The women's novel I'm writing right now takes place in a fictional seaside town in Southern Maine. Forty-something Tess Gilmore is a single mother in New Haven (Connecticut) who's been working her butt off and taking night classes in office management the last four years (so she can get a better job), and has lost touch with her newly-graduated son Micah and her eleven-year-old daughter Eva.

When Micah's plans change, Tess and Eva move to Seahaven, Maine- new job, new life, and a closer relationship with Tess's Aunt Kit.

There's a little bit of romance for Tess on the way (I won't say more!) and also a mystery, when Eva makes sand angels on the beach with her babysitter and starts finding feathers in places where feathers aren't usually found! Where are the feathers coming from? Are they really from the angels, like Eva thinks? And how can Tess forge a close relationship with Eva and Micah when they've spent so much time apart?

I've written the first draft and now I'm in the shallow end of the pool that is called "revision." I have a ways to go, but I have to say, I'm thoroughly enjoying the process, and falling more and more in love with Tess, Eva, Kit and their new neighbors: Jasper, Glory, Kalila and Samuel, plus Eva's new friends Poppy and Teo.

If you've read my first novel, Dragonflies at Night: More Than a Love Story, you'll be delighted to know that Ben and Savannah play a very important part in the Seahaven Theatre (Sands of Time) fundraiser gala!

I hope to have a third or fourth draft in the hands of some Beta readers later this fall. If you're interested in giving me critical and crucial feedback then, please let me know!

P.S. The image above is NOT the actual book cover. I'm not quite at that stage yet :)

🏆 June Give-Away Winners 🏆

a copy of Elizabeth Berg's The Story of Arthur Truluv

This month I'm giving away two paperback copies of The Difference by my author friend C. D'Angelo. If you are interested in genealogy, Italian way of life, or the Titanic, you'll enjoy this new novel.

When anxiety-prone Rachel Granza learns that her growing sense of emptiness is affecting her relationship with her almost perfect boyfriend, she knows she must pull herself out of her funk. But how? A dream apartment in New York City, a thriving psychotherapy practice, and her unique obsessions with topics like the Titanic don’t even make her feel grounded anymore. Then she stumbles into a genealogy mission to discover childhood information about her beloved grandfather who died years ago. He never spoke about his Italian immigrant past and now she’s determined to find out the reason for his secretiveness. Rachel’s ancestral roller coaster has roadblocks galore, but she needs the answers to her family’s hidden history. They’re her only hope to know more about her hero, salvage her relationship, and most importantly to find and love her authentic self again.

If you want a copy, just fill out the short form here and I'll do a random drawing THIS SUNDAY August 15. I'll send you an email notice that you've won, and I'll just ask for your snail mail address after that!

The Mystery of Grace, by Charles de Lint. This is an extraordinary novel! The author has given us a beautiful story with honest, courageous characters, simple prose, and a strong spiritual base that is missing in most of today's literature.

Where did she go? I'm not telling! You have to read this, you just have to read this one and see for yourself. Highly recommend! Your library probably has this, or you can find it easily on Amazon.

In between newsletters, I'll be posting more often on Instagram, my blog, and/or my Facebook Author page, so please visit me there too.