Friday 16 May 2014

Book News - Voodoo Romance Boxed Set


BOOK NEWS! By popular demand my three bestselling voodoo romance books are now available as a downloadable boxed set. Get ‘How Do You Voodoo?’ ‘Voodoo Wedding’ and ‘Voodoo Child’ in one go for just $2.99 or £1.82 from Amazon for Kindle!

Love Reading Love Books says: ‘A Five Star Read - there’s a little bit of everything, romance, intrigue, mystery, black magic and fun.’

These voodoo romance stories were such fun to write and were inspired by a real life spat between two Haitian women that I witnessed on a flight from the Caribbean to the UK - when one seemed to put a curse on the other. My imagination went into overdrive and How Do You Voodoo? was born!


Available now from Amazon UK and DotCom and other Amazon sites worldwide

Bestchicklit.com - ‘It's fun, it's entertaining, it's magic!’ 

Shazera Book Blog – ‘How Do You Voodoo? will entertain you and engage you. Perfect for reading on that journey.’ 

The Little Reader Library - ‘Another entertaining, fun modern-day tale from this author with a nice balance of humour, sweet romance, morals and a spooky side!’ 

Kim the Bookworm ‘A wonderful story with a perfect ending.’ 

Brook Cottage Books – ‘Throw into the mix a bit of voodoo, a press invasion, a range of strange relatives… and hey presto you have a Voodoo Wedding!’ 

Books4U -  ‘I love all the quirky characters in the story and just the pure madness and fun of it all.’ 

Jenny in Neverland – ‘You know what you're getting and it works with these books although Janice still manages to shock you with even more crazy voodoo magic. I truly enjoyed every one of them.’ 

Brook Cottage Books – ‘The characters are all interesting and unique and the storyline is fascinating.'



Tuesday 13 May 2014

May - and back to the Caribbean...


I’ve lots to tell you this month. Trav and I went back to the Caribbean and visited the beautiful Dominican Republic. This was our second trip to this particular island as we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary there last year. This year, we booked on spec just a couple of weeks prior to departure because we saw it at the most amazing price. So amazing in fact that we expected there to be a catch and we were right to be suspicious. It turned out there is  a major construction project going on in the next bay to the resort. We were amazed to see that the idyllic beach filled with palm trees that we had explored the previous year, was now a vast concrete car park and half built cruise ship terminal.


The bay on the left as it was in 2013 and on the right as it is now: a cruise terminal under construction.

The only way to see this in a country heavily reliant on tourism, is positively, for the tourist dollars it will bring into the island. Luckily, there are plenty more idyllic palm filled beaches in the Dom Rep to explore and, call me fickle if you will, but from over the hill at our beach resort location we could only see a single crane that could easily be ignored when focusing on the clear blue ocean, the hot white sand and the beach bar.

 Left: at the beach bar with Trav.   Right: at the main bar with lovely new holiday friends.

 The beach at our resort hotel
 
Trav and I have now visited a total of twelve Caribbean islands. We have been to Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua, St Barths, Tortola, Dominica, St Vincent, Bonaire, Aruba, Curacao and Grenada. The Dominican Republic is one of my firm favourites. The weather is tropical of course and the beaches are idyllic. The island is green and lush and filled with amazing rainforest and beautiful waterfalls. It’s famous for its Amber and Larimar. The Amber World Museum is a must-visit and there is a jewellery shop right next door. Trav bought me an unusual and beautiful ring that ‘twists’ showing amber on one side and blue Larimar on the other - see photo. The Brugal rum factory tour is also worth doing as is the 800m cable car trip to the top of Mount Isabel de Torres.


 My lovely and unusual amber and larimar 'twist' anniversary ring

Did you know that the Dom Rep was the location for the Jurassic Park movie? It really does have that prehistoric jungle feel to it. Trav and I ventured through the rainforest and climbed (and jumped from) seven waterfalls - which was an exhilarating experience and fun - once I’d claimed the fear! The Dom Rep is a real gem I and would highly recommend it to you. We stayed at The Riu Hotel Resort, Bahia de Maimon, Puerto Plata.

 Above: the famous Amber Museum and views of Puerto Plata from the cable car
 
 A dive centre on the beach and the prehistoric rainforest island interior

My Hair Braiding Adventure! The heat and humidity in the Caribbean always plays havoc with my thick curly hair, which refuses to behave itself and drives me crazy. So when I was asked by a young Haitian girl on the beach if I wanted hair braids and extensions - I set aside my fear of ending up looking like Medusa and went for it. I have to say that for two whole weeks it was the easiest holiday hair ever. Once home, it did take me many hours to undo the braids but as my real hair seemed non the worse for its ordeal, I wouldn’t hesitate to have it done again given the chance! What do you think?

 Before, during and after the braiding…!

Trav and I are now back in Scotland and back to work. Our tans are covered up in the usual jeans and woolly sweaters as it’s cold and raining. The welcome home however is warm as our wee west highland terrier Polly is glad we are back and it’s so nice to catch up with our sons #1 and #3.

Son #2, who lives in a city called Daegu in South Korea, where he works as an English teacher, is expecting us to visit in a couple of weeks time. We will be flying from Glasgow to Dubai with Emirate Airlines and from Dubai to Seoul on their new double-decker A380 Super Jumbo. From Seoul we will take the KTX bullet train to Daegu. It sounds like an exhausting trip but I can hardly wait!

So my next post here in June will report on our South Korean trip!

On the writing front: I today submitted a quirky travel feature to Loveahappyending Lifestyle Magazine. ‘Planning for the Snap Gap’ explains how unlike a gap year, a typical snap gap can be a month, six weeks, or a few months long. Are you someone who looks forward to your annual fortnight holiday only to wish it was longer? Are you, like Trav and I, ready to Snap Gap..? If so then do join me and pop over to the http://www.loveahappyending.com/ website to read my feature when it goes live on 19th May.
The latest award winning LLm e-magazine is out now. It’s Issue 4.
 Download your copy now - it’s FREE!

Since the start of the year when we sold our cottage on the hillside and moved to a rented house down by the river, our lives have changed so much. Trav and I have always owned our own home and I thought it would feel strange, even a little scary, not to have a property of our own to call ‘home’. But actually it doesn’t feel scary at all. It feels liberating. I realise that our nesting days are over and our three boys are all grown up and doing their own thing. So this is the time for us to do our own thing too. We are free to explore the world.

So I had a house sign made. It’s a lovely custom driftwood piece made by the lovely Becky at www.driftwoodmagic.co.uk I explained that we wanted a handmade rustic style sign to take with us wherever we went, which we could hang up on a door or a wall, to make anywhere ‘our hoose’ (that’s Scottish for house!) This is the sign. I’m thrilled with it. What do you think…?

 

On the 1st July we are back to the Caribbean again - and this time for three whole months - to an island we have not been to before. Have you guessed where it is yet…?





I promise to tell you all about it next time!

Love,
Janice xx