contemporary

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Pets and other animals on WIP Wednesday

Today, I’m looking for excerpts with animals. I’ve started my contemporary again — or, at least, I am writing a new beginning about a week before the one I already had. I’m starting with my hero being tripped up by a cat right at the moment he meets the heroine and decides he wants to impress her. So I decided to focus on excerpts with animals today. Meet the cat on my cover, who plays a crucial role in the plot as the bringer of chaos. Meet him briefly, that is. He doesn’t stick around.

“Yes. I am Meg Fotheringham.” The deity behind the counter extended her hand for Patrick to shake. Patrick stepped forward, his eyes locked on hers, determinedly not allowing them to slip to the glories outlined by her apron. Don’t stuff it up, Patrick. Smile. Say something normal. And then he was falling, crashing into the baskets and cake stands clustered on the counter.

Patrick, winded by the sharp blow to the chest, was barely conscious of a large tabby cat that shot out from under his feet and through a cat door at the back of the room.

“Are you all right?” Ms Fotheringham asked, as she hurried around the counter to help him back to his feet. “That dratted cat!”

Patrick was trying to draw in enough air to breathe, while surveying the chaos his fall had made — crushed chocolate cake, scattered buns and cupcakes, broken gingerbread cookies.

“I’m sorry,” he managed.

Ms Fotheringham frowned at the mess. “Not your fault,” she assured him. She was still holding his arm and now she nudged him towards the nearest chair. “Please sit down. I’ll make you a cup of tea or coffee. You were looking for me? No, never mind. Get your breath back first.”

Tea sounded wonderful. The long bus ride, the shock of his new landlady’s youth and loveliness, the fall — combined, they’d left Patrick limp as a dishrag, no better than he’d been when the glandular fever had been raging full force through his system.

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Summertime reading from Authors of Main Street

We’re a few days out from the publication of Summer Romance on Main Street, more than 150,000 words with six novellas and another to come in an update.

I had a quick skim through an advance copy this morning when the publisher asked us all to take a look for layout issues, and was wildly tempted to stop and read. It’s a treat to come! Here are the blurbs. Don’t miss out on this lovely summer treat for only 99c.

FORGET ME NOT | Carol DeVaney

When guilt, grief, and love collide, Sarah Hall walks away from the only man she ever loved—five years later, after a chance meeting brings them together again, blame and a regretful judgement fall away.

Ted West’s short-lived marriage left him with a four-year-old daughter to raise alone. The latest misunderstanding cannot mend the hurt and harsh words between Ted and Sarah, unless forgiveness steps in.

RETREAT, INTERRUPTED | Jill James

A woman running from her past mistakes, a man buried by his doubts of the future, and a dying town that needs them both.
Will Cassie and Ben find all the answers they seek in the last place they expected?

BEACHED | Jude Knight

Grieving for the grandparents who raised her and still bruised from betrayals in New York City, Nikki Watson returns to her childhood home in Valentine Bay.

Zee Henderson has built a new life in New Zealand: friends, a job he enjoys and respect he earned for himself, without the family name and money he left behind.

The attraction between Nikki and Zee flames into passion, until Zee’s past arrives on their doorstep and washes away their coastal paradise.

THAT SONG IN PANTAGONIA | Kristy Tate

When Adrienne discovers her husband, Seb, has been unfaithful, the illusion of her perfect life is indelibly shattered and she flees. Nick, a shop owner who suddenly finds himself the center of media attention, follows.

They both escape to Latin America for different reasons. Adrienne is tired turning a blind eye to her husband’s affairs. Nick trails after her, not only because he’s become an overnight YouTube sensation and he doesn’t know how to handle it, but also because he’s secretly been in love with Adrienne, his cousin’s wife, for years.

Two people with hurting hearts and unrealized dreams explore the streets of Buenos Aires and the South American countryside, and it changes them both forever. And what they find in each other is something that might just heal them both.

50 MILES AT A BREATH | Lizzi Tremayne

A summertime stint at a small animal clinic takes veterinary student Lena away from her beloved horses, but at an endurance ride she finds horses—and her ideal man, veteran pilot Blake. She decides she can’t do without him and his world— after finishing vet school, that is.

They fall in love and Lena heads back to far-off vet school, but distance and her studies don’t help their relationship any. Then disaster strikes, with her graduation at stake. To make things worse, Blake’s increasing jealousy, fueled by his past experiences, strain the already-tense situation.

The final race tests not only the horse’s endurance, but Lena’s and Blake’s, as well. The pair must come to terms with their fears and make the right choices to create the future they so desire.

IN PLAIN SIGHT | Leigh Morgan

Summer O’Hara stumbles upon an international jewelry thief in small-town Door County, Wisconsin and pays for it with her life. Or does she? As her family searches to uncover the mystery behind her death they find that romance and valuables are often hidden in plain sight.