Raine Balkera - Romance Author

Hi everyone, and welcome back for Week 26 of the MFRW.org 52-Week Blog Challenge . This week, we're asked to explain (or, in my case, reason away) Why I Write . Well, it's simple, really. I write because I like to write. As a rare human being who has never experienced true love nor had it reciprocated, my desire to find it on my own by writing it into scripts for the make-believe characters coming to life inside my head is the next best thing. Conjuring up two people, a place (be it fictitious or real), and sending them off on an up/down adventure that leads to romance is exciting. It's also complex. While I like to write what pops into my head, and I really like the idea of my actually having a 'voice' with which to shout out, "Hey! It's me, and I'm trying to make it in the world by doing my own thing!" it hasn't panned out... yet. Marketing (grumble) I could say I like to write more than I like to edit or MARKET my stori...

Pages -  204 Publisher -  Accent Press Published -  June 27, 2015 Amazon Link -   Purchase Here Genre -  Regency Romance, Satire, Mystery Language -  clean Sexual Content -  2/5 Narrative -  3rd P Elinor Bascombe, widowed and tied to an impoverished estate, has learned to ask little of life. With no hope of leaving, the years have passed her by. Lord Ryde, exiled abroad after a scandal, has returned to strip his estate and make a new start in America. A chance encounter changes their plans, plunging Elinor and Lord Ryde into adventure and not a little peril until, finally, they are forced to confront the mystery of what happened on That Night, all those years ago. Are they both so entangled in the riddles of the past that they are about to miss this one last opportunity for future happiness? This was a good read. Not a terrific read, but a good one. And, yes, believe it or not, the 'humor' label is legitimate;...

(Author Note:  I did NOT intend to make it sound, via the Title of the LinkyLink, like MY novels are what I re-read, adore most, and feel are the best out there. No, no, no! I simply wrote the wrong thing down in the wrong box on the Linky Tool thingamajig. My bad! Do hope you'll forgive me for being a klutz, but it is 2 a.m. for heaven's sake.) Welcome, again, to Week 25 of the 52-Week Blog Challenge , sponsored by MFRW.org. This week, we're asked to list Our Favorite Books to Read . I'll assume the TO READ part is there to mean redundancy as opposed to any movie versions? I'd like to begin this challenge by listing a few Classics but do feel compelled to add that this isn't meant to sound literary snob. In no particular order The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway Very few authors can actually Take Me There the way that Hemingway can do. I'm hardly interested in Cuban seaports or the African Plain, and yet this novel and T...

Pages - 303 Publisher -  Amber House Books, LLC Published -  July 7, 2015 Sold by -   Amazon Digital Services LLC Series -  Free Fellows League, Book 1 Genre -  Historical Romance, Regency Language - tame Sexual Content - extensively vulgar Narrative -  3rd P Can a lady tempt a Free Fellow to surrender his heart? As a founding member of the Free Fellows League—a group of four gentlemen who signed a pledge to never wed when they were lads—Griffin, Viscount Abernathy, swears that he will put off marrying as long as possible. But when he is suddenly called off to war, he has no choice but to obey his father’s wishes and find a wife… Just days later, he marries the lovely Lady Alyssa. For a man committed only to his freedom, she seems a perfect—and perfectly undemanding—bride. Intelligent and self-sufficient, Alyssa craves her independence just as much as Griffin loves his. But as the irresistible attraction between them flourishes w...

MFRW.org 52-Week Blog Challenge Hello, again, and welcome back to another episode of the MFRWauthor 52-Week Blog Challenge . It's Week 24, and this time we're asked to Choose/Describe our LAST MEAL. I'll begin with an irreverent shot at the blog's title for this week's challenge and say I suspect that EVERYONE will partake of a Last Meal prior to their departure from this world, eh? They just won't know it in most cases. Then I'll include something maudlin and recall my father's last day on this planet (a week ago +30 some yrs). With this being Father's Day Weekend here in the USA (MX, UK, and CA), it has its place. It was a strange day for sure, and he behaved too abnormal for my comfort or keener instincts. He had made a big stink about the night's meal, insisting that the whole family be there to help him partake of none other than carry-out from his favorite Chinese restaurant. We were a grown family of six, each wit...

#MFRWauthor 52 Week Blog Challenge Hi, again! And welcome to week 23 of the 52-week Blog Challenge sponsored by MFRW.org A bit late to the party (again) but as always, better late than never. This week, we're discussing the Word Count topic for writers. I'll be including the same for readers as well since I like to add my own twist to things. For Authors Word Count can be a real pain but can also be a real help... especially if you suffer from the dreaded hot topic: Writer's Block. Some say Writer's Block is all in the mind while others truly believe it is a physical ailment that afflicts a majority of us from time to time. In my case, it's a bit of both. I'm either too lazy to write anything (often) or I've recently received some horrific news about my work and have become paralyzed in the fingers-to-keyboard department. Which are both likely to be mental, right? Anyway, Word Count for writers is a useful tool since we are 'r...

Welcome back to another installment of the MFRW 52-Week Blog Challenge . This week, Week 22, we are asked to describe our BIGGEST Pet Peeve in (any) Book. This is a tough one. And, I suppose most people would expect me to include a Warning or Disclaimer or even some sort of Writer's Apologetics for the things I'm about to say... about a profession I happen to 'profess' to be a part of (or claim to take at least a minor part in anyway). But, I'm not going to do that, so if you do happen to be of the frequent Butt Hurt variety, I suggest you go away now and save yourself from yet another reason to take offense. This (rant) should be about just ONE pet peeve, which is why I call it a tough one. I mainly read Romance, folks, so is it FAIR to limit me to just one complaint? How about I list them anyway but only expound on the real doozie of a pet peeve? 8. GPS issues -- that's G rammar, P unctuation, and S pelling issues for those of you who have...