Welcome, Cozies, to our first Cozy
Guest Friday of the year! I’m pleased to welcome author Liz Flaherty, whose
latest novel, One More Summer, will
be released this month from Carina Press….
Grace has taken care of her widowed
father her entire adult life and the ornery old goat has finally died. She has
no job, no skills and very little money, and has heard her father's prediction
that no decent man would ever want her so often she accepts it as fact.
But she does have a big old house on Lawyers Row in Peacock, Tennessee. She
opens a rooming house and quickly gathers a motley crew of tenants - Promise,
Grace's best friend since kindergarten, who's fighting cancer; Maxie, an aging
soap opera actress who hasn't lost her flair for the dramatic; Jonah, a sweet
gullible old man with a crush on Maxie.
And Dillon, Grace's brother's best friend, who stood her up on the night of her
senior prom and has regretted it ever since. Dillon rents Grace's guest house
for the summer and hopes to make up for lost time and past hurts - but first,
he'll have to convince Grace that she's worth loving...
Stay tuned for a sneak peak from One
More Summer! For now, we go now to our Cozy correspondent, Tink, who is still
sharing Captain Jack’s quarters on the Black Pearl somewhere in the Carribbean....
Take it away, Tink….
*a chorus of “Yo Ho Ho,
and a Bottle of Rum”*
Tink: Arrr, maties, and hello from the Bermuda
Triangle! As you can see by the patch, I have been officially inducted into
Captain Jack’s crew. They call me Red-Handed Tink, aka Mrs. Jack Sparrow :)
Liz, it’s good to have you aboard! We’ll
put one of the hands to work on getting us a round of drinks. If you were a
mixed drink what would you be and why?
Liz: I would be a strawberry frozen
margarita. Because (1), I’ve gotten girly in my dotage, (2) I’m as sweet as I
can be J and (3) I can kick ass if the
occasion calls for it.
Tink: If you were stranded on a
desert island and could bring only one of each of the following…what would they
be? Person? Song? Book?
Liz: Person would have to be my
husband. We’ve been together for two thirds of my life and I don’t want to go
to any islands without him, no matter how crazy we might drive each other. The
song would have to be “It Is Well With My Soul” because even if I were not
religious, the lyrics would offer comfort and quiet if I needed it. Book. Is a
fully-loaded Kindle cheating? If it is, I’ll go for Kathleen Gilles Seidel’s Till the Stars Fall simply because it is
that good and I’m due to read it again.
Tink: What would be the name of your
pet gourd?
Liz: Felix. Because he looks like a
Felix to me.
Tink: Now for a bit about your book.
If you wrote to music, what would be this book’s theme song?
Liz: I have never, ever thought about
this. “Amazing Grace” was the first thing that came to mind simply because the
heroine is Grace and I think she’s amazing, but that’s just too…easy, and
neither the book nor Grace fit. Wait, I know! There’s a song on an old favorite
exercise video called, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” There are huge
mountains of pain in the book—how Grace and Dillon cross those mountains is the
story.
Tink: What are the first words your
hero speaks to your heroine (or vice versa)?
Liz: Grace says, “Dillon, you’re late.” His to her
were, “The cats wanted in.”
Tink: Would you define your hero as
an alpha or a beta? Why?
Liz: If I had to pigeonhole him, I
guess I’d say beta with closet alpha tendencies. He’d never start a fight and
would try to talk himself out of one, but he’d still be the last guy standing.
And he’d still be talking.
Tink: Does your hero prefer to wear
boxers, briefs, a kilt? Or commando? ;)
Liz: Briefs. White ones.
Tink: What is your heroine’s idea of
the perfect date?
Liz: One where she doesn’t have to
dress up or wear makeup. She’d a whole lot rather just stay home and eat pizza.
Tink: What is your favorite thing
about each character?
Liz: Grace is the best friends anyone
could have. Friendship is the one relationship that—I think anyway—is as
important when you’re 80 as it was when you were eight, and Grace is good at
it.
Dillon is a good friend, too, and he’s
funny, and he’s a loving man who doesn’t pretend not to be.
Tink: More seriously, what was your
biggest challenge crafting this story or these characters?
Liz: I have a tendency, not just in
this book but in all the ones I’ve written, to make everyone sound too much
alike. Since I can see and hear the differences, I expect readers (and editors)
to be able to as well. It’s always a challenge to me to not just tell about
their differences but show them, too.
Tink: Now for a more in-depth look at
the author… I will now ask you a round of nosy and nonsensical questions
developed by Bernard Peevo and used by James Lipton on Inside the Actor’s Studio…. Brace yourself J
What’s your favorite word? Least
favorite?
Liz: My favorite word is joy. My
least favorite, and I do apologize for this, is the f-bomb. When I was a kid
and even thinking it would bring on the threat of soap in my mouth, it was good
to have a word that was reserved for the truly awful—we no longer have one;
it’s just become an annoying part of conversation. It doesn’t offend me; I just
don’t like it.
Tink: What sound or noise do you
love? Hate?
Liz: I love the sound of kids’
laughter—or nearly anyone else’s, for that matter. I can’t stand mindless
whistling, though I can’t explain why.
Tink: What’s your favorite curse
word?
Liz: Son of a bitch.
Tink: What profession other than
yours would you like to attempt?
Liz: A travel writer.
Tink: What profession would you not
like to participate in?
Liz: Politics.
Tink: Now for a sneak peak from One More Summer….
"
This is
supposed to be a prom.” Dillon pushed aside his dessert plate. He gestured
toward the backyard. “The dance floor waits.”
Grace got to her feet.
“Remember how fragile these glass slippers are.”
He nudged one of her bare feet
with the toe of his sandal. “Damn near invisible too. Isn’t technology
something?”
Dillon and Steven had placed
citronella torches in the yard, and the scent of the oil blended with that of
the flowers. The Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody” filled the air and
Dillon put his arms around Grace’s waist. Gently, not pulling her close. She
rested her hands lightly on his shoulders, suddenly shy. Other than aerobics
classes in the church basement that Promise had dragged her to, she hadn’t
danced since high school.
As they moved across the lawn,
however, his arms tightened and her hands crept up around his neck, the left
one with its glaring white bandage held palm out. His muscled legs moved
against hers, but the motions they made were liquid, graceful, and she wished
whimsically for a waltz and a flowing dress.
The song changed, and he sang
close to her ear. The grass dance floor was cool and damp beneath her feet, the
star-filled sky a splendid ceiling, the flickering torches the most romantic of
lights, the subtle scent of roses a seductive aroma. Almost against her will,
Grace’s eyes drifted closed as his lips lowered to hers. The ambiance was lost
on Grace as Dillon’s kiss took over her senses. All she felt were his hands
splayed on her back, his body flush with hers. All she smelled was the pleasant
mingling of charcoal smoke and Irish Spring soap that lingered on his shirt and
his skin. She tasted only his mouth, flavored with wine and coffee, and she
couldn’t get enough of it.
After the third kiss, when her
insides were a roiling mass of sensation and emotion, she murmured, “Geezy
Pete.”
He said, “You got that right,”
and stroked a hand up her back. “What’s this? You didn’t wear a bra to the
prom?”
She brought her injured hand
into his line of vision and waggled it. “I couldn’t fasten it.”
His hand came around between
them to cup one small, denim-covered breast. “What a shame.” He found her
nipple and worked the bead of its tip between his fingers.
A low moan slipped uncaught
from her throat. Clutching her composure like a lifeline before it
disintegrated completely, she said, “The music’s stopped.”
“Do you really think so?” he
whispered, and teased her lips with the tip of his tongue until they opened.
They had danced their way to
where they stood among the trees. When she opened her eyes again, she caught
sight of a torch to their left, anchored into the ground beside the single step
that led inside the gazebo.
The gazebo.
“No
decent man in his right mind’s going to want you, girl.”
“No, Papa,” she whispered,
caught in the horror, and moved restively in Dillon’s embrace.
“Gracie?” His voice was soft,
gentling.
“I need to go in.” The words
sounded much more urgent than the situation demanded, but she couldn’t unsay
them.
“Okay.” He answered
immediately, and turned her toward the house, but didn’t release her. “I’ll
take you back.”
Steven and Promise weren’t on
the back porch. The candles had been snuffed, but the dishes remained on the
table. “Leave them,” Dillon said, leading her firmly past the mess and into the
house. “Steven and I will take care of it. You go on up.”
She nodded and moved toward the
stairs, but turned when she stood on the second one. “Dillon?”
“Yeah?” He smiled at her, the
expression not erasing the frown of concern between his eyes.
“Thank you. The ‘prom’ was
wonderful.” Without waiting for a reply, she ran the rest of the way up the
stairs.
Tink: And the final questions the
pirates have been waiting all day to ask…. If you could choose anyone (real or
fictional) to be the captain of your, er, ship…who would it be?
Liz: Oliver Platt. Because, like
Felix the Gourd, I like how he looks.
Tink: Which savvy piece of the
Caribbean would you most like to take home – the Black Pearl, the Dead Man’s
Chest, or the Fountain of Youth?
Liz: The Black Pearl…and I’ll have
Oliver, too.
Tink: Would you rather take your
chances with a zombie, a mermaid, or Blackbeard?
Liz: LOL. My imagination isn’t good
enough to get around this, so I’ll go with Blackbeard. Oliver will help me…
Tink: And most importantly – Captain
Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, or Commodore Norrington?
Liz: Captain Jack. Takes no
imagination at all to answer that one!
Tink: It seems I have competition. :)
Thank you for answering the crew’s nosy questions. From the Black Pearl, this
is Tink and Captain Jack signing off….
Life is new and wonderful for writer
Liz Flaherty these days. She retired from the post office in 2011, promptly
gained 15 pounds—she swears it was overnight—and promised her grandchildren,
The Magnificent Seven, that she would make each of them a bed-size quilt. She
also planned to write all day, every day. What
was she thinking?
She’s learned to write when she feels
like it, sew when she feels like it, and maybe even to eat a little less. She’s
gone back to school, where, yes, she is far and away the oldest kid in class.
She’s learned to share the house and sometimes even the kitchen with Duane, her
husband of, oh, lots of years. And she’s having a Very, Very Good Time. Her
fifth book—she’s not really an overnight success; she just never gives up—is One More Summer a brand new release by
Carina Press. She is thrilled to the point everyone she knows rolls their eyes as
soon as she opens her mouth.
Liz has generously offered a giveaway
for today’s Cozy Guest Friday. By commenting to today’s post and answering the
following questions before midnight EST tomorrow, you will be entered to win a jar
candle along with a book from her backlist:
What is your favorite scent and why? (If chosen as the
winner, Liz will send your scent of choice!)
The winner will be chosen by the True
Random Number Generator at Random.org and announced here at The Cozy Page on
Sunday so please check back to see if you have won. (Chances of winning depend
on the number of entries; you must be 18 years or older to enter.)
Married One Night is on shelves and in stores now. The ebook is available wherever ebooks are sold. Get your copy today!
