Stuff Your eReader! by Jenny Gardiner

Hello!

Gosh, it's been a few months since my last newsletter, and in that time, it feels like the world has turned upside down. I hope you and your family are safe and well as we all deal with the challenges facing us as a result of the pandemic.

It's truly a stressful time. I consider myself fortunate to have a full-time therapy dog on hand! But there are still moments when even Pippa needs to shelter in her safe space (especially when the vacuum is being used).

Many folks seem to be binging on books to escape stress and anxiety. If your TBR list is bottoming out, I have an easy fix.  Visit Romance Free Reads -- TODAY ONLY -- to download more than 200 free romance books across all genres. 

Be sure to get your free copies of Skirt Chaser and It's Reigning Men Box Set (Books 1-3), which are part of this promotion. My other freebie is Falling for Mr. Wrong.

It's been difficult to focus on writing, so I pushed back the release of my next book to October. It's the first in an all-new series, which means creating a new world and a new cast of characters. Preorder Hard to Get and look for more news about this rom-com series in the future.

Shrimply irresistible…

Lola Quigley can’t believe her good luck when she wins a spot on the Food Channel’s popular Shop till you Drop. The show features amateur foodies competing to produce a prize-winning meal from staples commonly found in food banks, where people often unload their most unwanted pantry items. Having lived on a near poverty-level budget for a few dark years when her life imploded unexpectedly, Lola had grown to love the challenge of creating delicious meals with the cheapest ingredients she could find on the sale shelf of the grocery store, or—in a twist of irony—donated from her local food bank. She just has to win this: the prize money would help her launch the soup kitchen food truck she’s dreamed of starting. It’ll be her way of paying it forward after she managed to dig out of a financial hole she’d doubted she ever could escape.

Levi Patton is pissed. He’s stuck doing penance as a guest chef on an annoying cable reality TV show where overly enthusiastic wannabes try to outdo him with random undesirable ingredients. Will he ever get over the meteoric crash of his career after a food critic found the unmistakable tail of a rat floating atop his bouillabaisse at Levi’s revered Washington, DC, restaurant? Convinced, but unable to prove, that a jealous sous chef sabotaged him, his name is now mud in the food world; he’s drowning in the veritable toilet of the culinary industry: competing on Shop till you Drop. And he’s totally screwed when he ends up pitted against the overly cheerful brunette with the tattoo of Popeye on her bicep, the very woman he’d left at the altar nearly a decade ago.

Posting links below:

Book one of the It's Reigning Men series, Something in the Heir, is free here:

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iBooks
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Google Play

Also Red Hot Romeo is free! A hot Italian, a gorgeous supermodel, and fabulous wines…what’s not to love?!

You can check out the first book in the Royal Romeo series for free here:

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iBooks
Nook
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Google Play

And Falling for Mr. Wrong from the Falling for Mr. Wrong series is free here:

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iBooks
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Lastly, Skirt Chaser is now free!

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And if you enjoy these books, there are plenty more in each series to read on and they're very affordable at $3.99!

Nothing like a world emergency to clarify all of the most important things in your life. I'm so very grateful for my wonderful family, my adorable dog, a home with a roof over my head, spring weather so that we can at least be outside and enjoy the blossoming trees and listening to birds singing. I'm grateful for all of those medical professionals willing to put their lives on the line for us, and for the many reporters who also have risked themselves for reporting from Coronavirus hotspots, and experts being available 24/7 on many TV networks to answer questions from a nervous public.

Our country has been through many awful things before, things that required far greater sacrifice, sending millions of our young people overseas to fight in dreadful wars. Staying at home is easy peasy in comparison. We can do this folks! Stay safe and thanks for staying home to protect the vulnerable, those who are immunocompromised, the elderly, and of course our medical care providers on the front line in this new and eye-opening war.

Love you all and stay safe! ❤️

    

  

  

          

    

Christina Hollis— Puppy Love!

Prince Alex the Puppy...

I've got fresh writing inspiration on tap right now, and edits are on hold because we've got a new family member.  Meet Alex—he's just eight weeks old. His dad Freddie is a golden retriever (you can see a pic of him in the banner of Care and Connect's Facebook page), and his mum is labrador Ellie.

Alex is adorable, with silky soft fur and black, boot-button eyes. He's a quick learner, too. Some of Alex's older siblings are assistance dogs for autistic children, so we're hoping he turns out to be as kind and well-balanced as his older relatives.

Puppies are harder work than babies, as they're so fast on their feet. I hope Alex doesn't turns out to be too bright. He's already discovered a talent for finding clean socks which have disappeared behind the radiator while airing. He lies on his back, and scrabbles at them from underneath with his paws. That not only retrieves the sock, it pulls out a lot of hidden fluff and dust, too!

He's only been here a week so we can't expect too much from him yet, but he was crate-trained when he arrived, uses the litter tray inside it (although his aim isn't always perfect) at night and he's learning the word "outside" so he can eventually tell us when he wants to go out during the day.

The only problem we've had is with our poor old cat, Jynx. Alex was brought up with felines, so they were strolling about his home unconcerned on our visits to his breeder. Our Norwegian Forest cat is a pest control expert, but he's afraid of anything bigger than a rabbit—including human visitors.

...King Jynx the Cat

We assumed our cat and the new dog would get on with no problems. How wrong can you be? They first met in our big kitchen. Alex edged forward, slowly wagging his tail in greeting, without realising the cat felt under threat. Jynx sprang forward, boxed Alex's ears, then fled. The puppy was surprised but none the worse for wear, although the cat now refuses to use the back door. He will only come in at the front of the house, which in an Alex-free zone.

The cat now spends his days in my office, where Alex is banned, then goes outside at night. This system is working well. When the puppy's sound asleep, Jynx has started creeping about and extending his new territory into his old haunts, with one eye always on the sleeping Alex.

It's all go here, what with the puppy having three meals a day, exercise, suspiciously quiet naps, and playtime sessions in between—and that's before I spend time making a fuss of our deeply offended cat. It's no wonder my writing schedule has gone out of the window.

It's all I can manage at the moment is to work on my next newsletter. There's going to be puppy news, and a lovely recipe for orange polenta cake I was given the other day.

To find out more, mail me at christinahollis(at)hotmail.co.uk and put newsletter in the subject line.

When she isn't puppy-minding, cooking, gardening or beekeeping, Christina Hollis writes contemporary fiction starring complex men and independent women.  Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and she’s sold nearly three million books worldwide. You can catch up with her at http://www.christinahollis.blogspot.com, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Her current release, Heart Of A Hostage, is published by The Wild Rose Press and available at myBook.to/HeartOfAHostage worldwide, and from http://bit.ly/1iNf2Gw in the US.