Finally Writing Again

20 Saturday Jul 2019

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It’s been a hectic year. My oldest daughter and her husband moved back to NC in October. They lived part time with my youngest daughter and part time with us, so it seems there’s been extra people in the house ever since. I keep my youngest granddaughter on Fridays, and now, my oldest granddaughter is also here on Fridays.

In November, my husband was diagnosed with an ednocrin carcinoid of the small bowel that had already metastisized to his liver by the time the cancer was discovered. Stage 4 cancer is a devastating diagnosis, but we’ve adjusted to the news. The condition isn’t curable, but it is treatable. He has to have monthly shots to stop the hormone production of the tumor that causes it to spread. God willing, he’ll live another 10 to 20 years with the treatments as opposed to the 3 month to one year diagnosis he was given before he started the injections in January.

Of course, there are medical bills, but he’s still here, and he’s no longer throwing up everyday or experiencing weight loss and severe abdomen pains. He’s even gained weight, and the pain is less frequent and less severe. He’s now retired, and his new job is Papa John Daycare, as he babysits our oldest granddaughter three days a week. He’ll get a bit of a break by mid August when she starts Kindergarten.

My oldest daughter and her husband both have full time jobs now in NC and have moved into their own house. They’re adjusting to being in NC again after living for 9 years in Germany and 3 years in Mississippi, and I love having them back home.

With everything that’s happened this year, life is finally settling back down, and I am getting back to my writing. My current WIP is another time travel, which is set in Hartford Connecticut. With any luck, I hope to complete it by the end of the year.

Life Changes and Book Reviews

02 Saturday Mar 2019

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Where the heck did 2018 go? And how is it the third month of 2019 already? I’ve gotten so slack with my writing, but I have a ton of excuses. I’m tired, and life changes. BTW, I love the country song by that same name. But I digress. This is about why I’ve let my writing (and reading) slide for so long.

First, the good news. My oldest daughter who spent the last three years in Mississippi and the nine years before that has finally moved back to NC. They’re still getting settled so they are temporarily staying at my house and my younger daughter’s house. More good news: I get to see both my granddaughters every Friday. The bad news, is that once upon a time, that was my all day writing day. So, I’m distracted by granddaughters, ages one and four who are the light of my life.

I could write in the mornings before work or in the evenings after work, but my husband recently retired. That’s good. Right? Well, sort of. He’s always home. ALWAYS. I enjoy spending time with him, but I miss my home alone days and evenings.

The bad news? It was a medical retirement as he was recently diagnosed with a metatstatic carcinoid tumor. The cancer apparently started in the small bowel but went undetected for a long time so this slow growing cancer has now spread to his liver and is no longer curable. But…it is treatable. We pray he’ll be around another ten to twenty years, but in the meantime, we’re living.

There are so many cancer survivor stories, including my own, as I am an eleven year breast cancer survivor. There are also stories of people who’ve lost their lives to cancer, but you just don’t hear that many stories of people living with cancer. My husband is now one of those stories. He is now living with metastatic cancer, but he is living.

We are living.

In April, we’re going to a resort in Hendersonville, NC to spend a long weekend in the mountains. We’re going to see some of the 250 waterfalls in Brevard, NC and we’re going to spend at least one day touring Biltmore Estates in NC, as neither my husband nor I have ever been. Then in June, we’re spending a week at the beach.

We need to book these trips before the bills start pouring in as the Sandostatin injection my husband now gets every month to keep the cancer at bay and prevent his liver from failing costs about $35,000 per injection. As of now, we don’t know how much of that cost insurance will pay.Not that it matters. We can’t afford it, so it might as well be $1,000,000.00. But we’ll make monthly payments forever if we have too. Life goes on. Right? And I have started a new book, I just don’t know when I’ll finish it.

However, I have found time to read two books recently and posted reviews on Good Reads.

One was Sandra Sookoo’s  The Lady’s Chocolatier

A quick, fun read. The heroine, Evangeline, doesn’t want a husband, especially not her former fiance who seemed no different than every other man out to control women. The hero, Jasper, is a more Beta than Alpha but definitely heroic. He is a true gentleman who never tried to seduce Evangeline when they were engaged, believing all women wanted to wait until their wedding night, but was he too much of a gentleman?

Evangeline definitely wanted passion, but she was afraid passion would lead to losing control, so on the night Jasper proposed, she fled, moving away to go into business with her aunt selling undergarments, but a chance encounter with Jasper leads her to second guess everything she believed about marriage, love, and Jasper, who is no longer the perfect gentleman, and yet, he still treats her with more respect than any man she’s ever met.

Love and chocolate are a delicious combination.

I also read the first book in Andris Bear’s new series: Enter the Witch

A good witch, a sexy mechanic, and a lazy cat make for a good start to a promising series. Spoiler alert: this first book ends in a cliff hanger, but that shouldn’t stop anyone from reading the story, as the cliff hanger is actually the start of the next book in the series and not an abrupt ending that doesn’t finish the current story.

Truly a fun read, and I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

 

 

Book Covers & Cover Model, Caroline Kelly

13 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by in Book Cover, Book Covers, historical romance, Lilly Gayle, romance, romance author, romance novel, Time Travel

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When an author signs with a publisher, he or she has little or no control over the book’s cover. In self-publishing, the author has full control. The author can hire a designer or download images from sites such as http://123rf.com or http://fotolia.com to create a cover using Photoshop or some other photo editing software. There are also sites such as Jimmie Thomas’ http://romancenovelcovers.com where an author can buy individual images or a pre-made cover.

The only problem with these sites is that thousands of authors and the smaller publishing houses use the same images to create their covers.

But I wanted something unique for the cover of my time travel romance, Winds of Time. So, when my friend, Jennifer, suggested I use her daughter on the cover, I jumped at the chance.

Caroline has recently gotten into modeling and acting. She has blond hair and blue eyes and can pass for a young woman of sixteen to twenty-five, depending on her hair, makeup, and clothes. In Winds of Time, Selena Tillman is a twenty-five year old posing as her twenty-year-old ancestor, and like Caroline, she has blond hair. (See book details following Caroline’s interview.)

My brother is a graphic designer with an impressive portfolio (agwvisual.myportfolio.com) and he agreed to make my cover. He used one of the dozens of pictures Jennifer sent of Caroline dressed the way Selena was dressed in Chapter One, the tornado  and locket images I purchased from Fotolia, and a Photoshopped picture of my son-in-law, who’s one quarter Lumbee Indian.

 

 

Once my brother manipulated the images, he added the title in a cool, wind-blown font and my name. Then he sent me the proof, and I couldn’t be more pleased. It’s one of my favorite covers. And Caroline Kelly is definitely my favorite cover model. She’s also the only one I personally know, so I could be biased. She helped with marketing and promotion, and her mom, Jennifer, taught me how to use Instagram.

 

 

Both before and after the book’s release, Caroline promoted it on  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/clkblue21 and Facebook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cross promotion was an added bonus I wasn’t expecting. She even agreed to answer a few interview questions, posted below.

Caroline Kelly Interview

 How do you like the cover? Did it meet your expectations? 

I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but I love how it turned out. I can honestly say I don’t know anyone that is on a book cover, and to see myself as a book cover model is surreal. 

Tell me about some of your recent modeling jobs.

It’s been an exciting year for me. I’ve been in a couple of fashion shows in Charlotte NC. I have also had an opportunity to be an extra in a couple movies and a cable show. 

What can you tell me about the modeling gig you have coming up in the next couple of weeks?

I’m going to be in the Charlotte Summer Seen Fashion Show representing a swimsuit designer.

Swimsuit in picture is NOT from the Charlotte show or the designer.

What types of acting roles have you had?

I haven’t had any speaking roles yet. I have been a church extra several times for It’s Supernatural a religious cable show. I was a softball extra in a movie this past Spring that was filmed in Charleston SC. My most recent movie set experience was a cheerleader extra in a Clint Eastwood movie filmed in Atlanta GA. I really hope that scene doesn’t get cut 

What did you think of your experience with the film industry, and would you do it again?

Definitely. I love being on the movie set, and the experience I’ve gained as an extra has been amazing. I hope one day, it will lead to something bigger.

Would you like to be on another book cover?

Absolutely. Being part of this book cover has been a fantastic experience and is something I would love to do again. I have a real interest in doing print work, especially formal wear and wedding dresses.

How can other authors contact you if they’d like to discuss using you on their covers?clkblue21@gmail.com or https://www.instagram.com/clkblue21

Thanks so much to you and your mom for working with me on the cover and making Winds of Time my favorite book cover.

Winds of Time

Release Date: June 21, 2018

Tagline:

The past is her future, the future, her past, but can she save an innocent man’s life before history repeats itself? 

Blurb:

As long as Selena Tillman dreams of her ancestor, Mary, who disappeared without a trace in 1871, she’ll never find peace. As long as she dreams of the half-Native American army scout accused of killing Mary, she’ll never find love. Hoping to end the dreams and learn the truth, Selena goes to Texas where Mary and the scout died and sees more than ghosts. She sees a tornado kill Mary in real time before it jumps to the twenty-first century to pull Selena into its vortex and send her back to the nineteenth century. Selena believes she’s fated to prove Dylan’s innocence and save his life, but Dylan isn’t just the man of her dreams; he’s her destiny.

Fed up with the army, bigotry, and women—especially white women, Captain Dylan Casey dedicates himself to solving the mystery of Mary’s disappearance, proving his innocence, and trying to stop a war between the whites and the Indians. Then Mary’s cousin shows up, claiming a tornado killed Mary. Dylan doesn’t trust Selena, but she’s his only ally in Canyon Creek. Yet despite their common goal, growing mutual attraction, and a Comanche shaman’s prophecy of a white woman who will change his destiny and foretell the fate of the Indian Nation, Dylan refuses to take a chance on another spoiled, white woman—until fate changes his mind.

Excerpt:

Captain Casey stepped closer and raked his eyes over her, taking in her disheveled appearance. With surprising gentleness, he swept her hair from her forehead. When his fingers touched her flesh, her breath froze in her lungs, and every muscle in her body coiled. Shocked by the electricity in that brief touch, her knees buckled, and she sank back down to the sofa. When he hunkered down in front of her and took her chin in his strong hand, her breath caught in her throat.

“You really are hurt. What happened?” The deep timbre of his softly spoken question was like the man himself—sexy.

She met his probing gaze before lowering her eyes to the floor. “My horse threw me and ran off. I don’t know what spooked him, and I don’t know where he is.”

He rose to his feet and curled his lip. “Where are your trunks?”

“They’re due to arrive from Pecos later this week,” she said, unable to meet his gaze.

“Why would you leave your trunks in Pecos and travel alone on horseback? Why not wait at the hotel for the next stage to Canyon Creek?”

She was nervous enough without him towering over her, so she rose to her feet and forced herself to hold his intimidating gaze. “I felt a lot safer taking my chances on the road dressed as a man than I did staying in some skeezy hotel in Pecos where everyone knew I was a woman traveling alone.”

It was a reasonable explanation. She was wearing jeans in a time when women didn’t even wear slacks, and she had just shown up without taking the stage. He might have actually believed her if it hadn’t been for her modern vernacular.

He raked his eyes over her with a quirked mouth and skeptical lift of his brows. “You couldn’t fool a blind man in those clothes, and no man would wear an undershirt that color. You even smell like a woman,” he added, sniffing the air around her neck. When his nose grazed the tender flesh behind her ear, goose bumps raced down her arms.

Pages: 250

Print ISBN: 978-1-7323904-1-6

Digital ISBN: 978-1-7323904-0-9

ASIN: B07D989VQJ

Buy Links:

 Universal buy link: https://www.books2read.com/b/mvKKwX

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D989VQJ/ref

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/winds-of-time-lilly-gayle/1128772241;jsessionid

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1388810657

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/winds-of-time-7

Google: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Lilly_Gayle_Winds_of_Time?id=BAJeDwAAQBAJ

Good Reads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40207097-winds-of-time?from_search=true

Contact Information:

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram| The Wild Rose Press | Amazon

Look for all my books online and in print at your favorite online retailer.

Historical Romances:e

Wholesale Husband

Slightly Tarnished

Slightly Noble

Helpless Hearts

Wilder Hearts

Winds of Time

Paranormal romances:

Out of the Darkness

Embrace the Darkness

Winds of Time

My Review of Laura Browning’s Last Call

28 Thursday Jun 2018

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Summer is in full swing, and I’m finally reading again. If you’re like me and like finding great stories to read during the summer, check out the latest by Laura Browning.

Last Call (A Place to Call Home Book 3)

Blurb:

A Place to Call Home…
It’s exactly what Caleb Allred wants and exactly why he’s returned to Mountain Meadow, Virginia to open his dream of a sports bar. Last Call is his only baby. Or so he thought.

The last person Leah Scott wants to see face to face is Caleb. They already have a history. He just doesn’t know about it, and at this point, she’s not telling.

Fate has a way of changing things, though, and now Caleb and Leah have to find a way to pull together for the sake of the son they share.

Don’t miss Last Call, book three of a sexy new contemporary series from author Laura Browning.

My Review:

Ms. Browning puts a new spin on the secret baby trope in this romantic family drama featuring another Allred sibling. Leah is not your typical accomplished heroine, but she is determined. Her trashy family and abusive father have made her a virtual outcast in the Blue Ridge town where everyone knows and respects the Allred family. If not for that one night, Caleb Allred wouldn’t have given her a second look…or would he?

Caleb isn’t as oblivious to Leah has always believed, but she was always so shy, and her family so unlike Caleb’s family or any other family he knows in town, he didn’t think twice about leaving town and making a name for himself along the coast. But when he returns to Mountain Meadow, Leah is not only a beautiful woman trying to make a living at the local florist and get out from under her father’s thumb, she’s also a single mother. And her son looks hauntingly familiar.

I love this series. I’ve read the first two books in Ms. Browning’s A Place to Call Home Series, and while I enjoyed the first two, this book is my favorite…so far. But there’s another book in the series that features Caleb’s twin brother, and if the teasers in Last Call are any indication, I might just like the next book even better than this one.

Last Call is available through Amazon and most online retailers.

About the Author:

Laura Browning graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in Journalism mainly because a wise person, namely her father, suggested Journalism might be a steadier income than trying to write romance. She has worked in television markets in Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and North Carolina. In 2001, she won a Regional Emmy for her work writing and producing.

After dealing with reality for far longer than she should have, the urge to spin stories from the fiber of fiction outweighed her desire to report only the facts. Now she combines her writing career with teaching English.

Browning lives in the South with her husband, son, and a menagerie of animals that runs the gamut from horses to a lizard. When she’s not writing, Laura enjoys reading, photography, baking and contemplating actually having time to ride her horses.

Reviewing Reese Ryan’s Playing by the Rules

27 Wednesday Jun 2018

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Playing by the Rules

Playing by the Rules is part of Reese Ryan’s Playing by the Rules Series, which is set in London. The series focuses on a female cousins who find love when they least expect it. This is book one in the series and my first book by this author, but it most definitely won’t be the last book I read by Ms. Ryan.

Blurb:

When Meredith Jane encounters her ex’s elder brother at a saucy Valentine’s Day party for singles, the last thing she expects is to spend ‘seven minutes in heaven’ with him or to discover that he has feelings for her.

Hunter Westbrook adored Merrie long before his competitive younger brother asked her out. Now that their relationship is over and done, he faces the hardest decision of his life. Will he risk his relationship with his brother and jeopardize the future of their family’s luxury resort empire by pursuing the woman he loves? Or will he suffer in silence to keep peace in the family and risk losing her forever?

Merrie has spent her entire life playing by other people’s rules. One of the few women on the management team at her firm, she can ill afford to get caught up in the gossip and scandal sure to come if she chooses to be with Hunter. Nor does she wish to hurt Liam’s family or disappoint her own. Nevertheless, she has discovered a startling truth: She’s been with the wrong brother all along.

In a society where perception is everything, is true love worth risking everything they’ve both worked so hard for?

My Review:

Six months after Meredith breaks up with her boyfriend, her cousin invites her to a Valentine’s Hook-up party. Meredith is reluctant to go, but she knows she needs to move on from a bad break-up or she’ll go back to her jerk ex-boyfriend. Again. When  she runs into Hunter at the party, she’s more than relieved. She’s always liked Hunter, probably more than she should, but Meredith always plays by the rules.

Hunter has always had a thing for Merrie, and seeing her again reminds him of just how much he wants to make her his. There’s only one problem. Merrie is his brother’s ex, and both he and Merrie would never do anything to hurt his family. He stepped aside once before. He’s not going to do it again, even if it means breaking the rules.

Everyone knows bro code says don’t mess with a buddy or your brother’s ex, but there is a time and place for breaking the rules, and Ms. Ryan sets this up beautifully, giving Hunter and Merrie their happily ever after.

I got my copy on Amazon, but Breaking the Rules is available through most onlilne retailers. Get your copy and start this awesome series.

About the author:

Reese Ryan writes sexy, deeply emotional romances with family drama, surprising secrets, and unexpected twists.

Past president of her local Romance Writers of America chapter and a panelist at the 2017 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Reese is an advocate for the romance genre and diversity in fiction.

Book Signing in Raleigh

20 Sunday May 2018

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A couple months back, I was invited to do a book signing at Dog-Eared Books in Raleigh, NC. It was the first time someone approached me instead of the other way around, so I accepted. Since Dog Eared Books is a second hand book store, I knew I wasn’t likely to sell many books unless people I knew personally attended. I even had other authors discourage me from doing a book signing at a used book store. I did it anyway.

The weather was terrible. It rained. Hard. And although there was a steady flow of traffic into the book store, none had come to see me. They were there to buy or trade used books.

But, my youngest daughter and granddaughter attended, so I wasn’t bored or lonely. In fact, my little granddaughter (and the basket of candy I offered passersby) drew people to my table. Even if I didn’t sell those people a book, I met them. I got my name out there. And it was good exposure.

I also did a live reading on Facebook that generated over 500 views in less than 24 hours. You can’t buy that kind of publicity. Even if I didn’t sell all the paperback copies of by book, it doesn’t matter. I make more off of e-books anyway, and people noticed me. Some took my cards, others just stopped for a second to chat.

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FDogEaredBooks%2Fvideos%2F904693109692672%2F&show_text=0&width=267

The live reading on Facebook was just good marketing.

So, would I do another signing at Dog Eared Books despite the low (and I mean low) sales? Yes. Yes I would. In fact, I plan to do another one in July or August to promote my new release, Winds of Time. I’m hoping to get my cover model to join me at the signing, and maybe she’ll even do the live reading.

Sometimes, a book signing isn’t about sales. It’s about meeting readers and getting your name out there. Keep that in mind the next time someone questions why you’re doing a signing in a location that’s not likely to generate a lot of sales.

Winds of Time Cover Reveal!

06 Sunday May 2018

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Cover Reveal!

I have a cover! Thanks to AGWDesigns and cover model, Caroline Kelly, I got my cover before I got a release date. Not sure of the exact date, but  I can tell you  Winds Of Time will release sometime in June.

Tagline:

The past is her future, her future the past, but can she save a falsely accused man’s life before history repeats itself?

Blurb:

In 1872, Mary Tillman disappeared without a trace. A year later, the half-Native American army scout accused of the crime was murdered on Mary’s front porch. Now, an attachment spirit is haunting Selena Tillman through Mary’s necklace.

As long as Selena dreams of Mary, she’ll never find peace. As long as she dreams of the army scout, she’ll compare every man she dates to the fantasy man of her dreams. So she heads to Texas where Mary and scout died and she sees more than just ghosts. She sees a phantom tornado kill Mary in real time just before the storm jumps to the twenty-first century and takes Selena back in time with it. Stuck in the past, Selena believes it’s her fate to prove Dylan’s innocence and save his life, but she soon realizes Dylan isn’t just the man of her dreams; he’s her destiny.

Fed up with the army, bigotry, and women—especially white women, Captain Dylan Casey dedicates himself to solving the mystery of Mary’s disappearance, proving his innocence, and trying to stop a war between the whites and the Indians. Then Mary’s cousin sows up claiming a tornado killed Mary. Dylan doesn’t trust Selena, but she’s his only ally in Canyon Creek. Yet despite their common goal, growing mutual attraction, and a Comanche shaman’s prophecy of a white woman who will change his destiny and foretell the fate of the Indian Nation, Dylan refuses to take a chance on another spoiled, white woman—until fate changes his mind.

Lilly Gayle Book Signing!

05 Saturday May 2018

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MAY19

Lilly Gayle Book Signing!

Public

 · Hosted by Dog-Eared Books

Come out and see me on Saturday, May 19, 2018 from 1-4 PM at Dog-Eared Books

4027 Atlantic Ave, Raleigh, North Carolina 27604.
I’ll be signing copies of my Western Hearts series: Helpless Hearts and Wilder Hearts.

Can a former gunslinger find redemption through love?

Former gunslinger Noah Sinclair returned home so he could regain his respectability. Instead of redemption, he finds temptation in Juliana Jeffries—a woman engaged to the man who offered him a job and a second chance. Despite Noah’s loyalty to his boss, Noah’s Helpless Heart still yearns for Juliana—a woman with dreams and ambitions that don’t include a former gunslinger.

Noah stole Juliana’s heart years ago, but then he left town to avenge his father’s death. Now, she dreams of becoming a doctor and she’s obliged to marry Avery, a man with a secret she’s sworn to protect. Noah’s return could test her loyalty, her ambition, and her heart.

Writing about the outlaw, Jake the Snake, could be the opportunity of a lifetime—if it doesn’t get her killed.
When Ellie Wilder takes her sister from their grandfather’s home, she’s determined to put her family back together and write of their adventures. Then she runs into Jacob Harper, a man who resembles Jake the Snake, a notorious outlaw who once rode with Billy the Kid. Is it possible the outlaw who escaped justice has mended his ways? Or is the handsome Mr. Harper now murdering servant girls in Austin? Finding out the truth could be the journalistic opportunity of a lifetime.
Former Texas Ranger Jake Harper has returned to Texas to help solve the Servant Girl Annihilator murders. But when a similar murder occurs in Harmony, Texas, Jake goes undercover as Jake the Snake to find a connection between the series of brutal murders. Then Ellie Wilder shows up. Her snooping could blow his cover and get her killed, but Ellie soon becomes a bigger threat to his heart than his investigation.

My Review of The Three Sisters: Family Like it or Not

05 Monday Feb 2018

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I used to read all the time, but now I don’t get to read nearly as many books as I’d like. I still have my favorite authors, but I also enjoy checking out new authors from time to time. My latest author discovery is Rose Borden. Her first book, The Three Sisters: Family Like it or Not, is a family drama about, well, three sisters.

Fran, Dixie, and Carm are sisters with some serious issues, but everything isn’t as it seems and perception isn’t always truth. When the sisters’ mother dies, the three women are forced to spend time together and what ensues is a hilarious journey as the sisters discover secrets they never knew their mother was keeping.

Heartwarming and fun! I thoroughly enjoyed the story and laughed out loud more than once. There were a couple of places in the story where I thought the author could show more and tell less, but it was still so well done, it didn’t pull me out of the story.

This was Ms. Borden’s first book, and I look forward to reading more from this author.

Blurb:

Fran Mattison is living peacefully in the hills of Vermont when her mother’s unexpected death plunges her back into a world she had left behind.

Her mother’s last wishes force Fran to take a long trip with her two sisters, overly cheerful Dixie and the irritating Carm, and to Fran that is the worst punishment ever. She hates to be with them, especially Carm who deceived her and broke her heart twelve years ago. Forget the fact that Carm never shuts up.

Fran would rather stay in the secluded, bitter shell she has created for herself, where there is no forgiveness. The task before her will not be easy but she has to try and do it for the mother she loves so much.

As they travel to different parts of the country to settle Mom’s affairs, the three sisters are in for one shock after another. They learn that their lives have been a lie from the start, they’ve been deceived, and their mother is not the person they thought she was.

A roller coaster of feelings is encountered as each new place they visit brings a new surprise. Their emotions keep blending and tearing apart as they face these situations together. A new layer is uncovered when Fran learns that there is yet another deep secret being hidden between the sisters themselves.

What should have been a simple road trip turns into life shattering changes that test the already strained bonds between the women. Their journey makes them question the true meaning of the word family. It may not be what they expected but it’s their family whether they like it or not.

 

Rose Borden has enjoyed living in different parts of the U.S. and has spent the last 18 years in sunny North Carolina. She loves spending time with her family, writing, traveling, and relaxing at the beach.

Don We Now!

23 Saturday Dec 2017

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“Don we now our gay apparel!”

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays, and Merry Whatever You Celebrate this time of year. But do you don your gay apparel?

I used to. EVERY year–even if it was just Christmas sweats. Even when I didn’t wear holiday clothes, like my black sweater vest with snowmen and snowflakes on it, I’d wear Christmas colors. 

 

 

 

 

 

As recently as 2016, when my children asked me not to re-wear an old Christmas shirt or sweater, I wore my Santa apron, but I missed my Christmas attire.

I used to own an adorable denim shirt with kitties in Santa hats and a black velvet collar that I loved. I think I wore it more than one year. Then a couple of years ago, my daughter asked to borrow an ugly Christmas sweater for a themed Christmas party. I sent her a Santa sweater I wore back in the 90’s..one in which not a single picture exists because I’m usually the one behind the camera…and my Santa kitty shirt. My daughter was appalled that I still owned them. She threatened to burn them. lol!

 

I did get them back but have since donated them. Apparently, the Santa hat kitty shirt was more then 15 years old. I don’t have a picture of me in it the year I bought it, but here are pics from 1997 and 2007–proof my daughters are right. I do need to update my wardrobe. lol!

 

 

Some years, I don’t think I was festive enough…although, my girls always wore Christmas shirts or dresses until they were old enough to refuse. lol!

 

I actually miss those times, and I love seeing my granddaughters in Christmas clothes.

This year, I don’t have any new holiday outfits, just holiday earrings. Still, I’m not abandoning my gay apparel completely. I plan to wear Christmas colors. But is the headband too much?

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!