About Michelle Garren-Flye

I am an author of romance, poetry, children's books and graphic novels. I also own a bookstore. My love of the written word runs deep.

Thanks for everything…and join me again today!

Posted on July 17, 2012 by Michelle Garren-Flye

First off, a note of thanks to everyone who helped me promote Where the Heart Lies on its birthday yesterday. I found dozens of Tweets and loads of Facebook posts from friends and readers. Plus, several people read my book! I really, really appreciate that help in getting the momentum going. Thanks to you guys, check out the most popular book on Carina Press’s website:

Number one Most Popular Title on Carina Press!

That’s just too awesome for words! Thanks to all of you, to the reviewers who stirred up interest, to the Tweeters and Facebookers and Bloggers. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the momentum continues.

On to other business. Not only did my book come out in ebook format yesterday, I barely even mentioned the fabulous audiobook available at Audible.com. You can listen to a sample of it on Audible. It’s narrated by the fabulously talented Kate Udall, who, I swear, reads it with such expression, she actually sounds like the voice in my head when I wrote it. And she even looks like Alicia!

Finally, I’d like to invite all of you to join me again today. I’m blogging about the setting (Hillsborough, N.C.) of WHERE THE HEART LIES on the Carina Press blog this afternoon. I’ll be giving away a $10 Amazon e-gift card to one lucky commenter, so stop by and give me your opinion!

Guess whose name came out of the hat?

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Michelle Garren-Flye

My good friend Jennifer, who has been a lot of moral support for my career and was actually the very first person to enter this contest! Congrats, Jenn, and I’ll be in touch about your NOOK!

7 Minutes to the drawing for a new NOOK!

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Michelle Garren-Flye

Still time to enter! Blog or Tweet or Facebook or Pin about WHERE THE HEART LIES!

Celebrate with me: Still time to enter to win a NOOK!

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Michelle Garren-Flye

Where the Heart Lies on NOOK Simple Touch

Release day is going well. I have several entries for my NOOK Simple Touch giveaway, taking place at 5 p.m. today (or as close as I can make it), but there’s still time to enter. Just post about WHERE THE HEART LIES somewhere on the web: blog, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter. Then email me at michellegflye@gmail.com to let me know! I’ll throw your name in the hat for every bit of marketing you do for me. 🙂

A little trivia about WHERE THE HEART LIES: My inspiration for Alicia’s red hair and perfect figure came from my daughter’s Disney Arial doll!

And a tiny excerpt:

She looked amazing in a long black skirt and white silk blouse with her brassy red hair falling over her shoulders. For a moment he had trouble breathing. He’d considered bringing flowers, but he’d known what Penny’s opinion of that would be, and more importantly he hadn’t wanted to do anything that would make Alicia uncomfortable. Confronted by her beauty, however, his fingers felt empty, as if he needed something to offer just for the opportunity to look at her. Was this how Aphrodite’s worshippers had felt as they left their worldly goods at the feet of her statue in ancient Greece?

Where the Heart Lies on NOOK Simple Touch

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Where the Heart Lies on NOOK Simple Touch

Where the Heart Lies on Kindle for iPad

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Where the Heart Lies on Kindle for iPad

Happy release day! Win a Nook! And a great review!

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Michelle Garren-Flye

WHERE THE HEART LIES is live today! Which means you can start reading it right now. Click on one of the buy links at the top of the left column and go for it!

And what a great way to start the first day of my new book’s life. Another reviewer loved WHERE THE HEART LIES! My thanks to Smitten with Reading who gave WHERE THE HEART LIES an A rating and said this:

“Really a brilliant stroke of amazing and entertaining story telling.” —Smitten with Reading, A

What a great way to start the day. Don’t forget you can win a NOOK Simple Touch by helping me spread the word about my book. Tweet, blog, pin, facebook…and then send me an email for your entry. Each tweet, etc. is worth one entry into the NOOK drawing, but make sure I know about it! You can email me michellegflye@gmail.com.

Publication Day tomorrow! Win a NOOK!

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Michelle Garren-Flye

Tomorrow is the day I’ve been waiting for since I got the acceptance from Carina Press. I still remember the thrill of that acceptance, and every step of the process toward publication of WHERE OF THE HEART LIES has been nothing short of fantastic and enjoyable. Now the day looms…and I’m in the mood to give stuff away!

Tomorrow is all about this blog, right here. I’ll be celebrating all day with excerpts and trivia about WHERE THE HEART LIES. And at 5 p.m. eastern time I’m planning to give away a NOOK Simple Touch to one luck entrant. Want to enter? Mention WHERE THE HEART LIES in a Tweet, on Goodreads, your blog or a Facebook post tomorrow and email me at michellegflye@gmail.com. You can enter as many times as you like (two tweets gets you two entries, etc.). Friends and family of me are still eligible as you guys are my fan base. 🙂

Look forward to seeing you here tomorrow!

A new review and partying with The Romance Studio!

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Michelle Garren-Flye

Wow, I’m overwhelmed by the reviews. NOT that I’m complaining! Especially when they cheer my coffee like the one from Book Reviews and More by Kathy. Here’s a quote:

Where the Heart Lies by Michelle Garren Flye is a beautiful and heartwarming novel that is quite compelling. —Book Reviews and More by Kathy

Can’t get much better than that, right? How about this?

A lovely contemporary romance with a few unexpected twists and turns,Where the Heart Lies by Michelle Garren Flye is an engaging novel with charming and likable characters. –Book Reviews and More by Kathy

Awesome! Thank you so much, Kathy! I’m thrilled to hear you liked the book and feel you can recommend it.

The praise put me in the mood to party, so I headed on over to The Romance Studios to post about WHERE THE HEART LIES. You can check out me and lots of other folks here: The Romance Studio Release Party. BYOB, but streamers and confetti provided!

New Review from Ravishing Romances! But why doesn’t anybody like Penny?

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Michelle Garren-Flye

Yesterday I found another review, one of the best I’ve gotten yet. No, not best as in totally good, but best in the sense that the reviewer was so clear about what she did and didn’t like, I really felt like I could see how at least some readers might read my book. What I discovered kind of surprised me.

Nobody likes Penny.

Penny is the good friend of Alicia, the heroine of the book. She was a good friend of Alicia’s deceased husband Ty, and over the years she’s maintained a close relationship with Ty’s parents, Alicia’s in-laws. Unfortunately, Penny has a secret, and her secret affects Alicia. To keep her secret, she really doesn’t want Liam, Ty’s best friend from high school and the only other person who knows Penny’s secret, getting involved with Alicia. She knows he’ll want to be totally honest with her if he does, and Penny’s secret would come out.

So in a way, Penny is a bit of a villain.

However, she’s also loyal and very good to Alicia when she arrives in her new home. She’s a loving mother, a good wife, and scared of losing it all.

At least two reviewers have failed to see her that way, though, so I’m starting to think I failed in her respect.

At any rate, I was very impressed by my 3.5 star review from Ravishing Romances, and I’d like to thank Musing Sallie for the thoughtful read. She did like Alicia, Liam, Lulu and the in-laws, so I didn’t fail utterly. She even liked Sandra, a very minor character who starts out as a bit of a villain and ends up with more to her than you expect. I very much encourage you to check out Sallie’s other reviews, if you have any interest in romance. Here’s a bit of the positive stuff from her review of WHERE THE HEART LIES: