Dolly Sickles  |  Journalist, photographer, creative genius, marketing and PR maven, graphic artist

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Dolly Dozier | Children’s author

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Dolly Parton | Actress, and my pre-puberty nemesis

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Dolly the Sheep | a bad-a-a-ass clone

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Dolley Madison | First lady, who’s taste made her a major influence in helping Jefferson invent new standards of etiquette.

My question is about Guardian Angel, and hints can be found in the excerpt on my site.

The grand prize is a $100 gift certificate, but there are hundreds of prizes to be won. For more information on the celebration, check out The Romance Reviews anniversary celebration page. Good luck!

My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.

- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day with the one you love!

There, I said it. In all of my life, I know one other person who doesn’t eat cheese, and she’s one of my best friends. Perhaps it’s the weirdness that brought us together. Who knows. My two main sources of dairy-based calcium, though, are skim milk and yogurt. I try to have both each day, though I’m very particular about the yogurt. I can’t just put a spoonful of yogurt in my mouth … yuck!

So I like to make parfaits. And I think I’ve perfected them, from simple, healthy ingredients, to fresh seasonal fruit, to cost efficient efforts, I think I have crafted the perfect parfait.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 ounces vanilla yogurt (I like Vanilla Activia)
• 1 Tbsp granola (I make mine homemade; keep on reading for my EASY method)
• Fresh fruit (today we’re using about 9 fresh raspberries)

To make the granola:
I’ve tried several different recipes for homemade granola, but in the end have come to the conculsion that this basic method is the most tasty and holds up to being mixed in with the granola. The oatmeal plumps up after a minute or two and offers a satisfying texture (while helping to keep your cholesterol low), and the toasted almonds are so yummy.

Spread your plain quick oats onto a baking sheet no more than 1/4 inch (‘ish) thick. Add in a handful of plain sliced or slivered almonds. My typical ratio is for 1/2 cup of oats, I use about 1 Tbsp of almonds. I like it nutty.

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Easy assembly:

Spoon your yogurt into a bowl deep enough that you can use a spoon to mix it around. Shallow cereal bowls = fail. Sprinkle about 1 Tbsp of your cooled granola into the bowl and stir it in.

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Add your fresh fruit. When I use raspberries, I like to mash them with my spoon so they break apart and the sweet juice helps to flavor the parfait.

My very favorite fruit to add is white peaches during the summertime, but fresh blueberries are also divine!

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And Wa-la! The Perfect Parfait.

He focused on her beautiful face, unblinking, and bent to pull the pants off of his long, long legs. It was such a hushed, unexpectedly sexy moment. Sasha broke eye contact first, flushing with excitement. She looked at his legs and licked her lips. His breath caught in his chest at the sight of the small tip of her pink tongue. When it whooshed back out, he wobbled on his right ankle, but caught his balance and handed the pants over.

Guardian Angel
Evernight Publishing, October 2011
$4.99, digital book

Available at:

• Evernight Publishing
• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• All Romance
• Kobo
• Bookstrand
• 1 Place for Romance
• Smashwords
• Diesel

And I’ll see y’all at Lady Jane’s Salon RDU tonight!

From the fabulous Lady Jane’s Salon RDU Directors (Deb Marlowe, Claudia Dain, Ava Stone, and Tammy Falkner):

On January 25 at 7:00 pm, we are excited to be hosting three fabulous readers including Becky Moore, Marcia Colette and Catherine Gayle! For the first time we have an author flying in just to read with us, which is a thrill!

Sneak peeks at the books the authors will be reading from can be found on our website: www.ladyjanesrdu.blogspot.com/.

As always, we will be meeting at The Hibernian, which is located at 1144 Kildaire Farm Road in Cary, NC. Admission will be $5 or one gently used romance novel as we continue to support the Wake County Public Libraries and the Shout Against the Whisper Campaign fighting ovarian cancer.

Address, details and fun pictures from our past salons are on our website. We hope to see you there as we celebrate the Romance genre and the readers who love it!  We also encourage you to forward this email to all of your friends who might have an interest in joining you at Lady Jane’s Salon RDU.

“Let me grab my stuff and I’ll be ready to go. Won’t you come inside?”

He nodded, unable to think. Bending to put the pot on the stoop had brought him face-to-face with her fabulous legs. Yes, indeed, she was a runner. Her slim thighs and sleek musculature showcased both femininity and strength … the big chink in his normally impenetrable armor.

Guardian Angel
Evernight Publishing, October 2011
$4.99, digital book

Available at:

• Evernight Publishing
• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• All Romance
• Kobo
• Bookstrand
• 1 Place for Romance
• Smashwords
• Diesel