A Kiss Is Just A Kiss by Melinda Curtis

When you need a quick shot of romance during the spring warmup, garden planting, and schedules for the new season, this is the best pick.  

Florida can be decorated for a beautiful wedding when the pockets are picked, and there aren't any second guesses.  

Here's the problem:  the second guess isn't from the bride or groom, but rather Kitty, the bride's close sister.

Kitty realizes a broken rung in the ladder of love at the door of the church wedding.  She has a few minutes to solve or ignore the issue.  Guess which avenue she picks.

Beck thinks he's got all the contracts and steps to a successful life planned and executed until Kitty gets in the way.  His wedding is in a few minutes to finalize the signature on the marriage license.

Wedding over, guests stranded, and unhappy family members depart.

Kitty is left with Grandma Dotty and no way get back to their home state.  At least G. Dotty has a way of making the worst seem funny.  Even when they take their only opportunity to ride with the (former) groom.  

Beck and Kitty start the ride home like oil and water.  Fortunately, with the right ingredients of information and knowledge the bumps in the ride smooth out.

They may even respect and like each other as the miles accumulate.  Who knows what will happen by the time they reach their destination.  There's never a set timeline for love!

Happy reading,

Dawn

I Am Blessed

        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

        Happy Sunday morning (though by the time you read this, it will be Wednesday)! I realized, after I posted last week, that I am a week behind so this week’s post will put me back on schedule. Not quite sure how that happened. My only excuse is that my brain is full and there’s too much going on. I think I need a rest! We’ll see if that happens!

        It’s been a lovely weekend so far. I did my Saturday and Sunday chores (yes, I have to break up the chores between two days because I’m not a spring chicken anymore). I’ll let you in on a little secret…I hate to clean, but I like a clean house so it’s a necessary evil. Still, I love it when the house smells like Mr. Clean. And yes, I know living in Arizona there will always be dust, but for a few minutes anyway, everything is dust free.

        So, back to the title of this blog. “I Am Blessed”. And I truly am. I have everything I need (and no, I’m not bragging, but for some reason, it all hit home to me and the realization filled me with such happiness, I didn’t know how to contain it).

        What am I talking about? Friendship.

        This feeling of being blessed hit me Friday, when my critique partner and I hung up from our Zoom call (yes, we talk every Friday and believe me, it’s the highlight of my week). We don’t just talk about our works in progress. No, ma’am. We talk about everything. There is no subject that is taboo.

        Then, on Saturday morning, I talked to my daughter-in-law. She, too, has become a dear friend (more than just my daughter-in-law. I’d love her even if she wasn’t married to my son). She is absolutely beautiful, inside and out and I am thrilled she is in my life.  

        I met some friends for lunch on Saturday afternoon and as always, it was lovely. I’ve known these women for over forty years. That’s a long time and we’ve been through it all but we’re always there for each other both when life is hard and when it isn’t.

        Which brings me to my neighbors. I must admit, I have been especially blessed in that regard. My neighbors are wonderful (both past and present). The current ones are younger than I am, but that doesn’t seem to matter. Not in the slightest. It’s amazing to me how close we got so quickly. They are taking the DH and I out to dinner tonight to celebrate Mother’s Day which is so kind, so sweet, so thoughtful (we’re going to a Mexican restaurant that had the most amazing food. If you haven’t tried a Fundido, you should. Absolutely fabulous!)

        So now you know what I’m talking about. I have been blessed. There are people in my life who are more than friends. We’ve become family and I love each and every one of them (there are more examples—people I don’t see much because they’re moved away but we still talk—by phone, by zoom, by email and text). There are those I miss because they’ve passed but I still ‘talk’ to them, especially when I remember the past and the good (and sometimes bad) times we’ve shared.

        When I’m writing my stories, my hero and heroine both have the kind of friends that offer advice, offer comfort, and are always there when needed and I hope that comes through.

        And on that note, I should get back to writing. Wife Unexpected is not going to write itself (and neither will the other three books I’m contracted for).   

        Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie 

In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende

A blizzard in Brooklyn and a car accident is what is needed to bring three lives together and turn them around for the better.  

Richard owns a Brooklyn brownstone with a lower floor rented to Lucia.  Lucia stays in during the blizzard, but Richard forces himself to head for the store.  On his way, he rear-ends a Lexus that Evelyn is driving. 

This small accident creates the three to need more from each other than could be guessed until the story relays the details of their lives.

Richard obtained an academic position at NYU after his regrettable life in Chile.  In Chili, he started with a wife and two children.  Shortly after moving to the states, he no longer has children or a wife.  He sank into a rigid life of work and little socialization.

Lucia moves from Chile when Richard offers her a teaching job and a place to rent.  Her former life had also been full of family losses and humanitarian grievances.  She feels empty and alone.

Evelyn immigrates to the US from Guatemala seeking asylum and a job for a young woman barely speaking English.  

The accident proves more than just a fender bender.  Evelyn has her boss's car.  In the car is evidence of a horrible crime.  

Evelyn, Richard, and Lucia grouped together to plan how to hide someone else's crime to save Evelyn.

During their quest, each learn and begin to love one another. Richard and Lucia find a need to be together, and Evelyn becomes a pseudo daughter to them.   

Their fragile lives are reconstructed out of love.

Happy reading,

Dawn Kunda

What's New?

 

 

        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe! 

        It’s a beautiful Sunday morning as I sit down to write this and I have to admit, that I’m loving the weather here in Phoenix right now. The heat of summer hasn’t truly hit though we did have some rather hot days last months. I’m glad they didn’t stick around.

        So, what’s new with me?

        I submitted The Madam & Mr. MacLean to my publisher! Whoooo-hoooo! It’s as perfect as I can get it and I’m looking forward to seeing what my editor thinks. As you may remember, she’s the one who’s been teaching me what I didn’t know I didn’t know. She’s fabulous and I enjoy working with her!

        I’m also working hard on Wife Unexpected…and it’s not going as well as I’d like. I’m still having issues with the beginning but I’ll get there. I really want Faith to have her happy ending. Tysen, too. I think they both deserve it.

        Other than that, the day job is keeping me so busy. It’s a good thing I write in the early mornings BEFORE I head into the office because truthfully, by the time I get home, I don’t have a coherent thought in my head. I’m tired though you’d never know that by the way I hustle around the house at the end of the day.

       And every day I wake up and remember that retirement is coming. Only one year, seven months and twenty-seven days now! I talk about it a lot because I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve had some people ask me with I plan to do…how will I fill my days without the day job? It’s not something I’m worried about. My days will be filled. I’ll be writing of course, hoping to write more than one book a year. I’d also like to go back to doing crossword puzzles, which I love, but haven’t had time to do. I want to read more, too. There are so many books out there by my favorite authors that I haven’t touched (they’re filling up my kindle as I write this). I’d like to pick up crocheting again…I have three half finished projects that are just sitting there in a box, calling to me, not to mention the needlepoint projects that are waiting.  

        Believe it or not, I want to try gardening, too (yes, I know I have a brown thumb and manage to kill every house plant I’ve ever had but I’d still like to try). We had a tomato garden when I was growing up. My father was really good at growing them and some of my fondest memories are of walking out to the garden, picking a ripe tomato right from the vine and eating it like an apple. There is nothing in the world like a Jersey Beefsteak tomato, warm from the sun!I’d like to volunteer, too. I’ll have the time so why not? 

        But the most important thing is the writing. As you may remember, I have a contract for four more books, which I never thought, in a million years, would happen.

        Speaking of that contract, I should get going. Those books aren’t going to write themselves. Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie