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Think about your history with reading. Many of us started out with board books and bedtime stories. Then elementary school when teachers used to have a moment of down time when they’d read a cool book aloud. Fast forward to the later school years when teachers assigned book reports and entire books by when? Next Friday? Write an essay during class? I won’t even start on college. It’s no wonder some lose their fascination with books.

Here are a few facts about reading that go way beyond what you might expect. According to the National Reading Campaign, reading reduces stress for 60%, slows heartbeat and relieves muscle tension. Reading is a stress fighter:  600% more beneficial than playing a video game, 300% more useful than a walk, 100% more effective than drinking a cup of tea, and 68% better than listening to music.

But this study found 42% of graduates never read a book after graduating college.

World Book and Copyright Day is the day that more than 100 nations celebrate books and reading. Celebrate this 23^rd World Book Day on April 23 by selecting and starting a book on a topic you truly love. Then celebrate yourself by finishing it.

Visit our countdown to World Book Day website and register to win $25 Amazon gift card or Kindle Fire!  Becker Circle marked day four of the countdown.

The reasons we read are different for everyone, so…

Read on!

Welcome to guest author M.S. Spencer, who’s introducing her latest romantic comedy mystery novel that sounds like a delightful read!

Thanks for letting me talk about my new cozy mystery The Pit and the Passion: Murder at the Ghost Hotel. Set on Longboat Key, Florida, it takes place on the spot where John Ringling began building a luxurious hotel in the 1920s. Left to slowly disintegrate over the decades, it inevitably came to be called the Ghost Hotel.

An unexpected skeleton, a quirky romance, and a mysterious ring lead to a deadline secret long hidden by the most major circus family in the world.

Enjoy an excerpt from The Pit and the Passion: Murder at the Ghost Hotel

 

Charity dropped the phone. After picking it up and waiting for the panicky breaths to slow, she said as calmly as she could, “Before I shell out any more money, you need to answer a few questions, mister.”

“Fire away. It’s funny—here in France I’m allowed not one but two phone calls.”

“I presume your first one was to the American embassy.”

“That’s next on my list. This may come as a surprise to you, but I so longed to hear your voice that I decided to check in with you first. Get the money ball rolling, as it were.”

“It’s always about money, isn’t it?”

“Well, in this case, it’s pretty crucial. The French police may be enlightened as to telephone communications, but not so much about accommodations. So what do you say?”

“I say, get on the horn to the embassy without ado.”

He was silent for a minute. Finally, he said gently, “Don’t you want to hear what happened?”

“Let me guess. You were caught in flagrante delicto with a beautiful fugitive from justice.”

“Not at all. My heart is true. I’ve been faithful to you even if you don’t deserve it.”

Charity decided to let that pass—and maybe revisit it later at her leisure. “Tell me then.”

“Well, said beautiful fugitive managed to turn the tables on me. I found her, but instead of consenting to come along quietly, she screamed bloody murder. In a performance worthy of Sarah Bernhardt—you know who she was, don’t you? The greatest actress of her age. The Divine Sarah. Why, her Tosca was emulated by thousands of would-be swans. I—”

“What did she claim?”

“Who? Oh, Isabella? That I—Rancor Bass, author of eleven wildly acclaimed books—had stolen her manuscript! The gall of the woman.” He subsided into incoherent rumblings.

“And?”

“And since this is France, the gendarmes refrained from asking any searing questions for fear of injuring the nymphette’s fragile sensibilities. They swallowed her line without so much as a tittle of qualm and arrested me. It’s appalling, really. These chaps are totally sexist. Chauvinist dinosaurs…”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Well, I’d love the money as soon as you can send it. How’s that done nowadays? They used to say ‘I’ll wire it,’ but I’m pretty sure technology has moved on. No matter, that was five hundred if you recall. I guess I can exchange it here—ooh, I just thought of something. It’s euros, isn’t it? Not francs. What a shame…this Eurozone crap has got to stop. It’s ruining all the color and spice of Europe. Did you know French farmers can’t sell cheese that isn’t pasteurized? Criminal.”

“Rancor? Have you by any chance not eaten in a while?”

“What? No, la bonne femme—that’s ‘wife’ to you Yankees—of Monsieur le Brigadier Dumont provided me with a cheese omelet and a Picardie glass of a refreshing Sancerre. Her name is Antoinette. A very warmhearted woman.”

I’ll bet she is. “All right, then why are you babbling?”

“I think it’s the cell walls—so close, so confining. They’re beginning to get to me. Did I ever mention I have claustrophobia? I’m trying to fend it off with logorrhea.”

“Logo…what?”

“Logorrhea. It’s like diarrhea except with words rather than…well, you know.”

To purchase, visit The Wild Rose Press, Amazon, iTunes, B&N, Kobo, or Google.

M. S. Spencer has lived or traveled in five continents and has published 11 romantic suspense/murder mystery novels. She divides her time between the Florida Gulf coast and a tiny village in Maine. Her upcoming novel is Flotsam & Jetsam: the Amelia Island Affair where two park rangers explore who’s at the bottom of three mysterious corpses found on the sand below Fort Clinch on Amelia Island. Learn about M.S. Spencer’s latest news and events. Follow her on her blog, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Last Saturday at the Dallas Book Festival, I spotted one of the library’s security guards reading a book. He told me he reads two to three chapters an hour during his 10-hour shifts and a book a week—all checked out from the library. Our conversation stuck with me. It’s debatable whether he should read on the job, but he didn’t seem to ignore his duties. And he certainly loves to read.

I’m the same. If I’m not doing something else, I’m reading. About two months ago, I started my signed copy of Dan Brown’s latest, Origin. It’s long—more than 450 pages. Now I’ll share way more than you want to know. I’m almost half finished—and I only read this book while I’m drying my hair about three times per week. It’s a mini escape that makes me look forward to a regular chore.

According to the National Reading Campaign, reading is a stress fighter:  600% more beneficial than playing a video game, 300% more useful than a walk, 100% more effective than drinking a cup of tea, and 68% better than listening to music.

World Book and Copyright Day is the day that more than 100 nations celebrate books and reading. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and cultural Organisation-or UNESCO-proclaimed the date. Celebrate this 23^rd World Book Day on April 23 by selecting and starting a book on a topic you truly love. Then celebrate yourself by finishing it.

Visit our countdown to World Book Day website and register to win a $25 Amazon gift card, Kindle Fire and more!  My romantic suspense, Becker Circle, marked day four of the countdown.

My challenge to you is to pick a time to read something you enjoy.

Make every moment count!

There’s a definite difference between bitch and badass.

In my mind, people earn the bitch title when they act out spitefully and without explanation. “Where did that come from?” is the natural reaction. We’ve all had a similar experience—like a rubber band snap out of nowhere.

We girls can be badass. That means we have firm beliefs based on fact and deliver the message with grace and conviction.

For example, Oprah is a badass. So are Emma Watson, Gal Gadot and her Wonder Woman character, and Barbara Walters. Princess Diana was as well, in a quiet way. I don’t always agree with these badass ladies, but I respect their kindness and conviction.

In Becker Circle, Gillian, the main character, is far from perfect, but she’s also a badass. During her fresh start in Becker Circle, she screws up, owns up, and learns from her mistakes. Badass women are typically intensely independent and rarely count on a man to back them up. They also know their limits and are strong enough to ask for help when they need it. What real or fictional lady badass inspires you most and why?

It took me until I was about 35 to sort out how our world works. Since then, I constantly question how I fit into this world. During this period is when I realized my mother’s advice was rarely right for me (she’d disagree). That’s why I created Gillian, a strong, imperfect but wise 21-year-old. The one I wish I had been. Life can be easier when you learn your badass ways early, but it’s never too late.

If people think you’re a bitch when you handle things with strength, grace, and conviction, it’s on them.

To me, you’re badass!

 

The Olympics are over, but the figure skating season officially closes with the World Figure Skating Championships. Tune in to these events taking place this week in Milan, Italy. There’s no other sport that requires such beauty, glitz, and athleticism. These talented pairs, ice dance and singles athletes deserve a toast in honor of the great sport, and here are two cocktail recipes to get spectators started.

Triple Klutz
Some in the skating world call the Lutz jump, which is named after a former skater, the klutz because of its awkward blind entry. This cocktail with a triple dose of liquor might cause anyone who drinks many of these to have a rough landing. The gold sparkles are almost as sparkly as skaters’ costumes and the gold medals they strive to win.

½ oz Goldschlager
½ oz Gin
½ oz Vodka
½ oz Sprite
Splash of lime juice
Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into shot glass.

Short & Sassy
This refreshing cocktail is sweet with a little sass like the skaters and is intended to sip. Its golden color with flecks of gold in the vodka helps celebrate the gold medals in each category and the Limoncello is in honor of Italy hosting the event.

1 oz Smirnoff Gold vodka
1 oz Limoncello
2 oz Ginger ale
Pour Limoncello and ginger ale over ice in a lowball glass. Add Smirnoff Gold and a lemon twist.

Cheers!

During last week’s book launch celebration, Sheyla Camancho from Hope’s Door New Beginning Center joined me on stage to add her knowledge to my passion for preventing domestic abuse. She shared a jarring statistic – 74 percent of people in America personally know someone who’s a domestic abuse victim. That’s roughly 242,180,000 people. If you’re into numbers like Gillian, the main character in Becker Circle, that’s more than 9.5 times the population of Texas. Wow.

The good news is we always have a way out. In Becker Circle, Gillian orchestrated a scheme to graduate Harvard a semester early and move out of the apartment she shared with her abusive boyfriend while he was away for the holidays. She didn’t care where she ended up as long as she had a job waiting for her, and it was far away from Boston. She brought with her an old car, enough money for the apartment deposit, and a fierce will to be strong, independent, and never let anyone control her again. Help from her best friend, quiet moments connecting with her deceased mom, and her own inner strength and determination helped Gillian successfully escape to her new beginning.

Fresh starts almost always come with doubts like Gillian experienced a week into hers, but those doubts are rarely worse than what already happened. Gillian created a set of rules to hep her stay on track and not repeat the same mistakes. Here’s a short excerpt from Becker Circle chapter one that reveals the first rule.

What am I doing? Am I invisible? Everyone’s with someone like I was. Taking the CPA job in Dallas seemed like such a great idea. It’s where no one knows me. Away from Connor. Before he had a chance to break me. Rule one of my new life—forget about what already happened. Period.

Like Gillian, we’re never alone. There’s always help from friends, family and co-workers, local police, and organizations like Hope’s Door New Beginning Center.

Everyone deserves to be treated with respect!