Lucky In Love Blog Hop!

Lucky in Love? Well, are you? It's a time of luck and wealth...or not. With each romance we find ourselves in a new world of love and memories. Are these just by chance? Is it luck? Welcome to your second annual Lucky in Love Blog Hop where we want to hear about your love, your romance, and how much you love St. Patrick's Day!!! Are you wearing green? Ready to get pinched...or wait...do you like that?

Almost 300 bloggers have giveaways and posts about those men we love!

But that's not all....

We have TWO grand prizes. You as a reader can go to EACH blog and comment with your email address and be entered to win. Yep, you can enter over 200 times!

Now what are those prizes?

1st Grand Prize: A $100 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

2nd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks, 50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, coffee cozies, and more!

 

And now a word from me.....

Welcome to the Lucky in Love Blog Hop! I'm so excited to be a part of this. Why? Because St. Patrick's Day is my 2^nd favorite holiday (2^nd to Christmas). Now yes, I like a good drink just as much as the next girl, but that's not why I love St. Patrick's Day. In the family background (on my English grandfather's side) we have Irish in us. I love celebrating my heritage and I also love celebrating all things Irish. I was fortunate enough to visit Ireland in 2007 and it was such an amazing experience. I'd had some trouble getting there (delayed plane, rerouted plane) and I arrived in Dublin exhausted & about 8 hours late. But, when I managed to get through the airport and outside, I remember I raised my gaze to the blue sky with the few wispy white clouds, smiled and sighed. The trip was perfect, with beautiful scenery and such wonderfully kind people, too!

I think part of my excitement brewed in my head over the previous few years. Some of my favorite characters are Irish. I'm a huge fan of these movies and characters: Circle of Friends with Chris O'Donnell and Minnie Driver, PS I Love You with Gerard Butler, Jason O'Mara as Fergal on Monarch of the Glen, and Leap Year. (Oh! I also loved the Irishman in Braveheart. He was awesome!) I could fall in love with ANY of these Irishmen...except the guy in Braveheart. He was just interesting!

But my favorite Irish character? Quinn O'Connell in my latest submission, Silent Surrender. I tried to make him Scottish, like most of my heroes so far in my published books, but Quinn wouldn't have it. He charmed his way into my head and onto my manuscript and demanded I make him an Irishman. Here's a snippet of that story:

 

“Quinn, what a nice surprise.” Meggie flashed him something that posed as a smile and then she began unloading the dishwasher. “What brings you here?”

He wanted to jump across the bar, pull her into his arms and demand how she couldn’t know. He settled for the carefree answer. “Work.”

“Glenhalish doesn’t have a football team.”

“I know, but we’ve got some time off before our next match so I thought I’d take a trip up here to see the sites.” Or rather, one beautiful, sexy, amazing site.

Slowly, she raised her head. With what looked like a death-grip on an empty pint glass, she asked, “Why are you really here? What do you want?”

Such a loaded question. She asked as a bartender. He’d answer the woman. Slowly he glanced to each side of him, stepped up and leaned over the countertop. With his mouth so close to her ear, she gasped but didn’t move.

    “What do I want? You. Anywhere I can have you. Any way I can have you.”

Writing Quinn has also made me hungry for more Irish characters and, eventually, Irish set stories too. I look forward to bringing them to you later this year!

Okay, I need to get back to work so I can take Sunday, March 17^th off completely. I intend to be celebrating with friends somewhere. If you celebrate, be safe!

Remember to leave comments for a chance to be in the running for the awesome prizes mentioned above! AND, if you leave a comment I will also choose a lucky winner to receive an Irish prize from me at the end of the Blog Hop! (Winners can be international except for the 2nd Grand Prize.)

Here's something to help you with commenting: Do you like Irish stories? If so, who is your favorite Irish character?