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Lilly Gayle Romance

Lilly Gayle Romance

Tag Archives: author

Life Changes and Book Reviews

02 Saturday Mar 2019

Posted by lillygayle in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

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Andris Bear, author, Carcinoid, Lilly Gayle, Metastatic Cancer, Reading, Sandra Sookoo, writing

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.

 

 

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

05 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by lillygayle in Uncategorized

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Tags

author, family drama, humor, Rose Borden, Sisters

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.

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