Virtual touring is not the same as taking the show on the road. In January, that's fine with me. I can wave hello to everyone from the comfort of my Florida home. Hello everyone! *waves like crazy*  Actual touring would be kind of fun, but on a virtual tour, I can check in with my fabulous hosts as often as I want, respond to comments and answer any reader questions, while I pound the keys writing my next book. Sounds like a winning situation to me! Much as I like to meet others in person, my day job keeps me busy and means I need to stay put.  For now. One day, who knows. I might get to join those travelers who get stuck in airports, get bed bugs from hotels and speeding tickets racing from one city to another. Traveling is its own kind of crazy fun, that's for sure.

Come along on the tour, leave a comment, enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win a Barnes and Noble or Amazon gift card. I'd love to virtually see you!

January 19:  Musings From An Addicted Reader
January 20:  Carpe_Diem
January 21:  Yeah Books!
January 22:  Beyond My Writing Space
January 23: Books and Other Spells 
January 26: Romance Novel Giveaways 
January 27: Writers and Authors 
January 27: LibriAmoriMiei - review only 
January 28: Hope. Dreams. Life... Love 
January 28: Romorror Fan Girl - review only 
January 29: Harps Romance Book Review 
January 30: Unabridged Andra's

This year started with a bang (literally; my honey shoots a cannon  on NYE) so I'm easing my brain into it gently with fun movies on Saturday date night. HTTYD 1 was an awesome movie. This sequel is good, but lacks some of what made the first one so great.

In Dragon 1, watching Hiccup befriend Toothless, the Night Fury dragon, is a great storyline. I love smart kids, or young adults in this case, and Hiccup and his friends are a treat to watch. Hiccups affection for Toothless is perfect. Not overdone.The whole story of the human Viking  relationship with the dragons is what made this movie so wonderful to me. Read the plot here at Wikipedia. 

In the second movie, all is well on the island of Berk, with dragons and Vikings getting along just fine. The conflict comes from an outsider, Drago Bludvist, (don't you love these names?) who is forming a dragon army. I'm going to stop here with the plot so I don't spoil it for you. In fact, I can't even tell you about the romance because it's kind of a surprise. Let me just say, it's sweet and one scene coaxed a few tears from my eyes. Not what I was expecting. 

Dragon 2 is a little heavier than the first one, but still enjoyable, especially if you love a good, mushy romance. Be warned, a few more tears were shed by this tough girl when one of our beloved characters runs into danger, so keep the hanky ready. Good movie, just be prepared for a change of tone from the first one.

Lisa Medley did her homework when writing Haunt my Heart. She consulted with Alexandra Chauran, a psychic and fortune teller in the Seattle area. Join me as I welcome Lisa to my blog.

 
 A Civil War soldier dies to save his men. Can he find true love to live again?

 Sarah Knight has a job she’s good at, a quirky BFF, and a boyfriend who’s bad for her. When Sarah unearths a Civil War artifact on a ghost hunt at Chatham Manor, she brings home more than a souvenir.

 Lieutenant James “Tanner” Dawson fought for the Union, working as a supernatural liaison for his Major General in a secret Masonic offset called the Brothers of Peril. When he’s hexed by a witch, he learns the only way to save his men is to die himself. But death is not the end. Awakening 150 years later, he knows if he wants to be corporeal again, he has to find true love to break the hex—a task no easier in 21st century than it was in the 19th.


Excerpt:

“Hurry up, Sarah. We’re going to miss the ghost!”

Sarah Knight rolled her eyes in the cold December darkness, but trotted after Ellie’s bouncing flashlight beam. Sarah’s heels crunched through the frozen topsoil as she crossed the lawn, and she worried about the damage being done to her only pair of sensible work shoes. Ellie had failed to mention this would be on an outdoor excursion.

Ellie had been dragging her out on girls’ nights against her better judgment since they graduated from college. Last month, they’d gone to a mixed martial arts fight, complete with blood, screaming and more than one missing tooth. And that had been the spectators.

It was only in the car on the way over that Sarah had learned tonight’s adventure would be a ghost hunt. Ellie had a strange idea of fun.

Sarah and Ellie caught up to the tour group as the leader, a tall dark-haired man in his mid-forties, wrapped up his ghost-hunting protocol explanation. She’d missed the rules. Ellie wouldn’t care about missing that part. She hated following the rules, but Sarah was a little miffed. If she was going ghost hunting, she wanted to know exactly what the boundaries were.

“Great,” Sarah whispered. “We missed the rules.”

“At least we didn’t miss the ghost,” Ellie pointed out. “And they haven’t doled out the equipment yet.” Ellie’s mouth split into a mischievous smile, and she angled up closer to the group leader.

“Again, my name is Allen, if you have any questions during the tour. Since we have such a large group tonight, we’ll split into two teams. Carla will take this half.” Allen sliced an imaginary line through the group of twenty or so ghost-hunters. “And the rest of you will go with me.”

Relieved she and Ellie were on the same side of the line, Sarah snuggled up closer to her friend and surveyed the rest of their team. A middle-aged couple, a grandmotherly woman, and a group of ten sorority girls—exactly the type of girls she’d avoided in college—made up Team Allen. The girls sported matching Greek-lettered sweatshirts, scarves and mittens and tittered incessantly. Sarah was fairly sure their chance of seeing a ghost with this group was nil. Fine with her. Ellie was the one who went for the paranormal stuff.

“We’ll walk the path where the Lady in White has typically been spotted. Carla’s team will cover the grounds around the house,” Allen said. He nodded to Carla, and she gave him a little salute, then led her team around to the side of the building. Allen’s group stayed put in the doorway.

“First, I’ll need a couple of volunteers,” Allen announced.

Ellie’s hand shot up before Sarah could register what was happening. “We’ll do it.”

Classic Ellie, leaping before she looked. She didn’t even know what she was volunteering for. It could be anything. If Allen wanted virgins to sacrifice, however, he was out of luck.

Allen pulled two little handheld meter devices out of his messenger bag. His brows lowered a bit as he studied Ellie, cast his eyes around the group, then settled back to her. Ellie’s enthusiasm won out and Allen handed one device to her and the other to Sarah.

“This is the Anomaly Detector,” Allen said with all the reverence of presenting the sword Excalibur. “It measures EMP and temperature. If these lights change, it’s your job to let us know. I’ll be taking photos and interacting with the ghost, trying to draw her out. I can’t keep my eyes on all of the devices at once. Can you manage this?”

“Absolutely,” Ellie squealed.

Sarah resisted rolling her eyes again. She accepted the detector and did her best to reduce her scowl.

“It’s okay to be skeptical,” Allen said. “It makes it all the more exciting when we convert you to a believer.” His smile warmed and Sarah realized he was actually handsome. Old, but handsome. What an otherwise normal and attractive man—who was way old enough to know better—was doing leading a bunch of ghost hunters, she had no idea. People were strange. She supposed she’d have to include herself in that judgment, considering she now held a ghost detector.
                                               
                                                      *****************


Amazon Buy links for Haunt My Heart:

Kindle: http://amzn.to/1Bx3fzQ
Print version: http://amzn.to/1Bwurio

 

About the Author:

 
Lisa has always enjoyed reading about monsters, and now she writes about them, because monsters need love too.

 She adores beasties of all sorts, fictional as well as real, and has a farm full of them in her southwest Missouri home, including: one child, one husband, two dogs, two cats, a dozen hens, thousands of Italian bees and a guinea pig.


She may or may not keep a complete zombie apocalypse bug-out bag in her trunk at all times, including a machete. Just. In. Case.


Website http://lisa-medley.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/lisamedley
Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/medley3/
Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/+LisaMedley/
Amazon Author Page www.amazon.com/author/lisamedley
Facebook Fan Page https://www.facebook.com/lisamedleyauthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7824406.Lisa_Medley