July 4th Celebration - Everyone Wins!

THE WINNER IS BUFFY KENNEDY! I will be contacting you, Buffy for your choice of one of my books in addition to The Marriage List. Everyone else, will either get their book or be contacted for best format Friday morning. Thank you all for entering!!

Thank you for stopping by! Celebrate our independence with me and others authors on our Sweet Swap Blog Hop and win a FREE copy of my bestselling book, The Marriage List. Everyone who leaves a comment will win a copy and one lucky commenter will win his or her choice of any of my other books, in addition to The Marriage List. 

Step back into 1776 with me as we look at that turbulent time in history with pictures and quotes from some of our famous forefathers.

But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty once lost is lost forever.
John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, 1775

We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.
Benjamin Franklin, (attributed) at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.

General Horatio Gates

"The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, New Englanders are no more. I AM NOT A VIRGINIAN, BUT AN AMERICAN!"
Patrick Henry, n.d.

"The die is now cast; the colonies must either submit or triumph.... we must not retreat."
King George III, In a letter to Lord North, 1774

Revolutionary War Flag. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, No. 1, December 19, 1776

"All men are created equal and have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Thomas Jefferson, In the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.
Patrick Henry, speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 5, 1778

"The injuries we have received from the British nation were so unprovoked, and have been so great and so many, that they can never be forgotten."
George Washington, Letter to John Banister, 1778

 "The cement of this union is in the heart blood of every American."
Thomas Jefferson, Writings, n.d.

I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.
Nathan Hale, before being hanged by the British, September 22, 1776

Where liberty dwells, there is my country.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to Benjamin Vaughn, March 14, 1783

             

Can happily ever after start with a list? Grey Andrews thinks so. After ten years of working, saving and investing, Grey finally achieved a level of wealth that allows him to do what he wants with his life. He needs a woman to share it with, but not any woman, the perfect woman. A woman who has the three essential qualities on his marriage list. But after three years of searching he isn’t any closer to finding her than he was when he started out.
 Carrie Tucker, an aspiring mystery writer and divorcée struggling to make it in the world of advertising, turned her focus from men to her career after dating too many creeps and losers. She’s finally earned her big break, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become the first female creative director in a hot New York ad agency. So what if it means working nights and weekends? It’s not like she has a social life anyway.
Is the marriage list a failure or will a chance meeting at a fiction-writing conference prove the list to be the key to Grey’s happiness after all?
LEAVE A COMMENT WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDY AND PREFERRED FORMAT AND YOU'LL GET A FREE COPY OF MY BESTSELLER, "THE MARRIAGE LIST"!HOW ARE YOU CELEBRATING THIS IMPORTANT HOLIDAY?
HOP TO THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THIS HOP BY CLICKING ON THE LINKS BELOW:

Dawne Prochilo
Sherry Gloag
Kathleen Ball
Front Seat Romance
Michael Charton
Lizzie Black
Layla Hunter
To learn more about my books, go to my website, click here

TUESDAY TALES, PROMPT "MONEY"

Welcome! Thanks for stopping by. My story this week is from my new WIP, a military romance.

        “Get out of the car.”

        “What’d I say?”

        “Get out.”

         “Look, Perri, the kid’s been gone for five years already. When are you gonna let go?” Ike closed the door and leaned on the open window.

            “Mike. His name was Mike,” Perri said as she peeled out, depressing the gas pedal almost to the floor. “asshole…”

 Perri slowed down when she crossed the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey. Putting on her turn signal, she forked right off the bridge onto the Palisades Parkway. The pretty brunette leaned back against the rich leather seat of her BMW and relaxed. This trip to Pine Grove was so familiar she could do it in her sleep. You’d be five today, Mikey. If you had lived. Five years since we scattered you in Cedar Lake. Perri took a shaky breath. SIDS took four-month-old Michael Jessup. Son of Perri and Sergeant Matthew Jessup, her husband, now her ex.   

 After an uneventful trip, Perri pulled into the driveway of the Pine Grove Guest House, facing Cedar Lake. She had a standing reservation for a week every year at this time. Lacy Ryan, owner of the guest house, held a plate of homemade cookies. Perri took one.

“Rooms ready, Perri. Uneventful trip I spose.”

“Yup. What’s all that lumber in old Doc Branford’s yard?”

“Doc moved to Florida. Somebody bought the place. Fixin’ it up, too.” Lacy took the plate into the kitchen. “coffee’s still hot.”

Perri felt a twinge in her gut. Doc Branford’s house was the house she and Matt stayed in on their honeymoon, such as it was. He was on leave from the Marines when they met. Every year she peered at the old place from next door, watching it get more and more rundown. She couldn’t bear to stay there. Too many memories…it’s where Mike was conceived.

They stayed there, too, when they brought his ashes up. It’s where they had that brutal fight. Perri shook her head to get rid of the memory.

“He wouldn’t have died if you had been here instead of in Afghanistan!”

“You…you let my son die!”

The shouting match echoed in her brain as if she was hearing it for the first time. Her stomach knotted as the words knifed through her gut.

“You all right? Ya look kinda pale,” Lacy asked. She put her hand on Perri’s forearm as she guided her into the kitchen.

“Do you know who bought Doc’s place?” Perri took a sip of her coffee.

 “Nope. Haven’t seen him yet.” Lacy fumbled with her cup, nearly dropping it.

“Think I’ll take a look after I unpack.” Perri finished the coffee in the dainty cup.

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that. I'd bet money he don't want you trespassing. It’s somebody’s property…he probably don’t like people snooping around.”

Perri shot Lacy a quizzical look, but the older woman avoided her glance. 
                                               **** 

Once outside, she approached Doc’s property cautiously. There was a car in the driveway and some of the lumber she spied before was gone. She stepped over the short hedge separating Lacy Ryan’s place from Doc’s and tiptoed toward the front window. The curtain was open. She leaned forward, peering in, her hands shading her eyes.

Strains of the 1812 Overture met her ears faintly over the sound of an electric drill. She spied the naked back of a tall man. His shoulders seemed to stretch from one wall of the living room to the other. In the middle of his back was a small tattoo. She bolted upright, pulling away from the window. How many men have a tattoo of a periwinkle flower in the middle of their backs! Matt!

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