#WeWriWa - ROMANCE REKINDLED

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors where authors share an 8 - 10 sentence snippet. Be sure to visit the other authors. You can find them here.

I'm sharing snippets from my Christmas story, ROMANCE REKINDLED. Abby's mother and new boyfriend were arrested the night before. It's Christmas Eve morning, and they're appearing before a judge, dressed as Santa. 

Please excuse the creative punctuation, necessary to keep this within the guidelines. It's also edited some from the original.

The last line from last week was: "Case dismissed.” He (Judge) banged the gavel then stood.

“But, sir—”

Santa narrowed his eyes, “Deputy Dawson, do you understand the words case dismissed?” he banged the gavel again.

“But—”

“Speak again, boy—” Santa shook the gavel at him, “—and you’ll be the one spending Christmas in jail—dismissed—get out of here—all of you.”

George and Florence stood and hugged each other, Santa left the room, and Deputy Dawg walked down the aisle with his tail between his legs, and the handcuffs on his belt jingling like the bells on Santa’s sleigh.

Outside the courthouse, the bright sun made the snow-covered trees glisten like fairy-land. Florence hugged George again, then Sam and Bethany. She looked at Abby and sighed, “This was the most fun I’ve had in years—don’t ruin it with a lecture.”

Abby thought of several things to say—none of them good, “It’s okay, Mother,” she gave her a quick hug. “Let’s go home.”

Blurb:

Abby Ten Eyck likes her life the way it is. She runs a successful business, has a well-adjusted teenage daughter, and has managed to keep men at bay since her divorce fifteen years ago. Just before Christmas, she’s hit with change. Her mother decides to sell the family home. Then she’s arrested, with an unknown man. Could this new man in her mother’s life create more upheaval? Or could his handsome son be just what Abby needs to revive her dormant feelings?

Sam Watson embraces transition from frenetic Wall Street to a small Michigan resort town. His health is worth moving close to his dad who seems over the moon in love. But it’s the daughter of his father’s girlfriend who fascinates him. Abby Ten Eyck reminds him of his driven self. He must help her slow down before she burns out. Like he did.

ROMANCE REKINDLED is available as an e-book at:

Amazon  ~  Amazon UK  ~  iBooks  ~  Kobo  ~  Smashwords  ~ Nook

ROMANCE REKINDLED is now available in print at: http://a.co/d/dOlyBlT

Be sure to check out the other WeWriWa authors. 

#WeWriWa - ROMANCE REKINDLED: Judge Santa

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors where authors share an 8 - 10 sentence snippet. Be sure to visit the other authors. You can find them here.

Sorry I missed last week. Made a quick trip to my sister's in Indy and came home to a flooded basement. Our sump pump quit--for no apparent reason. My words of wisdom for this week: never, never, leave papers on the floor and don't put things you care about in cardboard boxes on the floor. The basement was finished and we lost all the carpet. Could have been worse--like sewer or storm water. Thank goodness, our adult children live nearby and came to the rescue. So overwhelming for us, but they organized a dumpster and hired movers along with boxing up stuff and hauling it out to our garage. Now to go through it all. I really didn't plan on purging again. Yikes!

So much for my tale of woe. I'm sharing snippets from my Christmas story, ROMANCE REKINDLED. Abby's mother and new boyfriend (can you call a 70+ year-old man a boyfriend?) were arrested the night before. It's Christmas Eve morning, and they're appearing before a judge, dressed as Santa.

Please excuse the creative punctuation, necessary to keep this within the guidelines. It's also edited some from the original.

“Well, now, is everyone here?” Judge Santa asked, “What about lawyers, since this is such an important case?” His eyes twinkled beneath the white fur of his hat.

George stood, “Yes, sir, we’re both here, and we don’t need lawyers.”

“Yeah,” Mother stood, “We don’t need no stinkin’ lawyers.”

While George chuckled and Mother chortled over the movie quote, Abby wanted to crawl under the bench—the judge rolled his eyes.

“Deputy, get those ridiculous handcuffs off those two upstanding citizens—they are hardly likely to escape,” as soon as the cuffs were removed, Judge Santa said, “Now, what is this all about?”

Deputy Dawson drew himself up, “Florence Ten Eyck and George Watson are accused of trespassing and theft—here’s the evidence,” he held up the large, black garbage bag then spilled the contents onto the table in front of the judge.

“Tell me, Deputy, are those five loaves of bread? Where are the two fishes?” Again, the judge’s eyes twinkled, and he looked like he was trying not to laugh at his own joke.

Blurb:

Abby Ten Eyck likes her life the way it is. She runs a successful business, has a well-adjusted teenage daughter, and has managed to keep men at bay since her divorce fifteen years ago. Just before Christmas, she’s hit with change. Her mother decides to sell the family home. Then she’s arrested, with an unknown man. Could this new man in her mother’s life create more upheaval? Or could his handsome son be just what Abby needs to revive her dormant feelings?

Sam Watson embraces transition from frenetic Wall Street to a small Michigan resort town. His health is worth moving close to his dad who seems over the moon in love. But it’s the daughter of his father’s girlfriend who fascinates him. Abby Ten Eyck reminds him of his driven self. He must help her slow down before she burns out. Like he did.

ROMANCE REKINDLED is available at:

Amazon  ~  Amazon UK  ~  iBooks  ~  Kobo  ~  Smashwords  ~ Nook

Be sure to check out the other WeWriWa authors. 

I'll be at another book event all day Sunday, but I'll be sure to visit when I return or during the week.

#WeWriWa - Mother's in Jail? ROMANCE REKINDLED

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors where authors share an 8 - 10 sentence snippet. Be sure to visit the other authors. You can find them here. 

I'm sharing excerpts from my new release, ROMANCE REKINDLED, a romance with a little mystery. To keep within the guidelines, this snippet has been edited from the original. Please excuse the rogue commas.

The ringing of her phone that night had Abby scrambling across the covers to the nightstand where she’d plugged in her cell phone. Two-oh-one blazed from the bedside clock in three-inch high red numerals as she yanked her phone off the charger.

“Hello,” Her voice sounded groggy, so she cleared her throat, “Hello?”

“Abby, this is Rose at the police station.”

“What happened?” As she clutched the cell phone, she had no idea how she could speak with her heart yammering in her ears.

“I’m calling about your mother—she’s all right,” the dispatcher said quickly, as if to reassure her.

How can anyone be reassured when the police call you at two a.m.?

“My mother?”

“Yes. She’s been arrested.”

Abby Ten Eyck likes her life the way it is. She runs a successful business, has a well-adjusted teenage daughter, and has managed to keep men at bay since her divorce fifteen years ago. Just before Christmas, she’s hit with change. Her mother decides to sell the family home. Then she’s arrested, with an unknown man. Could this new man in her mother’s life create more upheaval? Or could his handsome son be just what Abby needs to revive her dormant feelings?

Sam Watson embraces transition from frenetic Wall Street to a small Michigan resort town. His health is worth moving close to his dad who seems over the moon in love. But it’s the daughter of his father’s girlfriend who fascinates him. Abby Ten Eyck reminds him of his driven self. He must help her slow down before she burns out. Like he did.

ROMANCE REKINDLED is available at:

Amazon  http://a.co/jlmHYD2

Amazon UK  http://amzn.eu/12TqpEM

iBooks:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/romance-rekindled/id1321141515?mt=11

Smashwords  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/764369 

Be sure to check out the other WeWriWa authors. 

#WeWriWa - ROMANCE REKINDLED Burn the Box

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors where authors share an 8 - 10 sentence snippet. Be sure to visit the other authors. You can find them here. 

I'm sharing excerpts from ROMANCE REKINDLED (formerly titled From Jailbirds to Wedding Bells), a romance with a little mystery. In this snippet, Abby and her mother are having tea in the kitchen. Please excuse the rogue commas.

“I had a boyfriend before your father, someone I wanted to marry. We, uh, we were so sure we would marry that we, uh, anticipated our wedding vows.”

Oh, my goodness, my prim and proper mother went all the way with a guy she didn’t marry. “Why are you telling me this?”

“The cards and letters in that box are from him.”

“I sort of figured that out since you went ballistic,” Abby took a deep breath, “I assume the journals are from that time, too.”

“I want you to promise me something, Abigail,” Mother reached across the table and clasped Abby’s hand, “I want you to burn everything in that box . . . without reading.”

Abby Ten Eyck likes her life the way it is. She runs a successful business, has a well-adjusted teenage daughter, and has managed to keep men at bay since her divorce fifteen years ago. Just before Christmas, she’s hit with change. Her mother decides to sell the family home. Then she’s arrested, with an unknown man. Could this new man in her mother’s life create more upheaval? Or could his handsome son be just what Abby needs to revive her dormant feelings?

Sam Watson embraces transition from frenetic Wall Street to a small Michigan resort town. His health is worth moving close to his dad who seems over the moon in love. But it’s the daughter of his father’s girlfriend who fascinates him. Abby Ten Eyck reminds him of his driven self. He must help her slow down before she burns out. Like he did.

ROMANCE REKINDLED is available at:

Amazon  http://a.co/jlmHYD2

Amazon UK  http://amzn.eu/12TqpEM

iBooks:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/romance-rekindled/id1321141515?mt=11

Smashwords  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/764369 

Kobo and B&N (coming soon)

Be sure to check out the other WeWriWa authors. 

Cover Reveal - Romance Rekindled #ChristmasStory

I am so excited to let you see the cover for my Christmas novella. Romance Rekindled takes place in Far Haven, Michigan, the locale for my Alex O'Hara mysteries. If you read the short stories I wrote the past two years on The Roses of Prose blog, then parts of Romance Rekindled will sound familiar. I loved the characters in Christmas Jailbirds and Mistletoe Kiss so much, I gave Mother & Daughter their own story.

Here's the blurb (thanks to my brilliant daughter)

Abby Ten Eyck likes her life the way it is. She runs a successful business, has a well-adjusted teenage daughter, and has managed to keep men at bay since her divorce fifteen years ago. Just before Christmas, she’s hit with change. Her mother decides to sell the family home. Then she’s arrested, with an unknown man. Could this new man in her mother’s life create more upheaval? Or could his handsome son be just what Abby needs to revive her dormant feelings?

Sam Watson embraces transition from frenetic Wall Street to a small Michigan resort town. His health is worth moving close to his dad who seems over the moon in love. But it’s the daughter of his father’s girlfriend who fascinates him. Abby Ten Eyck reminds him of his driven self. He must help her slow down before she burns out. Like he did.

Now, drumroll please, here's the cover from the fabulous Florence Price of The Novel Difference.

 Romance Rekindled will be available at most ebook vendors (Amazon, B&N, Kobo, iTunes, Smashwords, etc.) on Monday, December 4th.