Jennie Bennett, Romance Author

My good blogger friend Angela V. Cook is doing a little blog hop today that doubles as a holiday treat recipe exchange. A while back I told you all what the BEST cake in the world is, but I didn't give you a recipe. Well, no time like the present! This is my favorite cake because it is so moist and chocolaty with the perfect blend of spices. It is seriously heaven on a plate, and I don't even like Zucchini! Chocolate Zucchini Cake 2 Cups grated Zucchini 1/2 Cup soft butter 1 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup vegetable oil 2 eggs 1 tsp. salt 1/2 Cup Sour Cream 1tsp. vanilla 2 1/2 cups flour 4 Tbs. Cocoa 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda 1/4 tsp. Baking Powder 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. Cloves 6 oz Chocolate Chips Cream together the sugar, butter, eggs, oil and vanilla. Stir in the remaining ingredients excluding the the zucchini and chocolate chips. Fold in zucchini and pour into a ungreased 9 X 13 pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top and bake for 40-45 minutes. There you have it, eat and enjoy my fri...

Some of you may remember the guest post from Melissa Foster last week; well today I'm reviewing her book, Come Back to Me. The Blurb on Goodreads: Tess Johnson has it all: her handsome photographer husband Beau, a thriving business, and a newly discovered pregnancy. When Beau accepts an overseas photography assignment, Tess decides to wait to reveal her secret—only she’s never given the chance. Beau’s helicopter crashes in the desert. Tess struggles with the news of Beau’s death and tries to put her life back together. Alone and dealing with a pregnancy that only reminds her of what she has lost, Tess is adrift in a world of failed plans and fallen expectations. When a new client appears offering more than just a new project, Tess must confront the circumstances of her life head on. Meanwhile, two Iraqi women who are fleeing honor killings find Beau barely alive in the middle of the desert, his body ravaged by the crash. Suha, a doctor, and Samira, a widow and mother of three young...

Only three days left in the month of November and that means it's almost the end of NaNoWriMo. I'm currently at 42,000 words. Eight thousand more and I'll be a winner (plus I will have finished EXISTENCE *fingers crossed*) so please excuse me while I dive into my hovel and write, write, write. Are you doing NaNo? What are you looking forward to in December?

Today I'm headed off with the fam to my in-laws house to my private cabin in the foothills of Colorado's Pikes Peak. I plan on eating lots of Turkey and maybe watching a football game, maybe. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone! source And yes, my mother-in-laws turkeys really do look this good :)

 Today I have a super special surprise, Melissa Foster is going to be posting here today for her third book launch - Come Back to Me. I'll be reviewing her book next week so I don't want to give too much away, but I will say this, the outlook is positive ;) Click on the picture to go to the Amazon Page Take it away Melissa - Who doesn’t love a macho, handsomecharacter? Add a little emotion and you’ve got a winner—you hope. Creating believable men issomething that I truly enjoy. Having grown up with six brothers in atestosterone-driven world, all I had to do was pull from memories. Wrap thosememories into my daily life with five sons, and the macho, emotional characteris born. Here’s a gross generality for you,and feel free to slam me, as I’m a blatantly honest person and I write what Ifeel. Males are visceral and females are emotionally driven (author dodgestomatoes as their thrown in her direction). I’ve learned from growing up (andold) with males, that when they’re upset, th...

Sometimes you find a song that just makes you smile. Other people might not get it. The lyrics are weird or they don't like the beat, but for some reason you just can't help but like it. That's my experience with Nik Day's How Can Life Get Any Better? He's a local artist who I happened to stumble across when a friend mentioned him on Facebook. I don't think the song is the best there ever was (although he has other songs that I really enjoy), but it still makes me smile. What are you smiling about today?

Let's welcome Jenny Hansen from More Cowbell for another Life List Friday! I'll be over at David Walkers blog talking about gratitude, and believe me, it is not a post to be missed! Take it away Jenny! source  As most of you know, November is National NovelWriting Month – NaNoWriMo to all of us frenzied writers. I prepped for it mostof October, anticipated it all year…and have been unable to participate in itfor most of November due to illness. November has been a hiney-dragging month for me. I’vehad TEN days of work/family/writing time wiped out. Gone. POOF! Since theprognosis is pleurisy, I'm likely to have several more days go “poof.” This is why so many of us have multiple layers toour goals. NaNoWriMo is my writinglover for November, but I do ROW80 and Life List Clubyear round. ROW80 is “the writing challenge that understands you have a life.”Life List Club is an effort to make sure that ALL the areas of your life aregetting attention. (If you click on the Life List ...

Today is the day my short story is going to be published, squee!! You can find the link to buy it here . It's only $.99 and you can read it on your computer (find the software here ). Here's the synopsis one more time if you didn't see - The Promise of War Beth isn't your average Princess -- she's never been dressed up or fed with a silver spoon, but that's what happens when your country is ravaged by war. In an attempt to save her father and her kingdom she is marrying Prince Clayton, the only man with an army big enough to stop their enemies. The only thing that holds her back is a dream of true love. Thank you all for your support, it means so much to me to have made such awesome friendships like yours!

I bet you didn't know that today is a super special day. A few amazing authors are getting together with bloggers and talking about what they are grateful for. The best part? Free books on most of the links. I don't mean you can win free books (although there is that as well) but I mean a bunch of amazing books for free. I get the honor of hosting Staci Stallings, a Christan mother and author who has written 30 full length novels (I know, that number blew me away too.) Anyway she is giving away a copy of her book Cowboy to one lucky commenter! Here are the details: The WoMen's Literary Cafe is very thankful for all of the support from bloggers, reviewers, and readers during the Come Back To Me book launch and 99 cent event. As a thank you, we are giving away COWBOY either as an ebook or in print for free today only . Enter to win your copy by leaving a comment on this post on this blog. Please include your email in the post so we can get in touch with you. Now we get t...

Today at Jenny's Imaginary World there is blog hop going on and a chance to win some amazing books. All you have to do is write a something short and sweet about the holidays. Simple enough? Good. Here's my entry, which is just a conversation I had in my head (Hey, I'm a writer okay? I'm allowed to be crazy.) "Christmas is your favorite Holiday?" Someone sayswith a sneer, "don't you hate all the commercialism?" "Of course I do." I respond "Then why is it your favorite? Shouldn't you likeThanksgiving or something?" I give them a gentle smile, "there are so many things tolike about Christmas that have nothingto do with commercialism." "Like what?" They ask. "Like the way everyone's hearts seem to open up and weforget about how much we hate eachother for one moment and start to think about those people who have nothing,when we have been given so much." "Oh." They say.  There is no...

Today I have the lovely Nisa from Wordplay/Swordplay joining us for another crazy interview! She is super fun and cute so go check out her blog when you have a chance :) Give us the You Tube video you like to stalk the most. Youtube? What's that? Seriously, Youtube isn't one of my regular haunts, but I do think this one is a classic. 14G anyone? I've never seen this before, LOVE Kristen Chenoweth! Using only 1st letter of your name give us three words that describe you. Do you know how hard it is to come up with "J" adjectives? Joyous, Jovial, uh, Juvenile may or may not apply... Juicy? Jolly? I'm stuck! Let's go with "just" for #3 just because.   Um... That was really good :)   Handwriting or typing? Typing. I can't read my own handwriting. Sadly, that is a true statement. It makes me feel better to know that I can't read anyone else's handwriting either. Me too! I am not alone! Thanksgiving or Valentines? Thanksgiving. Food never ...

My fingers are shaking as I write this because I'm so excited to tell you about my big news! But first I just wanted to give a short update on NaNoWriMo. Things are going well, I'm on track (for now) even though I had to delete 2,000 words becasue I was getting to the end of the story too quickly. The more I write the more I see the book ending up at about 70,000 words instead of 80,000. This is just fine, but that means I will probably finish the book before the end of the month and I won't have written 50,000 words. But that's still a win in my opinion. Now for the big news -- source I'm going to be published!!! Now, it's not a novel -- I wish . It's a short story I entered into a contest back in May. The e-book is being released NEXT THURSDAY on kindle. I'm pretty sure it's not going to cost more then $2.99. I have no control over the price (and I don't get any of the proceeds) so I can't give away free copies, but if I could I would gi...

I know, cheesy title, right? But I've gotten a slew of awards lately and it's time I let you all know and thank those lovely bloggers who gave them to me. Instead of passing them on (especially since I've gotten one of the awards seven or eight times) I'm just going to say a little tidbit about why I love the blogs that gave me these awards. First up we have M.E. from Breaking Fantasy . Every time I visit this blog I feel like I'm in Edgar Allen Poe poem. Every post is thoughtfully done and gets me thinking. Truly a versatile blog. Next we have the fabulous Donna K. Weaver from Weaving a Tale or Two . Her blog is upbeat and positive and she shares the best information in her blog post. So friendly and fun, you'll want to check her out. Her blog is lovely indeed! Now for my talented and beautiful friend Angela V. Cook at The Starving Novelist . This girl has a knack for voice and characterization that I love. She's the prefect combination of sweet and spicy. ...

I've been telling everyone I'm not really participating in NaNoWriMo. I've had a few commitment issues reasons for this, but now I'm staring them in the face and coming out with it. Yup, I'm official staking my claim in the NaNo soil, and I need your support. My handle is J. A. Bennett if you want to buddy up and I will be on twitter quite a bit #wordmongering* to boost my count. I was planning on keeping this under wraps then coming out and saying "ta da! I did it!", but I wasn't exactly keeping my excessive writing a secret. ( Example A ) I've written 13,052 words so far. That puts me on track, for now. Hope I can keep it up! Have you ever committed to something that scared you? How did it turn out? ______________________________________________________ *#wordmongering starts every hour at the top of the hour. You write like mad for 30 minutes then tell everyone your word count, we all cheer each other on and work ever harder afterwards. Come jo...

Today I have the honor of hosting David Walker for another Life List Club guest post! I'll be over at Jenny Hanson's blog so be sure to stop by there when you're done here. Take it away David! source Some Christians seem to think that being a Christian demands that you orally witness to or evangelize everyone you come in contact with. I don’t mean to denigrate the Billy Grahams or James Robisons that God has called to major public ministries or the myriad street preachers He has called to preach to the homeless or just to people they happen to come across on busy sidewalks. These people need to respond to the call God has placed on their lives. If that’s it, then they need to go for it. But that doesn’t mean we should make pests of ourselves grabbing and twisting the arms of all we come in contact with. Our lives speak much louder than our words. A wise man once told me that no one cares what you know until he knows that you care. If I comport myself in such a way that Je...