Celebration Week! Let's Party!

What would it be like to discover your boyfriend had been lying to you, stealing from you, and was actually married the entire time you dated? Yuck, right? Well, that’s exactly what happened to Alice Raymond in A TASTE OF MAGIC. Now, Alice gets her own story in A STROKE OF MAGIC, and wow—does she have a journey in front of her.

Naturally, she broke things off with the creep, but she’s also pregnant. Add in the fact that she has a ghostly woman appearing to her with dire warnings about finding her soul mate before her child is born, not to mention the chaotic wishes that are coming true at the most inappropriate moments, and Alice’s life is a bit of jumble. Finding her soul mate isn’t easy, especially when her heart is still bruised from her last romantic encounter, and if she’s supposed to use her newly found magic to find him—well, she can’t seem to figure out how.

Here’s a sneak peek into the pages of A STROKE OF MAGIC:

When I heard Chloe gasp, I realized I was finally drawing the form of a man. My attention switched to him, and I waited with baited breath as my hand continued to move, continued to shade, continued to draw. All my prior arguments flew out the window. Because, guess what? I wanted to see his face.

If this man was truly my soul mate, then hell yes, I wanted to see his face. My hand moved faster, so fast that my arm began to cramp. My fingers gripped the pencil tighter, sending another spasm through my arm. Ignoring the ache, I waited for the image to be finished.

And then, finally, it was. I dropped the pencil on the table. It landed with a soft clack before rolling off, soundlessly hitting the floor below.

“Oh, no,” Chloe whispered.

“What?” Grandma Verda stood and then walked over to us. “Well, that’s not good.”

“It can’t be that bad.” Elizabeth followed in Grandma Verda’s footsteps, stopping on the other side of me. She bent forward, the movement causing her hair to cover her eyes. Pushing it away, she sighed. “All right, that sucks.”

Disappointment I hadn’t expected brushed against me, drowning out my anticipation. I ran my fingers over the drawing I’d just completed, and let out a sigh of my own. Maybe this man in front of me, put on paper by my own hands, really was my soul mate, but…

That excerpt is from later in the book, but for an earlier excerpt, you can browse through A STROKE OF MAGIC right here:

I am so excited to be celebrating the release of A STROKE OF MAGIC! And this week marks another celebration: today is my birthday. How cool is it that my book releases one day after my birthday? Very, very cool! So, because of this, we’re having a weeklong birthday/book release celebration here at The Novel Girls! Assuming, of course, all you silent readers come out of hiding.

Here’s the deal: I’m giving away FIVE signed copies of my debut book, A TASTE OF MAGIC, and out of those five winners, one will also receive a custom A TASTE OF MAGIC/A STROKE OF MAGIC coffee mug. How do you win? By answering the same questions I’m asking the other Novel Girls this week:

1. If you could have any magical ability, what would it be and why?

2. What is the very first thing you would do with your new ability?

At the end of the week, each Novel Girl will select one winner from *their* day of posting—using any criteria they choose—which will give us the five folks who will receive a signed copy of A TASTE OF MAGIC. Out of those five, I’ll randomly draw one winner who will also receive one of my custom coffee mugs!

Do you want to be able to cast wishes into yummy baked goods like Elizabeth can in A TASTE OF MAGIC? Or maybe you like the idea of your magic coming through in your paintings and drawings, which is how Alice taps into her power in A STROKE OF MAGIC. Or maybe you have something entirely different in mind…let us know what it is, and you’ll automatically be entered to win!

I’m not answering the questions here, because I’ll choose my winner from today one of two ways. Either the first person who mentions the power I would wish for wins, or if no one does, then I’ll just choose at random.

Also, don’t forget to check out my month long release contests at my personal blog, or my Virtual Signing over at Night Owl Romance (which is happening tomorrow!).

So now it’s up to all of you normally silent readers…come on, we want to get to know you better! I'll post all the winners a week from today, on Monday July 6th!

Here’s hoping everyone has a magical week!