Welp …

So after two small strokes, I got back to work both physically, writing and reading. AKA “rehab.” The strokes were ‘small’ since my husband was fast on the phone. In fact, everything happened in the order truly ordained. What Satan meant for evil, God meant for good. If I had the stroke in the middle of the night, the damage would have been devasating. If my husband hadn’t noticed it immediately and called 911, if the EMTs weren’t here in less than five minutes, further damage would have ensued.

Even though the CT scan was ‘clear,’ the ER doctors opted to offer the clot busting medication (I was alert, just couldn’t talk), and if I hadn’t as best as could say, PUSH IT, I wouldn’t be typing much less talking. The possibility of being with Lord did not escape me, but apparently he isn’t through with me yet.

Within one half hour, I was almost back to normal. If I hadn’t been transferred to the ICU, I wouldn’t have been watched so closely, and I may have been released early. Within 2 days on the neuro floor, I had either another stroke or the continuation of the first one. If I didn’t know it would be likely, if they didn’t repeat testing, one can only wonder. Of course I read all of the information, and a second stroke within two days is rather standard. All the MRIs showed these proved to be right on.

I might add, on the way to the 2nd hospital, I texted my editor. Bahahahahaha!

I might add her reaction was a bit different.

Now I am basically back to ‘baseline,’ pre-stroke. But I’ve done a lot of rewiring exercises by forcing my affected areas to rewire neurons around the damage (the damage is done, it will never work again, but ya only have billions of neurons. Rewire!) Neuroplasticity exercises work even with old strokes and CP.

Okay so that is more than enough of the total blessing God allowed, a wake up call (seriously, sharing the Gospel as much as possible), and I finished my editing of novel three, title and cover unknown (I had thought of Glass Slipper and the addition of and Body Snatchers but my publisher frowned on the body snatchers – a term of endearment by police for those who pick up the corpse at the crime scene). I figured well … perhaps her team would come up with the best title and cover since they are the professionals.

I would say this WIP, the second in the series after “Romance Under Wraps,” is more geared towards Christians with issues. Like we don’t all have issues. For those who are not churchgoers, it is proof positive we as Christians, have difficulties, trials, and only with the help of the Holy Spirit, we must (and can) work out our issues (even if it’s grief for our own lives or those close to us), draw closer to God with intention no matter the situation.

NKJV; Philippians 2:12-13 “12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation [called ‘justification’] with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

It doesn’t stop with salvation. Justification is living the life, asking God for help in whatever you’re dealing with, good or bad. Walking the talk, if you will … Okay, then. Got it?

Onward!

I am nearing the end of “The Summer of the Waxman,” the ARC given to me by Brent Brantley. Wow. I cannot wait to endorse this moving book. Write in your “notes” on your phone to look for it!

Also, reading the ARC, “Warped,” by Maureen Myers Koeppel. Coming out the 14th of this month. An epic science fiction/fantasy with the dogged investigation into a murder, a girl in a coma, and a long voyage. Can’t wait to see it on the shelf and review it! In One Week!

And last, the audiobook of my thriller/intrigue/romance, “Rules of Engagement,” should be coming soon!

Reading vacation

I’ve been binge reading for about 5 days. Jane Daly is coming out with a sequel to “Broken,” so I – yes – reread it, and LG Westlake has a sequel to “Calculated Risk,” so did I read it? Why, of course.

I finished Westlake’s “Calculated Encounters” yesterday. Excellent writing. Her amateur sleuth gets into trouble constantly. Her characters are well-written. Her main character never follows the orders of the ex-FBI agent, now bounty hunter, and her attempts to let her love interest (writing a ‘happily ever after, for now) know she is indeed in Spain, now gets him in deep kimchi while she’s in a horrible situation on her own. Because she didn’t follow the bounty hunter’s instructions (“go home!”).

I’m a serial binge reader, usually three at a time. I have Terri Gillespie’s novel, “Cut it Out!” (another sequel in the Hair Maven’s series) in one room, Linda Rodante’s “Scars,” on my ‘puter, her beta, and Lisa Black’s police procedural, “That Darkness,” on my Kindle.

I can keep up with the plots and characters of each, perhaps because they are all in different formats.

My favorite genres wander from romantic comedy, romantic suspense, police procedural, romantic forensics, thrillers, intrigue, and do you note the pattern there? Usually romance within the second genre, no matter how little.

I do have favorite authors but so many it’s hard to name them. Every time I turn around, I have another new favorite. SMH.

Tell me, what are you reading these days? Who are your favorite authors, and your favorite genres?

What are you writing?

First, Terri Gillespie has mad skills. Her first book was replete with four plots, one main character with three subplots and three more characters. A Christian/romantic/coming of age book with some suspense, the first in the Hair Maven’s series follows the four lives of beauticians at odds with the new owner, Shira. I’m jealous, I mean, amazed that the first book was so incredibly complex and weaves together so eloquently.

Second, I’ve been following/reading Linda Rodante’s Christian romantic/suspense novels forever. I love her spiritial warfare series. She always creates complex characters with complex issues to overcome. She addresses modern men and women who have to overcome their physical/emotional issues to reconcile ‘at odds’ characters’, bringing them together to defeat (or convert) a bad guy or gal. A lot of peril and prayer – these books address issues that Christians and non-Christians face, from trafficking to gangs. All her characters are super complex.

Lisa Black is new to me and writing a police procedural. Chapter one sounds like a behavioral analyst/detective talking to a hardened criminal. The last lines are 1000% SHOCKING. The next chapter involves two detectives following the evidence. The group of detectives assigned to the murder of said hardened criminal is 10,000% SHOCKING.

Because I see this is part of a sequel, I can’t wait to read her next installment after I finish this one, though I have 240 books left on my kindle. I should have stuck with paperbacks. Apparently that ‘buy with one click’ button on Amazon is an addictive issue for me.

Sue Coletta is a favorite when I need to read a serial killer novel. Lisa Gardner is another serial killer novelist with police procedural. Teri Blackstock for romantic suspense. Sara Blackard for romantic suspense. Dale Amidei for insanely complex thrillers. Christy Barritt for her romantic suspense. Those are just a few.

Okay. Now, like I said, it’s your turn. Comment and like!

Great villains make for great novels

Allo! Good morning! Guten Morgen! Shalom! ! صباح الخير

Okay that’s it, and I hope everyone is having a great day, no matter your time zone.

yum

As I rewrite “Glass Slipper,” I am pushing this sequel to “Romance Under Wraps,” a police procedural/forensics/romance.

I’ve added a baby. Imagine a near-toddler in McCloud’s world. How will he react? How will Jonah react?

awe

More importantly, how will his mom react? So far for me, it’s been a riot to write. If you’ve read “Romance Under Wraps,” you will have a good idea of how Jack McCloud thinks. He’s not been a very respectful dude.

Poor mom. Or maybe not.

Mom. Mercedes. Maybe.

Last night I fleshed out a villain for “Glass Slipper.” I’d written it before but somehow it fled off the page.

oh, so different!

But another one comes on the scene also.

Remember: Smart villains make for a great obstacle for the main character to overcome. Villains should be smarter than your main character(s).

So I ended up going to bed thinking, muuuuuaaaaahhhh. Probably the reason I tossed and turned.

In that wee bit of info, tell me what you think, and tell me what you’re working on. Because it’s important! And what are you reading today?

I think I Promised to write a Blog Today … Uh, yeah, I did.

OKAY, OKAY, since it’s been a bit over a month since I last wrote, I figure just perhaps since I posted on Twitter my blog site and website that I really should keep up to date.

So this is for Jack who so graciously sent me his hysterical blog link on being a lawyer with a sense of humor … in the event he’s checking in on me.

Hey, Jack!

What exactly have I been doing with my time? Uh.

ahem

I’m a night owl. That’s when I read, write, rewrite, etc. So I am working hard(ly?) on Glass Slipper, my third novel. Police procedural, forensics, my first serial killer novel. Yay! Cough, I mean …

Anywho it is a sequel to “Romance Under Wraps,” murder mystery, forensics, police procedural, romance. It wasn’t my title or cover concept, so no, to say it’s a romance would be misleading, but all is well if folks like romance with suspense. And gunplay. Etc.

“Glass Slipper” continues on in fictional (almost real) Whiskey River, where Jack McCLoud is the medical examiner. Morose. Trying to go straight. Trying to forget the dame who shot him, giving him a bad attitude (more so than usual) and a nice limp.

Mercedes Hall has a few secrets of her own. She’s the new tech in the morgue with a handful of secrets and a lot of Jack’s new problems and temptations.

Trying to go straight with a knockout redhead stepping into his world and shaking it up was not his plan.

Sharing an excerpt. This is how Jack’s mind goes (this of course, is up to change via the editing process. But you get the idea).

Gass Slipper concept

“I was still mulling over how I’d been shot.

How did I miss it? The woman I had almost married was an assassin. She wasn’t sent for me, but she’d used me up, and shot me. It was, at the very least, unexpected. My knee pained me, especially in the Dead Room, so naturally, it was hard not to think of that Mata Hari. I might be wrong, but ‘once bitten, twice shy,’ certainly seemed to apply. Nearly sleeping the big one at the hand of a crazy blonde could make a man cranky, and I’m not likely to take another broderick, emotionally or otherwise.

The thought of her and the ache in my leg dogged me as I readied the newest arrival, Lindsay Pratt, D.O.A., for viewing in the morgue.

Every building, every room has its own whiff test. The bleak corridor that led to the Dead Room was long, and smelled like formaldehyde, and bleach, and maybe a thousand dead bodies. That was the nature of my business as medical examiner.

I’m Jack McCloud, the lone ranger of the dead across Southern Oregon, our very own Rest in Peace Department.

* * *

I had a hard and fast rule: nothing jumps in the morgue so when a stranger comes through the doors, I tend to take note.

A live one walked in, jarring my thoughts. The blonde strode into the Dead Room, a knockout, a tomato with gams that kept on going like a kid’s toy with an Energizer battery. Her threads were a spending spree beyond my annual take-home and she was like a fine porcelain vase. In a tight-fitting cerulean dress, with thin straps over her shoulders, all those blonde curls spilled over her shoulders like a waterfall over a cliff. And her curves? Her curves were hugged by all that lucky, lucky blue.”

And that’s what I am up to!

At least for today

As for Jack? Here’s his link:

http://jocularious.com/

Updates and a testimonial … for fun

Hi ya!

“Romance Under Wraps” has been on the shelf since near the end of the dreaded COVID 19, 2020. A little over a year and chugging along. I’d like to share a review with you.

“Romance Under Wraps” was a labor of love that started with a contest a LONG, LONG time ago in a galaxy far away. My first published novel, with many *many* revisions, rewrites, more rewrites, then a handful more before editing. Then the professional editor. A romantic suspense. A thriller, some have said. Amateur sleuth, Catherine Cade, is a thief. A thief with retrograde amnesia, she steals one identity after another to dodge an ex-partner. Rick Calhoun, homicide detective, is getting in her way. Especially when he catches her red-handed on CCTV, in what appears to be stealing evidence from a locked evidence room. Checking a background cements his fears. Now there’s a confrontation for the ages. Let the chase begin, especially when the dead body of a city VIP tosses the two together.

From a reader:


Mollie

5.0 out of 5 stars Most Memorable and Moving Novel Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2021

“This was the most memorable and moving novel I have read all year. The plot took me through a whirlwind of emotions – laughter, tears, sorrow, and anger. The heroine, Catherine Cade, cannot recall a thing about her life prior to an automobile accident. What she can recall all too vividly is the abusive relationship she endured at the hands of a thief and con artist. This man, who convinced Catherine that she was his wife, taught her how to work a con and change her identity. With no real identity of her own, she became adept at changing her persona during frequent moves. Things changed for Catherine Cade when she moved to the small town of Whiskey River. Not only had her surrounding changed, but Cade developed friendships, a career, and a handsome love interest. Her attraction to a detective spurs a great deal of conflict, not only because she is a con artist but because Cade’s personality and values change throughout the book. Eventually, I realized that Cade was running away from both evil and good. She was running to a void, a continuous life of nothingness. The author has crafted engaging plots. No one is what they seem. No one seems to be trustworthy. For crime mystery lovers this is a fiction that you will enjoy with plenty of action, gun play, good guy and bad guy moments, murders, assaults. For mystery/romance lovers you will feel involved in the plot development of what appears to be a hopeless love between a con artist, Catherine Cade and a no-nonsense ex-Marine, detective, Rick Calhoun. For the cozy mystery lovers, you’ll enjoy how the plot develops to encourage the heroine to develop her interests in solving a murder and in opening a bakery. For me, I loved how the plot developed to show the ways in which God may choose to act in our lives.”

“Rules of Engagement” is with Deb Haggerty, Elk Lake Publishing, and her nefarious editor, Mary, who will red-pen my manuscript into another orbit (that means, “Fix this.” “Fix that.” repetitively). “Rules of Engagement” is in a different genre (sort of). A medical military *and romance* thriller. A global disaster loosely based (and I mean very loosely based) on a true story, started some time after “Romance Under Wraps” was mostly completed.

I have no idea what that cover will look like. Kind of hope it includes these pics which are representative of the two main characters (out of a gazillion other characters):

Oops…

Oops? Did you just say, ‘Oops?’

“Glass Slipper” is my next endeavor that I am currently writing. I have a beautiful graphic design for it, but we’ll wait for the real cover release. Heck sometimes titles and cover art are changed. But it might even look like a … glass slipper.

Cinderella Glass Slipper, Crystal Glass Shoe Ornament, Ideal for Cinderella Party Decoration, Girls Birthday Gift,, Weddin...

“Glass Slipper” is in a sequel to “Romance Under Wraps” in Whiskey River, a forensics/police procedural (& rom/com) about what else? Forensic science students. Dead ones. Someone wants them out of Whiskey River. Or so it seems. Morose medical examiner, Jack McCloud, meets his match in a new medical examiner’s technician, Mercedes Hall. Jack’s brain works in old movies, Bogie and Bacall’s “Key Largo.” Also Raymond Chandler’s, “The Maltese Falcon.” “The Big Sleep.” And sometimes – sometimes – those 1940s expressions slip out into the modern world in which he lives. And does what he can to solve a serial killer case and dodge Mercedes.

For my other upcoming novels, check out https://www.claireosullivan1.com/

And that’s all, folks!!

Special night afoot!

How exciting! For my birthday our kids got us tickets to a murder mystery dinner. Interactive.

Hopefully not too interactive.

That said, I spent all day yesterday and into the wee hours working on the last rather intimidating chapters of “Rules of Engagement” (working title). Complete rewrites. Complete.

I am a mere one half chapter from completion.

That deserves applause, by the way. Ahem.

“Rules of Engagement” is a military/thriller and romance. Scott is a good guy. Cheyenne thinks he’s all wrong (as in crazy). She’s a scientist. He’s die-hard special forces and hates (hates!) a babysitting job assigned him (protecting her.)

So folks, I need some great ideas on covers to submit to the publisher on my wish list.

You ready to help out? Like, post your thoughts, and subscribe!

See the source image

Thanks to Deb at elk lake publishing!

“Romance Under Wraps” has been chugging right along thanks to Deb Haggerty and the Elk Lake Publishing group!

Check out the cool stuff on their website and the YouTube trailer (hint: Go to the ‘O’ and find my trailer):

To the readers and reviewers, you guys rock.

Thank you also to the latest reviewer who said,

“Don’t let the title fool you; this is a suspenseful tension-inducing read. Yes, there is a touching romantic underlying theme, but my interest was a suspenseful crafted story. This novel meets and exceeds my personal interests in both suspense and romance. The author displays a solid knowledge of police work and captures a cops’ thought process and their dry humor (I know because I was once one).

The main character’s, Catherine, on and off again romantic relationship with Detective Calhoun, is peppered with humorous quick-witted barbs. However, you see a growing relationship with each other. The storyline also draws a line of Christian thought through it. A dynamic, dangerous, and complex novel compels the reader to turn the pages to the very end. And what an ending.

See the source image

Whew! “Rules of Engagement” and then some

Been busy, busy. Rewrites on Rules of Engagement and juggling ARC and TBR books, reviews, promoting Romance Under Wraps, have been a challenge.

(promote, promote right here): Find Romance Under Wraps on Amazon. Free on KU and Audible. Also available on Kindle and paperback. Click:

Two people (editor and my husband) have started cracking the whip on me to finish the rewrites ASAP. UH.

Image result for indiana jones
ouch!

Truth be told those last chapters will be the hardest.

Truth

Anyone else stuck in that?

Image result for stuck in mud

I like keeping posts short. My attention falters with long posts. So, off to rewrites or whatever my calendar tells me to do. Maybe I should get a calandar. Hmm.

Image result for calendar 2021 planner

It Starts Now ~ “Romance Under Wraps” One Week Sale!

I’m excited to announce that “Romance Under Wraps” is on sale for 99 cents. One week only. Midnight (PDT) June 30th to 11:59 pm (PDT) July 7th. Alrighty then. I asked the publisher why ‘Romance Under Wraps.”

Romantic suspense, clean read, with a dash of police procedural.

Some folks just can’t stop breaking the law…

I can’t tell you how fun this is. I’ve been looking forward to a near-giveaway for months, and Deb Haggerty from Elk Lake Publishing said, “As you wish.”

Image result for as you wish

Well, you know what I mean. And Deb doesn’t look like Wesley. Which is a good thing.

So this is the perfect time to storm Amazon and pick up a kindle copy for 99 cents!

See the source image
no, it’s better than a TV!

“Romance Under Wraps” is also available paperback, Audible, and Kindle Unlimited.

Quick!

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Click right here: https://www.amazon.com/Romance-Under-Wraps-Claire-OSullivan-ebook/dp/B08MB43BSL/ref

Romance Under Wraps by [Claire O'Sullivan]

Catherine Cade Has a Problem

She’s an identity thief with partial amnesia impersonating a nurse practitioner—trying to go straight. When one of her patients dies a mysterious death, she is faced with an agonizing decision. When evidence points to murder, she must overcome her fear of prison for the truth. Her biggest problem is the cop who caught her.

Rick Calhoun is a homicide detective who knows more about Cade than she does. When he finds a murder scene and catches up with Cade, the chase begins.

She tries to keep her lies straight, and it’s a job while tending patients and opening a bakery. He has to keep the investigation quiet, tend to his homicide cases, and keep Cade out of trouble.

Cade’s biggest worry is the detective who found her. He’s onto her, and she‘s stuck. Calhoun’s biggest problem, he is in love with her and will sacrifice anything to give her safe passage.

Love means never having to hear your Miranda Rights …

I never thought I’d read about, and like, a scam artist and identity thief. But I just did, and I do! Who wouldn’t like Catherine Cade and her effort to get her memory back, and her witty repartee, and her exploits? And who wouldn’t like Calhoun, her sexy detective boyfriend? “Romance Under Wraps” has as many ups and downs and twists and turns as a rollercoaster and just as much action. If you like fast-paced mysteries laced with romance this is the book for you. A very enjoyable read. I give O’Sullivan 5 stars for this debut novel. ~Nadia

In a heart-wrenching story about losing one’s sense of self while driven with a ferocious instinct to survive, Romance Under Wraps dazzles readers with its exploration of love and redemption. It is insanely relatable for anyone who’s found themselves questioning their faith. Cade and Calhoun work together, albeit not easy at first, to show the world how love, alongside God, brings redemption to even the most cunning of sinners. ~ Kara Kelley