Raine Balkera - Romance Author

Hi! Welcome to Week 17 of the MFRW Author Blog's 52-Week Blog Challenge . This week's topic of discussion is: Favorite Romance Genre to Read or Write To Read I love to read a variety of Romance novel genres as long as they are entertaining, thoughtful, and have a REAL romance to the story. I enjoy the escapism involved with paranormal and fantasy, and I like the world-building aspect of Science Fiction romance. But, my very favorite sub-genre of Romance is Historical, though I can't quite commit to one historical time period over another. I lean towards Regency, but Victorian, Highlander, and Medieval romance are great as well if the above-mentioned aspects are there, that is. If the historical content is there and written in a way that educates/informs, and if the plot isn't in a saturated context (reads like a hundred other such novels), and if there actually IS a romance involved, then I am going to enjoy every second of that read. Sadly, thi...

Today, I review Love of a Highlander, by Katy Baker, Book Four in her Five-Book Series, Arch Through Time. Pages -  213  Published -  July 28, 2017 Sold by - Amazon Digital Services LLC Genre -  Historical Romance, Fantasy, Scottish Time Travel Series -  Arch Through Time (Four of Five) Language -  3/5 Sexual Content -  4/5 Narrative -  3rd P Maya Charles trusts no one. Having been abandoned by her parents as a child, it’s a lesson she’s learned the hard way. Now, having graduated from art college saddled with debt, she’s struggling to make ends meet. When a strange old woman gives her a cryptic message offering help, she scoffs at the idea: other people can’t be trusted, right? But when a sixteenth century warrior appears out of nowhere to save her life she might just be forced to challenge that assumption. Lachie MacFarlane is sick of his life. As the laird’s nephew his duty is clear: the clan comes before al...

Today I review Loki , by Keira Montclair, book One in The Highland Clan series. Pages -  208  Publisher -  Keira Montclair  Published -  December 1, 2015 Sold by -  Amazon Digital Services LLC Series -  Book One of Eleven in The Highland Clan  Genre -  Historical Romance, Scottish Medieval Language -  1/5 Sexual Content -  3/5 Narrative -  3rd P A warrior with a haunted past and the lass who vows to love him forever. Loki Grant’s first memories are of living in a crate behind an inn in Ayr, struggling to survive. Clan Grant saved him from his lonely existence and took him in as one of their own. But though the Highlands have become his home and he loves his adopted parents, Brodie and Celestina, Loki feels lost. Part of him is still that scrappy wee lad who relied on his wits to survive the streets, and he is not sure he belongs. The feistiest and most beautiful lass in the clan, Arab...

Today, I review Hamish , by L. L. Muir -- Book 28 in her The Ghosts of Culloden Moor series. Pages -  155  Published -  March 27, 2017 Sold by -  Amazon Digital Services LLC Genre -  Historical Romance, Scottish, Time Travel Series -  #28 in The Ghosts of Culloden Moor Language -  3/5 Sexual Content -  2/5 Narrative -  3rd P Have you ever been tempted to sit patiently on a Scottish hillside to see what--or whom--the mist might bring? With violin in hand, Samantha MacKord sets out to do just that. But when a Highlander appears, she realizes it might be her music, and not the mist, that lured him to her. Unfortunately, he's not the only one who's been listening... Hamish Farquharson is ready for a holiday and a rich woman to spend it with, but the witch isn't thinking about his needs. Instead, she sends him on a complicated rescue mission to save three abandoned children. And in a cruel twist, he's given ...

Hi, there! This is Week 16 of the MFRW Author Blogs 52-Week Blog Challenge , and this week's topic is: Family, Friends, and Pets I've Written Into My Books. My immediate response is NONE, but something tells me I included my first dog in my first novel, and it probably sounds even worse that I don't remember, right? I know it is a dog that finally brings my H & h together near the ending, but I don't recall if I used Yukon or just a random doggy to do the job. Elelur.com Anyway, it isn't that I don't like the idea of using people I know and inserting them into my stories. For me, it just isn't Romance-inducing to think about Family, if that makes any sense to you dear readers. Thinking about my mom or dad while writing a Romance novel is counter-productive... the same way thinking about either one of them during sex would be. Right? However, and more and more, I've come to like the idea of slipping myself or someone I...

Hello! It's Friday the 13th, y'all! I don't want to 'jinx' myself, but I tend to have good Friday the 13ths and not bad or clutzy ones. Anyway... Welcome to Week 15 of the 2018 MFRW Author Blog Challenge , where each week we are asked to discuss a topic, (usually) pertaining to our career choice, which is Writing. This week's topic is: How I Celebrate Completing My Manuscript Before I begin, let me just say that I am fully aware of the fact that my total honesty when answering these challenge questions will never win me any Popularity Contests. I'm okay with it, though. As a self-proclaimed Superficial Person who hates that fact about herself, when it comes to this PERSONAL blog that people are likely to read, I've long-ago decided that this is MY space, like it or not. And, by Superficial, I just mean that in-person situations are always uncomfortable for me BECAUSE I am too superficial. I tend to smile too much, go with the fl...

Hi, folks! Sorry about opting out last week, but the topic had no appeal, and I also had nothing to contribute to it, either. This week, Week 14, the Topic What I Learned from My Worst Review,  isn't much better, but I want to try and complete as many of these as I can without dropping out. I do have two ePub novels listed on Amazon, but no one is reading them, so I don't have any reviews. Well, I do, but they are from the five friends who said they were interested in reading it, which just means they left complimentary reviews of the high-caliber variety (in order not to hurt my feelings). So, for this post, I thought I could give examples of some really scorching reviews I've encountered when searching for things to read at Amazon, share them with you, and tell you how I would respond if they were directed at me and my work. So, without further ado... found at Amazon This is page one of three total, in the 1-star category, for a Historical Romance...

Pages -  418  Publisher -  Bookbinder Press  Published -  May 23, 2014 Sold by -  Amazon Digital Services LLC Genre -  Historical Romance/Highlander Series -  Highland Soldiers Book One of Four Language -  1/5 Sexual Content -  0/5 Narrative -  3rd P Only an enemy soldier could save her life–and her heart. Highlander Callum MacDonell battled lowland Covenanters at the service of the King. Now charged with hunting an assassin, his journey will lead not to justice, but to a murderer’s passionate Covenanter sister, Mari McEwan. Betrayed and abandoned by the man she loved, Mari faces judgment by a tribunal of her people demanding she name the father of her unborn child, or be exiled from her beloved home and family. Sick and trembling, she knows that she must refuse. And yet, if she does so, a cruel fate awaits her. Book 1 in the Highland Soldiers series, Scottish historical romances set during the t...

Today I review His Highland Rose , a Prequel to the  His Highland Heart  series, by Willa Blair. Pages - 204  Publisher - Willa Blair Published - December 1, 2016 Sold by -  Amazon Digital Services LLC Genre -  Historical Romance / Medieval Scotch Highlands Language -  0/5 Sexual Content -  2/5 Narrative -  3rd P Iain Brodie is a fierce warrior and passionate lover, but to prove he’s responsible enough to follow his ailing father as the clan’s chief, he must give up the lasses and find a bride—quickly. He doesn’t expect to fall for any of the Rose chief’s three daughters, but he can’t get one out of his mind—or heart—even when he discovers she is not who she claims to be. Skilled rider and archer Annie Rose values her freedom. She doesn’t want to be anyone’s bride, not even deliciously and annoyingly sexy Iain Brodie’s. But her father wants an alliance with Iain’s clan and he’s chosen her to forge it. Unaware sh...