Beagles and books!

Lots of news in the Sophia Sinclair world, but here are the two I want to talk about today. First of all, I'd like everyone to meet Cashew! She is a three-legged senior beagle mix I adopted from my local animal shelter recently. She's very, very sweet and hangs out with me on the futon in my office while I write. She thinks the dog in Worth the Wait should have been a larger part of the story. Everyone's a critic.

Second, I'm still giving away free prequels (click here to download!) to the Small-Town Secrets series. This is Happily Ever After All, and it's about an older lady from the early days in Fairview, reminiscing about her life. Here's a line or two from Carol Ann's remembrance of her first time, just to whet your appetite. This part of the story takes place about a week before her wedding, when she and her soon-to-be husband were painting the house they would move into after returning from their honeymoon:

She had always imagined her first time would be in the bridal suite of a fancy hotel. She’d be wearing a lacy nightgown and her hair and makeup would still be done from their wedding. Indeed, she already had such a nightgown packed in her suitcase, ready and waiting for the big night. 

Instead, here she was, sweaty and paint-smeared, lying on the hard floor, her hair tucked under a kerchief, with her dad’s discarded old shirt rucked up around her neck. She stopped thinking she was going to make him stop what he was doing. This was what was making them married. Not the dress, not the church, not the ring. This. Today.

Cashew and I hope you'll love reading how Carol Ann and Archie met and fell in love when Fairview was a very different place. It's a touch of nostalgia that might make you look at your great-grandma's wedding pictures in a new way.