Happy Halloween!!

Thanks to my friend Sandy for sending along these funnies!

STOP BY PETTICOATS AND PISTOLS ON FRIDAY FOR A LOOK AT HALLOWEEN HAUNTS AND HISTORY.

I'M GIVING AWAY A TREAT FROM MY BAG OF TRICKS!!

Christmas Corner and New Look for Eharlequin!

Do you ever shop at Eharlequin? The site has a brand new look! They have this cool new Christmas Corner, all the Christmas books throughout the site are on sale! If you love those holiday tales from any or all of the lines, check out Christmas Corner.

And Eharlequin now lists the Top 10 Bestsellers. I want to thank all of my readers who have made Do Not Disturb Until Christmas, a Top 10 Bestseller for one entire week, the past three days it's been at #2!

Here's the list as of today:

1.Baby Bequest
2.Do Not Disturb Until Christmas
3.Pregnant on the Upper East Side?
4.The CEO's Christmas Proposition
5.The Prince's Arranged Bride
6.In a Bind
7.The Cowboy's Christmas Miracle
8.The Spanish Billionaire's Christmas Bride
9.Sicilian Husband, Unexpected Baby 10.Spaniard's Seduction

They also have the Top 10 Dark and Dangerous Heros and a Halloween Masquerade Ball!

Trivia Anyone?

I love trivia. I don't know why, I'm not a gossip hound. I don't watch TMZ, the latest hip, trendy gossip show rivaling Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood. But I do love learning snippets of information about people, places or things.

By the way, do you know what TMZ stands for? Take a guess.

Here's a bit of trivia about oldies but goodies, that I find fascinating:

Humphrey Bogart's lisp was a result of an injury received during World War II. While his ship was being shelled, a splinter lodged in his upper lip rendering it paralyzed.

Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman were once voted Least Likely to Succeed in their Playhouse Acting School.

Doris Day longed to be a professional dancer, but when she broke her leg at the age of 15, she decided to give singing a try.

Lucille Ball was kicked out of drama school for being too shy!

Shirley Temple was originally slated to play the role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, but Judy Garland got the part when Temple's studio (20th Century Fox) asked for too much money from MGM.

1400 actresses were interviewed to play the role of Scarlett O'Hara.

Walt Disney was given one normal Oscar statue and 7 miniature statues for his film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937.

Quotes:

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." - Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962

"The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter." - Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

Writers should be read, but neither seen nor heard." - Daphne Du Maurier

"It has been my observation that people are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be." -Abraham Lincoln

"All you need for happiness is a good gun, a good horse, and a good wife." - Daniel Boone

Random Historical Facts:

Benjamin Franklin was the first head of the United States Post Office.

Attila the Hun died of a nosebleed on his wedding night in A.D. 453.

John Hanson - not George Washington - was the first president of the U.S.

When the Congress met in 1781, the U.S. was governed by the Articles of Confederation, which were adopted in 1777 and ratified by the states in 1781. At that meeting, Congress elected John Hanson its "President of the U.S. in Congress assembled." George Washington became the first president of the U.S. under the U.S. Constitution in 1789.

Katharine Lee Bates wrote the words to the classic American anthem
"America The Beautiful" after her trip to the summit of Pikes Peak in 1893.

St. Nicholas was bishop of the Turkish town of Myra in the early fourth century. It was the Dutch who first made him into a Christmas gift-giver, and Dutch settlers brought him to America where his name eventually became the familiar Santa Claus.

By the end of the U.S. Civil War, 33 percent of all U.S. paper currency in circulation was counterfeit. This was a devastating situation for a nation struggling to recover economically from such a destructive war. On July 5, 1865, the Secret Service was created as a part of the Department of the Treasury to help suppress counterfeit currency

So, do you love trivia? What's the most interesting bit of trivia you've heard?

How many of you know what TMZ stands for?

Tote Bags 'N' Blogs

I'm guest blogging at Tote Bags 'N' Blogs today.

Hope you get a chance to stop by and say hello!

Can you guess what the subject is?

Catch me at Petticoats and Pistols Today !

Read my True Confessions of a Romance Writer Blog!!

And for those in the Los Angeles area, join me and many other authors, including Lynne Marshall, Susan Squires, Eden Bradley,Christie Ridgeway and Barbara Samuel for a fun Bookfair and Meet and Greet! Stop by and say hello to me and receive a free Petticoats and Pistols sexy handfan!

Corner of Ventura Blvd and Hayvenhurst

12 Noon to 2 PM

Sunday, October 19th

If you'd like to be a part of the LARA writer's meeting, first time guests can attend free. Join us at Barnes and Noble at 10:30.

Do Not Disturb Until Christmas made it in Eharlequin's RED HOT Reads!

Go to Eharlequin to get a 20% discount or click on my Link to get free books and a mystery gift!!

It isn't Just about Earthquakes!

Well, it's been a whirlwind week! Not only did we have a lovely wedding in Malibu on Saturday... we had Santa Ana Winds on Sunday and our Wildfire Season started on Monday!

You've probably seen the film on your local news. It's quite frightening. But I managed to work my way thru 4 pages of my latest book, a continuity of the Texas Cattleman's Club series yesterday, smelling smoke and thinking it was off in the distance. It wasn't until I turned on the news in the afternoon that I saw how close those wildfires were coming again. I called my friends who lived in the area, and found out they were all fine. We were fine too.

But the winds shift. They are fickle and within an hour, those 6o MPH gusts could change direction. Still and all, while all other neighboring towns evacuated, we didn't have to. We stayed and I watched the news all night. How exhausting it is to see those firefighters and police try to prevent houses from burning. And how, scary. Late last night, I climbed inot bed, wondering if I would sleep at all.

As it turned out, the LAPD knocked hard on my door and said to "get ready to move out. Pack a few things and wait. They'd come back if we need to evacuate." Great. I told my husband to go to sleep and I stayed awake, listening for the wind, the tormenter of our destiny. But in the wee hours of the morning, the winds died down and it appeared the fires changed direction. They were off to torment other unsuspecting residents. All I can say, is that we've been lucky. This the the 3rd time fire has threatened, and we've made it thru okay.

I hurt for those people who weren't so fortunate. They left their homes yesterday morning to go to work, and weren't allowed back. Many didn't know if their homes were still standing. And some weren't.

It isn't just earthquakes in California. It's wind and fire. And then the rains come and we have floods. You know, aside from all this, I still love living here. I love my home, my neighborhood and the "burbs" where we know lots of people.

So today, instead of posting horrendous pictures of wildfires, I want to post the best thing about this week. My daughter's wedding. Here's a few pics. We had so much fun!

My son Jason walking me down the aisle to my seat.

Nikki and dear Hubby, on the famous walk down the aisle.

Dancing With Stars, in their eyes!

Nikki and Zac

Too Cute, flower girl and ring bearer!

These are just snapshots, but I'm happy to share them with you!

An A+ for Do Not Disturb Until Christmas!

Some nice reviews for my newest!

Do Not Disturb Until Christmas is a guarantee to touch your heart and your emotions. Charlene Sands can do no less.

Cody Landon loved Sarah Rose as a teen but that love was shattered when Sarah left him to pursue her singing career. Now Cody is a rich businessman and Sarah a famous singer. Cody decides the time is right to get revenge, a perfect Christmas present. He already took the first step by seducing and leaving her but it was not enough. Now he plans to seduce her for more than one night but will that be enough? Cody did not count on Sarah’s pregnancy. Forced to marry, now Cody has her right where he wants her. After the baby is born he will divorce her, but the best-laid plans are often derailed by something simple. The more time Cody spends with her, the more he wants her.

Cody had been deeply hurt by Sarah’s actions. Sarah knew this but felt she had no choice. Coming together in steamy romantic encounters brought out feelings neither wanted. Is that first love really dead? You will need to read Do Not Disturb Until Christmas to find out. Is the magic of the Christmas season enough? Do Not Disturb Until Christmas is perfect for the magic of the time. Steam, romance, and some danger all add up to the perfect book.

Do Not Disturb Until Christmas by Charlene Sands get an A+.

Debby at Cataromance

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Cody "Code" Landon is a wealthy and respectable businessman. However, he has had to pull himself up by his bootstraps in order to achieve that success and along the way his heart has been badly broken by country superstar, Sarah Rose. They were madly in love in high school but Sarah had to walk away from him when success called. Her family needed her and Sarah needed to use her voice to help them live. But years later, Code still has not gotten over his anger over Sarah's leaving him in the dust.
Code has been hired to protect Sarah in her Christmas concert series and he is taking his duties seriously. Code wants revenge and he wants Sarah in his bed. He is determined to succeed and show her that the boy she was in love with no longer exists. But Sarah just yearns for one more chance with Code, the first and only man she has ever loved. Can Sarah convince him that their future is more precious than petty revenge? Can she show him that, despite her stardom, she just wants a life filled with love, happiness, and...babies?

Code and Sarah have some serious tension between them. Their chemistry is smoking hot but Code carries a lot of anger inside of him. Would he be strong enough to let that anger go for the promise of happiness Sarah would bring to his life? For her part, Sarah is very lonely. While she is successful, she does not have many close friends and little opportunity to meet an honest and kind man. Code reminds her of her past and her hopes for the future. At times, Code was the very epitome of a man in love but he was also fighting a strong desire for revenge.

That conflict was interesting as Code was clearly yearning for Sarah, but was scared to admit it. I enjoyed watching these two rediscover each other as successful adults. Sarah and Code do not have an easy road together but that makes their romance that much sweeter to savor.

4 of 5 Ribbons

Sarah W at Romance Junkies

Short and Suite News!!

The Brand New Suite Secrets Contest is up and running!!

Check it out and be sure to get your copy of Do Not Disturb Until Christmas!

It's almost crunch time - and soon I'll have a married daughter! I've been a little busy these past few weeks, but I'll be blogging regularly after the wedding. I promise pictures! Think of me on Saturday!