Tag Archives: book

And The Clouds Could Move Away From The Sun

My asbestos friend made me a very thoughtful, handmade birthday gift, and I just had to share it.

It is a cross-stitch of the title of my book. And if you are wondering, “Why a cross-stitch?”, then you need to read the book. ‘Nuf sed.

The Wind Could Blow a Bug

The Wind Could Blow a Bug

This is not the first cross-stitch gift I have received from friends. I guess I must surround myself with creative people.

A close family friend has made me two large cross-stitch pictures over the years that now hang in my son’s room. When I got married, my green-haired friend undertook the ambitious task of creating a picture of the lighthouse bed and breakfast my husband and I honeymooned at on the shore of Lake Superior in cross-stitch.

Hmmm. This is inspiring me to go upstairs and dig through my own unfinished cross-stitch projects…

My first book, The Wind Could Blow a Bug is NOW AVAILABLE!

PURCHASE as a Paperback or eBook on Amazon.com TODAY.

Excerpt: The Wind Could Blow a Bug – Chapter 2

I am so freaking proud to announce that my first book, The Wind Could Blow a Bug by Jennifer Friess, is NOW AVAILABLE!  It can be purchased as a print or eBook on Amazon.com.

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The Wind Could Blow a Bug
The Riley Sisters
Book 1
By Jennifer Friess
ISBN: 978-0692339565
#TWCBAB

The Wind Could Blow a Bug is a Young Adult Contemporary Romance.  This is the first book in The Riley Sister series.

I am very happy to include Chapter 2 in today’s post, for your reading pleasure.  I previously provided an excerpt to Chapter 1.  If you missed it, or want to refresh your memory, you can read it here:  https://imnotstalkingyou.com/2014/12/04/excerpt-the-wind-could-blow-a-bug-chapter-1/

2

The 7:00PM meeting eventually drew to a close around 9:30PM. Jane remained sitting on, not in, the chair, watching everyone mingle as they left. She didn’t look forward to going home to her room to listen to music by herself. Jane enjoyed the company of people, as long as she didn’t have to actually interact with them.

She glanced out the front picture window. The purple and yellow sunset that had been framed when she had arrived was now like the black of a computer screen, powered down. A steady stream of headlights began passing on the street as people started to depart. Jane looked up at the three diamond shaped windows on the front door. How 1970’s, she thought. A new front door would go a long way toward adding value to Skip Wickley’s house. Jane touched the corner of the end table next to the chair she sat on, where the wood grain paper was peeling back from the particle board.

“You looked like you were about to say something tonight.”

Jane had been so intently studying the worn, low budget furniture that she had not realized anyone had approached. She jumped as she realized the voice came from right in front of her and was directed at her.

“Um, ya. But it was stupid,” Jane replied.

Wade Tucker stood in front of her, his face merely inches from hers. His eyes were like two swimming pools of blue, staring back at her.

“Oh, I doubt anything that comes out of your mouth is stupid,” Wade said, with a crooked smile.

“How would you know that?” He was starting a conversation with her, and Jane was angry at herself for taking the bait. She felt her cheeks warming.

“It is well known that you are the town smarty-pants,” he drawled.

“Oh, ya. Because that is something great to be known for.” It came out sarcastically. Which is how Jane meant it. But she usually didn’t express how she really felt to anyone.

She didn’t try to be smart, it just came naturally, like the way her heart was about to jump right out of her chest at this moment in time.

“Naw, it is. Better than being known as the make out king of West Oakley.”

“I don’t know about that.” It slipped out of Jane’s mouth before she could sensor it. Her already warm cheeks now burned like a fire.

“Hmmm. Well. . . Now you got me curious.” He leaned in closer to Jane. The cologne smell was overpowering. So was his bicep that bulged as he leaned on the arm of the chair right next to her. Jane couldn’t help herself from glancing at it, but regretted it when she looked back into his now twinkling blue eyes, realizing she had been caught checking him out.

His blond hair was now dry and a few strands were falling across his forehead. He was so close to her that she could see the freckles on the bridge of his nose. She could feel his breath on her face. She longed to close the tiny distance between the two of them and kiss his lips. All other thoughts had emptied from her mind. Jane was dying to know what it would feel like to have his lips on hers, to suck his lips, to feel his tongue. She had never kissed a boy. He probably wouldn’t be the ideal boy to start with, but his confidence and reputation made it very appealing. The reality was if she kissed him right now, he would think she was insane and probably run out the door screaming.

“What were you so eager to add to the discussion tonight?”

Jane inhaled deeply to bring herself back to reality, as best she could anyway.

“Never mind. Nothing important.”

“You can tell me.”

“Umm. You might get mad.”

“A few minutes ago you were ready to say it in front of my friends and family, and now you are afraid it will make me mad?” Wade chuckled.

“Yes.”

“It’s OK. I want to know.”

“I—I was just going to say that if you let them build the SaveRX on your property, then you could just make out in the parking lot, or better yet, in the ‘family planning’ aisle, and you would never have to worry about running out of protection.” Jane was surprised she could push out the joke that had seemed so funny a few minutes earlier. Her voice was a louder volume than she had thought she could manage, although it was shaky and lacked confidence. She looked up now into Wade’s burning eyes. He didn’t miss a beat.

“Now, Janie Riley, you do surprise me.” With that, he smiled and walked away.

The smile that could stop traffic had just made her heart skip a beat.

Jane almost ran out of the room. The cool, humid spring air on her burning skin would be very refreshing on her walk home. Now she couldn’t wait to get home and over-analyze every second of her interaction with Wade. She knew she was making a big thing out of a tiny verbal exchange. But that was the closest to actual physical contact she had ever come to with a guy. God, was that depressing to admit at 18, even to herself.

 

My first book, The Wind Could Blow a Bug is NOW AVAILABLE!

Purchase as a Print or eBook on Amazon.com TODAY.

The Wind Could Blow a Bug – Book Summary

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Here is the back cover summary for my upcoming young adult contemporary romance called The Wind Could Blow a Bug.  To be notified of book release, please sign up at: http://imnotstalkingyou.us9.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=f58cebd8190793e8348ca281f&id=a695e51c66

Jane Riley is a quiet high school senior growing up in a rural Alabama town, surrounded by hot farm boys. When Wade, the handsomest one of all, takes a sudden interest in her romantically, Jane falls hard for him. Being adopted, Jane’s search for her birth mother leads to unexpected revelations. After graduation, everything in her life begins to fall apart. While suffering from depression, Jane must cope with the unknown challenges of college. Jane must discover that family isn’t always who you would expect. She is reminded that The Wind Could Blow a Bug and her life could change in an instant…

Book Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I might as well start by admitting that my literary choices do not always match those of the rest of the world.

I really REALLY loved Twilight. The WHOLE series. I have never read any books as many times as I have read those.

But it is not because they are great works of art. It is because I find them entertaining and enjoyable. I like to read about hot vampires and werewolves. I especially liked how Stephenie Meyer’s writing style reminded me of reading something my best friend would have written.

And I KNOW that you are groaning. But, sorry to say, millions of people around the world agree with me. The money don’t lie.

Everyone always talks about The Perks of Being a Wallflower as if it is some super-great book that I must read. So I did.

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The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

WTF?

I read the last page, closed it, and said, “That book sucked.”

I am sure many will disagree with me. Maybe part of it was that it was from the viewpoint of a teenage boy, rather than a girl. But I had trouble getting past the writing style. It was written as a series of letters to an unknown friend. Sooo many things wrong with this. The letter-writing thing just felt hoaky and unnecessary. I felt as though the author was writing badly on purpose so that I would truly believe that Charlie wrote the letters himself. Except that I just found it distracting. And the so-called friend? It isn’t even anyone that he knows. And, at the end of the book, you STILL do not ever find out who he sends the letters to.

I did like that although it was recently made into a movie (I have not seen it), the book was actually published back in 1999, and actually takes place in 1991-1992 when Charlie was a freshmen in high school. I was a freshmen then, or close to it. That means the author must be my age. But Charlie did not listen to any of the same music or see any of the same movies of that time that would have helped me relate to his character.

I kept wondering if this kid was supposed to be Autistic? Then I wondered if he just was. There was even a bad child molestation and physical abuse subplot. I guess maybe that was supposed to be the plot? Or explain why the kid was weird? If it was supposed to, I missed it.

The best part of the book was when they stood in the back of a pick-up truck while driving through a tunnel. Incidentally, that was the best part of the movie trailer as well.

I never did figure out what the perks of being a wall flower were supposed to be. I could probably be considered “a wallflower”. There are no perks.

I bought this book specifically to study what other YA writers are writing about and how they are doing it. I thought I might be able to use this book to help me think of the heroine in my first book differently. But I just came out of it thinking, “If this book became a hit, maybe mine isn’t as bad as I think it is. Maybe it could be a hit too.”

Book Review: The Weirdest Family

I ordered this book from Amazon several months ago. It traveled around my house. I finally got a spot of time to read this delightful story.

Click picture to purchase

Click here to purchase

The Weirdest Family is a children’s chapter fantasy book that focuses on a family made up of Abby the mom, Charlie the dad, Tesi the teenager, and Eliza precocious little sister. This book tends towards supernatural flights of fancy, so it comes in handy that there is an unknown narrator to keep the story on track.

And I am pretty sure the author must like sandwiches and nachos and fruit. They are mentioned several times.

You might think that you cannot have a gratifying book that includes zombies, vampires, mummies, super senses, God, and a baby man-eating bat. There are also aliens, and an apocalypse. But, once Tesi gets a palace for her birthday, it all begins to come together. Because, after all, don’t the most unusual families live in palaces?

And just when you think the story has come to a close, you turn the page, start a new chapter and a new adventure. This book is truly fantastical.

I didn’t just stumble across this book. A good friend of mine, who happens to have only been 9 years old at the time of publication, wrote it. I could never have written anything this impressive (let alone long) at her age.

I cannot imagine being 9 years old and seeing my book that I wrote for sale on Amazon. (There was no Internet, and therefore no Amazon when I was that age.)

But I WANT TO. I hunger, thirst, ache, crave, yearn to have my writing displayed like that for the world to partake of. (Thank you, thesaurus.com.)

To sum up, the title says it all. This is, indeed, The Weirdest Family. I also found them quite entertaining.