Stealing Jason Wilde - #BookBeginnings on Friday and The #Friday56

    Four fifty-ish women, a week-long getaway in the Hamptons, and a minivan full of booze.  What could possibly go wrong?
     I loved getting to know these characters, each one distinct and memorable. Dee Ernst's humor is right on target too. This is a post-chicklit story of women in the prime of their lives - open to adventure and experienced enough to know what they want. But in this story, they get much, much more than they anticipated.

Genre: Women's Fiction / Humor
Book Length: 220 Pages
Amazon Link: Stealing Jason Wilde
Author Website: Dee Ernst


FYI: I've featured two other terrific books by this author on my blog:
Better Than Your Dreams
A Slight Change of Plan

Book Beginning:
    You know that famous saying "What happens on Dune Road stays on Dune Road?"
    Wait - maybe it's really not that famous. The famous version is about Las Vegas. But are you familiar with the concept? That there are some places in the world where your choices are based on a completely different reality and your actions have no consequences in your day-to-day life? Where you are allowed, even encouraged, to behave in a different way, and , above all, it is understood that those two separate worlds must never intersect?

Friday 56 (from 56% on my Kindle):
Here was Andrew Sean Mooney - smart, funny, handsome, sexy, a great kisser, and he liked his home fries extra crispy, just like I did. When I looked at him, I wanted to immediately pucker up.

Synopsis (from Goodreads):
    After her divorce, librarian Annie Reynolds thought she’d closed the book on love for good—it just wasn’t part of her safe, comfortable routine. But if there’s anyplace she can relax and have a little fun, it’s Dune Road, where she and her closest girlfriends return for their annual getaway in the Hamptons. She knows it’s just what she needs to escape her empty nest (and empty bed).
    A chance encounter with a ruggedly handsome local promises Annie just that. But when one of her friends turns a simple flirtation with B-list movie star Jason Wilde into seduction—and Jason accidentally mixes a few drinks and his back-pain medicine—the ladies end up with a very high-profile houseguest. The media calls it a kidnapping, and before long, the FBI is on the hunt.
    Soon the ladies’ tame little trip has turned into the adventure of a lifetime. But will this case of mistaken misdoing sabotage Annie’s second chance at love, or will she have the confidence to take matters into her own hands to find her happily ever after?
                

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Better Than Your Dreams - Teaser Tuesday / First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros

I've read every one of Dee Ernst's books and treasure them all, especially her new release Better Than Your Dreams. In this book and in Better Off Without Him, her character Mona has too many things going on in her life: her almost-80-year-old aunt is getting married to a shady character; her eldest daughter is engaged to Mona's boyfriend's son (after a very brief courtship); a curvaceous predator is after her man; and she's received a marriage proposal herself! The result is a hilarious and heart-warming story of a "woman of a certain age" trying to cope with everything life is throwing at her. Mona is someone you'd love to have as a friend. With Mona around, your life would never be dull!

Better Than Your Dreams will officially be released August 6 but is available for pre-order in ebook format for only $2.00 right now.  

(My excerpts are from an advance copy.)

First Chapter / First Paragraph:

In the eighteen months that I had been flying back and forth between LAX in California and EWR in Newark, New Jersey, I had never quite gotten the hang of it. I didn't mind the flight out to LA. For some reason it seemed shorter and easier. But coming back--very tough. Maybe it was because I always took the first flight out at six in the morning. Which meant being at the airport by five in the morning, which meant I had to leave my house at--Never mind. It's too depressing to think about.

In my Teaser, Mona bought beautiful clothes while in Los Angeles. However, now she's dressing for Thanksgiving dinner, and she's getting frustrated. After all, she needs to outshine Carmella, the woman she's convinced has designs on her man. 

Teaser (from approximately Page 93):

I grabbed several outfits and started trying them on. Nothing that was appropriate for drinks on a terrace overlooking the Hollywood sign was going to fly during a family dinner in Westfield, New Jersey, in November.

Maybe I'd just come downstairs in my black bustier, satin tap pants, and garter belt.

Read a longer excerpt on Dee Ernst's website: HERE

Genre: Women's Fiction / Humor

Length: 272 Pages

Amazon Link: Better Than Your Dreams

Other Books by Dee Ernst: Amazon Author Page

Synopsis:

      In this follow-up to Better Off Without Him, Mona Quincy once again faces life’s tough moments with good friends, lots of laughs, and a cold, dry martini. For the past eighteen months, Mona has had a long-distance relationship with the man of her dreams, Ben Cutler. She’s been in LA working on a screenplay, while he’s been keeping the NJ home fires burning. But now she’s back, and she needs to find an answer to the question that was left unanswered a year and a half ago – will she and Ben marry?

      Mona doesn’t think she ever wants to get married again – not even to someone as practically perfect as Ben Cutler. But before she can think about her own marriage plans, she’s got a few other weddings to deal with. Her Aunt Lily doesn’t think that being almost eighty should deter her future happiness, and has met her perfect partner in Vinnie DeMatriano, who just happens to be the uncle of a slightly notorious crime boss. True, they’ve only know each other three months, but they want to tie the knot - in Mona’s back yard. Then Miranda, Mona’s oldest daughter, announces that she’s ready to get married after a three month long courtship of her own – to Ben’s son, David.
      Ben believes in love at first sight, and is thrilled for Miranda and David. Mona – not so much. She doesn’t want her daughter to marry anyone after such a short time. As they find themselves at odds for the very first time, Ben thinks they should step back and take some time away from each other. Mona is still unwilling to commit fully to Ben, and can only stand by as Carmella Ciavaglia, Vinnie’s wedding-planner daughter, circles Ben like a great white shark. Will  Mona finally get her Happily Ever After? Or has she learned her hardest lesson just a little too late?

  

Share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you are reading. Here's the link: Bibliophile By The Sea

Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No Teasers, please! Here's the link: Should Be Reading

A Slight Change of Plan - Teaser Tuesday

I adored A SLIGHT CHANGE OF PLAN and couldn't put it down! Author Dee Ernst kept me laughing and wondering what was going to happen next. 

When Kate quits her job and moves into a condo, her new digs seem perfect for one person, until ….
And the new job she has accepted seems just right for this stage of her life, until …
Then when she reconnects with an old love on a dating website, things seem to be going well, until….
Dee Ernst tackles all these situations with wisdom, warmth, and wit. This is a book I'll read more than once.


I'm stretching my Teaser to three sentences:
My husband, Adam, had died of a sudden heart attack. I was over the pain of his loss and had been quite content in my singlehood. But lately I really wanted somebody who was happy to see me when I got home who didn't have a separate water bowl.
(From 1% on my Kindle.)

Genre: Contemporary Women's Fiction
Length: 352 Pages 
Amazon Link: A SLIGHT CHANGE OF PLAN
Other Books by This Author: HERE.

Goodreads Synopsis:
      Kate Everett is about to begin her “second act.” She’s been a widow for eight years and thinks it might be time to start looking for someone to share her life with again. She quits her high-pressure job for something that will allow her more leisure time. She gets rid of the huge family home and moves into a fabulous condo that’s smaller and easier to manage. She’s pretty much got the rest of her life figured out. All she has to do is sit back, relax, and let the pieces fall into place.
      But her real life never gets the memo. First, her son moves back in with her—along with his girlfriend. Her dream job falls through, leaving her unemployed. Her mother, whom she hadn’t spoken to in years, can no longer live alone and has to move into her basement. And her only daughter is planning the smallest and simplest wedding in the history of all weddings, much to Kate’s dismay.
      Kate thinks that she and Jake, her former college love who has reemerged on an online dating site, of all places, can build something real, and that maybe her happy ending is in front of her at last. But the arrival of Edward, her daughter’s future father-in-law, presents Kate with an unexpected choice. 
      It looks like real happiness may require a slight change of plan.

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.