Weekly Winners

We have winners at SOS Aloha!

Maggie Mae Gallagher's ANOINTED
- Debby wins an ecopy from Maggie

Mary Behre's SPIRITED

- Annwitch wins a copy from Mary

Kimberly Kincaid's TURN UP THE HEAT

- Elizabeth H. wins a print copy from me

Winners, please claim your prize by sending your mailing address to sos.aloha@yahoo.com.

Giveaways still open through Saturday, March 15:

Máire Claremont and THE DARK AFFAIR (link)
Kate McKinley and A NIGHT WITH A BRIDE (link)
Jane Ashford and THE BRIDE INSISTS (link)

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore

Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Aloha to Mary Behre and SPIRITED (A Tidewater Novel)

Spir·it·ed [spir-i-tid] 
adjective
having or showing mettle, courage, vigor, liveliness, etc.: a spirited defense of romance.  

Mary Behre joins me today to celebrate her debut paranormal romance, SPIRITED.   From her bio (link),

Mary Behre is the lone female in a house full of males and the undisputed queen of her domain. She even has the glittery tiara to prove it. She loves stories with humor, ghosts, mysteries and above all else, a good romance. When not writing, she enjoys reading, gluten-free baking, and hanging out at the beach with the most important men in her life, her family.

Her debut paranormal romance, SPIRITED (Tidewater Novel #1) was an award-winning manuscript before it sold to Berkley Sensation. The Tidewater Series is mix of humor, suspense, and a psychic love-connection. The first three stories are about three sisters separated years before in the foster care system. As they search for love, each other, and a way to live with their psychic abilities, they’re tossed into the middle of mysteries that only their unique gifts can help solve.

Kim:  We are nosy at SOS Aloha. Can you share a favorite sight, sound, and smell from your part of the country?

Mary:  Ooh, that's easy because they're all one thing. The ocean. I love listening to the waves crash on the shore. I love watching the sunrise on the ocean. And nothing beats the smell of salt air at the beach. If I could live anywhere in the world, it would be near the Atlantic Ocean.

Kim:  I am curious about the tiara - where did you find it? Where do you where it?!?

Mary:  I have several tiaras now. I received several plastic ones over the years but received a nice one for my 40th birthday. I wear it proudly on my birthday every year. As to where I wear it, any place I happen to be on my birthday. I wore out to brunch once and several little girls commented to their mammas that they wanted crowns like mine. LOL!

Kim:  It would be perfect for RT!

Mary:  I'm definitely bringing it to RT! It'll be after my birthday, but it'll also be my first time in New Orleans and my first trip to RT so I'm going to live large.

Kim:  Gluten Free Baking - what's the easiest recipe you've made? The hardest?

Mary:   The easiest recipe I ever made was my Gluten-Free Brownies.

1 C of Melted Butter
2/3 C of cocoa powder
2 C of sugar
4 Eggs
3/4 C All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour
1/4 C Garbanzo Bean Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Xanthan Gum
1 C Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Toss everything but the semi-sweet morsels into a bowl and mix until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into a greased 9" cake pan and bake for 40 minutes in an oven preheated to 350.

The hardest recipe I've had to bake is sugar cookies. Sugar cookies are pretty unforgiving when it comes to taste, you either succeeded or you failed epically! It took me 4 years to perfect my recipe for sugar cookies.

2 C All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour
1/4 C Garbanzo Bean Flour (this gives the cookies the best texture)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum
Pinch of Salt
1/2 C Butter
1/2 C Powdered Sugar
1/2 C Granulated Sugar
1 Egg (large)
1/2 C Vegetable Oil
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

In small bowl mix flours, cream of tartar, xanthan gum, and salt. In a large bowl beat butter and sugars until creamy, add egg, oil and vanilla. Beat flour mixture into large bowl. Cover and set in refrigerator over night. Next day, form a small ball of dough and set it on parchment covered cookie sheet. Using cookie cutters, shape the dough by peeling excess dough from around the outside of the cutter. Repeat with each cookie. (This recipe is too soft to shape the dough on another surface and transfer to the cookie sheet. I tried.)

After all the cookies are arranged 2" apart on the cookie sheet, bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes.

These cookies are a lot of work but they melt in your mouth.

Kim:  Yum!  Who or what inspired you to jump into romance writing?

Mary:  I'm not sure what inspired me to write romance. I guess it's because I love happy endings. If I watch a movie or read a book, I want that happy ending. And what could be happier that people finding their soul mates?

Kim:  Tell us about your Tidewater series and Book 1, SPIRITED!

Mary:  The Tidewater Series is a paranormal romance set in Southeastern Virginia. There's humor, suspense and a psychic-love connection.

SPIRITED (A Tidewater Novel #1) is about Jules and Seth.

She’s running from who she is…

All Jules Scott wants is to live a normal, quiet life–preferably one that doesn’t include ghosts. Jules’s ability for communicating with the dead has brought her nothing but trouble. Despite her best efforts, needy spirits always find her and draw her into their otherworldly drama. When one implicates her in a series of deadly crimes, she may need to entrust her secrets to the person least likely to believe her…

He’ll do whatever it takes to catch her.

Detective Seth English can’t get distracted from the big case he’s working on, not even by his alluring new neighbor. He doesn’t believe that Jules had anything to do with the string of robberies-turned-murders that he’s investigating, but when she keeps showing up in all the wrong places, his gut tells him she knows more than she’s letting on. To solve his case, he’ll need to expose what the sexy redhead is hiding–no matter how impossible the truth may be…

Kim:  What's next for Mary Behre?

Mary:  Lots! This Saturday, March 8th, I'll be signing books at Books-A-Million in Fredericksburg, VA. In April, I'll be appearing at Lady Jane's Salon in Silver Spring. Then in May I'll be at RT. In June, I'll be a featured author at the Frederick Book Festival. Finally, in July, I'll be at the RWA Convention.

In August, GUARDED (Tidewater Series #2), comes out. GUARDED tells Shelley & Dev's story.

She’s given up on finding love…

Veterinarian Shelley Morgan has always preferred animals to humans, and not simply because she can communicate with them psychically. Unlike most people she’s known, animals have never broken her heart. But after six months in her new town, some of her favorite four-legged companions begin disappearing from the local zoo. Determined to track down the animals and their thief, the telepathic vet decides to investigate, unknowingly delving into a deadly mystery…

He’s ready to make her heart go wild…

Although his bear-like physique has been an advantage in the Tidewater Police Department, Dev Jones’s size often intimidates people. Only Shelley has seen past his massive build to the intelligent man inside, but that was years ago. So when she contacts him requesting his help to solve a series of animal kidnappings, he’s eager to reconnect with her. When the thefts escalate to murder and all the evidence points to Shelley as the killer, Dev faces a devastating choice: forsake his career or risk losing the woman he’s grown to love…

Thank you for having me as a guest today!

Now, it's the reader's turn. Answer the question in the comments section for a chance to win a copy of SPIRITED and a prize pack. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live and why?

Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads

Mahalo, Mary, for sharing your recipes and your books with us!   To enter Mary's giveaway,

1.  Answer Mary's question - if you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live and why?

2.  This giveaway is open to US readers.

3.  Comments are open through Saturday, March 8, 10 pm in Baltimore.  I'll post the winner on Sunday, March 9.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore
Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Hawaii is Spirited ...