A Train Through Time is Now Available in Audio!

All righty! My first foray into audio books is "A Train Through Time," my time travel romance, which is now available at Audible Books, and will be available at Amazon and iTunes within a few days.

I chose a male narrator for my first book which worked out really well, I think. I'll be the first to admit the audio books feels a little pricey (I don't get to set the price), but I think if you join Audible's program, it's heavily discounted.

It's been a fun ride working with my narrator, Joseph Antone. So much so that I contracted three other books with three other narrators, all female this time. Book Two of the Train series, "Together Forever Across Time," plus my latest time travel romance release, "Moonlight Wishes in Time," and "Love of My Heart" are all scheduled to finish production in June and will probably be available for sale in early July. I'll announce the narrators names in separate posts as we move through the production process.

I enjoy audio books for road trips or when I used to commute to work, so I wanted to be able to share my books in audio. I hope you enjoy them. Each one is unique and different because each of the narrators are different. I love them all, but I wanted to get all the books out around the same time, and no single narrator can do that! :-)

I have the utmost respect for the hard work of the narrators. I even tried a breathy version of a paragraph or two myself into my computer just to see how I sounded, and I about died. Stuttered, stumbled over words, squeaked, sounded downright foolish. And I wrote the books! Apparently, silently. :-)

Talk to you all soon!! Wish me luck!

Bess

Bess McBride's Interview on ArtistFirst Radio Network!

I had a lovely interview with author, Ashley Fontainne, on ArtistFirst Radio Network on Monday, April 29th, and it's finally archived and available for listening. Basically, it's just an hour of Ashley and I chatting about the writing process, independent publishing, marketing and my books! Be forewarned though...it's an hour.  Here's the link to Ashley's show: http://www.artistfirst.com/ashleyfontainne.htm and the direct link to my particular interview http://www.artistfirst2.com/ArtistFirst_Ashley_Fontainne_2013-04-28.mp3.

Great fun. Well, wouldn't it be...just talking about me, me, me for an hour.  :-)

In other news, I'm busily working on Book Three of the Train Through Time Series!

Talk soon!

Bess

Will Travel for Romance Boxed Set Books 1-5, featuring my contemporary romances and romantic suspense novels is available now!

My first boxed set! I've taken the majority of my contemporary romances and romantic suspense novels...to date...and boxed them up at a lovely low discounted price!

The books included in the Will Travel for Romance Boxed Set Books 1-5 are not a series in that most of them do not revolve around the same characters, locations or storylines, but the books share several common themes of travel and romance, hence the name Will Travel for Romance, which is my tag line...my author brand, if there is such a thing. These stories are for all of us who want to travel but just can’t get away or can’t afford it or...life gets in the way. The boxed set is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble Nook, Smashwords and Kobo and will soon be available at Sony and iTunes. Happy travels!

The first book is A Penny for Your Thoughts, a contemporary/romantic suspense set on the Gulf Coast of Alabama which was inspired by the winters I spent on the Gulf Coast, basking on the beaches, watching the birds on the shore, and hitting all the Mardi Gras parades for beads and moon pies.

The second book is A Trail of Love, a contemporary/romantic suspense set in Glacier National Park where I spent two wonderful summers in 2007 and 2008 working for the National Park Service where I ate my lunch on a picnic bench in the forest surrounded by deer and moose, and an occasional bear.

The third book is A Shy Woman in Love, a contemporary romance/travelogue set on a whirlwind tour through Rome, Venice, Florence, Lucerne, Paris and London inspired by a group tour I joined with my teenage daughter when I realized it was high time I showed her the world that I had traveled through and loved before she was born. I am a converted tour group traveler now! If it’s Tuesday, this must be....??  Although the covers of A Shy Woman in Love and A Sigh of Love are listed as Books 1 and 2 of a Will Travel for Romance Series, they are not listed first in this collection.

The fourth book is A Sigh of Love, a contemporary romance which is set in scenic Alaska and was written to celebrate the three years I lived in Alaska, and perhaps one very embarrassing episode in my life regarding the feasibility of long distance relationships. However, the beauty of writing is that one can always rewrite one’s past, and this book has a wonderfully happy ending. This book does contain a few references to characters in A Shy Woman in Love.

The fifth and final book in this collection is On a Warm Sea of Love, a contemporary/light paranormal romance set on a cruise to the Caribbean, the region of my youth. I love to cruise, love the Caribbean, and what better way to record and share some of those memories than to set a romance there. Sigh... That I included a lovelorn ghost seemed appropriate to the story and added an extra sweetness to it.

Feast Yer Eyes, Lassies, on Highland Persuasion by Sky Purington!

Nope! Don't get excited! Bess McBride has not entered the foray of Highlander romance writers, but my writing friend, Sky Purington, has been writing about Highlanders and the women who often travel to time to find them for years! This is her latest release, Highland Persuasion. The cover alone by artist Tamra Westberry is to die for. Tamra is also my cover artist, don't ya know. Feast yer eyes, lassies, and enjoy the blurb and excerpt. Since you can't see much of the gal's face on the cover about to lay lips against the Highlander, assume that it's your face! Uh huh! Buy links (which I know you want, dear friends) follow!

Blurb: 

Iosbail MacLomain will do whatever it takes to bring Laird Alexander Sinclair to his knees. Even if it means she has to travel through time to eleventh century Scotland and manipulate a king into marrying her off to the enemy.  

What she doesn't anticipate is a bitter rivalry between King Edgar and Alexander Sinclair. It seems the man she just married is by birthright a threat to the throne. Her plans are suddenly hindered when she and her new husband are almost murdered.
Their lives on the line, Alexander and Iosbail are forced to flee across the country. Fraught with risk, adventure and wild, unexpected desire they struggle against overwhelming odds. Only on MacLomain land does justice stand a chance.
Will a true king find shelter so far from his homeland? Can a woman set out for vengeance forgive deeds done wrong?
Better yet, can enemies persuade one another to forgive and perhaps even love?
Find out in a powerful story that leaves no soul untouched... HIGHLAND PERSUASION.

Excerpt: 

Despite protocol, Alexander’s eyes slid from the king to the lass. While his senses slightly registered that she wore a Broun plaid, they were far too consumed with the rest of her to be rightfully infuriated.

 Long and thick, blue-black hair flowed around a figure so alluring it was sinful. When she sauntered his way, Alexander stood straighter, reared up some might say, almost as though he were a wild horse first meeting she who would master him.

 He did not like the feeling.

 When she stopped before him, Alexander reached for the sword at his side only to realize it wasn’t there. Forced to meet her blazing sky blue eyes and exquisite face, he said not the proper thing but, “You came to steal my soul.”

 While clearly she’d been poised to say something haughty her expression wavered—as if as confused as him—but she quickly regained her composure. “I am Iosbail Broun, she who is to be your wife.”

 Despite the fact his king watched and tradition said he bow, Alexander did not. Instead he took her gloved hand and brought it to his lips where he made a point of giving it a cherished kiss. His eyes stayed locked with hers. Soft, so that it’d be barely heard, he said, “In name only will you ever be my wife.”

 Not fazed by his rudeness, she offered a small smile; thick black lashes lowered, full pink lips curled slightly. With a whisper light word she said, “Sinclair.”

 It was if she tasted his name for the first time.

 Alexander wanted to catch the single word and hold it against his heart.

 Mortified, well aware the Devil was at work, he squeezed her hand a little too harshly. Iosbail’s eyes rounded. He lowered his head but never removed his gaze from hers.

 ‘Twas all that needed to be said between them. 

Available now at Amazon.

Sky is the best-selling author of seven novels and several novellas. A New Englander born and bred, Sky was raised hearing stories of folklore, myth and legend. When combined with a love for nature, romance and time-travel, elements from the stories of her youth found release in her books. Sky loves to hear from readers and can be contacted at Sky@SkyPurington.com. Interested in keeping up with Sky's latest news and releases? Visit Sky's Website, www.SkyPurington.com to download her free App on iTunes and Android.

Kindle Bestseller Lists and Sales!

I can't thank you enough for your support and friendship. My new time travel, Moonlight Wishes in Time, set in England in the Georgian era, has made it onto the Kindle time travel romance bestseller list. It joins, I am bowled over to say, my other four time travel romances: A Train Through Time, Together Forever in Time, Love of My Heart and Across the Winds of Time. That's kind of huge for me (if I may say so inarticulately). Gadzooks! Me... Who woulda thunk? :-)

What it does mean, in addition to telling me that I have a lot of support in reader land, is that by the virtual fact of getting onto a bestseller list via Kindle's algorithms (which few people understand...yours truly included), one can sell more books. Lots of authors study the phenomenon but no one has come to a consensus yet. Does reaching a bestselling list mean more sales? Or would as many books have sold if there weren't bestselling lists?

My experience is that I do sell more by virtue of my books reaching lists that Amazon, at least, "promotes" via their algorithms. So, when I get on the list, I hang on for dear life... :-) Now, the question is...how do their algorithms work?

Thanks all!

Here's a quick blurb if you missed the first one!

Blurb: Mattie Crockwell spends her evenings with the man of her dreams, Lord Ashton of Sinclair House. That he is a character in her historical Georgian romance novel is her little secret. She’s read the same out-of-print book every night for months, anticipating the moment when she settles in for sleep and dreams of the passionate embrace of Lord Ashton. But sleep eludes her one night, and she can’t find her way to her dreams and Lord Ashton. A full moon compels her to wish...for a real live man like Lord Ashton.

William Sinclair of Ashton House, escapes from one of his mother’s interminable matchmaking dinners one night and steps into the garden to wish on the moon for he knows not what. A woman who can love him and not his fortune?

Mattie and William have no idea that wishing on the moon at the same time for the same thing has consequences, but they soon discover that a full moon will grant them their heart’s desire when Mattie finds herself with the man of her dreams...in 1825. Can Mattie survive life in the Georgian era? If not, can William bear to let her return to her own time?