Ireland Dreams

Have you ever dreamed of visiting Ireland? This trailer from EXTRAORDINARY DREAMS OF AN IRELAND TRAVELER 

by Rosemary "Mamie" Adkins will make you grab your passport and pack your bags. Click on the link below the book's cover to start your adventure. 

Extraordinary Dreams of an Ireland Traveler

Rosemary's book is available on her website: HERE
and as an eBook on Amazon: HERE.

Boomer Lit Friday - March 23

Thank you for stopping by to participate in Boomer Lit Friday, the meme where authors of books featuring Baby Boomers get together and post excerpts from their works. 

Our snippet today is from I.O.U. SEX. Reading June's high school diary inspired three friends to search for their old boyfriends to make amends for vetoing sex when they were teenagers. Divorced from Stan for about a year, in this scene June is getting dressed for her first meeting with Denny, her high school steady, when thoughts of her ex-husband intervene.

She added silver hoops to her ears and straightened her shoulders for a last look in the mirror. She turned sideways, patting her not-so-flat stomach, frowning at her not-so-perky breasts.
     Stan's criticisms nagged: Is that cellulite on the back of your thighs?

      Now she answered him in words she'd never spoken aloud. "Shut up, Shithead, and get out of my mind. I may not be perfect, but for a woman my age, I look pretty damned good."

Boomer Lit Friday

A weekly blog hop event for Boomer Lit writers

To read excerpts posted by other Boomer Lit authors, click HERE.

To connect to the Amazon link for I.O.U. SEX, click HERE. For more info about I.O.U. SEX, click on the tabs above this post. 

Teaser Tuesday - The Monday Night Needlework & Murder Guild

Teaser Tuesday again and that means more introductions to good books for my Kindle. What a treat! 

I've just started reading 
THE MONDAY NIGHT NEEDLEWORK & MURDER GUILD by Kathleen Valentine, and I'm loving the author's voice. I think you'll see what I mean in today's excerpt. Retired school teacher Miss Cecelia McGill is narrating.


TEASER:
Eulalia was the sort of woman who needed a man, that was obvious. Poor Edgar barely had time to cool off properly before she flew to Sweden and spent a chunk of his fortune having all her body parts put back where they were when she nailed him.
(From 20% on my Kindle)

Title: The Monday Night Needlework & Murder Guild
Author: Kathleen Valentine
Novella Length: 99 Pages
Amazon Link: HERE

Goodreads Synopsis:
Over fifty years ago Miss Serena Pitts founded The Monday Night Needlework and Murder Guild in the town of Pitts Crossing, Massachusetts. Members got together every week to share cookies and gossip while they did their needlework and discussed the latest murder mysteries. But when an unscrupulous lothario starts seducing and fleecing some of its members, the guild begins falling apart. That is until retired teacher, Miss Cecelia McGill, decides this cannot go on. With a blend of small town charm, dark comedy, and psychological suspense, Kathleen Valentine has created a "whydunnit" featuring a heroine readers will find hard to forget.

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.

Boomer Lit Friday - March 15

Thanks for dropping by to read our latest Boomer Lit Friday excerpt from I.O.U. SEX. June, Kiki, and Peggy have recently made a pact to track down their high school boyfriends, and now they're meeting for lunch. In case you can't tell from Peggy's lunch order, I.O.U. SEX is set in the South. The excerpt is from Page 54 (14% on Kindle). 

The next day, Peggy sat across from her two friends, studying the restaurant's menu and having a hard time deciding which entree to order. Finally, she told the waitress to bring her favorite meal--chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes with cream gravy, and a large Coke. A look passed between June and Kiki, but they said nothing, other than to ask for grilled tilapia with steamed veggies and iced tea. Peggy sighed, wishing she had their willpower, wondering if she could change her order, but the waitress had already taken their menus and left.

Kiki took a sip of water and smiled at the others before speaking. "So, how goes the great search? What's the latest?"

"Search? Wa...wait a minute," Peggy stammered. "Are you talking about your wild idea to find our old boyfriends? I thought that was just a joke. June, you're not searching for Denny, are you?"

June's cheeks reddened. 

                       

To connect with other Boomer Lit Friday authors and read excerpts from some terrific books, click HERE.

To connect to the Amazon link for I.O.U. SEX, click HERE. For more info about I.O.U. SEX, click on the tabs above this post. 

Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CountryFriedSteak.jpg

Teaser Tuesday - The Day After Yesterday

Seems like I usually read women's fiction, and that means the stories are almost always told from a woman's point of view. Although THE DAY AFTER YESTERDAY was written by a woman, in this case the protagonist is a man. His dramatic story kept me reading late into the night.

My two sentences are taken from the book's opening chapter (1% on my Kindle). They are the reader's first introduction to the main character.

"The man stood just inside the doorway, blinking dazedly as if astounded by the diner's light and warmth. He was white-faced and soaked through -- he might have emerged from the sea, which of course was impossible given the storm-tossed tide."

Number of Pages: 466
Amazon Link:  Here
Link to My Amazon Review: Here
(I gave it five stars.)

Amazon Synopsis: The events of a single night can change a life forever, as musician Daniel Whitman discovers when he loses his family and home.

Overwhelmed by grief, unable to find solace in his music or accept comfort from his friends, he flees up the California coast. Daniel thinks he’s leaving everything behind, but his journey will take him to the places and people that will help him find his way back.

The Day After Yesterday is a story of hope, friendship, and the redemptive power of music.

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.

Are You a Baby Boomer?

To learn the warning signs, visit my post on the Boomers & Books blog (here.) The post may make you laugh, and your thoughts on the subject are welcome!

Boomer Lit Friday - March 8

We're pleased to participate in Boomer Lit Friday for the first time today. 

Our snippet is taken from Chapter 1 of I.O.U. SEX.  In this scene, lifelong friends June, Kiki, and Peggy read June's high school diary, reflect on their teenage years, and come up with the idea of searching for their old boyfriends. [WARNING: This post contains one bad word and a bunch of innuendo.]

      Kiki rolled her eyes. "Shit, if I'd known then what I know now, things would have been very different. When I think of the staying power of those eighteen-year-old guys ...." She sighed. "Too bad we wasted it."
      Peggy put her hand over her mouth to keep her drink from spewing out with her laughter. She shook her head as if to dislodge Kiki's words from her ears. "Please, I'm serious. Those boys must have felt as sad as a fiddle with one string. So disappointed. So...unfulfilled. It must have been hard on them."
     "Unfulfilled?" June grinned. "That's priceless."
     Kiki arched an eyebrow. "That's also an understatement if I ever heard one, but you're sure right about the hard part."
            
Here's the criteria for Boomer Lit Friday posts:

The excerpt must be from a work that fits in the Boomer lit genre, which means it must focus on Boomer characters or issues faced by Boomers today, not nostalgia or coming of age set in the 50s and 60s.

For links to more Boomer Lit Friday posts and excerpts from some great books, click HERE. 

To link to I.O.U. SEX on Amazon, click on the book's cover to the left of this post.

Enjoy Boomer Lit Every Friday

Teaser Tuesday: The Law of Similars

My favorite Chris Bohjalian book (so far) is MIDWIVES, but I enjoyed this one too. No matter what he writes, I learn something new through his stories. That's always a plus for me. In this book, the subject was homeopathic medicine.

Today's Teaser is from Page 3 of my trade paperback copy:
"But about a week after Elizabeth's funeral, when Abby and I were just starting to settle into a routine that would become our life, I think the concept that Mommy really and truly wasn't coming back became a tangible reality in my little girl's mind--more real, perhaps, than the lunch box I packed every night for day care, or the stuffed animals that lined the side of her bed against the wall. It happened after midnight."

Title: The Law of Similars
Author: Chris Bohjalian
Number of Pages: 336
Amazon Link: Here

Synopsis (from Goodreads):
From the number one bestselling author of Midwives comes this riveting medical thriller about a lawyer, a homeopath, and a tragic death.  When one of homeopath Carissa Lake's patients falls into an allergy-induced coma, possibly due to her prescribed remedy, Leland Fowler's office starts investigating the case.  But Leland is also one of Carissa's patients, and he is begining to realize that he has fallen in love with her.  As love and legal obligations collide, Leland comes face-to-face with an ethical dilemma of enormous proportions.  Graceful, intelligent, and suspenseful, The Law of Similars is a powerful examination of the links between hope and hubris, love and deception. 

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.