Snippet Sunday and Weekend Writing Warriors

Welcome to Snippet Sunday and Weekend Writing Warriors, your chance to sample the work of a talented group of writers. I've been sharing excerpts from my new release The Captain and the Cheerleader. Last week we found that Susan, a teacher at Fairfield High, was irritated with her fellow teacher Robin. Robin bet Susan $50 that she couldn't make the football coach Kurt Deveraux ask her out. We're picking up where we left off last week. You can find more snippets at:

http://www.wewriwa.com
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SnippetSunday/

Blurb:

Susan English can’t stand Robin Lanford! She’s so full of herself she irritates everyone on the faculty of Fairfield High. When Robin bets Susan fifty dollars that she can’t get a date with Kurt Deveraux, the head football coach, Susan jumps at the chance to put the little heifer in her place. She had no idea that teaching Robin a lesson would irrevocably change her life, strain treasured friendships, and throw two families into chaos.

Excerpt:

Don recorded the last bet on a sheet of copier paper. “It’s about fifty-fifty. Sorry, Robin, but my money’s on Susan. When she enters a room, men sit up and take notice.”

Melissa, who stood near the door, wildly waved her hand to get their attention. “Here comes Kurt now.”
Kurt looked surprised to find so many teachers in the lounge. He probably was; on Friday the school usually emptied in a hurry.

“What’s up?” Kurt inquired of the room at large as he rounded the corner and turned toward his mailbox. “Why are you all so quiet?” 

Buy link:

http://www.amazon.com/Captain-Cheerleader-Elaine-Cantrell-ebook/dp/B017HSUIH2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1448742357&sr=1-1&keywords=the+captain+and+the+cheerleader

Saturday Sample

Welcome to Saturday Sample. I'm picking up last week where I left off in The Captain and the Cheerleader. First a blurb, and then the excerpt.

Blurb:
Susan English can’t stand Robin Lanford! She’s so full of herself she irritates everyone on the faculty of Fairfield High. When Robin bets Susan fifty dollars that she can’t get a date with Kurt Deveraux, the head football coach, Susan jumps at the chance to put the little heifer in her place. She had no idea that teaching Robin a lesson would irrevocably change her life, strain treasured friendships, and throw two families into chaos.

Excerpt:

Kurt grinned. “Susan said she knew I’d tried my best to get the team ready for Middleton.”

“Oh, it was a football compliment. Smart girl.” Jason leered at him. “You still think she’s hot?”

Kurt’s fork paused on its way to his mouth. “I never said that, but, yeah, I do. Susan English could put a movie star to shame.”

“What about Aleisha Childs?”

“What about her?”

Jason paused to swallow a big drink of his tea and made Kurt smile. Mrs. Kirby always provided the tea for the football team, exactly what he had hoped for when he complimented her on how good it tasted. Everyone at school loved it, and that included the football team.

“We’ve known Aleisha since we were ten,” Jason said. “She’s awfully pretty. How many times have you gone out with her now?”

“A few. I like Aleisha, but Susan can put her in the shade. And before you ask, I have no idea if Aleisha and I are serious about each other.” 

You can get your copy of The Captain and the Cheerleader at http://amzn.to/1iyLjRB

Fashionista Friday

Home for Thanksgiving by pearlparadise featuring cultured pearl jewelry

George christmas jumper
$21 - direct.asda.com

Carolina Herrera tailored pants
modaoperandi.com

Jack Rogers flat pumps
6pm.com

MICHAEL Michael Kors leather zipper bag
nordstrom.com

Round diamond earrings
pearlparadise.com

Cultured pearl jewelry
pearlparadise.com

The Incarnations of Joe, Book One

There are consequences that must be paid...

Publication Date: July 8, 2015

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Series: The Incarnations of Joe, Book One

Death has come to the woods surrounding an isolated northern mining town. It is the night of Christmas 1960, and what Joe Magister is about to encounter on the road will leave him forever changed and bring him face to face with his true heritage. What he will come to learn is that no truth is as simple as what is taught in church. Angels and demons; Heaven and Hell; good versus evil—none of it is as it seems. And when a marriage of old souls is put asunder there are consequences that must be paid.

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Born in Collingwood Ontario Canada. Grew up on a family farm where he cultivated both his families crops, and his imagination. Passionate about life, friends, family, animals and writing.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving. How much do you really know about Thanksgiving? Take this quick quiz to find out. The answers are listed below.

1. How many people were at the first Thanksgiving?

2. What magazine editor lobbied for a national day of Thanksgiving in the 19th century? Of course we know she was successful.

3. How did pumpkin pie achieve political significance in the 19th century?

4. When was the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?

5. How many turkeys are eaten at Thanksgiving?








1. 50 Pilgrims, 90 native Americans

2. Sarah Josepha Hale

3. New England writers made pumpkin pie a regional delicacy, and when President Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving as a national holiday, the South saw it as an attempt to thrust Northern values onto the South.

4. 1924

5. About 46 million which is more than at Christmas or Easter.

Books make great gifts. May I recommend The Captain and the Cheerleader? http://amzn.to/1iyLjRB

What You Wish For

Never stop wishing...

Publication Date: September 2015

Genre: Women's Fiction

Maggie’s secrets and lies have always lurked in the shadows of her marriage to childhood best friend, Jake, and the magic of wishes and call of destiny from an alternate world seem to offer her the impossible - a second chance, and a new start. The husband she gains is a lonely man, married to Maggie’s alter-ego from his world, and he has always struggled to understand his wife. Will has long wished for his marriage to change and rediscovers what was missing when he spends time with Maggie. Although she is drawn to Will in this alternate world, Maggie must decide where her ‘love’ for Jake stops and ‘in love’ begins, and discover what happens when she shares her biggest secret with the stranger who has loved her since they met. Caught between two men in two different lives, it is essential Maggie learns whether she has the power to call one world ‘home’ without destroying the people she loves. Never stop wishing.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | All Romance eBooks

Goodreads

Excerpt:

His mouth twisted into a self-deprecating smile, and he brushed his thumb across my cheek. I almost closed my eyes at the calm his touch brought me. I ached to rest my cheek in his palm, to let him soothe me. His hand fell away, and I mourned the loss of contact, the loss of part of myself to want and wishes. I tensed to prevent myself from splitting, fracturing, dividing right there, and glanced at Will to see if he noticed.

He looked at me, eyes sharp and focused, and the weight of his hand pressed on my thigh through the blankets. “Have you ever done that thing where you drop something, hear it hit the ground, and when you search for it, it’s gone? You might give up after five minutes, or search intermittently for years, but it doesn’t matter. You won’t find it. It’s not there anymore. It’s sort of…gone…beyond what you can see. It’s as if it has slipped through the cracks into somewhere else. Because things don’t just vanish, right? They must go somewhere…so, somewhere else must exist…and, now, you’re here instead of there.”

He narrowed his eyes as if in thought, and I fought the urge to touch the tiny lines where his skin crinkled at the corners, to smooth them away for him.

“I think I dropped something once.” His voice emerged so quietly I barely heard him.

He met my gaze and gave me a lop-sided grin. “To put it more crudely, I’m guessing I’m not the man you went to bed with, and you are definitely not the Maggie I fell asleep next to.”

His words jolted me, and I wrapped my arms over my waist.

“I’m not going crazy.” The last lament of a crazy woman. “This must be a dream. Only a dream. Otherwise, I amcrazy. Only a dream. Please?”

He shook his head, his smile sad. “Is that what you want, Maggie? For me to be a dream? To wake up without me?”

Before I even formed a thought, I shook my head. I didn’t want that.

e

From the magical land of castles and kings (Okay, it’s England), Gina doesn’t feel as old as she looks, owns three children (aged 2, 5 and 7) who can’t be tamed, and writes in spare – usually stolen – time. She sometimes bakes—not always with quite the desired results, and has found the only solution to keeping the characters in her head quiet is to placate them with lots of other lovely books and worlds.

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Beyond the Book: The Captain and the Cheerleader

Welcome to Beyond the Book. For the last few weeks we've been meeting characters from The Captain and the Cheerleader, and today we'll talk about my hero's sister Sheila. Sheila doesn't like her name because she says it's too old-fashioned. She's ten years younger than Kurt, my hero, and their personalities are totally different. Kurt is steady and level-headed. He knows what he wants, and he systematically goes about getting it. Sheila is swayed by any wind that blows and brings her vast energy and passionate beliefs to whatever cause appeals to her.

When Kurt makes a life-changing mistake, Sheila thinks that he isn't the nice guy she took him far, and of course she acts out on that belief. In the process, she puts herself in harm's way. Here's a little excerpt about Sheila.

Kurt didn’t especially deserve her support. He had humiliated himself with his bad behavior, but he had humiliated her too. Everyone in school knew he was her brother. Nobody ever felt shy of telling her what they thought of him either.

A couple of years ago she had actually gotten into a fight with a kid at school who criticized Kurt. She had been suspended for a day after she punched him. The jerk had said Kurt was the lousiest coach Fairfield High had ever had.

Truthfully, he had been having a bad season that year, but it didn’t matter one way or the other to her. She would defend Kurt no matter what. Too bad he hadn’t proven worthy of her efforts. 


I hope each and every one of you have a fabulous Thanksgiving.

Buy link http://amzn.to/1iyLjRB