#23 Or Things I Love About Cruising

People ask me why I like cruising so much, and I always say, "What's not to love?" You have beautiful surroundings, great food, and friendly people waiting on you hand and foot.

And many of those friendly people happen to be good-looking men with accents! What romance reader or author wouldn't love that?!?! Yours truly certainly does, and here are a few piccies taken on my latest cruise to show you just what I'm blathering about.

 Cruise #23 was on board the Splendor, a ship we've sailed twice before. One of the first people we saw after we boarded in Long Beach was the nice young man who had been our assistant waiter in December. Nanang recognized us immediately and came over to talk!

 We also ran into our former waiter from last December, Enrico, who told us the happy news that he and his wife had recently welcomed a new baby boy.

Since we reserved "anytime" dining, we always asked for one of Enrico and Nanang's tables and they served us almost every night.

One night when all of Enrico's tables were occupied, we were lucky enough to be seated at a nearby table with Eddie from Bosnia as our server. Even my DH commented that this good-looking waiter could probably be a male model. What do you think? Can you picture him on the cover of a romance novel?  (Yes indeed, Aunty likes the tall ones!)

Not surprisingly, lots of single women asked to be seated at "Fast Eddie's" tables, but notice who he has his arm around! LOL!

"Fast Eddie" and one of the other waiters who worked at the nearby tables were great jokesters. The other guy had the unlikely name of Tom Cruz!  All the diners couldn't help but leave smiling with these two around.

So here's Aunty getting a hug from Tom Cruz! LOL!

So my "secret" is out. I love cruising because of the fun people I meet. Some of those people happen to be good-looking men with accents who serve me wonderful food. Not to mention provide inspiration for future characters! Do you blame me for being a cruise fanatic?

Free Today Only

 

 TODAY ONLY (Sunday May 20, 2012) The Sidhe Princess is available on Amazon for FREE! Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Sidhe-Princess-ebook/dp/B005TD8GK4/ 

Here's the blurb for the story:  In the rural Northern Ireland of the 1960s, sixteen-year-old Moira Mullins is newly released from her second stay in a mental institution. Her problem is that she can’t seem to escape the notice of the other-worldly inhabitants of the wild lands bordering her family’s farm. Creatures nobody else can see or hear.

When one of these beings, a fairy princess called the Maid of Ulster, offers to foretell the future, Moira jumps at the chance. But the Maid has ulterior motives that could have tragic results for Moira, who learns the future is sometimes better unknown.

A dark modern-day fairytale, this 14,000 word novelette (easily read in a couple of hours) is a prequel to Ms. McGary's debut release The Wild Sight. 

I hope you enjoy this story, and if you do, please leave me a review! :-)

 

That Time of Year

It's May and that means it is once again time for Brenda Novak's online auction to benefit diabetes research!

Same as every year, I have donated several items. I have autographed copies of my three print books, I'm offering a critique of the first 25 pages of a manuscript, and my two Indie releases are included on a Kindle being offered by the Sacramento Valley Rose RWA chapter.

I hope you will check out all the great items and maybe place a bid or two. The proceeds go to a very worthy cause! Brenda Novak's Online Auction