Category Archives: Romance

After I got my faboo review for Dreaming August, Ind’tale sent me an offer to get in on a trailer they put out once a month. (<– if you want to see it.) I took them up on it, and this is the result. Fun, huh?

I’m not going to mince words–I want more reviews! As it happens, I have a few codes for FREE ebooks left, so here’s the deal, leave me a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads (and is better!) for Seeking Carolina, and I will send you a free ebook copy of Dreaming August. Leave a review for Dreaming August, and I’ll send you a free ebook copy of Seeking Carolina.

If you already have both? Write a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads, and I’ll send a free ebook to the friend of your choice. Hey, I’ve got the copies just sitting here, why not?

Supplies are limited. Ebook is available for any ereader device you have. Please ping me here, on FB or at terrilynnedefino (*at*) aol (*dot*) com when you do. And thanks!

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  Handy-dandy buy link

The second book in my Bitterly Suite series with Kensington/Lyrical Shine, Dreaming August, releases today! Woohoo! To celebrate, I’m giving stuff away. Here’s how it works.

The first fifteen readers who buy a copy (digital or paperback) of Dreaming August will get a FREE digital copy of Seeking Carolina. All you have to do is send a copy of your receipt, from whatever venue you purchased from, to terrilynnedefino (at) aol (dot) com and I will send you a code to get your free copy of Seeking Carolina for the ereader of your choice.

But there’s more!

For the first fifteen readers who buy a copy of Seeking Carolina, digital or paperback, I’m giving a free digital copy of Dreaming August! Yup! So if you haven’t gotten around to buying Seeking Carolina yet, there’s no better time than the present. Same process as above.

Supplies are limited, so don’t put it off. Buy it, read it, and if you really love me, you’ll review it. 🙂 Two books for the price of one–how can you go wrong?

Please feel free to share on FB, Tweet, tell your neighbor, co-worker, grandma, best friend, your dog if they have access to a computer even if they don’t know how to read. You know how dogs are–they love to buy things on the internet.

❤ ❤ ❤

(And isn’t this nicer than another bit of sad poetry making all of you cry? Yes, it is. Celebrate life every day you possibly can!)

Dreaming August, Book 2 of the Bitterly Suite

She should have been off-limits. After all, Benedetta “Benny” Grady is his best friend’s widow. But in the space of a whirlwind week, Daniel Greene went from strong shoulder to lean on to Benny’s ardent lover. Now Dan is determined to make Benny his bride. He hasn’t waited this long for love to let it get away so easily. But first, Benny has a few ghosts to contend with…

When Benny finds herself pregnant with Dan’s child, telling him should be easy. After all, she’s fallen hard for the wise-cracking bachelor. But how can she love another while remaining true to her late husband’s memory? Could the past hold the key to their future happiness?

Seeking Carolina, Book 1 of the Bitterly Suite

Johanna Coco is finally home in Bitterly, Connecticut, to attend her beloved grandmother’s funeral—only to be confronted by the very reason she’s stayed away to begin with–Charlie McCallan. Her high school sweetheart is now divorced, and no longer the skinny boy Johanna once loved. Hometown handsome and dependable as always, Charlie is the kind of man she needs to lean on as she and her sisters grapple with their grief—as well as the mystery of their long-missing mother, Carolina. But Johanna’s heart isn’t only haunted by her ghosts; it’s haunted by what happened between her and Charlie…

Charlie is determined to do things right this time, and he has to do it before Johanna vanishes from his life again. First he needs to prove to her that the past is past, and they can overcome it–no easy task when he’s up against the ghosts lingering in her life, trying to convince her that happily-ever-after is not in the cards for any of the catastrophe-prone Coco sisters, least of all Johanna. But her fearless first love is ready to do whatever it takes to win her back—ghosts be damned.

I’m a fortunate author. I get emails and FB messages, cards in the mail saying how much readers loved Seeking Carolina. It thrills me, every time, and is typically followed by the thought, “if only they’d put this up on Amazon, or Goodreads, that’d be really awesome.” Then I feel bad, because how greedy is that? Isn’t it extraordinary that friends, family, long-lost acquaintances, strangers would take the time to send me a personal note about how much they loved my book? Yes it is.

It bothers the crap out of me that I have to worry about such praise going up in a public venue just so the machines powering the industry can rank me, promise me visibility. It feels really wrong, and yet, without it, my future work is in jeopardy, because–as we’ve all found out somewhere along the line or the other–it’s about numbers, first and foremost.

The general population doesn’t know (and shouldn’t) much about the publishing world. I’m a “little” author. I’m not in bookstores, on talk shows, in magazines. My work is fairly invisible to the reading world at large. I blog. My publisher promotes my book on sites trafficked by romance readers. But my reach is limited. Nora Roberts doesn’t need reader reviews. I, and other small authors like me, do.

In a world where any potential publisher, agent, reader can look you up and make a judgement based on the numbers they find, the slope gets really slippery. On the one hand, I want no part of it. On the other, I have no choice but to drink the Kool-Aid. So I’m going to go out on a limb here, and ask–If you’ve read Seeking Carolina, consider putting up a review on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble. It matters. Thanks.

Hmmm…cherry Kool-Aid isn’t so bad. Leaves my tongue red though.