A Jersey Girl Donates for Sandy Relief with Stories

Hi y'all! I'm on the Southern Magic chapter's informative and fun Romance Magicians blog today sharing a sneak peek of my next story, The Djinn in the Mirror. Discussions like this blog marathon lead to ideas colliding and connecting, branching out and spinning off into new ideas. Creativity engenders and inspires more creativity. So come visit!

But, I also have a treat for you here today. Author Amanda Brice, a Jersey girl, is donating 100% of her royalties from the sale or Kindle Prime borrows of her new release, Short & Sweet: Four Fun & Flirty Tales, to the Red Cross to assist with Sandy recovery efforts. Woot! 

Here's Amanda....

Like other Jersey Girls, I have fond childhood memories of trips down the shore. (Yes, we really do call it that.) We savored fast-melting ice cream cones while strolling past the arcade games on the boardwalk, before scarfing down slices of hot pizza with bubbly, gooey cheese. (For the record, it’s not true pizza unless it’s hand-tossed by a guy in a white t-shirt with a gold chain, probably named Mario, Frankie, or Tony. Sorry Chicago, but I firmly believe this to be true.)

The devastation in my home state has made the news. Everyone has seen the before-and-after photos of the places where the hard-partying Jersey Shore crowd used to hang out…now gone. But while the destruction of the real Jersey Shore (not the reality show) is sad, what truly gets me is how many families have been left homeless by that beeyotch Sandy, more than a month after the storm as we head into the holiday season and winter.

Hurricane Sandy left many East Coasters homeless and devastated. At least 55 people were reported killed in eight states along the eastern seaboard. Some were hit by trees, others died in flooding, from electrical shocks or in car crashes.

Millions lost power, some for weeks. Many families could not access safe drinking water for ten days after the storm. Thousands will never return to their homes, scouring debris to salvage their cherished possessions.

I live in the DC area now, where we only lost power for 18 hours. To be honest, I expected it to last longer, but with a baby and a toddler, I was very happy to regain electricity so soon with temperatures as cold as they were. But my parents in Northern New Jersey (who weren’t even close to the brunt of the storm) lost electricity for a full week. They bundled up every night in many layers, under many blankets, as they navigated the freezing cold.

Some other families in my hometown of Sparta, NJ were out for 10-14 days. Every morning I woke to new Facebook status updates about the challenges of living in the 18^th century.

But they’re the lucky ones. At least they have roofs over their heads.

One of the Garden State’s most famous sons, Jon Bon Jovi, said, “This storm lasted a day, but the effects of it are going to last a lifetime.”

YES. So true, although I wish it weren’t so.

Bon Jovi and many of his fellow musicians are teaming up for an amazing relief concert tonight. Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Dave Grohl, Billy Joel, Alicia Keys, and Bruce Springsteen are among the headliners of tonight’s 121212 concert. Bruce and The E St. Band will open the show at 7:30 pm promptly. Check out the website for a list of networks and websites that will be airing the concert, as well as ways you can help the relief effort.

I’m also trying to help in my own little way. Until New Year’s, I’ve decided to donate 100% of the royalties from sales or Prime borrows of my new release, Short & Sweet: Four Fun & Flirty Tales, to the Red Cross to assist with recovery efforts.

This very short collection (approximately 15,000 words total, or 54 pages) includes the following fun and flirty tales:

"She's Got Legs" -- Congressional aide Daria Wyatt is mortified when she wears the wrong shoes to her 15-year high school reunion in this sassy Cinderella story.

"Love @ First Site" -- Lobbyist Julie Antonelli has sworn off online dating after a string of disasters. Well, there is this one guy...

"Dancing Cheek to Cheek" -- Can a young woman find romance while teaching ballroom dancing to seniors?

"Birthday Gifts" -- College student Claire Chen misses her boyfriend while spending the semester in Paris. Will her birthday be just as sad?

NY Times bestselling author Angie Fox calls the collection “Sweet, sexy, and laugh-out-loud funny!” And Christie Craig says “Amanda Brice delivers.”

I do hope you’ll consider purchasing a copy of this e-book collection. Together we can help rebuild.


Amanda Brice leads a double life. By day she's an intellectual property attorney for a large federal government agency. At night she juggles raising two kids under the age of three with writing . A popular speaker on the writers' conference circuit with her workshops on basic copyright and trademark law, she is a two-time Golden Heart finalist and the president of Washington Romance Writers. Her teen mystery novel, Pointe of No Return, is now available in all formats, and was the November 16-30 pick of the Washington Loves Romance online book club. Learn more at www.amandabrice.net.