Music Monday Revisited (August 24, 2015)

I know I said I was only going to post Music Monday posts every other week, but I’ve been missing them. 🙂 So, I’m breaking that rule for this week and revisiting a post from five years ago.

On August 18, 2015, I published my fourth book. That book was Listen to Your Heart, which happens to be on sale at present. I thought it might be fun to look back at the Music Monday post from when that book was published. So, here it is below (with a little bit of an excerpt tacked on under the video, which is where the original post ended).


A friend had this video posted on Facebook last week (back in Aug 2015), and I thought it was just so beautiful that I had to share it here.

I love this phrase in the song,

“People fall in love in mysterious ways,”

or as Mr. Darcy says it in Pride and Prejudice,

“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”

which also made me think of Anne in Listen to Your Heart 

Continue reading Music Monday Revisited (August 24, 2015)

Music Monday: To Love Again (Joe Yamada)

PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY JOE YAMADA MUSIC ON FEBRUARY 7, 2020

I picked this pretty piano piece from my Music to Write by playlist today because it has the right tone and title to match with the book I have releasing tomorrow. In Her Convenient Forever, Felicity Love thinks she has lost her chance for love, and Boyd Hedrington thinks he cannot love again. While the story has some very somber notes, it also has moments of hope, joy, and rediscovery much like this song, To Love Again, does.

The excerpt from chapter 3 below hits one of those somber, sad notes in the story.


“Where shall we sit?” Mr. Hedrington asked Matthias, who looked at Felicity.

“I am going to sit on the sofa near the hearth,” she said.

Matthias smiled and nodded his head.

“Will three fit?” Mr. Hedrington said with a laugh.

“I should hope so,” Mr. Love said with a chuckle of his own. “My Felicity has always charmed the young gentlemen, but I was not aware that her abilities extended to such young gentlemen.”

He was teasing, and three months ago, Felicity would have rolled her eyes and giggled. However, at present, her cheeks flamed as she forced a small laugh.

“I am pleased to see Matthias wishing to sit with you,” Mr. Hedrington said softly as they sat down. “He has not found it easy to accept new acquaintances. I have had several neighbours call on us since our arrival, and aside from Mrs. Jones, he has not warmed to any of them.”

“Felicity is hard not to like,” Mr. Love said with a smile.

Again, while Felicity knew her father was praising her, she blushed and could not accept it. She had not been easy to like. In fact, she had been dreadfully difficult and even impossible to like for some people. One only needed to ask her sister, Grace, to discover the truth of it. There were many sins she had contemplated while looking at the stars when sleep would not come.

“Miss Love said you live a distance from here,” Mr. Hedrington said.

“Ah, yes, a little further than a day’s drive to the northeast into Kent,” Mr. Love said. “But we come here nearly every summer. There have been a few summers where we have not been able to make the journey due to other obligations, and we have missed our time here.”

“Is it always this cottage at which you stay?”

Mr. Love nodded. “We enjoyed it so much on our first trip that we have never considered any other place. Of course, our first time to the ocean was after our marriage. Mrs. Love had never seen the sea, and I could not resist being the first to show it to her.”

Felicity loved the way her father’s eyes grew soft when he looked at her mother and spoke of their wedding and first trip to this cottage. How many times had she asked him to tell her that story when she was young? It was likely why she had fallen so deeply in love with the idea of marriage. What girl would not wish to be so treasured as her father’s look said her mother was? Of course, as it turned out, Felicity had not gone about trying to find such a situation for herself in the right way, and now, she would never have someone to look at her in such a fashion.

“If you will excuse me,” she said before rising quickly and leaving the room, for she knew that those tears which had threatened before would not be refused this time.

[from Her Convenient Forever]


Find Her Convenient Forever in your Kindle store here.

*The link in the first paragraph is to the song on Spotify. This is not an affiliate link. It is just my way of attempting to help out the artists whose music I share.


Music Monday: Falling Leaves (Brian Crain)

Some days just need a little Brian Crain, and I decided that today is one of those days. 🙂

I selected this particular song* for a couple of reasons (besides the fact that I love it). First, while there are no falling leaves in this excerpt, the scene is happening when it is raining, and the music lends itself well to imagining rain falling in place of the leaves. Second, it’s October, and October means falling leaves around here. 🙂

So, Happy October to you! And enjoy the excerpt. 🙂


Bea made a show of concentrating on the flowers she was planting in the garden on her canvas, and said, “A house party will be exciting, I am sure.”

“Oh, indeed!” exclaimed Grace before beginning a litany of things that she just knew would happen at this party. This, in turn, led into another recital of many of the interesting bits of gossip from the season. This meandering stream of stories which were of great interest to the Misses Loves and of little interest to Beatrice continued until there was a soft tapping at the door and in walked Max, followed closely by Everett and Graeme.

A story about an unfortunate gentleman who had been rejected twice by the same lady ended abruptly and was replaced with excited exclamations of greeting and cries of how dreadfully dull the day had been without the gentleman for company.

“Did you miss me?” Graeme asked Bea. He had wandered away from the shrill voices of the Misses Loves and had found his way to the corner where Bea was working. “It is a fine representation,” he said, tilting his head to study her painting. “You are becoming quite proficient in landscapes, which means you will soon have to move on to other things such as handsome neighbours whom you missed.”

He had missed her. As he settled himself against the wall just behind her to her left, he had to admit how pleasant it was to be greeted by her smile. He had been restless all day, but here, he finally felt at ease.

Bea chuckled. “Did I miss you?”

“Oh, you did,” Graham replied with a smile. “I hear it was quite dull around here without me.” Beautiful blue eyes filled with amusement met his.

“Most dreadfully, but if you do not believe me, you may ask Grace.”

“There is no need for her to repeat it. I heard her quite well when we arrived,” he replied with a laugh.

[from His Beautiful Bea]


Click the image to find His Beautiful Bea in your Kindle store.

*The link in the first paragraph is to the song on Spotify. This is not an affiliate link. It is just my way of attempting to help out the artists whose music I share.


Music Monday: After All (Robin Spielberg)

PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY ROBIN SPIELBERG – TOPIC ON JUNE 23, 2015

This week’s choice from my Music to Write By playlist on Spotify, After All*, seemed well-titled to go with today’s short excerpt from The Tenant’s Guest.

In this excerpt, Darcy and Elizabeth have met to talk the day following their surprise reunion at Willow Hall.


“What do you wish?” Her heart drummed fast and heavy in her chest as she voiced the question.

He smiled sadly. “My wishes and desires remain as they were.”

Her cheeks reddened, and she had to look away as she asked, “And what if my wishes have changed?” She looked back at him briefly before looking away once again. “Is there any hope that we might ever be more?” She shook her head. “I know I do not deserve it, but might I have a second chance?” Nearly before she had finished speaking the words, she found herself wrapped in his embrace, and then just as quickly, she was standing on the path looking at his back.

“Forgive me. I should not have — ”

“I am uninjured, sir,” she interrupted.

“But I had no right — ” Her smile as he turned toward her snatched all thought from his head.

“I am uninjured, sir,” she repeated. “In fact, I find I am quite well — more well than I have been in months.”

[from The Tenant’s Guest]


Find all the places where you can download And Then Love here.

Find all the places where you can purchase The Tenant’s Guest here

Sales price of $0.99 is USD, CAD, AUD, NZD, EUR, GBP, all other currencies also reduced

*The link in the first paragraph is to the song on Spotify. This is not an affiliate link. It is just my way of attempting to help out the artists whose music I share.


Music Monday: Scarborough Fair (Taryn Harbridge)

PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY TARYN HARBRIDGE ON SEPT 29, 2019

Welcome back to Music Mondays. These posts will be no more frequent than every other week. They will, however, still feature a story connection. This week’s choice from my Music to Write By playlist on Spotify, Scarborough Fair*, seemed to have just the right sort of tone for the excerpt from the turning point from things going well in the story to things going very badly. Have you read this book? (It was once a Thursday’s Three Hundred story.)


Darcy jumped down from the carriage and lifted Elizabeth to the ground so that neither would have to wait for the steps to be put in place. If his sister were injured, he knew that he would not wish to wait for such a thing, and he assumed from the distraught look on Elizabeth’s face that she felt the same.

Elizabeth thanked him once again and then hurried toward Lydia, calling to her. Lydia jumped at her name, and Elizabeth thought for a moment she would run away. “Lydia,” she called again.

“Lizzy,” Lydia called back as she turned to meet Elizabeth.

The sisters met in an embrace with Lydia clinging tightly to Elizabeth and weeping. Darcy stood a short distance away. He neither wished to intrude on their privacy nor did he wish to be too far away if assistance was needed.

[from With the Colonel’s Help]


Click the image above to find all the places where you can get this book.

Sales price of $0.99 is USD, CAD, AUD, NZD, EUR, GBP, all other currencies also reduced

*The link in the first paragraph is to the song on Spotify. This is not an affiliate link. It is just my way of attempting to help out the artists whose music I share.