If I Loved You - Teaser Tuesday

I recently read IF I LOVED YOU by Jean C. Joachim, and what a fun, sexy story it was! I loved the characters, and Jean's writing style kept me entertained from start to finish. This is the first book in her Hollywood Hearts series, and I'm looking forward to reading all the rest.

NEWS FLASH: Jean has graciously offered to give away two free books! For a chance to win, just leave a comment below, along with your email address so we can contact you if you're a winner.


Here's my TEASER - a little internal dialogue from Megan, the main character, during a business dinner with drop-dead-gorgeous movie star Chaz:
Focus. Stop drooling. Remember, he puts his pants on one leg at a time just like everyone else. Stop thinking about his pants!
(at 7% on my Kindle)

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Link: IF I LOVED YOU
More Books by Jean Joachim: Jean's Books

Synopsis from the Secret Cravings Publishing website:

Does love always mean total truth? Successfully shunning the limelight was one way for Megan Davis to keep her family secret. The press intruded on her life when her twin brother, Mark, became the star quarterback for the Delaware Demons. A smart, successful financial advisor, disrespectful of tabloid superstars, Meg was shocked when she was selected to launch a celebrity division in the prestigious investment firm, Dillon & Weed, and overwhelmed by the charisma of her first client.

Gorgeous, magnetic movie star, Chaz Duncan, wary of women who wanted to bask in his fame or sell his secrets to the media, valued privacy above all else. Would attractive Megan Davis, his new financial advisor charm the truth from him or would he continue his high profile but lonely existence to keep his secret safe? Jealousy, deceit and scandal threaten two careers and the quest for true love and trust in this roller-coaster-ride contemporary romance.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's the link to join in: Teaser Tuesday

The Whiskey Bottle in the Wall (Vol. 1) - Friday 56 and Book Beginnings

I've just started reading The Whiskey Bottle in the Wall (Vol. 1) and I'm already enthralled by the characters. This collection of short stories by Kathleen Valentine brings to life the inhabitants of small-town Marienstadt, Pennsylvania, and paints a vivid picture of the quirky characters' lives.

Just the names of the tales are enough to intrigue me!

*  Peeper Baumgratz and the Sister's
    Snowplow
*  The Great Dumpling War and Dance
    Competition
*  The Whiskey Bottle in the Wall

It’s no surprise that “The Whiskey Bottle in the Wall” was named Best Short Story in the 2013 eFestival of Words. Kathleen's stories are told with wit and warmth, and I'm looking forward to reading all three volumes in the series. FYI: The series can be purchased in one omnibus edition here: Whiskey Bottle Omnibus

Here's the BOOK BEGINNING from the first story:
      Henry Werner knew that being the Chief of Police in Marienstadt, Pennsylvania, was an easy job but any day that started out with a visit from Sister Adelaide, the Prioress of St. Joseph's Convent, and which was followed by a call from the State Police, was off to an unpromising start. Despite the fact that he was close to forty and had been a policeman ever since he left the Marines, one withering stare from Sister Adelaid could reduce him to a single throbbing nerve. The worst part was, she knew it.

And here are a couple of sentences from 56% on my Kindle:
      "You have a good idea there, Padre, and God forbid that any of these old gals should get hit by a bus and their recipes die with them, so we have to be sneaky. Luckily, you came to the right guy for that. The way you go about this, y'see, is to appeal to their vanity."

Genre: Fiction / Folklore / Humor
Number of Pages: 156
Amazon Link: The Whiskey Bottle in the Wall (Vol. 1)
Other Books by Kathleen Valentine: Amazon Author Link

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Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings and Friday 56. 

   Click here to connect to other Book Beginnings posts  

   (sponsored by Rose City Reader.)

   Find other Friday 56 bloggers here 
   (sponsored by Freda's Voice). 

                           

Maggie's Turn - Book Beginnings on Friday and Friday 56

“Wouldn’t it be fun, just for a little while, to drive a different direction and take a few snapshots?” Those words from Chapter 1 made me ask: who hasn’t wanted to run away for a little while? If you can relate, then you'll definitely enjoy MAGGIE'S TURN. 

FRIDAY 56 (56% on my Kindle):
     Cassie stopped short when she saw the red Mustang sitting in the driveway instead of the minivan, and no one else in sight. She turned and stared at Maggie, her expression reflecting confusion.
     "You have a Mustang? A red Mustang? Where's the van? Where are the kids?"


BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY:
It had not been a good morning at the Harrison household. At least not for Maggie. Her nineteen-year-old son, Kyle, had slept in late, which meant he was late showering and would be late to one of the four college courses he was intent upon failing. Because he was running behind, her fourteen-year-old daughter, Kaia, was late getting ready for school, which meant Maggie's husband, Andrew, had to rush to shower for work. And, of course, Maggie had to rush too since she was always the last person to use the bathroom.

Genre: Women's Fiction
Number of Pages: 247
Amazon Link: Maggie's Turn

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Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings and Friday 56. 

   Click here to connect to other Book Beginnings posts 

   (sponsored by Rose City Reader.)

   Find other Friday 56 bloggers here 
   (sponsored by Freda's Voice). 

                           

Christmas Calling - Teaser Tuesday

Does this cover look familiar? Maybe that's because last week I featured a teaser from the first of two novellas that make up CHRISTMAS CALLING. This week I've selected my Teaser from the second story, Christmas Snow by Birdie L. Etchison. This sweet contemporary romance will put you in the Christmas spirit!

TEASER (from about Page 6):
Her mother decorated anything that stood still. The bathroom had snowflake toilet tissue; snowmen filled every corner of the house. 

Genre: Christian Romance / Fiction
Number of Pages: 156 (both novellas)
Amazon Link: Christmas Calling
More books and stories by Birdie L. Etchison: Birdie's Books

Synopsis:
Janie Montgomery leaves Seattle to escape sad memories and spend Christmas with her aunt in Spokane. On the way her car is stranded in a ditch, surrounded by a mountain of snow. EMT Greg Kincaid comes to her rescue in an SUV, like a knight in snowy armor. It is the beginning of a love story as mystifying as a white-out, as gentle as falling snow, as colorful as Christmas decorations, and as sweet as homemade cookies. Only by the grace of God can Janie and Greg weather the storms and find true love.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away -- you don't want to ruin the book for others)
• Share the title and author too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers
• Leave a comment on MizB's Teaser Tuesday post (HERE) and include your link so everyone can find your post.

Christmas Calling - Teaser Tuesday

With Christmas only a few weeks away, it seems like the right time to feature CHRISTMAS CALLING on Teaser Tuesday. Two novellas make up this charming book. Colleen Reece's story (Christmas Challenge) is set in Montana during the 1880s. Birdie Etchison's (Christmas Snow) is contemporary and takes place in the Spokane, Washington, area. Both are Christian romances.  

My Teaser is from Christmas Challenge.

TEASER:
Forty-five minutes later Valerie stared into the steely gray eyes of the man who held her future in his ink-stained hands. She swallowed the flutter in her throat and gave him back glance for glance. Danny O'Shea's daughter bowed to no man.
(I stretched the Teaser to three sentences this time. It's from 5% on my Kindle)

Genre: Christian Romance / Fiction
Number of Pages: 156
Amazon Link: Christmas Calling
More books by Colleen L. Reece: Colleen's Books

Amazon Synopsis:
      After the death of her guardian, Valerie Shannon O’Shea feels as adrift as a boat torn free of its moorings on Lake Michigan. She prays about her future and finds a challenge in the newspaper. IS THE PIONEER SPIRIT STILL ALIVE AND WELL? A skeptical financier doubts women in the late 1880s can live the hard life of their ancestors. He is offering train fare to Montana and a substantial cash prize to a young woman courageous enough to live in an abandoned one-room schoolhouse for a full year without help from anyone. 
      The schoolhouse is near Whitewind, where Valerie and her father lived ten years earlier. Danny O’Shea was then convicted of a crime he swore he did not commit. There is little to connect Valerie Shannon, as she signs her paintings, with the gawky fourteen-year-old known as Shannon O’Shea. What if she can meet the newspaper challenge, paint the Montana landscape, and carry out her long held vow to clear her father’s name? 
      The long train trip across country brings back bittersweet memories. Many are of eighteen-year-old Locke Stuart, son of the judge who sent Valerie’s father to prison. Locke had stolen Valerie’s heart but never answered her letters. She wonders if he ever thinks of the girl he fiercely championed in spite of his father’s opposition.    
      Valerie and Locke must ride tangled trails and learn to heed the everlasting whisper, Trust Me, before they can find happiness. 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's the link to join in: Teaser Tuesday

The Meryl Streep Movie Club - Teaser Tuesday

  

If you like books that explore relationships between women, you'll love THE MERYL STREEP MOVIE CLUB. I'm less than halfway through the story, and last night I had to force myself to stop reading so I could get some sleep!

Here's my Teaser from 3% on my Kindle:

The envelope, like the letter inside, typed on plain white paper, was unaddressed, unsigned:
Your husband is having an affair. I'm not sure if you know, or if you want to know.

Genre: Contemporary Women's Fiction
Length: 352 Pages
Amazon Link: The Meryl Streep Movie Club

Synopsis from Amazon:

In the bestselling tradition of The Friday Night Knitting Club and The Jane Austen Book Club, three women find unexpected answers, happiness, and one another with Meryl Streep movies as their inspiration.

Two sisters and the cousin they grew up with after a tragedy are summoned home to their family matriarch's inn on the coast of Maine for a shocking announcement. Suddenly, Isabel, June, and Kat are sharing the attic  bedroom--and barely speaking. But when innkeeper Lolly asks them to join her and the guests in the parlor for weekly Movie Night--it's Meryl Streep month--they find themselves sharing secrets, talking long into the night--and questioning everything they thought they knew about life, love, and one another.

Each woman sees her complicated life reflected through the magic of cinema: Isabel's husband is having an affair, and an old pact may keep her from what she wants most . . . June has promised her seven-year-old son that she'll somehow find his father, who he's never known . . . and Kat is ambivalent about accepting her lifelong best friend's marriage proposal. Through everything, Lolly has always been there for them, and now Isabel, June, Kat--and Meryl--must be there for her. Finding themselves. Finding each other. Finding a happy ending.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's the link to join in: Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday - The Husband's Secret

Infidelity, murder, revenge ... this book has it all and Tupperware too! Set in Australia, the author creates characters who remind me of people I've known (or could easily have known) who are all too real in their failings. The story fascinated me, and I couldn't stop reading. I'll be looking for more books by Liane Moriarty.

Here's my Teaser:

What did it say? She considered tearing it open right that second, before she had time to think about it, like the way she sometimes (not very often) shoved the last piece of chocolate in her mouth, before her conscience had time to catch up with her greed. 
- At 5% on my Kindle

Genre: Contemporary Women's Fiction
Length: 394 Pages
Amazon Link: The Husband's Secret

Synopsis from Goodreads:

My Darling Cecilia
If you're reading this, then I've died . . .

Imagine your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret - something so terrible it would destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others too. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive.

Cecilia Fitzpatrick achieved it all - she's an incredibly successful business woman, a pillar of her small community and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia - or each other - but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband's devastating secret.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's the link to join in: Teaser Tuesday

Eight Cousins - Louisa May Alcott

For today's Book Beginnings on Friday and Friday 56 post, I'm featuring Eight Cousins. I haven't read the book yet, but at 99¢ for my Kindle, it's a bargain!

Here's the Book Beginning:

Chapter 1 - Two Girls
      Rose sat all alone in the big best parlor, with her little handkerchief laid ready to catch the first tear, for she was thinking of her troubles, and a shower was expected. She had retired to this room as a good place in which to be miserable; for it was dark and still, full of ancient furniture, sombre curtains, and hung all around with portraits of solemn old gentlemen in wigs, severe-nosed ladies in top-heavy caps, and staring children in little bob-tailed coats or short-waisted frocks. 

Louisa May paints a good picture of the room, but those two sentences are really long! Would an editor let us write that way today? I don't think so.

Here's the Friday 56 excerpt from my Kindle:

      Presently, Phebe appeared with a card. Rose read it, made a grimace, then laughed and said,
     "I'll see Miss Blish," and immediately put on her company face, pulled out her locket, and settled her curls.

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Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings and Friday 56. 

   Click here to connect to other Book Beginnings posts 

   (sponsored by Rose City Reader.)

   Find other Friday 56 bloggers here 
   (sponsored by Freda's Voice). 

                           

Alien Invasion? NOT.

Smithsonian Magazine calls it "the most famous alien invasion that never happened." They're referring to Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast, aired October 30, 1938 - seventy-five years ago today. As you may know, Welles' convincing report led some listeners to believe the world had actually been invaded by creatures from outer space. Welles, only 23 at the time, did a masterful job of scaring the peewaddle out of his listeners on the eve of Halloween. 

If you'd like to hear the complete broadcast, click on the newspaper photo below. 

In that era - before the Internet, instant messaging, cell phones, and TV coverage - people relied on radio broadcasts and newspaper stories for information. It's not hard to understand how this broadcast might have freaked out some folks. I have to wonder: could something like this happen today? 

Information on this event as well as short clips and commentary, compiled by Smithsonian Magazine, can be found here: American Experience - War of the Worlds

The Funeral Dress - Teaser Tuesday

Today I'm featuring an excellent book I just finished reading, THE FUNERAL DRESS by Susan Gregg Gilmore. Through realistic dialogue and beautifully-written description, the author paints a vivid picture of the people living in poverty in the remote "hollers" of the Appalachian Mountains. This is a story that will stay with me. 

When the story opens, the main character, Emmalee, has recently given birth to a daughter, but she refuses to reveal the name of the father. Here's a partial description of the shack where she lives, as Emmalee awakens one winter morning.

Teaser Tuesday (at 12% on my Kindle):
She needed to pee but refused to confront the cold that had settled inside the house wrapped in plywood and pieces of tar paper. In the winter, it grew so bitter sometimes, a glass of water left by the bedside froze solid by morning, even when the stove burned hot in the other room. 

Genre: Women's Fiction
Number of Pages: 370
Amazon Link: The Funeral Dress

Here's the synopsis from Goodreads:
Emmalee Bullard and her new baby are on their own. Or so she thinks, until Leona Lane, the older seamstress who sat by her side at the local shirt factory where both women worked as collar makers, insists Emmalee come and live with her.  Just as Emmalee prepares to escape her hardscrabble life in Red Chert holler, Leona dies tragically.  Grief-stricken, Emmalee decides she’ll make Leona’s burying dress, but there are plenty of people who don't think the unmarried Emmalee should design a dress for a Christian woman - or care for a child on her own. But with every stitch, Emmalee struggles to do what is right for her daughter and to honor Leona the best way she can, finding unlikely support among an indomitable group of seamstresses and the town’s funeral director. In a moving tale exploring Southern spirit and camaraderie among working women, a young mother will compel a town to become a community. 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's the link to join in: Teaser Tuesday

Jet Packs?

The headline on the Smithsonian Magazine blog entry promises: 

This Jetpack Could Carry You Twenty Miles 

and Be On the Market By Next Year

Really? Gosh, according to Smithsonian, next Halloween we could actually be buzzing like moths around a Jack O'lantern? That's hard to imagine!

I remember Sean Connery as James Bond, soaring above lesser humans with a jetpack created by "Q" (way back in 1965.) According to IMBd.com that movie racked up 140 million ticket sales, making it the most popular Bond movie ever, and the jetpack and Q's other inventions surely contributed to its success. Those viewers could be potential jetpackers. 

But it seems Q's idea wasn't original. While searching online for a free photo to use in this post, I came across this magazine cover from 1928. Looks like the jetpack idea has been around for a long, long time.

Now the esteemed Smithsonian says jetpacks will actually be available to anyone who has $150,000 to $200,000 to blow. I wonder if that price will include the required hearing protection, helmet, neck restraints, boots, and fireproof suit or will accessories be sold separately? Are batteries included? 

If you have a bunch of spare cash sitting around, will you buy a jetpack? You'll find details HERE if you're interested in this mode of transportation... and if you don't mind wearing a dorky looking helmet!  

Photo Source: Wikipedia

Book Beginnings on Friday and Friday 56 - FASTER THAN THE REST

I do love western romances, and this second book in the MacLarens of Fire Mountain series is no exception. Outlaws, hunky ranchers, family bonds, a lifelong love - author Shirleen Davies combines all those elements to make FASTER THAN THE REST one heck of a good story.

Book Beginnings on Friday (opening lines from the Prologue):
"Stop right there, Wicklin." The man's voice came out of nowhere, hard and unwavering. It was well past midnight in the deserted wharf area of San Francisco, a time when people could disappear without a trace.

Friday 56 (from 56% on my Kindle): 
It has been almost a week - six days and nights - and no sign of him. She thought they'd started something together. They'd spoken of marriage.

Genre: Historical Western Romance
Number of Pages: 212
Amazon Link: Faster Than The Rest
Only $2.99 for your Kindle. Available in paperback too. The third book in the series -- HARDER THAN THE REST -- is due out in November.

Synopsis on Amazon: 
      Headstrong, brash, confident, and complex, the MacLarens of Fire Mountain will captivate you with strong characters set in the wild and rugged western frontier.
      Handsome, ruthless, young U.S. Marshal Jamie MacLaren had lost everything—his parents, his family connections, and his childhood sweetheart—but now he’s back in Fire Mountain and ready for another chance. Just as he successfully reconnects with his family and starts to rebuild his life, he gets the unexpected and unwanted assignment of rescuing the woman who broke his heart.
      Beautiful, wealthy Victoria Wicklin chose money and power over love, but is now fighting for her life—or is she? Who has she become in the seven years since she left Fire Mountain to take up her life in San Francisco? Is she really as innocent as she says?
      Marshal MacLaren struggles to learn the truth and do his job, but the past and present lead him in different directions as his heart and brain wage battle. Is Victoria a victim or a villain? Is life offering him another chance, or just another heartbreak?
      As Jamie and Victoria struggle to uncover past secrets and come to grips with their shared passion, another danger arises. A life-altering danger that is out of their control and threatens to destroy any chance for a shared future.

*********

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings and Friday 56. 

   Click here to connect to other Book Beginnings posts 

   (sponsored by Rose City Reader.)

   Find other Friday 56 bloggers here 
   (sponsored by Freda's Voice). 

                           

Peace by Piece - Teaser Tuesday

Rather than post two random sentences for Teaser Tuesday, I like to select an excerpt that tells about the book's plot or characters or that showcases the author's writing. With Peace by Piece this was hard to do because there were too many good passages to choose from! Carol Fragale Brill did a marvelous job of getting inside the head of a woman suffering from anorexia/bulimia. She has crafted a touching and meaningful story that gripped me from Page 1.

Here are two sentences from 
3% on my Kindle:
From time to time, Lilly asks me about him: about why I never talk about him, about how she can count on one hand the times she has heard me speak his name in the last five years. Her question always seems to hit me out of nowhere, as if I ran smack into a sliding glass door, and I am numb and achy at the same time.

Genre: Women's Fiction/Romance
Number of Pages: 369
Amazon Link: Peace by Piece

Here's the synopsis from Goodreads:
     Peace by Piece deals with unshakable first love, family, relationships, the difficulties of being a stepparent—all shadowed by the curse of anorexia/bulimia. 
     Six years after fleeing college and Thomas’s betrayal, Maggie has nearly given up on love. 
     Enter Izzie, a motherless eight year old, and every maternal instinct kicks-in. With Donald, Izzie’s dad, Maggie waits for the thrill—for anything magic: a spark, a quickening, a quiver racing up her spine. The magic never comes, but it is precisely the ordinariness of his kisses and subsequent proposal that make her feel safe. She imagines that loving Izzie is enough to finally lock Thomas out of her heart. 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's the link to join in: Teaser Tuesday

Book Beginnings on Friday and Friday 56 - MY LAST ROMANCE

The synopsis of My Last Romance found on Amazon says it all:
Eight stories with a common theme - the wonder of finding love - sweep the reader into sensuous worlds where ordinary people discover, or rediscover, love. Foolish love, forbidden love, married love - even murderous love, each story is a seductive jewel populated with characters that seem like someone we could know - or someone we could be. Each of the stories in this collection is an exquisitely rendered portrait of people from a broad range of ages each proving that passion and love are eternal, regardless of life's far-ranging challenges. 

I've read about half the short stories in the book, and I've enjoyed each one. 

Here's my Book Beginnings on Friday post from "My Last Romance", the opening to the title story of the book:

8:53 am... 93 degrees.

The bank sign over the neon blue seagulls blinks. The day has scarcely started and already it's past ninety. A thin, watery haze rises from the pavement making me feel like I am driving into a dream. Whose idea was it for us to live in this insufferable climate anyway? Why in God's name did we think once we got old we would want to sweat? It boggles my mind.

And here's my Friday 56 from "The Haven" (56% on my Kindle):

We talk about the work I should be doing as I sit across the table from him watching as he pushes the air from the once-risen dough, divides and shapes it into loaves. He places them neatly on a wooden cutting board, patting them into the shape he wants and covering them with a clean towel. I look at the thick veins that stand out on the insides of his flour dusted forearms and squirm inside. My clothes seem too close to my skin. 

*********

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings and Friday 56. 

   Click here to connect to other Book Beginnings posts 

   (sponsored by Rose City Reader.)

   Find other Friday 56 bloggers here 
   (sponsored by Freda's Voice). 

                           

Teaser Tuesday: Keepsake

I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. Sunday, reading KEEPSAKE. In this engrossing novel, Author Kristina Riggle enters the world of a hoarder, delving into the mindset of a woman who suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder and exploring the effects it has on family. Having cringed at several episodes of the TV series "Buried Alive," I've been curious about what could cause a person to hoard, and this book gave me some insight while weaving a compelling plot. The downside is that I'm starting to worry about my fabric stash! I call myself a quilter, but could I be a fabric hoarder myself?


My Teaser:
Yet here she was, this tiny black woman with a huge messenger bag, holding out a business card with the words Child Protective Services as if my child needed protecting. From me.
(From 1% on my Kindle)

Genre: Contemporary Women's Fiction
Number of Pages: 384
Amazon Link: KEEPSAKE

Goodreads Synopsis:
For her previous novels (Things We Didn't Say, The Life You've Imagined, Real Life & Liars), author Kristina Riggle has garnered fabulous reviews and established herself as a rapidly rising star of contemporary women's fiction. In Keepsake, she explores that most complicated of relationships, as two sisters raised by a hoarder deal with old hurts and resentments, and the very different paths their lives have taken. As always, Riggle approaches important topics poignantly and honestly--including hoarding and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in her remarkable Keepsake--while writing with real emotional power and compassion about families and their baggage. For readers of Katrina Kittle and Elin Hildenbrand, Kristina Riggle's Keepsake is a treasure.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away -- you don't want to ruin the book for others)
• Share the title and author too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers
• Leave a comment on MizB's Teaser Tuesday post (HERE) and include your link so everyone can find your post.

Autumn in Auburn, Washington

I look for beauty everywhere I go, and with summer turning to fall here in the Pacific Northwest, it's just about everywhere.

There's a Walgreens drugstore on the way to my son's house, and this dazzling tree stands in the parking lot. I had to take a picture.

Also on that route, I captured these beauties while waiting for a stoplight to change.

The blaze of color in Columbia Winery's parking lot (Woodinville, WA) delayed our drive back home while I stopped to take the picture below. I posted this one as the new header on my Facebook page.

It won't be long before the trees lose all their leaves and our typical dark and drizzly winter weather descends, but right now, there's beauty just about everywhere I look.

What does autumn look like in your part of the world?

Book Beginnings and Friday 56: Fly or Fall

FLY OR FALL is the third book I've read by author and artist Gilli Allan (the others are TORN and LIFE CLASS). I've enjoyed them all. They take place in England and feature real adult women. A blurb on Amazon says: Gilli Allan writes unconventional romantic fiction for grown-ups.


Here are excerpts from FLY OR FALL:



Book Beginnings on Friday (hosted by Rose City Reader): 
     The cartoon rabbit ran straight off the edge of the cliff. He hung, oblivious to his predicament, feet pedalling the empty air. There was a snigger, halfway between laughter and derision, from the twins.
     Perhaps belief is everything, I thought. If you believe you're still on the same level, that life hasn't changed, you won't see the void which has opened beneath your feet.

Friday 56 (hosted by Freda's Voice):
A rush of red suffused my vision. Legs, suddenly made of water, folded beneath me. I sat down heavily. My world had just fallen apart and Trevor was calmly watching cricket.
(at 56% on my Kindle)

Genre: Contemporary Women's Fiction / Romance
Number of Pages: 413
Amazon Link: FLY OR FALL
   

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