Some book news:
Only Twenty-Five is currently available on Amazon and is FREE for Kindle Unlimited members.
http://amzn.to/2oDq8BP
The next book in the “Madison Musicians” series is Out of My League, which will be released on August 3.
I’m currently taking applications for ARC readers, so if you want to be considered to receive an ARC, please visit this page for more info:
https://goo.gl/forms/HCl6OIkPQxwTW4bp1
And if you want to be notified when Out of League is released, please go here:
https://goo.gl/forms/cPQXxP18ugsm1wg32
Excerpt that I read when I spoke at Foxtale Book Shoppe:
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In the thirty-six hours since I’d been informed of my fate the best solution I came up with was a head covering. It probably wouldn’t be a permanent solution, but it would buy me some time until I figured out something else. And who knows, I might be like those women who look hip wearing hats all the time, like Yoko Ono.
On Saturday morning I went to Madison Square Mall. An accessory store called Savvy Boutique caught my eye. I went inside and made a beeline for the hats. I studied the various hats on display before picking up a floppy straw one with a light-blue hatband. I stepped over to the mirror and plopped it on my head. Oh no, definitely not. It was cute, but kind of big, and I didn’t want to draw that much attention to myself. I decided it was good for the beach, probably, but not for everyday life. I put the hat back on the rack and kept looking.
The baseball caps looked okay. Maybe I can wear one of those. It struck me that I might actually look kind of cute in one. If I stuck my ponytail out the back I’d get that Athletic Girl look. Never mind that the most athletic thing I ever did was go for walks. I put on a blue cap and looked in the mirror—first with it facing the right way, then I turned it around. Some girls can pull this off and look cute doing it. I clearly wasn’t one of them. I looked like I’d slept through my alarm and rushed out of the house without showering or washing my hair. Still, it wouldn’t be bad to have a cap like this just in case. I returned it to the rack, making a mental note to come back to it.
I wanted something a little more stylish. There were a couple of those flat, kind of square-looking hats. What were they called . . . pillbox hats or something? I put on a pink one and checked myself out. Oh goodness. I looked like all I needed was white gloves and a suit and I’d be ready for tea with the queen of England. Too weird. I walked around to the back of the display. I tried on a beanie which was kind of cute, but it looked too much like I was either going skiing or getting ready to break into bad white girl rap.
Maybe this hat thing wasn’t such a great idea after all. I guess I can get a couple baseball caps if I can’t find anything better. But that wasn’t really the look I was going for, especially if I was going to wear one almost every day for a while. Wearing a baseball cap when I wasn’t doing anything athletic would look too much like I was trying to hide something. Which I was . . . but I certainly didn’t want to look like I was.
I was running out of options and starting to panic. Discouraged, I put on a brown fedora and looked in the mirror, carefully turning my head from side to side. It was kind of stylish . . . I guess . . . but it made me feel like I was supposed to start walking stealthily through the store solving crimes.
“Oh yes. Now that is totally you,” a male voice said.
Startled, I turned around. A guy about my age was grinning at me. He had curly black hair and he was wearing jeans and a light-blue shirt with a button-down collar. Did he work here? He certainly didn’t look like someone who would work in a women’s clothing store. But why else would he be talking to me? Was he making fun of me? Was he just some kind of weirdo who spent his Saturdays hanging around the mall harassing shoppers? If so, he was kind of a cute weirdo. . . .
“All you need to do now is put on some sunglasses and start singing I’m a Soul Man.” He sang a few lines, snapping his fingers to the beat in his head.
I blinked.
“You know . . . the song Soul Man . . . from The Blue Brothers movie.”
“Oh . . . right,” I said, but I was still confused. However, I did know that I wasn’t striving to look like John Belushi. I sheepishly took off the hat and hung it back up.
He walked behind me to the other side of the rack. “Now here’s what you need,” he said, plucking up a green beret and handing it to me. “This is what you should get. Seriously.”
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