Stephanie Queen

USA Today Bestselling Author

A Special Valentine Romance Treat: Author Jennifer Lowry

By

Hi Stephanie Queen and all you fabulous readers out there *waves* Happy Valentine Day! Thank you so much for having me on this special holiday! My romantic suspense, Maximum Risk (Book #1, Wolff Securities) is on sale for .99 for a limited time only so I hope you’ll go pick up your copy now! You can buy it HERE on Amazon.

As a special treat, Quinn and Avery have agreed to do a character interview for you today! Yes, it took some doing,  considering it’s Valentine Day, but I managed to get them to answer a few questions for me. So, without further ado, here are the hero and heroine of Maximum Risk, Quinn Wolff and Avery Marks!

 

How did you first meet your writer?

Quinn: When she decided to pull me on a rescue mission in the Middle East.

Avery: I was the rescue mission.

Did you ever think that your life would end up being in a book?

Quinn: Hell, no. I run a private security firm, our business shouldn’t be in a book.

Avery: I’ve been written about in brochures and magazines with my charity work, but never a book.

Did you have a hard time convincing your author to write any particular scenes for you?

Quinn: More like she convinced us. I’m still not happy with what you did, Jennifer.

Jennifer: I know, and I’m sorry, but I had to go where the story took me.

Avery: *sadly* I don’t like that part of the story. Let’s just move on.                                                

Are you happy with the genre your writer has placed you in?

Avery: That’s a loaded question. Romantic Suspense is great and all, but it means hell for Jen’s characters. I like the romance, not so much the suspense. Too nerve-wracking.

Quinn: I prefer to keep my wife out of the suspense part.

If you could rewrite anything in your book, what would it be?

Jennifer: I can’t let them answer that because it will give away the book. They don’t like to talk about it anyway.

*Quinn and Avery nod in unison*

Do you like the way the book ended?

Avery: Despite what we had to go through to get there, yes. *laces her fingers through Quinn’s*

What do you do for a living?

Avery: You already know Quinn runs a private sector security firm. I’m founder of Books for Change. A non-profit organization that helps teach women and girls to read in deprived areas of the world.

What are you proudest of?

Quinn: My family.

*Avery nods, squeezing his hand*              

What do you like most about where you live?

Avery: Quinn’s family lives on a private lake in Michigan. It’s the most peaceful place I’ve ever been. I love it there. Although it took some time to get used to not having the city outside my window.

What’s your favorite thing to do on a rainy Sunday?

Quinn smiles: Mom cooks a big family dinner and afterwards we play our traditional football game.

Avery: Translated into five alpha male brothers kicking the crap out of each other *she smiles*

If you knew a zombie apocalypse was coming in one week, what would you do?

Avery: I have the Wolff brothers surrounding me. I would have no worries. Not that I believe in zombies.

I hope you enjoyed talking with Quinn and Avery! Thank you for stopping by!

Author Bio:

New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Jennifer Lowery is a romantic at heart. She believes that happily ever after is only the beginning of her stories. And the road to that happy ending is paved with action, adventure, and romance.

She debuted her first book in 2012 which made her dreams of being a writer come true, followed with her SEAL Team Alpha series and loves her job as much today as she did then. She is delighted to bring you stories from the heart and hopes you enjoy them as much as she did writing them.

 

Connect with Jennifer:

Read more about her books on her website: https://jenniferloweryauthor.com/

Join her on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jenniferlowery/

And on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JLoweryauthor

Please “like” her Facebook author page! https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJenniferLowery/

 

Love my books? Want to receive news, releases, giveaways, and more directly to your inbox? No spam, just the info you want to know!

Sign up with your email today and don’t miss out on news from me!

https://jenniferloweryauthor.com

 

Thank you for having me today, Stephanie Queen!! I just want to send out a big THANK YOU to all my readers out there! Without you I wouldn’t be here. My wish is to one day meet each and every one of you so I can personally thank you for your generosity and support! 
All my best, 
Jennifer

SQ’s Delectable Holiday Tradition: A New Year Recipe!

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christmas-partiesTo celebrate the New Year I have a wonderful, mouth-watering holiday tradition that I’m going to share with you. It’s a decadently delectable way to ring in 2017, but first some background…

Every year I make my Stephanie Queen’s Royal Munch Mix. Beginning at Thanksgiving time and spreading, gaining steam and intensity through to New Years Day, the house fills with an irresistible aroma. Pans, mixing bowls, measuring spoons, empty boxes and bottles of spice cover the counters.

On Thanksgiving day I serve the special treat for the first time. Then at every holiday get-together thereafter, whenever I host or wherever I go to celebrate the holiday season I bring it with me to expectant open arms and mouths.

At Christmas, I box it up fancy and give it to my favorite people who love it most and to chex-mixes-in-boxesthose who already have everything money can buy. On New Year’s Day as all my favorite people relax and contemplate the future, they savor the last bits to fortify themselves for the year ahead.

As traditions are wont to do, I’ve created an expectation. I MUST come through every year without fail or disappoint. Feeling like Santa Clause-ette, I now must bring my bowls and boxes of Royal Munch Mix to eagerly waiting eaters of holiday treats.

But part of the specialness of this tradition comes from the absence of this treat all year long. It can’t be helped. There is a cost to the enjoyment of this rich holiday mix and continued indulgence would take a toll.

So I must post this WARNING: It’s a decadent treat that would likely cause premature heart failure if consumed on a regular basis since one of the main ingredients is BUTTER, and SALT follows closely behind.

Like many rare, forbidden pleasures …

mix-in-a-bowlIf you could smell this tantalizing treat, you would love me. If you could taste it, you would be my slave forever.

For any of you out there in Authors Billboard Blog-land who would do anything to create a following of love-slaves, I have the perfect recipe for you. Eyes will light up even as hearts pound on with determination and pleasure (in spite of the butter-induced challenge), once they take one taste.

As long as you swear to prepare this dangerously delicious treat only once a year, I’ll share my recipe with you.

The Crunch:

  • 1.5 lbs mixed nuts
  • 1 Large box Cheerios
  • 1 16 oz bag of pretzel sticks
  • 1 large box Wheat Chex
  • 1 large box Corn Chex

The Secret Sauce:

  • 1.5 lbs BUTTER
  • ½ bottle of Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1.5 Tblsp Celery Salt
  • 2.5 Tblsp Garlic Powder

The Fix:  

Preheat oven to 250 degreesfamous-party-mix-pan

  • In a VERY LARGE deep sided baking or roasting pan (I use foil turkey roasters or extra large foil lasagna pans) mix the crunchy ingredients.
  • Melt butter in the microwave in a large glass bowl. Mix in the remaining secret sauce ingredients and stir well. Reheat if needed.
  • Pour secret sauce onto crunchy mix a little at a time, mixing well.
  • Bake at 250 degrees for 2.5 hours, stirring/mixing every 20 minutes.
  • Remove from oven and let cool. Dish it up or store in plastic containers or bags.
  • Serves: A whole lot of people!

Happy New Year!

 

SQ’s Preposterous Black Friday Shopping Quest

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black-friday-specialsSo there I was with my annoying cranky old benevolent and faithful chauffeur, at 6:08 am ready to get into the car and take off on our misshapen exciting shopping adventure. It was Black Friday and we were armed ready with a big heavy bag full of money ready to shove people out of the way with buy all kinds of treats for the local church holiday party for area foster children.

There were many, many problems was only one problem: We were late. The doors to my favorite discount junk store were opened at 6am and I feared we were missing the best bargains.

I flung the door open after waiting for Myren, my Scroogey unreliable wonderful chauffeur to open it to no avail because he was too busy drinking his coffee and looking for the keys because he was too old not used to getting up this early. I wasn’t used to getting up this early either. But I solved that problem by not going to bed at all.

That’s right—I’d been up all night on the super-caffeinated high of triple extra-shot dark French roast espresso with double sugar. I kept busy making my list and checking it twice, three, four, five times, crossing things out and adding them and scribbling something totally unreadable until I had no idea what was on it.shopper

Now I was ready go crash the store and wing it.

Myren finally found the keys and got the car started and I shouted, “On Dasher!”

He didn’t respond by stomping on the gas and screeching the tires as I had imagined. Instead he glanced at me in the rear view mirror with a look that said something unpleasant I figured meant his coffee hadn’t kicked in yet. Maybe he forgot to put the shot of whiskey espresso in it.

I’d like to say Myren made up for his slow start with a quick tire-screeching stop, but my newly acquired whiplash prevents me.

And what to my wondering eyes did appear, but a big glass door with no line of shoppers blocking my entry. So I dashed inside and hoped felt confident that Myren was right behind me. His mission was to lift and haul the massive loads of crazy stuff beautiful thoughtful gifts that I purchased.

Shopping

Seriously, I was in the zone. I didn’t even notice all the other shoppers around me as I zeroed in on my prey the most wonderful bargains. I shopped and shopped and filled carriage after carriage feeling more and more like Santa in my frenzy to find every possible gift a child of any shape and size might even dream of in their wildest imagination. At the end of my exhausting marathon of mad shopping, with my big bag of cash lightened to the point of emptiness, I barely made it back to the car where Myren helped dragged me inside an I collapsed across the seat, catching my breath and wiping my brow.

giftsI don’t know if it was the post-caffeine frenzy crash or the satisfaction of a shopping spree well done or the fact that I plugged my ears to tune out Myren’s lecture on over-spending and materialism, but I lapsed into a deep, much-needed sleep.

I suppose it could have been because I hadn’t slept the night before.

Whatever it was, however it happened, later that night I found myself in bed and happy with the post-successful-bargain-shopping-spree high, doubly pleased because I’ d competed with the Black Friday crowd and won. It didn’t get any better than that.

At least not until witnessing the delight in all the kids eyes when they saw the mountain of gifts under the local church tree and they opened their presents. And then the extra light in their eyes when they realized someone was generous and giving and cared about them as Myren Santa said his “Ho, ho, ho Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night.”

The Top 5 Reasons I Start the Holidays Early

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2015-christmastreeI’m on board the holiday train. I’ve been on board since Halloween. I admit it. I love the holidays. I’ve been looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas ever since the first leaf of the fall fell. Luckily Thanksgiving falls early this year so I won’t feel like a holiday misfit for long.

But in my defense, it’s not all about buying presents and eating too much food.

Why do I do it you ask?

Here are the Top 5 Reasons Why I Start the Holidays Early:turkey

  1. I own stock in Macy’s. I love to shop! In person at the actual stores. None of that online stuff for me. Give me the hustle and bustle of shoving through crowds in a frenzy of gift buying excitement to grab the last carcass of the year’s RARE species gift. (No, I’m not a hunter—why do you ask?)
  1. The sparkly decorations of silver and gold make me feel like I just sniffed glue dizzy with glee. (What do you mean you think I should see a doctor?)
  1. I love to eat the holiday treats! There are some delectable holiday treats that traditionally only come around once a year in my household. My friend’s special caramel and chocolate dipped pretzels, the spicy buttery crunch of Queen’s Royal Munch Mix … I could go on but my mouth is watering now. My body is programmed to speed up my metabolism this time of year so the calories don’t count burn off quicker. (It could be all the energy of my holiday frenzy burning up those calories.)
  1. Ilove the lights! They mesmerize cheer me up. All the decorative lights brighten up the otherwise dark dull late fall skies. I have holiday lights up around the windows in my living room all year long. After the holidays when I finally had to drag the almost pine needle-free tree outside, I couldn’t bear to take the lights down. So I didn’t. (No, I don’t need to talk to someone about this.)
  1. I love the gatherings of family and friends. Everyone seems to come together at the holidays to catch up and give hugs and enjoy the company of those we love but don’t always see. We also get together and party with the people we see all the time only we drink eggnog and champagne instead of beer and wine.

Seriously, this is the best part for me—and for many of you too. I start early so I can host more gatherings, cook more food and make my home as festive and beautiful as possible to welcome all who join me.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

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