Welcome to my second Year of Good Deeds, a challenge I set myself during April 2013. I decided to do at least one Good Deed a day for a whole year, now I am into my second year.
This week I’ve been doing the following;
November 23rd – Today is rained hard nearly all day, I stayed inside and read and reviewed two books instead. Good Deeds received, brother-in-law came and took away our old lounge furniture.
Today’s book in the November Mystery Tour was Buffalo Soldiers by Nicholas Denmon http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5Vx
November 24th – My morning helping at school. Today’s mystery book is Blond Cargo by John Lansing. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5PG
November 25th – Today it’s the turn of Lily Bishop on the Mystery November book tour with her book No Strings Attached. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5SR Visited my parents and helped out with their computer issues.
November 26th – A mystery set in Cyprus was today’s book on the mystery tour, Isia’s Secret by Ray Stone. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5SC Posted my review of Elsa Winckler’s book Touched to the Heart on my blog, a romance set in South Africa.
November 27th – Donated food to the local food bank for the homeless today. Pattern of Shadows by Judith Barrow is the mystery tour book today. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5VH
November 28th – A Much needed walk today in the fresh air and a chance to pick up litter. Today’s mystery tour book is Eden’s Garden by Juliet Greenwood. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5Ti
November 29th – The mystery book tour is nearly at an end and today it’s the turn of Thorne Moore and her book A Time For Silence. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5Td
Drafting up the post for the December issues of the magazines I write book reviews for and drafting up the copy for the January issues to send to the editor due to the short deadline in the run up to Christmas.
With a tight budget and two months, Eva Delacroix has to turn six dilapidated cottages on Lake Huron into a shabby chic tourist destination. Fulfilling her father’s renovation dreams and her own needs for family, Blue Heaven is Eva’s last resort. Daniel Bryman will do anything in his power to stop city girl Eva from destroying the integrity of the historic structures his ancestor built. But as they work together to rebuild the main cabin, Eva’s determination makes him question his own life choices.
Strange things are happening in Port Grace, Florida. Doug Monroe and Rebecca Carlyle are young and in love. He met her when he saved her life, but now he may need to save her again. Someone, or something, wants her and there is no place to hide, and no safe haven from the memories of her troubled past.
In the harsh Scottish highlands of 1565, superstition and treachery threaten a truce between rival clans. It’s a weak truce at first, bound only by an arranged engagement between Anne MacGregor and Niall Campbell-the heirs of the feuding families. While Niall wrestles with his suspicions about a traitor in his clan, Anne’s actions do not go unnoticed. And as accusations of witchcraft abound, the strong and sometimes callous Campbell heir must fight for Anne’s safety among disconcerted clan members. Meanwhile his own safety in threatened with the ever-present threat of someone who wants him dead. Will Niall discover the traitor’s identity in time? Can Anne find a way to fit into her new surroundings? Will the two learn to love each other despite the conflict? With a perfect mix of a burgeoning romance and thrilling suspense, this book is historical fiction at its best. 
Reginald Aiken, Duke of Warwick is dead and his young widow is not grieving…until the will is read. Isobel Kennilworth Aiken, Duchess of Warwick spent 6 years of her young life in a loveless marriage. Now, at the age of 24, Isobel is a widow. As Isobel awaits the reading of her late husband’s last will and testament, she feels no grief, but in fact is quite hopeful. She is eager to start her life anew. But, as the droning of the solicitor’s voice washes over her detailing the bequests to various servants and family members, a shock awaits her. The “other woman” was not his mistress, but his lawfully wedded wife and together they had a son. Six year old Reggie was now the Duke of Warwick, displacing Reginald’s brother Charles. There is a collective gasp as the revelation is made that instantly displaces Isobel and Charles and dashes their hopes for the future. Isobel must indeed start anew, but not as a titled, influential and wealthy widow, but as plain Miss Kennilworth, tainted by scandal. Can she get past the disgrace and humiliation she has endured and fight her way back into society? Will she find love again with her childhood sweetheart, Andrew Stafford, former vicar, now Lord Saybrooke? Or perhaps she will rekindle the flame with Jeremy Ingles, Lord Westcott, who had caught her fancy at her come out six years earlier, but had not been ready to be leg shackled. But before Isobel can find true love, she must come to grips with her past mistakes and the people she has hurt along the way. She must discover who she is without the title of duchess to her name. 
Scientist Maryse Robicheaux thought that a lot of her problems had gone away with her mother-in-law’s death. The woman was rude, pushy, manipulative and used her considerable wealth to run herd over the entire town of Mudbug, Louisiana. Unfortunately, death doesn’t slow down Helena one bit.
Love, betrayal, and hope for happiness may turn this marriage of convenience into something more. Daisy Banks weaves a wonderful tale of bargains made and promises broken in A Gentleman’s Folly. Katherine Bescell, courtesan and member of a secret order, thinks the offer of a marriage in name only to Charles Leverret, heir to a large fortune, will solve all her woes. Charles Leverret believes his hired wife will ensure his inheritance. He might even enjoy her company if she’ll let him anywhere near her. Charmed by his bride, Charles breaks their original bargain and falls in love. Betrayed by a trusted lawyer who withholds Katherine’s promised fee, Charles struggles against evil chance to persuade Katherine his love is real. Lust and love, truth and trust, each makes demands on them both, but though Charles has captured her heart, Katherine can’t bring herself to admit they belong together. Masked and robed in the rites in the West Wycombe Caves where only truth is told, Charles makes his stand to claim the woman he adores. 
To her surprise, Stacy Cauthen, an accountant from Atlanta wins a contest, she didn’t even enter, to spend a romantic weekend in the Colorado mountains with Slade Collins, the movie star. What happens when they get to the chalet is both funny and romantic. What will they do when a blizzard hits and the power goes out forcing them to sleep in front of the fire together? Will love find its way in or will they say goodbye on Monday? 
Ellie has a traumatic and terrifying experience whilst living in England so moves to American t live with her Uncle and Cousin. Whilst working in a hotel Ellie meets Trey Thomas who is a hot movie star. Trey is attracted to Ellie and this is the story of Ellie’s insecurities and Trey’s emotional story of angst, romance, and mystery. The sequel Desire to Love out 1st June 2013.***Rated 18+ due to sexual content and explicit language used*** 
Newenham, Alaska, is a long way from the big-city comforts of Anchorage, where Sergeant Liam Campbell was an up-and-coming state trooper with everything going his way. But that was before his life unraveled. Transferred in disgrace to this rough-and-tumble fishing town on the shores of Bristol Bay, Liam knows Newenham is the end of the line. It’s also his last shot at getting his life back.. He’s about to come in for a very rough landing. Stepping onto the airstrip at Newenham, Liam walks into a crime scene: a body torn apart by the propeller of a Piper Super Cub. As if that isn’t enough of a welcome, the woman bending over the corpse is Wyanet Chouinard, the only woman Liam ever truly loved – and soon to be his prime suspect. Next, a man is held hostage in the town’s only decent burger joint–held for shooting out a jukebox that was playing Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. And Liam still doesn’t have his uniform on.
Catherine enjoys her life as a successful single woman and, if her career sometimes fails to fulfil her, her social life more than makes up for it. Life for Catherine is about having fun and she is not looking for anything more meaningful or permanent than that. Everything changes, however, when she is forced to face the consequences of a decision she made eighteen years earlier. Events conspire to bring her first love, Bill Myers, back into her life and they struggle to establish a new adult relationship. As everything familiar seems to be imploding around her, it leads Catherine to question every aspect of her life. Can she find the courage to embrace a new life or is she doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. 
After several decades of looking for true love and never finding it, aging model and lingerie designer, Alexa Ranger, has finally given up the search. A couple years ago, she got tired of the game completely and just stopped dating. Now friends and family keep her mostly content, so it’s shocking at 50 yrs old to find herself suddenly wanting a sex life again. It’s even more shocking to be attracted to a much younger man this time. She definitely thinks Casey Carter is sexy, but not handling her own age well, Alexa just can’t get passed their twelve year age difference to even consider a fling. 
Was it his gaze from across the blackjack table? The little nick on his chin that she wanted to kiss and make better? The way his bright blue eyes seemed to see to the heart of her? Whatever it was, Laura Todd was pulled in by Fox Thornton. A whirlwind Las Vegas romance followed, but things heat up again in Miami, in all the wrong ways. Embezzlement, ambition, and erotic romance aren’t the perfect match, but that’s all they have. Will it be enough? 
Rosie Amber 