Benefits of Friendship by Theresa Stillwagon is a Spring Into Books Festival pick #sweetromance #romance #giveaway
- N. N. Light
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
Title:
Benefits of Friendship
Author:
Theresa Stillwagon
Genre:
Sweet Contemporary Romance
Book Blurb:
All Cassandra Rogers wants is to expand the family bookstore. No matter what or who tries to stop her, she plans on fulfilling that dream. Until she hears a second person wants the building, and her dreams are once again compromised.
And so is her peace of mind when she learns who the other interested party is—Jack Fontaine, her secret crush from over a decade ago. Once a bullfighter with the rodeo and now a veterinarian, Jack and his interference affect more than just her business.
Then her mother states a plan to hire a PI to find her brother, and a promise made to her deceased father comes back to haunt Cass.
Excerpt:
“Maybe, because it’s from the government.” Maddie shook her head. “I haven’t checked on it, but I’m guessing a few tough stipulations will be added before anyone qualifies for one of those loans. I’d rather use up all my savings.”
“I did that.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that.” Maddie leaped from her seat and leaned onto the desk. “Are you telling me you used all your money?”
Cass refused to look away from the blank tablet. “Yes, most of it.”
“Then what do you plan on doing with your dad’s?” Maddie pulled the tablet from her hands.
Forced to look at her friend, Cass dragged in a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
“You told me last week you’d ordered tables and chairs for your proposed café and upgraded your Internet and phone package, and you didn’t use any of the money your dad left you. That’s crazy.”
“I’m not using my father’s money.” Bitterness heightened in her system, sharpening in her voice. She sensed Maddie’s reaction, yet she didn’t care. “I’m only using what the store earns.”
“Why are you doing that?”
“I’m not touching my father’s money.” Her nails bit hard into her palms. “Money was all he cared about, but it’s not all I am.”
Maddie stayed silent, and then she crashed into her seat. “That’s not true.”
“It is true.” Sadness fought past the bitter anger, an emotion she refused to accept. Her father never wanted her. He never loved her, so why should she feel any sadness at his death? “My brother was the person Dad expected to take over the bookstore. He never even tried to hide that fact.” She glanced beyond her. “Billy left town over ten years ago, without a word of goodbye. His leaving tore Mom apart.”
“Yes, I remember that time.”
“I loved my brother.” Cass placed her full cup on the desk. “I know he would’ve returned home if he could have. Yet, Dad’s obsessive need to control him stopped him from doing it.”
Maddie reached across the desk and touched her arm.
“Mom’s talking about him again.” Pain tore at her heart, a pain so overwhelming no tears could ease it. “She wants to start looking for him.”
“He’s gone.”
When Cass had kept the news of his death from her, she thought she’d been doing the right thing. Except for her and her father, Maddie, and Angie, everyone thought he was bronco riding in the rodeo. She’d never found the right time or words to tell Mom, and now, it was too late. Between her parents and her, she had suffered the most when Billy had left Greenfield.
Maddie gripped her arm lightly. “Cass?”
She glanced toward Maddie. “More and more, I’m wishing I’d told her the same time I told Dad, you, and Angie. If I’d shown her the newspaper articles I found about his accident, then she wouldn’t be acting this way. Now I don’t have the heart to do it. How do you explain hiding a loved one’s death? My mother will never forgive me.”
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
Books A Milliion-- https://www.booksamillion.com/p/9781509259755
Apple--https://books.apple.com/us/book/benefits-of-friendship/id6738093099
BookBub-- https://www.bookbub.com/authors/theresa-stillwagon?_gl=1*du0ob3*_gcl_au*MzY0NjM2NjIxLjE3MzQyMDU3MjY
What’s your favorite thing about springtime?
New birth, warmth. Easter. But, mostly, it’s not winter.
Why is your featured book a must-read this spring?
I really don’t have one book, I have a many.
Giveaway –
One lucky reader will win a $100 Amazon gift card.
Open internationally.
Runs April 1 – 30, 2025
Drawing will be held on May 1, 2025.
Author Biography:
Theresa Stillwagon has been writing most of her life. Since one of her teachers praised a poem she wrote for a class assignment, she's been putting words together in the hopes of seeing them in print. Not caring if anyone other than herself ever read them. Her dream came to reality in 2008 when she signed her first writing contract.
Life got in her way, so she stopped writing for a few years. Unfortunately, characters kept yelling at her to write their stories, so she dusted off her laptop and started writing again. Now she’s happy doing what she always loved.
A former resident of Georgia, Theresa retired and moved back to her birth state of Ohio, with her husband of over forty years and her cat, Frankie. (She still wondering why.
She's currently writing on another story in her Just Like Sisters series.
Characters are still yelling at her, and Theresa is fine with that.
Social Media Links:
Facebook-- https://www.facebook.com/TheresaStillwagon/
Pinterest-- https://www.pinterest.com/theresa_stillwa/