Author Archives: Linda / Lyndi

Snuggle Up with Lily and the Gambler #WesternRomance

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I’m thrilled to be a part of N. N. Light’s Book Heaven Snuggle Up With These Books Readathon. My book, Lily and the Gambler, is featured on Monday, November 25. Find the post here: https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/snuggle-up-readathon

Lily and the Gambler coverLily and the Gambler
by Linda McLaughlin
Sensual Western Romance

Respectability is in the eye of the beholder, or so Lily hopes. After her lover’s death she pretends to be his widow and travels to California to marry a mine owner. Then she meets King Callaway, a charming gambler.

King knows he’s found his Queen of Hearts. But can he convince her to take a chance on a foot-loose card sharp?

Only Lady Luck knows for sure…

Here’s an interview with Lily’s reluctant hero, gambler King Callaway.

LM: King, you say you’re not a marrying man. Why not?

Shrugs. I’m just not.

LM: Come on, you can do better than that. Why not?

 I like being free.

LM: Free of what?

Fear, worry, disappointment.

LM: Would you care to explain?

I saw how my mother worried every time my father took off for parts unknown, looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. How fearful she was that he wouldn’t return. How disappointed she was when he returned broke and discouraged. And how hurt she was when he left again.

LM: Ah, so your concern is that you would be like him, a disappointment to a wife.

Me? No, I’m not like him!

LM: Aren’t you?

Dagnabbit. <grumbles some more> All right, I’m a bit like him. I like my freedom, don’t want to be tied down, and what woman would want to deal with that?

LM: You might be surprised. Lily seems to be more adventurous than your mother.

Hm. You may be right. But I’d have to marry her to find out.

Or will he? Read Lily and the Gambler to find out!

Available at Amazon Kindle, BN/Nook, https://www.bookbub.com/books/lily-and-the-gambler-by-linda-mclaughlinBookBub, Kobo and Smashwords.

Give thanks for books and authors all month long at N. N. Light’s Book Heaven’s Snuggle Up With These Books Readathon. 56 books, 32 bestselling and award-winning authors, 5 Amazon/B&N gift cards plus authors share what they’re thankful for this year. I even share my grateful thoughts. Join in the fun!

https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/snuggle-up-readathon

Enter the giveaway below, and please follow me at https://www.bookbub.com/profile/linda-mclaughlinBookBub!

Linda

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Why Poppies Appear on Veteran’s Day

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Honoring All Who Served

November 11th is Veteran’s Day in the US, but some Americans may not know that it was originally called Armistice Day and celebrated the end of WWI. Hostilities of World War One, also known as the Great War, ended on Nov. 11, 1918. In 1954, the US changed the name of the holiday to Veteran’s Day.

The difference is between Memorial Day and Veterans Day is the former began in 1865 to honor the fallen of the Civil War, and later the fallen of all our wars. Veterans Day honors our vets, whether living or dead.

Poppies are handed out by veterans on Nov. 11. The fallen of World War One were buried where they died in France and Belgium, on muddy battlefields. Later poppies grew in these fields and became associated with the holiday.

Canadian soldier, John McCrae, wrote a famous poem entitled “In Flanders Fields” which he discarded due to dissatisfaction with what he wrote. His friends saved the poem and later that year it was published in the British Punch. This photo shows the entire poem.

In Flanders Fields poem

Inscription of the complete poem in a bronze book at the John McCrae memorial at his birthplace in Guelph, Ontario. Photo by Lx 121 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8455795

I’m glad his friends recognized the worth of the poem.

My father and brother both served proudly in the US Air Force. I’ll be thinking about my dad today.

Happy Veteran’s Day!

Linda