Essence VBT

Blurb:

All Haven Jameson ever wanted was to own a little piece of paradise. Now, she does, having established a successful luxury spa in St. Augustine, Florida. But when the property next door is sold to a mega developer and his pro-golf celebrity brother who design trendy, bustling playgrounds for the rich and famous, she fears her dream could slip away. Confronted by her late husband’s infidelity, Haven learns everything she believed about her marriage was a lie; so she finally sets aside her grief and opens her heart to loving the widowed pro-golfer who is her biggest professional competition. In the end, Haven discovers that living a safe, loveless life is far worse than embracing passion and taking a chance on a man who’s vowed never to love again. And that, sometimes, no matter how high the risk, the best paradise of all can be found inside our own hearts.

Excerpt:

All Haven Jameson knew for sure was that she loved this place and she wouldn’t let someone come in and steal her business away by building a junk yard or a high-rise hotel-casino next door or adding a boardwalk with a carnival.

Hell, no.

Haven would fight for every granule of sand on that beach to keep that from happening. “I’ll go visit Imogen this afternoon. See what I can do to influence her decision. You know I’m irresistible when I choose to be.”

Sally crossed the room. “Honey, don’t I just know it. The way men have always swarmed around you your entire life. Blondes do have more fun. And when I look up the definition of irresistible on Wikipedia, I see your picture. But, we all know you’re more than a pretty face. All anyone has to do is look at Essence to see you’re also a brilliant businesswoman. You’ve created something really special here, Haven.”

Haven nodded in silent agreement.

From the doorway, Sally gave Haven a considering look. “We’ve been through a lot together over the years. Your determination and sheer stubbornness is part of your success. So if anyone can persuade Madam Carmichael to change her mind, it’s you, my dear.”

Haven rolled her eyes. “All right. Go, you. There are clients to take care of.” She glanced down at the clipboard. “So this one’s a pro golfer? Ugh.”

“Yepper.” Sally turned, one hand on the doorframe, then looked back at her, a sly assessing expression on her face. “It’ll expand your horizons.”

“Boring is more like it. If you had to give me an athlete, why couldn’t you give me that major league baseball player last week? He was hot, and seriously sweet.”

Sally chuckled. “You’d eat sweet, darling. Besides, sweet won’t stick or make you forget Miles.”

“Harrumph.” Haven scowled at Sally. “What about the oil tycoon who blew in on Wednesday. I liked him.”

“Again, he was a player. And you don’t play. He’d never stand two minutes against you. You’d call him out like you were reading his moves from an official playbook. No hesitation. Then we’d lose a wealthy, satisfied customer. Although, I gotta say he was a sizzler.” Sally groaned. “And possessed the body of a tricked-out celebrity.”

They both sighed.

Haven held the clipboard to her chest. “I love the scenery at Essence.”

“Yeah, me, too,” Sally said dreamily. “Believe me, Pace Daniels is anything but boring or sweet. Don’t let the golfer moniker fool you. Give him a chance. I think he’s interesting. You’ll see. And you weren’t ready for the Hawks’ pitcher last week or the oil magnate from Texas.” She smiled. “But I think you’re ready now.” With those ominous words, Sally disappeared.

A Day Behind the Scenes

Here’s a run-down of a typical day in the life of a writer.

6:00 a.m. - Alarm goes off. Get kids up. Brew my first pot of coffee. Check e-mail. Shower.

7:00 a.m. - Take teenagers to school.

7:30 a.m. - See middle-schooler off to school.

8:00 a.m. - Find myself seated at my local coffee shop to write the next scene of my book. Buy more coffee.

10:30 a.m. - Have usually completed a chapter. Can be anywhere from ten to twenty pages in length. My average two-point-five-hour sitting produces twelve to thirteen pages. Some days I’ll sit there longer if the story is flowing and continue to write.

11:00 a.m. - Run errands. Grocery shop. Miscellaneous tasks like cleaning, etc.

2:30 p.m. - Home editing whichever project is in editing phase. Boys get home from school. Get after them to start homework.

5:00 p.m. - Make dinner. Clean up.

6:30 p.m. - Depending on brain wattage at this point, I’ll either continue to work, or turn on the TV to veg if my brain is too tired. If sitting in front of the TV, I’ll open my favorite social network platforms and send out tweets and share posts on Facebook. If I’m really tired, I’ll play on Pinterest because it’s really the most relaxing of the social media formats for me.

9:00 - 10:00 p.m. - Get ready for bed. Read. Go to sleep. And get ready to start it all over again tomorrow.

See. Not so different from your own day. Lots of family stuff. A few hours of writing new in the morning and a few hours of editing in the afternoon, with social media mixed in wherever I can find time to do it.

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Author Bio and Links:

Mackenzie Lucas is a lover of story in any form. She’s an avid reader of genre fiction, she writes contemporary and paranormal romance, and she listens to an eclectic mix of music that spans from pop/rock to country to gospel. She loves a good story whether it’s an erotic short, a full-length romance novel, or the narrative slice-of-life found in country music. In any story, emotional integrity and authenticity are most important to her as well as a big dose of romping hot sexual tension. She enjoys smart-mouthed, sexy heroines, hunky alpha heroes who know how to take care of their women, and plot twists that surprise her, but most of all, she just wants to experience a satisfying emotional arc of a character falling in love and finding what he or she needs most in life.

Mac is a small-town country girl with a world-traveler’s soul. She grew up in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania and she’s lived in Dublin, Ireland, within spitting distance of New York City in Long Island, and now in the Washington, D.C. area. She obtained her undergraduate degree in English Literature from Dickinson College and received her M.F.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. She’s currently an author, writing coach, a mother, and a wife.

With Mackenzie Lucas--whether you’re reading her light paranormal romance, her small-town-based contemporary romance, or her steamin’ hawt erotica--you’ll always get a story about connectedness, community, and emotional authenticity, and, at its core, love. No, and it doesn’t hurt that all her heroes are panty-melting gorgeous alphas and all their sexy, sensually aware heroines know how to stand up to them, give no quarter, and love them just as they are.

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