romance

Stronger Than Before

| Melia Alexander

Welcome to Take-Me-Back Thursday!

Growing up, I wasn’t much of an athlete. I didn’t play ball or tennis, or do gymnastics. No, nothing like that. Not this girl! Nope. I was a bookworm, instead.

I lived and breathed books. I couldn’t wait to get done with school, with homework, with chores, just so I could lose myself in a story. (I’m sure my readers and author friends are uber surprised! LOL.) The idea of dressing in workout gear and getting sweaty ON PURPOSE was insane to me, and I carried this notion well into adulthood…

But look at me now!

2015-04-19-at-crossfit-intensify-img_5717-263x300Well, okay, so this photo’s a couple years old, and I can snatch way more now than what’s shown, but still… I was stronger then than I was before! The bestest part? I’m getting stronger every day.

Nowadays I can’t imagine life without physical movement, and I find that if I haven’t had a workout in a while, my body complains. Loudly. See, I’ve discovered that, for me, a CrossFit workout takes both mental and physical strength. And I certainly need to maintain both!

What about you? Have you tried building strength in a part of your life that you never thought you could? Please share!

Happy Almost-Friday,
Melia

All the Curves

| Melia Alexander

Ooooh! I loves me a good surprise! Which is why roads that curve intrigue me. Think about it. Anything could be on the other side of the bend. A trailhead…a roadside fruit stand…even a boat ramp where I could pull off and sit by the river for a while. How fun is that?

It recently occurred to me that life works the same way. I mean, here we are, motoring along, enjoying the scenery when life curves, leaving us no choice but to follow it if we’re to stay on our life path. And if we look around when we do that, we can come across some super cool surprises! Maybe we let go of old friends and pick up new ones. Or end up in our dream job! Maybe we even discover who we really are because the road turned when we least expected it. And then we decide we like ourselves even more!

I suppose it isn’t a surprise, then, that when I look at the following pic I see something deliciously optimistic ahead…

_dsc0125What about you? What do you see? Please share in the comments below!

Happy Travels,
Melia

In with the New

| Melia Alexander

See ya, 2016…And hello, 2017! 20170101_003622

Raising my glass to you, and sending best wishes for champagne and chocolate kisses, copious amounts of laughter and love, and joy that spills out of your heart!

Oh, and for those of you with 2017 goals, attack them like the bad ass you are (or at least wannabe?)! 😀 After all, we’ve got one shot at making 2017 awesome, so let’s do this!

Smooches,
Melia

The Virgin Moments Continue

| Melia Alexander

I’m pretty well convinced that this is the year of virgin moments for me. It’s kinda like waking up after a long, long, LONG nap and finding all these cool things that I’ve yet to experience. Like paddle boarding on the Deschutes River.

IMG_7039I wasn’t sure at first. After all, that water was COLD! And the thought of slipping off the paddle board…well, let’s just say I wasn’t looking forward to getting my hair wet.  🙂 But once I got myself on it, I was hooked!

There’s something so freakin’ cool about gliding along on the water with few peeps around. Makes for a very contemplative time, time I used thinking about the characters in the book I’m working on now. I thought about how to take two broken people, make them whole so they can come together and create something bigger than each of them. Pretty heavy stuff, huh?

Well, whatever it is that feeds La Muse, I’m all for it! Unless it involves jumping out of a perfectly good airplane…I gotta draw the line somewhere!

I know there are more adventures to come, and I’m looking forward to sharing them with you, so thanks bunches for hanging with me!

What activity do you participate in that makes you contemplative?

Happy Travel Bug Tuesday…

~Melia

Like a River

| Melia Alexander

20160608_112233Happy Photo Friday!

Just like the beauty of a fast-moving river, release week has flowed so quickly! And what a wonderfully crazy fun time this has been!

Now that DRIVEN TO TEMPTATION is out in the world, it’s time to take a bit of a breath and absorb it all. I’m so grateful to readers who’d taken the time to celebrate with me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You all rock!

There’s more partying to be had, so stick around, ‘kay?

Have a gorgeous weekend!

~Melia

 

 

Welcome to the World, Aidan and Delaney!

| Melia Alexander

Happy book birthday to Aidan and Delaney, the hero and heroine of my new romantic comedy, Driven to Temptation!

Here’s the book blurb:

Aidan Ross might be an engineering genius, but people skills? Not this soldier’s forte. Thankfully, a trusted friend is accompanying him to a make-or-break tradeshow…but then a bubbly redhead hops into his truck, claiming to be his newDrivenToTemptation_1600road trip buddy. She’s a gorgeous distraction he can’t afford. Or ignore.

Delaney Harper comes from a family of engineers—male engineers. With several impressive projects under her belt, she’s on a mission to prove she can hang with the big boys, too. But cracking the sexy, closed-off CEO is tougher than she expects…and hotter than she could have imagined.

With the tempting woman disrupting his carefully planned schedule, Aidan can’t focus on the road, much less their upcoming presentation. The future of his company is riding on this trip, and if they’re to land a huge account, he has to keep his head—and his heart—in the game…

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go back to squeeing from the rooftop…

Happy reading,
Melia

In the Beginning, There was a Merger…

| Melia Alexander

Welcome to Take-Me-Back Thursday!

In light of all that’s going on in my life, I couldn’t help but look back at my debut novel, Merger of the Heart. It’s been an only child since coming into the world in 2014.

MergerOfTheHeart_recover_1600(1)But guess what?! This Monday, June 13th, Driven to Temptation will hit the virtual shelves to keep it company!

DrivenToTemptation_1600So, yeah, I’m pretty happy with life these days! 🙂

What wonderfully fantastic things are going on in your world?

Happy Reading,
Melia

Authors Who Brunch

| Melia Alexander

Last weekend, I met with some author-pals for brunch at Sanborns. What a pleasure it was to get together, especially when there were a couple I hadn’t laid eyes on in over two years. Two. Years. How the *BLEEP* did that happen?

Authors Kristina McMorris, Terri Patrick, Terri Reed, Melia Alexander, Jenna Bayley-Burke, and Maggie Lynch
Authors Kristina McMorris, Terri Patrick, Terri Reed, Melia Alexander, Jenna Bayley-Burke, and Maggie Lynch

We talked publishing — yeah…wowza…

We talked writing — HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Kristina McMorris for making the New York Times bestseller list!

And we talked about the ahmazing food at Sanborns. Like, seriously great food! Being on Day 27 of Whole30, I could only stare enviously at Terri Reed’s Bo-Bam, a German pancake filled with bacon, apple and maple syrup, and sauteed with a shot of bourbon. On my other side was Jenna Bayley-Burke and the Eggs Benedict she’d ordered. Smothered in lots and lots and LOTS of mouth-watering Hollandaise sauce.

I’d say the experience was total torture, except I had a plate of scrambled eggs with spinach and sundried tomatoes. Soooo good!

Guess this means I’ll just have to make it back there…Damn!

Have you been to a new-to-you restaurant that you fell instantly in love with? Tell us how it happened for you!

Happy Food and Wine Wednesday,
Melia