New Release -- Dances with Werewolves (A Kudzu Korners Novel) by Isabella Norse

Sydney Hall has spent her life looking for love in all the wrong places. Her world falls apart when the man she thought was Mr. Right turns out to be Mr. Couldn’t-Be-More-Wrong. She needs to make some major lifestyle changes—if she can figure out where to start.

Kain is a werewolf afraid of the vulnerability that comes with life with a pack. Nevertheless, werewolves are made to protect, and his instincts kick into high gear when he meets a bruised and battered Sydney Hall. He is determined to help her see herself as the strong woman he believes she can be.

Friendship grows as two damaged people find hope in each other. Can Sydney and Kain maintain their promise to remain friends without benefits? Or, is love inevitable as two wounded souls learn to heal together?

EXCERPT

     Kain froze when he saw Sydney and the darkening bruises marring her skin. His nostrils flared as he scented blood and his eyes took on a familiar glimmer.

     Sydney’s attention was directed inward in her misery. She didn’t even notice the newcomer until he was next to her.

     “Who did this to you?” Kain asked, his voice soft.

     Sydney didn’t answer. She just shook her head and sobbed harder.

     Bending closer Kain placed one finger under her chin, raising her gaze to his. His eyes flashed gold as he exerted his will. He repeated, “Who did this to you?”

     Haltingly, Sydney gave him the information he sought. “Vince. Vince Thornton.”

     With an abrupt nod Kain stood, turned, and strode from the room.

     Sydney looked at Maggie through puffy eyes. “Who was that? Where is he going?”

     “That was Kain, and I suspect he’s going to make Vince wish he had never been born.”

     “Kain? Didn’t you—ouch—tell me he’s a werewolf?” Sydney believed in werewolves about as much as she believed in Santa Claus, but now was not the time for that discussion. She paused in her efforts to get back on her feet. Talking, breathing, and moving was still a bit too much to try all at once. “Why would he defend me? He doesn’t even know me.”

     “It doesn’t matter if he knows you or not—protecting people is what werewolves do. But, that said, Kain has a real problem with anyone who abuses women or children.”

     

New Release -- SAVED BY THE BELLE by Isabella Norse

Dot Habersham spent the first half of her life traveling the world, meeting new people, and trying to make a difference in the lives of others. Now middle-aged, she has settled in Kudzu Korners, a small town filled with Southern charm and good friends.

But the arrival of Russell Phillips, widower, father, and the spitting image of Dot’s favorite actor, stirs emotions that she hasn’t felt in many years. Could love come knocking at this point in her life—and his?

Just when their friendship begins to blossom into “more”, Russell says something that might be impossible to fix. Will the memories of those they have lost keep each of them tied to their pasts, or can their budding relationship be SAVED BY THE BELLE…

EXCERPT

“Dot, drop everything! We have a hair emergency.” The bell hanging from the handle of the door jangled as Amber pushed her way into Polka Dots hair salon.

Dot, salon owner, paused in her sweeping and looked up, eyebrows raised. “How big of a problem can it be, hon? I just cut your hair last week.”

“Oh, no. It’s not me, it’s my dad.” Amber propped the door open with her heel, leaned out, and tugged a reluctant gentleman in by the arm.

“Well, hello there, handsome.” Dot studied the newcomer with a skilled eye. “Amber, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Your dad looks fine. Better than fine, actually.” She gave the man a wink.

“Thank you,” he began, only to be interrupted.

“Fine? You call this fine?” Amber grabbed her dad by the shoulders and turned him around, gesturing toward his head. “My father has a… I can barely say it.” She took a deep breath and tried again. “My father has a ponytail.”

Faith. Laughter. Happily-Ever-After.

My husband and I are in the middle of moving this month so, for the first time, I'm re-running a post from my personal blog (www.isabellanorse.com). I'll be back next month with an original post.

***

I have a confession. I'm terrible at tag lines. I love coming up with titles for my books and even writing blurbs for them. But tag lines? I seem to be incapable of describing myself or my books in a single, memorable line.

In 2014, I decided to have custom website designed but still didn't have a tagline. So, I stuck with the basics: "Isabella Norse, Romance Author." I requested that the designer (the amazing Ida Jansson of Amygdala Design) use light colors to reflect the fact that my stories tend to be on the humorous side and that she include cats in some fashion since they have a way of appearing in all of my stories. She created the image below that I have used for the past three years:

It hit all the points I asked for and even met with my love of symmetry - a love that Ida didn't even know about. Even though I was happy with the design, I still couldn't help but long for something even more... me. So, the search for a tag line continued.

I will admit to more than one why-didn't-I-think-of-that moment as I came across amazing tag lines created by other authors. I also came up with - and discarded - more than a few potential tag lines for myself. One example? Love, Laughter, Happily Ever After. But, that one seemed to be everywhere. However, everywhere or not, I kept circling back to it. Finally, I realized that all I had to do was change one word to make it work for me. The result? Faith. Laughter. Happily-Ever-After. Perfect.

Faith: I'm a woman of faith and my faith, like my love for cats, works its way into each story.

Laughter: My stories tend to be humorous. Even on those rare occasions when they get dark, there is still humor.

Happily-Ever-After: I write romance, so this one is a given.

Once I settled on a new tag line, it was time to contact Ida to give my website an update. The new design is below:

I love it - it is so me! The new header keeps the same colors as the old one while including the new tag line and a more subtle reference to my feline fascination. The rustic image is also exactly my style. Of course, I picked it out, so it should be, LOL!

So, here's to the end for the search for a tag line, a new look, and everything that lies ahead. *raises chai latte in toast*

What do you think of the new look?

New Release -- DIAL V FOR VAMPIRE by Isabella Norse -- Ebook Giveaway!

A Kudzu Korners Novel

Maggie Robinson is a full-time server, part-time blogger, and 24/7 skeptic. Her love life? Non-existent. Why bother? Her parents' divorce is proof that "happily ever after" is a fairy tale. To make matters worse, she has no idea that her tongue-in-cheek blog, Life with Zombie, has placed her at the top of the werewolves' Most Wanted List.

Noah Townsend is a vampire with a broken heart. It has been two years since his wife's death, and he is still recovering. Instead of dealing with his grief, he has thrown himself into his duties as the head of a security firm that specializes in protecting paranormal beings and hiding their existence from humans.

Worlds collide when Noah saves Maggie from a werewolf attack. Can Maggie overcome her skepticism, and Noah his grief, in time to realize that they were made for each other? Or will the ripples started by Maggie's blog grow into a tsunami that will tear them—and Kudzu Korners—apart?

EXCERPT

     Something was following Maggie. She paused in the murky light at the base of the flickering street lamp, eyes searching the darkness behind her.

     “Hello?” She thought she saw the glint of a pair of golden eyes, but they disappeared almost immediately. As if, perhaps, the owner of the eyes closed them. Definitely not human—too close to the ground.

     “You know, I probably should’ve taken my fear of the dark and the lack of lights into consideration before changing to night shift.” She spoke out loud, needing the comfort of a voice. Her subconscious scanned through its database of secondary fears and whipped out... Chihuahuas?

     “Really, brain? That’s the best you can come up with?” Stepping to the edge of the light, she stared into the night, wishing someone could beam her straight into her apartment, still a few blocks away. “The wild Chihuahua packs are in Arizona. I’m pretty sure they haven’t spread to the Deep South. Yet.”

     Inspiration struck, and Maggie fumbled in her over-sized purse. “Ah-ha!” she crowed as she pulled out her key chain—along with a small blizzard of tissues and gum wrappers. She thumbed the small LED flashlight dangling from the ring. Nothing. She tried again. Nada. “Well that’s a fine how-do-you do. If a girl can’t depend on a flashlight with five-year-old batteries in her time of need, what can she count on? I guess I’ll just have to get by on my looks and my wits.”

     There. Surely, that was the sound of claws on concrete. She whirled to scour the darkness again, half expecting to find a gang of small, scruffy curs advancing on her with malice in their hearts. The darkness peered back at her, all innocence. “See? This is why Mama told you not to watch so many scary movies. Your imagination runs away and conjures up all kinds of problems where there are none.” She stomped her foot in frustration. “Why does everything shut down at night? Why is there no one willing to assist a damsel in distress?”

Be sure and leave a comment for a chance of winning an ebook of DIAL V FOR VAMPIRE!

        

Life with a Writer

Writers are just like everybody else. Well, sort of. We are easily distracted by the plot bunnies constantly hopping around our minds. We may shout “Yes!” at inappropriate times when that last pesky plot point finally falls into place. Our internet search histories may land us on one or more watch lists. (Poisons, anyone?)

However, as my husband has learned the hard way, we are also… different. I offer into evidence bits and pieces of conversations regarding my various stories.

Exhibit A:

Him: “So, what’s happening in your story?”

Me: “Nef is about to tell me about the political situation in Ramalda.”

Him: “What is the political situation in Ramalda?”

Me (sincerely): “I don’t know! He hasn’t told me yet.” (There may or may not have been an implied “Duh!” in my tone.)

At this point, my hubby gave me The Look which I have come to think of as his I’m-married-to-a-crazy-woman look and slowly backed out of the room.

Exhibit B:

Him: “How’s the new story going?”

Me: “Fine. Except, I really hate my main character’s best friend.”

Him: “What do you mean you don’t like her? You created her!”

Me: “Yes, I created her. But, that doesn’t mean I like her.”

Him: Somehow manages to give me The Look while simultaneously driving.

Note: Once I got to know my main character’s best friend better, and learned why she was the way she was, I grew to like her. As a matter of fact, she gets her own book!

Exhibit C:

Him: “How did the writing go tonight?”

Me: “Fine. I found out that my heroine wanted to be a missionary when she was younger.”

Him: Looks at me for a minute. “You didn’t know that before tonight, did you?”

Me: “No.”

At this point, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride in my hubby – he’s learning!

Exhibit D:

It’s not just our spouses and significant others that get sucked into our make believe worlds though. We are not above using friends, relatives, and possibly complete strangers for information if needed. So far, my youngest son has been the recipient of one of my more random text messages: “How long would it take someone to bleed out with one carotid artery severed?”

What can I say? My son is a black belt ninja (really) and is majoring in exercise physiology with plans to become a chiropractor. I figured his rather unique skill set would allow him to help his mom out in a pinch. I wasn’t there to see what I’m sure was a world-class eye roll when he read my message but he did call me to discuss my question and gave me the information that I needed to help me finish the climax of my novel.

So, the next time you encounter someone at the book store or coffee shop, huddled over their laptop while mumbling to themselves and eating chocolate in massive quantities, don’t worry. You have just stumbled across a writer in its natural habitat.

However, there is one rule to always keep in mind when dealing with a writer:

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It's All About Love

As writers, we are encouraged to “know your genre.” We must know what genre we are writing in order to ensure our stories meet the conventions that readers expect. For example, a writer can call his or her book a romance, but if it doesn’t have a happily-ever-after, or at least a happily-for-now, reviewers are going to skewer the author, leaving him or her curled in a fetal position, sobbing into their Wheaties. Hell hath no fury like a reader scorned.

The journey to knowing my genre lead me to a surprising discovery. When I first made the move from fan fiction to original works, I considered myself to be a sci-fi/fantasy girl. I knew the stories that I wanted to write, but, try as I might, I couldn’t get the pieces to fall into place. One day I read a blog post about knowing your genre and decided that I needed to take a good long look at what I had already written. I logged into my fan fiction account where my gaze was drawn to the categories that I had selected for my stories. They were:

Romance/Adventure

Humor/Romance

Hurt/Comfort/Romance

Humor/Romance

Romance/Hurt/Comfort

Romance/Drama

It didn’t take long for me to see a trend. I was a romance writer! When the realization struck, I was horrified. What would people think? What was I going to do? Romance novels, as well as those who read and write them, get a bad rap from, well, virtually everyone. Once the initial wave of dizziness passed, I decided to look at my situation from a new perspective.

I adored the fan fiction that I had written and some of my stories seemed to resonate with readers. As a matter of fact, it was their positive feedback that had given me the courage to begin writing original stories. For me, the growing love between the main characters is what made the story work – everything else revolved around it. Once I realized that, I practically heard angels singing. The romance was what was missing from my sci-fi/fantasy stories! Once I added it into the mix, all of the formerly disparate pieces began falling into place.

Once a reluctant romance writer, I am reluctant no longer. Romance novels are the best-selling genre. Obviously, happily-ever-afters resonate with many, many readers. I’m honored to be a part of the romance writing community and proudly hold my love banner high. I hope that my stories make readers laugh, sigh, and feel better for having read them. After all, isn’t love what makes the world go round?

Tell me, dear readers, what do you love about romances?

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