Lyn Asks the May Question-Do You Volunteer?

Posted on May 7, 2021 by Lyn CoteMay 7, 2021

I’m always amazed and pleased at how many Americans give not only monetary gifts but give of their time. In the past, I was active in volunteering at my children’s school and I still volunteer at my church. And my husband volunteers six times a month at our local food pantry. Helping others, I believe, is automatic for most Americans even little kids help out their communities.

My latest series, titled: New Neighbor Lane, features three Habitat for Humanity projects in a small mythical town of Hope, WI. The Scoop on this new Series!

Small town Hope, WI, is happy to welcome Habitat for Humanity volunteers building homes on its newest street, New Neighbor Lane. But each family helping build their new house, needs more than a structure to live in. Past hurts, such as financial hardship, abandonment, loss of family members or painful divorce have left them hurting and doubting God’s love for them. But God isn’t finished with them. He has plans for them, plans to prosper them and not to harm, plans to give them hope and a future.

Come along and face the heart challenges of these families. Triumph with them as they move forward in faith with hope for homes of their own and new love in their hearts. Come visit New Neighbor Lane!

Book 1, Amy’s Forever Love, is on sale for a limited time for 99 cents (ebook).

Can a basset hound, two kittens and twin girls succeed as matchmakers?

Even though Amy Broussard is their aunt, her twin little girls call her “mom.” In the midst of a harsh winter, Amy is helping build her Habitat for Humanity home, just the security she’s always wanted for her girls. But one frigid evening on their way to the church potluck, she and her girls find two orphaned kittens.

And there she meets the local veterinarian and surprises him by volunteering to adopt the kittens on the spot, fulfilling another promise to her girls. The vet’s basset hound Bummer in turn surprises everyone by instantly “adopting” the two golden tabbies too!

From then on, like it or not, Amy and the vets’ lives intersect with the “help” of Bummer and the twins. Yet before love can bloom, both adults must work through a winter of heart-healing as family secrets and grudges are unraveled.

From a USA Today Bestselling author, a heartwarming story of love, faith and the power of forgiveness. And the joy of furry friends! Why not download Amy’s Forever Love today?—Lyn Cote

PS: Leave a comment and enter a drawing for a free copy of this book!

Lyn Reviews Charlotte MacLeod’s The Gladstone Bag

Posted on April 25, 2021 by Lyn CoteApril 25, 2021

The Gladstone Bag by Charlotte MacLeod
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I rarely give 5 stars but Aunt Emma is worth 5 stars. What a character! Indomintable. No nonsense and SMART! Any wrongdoer with an ounce of sense would steer a wide path around her! Of course, the curse of wrongdoers is they always think they are smarter than everyone else! Such arrogance brings its own judgment. And Emma is not the only wonderful character in this book set on a Maine Island. Cousin Theonia comes and a lively bunch of nuts arrive to create as much chaos as they can!
Living as I do in the northwoods amid lakes and Great Lakes, I feel at home in this setting. And am familiar with summer places. Well, Emma volunteers to oversee an aging friend’s summer place and voila–summer is no longer dull. Sarah and Max are not available but consulted. Another lively interesting cozy mystery WITHOUT cats, dogs, baking, recipes, B&B’s, divorced heroines or magic. Wonderful!

Click here for more info. PAID LINK
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NEED COVER MODEL FEEDBACK–YET AGAIN!

Posted on April 4, 2021 by Lyn CoteApril 4, 2021

You know the drill-Here are three images. Which one catches your attention? Which one makes you want to know more? Which one evokes an emotion? Help Please!

#1

#2

#3

A few commenters will be randomly chose to receive a free ebook. So give your choice and add why! I like to know! Thanks in advance–Lyn

Lyn Reviews Miranda James’ Digging Up the Dirt

Posted on March 30, 2021 by Lyn CoteMarch 30, 2021

Digging Up the Dirt by Miranda James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One more interesting spin-off from Miranda James’ Cat in the Stacks series set in small college town, Athena, Mississippi. The DuCote sisters, the doyens of Athena, once again find themselves in the midst of murder. (They shouldn’t have hung around with Charlie Harris and Diesel, his Maine Coon!’-)

Anyway Hadley Partridge comes back to town 40 years after leaving abruptly. Evidently the intervening years have not dimmed his perception as a Missisippi Casanova.

The garden club ladies are lining up to see if he still has “it.” Then the bodies start stacking up.

Secrets and obsession set the stage for bad, bad, bad.

I usually don’t tattle but the copyeditor on this book evidently couldn’t keep the two brothers Hadley and Hamish straight. Some times Hadley became Hamish which was probably very disconcerting to him since his brother Hamish was dead! Oh, well… We all make mistakes!

Click here to purchase. PAID LINK

Lyn Asks the April Question

Posted on March 14, 2021 by Lyn CoteMarch 10, 2021

Bayfield Lighthouse

The Apostle Island Lakeshore

Here’s my April Question—Have you made any plans for what you want to do when the pandemic ends?

I’ve decided that I’m going to compile a list of recommended home town cafes within a 2 hour drive radius. I love little small town cafes. So my husband and I will go to lunch to a different one of these. I want to go to at least two of them in a month through the summer and fall. We’re also going to go to Bayfield to the Apostle Island National Park in Lake Superior. We try to go every year but this year I think we’ll stay overnight and do more than just take one of the boat tours of the islands and lighthouses. It is a beautiful park—watery and striking. ‘-0

My latest book Uncertain Spring is set in Bayfield, though I renamed it Winfield so I could manufacture places and people of my own. ‘-)

Uncertain Spring is on pre-order till March 26^th for $2.99. The price goes up soon after that date to $3.99. So if you’ve been reading my Northern Shore Intrigue series, this is book 5. (But if you haven’t, all my series books can be read in any order.) If you remember, last fall I asked the question: Can a Grandmother Be a Heroine in a Romance?

The response was a RESOUNDING YES! I also wrote it because the people, the

secondary characters that come as I write stories, want their stories told too. Many of them have unfinished business. And love can come at any age, right?

So I have written Lois’s story of love with suspense.

LYN COTE UNCERTAIN SPRING

Near midnight, a panicked dog barks frantically—not to frighten but to beckon.

Lois has just driven up to her summer home in a March snowstorm, coming north early to be near her adult daughters. Without hesitation she follows as the dog leads her through the thick pine forest.

Finally she glimpses a young woman lying in the snow, unconscious. Lois taps in 911.

In the morning, the girl has wakened in what the doctor identifies as a state of dis-associative fugue, a form of amnesia. Lois takes in the girl as the local sheriff tries to find clues to her identity.

The nearby vet, a mountain of a man, helps Lois with the girl’s dog. He’s increasingly attracted to this compassionate but oh so refined woman while Lois finds herself drawn to him. Can they take a second chance on love? And why isn’t anyone searching for the girl? Or is someone?

Click here for more info or to purchase.

And what are your plans post-pandemic?–Lyn (A few commenters will receive the offer of a free ebook.)

Lyn Reviews Miranda James’ Cat Me if You Can

Posted on March 3, 2021 by Lyn CoteMarch 3, 2021

Cat Me If You Can by Miranda James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another mystery with Diesel, the Maine Coon, and Charlie Harris, the Mississippi archivist. This time we leave the familiar Mississippi town and the Athena college campus and go to the Carolinas. It’s a mystery lovers convention set up by the DuCote sisters. So the usual “suspects” are there, some secondary characters who we’ve met before and some new ones. Once again I wasn’t able to guess the right culprit in the murders. The most interesting pop-up character was a maid who claimed to be suffering sleep apnea. Guests would find her collapsed in their rooms–hmmmmm….

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Lyn Reviews Lori Oestreich’s Darling, All My Love

Posted on February 20, 2021 by Lyn CoteFebruary 21, 2021

Darling, All My Love by Lori Oestreich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A lovely debut novel by Lori Oestreich. I know Lori but this is my honest review of her book. In this 1930’s historical, she takes on the differences that separate people and lets love overcome the obstacles. What was really special to me was that the story is based on her grandparents’ real love story. Elegant prose and vivid descriptions. I look forward to her next novel!–Lyn

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Click here to go to Amazon to learn more. Paid Link

Lyn Asks the March Question

Posted on February 9, 2021 by Lyn CoteFebruary 9, 2021

My new series, “New Neighbor Lane” has a lot of pets in it, starting with a basset hound, Bummer, and two golden tabbies, Twinkie and Peanut Butter.

THE MARCH QUESTION: What was the name of your first pet? Tell us about how you came to have it and anything else you’d like to share!

My first pet was a gray, white and black striped domestic shorthair that my mother found for me. I don’t remember how she found him. I named Puddy Tat. You know why don’t you? Tweety Bird always said, “I t’ought I saw a puddy tat.” Remember Sylvester the Cat? My Puddy Tat was a great comfort to me as I went through grade school. And he was the cat who always climbed our Christmas tree. That was when people had glass ball ornaments! After the third time, my mom put a cup hook in the wall behind the Christmas tree and tied the tree to the wall. Problem solved. She loved animals and said trying to get a cat not to climb a tree–Impossible!

So please share your first pet story with me. (Some commenters will be offered a free ebook.)

And here’s a blast from the past-I only watched the first one. They go on and on!

Lyn Asks the February Question-First Love?

Posted on January 14, 2021 by Lyn CoteJanuary 14, 2021

Image by Amanda McConnell from Pixabay

My February Question is--What was your first love, I mean the “really” first one. I’m recalling my third grade crush at Glen Flora School. Oh, my, Benji had the cutest curly blond hair. And I knew he liked me because he would stand in line behind or in front of me. And he’d look at me and then fall straight the floor—not faint, just fall like a tree.

Oh, Mrs. Johnson didn’t like this! But I was so impressed. Fortunately Glen Flora was an older school and had wooden floors or Benji might have gotten a concussion all for love of me. ‘-) So please tell about that first crush. We could all use a smile, right?–Lyn (I randomly offer a free ebook to a few commenters.)

Not Another Cover Model or Models?

Posted on December 28, 2020 by Lyn CoteDecember 25, 2020

Yes, I need help. For the first time I’m thinking of using a couple on a cover. This new series “New Neighbors Lane” revolves around a life-altering event for a family. Each story shows the characters helping Habitat for Humanity build their first house that they’ll own! The first book is titled “Amy’s Forever Love” and features a young single mom with twin girls. Add in the hero’s basset hound and two cute golden tabby kittens and you have a story I hope you’ll enjoy! It’s a winter in Wisconsin story so here are three couples I’ve chosen.

AGAIN WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR IS A COUPLE THAT MAKES YOU WANT TO KNOW THEIR STORY, FACES AND A POSE THAT DRAWS YOU IN!

#1

#2

#3

I’m always interested in why you choose 1,2, or 3. Again I’ll be gifting at least one commenter with a free ebook. So help me out and tell me what you REALLY think!–Lyn