Today is my turn on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour and I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for the audiobook edition of THE NINTH SESSION by Deborah Serani.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, the author’s bio and social media links and a Rafflecopter giveaway. Enjoy and good luck on the giveaway!
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Book Description
An edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller that brings a unique mix of psychotherapy and sign language and Coda culture. Just when you think you have it figured out, think again!
Dr. Alicia Reese takes on a new patient. Lucas Ferro suffers with crippling anxiety, and as sessions progress, he begins to share the reasons why he’s struggling. As Ferro’s narrative becomes more menacing, Reese finds herself wedged between the cold hard frame of professional ethics and the integrity of personal truth. And, finally, when Ferro reveals his secrets, Reese learns how far she’s willing to go, willing to risk and willing to lose to do the right thing.
THE NINTH SESSION by Deborah Serani is an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller written and read in a unique style. The plot is revealed in a series of psychological therapy sessions, patient notes and self-reflection. I listened to the Audible audiobook version performed by the author herself and was captivated.
Psychologist Alicia Reese is scheduled to meet a new patient and finds him having an anxiety/panic attack in her office restroom. Lucas Ferro tells Alicia he has tried therapy before, but it never seems to work. With each new session, Lucas’s revelations become more menacing, and Alicia will have to choose between carrying on with his sessions, her professional ethics and/or doing the “right” thing.
I loved the way this story progressed and the unique way it was presented. Alicia is an interesting protagonist. Ms. Serani integrates Alicia’s history of having grown up in a CODA (Children of Deaf Adults) family, her still present grief at the death of her husband and her professional life all together in a memorable character. The plot follows Alicia’s sessions with Lucas and uncovering his history and secrets. As each surprise or twist is revealed, the threat and tension levels increase the pace to a realistic climax. This is a short standalone that I did not want to stop listening to.
I enjoyed Ms. Serani’s narration. It was clear with a steady pace. I was never confused with which character was speaking during her narration. I also enjoyed that during the “Note” sections of the story, the narration had a scratching noise in the background as if Alicia was truly writing while you are listening.
I highly recommend this psychological thriller!
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Author Bio
Deborah Serani, Psy.D. is psychologist in practice 30 years. She is also a senior professor at Adelphi University and has been published in academic journals on the subjects of depression and trauma. Dr. Serani is a go-to expert for psychological issues. Her interviews can be found at ABC News, CNN, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Forbes, Reader’s Digest, The Washington Post and USA Today, and affiliate radio station programs at CBS and NPR, just to name a few. She is also a TEDx speaker and has lectured nationally and internationally. Dr. Serani has worked as a technical advisor for the NBC television show, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – where a recurring character, Judge D. Serani, was named for her. Dr. Serani is an award-winning author, writing about psychological topics in many genres.
GRILLING DAHMER: The Interrogation of “The Milwaukee Cannibal” by Patrick Kennedy & Robyn Maharaj is an intense true crime book featuring the manuscript written by one of the detectives who “befriended” Dahmer, Patrick Kennedy to not only obtain his confession, but to identify his victims from his years as a serial killer. Ms. Maharaj was working with Mr. Kennedy, before his unexpected death, to bring this manuscript to the public.
In July of 1991, Homicide Detective Patrick “Pat” Kennedy responded to a possible homicide. It was the apartment of Jeffrey Dahmer. Pat was able to build a rapport with Dahmer that lasted through his confession, identification of his victims over several weeks and the length of his trial.
The majority of this book is Mr. Kennedy’s manuscript and then Ms. Maharaj wraps up any loose ends in the final chapters. This is a fascinating look at a man who was able to treat Jeffrey Dahmer as a human being and at times sympathize with him even as he discovered all his horrific secrets. The events depicted are graphic and difficult to read at times, but at the same time I could not stop. My personal problems with the book were that portions of the interrogation were repeated several times and became redundant and some of Mr. Kennedy’s personal life during this time is included and seems more filler than in depth look at what he must have been personally experiencing at the time. Otherwise, this story is an amazing look at this serial killer’s mind told from a unique firsthand perspective.
I highly recommend this true crime story of Jeffrey Dahmer!
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About Patrick Kennedy
Former Milwaukee Police Department Homicide Detective Patrick Kennedy, PhD spent several months engulfed in a serial killer case that made headlines around the world in July 1991. Because of an instant rapport he established with Jeffrey Dahmer, he was able to draw a confession from a man who had murdered 17 young men. After spending several more years as a detective, he returned to college and went on to teach criminal justice at two Wisconsin universities. He was featured in the documentary film, The Jeffrey Dahmer Files in 2012. An active PAL (Police Activity League – basketball) participant, Patrick Kennedy passed away in April 2013.
About Robyn Maharaj
Robyn Maharaj is a freelance journalist, grant-writer, and former arts director based in Canada. She co-founded, Thin Air: the Winnipeg International Writers Festival in 1996. Since 1991, she’s published feature articles, profiles, poetry, and book and film reviews in numerous Canadian newspapers, magazines, and literary journals. Two poems were published in the anthology, Spider Women: A Tapestry of Creativity and Healing and one of her literary essays was published in the anthology, The Winnipeg Connection: Writing Lives at Mid-Century. In 2014, crimemagazine.com published her feature article, “Exorcising Dahmer’s Ghost.”
Seduced by her employer’s son, Evangeline, a naïve young governess in early nineteenth-century London, is discharged when her pregnancy is discovered and sent to the notorious Newgate Prison. After months in the fetid, overcrowded jail, she learns she is sentenced to “the land beyond the seas,” Van Diemen’s Land, a penal colony in Australia. Though uncertain of what awaits, Evangeline knows one thing: the child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land.
During the journey on a repurposed slave ship, the Medea, Evangeline strikes up a friendship with Hazel, a girl little older than her former pupils who was sentenced to seven years transport for stealing a silver spoon. Canny where Evangeline is guileless, Hazel—a skilled midwife and herbalist—is soon offering home remedies to both prisoners and sailors in return for a variety of favors.
Though Australia has been home to Aboriginal people for more than 50,000 years, the British government in the 1840s considers its fledgling colony uninhabited and unsettled, and views the natives as an unpleasant nuisance. By the time the Medea arrives, many of them have been forcibly relocated, their land seized by white colonists. One of these relocated people is Mathinna, the orphaned daughter of the Chief of the Lowreenne tribe, who has been adopted by the new governor of Van Diemen’s Land.
In this gorgeous novel, Christina Baker Kline brilliantly recreates the beginnings of a new society in a beautiful and challenging land, telling the story of Australia from a fresh perspective, through the experiences of Evangeline, Hazel, and Mathinna. While life in Australia is punishing and often brutally unfair, it is also, for some, an opportunity: for redemption, for a new way of life, for unimagined freedom. Told in exquisite detail and incisive prose, The Exiles is a story of grace born from hardship, the unbreakable bonds of female friendships, and the unfettering of legacy.
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Elise’s Thoughts
The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline brings to life five women in nineteenth century Australia. All faced similar hardships struggling for redemption and freedom in this new society. They were mistreated and taken from a culture they knew. These women were all brought to their new lives against their will but showed strength and courage.
Evangeline, orphaned after her Vicar father died, found a job as a Governess. But the stepson living in the manor seduces her and shows her affection by giving her a family heirloom ring. The maid, Agnes, finds it and accuses her of stealing it. To make matters worse, she pushes Agnes and is now also accused of attempted murder. Found guilty she is sentenced to fourteen years in an Australian prison.
Olive, also a prisoner, befriends Evangeline. Accused of stealing, she received a sentence of seven years and transport to the Australian prison. She was street wise and knew what was needed to survive.
Hazel, a sixteen-year-old, was accused of stealing a silver spoon and sentenced to seven years in the Australian prison. She is a skilled midwife and herbalist, bartering her skills for goods and favors.
All three women are transported to Australia on the ship, Medea. They must struggle with sea sickness, avoiding sailor’s advances, and the harshness of the journey. Evangeline also must deal with being pregnant, the father being the stepson. She knows she will give birth to her baby while at sea.
Mathinna, the Aboriginal native, an orphaned daughter of the Chief of the Lowreenne tribe, has been adopted by the new governor of Van Diemen’s Land the setting for the Australian prison. She is used by the Governor’s wife as an experiment in civilization, trying to make her into a “lady.” Her life intersects with Hazel’s about two-thirds of the way through the book. Although Mathinna is not a convict, she like the other women is a prisoner with no control over their life.
Caleb Dunne is the doctor on the ship. Because of a misdiagnosis of a prominent woman, he decided to escape and signed up for the ship. Shy and feeling out of place he first forges a friendship with Evangeline, both enjoying the discussion of books. But later he and Hazel become friendly after he realizes her worth as a mid-wife. Their relationship becomes stronger as the story progresses.
The story fascinatingly allows the reader to follow the lives of these women in 19th Century Australia as they forge a new life with new opportunities. People will have their eyes open to pieces of history that are still pertinent today. It is obvious the author did her research and intertwined it into a riveting novel. Readers’ take a journey with these women and root for them as they gain strength and resilience.
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Elise’s Author Interview
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?
Christina Baker Kline: I was inspired by a small article I read in a newspaper about criminal ships. The point of the article is how convicts then had it harder than today. I thought how parts of my life intersected with this story. I had a life-changing six-week Rotary fellowship to Australia. I taught in women’s prisons. I also wrote a book with my mother about the second wave of the women’s movement. A lot of the issues in this book are relevant today including the needed reform of the criminal justice system and the role of women in society. I think it is a hopeful story.
EC: Why the map in the front of the book?
CBK: I wanted to show the route from London to Van Diemen’s Land, renamed Tasmania. It is from the mid 19th Century. I hope readers get a sense of the wide-open places including the placement of the ports, an understanding of the geography. This is the setting where the convict women stayed.
EC: Why the Lowreenne Tribe?
CBK: I went to Australia and Tasmania before Covid. I learned when I arrived about the Aboriginal people who were essentially being pushed into open air concentration camps. By the late 1860s there was no full-blooded Aboriginal people left in Tasmania, out of thousands. I felt it would be irresponsible if I did not address it. Mathinna was a real person who died tragically at the age of seventeen. Everything I described in the novel actually happened to her.
EC: How would you describe Evangeline?
CBK: She was the perfect person to lead the reader into the story, in some ways a stand-in for the reader. Evangeline was naïve and emersed herself in books. The convict world was a shock for her. She was inquisitive, thoughtful, brave, and very lonely. She did not know how to survive as a convict because she was not tough so depended on Olive and Hazel.
EC: How about Hazel?
CBK: She had this “superpower” of healing; a knowledge learned as a mid-wife. Hazel knew how to balance things really well. She was savvy, caring, and angry at being abandoned. I think she goes through a change in the novel. At first, she was a mistrusting teenager, betrayed by her mother. As the story unfolds, she begins to trust more people and comes to love the baby, Ruby.
EC: How would you describe Olive?
CBK: Funny, irreverent, a comic relief, and does what it takes to get by in prison.
EC: What about the relationship between Dr. Dunne and Hazel?
CBK: He is called the “hot doctor.” As with Hazel, he also changes over time. He went on the convict ship because he needed work. At first, he befriends Evangeline who is more like him. Yet, over time Hazel and he realize they share an interest in medicine. He comes to respect her. All the class restrictions fall by the wayside.
EC: How would you describe the doctor?
CBK: A complex character. At times he could appear to be a jerk because he was dismissive, a snob, but overall caring.
EC: What was the role of the Quakers?
CBK: They believed the convicts were worthy of redemption. Elizabeth Fry was a real person who helped them. She was very judgmental because she thought they were sinners. She gave them a sense of dignity and treated them as human beings but was never 100% accepting.
EC: There are similarities with today’s topics?
CBK: Most of these women sent to Australia committed crimes of poverty. They stole to feed themselves and their family since there was no social safety net. These women fell through the cracks. The criminal justice system was brutal then. Back then the poor had no rights and were considered expendable. Legal counsel was only for the rich and the poor had no recourse. Evangeline was an example of someone without allies, resources, and representation.
EC: Why did the British courts sentence these women to prisons in Australia?
CBK: The goal of the British government was to populate Australia. It had a ratio of nine men to every woman. They were sent there under flimsy pretenses. Today, 20% of Australian descendants come from convicts. The Australian personality was forged within their convict past: irreverent, willing to take changes, and never took themselves very seriously. When out of prison, these women had opportunities they would never have had in Britain.
EC: Why the drowning scene?
CBK: I wanted to show how no life is sacred. I read books on drowning. Sebastian Junger who wrote the non-fiction book, The Perfect Storm describes in detail how someone drowns. This was very helpful to me with those scenes in the book.
EC: A powerful quote, “People we love live inside us, even after they’re gone.” Please explain.
CBK: In my novels I often talk about this. In Orphan Train the book begins with the line, “I believe in ghosts. They are the ones who haunt us. They are the ones that left us behind.” With both quotes I thought about the tree metaphor. I love the idea of years that pass, giving us a core of strength. The convict women were alone and had to draw on what they had internally. Even though they lost someone they still had a piece of them in their memories.
EC: What about your next projects?
CBK: My next book, probably out in 2023 will be set in the Civil War era in North Carolina. This novel has been optioned for a TV series by Bruna Papandrea. I will be an executive producer.
THANK YOU!!
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Leigh Coulton has worked hard to build what looks like a normal life. She has a good job as a defence attorney, a daughter doing well in school, and even her divorce is relatively civilised – her life is just as unremarkable as she’d always hoped it would be.
HIDES A DEVASTATING PAST
But Leigh’s ordinary life masks a childhood which was far from average… a childhood tarnished by secrets, broken by betrayal, and finally torn apart by a devastating act of violence.
BUT NOW THE PAST IS CATCHING UP
Then a case lands on her desk – defending a wealthy man accused of rape. It’s the highest profile case she’s ever been given – a case which could transform her career, if she wins. But when she meets the accused, she realises that it’s no coincidence that he’s chosen her as his attorney. She knows him. And he knows her. More to the point, he knows what happened twenty years ago, and why Leigh has spent two decades running.
AND TIME IS RUNNING OUT
If she can’t get him acquitted, she’ll lose much more than the case. The only person who can help her is her younger, estranged sister Calli, the last person Leigh would ever want to ask for help. But suddenly she has no choice…
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Elise’s Thoughts
False Witness by Karin Slaughter shows why she is one of the best for writing fabulous characters. This story has two sisters’ childhoods tarnished by secrets, broken by betrayal, and ultimately destroyed by a brutal act of violence as well as one of the sister’s tragedy of addiction. She was portrayed with empathy and grace by the author. This story is brutal, honest, real, and heartbreaking at times involving issues of rape, drug use, murder, and abusive violence.
Kudos to Slaughter for balancing the strong relationship between the sisters. Readers will grow attached to the sisters Leigh, Callie and Leigh’s husband, Walter, as he becomes involved to help them. Each of the sisters have taken a different route through life. Leigh Collier has worked hard to build what looks like a normal life after being sexually harassed as a child babysitter. She’s an up-and-coming defense attorney at a prestigious law firm in Atlanta, who would do anything for her sixteen-year-old daughter Maddy, while managing to successfully coparent through a pandemic after an amicable separation from her husband Walter. The other sister, Callie, is a drug addict, but sympathetically humanized. She was a child gymnast and cheerleader, who after suffering a broken neck, had constant back pain. Her childhood experience involved being groomed and regularly sexually assaulted by a violent pedophile while babysitting his 10-year-old son, and turning her into a heroin addict.
As Leigh is asked by her boss to defend a serial rapist, she is confronted with her past. When she meets the accused face-to-face, Andrew, she realizes that it’s no coincidence that he’s specifically asked for her to represent him. They know each other. Leigh wonders how much he knows about what happened over twenty years ago. The only person who can help her is Callie, the younger, estranged sister. With the life-shattering truth in danger of being revealed, she has no choice to involve Callie. The shocking twist at the end of the book will keep readers engrossed.
This complex plot has as its central theme, the heart of the relationship between Callie and Leigh. Both these heroines are believable, flawed, and courageous. The highly intense themes, along with the horrible graphic actions of the evil doers, makes for a riveting read.
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Elise’s Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Why write about the pandemic?
Karin Slaughter: I started with a character, Leigh Collier, who I thought about three years ago. I knew I was going to write a story during the pandemic. When the book was finished the vaccines came, so I knew I wanted to incorporate the virus into the story. It was fun and challenging for me as an author. I tried to make Covid exist, but not as an intricate part of the story. I made sure not to politicize it.
EC: There is a difference between the two sisters?
KS: Some have the luxury to keep themselves as safe as possible and some do not. To highlight this, I used the two sisters, Callie and Leigh. Callie always had to work. Because of her addiction she had to be on the streets. Having a disability made her vulnerable.
EC: Why the addiction angle?
KS: I wanted to humanize someone struggling with addiction. She had an emotional, mental, and physical addiction. Hopefully, I showed how we are really failing in how to handle addicts and help them. Callie figured out a way to help herself through maintenance doses. If only addicts could get levels that could help them function in society and eventually wean themselves off of the drugs. Instead of punishing the people into the ground we should look at ways people could get help.
EC: Drug addicts?
KS: The personality of the person must be considered. If someone is actually a good person who is controlled by addiction, they are still decent. If someone is a horrible jerk, addiction will definitely amplify it. We spend trillions of dollars on the war on drugs, which has failed miserably. Imagine if we spent that money on helping low-income students get better Internet, classrooms, schoolbooks, nutritional meals, and safe schools. This would be more useful.
EC: How would you describe Leigh?
KS: She experienced a horrific trauma with her sister when they both were younger. She is now a successful lawyer. But Leigh is a control freak, compartmentalizes people, never likes to feel powerless, and is a survivor. She presents a front to hide her guilt and deep vulnerability.
EC: How would you describe the bad guy, Andrew?
KS: My grandmother used to say, ‘if someone wants to be bad, they will find any excuse to be bad.’ He is definitely an illustration of that. Andrew is someone looking for a reason to justify the bad things he wants to do. He thinks he should be able to do whatever he wants in life because he is entitled to do it. He is cruel and likes to terrorize people. When I wrote that fish scene with him, I laid a foundation for his personality.
EC: Speaking of fish, there is some humor?
KS: I love puns and love to be silly. It was delightful time for me to make up all that stuff, such as “Anne Chovey, Genghis Karp, Mr. Dar-Sea, and James Pond.” I spent far more time than I care to admit on this.
EC: There is a quote about prosecutors and judges caring more about optics than justice. Please explain.
KS: Many prosecutors only take cases they think they can win. They plead out everything else. Many overcharge to get someone to plead out to a lesser charge. As voters we need to look at how the justice system runs. For example, women in prison are limited to the number of tampons and pads they can have.
EC: There is also a quote about losing someone. Please explain.
KS: You are referring to this one, “Your relationship with a person doesn’t end when they die. It only gets stronger.” Someone told me that after I lost my 9th grade teacher who I consider my mentor. She died about five years ago from cancer. I had all these memories of her. I remember our relationship and how important she was to me. The choices I make in the present are based on what she told me in the past.
EC: Your next book?
KS: It will have a murder and be out this time next year. A couple of characters from a previous stand alone will be back.
THANK YOU!!
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
SECOND CHANCE FOR LOVE by Ginni Conquest is a second chance contemporary romance with just a touch of suspense. It is a quick read with an emotionally satisfying story that kept me turning the pages right up to the HEA.
Rebecca Forrester has been in a world of grey and just going through the motions of her life for the last year since the devastating car wreck that took the love of her life from her.
One night she lays down and an unexpected visitor tells her she needs to be open to change in her heart and life. She wakes with a new determination and willingness to accept change and moves to the vacation town of her youth to open her own bakery.
James Collinson is a successful businessman and single father. He has been focused on his business and son and not looked for any type of permanent relationship since his ex-wife walked out on them ten years ago. When he notices the beautiful woman watching his fleet of fishing boats returning from sea, he is drawn to introduce himself.
Could James be the man that Rebecca was told to be open to? Is there a second chance for both to find love again?
This short book is packed with so many emotions. You feel for Rebecca and her loss, but it quickly moves on to her hope for a new life and the major changes she makes. The secondary characters are fully fleshed and add to Rebecca’s life of change. I must mention there is a wonderful pitbull written into the story. (Love my pitties!) She and James have an instant attraction, but I believe the author does a good job of slowing it down and making the pace more believable. The sex scenes are steamy, but I do not feel they are gratuitous. The added suspense in the story was well done and realistic, but I wish it had been a little more integrated throughout. It almost felt like I was reading a romance and then a romantic suspense. Overall, this is a story you will want to grab for a one sitting, satisfactory second chance contemporary romance read.
I recommend this standalone emotional romance read!
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About the Author
Born in New Jersey, Ginni Conquest found her love of writing romance two years ago. With a bit of intrigue, scandal, conflict and love, Ginni loves creating these sweet and sexy stories with hotness added in. “I love my characters,” says Ms. Conquest, “and I am so happy when my readers embrace them as well. Like all of us, my heroines and heroes are struggling to cope with life challenges, character flaws, past experiences, painful memories and all the other aspects of life that can make happiness seem elusive.”
Ms. Conquest is a clever storyteller who delivers. Her character development, intrigue and scenes of unbridled passion keep the reader wanting more and hoping for that happy ending that is sealed with a kiss. The passion and courtship with enchanting storytelling is ever-present. Readers can be assured that they will have to read to the final pages to find out exactly how the romance will end…or begin.
For 2021, Ginni will be at TNT/NYC, Romanticon, Lay All Your Books on Me and Books by the Bridge
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE QUEEN OF SECOND CHANCES by D.M. Barr on the Providence Book Promotions Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links and a Rafflecopter giveaway. Enjoy!
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Book Description
A tale of a young woman who champions seniors’ hopes and dreams while challenging their worst enemies: regret and abuse.
Carraway (Carra) Quinn is a free-spirited English major confronting an unreceptive job market. Desperate for cash, she reluctantly agrees to her realtor stepmother’s marketing scheme: infiltrate a local senior center as a recreational aide, ingratiate herself with the members, and convince them to sell their homes.
Jay Prentiss is a straitlaced, overprotective elder attorney whose beloved but mentally fragile Nana attends that center.
More creative than mercenary, Carra convinces Jay to finance innovations to the Center’s antiquated programming. Her ingenuity injects new enthusiasm among the seniors, inspiring them to confront and reverse the regrets of their past. An unlikely romance develops.
But when Carra’s memoir-writing class prompts Jay’s Nana to skip town in search of a lost love, the two take off on a cross-country, soul-searching chase that will either deepen their relationship or tear them apart forever.
Genre: Contemporary Sweet Romance, Romcom, Chicklit Published by: Champagne Book Group Publication Date: June 7th 2021 Number of Pages: 204 ISBN: 2940165375545 (ASIN B094GFWG3K)
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
THE QUEEN OF SECOND CHANCES by D.M Barr is a heartwarming standalone contemporary romance/comedy love story packed with memorable characters and humorous dialog. Besides the lovable hero and heroine, there are several seniors to fall in love with as well as canine companions.
Carraway “Carra” Quinn graduated as an English major who wants to write novels and is having difficulty paying her share of the bills where she lives with her best-friend. Her stepmother has pulled her and her sister into a scheme to infiltrate senior facilities to convince them to sell their homes for the equity and downsize. Cara is working at the local senior center as a recreational assistant. She starts a memoir writing class and as she comes to know the seniors and their stories, she refuses to use them to pull herself out of her financial straits.
Jay Prentiss is a successful attorney dealing with the elderly who has political aspirations. Jay’s beloved nana attends the senior center where Carra is working. While Jay is a major contributor, Carra wants to show him it is not the facilities that need his money, but the individual seniors that could use their help and attention.
Carra and Jay both have personal traumas from their childhoods which effect their present lives. Can the two work together to overcome their pasts and get a second chance at love?
This story is a perfectly balanced mix of romance, love, empathy, humor, crazy situations and heart. The romance is realistically paced as Carra and Jay come to know each other and the differences in their styles in helping the seniors. Their past traumas in their childhoods also are dealt with in believable ways. The seniors in the story are people you would find at any senior center. They are not overly quirky or strange, but real people who still have so much to live for and offer. I wanted to adopt them all. Last, but not least there are two canines in this story and having adopted my own AmStaff, I was so happy to see how the author depicted this one. The sex scenes are behind closed doors and not until later in the story at an appropriate time. This is an all-around enjoyable read!
I highly recommend this contemporary romance/comedy!
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Excerpt
Chapter One
I couldn’t take my eyes off the man. He came barreling into the recreational center at SALAD—Seniors Awaiting Lunch and Dinner, Rock Canyon’s answer to Meals on Wheels—as I sat in the outer office, awaiting my job interview. He was tall, but not too tall. His expensive suit barely concealed an athletic physique that fell just shy of a slavish devotion to muscle mass. Early thirties, I estimated, and monied. Honey-blond curly hair, blue eyes, high cheekbones, chiseled features, gold-rimmed glasses, and of course, dimples. Why did there always have to be dimples? They were my kryptonite, rendering me powerless to resist.
I nicknamed him Adonis, Donny for short, lest anyone accuse me of being pretentious. He was the stuff of every girl’s dreams, especially if that girl was as masochistic as yours truly. Men like that didn’t fall for ordinary girls like me, gals more Cocoa Puff than Coco Chanel, more likely to run their pantyhose than strut the runway. I leaned back on the leather couch, laid down my half-completed application, and prepared to enjoy the view. Then he opened his mouth, and the attraction withered like a popped balloon.
“I want to speak to Judith. Now. Is she here?” The sharpness of his voice put Ginsu knives to shame. It was jagged enough to slash open memories of my mother’s own barely contained temper when refereeing sibling disputes between Nikki and me. Well, at least until she prematurely retired her whistle and skipped town for good.
The attendant working the main desk looked fresh out of nursing school and had obviously missed the lecture on dealing with difficult clients. She sputtered, held up both hands in surrender, and retreated into the administration office, reemerging with an older woman whose guff-be-gone demeanor softened as she got closer. Her name tag read, “Judith Ferester,” the woman scheduled to conduct my interview. She took one look at Donny, sighed as if to say, Here we go again, and plastered on her requisite customer service smile.
“Mr. Prentiss, to what do we owe the honor of this visit?” she asked in a tone sweet enough to make my teeth hurt.
“Judith, I thought we had this discussion before. I trust you to take care of my nana, but day after day, I discover goings-on that are utterly unacceptable. Maybe we shouldn’t have added the senior center, just limited SALAD to meal delivery. Last week you served chips anda roll at lunch? That’s too many carbs. This week, I find someone is duping her out of her pocket change. No one is going to take advantage of her good nature, not under my watch.”
I half-expected him to spit on the ground. Was such venom contagious? I didn’t want my prospective employer in a foul mood when she reviewed my application. I really, really needed this job.
“Mr. Prentiss,” Judith answered, her patronizing smile frozen in place, “I assure you that your championing of our senior center was well founded. The reason your nana isn’t complaining is that she receives the utmost care. She is one of our dearest visitors. Everyone loves her.”
“Tell me then, what is this?” Donny—scratch that, Mr. Prentiss—drew a scrap of paper from his pocket and flung it onto the counter. I leaned forward to make out the object of his disdain. Then, thinking better of it, I relaxed and watched as this melodrama played itself out.
Judith glanced down at the paper. “This? It’s a scoresheet. They play gin for ten cents a hand. We monitor everything that goes on here; your grandmother is not being conned out of her life savings. You have my word.”
Prentiss shook his head so vigorously his gold-rimmed glasses worked their way down to the tip of his perfect nose. He pushed them back with obvious annoyance. Even when he was acting like a jerk, his dimples were captivating. Would they be even more alluring if he smiled? Did he smile…like, ever?
“It’s not the amount that worries me. It’s the act itself. Many seniors here are memory impaired. How can you condone gambling between people who aren’t coherent? Could you please keep a closer eye on things? Otherwise, I’m afraid I’ll have to take my nana—and my support—to the center I’ve heard about across the river.”
Without waiting for Judith’s response, Prentiss departed as brusquely as he’d arrived. Ah, the entitlement of the rich. Walk over everyone, then storm off. He never even noticed my presence. Just as well, considering my purpose for being there. Even if I wasn’t sorry to see the back end of his temper, his rear end was pleasant enough to watch as he exited, I noted with a guilty shudder.
Judith shook her head, rolled her eyes, and let out a huff. Then she noticed me. “I’m so sorry you had to overhear that. I’m the director here. How can I help you?”
“I’m Carraway Quinn. Everyone calls me Carra. I have an appointment for the recreational aide position.”
Judith typed a few keystrokes into the main desk’s computer. “Ah yes, Ms. Quinn. Carraway, like the seed?”
“Something like that,” I said with a smile.
They always guessed, but no one got it right. Some man would, one day. That’s what my mother said a million years ago, when she still lived within earshot. One man would figure it out, and that’s how I’d know he was the one for me. Not that it mattered right now. I had bigger problems than finding a new boyfriend.
“Tell me, would I have to deal with people like that all day?” I tilted my head in the direction of Prentiss’s contrail.
“What can I say? He loves his nana.” Judith shrugged, staring at the door. “Though I’ve never seen him lash out like that before. He’s usually so calm.” She quickly shifted into public relations mode. “Jay Prentiss is one of our biggest contributors. It’s only because of his generosity that we have this senior center and can afford to hire a recreational aide.” She beckoned me into the inner office. “Shall we proceed?”
I followed, but I had my doubts. I belonged in the editorial office of a magazine or on a book tour for my perennially unfinished novel, not at a senior center. This job was my stepmother’s idea, not mine. Calling it an idea was being generous; it was more like a scheme, and the elderly deserved better than someone sent here to deceive them. I was the embodiment of what Jay Prentiss worried about most.
The interview lasted less than ten minutes, as if Judith was going through the formalities but had already decided to hire me. I was to start my orientation the following day. I shook her hand and thanked her, all the while wishing I were anywhere else.
Afterward, I wandered into the recreation area, where I’d be spending most of my time. The room was dingy, teeming with doleful seniors watching television, playing cards, or staring off into space. A few complained among themselves about a jigsaw puzzle they were unable to finish because the last pieces were missing. I wondered how many had lost their spouses and came to the center out of loneliness, their children too busy with their own lives to visit. It was a heartbreaking thought.
Jay Prentiss was complaining about carbs and gambling when he should have been concentrating on ennui. The seniors’ dismal expressions told me they were visiting SALAD more out of desperation than opportunity. It was clear they needed an injection of enthusiasm, not some aide looking to unsettle their lives. It came down to my conscience. Could it triumph against my stepmother’s directives and my plummeting bank account?
***
Author Bio
By day, a mild-mannered salesperson, wife, mother, rescuer of senior shelter dogs, competitive trivia player and author groupie, happily living just north of New York City. By night, an author of sex, suspense and satire. My background includes stints in travel marketing, travel journalism, meeting planning, public relations and real estate. I was, for a long and happy time, an award-winning magazine writer and editor. Then kids happened. And I needed to actually make money. Now they’re off doing whatever it is they do (of which I have no idea since they won’t friend me on Facebook) and I can spend my spare time weaving tales of debauchery and whatever else tickles my fancy. The main thing to remember about my work is that I am NOT one of my characters. For example, as a real estate broker, I’ve never played Bondage Bingo in one of my empty listings or offed anyone at my local diet clinic. And I haven’t run away from home in fear that my husband was planning to off me. But that’s not to say that I haven’t wanted to…
