More books at bargain prices

Suddenly this seems to be coming as frequently as number ten buses!
A QUESTION OF IMPROPRIETY, HIS UNSUITABLE VISCOUNTESS, IMPOVERISHED MISS CONVENIENT WIFE and TAKEN BY THE VIKING are all on super discount on Amazon.co.uk kindle.
This is the first time I have seen TAKEN BY THE VIKING on special discount.
I have no idea how long the super discount will last but thought to highlight it.

Viking romances on special offer

Harlequin has started putting various ebooks on special offer -- I have no idea how long the offers are for (beyond my pay grade) but currently

TAMING HIS VIKING WOMAN is $1.99 on Amazon.com (which means it will be price matched elsewhere)

VIKING WARRIOR UNWILLING WIFE, TAMING HIS VIKING WOMAN,  and SUMMER OF THE VIKING  are 99p at Amazon.co.uk.

Conquer Me 12 Hot Viking Romance giveaway

Love Viking romances (particularly hot ones)? N
ow is your chance to try 12 Viking romances for free.
Included is chapter 8 from my latest SOLD TO THE VIKING WARRIOR.
You can access them  on http://bit.ly/ConqueMe


In other news: my agent has just sent my latest Viking romance to my editor so fingers crossed.

Secret Valentine Goodreads giveaway for SOLD TO THE VIKING WARRIOR

My #HarlequinSecretValentine giveway is now live on Goodreads and is open to all all around the world.
It is for my latest SOLD TO THE VIKING WARRIOR and includes  as a secret surprise, a book from one of my favourite Harlequin Historical authors.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Sold to the Viking Warrior

by Michelle Styles

Giveaway ends February 21, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Four star review from the RT for SOLD TO THE VIKING WARRIOR

Super pleased to discover that Maria Ferrer of the RT Book Reviews has rated SOLD TO THE VIKING WARRIOR four stars.
Her main comment totally made my day Everyone loves Styles’ Vikings! She’s penned another sensual tale, this time about a wary widow and a strong-minded Viking.

You can read the full review here. I am grinning ear to ear as I work hard on the next one!

Giveaway for SOLD TO THE VIKING WARRIOR

Because Sold to the Viking Warrior is officially published in Feb 2017 and I've received my author copies, I am doing a giveaway with Goodreads (there will be other opportunities to win a copy as well).

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Sold to the Viking Warrior

by Michelle Styles

Giveaway ends January 29, 2017.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Cover reveal for Sold to The Viking Warrior

I

In her captor's bed! 

Women are not part of Sigurd Sigmundson's existence, and Eilidith should purely be a means to an end to gain access to a well-guarded Viking stronghold. He would have to be made of iron, though, not to be stirred by the warmly sensual woman beneath her ice-cold shield. 

Liddy has been made to feel ugly and insignificant because of her facial birthmark. Surely her captor couldn't physically desire her? But, oh, how the stifled, passionate Liddy yearns to experience unrestrained love in his arms…

I am not sure about the cover but I did like the story.

Sold to the Viking Warrior (Feb 2017)

My next Harlequin Historical/ Mills &Boon Historical will be published in February 2017.
The back cover copy reads:

In her captor's bed! 

Women are not part of Sigurd Sigmundson's existence, and Eilidith should purely be a means to an end to gain access to a well-guarded Viking stronghold. He would have to be made of iron, though, not to be stirred by the warmly sensual woman beneath her ice-cold shield. 

Liddy has been made to feel ugly and insignificant because of her facial birthmark. Surely her captor couldn't physically desire her? But, oh, how the stifled, passionate Liddy yearns to experience unrestrained love in his arms…

Thoughts on Mothering Sunday

It is Mothering Sunday on Sunday. This is the Uk's version of Mother's Day. The UK already had Mothering Sunday when Anna Jarvis began her campaign in the US. It was done in part to honour her dead mother (a renown peace activist) which is why in the US, the day happens around the 13th of May. In the UK, Mothering Sunday origins come from Lent and the tradition of returning to the Mother church on the 4th Sunday of Lent. As this meant often returning to where you came from, it also became about visiting your own mother. 

When the International Mother's Day movement began, the UK simply co-opted the day rather than moving it to the 2nd Sunday in May. Some countries used the presentation of Jesus to the temple as a date ie Norway and Kosovo). Some use the vernal/Spring equinox (many of the Islamic counties such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Syria etc)

It is a day to honour your mother -- whether or not she is alive or dead. Everyone has a mother. There was a colour code in the carnations (the first flower associated with Mother's Day -- white if your mother was dead, red if she was alive) It is about remembering how much your mother does for you and what she means to you. The day which Anna Jarvis worked so hard for was supposed to be about sentiment, not profit. Jarvis grew to hate the day because she loathed the commercialization.

It was supposed to be about telling your mother (or indeed the person who was your mother figure) about how much you appreciate her. Personal, not commercial.

Unfortunately the marketing focuses on living mothers, rather than on honouring all mothers. An idea to honour a departed mother would be to give a donation to her favourite charity. Or perhaps spending a little time looking through photos of her and remembering how special she was and the little things she did. (I do this on Father's Day as my father died over 25 years ago). A good mother never dies, she lives on in the things you do and the way you do things. And if you have children sometimes you do see your parents in them.

Mothers are important. I am very grateful for mine who remains very much alive. Although at her request, I honour her on the US Mother's Day, rather than on Mothering Sunday as she is American, not British as she has pointed out several times.

Harlequin teaser promo.

I do believe I know this silhouette. It is of a Viking...

Taming His Viking Woman on special offer

Amazon UK has Taming His Viking Woman on special offer on kindle 99p. You can see the offer here.

I am not sure how long the offer is good for but thought to highlight it. I have no idea about Amazon.com as the website will not give me prices -- it knows my location is from the UK.

Taming His Viking Woman in Italian

Taming His Viking Woman has been translated into Italian. I believe the new title roughly translates as The Warrior Wife. It works for me.

Recently I saw that some readers believe all my Vikings to be linked into one giant mini series. Unfortunately not. I am not that organised. The first three Taken by the Viking, Viking Warrior, Unwilling Wife  and The  Viking's Captive Princess are linked. Return of the Viking Warrior and Summer of The Viking are linked but the others stand alone.

My editor currently has the latest Viking which is set on Islay in Scotland. I am expecting revisions.

How to fix a leak in a plastic oil tank

Yesterday I discovered a leak in the oil tank (newly refilled).  Apparently this happens more often than you'd like to think. The oil tank is a little over 10 years old so out of warranty.
The man who could potentially fix it was out on another call. Oil was spreading and so I decided to do it myself as I had located the source of the leak.
My first attempt with plastic mastic was unsuccessful.
 Then I remember my father fixing leaking oil in a car with a bar of soap. It was a traumatic journey from Colorado to California with stopping every few hours to re-soap the hole. Once we stopped at a fast food place and my father saw fresh oil but it wasn't our car -- rather the one next to us. My father held out the bits of soap which the owner gratefully used. For many years, I kept soap in the car just in case... But would it work on the oil tank?
So I tried that. I rubbed a bar of soap along the leak. Immediately it slowed, so I kept on rubbing it.
Once the leak had stopped, I covered the entire area with plastic mastic as there was no duct tape to hand. This time the mastic stuck.
I then went on the internet -- someone who does oil tanks in Kent put up a notice -- if you have an oil leak on a plastic tank -- first get your bar of soap. He reckoned that the bar needed to be wet but I found it worked fine dry (Pears Soap in case anyone wants to know). He said after stemming the leak with soap to cover with duct tape. I have used plastic mastic but it should be fine.
After 18 hours, it is all still holding. Fingers crossed. However I do have the bar of soap at the ready.
The current plan is use up the oil and then get a new oil tank.

Taming His Viking Woman makes Harlequin's Best of the Best list

For the first time ever, Harlequin has compiled a list of the best of the best from last year.
TAMING HIS VIKING WOMAN made it into the Best Women on Top list as number 4.
I am very thrilled as it is a big honour, considering how many books Harlequin publishes a year.
You can see the full lists here.

Healthy Peanut Butter cups

I discovered these the other day and they are very simple to make.

This is my version

I used a silicon canape tray for the mould. You could use little muffin cases. Whatever you use, you want it small and easy to remove.

Put the silicon tray into freeze. Melt 200 grams of 85% dark chocolate. Take tray out of freezer and coat the bottom and sides of each mould with chocolate. Put tray back in freezer for a few minutes. You will now have a tray of chocolate cups. Take out and put a teaspoon of no added sugar peanut butter in each chocolate cup (you could make your own  -- grind unsalted peanuts with a little oil and a pinch of salt until smooth or use any nut butter – I had organic peanut butter to hand). Smooth the tops so it sits slightly below the chocolate. Spoon chocolate over the top of the peanut butter to seal. Place back in the freezer for about 10 minutes.

Remove from tray.  Store in the fridge.

Because it is dark chocolate and no added sugar peanut butter, they are actually somewhat healthy.

Makes about a dozen.

#operationskinnyjeans or sometimes exercise is not enough

It started on Facebook when a fellow writer and friend Michelle Douglas was bemoaning not fitting into her jeans.
Then when I returned from my Spanish holiday, having eaten too much, and my daughter returned from finishing her Masters and decided she too need to lose her dissertation podge, I knew I had to join in.
So we have been healthy  in the morning, at lunch and for the snack. Supper is whatever my husband makes (this is in the interests of marital harmony) and there is no alcohol. At supper we are not eating (as a general rule) gluten. Special Occasions are by their very nature exempt from this,
I started this method of eating. at the end of September.
The things I have discovered:
1. Yes even if you are exercising, it does make a difference what you put in  your mouth, particularly as you hit menopause.Healthy choices have you feeling better and the excess weight going off.
2. Not having refined sugar or gluten has really helped my lymph oedema. (This is annoying in the extreme. I do like bread, cakes etc)
3. Eating this way is fun and I am not getting as hungry.
4. Spiralizers are fun.
5. Menopause does thicken your waist. Irritating in the extreme. It does become harder to shift from that region.

I have continued with the tomato juice in the morning. It does help with menopausal symptoms, including anxiety. I notice if I decrease it/skip it. And sometimes (like yesterday) I needed to up the dosage to include a glass at night.

I am now fitting into my size 8's again, having given them up as a lost cause when the weight piled as menopause really started to bite.

I have continued on my Tracy Anderson re-do for my exercise but have lowered it to a half hour of the muscular structure and a half hour of the dance cardio 5 x plus a longer session of the dance cardio on the 6th day. It remains challenging but is more do-able than the first go round. Exercising is part of my life now.

So now in the menopausal time, making the right choices with my food does make a huge difference. Prior to the menopause hitting, I was able to be far more liberal with my food consumption as my exercise kept everything in check.

I am super pleased that Summer of the Viking is out in Spain this month, particularly as I had such a good time in Spain last week. It has been a little while since my books were out in this market and I always love their covers.
This time they used the same cover as the UK cover for Summer of the Viking. It works well.

EL VERANO DEL VIKINGO

Tema:Histórica

Tenemos el verano, Alwynn, tendremos que conformarnos…

El mar lo dejó malherido en una playa de Northumbria y Valdar Nerison era un forastero en un país extranjero. Tenía un asunto pendiente en Raumerike, pero le debía la vida a su salvadora, la hermosa lady Alwynn, y antes tenía que saldar esa deuda.

Alwynn recelaba de la promesa que le había hecho Valdar de protegerla; al fin y al cabo, los hombres siempre la habían traicionado. Además, a medida que el verano iba terminándose, Valdar tendría que elegir entre volver a su tierra para luchar por su honor o quedarse y luchar por ella...

You can read more about it here 

Slipping through my fingers

My eldest has departed to start the final year of his Ph.d. He will be doing lots of writing.  He has done the research and now is the time to put the words on the paper. Something that I have some experience with. The time went so quickly. It seemed like for weeks we were waiting for him to arrive. He did and now he is gone.
The house feels quieter. It always takes me a little while to get used to it. However, I don't have long to savour as my daughter will be returning for an indefinite stay while she gets to grips with job applications and figuring what she is doing with her life.
I am very grateful to a wise friend  who said to make sure to give them six months as finding a job is hard work. I know I felt tremendous pressure to take the first job when I was first out of university. I want my children to take  the job which seems right for them, knowing that it can (and most likely will) change through out their life span. One person can have many careers.
My time as an active hands on parent has ended. I am an active hands on carer for my father in law. I am an author who is in the midst of changing her focus.  I am about to start something different to take me out of my comfort zone. At the moment the key is to write something which I am happy with and which has a clearly definable market. Anyway I  am enjoying exploring the options and thinking about to write next. The real writing starts after I return from my holiday in Spain on the 28th. Right now, it is about thinking (this always makes me ancy).
My eldest gave me a long lecture on how I had to be focused and not give into the temptations of Facebook or the internet in general. He ALWAYS has the internet off when he writes (the arrogance of youth!)

Today is always the best day to start eating healthy

One thing I have noticed is people who intend to diet/lose weight always seem to have a reason why today is not the right day.
I have seen it time and again and indeed I used to do it.
Looking at my calendar, I would see upcoming events and think -- no, I wait until after such and such. One of my big mindshift changes was to start thinking of Special Occasions and deciding that I could be more liberal on my eating. Ordinary days/meals mean that I eat my ordinary food.
I found my body craves nutrients. If I get the nutrients into my body, my appetite decreases. If I don't and stuff my body full of junk, my appetite increases because I wasn't giving my body the appropriate fuel.
I found I had to take a step back from sugar and processed foods. If I eat too many, my tastebuds become dull and I think that I am craving more junk food, when in fact my body really wants the fruit and veg and high quality protein. Once the sugar etc had decreased in my bloodstream, I discovered that I do like beetroot.(When I first started to lose my weight I wouldn't touch it) In fact I like most vegetables.
So it doesn't matter what is up and coming, it matters what you are putting into your mouth today.
It is fine to have planned *falling off the wagons* but when you do, you just get back on at the next opportunity.

Today's breakfast: Victoria plum/banana/Greek yogurt smoothie. The banana provides enough sweetness to cut the intense sharpness of the plums without any extra sweetners being added.

Honey Harvesting

Yesterday for the first time since 2008, we actually harvested our own honey.

Frames of honey, honey extractor all ready

In 2009, we had an attack of mice which destroyed the hives. (Mouseguards not on.) We acquired another hive BUT the cold winter was no good for them. Then 2011 had a cold Spring and 2012 was another cold Spring. I had nearly given up when we decided one last time in 2014 and got some bees. We didn't take off any honey.
BUT this year, we have honey! Hooray. About 40 lbs worth.
I put the Porter bee escapes on on Friday to clear the supers where the honey is stored. Then early, early on Saturday morning before the bees were up, I  went out and retrieved the supers.
One or two bees remained in the supers and were easily brushed off.
At that time in the morning, the bees are not flying. This makes it so much easier and likelihood of getting stung is much decreased.
Then I set up the honey extractor -- which is hand cranked. The wax cappings are taken off to reveal the honey and the frame is put in the extractor. Then the frames are spun round and round. Centrifugal force gets the honey out.

Honey from the extractor pours into the filter

It works well except if there is a high proportion of heather honey. Heather honey is like jelly and very hard to extract. The best way I have found is to crush the frames and melt them -- releasing the honey. The honey melts at a lower temp than the wax. Thankfully though my youngest son has strong arms and the honey was all spun out.
This year's honey is relatively pale. Heather honey also tends to be more amber/caramel in colour. I suspect there is fuchsia. I know there is thistle in there. It tastes absolutely wonderful.
After being extracted, the honey gets filtered to get rid of the wax/dead bees etc. I also put the cappings in and allow them to drain.
Once filtered the honey is bottled.

Heathcliff inspects the jars of honey

Other than bottling  a couple of bottles for my youngest son to take back to uni with him, I am just waiting for the honey to drip through.
The spun supers are put back on the hives so that the bees can clean them out. The bees hate wasting any honey. They will clean everything. It is sort of amazing.
The bees still have time to forage and rebuild their stores. I will give them some Apiguard as a tonic/guard against varroa. And then they will be shut up for the winter.
In Feb time they will be fed on fondant and the cycle will be gin again.