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Romance Awareness Month and why you need romance in your life by Jina Bacarr

August 11, 2018 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as August, books, hot, romance, Summer

Find romance in a romance novel and this hunky guy, too!

August is romance awareness month.

Not sure why someone picked this month when half the world is on holiday with the family or wishing they were. Not enough time for romance when you’re watching the kids in the pool or trying to wave down a taxi in London with a toddler in your arms.

To me, romance should be about cool breezes and fruity drinks on a sexy, tropical island with lots of down time, sarongs, and him shirtless. Ah, yes… (see below)

We all need romance.

The subtle flirting of a cocked eyebrow raised in your direction, a low growl from the back of his throat when he sees you in your bikini, cuddling together under a blanket and playing footsies. Mood changers, for sure. That certain connection that doesn’t come in a bottle. The “feel good” hormone. I talked to a woman in Starbucks recently waiting for her Internet date. When I asked her why she’d meet up with a guy she didn’t know, she said, “I wanted a little romance in my life.”

Wow.

I so understand. However, the good thing is, if you’re between boyfriends or dates, you can pick your romantic destination as easily as picking up a romance novel. As writers, we get to experience both creating and writing about our heroes.

Works for me….

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Here’s the shirtless guy I promised you…oh, yeah.

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Goodbye Kindle Worlds . . . or why I need a hug by Jina Bacarr

July 11, 2018 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat tagged as addiction, Amazon, author, books, Italian, Italy, Kindle, Kindle Worlds, moon, prince, princess, recovery, royals, vampire, Writer, writing

Even the biggest bag of Godiva chocolates from my favorite warehouse club store doesn’t last forever . . .

Such a fate has also befallen Kindle Worlds.

As of July 16th, all Kindle Worlds books will no longer be available on Amazon Kindle.

It’s a sad time for those of us who fell in love with the worlds created by some great authors.

I wrote six Kindle Worlds books — five for “The Royals of Monterra” and one for “Vampire Girl.”

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On July 1st, I checked my KW books and they had already been taken down — or so I thought.

Then I discovered they were back up!! I have no idea why this happened, but I’m certain that by July 16th, the Kindle Worlds program will be closed across the board.

The authors get their rights back — but in order to republish them, we have to remove the “world” from our stories. Not always easy . . .

I’m not sure when I’ll do this — I’ve started another story in the same line as my Italian prince billionaire submission for a publisher. It will take a while to re-do six books, so as a tribute to the worlds I participated in, I decided to post the videos for five of my books and a graphic for the sixth.

Here they are.

Thank you, KW, for the opportunity to participate in this program! And yes, I could use a hug. It’s always sad to see your characters ride off into the digital sunset . . . but they’ll be back!!

Jina

PS — I’m excited to be a Featured Author this month!! Check out my other books, too, especially in you love Civil War time travel romance and my WW 2 time travel romance3.

The Royals of Monterra series:

Twisted Tiaras: Princesses with a Past

Book 1: Royal Dare http://bit.ly/1sAkoKJ

It ain’t easy getting clean . . . even for a princess.

Book 2: Royal Bride https://amzn.com/B01N3U44OH

Can a sexy prince give a girl a second chance at love?

Book 3: Royal Kiss http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MY91GBM

Even a goody two shoes princess can get lost down the rabbit hole.

Book 4: Royal Noel http://a.co/65GYfHH

A pretty con artist risks everything when she falls for a handsome duke

Fairy Tales & Magic:

Royal Magic https://amzn.com/B01I21TIF6

The magic is in his kiss . . . a Philly girl falls in love with a royal magician.

Vampire Girl series:

Princess Moonglow http://a.co/7MGyUqz

Can a girl with a weird superpower find happiness with a hottie vampire?

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Once upon a manuscript…by Jina Bacarr

June 11, 2018 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as books, chocolate, Cinderella, coffee, fairy tale, prince, writing

You know the drill. You write a wonderful story, pour your heart into it, and send it off.

Then you wait.

You drink coffee, refuse to let anyone come between you and your phone so you can check your email 24/7, you obsess, eat chocolate, exercise to work off said chocolate so you can eat more, then give up eating altogether because your throat is so tight from the stress, you binge watch everything you can on TV so you can forget the horror of waiting and wish you’d fall into a hundred years’ sleep so the pain will go away.

A major run-on sentence. But that’s life in the “waiting to hear back from the publisher who requested the full” in the manuscript world.

Okay, so what do you do?

Write another book.

You’ve heard it before and I agree, but it’s also important to take some “me” time. After all, you’ve been taking care of your characters, who can be quite demanding, keep you up at nights, make you cry and drink coffee nonstop, so now it’s time to put your feet up and relax.

Then work on another book.

Writers are not machines.

We need nurturing, healthy food, exercise, fresh air, and social interaction. So as I sit here writing this and waiting to hear back on my manuscript, I’m going to do just that.

I’m going for a walk to the nearby coffee shack, have a mocha coffee and, God help me, a warm croissant oozing with raspberries and melting chocolate chips.

And just breathe.

And yes, I’m bringing my phone with me.

Just in case the editor calls…

Jina

PS – I’ll update my post when I hear anything on my m/s – an Italian billionaire prince story and his Cinderella.

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My Endless Summer of Reading by Jina Bacarr

May 11, 2018 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as author, books, friend, Library, May, prom, promposal, reading, Summer

It’s the reading month of May!

In case you didn’t know it, May is #GetCaughtReadingMonth, so I decided to challenge myself to do “a graphic a day with someone reading a book.”

I’m a third of my way through the month, and I’m hanging in there. So for this month’s blog, I’m going to post some of them for your viewing and reading pleasure.

First, here’s a graphic I really love because it says so much about how lucky we are to choose what we read.

Which brings me to my own version of the Endless Summer

When I was thirteen, I spent my free time in the old library by the beach with its dusty shelves and cracked, wooden floor. It was the summer I discovered boys and surfing.

And the library’s adult section.

Reading everything I could find there. Romance sagas in hardback, mysteries with provocative covers. Adventure stories girls weren’t supposed to read.

Until a lady wagged her finger at me and told me to go back to the kids’ section.

I didn’t.

Even then I knew I wanted to write, and to write what was in my heart, I needed the freedom to discover all kinds of writing.

Enjoy the freedom to choose what you want to read!

By the way, I didn’t listen to her and kept sticking my Irish nose wherever I smelled a good story…

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So for #GetCaughtReadingMonth, here are some of the graphics I’ve posted so far:

You can find all the #GetCaughtReadingMonth graphics I’ve done so far and check them out all this month of May on Twitter and my Facebook pages:

And finally, since it’s prom month:

Ever wanted to be Prom Queen?

Kaylee is tired of being bullied by the Duchess in Crystal Girl and sells her soul to get thin

Here’s the story of Kaylee and her promposal . . . from a hottie devil!

CRYSTAL GIRL: Kindle & KU: http://a.co/ipzidx8

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How far would you go to get thin? by Jina Bacarr

January 11, 2018 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat tagged as books, dance., fantasy, gown, prom, teen paranormal, young adult

The holidays just ended and already I’m getting emails from a major department store telling me it’s not too early to prep for prom.

Seriously?

I took a look at the dresses offered and I have to admit, $445.00 is pretty pricey for a dress you may only wear once. Or twice.

If you’re lucky, you get to wear your prom dress to a college dance, but by then it will be so “yesterday.” Not to mention it won’t fit if you fall victim to the Freshman Fifteen.

But what if you’re not going to the prom because . . . well, you hate yourself because you’re not thin. Who’s gonna ask you?

It gets worse.

When your arch enemy, the Duchess, bullies you about your weight, you lose it. Announce to the universe you’re going to

run against her for prom queen and you’ll anything to get thin. Anything. Even sell your soul.

Uh-oh.

Guess who shows up…and is Luke the hottest, sexiest devil you’ve ever seen. He promises you that you’ll get thin if you do what he says…

Find what that is in CRYSTAL GIRL when Kaylee makes a deal with the devil to get thin and win Prom Queen.

Available in Kindle and Kindle UnLimited

With all the talk about how women are viewed in the workplace, let’s not forget appearance is also a key factor. Actresses have been “ordered” to lose weight to get a part. Models, it seems, live on lettuce. And the rest of us, well, we see these gorgeous ladies looking like celery stalks and get on ourselves because we don’t look like that.

Thank goodness people are talking about how much women are paid in the workforce compared to men, and how they have to struggle against unwanted advances from men in power.

But we’re also victims of ourselves. The obsession to be thin. It’s not a new problem. I’m doing research now for a story set in the Victorian era and I came across an “X-ray” drawing of a woman’s ribs from using a corset. Pushed, squeezed into an unnatural, skeleton structure. No wonder women turned green. Literally. It was called chlorosis.

That’s not to say we shouldn’t keep a healthy weight. Healthy is the keyword here.

So if you’ve ever uttered those words, “I’ll do anything to be thin,” check out Crystal Girl and find out the price Kaylee paid before she found her way back.

CRYSTAL GIRL is based on a play I wrote that was produced at the Malibu Stage Company Theatre. It was very exciting to see my characters come alive on stage!!