Sara Daniel Romance Author: Once Upon a Marriage
Showing posts with label Once Upon a Marriage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Once Upon a Marriage. Show all posts

Friday, February 10, 2017

No Fudging on Romance #fudge #recipe #ValentinesDay

February is here, the month when romantics, conformists, and panicked spouses all converge on florists and chocolate shops. If you live in the northern two-thirds of the northern hemisphere, by all means, buy your loved one some flowers. (Nothing’s going to grow in my tundra of a front yard any time soon!) However, for a personal touch, step away from the candy aisle and pick up the kitchen spatula to make that special someone a pan of homemade fudge.

February Fudge
7 oz marshmallow creme
1½ cups sugar
⅔ cup evaporated milk
¼ cup butter
¼ tsp. salt
2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine marshmallow creme, sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt in a saucepan. Stirring constantly, bring to a full rolling boil over medium heat. Boil for 5 minutes, still stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Add both kinds of chocolate chips and stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla.

Pour in foil-lined 8X8 pan. Chill until firm, roughly 2 hours. Makes 2½ pounds.

From the basic recipe, you can add caramel, pecans, peanut butter and more, depending on your loved one’s preference. Using a cookie cookies, you can even cut the fudge into hearts or pour it into heart-shaped bread or muffin/cookie tins while it is still warm. Make your fudge as unique as you are to delight your significant other and infuse decadent sweetness into your love life.

Here's a little from my fun release that shows how much I loved playing with the Brothers Grimm. Hope you like it.

Before Armina Keer can have the baby she dreams of, she needs her estranged husband Ian to sign their divorce papers. Putting everything on the line for a second chance, Ian must convince her their love is worth saving, and Armina must decide if love is worth sacrificing her dreams.

Ian Keer might not deserve a second chance with his wife, but he’s not going to give up one either, not with the immediate flaming attraction still between them. While her uncles’ antics wreak havoc on life at The Inn, he offers her the ultimate gamble: Spend the night with him, and afterwards he’ll sign the papers if she still wants to leave.

With everything riding on one night together, Ian must convince her that their love is strong enough the second time around, and Armina must decide if love is worth sacrificing her dreams.

“You hate me,” Ian whispered, feeling more nauseous than if he’d ingested a prosthetic eyeball. How could she not hate him when she believed their personal relationship had meant less to him than an employment issue?

Armina gazed beyond his left shoulder. “I don’t hate you. I’ve never hated you. When we got married, I understood you had a strong work ethic combined with an unusual drive to succeed and a consuming passion for the Inn. I knew I’d come in second to this place.”

He opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but couldn’t. If she’d made him choose, he wouldn’t have picked her.

I thought I was okay with it,” she continued. “After all, I loved the Inn, too, and wanted you to realize your vision for it. Turns out I wasn’t okay. I didn’t realize how distant second place actually was.” She shrugged her slim shoulders. “Live and learn, right?”

Not right. He wanted to take back the lesson and teach her about real love instead. “You never should have had to settle for second place. With me or with anyone else. No one has the right to ask that of you.”

"Agreed.” Her voice came out stronger, her shoulders squared, and she looked him directly in the eye. “Now you understand why I want a divorce.”

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Sara Daniel writes what she loves to read—irresistible romance, from sweet to erotic and everything in between. She battles a serious NASCAR addiction, was once a landlord of two uninvited squirrels, and loses her car keys several times a day.

Learn more about Sara on her website and blog. Subscribe to Sara’s newsletter.

Stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Saturday, May 23, 2015

My Sexy Fairytale Love #FallinLove @MySexySaturday @DecadentBFT #boxset

7 Sentences from Once Upon a Marriage, part of the Red Book of Grown-up Fairytales box set:

“Ian.” The warning in her tone didn’t match the longing in her eyes.
“What do you want?” He glided his thumbs over her navel.
“To kiss you.”

His heart soared at the unexpected admission, but he resisted the urge to jump to his feet and claim her mouth. “So do it.”

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Saturday, May 9, 2015

#MySexySaturday - Sexy Today - #reunitedlovers Once Upon a Marriage #BeyondFairytales


“And you’re right that we made a good team,” he continued. “Do you ever think it might be worth giving us another shot?”
Her heart thundered, but she refused to let her emotions rule her decision.
“Me running the therapies here, while you run everything else and have no time for us on a personal level? No, Ian, I don’t.” Honesty lent conviction to her words and allowed her to meet his intense blue eyes. “I don’t practice physical therapy anymore. I’m busy running Three Surgeons Prosthetics.”
He turned in front of her and stopped walking, forcing her to stop, too. “I know we can’t go back to how things were. I’m not asking you to give up the life you’ve created. I’m just trying to understand who you are now and how you’ve changed since we were together.”
Armina opened her mouth, but found she had no words. She had no intention of sharing the goal that had driven her every decision over the past year. To have a baby before time ran out, she needed his cooperation to ensure a quick divorce.
“I’ve moved on,” she finally said, not sure she spoke the truth but hoping she did or at least that the words would soon come true. She needed to move on. The next chapter of her life couldn’t be put on hold.
“I’m not asking you to stop moving on. I just need you to give me a moment to sprint to catch up to you.”

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Saturday, March 28, 2015

#MySexySaturday Saving their relationship with Sexy Talk @DecadentPub #BeyondFairytales


Once Upon a Marriage

He turned in front of her and stopped walking, forcing her to stop, too.

“I know we can’t go back to how things were. I’m not asking you to give up the life you’ve created. I’m just trying to understand who you are now and how you’ve changed since we were together.”

Armina opened her mouth, but found she had no words.

She had no intention of sharing the goal that had driven her every decision over the past year. To have a baby before time ran out, she needed his cooperation to ensure a quick divorce.

“I’ve moved on,” she finally said, not sure she spoke the truth but hoping she did or at least that the words would soon come true.

She needed to move on. The next chapter of her life couldn’t be put on hold.


“I’m not asking you to stop moving on. I just need you to give me a moment to sprint to catch up to you.”

Sale 99 cents!
Now - April 5th
(Regular price $2.99)
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Tuesday, March 24, 2015

#99cents SALE thru April 5th Once Upon a Marriage @DecadentPub @DecadentBFT

Sale 99 cents!
Now - April 5th
(Regular price $2.99)
Don't miss out!
Once Upon a Marriage

A Decadent Publishing Beyond Fairytales Retelling of Grimm's Three Army Surgeons

Time is running out for Armina Keer to have the baby she’s always wanted. Before she can move on with her life, she needs her estranged husband to sign their divorce papers. When she can’t get him to respond, her meddling uncles arrange for a trip to his inn. Despite vowing to guard her broken heart, she has to settle the past before she can have a future.

Ian Keer might not deserve a second chance with his wife, but he’s not going to give up one either, not with the immediate flaming attraction still between them. While her uncles’ antics wreak havoc on life at The Inn, he offers her the ultimate gamble: Spend the night with him, and afterwards he’ll sign the papers if she still wants to leave.

With everything riding on one night together, Ian must convince her that their love is strong enough the second time around, and Armina must decide if love is worth sacrificing her dreams.

Amazon


Saturday, February 28, 2015

Addicted to Love - Once Upon a Marriage #MySexySaturday #BeyondFairytales @DecadentPub

She squinted at him. “You started drinking?”
“No, but I isolated myself from everyone. I let work become my addiction, and I pushed aside and hurt anyone who tried to get between me and my job,” Ian said.
Armina kissed his cheek. “Speaking of which, I ought to let you return to said business so you don’t have to work too late. I have plans for you tonight.”
“Nothing is going to make me work late tonight. And we’re way past the kiss on the cheek bit.” He covered her mouth with his and kissed her until he had to release her or forget all about waiting for evening.

How he would make it through the entire day until they could be together he had no idea.
How he would survive the rest of his life without her he refused to imagine.
He had to convince her he belonged by her side until “death do we part,” as they’d sworn in that Vegas chapel, not until “divorce decree do we sign.”

Buy Links:
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Sunday, September 14, 2014

Fairy Tale Magic Blog Hop: Twist a #Grimm's Fairy Tale into #BeyondFairytales

Love...All things Fairy Tale? We're celebrating them in all their forms...originals, adaptations, twists and retellings. Sweet or steamy or a little bit twisted! Hop through all the blogs for giveaways at each stop! And don't forget to enter for the $100 Amazon gift card grand prize drawing too!


Some fairy tales have been retold countless times, and some are so obscure most people have never heard of them. Yep, you guessed it. I went the obscure route!

The Three Army Surgeons is a little gruesome and definitely not a romance in its original form. Basically, there are three guys who cut out their eye, hand and heart. They put them on a tray and give them to an innkeeper, intending to put them back in their bodies the next day. Instead, the parts are taken, so a soldier replaces them with the eye of a cat, the hand of a thief and the heart of a pig. The new parts then make the guys act like a cat, a thief and a pig. The guys discover they’ve been tricked and return to confront the innkeeper who gives them some money to pacify them. (You can read the full original story here.)

I put a twist on this fairy tale, keeping the original tale as a framework and a bit of comedy (yes, comedy!) to weave my second chance romance story around.

Once Upon a Marriage
Time is running out for Armina Keer to have the baby she’s always wanted. Before she can move on with her life, she needs her estranged husband to sign their divorce papers. When she can’t get him to respond, her meddling uncles arrange for a trip to his inn. Despite vowing to guard her broken heart, she has to settle the past before she can have a future.

Ian Keer might not deserve a second chance with his wife, but he’s not going to give up one either, not with the immediate flaming attraction still between them. While her uncles’ antics wreak havoc on life at The Inn, he offers her the ultimate gamble: Spend the night with him, and afterwards he’ll sign the papers if she still wants to leave.

With everything riding on one night together, Ian must convince her that their love is strong enough the second time around, and Armina must decide if love is worth sacrificing her dreams.

Amazon  Decadent  Barnes & Noble  Kobo  All Romance eBooks  iTunes

Leave a comment letting me know your favorite fairy tale retelling, and I'll pick a random winner to receive a copy of Once Upon a Marriage. Make sure you leave an email address for me to contact you and your e-book format preference. Bonus points for liking me on Facebook and following me on Twitter.

During the month of September, I'm also giving away a $20 Amazon gift card. You can enter the Rafflecopter for that giveaway here.






Monday, August 4, 2014

Once Upon a Marriage #BeyondFairytales @DecadentPub #reunitedlovers

Once Upon a Marriage
Retelling The Three Army Surgeons
By Sara Daniel

My favorite school assignment ever was modernizing and retelling a fairy tale (sophomore English – Aced it AND got extra credit – Thanks  Ms. Seckler!), so when Decadent Publishing put out the call for a retelling of a Grimm’s Fairy Tale, my hand immediately shot in the air. I was given The Three Army Surgeons, an obscure, somewhat gruesome story that was definitely not a romance. (Read it here.)

At the beginning of the initial brainstorming, I thought, “You have got to be kidding me. What I have I gotten myself into?” But then I plunged in. Before long, I was giggling as I typed because Once Upon a Marriage was SO MUCH FUN to write. Yep, favorite assignment ever!


Once Upon a Marriage

A Decadent Publishing Beyond Fairytales Retelling of Grimm's Three Army Surgeons

Time is running out for Armina Keer to have the baby she’s always wanted. Before she can move on with her life, she needs her estranged husband to sign their divorce papers. When she can’t get him to respond, her meddling uncles arrange for a trip to his inn. Despite vowing to guard her broken heart, she has to settle the past before she can have a future.

Ian Keer might not deserve a second chance with his wife, but he’s not going to give up one either, not with the immediate flaming attraction still between them. While her uncles’ antics wreak havoc on life at The Inn, he offers her the ultimate gamble: Spend the night with him, and afterwards he’ll sign the papers if she still wants to leave.

With everything riding on one night together, Ian must convince her that their love is strong enough the second time around, and Armina must decide if love is worth sacrificing her dreams.

Excerpt:

“You hate me,” Ian whispered, feeling more nauseous than if he’d ingested a prosthetic eyeball. How could she not hate him when she believed their personal relationship had meant less to him than an employment issue?

Armina gazed beyond his left shoulder. “I don’t hate you. I’ve never hated you. When we got married, I understood you had a strong work ethic combined with an unusual drive to succeed and a consuming passion for the Inn. I knew I’d come in second to this place.”

He opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but couldn’t. If she’d made him choose, he wouldn’t have picked her.

“I thought I was okay with it,” she continued. “After all, I loved the Inn, too, and wanted you to realize your vision for it. Turns out I wasn’t okay. I didn’t realize how distant second place actually was.” She shrugged her slim shoulders. “Live and learn, right?”

Not right. He wanted to take back the lesson and teach her about real love instead. “You never should have had to settle for second place. With me or with anyone else. No one has the right to ask that of you.”

“Agreed.” Her voice came out stronger, her shoulders squared, and she looked him directly in the eye. “Now you understand why I want a divorce.”


Sara Daniel writes what she loves—irresistible romance, from sweet to erotic and everything in between. She lives her own happily-ever-after romance with her hero husband. Connect with her online at:
Subscribe to Sara’s newsletter: http://eepurl.com/rx_AL

Saturday, July 19, 2014

7 Sentences for @MySexySaturday #99cent #kindlesale @DecadentPub #BeyondFairytales

Seven Sentences from Once Upon a Marriage - on sale for 99 cents on Amazon for a LIMITED time!

“I’ve exhausted all my avenues—threats, offers of settlement funds, court orders,” the attorney said. “Nothing gets his attention.”
“Exactly. That’s why we’re getting a divorce.”
“The only option we haven’t tried is for you to deliver the papers to him and personally ask him to sign.”

She could tolerate Ian ignoring her from a few hundred miles away, but every memory of how he’d chosen his work calls over talking to her and went out of his way to accommodate a guest while leaving her waiting in his bed hurt too much to revisit. If he’d cared about her or about saving their marriage, he would have called when she left him.

Once Upon a Marriage - on sale for 99 cents on Amazon for a LIMITED time!

Thursday, July 17, 2014

$.99 #sale Once Upon a Marriage #BeyondFairytales #Romance @DecadentPub

Once Upon a Marriage - on sale for 99 cents on Amazon for a LIMITED time!

A Decadent Publishing Beyond Fairytales Retelling of Grimm's Three Army Surgeons

Time is running out for Armina Keer to have the baby she’s always wanted. Before she can move on with her life, she needs her estranged husband to sign their divorce papers. When she can’t get him to respond, her meddling uncles arrange for a trip to his inn. Despite vowing to guard her broken heart, she has to settle the past before she can have a future.

Ian Keer might not deserve a second chance with his wife, but he’s not going to give up one either, not with the immediate flaming attraction still between them. While her uncles’ antics wreak havoc on life at The Inn, he offers her the ultimate gamble: Spend the night with him, and afterwards he’ll sign the papers if she still wants to leave.

With everything riding on one night together, Ian must convince her that their love is strong enough the second time around, and Armina must decide if love is worth sacrificing her dreams.

Excerpt:


“You hate me,” Ian whispered, feeling more nauseous than if he’d ingested a prosthetic eyeball. How could she not hate him when she believed their personal relationship had meant less to him than an employment issue?

Armina gazed beyond his left shoulder. “I don’t hate you. I’ve never hated you. When we got married, I understood you had a strong work ethic combined with an unusual drive to succeed and a consuming passion for the Inn. I knew I’d come in second to this place.”

He opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but couldn’t. If she’d made him choose, he wouldn’t have picked her.

“I thought I was okay with it,” she continued. “After all, I loved the Inn, too, and wanted you to realize your vision for it. Turns out I wasn’t okay. I didn’t realize how distant second place actually was.” She shrugged her slim shoulders. “Live and learn, right?”

Not right. He wanted to take back the lesson and teach her about real love instead. “You never should have had to settle for second place. With me or with anyone else. No one has the right to ask that of you.”

“Agreed.” Her voice came out stronger, her shoulders squared, and she looked him directly in the eye. “Now you understand why I want a divorce.”

Once Upon a Marriage - on sale for 99 cents on Amazon for a LIMITED time!

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Once Upon a Marriage @MySexySaturday #Teaser @DecadentPub #BeyondFairytales




He turned in front of her and stopped walking, forcing her to stop, too. “I know we can’t go back to how things were. I’m not asking you to give up the life you’ve created. I’m just trying to understand who you are now and how you’ve changed since we were together.”
Armina opened her mouth, but found she had no words. She had no intention of sharing the goal that had driven her every decision over the past year. To have a baby before time ran out, she needed his cooperation to ensure a quick divorce.
“I’ve moved on,” she finally said, not sure she spoke the truth but hoping she did or at least that the words would soon come true. She needed to move on. The next chapter of her life couldn’t be put on hold.
“I’m not asking you to stop moving on. I just need you to give me a moment to sprint to catch up to you.”
The crazy-romantic image sent a shot of longing through her, but she couldn’t agree. The new life she was building allowed no room for him. She opened her mouth again, but he placed his index finger against her lips.
“Don’t answer yet. It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other. We need to adjust and talk first.” He leaned closer, sliding his finger down, tugging her lower lip out into a pout. Tilting the underside of her chin, he tipped her head up so she stared into his strong, handsome face.
Enveloping her in the heat from his body, he touched his lips to hers with a profound gentleness. She could have turned her head aside and pointed out they weren’t talking as he’d proposed, but the tenderness and hunger in his eyes captivated her. For the first time since their wedding night, she owned his complete attention.

Once Upon a Marriage

A Decadent Publishing Beyond Fairytales Retelling of Grimm's Three Army Surgeons

Time is running out for Armina Keer to have the baby she’s always wanted. Before she can move on with her life, she needs her estranged husband to sign their divorce papers. When she can’t get him to respond, her meddling uncles arrange for a trip to his inn. Despite vowing to guard her broken heart, she has to settle the past before she can have a future.

Ian Keer might not deserve a second chance with his wife, but he’s not going to give up one either, not with the immediate flaming attraction still between them. While her uncles’ antics wreak havoc on life at The Inn, he offers her the ultimate gamble: Spend the night with him, and afterwards he’ll sign the papers if she still wants to leave.

With everything riding on one night together, Ian must convince her that their love is strong enough the second time around, and Armina must decide if love is worth sacrificing her dreams.

Buy Links:
Amazon
Decadent
Barnes & Noble
All Romance eBooks

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Return to Blog Hop here.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

A Behind the Scenes Look at Retelling a Fairy Tale #BeyondFairytales

My favorite school assignment ever was modernizing and retelling a fairy tale, so when Decadent put out the call for a retelling of a Grimm’s Fairy Tale, my hand immediately shot in the air. But then I got my fairy tale assignment, and my excitement wilted. The Three Army Surgeons. Huh? I’d never heard of it.

Not only was it obscure, it was also a little gruesome and definitely not a romance. Basically, there are three guys who cut out their eye, hand and heart. They put them on a tray and give them to an innkeeper, intending to put them back in their bodies the next day. Instead, the parts are taken, so a soldier replaces them with the eye of a cat, the hand of a thief and the heart of a pig. The new parts then make the guys act like a cat, a thief and a pig. The guys discover they’ve been tricked and return to confront the innkeeper who gives them some money to pacify them. (You can read the full original story here.)

My charge was to turn this story into a romance. Um, yeah. I couldn’t even figure out who the hero and heroine would be.

So I started with what I did know. Although I enjoy a good ménage romance, I don’t write them, so having the body-part-plucking guys as heroes was out. Same for paranormal stories, which meant I needed a way for these people to walk around with missing parts that would be believable in a contemporary setting without magic or special powers.

This framework led me to have the men run a prosthetics company, but I was still stumped on the romance angle. The only woman in the original story stood around wringing her hands while others found a solution. Then she ran away and never returned when things went bad. I needed an active heroine, someone with a purpose, someone a reader would want to root for.

After dumping the sexist assumption that a solider automatically had to be a man, I made the soldier’s character my heroine. I named her “Armina,” which means soldier. In case that was too subtle, her uncles (the guys with the missing body parts) affectionately refer to her as “Soldier.”

The other person who played a critical role in the story conflict is the innkeeper. He would fit nicely as the hero. After playing with words for a bit, I dubbed him Ian Keer. Now I needed to make him into hero material, and I needed to create a romance (and conflict) between the innkeeper and the soldier. This wasn’t part of the original fairy tale, so my challenge was to write it within the framework of the fairy tale retelling. Finally, I’d arrived at the fun story retelling I’d expected when I raised my hand for this assignment.


I went from “You have got to be kidding me” at the beginning of the initial brainstorming of The Three Army Surgeons fairy tale to “This is so much fun” as I wrote Once Upon a Marriage. Check out the new Beyond Fairytales line from Decadent Publishing. I’m so excited to be a part of it.


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Saturday, June 28, 2014

Once Upon a Marriage - Teaser - July 1st release! @MySexySaturday @DecadentPub

Once Upon a Marriage

“You hate me,” Ian whispered, feeling more nauseous than if he’d ingested a prosthetic eyeball.

How could she not hate him when she believed their personal relationship had meant less to him than an employment issue?

Armina gazed beyond his left shoulder. “I don’t hate you. I’ve never hated you. When we got married, I understood you had a strong work ethic combined with an unusual drive to succeed and a consuming passion for the Inn. I knew I’d come in second to this place.”

He opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but couldn’t. If she’d made him choose, he wouldn’t have picked her.

“I thought I was okay with it,” she continued. “After all, I loved the Inn, too, and wanted you to realize your vision for it. Turns out I wasn’t okay. I didn’t realize how distant second place actually was.” She shrugged her slim shoulders. “Live and learn, right?”

Not right. He wanted to take back the lesson and teach her about real love instead. “You never should have had to settle for second place. With me or with anyone else. No one has the right to ask that of you.”

“Agreed.” Her voice came out stronger, her shoulders squared, and she looked him directly in the eye. “Now you understand why I want a divorce.”


Buy Links:
Amazon
Decadent
Barnes & Noble
All Romance eBooks

Get a sneak peek at more Beyond Fairytales stories coming soon here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway