Summertime & Living Easy

You know the song, Summertime?

Ah, yes, when the living is easy.

The lyrics of that old standard, usually sung by someone with an awesome set of pipes, always remind me of the summertime I lived as a child.

True Words

Fish jumped. Weekends were spent on the river bank with a cane pole or sometimes crabbing with a piece of fat meat tied to a string.

The cotton was high. Yes, cotton was the main agricultural crop in our parish, indeed in most of the parishes in the northern part of Louisiana. Rice and sugar cane were the ones in the southern part of the state.

The heat was a palpable thing because no one had air conditioning back then. We had big attic fans that drew in the cool night air. They didn't do much good in the day time, but we didn't care. We were kids who spent every hour, except for meal times, outside from dawn to dark, and sometimes beyond.

The bluesy melody of that song plays in the background as I write this, and it makes me think about all the things I loved about those long ago summers when the living did seem easy.

Lightning in the Night Sky

Since we had no air conditioning, summer evenings were spent on the porch and out in the yard.

We kids chased lightning bugs, or fireflies if that’s how you know those little insects that could make a Mason jar glow like a lantern if you caught enough of them.

If it wasn’t quite dark yet, most of us played baseball. We never seemed to tire of baseball.

When we finally collapsed into a porch swing or sitting on the steps, it wasn't unusual to see lightning off in the distance. We never heard any thunder though. I remember learning that was called Heat Lightning. Somehow those two words fired my imagination.

A few years ago, I wrote a romantic suspense with some of my favorite tropes: attempted murder, amnesia, Texas, and passion.

I knew the title I wanted for this story of a woman with lost memories and secrets she didn't know she held. Heat Lightning.

Heat Lightning became Book 1 of Outlaw Ridge, Texas. (Book 2 is Dead Heat.)

I'm currently writing Heat Kills, Book 3 of the series.

(Cover art reveal on July 20!)

So I had to get reacquainted with Tessa and David Galloway who "starred" in Book 1. I knew readers would want to know how they were doing now that we're in Book 3.

Here's a short blurb about Heat Lightning, which is a Kindle Unlimited free read or only $2.99 if you love it and want to buy it and keep it forever.
 
What Tessa doesn't remember may just be the death of her!

Her husband found her, claimed her, rescued her. David’s touch makes Tessa throb.

Desire flashes between them like heat lightning on a summer night.

Her body knows David, but when she looks at him, he is a stranger to her. Not a flicker of memory is left of him or their life together since she awakened from a coma.

Amnesia has left her with nothing but questions.

Who is she? Why does David seem to hate her even as he pulls her into his arms?

What is he hiding? How can she trust him when her gut says, Trust no one?

As her love for David grows, so does her feeling of foreboding--as if someone or some thing terrible is watching and waiting.

Takeaway Truth

I hope your summertime is full of good books, good times, and easy living!