Grace's Mosaic Moments


Sunday, April 20, 2025

Recommended Fantasy & Mystery + FL Bear Pics

 

Still so much Doom & Gloom on Facebook, I have no new pics. But here are a few of my daughter's photos to illustrate why I am so glad I live EAST of I-4, that 6-lane bear deterrent that runs through the heart of Longwood. To the WEST, however, is the Wekiva Forest, bear habitat supreme. 

Bear exploring Halloween decorations

Bear tore pool screen, opened fridge - 9/16 

Same night

The Reale family moved to an area in Sanford (10-15 miles north), where the houses were closer together, thinking it unlikely they'd see any more bears. 

Mother bear on right

 

Photo tagged 7/21

Not sure where this was taken. Tagged 7/21

Not surprising message from UPS

Sanford, 11/22

 

Shortly after this, the family moved to the far side of I-4 near Sanford-International Airport. That did it. No more bears. To tell the truth, I miss the fun. (I was at Susie's house the day a mother bear and two cubs decided to stroll down the sidewalk across the street.)

~ * ~

 

RECOMMENDED SERIES - FANTASY & MYSTERY

 During  my aggravatingly long bout with my "Connecticut" cold, I've done a lot of reading and made some interesting discoveries. You may remember my warning a few weeks ago about books with fancy ads on Social Media. And there's no doubt you have to be really careful - clicking on the ad, examining the blurb, maybe checking the reviews. BUT it is also possible to come up with a gem or two along the way.  Some of the series below are relatively new; some simply new to me. But they have been good companions during my illness, and for lovers of Fantasy or Mystery (Police investigation or Cozy), I definitely recommended the following.

1.  The Immortal Merlin Series by Emma Shelford

Hard to beat Lindsay Buroker for Creative Fantasy but Emma Shelford's Merlin series comes close.  Picture a handsome, thirtyish college professor who is actually a 1500-year-old Merlin. A Merlin who is not only plunged into a series of modern crises (heavily affected by the spirit world), but also dreams memory flashbacks that not only include the time of Arthur but his role in such later drama as rescuing Jews during World War II. Highly recommended.

2.  The Inspector Graham Series by Alison Golden 

After a family tragedy, a DCI from London's Met transfers to the Channel Isle of Jersey, the setting for the series. The characters are diverse and extremely well-drawn. DCI Graham is frequently a dynamic catalyst in the background as we see the action through the eyes of his small police force and other residents of Jersey, including a "journalist" blogger who manages to step on everyone's toes. NOT a Cozy. Some of the details can be graphic.

3.  The Verity Kent Series by Anna Lee Huber

A highly dramatic depiction of Britain in the years just after World War I and the devastating flu epidemic that followed. Verity Kent seems to be the classic upper-class widow, just one among the vast number who lost their husbands to the war. She is not, having worked for the Secret Service throughout the war, including missions into occupied Belgium. Not surprisingly, despite her reluctance, she is drawn into a house party mystery. And the series takes off from there. I am eagerly awaiting Book 4.

4.  Cafe Cozy Mysteries by A. R. Winters

I am not a cozy mystery fan, but this series is too well done to be missed.

After a female London private investigator is badly wounded, a lung permanently damaged, she and her former employee move to a small town with the intention of setting up a pastry shop. Needless to say, things do not go smoothly. (It takes the whole first book to get the shop's doors open.) But the series abounds in humor as well as drama. And even though our heroine has a highly macho boyfriend, she remains at the front and center of every scene. Even if you're not fond of cozies, you might want to try this series. (Which, I should add, is not as zany as some of the antics in Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series.)

5.  The DCI Ryan Mysteries by L J Ross

Happily, I discovered Book 23 of the DCI Ryan series was now available, and I am currently devouring each page. This is a series that has been around forever and just seems to get better with each book. Marvelous characters, challenging mysteries. Not, however, for Cozy Mystery fans. Details can get graphic.

 ~ * ~

Signing off with a last-minute addition to my Picture files—posted to Facebook Easter Sunday morning. (My long-time readers have been watching my grandgirls grow since 2011.)

Mike, Cassidy, Hailey, Riley, Susie


 Added Monday - taken from Susie's "memory" post to Facebook (2015). This was when the State of Florida was considering allowing a Bear Hunt. (As they are considering again in 2025.)

Cassidy, Riley, friend Bryce, Hailey
 

 ~ * ~

For a link to Blair's websiteclick here. 

For Blair's Facebook Author Page, click here.*
 

For recent blogs, scroll down. For Archives, see the menu on the right.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Grace (Blair Bancroft)  

                    

 

 

Sunday, April 13, 2025

SOUNDING OFF

 For the last 10 days I've been suffering from the worst cold of my life, brought down from "up north" by my son! He and his wife stopped by on their way to a Caribbean cruise (staying with his sister about 10 miles from my house; with her girls off in college, she has room). But, unfortunately, my son brought a horrific bug with him. Thankfully, it was not so debilitating for him as it was for me—totally unprepared for Connecticut germs (and so much older). He and his wife had a great time on umpteen different islands on a Princess line ship. 

Since I do not have any of my son's glorious pics, here are a few random ones from the Reale family trip in 2018, which, surprisingly included Cuba. Since I move slowly, I stayed on the boat and let the family roam freely (Only "tours" were recommended, but since my son-in-law is bilingual—if with a decided Argentinian accent—the family did Havana on their own and had a grand time.)

 

Family in Key West, our first stop before Havana

 While in Key West, we toured the Atocha Museum, which houses the greatest collection of shipwreck treasure ever found in this hemisphere (I believe that is correct - it's been a while).

 

Gold Necklace

 

Unworked gold


Havana Harbor

 
Fortress guarding Havana Harbor 

The delight of every cruise - towel animals

~ * ~

This morning, after coffee, I sat down to write some scathing one-liners to post to Facebook over the next few weeks. 

Example:  Government by Executive Order is Dictatorship. 

But I discovered my words were pouring out, turning into paragraphs, evidently demanding to be a blog topic instead of a cryptic Facebook post. So, even though my brain is not at its best . . .

 

Our founding fathers, from Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, are turning over in their graves. Forgotten:  the Constitution was designed for balance in government. Three branches—Executive, Legislative, Judicial—designed to keep checks on each other.

Currently, this is not happening. The Legislative (Senate & Congress) have gone belly-up, only a few voices crying in the wilderness. As for the Judicial, I heartily applaud the judges who have stood by the Constitution, even under duress. But it's possible all these outrageous Executive Orders might not have happened if the Supreme Court—with THREE judges appointed by Trump—had not granted him carte blanche to do as he pleased. 

Basically, the Executive branch now rules, shattering the best intentions of The Constitution of the United States of America. Including the famous words from the Declaration of Independence:  "All men are created equal" (attributed to input from both Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin).

As I watched the noon news today (Sunday, 4/3) I discovered my thoughts were being tossed around on both CNN and MSNBC, the commentators begging legislators to get off their duffs and take back their role in governing the country.

Flat out Fact:  Donald Trump is the worst mistake American voters ever made. (And there have been a doozy or two in the past.) The problem is that he is merely the evil puppet fronting a consortium of oligarchs who have become so powerful they are making their play to take over the U S of A. The whole kit and kaboodle, including poor little you and me. And due to utter terror of their financial power, not only is our Federal Legislature rolling over and playing dead; so are Big Business, Major Law Firms, Banks, Sycophants & Weakling of every flavor, etc., etc.  Example: among their methods—not only flaunting and manipulating the Constitution but seizing on ancient and obscure laws to justify unlawful behavior, such as ignoring due process.

Sad Grace Note:  I was optimistic enough to think we could survive another four years of Trump. Now I'm beginning to wonder. 

~ * ~

For a link to Blair's websiteclick here. 

For Blair's Facebook Author Page, click here.*
 

For recent blogs, scroll down. For Archives, see the menu on the right.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Grace (Blair Bancroft)  


Saturday, April 5, 2025

Writing - How to Develop Your Characters


 No, not photoshop. This was taken by one of my Facebook friends, Melissa Locklair Welch, on Anna Maria Island, not far north of Venice, where I lived for 25 years. Anna Maria is a picturesque barrier island that stretches from Sarasota north to Bradenton.

 


N
Not new to FB, but always charming.  

 

The following video is an eye-opener, the reaction going viral. (Someone even wrote a song about it.) The incident occurred not too far south of Venice, FL, and ended up with the loud-mouth bully charter captain in jail. Thanks to the highly graphic, revealing, and incontrovertible video, which the young man posted to social media the next day, and the @#$% hit the fan. (Ending in a charge of piracy. (You can't board someone else's boat unless invited.) 

For the "assault & piracy video" on Florida's Gulf Coast, click here.

Whatever the alleged cause, nothing excuses the egregious behavior of the charter boat captain (tarpon fishing) or of his passengers who sat there like lumps and allowed him to bully two young men—the speaker in the video, 21. (If desired, you can search for the many comments on the incident, including the statement of the North Port fire department announcing they are reviewing the inaction of one their fireman, who was on the charter boat.

Grace note:  I suspect the charter boat captain will have to fall back on a PTSD defense. 

Monday morning update (4/7/25):

The latest information:  the two young men, very much part of the Social Media Age, merely posted their video. But outcry from viewers prompted local police to arrest the captain, who has since bonded out.

 ~ * ~

 

The next two posts in Writing - How to Develop Your Characters (from Making Magic With Words) :


October 29, 2012


HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR

CHARACTERS - Creating Personalities


My personal approach to developing characters is pretty laissez-faire. I have, of course, spent some time thinking about these people and their possible problems before I even attempted to name them (as we did in Part 1). For how can I know what names are right for them if I haven't "met" them yet? That's one of the great things about being an author, we don't have to "take what we get"; we can create exactly the people we want. (Wow, if only we could do that in real life!) I guess that's why so many people enjoy the fantasy world of romance.

But beyond a general idea of my main characters' personalities, creating their names and a bit of family background, I let these people develop on their own. This, however, is not a method that works for everyone, so today I'm going to suggest some more questions you might want to ask yourself about your characters, particularly the hero, heroine, and villain (if applicable). If you wish, you can extend the same questions to your most important secondary characters.

First, a not-apocryphal tale.  
My mother, Wilma Pitchford Hays, was an author. While I was growing up, she wrote serial stories for Modern Romances, a Dell publication. We lived quite a ways from New York City, but I can recall her getting all dressed up, complete with hat and gloves, to go into the city to meet her editor. After each discussion, the editor would always escort her "upstairs" to Mr. Delacorte's office to speak for a few minutes to "the boss." (Sorry, I don't think I ever knew which Delacorte brother it was.) But according to my mother, he evidently had an appreciative eye for an attractive author!

When my mother paid my last college tuition, she switched to writing children's books (for three different age levels) and became well-known in that field. But I never forgot the story she told me when I was in high school and she was writing one of her serial romances for Dell. She said she never intended for her heroine and the two men vying for her love to all end up in a lake at the same time. The characters simply took over, and it happened, just like that. Since this was an open-ended story, where the readers got to decide which man triumphed, I expect this caused quite a stir. Did she have to drown one of the men? I don't think she ever told me that. But the concept of characters grabbing a story and running with it stuck in my mind. And it's certainly happened to me. Some days I start out intending to write A, and suddenly my fingers are typing B, or maybe something so very different I should call it XYZ.

Is this good? For me it has been. The new zig or zag always seemed to be more creative than what I'd planned. Which is why I'm an "out of the mist" writer, always willing to accommodate fresh ideas.

If, however, this new idea takes you off on a tangent not relevant to the story, then it's bad. Change your intended plot angle, change your setting, change the point of view, but never wander more than a few inches off the path of the story you're telling.

Questions you might want to ask about your characters:

1.  What makes your main character (or characters) tick? Are they tough and streetwise or sweet and innocent? Sophisticated, loud, sarcastic, a wise-guy or gal? Sly or honest? Thief or Protector? Full of humor or never cracks a smile? Arrogant or humble? Loner or People Person? Maybe a Turtle—hard outside, soft inside? A Clam (90% of the males of the species)? Or maybe a Brick—hard through and through. (If so, he'd better be the villain.)

2. What triumphs or anguish have your main characters suffered in the past? How has it affected them? (The same for the villain.)

3.  Are your hero and heroine different from the main characters in your previous books? If not, figure out how you can make this pair of main characters unique. Even if you're writing a series, you will want to add some new quirk to your primary character's personality that might not have shown up before. And you will want to provide a different set of secondary characters for your main character to play against.

4.  Have the hero and heroine met before?  If so, was it significant?

5.  Do some of the secondary characters know each other? If so, how? Do they work together, party together, study together, etc.

6.  What is the major conflict between the hero and heroine? Is it a product of their background, lifestyle, inner angst? Or are they more beset by outside forces (someone's trying to kill them)?  If you're dealing mostly with inner conflicts, you need to get inside your main characters' heads and show your readers what they are suffering, and why.

7.  What do your main characters do for a living? Even if you're writing an historical, your characters undoubtedly have a particular job they are expected to do, although that job might have been "inherited," rather than the "choice" we expect to have today.

8.  How does their job relate to their goal in the book? Do they love what they do or hate it? Are their actions in the story from a sense of duty, a need for revenge, frustration with the life they have, desperation to save someone? Or maybe save themselves. Perhaps their everyday life has nothing to do with the action of the book. This is just one more thing you need to consider. And while doing it, you might find a whole new aspect (or even a small detail) to add to your story. Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy. The jobs are different and so are the personalities required to do those jobs.

Reminder: Keep in mind that, whatever you decide, your hero and heroine must be likable. They can have faults, but the reader must be able to trust that those faults will be overcome. Even if one or both starts off perfectly obnoxious, there must be something that indicates this attitude won't last. (Kind to children, animals, his/her grandmother, gives to charity, etc.)

 

November 5, 2012


HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR
CHARACTERS - Showing Personalities


The most important lesson to be gained from this series on "How to Develop Your Characters" is:  No Cardboard Characters Allowed!

No characters taken verbatim from movies, television, or other people's books. No characters skimmed off the top of your mind without thought. (Except one-sentence walk-ons who don't really need a lot of depth.) Yes, movies, TV, or books might give you that germ of an idea, but you must take it and make it your own. Figure out who these people are, what made them who they are, and are they worthy of a place in your story?  If not, keep mining the depths of their characters until they are. Or get rid of them!

But how are you going to let your reader know what you've discovered about your characters? Are you going to sit down and write a couple of brilliant paragraphs telling us about them, as Nora Roberts told us about Tucker Longstreet in Carnal Innocence? Sadly, today's market, particularly the romance market, says, "No." There are, however, several acceptable ways to "show" readers your characters rather than "tell" us about them.

1.  Dialogue. When writing dialogue, always keep in mind the depths of your character's personality. Would he or she really say that? As the book progresses, you reveal the various characters' personalities by what they say to each other. (It's possible your character might develop to the point where you have to go back and change previous dialogue because you suddenly realize he/she "would never say that."

2.  Narration. You can use your characters' actions to reveal more about them. Do they pace the room? Run hands through their hair? Do they remain calm, even cold, poker-faced, in time of trouble. Are they strong and silent, or do they talk all the time? Do they cry, panic, run for cover? (Hm-m-m, the last is definitely not recommended for anything but secondary characters. Modern heroes and heroines are expected to be stalwart.)

3.  Introspection.  Most important, and all too easily forgotten, is Introspection. This is revealing the Point-of-View characters' thoughts through narration. [Beginning writers are urged to keep to the Point of View of Hero, Heroine, and Villain (if applicable).] It is all important for an author to get inside his/her main characters' heads and let readers see the story through their eyes. Do not stand on the outside and be a narrator! Get inside the Hero's and Heroine's heads and let us see what they see, hear what they hear, feel what they feel. This is what grabs readers' hearts and makes them care about your characters. Repeat: readers do not want you to tell the story. They want you to let your characters show them what is happening.


A Note on Villains.
I know no one who does a more evil villain than Karen Rose. I knew her before her first book was published and became an avid fan. The problem is, I had to stop reading Karen's last book. Really evil, sickly evil, villains just aren't my thing. They make me squirm. That's not why I read. But for those who do like something stronger than your usual villain, I strongly recommend reading Karen Rose's books and noting how she creates her villains. I've heard Karen speak on this subject twice now, and she has prepared herself with an excellent understanding of the inner workings of evil minds. She didn't just jump in and say, "I'm going to write a Bad Guy today."  

For those of us who prefer something less strong . . .

We still have to take the time to understand our bad guys and gals. Why would they be so mean? Is it money, jealousy, something twisted in their past? Or are they simply bad seeds? I personally prefer what I call Jack Higgins-style villains. I like to see some contrast in their personalities, something not all bad. I prefer villains who are not insane or basically evil. And I like to see an occasional villain be redeemed. As Higgins did with the villain who became the hero in a subsequent series of books. Or the German submarine commander readers liked so much he had to resurrect him!

Whatever style villain you want to write, don't make him/her skin-deep. Justify the villainy with solid motives, glimpses into his/her background, and plenty of Introspection, showing us his/her thoughts. My best villain, I believe, is in Shadowed Paradise. I was almost shocked to discover that those scenes just flowed out, needing almost no revision over the several versions of the book that have appeared before its present incarnation as an online indie pub. Truthfully, I'm still not sure where that villain came from. An excellent example of a character taking over and telling his own story!

Wind-up of “How to Develop Your Characters”

Look to friends, relatives, and not-friends for inspiration. Everywhere you go—Walmart, Target, a sports arena, national park, church, school, Disneyworld, international travel sites—keep your eyes and ears open, your imagination quivering for input. Newspapers, TV, movies, the mall, the neighborhood—pay attention! Absorb the feel. Be aware. The world around us is a gold mine of characterization. No, not copying, but catching those tiny sparks that can lead to an explosion of something new. A smile, a frown, a slouch, an accent, a burst of laughter, a baby gurgling, the guy who yells, "Bitch!" because you passed him. A political rant that makes you wince. Any and all can inspire ideas that move your characters from two-dimensional to three. That take a cardboard stereotype and turn it into someone readers can laugh and cry with, love or hate . . . and want to keep turning the pages (or flipping that button on their e-readers).

Or you can make every last bit of it up, straight out of your imagination. As long as you take the time to discover your characters and don't settle for a thin façade, it's okay to grab your characters out of the "cloud."

How to Develop Your Characters? Just plunge right in, ask the questions a good reporter must ask:  Who, What, Where, When & Why? Whether your character is good or bad, sweet or annoying, weak or strong, figure out what makes them tick. And don't forget to share the parts that are important to the story with your readers. The rest, more subtly, will take care of itself.




Saturday, March 29, 2025

Wild Florida + Political Satire

 

 WEKIVA WILD

I am delighted to share some pics my son took with the brand new, WATERPROOF camera he bought for a 10-day cruise in the Bahamas. It is about 2" x 3" and seems to have been worth the money.

I live near the Wekiva Forest (about 4 miles from my house), and there is a new pontoon boat tour (inaugurated Nov. 2024) that I have been wanting to try. So this week my son, his wife, and I did just that. It was idyllic. Total peace (boat has electric motor), gorgeous scenery, including umpteen water lilies, every shade of green imaginable, big birds, a bevy of baby ducks, and a 4' gator. Here we were, less than a mile from housing developments, surrounded by seemingly endless jungle. (FYI, the Wekiva River flows into the St. John's, a river that runs a long distance SOUTH to NORTH along Florida's east coast, emptying into the Atlantic at Jacksonville.

For anyone coming to Florida who would like to see WILD Florida, I cannot recommend this boat tour too highly. Check out wekivawild.com and its neighbor, wekivaisland.com. Or, if you're far away, just check the websites for the scenery.

Below, six of the pics my son took on our boat tour.


 

4' gator hiding back there under the trees





Young heron just changing from white to blue

 

POLITICAL SATIRE AT ITS BEST

 I found the gem below on Facebook. Even if you voted for you-know-who, you may find it tickles your funny bone.

 

From Political Nation
Article supposedly posted by King Charles III


To the citizens of the United States of America (and especially the Trumpists) from His most Sovereign Majesty King Charles III:


In light of your failure to nominate a competent candidate for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford ENGLISH Dictionary.)
My Sovereign Majesty King Charles III will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except North Dakota, which I do not fancy).Your new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.
A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. The nincompoop you’ve elected as President will go to gaol (note the correct spelling) where he belongs and it will not be a comfortable, well equipped, large prison for the rich; it will be the usual one-room cell - this is not open to debate.
A criminal is a criminal is a criminal and he will be treated the same as all other criminals.  It might be our pleasure later to hand him over to the people whose lives he ruined but first we shall see whether there’s any contrition after a few years in gaol.  
Likewise, the criminals he has pardoned will be sent back to gaol (note the correct spelling again).Elon Musk will be tried for treason and, if found guilty, will join his friend Trump in gaol (you will learn to spell this correctly).
Either way, he will be stripped of his wealth and half will be given to the poor which will eradicate world poverty; the other half will be sent to Mr Zelenskyy to put an end to Russia’s invasion - we will stop the wolf at our door. Mr Zelenskyy is a war hero and will be treated by all Americans as such.
It might interest you all to discover that when a country is at war, it is standard for the leader of that country to wear army uniform but in time you will all learn civilised protocols. A lot of you seem to have very short attention and memory spans which has been exploited to the full by Mr Trump and his cronies so effective immediately, you will read up on recent history and commence daily memory exercises until you understand that Russia was the aggressor in the war with Ukraine. 


You will keep your silly hands off Canada and Greenland. Also: To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
1. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns or lawyers you may carry on using therapists if you wish but guns will no longer be available in Costco or anywhere else. In future you may not carry anything more dangerous than a can-opener.  
2. You will tell us who really killed JFK. It's been driving us mad for decades - you will stop lying about it.
3. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,' 'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise.' Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').  There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of '-ize.'
4. 4th July will no longer be considered a public holiday.
5. You will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn to play cricket but you may play England first, to take the sting out.
6. Further, you will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).
7. I am King Charles III, that means Charles the Third (and not Charles Three); you will learn the correct form English.

 ~ * ~

Featured Books:

Today, I saw a post on Facebook about one of my all-time favorite places—Snook Haven on the Myakka River in Venice, Florida (where I lived for 25 years and which is featured in more than one book set there). Snook Haven has changed hands at least twice and been seriously flooded during a hurricane, resulting in long shut-downs during times of upheaval. So I was delighted to discover it is once again up and running.

The two books below are Romantic Suspense, set in a Gulf Coast town very similar to Venice. Oddly enough, two or three years after I wrote Paradise Burning, the area was swept by a wildfire very much like the one described in the book.

 


 When Claire Langdon's affluent, near-fairytale life in New York is shattered by scandal, she and her eight-year-old son Jamie take refuge with her grandmother in Florida. Once a bright, confident young woman, Claire has been so badly hurt that when she stumbles onto a genuine downhome hero, learning to trust, to love again, seem beyond her reach. She is also forced to deal with the discovery that there are more serious dangers in Florida than alligators, snakes, spiders, and macho males. Like a serial killer, with her name on his list.

Reviews:

"Marvelously versatile, wondrously creative, intelligently written and sensuously inventive, Bancroft's Shadowed Paradise adds new meaning to the therm 'romantic suspense.' . . . as fresh as tomorrow and seriously scary. I loved it."
Celia Merenyi, A Romance Review

"Shadowed Paradise contains all the elements I so enjoy in a book, excellent dialogue, great character development and fine descriptive scenes. The romance is steamy, the suspense is taut and exciting, and the result is a supremely satisfying, well-developed read, guaranteed to keep you glued throughout."
Astrid Kinn, Romance Reviews Today 


 
Suffering from burn-out, Mandy Armitage, a vital member of her family's international investigations agency, is sent on a working vacation to Florida—as research assistant to a best-selling author. The only problem: the author is the husband she hasn't seen in five years. As if that weren't enough of a challenge, her assignment plunges her into the darkness of international human trafficking and the ruthless men who run it. As the world around her literally goes up in flames, the girl once known as Mandy Mouse metamorphoses into a dynamic, independent woman as she discovers how easily black and white can dissolve into shades of gray.

Author's Note: Although Paradise Burning is a stand-alone book, reading Shadowed Paradise first (which contains several cross-over characters) may add to your enjoyment.

 ~ * ~

For a link to Blair's websiteclick here. 

For Blair's Facebook Author Page, click here.*
 

For recent blogs, scroll down. For Archives, see the menu on the right.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Grace (Blair Bancroft)