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Monday, March 1, 2021

The Cafe of Hopes and Dreams: The Dream Factory series, #2


I just released a BRAND NEW BOOK! 

Shea and I finished the sequel to The Dream Factory and it is now live on all ebook retailers. We are dancing all over the place and drinking champagne to celebrate. We love this book so much. 

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Katrina Kennedy McPherson used to have dreams. Her ambition was to become an attorney and prosecute deadbeat dads. But Life had other plans for her; like a withdrawn husband and a less-than-exciting accounting career.

Always practical, Katrina never questioned how her life turned out. That is, until the night she arrived in the small town of Gold Coast, Illinois, to drag her sister Alice back home.

Confronted by her own unhappiness, Katrina chooses to search for her joy instead. Problem is, her old life will come calling, determined to drag her back under, just as she tried to drag away her sister. Fortunately, she’s got her sister, a ghost, a town full of quirky characters, and an obsession with cake to help her untangle her true calling.

Escape into the magic of The Café of Hopes and Dreams in this heart-warming, feel-good story of a woman meant to change not just her life, but the lives of everyone around her.

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Behind the Character: Aunt Celeste from Keeping It Up

 

Celeste Barros was inspired by two amazing women: Auntie Mame and Mae West. Who better than a sexually liberated, intelligent, independent, fashionable, and powerful woman to teach not just Holly Barros, but me how to be fabulous and fearless?

Celeste is everything I ever wanted to become when I was a young woman and she is everything I wanted in someone who could show me the way to be fabulous and fearless!

Women need mentor figures to show us how to become what we want. Role models light the path to our dreams, dammit, I wanted Holly to have the best one ever. Someone who knew love and heartbreak as well as how to make herself heard AND someone who had the platform to make the world a better place.

My question for Celeste was, what were *her* struggles and wounds? In Keeping It Up, we learn how the early death of her beloved husband scarred Celeste. She had been able to create a wonderful life for herself afterward, full of love and intellectual pursuits. Like many women, though, Celeste had trouble receiving. She had become so skilled at giving and giving that she had forgotten to be vulnerable.

Which is why I was thrilled to discover who she really needed: Grayson Browne.

Celeste is (much) older than Grayson. Do you like reading May/December stories? Let me know so I can write more of them!