Resolution or Word- Whatever it takes to Inspire Your Life #amwriting #inspiration

Did you choose a New Year’s Resolution or Word for 2022?

Resolution:

From Merriam-Webster Dictionary

1: the act or process of resolving: such as

a: the act of analyzing a complex notion into simpler ones

b: the act of answering SOLVING

c: the act of determining

Word of the Year

From Elizabeth Rider

INSTEAD OF A RIGID RESOLUTION, A WORD OF THE YEAR IS YOUR CONSTANT (YET GENTLE) REMINDER TO FOCUS ON CREATING POSITIVE CHANGE.

Your Word of the Year Sets an Intention, A Theme Per Se, For How You Want Your Year to Flow.

It depends on the person, of course. Some are dedicated and work hard to make their resolutions a reality.

For me, not so much. Resolutions tend to be set aside after the first month or two and I end up navigating the year with no real guidance.

So, when I heard fellow authors choosing a Word for the year, I became intrigued. The one you choose is meant to be a guideline for the goal you want to achieve, whether personal or professional. It can make your life more rewarding and help you to make choices that count rather than impulses you regret.

Some words I’ve come across so far, curiosity, reflection, calm, centered, successful, healthy, generosity.

So many choices!

I thought it over for a couple of weeks and came up with…

Stretch

I plan to extend my creativity and have started a new-to-me genre- YA (young adult) duet written simultaneously in first person. It’s challenging, but maybe that’s what I need in order to grow and find my voice.

Stretch myself physically with more walking and I’d like to try biking again. A couple of years ago, I wanted to join DH (darling hubby) and kiddo for a ride but found my leg wouldn’t make the swing over the seat. Kiddo tried to help by lifting my leg and I almost went over like a felled oak! lol

I want to stretch by expanding my horizons. Travel this beautiful island we live on and make a trip back home to see family and friends. Try new things such as whale watching, hiking, zip-lining (maybe :))

I’m going to work on expanding my readership by writing more meaningful blog posts, as well as communicating regularly with newsletter followers. If you’d like to chat with me there, sign up below:


The characters in these books know how to stretch their boundaries and strengthen bonds. Both are on SALE for just 0.99 pennies!

Click the covers to learn more. This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission should you make a purchase using a link.

Join the men and women of Tidal Falls as they learn love can conquer any odds 

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Take two humans who pretend they can’t stand each other and one matchmaking canine and the fun is nonstop!

Val Hodgins is on the road to success. His architect firm handles some of the biggest contracts along the western seaboard. He doesn’t have time to babysit his aunt’s aging house or her pain in the butt dog, but when she falls ill with pneumonia he drops everything to go to her aid.

Sierra Johnson’s dreams of owning a catering company go up in smoke thanks to a bad choice in boyfriends. Now, she’s stuck working for a tyrannical boss, care-taking an aging townhouse, and being tormented by the owner’s aggravating, caustic, way-too-attractive nephew.

Will these two get over their prejudices in time to realize love comes without a price tag?


Have I inspired you to STRETCH your limits?

The SEAL’s Temptation is Live- @Jacqbiggar #Romance #mgtab

The SEAL’s Temptation

Wounded Hearts Book 7

by Jacquie Biggar

Genre: Romantic Suspense

I’m thrilled to share my new release with you today!

It’s been four years since I’ve written anything in the Wounded Hearts world, so you can see why I’m excited to get back to these characters who have become old friends over the years 🙂

DEA Agent Magdalena Holt is one of my favorite characters. She has high moral standards and is willing to place her life on the line for those she deems vulnerable.

In Maggie’s Revenge, Maggie was captive of a high-ranking official in the Sinaloa cartel. She’d gone undercover in order to discover why young women (sex trade workers) were going missing amid a spreading opioid crisis. It takes everything she has to escape the clutches of her nemesis, leaving her battered and broken.

The SEAL’s Temptation opens on SEAL Chief Frank Stein’s ranch where the DEA team has come to recuperate.

Exclusive Excerpt

Frank Stein sat at the scarred wooden dinner table that had graced his family home since long before he was born. The combined aromas of roasted turkey, sage stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes and poultry gravy had his mouth watering and stomach growling. No one cooked better than his momma.

On his right, best friend, Jared Martin and wife Annie, visited with Frank’s mother, Emily, and her new beau, Spencer, while Adam and his boss bickered in the background, but it was the silent woman on his left that commanded his attention.

Magdalena Holt.

His fascination with the mysterious DEA agent had grown almost embarrassingly obvious to everyone, it seemed, except her. She was too focused on stopping an international human trafficking ring to worry about his tender feelings.

Emily’s black lab, Sugar, lounged on the floor at Maggie’s feet, as though he sensed her underlying torment. Every now and then, Frank caught her sneaking a piece of meat to the dog, but he pretended not to notice. She could give the animal the whole damn bird if it made her feel better.

Her recent abduction left him angry and helpless. The vibrant, commanding agent he’d met months ago, when Jared called from Las Vegas asking for help, was nowhere to be seen in the timid, pale imitation sitting at a table full of laughing, chattering friends.

The dark place in his head wanted to reach out and shake her silly. How could she have allowed herself to be placed in danger that way? At the same time, his arms ached from the restraint he placed on himself not to grab hold and never let go. He’d gladly protect her with his life.

But, that was the problem; she didn’t need him. She never had.

And to prove his point…

“Hey, Mags, any word on the girl you saved from that crash?” Her partner, Adam, turned his mega-watt smile her way and grasped the fingers fiddling with her fork instead of eating.

“Hmm?” she murmured, the low hum sending vibrations through Frank’s gut, and lower. “Molly? No, but the hospital promised to keep me informed.” She gave a faint smile. “Thanks for helping her parents with the repatriation order. I was worried she’d have to remain in Mexico over Easter until trial was set.”

He gave her a warm hug, his blond hair a stark contrast to the inky darkness of Maggie’s. Frank wanted to rip them apart. Not a good reaction for a SEAL Chief, even if he was retired. He had no right to feel jealous. Maggie had never shown any sign of interest—it was all wishful thinking on his part. Which was ridiculous. He was a thirty-seven-year-old war veteran acting like a kid wet behind the ears with his first crush.

DEA Agent Maggie Holt knows what Hell is like…

After eighteen months undercover in a Mexican cartel, Maggie is broken. The kickass agent she once was, is gone, leaving her riddled with guilt and nightmares. Forced to take paid leave, Maggie accepts the offer of a vacation on the ranch of the man who’d rescued her from an almost certain death.

Frank Stein knows the signs of PTSD, he’s suffered the symptoms himself as Chief Petty Officer of SEAL Team Five. Honorably discharged from duty, Frank has found peace at the family ranch and hopes it will do the same for Magdalena. Ever since he’d first met her when she was interrogating his buddy, Jared, Frank has been fascinated by the raven-haired beauty and wants the chance to see where their relationship could go.

Adam O’Connor is Maggie’s partner. He knows her. He loved her once and could again, if she’d let him in. But he’s also angry she took the chances she did by going undercover against orders. And now, things are different. She’s different.

When a right-wing militia group infiltrates the area, will DEA Agent Maggie Holt, her partner, Adam O’Connor, and ex-SEAL Chief Frank Stein be able to set aside their differences to stop them before someone dies? And who will Maggie choose, the handsome cowboy, or her charismatic DEA partner?

International: https://books2read.com/The-SEALs-Temptation

Recommend on Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/the-seal-s-temptation-wounded-hearts-book-7-by-jacquie-biggar

Add to TBR List: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56244631-the-seal-s-temptation-by-jacquie-biggar

Exclusive Excerpt

Maggie stared at the evening sky, fingers clenching and unclenching in the folds of the blanket around her shoulders. She was almost preternaturally aware of the man sitting like a silent guardian in the too-small rocker a few feet away.

Desperate to break what felt like an awkward silence, she gestured toward the sparkling constellations over their heads. “Do you study the stars, Mr. Stein? You have quite the view out here.” Maybe not as reach-out-and-touch them as she’d felt on that mesa in Mexico, but a hell of a lot safer. The melancholy that was never very far away filled her chest, a black cloud covering the silvery moon. Her best friend was buried on that hill, a victim of the monster who’d ruined the lives of countless women.

“Not really. My brother and I got into it some as kids but then he… disappeared and I kind of lost heart.” Frank’s voice flowed over her like a warm breeze, dispersing the darkness of her thoughts.

“I’m so sorry,” she murmured. “I think I remember reading something about that in your file—the part that wasn’t confidential anyway.” She smiled.

He nodded. “It happened a long time ago. We’ve accepted it, though that’s not to say we’ve stopped looking. Hope lives on, you know?”

Yeah, she did.

The only thing that kept her alive through those hellish months with Chenglei and his band of assholes was hope.

Well, that and a craving for revenge.

**Check out the rest of the Wounded Hearts series here! **
USA Today bestselling author Jacquie Biggar loves to write Romantic Suspense novels brimming w/Attitude.
Jacquie Biggar is a USA Today bestselling author of romance who loves to write about tough, alpha males and strong, contemporary women willing to show their men that true power comes from love. She lives on Vancouver Island with her husband and loves to hear from readers all over the world!
In her own words: “My name is Jacquie Biggar. When I’m not acting like a total klutz I am a wife, mother of one, grandmother, and a butler to my calico cat. My guilty pleasure are reality tv shows like Amazing Race and The Voice. I can be found every Monday night in my armchair plastered to the television laughing at Blake and Adam’s shenanigans. I love to hang at the beach with DH (darling hubby) taking pictures or reading romance novels (what else?). I have a slight Tim Hortons obsession, enjoy gardening, everything pink and talking to my friends.”
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$20 Amazon

Also Available in our Author’s Billboard Spring Box set!

IRRESISTIBLE – SPRING INTO LOVE

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Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SWFH93Y

International: https://books2read.com/IrresistibleSpring

Recommend us on Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/irresistible-spring-into-love-by-jacquie-biggar-and-jen-talty

Add to your reading list: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56685760-irresistible—spring-into-love

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Bookish & Sexy women – not a myth! #mgtab @melinda_de_ross

I love books ever since I’ve learned to read, and although I enjoy many genres I find myself particularly drawn to stories that feature booklovers. Perhaps because everyone likes to live vicariously through their fictional characters; for a bookworm like me it’s easy to relate to another bookworm – even if she’s fictional. I also enjoy humorous stories and, of course, happy ever afters. If I wanted reality I’d watch the news. Instead, I like to surround myself with positivity and look harder at the brighter side of life.

This urged me to start my Bookish & Sexy Collection, a compilation of romantic comedies and chicklit stories about book-loving heroines and the men who love them.

“Each woman is a story” is my motto for this collection, because every story has its particularities and they can be read as stand-alones. What they have in common is beautiful, quirky heroines who sometimes don’t know how appealing they are, and sexy heroes who manage to love them the way they deserve. It’s not easy to love a woman who believes in fairytales and Prince Charming, because we have higher expectations than most. However, when we do find our Prince Charming, we give him the moon, the stars, even an entire galaxy.

So far, the Bookish & Sexy Collection includes three full-length novels (Celebrity, Unabridged, and Sacked!), a novella (Boyfriend Wanted for Christmas), and a novelette (Meeting Sam Klaus). Together, all of these stories cover a lot of ground, and while there’s no set formula for each of them, you can be sure you’ll find a lot of romance, some great laughs, and characters you’ll fall in love with!

Celebrity follows the journey of a gutsy woman who sets out to remake her life Hollywood-style, while dealing with betrayal and learning to handle success.

Unabridged is a second-chance romance between a modern Cinderella and the Prince Charming she abandoned years ago because she didn’t fit in his rich world.

Sacked! is the tragi-comic – accent on comic – job hunt of a klutzy young woman whose record-breaking bad luck turns when she meets a charming but troubled widower.

If you enjoy shorter reads, Boyfriend Wanted for Christmas is a perfect sum-up of an American Bridget Jones who starts a manhunt to find herself a boyfriend within a week. Online dating has never been more eventful…

And finally, Meeting Sam Klaus is what I call a reader magnet, a short story to give you a taste about what the series is like. This little romance is all about atmosphere and makes for a perfect read while you wait in line at the dentist or the DMV. 🙂

As you can see, there’s a story here for almost every taste – and they’re all free on Kindle Unlimited. There is no reading order, the stories are connected only through a theme that will carry out through the series. I hope you’ll give these sexy booklovers a chance to brighten your day, and if you like them please leave a review on Amazon. Happy reading!

Series or Standalones #amwriting #Romance #mgtab @jacqbiggar

Series or Standalones

That was the question posed by a member of The Story Empire earlier this week. You can read his full thoughts here– well worth your time.

I’ve read many great standalone books, (Cinderella anyone?) but have to admit I enjoy stories set in a series much more. There’s a deeper connection to a) the characters, and b) location- though either of those can, and often do, change throughout the course of a series.

From NY Book Editors:

Writing a book series can be incredibly challenging (that’s the bad news), but it’s also one of the best ways to develop a loyal fan base (that’s the good news).

NY Book Editors-2016

The books can follow one or two main characters through a variety of adventures- such as J.D. Robb’s In Death series or the Harry Potter franchise.

They can also be set around a location and the citizens within- Susan Mallery’s Fools Gold series or J.R Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood.

Some follow a progression of events and are best read in order, while others are self-contained stories within the series and can easily be read out of order.

Whichever style you prefer, series seem to be growing in popularity, some are even twenty books long and counting!, and readers can’t get enough.

I’m currently working on the third story in my Gambling Hearts series, My Girl. The series follows the lives, and loves, of three siblings born and raised on a Texas hill country ranch.

This is Aaron’s story:

Sometimes, the right decision isn’t the easiest one to make

Trish Sylvester knows her family and when they accept a week long stay at a rustic dude ranch, she is concerned- especially since it’s at her ex’s home.

Aaron is overjoyed at the opening of his family’s guest ranch, until he learns their first guest is his ex-girlfriend, her parents–and a fiancé.

And that isn’t the only surprise.

Excerpt

“I met your fiancé,” he said, his voice ripe with challenge. The outdoors clung to her skin, sun and flowers combining to intoxicate him more than the whiskey.

She lifted her chin, eyes narrowing. “What did you say to him, Aaron? I’d hoped we could all act like adults while we’re here.”

Aaron laughed, his hands doing the job his heart urged him to do, forcing her to come up against his chest with a soft oomph. “Darlin’, I’m definitely a man, make no mistake.” He leaned down and brushed her lips, setting up a warning through his chest. He was playing with fire, and if he wasn’t careful, there was little doubt who was going to get burned. Again.

“Aaron, stop this,” she murmured, though her lips parted on a sigh. “We can’t…”

He lifted his head and stared at her upturned face. “Can’t what, Trish? You invited yourself onto my territory and brought reinforcements. I want to know why.”

She moved out of his arms. He pretended not to feel the loss.

“We needed a break from the city,” she said. “Surely, you can understand that? Your sister sent an email to me highlighting the new business venture—congrats, by the way—and I thought it would be fun to come and check it out. End of story.”

He eyed her nervously tucking her hair behind her ear and knew she was bluffing. The question remained; why?


Box Set News

We have a new box set releasing August 30th!

Sweet and Sassy Baby Love 

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2KHEMW5

Add to your TBR list: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47873355-sweet-and-sassy-baby-love

Recommend us on Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/sweet-and-sassy-baby-love-by-suzanne-jenkins-and-jen-talty

Nine NY Times and USA Today bestselling authors offer stories of men and women who go to great lengths for the children they love.

A scent of innocence, that touch of softness, an angelic nap, and deep belly laughs. Babies and toddlers bring great joy, love, humor, and even conflict into our lives. But first, we need a passionate encounter, a romance that transcends time.

How do you feel about series or standalone stories? Let’s talk about it.

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