Single mother Malika “Pumpkin” Tavares
lost faith in fairytales after she fell for a toad. Now she believes she’s not
cut from the storybook, heroine cloth and searches for Mr. Good Enough amongst
the sidekicks and supporting men of the town.
Love at first sight isn’t a cliche for
town royalty Armand “Manny” Charmayne. For generations the Charmaynes have
spotted their soulmates by seeing a golden aura the first time they laid eyes
on The One.
When Manny meets Pumpkin he sees…nothing,
but sparks fly off the Richter scale. The more he gets to know her the more he
considers defying fate, if only he can convince her to take a chance on love
again.
Here's an excerpt for ya:
The Mistress of Ceremonies hurried
through her introductions and then the microphone was in Manny's hand, but he
didn't take out the notes of his prepared speech.
"Many of you knew my
mother," he began. There was a murmur of nostalgic assent throughout the
crowd.
"You may not know that after her
diagnosis, she spent most of her days watching romantic comedies. She believed
she could laugh the illness out of her body. Her favorite moments in these
films were something called the Grand Gesture. That scene just after all hope
is lost because one of the lovers, normally the guy, has done something stupid
that's led to the end of the relationship. So he thinks up this bold, romantic
move to get the woman back."
A glance around the room told Manny
that he held the largely female crowd in rapt attention.
"An example of a grand gesture
would be a guy telling his estranged wife that she completes him in the midst
of an angry mob of women. Or rescuing her underwear from the class geek and
returning it to her at her sister's wedding. Or holding a boom box over his
head, in front of her bedroom window, early in the morning, while blasting the
song that was playing as he deflowered her."
A different wave of nostalgia swept
through the crowd this time as they remembered these treasured moments of
Hollywood cinema.
"In the real world, some people
might call these behaviors creepy, or stalker-ish. But not my mother. She loved
them. She believed in love, believed that when you loved someone you said it
loud, you showed it often, and you never gave up."
Manny paused here, partly for effect,
mostly to collect himself as visions of his mother's joyous face played in his
head. He rubbed the heel of his hand against his chest.
"The national divorce rate is 50
percent."
There was no surprise in the room,
where most of the men were older and the women on their arms were younger.
"There's never been a divorce in
the Charmayne family. Not one recorded anywhere in our family line."
The sparkle of young women's eyes
threatened to blind Manny from where he stood on the stage.
"What that means is when a
Charmayne gives you their pledge, they are committed."
The decision was a split second one,
but once Manny made it he stuck with it. He stepped around the podium, mic in
hand and dropped to one knee. The gasp of every woman in the room was near
deafening.
"To earn your vote, I will do
whatever I have to, including blast Peter Gabriel in the streets. Charmaynes
don't quit. I'm committed to this, to the people of this town. I hope that I
can count on your vote."
The room erupted in thunderous applause, and the women's eyes
sparkled even brighter
About the Author
Ines Johnson writes erotic, paranormal
and fairytales romance novels, books for strong women who
suck at love. If you rocked out to the twisted triangle of Jem, Jericha, and
Rio as a girl; if you were slayed by vampires with souls alongside Buffy; if
you need your scandalous fix from Olivia Pope each week, then you’ll love her
books!
Aside from being a writer,
professional reader, and teacher, Ines is a very bad Buddhist. She sits in
sangha each week, and while others are meditating and getting their zen on,
she’s contemplating how to use the teachings to strengthen her plots and
character motivations.
She lives outside Washington, DC with
her two little sidekicks who are growing up way too fast.
Links:
Thanks for coming by, Ines!
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