Caramel and Magnolias Event: excerpt, guest post & giveaway

Reader Girls is participating in the Caramel and Magnolias Event (hosted by AToMR Book Blog Tours). We have an excerpt from this new adult contemporary romance by Tess Thompson and the author is sharing a powerful guest post everyone should read. There is also a giveaway for one paperback copy of Caramel and Magnolias. We thank you for stopping by.

 

 Caramel and Magnolias by Tess Thompson 

Contemporary Romance*paperback & e-book, 246 pages 

Publisher: booktrope Editions (February 1, 2013) 

Purchase: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | iTunes

Bestselling author Tess Thompson, whose debut novel Riversong touched the hearts of readers worldwide, delivers a captivating and suspenseful tale of the possibilities that await us in life and in love – if we can find the courage to get off the sidelines. 

Crushed by a broken heart, ten years ago Cleo Tanner walked away from her acting dreams and now leads a quiet, secluded life in Seattle. Sylvia, her best friend from college, is trapped in a loveless marriage, distraught by her desire to have a child – until an adoption agency owner in relentless pursuit of Cleo offers to help. 

Just as Sylvia begins to experience a love so profound that only a mother can feel, a detective approaches Cleo with disturbing questions about the adoption agency. Determined to protect her friend, Cleo jumps into a dangerous investigation that forces her to confront the ghosts of her past. 

A toast to friendship, motherhood, mended hearts and new beginnings, Caramel and Magnolias reminds us it’s never too late to reawaken the heart.

Excerpt:

It was Monday, later afternoon; Cleo sat at the nearly empty bar, celebrating the last day of school by munching on the only salad on the menu, a surprisingly good Caesar with grilled chicken, and sipping on a pint of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Nick was taking drink orders at a table near the back, from a group of young men dressed in button-down shirts and khakis – a group from the same office, she guessed. She glanced at the man at the end of the bar. He was here the other night, she remembered. He’d been reading a newspaper. This afternoon he sipped green tea, occasionally twisting the cup in a circle.

She stole glances at him in the mirror. He was handsome in a rakish kind of way. Did anyone use the word rakish anymore, she wondered? If not, they should.

Then, in a habit leftover from drama school, moving her salad around the plate, she began to concoct a story about him. He was the type who could have any woman in the bar if he wanted, with just a smile and a compliment, especially given the way his dark blond curls fell over his forehead. His lips were too full for a man. Indeed, they were the lips of a player, of a man aiming to get a woman into bed and leave before the sun rose in the sky. He was a charmer who lured innocent women into his bed only to play the I don’t want a commitment song in the morning. Or, perhaps he was a grifter, looking to bamboozle lonely, innocent women into a Ponzi scheme.

“Cleo Tanner?”

She jumped, startled. Had he just said her name? She shifted on her barstool to look over at him, somewhat frightened. “How did you know my name?”

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a badge. “I’m a cop. You have a minute to answer some questions about Scott Moore?”

“What do you want to know?” She tried to sound more sure of herself than she was. “I don’t know him that well.”

“You dating him?”

“No. He’s a friend. Sort of. His agency helped my best friend adopt a baby. Just two days ago, in fact.” She took a deep breath. Why was she rambling, like she was guilty of something?

“I’m investigating Moore for some possible illegal activity related to his adoption agency.”

Her stomach lurched. “I don’t understand.” What did he mean? It felt like she was turning pages of a book, trying to find the place where she’d left off. She took a deep breath, thinking only one thing. Sylvia.

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them. ~Henry David Thoreau

The end. I love to type those words. The first draft of novel writing is a high. Everyone has a unique process. Mine begins with the characters. Once they’re firmly cemented in my mind, they tell me the story. I am merely the delivery vessel. Tell their story is taped to my computer screen.

I do not think about theme or genre during the first draft. But after I type the words, the end, the themes become apparent to me. Ah, so this is what I was writing about.

The last several years have yielded a tremendous amount of work, primarily two projects. One is Caramel and Magnolias (a romantic suspense, released February 1 by Booktrope Editions). The other is historical fiction set in the 1930’s in the American south (released later this year as a trilogy).

Caramel and Magnolias is about four people living on the outskirts of their own lives, or as I describe in the book, “the sidelines”. They’ve accepted their lives of quiet desperation. They cope with their loneliness and isolation by immersing themselves in their work.

It wasn’t until I read through the first draft that I realized I’d been writing about myself.

For years I’d been unhappy in my marriage. But I felt trapped. I couldn’t imagine a way out. I was worried about my children, primarily. And I felt responsible for his happiness. I couldn’t hurt him by telling the truth. I want out.

So I accepted my fate. I had my two beautiful daughters. I had my work. Surely this was more than most people had?

And I never uttered the truth to a living soul. Not my best friends. Not my mother. I was good at pretending everything was fine. I convinced myself it didn’t matter that I was slowly dying or that I was utterly alone despite being married. 

I had a mantra. I am a good wife. I am a good mother. I can be happy. I will be happy. Just try a little harder.

Every night I asked God, please make me a better wife and mother tomorrow than I was today. And please let me love him as I should.

But then something happened that changed everything. I started being seen and heard. Riversong climbed the bestseller charts. My blog, Inspiration for Ordinary Life, developed a loyal following. I was something more than what the outside saw - good mother, loyal wife, caring daughter. I was an artist who had something to say that mattered.

Many readers wrote to me that I’d inspired them or moved them with one of my blog pieces. And it was always the pieces I hesitated to write, the ones I thought might expose too much of my soul that received the most response.

The more truthful I was, the more readers responded.

And the more readers responded, the more truthful I became.

I understood, as I never had before, that to create art one must tell the truth. How could I be a real artist, I asked myself, if I can’t admit the truth to myself? I dread the rest of my life.

But still I stifled it. Be grateful for what you have, I told myself over and over. I immersed myself further in my work. And then something amazing happened. A friend actually asked me the question no one had ever asked before.

Are you happy?

And I did something amazing. I answered with the truth.

No. But I’m trapped.

I knew it.

What was this? Someone saw the truth despite my skills at deception. Only one. But it was enough. Because telling the truth unleashed something I couldn’t take back. I was jarred awake. I knew I had to get out or I would slowly die.

In the months that followed I made big and necessary changes in my life. It was painful in every way – telling him, telling my daughters, telling my parents. There were many dark days I wondered how I would get through.

But I did. I am on the other side now. I am free. I am happy. Yes, I’m terrified some days, no question. However, in the midst of the fear, I am also hopeful and excited for the rest of my life. Like my characters in Caramel and Magnolias, I am choosing to live instead of walking around half-dead. I am no longer quietly desperate. I am living with purpose. I am living with passion and dreams and faith.

And my work? All the better for it.

The truth does indeed set you free. 

About the author:

Tess Thompson

Website | Twitter | Facebook

Tess Thompson is a novelist and playwright with a BFA in Drama from the University of Southern California. In 2011, she released her first novel, Riversong, which subsequently became a bestseller. 

Like her main character in Caramel and Magnolias, Tess is from a small town in Southern Oregon. She currently lives in Seattle, Washington with her two young daughters, Emerson and Ella, and their puppy Patches. She is inspired daily by the view of the Cascade Mountains from her home office window.

Reader Girls is offering one winner (1) eBook copy of CARAMEL AND MAGNOLIAS (the book will be sent from the publisher). Open International. Our giveaway ends on Feb. 18th.

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