the Scrooge version

 Image from Stencil because we don't do a tree these days

My goal for Saturday's blog was something positive especially about the holiday season because this is a difficult time for many. It's not been an easy one for me either. The dark season never is. 

The idea of something positive went out the window when I got a disappointment regarding my books. The newest one, Sonoran Christmas, hasn't had many sales, but it had gotten two nice reviews. Going to its Amazon site, I found both had been deleted. I have heard of this happening, but it kind of amazed me in this situation. It's hard to say why the Amazon decided they were not valid, but I wrote them and asked if they had an answer. I got back a reply that they were looking into it. One good thing about Amazon, they have always replied when I've written. I might not always, of course, get the answer I want, but it's nice to be heard.

Although both reviewers have reviewed my books previously, are fans, we are not personal friends in real time. Although I like both on Facebook, I have never met either. They have no financial stake in the book's success. I had gifted one of the books to one of the reviewers (which is not unusual for writers) but the other was a purchase. I might not know the reason, but I can guess Amazon's source for deciding to delete them was my Facebook author page, where I shared their reviews. At least, because of that, I do have the reviews to put here. 

~~~~~~~

 'Sigh....The Taggert men are back again, namely Jeremiah Taggert! Jeremiah, living life day to day, always looking over his shoulder for his past to catch up with him. As a former outlaw, with little hope for a brighter future, he kept pretty much to himself. Little did he know how his life was going to change, when he meets the lovely, Frederica. Traveling from Boston by train, to the small dusty town to try to find her daughter, Frederica wondered if she was doing the right thing traveling by herself. Especially after meeting a man by the name of Taggert, a name she recognized from reading dime novels featuring an outlaw by the same name.

 I loved this story of two people, lonely, leading entirely different lives. Both thinking life and romance has past them by only to find out, just maybe, no matter your age or circumstances, you can have that HEA if you open your heart to the possibilities.

This is a sweet romance that I especially enjoyed, because of the ages of the heroine and hero. A romance with added suspense, that kept the story flowing from beginning to the end.

This being book 8 in the Arizona Historicals, I was able to catch up with a few other favorite characters from past books. Although this novella will stand on its own, the books before it are very entertaining and fun, loaded with romance, surprises and suspense. I recommend each one. No sexual content in this one.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Frederica Windsor gets off the train in Tucson, Arizona, sees the dusty weather instead of the snow in the east that December brings, looks confused and along comes Jeremiah Taggert who offers a buggy ride to her hotel. Questions in her mind: Is he an outlaw? Is it safe? Does she dare take a risk? And, the story begins. The fact is, right about this time in the first chapter of the book, you start to smile. It is a “feel-good” storyline where you get to know the people in the area; you see how the characters of former books are doing; you meet up with a couple new friends and you feel right at home with former outlaws. Can a 60-year-old widow from the east make a hard headed 65-year-old man feel things he thought gone long ago? There is mystery of a missing daughter, adventure, family at Christmas and romance. It is a stand-alone book and can be read by anyone. I loved it!'

~~~~~~~~~~~

The reason I discovered this removal was I needed the book's link for one of my book blogs-- [Rainy Day Romances], a site where I post a few images and words to depict what the books are about. If you are a writer, it's wise to have a permanent site for your books, as it cannot be deleted by someone else (I think). It also stays there for future readers to find-- unlike this blog which is constantly changing. I have three of them if I count the book trailer site. [Romances with an Edge and Rainy Day Trailers].

This week, one other 'funny' thing happened regarding promoting books... Funny meaning ironic. I have had alongside here links from Amazon, which take readers to a book for blurb, excerpt and possible purchase. This week, eight or ten of the links turned into general, blinking links back to Amazon. 

So looking into why this might happen. First possibility is internet glitches. Those are the unexplainable things that happen and never is it possible to figure out the why. Another possibility is that in the small print of using the option, it says they reserve the right, at any time, to redirect the link. Because blinking was kind of annoying to me, I deleted those and put up a button alongside that takes readers to one site where all the books lurk along with links to learn more and possibly buy them.

As I have learned in the years since I began bringing my books out as an indie writer-- there are ups and downs to it. IF a writer can't handle that, better not be an indie writer... 

Merry Christmas-- the Scrooge version ;)