Category Archives: Writers

NEW BOOK RELEASE

Hi Readers!!! I’m so excited to be releasing the 5th book in the St. John Sibling Series! For those of you who have been waiting for the culmination of this family series, thank you for your patience. It’s been a long time coming, longer than I’d anticipated. For those of you new to the series, each book stands alone. But, spoiler alert: there’s a big family reunion in this last book.

FOREVER KNIGHT: St. John Sibling Series, Book 5 to be released the FIRST WEEK OF NOVEMBER in digital format, paperback to follow. Find this FINAL installment of the series at Amazon Kindle, other formats to follow. 

Olympic level dressage rider, Gabrielle Varga, packed away all things childlike when her self-indulgent father chose his medieval-themed venue, The Joust, over his family. When she returns to nurse her ailing parent, it may take Renn St John, a stunt-riding Knight reminiscent of her father, to heal old wounds.

WHERE DID I GET THE IDEA TO WRITE SAVING ANDI?

Saving AndiSince winning the Write Touch Readers Award with SAVING ANDI, I’ve been thinking maybe you’d like to know what prompted me to write this romantic suspense.

It started with Andi Johanson making an appearance in CRAVING A HERO. She’s the character who plows out Kelly’s family camp when Kelly and Dane get snowed in (don’t get me started on the bombshell that forced togetherness exposed) and later for their Valentine Day winter wedding.

Initially, Andi was a guy with a different that was going to make a walk on and never be heard from again. But this young woman living hand to mouth reached out from the back of my brain and I knew SHE was supposed to be driving that beat up old truck with the plow. When Andi let me see into her past–see what a hard childhood she’d had, I knew she had a story that needed to be told.

In my last blog post about SAVING ANDI, I mentioned Andi’s rough childhood. Cruel is a more appropriate adjective what with an alcoholic father who viewed women as little more than chattel to do his bidding and an older brother following in his path. Her mother’s premature death left Andi to take on the household duties and to mother her younger brother. Put them all in an isolated cabin on a wooded lake living hand to mouth because Dad couldn’t hold down a job and you have a recipe for everything from poaching to outright burglary.

This is the environment that shaped Andi, the only saving grace her need to protect her younger brother—to see him free of the harshness of their lives. Her mother had instilled at least that much integrity in her before she died.

But a drug addicted older brother, a protective young brother, and the law all came together to one fateful afternoon, shattering the one hope she had in life; that her baby brother could escape their wretched life. It left her with the burden of guilt and a big distaste for cops.

A year and a half with her baby brother dead and big brother in prison, Andi has given up on life–hope…until she finds Cole McCall, a man with a bullet hole in him and no memory. Prime for a dangerous liaison, she takes him in, nurses him back to health, and hides him from the authorities. Too bad whoever wants Cole dead are still tracking him.

Find SAVING ANDI at most online book sellers, including:

Amazon 

Barnes & Noble

iTunes 

 

SAVING ANDI WINS WRITE TOUCH READERS’ AWARD!

Having been a finalist in this prestigious competition in the past, I am thrilled to win with SAVING ANDI. This Romantic Suspense  is the first of my new spin-off series, St. John Sibling: FRIENDS. That my Great Green Bay Area Wisconsin Romance Writers of America group would honor me with a beautiful bouquet of roses puts me over the moon. Big THANK YOU to my fellow writers for your thoughtfulness. Having a community of fellow writers to share the good times with is priceless. And thank you to all of you readers who judged SAVING ANDI in THE WRITE TOUCH READERS’ AWARD CONTEST and found it worthy.


For those of you who haven’t enjoyed reading SAVING ANDI yet, let me share a little about the story and its characters:

Cole McCall is shot, dives off a bluff, and hits his head. Now he has amnesia and can’t remember who wants him dead or why. He doesn’t even know which side of the law he operates on.

Fortunately for him, Andi Johanson finds him at the camp he’s broken into. Given her family history of being on the wrong side of the law, her distrust of lawmen, and a guilt she carries over her younger brother’s death, she takes Cole home rather than to a hospital and nurses him.

All that togetherness feeds their attraction to each other. But their love is jeopardized by his unknown past, her secrets, and the fact whoever wants Cole dead has tracked him to Andi’s cabin.

CHECK my FB author page for snippets about what inspired me to write this story and what shaped these characters.

VISIT MY WEB SITE to read excerpts from all my books and learn more about me. Dog lovers, there’s a surprise waiting there for you. But above all know this about me. I love to write romances that will make you laugh and cry.

BUY “SAVING ANDI” from most online stores including: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, D2D, and Apple iBooks

 

WET ‘N WILD NAVY SEALS FEATURED AT KOBO

Whether you’re looking for a little sizzle or a lot of steam, you’ll find the hard-bodied, soft-hearted hero of your dreams on SEa, Air or Land in these sexy romance-packed novels and novellas brought to you by 10 of your favorite New York Times, USA Today and other award-winning and best-selling authors.

Includes my SEEKING BLISS, book 4 in the St. John Sibling Series. Get it at this BARGAIN PRICE.

Limited Edition Boxed Set––Grab your copy today before it’s gone!

 

FIND US FEATURED AT KOBO UNTIL JUNE 19TH

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NEW RELEASE FOR THE ST. JOHN SIBLING SERIES!

Award-Winning author Barbara Raffin offers book 4 in the St. John Sibling Series: SEKING BLISS

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Bliss O’Hara poured all her love  into raising her orphaned brother and the romance novels she wrote. Now that her brother’s an adult and gone, why isn’t she looking for Mr. Right? Because the perfect man for her might just be a creation of her imagination, the hero she penned to life in her crossover action-adventure series. He’s not real…until the flesh and blood image of her fictional hero strides off the pages of her novel and onto a television talk show set during an interview.

Former Navy SEAL Jake St. John, the eldest of the St. John siblings, runs a high risk security firm out of Mexico. He’s livid someone is putting him and his men at risk by detailing their missions in a novel.  Searching out the author leads him to Bliss O’Hara. Turns out the source of Bliss’ research has been her brother…who works for Jake as his computer guru, and the kid knows too much. But now he’s missing.

Add kidnapping, the Illuminati, on-line gaming, and a foreign setting and you get a wild ride of gunfights, intrigue, and sexual tension. Most of all, working with Bliss to get them all out of danger forces Jake to face he’s more than the weapon SEAL training has made of him.

REVIEW QUOTE:  “Barbara Raffin has a way of breathing life into her characters, making them seem so real, loveable, and humanly flawed.”  Valerie J. Clarizio, author of the Nick Spinelli Mystery series

Seeking Bliss: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FCDHSFE
B&N http://bit.ly/1NpwJL8
iBooks https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1112166678
KOBO https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/seeking-bliss#_=_
Page Foundry/inktera http://bit.ly/1Wqlm9c
Scribd http://bit.ly/1TbogKO
Draft 2 Digital https://www.draft2digital.com/book/166803

 

Barbara Raffin on Panel at Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books

 

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On November 7th you will find me on a Q&A panel at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha for the Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books. Joining me on the panel will be New York Times Best Sellers Stacey Joy Netzel and Donna Marie Rogers, Vice-President of communication for Wisconsin Romance Writers and author PJ Fialla, and former Publisher Weekly Blogger Barbara Vey, known for her yearly author/reader extravaganza luncheons.

If you’re in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area on Saturday November 7th, join me from 12:30 to 1:30 in the university Commons room 101. Or make a weekend of it and check out the entire Festival. For a full list of panels, events and times at go to www.sewibookfest.com and click on program, then 2015 Festival of Books, and Print Program 2015.

FINDING HOME PLACES AS READERS’ CHOICE

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Thank you to all of you readers who voted for FINDING HOME, earning my book 2nd place in BTS eMags Red Carpet Readers’ Choice. Following is one of my favorite excerpts and one I think says a lot about hero Sam’s conflict.

Excerpt from No Place Like Home

“We’ll miss you,” Dixie said.

“You already said that.”

“Some things are worth repeating.”

Sam nudged the duffel with his toe, trying to figure why he couldn’t just tell her he’d changed his mind—that he wanted to stay.

She ruffled Ben’s hair. “Say good-bye to Sam.”

Ben stretched his arms up at him…as Sam had so often reached out to his uncle. Sam hoisted the kid up the way his Uncle Stuart had never done him.

Ben folded his arms around Sam’s neck and squeezed. The child was so small, his arms thin and his back narrow. Yet, the power in that hug took Sam’s breath away. Had Stuart finally figured out this was what he’d denied himself when he’d raised Michael? Is this why Stuart wanted his son’s son?

Is this why Sam needed to stay? To protect Ben from Stuart?

“Bye, Tin Man,” the kid said against the side of Sam’s neck.

“Good-bye, Ben,” Sam whispered into Ben’s hair.

When he set the boy down, Dixie took his hands in hers, her fingers warm entwined with his. “You visit us any time you want, Sam.”

 Tell me to stay!

She rose onto her toes and pressed her lips to his cheek. Her kiss was like a summer breeze across his skin. Balmy. Gentle. All too fleeting. He wanted to turn his face and test her lips against his. He wanted to explore Dixie Rae mouth to mouth and body to body. He wanted to know her inside and out. That’s why he couldn’t stay—why he had to leave. She was Mickey’s wife.

COME CHAT WITH ME OCTOBER 2ND IN DOOR COUNTY

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Take a ride up Wisconsin’s beautiful Door County Peninsula October 2nd and you’ll find me, Barbara Raffin, and several other Wisconsin authors at the Lautenbach’s Orchard Winery just south of Fish Creek from 4-6pm. Come meet us, listen to our readings, and chat with us all while enjoying wine and snacks.

NEW RELEASE!!!

Okay, I’m a little behind here. But it’s been a tough summer. Lots of family medical issues. We are trudging along, however, and life sends us happy events as well as sad. Focusing on a happy event…

Last May, I published the first in a spin off series from the St. John Sibling Series. The St. John Sibling: FRIENDS series is/will be about secondary characters from the sibling books who insisted their own stories be told. The first, SAVING ANDI, follows Kelly and Dane’s friend from CRAVING A HERO. But Andi wouldn’t settle for a straight contemporary romance. No, she had to go find her hero half dead from a gunshot wound. If that’s not enough for Andi and Cole to contend with, Cole has amnesia as well and neither of them know which side of the law he operates on.

Both digital and print formats are available from Amazon.

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Thank you to Rogenna of Covers by Rogenna for creating yet another great cover for my book.

BTS eMag READERS CHOICE RESULTS

Finally! The winners of the BTS Readers Choice Awards have been named. I am pleased to announce FINDING HOME took 2nd place in the contemporary category! Thank you to all of you who voted for FINDING HOME. You are each part of this award!11880743_1035487796461321_506724350_nAlt_FindingHomeUPLOADS(72dpi1500x2400px)