Highlighting author friends is one of my favorite privileges. Aimee Brown, no relation, is the writer of sweet and funny romance, and I know you will enjoy getting to know her.

About the book

Can you truly forgive and forget?
Ambri and Henry have been best friends forever. They’ve been through the highs and
lows of life with each other by their sides. The worst? When Henry’s wife, and Ambri’s
sister, died. Together, they can face it all. Until one night destroys everything.
Two years after he stepped out of it Henry walks back into Ambri’s life and she’s more
than a little shocked. But as old friends fall into even older habits they need to decide
whether they can forget the past and embrace their future.
Perfect for fans of Nicholas Sparks, Jodi Picoult and Anna Bell.

About the author

Aimee Brown is a writer of romantic comedies set in Portland, Oregon, and an avid reader.
She spends much of her time writing, raising three teenagers, binge-watching shows on
Netflix and obsessively cleaning and redecorating her house. She’s fluent in sarcasm and has
been known to utter profanities like she’s competing for a medal. Aimee grew up in Oregon,
but is now a transplant living in cold Montana with her husband of twenty years, three
teenage children, and far too many pets. She is a lot older than she looks and yes, that is a
tattoo across her chest. (In the Portlandia spirit, yes, I lived many years in PDX and I do
indeed have a bird tattooed on me (2!)) Aimee is very active on social media. You can find
her at any of the networks below. Stop by and say hello!

Follow Aimee:

Facebook: @authoraimeebrown

Twitter@AimeeBWrites

Until we read again…📚

Blessings,

Dana L.❤️

Don’t forget about the virtual release of The Greysons May 16 at 7:00pm on Facebook. The link is below:

https://www.facebook.com/events/2739167979430965/?ti=ia

The date has been set! The virtual release event for The Greysons. What is a virtual release, you might ask? Well, it’s like a release party, only on Facebook!

I’ll be honest, I’ve never held a virtual release, so this will be new for me as well, but I’m really excited about it. If you don’t follow me on Facebook I hope that you’ll start. Find me @DanaLBrownAuthor.

The link to the event is:

https://www.facebook.com/events/2739167979430965/?ti=ia

I look forward to engaging with you whether you’re a fan of The AMI Series, or haven’t read either Lottie Loser or Call Me Charlotte.. This is going to be a fun time with trivia questions and Charlotte approved prizes so you won’t want to miss it. One disclaimer. I can only send prizes to addresses within the USA. Please understand.

Go into the link and let me know that you will be attending or are interested and then mark your calendars for:

May 16, 2019 7:00pm EST

Please help me celebrate one of the greatest accomplishments of my life. The Greysons is the culmination of Charlotte Luce’s story, and it is through her that my Fairytale has come true.🌴

Until we read again…📚

Blessings,

Dana L.❤️

Last week I wanted to read, and I wanted to read a real book. Don’t get me wrong, I still download books to my Kindle, and I still enjoy reading them, but sometimes you just want to enjoy the feel of a real book in your hands, right? But it was a cold and rainy day and a trip to the library just wasn’t in the cards, and then I remembered my stash of books from Book Expo America.

BEA was the topic of last week’s blogpost, but I didn’t mention the stack of advance reader copies of books that I brought home from the event. I read several as soon as I returned, but in the busyness of everyday life, the others were forgotten. I know…shame on me! Anyway, in my quest for a real book to read and get wrapped up in, I remembered the box from BEA and started digging. And boy did I strike gold!

NEED TO KNOW by Karen Cleveland is the kind of novel that grabs you from the first page, and never lets go. It’s powerfully written, captures your heart, and makes you ask the question “What would I do if that were me?”

The protagonist in the story is a CIA analyst, as Karen herself was before writing this book, her debut novel. The crux of the story is Vivian Miller’s struggle to balance the love for her family with the love of her country, and the twists and turns will have you feeling like you’re on a roller coaster ride, but you won’t want to get off.

I’m not going to tell you more for fear of spoiling this addictive thriller, but I will share some facts. The actual book released in January of 2018 and has over 900 great reviews. On top of that, a movie is in the works with Charlize Theron producing and staring as Vivian.

Keep in mind that I’m addicted to romance novels, but this book captured my attention in a way that thrillers usually don’t. Even today, a week after I read the last page, the storyline haunts me enough that I may have to read it one more time.

NEED TO KNOW…don’t miss it!

Until we read again, 📚

Blessings…

Dana L. ❤️

In 2017, before Lottie Loser was released, I was given tickets to BEA in New York City. An opportunity to see my book on display at the country’s biggest book venue? No way was I not going to attend.

So, The Captain and I made our plans and traveled to the Big Apple in late May for a week of books, books and more books! With a few authors and other celebrities thrown in.

On the first day we were invited to a breakfast where author Stephen King, actress and producer Whitney Cummins, photographer Pete Souza, astronaut Scott Kelly and author Jesmyn Ward spoke. It was magical. Listening to this illustrious group discuss their past writing, as well as the books they were presenting that week was every aspiring writers dream. I left there more determined than ever to become a real author.

It was also in New York where I first met Mark Wayne Adams. I had read a pre-BEA article from Mark, where he talked about the Florida Authors and Publishers Association, and that article is what encouraged me to enter their 2017 Presidential Awards. Lottie Loser went on to win a Silver Medal that year, and I will be forever grateful to him for pointing a brand new author in the right direction.

When the idea for this Blogpost came to mind I got to thinking about how many of the events from that week in New York appear in my books. In Call Me Charlotte, there’s a scene where Charlotte buys Nick the first two books in the Harry Boesch series by Michael Connelly. I actually met Mr. Connelly that year at BEA and have a picture and signed book to commemorate the day. His books are so well written and thought through, and I’ve read and loved every one.

You all know that I’m a voracious reader, and although I like most genres, romance has a special place in my heart. That’s why meeting Elin Hildebrand at BEA was so exciting. I waited in a long long to meet her, and get a signed copy of The Identicals, but I also got a cold Corona with a slice of lime and cookies decorated with covers of other books of her’s. If I’m ever rich and famous, that’s my goal for book signings!

In The Greysons you’ll find several of my actual experiences from that New York trip written into the book. I’m not going to tell you what they are, but instead hope that you will comment through my website with your ideas.

I hope someday to go to another BEA New York, and to live the life of an urbanite, even if only for a week. But in the meantime I’m going to keep writing and work towards my book signing goal; cookies decorated with the covers of my books!

Enjoy these pictures from BEA 2017

Me outside the Javits Center where BEA was held

Stephen King and his son

Me with Michael Connelly and Elin Hildebrands cookies!

Until we read again,📚

Blessings,

Dana L.❤️

*Thank you for all the interest in when The Greysons will release. The estimated date is April 30th and I promise to let you know just as soon as I do. In the meantime if you would like to preorder from the publisher here’s the link:

http://www.syppublishing.com/the-greysons-ami-series-book-3/

Today is cover reveal day! Writing a book and waiting for it to be published is like having a baby, and I’m so ready for this baby to be born!

This past week I’ve been running a video on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram that’s a sneak peek of a scene from The Greysons, and I promised you some of the backstory. There’s more in the back of the book so be sure to look for it when you’re done reading.

My dad was an engineer, entrepreneur and inventor. When my brother was born Dad made up the “Lawnmower Song” and sang it to Tom. Five years later when I came along Dad took it out of storage and sang it to me. It’s been through my three girls and their seven children, and someday my Great Grandkids will hear it, too. It’s part of a tradition in my family so of course it had to be in Charlotte’s life, as well.

I am so excited to share this cover with you and I hope you will love it as much as I do. It conveys all the emotions I have about the completion of Charlotte’s story, and has the appearance of a Fairytale. And as you know, that’s exactly what my writing career has been.

Until we read again 📚

Blessings…

Dana L.❤️

This time last year I was busy getting Call Me Charlotte ready for release in Florida, and all was well with the world. Or so I thought. Several weeks before our journey my 93 year old mother sustained an injury that pretty much incapacitated her. While I was grateful that the The Captain and I were headed to Florida, and could help as caregivers, I knew it would be hard to really concentrate and enjoy releasing my book when my mom was in such pain.

When we returned home I knew it was time to get moving on The Greysons, but a comment from another author about Charlotte, paralyzed me. Was I not a good writer after all? Had Lottie Loser just been a fluke? The thoughts were like a tornado swirling in my head and for the first time I found myself doubting my decision to leave a job I loved to write.

Enter my Beta Reader. I call her mine because while she Betas for lots of authors, it’s because of her that I found joy again in writing. She’s become my friend, the keeper of my secrets, and a character in the book I’m working on, The Four Seasons of Summer. In the book her name is Dena Daniels, and to “protect the innocent” as they say, that’s what I’ll call her here.

I asked “Dena” how she became a Beta, because trust me she does this for lots of authors, and this is her story.

One of her dear friends from her high school days wrote a book and asked Dena to read it for errors. Together they smoothed out the wrinkles, and she found that she enjoyed the task. With some urging from her friend, Dena decided to go public with her editing/Beta abilities, and voila! A Beta Star was born. She now reads books daily, giving feedback and editing suggestions to authors like me.

I’m not at all sure if Dena knows what she brings to me every day, both as an author, and as a person. I’ve never been good about sharing my work ahead of time, but Dena has read The Greysons, and gives it two thumbs up! But better yet she’s instilled in me the belief that I need to write what I enjoy and what makes me happy. Those words coming from a person who reads for a living, were music to my ears.

And Call Me Charlotte? Well as you know I won Gold Medal, a National award, from The Florida Authors and Publishers Association 2018 Presidential Awards, so someone liked it!

Now here it is a new year, and I’m preparing to release The Greysons. This time though I’m thinking a Virtual Release and maybe a party at my home for friends. This past year has brought me every emotion under the sun but I’m thankful to tell you that today my mom has recovered and I’m back to being me. The person who left a 32 year career in banking to write a book, and made her Fairytale come true.

Thank you “Dena” for your friendship and support.

Until we read again📚

Blessings,

Dana L.❤️

Years ago I knew that someday I wanted to write a book that would take place on Anna Maria Island, Florida. It was a really long time from that goal to the completion of Lottie Loser, but it happened, and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome.

Why AMI, you might ask? In the early seventies my parents retired and bought a condo on Long Boat Key. They didn’t plan for Florida to be their permanent home, but they fell in love with the area, and never looked back. From the condo they bought a house, and eventually built a home at Key Royale, in the sleepy little village known as Anna Maria Island.

Today AMI is booming, the sleepy little village a thing of the past, but our family still loves it, and travels there as often as possible. My parents sold their home and moved inland quite a few years ago, and sadly my dad passed away, but mom is still active and goes to the island every Sunday after church for brunch.

Because of my book series I get asked a lot for recommendations on restaurants and places of interest on the island. Since this is spring break season, I thought it would be a good time to share our family favorites.

Hands down the best place to eat is The Cortez Kitchen. The atmosphere is old Florida and the food is out of this world! A grouper sandwich, onion rings, cheese grits and a Blue Moon Beer is pretty close to heaven on earth. The restaurant is off the beaten path, and can be hard to find, so definitely get directions, but definitely go. http://thecortezkitchen.com

The other place you’ll want to go is The Donut Experiment. People get up at the crack of dawn…and I do mean dawn…to wait in line to order donuts that are made fresh to order. They have everything from my favorite, Key Lime, to The Captain’s favorite, Maple Bacon. The donuts are good, but it’s the experience that you go fo. I hear you can order online now, but where’s the fun in that? http://thedonutexperiment

A trip to AMI would not be complete without stopping at the Island Coffee Haus for a delicious start to your day. The release event for Call Me Charlotte was held there, and things couldn’t have gone better. http://www.islandcoffeehaus.com

Your last venture has to be to Ginny’s & Jane E’s! This wonderfully eclectic Cafe and Costal Store has everything you need for your adventure on Anna Maria Island, plus they sell Lottie Loser and Call Me Charlotte! You can take home a memory made by a local artist, have lunch, or even a beer or a smoothie, but it’s definitely a destination in itself.http://ginnysandjanees.com

I’ve given you options to get your vacation started but you’ll want to find your own pieces of paradise, and that can only happen by exploring this charming island, and taking chances. You can’t go wrong…just go, and start making your own memories.

Until we read again📚

Blessings, ❤️

Dana L.

On March 10th I got up to see that I was only two followers away from 1000 on Twitter. For me that was a huge achievement so I put out the offer that I would highlight the 1000 follower on my weekly blog.

Today, on my Wednesday Wake-up Blog it’s my pleasure to introduce you to James Rowlands, my 1000 twitter follower, and my new friend. Please enjoy his story!

James: Morning!! It’s 5:21 here and as promised:

I come from the UK, more specifically the area around the River Dee which is the border between Wales and England. I was born right on it but consider myself Welsh and speak the language (lot of fun – very different). I was reading at a very young age and books replaced friends for large swathes of my youth.Age 18 I left home, studied Linguistics and Moral Philosophy – not high on company exec wish lists – and decided to live in France.

Now 47 (sniff) married to Béatrice, 2 daughters, 5 cats, 35 koi carp and a house made of wood on a hill-top in the Brittany countryside 🙂 I teach English at the French Officer Academy “St Cyr” – their Westpoint. I sang and composed music and lyrics for 25 years and that was great fun, more than a 1000 concerts and loads of travelling, but although lyrics are “writing” I needed something outside my comfort zone.

So last year I wrote my first novel “Each Code Remains” – time travel, love, war, strangeness, and this year a book of poems “The Tree Knew” about childhood (not specifically mine but in general). It was a joy to write and I’ll definitely be doing that again, once novel 2 is done.
They are available on amazon:Each Code Remains  https://www.amazon.com/Each-Code-Remains-James-Rowlands/dp/1980379947/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=each+code+remains+book&qid=1552278715&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

The Tree Knew https://www.amazon.com/Tree-Knew-childhood-James-Rowlands/dp/1796412139/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+tree+knew&qid=1552278752&s=gateway&sr=8-1
As well as the soundtrack I composed: https://www.amazon.com/Tree-Knew-James-Rowlands-james/dp/B07P84Z2SV/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=the+tree+knew&qid=1552278778&s=gateway&sr=8-2

Garanti sans virus. www.avast.com

I’m the chubby one on the left in the picture below.

— 
Best Regards – Cordialement – Yn gywir…James

Jim RowlandsNew book out now “The Tree Knew”

Until we read again📚…

Blessings,❤️

Dana L.

Garanti sans virus. www.avast.com

I’ve never tried to hide the fact that I’m not a trained writer. One day I decided I wanted to write a book, and I did. End of story? Not quite. Lottie Loser turned out to be my Fairytale come true in every way imaginable. Because the most amazing thing happened; people actually liked it.

It’s funny how the success of the AMI Series gave me confidence as a writer. To be honest, I really knew very little about writing when I started, other than I liked romance. At that time I had no idea that most genres have a formula and for romance it needs a protagonist, an antagonist and a Happily Ever After. Who knew there were rules for writing?

Last week I mentioned that I was told on the Writer’s Cruise that my current novel, The Four Seasons of Summer, was not romance but women’s fiction, because my protagonist is married. Another eye opener. I also learned about pacing, sensual and emotional tension, and conflict, an area I already knew I struggled with.

“Don’t dump your backstory” was a big topic with the editors on the cruise, and since I like to bring in the past, I had lots of questions about that statement. Apparently it means save some for later, instead of giving it all away at once, so thankfully my Now and Then chapters in Lottie and Charlotte are okay. Whew!

At the end of the day, or the cruise in this case, this is what I took away. There are rules for writing, but like with all rules they’re subjective. Just as an artist needs to paint what they enjoy, and what brings out their passion, an author needs to write what brings them happiness. I love my series, and many of you do as well, and that’s all I ever wanted.

Would I like to be a best selling author? Heck yes, but more than anything I want to write what I love and what you, my faithful readers, enjoy. And of course I want my books to have a “meet-cute”; yep something else I learned at sea!😉

Another one of the words used a lot by the publishing professionals was Trope. I could never get a clear understanding of what it meant so I reached out to my Twitter friends, and the definition is below. Personally it’s not a word I’ll use, but at least I won’t feel stupid the next time I hear it.

The actual definition is “any literary or rhetorical device, as metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, was and irony, that consists in the use of words in other than their literal sense.” But it can also be used for cliches. EX: dumb jock, brooding YA hero, manic pixie dream girl…

So now you’ve learned everything that I did on the writer’s cruise, but you got the Readers Digest version. It was actually extremely enlightening and if I’d have gone on the cruise before writing Lottie Loser, she would still be an idea floating in my head.

Have an amazing week and why not try a new author? Your next favorite read might be sitting on a shelf but you’ll miss it, because you won’t take a chance.

Until we read again 📚…

Blessings,

Dana L❤️

I was a Girl Scout until I was sixteen, so their motto of “Be prepared”, is ingrained in my head, and it’s a good thing it is. As you know, last week I attended a Writer’s Cruise with the idea of pitching the AMI Series to Hallmark and Netflix. I had my pitch down, my Onesheet made and was ready to WOW my books right onto TV. But there was a problem. The Hallmark representative, who I really, really wanted to meet with, didn’t come.

Robert Burns wrote a poem called To a Mouse and from it comes the often used adaptation, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” And go awry is exactly what happened to my plans. So now what?

The first night I spoke with an editor from Source Books and she told me I couldn’t pitch a Books series that’s from another publisher to a new publishing house, and asked if I was working on anything outside of AMI. As it happened I was. What that meant was I had two days to work up a new pitch and “be prepared” to sell my story and me, to a literary agent or editor.

I worked day and night on the new pitch, even taking a tablet with me to Nassau and making notes throughout the day. By Thursday I was feeling confident with what I had, it was memorized and I was good to go, right? Remember about what happens with best laid plans? They go awry, and mine did right out of the block!

I write romance. At least I always have, but after my first pitch to a literary agent with The Seymour Agency, I found out that it’s not romance if there’s a married woman and a man other than her husband involved. If that’s the case it’s called Women’s Fiction, and this particular agent didn’t represent Women’s Fiction. It was a Lordy Chicken moment if there ever was one!

The good news is I did pitch the new book to an editor of a well known publishing house and she wants me to send her the first twenty pages. I have no idea where it will lead but it’s exciting, don’t you think? And I did get to talk with the Netflix representative about the AMI Series, and she made a few notes and took my Onesheet, so all was not lost.

So where does my future as an author go? I hope up and up! I learned so much last week from the professionals and other authors, and I came home eager to get back to the business of writing. And just so I’m being totally transparent, I also drank a couple of Blue Moons and a few fruity island drinks while I was gone, but all in the spirit of fellowship with the other participants.😉

This is the tagline I was prepared to use to pitch Charlotte Luce to Hallmark. “A young woman searching for her forever, and the empowerment she finds in forgiveness.” Oh well, maybe someday!

Until we read again 📚…

Blessings,

Dana L❤️