April 2024 – In Cahoots with Sale Ebook and Goodies to Win
Stuff from Ann’s Brain …Sam and I are often telling our kids to try new things, but I tend to follow routines more often than not. I figure it’s the Virgo in me. But this month, I decided to change things up, especially after participating in our yearly, sphincter-tightening tradition of paying taxes on April 15th. What new thing did I try this month? This is weird, I know, but here’s the deal. I saw a woman in the grocery store Produce section buying two big leaves of an aloe vera plant and it stopped me in my tracks. I don’t know why, but I hadn’t seen that in a cart before, like it was along the same lines of broccoli, cucumbers, and bananas. After staring at the leaves for a couple of beats, I walked over to her and asked “What are you going to do with those?”. She told me she was going to eat it and why (listing the health benefits for her—involving her skin and digestion, in particular). While I’m fortunate not to have any skin or gut issues, for some reason I wanted to give this a try. The aloe-eating lady proceeded to tell me how to go about preparing it (and to only eat a little, since too much might not be good). She was very helpful and happy to share, which I thought was nice, since she could have simply told me to mind my own shopping cart business and gone on her way. So, I bought a single leaf of aloe vera and decided to give it a whirl. Unfortunately, I didn’t read up on the finer details of eating aloe vera until AFTER I’d tried it for the first time. Most importantly, I didn’t know to rinse the slimy inside prior to eating it in order to remove the very, VERY bitter taste. Instead, I pretty much plugged my nose and gagged it down. And I mean gagged. Did I mention how bitter it was? Think aspirin pills crunched up and dry, coating your tongue, then multiply that bitterness by 2 or 3. Anyway, after choking down the last piece, I spent the next ten minutes attempting to remove the slimy bitter taste from the back of my tongue. I gulped a full glass of water. That didn’t work. I gargled several times. Nope, still there. I tried drinking black coffee, but that only added a different bitter taste on top of the first one. In the end, it took about twenty minutes to finally stop tasting the bitterness. What did I learn? When was the last time you ate something radically different from normal? Or took an alternative adventurous route from A to B? Or explored a series (books or television) that you normally would skip over? Or anything else new? A quick guide to this month’s newsletter: Thank you for hanging out with me on this journey around the sun! |
AUTHOR STAR SPOTLIGHT: FREE Ebook Every Month!!!
Each month in 2024 I’m going to showcase an author friend who I think is quite wonderful. I’m going to tell you a little about her, in case you haven’t heard of this particular author yet, and then I’m going to include a special link in my monthly newsletter where you can go to get a FREE ebook from her.
There are authors lined up all year for this fun monthly treat for you newsletter subscribers, and they are each ready to share a FREE ebook to give you a chance to escape on the virtual pages with some of their favorite characters.
NOTE: TO RECEIVE THE LINK FOR THE FREE EBOOK, YOU HAVE TO SUBSCRIBE TO MY NEWSLETTER.
The star in this month’s spotlight is … Yasmine Galenorn!
April’s Wonderful Author is … Yasmine Galenorn.
Yasmine’s Bio:
I knew I wanted to be a writer when I was three years old. I learned to read early, and I actually remember that it suddenly dawned on me that people made the books that I was learning to read. I was like, “People actually make those. They don’t just appear.” Right at that moment, that’s when I knew I wanted to make books. I remember the very first story I ever told my mom was about a pair of green curtains in some shop. All the other curtains were being sold and the green curtains were green with envy because they wanted to go to a home, too. Finally, the green curtains were sold and were very happy. That was the first story I wrote. I read, continually. I would lose myself in my books. I would hide myself in my room and just read and write. I started professionally writing when I was 13, and made my first sale when I was 15. It was a poem. Right then, I was like, “Okay, I can do it! It’s just going to take time.” So, I’ve been writing ever since I could hold a pencil.
With over seventy-five books on the shelves, Yasmine wrote in traditional publishing for twenty years and now indie publishing since 2016. Make sure you don’t miss any releases by signing up for Yasmine’s newsletter,
Yasmine lives in the Seattle WA area with her husband and is the mother of four cats.
Click HERE to head over to Yasmine’s website so that you can learn more about her and her books!
SALE! In Cahoots with the Prickly Pear Posse (Ebook only)
Grab your ebook copy of In Cahoots with the Prickly Pear Posse (Jackrabbit Junction series Book 5)—on SALE for only .99 cents from April 22, 2024 through May 9, 2024!
(Click here to buy it from Ann’s Online Store!)
The Morgan sisters are BACK …
“This dusty corner of Arizona is about to have a replay of the O.K. Corral!”
When “Crazy” Kate Morgan learns that her sisters are the next targets on a killer’s to-do list, she’s hell-bent on chasing down trouble before it rides into Jackrabbit Junction.
The problem: The darn law dogs keep nipping at her heels, tossing her in the hoosegow, and sidetracking her hunt.
The solution: A posse—the pricklier the better.
If Kate can dodge this peck of pickles long enough to catch the killer, she can prove she’s not so “crazy” after all.
Special Guest Stars: Hanging out in Jackrabbit Junction in this book are Natalie Beals (the Morgan sisters’ cousin), Detective Cooper, and Ol’ Man Harvey from the USA Today bestselling Deadwood Mystery series. You don’t want to miss the heated hijinks happening down in the Arizona desert!
BUY LINKS:
US
Amazon
Kobo
Barnes & Noble
Google
Apple
Canada
Amazon
Apple
Google
Kobo
Australia
Amazon
Apple
Google
Kobo
Sign Up to WIN WIN WIN!
(Every month, I’ll be offering a chance to win a fun-filled gift pack containing different books and goodies.)
This month, you can enter a drawing to win a Jackrabbit Junction Junction Series gift. This pack of goodies contains:
| ▪ | An autographed, print book Twisty Tortoise Tussles Book 6, and In Cahoots with Prickly Pear Posse Book 5 (NOTE: The ebook is on sale until May 8, 2024 – see the links in this newsletter) |
| ▪ | Claire Morgan’s business card. |
| ▪ | Jackrabbit Junction sticker. |
| ▪ | Dancing Winnebagos RV Park patch. |
| ▪ | Colorful sugar skulls dish towel. *Day of the Dead spatula. |
| ▪ | Jackrabbit Junction Dancing Winnebagos RV Park bamboo cutting board. |
To enter your name in the drawing for this gift pack: Send me an email with your full name and mailing address to AnnCharlesAuthor@gmail.com with “April Drawing” in the Subject line. The winner will be announced in the May newsletter. Drawing will be held on the last day of April.
CONGRATULATIONS TO NELSINA APLEY FROM MILLER, SOUTH DAKOTA, ON WINNING THE MARCH PRIZE PACKAGE! I HOPE YOU ENJOY THE BOOKS AND PROMO GOODIES. ~ANN
Wrap Up
Deadwood Undertakers Series Update: The fifth book in this series (Hip Deep in Bad Company) will be heading to our editor in May. Sam and I can’t wait to share it with you early this summer!
Deadwood Mystery Series Update: I’m moving along on Book 14. I’m a little slower than usual yet as I still have days when grief rears its gut-wrenching head and interferes with my ability to escape into fiction. But the words are coming.
Dig Site Mystery Series Update: I’ve been stacking up the research books for the third book in this series, and I just found another one last week at Wupatki Ruins National Monument about archaeology and grave robbing. I can’t wait to continue the Dig Site crew’s story.
Jackrabbit Junction Mystery Series Update: While the Morgan sisters have this year off, there is a lot more to come with them down in southeastern Arizona, and I plan to write another novel in their series next year. I wish I could fit them in this year, too, but I’m not that fast of a writer, and I’m trying to enjoy time with my kids before they get busy with their own lives and leave home.
I hope you have been enjoying April and all that exciting weather and changes that come with this month!
Until next time,
Ann