Friday, March 15, 2013

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 2nd favorite holiday (2nd 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 17th 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?

 

37 comments:

  1. thank you a lot for your participation in this i would love to win something irish;)

    happy St Patrick's day

    isabelle(dot)frisch(at)gmail(dot)com

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  2. Slainte!

    xo_veronica16[at]hotmail[dot]com

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  3. Happy St. Patrick's Day


    MinDaf @aol.com

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  4. I love the snippet from Silent Surrender. It sounds really good. I am going to check out some of the other books mentioned on the blog as well as soon as I am finished here :)

    I do like Irish stories, but I don't know about having a favorite character. I read or have read a lot of Irish folklore and things like that. The Oidheadh Clainne Lir is a pretty good story (but I likely spelled it all wrong! Sorry about that)and the tales of Cu Chulainn are strange and interesting. I don't know so much about the modern Irish stories though. I need to find some I think! (I don't know if I answered the question or not, but I tried :D)

    Thank you for the chance to enter :D Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone :)
    Shelly H
    booski24@hotmail.com

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  5. My favorite Irish characters are Roarke, Rogan Sweeney and Murphy Muldoon from the Born in Trilogy, and Aidan Gallagher and Shawn Gallagher from the Irish Trilogy...

    anasmith1919 at gmail dot com

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  6. Thanks for stopping by, everyone!

    Mary, congratulations on 22 years! May it be many, many more!

    Thanks for the comments about Silent Surrender, Shelly! I hope I get the chance to share it with the world later this year!

    Ana, Who are the writers of these stories? I recognized some of the names, but I haven't read these.

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  7. Thanks for participating in the hop.

    parisfan_ca@yahoo.com

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  8. I cannot think of any Irish characters right now. My mind is a blank, and St. Patrick's Day hasn't started yet! Thanks for hopping!

    Urb
    brendurbanist at gmail dot com

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  9. I haven't really read any Irish stories!

    susanmplatt AT hotmail DOT com

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  10. Irish stories are so full of lore and superstition that reading them makes for a fun time. My favorite Irish story is the movie The Boondock Saints.
    planterofhope at aol dot com

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  11. Haven't read any Irish stories

    bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  12. No worries, all of you who can't think of Irish stories. It took me a while to think of the ones I named!

    Carla, I've never heard of The Boondock Saints. I'll have to look it up!

    Thanks to everyone for commenting & stopping by!

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  13. I like any of Nora Robert's Irish stories.
    Thanks for the chance to win!
    natasha_donohoo_8 at hotmail dot com

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  14. Roarke is probably my favorite Irish character, although being of Irish descent I love them all.

    kesummer69(at)gmail(dot)com

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  15. Roarke is my favorite Irish Character ;)

    Happy St. Patrick's Day
    staceyprice(AT)Gmail.com

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  16. Thanks for visiting, Stacey, Kelsey and Natasha! Now, who is this Roarke character? I've heard of him before and I'm thinking he's a Nora character. Am I right?

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  17. I haven't really read any Irish story/book yet, but I would love to!
    Happy St. Patrick's Day!
    verusbognar (at) gmail (dot) com

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  18. My favorite Irish character is Roarke from JD Robb's In Death series.
    Thanks for the chance!
    liese1235@gmail.com

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  19. I like reading Irish myths and legends.
    bituin76 at hotmail dot com

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  20. Great excerpt! I haven't read too many Irish characters, which is such a shame as I love my Scots. I should do something about that, in the interest of diversity in my reading.

    dancingcelt at gmail dot com

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  21. I enjoy movies that take place in Ireland, too, especially the romances with an Irish hero.

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    Replies
    1. Forgot my e-mail addy: jmcgaugh (at) semo (dot) edu

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  22. What a great tease to your story. Sounds like a great read.

    Thanks for being in the Happy St. Patrick’s Day blog hop.
    Happy St. Patrick’s Day, ya’ll!

    Keep writing so I can keep reading.
    roya-clan@sbcglobal.net

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  23. I love Irish stories and my favorite Irish character has to be Dani O'Malley from Iced by Karen Marie Moning. Thanks for the great giveaway and for joining the hop!!!!
    Ashley A
    ash_app(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  24. I like Irish books. My fav irish character is Roarke :)

    Thanks for the giveaway!

    anasmithblue At gmail DOT com

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  25. I love Irish Stories, Roarke from In death series is my fav Irish character

    Happy St Patty's Day!

    Froggy
    froggarita@gmail.com

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  26. I love Irish stories... My favorite irish movie that comes on tv about this time is Darby O'Gill and the little people.

    j.m.platt83@gmail.com

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  27. No, I have not been lucky in love.
    magic5905 at embarqmail dot com

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  28. Love Irish characters, my favorite at the moment Devlin from JoAnne Kendricks, Kiss Me I'm Irish
    sugerlady@aol.com

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  29. I love JD Robb's Roarke!
    -Amber
    goodblinknpark(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

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  30. I haven't really read any, I'm going to have to start.
    Thanks for the chance to win. Happy Saint Patty’s Day!

    Morganlafey86(at)aol(dot)com

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  31. I was such a fan of Maeve Binchy and all of her quirky Irish characters in small-town Ireland. And who doesn't love Crazy Jane in W.B. Yeats' poems? Priceless.
    I would love to go to Ireland!
    catherinelee100 at gmail dot com

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  32. I have not been Lucky in love so far but have not given up yet. Happy St Paddy’s Day! And may your life always be golden!

    Judy Peterson
    strawberryrose@earthlink.net

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  33. I love Irish characters in movies, but I can't think of any that I've read of in books

    june111(at)att(dot)net

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  34. What a great giveaway hop! I have yet to be lucky in love but I'm working on it. My favorite love book is "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon. Jamie Fraser is amazing and beautiful. I enjoy St. Patty's Day and this year I'm spending it with my best friend. We're going to two Irish Pubs and also some dance clubs. I am also wearing green and am not a fan of getting pinched. I'm not Irish either, but many people think I am because my hair is red, my eyes green and my name is Meghan, but I'm not at all. I won't be telling anybody that, however… let them believe I'm Irish.
    Thanks for the giveaway!

    mestith at gmail dot com

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  35. Hmmm, I seriously need to consider reading this Roarke character.

    Thanks, Mer & Mary for comments on my manuscript!

    No, I haven't been lucky in love, either, but I keep looking!

    Meghan, ah yes, Jamie Fraser is definitely in a class by himself!

    Thanks everyone for visiting!

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  36. Thank you to everyone who visited and commented on the blog! The winner of the prize on my stop of the blog hop is:

    LISA WALKER!

    Congratulations!

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