My thoughts on love #ValentinesDay #books #IARTG

What is love?

  

“Looking for love in all the wrong places…” the words to that old country song came back to me while contemplating this post.

Here are some thought provoking quotes from one of my favorite authors on the subject – 

Merle Shain. From When Lovers Are Friends. “Very few of us are tough enough to be soft.” 

Sometimes we don’t recognize love when we see it. Do you know someone who is strong enough, and loves fierce enough to fight for truth and yet their kindness is just as obvious? You feel the love radiating from them and if you stand there, it can fill you up.

“There are many sources of friendship which we reject, many potential friends who we don’t see, and hence there are many ways of enriching our lives which we overlook, many sources of love which we turn down.” 

Do you turn from love because it’s not the right ‘kind’ of love, not what you expect, not what you were taught love IS?

“Friends are people who help you be more yourself, more the person you are intended to be, and it is possible that without them we don’t recognize ourselves, or grow to be what it is in us to be. Our lives are in fact many lives, and we can all be much more than we are, so there cannot be any doubt that the secret of who we become is whom we meet along the way.” 

Often caring friendships will carry you further and more securely than the kind we bet our futures on, rejecting them in hopes of THE ideal.

What’s the best kind of love – romantic love? A friend’s love? A child’s love? Familial love? Fido’s love?

From Courage My Love, Merle Shain quotes Mignon McLaughlin, “No one ever loved anybody like everybody wants to be loved.” And Shain says, “We expect a lot from love– often a lot more than we expect of ourselves.”

What is this thing we call ‘love’ that we look for outside ourselves? How does someone ‘prove’ their love? Why is that necessary? Do we concentrate as much on proving ourselves as we expect from our significant others?

“People who are always trying to make the perfect choice, rejecting what they have for what they hope to find, bet the present on the future and end up missing both… 

It is easy enough to love the one who got away or the one we never got, the real trick is to love ourselves enough to let someone know who we really are, and to pay them the same respect…

There isn’t a perfect person somewhere, only a more perfect person we might become. You can think you must look still for the perfect one, or that the best one got away, or that love is a fraud and a failure and that you want it not, or that everything went wrong because your mother didn’t love you, but the one you wait for is yourself.”

There was never a truer word spoken.

Love is all around us, from friends, family and strangers. It may not be everywhere; it may not be constant; and it may not be a guarantee, but in our giving of ourselves we find it. In our acceptance of someone else, we find it. And maybe when we stop trying so hard to find IT, love finds us.

What does ‘love’ mean to you? Is it really about diamonds, jewelry or even chocolate? Is it about happy endings? Or is it about BEing, giving, and sharing happiness.

Maybe we could learn to be a love tree, ever blooming, forever tapping deep into the roots of love wherever we find it.

Men of Honor Boxed Set : Ridge, Luc and Nick

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense, Military Romance

Blurb:

For love and country. . .

The Men of Honor heroes are part of a large extended military family and encompasses themes of family, love, and their passion for making a difference. Descriptions of the series include contemporary romance, military romance, love at first sight and small town romance, romantic suspense and second chance at love.

Ridge He's the one, and everyone knows it but him.

“Take ‘em off, Tucker. Tucker. Tucker…” Ridge Romano is an inventor, Ranger, mentor, the consummate planner. So how did he wind up on stage in nothing but his trousers and tie beside two cover models, with a hundred women screaming at him to take it off? It seemed like a recipe for harmless fun. One curious CEO follows a gorgeous redhead onto the conference floor. Add a hundred romance writers at a "meeting". Toss in some false assumptions. Throw out a lifetime of good behavior and Ridge is up to his Special Forces tattoo in manure. Now to make sure no one finds out…

Luc Larue knows how it looks when the sexy cop and her partner respond to a silent alarm at the grocery where he stopped for a six-pack. Luc’s job with KPI requires certain…attire and equipment.

The tall, dark and deadly looking mercenary Delilah Burke confronts at the robbery scene is sexy as sin, but is he a hero or a con? Then, trouble arrives from his past and Del is faced with a choice to believe the evidence against Luc, or trust her heart.

Nick What happened? He’d been dodging the lightning, fighting the wind and rain, looking for a place to hide…when he’d seen the faint glow in the distance. There was no answer at the door so he’d broken in, entered… and there she was, a beautiful Valkyrie. Wielding her sword, she screamed as she struck him—for no good reason—and then everything went black. Everything.

Themes included disadvantaged teens, teencenter, wounded hero, veterans, amnesia in the storm, clairvoyance and undercover danger.

Buy Links:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/menofhonor 

So what is love IYO? How do you and your loved ones celebrate Valentine's Day?

Read an #excerpt from the Men of Honor Box #NewRelease

It's Release day for my Men of Honor box set which includes the first three books in the series.
Purchase it on all stores here

Ridge

 

He’s a former Army Ranger, a billionaire CEO of MedBionics with a mission to improve the lives of wounded veterans. With the big vote on his Veterans bill coming up before Congress soon, how had he ended up on stage between two cover models with a hundred women shouting, “Take it off, Tucker!”? That’s the question his family and friends would be asking tomorrow. That, and “Who’s Tucker?”

Buffy Calloway's face and body were recognizable worldwide but the 'face' she's looking for is the face of her franchise. Interviewing cover models at the D.C. conference, she finds 'her man'. Tucker - the late arrival - has the 'je ne sais quoi' that will make her talent agency and photography studio an immediate success.

The Calloways have always known what they wanted and Buffy knows he's ‘the one’. There's just one problem. Ridge scoffs at the notion of himself as a cover model. He has more important priorities. Who is Buffy to argue with such a noble cause, but she’s determined to show Ridge he’s underestimated the influence of a vast romance community. 

Could this be the first time a Calloway was wrong?

Luc

Not all tall, dark and dangerous heroes are bad boys…

The first time Delilah Burke saw him was at the crime scene, she assumed he was a certain type—tall, dark and dangerous, and a robber—because he looked the part and he was holding the gun. She'd been wrong. A cop should know better than to assume but dressed like a mercenary, how was she to know? Under the circumstances a careful cop doesn't presume or assume so, she'd followed protocol.

Luc relaxed as the cop's boot pressed him down on the grimy floor of the small grocery. But then her cornflower blue eyes peered upside down into his and his stomach lurched. She might figure out he wasn't the perp but would he get a chance to find out more about this intriguing and beautiful woman? As he watched her work, he decided she was just what he'd been looking for, but Luc's part-time job required some unusual costumes and equipment. When she found out he was neither a criminal or a hero, would she listen to his proposition?

Each day reveals the former Naval officer to be almost too good to be true. Then trouble arrives from Luc's past and Del faces a choice – believe the evidence against him, or trust her heart.

Nick

Could his past get her killed?

You’ve killed him, Bad Brenna taunted. Brenna looked down the steps at the man lying motionless in

the tropical downpour. I told you that silly phobia would get you in trouble if you didn’t get a grip.

Brenna knew she was right, knew it was exactly why Bad Brenna existed, to help her cope with the trauma that had turned her into a scared rabbit whenever lightning was in the forecast. But her anxiety over the approaching storm had been magnified by another premonition. Usually, it meant someone was about to die. Had she been the means, this time, of fulfilling her own prophecy? As always there were no clear answers. She needed to start trusting her sixth sense if she was ever going to get rid of Bad Brenna. First step—rescue her victim from the storm.

What happened? He’d been dodging the lightning, fighting the wind and rain, looking for a place to hide…when he’d seen the faint glow in the distance. There was no answer at the door so he’d broken in … and there she was, a beautiful Valkyrie. Wielding her sword, she screamed as she struck him—for no good reason—and then everything went black. Everything.

Excerpt from Nick

She’d been awakened before dawn by ground-rumbling thunder that shook a candle loose from a its place on a nearby shelf and sent it thudding to the floor. She was a light sleeper under these conditions anyway and rose to peek out toward the west between the curtains in the front room. 

By midmorning, the lake's surface had been turbulent and black. The wind blew sideways, bending trees and lifting waves like aquatic enemy soldiers on a tireless march toward shore as boats slammed against their docks in a frenzied tug-of-war. It was as if the Rain God had a giant air gun driving rain bullets into every exposed surface while he tossed capricious bolts from his dark tower.

“Your imagination is running amuk,” Brenna muttered remembering a night filled with anticipation of tropical storm Ira. Now, with the “perfect storm” riding down upon her little corner of Thunder Point, dread bubbled in her stomach like acid. But she stayed at her computer, collecting readings on her equipment, logging wind data, and working the Electron Molecule Deformulator. It was imperative that she complete her work before a loss of power. For this, the storm was critical to her work.

Brenna didn’t know what she feared more—the lightning—or the near certain feeling that something bad was about to happen.

As usual, knowing so little didn’t help. It wasn’t as if there was a bolt from nowhere and the outcome of her premonition was magically written on her kitchen calendar. Most of the time she didn’t know who was in danger, didn’t know where, didn’t know how…until it was over. And sometimes, not even then.

Before—Brenna squeezed her eyes shut and pushed the memories away. Before she’d left Storm Lake to attend college in D.C., this would have been just another thunderstorm, another facet of life on the big lake. Residents on the East end were used to it. It was the inexperienced and newcomers to the area who found themselves stranded, or worse.

The cabin had come to her through her great-grandmother who’d been a stalwart matriarch of one of the oldest families in the area, the Callaways. The property ran along the tip of Thunder Point offering spectacular views of the sky from sunsets to storms to meteor showers. 

“Get a grip,” she chastised herself, and tried to play down the feeling of doom. 

On nights like this, she questioned the wisdom of moving back from D.C., but she was determined to overcome the hysteria that embarrassed her, haunted her, and still—sometimes—held her in a vice-like grip. The Lake was home and while it contributed to her peace of mind and her work in climate forensics, being here forced her to confront her fear.

There was something extra tonight, the anticipation morphing into a living, breathing entity. She just hoped no one was dying, or going to die. That whatever it was…this time, she would be able to prevent someone from being hurt. 

Her fingers sped across the keyboard, tweaking the settings on the electronic instruments outside to make sure they would hold up to a loss of electricity. They would, undoubtedly, but would she?

The next rumble of thunder surprised her with its strength. Her fingers moved faster with nervous energy as she kept her eyes glued to the monitor. Anxiety traveled along her nerves like the electrical conduits in the EMD. Those horrific memories wouldn’t be far behind.

In that instant, a magnesium-white light turned the living room into an overexposed movie negative and she found herself on the floor, hands pressed to her eyes for agonizing seconds as a mighty trunk split, striking other trees and sending chips and limbs like missiles against the exterior of the house. A picture tumbled off the shelf by the fireplace and hit the floor as the grumble continued. 

The crashing seemed to go on forever, followed by gradually diminishing thunder. Throughout the clamor and chaos, Brenna held her breath, as if merely breathing would bring calamity down on her. As if not breathing could keep the beast from finding her.

When silence reigned, she raised her head. 

To black velvet darkness. “Crap.”

What is a hero? #NFLhonors Men of Honor by @LiviaQuinn #integrity #selfless

It's a big weekend in the Quinn household. Super Bowl LII,  NFL Honors and the release of my Men of Honor box set. (And by the way there are women of honor here, too!)

Growing up in DC as my daddy's tomboy, I went to many a Redskins or University of Maryland game. Football is in my blood. Now that I'm in Louisiana, my team is the Saints... but I've been thinking naturally about what a hero is lately.

Surrounded by so many veterans and law enforcement professionals, I've seen the values shared by these men and women - integrity, commitment, duty to country, community...and family - our larger global family.

One of the things I love to watch is the Man of the Year awards during the NFL Honors, which is on tonight on NBC, 7PM EST. It's of course cool to watch all the celebrities show up on the red carpet as well. Last year Hugh Jackman brought his hunky self along with Mark Walberg and so many others.

My idea of a real hero is someone like any of the men up for Man of the Year through their foundations and work in the community, none of them for their own personal glory or enrichment.

One of my favorite heroes:

Benjamin Watson, an ex-Saint with his organization One More partnered with the International Justice Mission (IJM), the world's largest international anti-slavery organization working to combat human trafficking, modern day slavery and other forms of violence against the poor, the Watsons joined the global fight to end the scourge of sex trafficking. This effort was highlighted in April during a three-day trip to Lebanon, where Benjamin witnessed firsthand the Middle East's refugee crisis. Additionally, he and his wife, Kirsten, traveled to the Dominican Republic in June to begin formulating plans that combat sex trafficking.  

What I love about Benjamin, in these days of people using the Flag demonstrations to be down on the NFL, is that he uses his platform to create dialog between all groups and individuals he speaks too - to bridge the divides. 

J.J. Watt, the popular Houston Oiler and former Offensive player of the year who started a fundraiser in Houston after Hurricane Harvey hoping to raise $200,000. He raised $33 million!! All this when the team had suffered depressing losses, his own and their super QB's season ending injuries. It raised the spirits of the Houston people, and once again his motivation wasn't seen as heroic by him, just something he was moved to do for his community.

All of these Man of the Year nominees are deserving of the title hero and yet none would call themselves that. Isn't that the definition of heroic? Someone who puts others before their own needs. 

In researching my Men of Honor books I'm constantly confronted with this mentality by our military personnel, past and present as well as my local law enforcement. They not only don't want thanks or glory, they resist it.

Some of the most courageous heroes this year are women. Do you know of heroes in your own sphere? They are everywhere. Let's give them some love.

My books are available on all stores. You can purchase Men of Honor here.