Reader's Life Magazine:Feb 2017

Reader’s Life Magazine

Contacts 1-8:Carol Preflatish 10-13:Beverly Jenkins 14-16:Book Review

Carol Preflatish Carol Preflatish lives in southern Indiana and shares her log cabin with her husband, a dog, and two cats in what seems like an enchanted forest with a menagerie of wildlife constantly visiting. Carol has published several romantic suspense novels, two nonfiction books, and is still hoping to get that mystery series finished. When she's not writing, she loves to read, watch Indianapolis Colts football, and do just about anything outdoors. An avid photographer, Carol has had many photos published in her local newspaper, as well as in Golf Journal, the official publication of

the United States Golf Association.

A few little known facts about Carol are that she's a licensed amateur radio operator, has a degree in Physical Education, and is a collector of golf balls, shot glasses, and coins.

Carols latest book, “Mountain of Deception� is about a university teacher who while on sabbatical in the Tennessee mountains finds unexpected love with a sexy, but dangerous man.

You can learn more about Carol by visiting her web page at http://CarolPre.com

Carol Preflatish is the author of 6 romantic suspense novels.She has been writing since 2000 but did not publish until 2009.

Writing became a passion when she made her New Year's Resolution for the millennium. The goal was to write a full length novel. She completed it and loved every moment of it.

Upon being asked what the difference is between writing pure romance and writing romantic suspense her answer was easy. “You still write romance, but the mystery or the suspense is the focus of the plot. You still have two characters wanting to fall in love, but the conflict is keeping that from happening, all while trying to solve the

mystery. I think I do more research writing romantic suspense than with a regular romance novel. My suspense usually involves law enforcement and I want to make sure I get it as close to reality as possible.”

Another Passion Preflatish has is food and cooking.

This love for food helped inspire her novel “A Kitchen Affair” “A Kitchen Affair" is my only romantic suspense that is also a sweet romance. Everything in the bedroom is behind closed doors. It's about a personal chef who falls for the local millionaire.

Besides the suspense involving industrial espionage, the book revolves around food.

Who doesn't like food and since she's a chef, she cooks up all kinds of great dishes in the book. What

makes this book even better is that at the end of each chapter is a recipe for a dish that she cooked in that chapter. One of them is a Chocolate Rum Cheesecake that is to die for. No pun intended.”

“A Kitchen Affair” has received many great reviews and responses one of which said "you'll gain five pounds just from reading it." It is also her best selling ebook.

Preflatish’s journey to publishing has not always been a smooth one, she has worked with three publishers two of which closed down.

“The first two closed, the latter closing just three days before my latest book was supposed to have come out. Losing publishers has been a disappointment, but I found my current publisher, Dragonfly Publishing for my last book and am very happy with them. I received the rights back to my previous books and ended up self-publishing those to get them available again as soon as possible.”

All though she does not have any authors that have inspired her romance novels. She did find inspiration from the late Robert B. Parker’s “Jesse Stone” novels. This has inspired her police procedural mystery series.

I'm working on getting my first novel re-released in a few months and then my next romance is

waiting to be edited so I can get it out before the end of the year. After than, I'm changing gears and will be working on the police procedural mystery series that I'm really excited to get back to. I have three books partially started and tons of Post-It Notes stuck in a binder with ideas I've come up with.�

She also has advice for new writers. “Research, research, research and I don't mean for your books.

New writers need to research the publishing industry to know what is out there and what publishers want.

Learn how to write a query letter, learn how to write that dreaded synopsis.

There's so much that you need to know.

Start learning what you can and the rest will fall into place.

Beverly Jenkins Ms. Jenkins is a USA Today Bestselling author and an NAACP Image Award nominee.

She’s the nation’s premier writer of African – American historical romance fiction and specializes in 19th century African American life. She has over thirty published novels in multiple genres. Some of her work has been listed among Best Books of the Year by the Washington Post, Booklist and NPR. She has received numerous awards.

In 2016 she was the keynote speaker for the Romance Writers of America annual convention. She has been featured in many national publications, and has lectured and given talks at such prestigious universities as Oberlin University, Princeton and Duke.

She speaks widely on both romance and 19th century African-American history.

Her soon to be released, BREATHLESS earned a starred and boxed review from Publishers Weekly and will debut in January 2017.

Beverly Jenkins is a 20 year writing veteran and author of the “Forbidden” Series as well as the author of “Night Song”

But. I’ve now been in publishing for over 20 years, have written in nearly every major genre, and have over 36 books in print.”

Her love for writing began at an early age, she was the Editor of her 4th grade school paper. Her first novel “Night Song” was published in 1994.

Jenkins has had a long and full career as an author but writing wasn’t her first career choice. At a young age she aspired to become a librarian.

Her Novel “Forbidden” Follows an African American man as he passes as white in 1870s Virginia City Nevada, This novel was highly anticipated since the character was featured as a secondary character in Jenkins 1998 novel “Through the Storm”

Her first novel was deeply inspired by the Great Exodus of 1879 and the all-black townships that were formed in Kansas as a result. “Night Song” was not accepted by publishers at first. “I received enough rejections for Night Song to paper the walls of the houses of everyone I knew.

Recently Jenkins has been working on the 8th book in the “Blessings” Series. “ Chasing Down a Dream” Which is a woman's fiction. She is also getting ready to tackle the 3rd novel in the “Forbidden” series.

Currently it has no title but is meant to be out in January 2018.

Along with news of her new novels she also gave some advice for new writers.

“My advice. Learn all you can about the business of writing. If you’re set on mainstream publishing learn how to submit and how to write a query and a synopsis. if you’re going the indie route, hire the best editor you can afford. My other advice – have fun, don’t take yourself seriously and please, don’t quit your day job. There are only a handful of writers able to make a living off their work.”

Review: Journey to Love I was recently given the honor of reviewing Nicole A. Schmidt's new poem collection "Journey To Love" which will be available on Valentine's day 2017!

This book is quite different from her previous collection of poems, as you probably guessed this collection is about love and the journey you have to take in order to find it, This collection is geared towards a more mature crowd, her poems are formatted so that it feels as though you are having a conversation with her. This collection shows a more realistic side to trying to find love in the modern world. Just as with her first collection it does have a christian

undertone but not so heavily that people with other beliefs would feel uncomfortable.

To me this collection is every relatable and touching, as you read deeper and deeper into the collection you see the personal growth and you feel the powerful emotions as she learns who she is and what she wants. It is truly a powerful and inspirational collection, one I think is well worth a read.

Schmidt has a way of touching her readers and making contact with them on a personal level, in a way that I have never seen before. I highly recommend her

collections to anyone new to poetry or that's just wanting something different from the normal array of poetry.

So check out "Journey to Love" on Amazon when it debuts on Tuesday!