Starting over isn’t easy, but having a friend in the same boat makes it a little bit easier. For Nichole, that friend is her mother-in-law, Leanne. When Nichole learns that her husband, Jake, has cheated on her, she knows her marriage is over and decides to forge a new life for herself and her young son. Inspired by Nichole’s decision, Leanne decides to stop ignoring her own husband’s unfaithfulness, and starts over as well.
Nichole juggles work, her son, and volunteer work, keeping herself busy while she heals. Then she meets Rocco, her husband’s opposite in every way. Just when things begin to progress, Jake steps in with a last-ditch effort to get Nichole back. Will she give Jake another chance, or overcome her fears of the future and choose Rocco?
Leanne has finally had too much—decades too much—of her husband’s cheating, and begins a new life as an English as a second language teacher. There she meets Nikolai, a charming Ukrainian baker. Before Leanne can put her past behind her and move forward with Nicholai, tragedy steps in, forcing Leanne to face the most difficult circumstance of her life.
A Girl’s Guide to Moving On is a sweet, inspiring read. The characters are strong, with a few chinks in their armor, as they learn what starting a new life, and love, is all about.
(Galley provided by Ballantine Books via NetGalley.)
A question for all my fellow writers out there: have you ever been inspired to write by a book or a movie?
And if so, what was it and why?
I’m not going to lie: most of my inspiration–when it has originated in something I’ve seen–has been from dreams I’ve had. Possibly just my Muse’s way of communicating with my stubborn brain…I have a feeling it’s hard to get a word in edgewise sometimes, as busy as I am.
Several of my stories have their origins in dreams, but I admit that movies and books have their place as well. Lord of the Rings seems to have influenced me more than I knew (although I started writing Witches before the movies ever came out.). Reading through the manuscript now makes me laugh sometimes, at the obvious influence that never occurred to me when first writing the draft.
(I do not own this image. Image belongs to Write Out Publishing.)
Cory Martin wrote for the hit show The O.C., and she also wrote three young adult novels based on the show. Now she is a yoga instructor and the author of Love Sick, which hit shelves on February 9th.
Cory Martin has just about everything she ever wanted, a growing career in Hollywood, her own apartment, and yoga. She doesn’t have a man, but she has a great group of friends, and at 28, she’s got time to meet “the one.” Then she gets news from her doctor she never dreamed about: she has MS.
From having it all, now Cory feels like she has nothing. Endless rounds of doctor’s appointments for a body that has betrayed her, and she’s alone. Who’s going to want to marry someone with MS? So Cory starts dating, searching for Mr. Right as she struggles to come to terms with her new reality.
Love Sick is a poignant, emotional true story about a young woman’s struggle with a serious illness and how she comes to terms with her new reality amidst the escapades of dating and life in California.
(Galley courtesy of Write Out Publishing via NetGalley.)
(I do not own this image. Image belongs to Red Adept Publishing LLC.)
Erica Lucke Dean dropped her career as a business banker to pursue writing in the North Georgia Mountains. Her newest book, Suddenly Spellbound, is the second book in the Ivie McKie Chronicles.
Ivie McKie has a lot going on. Her job as a kindergarten teacher is always hectic. Her marriage to Jackson is fast approaching. And her father is back from the dead. A little magic would make things so much easier. Too bad she promised Jack she wouldn’t use magic.
But growing up without her father means when her dad asks her for help with a spell, she reluctantly agrees, and finds herself in the wreckage of her dad’s lab with his hot new apprentice. Soon she finds herself drawn to the mysterious stranger with forces beyond her control, as a promise made long before she was born threatens to alter her life forever, and a clan of Scottish sorcerers appear to make sure someone gets a happily-ever-after.
Suddenly Spellbound is a light-hearted read full of Ivie’s mishaps and mistakes, as she struggles to get her life back on-track despite her father’s interference. Disasters abound, in the spirit of Bridesmaids and the Stephanie Plum novels.
I love the “writing prompts” pins I see on Pinterest. Some of them are horrible or not interesting to me, but some intrigue me. Here’s a few I’ve seen lately:
What about you? Want to write any of these? Or have you seen another writing prompt that has you itching to get started?
Robert Hendricks, a doctor who works with psychiatric patients, has seen many things in his life, from the English countryside of his childhood to Italy in World War II. But a letter from a stranger asks him to confront everything in his past to get answers about the father he never know.
Robert’s new acquaintance leads him down memory lane as he remembers his childhood, school, war, and love in Italy during the war. Sometimes it seems he knows more about Robert than Robert does, and the painful memories bring back the hurt and loss that Robert has experienced throughout his life, as he grows ever closer to learning who his mysterious father really was.
Where My Heart Used to Beat is a poignant, introspective novel that takes the reader to the English countryside and a life that was forever changed by loss and the war.
(Galley provided by Henry Holt & Company via NetGalley.)
How do you feel about starting a series of books…in the middle? Or at least, not at the beginning? I don’t mean deliberately, I mean you find a book that looks completely amazing, you buy it and start reading, and then you realize it’s part of a series…and not the first book.
What do you do?
Throw it down in disgust and walk away forever?
Keep reading, on the assumption that you’ll figure out what happened before?
Stop, buy and read the previous books in the series, and then read your enchanting new love?
(Is there some other option/reaction I haven’t mentioned?)
I won’t purposefully start reading in the middle of a series. Are you kidding me? And not get the whole story? And, generally, I try to ensure that whatever fabulous new book I’ve stumbled across and been intrigued by is not in the middle of a series. But it has happened. Occasionally. Recently. Like last week.
I started reading Suddenly Spellbound by Erica Lucke Dean to review it, and then realized it was not the first book in the series. Since I was reading it for something other than pure enjoyment, I kept reading, but the bits of backstory and mentions of past shenanigans bothered me, because I didn’t know the details of what had happened.
If I’d been reading just for me, I would have gone with either option one or three above. I would not have kept reading, because not knowing drives me up the wall.
Reading is always a priority for me. However, I’ve been super busy lately, so it fades a bit under the need for sleep while working 12-14 hour days. With only small increments of time at my disposal, I’m reading several things, in tiny chunks. So, here’s what I’m reading currently:
Suddenly Spellbound, by Erica Lucke Dean. (Just started it, but I like the breezy voice.)
Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. (Will always be my favorite, but only time for a little bit at a time right now.)
The Awakening, by Kate Chopin. (Just a few chapters in, but I’m liking it a lot.)
Beginning Theory, by Peter Barry. (Quite dense textbook.)
Fatal Revenant, by Stephen R. Donaldson. (Considering this series has been around since the year I was born, I’m really loving it.)
(I do not own this image. Image belongs to Loose Id, LLC.)
Kerry Adrienne is the author of several novels in different genres. Her newest book, Storm Damaged, is a fantasy/sci-fi romance.
Humans don’t know that mermaids exist, but they have a large tribal society and prefer to keep themselves apart from humans. Except for Mari. Desperate to get away from her domineering mother and her controlling fiancé, she left life under the sea behind to open a tiny souvenir shop on the island. She’s happy there, until her landlord, Chase tells her he’s selling the bar under which her shop is located.
Suddenly Mari’s happy fantasies of a relationship with Chase, the former Navy diver who lost his brother in a diving accident and is now afraid of the ocean, go up in smoke. Chase wants to get as far away from the ocean—and memories of his brother’s death—as possible, but before he can, a hurricane moves in, trapping him and Mari on the island. Will she be able to convince him to stay, or will her sea life come back to haunt them both?
Storm Damaged is a breezy story of two people both running from something. Mari has struggled for years against her family’s expectations, as well as her fiancé, while Chase is intent on running away from what haunts him. Their journey towards each other is a fun, engaging read touched with a little bit of magic.
Tomorrow Is Another Day 