top of page

Less Than a Month


Yes, I've started my countdown. I always enjoy this event, so it's a really good way to kick off book events for the year. I actually just sent out a newsletter that was solely about this booksigning (Did you get signed up last week when I said it was coming? If not, you can still sign up, and you can see the newsletter that went out over on my Facebook page.) I've already made sure I have enough books and bookmarks and swag, so I think I'm mostly ready, other than making sure there's some chocolate on the table. I'm not sure I've ever been ready so early before. Haha. I do know I have to order more swag for the spring signings, though, so I'm already shopping for that. I don't know about anyone else, but I still love to grab bookmarks when I go to a booksigning, and I like useful little things, for example sticky notes or pens, things like that, so those are the kind of things I've been looking at. Expect to see some new goodies when we get to the spring New Jersey book events.


We are actually getting snow today. We've had some little bits of snow, including one day mid-week when it snowed and surprised the weather guessers in our area. Today, we were in the 3-6" range on their forecast map, and the 'storm' didn't get off to a good start--it actually had mostly stopped snowing here for a little bit, before it cranked up again. We currently have a few inches on the ground and it's still coming down. I doubt we'll end up with 6", though, it's been ages since we saw that much at one time. I'd probably enjoy this more if it wasn't about to turn frigid after the storm (I'm really glad we have flannel sheets!). The snow will last, but the temps are going to make this week miserable, and I'll be worrying about the stray cats who shelter in our carport with the sub-zero windchills we'll have. I'm currently looking at heated water bowls--when I worked from home, I'd run outside a few times during the day to make sure they were okay, but now that I'm back in an office, I can't do that. Honestly, I'd love to bring the two who stay all the time in the house, but our inside cat doesn't share her space well--if I were home all day, I could referee, but since I'm not anymore, I can't chance bringing them in and having someone injured in a fight while I'm gone. So I make sure they have shelters with self-heating pads in them and food, and apparently now heated water. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a stray cat.


Before I narrow down my choices for the cats' water bowls, I have a snippet for you this week from Protecting Medusa.

================

            Philomena parked beside her mother’s house. She’d arrived first, and she needed to get dinner on in a hurry. Once Jason got home, she’d be too distracted to focus on cooking.

            She went in the back door, balancing a grocery bag while she reset the alarm, then hit the light switch with her elbow as she continued into the kitchen.

            She took her mother’s cast iron skillet from its hook over the counter and put it on the stove, turning the heat to high and dropping in some ground beef before she shed her coat. As she put away the rest of the groceries, the meat began to sizzle.

            She rolled up her sleeves and dug a spatula out of the utensil drawer, but froze when she heard a creak from upstairs. She waited, then shook her head. It was a hundred year-old farmhouse. 

            She stirred the beef in the pan, adding chopped onions she’d picked up at the store--not out of laziness but because she knew she needed to move quickly after three days away and with an excitable six-year-old on his way home. She could take time tomorrow to do her own prep work for dinner.

            The sound came again from upstairs. She set the spatula on the spoon rest and turned the flame under her pan down to low, then tugged up the hem of her long skirt to pull her dagger from its leather sheath on her thigh.

            A loud thud reached her ears, and her heart beat faster.

            Dear Gods, someone really was in the house.

            She crept up the back steps, keeping to the edges where she knew her weight wouldn’t make the stairs creak, the smooth handle of her long knife comforting in her sweat-damp hand.

            More thumping, accompanied by running water.

            She frowned when she got to the top of the steps, wincing as something hit the porcelain bathtub, followed by muffled cursing.

            She stuck her head around the corner, but the partially-closed bathroom door at the other end of the hall blocked her view. All she could see were shadows.

            Two people? In her mother’s bathroom? She wished she’d grabbed the phone on her way up so she could call the police. No, she should’ve called before coming upstairs. Too late now.

            More thumping and a crash.

            Her jaw clenched, and she stepped into the hallway, her pulse pounding in her ears.

            “I’ve called the police,” she lied, moving slowly along the hall. Frigid air drifted toward her. Either the bathroom window was open, or something was seriously wrong with the furnace. She frowned, holding tighter to her knife.

            A dark blur went out the window, and her eyes widened. It was quite a drop to the ground, even with all the snow mounded below from the big storms so far this winter.

            When a large, naked man with a gun went to look out the window, she froze in the middle of the hall, her dagger shoulder high.

            Naked. 

            She swallowed, and then he turned around. Her lungs stopped working.

            “Hello, Philomena. Have I ever told you how much I love a woman who can handle a blade?” He caught the edge of the door and pulled it wide open.

            She’d know that voice anywhere, and that face, even if she’d only seen him in photos. Ryder Ware, Jason’s father.

            And wow, was she seeing him in person. 

================



I hope if you're near enough to make it to the booksigning next month, you'll plan on joining us. And if you're not, maybe you'll be closer to one of the other events on my schedule this year. I also hope you all stay warm this week--it seems like a great week to stay home and pick a few books out of your TBR pile to warm you up. I'd love to hear what you're reading this week!


Until next week, happy reading!

Коментарі


Join my mailing list
  • Bluesky_Logo
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • 1454549160-1454549160_goodreads_misc
  • bookbub

© 2020 ElizabethAndrewsWrites.com

Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases made on my Amazon links.

bottom of page