connecting the dots on the map

7/6/2021

Happy July to all my FRIENDS OF HALLIE newsletter subscribers!

How's your weather? I know that's a rather inane introductory, but now that my subscriber list is expanding, I'm realizing not everybody is soaked in humidity like yours truly.

Of course, my friends in Louisiana would scoff at my 77 degrees & 60% humidity. My thoughts are with y'all. Really. I bet y'all would like to be in Australia chilling with my friend Emma Lombard about now, huh? It's a nice fifty degrees in Brisbane today. Or how about Alaska? Even though it's the peak of summer there, the temps are rolling in at a nice 59 degrees.

Speaking of Alaska and Australia, I'd like to introduce you to a really neat person who lives in Alaska. Turns out she met a really neat person from Australia, and as fate would have it, their paths crossed with little ole' me in the state of Kentucky.

How, you ask? Why, PAINT ME FEARLESS, of course.

Meet..... Necee Lomelino, an in-house reviewer for relzreviewz.com.

Necee Lomelino

Necee, who has a Master's in Counseling Psychology, has lived in Alaska for over thirty years! She and her husband have two beautiful daughters, and when she's not reading and writing reviews, she enjoys sitting by her favorite river in the mountains and watching the amazing wildlife.

WHAT NECEE LOVES:
*Adventure, whether through reading or living it.
*The mystery behind why people do what they do.
*Her pets!

One of God's divine brushstrokes

In Her Own Words:

Rel and I met online through our love for books and supporting amazing authors. Her blog has been around for years, but due to how busy her work is with authors she asked if I’d be interested in joining as a reviewer with her blog a few years ago. We both love supporting authors with faith elements to their writing. We enjoy messages of hope in the midst of trials and love surpassing all.

What probably stands out the most in our friendship is our Aussie-Alaskan connection. While Rel has kangaroos in her front yard, I have moose in my backyard!

Moose in Alaska

Kangaroo in Australia

We’ve always thought how amazing it is that God connected us being so many miles away. We were able to make a trip to Australia and spent an amazing week with Rel and her family in 2019. It was a truly amazing trip. Our love of books, travel, family, food, and faith has made a lasting friendship.

We also wanted to thank Hallie for inviting us to be a part of her newsletter, I enjoyed reading her debut novel “Paint Me Fearless” and look forward to more. If you haven’t read her yet, you definitely need to check out her writing.

See NECEE'S TAKE on PAINT ME FEARLESS -----> here!

In other news, thanks to everyone who participated in last month's READERS PICK contest. I asked y'all to help me pick the name and breed of a special pooch in Book 3 of The Shady Gully Series. It was a lot of fun, and y'all are very clever and creative! I'll definitely be doing another READERS PICK in the near future.

Y'all made it tough to pick a winner. There were so many great suggestions!

Some of my favorites included Tressie's French bulldogs, dubbed Gumbeaux and Beignet. Gotta LOVE the nod to our own, Shady Gully, Louisiana ;)

I also received some super pug names (Lily May and Max) from Kayla and Jeanie, as well as a westie called Knightley from Rachel. Now I've seen photos of Knightley and he is quite the handsome gentleman :)

Golden retrievers and labs, of course, came in strong. And Buddy, an all around great doggie name from Ann, is classic. And let's not forget Bella, the prissy poodle suggested by the lovely Tana. I was also partial to a beagle named Daisy because beagles are so dang cute, and I used to have a Daisy of my own.

Jennifer's black and white-pawed mutt named Domino stole my heart as well. And Banjo was an AWESOME name via Cristie, who pictured a black and white shitzu and bichon mix. I googled that, BTW. ADORABLE!

Other great names included Jazz and Radar.
Thank you all for your outstanding suggestions. What a creative group!!

In the end though, there was one particular breed that really worked for the storyline. I'd never heard of a shiba inu, but once I saw the picture, and heard a few stories, I KNEW this was the little troublemaker set to make her debut in Book 3.

Thank you to Barbara on Instagram for your enlightening tales about this breed, and to Matt, who offered the name DUCHESS for this little rascal. Congratulations on your FREE Audio books of PAINT ME FEARLESS. I hope you're enjoying them, or that you gave them to someone with the invitation to join Desi and Robin in SHADY GULLY!

CONGRATS Readers Pick WINNERS!

I'd love to tell y'all who this feisty dog will belong to, but after you read Book 2, I bet you'll know.

Oh, did I say Book 2? That must have just slipped out. Probably because I have some Book 2 NEWS coming soon!

Stay tuned for that, and be sure to follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. And don't forget to join Shady Gully's Cozy Corner Chat group on Facebook!

If you want to help me spread the positive message in PAINT ME FEARLESS, please be sure to rate and review it on Amazon, and encourage your friends to read it, and share it with others.

Let's put Shady Gully on the map! Right there with Alaska & Australia!
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Here are a few pics of me as I spread the hopeful, positive message in Desi and Robin's journey.