Giveaway Jubilee BlogHop ebook recipient from Victoria's Pages of Romance

Kulsuma is the lucky winner and the ebook has been emailed already.

Jubilee Giveaway BlogHop

How Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II

Princess Elizabeth - age 16

The day that Princess Elizabeth's father King George VI died, was the day Elizabeth's title changed from Princess to Queen. And she was only 25 years old. She was a young mother and heir to the throne, travelling through East Africa with her husband Philip on a Commonwealth tour. It was a tour her 56-year-old father was scheduled to do, but he'd been ill. 

Her father's illness had already forced Princess Elizabeth to postpone a trip to Canada. But after a successful operation to remove a diseased part of his lung, it was decided that it was safe for the princess to set off on the tour. She started her tour on Jan. 31, 1952. The king died 6 days later of a coronary thrombosis – a blood clot in his heart. 

On the night her father died, the princess was staying at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya. It was a game-viewing lodge, built into a tree overlooking a waterhole, and the only way in was up a tall, rickety ladder. At the time, the hotel was the only place like it in the world. While she was there, Princess Elizabeth watched baboons, rhinos and other animals visit the waterhole. 

In England, Prime Minister Winston Churchill was informed and plans commenced the monarch's state funeral and the coronation of the new queen. 

Radio programs were cancelled as were sports, movies and the like. England knew the monarch was dead and that they had a new queen, but Princess/Queen Elizabeth was still unaware of her father's death. There was no internet or cell phones for instant communication. The ironic turn of events in this saga – is that a telegram had been sent to Nairobi, but it couldn't be decoded because the keys to the safe holding the codebook couldn't be located.  It was through a reporter who called the princess's secretary who called the Duke's secretary who informed the Duke who relayed the sad news to his wife. 

The now Queen wrote in the visitors' log book: "For the first time in the history of the world, a young girl climbed into a tree one day a Princess and after having what she described as her most thrilling experience, she climbed down from the tree next day a Queen." 

But the saga doesn't end there – The Queen must now return to England. But – she didn't have the proper mourning dress. It had been packed in London, but some of her luggage had been sent on to the next stop on the tour. The new Queen couldn't leave the plane in London wearing an everyday dress. A message was sent to London and a black outfit was delivered to the airport. When the plane landed, Queen Elizabeth changed then stepped off the plane and into her new future. 

She was crowned Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953.

Why is she Queen Elizabeth II? Queen Elizabeth I reigned from 1558  to 1603 – but that's a whole nother story.

Queen Elizabeth I

             

Here's an excerpt from my latest – Circles Interlocked. And since this is a Giveaway Blog Hop one lucky commenter will receive a free ecopy – just for commenting and leaving your email address. You have to leave your address so I'll know where to send the ebook!

 CIRCLES INTERLOCKED available at  Amazon KDP - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005S8LI46

Excerpt –

"No, Brittany's abilities lay inside a house, decorating and cooking. Neither of which do I possess an ounce of talent in. The horticultural section of the college has done the flowerbeds for the past few years. They get paid for the work, and can list working for the estate on their résumés. It was one of Robert's ideas." There, Francine had done it. She'd said his name. Julie would have to deal with his presence.

"How is he?"

Francine tilted her head and smiled. "Who?"

"Robert. How is Robert James Holiday?"

"He's doing okay. Been a busy boy, but it's paid off. The ranch has an organic rating. Difficult to get and very prestigious. The racing stables have been successful. Two Grand Champions in the past three years."

Julie glanced back at a corral. "He's still at the stable?"

"Yes, he'll never leave. But you know Robert, always doing more than one thing at a time."

"Like what?"

"Let's see, he has a couple of degrees. One in Business Administration and the other in Math."

Julie was silent with her thoughts as they strolled among the rose gardens. Holding a blood red rose, labeled Sacrifice, Julie took a deep breath. Not to inhale the rose's perfume, but to build a moment of courage. Trying to sound nonchalant, she turned. "So what did Trish mean that I was wrong about Robert?"

"She meant you hadn't thought about what it was Robert did, and why he did it. The reasons you made are the same you have kept for all these years, and those reasons are wrong."

"But I caught him in bed with another woman. What possible reason could he have. Besides...you know, sex?"

"Melissa was a friend. What you saw wasn't what happened."

"What did happen?"

"I don't know if I should answer that. I think you should think about it or let Robert explain it. Eight years is a long time to carry around the garbage of an old grudge. You have to resolve this."

"Is this friend Francine talking or Dr. Paulin?"

"Try friend Dr. Paulin, noted psychologist and expert in the affairs of the heart."

"I suppose in February you run around in a diaper, and shoot people with arrows."

"How did you know?"

Here' the link to everyone else.

http://curiositykilledthebookworm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/jubilee-giveaway-blog-hop.html
 

Lucky Person receives ecopy of Circles Interelocked

DebP is the winner from the Diamond Jubilee Celebration Hop. She has been sent her copy of Circles Interlocked.

Victoria's Blogging on Diamond Celebration JubileeHOP

Queen Victoria

Welcome - I'm Victoria Elizabeth Adams and welcome to my blog - Victoria's Pages of Romance.

With a first name like Victoria – 

Queen Elizabeth I

 And a second name like – Elizabeth – 

Queen Elizabeth II

And being of British heritage on Mother's side – 

And being Canadian.

It's an easy jump for me to be on the Jubilee Blog Hop. I'm a monarchist. Which means I like and accept our monarchy – which means the Queen as the head of our country. We are an independent country. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II does not govern us. We have an elected parliament. Our current lead is Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Generally people love to "celebrity watch".  Just try to count the number of paparazzi that exist on this planet and look at the number of celebrities - actors, singers, rich, famous, athlete and royal. What more of a celebrity is a woman who has sat on the throne of England for sixty years? That's dedication. Sixty-five, in Canada, is the retirement age. Or fifty-five, if you work at a company that has a 55 and out plan. Queen Elizabeth is 86!

Her Majesty doesn't get to retire. She is the Queen and she accepted that duty at a young age and has fulfilled her job description with grace and poise. How did she become Queen? The king died. Her father died and at that moment, the mantle of the monarchy passed to her. What a moment to have to live through. The trauma of your father's death and the numbing realization that you are now the Queen.

Queen Elizabeth's Crown

 She is the 32nd great-granddaughter of King Alfred the Great who was pretty much the first King of England. He lived in 871 to 899.

 In December 2007, Queen Elizabeth became the oldest reigning British monarch. She passed her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria, who was 81 when she died. 

In May 2011, Queen Elizabeth became the 2nd longest reigning monarch in over 1,200 years of British History. She will have to reign until Sept 2015 when she'll be 89 to reign longer than Queen Victoria who reigned for 63 years 1837-1901. 

To celebrate the Jubilee, throughout the 10 days of this blog hop, I will randomly pick commenters and send them an ecopy of my contemporary romance – Circles Interlocked. To win – leave your email address and tell me – if you were Queen for a day – what would you do?

CIRCLES INTERLOCKED available at  Amazon KDP - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005S8LI46

Having been betrayed by the man she assumed she was destined to be with forever; Julie Anderson slapped Robert Holiday in an angry ending to their brief love affair. Heartbroken that her love affair didn't end with the fairy tale Happily Ever After, Julie leaves town to pursue her dream of being a dancer. As fate has a curious sense of humor, eight years later, they wake up in bed together. Now it is up to love to fix what time cannot mend.

Excerpt---

Five years - Julie hadn't seen or thought about him in all that time, and now in the middle of nowhere, he stood on the beach drying off from a swim. Droplets flew as Robert shook his hair. His black mane was shorter than the last time she saw him. The wet ends dripped water on his bare, muscular shoulders. Tricia, an old high school friend once said he had the body of a male stripper - time hadn't changed that.

She stepped back onto the beach path, transfixed by the sight of the one person she hated. Her repulsion and loathing of him ran so deep; she'd repressed all memories of him. She thought he'd loved her, and had taken a chance, opening up her heart and body to him. But, instead of returning her love, he proved himself worthy of the gutter from which he'd crawled.

Her body said run, but her feet refused to move as she watched a long-legged, svelte, golden blonde rise from the beach chair. She trickled her fingers down his rippled stomach. His voice floated across the sand. It was a calming sound, which had brought a smile to her face when he whispered words of love and passion in her ear.

Details she thought she'd long forgotten surged forward. She remembered the way his dark eyes smoldered with anger and his sly, innocent grin. His joyous laughter had made her feel the abandonment of a child frolicking in the year's first snowfall. She stepped backward onto the path, distancing herself from the lovers as the blonde undid the strings on her bathing suit top, and let it fall to the sand.

Here's the links to the rest of the Diamond Jubliee Celebration hoppers -

A Gift for Mother's Day

Mom's gotta love them.

 At some point in our lives we all had one.

 

 Sometimes we drove them crazy
. 

And sometimes they drove us crazy














 What can you do for mom? Give her a break from her life. Let her slip into the fantasy of someone else's world. Circles Interlocked is free May 12 and 13 for Mother's Day.

Once lovers, a ballerina and a former gang member reconnect but must still face the lie that broke them apart.

 Julie Anderson - a ballerina facing then end of her career and a love life that's colder than ice.

 Robert Holiday - a former gang member now successful ranch owner. Lives his life with a broken heart.

They meet and fall in love and into bed.

His final letter to her.

 Hi,

If you're reading this then something went wrong and I guess I'm dead. Sorry. But that's only one more screw up to add to my list. I've messed things up a lot in this relationship. Why do people who should never be together fall in love?

I should've never met you and I certainly shouldn't have fallen in love with you, but I did. I never stopped loving you once in the years we were apart. Telling you this now seems a little stupid, I guess I should've done it before I let you go back to Langston.

A long time ago - in high school - we had to write an assignment for our last English essay. You and I had broken up and everyone was mad at me for being such a bastard. For my essay, I handed in a poem. Ya me, I wrote a poem. Mrs. Wolmsely liked it - hell, she gave me an "A".

She wanted to read it in class. She was hoping you'd forgive me. Which is exactly what I didn't want. I wanted you to go dance. I wanted you to live out your dream. I'm sorry I screwed up on that. Anyway, this is my poem. I've revised it a bit. It was only two verses long then. I wanted to call it LOVE SUCKS, but I didn't think Mrs. Wolmsely would like that.

She possessed my being -

Gave me a future -

A life.

Our souls intertwined -

Fantasies fulfilled

But

Reality intruded.

One's dream realized

One's destroyed.

A heart broken

The pain -

Where a heart should be

A void existed.

The expanse of days

Became years.

A dream withered.

By chance -

Two faces meet

And smile

Lips touch

Love strikes once more.

My being possessed -

Desires fulfilled -

A dream revived.

A future

With Love!

I don't know why I told you all this. All I wanted to do is tell you I love you, but it seemed cold and impersonal on paper. Please don't grieve for me. Remember our good times together. Forget the bad stuff. Have a happy life, full of love and joy.

With Love,

R

 Is this love affair never meant to be?


Free read of chapter 1 on the tab at the top of the page. And free download at

Amazon KDP

Happy Mother's Day. 

Developing Intimacy In Romance Novels p.3

For the past two weeks, I've discussed behavioural scientist Desmond Morris’ proposed steps to intimacy. There are 12, and I finished at #9. This week we conclude our 3 parts series with steps 10 through 12.

Quick review

1. Eye to body – This is the moment of discovery where one of the couple first sees the other.

2. Eye to eye – Eye contact is a very strong bond in humans.

3. Voice to voice – When speaking to the other, both must be in close proximity and this hints at intimacy.

4. Hand to hand/ arm – Allowing someone to touch us is showing acceptance and trust.

5. Arm to shoulder—Each person has to be inside the other’s personal body space.

6. Arm to waist— Very intimate step, which physically draws the couple closer.

7. Mouth to mouth- The first kiss is a major event in a romance.

8. Hand to head- A small gesture, but close to erotic.

9. Hand to body— This gesture is clearly raising the heat level. 

New Ground – Note - The next three levels are included in however much detail you as the writer are comfortable with and what your reader's comfort level is. If you feel awkward about writing a sex scene then build to it slowly. Study what others have written and ask your critique group for advice.

Note - As this is a work-safe site - not a lot of pictures this week.

10. Mouth to breast – This signifies trust and acceptance on the part of the female to allow the male to reach this point of intimacy. Breaking the characters apart at this time may frustrate your readers (and characters!) If there is a need to add that kind of conflict, prepare the reader ahead of time. Have the female still feel unsure about the relationship.

If both partners are committed, delve into this moment and pause just before the actual touch. Have your reader holding her breath waiting.

11. Hand to genitals—Pretty much, if your characters have gotten to this point there is no turning back. The details of the scene can be explicit or low keyed but try and not fall into the trap of purple prose. A penis is a penis!

12. Genitals to genitals—This is the sex act. (I'm so tempted to write – Huston, we have lift off – but I won't).  It may happen behind a closed door or, if it is in an erotic romance fully, described on the page. The reader must feel that the characters are ready for this moment and they should be swept away with the passion.

Or--- it could be a complete disaster which would take the story in a whole new direction.

Personally – I feel there is a step 13 – After the act – the intimacy of the after cuddle or the coldness of the roll over and grab a cigarette will define the next stage of the couple's relationship.

If romance is in your story, follow these steps and the passions should flare between your couples (or trio's if it's a ménage). 

Blog – What's your favourite "sex" scene in a book or a movie? Mine is from a movie called Turning Point. When the 2 young dancers  make love the camera pulls away and focuses on her hands as they dance in the air.  I was younger when I saw it the first time. Thought the hand movements were pretty. Later, older and wiser, I giggled when I figured out what was happening and how naive I had been.  But now, when someone mentions love scenes in a movie, it's the scene I flash on.

Mimi Barbour on Victoria's Pages of Romance

Title - Pay nothing for books from Amazon??

Does it work to put your book for free on Amazon? Is it a good idea to belong to a group when your book goes free?

This is what happened to me. In March I joined the Indie Book Collective Lucky Days Free Par-tay along with many other authors. One of the requirements to be involved in this promotion was that I had to put my book "My Cheeky Angel" into the Select program on Amazon. In this way I could manage my promotion for those exact days.

IBC is the brainchild of best-selling author Carolyn McCray.  She is brilliant at what she does…and that is to guide the group through all the steps we needed to take in order to have a successful par-tay. She explained these steps in a series of Webinars where she gave us advice on our categories and covers, how to set up our book descriptions on Amazon and the best way to present the inner workings of our book like reviews, advertising our other work, etc. both in the front matter and the back.

Before the par-tay in March started, My Cheeky Angel was ranking around #240,500. Once she explained how to set my categories properly, within a few days the book had dropped to #140,000. I was shocked, and right then I decided I had made a good choice to be involved with this group. As the days drew closer, her committee of hard-working, very dedicated people had all of us busy setting up cross-promotion for the others in the par-tay and social media blurbs for twitter and facebook, etc.

On the big day, we all came free, and the website she'd designed came live. I watched in amazement as the downloads for my book went crazy. It was fantastic. Then the ranking dropped and on my best day I hit #552 in the free books and was #1 in two different categories and #2 in another. I walked around in shock for days…nothing I could do for myself would have ever gotten me these numbers. And I knew it!

*Amazon does allow for the free downloads to affect the ranking once your book is off the free slot, but not on a one to one basis. It's changing all the time, and the last I'd heard (just a supposition mind you) that every 50 free downloads would be the same a one book sold.*

Once the Par-tay ended I waited with bated breath to see what would occur. And I'm happy to say that the book levelled off for quite some time at around the #5,000 mark and then sadly, it began to climb back up. The last I looked, it was approximately #53,000.

 But…I'm ecstatic to say that I'm now involved in the next par-tay which is happening in two days. Can't wait to see what ensues with my new release "His Devious Angel" which is the second in the Angels with Attitudes series. The first novella of my Vicarage Bench Series, "She's Me" will be available also.

 

I'll report back on what happens as far as the numbers go…but right now She's Me is ranking at #117,244 and Devious Angel is sitting at #82,810. If you're interested to track it with me, you can watch each day of the par-tay and see for yourself what a difference it'll make.

p.s. Crossed fingers, good wishes and prayers are all gladly accepted!

Better yet…download the book!

Xo Mimi

Announcing

Spring Fling Free Par-Tay

May 7^th – 9th!

Celebrate the coming of Spring!!!

What can be better than great books at a great price?

How about Dozens of Great books that are FREE!

THREE DAYS ONLY

May 7^th – 9th

Romances from sweet to HOT, Thrillers, Mysteries, Zombies and more!

All FREE at Amazon.com

Fantastic ebooks, many by award-winning and best-selling authors.

Let's Par-Tay!

Welcome to Spring Fling Free Par-Tay,

A party for readers!

Go to our website to see all the great books and sign up to win a FREE Kindle!

http://freepartay.com