Author of the suspenseful, paranormal romances in my Stranger Creatures series. Also writing poetry, science fiction, and fiction. Sharing info about new book releases by different authors, poems, contests, and more
This poem is dedicated to everyone who must fight for reasonable accommodations and for equity. For everyone who steps in and tries to make schools, workplaces, public spaces, and life in general better and safer for all.
Listed below are a few resources that may help in the search to make life better and more accessible for everyone:
With bloodthirsty shadows on your tracks, will you fight? Or will you run?
Kisa
I’ve always stretched my time to the last minute. A job here, another there, doctor appointments, shopping, cleaning, cooking… Gosh, I sound like a single mother with four kids, but I am only 19, and the sole person in my care is my couple-of-minutes-younger brother. My dying brother. By what twist of fate I became the Keeper of a cursed Watch is still beyond my understanding, but it might prove useful, if it doesn’t kill me first.
Blake
I had one mission, and failed it like a moron – take the Watch from point A to point B without getting in trouble. Fair to say trouble found me, and it has the face of a woman with dark hair and lonely eyes. Now, like it or not, we are stuck with each other and my main priority is her safety. But the Fates have a twisted sense of humour, and my presence in her life might do more harm than good. It might kill us all…
I’ve still been stuck on what to write for the next chapter of Stranger Creatures book 4, so I wrote another poem. This haiku started out one way and I ended up going in a completely different direction. I was originally using a picture of red and gold summer flowers as inspiration and ended up writing a winter poem because the words did what they wanted. Things in life rarely go as I plan them but somehow, everything usually works out alright.
I got really stuck while working on my next novel in my Stranger Creatures series so I took a break and wrote a poem, ate a bunch of snacks, played with the dog, and watched tv.
Fall in love with Anna & Ben in this steamy contemporary romance.
Ticket to True Love is a steamy contemporary romance series about new beginnings, second chances, and finding true love in unexpected places. Fall in love all over the world with bestselling and award-winning authors JB Schroeder, Savannah Kade, Moni Boyce, Shirley Hailstock, Holland Rae, Julie Strauss, & Jennifer Wilck. Start your next romance with Better Together in Boston now!
Blurb
Do you believe in the legend of True Springs?
Mr. Right doesn’t exist…
Anna Levinson was raised by a single mother, who sacrificed her dreams to give her daughter a warm, loving home. Now a respected professor on the tenure track, Anna is driven to live the life she thinks her mother should have had. She’s long since come to terms with the understanding that “having it all” is impossible if she wants a successful career.
He’s been told he’s Mr. Wrong more times than he can count…
Despite being left at the altar twice, Ben Diamond still believes his soul mate is out there. He’s ready to marry and start a family of his own. He just clearly won’t recognize her when he does find her. And then he meets the maid of honor at his cousin’s wedding, and his world is thrown off kilter.
Settling down might be more than they bargained for.
A long-distance relationship isn’t what either of them has in mind, and Anna isn’t about to ruin another person’s dreams. However, giving each other up is harder than it looks. Can Ben convince Anna that she’s got him all wrong, and that he’s finally gotten it right?
Excerpt:
This was it. The moment she’d waited for and dreaded at the same time.
The seventh inning stretch.
Anna was not like the other women she’d grown up with and knew. She’d never dreamed of a happily ever after for herself. Her mom was strong and independent, and she was, too. Regardless of how much guilt Anna carried, she never felt the need to depend on a man, so marriage had never been one of her goals. And once she started achieving professional success, a relationship would just be one more thing pulling at her time.
But every time she came to a baseball game with her mom, there was always someone nearby who would lean over and kiss his or her partner while everyone else rose during the seventh inning stretch. As a child, she’d been fascinated. As a teen and a young adult, she’d been at first horrified and then a little envious. But as she matured, she decided it was stupid, especially if the couple was unlucky enough to be shown on the Jumbotron.
Seriously, who wanted their kiss broadcast to the world? It gave an intimate moment too much weight.
When she’d come to the games with boyfriends—because she had dated a lot, just not seriously—she always found a way to avoid the time between the two halves of the seventh inning.
But today, today, she wanted to kiss Ben. He wasn’t her boyfriend. She had no intention of getting serious with him. But he had tracked her down, he was here, and oh my God, he was hot.
Her body could not stop reacting to him. Her brain was engaged. Her heart sped up every time he spoke. This man was the one she wanted to kiss, Jumbotron be damned.
She leaned forward in the seat and scanned the field below. Almost time. The pitcher threw a fast one. The batter swung and missed. Strike three! As the teams jogged to the dugout, the organ began to play “Sweet Caroline.”
Anna stood up and held her hand out to Ben. With a puzzled expression on his face, he rose. She turned him to face her, took a step forward and pressed her body to his. He was hard and lean, and need spiraled through her. She rested her hands on his hips, tilted her face up and kissed him hard on the mouth. Despite every protest dying to break free, every reason she didn’t want to want him, she was helpless to resist him. Desire exploded deep in her core.
His close-cropped whiskers tickled her lips. It took him no longer than a second or two to recover. He cupped the back of her head and licked the seam of her mouth. She opened and the spectators around them cheered.
God, his kisses were amazing. He should win an award. Maybe he already had. She’d ask, but, well, that would mean she’d have to separate herself from his lips and stop kissing him. She’d come this far, she certainly wasn’t changing her mind now.
Heat flooded through her and she swayed. She started to pull back, but it was as if Ben sensed her hesitancy. He adjusted his stance, kneaded the base of her skull and deepened the kiss.
As the song ended—why was there a song playing? Oh yeah, the seventh inning stretch—he nibbled her lips, licked their rim, before pulling away. She whimpered, wanting more.
“What was that for?” His voice was raspy, like he couldn’t control his vocal cords.
She curled her toes inside her sneakers in satisfaction. “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to kiss during the stretch,” she whispered.
“And what do you think?”
Sighing, she risked a glance at him. His face was flushed, his eyes filled with desire.
Jennifer started telling herself stories as a little girl when she couldn’t fall asleep at night. Pretty soon, her head was filled with these stories and the characters that populated them. Even as an adult, she thinks about the characters and stories at night before she falls asleep or walking the dog. Eventually, she started writing them down. Her favorite stories to write are those with smart, sassy, independent heroines; handsome, strong and slightly vulnerable heroes; and her stories always end with happily ever after.
In the real world, she’s the mother of two amazing daughters and wife of one of the smartest men she knows. She believes humor is the only way to get through the day and does not believe in sharing her chocolate.
She writes contemporary romance, many of which feature Jewish characters in non-religious settings (#ownvoices). She’s published with The Wild Rose Press and all her books are available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Follow some amazing authors on Bookbub and social media for a chance to win a $300 Amazon gift card! The more you follow the more chances you have to win!
Just click the link below for more information about the contest.
Finding Home (Caveman Creek Book 1) by Pia Manning is now available for pre order!
Newly licensed vet Elizabeth Faulkner only needs two things: New clients for her practice and a decent place to live for herself and her disabled little sister. When her sister inherits an old farmhouse in Pinecone Creek, Wisconsin, Elizabeth thinks at least one wish has been granted. But a greedy land developer will stop at nothing to get her land, and her new clients, Brent and Luke Callahan, are more interested in a relationship than her vet skills. Brent and Luke have waited years for their forever woman. They know their wait is over once they see Elizabeth. But can she love two men? Can Elizabeth provide a home for her sister before the little girl becomes lost in the foster system? Welcome to Caveman Creek where the men are just a little Neanderthal when it comes to their women.
Pia Manning is the erotic romance author behind the new Caveman Creek series. Also by Pia Manning: Star Brides a three book series. She is married to a wonderful man. Loves to crochet, play Clash of Clans. Not a morning person.
Tiger’s Last Chance (Stranger Creatures book 3) is $2.99 for a limited time!
When a radical group targets Detective Nikki Jackson, she teams up with private investigator Sean Whitman in a race against the clock to stop the group from carrying out deadly plans. Will he get one last chance to show her he loves her?
About the Stranger Creatures series:
The stories in my Stranger Creatures series take place in the fictional town of Great Oaks, Virginia, where shifters, along with a bunch of new businesses, are breathing life back into the once abandoned former factory town. Each book in this steamy, suspenseful, paranormal romance series features a different couple on their journey to happily-ever-after. Tiger’s Last Chance (Stranger Creatures book 3) is Sean and Nikki’s story.
A little about Tiger’s Last Chance:
While working a case, Sean Whitman is tortured for information, drugged, and bitten against his will by a shape shifter. The fallout ruins his career. Needing a fresh start, he leaves town and opens a private investigation business. Learning to live life sober isn’t easy, but he makes it to the two-year mark.
When Detective Nikki Jackson with the Great Oaks, Virginia Police Department calls him to ask for his help as a consultant on a case, he’s captivated by her sweet, slightly Southern voice. In person, she’s unlike any other woman he’s encountered, and nearly impossible to resist. But could the sexy detective ever want a man like him?
After Nikki’s last dating disaster, the mountain lion shifter has sworn off men. Then she meets Sean, and with every second she spends around the tall, dark-eyed man, her resolve crumbles. Despite the undeniable attraction between them, Sean seems determined to push her away.
An investigation into missing refugees leads Nikki to the discovery of a radical political group’s horrifying plot for dominance. Traitors are embedded within the very organizations meant to keep shifters safe. As the list of people she can trust dwindles, she calls on Sean to help her unravel a web of deceit.
As Nikki and Sean fight for survival, his fear of losing her could become a reality. Will he get one last chance to show her he loves her?
Excerpt:
For the briefest moment, Nikki felt the depth to which Sean might be capable of pushing her. His kiss was crushing and brutal. His tongue pushed past her lips and his grip in her hair tightened. If desire were a vine, it would have wrapped itself around her veins and encased her heart. The heat between them flooded her. There was a sweetness, too, in his kiss, and the sweetness made her burn hotter.
A polite cough from inside the waiting car put a quick end to things. Sean pulled away and met her gaze. No words, but she got the message. She wasn’t alone. Comfort and friendship; he’d probably meant the kiss to comfort her and had gotten carried away in the heat of the moment. He’d carried her away with him, and she wanted to take him so much further into the unknown.
With each second, each step towards the waiting car, she tried to find reasons and more reasons to ignore her growing attraction to Sean. The number one reason to forget about the kiss they’d shared—relationships were trouble. She had plenty of other amazing things in her life, including her career, her volunteer work, and her band, even though the band rarely played anywhere because the members had trouble aligning their schedules. She didn’t need a man. Besides, he was probably still messed up over Sydney. Also, he was a regular. Or mostly regular. Not to mention he lived over a thousand miles away in Texas. She should tell him the kiss was a mistake. One look at him and she couldn’t bring herself to say the words. The kiss they shared had been anything but a mistake.
Purchase links:
Tiger’s Last Chance will be sale priced from April 15 to April 30, 2021 on the following sites:
Book 4 of the Stranger Creatures series will be finished soon!!! I’ve been working on Luke and Jordan’s story during the last few months.
After surviving a battle with cancer, Jordan decides life should be about taking chances. She’s never met another person with psy abilities before, until Luke. Though she’s still nowhere as bold as she wishes she could be, she has an idea that would allow her spend more time with him. Luke agrees to Jordan’s plan to spend the holidays together and even though he wants something more permanent than their holiday arrangement, he vows to keep that thought to himself. Would Jordan still want him if she knew his past? Can they stop an elusive research company from experimenting on vulnerable people or will Luke and Jordan’s time together be over too soon?
A little about me:
When I’m not writing, I enjoy swimming, hiking, bike riding, horror movies, and carbs. I live in beautiful Virginia with my husband, two daughters, and a sweet, hairy monster of a dog.
slow and steady, a lifeless dance of the same old steps
But I want the heavy drum beat
the bright lights and the sleepless nights
where answers are sought and whiskey is thrown back
not to kill the nagging reminder of the same old tomorrow
but to feel the burn and remember why I came
So I close the door on the little grey world
The sky has grown dark and everything has changed
since I’ve last been awake
Street lights and starlight
throw down a path under the endless indigo sky
The sound of my boots on the broken cement is secondary
to the world around me
to the music and possibilities
as I return to life
by Christina Lynn Lambert
The idea for this poem began a long time ago when I was bored and frustrated with an office job I was stuck in. I left this job to pursue my masters degree and from there, I’ve tried a few different careers, determined that I wanted to find work that I loved, that didn’t make me feel like a lifeless zombie who existed only to survive. It took me a long time to put the struggle into the right words, to describe the scary but thrilling feeling of leaving a job that was slowly stealing pieces of my soul. I left this job and career field to strike out on paths that had no guarantee for success and it’s been a scary, weird, and wonderful journey so far.
Christina Lynn Lambert 