Save a tree (and your sanity!) - read an e-book!

Black Friday shopping. Holiday shopping in general. Insanity.

I personally think all three terms should be linked hand-in-hand. This year, instead of going nuts, go digital! Save a tree - read an e-book. E-book readers are now widely available for under $100, and make the perfect gift for family and kids. And now with so many people carrying iPhones, Androids, and other smart phones, and with iPads and other tablets, you don't even need an e-reader. You can read on the go, anywhere, with mobile apps from Kindle, nook, and others.

Give the gift of reading. Most larger publishers have gift certificates available that you can gift to the reader in your life. (Or when family asks you what you want, give them the urls to your favorite online book retailers!)

For those few people who still balk at e-readers, remember it's the words, not the medium, that makes a "book." E-readers have benefits such as flexible font, so if you have older eyes like me, you don't have to squint to read. You can carry waaaay more e-books on a small, lightweight device than you can dead-tree books. And e-books are ecologically more sound, saving precious natural resources from unnecessary destruction.

Best of all, you can shop in your PJs and never leave the house, not have to fight crazy shoppers, not have to loose sleep. You can stay home, eat your leftovers, snug and happy and best of all, finish your holiday shopping in minutes instead of weeks.

So save a tree - read an e-book!

(Tymber Dalton is an award-winning, bestselling author. You can find her Siren-BookStrand releases here: http://www.bookstrand.com/tymber-dalton)

Five Fallen Angels for 'A Secret Treasure'

I've just spotted this review of A Secret Treasure by Kimber at Fallen Angel Reviews - five angels, no less!

"This is no armchair tourist account of Rhodes", she says. "It is clear Lindsay Townsend knows the island. She weaves her knowledge of history and setting into A Secret Treasure. Both Julio and Eve are unique, well crafted characters. Their courtship is natural and charming. The bad guy is deliciously bad. It is fortunate that A Secret Treasure is only 102 pages long as you’ll want to read it all in one sitting."

The full review is here.

A new cover for my forthcoming historical romance

Hello!

I'm already delighted with my cover for 'Flavia's Secret,' my historical romance set in 206AD in Roman Britain.

Now I'm delighted again - by the new cover for my forthcoming historical romance, 'A Secret Treasure'. Thank you, Jinger, and Siren-BookStrand!

'A Secret Treasure,' is a perfect holiday read, a 'sweet' historical romance set on the Greek island of Rhodes.

Here's the blurb:

With war threatening, even on the idyllic island of Rhodes, how can Eve protect her family while loving a potential enemy?

Shy, warm-hearted Eve meets Julio on the gorgeous island of Rhodes and is smitten, but the handsome, energetic Italian is a policeman, one of the Fascist oppressors of her adopted homeland. Eve dreads she will have to choose between Julio, whom she loves, and the safety of her English family.

The Greek island of Rhodes: luxurious and hot, beloved haunt of the Sun God, steeped in the mysteries of the past. In the late 1930s, in the gathering storm-clouds of war, it is a dangerous place to fall in love.When pretty, passionate Eve Burnett meets the darkly intriguing Julio Falcone she is torn. As a man, Julio is powerfully attractive. As a policeman, he is bound to be a Fascist. Her brother David, who is missing, is connected to the Greek partisans who wish to liberate Rhodes from their Italian overlords.Now, as David appears at their parents' house soon after Julio makes Eve's acquaintance, Eve is compelled to hide her brother and a mysterious gold statuette. The Fascists are looking for him and this secret treasure. Soon, Eve realizes that she may be forced to choose between the man she loves and the ultimate safety of her family.

I feel Jinger has perfectly captured the 'feel' of the period and the location. What do you think, please?

Lindsay Townsend