This giveaway is now closed.  Congrats to Susan Smith!  *Winner has been notified via email*

I’m uber excited to be the 4th stop on the Brenda Novak White Heat blog tour.  I have a special guest post from Brenda Novak herself with a giveaway towards the bottom.

Please enjoy! ~ Sky (Seeryus Mama)

The family that plays together stays together. That’s a cliché I’ve heard quite often but I didn’t put much stock in it until I had my own kids. As my five children have grown, we’ve traveled, camped, played sports together (we play basketball as a family at least once a week and, yes, even I get out there—LOL), ridden motorcycles, attended movies, concerts, baseball/basketball games, gone paintballing, had BBQ’s and swim parties, visited state and county fairs, taken long bike rides and drives and played board games. Thanks to all of these activities, I’ve been able to see that time spent enjoying each other offers rewards far beyond the fun of that one moment. Creating positive memories builds strong bonds and can be the “glue” that holds a family together even during the rough times.

I grew up in a family that didn’t really know how to play. My parents were strict and older; my mother sick (she’s had MS my whole life). So I really have to credit my husband—his boundless energy and love for family activities—for all we’ve done and all we continue to do. It was his idea, for instance, to DRIVE our entire family to Cabo San Lucas a few years ago. Although I was a little worried about such an adventure (it’s more than a thousand miles from where we live), he lined up a place for us to stay once we reached Cabo, loaded our five fairly small children into our Excursion, and off we went on a two-week odyssey that turned out to be one of the best vacations we’ve ever taken.

We stopped in San Diego to visit the zoo before crossing into Mexico, then pulled over whenever we saw something interesting. When we got too tired to drive, we’d find a hotel and stay over. The kids learned a little bit of Spanish. When a banana, or even the toy from their McDonald’s Happy Meal, would draw eager and hopeful Mexican children into a throng of outstretched hands around them, they also came to appreciate how fortunate they are to have all the food, clothing and belongings they need. So it was as educational and eye-opening as it was fun.

We also saw places in Mexico beyond the terrible poverty of the border towns–places that were clean and had a fascinating history–and beaches so beautiful they’d steal your breath away. There were no signs regulating parking or requiring payment to get to the water. There was no litter, either, and very few people—just miles of sandy white beaches and a warm, lapping ocean.

While in Cabo, we rode jet skis, went deep-sea fishing (and was the only boat in weeks that didn’t catch a thing—LOL), rode horses on the sand, shopped, ate and swam.

Another vacation that stands out in my mind, and was much less risky, was our family trip to Kauai. We paid to do a lot of things—take the helicopter ride, for example—but ironically enough our favorite activity was absolutely free. We hiked to reach a beautiful waterfall. It was very arduous, took all day and left us so exhausted we could hardly walk afterwards (it also left us covered with mud), but we all agree that it was our best day in Hawaii.

This summer we don’t have anything quite so elaborate planned as Cabo or Hawaii. With our older kids having jobs, we had to settle for a family trip to Santa Cruz filled with hours and hours of beach volleyball and a reunion in Oregon as our summer get-togethers, but we had just as much fun doing these things as going to more exotic places. Just being in the car together is enjoyable because of all the conversation. Of course, it doesn’t hurt when there are giant-sized donuts on the other end of a long drive—like those at VooDoo donuts in Portland, which is now on our family’s list of favorite places.

My writing affords me and my family with even more opportunity to travel. Because I’m setting my next book (INSIDE, due out next summer) in Crescent City, we took the long way home from Oregon and visited the redwoods (after a quick stop at Pelican Bay State Prison, which figures into the novel).

What are some of the best family vacations that you’ve had? Do you think it’s more enjoyable to drive, like my family? Or would you rather fly?

I had the pleasure of reading White Heat, the first book in the new Department 6 Hired Guns trilogy by Brenda Novak. It was a quick read leaving me with wanting to finish out the series…always a good thing!  One thing that I noticed about this book was the lack of cursing, which isn’t a bad thing by any means.  For those of you who appreciate a good romantic suspense novel without the language, you’ll appreciate this trilogy.

White Heat is available in stores now.

Synopsis:

A dangerous cult has recently taken over the desert ghost town of Paradise, Arizona.  Members worship at the feet -and in the bed- of it’s charismatic leader, Ethan Wycliff, and obey his orders blindly.  They’ve already tried to murder one woman and they’re implicated in the disappearance of another.

Nate Ferrentino, who works for private security contractor Department 6, has been assigned to inflitrate this group.  It’s a challenge he welcomes – until he learns that colleague Rachel Jessop will be going undercover with him.  Thanks to their shared history, he’d much rather go alone…

The problem is, only married couples can participate in cult rituals.  So, like it or not – and they don’t – Rachel and Nate must pretend to be husband and wife.

About Brenda Novak:

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Brenda Novak has three novels coming out this summer – WHITE HEAT, BODY HEAT & KILLER HEAT. She also runs an annual on-line auction for diabetes research every May at www.brendanovak.com. To date, she’s raised over $1,072,000. Brenda considers herself lucky to be a mother of five and married to the love of her life.

The next stop is on the official Harlequin Blog August 12th.  You won’t want to miss it!

*WIN* One lucky Seeryus Mama winner will receive a copy of White Heat, a custom White Heat lip gloss and the digital camera pictured below to take photos of their family vacation moments!

To enter, tell me about the best family vacation you’ve ever had.  This giveaway will end on August 24, 2010 at 11:59 PM CST.

Extra Entries Available…(after mandatory first entry, please leave separate comments for each completed, worth 1 extra entry each unless noted)

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But wait!  There’s more…

• Comment on any non-giveaway post, come back and tell me which post you left a comment on – 1 entry per comment, per post
• Tweet this giveaway – 1 per day, feel free to use:  I’ve just entered to win a White Heat prize pack @Seeryus Mama!  Includes a book, lipgloss and camera! #giveaway http://cli.gs/hVuvg

Thanks for entering and good luck!!

*Please, no cheating. One entry per person/email/household/ip address. If found cheating you will be barred from entering giveaways at Seeryus Mama. Honesty’s the best policy -Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.

* I received a copy of White Heat to enjoy. As always, the thoughts that go along with this review are my own.*