Been Busy... ~ Stacey

So, I missed last month because it was smack dab in the middle of our girls 'weekend'. This month, I'm so busy with preparing for the release of my new book, RUN TO ROME, that I decided I'd share a few pictures that I took on my 2011 Italy trip that I think are just cool pictures and don't really have anything to do with the book.

For pictures that do have to do with the book, visit my blog this week to 'see' the journey my characters took.

For pictures just for fun, scroll on down!

Old tree in the woods--ignore the date,
I forgot to reset after changing my battery

Old stables in the Castello di Torrechiara. Bet they
weren't so clean in the olden days!

A cool stone house along the side of the road.

European version of the General Lee :)

Devil's Bridge: Ponte della Maddalena (Ponte del Diavolo)
across the Serchio, Borgo a Mozzano, Lucca, Italy

View from atop one of the walled city of Lucca's towers.

Inside one of the churches of Lucca.

Me, sitting on a wall. (So exciting, I know.)

Cool archway and pillars inside the walled city of Lucca.

Stone archway in the abandoned gardens of Villa Bottini.

Violinist who provided my lunch music.

Gardens of the Palazzo Pfanner. My mom and sister
stood on the wall in the background just a few weeks ago!

Old fortress wall up in the mountains.

This one's for Mary Jo...is this enough vino for you? *grin*
And yes, we ate that fish. He was yummy!

Clear table where I enjoyed my tea each morning in the quiet
villa while my brother and his co-workers were at work.

So ugly he's cute!

I had to get a picture next to one of these small trucks to show the kids.

Well, that's enough fun for now. Hope you enjoyed the pictures, and if you want to see more, scroll back to the top and check out my blog all this week.

If you want the romantic suspense, action adventure, grab a copy of LOST IN ITALY while it's on sale for $0.99 July 20-23rd, and RUN TO ROME at the new release price of $2.99. Both will return to regular price of $5.99 before you know it! (click book covers for links)

  

Thanks for stopping by today!

~Stacey

Displaced and Busy ~ Stacey

(Apologies in advance for the ramble...)

The other day, a friend commented on Facebook, "Soooooo many things to do, soooooooooooooo little time."

I replied, "Been there, pretty much live there."

Except there's no 'pretty much' about it. I hate being busy, but am never NOT busy, even after I finish something and think now I'll have more time. Donna had mentioned to me about wanting go do something together, but she didn't want to bother me because she knows I'm busy. I said, "I'm always going to be busy, so ask anyway."

The past couple weeks, I've been working on my laptop to finish a book because my desktop kept freezing up on me. It's 7 years old (maybe older?), and I was going to take it in for a check-up, but hubby said to just get a new one. Color me shocked! But for the first time, I'm not so excited to go get myself a new electronic gadget...I've been putting it off because that means I have to make time to go shop for a new computer, then spend time setting it up, and getting all my info transferred to it. Yuck to all 3!

On top of that, my laptop (which is just supposed to be for writing on when we go up north) doesn't have everything that I need for doing all the business things I need to do, so I've been procrastinating on a bunch of things. Which makes me more busy. Busier. Whatever.

Ha--instead of Joy, my middle name should be Busy.

Well, after all that whining, on the plus side, I get to cross one thing off my "list"--I finished my sequel to Lost in Italy this past weekend!! Book 2 of the Italy Intrigue Series, RUN TO ROME, will be sent to my editor later today and I can maybe focus on a few of the other things I've been neglecting.

Few.

Ha Ha Ha. LOL. She's such a comedian. 

And oh, yeah...first item on the list...write the darn LIST so I know what I'm doing!

Have a great day everyone. I'll be busy.

Heartbreaker Blog Hop

Hello! NovelFriends is new to the blog hop world, but we hope you enjoy our stop. 

We are giving away a set of 2 Marcus VIP GOLD movie tickets*. 

How do we define a Heartbreaker?

Stacey: For me, it's the 'wounded warrior'. The guy who is a hard shell on the outside (literally and figuratively *grin*) but inside he's just aching to be loved and love someone else. He fights it, but in the end he always falls.

Trent in Lost In Italy battles a mountain of guilt over his brother's death and now he's got Halli to worry about protecting.

Amazon US UK CA DE IT FR

Donna:What is a Heartbreaker? Such a simple question, yet...is there really a simple answer? My first thought (besides Pat Benatar belting out "You're a...heart-breaker!") is that old saying: "He/She's going to be a heartbreaker someday." So I guess I've always thought of a Heartbreaker as someone who is incredibly attractive. But since beauty is in the ‘eye of the beholder’ (right, Delia?), anyone can be a Heartbreaker.

Take rich playboy Jacob ‘Matt Jacobs’ Spalding from The Perfect Blend, Welcome To Redemption, Book 3. Redemption's new “librarian” breaks hearts on a daily basis, yet he only has eyes for surly Carrie Lowell.

Amazon, BN, SW

Amazon

Jamie: Heartbreaker: a person, event or thing causing great sorrow, grief, or anguish.
Traditionally a heartbreaker is the guy who shatters the girl’s heart because he can’t admit he loves her. But to me, the heartbreaker is the guy with much deeper issues, the emotionally damaged hero who rips out my heartstrings with his sad and painful past. The more damaged he is and the more devastating his story, the more I fall for him. I long to be the heroine who becomes the balm that soothes his scars and makes him realize how much he needs her. Those always end up on my keeper shelf.

Jamie is currently hard at work creating a Heartbreaker of her own, so in the meantime, here's a recent inspiration from Pamela Clare's I-Team series. Gabe Rossiter, the hero of Naked Edge, is a true heartbreaker in every sense of the word.

Delia: Pat Benatar said it best ~

Your love is like a tidal wave, spinning over my head

Drownin' me in your promises, better left unsaid

Listen to the hard-hitting women rockers of the eighties, those chicks knew how to spot a heartbreaker.  Joan Jett, Heart and the aforementioned, Pat Benatar knew all about betrayers, teasers, double dealers and not only lived to tell the tale, but warned the rest of us what to look out for.  What we have to remember is that it’s not the end of the world if we don’t spot a heartbreaker until it’s too late, he can “knock me down, it’s all in vain, I’ll get right back on my feet again.”  You tell’em Pat!

Check out heartbreaker Jake Kelly in Delia's 1920's set Not Looking For Trouble.

The Wild Rose Press, Amazon, BN

So there you have it from the NovelFriends! To enter for our prize of the 2 Marcus VIP GOLD movie tickets, just use the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
ALSO, to enter for the GRAND PRIZES of the Heartbreaker Hop, you must leave a comment along with your EMAIL address.

Share with us your favorite Movie Heartbreaker!

Then make sure you visit as MANY other hop stops in the Heartbreaker Hop to get tons more entries for the Grand Prizes! What are they?


1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet
2nd Grand Prize: A $100 Amazon or B&N Gift Card
3rd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks, 50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, coffee cozies, and more!

Best of luck from the NovelFriends!

(* If there is no Marcus movie theater near you, we will substitute $10 Gift Card of winner's choice)