Title: Second Chances
Author: Leigh Brown & Victoria Corliss
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Book Blurb:
A story of three people struggling to dodge their respective past, present, and future faux pas, will appeal to anyone who’s ever made a mistake in life. And honestly, is there anyone who hasn’t?
Looking to make a fresh start and a brighter future for herself, a young Pashmina leaves her family and home to create a new life free of heartbreak and conflict. Now a successful author skilled in the art of mystery writing, it seems there’s little she can’t do-- except outrun her past.
Amelia, Pashmina’s young editor, isn’t sure if it was luck or skill that earned her the top spot working with the Mistress of Mystery, but she’s thrilled regardless. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime. Now if she can just keep her insecurities in check, what could possibly go wrong?
Her boyfriend Tim knows. He’s spent a lifetime building an impermeable emotional fortress around himself making him invincible, invulnerable. But what’s it gotten him and at what cost?
Three lives tightly entwined become quickly entangled and soon they all find themselves wishing for a second chance.
Excerpt:
Amelia stood at the crosswalk waiting patiently for the signal to turn from red to green and wished that life was always this easy. Imagine if every time you were about to make a wrong decision a little red hand flew up and slapped common sense in your face, and when you chose wisely, a green light of approval waved you on.
“That would be lovely,” she sighed.
“What would?” asked Rose grabbing a Boston Crier from a nearby newsstand.
Amelia watched in amusement as her friend flipped furiously through the pages, bypassing the day’s headlines for the hardcore gossip of the Star Track column. Rose sighed happily drinking in her daily dose of celebrity happenings as Amelia casually sipped her first Diet Coke of the day.
“I bet you just blow your clients away with your vast knowledge of Beantown’s movers and shakers,” she teased. Glancing at the tall, elegant red head beside her, she was struck as always by Rose’s confident poise and chic style that despite her penchant for the glitterati were surpassed only by her professional abilities as a Cracker Jack investment analyst and intuitive earnings forecaster.
“Maybe, maybe not,” she replied casually, “but don’t underestimate what you can learn from the Star Track. For instance, did you know that the Grande Dame of authors Pashmina Papadakis is preparing to release a new novel that critics are predicting will rock the book world, or that two of Boston’s most eligible bachelors were spotted ‘hanging’ in the dugout at last night’s Red Sox game?”
“What? Let me see that!” Amelia shrieked pulling the paper away from Rose. “I’m going to have to call and demand a retraction. Tim is not an eligible bachelor he’s my boyfriend although I’ve absolutely no idea what he was doing at the game. He hates baseball and hates a dirty dugout even more. She laughed, “Ben must have dragged him along as part of his personal mission to expand Tim’s horizon. As for Pashmina, I know all about her new book because I’m going to be the editor on it.”
“Amelia, that’s great!” Rose cheered giving her a quick hug. “Isn’t this kind of like a promotion, I mean you’ve never worked with Pashmina before, have you? Word on the street is she’s pretty tough.” She eyed her friend critically, “but I think you can take her.”
Though shorter than the statuesque Rose by a few inches, Amelia was a natural beauty, petite and thin with a heavy curtain of white, blonde hair and blue eyes that shifted hue with her changing emotions like a mood ring. But it was Amelia’s steadfast loyalty and unflappable personality that Rose, her best friend, and roommate since college, admired most about her. She smiled fondly at Amelia remembering the countless times that this girl’s quick thinking and fast-talking had saved them from some pretty outrageous situations.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Amelia said dryly. “I’m going to need all the help I can get since I’m having lunch with Pashmina today and honestly, I’m more than just a little nervous about it.” Rose looked puzzled as Amelia tried to explain. “Like you said, Pashmina is considered a diva among authors and though it’s not technically a promotion, being assigned as her editor is a big deal. I’m completely intimidated by the woman, and I haven’t even met her yet.”
Rose pondered this a moment, a small frown crinkling her brow. “Maybe you need to go see Minji before you meet Pashmina,” she suggested.
Amelia laughed. Minji was a Korean manicurist whose weekly ministration of her nails almost always included an unsolicited palm reading as well. Equally off the mark as on, Minji’s prophecies, if not always accurate at very least were entertaining and distracting.
“That’s not a bad idea,” Amelia agreed as the light turned green, she and Rose moved forward across the street.
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Giveaway –
One lucky reader will win a $100 Amazon gift card.
Open internationally.
Runs August 1 – 31, 2024
Drawing will be held on September 2, 2024.
Author Biography:
Rhode Island writers Leigh Brown and Victoria (Vikki) Corliss are friends who became co-authors in 2009. Soon after, they published their first novel, Second Chances, followed by The Pie Sisters in 2015, and The Pendulum’s Truth in 2018. Stay tuned for their yet untitled fourth novel coming soon in early 2025.
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