Alyssa Maxwell's Blog - Posts Tagged "new-release"
Release Day Celebration!
Tomorrow, March 25th, is release day for Murder at The Breakers. I'm bouncing off the walls with excitement, but I'm also very aware and very grateful for how I got here. So...
I'm celebrating my release by celebrating the people who helped make it happen – my amazing, generous, talented Critique Group!
We've been critiquing together for years now, and if not for the support of these very special ladies I probably wouldn't be celebrating the release of Murder at The Breakers this week.
Come by my website (http://alyssamaxwell.com) from 3/25 through 3/29. I'll be giving away a book from each of them, plus two of my own, to seven random winners.
Here's just a sampling of the skills and techniques I've learned from each of them, and I've included their websites so you can find out more:
Cynthia Thomason: from Cindy I've learned how to create a cozy, small town environment filled with unique individuals who create a sense of familiarity and belonging – the kind of characters that feel like family during the course of a series. http://www.cynthiathomason.net/
Kat Carlton: From Kat I've learned about fast pacing, keeping the stakes high, and introducing conflict and suspense into each scene. http://www.katcarltonauthor.com/
Nancy J. Cohen: From Nancy I've learned how to think like a mystery writer. To keep track of motives, clues, and all the rest and proceed logically from crime to resolution while at the same time introducing twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. http://nancyjcohen.com/
Sharon Hartley: from Sharon I've learned how to write tighter and to create a determined, single-minded, smart heroine who will not be deterred from whatever she believes is important. http://www.sharonshartley.com/
Zelda Benjamin: from Zelda I've learned how use story imagery and sensory details to generate relationship chemistry and sensuality while keeping the story sweet. http://www.zeldabenjamin.com/
It's easy to enter our giveaway - just tell me what initially attracts you to the books you buy.
Happy Reading, and don't forget to celebrate the special people in your life!
I'm celebrating my release by celebrating the people who helped make it happen – my amazing, generous, talented Critique Group!
We've been critiquing together for years now, and if not for the support of these very special ladies I probably wouldn't be celebrating the release of Murder at The Breakers this week.
Come by my website (http://alyssamaxwell.com) from 3/25 through 3/29. I'll be giving away a book from each of them, plus two of my own, to seven random winners.
Here's just a sampling of the skills and techniques I've learned from each of them, and I've included their websites so you can find out more:
Cynthia Thomason: from Cindy I've learned how to create a cozy, small town environment filled with unique individuals who create a sense of familiarity and belonging – the kind of characters that feel like family during the course of a series. http://www.cynthiathomason.net/
Kat Carlton: From Kat I've learned about fast pacing, keeping the stakes high, and introducing conflict and suspense into each scene. http://www.katcarltonauthor.com/
Nancy J. Cohen: From Nancy I've learned how to think like a mystery writer. To keep track of motives, clues, and all the rest and proceed logically from crime to resolution while at the same time introducing twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. http://nancyjcohen.com/
Sharon Hartley: from Sharon I've learned how to write tighter and to create a determined, single-minded, smart heroine who will not be deterred from whatever she believes is important. http://www.sharonshartley.com/
Zelda Benjamin: from Zelda I've learned how use story imagery and sensory details to generate relationship chemistry and sensuality while keeping the story sweet. http://www.zeldabenjamin.com/
It's easy to enter our giveaway - just tell me what initially attracts you to the books you buy.
Happy Reading, and don't forget to celebrate the special people in your life!
Excerpt: Murder at Ochre Court
Murder at Ochre Court releases Tuesday, July 31st!
At the end of book 5, Murder at Chateau sur Mer, Emma Cross had a big decision to make, and yes, readers, I left you hanging. I'm sorry! In Murder at Ochre Court, we learn what her decision was and how it affected her life. We also may have the answer to another pressing question or two, but shh... no spoilers! As most of you know,
I've brought up Emma's role model, Nellie Bly, on numerous occasions during the series. Here, Emma actually meets her, and while what ensues is completely fictional, Nellie's views concerning marriage are taken from history.
Without further ado . . .
Newport, Rhode Island
July 1898
“Take my advice, Miss Cross, and marry a rich man. Then you may do whatever you like.”
The train from New York City to North Kingstown, Rhode Island, jostled me from side to side on the velvet seat while trees and shrubs and the occasional house streaked past the window to my right. The car was about half full, and soft murmurs and light snores provided accompaniment to the rumble of the tracks. I had faced forward as I usually do, not at all liking the sensation of being propelled backward through space at unnatural speeds. The woman in the seat opposite me, however, seemed to have no such qualms. She sat upright—not rigidly, but proudly, one might say, the kind of bearing that spoke of an unwillingness to bend to the persuasion of others.
“But,” I said and paused, still baffled by her last bit of counsel, “you achieved so much before you were married, ma’am.”
“True enough. But I was lucky, and I was willing to do whatever it took. Are you so willing, Miss Cross?”
Why, yes, I believed I was, but before answering, I studied her, taking in the square chin, the blunt though not unpleasing features which, like her posture, projected an air of uncompromising confidence. I sighed. I’d spent the past year in Manhattan reporting for the New York Herald and pursuing my fondest dream—only to find myself enveloped by the same frustrations that had thwarted my career in my hometown of Newport. What was I doing wrong?
Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, better known to the world as journalist Nellie Bly, smiled slightly at my hesitation. “There is only one sure path to personal freedom, Miss Cross. Money. And for a woman who has none, there is only one sure way of obtaining any. Marriage.”
“But—”
“Ah, you’re going to argue that marrying for money is wrong, that such a woman is destined for unhappiness and will find herself subject to her husband’s whims.”
I nodded.
Her smile grew. “I didn’t say to marry just any man. Do you imagine I’d be willing to exist in anyone’s shadow, husband or otherwise?”
A face with patrician features and dark eyes formed in my mind’s eye, but I dismissed it, or at least the notion of marrying a certain man for his money. That opportunity had come and gone and I had never regretted, for a moment, standing on my convictions. No, that wasn’t quite true. I would never marry for money, but there were times I wondered what my life would be now had I given in to temptation . . . .
A jolt brought be back to the present. “Your living in someone’s shadow is hard to fathom, Mrs. Seaman, with everything I’ve read about you. But your husband is—” I broke off, appalled at the impertinence of what I’d been about to utter.
“Forty years older than me, yes, that is correct.” Unfazed, she darted a glance out the window, blinking against the rapid flicker of sun and shadow against the moving foliage. “Still, we are compatible. I am quite fond of my husband, Miss Cross, and we are happy together. I have compromised nothing, yet I have achieved my goals and am living the life I desire. That is precisely because I have always known what it is I want, and I have never veered from the course that would take me exactly where I wished to be.”
The train jerked as it switched tracks, tipping us a bit to one side. I caught myself with the flat of my palm against the seat. Mrs. Seaman merely swayed as a willow in a breeze, then steeled her spine. The train slowed as the trees yielded to the wooden platform and green-painted depot darkened by soot. The sign read North Kingstown. I unsteadily got to my feet and reached to retrieve my valise from the overhead rack. Even though I stood on tiptoe, the bag, having slid from its original placement, eluded my grasp. A gentleman from across the aisle intervened, easily sliding out the thickly brocaded piece and swinging it down into my arms.
I thanked him before turning back to the individual I’d idolized for more than a decade, who now left me confused and not a little uncertain whether my admiration had been warranted or not. Everything I’d believed about this remarkable woman, this brilliant journalist, tumbled about my mind in chaos. Was she no different from my Vanderbilt aunts and all the other society matrons, whose lives seemed to me as empty and artificial as paper flowers?
She winked at me. “You see, Miss Cross, men are not the enemy. Find one you can trust, one who makes you laugh, and most importantly, one with enough money to make your dearest desires come true.
***
For more, go to https://www.alyssamaxwell.com/single-...
At the end of book 5, Murder at Chateau sur Mer, Emma Cross had a big decision to make, and yes, readers, I left you hanging. I'm sorry! In Murder at Ochre Court, we learn what her decision was and how it affected her life. We also may have the answer to another pressing question or two, but shh... no spoilers! As most of you know,
I've brought up Emma's role model, Nellie Bly, on numerous occasions during the series. Here, Emma actually meets her, and while what ensues is completely fictional, Nellie's views concerning marriage are taken from history.
Without further ado . . .
Newport, Rhode Island
July 1898
“Take my advice, Miss Cross, and marry a rich man. Then you may do whatever you like.”
The train from New York City to North Kingstown, Rhode Island, jostled me from side to side on the velvet seat while trees and shrubs and the occasional house streaked past the window to my right. The car was about half full, and soft murmurs and light snores provided accompaniment to the rumble of the tracks. I had faced forward as I usually do, not at all liking the sensation of being propelled backward through space at unnatural speeds. The woman in the seat opposite me, however, seemed to have no such qualms. She sat upright—not rigidly, but proudly, one might say, the kind of bearing that spoke of an unwillingness to bend to the persuasion of others.
“But,” I said and paused, still baffled by her last bit of counsel, “you achieved so much before you were married, ma’am.”
“True enough. But I was lucky, and I was willing to do whatever it took. Are you so willing, Miss Cross?”
Why, yes, I believed I was, but before answering, I studied her, taking in the square chin, the blunt though not unpleasing features which, like her posture, projected an air of uncompromising confidence. I sighed. I’d spent the past year in Manhattan reporting for the New York Herald and pursuing my fondest dream—only to find myself enveloped by the same frustrations that had thwarted my career in my hometown of Newport. What was I doing wrong?
Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, better known to the world as journalist Nellie Bly, smiled slightly at my hesitation. “There is only one sure path to personal freedom, Miss Cross. Money. And for a woman who has none, there is only one sure way of obtaining any. Marriage.”
“But—”
“Ah, you’re going to argue that marrying for money is wrong, that such a woman is destined for unhappiness and will find herself subject to her husband’s whims.”
I nodded.
Her smile grew. “I didn’t say to marry just any man. Do you imagine I’d be willing to exist in anyone’s shadow, husband or otherwise?”
A face with patrician features and dark eyes formed in my mind’s eye, but I dismissed it, or at least the notion of marrying a certain man for his money. That opportunity had come and gone and I had never regretted, for a moment, standing on my convictions. No, that wasn’t quite true. I would never marry for money, but there were times I wondered what my life would be now had I given in to temptation . . . .
A jolt brought be back to the present. “Your living in someone’s shadow is hard to fathom, Mrs. Seaman, with everything I’ve read about you. But your husband is—” I broke off, appalled at the impertinence of what I’d been about to utter.
“Forty years older than me, yes, that is correct.” Unfazed, she darted a glance out the window, blinking against the rapid flicker of sun and shadow against the moving foliage. “Still, we are compatible. I am quite fond of my husband, Miss Cross, and we are happy together. I have compromised nothing, yet I have achieved my goals and am living the life I desire. That is precisely because I have always known what it is I want, and I have never veered from the course that would take me exactly where I wished to be.”
The train jerked as it switched tracks, tipping us a bit to one side. I caught myself with the flat of my palm against the seat. Mrs. Seaman merely swayed as a willow in a breeze, then steeled her spine. The train slowed as the trees yielded to the wooden platform and green-painted depot darkened by soot. The sign read North Kingstown. I unsteadily got to my feet and reached to retrieve my valise from the overhead rack. Even though I stood on tiptoe, the bag, having slid from its original placement, eluded my grasp. A gentleman from across the aisle intervened, easily sliding out the thickly brocaded piece and swinging it down into my arms.
I thanked him before turning back to the individual I’d idolized for more than a decade, who now left me confused and not a little uncertain whether my admiration had been warranted or not. Everything I’d believed about this remarkable woman, this brilliant journalist, tumbled about my mind in chaos. Was she no different from my Vanderbilt aunts and all the other society matrons, whose lives seemed to me as empty and artificial as paper flowers?
She winked at me. “You see, Miss Cross, men are not the enemy. Find one you can trust, one who makes you laugh, and most importantly, one with enough money to make your dearest desires come true.
***
For more, go to https://www.alyssamaxwell.com/single-...
