We are having a Halloween party tomorrow in our Lavender Cottage BookShop Facebook group! Join us for vintage dresses and tea cups, desserts, books, and lots of fun. We'll be there from 9 am to 3 pm PT, but you can stop by any time through the weekend!

Today's Recipe

Today, we have the perfect appetizer for your next party! This is from The Recipes of Burrows Bay, and the first ebook in the series, The Magic of Burrows Bay, is FREE today.

Smoked Salmon on Crackers

This is an easy appetizer to make.  Basically, it’s crackers and smoked salmon with a cream cheese sauce. 

• 48 round crackers
• 2 cups smoked salmon, cut into 1-inch pieces
• Chives to garnish on top

Spread cream cheese sauce onto round cracker.  Top with one piece of smoked salmon and add chive to garnish.   Makes 4 dozen.

Cream Cheese Sauce

• 8-oz block of cream cheese, softened
• 1 to 2 teaspoons cream or milk (enough to make it easy to spread)
• 2 tablespoons chives, finely chopped
• ¼ teaspoon dillweed (more if fresh)

Author Spotlight

Since it's almost Halloween, we decided to showcase one of our own books...a paranormal spy story! That's right, we've combined espionage with paranormal suspense and a bit of romance. The entire story is FREE right now, so we hope you enjoy Jazzmyn Storm in Storm Front: Memoirs of a Secret Agent.

Secret agent Jazzmyn Storm met the man of her dreams while in Romania. At least, she thinks she did. All she can remember, after being found floating in the Black Sea, was that she was on assignment…and now she’s missing a month of time.

With no answers to what really happened, her only clues are in her dreams. A mystery man with an incredibly sexy accent, whose name she can’t remember…but whose touch she can’t forget.

As she tries to piece together that missing month, she realizes the answers are in Romania. Jazzmyn defies her superiors and goes back to uncover what happened, who this mystery man really is…and maybe even the truth about herself in this paranormal suspense.

Lavender CottageCore

Photos of the garden didn't seem quite right for our Halloween blog post, so we've decided to share some new (and some old) covers with you instead. Our Paranormal Mystery & Suspense series has all new covers...and the first part of the story is FREE today!

Selina is a woman with a secret…and she has been hiding it for a very long time.

With her nieces, she runs Luna’s, a nightclub in downtown Seattle, catering to Steampunk and Goth clientele. When someone leaves a body behind her club, she is drawn into a web of mystery and murder. Puncture marks on the body indicate a vampire might be responsible and as more women are killed, a red rose is left by their bodies.

When a vampire hunter with secrets of his own comes to investigate, Selina wonders who she can trust…

And we've brought back some older (some might say classic) covers for our Burrows Bay/A San Juan Islands series. We mainly did this so it would make the audiobooks easier to process, but we realized...we really like these covers! So the story (so far) is back to three books with the first book FREE. We also have the recipe book, but we'll let you check that out on your own. Just follow the link here...and you can also see the book covers we have planned for the next part of the story.

Two cousins inherit a mansion in the San Juan Islands and discover it’s filled with family history, secrets…and maybe magic.

Maggie McCrae knew her granddaughters were not ready for the legacy she must leave them. The house, the grounds and everything that went with it would now be theirs. She vowed she would do all she could to protect them and hopefully, give them the time they needed to fulfill their destiny. Gabriella and Moira must learn to trust themselves and each other as they discover the true magic of Burrows Bay.

Once Upon A Rose - Chapter 16

Finally, we want to include a chapter for everyone to read at the end of each newsletter. Here’s the next part of Once Upon A Rose, the first story in our Enchanted Fairytale Series. Action, adventure, romance…and maybe a little magic. (If you missed the first fifteen chapters, we have a link at the bottom of the story.)

“How can you do this?” Celsiana asked.  “Don’t you care at all about my brother?”

“He is handsome, but I plan to do more for my kingdom than participate in an arranged marriage.”  Arabella smiled.  “I would think you of all people could appreciate that.”

“I would never betray my people,” Celsiana replied.

“And neither have I.  In fact,” Arabella glanced over at her companion, “we plan to make everyone in our kingdom much wealthier.”  She looked at Orris.  “Tie them up and we’ll deal with them later.”

“This is going to cost you a lot more,” Orris said as his men tied Celsiana and Nicholas to the chairs.

“I can’t believe Seraline knew about this,” Celsiana said, looking up at Arabella.  “I always thought you were cold and aloof, but she seems to really care about my brother.”

“She does,” Arabella said, rolling her eyes.  “One reason I didn’t tell her what I had planned.  And I doubt her father would go along with it even if we had told him.  He’d much rather come up with some diplomatic solution that would cost us half our profits.”

“Do you want me to gag them?” one of the men asked.

“No need,” Arabella replied, turning to Orris.  “No one will hear them, and we’ll be back to take care of them very soon.  Do you have the item we discussed?”

Orris dumped some of the soap into the linseed oil jar, then put on the lid.  “I saw them demonstrate this and it’s exactly what you wanted.”

“When we attack the castle, this should keep our arrows burning long enough to do some real damage.”  Arabella smiled at Celsiana.  “I want to thank you for all your help.”

Celsiana glared at her but didn’t say anything.  She watched them all leave, then turned to Nicholas.  “How soon do you think they’ll test it?”

“Soon,” Nicholas replied.  “Since you’re a princess, please tell me your friends are the royal guards and not my sister and her friends.”

Celsiana looked down for a moment.  “I told them to get your parents once they found out where Orris was taking me.”

“Do you want to tell me why you did all this?” Nicholas asked.  “You’re a princess and while I admire your courage, what exactly were you hoping to accomplish?”

“I needed to get out of the castle,” Celsiana explained.  “I wanted to spend time with my friends…the first real friends I’ve ever had.”

“Well, at least this explains how you got the natron.”  Nicholas smiled.  “Trevor mentioned you had a science tutor from that land.”

Celsiana smiled back.  “Are you ready to get out of here?” she asked, holding her hands up.

“How did you do that?” asked Nicholas.

“Even we gardening princesses can do a little magic,” she said, holding up the pocketknife Nicholas had given her.  “See, magic?” 

“Very funny,” Nicholas replied as she cut him loose.

“We need to find your family and then warn my father,” Celsiana said. 

“We should warn the king first,” Nicholas stated.

“Arabella won’t do anything until they know I’m missing.  She’s too greedy to pass up a ransom like that.”  Celsiana wound up her braid and put her hat back on.  “You know, I never did like her.”

“The feeling seemed to be mutual,” Nicholas replied as they quickly made their way to the main door.  “Locked,” he said.

“We can go out the window,” Celsiana said, “if you help me move a few of those crates.”

As they walked over to the other side of the room, they heard wood splintering.  A moment later, the door flew open and Nicholas’ father walked in with men Celsiana didn’t recognize.

“I’m so glad to see you,” he said, hugging Nicholas.  “Your sister told us you were here.  She and her friend are with your mother at Reginald’s house.”

One of the men nodded.  “She told us about Orris being the one behind this.”

“Father, I have much to tell you, but first, we have to see the king.”  Nicholas took Celsiana’s hand.  “Right away.”

“You want to take our gardener to see the king?” his father asked in surprise.

“She’s not a gardener,” Nicholas replied, then smiled.  “Well, not just a gardener.  She’s also our princess.”

His father looked from Nicholas to Celsiana.  Taking off her hat, she said, “Thank you for coming to our rescue.”

“Your Majesty,” the men said, bowing before her.

“This is why I snuck out,” Celsiana whispered to Nicholas, then turned and smiled at the men.  “If you would be so kind, I’ll need your help to stop a traitor.”

Thank you for joining us today. If you miss a newsletter, please visit our Lavender Cottage Blog, where we'll show every post. Have a wonderful Tuesday!