Dawn's Reading Nook: Welcome Morgan O'Reilly Today

I'm at Dawn Roberto's Reading Nook today. Stop by and say Hello!

Dawn's Reading Nook: Welcome Morgan O'Reilly Today: Welcome to Dawn’s Reading Nook, Morgan O’Reilly. Please let my cabana boys/girls get you a drink and make yourself at home. Comfortable?...

Guest Blogger - Beth Ann Masarik

Today is day 20-something on Beth Ann Masarik's incredible blog tour. She's going all February and you can find the schedule at the link above. We're honored to have her and hope all you Morgan Readers give her a big welcome! Today she's taking a bit of a break from the usual questions of "how did you come up with this story" and "who inspires you most" type questions and she's talking about her upcoming wedding, on a most auspicious day no less. Oct 14 is Mr. O'Reilly's birthday! A good day for celebration if we ever heard of one. At the end, be sure to register for the awesome give away she's doing for one lucky TMD reader.

PS: Be sure to wish Jmo a Happy Birthday! He's so young, it's hardly worth it, but hey, he keeps us laughing.

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Thank you, Morgan and Jmo, for having me on your blog today! For those of you who are meeting me for the first time, it’s a pleasure to meet you all! And for those of you who are coming back for more, welcome back! You guys are in for a real treat today! Why? Because today I am going to talk about my wedding plans!

*hears wedding bells in the background*

Yup! For those of you who don’t know, I am engaged, and am getting married on October 14^th of this year. SQUEE! LOL. I honestly couldn't be happier with the man I am with. Out of everyone I know, he is one of the most supportive of my crazy endeavors. He puts up with all my rants and writerly craziness. I mean hey, he’s only going to have to live with me in a couple of months, he may as well get used to it, right? LOL.

Most girls dream of getting married in a big church and all that jazz. But me, I've always dreamed of getting married in my little parish in the town of Port Washington, NY. It is a 60 year old church, and has a cute little charm about it that makes it feel warm and welcoming. No, it’s not as big as the other Catholic church in town, but it’s my church, and the people there are warm and welco

ming. It’s my second home, and the people there are part of my family in some way or another. I was reassured that Tuesday night when Kevin & I were crowned the King and Queen of Mardi Gras at our church’s party.

I will be perfectly honest, there are times where I am scared crapless that I am going to mess up my relationship, or scare Kevin off with all my crazy ideas. I mean, hello, I talk about my characters as if they are real people sometimes. Who doesn't think that’s crazy? LOL. But, for whatever reason, Kevin sticks around, and I am grateful for it. I honestly don’t know where I would be today without him in my life.

We have 8 months and counting until our big day and we still have so much left to do. HOWEVER, we can cross the following items off our list:

• My wedding dress
• Bridesmaid dresses
• The Church
• The reception hall
• Mother of the bride dress
• Our wedding rings

While those are some major things that we have done, we still have so much to do! I know we will get it done in due time, but the clock is ticking, and soon enough the big day will be here.

I have been blogging wedding progress reports on my blog which is www.bahbammymusings.wordpress.com. Please feel free to follow along and offer any wedding advice you can give us!

Why am I writing about weddings, when I should be talking about The World Among Us? Well, I felt like a bit of a change for one thing, and for the other, weddings lead to romance and The World Among Us is heavily involved with love…especially the forbidden kind.

About The World Among Us: Prince of Darkness

In The World Amo

ng Us, Hades, the god of the Underworld, plots to take over the world, and remove Gaia, the head Deity, from power. In order to do so, he plots against his own son, Damien, and cons him into killing his soul mate, the beautiful goddess of the moon, Selene. Hades does so, because Gaia is his natural enemy, and Selene is her favorite grandchild. He thinks that by killing off Gaia’s favorite grandchild, he will weaken her.

With Selene out of the way, Hades then moves in on the Creatures of the Night. He wants to kill off their leader, Jason Aysel. Jason is the go-between person between worlds, and another person that Gaia highly regards. Hades manipulates and cons Jason’s best friend, Leon Greene, into murdering him, by offering him Jason’s position as his reward.

Because of these actions, a war is to take place on earth between the gods and other Creatures of the Night. During this time, Selene is reincarnated, and kept hidden as a secret weapon to win the war against Hades. In order to win the war of wars, the gods and some of the demons will have to fight together, and learn to co-operate with each other.

Will the Titans and Olympians be able to set aside their differences, and take back the world from Hades? Or is the world as we know it, doomed to fall under dark shadows, forever?

THE GIVEAWAY: I am giving away the following:

• A signed paperback copy of The World Among Us: Prince of Darkness
• A Fanclub t-shirtAn autographed poster
• A bookmark
• And a TWAU pin

To enter, please leave a comment here on the Morgans' blog to show them some love and fill out the rafflecopter. This contest will run through Feb. 24th, so you will have a couple of days to enter. Please join me on Giselle’s blog tomorrow, Feb 24th for some more blog tour fun!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Beth Ann Masarik

Author of The World Among Us, Prince of Darkness (available where books are sold!)

Founder of Literary Lunes Magazine www.literarylunes.com for more details!

Founder of Wordsmiths and Ink Scribblers writing network www.wordsmithsinkscribblers.spruz.com

Follow me here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BethAnnMasarik https://www.facebook.com/TheWorldAmongUs

Twitter: @theworldamongus

Personal Website: www.bethannmasarik.com

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/bethmasarik

Cupid's Choice... Who Won?

Big, big drawing today. Many awesome books given away. So sorry you all couldn't make the chat, but never fear, you still get to win.

Our first winner, announced at the chat is Shadow! She won a copy of Til Death Undo Us, by yours truly, Morgan Q. O'Reilly.

Winner of Jmo's book, Were the Moon Don't Shine, is Ilona!

Both winners have been emailed, so let us know if you don't get them.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and left a message!! We hope you had as much fun as we did.

The Morgans

Cupid's Choice Stops At The Morgan Diaries

Yes, it's another fun and rollicking Blog Hop put on by the awesome authors of JustRomance.me and we're playing for all we're worth this weekend and getting in the mood for Valentine's Day. If you're starting here, be sure to pick up the hop at the beginning by clicking on the link above.


Frankly, this year it's taking a little work to get in the mood. Jmo and I have both been nose to the grindstone, writing, writing, writing. Which is a good thing. A great thing! But tends to leave our significant others wondering, yet again, where we're traveling inside our heads. 


So, with romance in the air, I got to thinking about some of the most romantic moments in my life and I asked Jmo to give me a little nudge. He never disappoints. 


Jmo on Valentine's Day

It was a dark and stormy night. Not really, but we authors say that when we're struggling to come up with something genius. When it comes to Valentine's Day, that means we say it a lot, especially us guys. No matter how romantic we seem on the outside, that one day of the year scares the crap out of us. Mainly because we know nothing we do the rest of the year to show our wives how much we love them matters as much as we do this one day of the year. That said, my wife is the greatest! She never asks for much. A dinner out. Great chocolate and no Star Wars for at least the day of. I can usually manage two of those.

She, on the other hand, knows exactly how to tug my heartstrings. Every year she makes it a point to get me the most romantic thing in the world! Yep, you guessed it. A giant Reeses peanut butter heart. Hey, I'm a guy. We're simple like that. The point I'm trying to make is this. Women know men better than we know them. Men in general spend at least a good week coming up with the perfect gift, or so we think. Like women want something to make housework easier or a Quesadilla maker to, well, make us quesadillas. That realization hits us, oh, about the time our special someone tells us that the night before Valentine's Day. Which is why the local Walgreen's is bombarded and drained of not-so-nice smelling perfume and cheap heart shaped boxes of chocolates by 9am Valentine's Day. It also explains why restaurant reservations suspiciously get lost when we take you out for fine dining.

So, ladies, in advance, I'd like to apologize for my bonehead brothers in confusion. We promise to do better next year or you can kill us. It'd be so much simpler than torturing us for the rest of our lives.

Morgan's Take

So that's why we spent an hour in a crowded anteroom at Sullivan's Steakhouse last year waiting for a table? A last minute decision to go out for a late dinner on Valentine's. At least they served wine and munchies while we sat elbow to elbow with a few dozen strangers.

And while that was, in a way, very romantic, it's really hard to beat the Valentine's Day before our wedding.  Yes, there have been many good ones since, but that one, well. Let me tell you the story. There's a teeny bit of history here. 

Roses from Mr. O'Reilly many years later.
He's still romantic!

For many years my father was involved in Rotary and every year his club sold and delivered red roses. For $10, the businessman who forgot all about the day could have one dozen long stemmed red roses delivered anywhere in the city. Being the driving offspring of one Rotarian, there were a few years I got to do the delivering for him. Then there was the year I was working elsewhere and couldn't take the day to do the running. I was at my desk, working high above of busy warehouse when my sweetie arrived with a dozen red roses. He didn't say a word, just handed them to me, turned around and left. 

Curious, I went out on the balcony over looking the warehouse and watched as he walked across it to the other office and out the door. A few minutes later he came back carrying two dozen red roses. And the girls on the other side all crowded up against the window to see where he was going. He climbed the stairs, handed me the roses, turned around and went back the way he came.

Three trips, and a large bucket later, I had in my tiny office, six dozen roses. He made one more trip and came back with the seventh, and final bundle of flowers. 

I was laughing and amazed and completely won over. Again. Somewhere deep in a dark box I have a picture of all those roses. I need to dig it out. Twenty plus years later, it's a good reminder of how things started out. A good benchmark for all we've been through and how much better things are today.

Have a special Valentine's memory? Planning something big this year? One commenter will win a copy of Jmo's book The Southern Werewolf Chronicles Book Two: Were the Moon Don't Shine, which is also up for Review of the Week at Long and Short Reviews. Commenters will also be included in the big drawing for the Nook Touch which will be loaded with books, such as Morgan's Til Death Undo Us, Book 1 of the Open Windows series. Things get really hopping here and the generosity bug could take a big bite outta us and we might find more stuff to give away.

The Morgans

PS: If you haven't met us before and are curious, and who isn't really, at the top of this page, on the right, is a list of pages associated with this blog. The list includes J. Morgan's books, Morgan Q. O'Reilly's books, and a some we did together. Ya know, just in case you want more stuff to read, and who doesn't! We love to read! So dig in and enjoy.

New Release: Courage to Live

...And Other News from The Morgan Diaries


Things are hopping at TMD this week. Jmo is on a roll with his great review for Were Love Blooms from Joyfully Reviewed. (See previous post) Super happy for you, Jmo!


The second book in MorganO's Open Windows series released yesterday and already has two reviews posted. (Refresher: Book 1 Til Death Undo Us, Book 2 Courage to Live).


To read the reviews in their entirety, click on the Blog Titles below.


The first review came from Romance Book Scene, who called it "... an emotionally gripping story ..."


L.T. Blue from Just Erotic Romance Reviews said, “I found Courage to Live to be an awesome book giving huge encouragement to anyone in an abusive relationship.”


Could things get any more awesome? Sure! 


Starting Friday, Feb 10, we at TMD are participating in a Valentine's Blog Hop with a bunch of Just Romance Me authors. This means lots and lots of fun, and books, and great prizes for the blog readers who comment.

Sign up here for a reminder!

The winner of the Nook Touch will get a copy of Til Death Undo Us and we may be persuaded to come up with some other awesome swag. You'll have to stop by and see.


Until Friday, Jmo and I will be deep in our individual writing caves. Looking forward to seeing you this coming weekend!

Joyfully Recommended

Joyfully Reviewed has named Were Love Blooms its February Recommended Read! I can't thank Joyfully Reviewed or Tanya enough for the honor. Thanks to you both!

Here's a taste but for the whole review click on the Joyfully Recommended icon at the top of the page.


'...Run, ok southern ladies don’t run; order it for your electronic reading device as soon as you can...

It just doesn't get better than that! And, if it does I'm not sure I can handle it. Floating in the clouds with bunny ears on as it is.