check out these exclusive programs

5- Borders Rewards members get great values with weekly coupons & more, click here & sign up today!

4- Like booktrailers ?– we’ve got them all & more from our friends at Readers Entertainment Group

3- We LOVE ROMANCE & our customers too! Click Here

2- We help you choose your books, with a knowledgeable booksellers in our stores & a great shopping list online, click here

1 - Buy 4 Get 5th FREE on Borders.com click hereThanks for reading just a few of the many reasons we would like Borders to be your place to shop for Romance! Now, tell me, what is on your reading list for April?

GIVEAWAY - Romcon Offer - 3 randomly chosen commenters will be chosen - GOOD LUCK!:Winning ticket is good for ONE ($125) Reader Registration to RomCon 2010 - July 9-11, 2010 in Denver, CO. Winners must be US residents. The base ticket grants admission to all RomCon 2010 award ceremonies and core reader events, but does not include meals, travel, or hotel accommodations. Meals are available for purchase when the attendee registers. The ticket has no monetary value and cannot be redeemed for cash. Unclaimed tickets expire June 15, 2010.

Official Letter from ASMBA-STAR

2010-05-17T08:20:00.001-07:00

Here is the official contest letter from --ASMBA-STAR.

Sara Taney Humphreys Donates Portion of
Proceeds from Book Sales to the
ASMBA STAR Foundation

Last year, as a special thank you to our service members and their families, author Sara Taney Humphreys held a very special contest especially for military wives. It turned out to be an incredibly rewarding experience for her. “I had the privilege of meeting several incredible women and their beautiful families. It's so easy to forget that there are real people who are deeply affected by the conflict overseas. Hearing the personal stories of these families helped me remember that our troops are husbands, fathers, brothers and sons who are immensely loved and sorely missed.” Sara has graciously decided to make this an annual contest to benefit the ASMBA STAR Foundation.

This contest will run from Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day Weekend. Once again, a portion of her annual book sales will be donated to the ASMBA STAR Foundation. The mission of the ASMBA STAR Foundation, located in Nashville, Tennessee, is to improve the quality of life of the military service member, veterans and their families by contributing to the financial, educational, social, employment and medical needs that are unmet by the U.S. government. The Foundation has awarded grants to organizations such as the National Military Family Association, Knights of Heroes, Helping our Veterans, Project Sanctuary, Operation Stand Down, Fisher House, and many, many more.

Who is eligible?

This year the contest is open to ALL members of our U.S. military families - Moms, Dads, Sons, Daughters, Wives, Husbands, Sisters, Brothers. If you have a family member that is serving our country... we encourage you to enter and tell us all about them!

How do you enter?

Send an email to sarataneyhumphreys@hotmail.com with a picture of you and your family member in uniform. Tell us a bit about what branch he/she serves in, where you've been stationed, challenges you’ve faced, experiences you cherish, and so forth.

**Please put "2nd Annual Military Families Contest" in the subject line.**

Once a week, beginning Memorial Day weekend, Sara will choose one entrant to be highlighted on her blog. These weekly entrants are contest semi-finalists. Three winners will be selected over the Labor Day weekend, with prizes awarded as follows:

Second Prize: A $25 Amazon Gift Card, a signed copy of "The Amoveo Legacy" and a Team Amoveo T-Shirt.

First Prize: A $50 Amazon Gift Card, a signed copy of "The Amoveo Legacy" and a Team Amoveo T-Shirt.

Grand Prize: A book signing event at their local bookstore with the winner as Sara’s special guest of honor; FIVE free signed copies of "The Amoveo Legacy" (1 for them and 4 of their friends); a $100 Amazon Gift card and a Team Amoveo T-Shirt.

Spread the word about this contest. You can support our veterans and their families by purchasing a copy of "The Amoveo Legacy" or by donating directly to the ASMBA STAR Foundation.

Thank you for your support and for your service to our country!

1000 NorthChase Drive, Suite 300 P.O. Box 160384 Nashville, TN 37216 1-800-251-8434
For more information about the Foundation, please visit us at asmbastar.com

Last Years' Grand Prize Winner-Courtney Bishop Jackson

2010-04-18T07:20:00.001-07:00

With the 2nd Annual U.S. Military Family Contest opening up for entries, I thought it would be a nice idea to revisit our Grand Prize Winner from last year. During the contest last summer, Courtney and I became friends on Facebook. Actually, several of the gals that entered are now friends of FB. It's been really neat to follow Courtney and her family. She' an incredible woman who is fiercely devoted to her son and her husband. So for those of you who didn't read her story...here's an opportunity for you to see for yourself what a cool lady she is.

Grand Prize Winner 2009--Courtney Bishop Jackson

My husband is Active Duty Air Force. He has been in since April 2007. The picture is from the his Boot-camp graduation. We have been stationed at Goodfellow AFB, TX and now are at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH. We had our first child together in March 2008. After an uneventful pregnancy, our son Malynki was born not breathing. It took the doctors/nurses 25-30 minutes to resuscitate him. He now suffers brain damage because of the length of time he went without oxygen. They weren’t sure he would live past a week and told us to be prepared for the worst. (I've attached another picture of him shortly after delivery to show how bad things were.)

This was the hardest thing that my husband or I have ever been though. I didn’t want to live, I didn’t want to speak to anyone. All I wanted to do was be with my baby. I'm crying even typing this because it brings back such sad memories. I just kept thinking the whole time Malynki was in the NICU "Please God, Don't take away my heart and soul." Its amazing to see how much strength my husband had during this hard time to keep our family strong for our lil' man. I'm grateful to have my husband, Larry. Because without him I’m not sure I would have been able to make it with everything that happened to our son.

When our son was 3 weeks old, he had surgery for a G-tube. Its a tube in his stomach that we feed him directly through. They also repaired a hernia and completed a fundoplication. We were told his future wouldn’t be so bright. We didn't care what they told us we were just happy that he had made it past the length of time they gave us in the beginning. The doctors believed he would probably never learn to eat by mouth, talk, walk or really do anything normal babies do. This was the hardest thing to hear because as parents all you ever want for your child is for them to be the best at everything they want to/can do. We didn’t want him to be different but that was the hand we were dealt. So we took it in stride.

We applied for EFMP Program that the military offers for dependant family members with special needs. This program helped us get relocated to Ohio (where we are originally from) because Goodfellow AFB did not have the services in the town that we needed. Twice a week we were driving 3 hours to San Antonio for Medical services for our son. Once we got relocated to Wright Patt AFB. My son's future began to look brighter. He attends Physical, Occupation, Speech and Feeding therapy each once a week.

I am unable to be employed because of all his needs. My husband is our sole provider and we are so appreciative for the military and all there benefits. My son has shown me what strength is at only a year old. He surpassed all the expectations the doctors gave us. He is now 16 months old, is able to eat puree baby foods, drink juices and is working on learning to chew, he still has his g-tube for nutritional purposes. He is rolling and army crawling. He is learning to bear weight on his legs and talks up a storm. He is unable to sit unassisted or walk yet but that has not stopped him from trying to become the best that he can be. He will forever have development delays due to his brain damage. We recently received the diagnosis of cerebral palsy. It was hard to swallow knowing that he is forever going to have that. But I know one thing for sure, he will never let a diagnosis slow him down.

The military has been so beneficial in my son’s health care. We have 8-10 doctors that we see regularly, $10,000 in medical equipment and numerous prescriptions and medical supplies; we haven’t had to pay anything. We would be lost without the military and for that my husband and I are forever thankful. (I've attached another picture of him recently) He never stops amazing us. Although my husband hasn’t been deployed yet, he has volunteered numerous times and really wants to go overseas and protect his country.

Thank you for listening to our story,
Courtney Jackson

You can see the other 2009 winners and Semi-Finalists in the archives of this blog. For more information on how to enter this years' contest please visit my website and click the "Contest" tab.

2nd Annual U.S. Military Family Contest--Entries Welcome!

2010-04-10T06:21:00.000-07:00

Last year, as a special thank you to our service members and their families, I held a very special contest for Military Wives. It turned out to be an incredibly rewarding experience. I had the privilege of meeting several incredible women and their beautiful families. It's so easy to forget that there are real people who are deeply affected by the conflict overseas. Hearing the personal stories of these families helped me remember that our troops are husbands, fathers, brothers and sons who are immensely loved and sorely missed.

I have decided to make this an annual contest. I am very excited to report that ASMBA-STAR, an outstanding organization for Vets and their families, has agreed to continue their partnership with me.

This contest will run from Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day Weekend. Once again, a portion of my annual book sales will be donated to ASMBA-STAR.

Who is eligible? This year I've opened the contest up to ALL U.S. Military Families. Moms, Dads, Sons, Daughters, Wives, Husbands, Sisters, Brothers. If you have a family member that is serving our country...tell us about them!

How do you enter? Send an email to sarataneyhumphreys@hotmail.com with a picture of you and your family member in uniform. Tell us a bit about what branch he/she serves in, where you've been stationed, challenges and so forth.

Please put "2nd Annual Military Families Contest" in the subject line.

Once a week, beginning Memorial Day weekend, I will pick one entrant to be highlighted on my blog. These weekly entrants are semi-finalists. Labor Day weekend I will select three winners.

Second Prize: A $25 Amazon Gift Card, a signed copy of "The Amoveo Legacy" and a Team Amoveo T-Shirt.

First Prize: A $50 Amazon Gift Card, a signed copy of "The Amoveo Legacy" and a Team Amoveo T-Shirt.

Grand Prize: A book signing event at their local Bookstore and the winner will be the special guest of honor. 5 Free Signed copies of "The Amoveo Legacy. (1 for them and 4 of their friends) A $100 Amazon Gift card and a Team Amoveo T-Shirt.

I hope you'll help me spread the word about this contest. I look forward to meeting more incredible families! You can support our veterans and their families by purchasing a copy of "The Amoveo Legacy" or donate directly to ASMBA-STAR .

Luck of the Irish

2010-03-17T07:35:00.001-07:00

March 17, 1967 --the day my parents met. The east coast was slammed by a massive spring snow storm but that didn't stop two groups of college kids (or thousands of others) from enjoying the parade. They were just 19 years old and both on their way to NYC for the festivities. They'd spotted one another at the New Rochelle train station while waiting in the bitter cold for the crowded train. My Father tried to follow the gorgeous blonde but once they reached Grand Central...the sea of people had swallowed her up. The platinum haired beauty seemingly lost to him.

However, several hours later they spotted each other again. My mother and her two friends were standing under the big clock at The Biltmore Hotel. My Dad, having participated in his share of Saki, sauntered right up to her and said, "Hey weren't you the girls we saw at the train station this morning?" My Mother looked up at the handsome boy with the smiling brown eyes and said, "Yes."

The rest as they say is history (and so was John Potter).

What if they hadn't taken that same train in the morning? What if my Dad hadn't looked over at that one moment and seen my Mother's face in the crowd?

There's much more to the story of course. It's a story that all of their children know by heart. They've been married for over 40 years. They have four children, six grandchildren and love aplenty. Their enduring romance inspires me every day.

That cold, snowy spring day truly did bring all of us the luck of the Irish.

Love you Mom & Dad.

Promote or Perish

2010-02-28T18:51:00.000-08:00

Any author will tell you that the hardest part about being published is the promotion. Before I was published I was under the assumption that the publishers marketed books for their authors. Ummm...No. The truth is unless you're Nora Roberts or JK Rowling the publisher doesn't do much in terms of marketing. Virtually all of it falls on the author. The trouble is that most authors aren't experinced in marketing and in many cases they don't have the money to hire someone else to market for them. It can be a very frustrating experience to say the least. So here are a few tools that have worked for me.

I know that lots of people are a bit squeamish about self-promotion. If you're an author I've got three words for you--"GET OVER IT!"

It's really quiet simple. If you don't promote yourself--no one else will. Well... not at first. As a new author the responsibility is on YOU to tell people all about your book and why they should run out and buy it/download it--whatever.

Social Networking. No...not for dates...for your book. Twitter, My Space, Facebook, Blogspot, Shelfari, Good Reads and We Read are all FREE!!!

Anyone promoting a book should have every single one of these accounts live and online. If you have each of these accounts you can then link them all to each other, creating your own business network.

Why do they help you? Twitter, for example, I didn't understand initially. A status update with only 140 characters. Huh?! Well the idea is to follow a flock of like-minded people. Here's just one example of how Twitter helped me.

Since I write Paranormal Romance I did a search for "paranormal". Well as you can imagine a lot of funky folks came up. One of them was "Paranormal Podcast" with Jim Harold. I followed him and he followed me back. I asked him if I could link his website to mine. We got a little conversation going. He took it to the next level and asked me if I'd like to be interviewed on his podcast show. Absolutely! Jim gets 90,000 downloads of his podcasts a month. Our interview has already been downloaded 10,000 times! Think about that.....all of those people...a brand new audience simply from connecting on Twitter.

So that's a bit about the Internet. What about face to face?

If you're an author you absolutely have to set up a book tour. It's not easy and you'll have to be persistent but it will pay off. What better way to personally connect with readers? I exectued a book tour last summer via various Borders and B&N and used all of the social networking to help promote it. These face to face signings were an outstanding way to connect personally with readers you may not have found online.

Okay. You get them face to face...and then what? What do you do you tell them? Easy. Give them your "elevator pitch". In other words...if you were on an elevator with your dream publisher and only had 60 seconds to grab their attention and sell them on your book....What would you say? That's an "elevator pitch". For me... the hook question to bring passers by to my signing table was..."Did you like "Twilight"?" Now, my series isn't about vampires...BUT...it's the same genre. I got their attention and got them to stop and listen a bit more. Then comes the elevator pitch.

I have to say that I throughly enjoyed all of my book signings. You can see an example of my experiences here on my blog.

I hope these thoughts were helpful. Believe me...after all of the publicity and promo...I need a big glass of Pinot!

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

Skiing, Snowtubing and Shufflebord

2010-02-21T08:13:00.000-08:00

Does anyone else find the last day of vacation to be a form of torture? Sundays are always slightly torturous because you know that Monday is taunting you from just around the corner. It's sitting there just waiting to jump on you with one unpleasant surprise or another. The Monday after vacation is even worse. As it looms closer I thought I'd take a moment and remind myself of the fun we had this week--so when I get hammered tomorrow I'll know it was worth it.

Our four sons had their winter break this week. We usually go away for the February break. The idea of being stuck inside with four boys for a week is less than appealing, so we decided to take them upstate for some skiing, snow tubing and other family fun activities. They're relatively new at skiing so the place we went was perfect for them. It had two very easy ski slopes and one ski lift so no one could get lost. It was great to be able to give them the freedom to go up and down the "mountain" on their own. They had one or two falls but no one had a "yard sale".

The resort we stayed at (and I use that term loosely) was great for the kids. The adults however--not so much. It's up in the Catskills and it is about the only thing up there, so the only activities, restaurants and so on....are at the "resort". This place was like a cruise ship without the ocean--or something out of "Dirty Dancing". We got a kick out of watching the boys splash around in the indoor pool. I thought their heads would explode when they saw that it had a slide. However, I refrained from actually going in. The bathing suit is not my friend.

The game room was complete with a ball pit, pool tables, ping pong, boccie ball and shuffle board. We tried the shuffle board. I spent most of the time laughing because the boys were still incredibly competitive even though they had no idea if we were playing it correctly. It wasn't entirely old school--there was an arcade of course. The sports complex even had a little bowling alley.

All in all we had fun. It was great just to be together as a family. So as Monday creeps closer, and the impending responsibilities at work creep into my mind, I'm clinging to the moments of this past week. My husband playfully teasing his sons at dinner--and all of them bursting into fits of laughter. The look of pride on Ian's face as he made it down the mountain on his snowboard-- without wiping out. Leo's laugh bouncing down the mountain as he raced ahead of his brothers. The sight of William as he whizzed fearlessly down the mountain and perfected his "racing stance". Jack doing flip after flip in the pool and asking, "Did you see me Mommy? Did you see me?"

I saw it all and that's what will keep me going.

The ‘Difficult’ Second Album

2010-02-04T17:58:00.000-08:00

Hey there! I know you've all heard me mention this hot new band from Scotland--The Strike Nineteens--well one of the singers/songwriters from that fab band is my guest blogger. Ladies and Gentleman....David Muir.

There are many clichés in the music world. After all, it’s not what you know, its who you know. It’s about being in the right place at the right time. At the end of the day, when the chips are down, it’s a game of two halves.

Doesn’t make much sense does it?

In my brief foray into the periphery of the ‘music’ business I have came to one conclusion. There are no standards, only benchmarks. What I mean is this – there is no secret formula into making it big. If there is, I have yet to get my hands on this elusive Pandora’s box. Does this mean you should give up? Absolutely not! Why? Simply because the times they are a-changing.
One of my favourite quotes is, “a mind that has expanded to have an idea rarely returns to it’s original size”. The reason I find this so pivotal is that we can use everyone’s experiences to further our own knowledge of what is possible. The benchmarks of others are there like rungs on a ladder to help us upwards and onwards.

My name is David Muir and I am the lead singer/song writer for The Strike Nineteens. Is my band signed to a lucrative record deal? No. Have I given up the day job? No. Have I had a No. 1 hit single all over the world? No. If you ask me if I think we are good enough to answer these entire questions yes, then YES I do believe truly that we are. So what’s gone wrong? Well nothing actually, apart from the fact that in this industry usual rules do not apply. When was the last time you went for an interview and you adequately displayed your skills and attributes only to find out that they gave the job to someone with no experience, no skills and even talent? This is commonplace for the music business as I’m sure it is for many other “Art” driven careers.
I am glad to say that I have woken up to the truth. The dawning realisation hit me like wrecking ball. It was so obvious yet the answer hid in plain sight. YOU HAVE TO WORK HARD. That’s it. No more, no less. I had grown up with the exciting tales of bands that turned up at gigs drunk, had a stack of girls in the dressing room and a fat man with a cigar waiting to say , “You guys are brilliant. Let’s make a ton of money”. No matter how talented you are, no matter good your material is, everyone needs to PROMOTE, PROMOTE and PROMOTE. In this technically magnificent era our job is so much easier. We have Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, Youtube, Internet and so many more portals to get our message out.

When we released our first album, Screams for Denver, we put it on itunes and waited for the cheques to arrive. To put it bluntly, my letterbox was as busy as an Amish Inbox. I couldn’t believe it. I had poured my heart and soul into an album that I was proud of and even let my guard down and talked about subjects that I had bottled up for so long. Why wasn’t it an unmitigated success? Basically, in the whole excitement of launch parties and local paper events I had forgotten something. No-one knew us. No-one had heard of us. No-one knew that our album had hit itunes. It was the equivalent of finding the cure to the world’s fuel problems and launching them into space.

Our second album is imminent and I am glad to say the lessons I have learned in the past 12 months have come to bear on this new project. To such an extent that we are promoting hard pre-launch. That’s right! It’s not finished yet but already the cogs are oiled and starting to turn. By the time the album comes to fruition we will have emailed, Bebo’d, Poked (facebook) and flyer’ed everyone that we know and everyone that they know. It won’t put the album to number 1 but it might get us some new fans in countries that our budget otherwise wouldn’t allow.
We now have regular meetings to discuss promotional strategies and business opportunities. This is a concept that took some time to become comfortable with but the successes we have achieved have help underpin their importance. I look at media radically differently now. Where in the past I may cringe at a poor advertisement, I now analyze it’s pro’s and con’s and try to learn from it. It is a fresh and somewhat strange feeling to do this but I sincerely believe it to be vital.

The most amazing thing is this – I have enjoyed every minute of it and I have met some truly spectacular people along the way. The proof will be, I suppose, that someone will read this in years to come and say “Wow, look at them now!”
Work smart AND hard!

Cheers, peace and love
David Muir.

http://myspace.com/thestrikenineteens

Live Interview on Blog Talk Radio Tonight 1/28!

2010-01-28T15:28:00.000-08:00

Hey there! I'm excited to be the guest on Phoebe's TAMFA Blog Talk Radio Show tonight at 8pm EST. You can call in with questions or just sit back and listen. I'll be chatting about my adventures in the publishing world, my Amoveo Series and my Vampire Series.

I hope you'll join us!

Call-in Number: (347) 857-2123

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/phoebe-jordan/2010/01/29/tamfa-phoebe-jordan-27-guest-author-sara-taney-hum

Follow Your Dreams--(Safety Net Included)

2010-01-15T18:32:00.001-08:00

This past week my baby sister bit the bullet. She did something that I think--no scratch that--I know was incredibly brave. She left the New York area, her family, friends and ultimately her comfort zone--for the wild west. Kate is an actress and has taken the plunge. She moved out to L.A. to try her talented hand at auditioning during pilot season. Granted she was smart about it. She's worked and networked her pretty little butt off here in NYC for the past couple of years. So she's not going out there on a wing and a prayer--she's got a plan and some killer connections.

She and my Dad--who is the absolute BEST by the way-drove across the country together. They went from NY-LA in four days. Even better--they documented their journey with video montages for all of us East Coasters to enjoy.

I have to say we are blessed. My siblings and I have unbelievably supportive parents and in turn we are equally supportive of each other. It's this safety net of unconditional love and family support that allows all of us to follow our dreams. My husband has provided that same safety net for me with my writing career. It really is a gift to have such a great support system and I strive to provide my boys with the same sense of security.

So as Kate is out reaching for the stars she can do it knowing that we've got her back.

We love you Kate. Go get 'em!

The Magic of Believing--Guest Blogger Jim Harold

2009-12-31T07:57:00.000-08:00

Jim Harold is the host of The Paranormal Podcast. I had the honor of being one of Jim's guests a few months back. I love his shows and had asked Jim to be a guest blogger on my site. He wrote this lovely piece and although Santa is back home at the North Pole resting up for next year, I thought that it was still an appropriate piece for the New Year. What's more magical than being given a fresh start? Enjoy.....

Jim Harold is the host of The Paranormal Podcast and Jim Harold's Campfire. His home on the web is http://jimharold.com

In a recent episode of my Campfire podcast, we talked to a listener who had a strange incident involving the Easter Bunny! Well, sort of...you'll need to listen to the episode to understand but the story did get me to thinking. Why
do adults, even in the back of their minds, hang on to some type of belief in what are obviously mythological characters like Peter Cottontail and Santa Claus?

For example, my daughters decided last St. Patrick's Day that they were going to build a trap to catch a leprechaun. I, being 39 years old with essentially two jobs (these shows plus my “day job”), a mortgage, a wife, two kids, a dog and a graduate school degree on the wall, thought all of this was very quaint and cute.

However, for a moment I caught myself thinking what if they caught
one...granted, it was just a few seconds of fleeting thought -- but it was there.
This mania heightens about this time of year. I could probably start a “Santa Anonymous” club for former believers in the Big Guy, read on.

This logical lapse is particularly prevalent for me at Christmas, the most special time of year in our home. I am a sucker for anything Christmas. And, apologies to those who feel otherwise, but it will always be Merry Christmas for me, not Happy Holidays. It's Christmas damn it!

Whether it is the decorations, presents, or listening to Nat King Cole singing “The Christmas Song” and catapulting me into some kind of retro, smoking jacket, eggnog drinking time warp, it seems like maybe magic could happen just that one special night a year. On more than one occasion, I have found myself on December 24th thinking like a child again – almost believing that Santa is
making his flight...and folks I am not crazy far from it. I am one of the more practical people you'll ever meet. But, at Christmastime I make the late, great Bing Crosby look like a Yuletide abstainer.

So why do so many of us cling to these wishes for magic? I just think that it is these creatures connect us to the innocence of our childhood. Most of us imagine them chasing pots of gold, delivering eggs of all colors of the rainbow or shuttling gifts around the planet at warp speed and secretly, very quietly, when no one is looking we smile because at some level we still want to believe. And, maybe for just a second, just that precious moment we say to hell with logic, responsibility and adulthood and we do – we believe again. I know I do, I hope you too can always spare a secret moment to believe.

Since 2005, The Paranormal Podcast has been the podcast that goes bump in the night with a serious look at the unknown! An iTunes Top 25 Science Audio Podcast.-Jim Harold's Campfire is the show where we talk to ordinary people about their extraordinary experiences!-

RSS Feeds- http://jimharold.com/?feed=podcast
http://jimharold.com/?feed=jimharoldscampfire-

Websites- http://jimharold.com/
http://paranormalpodcast.com/
http://paranormalplace.ning.com/

The Tree

2009-12-10T14:24:00.001-08:00

I love going to get our family Christmas Tree. I've blogged about it at various points. It's a whole production from the day after Thanksgiving and we leave that bad boy up until right after New Years Day. I make a big stink about cutting it down, decorating it and admiring it nightly as I sit by the fire place. Apparently I'm not the only Christmas Tree Freak out there.

It's been a long time since I've seen a video on Youtube that made me laugh until I cried. The other day a friend of mine at work sent me a good one. John Roberts is a very funny comedian who spoofs his Mom regularly through Youtube videos. I just had to repost this one for all of my fellow Christmas Tree Freaks.

The Redemption of Mr. Romance

2009-11-20T19:07:00.000-08:00

**Below is a blog post from none other than Charles Paz! Charles was crowned "Mr. Romance" at the Romantic Times Convention 2009. I am so excited Charles agreed to write a piece for my blog! Thanks Charles....Ladies...Enjoy!**

(BTW...that lucky lady in this picture is not me. ;)

"You have to fall, Before you can Rise....."

Redemption. An act of redeeming or the state of being redeemed. Deliverance. Salvation. In one time or another, we all have gone through this in our lives. We fault. We fail. We fall. We then realize what we could do to make things better. To right our wrongs. To redeem ourselves. We then proceed to take that path to success. To prove to ourselves just what we can accomplish. And to silence the nay-sayers. No matter how many obstacles come our way, we are fueled by the desire to break through those barriers in our quest for greatness. This is just one example. This is just one story. This is my Road to Redemption......

Lets begin this at the 2009 RT convention. When most of you last saw me, I was onstage. Flashing lights. Holding trophies and having the biggest smile on my face. Not only winning the Mr. Romance title, but also winning the Readers Choice Award. I have never won anything in my life! I was very grateful and humbled by the events that took place not only that day, but the whole week as well. It truly was an awesome moment of triumph in my life. Even afterward--it was great. People coming to me and saying they would love to have me on their book covers. Authors wanting to do interviews with me for their web-sites. Even had "Agents" tell me all the things they wanted to do for me and how to market me and basically, make me a Star. I was on cloud nine to say the least. But, like a cloud, I had no idea this feeling of greatness would soon slowly evaporate and disappear.

Fast Forward to end of June. The time had come to where I got to shoot for Dorchester’s cover. New York here I come. I was very excited. Had the plane ride and got picked up at the Airport. I felt like a Star! Things were great. I met the wonderful People at Dorchester Publishing's before the photo shoot. Awesome. Then came time for the shoot. Some people from RT were also gonna be at the shoot and do a 'behind the scenes' sorta story about it. "Wow, this is really cool ", I'm thinking. I had a blast during the shoot. The model was gorgeous. Atmosphere was great and I was still on that Cloud Nine that I was at the RT convention. I stayed in NY for a few days. Saw some old friends and did some shoots in Long Island and Brooklyn. I finally got to work with one of my favorite photographers 'DeVores Vison' and felt like nothing can stop me now. I could not have been any more wrong.

Before booking my flight back home to California, my "Agent" convinced me that I must fly to Florida first and shoot for an Author and other projects that will be Good for Me and it will Make Me Look Better in the Readers Eyes.

I was at such a financial struggle at the time and barely scraped up enough money to afford the plane ticket there. I got on the plane and didn't even have enough money in the bank to pull out a $20 from the ATM. I thought to myself…It’s OK… It’s an Investment and these people will not steer me wrong. It will be for the best and work itself out in the end.

So, I arrive in Florida, and it was the beginning of the end. The story that RT did about the 'behind the scenes of a cover shoot' got picked up by some on line blog site. Pretty mainstream I guess, with lots of readers. I could only stare at the screen when I was reading some of the comments being left by people. What a Joke read one of them, Looks like Mr. Romance should be called Mr.Doughnut, read another. Pathetic. Lame. Fat. Worthless. The list went on and on. Reality was driving an 18-wheeler, and blind-sided me from the back. I had so much confidence for once and I actually felt good about myself and who I am…at least…up until that point. I then started to question my achievements and thought, Did I really deserve this?

The doubt grew greater while I was shooting in Florida. My "AGENT" kept telling me… maybe when you are in a big budget studio and actually do a real photo shoot, then maybe you could be somebody. It was solidified when the comment also came out that... if it wasn't for them…I would be nothing and that I wouldn't have been chosen as Mr.Romance back in April.
The plane ride back home to Cali was a very long one. With thoughts of self-doubt consuming me as I sat there in seat 22E between the Mother with her crying Baby and the businessman looking over papers. It’s bad enough to have total stranger tell me I'm nothing while hiding behind a computer screen, but to have the people who I trusted with my career and actually cared for in real life tell me I am worthless is a whole different story. Where do I go from here?

The following few days were hard. I was reminded of a Time to where it was an accomplishment just to wake up in the morning. I spent most of the day looking at the ceiling while I lay on the floor in my bedroom. The concerned knocks at my door from my Mother seeing if I was OK. She knows what her son was going through. She has seen this before. That lost look in his face. That look of despair and uncertainty. It hurt her more knowing that this was something that she could not fix, like every mother who cares about their children, hopelessness was the feeling that she had. But she also knew that as low of a point in my life as I was, this was not the worst I have been and that look of sadness in her face turned into a grin. Your planning your next move aren't you? she asked. I looked at her and grinned. Of course I am. And I know exactly what I'm gonna do.

Everyday was a struggle in itself. I would always call walking on the stair mill breakfast. People in the sport of Bodybuilding know that the last week is the most critical. Everything you have worked hard for can be lost within the last few days and in an instant, you can go from first place to not even finish over night. At the beginning of the last week, I weighed 220lbs. By Friday, I was down to about 207. Come morning of the show, I was down to 193. I dropped fourteen pounds overnight! I was dehydrated and struggling. It finally came time to walk onstage with my group. Every step was agony. Each pose I hit also drew a smile from my face. Why you ask? The answer is simple. I was onstage. I achieved my goal. All the people who doubted my potential and wanted to see me fail could not take that moment away from me.

The Redemption of Mr.Romance was fueled by all the negative things that were thrown at me and from the critics. I'm learning now that it’s not about the looks, or the trophies, or proving people wrong. It’s about being who I am because in the end that is what matters most. I find myself now not necessarily trying to become a man of much success, but rather, trying to become a man of value to the people I surround myself with.

Thanks so much for sharing your story with us Charles!

Want to Friend Charles on Facebook??

http://www.facebook.com/#/profile.php?id=100000492620331&ref=ts

The Chance to Make a Difference.

2009-11-11T06:08:00.000-08:00

**The note below is from my Dad, Charlie Taney. This is a great story and a fantastic chance to make a difference in the life of an outstanding young man. I, for one, will be contributing. I hope you'll want to take the chance to make a difference in this fantastic young man's life.**

I want you to know about a special project I have undertaken and give you the opportunity to join me in making a difference in one person's life.

Here's the story:Kareem Cope and I got to know each other when he volunteered for the high school internship program at SoundWaters. Kareem was attending Wright Tech in Stamford. His dream is to go to college. I offered to help and he took me up on it. With his parent's support, I became Kareem's advocate. Testing revealed that Kareem is several grade levels behind, and has some learning disabilities. We focused on finding an independent school that could prepare Kareem for college. We zeroed in on the Forman School in Litchfield, CT, the leading independent school for students with learning disabilities (now called "learning differences").

was accepted and started in September, repeating his Junior year. He is one excited young man! (picture attached).

You can see the whole story, and meet Kareem through his short video, at our blog; http://kareemcopes.blogspot.com/

But Forman costs $55,250 per year. The school has given Kareem $25,000 in aid. I have taken personal responsibility for raising the $30,250 balance. Kareem's parents have committed $2,000, a huge amount for them. Carol and I have also committed $2,000. I’m reaching out to friends and associates and have raised over $14,000 so far.

I hope you'll consider a donation in the $25, $50, $100 range. You can donate online at http://charlieco.com/kareemOr, you can make your check payable to The Forman School, note Kareem Cope on the check, and mail it to me at 9 Outer Road, Norwalk, CT 06854.

I realize this is a lot to ask, and whether or not you can help, I very much appreciate your consideration. I have hesitated reaching out to you but decided that, in the end, many of you would want to know about this and have the opportunity to participate. Please feel free to call me if you have any questions or would like to discuss any aspect of my work with Kareem. If you know of anyone who might like to help, please pass this along.

**PASS IT ON**

Rachael Ray Rocks

2009-10-25T08:26:00.000-07:00

Okay. I can admit it. I am not a good cook. I have several talents...cooking isn't one of 'em. My husband and children can attest to the sad truth of it. In fact, when I bake cookies the first thing my kids do is look at the bottom to see if they're burnt. Nice.

In an effort to improve my culinary abilities I have tried various cook books and recipes. I think I have Cooking ADD. None of them could hold my attention long enough for me to execute them properly OR they had several ingredients I don't have on hand at home.

The other day, in one final effort, I picked up a copy of Rachel Ray's magazine. "Everyday with Rachael Ray". I was skeptical. I thought this would be another wasted cookbook type purchase. Well---I couldn't have been more wrong. This magazine is AWESOME! For the first time one of these mags actually delivers what it claims.

There are shopping lists for the recipes, the ingredients are pretty straight forward, and they take very little time. The best part is many of them are kid friendly. So the time came for the true test. My kids. I let them pick out a few of the meal ideas they liked. I hit the grocery store for the fresh herbs...let's be honest....with four little boys that's not tops on my normal shopping list. Next stop--the kitchen.

Her 30 minute meals? Guess what? They really are done in less than 30 minutes. I couldn't believe it! And...the food I made actually looked like the picture in the mag. Okay...maybe not exactly like it but really close. Even better? The boys loved it!

So now when people ask me if I can cook I simply say, "Yes. As long as it's one of Rachael Ray's recipes. Other than that...I'm toast."

For her great recipe ideas, her magazine and all the other good stuff. Check out her website.

Guest Blogger--Nicole from HowlingGoodBooks.com

2009-10-13T05:15:00.000-07:00

Well, hello again all! Sara has welcomed me back! W00t! So I thought I would turn her graciousness on everyone! Welcome to Sara’s Blog! And my return to answer any questions you may have! Ask away and I will answer! Whatever the question! Whether about this post, my site- HowlingGoodBooks.com, or being a reviewer!

And Happy October! What a wonderful month! A month when we get to dress up as anything that our imaginations can dream up and not be looked at funny! And since it is dress up as wacky as you can dream of month I thought we could discuss our favorite creatures that go bump in the night and how we came to read paranormal or Science Fiction!

My mom started me out! I will be honest, my mom much preferred for me to read than watch TV! “Books,” she said,” will make the imagination soar. Anything is possible in them!” When I was in middle school I came across her Greek mythology college text book and begged to read it. She allowed me to, knowing that I had exhausted all the books in my school’s library. I ate it up! After that I soared through Stephen King’s novels, skulked through Dean Kootnz’s books, and “learned” how to make magical mistakes with Piers Anthony.

As I grew into adulthood my fascination with the strange and unusual grew with me. I kept finding new authors to help me with my….. er, book addiction, lol. Or would that be helped my addiction continue? But whichever way you put it, my love of books, and reading, grew exponentially. I found new authors by the quotes they left on the authors’ books that I read already. And as my addiction became out of control so did my stash of books, much to my husband’s dismay! ;)

So what is my favorite paranormal creature? Magician? Vampire? Were animal? Alien? Well, it is not a space creature. Although they are intriguing, I love Earth! Magician? While I love magic and all the possibilities it opens up, that is not my fave! Blood sucking vamp? Nope! I would end up being the anal retentive, blood-o-phobe! Imagine a vamp having to be fed through an IV! I would be the shame of every vampire alive…. Er,dead… er undead lol. I would end up being staked by my maker! If you said Were you were right! I have always had a soft spot for animals, wolves in particular- and it simply carried over!

A Witch’s life may be glamorous with all the magic at one’s fingertips, but the responsibility! And all the things you give up to be a vampire! Sunrises, sunsets, chocolate! (Although I love how Michele Bardsley fixes that one!) But as a Were! High metabolism! So you can eat whatever you want! Great hair! And with that (at least) once a month change you don’t have to worry about if you get a bad haircut! You can go out ANYTIME! With no daylight restriction! What could be better? Hmmm, maybe a succubus? Having men panting after you! Being the being all men desire… But I would hate to leave a string of corpses behind! Nope! Weres it is! But don’t ask me to pick just one Were! I would love to be a true shape shifter, to be whatever I choose. That way if I am feeling catty I could grow claws and hiss! Or …. A bit of the canine female, well you get the picture!

But what about you? How did you come to love the paranormal? What brought you over to our “dark side” so to speak? What are YOUR favorite paranormal beings? And why? Share with us! We would love to hear what YOU like!

Welcome Guest Author--E.Jamie!

2009-10-09T04:52:00.001-07:00

Thanks so much, Sara for letting me have a guest spot on your blog today. I think I'll share a blurb and excerpt from my novel Till Death Do Us Part with all your lovely readers!

Now available From Amira Press Till Death Do Us Part in both ebook and

print:http://www.amirapress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=10&products_id=222

Sara loved Connor, but he was from the wrong side of the tracks. They eloped and her father had him mudered or so she thought. Pregnant and desperate to escape an arranged marriage Sara married Connor's best friend, Aaron. When Connor returns very much alive, Sara is forced to choose between her first love and the new love she's found.Here's a wee excerpt to whet your apetite!

“You got a minute?”

“I made time,” Sara said with a slow nod, her mouth dry.“Thanks.”She forced herself to focus on what she had to say to him. “I have something I need to say to you first.” She stepped behind her desk glad for the small measure of comfort it provided.

“Okay,” he said, taking the pale blue-cushioned seat across from her.

“I owe you an apology for what I did the night of Aaron’s accident.”

“No you don’t. You were right. It was my fault he left the house angry and crashed his car,” Connor reminded her.

“No more than it was mine,” Sara said firmly.

“Sara—”

“Connor, please, let me finish. What I said to you was unforgivable, not to mention untrue. I don’t hate you. I never could. If I hated you, we never would’ve gone through what we have this past year. I hurt you so, so badly,” Sara said, her eyes filling with tears. She lowered her head.

Connor stood up and pulled her to her feet.

“I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you,” she said.

He cupped her face with his hands. “I love you so much, Sara. I’ll love you going to my grave, again,” he added with a smirk making Sara laugh through her tears. Then he grew serious. “I’ve just recently learned what really loving you meant. When I came back and demanded that you leave Aaron, you were right when you called me a selfish bastard. I was. I wanted you back, and I didn’t care what that meant for you.”

Sara trembled and tried to get a hold of her emotions. She placed her hands over his and stroked the fair blond hair at his wrists. “I wanted to come back to you, Connor. I wanted everything to be the way it was, but it can’t be. I’ve grown up. I’m not the same woman you married. I have so many responsibilities to other people. I don’t just mean as Aaron’s wife but as Nathan’s mother. I created this family for him, something so wonderful for him. He adores you, Connor. Never doubt that.”

“You’re wrong when you say you’re not the woman I married. She’s still there, inside. I’ve seen her every time you’ve been pissed off at me lately, but you’re right when you say you’ve grown up. So have I finally. I saw what my selfishness was doing to you, and I remember a vow I made on our wedding night after we made love for the first time.”

“I don’t remember you saying anything.”

“I made it while you were sleeping. I was watching you. Your face was so soft, and you looked so beautiful my heart felt like it was gonna explode into a million pieces. I knew I had probably hurt you that first time, and I felt horrible about it. Then in your sleep, you turned and slipped your arm around my waist. You trusted me when I said I wouldn’t hurt you again. Even though I had meant physically at the time, feeling your arm come around me showed me you trusted me not to hurt your heart, too. I promised you I would never hurt you in any way. I broke that promise the day you married Aaron, and I walked away. I broke it again when I came back and made you choose. I put you through hell this past year, and I regret that more than you could ever imagine. I’m here to make it right. I’m promising never to bring you another day of pain. So I’m going to do the right thing.” He wiped the tears streaming off his face and handed her an envelope.

“What?” Sara asked.

“I’m leaving. Not sure to where yet. But I’m going to let you go.”

Sara’s breath was knocked out of her. She felt ill. This was what she wanted, wasn’t it? She had made her choice, and it was Aaron so why did it feel like her very soul was being ripped from her body? Fresh tears fell from her eyes. She shook her head. “This is so wrong. This wasn’t supposed to be us. Never us.”

“No it wasn’t,” Connor agreed.

“This feels so wrong.” She began to tremble.

“I know, but it’s the right thing to do, for everybody, but especially for you. I never want to bring you any more pain.”

Sara wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. “I love you, Connor Nolan. With my heart and with my soul, I love you.” She pulled back, and he handed her an envelope containing what she learned was also a petition for joint custody of Nathan. “Of course,” she agreed, pulling up the sleeves of her white suit jacket and pulling open the middle slim drawer of her desk to look for a pen.

“I’m gonna be leaving town, so we’re going to have to work something out,” Connor said and blew his nose.She nodded again, still in disbelief. “We were so beautiful, weren’t we?” Their love had been something so amazing. Had been? No. Was. Would always be. “I’ll go to my grave loving you, Connor.”

Connor smiled. “We’re even good at breaking up.” He grew serious again. “There’s one thing I want before we file those papers.”

“What?” Sara asked, bewildered.

“One night with you.”

Swing on by my website at http://www.ejamie.net/ to get a peek at my other books, trailers and great contests!

Book Signing up at Borders near Fort Drum!

2009-10-05T16:42:00.000-07:00

What a pretty time of year to take a drive up to Watertown, NY! It was a wonderful signing event at Borders in The Salmon Run Mall near Fort Drum. I had the distinct privilege of meeting several members of our military and their families. It was a beautiful Saturday but the mall was hopping!

My signing liaison, Stephanie ( a proud military wife) did an unbelievable job promoting our event--and as a result we sold tons of books!!

She posted in online and had it put in the area newspapers as well.

Way to go!!

Unfortunately her kiddies were sick and she couldn't make it....so I took lots of pics so she could see how all her hard work paid off.

The people up in Watertown are incredibly friendly and the staff was awesome! My last signing in this tour is coming up at my Alma mater--Marist College--during Alumni Weekend.

Guest Blog -- Nicole from"Howling Good Books" Review Site

2009-09-26T12:45:00.000-07:00

Hi Sara! Thanks for having me! Wow what an honor!....And now for the awkward silence… J Just Kidding, as if I could ever run out of things to say about books or my review site! Ok so start from the beginning I suppose. Well, about me… Hmm.

Once upon a time there was a woman named Nicole, and she had a dream of one day making it big! She published poetry, and had a collection of books so big she had to buy an extra house just to have a place to put them all! When one day the beauteous ladies husband said to her- “You have enough books to start your own bookstore!” an even better idea struck! Why sell all of her books? Why get rid of all her dear friends that helped her deal with the real world by escaping it? Why not SHARE her obsession? Help the world be a better place but introducing people to her love of other worlds and living vicariously through others? And at the same time share all the worldly wisdom she has gained through her many travels in those hollowed pages? Why not start……. A REVIEW SITE!

Nah, that isn’t how it happened, but it sounded good huh? Lol, What really happened was I was trolling the Internet while chatting with a friend when I came across a review site. It intrigued me. Who would have thunk it? I always wondered how those witty quotes ended up on book covers! How could I get my words on those beautiful glossy covers? How could I get my name out there? So I emailed the site, ok I used the “Contact Us” page, but hey it counts! I asked them how I could become one of their reviewers ( see me begging and pleading on my knees in cyberspace). So for a few years I reviewed. I read my little heart out, and my eyes blind, but OH JOY the free books! And then I started seeing MY name out there! My name and witty bantering were on the covers of books! And I had another thought! Why not start MY OWN review site?!?!? Thus the idea to birth HowlingGoodBooks.com!

I got together with my husband and best friend Joann(and Co-Author) and discussed the possibility of such a thing; aka if we had the gumption to pull it off. My husband bought the domain for Mother’s Day- “So you can’t back out”, and Joann and I came up with the name. Then months of hard work ensued. We planned, mapped out how we wanted the site to run, found a wonderful artist for our logo, I worked on getting publishers, and anytime I got worried, down, or started second guessing myself I turned to my family, old friends, and the new friends that I had made. If it weren’t for my slave laboring husband (just ask him, he’ll tell you what a slave driver I am! ;) ), Joann, Kayla Weeks, Jen Allen and all my author friends who suffered with me- Leonard D. Hilley II, Celis T. Rono, Mima, or Christine and Ethan Rose; HowlingGoodBooks.com would have not have been given birth! So thanks guys for all of the support and belief that you have given to me and HGB! And to all the friends that I have made since; Mina Carter, Sara( but of course), Lex Valentine, Melinda Barron, and Dakota Cassidy just to name a few! You guys have helped keep it, and me, going!

But it is a FAR cry from over! In fact we have just begun! We are covering all genres, and currently have over 10 publishers working with us, as well as authors themselves sending us work! We are always on the lookout for new reviewers, especially as we are always looking for new publishers! We are taking applications for reviewers! If you are interested the link is here: http://howlinggoodbooks.com/index.php?id=43 . And if the directions aren’t clear enough here is a review I did myself for you to go by: http://howlinggoodbooks.com/index.php?id=114 . (Wink) Did I mention that is the review for Sara’s first book in the Amoveo series, The Amoveo Legacy? Not only is Sara gracious enough to have me here, but she is talented as well! Well, I guess that is all, for now! I must get going! But I will stop in and see if there are any questions out there! I hope you all have a blessed day! Thanks again Sara! And Hurry up on An Amoveo Heart!

Book Signing in The Big Easy!

2009-09-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

Had a great time at the Borders Book Signing in New Orleans. The entire staff was incredibly helpful and set us up in a great area. This Borders is on St. Charles Street and pre-Katrina it was a Funeral Home. Cool huh?

I have to give major props to my Signing Liaison Kelly! She had already read "The Amoveo Legacy" and volunteered to be my Liaison when she heard I was coming down to NOLA. She did an awesome job! She even brought her daughter and a friend along. So a HUGE Thank You to Kelly!! What a great lady.

I also got to meet several other folks while I was there. Stephanie & her hubby David came by to say hello and pick up a book or two. We connected on Twitter and I was thrilled that they showed up!!

Our stay in New Orleans was such fun and I can't wait to go back. Book 2 in my shifter series actually takes place in NOLA so it was also a great opportunity to do some research....and have some fun :)

Next stop.....Borders in Watertown, NY....right by Fort Drum!

SOLD OUT Signing at Barnes & Noble in Yonkers!

2009-09-13T06:32:00.001-07:00

What a fantastic event at B&N here in Westchester!! It was so much fun to meet new readers and terrific to have some familiar faces stop by as well. Martie, the CRM at this location, ran a fantastic event. Her staff was friendly, knowledgeable and extremely helpful.

I met some great girls from the area and posted their pictures here. It's always such a thrill for me to meet young women and hear about their dreams and goals for the future. I always tell them that this is my first published book and I'm going to be 40 this year. It's never too late to follow your dreams....with enough hard work, tenacity and belief in yourself.....anything can happen.

And the Winners Are......

2009-09-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

I have to admit it was not easy to select the winners of this contest. All of these women are dynamic, strong and dedicated individuals. I admire each of them for their strength and devotion to their families. So...after much contemplation....the winners are....

Courtney Bishop Jackson

Grand Prize: $100 Amazon Gift Card. and Her name (not her likeness) will be used for a character in one of my upcoming books. Autographed copy of "The Amoveo Legacy".

Amy Teets

First Prize: $50 Amazon Gift Card & autographed copy of "The Amoveo Legacy".

Jennee Allan

Second Prize: $25 Amazon Gift Card & autographed copy of "The Amoveo Legacy"

As I mentioned, I will be donating a portion of the proceeds of my book sales to the veteran's charity ASMBA STAR . Originally it was going be based off of sales from the summer. However, after meeting these women and their families I have decided to base my donation off my total sales for 2009. I cannot think of a more worthy cause to contribute to than our military and their families. Happy Labor Day everyone!

Click on the Pictures to Read the Stories of the 13 Semi-Finalists: U.S. Military Wives Contest

2009-09-05T10:14:00.001-07:00

I am absolutely amazed at how quickly the summer has flown by! When I started this contest back in May, Labor Day Weekend seemed a million miles away but here it is! I have really enjoyed this contest and meeting these outstanding women. Although these ladies are not necessarily enlisted in the military they play a vital function for our soldiers. These women, and thousands like them, are the invisible soldiers. They fight the battles at home, often alone, while their husbands fight for our freedom in far flung lands. A few things in particular stood out as I read their stories. First of all, they are all 100% dedicated to their families and show unwavering support for their husbands and what they do for us as a country. I have also been incredibly moved by how supportive the military has been of these families during times of personal crisis. It's nice to see that not only do they support our military but our military is helping them as well.

Winners will be announced on Monday!

Our last Semi-Finalist --Week #13

2009-09-01T05:20:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, I don't have picture of my husband and I together in his uniform. That's how little we've seen each other. We have been married for almost 6 years. Which during that time he was with 4th Force Recon and has been in 2 deployments. Before his second deployment we got pregnant and had a little girl. He missed a lot unfortunately. Now that the USMC is dwindling down Force Recon, he has decided to join the Army, which has given us a lot more family time.

The biggest challenge for both of us has been trying to find time to spend with each other. What gives me strength, is knowing that he will be home, and when he does we make it the best time possible, even if it's just sitting on the couch watching a movie together or sitting in the yard and having lunch. We are now stationed in Italy, which makes things a little more difficult, with language barriers and different rules and laws. But I think with him here for me and me here for him we work through it. We're each others best friends and I wouldn't change it for the world.-- Erin Cleveland

**Remember, as part of this summer long contest, I will be donating a portion of my proceeds from all of my book sales between the dates of 6/1/09-8/31/09 to ASMBA STAR an outstanding charity for Veterans and their families**

This Friday I will post a re-cap of the 13 semi-finalists and then on Monday I'll announce the winners of this summer long contest. I've really enjoyed "meeting" these amazing women and hearing their stories. I hope you have too. Please continue to pass the word.

--Sara

Book Signing Event-Barnes & Noble at the Palisades Mall

2009-08-29T04:58:00.001-07:00

It was chilly and rainy here in New York last night but I was able to stay inside warm and dry at Barnes & Noble in the Palisades Mall. I discovered that if you're having an event in a mall--rain is good. There were lots of folks utilizing the shelter of the mall and foot traffic was aplenty. Betsy was my contact at this B&N and she did an outstanding job or organizing and promoting the event. Her staff is incredibly friendly, knowledgeable and accommodating. When I arrived for the event I was pretty psyched to find out they had already sold a few and we sold almost all the rest!

I met a very eclectic group of people who bought my book and some who just stopped to chat and find out more the series. It was all good. The book tour this summer has been a spectacular experience and an exhausting one. I have a two week break before the remaining events--which I'm sure is very good news to my incredibly understanding husband. If you want a signed copy of "The Amoveo Legacy" give Betsy a call at the B&N in Palisades at 845- 348-4701 or ask your local B&N to have it shipped from that store!

Not near a B&N? Buy it online

http://www.amazon.com/Amoveo-Legacy-Sara-Taney-Humphreys/dp/1554872774/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244992191&sr=8-2

US Military Wives Semi-Finalist Week #12

2009-08-23T17:24:00.000-07:00

My husband is a United States Marine. The Marine Corps is all about Pride and Tradition. My husband had to deploy to Iraq three weeks before I gave birth to our son Logan. A week after I had Logan I had internal bleeding and had to have more surgery. I wish my husband could have been there, and I know he would of like to be there for both occasions. Families make sacrifices as do military members. We have been stationed in Camp Lejeune, NC and are now stationed at Parris Island, SC. My husband is a Marksmanship coach now. He is non-deployable for a bit. So we are thinking of trying for child number 2 why he is here.
Proud Marine Wife,
Laura Zalfen

**Remember, as part of this summer long contest, I will be donating a portion of my proceeds from all of my book sales between the dates of 6/1/09-8/31/09 to ASMBA STAR an outstanding charity for Veterans and their families**

Only 1 more week to enter!

Borders Book Signing Fairfield--SOLD OUT!

2009-08-22T13:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Saturday everyone! We had a great afternoon at Borders in Fairfield, CT. Yesterday, I wasn't sure it was going to happen. About a month ago Carol, the CRM, had ordered several books for the signing event and put them out on display. When she went to do a count yesterday she discovered that they had all sold! Awesome! But....that meant no books for our event.

So last night I made a trip over to the B&N in Palisades Mall because as fate would have it, they had just received several books for my signing with them next week. So I poached some from that store for today's event.

It all worked out. We sold all the books we had today. Hooray! I love it when signings can officially be considered SOLD OUT! Carol, the Community Relations Manager, and the rest of her team were great.

We saw a few familiar faces and met some enthusiastic new fans as well. However, I forgot to take pictures until the very end of the event. I did manage to take a couple for posterity. Enjoy!

Next stop.....Barnes & Noble in the Palisades Mall Friday 8/28 from 7pm-10pm!

Semi-Finalist Week #11 for the U.S. Military Wives Contest

2009-08-16T08:08:00.001-07:00

My name is Tonya Ganze and I'm married to LCpl Dustin A. Ganze of the United States Marine corps reserve. We have been together for 2 years and married on March 15Th of this year. Dustin has been with Ordnance Maintenance Co. in Waco, Texas for 3 years. In addition to the reserves he works a full time civilian job. He takes on all this responsibility without any complaints, all to support his family and country. Sadly we lost Dustin's mother 3 months before our wedding day. She was so very proud of him and wanted more than anything to see him marry in uniform, which he did. We are waiting very patiently to hear from his unit about deployment. Dustin was to deploy to Iraq in May but it has now been pushed back until sometime around December. This will be his first deployment and despite the fact that he is the sole provider for our family he is very willing to go. He believes if some of his brothers and sisters in the corps can be deployed 2 or 3 times he can definitely take his turn. His going may mean someone else doesn't have to take another tour. In the military each day with your loved one is cherished. We have friends who have had to miss out on anniversaries, births, and their children's growing up due to multiple deployments. I am very proud of my husband and the choices he makes out of pure love and care for us. The Marine Corps has definitely strengthened the wonderful person he is.

--Tonya, a proud Marine Wife

Book Signing at Borders in Washington D.C.

2009-08-15T15:57:00.000-07:00

WOW! What an amazing day today at Borders in D.C. I got to meet some brand new fans, saw some familiar faces and some family I hadn't seen in years. First of all the staff was great! They were very accommodating and all smiles. My hotel was right across the street so I got there with plenty of time to spare. By the way, if you're looking for a great place to stay in D.C. I highly recommend The W. It was funky and fabulous. I've never stayed in one before and I must say I've never encountered such friendly and helpful staff. Really top notch. Sorry...I digress.

I met fans (new and not-so-new) from all over the world. No kidding. South Africa, Holland, New Zealand and of course the good old USA.

I got meet my D.C. Signing Liaison Lori. (she's the pretty lady in the pic with me at the top of the page) Lori had already read "The Amoveo Legacy" and did an amazing job promoting the event. She came by with her adorable daughter, hubby and son. A great group.

John Campbell, my old buddy from college, lives in the area and came by to pick a copy for a friend. By the way he's the DJ who hooked me up with musicians Amy Petty and The Strike Nineteens. I highly recommend his show. http://wgmuradio.com/ Monday evenings from 7pm-10pm!

I even had some cousins stop by...from BOTH sides of the family. Tom Emory came by as promised. Also my cousin Katie Castro and her adorable twin girls--such cuties! It was such a treat to see them because we only catch up every five years or so at the Woodbine Family Reunion.

The sweetest moment came at the end of my event time. The manager came over to tell me not to leave yet because someone called and didn't want to miss me. Then in comes my Mom's 1st Cousin Gary. ( I believe this makes him my first cousin once removed?) I hadn't seen him since I was probably 5 years old. Wild! He saw it on Facebook through my Mom's account. Pretty cool that he came by and picked up a copy for a friend.

All in all it was a great event and I had a blast. The best part? We sold all but 3 of the books they'd ordered. Nice!

So...If you'd like an autographed copy of "The Amoveo Legacy" just give them a call at

Borders in Washington D.C. 14th St. NW (202) 737-1385.

Next stop on the summer book tour....Borders in Fairfield, CT. The town I grew up in!

Semi-Finalist Week #10

2009-08-09T06:49:00.001-07:00

My dh is military and will hit his 12 year mark in October and will also be promoted to E-7 the same month-Yeah!! Besides the constant moving, uprooting of kids and schools is always hard on everyone. Even with deployments and him going to schools for long periods of time is no fun either. But I think the hardest deployment for me was in 2003 for the start of the war. He flew our on Valentine's Day, and because everything was hush hush then we found out two days before when his ship date was. All we could do is drop him off on base and leave. At that time, we had one son, Peytan who was 2 1/2. I didn't get anything from him no letter or phone call nothing because of what they were preparing for over there. Peytan had issues with constipation since he was a couple weeks old. I finally got a consult with a specialist in Chapel Hill which was 3 hours away. We drove up on the Eve of the start of the war and stayed at the Ronald McDonald House. As he slept I watched the countdown to the war on TV. I still hadn't heard from him. At the appointment the next day he had to be knocked out for his MRI which was the hardest thing to watch. They let me sit in the room with him as they did the MRI and all I could do was cry. When it was finally over and he was awake enough for us to go home. I drove home in a down pour! Not sure if my day could get any better! LOL!! About a week later I get a phone call from a nurse saying that he had Spinalbifida Occulta. I was speechless. She was so monotone as she told me and then proceeded to say that 15% of the population had it and didn't know it. Yep, that helped! I called one of our good friends that was station with us and that went to school with us (we were high school sweathearts, rival schools) he came over with dinner for us and his oldest to play with Peytan. I decided to send a Red Cross message to Jason to let him know what was going on because I didn't want him to hear it from someone else. Some of the guys that stayed in Kuwait did have access to phones, and word travels fast. It took me a week to convince his Sgt.Major to send it. I finally get a call via satellite phone to give him the break down of what was going on. And that he can go back with me when they do the second MRI on his head, because I couldn't do that again by myself. I think our conversation lasted 3 minutes. As the months passed I got letters from him, of course I sent letters and boxes as well. He finally got to call when they were back in Kuwait after the "invasion" part was over. He came home two weeks later just in time for the fourth of July! Nine months later we had Christian!

Peytan is now 8 and doing great! He'll probably be on Miralax the rest of his life and still has problems now and then. His favorite thing to do is play his PS3 online with Jason! I attached a pic of my boys as well!
BTW- after he was back a couple months, they tried to charge him money for that satellite phone call!
TIA
Amy-- Happy Scrapping! Semper Fi!