Island Time

Dear Naughties and Naughty Readers:

Yes, my blog post is late. Yet again. I'm never late -- when I'm in Alaska. But when we come to Hawaii, it's like stepping into a rabbit hole where time does weird things behind my back. Like Tuesday turns into Wednesday without me even noticing. In Hawaii they call it "island time." "Island time" means people arrive when they get there, things happen when it's their time to happen -- not when you tell them to happen.

So what is it about Hawaii that makes time play tricks on you? I have no idea, but here are a few theories, in visual form.

In other words, it's just so frickin' beautiful and relaxing! Is this helping? Do you forgive me? Not yet? Okay, how's this:






Yes, that's Bradley Cooper. He comes to Hawaii. So does Jason Statham.







And then there are the men who live here.



So there you go. I promise to be on time next month. I won't be in Hawaii anymore, so it should be much easier.

Forgive me?

Guest Blogger JoAnn Smith Ainsworth - Unconditional Love—the World Needs a Greater Supply

We all need unconditional love; that is, showing love towards others regardless of their actions or beliefs. For Happily Ever After in life or in a novel, we need to give along with receiving.

As I look back over the years, it seems to me that we have become more and more judgmental. When I was young, there was such a thing as “an accident”. Now if there is an accident, the public demands finger pointing. Some one must be accountable, even though most things in life are, to me, a culmination of a variety of decisions made over a period of time by a variety of people.

Perhaps the accident was not the fault of the driver who slammed on the brakes. Perhaps it was because a driver cut in front with insufficient room and the driver behind had put off having brakes repaired and the driver at the tail end was distracted by family problems and couldn’t react in time. A variety of circumstances may come together to cause an accident, but still it is not called “accidental”. Finger pointing requires some one person to be responsible.

Our interactions with loved ones can be just as judgmental.

With finger pointing in families, the spouse is told, “If you would just change this and this and this, then I would be happy.” I’m here to tell you that you would not. You would find the change was not sufficient or not exactly as you pictured it or you found that more change was needed. The only place where happiness is generated is within ourselves. Changing our attitudes toward unconditional love is how HEA arrives. And the reverse must happen. We need to receive unconditional love so that we are accepted for “ourselves” at whatever stage of life we’re at.

My latest release, THE FARMER AND THE WOOD NYMPH, explores this finger pointing and this demanding that the other person change. Ernest is a farmer. He finishes A before he starts B. He plans and schedules his life. Lilah is his opposite. She may start with A, but it won’t be long before she’ll try out E, take a taste of B or C and in the end come back to finish A. Each is positive the other person has to become more like them to be able to live together.

In the end they discover that opposites attract for a reason—they complete each other. To live in harmony, they must accept their life partner’s differences and see how those differences balance out the whole family unit.

You may not agree, but I’ve found that each of us has certain life lessons to learn. When others impose their ideas of what we should be learning at what stage in our lives, their imposition of viewpoint can create havoc. With unconditional love, we let our loved ones change at their own pace. Give your loved one a break. Decide to interact with them with a love that does not impose conditions.

In our love stories, the heroine and the hero change and grow within themselves to arrive at the Happily Ever After commitment. They learn we don’t control love from the outside. We grow it from within when we learn to cherish our loved ones for who they are.

Have you had the same experiences as I have had? If not, what did you do to succeed at love?

When JoAnn Smith Ainsworth carried wood as a pre-teen so her Great Aunt Martha could stoke up the iron stove to prepare dinner, she wasn’t thinking, “I could use this in a novel someday.” Yet, the skills she learned from her horse-and-buggy ancestors translate into backdrops for her historical romance and paranormal suspense novels. Her debut medieval romantic suspense novels received 4 stars from RT Book Reviews. For more, visit http://www.joannsmithainsworth.com.

Twitter @JoAnnAinsworth or @JoAnnParanormal or Facebook’s JoAnn Smith Ainsworth Fan Page.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=joann+smith+ainsworth

Contact her at joannparanormal@gmail.com.

BUY LINKS:

Amazon - http://amzn.to/Zgbls6

Barnes & Noble - http://bit.ly/HMX2KH

and an independent bookstore near you - http://www.indiebound.org/indie-bookstore-finder

The Fourth Book

On February 25th I'll be releasing Going for Four, the fourth book in my Counting On Love series.

It's a story about couple number four in this new world I've created. It's their love story, their time for the spotlight. But these characters have been around for three books already and all of the characters from the first three books make appearances in book four.  This makes it a lot of fun to talk about as my readers are gearing up for this book's release!  We have some history here. There have been peeks and hints about this couple. They've played supporting roles in the other stories, so readers already feel a connection.

It's awesome! Because it can be hard to keep the momentum of a series going. You want to keep the same "feel", the flavors that have made people love the series to this point, but you also want to keep it fresh, make this book it's own story, give these people their moment to be the stars.

 Which made me start thinking about other series that I love and the fourth book in those series....






One that comes immediately to mind is Julia Quinn's Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, the fourth book in her Bridgerton's series.  I don't read a lot of historical romance, but JQ is an exception I always make!  And I do love watching Colin Bridgerton fall for his little sister's best friend (no wonder I love it... one of my favorite tropes!)

http://juliaquinn.com/books/mister.php





Another of my favorite sort-of series are the Chicago Stars books by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.  The fourth in that series doesn't technically involve one of the Stars players like the other books, but it's fourth chronologically and is one of the two that first come to mind for me when I think of SEP's books.  Dream A Little Dream has always stayed with me.

http://susanelizabethphillips.com/dream-a-little-dream/





Another favorite of mine (along with most of the romance reading community! :)) is Jill Shalvis' Lucky Harbor series.  Book four, Lucky In Love happens to one of my favorites in that series... and I'm not just saying that! I love book three best, then this one... then all the rest! :)

http://jillshalvis.com/books/lucky-in-love/






And I have a couple of other Book Fours of my own! :)  Just for Fun is book four in the Bradfords series and Hitched is book four in the Promise Harbor Wedding series!


http://www.erinnicholas.com/books.html





Now there are a couple of book fours in a series that *aren't* my favorites.  For instance, book four in the Harry Potter series is not my favorite of those books. But it's an important books. Pivotal things happen. The series would be incomplete without it.

And there are a couple of series that I wish had a fourth (or more) book too!




Susan Andersen's Sisterhood Diaries Triology, for instance.






Or Erin McCarthy's Ohio's Most Haunted Town (I don't consider the novellas really part of the series :) )






So, I personally think fourth books can be great!  I hope everyone agrees on February 25th! :)

What series do you love?  Any book fours that stand out?

It’s either true love…or the biggest mistake they’ve ever made.

Blurb:

Counting on Love, Book 4

Hot firefighter Cody Madsen has stayed away from Olivia Dixon for almost two years—technically. Even though he talks to her every day and sees her every weekend. But there’s no kissing, touching, or telling her how he really feels. Because they’re just friends.  Anything more than that would mean crossing the line that Olivia’s older brother has firmly drawn between them.

Olivia wants what her three sisters have—true love. She could almost believe she’s found it with Cody, if it weren’t for the fact that he’s her older brother’s best friend and her brother won’t have it. And he’s never steered her wrong before. Her head is telling her to trust her brother, but her heart won’t let go of Cody.

Her solution? A dating site where she and Cody can each find their “Perfect Pick” once and for all.

But when the site yields some unexpected results, their real feelings come front and center. And they have to decide if it’s worth the risk to cross the line from friendship to love after all.

Warning: Contains a starry-eyed romantic, a wannabe knight in shining armor, and chocolate chip cookies. A lot of chocolate chip cookies.

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