Dear Reader

Dear Reader Column 12-31-15

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Dear Reader,

Happy New Year! This is my annual New Year's Eve column. Hopefully nothing strange happens to me this year that would top it!

My most memorable New Year's Eve was the year my dress fell apart. Well, actually it was shedding. We'd just moved to Florida and some new friends invited us to their New Year's Eve party. We didn't know anyone else at the party, but I made, without a doubt, a big first impression. I was wearing a brand new, black velvet dress--purchased just for the occasion (and it wasn't cheap)--but it started shedding. Everywhere I walked, I left a trail of huge, black fuzz clumps behind. The dress was literally falling apart from the inside out.

I wasn't aware of what was happening until I visited the bathroom. The floor had two huge, white rugs, so it instantly became apparent that I was leaving a trail. I was horrified. I picked up my "droppings" and headed back to the party.

When I walked back into the kitchen, I looked down at the floor and sure enough, there was my dress, all over it. No one else seemed to notice the trail that I'd left around the house. But like a run in your stocking, I was sure they were aware and not saying anything just to be kind.

My first thought was to walk around the kitchen--shuffling my shoe along the floor--so I could sweep up my black fuzz balls. But then I realized that as fast as I was rounding up those little buggers in front of me, I was leaving a new crop behind. My backup plan was to find a dimly lit spot and stay put. And I did, until we left.

I can only imagine what that couple must have thought the next day when they cleaned up from the party! Maybe they thought I'd brought a pet.

* Enter the Book-A-Day Giveaway, win random books from my bookshelf, go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/Book-12122011.html

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: With so many new books out every week, we promise this title deserves your attention:

(Mystery)
KILLING TRAIL by Margaret Mizushima

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

 

 

 

 

Dear Reader Column 12-30-15

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Dear Reader,

My gift to you this holiday season is the Book-A-Day Giveaway. I'm choosing winners every day, so feel free to enter every day.

Enter today's drawing to win a random book from my bookshelf, go to:
http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/Book-12122011.html

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Happy Holidays,
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

 

 

Dear Reader Column 12-29-15

Preview a new book every week.
Click here to subscribe to the Online Book Clubs.

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Dear Reader,

My gift to you this holiday season is the Book-A-Day Giveaway. I'm choosing winners every day, so feel free to enter every day.

Enter today's drawing to win a random book from my bookshelf, go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/Book-12122011.html

* Congratulations to the winners of Too Blessed to be Stressed Cookbook by Guest Author Debra Coty: Vanda F., Cam G., Alice B., Linda P. and Dori K.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Happy Holidays,
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

 

 

Dear Reader Column 12-28-15

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AUTHORBUZZ: Click here to discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

 

Dear Reader,

I'm on holiday today celebrating with my family, but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking of you. Every day, for a week or so, I'm offering the Book-A-Day Giveaway. I'm clearing off my bookshelves. Feel free to enter the drawing each day.

To enter today's drawing to win a random book from my bookshelf, go to: http://www.emailbookclub.com/photo/Book-12122011.html

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Happy Holidays,
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: KILLING TRAIL (Mystery) by Margaret Mizushima

The Timber Creek K-9 mystery series was conceived in a veterinary clinic and born at my kitchen table. One of my husband's clients told him about the problem of drug smuggling through Colorado's national forests, which created backdrop for "Killing Trail." My past experiences assisting my husband and training dogs helped me develop the characters Mattie, Robo, and Cole as they chase down a smuggling ring. I sincerely hope you'll come along with me and enjoy the journey.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on KILLING TRAIL to read more and to email author Margaret Mizushima, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column 12-25-15

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Dear Reader,

Merry Christmas from everyone at the book clubs!

Amber, Bob, Brian, Bryan, Jean, Julie, Lee, Lennart, Mary, Patrick, Sandra, Susan, Tiffany, Tina, and Valerie.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

May you find peace this Christmas,
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: FOREVERMORE (Mystery) by Jim Musgrave

As a recovered alcoholic, I wanted to play devil's advocate and try to show how Edgar Allan Poe may have been sober (and murdered) when he died in 1849 at Baltimore, Maryland. The result is the first mystery in the popular Detective Pat O'Malley Historical and Steampunk Mystery Series.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on FOREVERMORE to read more and to email author Jim Musgrave, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column 12-24-15

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Dear Reader,

Fourteen years ago, I tried my hand at writing some holiday poetry for readers--an amusing version of "'Twas The Night Before Christmas," and now it's become a tradition at the book clubs.

Okay, I admit it's a bit hokey, but it's really kind of a catchy little number once you start reading it. There's a syncopated beat throughout, and if you throw in a little sing-song rhythm, you'll be smiling by the end.

"'Twas The Night Before Christmas at the Book Clubs"

'Twas the night before Christmas and in every house
all good book club readers were clicking their mouse.

They'd hung all their stockings, decorated their trees
And now it was time to sit down and see
What their email had brought them on this Christmas Eve.

A five-minute break to read a good book
Was just what they needed, but oh my--look...

When they opened their email, no read could be found.
"Oh no, we're afraid Suzanne went out of town.
Could she have forgotten to send us our read?
How could she do this in our time of need?"

The readers all panicked, they shivered in fright,
They pined for their emails and settled in for the night.

"Could we have misplaced them? Did we hit the wrong key?
Did it go in our deleted files?" Oh such misery.
And then in a flash, with a stroke of a key,
One by one, they discovered their Christmas Eve reads.

Their eyes how they twinkled, they laughed and they smiled
And they settled into their chairs to read for awhile.

Their hearts were delighted, they felt just like kids,
But it's still such a mystery where that email had hid.
Was it there all the time and they just didn't see?
Or did Santa step in and do a good deed?

Good boys and girls are on Santa's list
And good book club readers he vows never to miss.

It's been a long night, time to climb into bed,
So they shut down their computers and laid down their heads.

But in the quiet of night, before things came to an end,
They heard, "Thanks for reading with me,
It's so good to read with friends."

Happy Holidays. I wish you peace and joy.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: With so many new books out every week, we promise these titles deserve your attention:

(Fiction)
PURE WICKED: A Wicked Lovers Novella by Shayla Black

(Fiction)
THE PROMISE OF SURRENDER: A MacKenzie Family Novella by Liliana Hart

(YA Fantasy)
DARK HEART OF MAGIC by Jennifer Estep

(Mystery)
FOREVERMORE by Jim Musgrave

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader

 

 

 

 

Dear Reader Column 12-23-15

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Dear Reader,

I had a good cry yesterday. The holidays are a fun and magical time, but they're also filled with memories. Family and friends who aren't with me any longer and friends who are fighting cancer right now, these thoughts are all mixed in with visions of sugar plums dancing in my head.

I guess I'm mentioning this because yesterday when I interacted with an obviously very angry man in the aisle of the supermarket, at first I was feeling pretty upset with the guy, even caught myself thinking, 'What's his problem? Why is he being such a nasty person, especially around the holidays?'

But then I reminded myself that life is complicated, especially this time of year. Life goes on like any other day, people lose their jobs, families are split apart, folks are feeling lonely because this is the first Christmas since their spouse passed away, and others are worried their parents might not be around to celebrate next year.

I had a good cry yesterday--and now I feel much better. I sure hope the man I met in the supermarket gives himself that gift, too.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

May you find peace this Christmas,
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: DARK HEART OF MAGIC (YA Fantasy) by Jennifer Estep

I've always loved stories about tournaments, where the heroine has to test her wits against others. As a thief, seventeen-year-old Lila Merriweather tries to keep a low profile. But when she's picked to represent the Sinclair Family in the Tournament of Blades, Lila finds herself in the spotlight--and the target of a dangerous enemy.
The second book in my Black Blade young adult urban fantasy series.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on DARK HEART OF MAGIC to read more and to email author Jennifer Estep, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column 12-22-15

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Dear Reader,

He enjoys old cars and motorcycles, Justified, and bourbon. Taylor Brown, today's guest author, grew up on the Georgia coast, his fiction has appeared in a wide range of publications, and he is the recipient of a Montana Prize in Fiction.

An Eagle Scout, who graduated from the University of Georgia in 2005, Taylor settled in Wilmington, NC, after long stints in Buenos Aires, San Francisco, and the mountains of North Carolina.

Taylor's debut novel, Fallen Land, will be published in January, 2016. Be one of the first to read his novel. Win an ARC (advanced reader copy) of Fallen Land simply by sending an email, taylor@taylorbrownfiction.com Three copies are waiting for lucky readers.

Welcome to the book club, Taylor Brown....

The Thanksgiving Mouse
By Taylor Brown

We looked at the battered bungalow we'd found for rent on Craigslist. The landlady said it had once been a brothel. This was in Asheville, North Carolina, and we thought she meant in the old days of Thomas Wolfe, when such establishments were the norm.

We'd just towed a trailer loaded with dog beds and dream boards and IKEA furniture from San Francisco, California, to the mountains of North Carolina, where I would later write the first drafts of Fallen Land. We wanted to be back in the South, closer to home.

The provenance of the house was off-putting, sure, but we wanted a house with "character."

Oh, we got it. There were ants in the house and cold drafts and strange groans of timber.

There was a creepy basement that flooded when it rained, an even creepier attic with dark-stained carpet. There were very possibly ghosts.

During Thanksgiving dinner, a mouse ran right across the wood floor, and I thought my girlfriend's mother--a dour member of old guard New Orleans--would split right down the middle. I'd quit a good-paying job on the West Coast and brought her daughter to live in this place?

The ill-advised mouse was saved from Waylon, our rescued German Wirehaired Pointer, only by the promise of a dangling morsel of fried turkey. His face, long and bearded like a Civil War colonel's, went from mouse to turkey, mouse to turkey. While my girlfriend kept him thusly in thrall, I pursued the mouse from room to room with a traffic cone in tow.

The mouse stuck close to the baseboards, perhaps searching for his den, but when he darted diagonally across the living room floor, I dropped the cone over him like a blaze orange witch's hat.

I slipped a length of cardboard beneath the hollow base of the cone and began carrying the trapped rodent outside. When I pushed through the screen door, I realized my future in-laws had followed me. They followed me onto the front porch and down the steps and into the yard, passing the turkey fryer in the driveway. They stood behind me as I knelt and freed the mouse near the base of the chain link fence, through which he could flee and be rid forever of the Civil War colonel, disguised as a dog, who so badly wanted to eat him.

We watched the mouse run away, his eyes shining like tiny black beads in the gray afternoon, and when I turned and rose I found smiles on the faces of those gathered. "He was cuter than I expected," said my future ex mother-in-law, a miracle grin breaking across her face.

I don't know who was more thankful that day: me or the Thanksgiving mouse.

--Taylor Brown

Email, say hello, and you'll have a chance to win an ARC of Fallen Land, taylor@taylorbrownfiction.com

* Congratulations to the winners of The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs by Guest Author Matthew Dicks: Erika S., Angie G. and Mary N.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: THE PROMISE OF SURRENDER: A MacKenzie Family Novella (Fiction) by Liliana Hart

Can you believe this is the 17th MacKenzie story? What a roller coaster ride we've been through with this family--heartache, love, loss, marriage, children, death--but through it all they stick together. In this new title we revisit Surrender, Montana. I hope you enjoy Mia and Zeke's story.

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on THE PROMISE OF SURRENDER to find out more about the book and the author, Liliana Hart. Send her an email, she'd love to hear from you.

Dear Reader Column 12-21-15

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Dear Reader,

It took some doing, but I finally got the hang of baking cutout cookies. In fact, I've been having so much fun rolling dough and cutting out Santas and angels, I've been mixing a batch almost every day.

Readers share Christmas Cutout Cookie traditions...

"Suzanne, you brought such a smile to my face this morning reading about your frustrations making roll out sugar cookies. Our family's sugar cookie tradition, started with my mother-in-law (no longer with us), she had these very old cutters that she passed onto us. We used to come to her house and the kitchen table was covered with Santa's decorated with raisins for eyes, coconut beards, and rosy cheeks painted with red food coloring. A labor of love which she shared with all.

Our twin grandchildren, Ray & Emma have been helping me make Grandma Elliott's sugar cookies since they were old enough to hold a cookie cutter. We make them for every season/holiday and if you ask them when they come for a visit...'Make sugar cookies!' I so enjoy your column and getting a peek at new books. You always start my day off with a smile! Merry Christmas to you and your family."--Carol E.

"I have many fond memories of making cutout cookies with my mom. Growing up, I was the decorating committee. Dusting each cookie with egg and then delicately decorating each with a unique pattern of candied sugar. As I got older, sometimes I would get to help with rolling the dough or actually cutting out cookies. My mom has a gigantic container of holiday cookie cutters, and each year we try to see if we can use them all at least once.

Now that I live three hours away and my mom is older, we still make cookies each year. After all, it is tradition! Sometimes we don't get to make cutout cookies until on Christmas day, but she always waits for me to make the cutouts... Mom's cookies always seem to work out, but sometimes we lose a Santa foot, reindeer antler, or leg of baby Jesus in the process. When that happens we take it as a sign, and that cookie becomes part of the taste-tester batch, and is sacrificed to the delight of the bakers!

I am not sure yet if we will be making Christmas cutout cookies together this year, but you have inspired me to reach out to my mom today and check. I think I appreciate baking with my mom even more as an adult than I did as a child."--Tess C.

"Every morning when I get up, I sit in my living room by myself and get caught up on emails. You are such a big part of this. I have to say that you really make my day. I laugh with you, cry with you and truly connect. I can't wait to see what part of me, you are going to write about on any given day. Today, when you wrote about cookie cutters it brought back so many memories of headless angels and crooked bells. I finally mastered the art a few years ago by using an old fashioned metal spatula to gently lift them off the counter. Every year when I am cleaning my cutlery drawer I'm tempted to toss it, but then my guardian angel comes to me and gently reminds me that I'll be needing it! Enjoy the holidays and all the best in 2016."--Suzanne D.

"Funny you should write about cutout Christmas cookies. I, too, haven't made them in years and was going to revive my former tradition this year. Hopefully, my cookies (snowflakes) will be pretty and edible as I will attempt them this weekend. My kids laughed at me because I really dislike snow, so why would I make snowflakes? Well, I told them, "We can make 'em and eat 'em, no shoveling or shivering involved." Loved your photos! Thanks for letting me read with you."--Maria M.

If you missed the original Christmas Cookie column complete with recipe and photos, go to: http://dearreader.typepad.com/dear/2015/12/dear-reader-column-12-17-15.html

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Peace and joy to you this holiday season,
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com

AUTHORBUZZ: PURE WICKED: A Wicked Lovers Novella (Fiction) by Shayla Black

After bad boy rock star Jesse McCall becomes embroiled in a scandal, he searches for peace, finding it in no-nonsense beauty Bristol Reece. He loses his heart to the small-town baker. There's only one problem--her ex-boyfriend recently proposed to her sister, so she's sworn off romance. Can he convince her to take a chance on love again?

Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on PURE WICKED to read more and to email author Shayla Black, you'll get a reply.

Dear Reader Column 12-18-15

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Dear Reader,

Thirty-eight years. Today my husband, Bob, and I have been married for 38 years. It's romantic just thinking about it. Lately I've been adding to my conversations, "Oh, did I tell you that on December 18th, Bob and I will be married 38 years!" People smile and look at me with amazement. Truthfully, my husband and I are amazed too, whenever we say "38 years" out loud. Time passes way too quickly when you're in love.

Thirty-eight years...we may be getting older, but the romance is still in bloom. When we get in the car to go somewhere, my husband opens my door and frequently tells me, "Suzanne, when we're driving somewhere together it still feels like we're on a date."

It was a simple start, married by a Justice of the Peace. No diamond ring, instead I wear a gold initial ring on my finger that was passed down through my husband's family. No honeymoon. My husband and I were running a business together (we've worked side-by-side for all 38 years) and we couldn't get away for a honeymoon. But we hardly even noticed. The important thing was just being together, and we still feel that way today.

When friends ask, "What are you going to do to celebrate 38 years?"

I tell them, "Nothing special, we'll probably split a sandwich, sit on a bench near some shops and do some people watching."

That might not sound very exciting to most people, but when you're still crazy in love it's a very special celebration, to simply do a little bit of "nothing" with the man who has loved and cherished you for 38 years.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Peace be with you this holiday season,
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com