New Year, New Look ~ Welcome 2021!
Talia and I are combining to send one monthly newsletter, with some fun,some humor, and some newsy stuff.
We hope we can brighten your day!
We don't think anyone will disagree with saying good riddance to 2020. It's been tough for so many and for so many reasons.
So we're focusing on the good stuff! We love our readers and their comments, but because this is a newsletter, we can't hear from you. So each newsletter will also be posted on our blogs, where you can let us know your thoughts. We hope you'll join us there!
Cheers! Alexandra & Talia
A little bit of New Year history...
Did you know that the first new year's celebration was around 2000 B.C. in Mesopotamia, and was in March? In fact, back then the calendar year began in March, and it wasn't until about 135 B.C. that the Romans celebrated the new year on January 1st, although some still celebrated on March 1.
When Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar in 46 B.C., January 1st was decreed as the beginning of the year. However, things weren't over yet. During the Middle Ages, the celebrations were deemed as "pagan" and once again, the date of the new year varied. It wasn't until 1582 that the January 1st date was restored with the Gregorian calendar reform. And even though the Catholic countries widely adopted that date, many Protestant countries did not, including Britain, that didn't accept the Gregorian calendar until 1752--until then, even the American colonies celebrated on March 1st.
Question of the Month:
Our question for this month is 2-part.
How many books do you anticipate reading (for fun/relaxation) this year?
Do you read more during the cold winter nights, or while relaxing in the summer?
Check here for some of our favorite reads!
We'll be featuring different authors throughout the year.
Old West Historical: The Wylder West series (various authors-watch for Talia's!)
Paranormal: The Magicsmith series (L.R. Braden)
New Adult: The Guitar Face Series (Sasha Marshall)
Thriller: Deadly Glimpses series (Stephen B. King)
And don't forget to look for ours!
Between Nowhere and Lost
2018 Georgia Romance Writers Best Contemporary Novel
On sale now, but this price won't last long. Get your copy today.
An impossible choice between duty, desire, and faith – and the wrong decision could cost her everything.
Excerpt:
Dina leaned back in her chair and eyed me. I averted my gaze under her scrutiny. “What’s got you so bummed out?”
“Aren’t you meeting Jake for dinner? Don’t you need to go?”
“No. Spill it.”
My mouth scrunched. Keeping my emotions in check had never before been so difficult, but I’d never had reason to be so…discontent. My tone became defensive. “I am not, as you put it, ‘bummed out.’ I’m merely…” I searched for an appropriate substitution.
“Depressed? Thinking about kids again?”
I stared at the pale yellow concrete block wall behind her, imagined my finger tracing down and across the lines of grout between each block. She waited patiently for me to speak. “No. Not this time.” I paused, debating. “Fine. I met a man.”
She straightened. “What do you mean, you ‘met’ a man? You have a man. His name is Harold. What kind of man? Where?”
“He was lost.”
“This is the sixties. Everyone is lost. What was he, a hippie? Was he driving a Volkswagen bus with flowers on it? I suppose he was trying to find himself.”
I clucked. “Not that kind of lost. Geographically. He pulled into my drive and asked for directions.”
“Did you tell him the commune is four hundred miles to the north?”
I rolled my eyes. “To Mayfield, nitwit,” thinking my use of her standard verbiage might ease up this onslaught of questions.
Instead, her eyes narrowed. “Harmless enough.”
“It was, until I asked him over for dinner.”
She sucked in a breath. “You didn’t!”
The office door flew open and the boys’ gym teacher stuck his head in the room. “You locking up, Deen?”
“I got it. Later, gator.”
He yanked the door shut behind him and was probably halfway across the gym before his muted ‘bye’ reached our ears.
“So you asked him over for dinner? And you didn’t think Harold would notice?”
“He’s in Connecticut, at one of the other plants.”
“Convenient. All right, lay it on me.”
I told her the entire sordid story, prudently omitting the part about wanting to kiss him.
“You want to kiss him, don’t you? Helen Hodges, I never would’ve believed it. You’re thinking about having an affair.”
