Sale! The Harrison Duet + A Jane Austen Story & Giveaways! by Syrie James

These sound great – especially the Nightmare of Jane Austen! That sounds like it would be sooo interesting to read – I cannot imagine her dreaming of her own characters 🙂 Super and thank you for the giveaway too!

I have enjoyed your novels which are captivating. My most romantic meal took place when my husband arranged a unique proposal which consisted of romantic music, all of which contained the name Diane, and Diana, by many known singers and artists. This provided the background to an unforgettable repast which I still think of fondly.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

The Harrison Duet sounds like my kind of books to read because I love romance novels. I have read Jane Austen’s Nightmare and love your short story so I know that any books by you will be great. I’ve not have the pleasure to read your other novels though I own all your Austen-inspired work. I can’t wait to fetch them from the book shelves and read.

Syrie, I hope you can make the giveaway international as I’m able to purchase Kindle e-books.

Sounds like a fun read.

I would order the book but am wary after the review that says “steamy”. How explicit do you get in these stories?
My most memorable meal was on my first date with the man who was to become my husband. I was nervous. I tried to cut my meat, and it slipped off my plate onto my lap. My date was so sweet – he immediately pushed his plate over to me, saying, “This is delicious! You must try it!” He never said anything about the food on my lap. We were married a year later, and to this day he claims he had no idea I’d “lost” my dinner!
My most romantic meal was a fun dinner I went to with friends. The restaurant had advertised a special Valentine’s Day meal – all the food was heart-shaped or red. I’ve regretted not keeping the menu. The food was fabulous – five very special courses. We were the only table for four. We were the only table chatting. All the other tables had couples who were NOT talking or even looking at each other. The restaurant did not repeat their promotion the next year, though we’d planned to go each year (leaving our husbands behind).

Thank goodness there’s still time to take advantage of both the great price and to enter the contest!

My most memorable meal took place on our honeymoon. We went to the Saranac Hotel, in Saranac Lake, NY. The hotel was (is) part of a college practicum for students in their hospitality program. We had chicken parmesan and laughed all the way back to our cabin. The dinner consisted of a relish bar with a few olives and pickles, an overcooked frozen chicken patty, and a small pile of cold pasta (I think). The patty sat in the middle of the plate, curled up with a blob of canned tomato soup on it. It was so bad, we couldn’t get angry. We figured it was “Beginners Night” all around. This was almost 42 years ago. We tried to go back for dinner last time we were in the area, but they were closed. We have heard they have improved greatly since then.

Most memorable meal: romantic only in the sense that my whole family participated and shares this precious memory.
In the 60’s while I was in nurse’s training my fiance and I decided to surprise my family and drop in for dinner. My grand parents drove several hours their home on a surprise visit that that same evening. My father was especially surprised as he was participating in a experimental program that night.. As a guard at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary he had agreed to invite an inmate to dinner at his home on that night. The inmate participants had been incarcerated for long periods of time (25+ years) and we’re about to be released. They were at a very low risk for escape or danger. The purpose of this was to give the inmate some experience in “normal” interactions outside a prison setting and easing there way back into society.
This was an unusual situation even in our family.
The gentleman who attended dinner that night was a grandfatherly gent, dressed in a blue suit and highly polished brown brogue, who said that he “hailed” from Chicago. He had been arrested in the 1930s. He was quite charming and soon had us all smiling (especially Grandma) and more relaxed.
The conversation around that table was quite animated and it was soon revealed that our inmate visitor and Grand Dad had a lot in common.
They lived and worked around Chicago in the same time frame in the same neighborhoods.
They knew many of the same legendary figures of the Prohibition era.
They were at the same speakeasy on the same night.
They took a second look at each other and, darn, if it wasn’t good ol’ Joe. How you doin, Joe! How’s the ol’lady? I can’t believe you’re still kicking…

We spent the rest of the evening listening to stories about the good old days when booze flowed with clandestine meetings and jazz music in the background. Who knew my Gramps had such a Roma tic past.