Road Trip Shenanigans + The Usual Freebies

Published: Thu, 06/10/21

Dear Reader,

It's a long update this week. Feel free to skip to the Newsletter Treats section if you're just here for the promos. I promise I won't be offended. Heck, I'll never even know 😉

This week has proven once and for all that having fun is exhausting! Miss Melinda and I began our trip by shopping up a storm at The Villages, Florida. So much so that we missed seeing The Ringling Museum because it was closed by the time we were done. Whoopsie! But we did find an amazing Cuban restaurant down the street from it with to-die-for Cuban sandwiches. Check Mirna's Cuban Cuisine out if you're ever in Sarasota!

Me, inhaling diet coke, on one of our shopping break.

(Miss Melinda says I have resting mischief face. Rude!)

After that we spent a long, lazy, luckily rain-free day on the beach at Sand Key Park (free to visit, $5 all day parking, definite a hidden gem). I seriously forgot how much I love swimming in the ocean. And since we were having a sea-themed day, at lunchtime we popped into Clearwater Marine Aquarium. They rescue and rehabilitate dolphins and other marine life there. It's seriously amazing work.

(The only beach photo where the wind was doing nice things to my hair)

(At the aquarium with the best photo bomber ever!)

We spent the rest of the week discovering lots of good restaurants and playing several escape rooms. (Because Miss Melinda, her husband, and I are escape room addicts.) The best by far on this trip was Game Over's Philosopher's Stone. If you're anywhere near Tampa and enjoy fun immersive puzzles, I thoroughly recommend them. (Photo is not from our favorite of the escape rooms. But if you read Mr. Melinda's sign closely, you'll see why I had to include it. That smart ass.)

Post-escape room and high on our victory.

(Mr. Melinda thinks he's funny...)

Unfortunately the drive home was not nearly as much fun. We wound up driving through pounding rain and lightning until we finally gave up and got a hotel room for the night. Then at 4:36 am someone decided it would be a fun prank to pull the fire alarm. Miss Melinda and I were not impressed. Imagine a pair of cranky grizzly bears roused from hibernation early and stumbling around a dark hotel room. Luckily for them, we did not locate the person who set off that fire alarm. They remain alive, un-mauled, and at large.

Still all's well that ends well. And Mystic was certainly happy to have us back!

(Where are my treats, muggle?)

Anyone else been on vacation or have one planned?

XoXo,

Edwina

BOOK NEWS

Nothing much to report on the book front this week. I was on vacation 😎

The only thing I did this week was make some character notes for the audiobook team over at One Night Stand (insert snicker here because my sense of humor is stuck at age twelve).

It was a strange experience to have to explain what my characters sound like. I hear their voices so clearly in my head. But, "Um, Dominic just sounds like Dominic..." probably wouldn't help the narrators much. So I thought I'd shared some of the notes I made about three of the main characters from The Wild Prince.

Mary Chase (27) - has a fractured family life and believes how good she is at her job defines her worth. Strives to sound confident, calm and professional most of the time. Generic American accent, but slips into California girl sometimes when she's trying to sound gullible or naive (example when talking the Viracocha club management). She's not good at languages and speaks French with an appalling accent.

Dominic Prince (25) - is the fifth born son of the Prince family. Grew up when there was a lot of press coverage of his family, particularly his father's various marriages. Decided when he was young that he didn't care what was said about him and does what he wants because he's going to be talked about anyway. He plays mind games, but never lies. He's also a lot more responsible than he appears and has a deeply sarcastic sense of humor. Generic American accent, maybe a touch more refined, with Harrison Ford-like smirky delivery. He was also raised in Paris and so speaks French fluently and sounds like a native.

Logan “Orion” Hunt (29) - the front man of the band Star-Bourne. Bold, charismatic, goes after what he wants. Has an amazing singing voice and is very expressive. Believes that he has to demand what he wants out of life. He and Mensa write most of Star-Bourne's music. Wants people to look at him and value him. Grew up poor in New Jersey and has done everything in his power to get away from that life. Only member of his family he keeps in contact with is his cousin Pavo. Generic American accent because he lost the New Jersey one as fast as he could. The constellation he took his stage name from was Orion, the hunter.

So do these notes sound as strange to you guys as they do to me? 😅

And here is my usual reminder that The Ice Prince is a month away from launching. You can get it on pre-order for $2.99 right now. This is a pre-order promo price that will go up to the regular $4.99 price three days after it's released. So grab the your copy before time runs out!

Exact seconds left on ~~$4.99~~ $2.99 sale

ACT NOW TO PRE-ORDER!

NEWSLETTER TREATS

And here are your regularly scheduled freebies! Click on the promos below to get access to a bunch of great FREE books. So if you're on the look out for your next read, click this way:

And if you're an audiobook fan, you can grab your FREE copy of The Not-So-Ugly Stepsister Gets Her Guy AUDIOBOOK.

It's available through BookFunnel for a limited time and I'm only offering it my newsletter subscribers. Because you're... the best around! Nothing is ever going to keep you down! (Why, yes, I do have an earworm today. Damn you, Karate Kid rerun.)

FREE AUDIOBOOK!