Hauntings in the Garden:Brighten Your Blog

And for Day 5 in the Hauntings in the Garden series of posts featuring the nine mini-novellas from The Wild Rose Press, an unfriendly ghost is all set to make an appearance.

Award-winning author Alicia Dean is the motivating force behind this series of Hauntings in the Garden posts. This is her first ever ghost story and it's a cracker

Caster's Unfriendly Ghost

A year after her husband’s death, Emily Tillman is ready to start dating again, and hopefully, find what she’s always wanted—marriage and children. But the man who broke her heart five years ago is back. And he’s anything but the marrying kind.

Confirmed bachelor Reese Caster is perfectly content with his life—and he’s finally over Emily, the one woman who almost made him commit. Now, his world is rocked when her dead husband shows up, demanding that Reese pursue Emily to keep her out of the clutches of her latest suitor—a jerk who is only after her money.

Being around Emily again has made Reese reconsider his bachelor life style. But now that the threat of the other man is gone, the pesky ghost wants Reese to break things off. Can he and Emily find the love they were denied, or will the ghost of her dead husband destroy their chances?

Halloween
Rating: Sensual
Page Count: 67
Word Count: 15385
978-1-62830-569-2 Digital

Find more about Alicia and the other stories and authors at her website, aliciadean.com and read her take on the books in the series with fun facts about authors in her blog here

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Using the Hauntings in the Garden banner for this series has given me a taste for brightening my blogger headings by using more banners.
To brighten your own blog, have a look at The Cutest Blog on the Block, where I found the heading for this post, and browse its selection of goodies for Blogger, Twitter, Facebook and WordPress. A helpful tutorial section has guides to improving and personalizing the appearance of your blog.

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Vikki Kestell is offering her short story The Christian and the Vampire free until November 3. Readers in the UK should access it here.

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For other giveaways you may have missed:

Day 1: Planning and Purpose with download link to Lazette Gifford's free 130 page ebook on preparing for NanoWrimo

Day 2: Writing "small": analyse blurbs for style and content.
Day 3: Covers and Blurbs:with download link to small ebook on good book and cover design.
Day 4: Inspiration and Motivation with download link to creative teaching pack based on the work of Niki de Saint Phalle.

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Hauntings in the Garden: Finding Inspiration

Halloween Reads and Discounts

This is a very special day. It marks the birth date of artist Niki de Saint Phalle, as Google doodle fans will have noticed, as well as Day 4 of the Halloween celebrations for Hauntings in the Garden--the series of nine mini-novellas from The Wild Rose Press.

For those of us looking for an inspiration or motivation, the Tate Liverpool has a downloadable pack on the work of New York born video artist, painter and sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle.

Not only does it explain her life and her work with illustrations but it also suggests exercises and activities which could cross-fertilize your own creative activity. It's a teacher's pack so, with care, you could also adapt many of the activities to keep the children entertained over the half-term break.

For other giveaways you may have missed:

Day 1: Planning and Purpose with download link to Lazette Gifford's free 130 page ebook on preparing for NanoWrimo

Day 2: Writing "small": analyse blurbs for style and content.
Day 3: Covers and Blurbs:with download link to small ebook on good book and cover design.

Day 4: Inspiration and Motivation
To continue with thoughts of dreams and inspiration, the Halloween novella by Linda Carroll-Bradd featured today is a tale to recapture the pleasures of sea and sail.

Click the link below to read an excerpt:

Unlocked Treasure

Aleen MacRae blames the lure of the sea for breaking apart her family and then her engagement.  When her interest is caught by a man she sees both in person and in a dream, she resists—afraid to believe in her aunt’s prediction that her future is tied to the sea.

Braden Williams is on the hunt for treasure buried centuries earlier by Rhode Island pirates. His search brings him to the property where Aleen lives. Collaboration on genealogy research draws them closer, and Braden steers her toward his true passion—sailing.

Attending a party with Braden’s family lets her glimpse what she’s been missing. An unexpected discovery before her date with Braden at the Halloween Midnight Organ Recital forces a decision. Will Aleen play things safe or accept what this free-spirited man offers?

Rating: Sweet
Page Count: 67
Word Count: 15820
978-1-62830-602-6 Digital 

Hauntings in the Garden: Covers and Blurbs

Day 3 of the Halloween celebrations for Hauntings in the Garden--the series of nine small seasonal novellas from The Wild Rose Press.
And each day gives another chance to win the Rafflecopter prize--a £25 gift certificate for the Wild Rose Press. Wth all the great discounts that might mean up to 25 new books :-)
Day 1:Planning and purpose with link to Lazette Gifford's free ebook on preparing for Nanowrimo.
Day 2:Writing "small": analyse blurbs for style and content.

Today, I'm featuring the fourth of the mini novellas, Lara Parker's The House and my own ShriekWeek.

Paranormal suspense

Unexpectedly, Leslie Harrison inherits a sprawling horse farm in Florida from a distant relative. She packs up her life and relocates to the Sunshine State with no idea what awaits her. Upon her arrival, she meets the farm manager, Preston McClay and, to her chagrin, he isn’t happy to see her. Quickly the cantankerous, but rather good looking, farm manager becomes the least of her worries when things start to go bump in the night. Will the sinister activity in the house chase Leslie away, or will she prevail in the struggle between good and evil?

Rating: sweet
Page Count: 55
Word Count: 12900
978-1-62830-570-8 Digital

Click on the link for more info and to read excerpt.

Cozy Mystery

Events organizer Maggie Ballater has a new career, a new Island home, and a new life, and intends to make the most of it. But two things stand in her way. One is the dangerously attractive guitarist who brings back memories she’d rather forget. The other is the inexplicable murder of the lead actor in her ShriekWeek pageant.

Bram Jenkins wants to clear his name after being imprisoned for a crime he swears he did not commit. He has no time to be distracted by an opinionated woman he  suspects of working for his enemy.

Solving the ShriekWeek murder means they must both face up to the past before they can lay their ghosts to rest, and find out where their future lies.

Halloween
Rating: Sweet
Page Count: 69
Word Count: 15280
978-1-62830-563-0 Digital

Today, think about covers. What is different about the covers above compared to the covers on Day 1 and Day 2? Do covers matter for e-books? Do you prefer to have people on the covers--look back at the past two days. Which cover do you like best? Which is more important to you, the blurb or the cover? Why do you buy the books you buy? Why should people buy your book?

For some help with thinking about book and cover design, try Thinking With Type's interesting downloadable pdf on Beautiful Books with sections on fonts, layout and covers. The download for me took a long time to happen but it was worth the wait.

And here are nine authors' views of great cover design

Comments below the rafflecopter giveaway please and remember to enter the giveaway for a chance of winning that £25 gift certificate, courtesy of The Wild Rose Press.

a Rafflecopter giveaway