News is in from Long Beach, California where my mom, Maggi, has just finished reading the manuscript of Heart of Glass, my upcoming inspirational historical romance release from Zondervan.

Mom’s quote: “This is great! All three books in the Irish Angels series should be Lifetime movies.”

Well, I guess all mothers are supposed to say that they like the stuff their kids produce, but my mom (who has declared herself to be a “Sage”) would tell me if she didn’t like it. Wouldn’t you, Mom?

So Heart of Glass (March 2012) is now available for pre-order on line at Amazon and other online booksellers, or you can order one from your local bookseller… if you are still lucky enough to have a bookstore near you. If you are, do support them.

Here is a photo of the Sage herself.

Mom Knows Best

Until next time, take care!
Jill Marie

Available in March 2012

Hi Readers,
It seems with so many ways to communicate now, especially with authors becoming so accessible on facebook and twitter, blogs have taken a back seat lately. I was feeling guilty until I visited the websites of my writer friends and found they are blogging less but tweeting and facebooking more. So I’m not feeling as guilty for neglecting my blogs.

Last night I finished proof reading Heart of Glass, the 3rd book in the Irish Angels Series I’ve written for Zondervan and I have to say that even though I’ve read it about eleven times now, I still love the plot and the characters. The theme is sort of Beauty and the Beast, the heroine returns to Louisiana to salvage the run down plantation home of her dearest friends and finds the hero (a man she has loved since she was a teen) a bitter, angry, recluse who is holed up inside. Is her hope for the future during the worst of times enough to save him?

The book will be out in March and it’s available for pre-order now.

I hope you’re going to enjoy reading this one as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Until next time…aloha!
Jill Marie

Aloha All,
What a crazy ride it’s been for the past couple of weeks!

Mai Tai One On was chosen for a special 99c promotion on Amazon’s Kindle and thanks to my friends and fellow authors, my family and everyone who craves the island lifestyle or dreams of a trip to Hawaii…Mai Tai One On has soared up the charts! As I write this entry the book is #15 in the Kindle Store, #1 in Women’s Sleuth Mysteries and #11 in Fiction and Literature. Am I stoked?? You bet!

Mai Tai Book Cover

Not only that but Zondervan has been offering Heart of Stone for 99c again so I now have two books at the top of the lists. Am I thrilled? Yes! Do I mind that the books have been sold for 99c? Funny but I have been asked that a lot lately and my answer is no. I’m happy the books are finding readers who will pass the word and from what I’m hearing they’re looking forward to Book 2 in the Tiki Goddess Mystery Series. So guess what? I’d better get back to work on Two to Mango!

Life is always full of surprises and this past couple of weeks has been full of them. Thank you all for your support. As always I love hearing from all of you whenever you have a chance to connect here or on facebook at Jill Marie Landis or Jill Marie Landis Author.

Until Next Time,
Aloha

Cover of Mai Tai One On

Aloha All,
Time has flown by as I spent the spring promoting Heart of Lies, finishing up Heart of Glass (Book 3 of the Irish Angels series) editing that and Mai Tai One On, Book 1 of the Tiki Goddess Mystery Series.

In May I went to Honolulu to appear at the Honolulu Book and Music Festival and Steve went along too. We celebrated our 40th Anniversary.

Maui was the destination for my hula halau. My hula sisters and I went to dance at a wonderful party and had a great time at a memorable house on a cove on the far west end of Maui.

Then I traveled to Long Beach to see family and welcome my new great niece to the fold. And during that trip I flew off to New York City where I attended the Romance Writers of America Conference with all my old writing buddies and roommate Kristin Hannah. We had a great time. One of the highlights was seeing Wicked on Broadway.

Mai Tai One On…or MTOO as the publisher likes to call it came online today in ebook formats. I’m so excited. There are some great promotions going on for the book so you’ll just have to check around the internet and see what’s up.

To learn all about Mai Tai One On and my life as a Tiki Goddess here on Kauai (the setting for the book) go to www.thetikigoddess.com

Until next time,
Jill Marie

Aloha All,

The daughter of one of my hula sisters tried the Buttermilk Pie recipe sent in by Susan S. of South Carolina.
Here’s what Terri G. wrote:

Hi Jill -
I just had to send you a picture of the pie! I put meringue on top of mine. It was the first time I had ever made it and it actually turned out! The pie is really good, although I would probably put less sugar in it when I make it again. Came out really sweet. Good though!!

And she sent a photo!

Thanks Terri!
I hope to make one myself soon.
Until next time,
Jill

Buttermilk Pie

Aloha All,

A working writer used to spend her time alone at a desk with very few occasions outside of book signings or speaking engagements to actually connect with readers. With the internet and facebook and websites that has all changed. We can now get to know our readers on a personal level (as personal as the web can be), exchange greetings and share news.

I was recently contacted by a reader from South Carolina named Susan who loved HEART OF LIES, my latest. She made my day (actually she made two of my days!) posting complements as she read on. Then she mentioned that she had to “go make a buttermilk pie.”

If there’s one thing I love it’s pie! I always request pumpkin pie and not cake for my birthday. So I asked Susan if she’d share her buttermilk pie recipe with all of us and she has! She says, “It’s an old timey Southern favorite.”

Buttermilk Pie
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell (I use Pillsbury in the dairy case.)
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cups melted butter (better with real butter)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place beaten eggs in a medium bowl. Gradually beat in sugar. Stir in melted butter, salt, flour, buttermilk and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Pour mixture into unbaked pie shell.
Bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 and bake an additional 10 minutes. Pie is done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (If you like, you may add a 1/4 tsp.nutmeg, but I think it’s great the way it is.)

Two pumpkin and a mincemeat pie I made for Thanksgiving.

I can’t wait to try it!
Let me know how you like it.
Until next time,
Jill Marie

Aloha All,
A couple of weeks ago I was on Maui with my hula sisters and our teacher. We went to dance at her cousin’s 70th birthday party which she threw for herself. That’s my kind of gal. Why wait? Celebrate!

We all flew over on various flights and my contingent took a cooler full of “poi” which is a runny starchy food that’s purple. Some folks say it tastes like paste which makes me wonder when they eat paste. Poi is made from a root called “taro” or kalo, depending on where you are from–Tahiti or Hawaii. Around here we call it taro even though this isn’t Tahiti.

Taro grows in water like rice paddies and our Hanalei Valley is famous for growing a whole lot of taro. Anyway the party girl requested we bring it. 50 pounds of it in plastic bags and tubs. It felt more like 100 pounds packed in the cooler. It cost an extra $45 to get the cooler on the plane.

Oh and did I mention we had frozen spaghetti sauce in jars in there too?

I’m thinking of writing a mystery called “Poi and Spaghetti”. The poi and spaghetti could be replaced by a body and it’s not discovered until the cooler is opened on the other end of the flight.

Anyway a big storm came and it rained all weekend. Maui is famous for sun and we have lots of rain so we were kind of bummed but it seemed normal to us. We did our dances in a garage and it was surprising we all managed to fit as there are quite a few of us. It was also surprising we were not thrown out on our little pink ears as the crowd was all “local” and we obviously are not but our hearts are in the right place.

As we left they handed our teacher a paper bag of whole, frozen fish. The frozen school of fish replaced the poi in the cooler and back we toddled to Kauai. There were so many laughs we were exhausted by the end of the trip but a good time was had by all.

The view from my lanai.

I guess this is my way of excusing the fact that I’m not a consistent blogger. There’s just too much life to live away from the computer, too many lovely days to savor and I’m determined to stop and enjoy every minute of it.

On the book front, I’m happy as punch that HEART OF LIES has been so well received and is finding new readers and pleasing fans. This e-book world that is opening up is exciting to watch. When my publisher Zondervan offered HEART OF STONE as a free download for a limited time, sales of HEART OF LIES soared too.
Now everyone’s asking about HEART OF GLASS which won’t be out until next year but I think it’s worth the wait. It’s my favorite of the three books in the Irish Angels series right now. I hope you’ll find the time to dig into the series.

Well, duties call. It’s time to plot out another book…just as soon as I practice a bit of hula.

Until next time,
Jill Marie

Aloha All,
Asked my mom to help me out with this blog this week. I didn’t know if people could leave their comments as this was a new feature. So Mom figured it out and now I have three comments on the last post. This is much more fun than just writing a post and not being able to connect with you.

We have had a very busy week this week. I’ve been promoting HEART OF LIES and editing a new book that will be out in July. It’s something a bit different for me. I call it a caper…it’s a funny mystery set on Kauai.

Hope you have a lovely weekend. We plan to spend it with friends tonight, then I’ll have hula tomorrow and Steve, my hubby, will have a canoe race.

What’s your favorite way to spend the weekends?

Until next time,
Jill

Hi Again,
I’ve been having fun navigating facebook and the internet this week since HEART OF LIES has hit the stands and HEART OF STONE has been featured as a free download wherever e-books are sold. I have to confess I don’t read books on an e-reader. Yes, I still like paper and since I’m on a computer all day long I just want to hold a book.

I’m happy there are lots of e-reading fans out there because they were really downloading HEART OF STONE free this past week and picking up HEART OF LIES too!

Many thanks to all!

By the way, I’ve just figured out how to leave comments on this blog…you will need to click on the words:
no comment

then you’ll get a box on the screen. Fill in your name, you email address and the URL to this website….
www.jillmarielandis.com

View from My Lanai

That should do it.
I’d love to hear from you.
Do you prefer books or e-books?

Until next time,
Aloha,
Jill Marie

Aloha All,
Bummer. The Borders on Kauai is scheduled to be one of the stores they are closing. Unfortunately it’s the only “all new” books for sale store on Kauai. I’ve held so many events there in the past and the staff is always gracious and goes above and beyond for all of us authors and musicians on Kauai and in Hawaii. I hope they change their minds. Are you losing a Borders near you? Do you buy books on-line, as ebooks, or do you have a local bookstore?

If you do download ebooks, HEART OF STONE is still on Amazon as a FREE download for a limited time. Book 1 of the Irish Angels Series, HEART OF STONE will have you craving for HEART OF LIES which came out this week.

Until next time,
Jill Marie