Cover Reveal: Climbing Heartbreak Hill by Joselyn Vaughn

Joselyn Vaughn was here last week, sharing her new cover for Hauntings of the Heart. This week she's sharing a new cover for another in the Meddlesome Matchmakers series, Climbing Heartbreak Hill. This one highlights one of Joselyn's passions, running. I read this one, too and think you'll like it. Check out the description:

Climbing Heartbreak Hill

A Meddlesome Matchmaker Novel

Professional runner, Ryan Grant, blows out his knee training for another attempt at the Boston marathon and the dreaded Heartbreak Hill. Ryan retreats home, not looking for anything more than a fast recovery, but he finds solace in the arms of his tax preparer, Tara Mansfield.

Tara’s cheerleading career ended abruptly and she faces an upward climb beating the stereotype as dumb blonde in her new calling as an accountant. Framed with defrauding the IRS during the last weeks of the tax season, Tara’s tentative confidence is shaken, but Ryan coaches her in ensnaring the true perpetrator. She cheers him on in discovering his identity as a coach rather than an athlete.

With the help of the junkyard king and a mechanical bull, can Tara and Ryan find the courage to climb Heartbreak Hill together?

Buy Link:

http://cleanreads.com/romance/96-climbing-heartbreak-hill.html

Cover Reveal: Hauntings of the Heart by Joselyn Vaughn

My friend Joselyn Vaughn has a new cover for her novel Hauntings of the Heart! I read this book a few years ago and it inspired me to write more stories about couples my age - the grandma generation! Take a look at her beautiful new cover and read the blurb below - I'll bet you'd love the story, too.

Hauntings of the Heart

A Meddlesome Matchmaker Novel

When lost love shows up on your doorstep, what do you do?  Minnie Schultz slams the door in his face. She and Gordon Anderson have a history—close to ancient history, given the fifty years since their last encounter. After all that time, it might seem like water under the bridge. But the water pours from the plumbing in Minnie’s bed and breakfast, the Lilac Bower, uncovering all the secrets and heartache between them. With the help of some paranormal investigators, an Elvis impersonator and a couple of nosey friends, can Minnie and Gordon find the future they were meant to have?

Buy Link:

 http://cleanreads.com/romance/299-hauntings-of-the-heart.html

Other books in the Meddlesome Matchmakers series: Climbing Heartbreak Hill and Sucker for a Hot Rod

Got Some Paper Handy?

Authors need to be creative, and when it comes to promoting our work we need to turn up our creativity in order to stand out among millions of other authors writing the same kinds of books. Joselyn Vaughn is an author who, like me, loves to sew. When we appeared at a book event a few years ago I noticed she had a pile of cute handmade notebooks. She let me copy her idea and I’ve made several to give away as thank yous to readers and winners of my contests. I asked her to share her instructions for making them, and she referred me to her blog post, which I’ve copied here:

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My swag pile was depleted so I needed to make some more notebooks to give away. I feared that this would require a trip to Wal-mart with all three kids on a snow day. (Our last trip to the store required everyone to sit in timeout when we got home. I probably needed it the most. yikes. So I was not looking forward to another trip.) So you can imagine my excitement and relief when I discovered the paper I thought I had used up was not gone. Whew!

I thought I’d share the instructions for making these little notebooks because they are fun, easy, and cute.

What you’ll need:
Fun paper
5 sheets of plain white paper
Cutting device (paper cutter, rotary cutter, or scissors, if you are awesome.)
Sewing machine with a leather or denim needle.


1. Cut the fun paper into a rectangle – 5 5/8″ x 8 5/8″. Fold in half.

2. Cut the white paper in half. 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″. Put half sheets in one pile. Fold in half.

3. Insert white paper inside fun paper.

4. Sew down the fold. Refold the notebook and Tada! a notebook.

For promotional purposes, I put a sticker on the front with my name, website, and tagline on it. I figure this is something that people will keep around for a little while.

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Aren't these clever? Joselyn's list of books can be found on her Amazon author page. You can also find Joselyn on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. She's also getting ready to release her brand new novella, Seeing You Again! Here's the awesome cover, and we hear the book will be available for pre-order sometime this month!

Please Welcome Author Joselyn Vaughn

Today I have the privilege of hosting yet another Astraea Press author! Joselyn Vaughn amazes all of us who know her with her ability to write wonderful stories, run marathons, and create clever clothing items by repurposing or mending. And she does all of this while raising three active preschoolers! She's also a fellow member of the Grand Rapids Region Writers Group.

Joselyn is here to tell us about her new release, Climbing Heartbreak Hill. It's a wonderful story about two people who are chasing their dreams and how they help each other. I downloaded the book as soon as it was available and loved it! I'll let Joselyn tell you more:

When you train for a marathon, someone always asks if you are trying to qualify for Boston. Being able to achieve the times needed and run in the historic event is one of the most sought after experiences in a runner’s career.

When I trained for the Seattle Marathon, someone asked and I shrugged it off. I hadn’t run one marathon and didn’t know if I’d want to do another one after I finished. During training I was tantalizingly close to the qualifying times, but an injury before the race changed that. Ten years later, twenty pounds and three kids haven’t made the times any easier to achieve.

Since my kids were born, I’ve gotten back into regular running (those twenty pounds weren’t from them). Some days, it’s to work out frustration with our never-ending potty training struggle; others, it’s for some time to get a complete thought. But other times, it’s for something larger than myself. My whole family—brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, everyone—participated in a 5k, even my kids in strollers, to celebrate our family and my sister’s recovery from open heart surgery. My sisters and I run or walk in a Race for the Cure to celebrate my other sister’s recover from breast cancer. (Try running that one without choking up as people run with the names of mothers, sisters, aunts, and daughters written on their shirts. Impossible.)

When I wrote Climbing Heartbreak Hill, I imagined the worst thing for a runner—to leave a dream unachieved. Ryan, an elite marathoner, suffers a career-ending injury the year he was going to run at the Boston Marathon. He struggles with losing his ability to run throughout the book because his career will have this open spot that he will never be able to fill.

After I heard about the bombings I decided to donate a portion of my proceeds for Climbing Heartbreak Hill to the One Fund for Boston, so that those injured will have a chance for whatever dream lies at the edge of their grasp. 

Run on!

Blurb:

Professional runner, Ryan Grant, blows out his knee training for another attempt at the Boston marathon and the dreaded Heartbreak Hill. Ryan retreats home, not looking for anything more than a fast recovery, but he finds solace in the arms of his tax preparer, Tara Mansfield.

Tara’s cheerleading career ended abruptly and she faces an upward climb beating the stereotype as dumb blonde in her new calling as an accountant. Framed with defrauding the IRS during the last weeks of the tax season, Tara’s tentative confidence is shaken, but Ryan coaches her in ensnaring the true perpetrator. She cheers him on in discovering his identity as a coach rather than an athlete.

With the help of the junkyard king and a mechanical bull, can Tara and Ryan find the courage to climb Heartbreak Hill together?

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Joselyn's bio:

I live in the Great Lakes state with my husband, three rambunctious children and two barking Beagles (I suppose that is redundant.) When not suffering the woes of potty training three toddler/preschoolers, I enjoy reading, running (sometimes it’s fleeing the craziness at home), reconstructing clothing, thrift store shopping and surfing Pinterest.com. (I spend way too much time there and am getting all kinds of exciting ideas for projects for my husband to do. He is less than thrilled by this.)

I love writing romance because I enjoy stories where everything works out all right in the end and the main characters have a happily ever after. My stories are set in small towns with quirky characters that take on a life of their own.

Climbing Heartbreak Hill is available at Astraea Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and several other ebook outlets. Download the book now to help the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing!

You can find Joselyn at her website or blog, and on Amazon, Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter @JoselynVaughn. You can contact her by email.

What a Character!

With Halloween right around the corner, people all around me are deciding what character they want to become for the evening. I asked my fellow Astraea Press authors this question: "If you could become any one of your characters, which one would it be, and why?" Take a look at their answers. If you find one you like, you can click on the author's name to read more about the story and find ordering information.

So please allow me to introduce my newest friends who have graciously shared their idea of a Halloween makeover!

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Kay Springsteen, author of Lifeline Echoes and Elusive Echoes: I would be any one of the McGee women in the Orson's Folly series, because once their men fell in love with them, there was no one else in the world for those men. But of all of them, I admire Sandy Wheaton McGee (sexy bar owner and singer) the most because of her self-confidence and resilience.

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Meg Mims, author of Double Crossing: If I could be a character in Double Crossing, I would be Lily Granville -- young, wealthy, and adventuresome. I am NOT any of these, LOL. I tend to be a "stay-at-home" and plenty chicken. Which is why I love writing characters who are so different and who live exciting lives!

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J. F. Jenkins, author of Vala: Agendas: If I could be anyone from one of my stories, I would have to say it's a tie between two characters. First would be Jewl from "Vala: Agendas" because she's already a lot like me, but more importantly I think it would be super awesome to be a summoner. I'd probably have a little too much fun with that one. My other character of choice would be one of the flying dragons from the Dragon's Saga. Who wouldn't want to fly through clouds for a day and see the world?

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S. G. Rogers, author of The Last Great Wizard of Yden: I've always admired artists; so much of what they do seems so otherworldly. So if I had the chance to be a character from my novel, I'd be Jon Hansen. His wicked artistic talent translates to something even more fantastic on the magical world of Yden...everything he draws comes to life. How awesome is that?

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Sherry Gloag, author of From Now Until Forever (coming soon!): I'd like to be the heroine, Melanie Babcot, in my upcoming Astraea press book, From Now Until Forever, because she is a fighter, sassy, loyal and when she gives her heart it is for keeps.

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Chynna T. Laird, author of Blackbird Flies: Of all my characters, I think I'd want to be Payton from my YA novella, Blackbird Flies. The story is actually based on one of my real-life experiences but Payton made much better choices than I did in the same situation. He's stronger, more focused and surrounded with more goodness than I'd been. I love him. =)

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Linsday Downs, author of Emily Dahill, CID chose her canine hero. When asked why, she had Dakota answer for her: Patty, come on get serious, to start with I’m sexy as all get out. Check out my beautiful soft brown eyes. Eyes that any woman could and would lose herself in.

Besides being every woman’s dream guy, I’m smart as all get out, have a great sense of smell. I can also out run and out think just about any human except Emily.

Let’s put it this way folks, I’m the best hero any author ever came up with. Oh, and I work for table scraps, as long as the morsels are sirloin or porterhouse steak tidbits.

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Iris Blobel, author of Sweet Dreams, Miss England and Journey to Her Dreams: The character I like most in my books is Daniel, from Sweet Dreams, Miss England. He’s a wonderful character, the Peter Pan of today – he’s charming, thoughtful and kind. An Irish man who loves to live life. I’d like to be like him (though I’m getting better at being Peter Pan-ish).

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Joselyn Vaughn, author of Hauntings of the Heart: I want to be Minnie Schultz, from Hauntings of the Heart and CEOs Don’t Cry, when I grow up. She’s strong, fit and confident and happy with where she’s at. And she’s a heck of a lot of fun.

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Many thanks to my fellow Astraea Press authors for introducing us to their favorite characters! As for me, I'd like to be Francie, one of the main characters in Aegean Intrigue. As soon as I get the cover, I'll share it!