I updated my book promotions page yesterday. (You can find that page in the menu at any time.) This is just a repeat of that information, but I wanted the sale to be on my main blog page. I’d hate for anyone to miss out on a sweet deal like this.
Fred and Whit are two of my favourite characters. Such troublemakers!
Price reduced to $0.99* from November 20 until November 24, 2020.
Since the gentleman Mary loves does not seem to return her feelings, there is only one thing on Mary’s Christmas list: escape her mother by going to town.
Nicholas Hammond would like nothing better than to enjoy a peaceful Christmas without any additional bills to pay or disasters to clean up.
However, Nicholas’s brother, Alfred, and Alfred’s friend Whit are not about to give either Mary or Nicholas what they want for Christmas. Instead, they are scheming to see the two married. (Hopefully, everyone survives their machinations.)
I’m breaking the every-other-week posting rule again for a very special reason. I have, for the foreseeable future, reduced the price of one of my books to $0.99*.
To give you a taste of the tone of much of this book, I am combining the song and an explanation of the book that I shared (along with a chapter from the book) back in August 2016, with the excerpt from the story which I shared as I was writing it back in July 2015.
Fair warning: Don’t Let Her Be Gone is a sad one that always tends to leave a tear in my eye, which is fitting since Through Every Storm does the same to me when I read it.
The link in the previous paragraph is for the version I listened to on the radio and is sung by Gord Bamford, a Canadian country music singer. I have shared his video below for those who might be able to see it as I can, and I have shared another version of it by Jared Blake below it that I know works in the US. (Zoe Burton checked the link for me. 🙂 Thanks, Zoe!)
I will admit that when this song started playing regularly on the radio, I did not like it. In fact, I can remember whining to a friend that it was “so sad.” But as it played over and over each day as I made supper or did the dishes, I grew to like it — which is a lot like the characters in this week’s featured novella, Through Every Storm.
Lydia and Wickham are easy to dislike. Everyone dislikes them, don’t they? They are horrible, rotten, self-centered individuals….right? Perhaps they were. 😉 However, my challenge in writing this novella was to make them likable. Yes, you heard that correctly, I wished to redeem the unredeemable, so to speak.
But what if after several years of marriage, Wickham has both matured and come to love his wife? What if that wife loves her husband deeply but has not matured as much as he has and still holds on to some scars from her youth? What if she does something which is stupid and justifiably unforgivable by her husband? What if she discovers the truth behind his reason for marrying her — that he was paid to do it? How does a family, for they have two children, weather such storms?
That’s the story you’ll find in Through Every Storm.
It, like the song this week, is sad, but it, unlike the song, ends on a very sweet and hopeful note. I think you’ll be surprised by the characters. I know I was. I came to love them — yes, actually. 🙂 And I’m not alone. I have heard from readers who have also (shockingly) found themselves liking Lydia and Wickham.
There are two places in this story where Wickham finds himself thinking “please don’t let her be gone.” The first time is in chapter one which can be previewed here: Through Every Storm. The second can be found in chapter 9, which is where this excerpt is from:
She took another step away from him. “You fear for my reputation now, but you did not then. Why, George? Why now but not then?”
“Because it matters now, and it should have mattered then.”
“Oh, yes!” she shouted. “It matters now because you know of the children and because your business would suffer!”
Her fists were clenched at her sides, and his stomach roiled at the look of disgust on her face. Desperation clawed at his heart. He was failing. No, he had failed. That which mattered most to him was about to push him out of her life, and he had no idea how to stop her. He could hold her ─ force her to remain ─ but she would only be there in body. He saw her turning from him and grabbed her arm. “Lydia, please. It is not like that.”
She yanked her arm away. “You are not really going to try to tell me that you care for me, are you, George? For I can guarantee, I’ll not be falling for your pretty words again. I’ll not be played the fool any longer.” Tears flowed down her cheeks as she turned and ran from him. She could not bear to hear him say he loved her when she knew it was not true.
Wickham wanted to run after her, to make her understand how much he had changed and how much she now meant to him, but he could not. His feet were rooted to the ground, and he could not seem to draw a full breath. He stood watching her, his heart aching a bit more with each step she took.
“Papa?” A small hand grasped his.
His knees buckled and he sank to the ground.
“Papa?” Louisa grabbed his face and looked at him.
He saw the fear in her eyes and smiled at her. “I am well. I just need a rest.”
She scrunched up her face and looked at him carefully. “You are not well. Mama is not well. And I am going to get help.” Before he could stop her, she had spun on her heels and was running.
“Louisa, come back,” he called as he pulled himself to his feet and soon overtook her. He snatched her up, crushing her to him. “Where are you going?”
“To get Aunt Kitty. She can make Mama feel better, and if Mama feels better, then you will feel better.” She thumped him on the chest. “You should have told her you loved her.” She thumped him again. “You should have told her. Why did you not tell her?”
“She would not have believed me,” he said softly as he stroked her hair.
“You still should have told her.” Her little body trembled as she gulped air between sobs.
[from Through Every Storm]
Now, isn’t that a cheery way to start the week? 😀 I promise my stories always have happy endings, even this one.
P.S. (Can you add those to blog posts?) If you’re on my mailing list, you should have found a surprise in your inbox this morning.
$0.99 is USD, CAD, AUD, NZD, EUR, GBP
*The link in the intro is to the song on Spotify. This is not an affiliate link. It is just my way of attempting to help out the artists whose music I share.
“What shall we do tonight?” he asked the chair across from him. “Mrs. Nichols knows about the ball…” He drummed his fingers on the arms of the chairs. “We could read.” His nose wrinkled at the thought. “No, I do not wish to read either,” he said as if agreeing with his non-existent companion. He was far too restless to read tonight.
from Mr. Bingley Plans a Ball
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Preparing for the Ball, Franz Xaver Simm, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Oh, the details in this painting are fantastic! And, I think, the way she is looking at the gentleman who is reading to her is sweet. However, those are not the only reasons I chose to share this picture this week.
We are starting a new Thursday’s Three Hundred story tomorrow, and in it, Mr. Bingley is getting ready for a ball. So, yes, 🙂 the title of the painting is my justification for pairing this image with the short story excerpt below.
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“That is the plan. If all goes well, I shall host a Yuletide ball to celebrate my betrothal to Miss Bennet. Darcy will, of course, attend, and he and his sister will join me for Christmas. And then, well, then, I suppose, we shall see what can be done about improving Miss Elizabeth’s opinion of my friend.”
“Well, then.” Mr. Bennet stood and straightened his jacket. “I feel a need to visit my friend Sir William and share some gossip concerning a particular officer.” He lifted a hand to forestall Bingley’s comments. “I shall not reveal my source, nor will I mention the attempted seduction.”
“I had not thought you would, sir. I was only going to agree that indeed, a little gossip might be our solution.”
Mr. Bennet chuckled. “Do not let the parson hear you say so.”
[From Mr. Bingley Plans a Ball, a Teatime Tales novelette]
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PUBLISHED TO YOUTUBE BY JOE YAMADA MUSIC ON FEBRUARY 7, 2020
I picked this pretty piano piece from my Music to Write by playlist today because it has the right tone and title to match with the book I have releasing tomorrow. In Her Convenient Forever, Felicity Love thinks she has lost her chance for love, and Boyd Hedrington thinks he cannot love again. While the story has some very somber notes, it also has moments of hope, joy, and rediscovery much like this song, To Love Again, does.
The excerpt from chapter 3 below hits one of those somber, sad notes in the story.
“Where shall we sit?” Mr. Hedrington asked Matthias, who looked at Felicity.
“I am going to sit on the sofa near the hearth,” she said.
Matthias smiled and nodded his head.
“Will three fit?” Mr. Hedrington said with a laugh.
“I should hope so,” Mr. Love said with a chuckle of his own. “My Felicity has always charmed the young gentlemen, but I was not aware that her abilities extended to such young gentlemen.”
He was teasing, and three months ago, Felicity would have rolled her eyes and giggled. However, at present, her cheeks flamed as she forced a small laugh.
“I am pleased to see Matthias wishing to sit with you,” Mr. Hedrington said softly as they sat down. “He has not found it easy to accept new acquaintances. I have had several neighbours call on us since our arrival, and aside from Mrs. Jones, he has not warmed to any of them.”
“Felicity is hard not to like,” Mr. Love said with a smile.
Again, while Felicity knew her father was praising her, she blushed and could not accept it. She had not been easy to like. In fact, she had been dreadfully difficult and even impossible to like for some people. One only needed to ask her sister, Grace, to discover the truth of it. There were many sins she had contemplated while looking at the stars when sleep would not come.
“Miss Love said you live a distance from here,” Mr. Hedrington said.
“Ah, yes, a little further than a day’s drive to the northeast into Kent,” Mr. Love said. “But we come here nearly every summer. There have been a few summers where we have not been able to make the journey due to other obligations, and we have missed our time here.”
“Is it always this cottage at which you stay?”
Mr. Love nodded. “We enjoyed it so much on our first trip that we have never considered any other place. Of course, our first time to the ocean was after our marriage. Mrs. Love had never seen the sea, and I could not resist being the first to show it to her.”
Felicity loved the way her father’s eyes grew soft when he looked at her mother and spoke of their wedding and first trip to this cottage. How many times had she asked him to tell her that story when she was young? It was likely why she had fallen so deeply in love with the idea of marriage. What girl would not wish to be so treasured as her father’s look said her mother was? Of course, as it turned out, Felicity had not gone about trying to find such a situation for herself in the right way, and now, she would never have someone to look at her in such a fashion.
“If you will excuse me,” she said before rising quickly and leaving the room, for she knew that those tears which had threatened before would not be refused this time.
[from Her Convenient Forever]
Find Her Convenient Forever in your Kindle store here.
*The link in the first paragraph is to the song on Spotify. This is not an affiliate link. It is just my way of attempting to help out the artists whose music I share.
