Guest Post and Giveaway with Lisa Mondello

Guest Post and Giveaway with Lisa Mondello

Welcome readers! Great to see you again! Today I have another wonderful author for your reading pleasure. Ms. Lisa Mondello is joining us and will be blogging about writing “In The Zone” and why such a device in writing is so important. Additionally, she will be sharing a bit of information about her fabulous Texas Heart Series and rounding off this stellar day with a giveaway of one of her books! Awesomesauce, yes? So let’s get started.

But first, I’d like to tell you about Ms. Mondello’s Texas Heart Series. Feel free to read the blurbs for each book and join us at the conclusion of the post for an excerpt.

**HER  HEART  FOR  THE  ASKING**

~~Book Blurb~~

Mandy Morgan swore she’d never step foot in Texas again after Beau Gentry left her for life on the rodeo circuit eight years before. But now her uncle’s heart is failing and she has to convince him that surgery will save his life. She never dreamed the first thing she’d see when she stepped off the plane would be her biggest nightmare...the one man she’d never stopped loving.

Beau Gentry had the fever for two things: the rodeo and Mandy Morgan. But for Beau, loving Mandy was complicated by his father’s vendetta against her uncle. This led him to make the hardest decision of his life and he can still see the bitterness and hurt on Mandy’s face. All these years it has killed him to think Mandy had forgotten him and moved as far away as possible from him. But now they’re back in Texas, and he’s going to do all he can to win back her love.

**HIS  HEART  FOR  THE  TRUSTING**

~~Book Blurb~~

Ever since Mitch Broader set foot in Texas, he dreamed of owning his own ranch. Now that he’s bought a share in the Double T Ranch, he’s one step closer to the dream. Then his past greets him in the form of a baby basket, complete with infant and birth certificate naming him as the father. He can’t change diapers and work toward his dream at the same time.

When Sara Lightfoot, “Miss Hollywood” in Mitch’s eyes, rescues him with her particular knack for handling his precocious son, he hires her on the spot as a temporary nanny. No matter how much Sara’s dark eyes and warm heart make this bachelor think of settling down and making their arrangement permanent, she’s made it perfectly clear she has other plans that don’t include him or his dreams.

Sara Lightfoot never thought she’d return to her home on the reservation. Now she plans to reclaim the life she left by going back to the reservation as a Native American storyteller, teaching the Apache children stories of their culture.

**THE  MORE  I  SEE**

~~Book Blurb~~

She didn’t expect Mitch Broader’s sexy smile or job offer as a live-in nanny to derail those plans. After all she’s been through to come home, can she open up her heart once again to love?

As a top-notch cutting horse trainer, Cody Gentry was riding high until he lost his eyesight after a freak chemical accident. Unable to see the hand in front of his face, never mind the horse or cattle he trained, he knows his life is over and slips deep into depression. His whole future hinges on the success of an eye surgery that could give him his old life back.

When guide dog trainer, Lyssa McElhannon, arrives on his ranch like Florence Nightingale coming to save him, he wants no part of her or her guide dog. But something about Lyssa’s musical laugh coupled with her tenacity digs under his skin and won't let go. Having been blind most of her life, Lyssa understands the paralyzing fear Cody feels after losing his vision. But she refuses to let the stubborn cowboy waste his life away sitting in a chair when she knows first-hand that a good guide dog can change his world. She just needs one month to prove it to him.

Falling in love with Cody was not part of Lyssa’s plan, nor was having him open her eyes to see that there was a whole lot of living she’d been missing out on.

Buy Links:

Amazon / B&N / Smashwords

They sound like fabulous reads to me. *nods* So without further adieu, please help me welcome:

**LISA  MONDELLO**

**GUEST  POST**

~~Writing In The Zone~~

First off I want to thank Kendra for having me here today!  Second I want to thank all of you for visiting!  To thank you, I’m giving one lucky commenter a chance to win a copy of NOTHING BUT TROUBLE.  So don’t be shy, grab a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy.  Then leave a comment for a chance to win!

Today I’d like to talk about writing IN THE ZONE.  Writers love being in the zone.  It doesn’t always happen.  In fact, sometimes we plod and wrestle with words or scenes until we feel like a tantruming 2 year old.  Luckily that doesn’t happen all the time!  But ask any writer and they’ll tell you that they love writing IN THE ZONE.

In the zone writing is when the words seem to magically appear at just the right moment.  You have no idea what is going to happen next in the story and then BAM!  It’s there and you’re “in” the scene and it’s unfolding in front of you, just like it does for the reader when they’re reading the story.

When I wrote HER HEART FOR THE ASKING, it practically wrote itself.  Since I wrote the entire book in about 2 months (an editor was waiting for it so I wrote really fast!)  I didn’t have time for wrestling or tantruming.  So it was good that I spent a great deal of my writing time in the zone. 

But there was one particular scene in the middle of the book where I stopped and thought.  “What mother in her right mind would allow this to happen?”  So I admit it.  I took the easy way out and killed her off.  Sounds cruel, but it worked for the story.  But in doing that one thing, I created a moment where I didn’t know what was going to happen next.  From that one decision, I created conflict between the hero and his father and shaped the story in such a way that it put the hero and heroine at odds.  I love when that happens.  I wish I could always write that way.  But as long as the story comes out right in the end, it really doesn’t matter.  In the end I want the reader experience to be seamless.  I want the reader to feel like they’re in the story…in the zone.

Makes sense to me. How about you? What do you think about writing in the zone? Ask a question or comment on Ms. Mondello’s post to be entered. Optional entries will also be available for those of you who want them. Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below.

You can find more information about Ms. Mondello on her website by clicking here. But before we let you go, I’d like to share an excerpt with you.

**HER  HEART  FOR  THE  ASKING**

~~Excerpt~~

"What are you doing here?" Mandy Morgan asked, dropping her too-heavy overnight case on the sun-roasted tarmac. After a grueling forty-eight hour work stint and a five-hour flight from Philadelphia, she stood wilting under the brutal Texas sun, facing her biggest nightmare.

Beau Gentry.

She groaned inwardly, drinking Beau in with her eyes as if she hadn't had a drop of water in months. Eight years was more like it. If she were eight years smarter, she would be moving her aching feet as fast as she could in the opposite direction. But all she could do was stare at eyes so bright they rivaled the blazing sun. At lips so kissable she'd spent the better part of her adult life trying to wipe the memory clean from her mind.

She had expected Beau would have aged some. When she allowed herself to think about him at all, she reminded herself. The faint lines etched in the corners of his sleepy gray-blue eyes gave a hint of maturity, but most probably caused by long days in the cruel sun.

She fought the urge to take a closer look at his ruggedly handsome features, but failed. How could he have gotten better looking after being abused by every bronc-busting horse on the rodeo circuit? His angular jaw, strong and determined, was shaded with beard growth that was probably a day old, maybe more. Mandy suspected if Beau grew a full beard, it would grow in thick and be the smooth texture of his almost black head of hair. She forced aside past memories that gave her such knowledge with renewed irritation.

The man didn't even have the decency to have a crooked nose. What should have been bent and awkward from being broken a few too many times was instead long and straight, shaped perfectly between high cheek bones most women would swoon over, or kill to have themselves. But on Beau Gentry, it was just one thousand percent robust cowboy.

Damn him.

"I'm your ride out to the Double T," Beau said, gripping the edge of his white straw cowboy hat and tipping it in a cordial gesture.

She ground the heels of her low pumps into the soft tar to contain her growing irritation. Did he think she was an idiot? "No way."

"'Fraid so," he said, his expression slightly askew.

"Hank didn't mention anything about you coming to get me when I spoke to him on the phone."

"I suspect he thought you would have found some excuse not to come if you knew I was picking you up."

"He would have been right. Why didn't one of the hands come get me?"

Settling his hand at the base of his neck, Beau replied, "You're looking at him. As of three weeks ago I am one of the ranch hands at the Double T."

I hope you enjoyed your time spent with us today! A special thank you to Ms. Mondello for appearing today and a shout out to all of my readers. Don’t forget to enter for your chance to win Her Heart For The Asking!

And until next time …

HAPPY READING!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 **DA  RULEZ**

One commenter will be drawn at random to receive a digital copy of HER HEART FOR THE ASKING, by Lisa Mondello. Must be 18 or older to enter. Contest open internationally so long as you have a valid e-mail address! Reader’s Edyn and participating author are NOT responsible for lost or damaged items. Anyone may be disqualified at any time so be sure to follow directions to avoid disqualification. No substitutions allowed. Contest ends April 13^th at midnight MST. That means you will have through the 1^2th to enter. When the clock strikes midnight on the 13^th, the contest will be over. Winner will be contacted by e-mail. Winner will have 48 hours to respond, or a new winner will be chosen. Odds of wining depend on the number of entries received. Be forewarned! *serious face* Those who enter and do not follow the tasks properly will have their entries removed. *peers closer* Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I. Will. Check. Them. Not trying to be a pain, Sorry.