Tuesday, April 14, 2020

2T Repeat Performance

In December 2016, the lovely Magical Musings crew decided it was time to close down their blogging shop. I had three wonderful years with them. This is another of those posts.

photo credit: Guess who? :) via photopin (license))
Princess: Pleasure or Pain?--originally posted July 20, 2016.

As part of the Cin Wikkid: April Fools For Love book tour, I did a couple posts on the top 5 pleasures and the top 5 problems of being a princess. As you can see, it's not all fun and games--but the perks might just be worth it!

From last month--my TOP 5 PLEASURES OF BEING A PRINCESS
  1. Sparkly tiara.
  2. Handsome prince. Or an ogre prince, but the key point is, this is your soulmate.
  3. Adventure.
  4. No cooking or cleaning! My personal fave.
  5. Ponies. Matched. Drawing a fancy carriage. ‘Nuff said.
So there are the Perks of Princessdom. But there are two sides to everything (or more!) and that includes princesses.

photo credit: Camilla & Catherine via photopin (license)
TOP 5 PROBLEMS OF BEING A PRINCESS

Frankly, Kate makes being a princess look easy and fun. But while there are a lot of perks to being a princess, there are quite a few down sides as well.

Here are my top 6 (with a tie for #5).
  1. Surely the worst thing about being a princess is those back-breaking, oh-so-fragile glass high heels. Or skyscraper heels of any sort. Sure, they’re gorgeous (yes, I may be whimpering a little in yearning at the shoe pictured here), but what is the price of these beauties in chiropractic and podiatry bills?
  2. Enduring long affairs of state (worse if you’re wearing the back-twisters, above). Although I’ve heard there’s champagne at these gigs, always served on silver trays by waitstaff in crisp black and white uniforms. That probably makes these shindigs worthwhile, or at least more tolerable.
  3. photo credit: Wicked Stepmother. via photopin (license)
    Your very own nemesis. For some of the more adventurous princesses, this may qualify as a perk, lol. But from Wicked Stepmothers to Evil Viziers, you’re in the big leagues now, and that means big problems in the form of an Arch Villain.
  4. Being treated like an object. Unfortunately, there is a form of princess who isn’t star of her own story. Most often in this sad reality, “the girl” is fought over by the Hero and Villain like a juicy steak. She’s trotted out only three times—at the beginning as a rescue goal, in the middle to remind everyone what the stakes are, and at the end as a reward. On the plus side, this kind of princess gets to languish a lot and doesn’t have much work to do.
  5. Tying for number five are two of my personal deal-breakers for princess as a career choice. First, you can’t swear. Ever. Only words like sugarplums can drop from royal lips, or the paparazzi or worse, the Princess Censorship League, get hold of it and bam, it’s time to hang up the royal tiara. Second, a princess doesn’t get a choice of where to rule. Sure, some lucky princesses get Hawaii. But what if you are born or marry into the Kingdom of Northern Freezing Extremities? Good luck finding flattering goose-down gowns. And glass high heels on ice? Whole new meaning to the words "royal pain".
CinWikkid3x4.5What about you? Would you take up the tiara anyway? Any favorite Princessly problems I’ve missed? Let me know! Cin Wikkid: April Fools For Love
 Amazonauk
From award-winning bestselling author Mary Hughes comes a fairytale romance with a twist.


THE WRONGED DAUGHTER Cinderella hungers to escape from under Widow Wikkid's grinding thumb. But to snare a plum job at Prince Industries, Cin desperately needs her degree, and she can't wrap her mind around tax accounting.
Then scarred but sexy Rafe Montoya ignites her imagination with his brilliant tutoring—and, as they work together in his cozy apartment, he sets her body on fire. She thinks he's the one for her, until he starts pushing her to attend Gideon Prince's marriage-mart ball.
THE HANDSOME PRINCE Rafe is really Gideon Prince, head of Prince Industries. He must name his bride by his April first birthday or suffer the loss of his family fortune.
Rumors say he's still single because women love his money and looks, not him. Is he lonely or just another duplicitous tycoon?
THE GLASS SLIPPER TEST Hopefuls flock to Prince's birthday ball, but only the woman who is kind, wise, and generous will win his heart. Is it Cin, or will her stepmother, as she always does, snatch the prize for her own daughters?
And on the night of the ball, when Cin discovers Rafe’s true identity, can she even accept his final test?
Warning: Rags-to-riches fairytale meets the texting generation. Stepsisters who are a blush-brush shy of a full makeup set, and a ball gown built like a tank. Contains material intended for mature audiences. Reader discretion advised.
For anyone who has ever been persecuted or hidden their light under a bushel.

Monday, April 6, 2020

Don't miss the MASSIVE SALE going on now

I'm so grateful for my publisher, Liz Pelletier and Entangled. To help ease the burden of isolation at this difficult time, they're discounting their entire category imprints to 99¢ and putting the first book in all single title series for free. This means for a limited time...

Night's Caress is free. Brie Lark wants nothing to do with her hometown or vampires, but FBI Special Agent Seb Rikare needs her help on a case…in her hometown. And she’s pretty sure he’s a vampire. What’s the worst that can happen?

Bite My Fire is free. Cop Elena packs a gun and an attitude. Master vamp Bo’s the biggest suspect in her murder investigation.

Over a thousand books are sale priced. Find them at

Barnes and Noble All Free/99¢
Kobo 99¢ sale
Kobo free
Google Play free

Also at Amazon, but there's no ability to list by publisher.

*Ebooks are free/discounted at most retailers.

You can find my books at
Amazon As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Apple BN Kobo Google Entangled Amazon UK Amazon CA Amazon AU

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

5T Tossup -- New Release

I hope everyone is staying healthy and safe during this difficult time.
 
An April Fools joke turns deadly for Mo Gaffney. Only the visiting New Orleans grandmaster can save her. 

Now available. 99¢ this week only!

Read Chapter One here.

In honor of April Fools and the brand-new release inspired by it, here's Imgur...

This is why we can’t have nice things
Because chemistry!
My university chem department's idea of an April Fools joke

Pure evil...
I'm a 27 year old, immature father of 3 and husband, and IT'S APRIL FOOLS SOON!!

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

4T Olio

New Orleans Nobody 99¢ preorder.
Regular $2.99.
Get it before the price goes up!

An April Fools joke turns deadly for Mo Gaffney. Only the visiting New Orleans grandmaster can save her.

New Orleans Nobody 99¢ preorder. Regular $2.99. Get it before the price goes up!

In honor of the upcoming holiday, here's some April Fools fun...

ha ha ha
April Fools, Doc!


Just a little April fool's prankery

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

3T Writing Tidbit

This is another in my 25 Ways You're Losing Readers (and what you can do about it) series.


Are you losing readers to confusion?

"Tease your reader."

I'll be frank. I don't get it when writing gurus say that. When I write under the influence of "tease" it comes out vague.

Do you have this problem? Do readers say your story is vague or muddled?

How can they say that? You've been teasing them. Don't readers want to be surprised?

Well, yes. Readers want to be surprised. But they want to understand clearly what the mystery is, first.

Let's take a hypothetical murder mystery then compare it to a popular television show.
Hypothetical Mystery: Murder! Look, there's a bunch of clues. Some of them point vaguely at some suspects. Ooh, let's sneak around getting more clues and more suspects. And it's all dark and moody and then suddenly the killer strikes again, but closer! Isn't that mysterious and exciting? LOL.

One of the most endearing television mystery series was Castle. It featured Nathan Fillion as bestselling author Richard Castle doing research ride-alongs with hard-nosed but beautiful NYPD detective Kate Beckett. There was a formula I gleaned from the show that is quite useful.

Murder! Look, there's a clue. Clue One leads us to Suspect A. We interview Suspect A and show how Clue One means A's the killer. But twist, Suspect A says, I didn't do it, I have an alibi (or no motive or no means). But I happened to overhear Suspect B talk about Clue Two. We interview Suspect B and show how Clue Two means B's the killer. But Suspect B also has an alibi... You get the picture.

This is a simple example of how to have a mystery with surprise revelations but still be perfectly clear.

Published since 2009, over the years I've accumulated various items of writing wisdom. The Third Tuesday Writing Tidbit showcases these items in no particular order. Click here to see all 3T Tidbits. Click here to see all 25 Ways You're Losing Readers.

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

2T Repeat Performance

In December 2016, the lovely Magical Musings crew decided it was time to close down their blogging shop. I had three wonderful years with them. This is another of those posts.

photo credit: Hailie Ciomperlik via photopin (license)
Why Princess Might Be the Career Choice for You--originally posted June 22, 2016.

As part of my Cin Wikkid: April Fools For Love book tour, I was asked many Princessly questions. Build your perfect prince or princess was popular. It made me realize my idea of royalty was more Shrek than Disney. But I'm a traditionalist in some ways.

Top 5 Princessly Necessities

Sparkly Tiara. Seriously, these things rock. A hat that glitters and is a nice nest egg for retirement? Where do I sign up?

A handsome prince. Or an ogre prince, but the key point is, this is your soulmate. Seriously, this guy loves you enough to hack apart impenetrable sword-sharp thorns or brave a whole new world or change from a beast into a man. If that isn't true love, what is?

Adventure. From flying carpets or canoes or exploring creepy old castles, being a princess means new experiences. Well, unless you have really, really long hair, in which case you're locked in a tower. It's only a real problem if you make the mistake of starting the pectin diet on the wrong day (beware the door-to-door fruit saleslady) or are the victim of a shoddily manufactured spinning wheel. But Princesses Are Resourceful!* You’ll find a way out of any difficulty by The End.

photo credit: The Britannia State Coach via photopin (license)
No cooking or cleaning! You'll have an army of servants to do all that, or at the very least strangely musical animated household items.

Stylish transportation. Although the new BMW hypercar has a lot to recommend it too.

What about you? If you changed careers, what would it be? Would Princess be on your list?

CinWikkid3x4.5
From award-winning bestselling author Mary Hughes comes a fairytale romance with a twist.
THE WRONGED DAUGHTER Cinderella hungers to escape from under Widow Wikkid's grinding thumb. But to snare a plum job at Prince Industries, Cin desperately needs her degree, and she can't wrap her mind around tax accounting.
Then scarred but sexy Rafe Montoya ignites her imagination with his brilliant tutoring—and, as they work together in his cozy apartment, he sets her body on fire. She thinks he's the one for her, until he starts pushing her to attend Gideon Prince's marriage-mart ball.
THE HANDSOME PRINCE Rafe is really Gideon Prince, head of Prince Industries. He must name his bride by his April first birthday or suffer the loss of his family fortune.
Rumors say he's still single because women love his money and looks, not him. Is he lonely or just another duplicitous tycoon?
THE GLASS SLIPPER TEST Hopefuls flock to Prince's birthday ball, but only the woman who is kind, wise, and generous will win his heart. Is it Cin, or will her stepmother, as she always does, snatch the prize for her own daughters?
And on the night of the ball, when Cin discovers Rafe’s true identity, can she even accept his final test?
Warning: Rags-to-riches fairytale meets the texting generation. Stepsisters who are a blush-brush shy of a full makeup set, and a ball gown built like a tank. Contains material intended for mature audiences. Reader discretion advised.
For anyone who has ever been persecuted or hidden their light under a bushel.

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

March 1T Status Update

I'm at 60K for Night's Bliss first draft, through the Crisis and into the Climax. I took a few weeks out to finish up New Orleans's Nobody for the April Fools For Love 2020 group. Found out recently we won't be doing it this year  

Since I have the story done (just a few brush up edits), I'm going to go ahead and release it anyway.Now available for preorder with the special price of 99¢!
An April Fools joke turns deadly for Mo Gaffney. Only the visiting New Orleans grandmaster can save her.
The reason the blurb is so short is that I'm studying for the third of three comprehensive exams for my schoolwork. Brushing up on class material I haven't seen for nearly two years is lots of fun. Well, not exactly, but it is good to go over the material again knowing what I know now.