Must Read Mysteries: In the Spotlight: Gemma Halliday Publishing

Must Read Mysteries: In the Spotlight: Gemma Halliday Publishing: Today we are introducing a new blog series,

New website!!

My new website is currently being built!  For anyone who'd like to be kept updated the link is live at the moment but the site is coming soon.  If you'd like to leave your details we can let you know as soon as the site is live.
I'll be updating the site regularly with details of Lizzie's next adventure as well as Lizzie will be popping in occasionally with the latest family gossip.  Just wait until you hear about what Grandma has been up to now!  And for those of you who loved Chloe and Brody, Chloe is coming by to give us all the details on her up coming wedding.  Isaac is the wedding planner so this wedding is going to be a doozy!!
bethprentice.com

Free ebook - It Started With Theo

Last day to get a your free copy of It Started With Theo on amazon! 

http://www.amazon.com/Started-Theo-Beth-Prentice-ebook/dp/B00I3MSJIW/ref=la_B008N6DZCI_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405858802&sr=1-1

Here's a recent review -

I do not write reviews very often but this book was absolutely one of the best I have read in a long time.Even though I got it free I would definitely have gladly paid for it. I am so happy to have found this author and will be looking forward to reading more of their work. This book has mystery and humor. I found myself laughing out loud a lot. I would definitely recommend this book.

Opinions appreciated!

So, Lizzie's sister Molly has a new boyfriend. Should he be dark and mysterious or cute and clumsy? 

Lizzie's next instalment has begun!

Well, I've started work on the next Lizzie and Riley story.  I've worked out a title and a plot.  Now I've just got to figure out how to put it all together!!

It Started With A Christmas Tree

I know it's not the season but I have a free promo running this weekend! If you want to have a quick catch up with Lizzie and Riley now's your chance :)
Here's part one of chapter one of It Started With A Christmas Tree

Chapter One

“I blame the shops!” I stated looking at Riley, my arms crossed over my chest. He looked back at me and sighed. “If they didn’t put up their decorations in September then I wouldn’t be quite so impatient to put up my own! And this is my first Christmas in this house so really, how can you expect me to wait!”

I’d bought this house about six months ago and had inherited many problems with it—the least of which was dry rot. But I did get Riley because of it.

“Lizzie, it’s not even December yet. Your mum said it’s bad luck to put decorations up before December,” replied Riley, running his hands through his short blonde hair. His patience was wearing thin. Riley was usually a very patient man, so I must be really pushing him here.

“Oh,” I replied, waiving my hand around dismissively. “Take no notice of her. She has a superstition for everything. Explain to me how putting up our Christmas tree exactly three days before December the first can change our luck.” I looked at Riley and felt victory sweep over me. He had nothing. “Come on give me a hand. It’ll be fun!”

He looked at me doubtfully. “No, fishing with my brother is fun. Fooling around with you is fun. Putting up a Christmas tree is definitely not something I consider to be fun.”

“That’s because you’ve never put a tree up with me,” I explained. This was also the first Christmas that Riley and I have been together so he has no previous experience with just how excited I get.

It’s my favourite holiday and has been for as long as I can remember. The only other people in the world who feel the same level of excitement for it are children and my siblings, Molly and Danny. Actually, I can probably put us all under the children banner when it comes to Christmas. We all love it.

I pulled over one of the boxes that I’d stored under the stairs and ripped back the tape holding it closed. Inside, peeking out at me, were the white branches of my tree. Excitement coursed through me as I pulled out the first branch and lay it on the floor, ready to place others in piles around it. Approximately one minute later, the box was empty and I had five neat piles of foliage. I straightened up and moved the box to the side, out of my way. I smiled at Riley, sitting on the couch watching me. “Just wait. It’s a really beautiful tree.”

“It’s plastic,” he stated, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

“Yes. What’s wrong with that?”

He shrugged. “Nothing I guess, but in my family we have real trees.”

“Oh, well….we like plastic. We’ve never had much luck making real trees last long enough. They always die and look really horrible by the time January comes around,” I explained, disappointed that Riley wasn’t feeling my excitement.

“That’s probably because you put them up too early,” he said. “I’m sure you’re right though,” he said, sensing my feelings, “this one will be awesome.”

He smiled again, making me forget about the tree altogether as I felt the world move on it’s axis. Riley’s smile is so amazing that it can actually make the world stop turning. And even though we’ve been together for six months now, it still has the power to make me lose my breath.

Shaking myself to clear my head, I knelt on the floor and put the base of the tree together. Carefully, I fitted the trunk then pushed the branches into place, fluffing them as I did so. This process took about five minutes.

Standing back up, I felt the anticipation as I looked down on it standing approximately one metremeter tall. Humph.

“Wow. It’s awesome!” stated Riley, giving his best attempt at hiding his smile. He stood up and moved to stand in front of it. The tree didn’t even make his waistband. “As I’m the tallest, you’ll be wantingwant me to put the angel on top, right?”

Smart-ass. “I remember it being bigger than that,” I mumbled, feeling the disappointment sit heavily in my chest. Riley seemed to sense my mood and pulled me in close. He kissed the top of my head.

“That’s because you shared a very small apartment with your friend Aimee and it wasn’t in a living room with twelve foot ceilings,” he said, kindly. “But I’m sure you’re right. It would have been beautiful. And the upside is, it won’t take long to decorate.” There’s that bloody smile again.

I leaned into him, feeling his heat seep into me and contemplated how I could make the tree look bigger. I could put it on a box but then that would probably look stupid, or maybe I could put it on the window seat but then Cat would probably knock it over. He was very protective of his spot on that seat. I folded my arms over my chest and sighed. Maybe I should just replace it.

“I know,” I cried. “We’ll buy a new one. And because I love you we’ll make it a real one, I said, excitement starting all over again. I felt Riley’s sigh as I pulled away to look at him.

“You’ll pay for this later,” he smiled.

“I’m counting on it,” I replied breathlessly. Making me ‘pay for things’ was one of Riley’s favourite pastimes, if you get my drift. And I will admit that I spent a lot of my day thinking up things that I needed him to do just so that I would have to ‘pay for it later’.

I reached for the back of the chair to steady myself as Riley’s smile turned up to full wattage and his gorgeous blue eyes twinkled. His eyes are his most stunning feature and let me tell you, that’s saying something because all of his features are incredible. But his eyes are the colour of a beautiful blue sky and framed with the most beautiful dark lashes I have ever seen on a man. Sometimes I find myself staring at him, totally hypnotized by them. Of course he always catches me, as next to Christmas, embarrassing myself seems to be top of the list of things that I enjoy the most. Actually, scratch that. Christmas is third on the list of things I like to do the most.

I cleared my throat attempting to dispelldispel the lust that crept through me.

“We need to start our own tradition,” I said, trying to steer my mind down a different path. “So from this year on, we’ll pick out our tree together,” I croaked.

Noticing Riley’s pupils dilate, I quickly realized Riley’s thoughts were somewhere other than on our Christmas tree.

Dog versus Ventolin

Well some days life really sucks.  And then some days – it sucks even more.  But one thing I have learned is that no matter how much it sucks you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and find the happiness in each day.  It is there.  It’s just sometimes you have to look very hard for something very small.  But when you see it – it makes the day worth living.  For me today, it was one of my many animals that made me laugh.  Actually, technically it wasn’t one of my animals as I only have two dogs just like the council says I can have (the ones I’m babysitting don’t count towards that number, right?) Anyway, it was my sons dog Miami that made me smile.  For those of you who don’t know Miami, she’s a kelpie crossed with who the hell knows.  She’s huge compared to the Chihuahua that resides in my daughters room and she was a rescue dog.  Also, every one of her emotions shows on her face.  Well, today I was having a very exciting morning hanging out my washing, when I heard a very unusual sound of whooshing air followed by a small yep and her crashing backwards into the child gate that is supposed to keep her out of the bedroom.  I ran inside wondering what had happened, my heart racing just slightly thinking that she must have hurt herself, when I found her sitting with her ears pinned back, her eyes huge and a very sad face indeed, the air thick with the distinctive smell of Ventolin and a canister with a very large tooth hole in it.

But the upside was that her breathing was crystal clear after that.  And maybe her habit of chewing everything in sight may be cured for a while. Also after I stopped laughing at the expression on her face she did get a very big hug and then sidestepped the offending Ventolin canister as if it were the enemy.

So like I said.  The happiness may not always be a huge life altering moment, but just a minute in an otherwise very ordinary day.  But it was there.  And I for one am certainly glad I was there to see it.