Teryl Cartwright is a relatively new author having written one other romance novel and two plays along with news articles and childrens curriculum.  Teryl states on her website that it is important for her to write about what she knows—relationships, family and faith.  This way even though the story and characters were fictional, many of the emotions and thoughts were not.

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this book from the author and will be giving it away here on my blog.  I also asked Teryl if she would answer a few questions and she was glad to oblige.

SBR:  When and Why did you begin writing?

TC: I’ve been writing on and off since third grade, but only got serious about writing novels in 2002.  A friend had convinced me to try the online National Novel Writing in a Month Contest and that book was the first completed novel I had ever done.  (It also turned out to be my first published novel, A Sensible Match, after many, many edits!)

I had written short stories, articles, plays and such before that, but there is such a difference to hold a complete book, imperfect as it was.   Over the years I had so many half done books sitting around and I found out that I needed to actually finish a book in order to go to the next steps of editing and sending it out.

I began writing to have some control over my life.  I mean, I always think of the perfect thing to say or do in real life after the fact, so for me, it’s great that in a story, the characters can do and say what I want, when I want.  It is such a wonderful outlet for my imagination too.  I get paid for daydreaming or making movies in my head.  Ironically when I write, sometimes the words and story come out so differently than when I started that I am the one surprised as if I’m the reader.  So the reason I started to write, to have more control, is actually not the end result.

SBR:  If you had to choose, what writer would you consider a mentor?

TC: I haven’t met too many other writers yet, so my mentoring has come through the words in other authors’ books.  I should also explain that mentors to me are the cheerleaders of our lives.  They don’t criticize, coach or edit, they just get you excited to keep working on your stuff.  If I had to choose, my mentor then is a nonfiction writer named Roger Von Oech.  He writes about how to be creative.  If I need to get a different perspective on my writing, if I have writer’s block or if I have a sudden lack of confidence, I dive into his books, A Whack on the Side of the Head and A Kick in the Seat of the Pants.  The titles say more than I can!  Don’t get me wrong, I need critics, coaches and editors too, but I get inspired by those writers and their books after I have a first draft done, not before.

SBR: What book(s) are on your nightstand?

TC: M.C. Beaton’s Death of A Witch, Georgette Heyer’s Cotillion and Talisman Ring and Scottish Customs by Margaret Bennett are all currently stacked on the nightstand.

SBR: Do you have a favorite author?

TC: Georgette Heyer and Louis L’Amour are my favorite historical fiction writers.  They pay attention to the time period and make it a character of the story without overshadowing it.  I just can’t read authors that put every single research detail into their books because I want to get to the story. And these two also really know story and pacing–and have a sense of humor.

I’ll just share an inside joke in Courting Constance—two characters’ names are tributes to my favorite authors—Harriet Guyer (the quiet girl) is named after the more wordy Georgette Heyer while man hungry Marianne Beaton is a fun accolade to M.C. Beaton, who always has several of those desperate women chasing after her hero, Hamish MacBeth, in her books.

SBR:  If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in Courting Constance?

TC: I wish I could have also added another “flashback” to the beginning of the courtship and I might have added a scene with Edwin (Abby’s husband) and Geoffrey talking about the sisters they love, Abby and Constance respectively.  I also think it would have been fun to have Constance try one or two more things—but I felt it would be padding the story and bog it down.  I call Courting Constance my “kitchen sink” book because I threw in about everything but the kitchen sink.  You might not think that a writer can read a story she’s written and feel surprised, but I can still leaf through pages and have something jump out at me that I forgot I put in or find something new to laugh at.  Basically, I’m pretty happy with the book though and even the small changes the editor wanted are starting to grow on me.

SBR:  What are you working on for your next novel?

TC:  I would love to do a Scottish novel set in the same time frame (early 1800s) as Courting Constance and A Sensible Match.  There was so much happening in Scotland then in terms of advancements (culturally and technologically) and in light of events such as the Highland Clearances.  The problem is that research resources seem much more limited than those for Regency England.  I understand now why Highland romances are generally set in Medieval times, because it’s so much harder to find references for the time I want to research. Until I can find what I need, I am working on books in other genres such as western and sci-fi.  But I will write a Scottish romance soon–even if the first one can’t be the one I want to do right now.

Thank you so much for letting me share some thoughts and time together with you!  Teryl Cartwright

Book Synopsis & Review:

Courting Constance is a historical romance novel.  Constance was engaged to Geoffrey but he called off the engagement after seeing her flirt with another man just weeks before the wedding.  Constance decides that she wants him back and follows him to Bath in order to court him secretly.  She isn’t going to do it with flowers and candy as most men would do to court women, instead she decides to use music and food.  What follows can be described as a comedy of errors or as the author shared the tagline with me – If you had to win a guy in 10 days in Regency England, how would you do it?

I will admit that I’m not usually a huge historical romance fan but Courting Constance had me chuckling from the first chapter.  Between her antics in trying to court Geoffrey and Geoffrey trying to get revenge on Constance for the flirting had me in stitches.  Constance is definitely a “modern” woman for her time and isn’t afraid to go for what she wants in life.  And what makes the story more comical is when society thinks that she is courting Geoffrey’s best friend (and next door neighbor) Lord Robert Fenway…who wants to help Geoffrey but has also taken a liking to Harriet.

Oh what a tangled web Constance weaves in the name of love!   But along the way she realizes that sometimes you have to let love go so that others can be happy.  However, even this realization causes problems for headstrong Constance.  In the end she learns to open her ears and close her mouth and listen.

I definitely recommend this book and give it 4 stars.  Next time you are in the mood for a little historical romance, pick up this book, you won’t be disappointed.

Giveaway:

I am giving away the copy of this book that Teryl sent me.  The contest is open to all US and Canadian residents.  Just leave a comment and I will draw a name on September 11th.

Joyce Magnin Moccero is the author of Charlotte Figg Takes Over Paradise which is the second in a series about Bright’s Pond which is somewhere in the Pennsylvania area since Charlotte moves to Paradise from a suburb of Pittsburg.  But you don’t have to read the first to appreciate the second novel.

Charlotte’s husband has recently died and she received (by  mistake) an ad for a trailer for sale in Paradise.  She puts it aside but once the activity surrounding the funeral has passed, she decides to purchase the trailer sight unseen.  Well as well all know, that isn’t necessarily a wise move, but this was about 40 years ago and things were a little different.  She arrives in Paradise and discovers the trailer is not what was pictured and is infested by raccoons and smells horrible.  Charlotte is discouraged but with the help of a few neighbors it becomes a habitable.

The trailer park has a wide variety of occupants including a wife-beating manager, the one armed maintenance man and a heavily tattooed woman with a large sculpture of a hand in her yard…large enough to climb up and sit in the palm.  Charlotte reaches out to befriend all of these people plus the remaining residents of the area and starts an all women’s softball team which she manages.

This story is about people banding together to right wrongs and to support each other in good times and in bad.  It is also about Charlotte finding her independence, becoming her own woman and not staying in the shadows.

I really enjoyed this book.  I will say that I wasn’t sure with the first chapter or two but am glad that I continued reading because I was inspired by Charlotte for leaving what she was comfortable with and starting over in a small town.  She even resists giving in to her overbearing mother who would love nothing more than for Charlotte to move to Florida with her.  It would have been very easy to give in, but that isn’t where God wanted Charlotte to be at that time in life.  He wanted her in Paradise to bring together this community.

Charlotte isn’t the only one that blossoms with the new friendships that are created.  Others become stronger with the various situations that they are faced with at the time.

I give this book 4 stars.

On Tuesday, I took the day off from work and attended a luncheon to hear the author Dixie Cash speak at the Woman’s Club of Fort Worth.

Now Dixie Cash is not one person, it is 2 sisters, Pam & Jeffrey, that write this series of humerous books set in West Texas. By no coincidence they grew up in West Texas and in a small town, so they know of what they write!

Pam is definitely the zany one of the two. Jeffrey is a bit more quiet and reserved but very nice and I can see how the two of them could write a really good book between Pam’s humor and Jeffrey’s writing experience (she had written several books before they started collaborating).

If you read the books, make sure to read them in order. The first is Since You’re Leaving Anyway, Take Out the Trash.

Life in the small town of Salt Lick, Texas, is pretty ordinary—until someone decides to knock off Pearl Ann Carruthers, the wealthiest and nas- tiest woman in town. Hairdresser and salon owner Debbie Sue Overstreet is shocked by the news, and she has a pipeline into the sheriff’s office to find out the latest. Her sexy ex-husband, Buddy, is also the town sheriff.

When Harley Carruthers offers a $50,000 reward for the killer, debt-ridden Debbie Sue can’t resist launching an investigation. But keeping Buddy from discovering her undercover machinations won’t be easy. Once you start digging for secrets, you never know what you will uncover!

Author – Lori Wilde

Third time’s the charm

Rachel Henderson is fed up with romance especially after being dumped at the altar, not once but twice! She blames it on her hometown of Valentine Texas and is determined to punish the town for putting the idea of romance in her head from when she was a young girl. On top of being left at the altar, she finds out that her parents are divorcing on her wedding day. Definitely not one of her better days.

Rachel is angry and drives the 400 miles from Houston to Valentine to seek her revenge on Valentine Texas. She decides that the way to do this is paint over the billboard entering town with black paint. Unfortunately the town’s mayor catches her in the act and has her arrested by non other than the hunky Sherriff Brody Carlton. It urns out that Brody was Rachel’s first love until he moved away at the age of 12.

Rachel is stuck in Valentine until she finishes her community service. This gives her time to start Romanceaholics Anonymous (a 12 step program for those addicted to romance), plot revenge against the fiancé that dumped her at the altar and get to know Brody as a friend. After all, she is done with romance and only wants either friendship or hot sex. But what does Brody want? Does he just want her as a friend or will he want more? And who knew that Romanceaholics Anonymous would become so popular? Rachel has to set up chapters in nearby towns to handle the interest that her YouTube video garnered.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it is the first one by Lori Wilde that I have read but it won’t be the last. ‘Addicted to Love’ is a romance book but there are several underlying stories that keep it from being pure fluff. There is the story of her parents, Michael and Selina, who still truly love each other but Selina can’t get past an indiscretion from 30 years ago. There is also Mayor Wentworth and Giada Vito. She is originally from Italy but has been a citizen for 15 years and has decided that Mayor Wentworth needs a reality check in regards to the town and his position as mayor, which is why she decides to run against him. But what is this spark that they feel when they are around each other? And of course there is the story of Rachel and Brody, her addiction to romance and can she learn to the separate the two or does she really need to?

Lori Wilde began writing at the age of 8 and hasn’t stopped yet. She has written many books including ‘Charmed and Dangerous’, ‘My Secret Life’ and ‘Lethal Exposure’. She also writes under the pen name Laura Anthony.

Reviewed for RebeccasReads.com 3/09

Publisher – Oceanview Publishing
ISBN – 9781933515137
Price – $23.95
Publication Date – 5/1/08
Was it The Deal of a lifetime?
Number of stars for amazon.com (4/5)

The author, Adam Gittlin, is a commercial real estate executive in New York City. This is his second book; his first was The Men Downstairs.

Jonah Gray was on the fast track to success from growing up with a family that owned and managed real estate in the Northeast to working for a commercial real estate company owned by a family friend and brokering some of the best deals of his young life. So when the opportunity of a lifetime came along from a family friend that wished to purchase real estate in the Big Apple, who was he to question the request? Sure he only had three weeks to make the deal of a lifetime, but that is what makes the request a challenge. Everything seemed perfectly normal until a series of incidents that lead him to dig deeper than he ever imagined. Was the family friend on the up and up or was there more involved than meets the eye? And would his life ever be the same when it was all said and done?

I am familiar with commercial real estate and that world so was interested to see how the author brought this in as a part of the storyline especially since this is something the author is very familiar with in real life. While there are references to buildings in NYC, it was not heavy on the details which could be good or bad depending on what you were expecting.

There were times when the chapters lagged and I felt like there was too much detail for a scene at a club or restaurant. There was also more foul language than I normally prefer, however I was able to read past that part. Once the main character found a Fabergé Egg in his possession, everything changed and the pace of the story picked up and it kept me engrossed until the very end.

There are many twists and turns that I did not see coming. Who was his father and what had he not told him over the years? And what about his old family friend, Andreu? Was his story about needing to purchase the real estate legitimate? And why the rush? These questions are all answered as Jonah digs deeper and deeper into his family history.

Take a chance on this book, it is a good read and it just might surprise you.

Reviewed for RebeccasReads (5/08)