It’s February and in my world that means romance which is why I’m joining Bookhounds and their awesome giveaway hop! My gift for the hop will be a $10 gift card for Amazon AND a copy of book #1 in my latest romantic adventure/mystery series, Not Without You, to 3 lucky winners. That’s right — I will have 3 lucky winners!!

Grad student, Lisa Richardson, scours the high country in search of her beloved boreal toad. The amphibian is in danger of extinction, a fate she is determined to change. Single-minded in her focus, Lisa doesn’t realize that she’s being followed by a mysterious stranger.

Enter McIntyre Walsh. Ex-marine with a heart of gold, this man lives and breathes duty. Protection. Content with his self-exile on a mountaintop in Colorado, he inadvertently witnesses a female hiker in danger, a situation he cannot ignore yet is unable to rectify. When their paths cross, Lisa and Walsh refuse to stray from their avowed goals and carry on–despite the other.

It isn’t until a killer ramps up his game that both are forced to relent. Battling the rugged terrain of the Rocky Mountains and an undeniable attraction between them, Lisa and Walsh must work together against the odds if they intend to get off the mountain alive.

And it’s easy to enter. Simply choose from one of the Rafflecopter options below and your name will be added to the mix.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now get hopping — you have a bunch more sites to see and enter to win! Good luck!!

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I’m looking at Christmas in a new light this year. My kids are teenagers now, and while they haven’t lost all of their magical appreciation for the season, they do have a very frank understanding of Santa which significantly alters the gift-giving angle. After all, the reason for the season isn’t gifts, its God. Jesus.

Makes a gal feel kind of superficial and materialistic focusing on the shopping business. So I won’t. This year isn’t going to be about finding the perfect gift, the one that lights up their faces on Christmas morning. Nope. There will be gifts Christmas morning, but greatly reduced. I’ll carry the sentiment through Christmas dinner. As hostess for the family gathering, I’ve asked the relatives to dispense with our customary gift exchange. It only adds chaos to the evening, anyway. I mean, we’re talking 25 people for dinner and my house is far from a mansion. Trust me when I tell you it gets a little crazy. And to exchange gifts right before we’re serving a home-cooked meal? Double the chaos. We need all hands on deck to carve the turkey, make the gravy, toast the marshmallows atop the sweet potatoes, warm the veggies… The list goes on.

Recently, I discovered that one family in our community celebrates the season without gifts. For themselves, that is, including their kids. Instead, they wrap a gift box, cut a slit in the top, then deposit money into it throughout the month. A week before Christmas, they take the money and buy food for the hungry, clothes for the homeless; wherever they see a need, they fill it.
I like it. It embraces the charitable spirit of the season and reminds me it’s time to focus on the basics. Family, friends, charity, hospitality, song and prayer. How about you? Any changes this season to your celebration?

I’m all for composting and recycling. If you’ve ever visited my garden blog, BloominThyme, you know I’m an active composter and reuse all kinds of things–old coffee, newspaper, bread ties–you name it, I’ll reuse it if I can. But having the compost police rummaging through my garbage?

I’m not sure I would like someone going through my garbage cans. It just feels weird. Fortunately, I don’t have to endure this sort of interrogation, but it seems some Seattle residents do. They have regulations that dictate garbage containing more than 10% of items that could have otherwise been recycled or composted, will be subject to fines come January. (ACK!!)

I’m not alone in my distaste for this situation. Some Seattle residents are suing over the new “trash police” traveling their neighborhoods, citing privacy violations. While the city says employees are not permitted to dig through your garbage, residents complain they have no recourse against unlawful snooping.

Huh. Not sure my Silver Creek heroines would take kindly to such “manhandling” of their green ethics, though all would undoubtedly pass muster. :) (My family might not.)

But what do you think? Has the city of Seattle gone too far in their quest for a “good thing?”

Read story here.