This is a pretty short giveaway, so don’t put off entering, US peeps. Enter to win today!
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Bardwell’s Folly
by Sandra Hutchison
Giveaway ends November 30, 2016.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Here’s a short tidbit from later than the first five chapters:
Joe and Dori stood awkwardly in the great room, listening to distant squeals of admiration from Lisa. Robert returned quickly. “She said she wanted to grab a quick shower.”
“Great,” Joe said. “That’ll be at least another twenty minutes.”
“Anyone want another beer?” Robert asked.
“No thanks,” Joe and Dori said in unison. Joe gave her an annoyed look. He didn’t want them to suddenly get along too well, Dori concluded. She withdrew to peer out of the giant bank of windows.
“Something else?” Robert said, head in the refrigerator. “I have water, soda, iced tea. White wine. Red wine.”
Neither she nor Joe responded.
Dori looked at her watch. Now that it was finally growing dark outside, the windows were reflecting the yellow-lit interior of the house. In the reflection she watched Robert open an iced tea, check his own watch, then flounce down on the massive sofa that sat in front of the fireplace. “Anyone want a fire?” he asked.
Joe said, “Don’t you have the air on?”
Robert shrugged. “I can keep it low.” He picked up a remote and flames leapt up, quickly dialed down to embers.
Joe frowned. “So where’s the mood music?”
Robert cocked an eyebrow at him. “You want me to get you in the mood?”
Dori asked, “Do you have another bathroom?”
Robert said, “You’ll find a couple of bathrooms just down the other hall there, between the bedrooms.” He pointed towards the other side of the house. Dori couldn’t help noticing that while he’d escorted Lisa, she was on her own.
“Thanks,” she said, and took off. But as she passed the kitchen and front door she noticed a tiny half bath that was closer and ducked in. She sat down, noting the funky wallpaper with its rainbow trout motif, and realized she could hear the two guys talking quite clearly.
Which meant they could hear her, too. She’d have to try to pee softly. There were some drawbacks to the great room concept. She stealthily unrolled toilet paper, reluctant even to broadcast the clunk-clunk of the roll turning.
She heard Joe say, “You’ve got quite a reputation.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault women throw themselves at me. I don’t know if it’s my stunning good looks, my charming personality, or all that money. And, frankly, I don’t care. I enjoy the ladies, and I make sure they enjoy me. I make no apologies for any of it.”
Damn. Joe was right, Robert was a skank. That was the vibe she’d been getting from him all along, of course, but it was a little disheartening to hear him own it so wholeheartedly.
On the other hand that part about ensuring the ladies enjoyed it intrigued her a bit. No doubt there was something to be said for all that practice.
Also, the size of his instrument bore consideration.
Joe didn’t sound impressed. “Have you shared this philosophy with Dori?”
“I follow a don’t ask, don’t tell policy in regards to my philosophy. But you’ve already warned her off, haven’t you?”
Joe didn’t answer, unless it was some visual response Dori couldn’t see.
Robert continued: “What I like about Dori is that she clearly has a mind of her own. She’s more than capable of making her own decisions about what might be fun. I find her very appealing, actually. She might even be a keeper.”
As opposed to the old catch and release? Dori eyed the trout motif on the wallpaper and decided she felt vaguely flattered. She knew she could not compete with Lisa or half the other eligible young women in the world in terms of physical attraction, but apparently all a woman really had to do to fascinate Robert was be unusually uncooperative. She could do that.
That ending made me laugh out loud, which I’m not abbreviating because I actually did. Great timing, too, since my Accomplice got home from work right after, and that put me in the right frame of mind to welcome him home and tell him we’re buying a cello!
I’ve finished my NaNo novel, and actually now have more time for reading…and my daughter may have accidentally killed my Kindle. Life can be…interesting.
Looking forward to getting, as Paul Harvey used to say, “the rest of the story.”
Wow, you not only finished a Nano novel, you finished it EARLY. I’m impressed! And I hope your daughter didn’t kill your Kindle. (Wouldn’t be shocked if Amazon sells them cheap this week, though. And if this possible death involved water, I’m told leaving your electronic device in a box of rice can sometimes help.)
I actually might have finished it a little sooner, but the election knocked me out of contention for about four days – two of which I didn’t write a word of fiction. I felt the same as I felt when our second-born son died at 12 days old.
My open-ended outline worked well, though, except when I got to the end of what I thought was going to be a Hamletonian (if that’s not a word, it totally should be!) tragedy, but two of the three main characters simply refused to die on command. Took me a couple of extra days to figure out what they wanted to show me, and, in the meantime, in strode this lady with pointed ears and about 25 extremely logical reasons why I should write her a story…
At any rate, I’m not sure I’ve drafted one faster than this. Necessity is a good motivator for me, and the kids’ homeschool reports are due next month. I wanted to get the novel done so I could clear mental space for that tedious project.
As for the Kindle, I do have insurance on it, so I can send it back and they’ll replace it. I’m just hoping I can get mine going again because I’ve had it for a year, and I don’t want to personalize a new one. There was indeed water involved, but I’m hoping it will be all right, eventually. Of course, it would help if I actually put it in a bag of rice rather than hoping, but – I was WRITING!
All meaningful work stopped for me for a few days, too; it was indeed a loss to think our country could ever go so far in that direction. And I’m sorry for the loss of your son. Glad you have insurance on the Kindle! Given that water can later result in rust, it might be just as well to exercise that option.
And now I must go make the pumpkin muffins. My phone inexplicably lost volume on the alarm, so I’m running very late this morning. I guess that’s my wake-up call to finally replace that old thing.
My husband went to bed an hour before the election was called. My 15 year old son was watching the Google feed, and my daughter, 12 and just a little less aware of the stakes, was playing Minecraft and reading fan fiction.
When the race was called we were all very distressed, so we spent the night talking, watching videos, and playing music. They went to bed shortly after my husband left for work Wednesday morning. I thought I was going to sleep, but I “fell awake” and spent the next several hours reading election-related articles, something I’ve kept on doing (I’ve learned a lot, and intend to keep on learning, because knowledge is power).
I’m hoping that this is a reactive election, and that, at the least, the way the ugliness is being brought out into the light will lead to an inability to pretend it’s not there, and, by extension, actual conversation and action to eradicate it.
I was about my daughter’s age when I first read that, within decades, Caucasians would no longer be the majority in this country. It was a little hard to believe – Stillwater is, even now, a largely homogeneous community. But I adjusted to the idea fairly quickly, and my Vulcan passion has led to a strong belief in IDIC – we’re a rich tapestry of color, type, culture, religion, orientation, gender identity…and that makes us potentially so much stronger and more textured, if we let it…
Elijah would be a new teenager this year, but he isn’t. I can’t say it’s ever gotten easier, but the jagged edges have worn down. Somewhere, there’s a teenaged girl with his heart valves, and I hope she’s living a joyful and passionate life.
I’ve tried a couple of things with the Kindle, and thought I might have gotten somewhere, but I think I’m going to throw in the towel soon and send it back. I hadn’t thought about rust, but it’s a good point.
On the plus side, my husband is willing to loan me his, so I can do some reading there – all our Kindles are networked to a single cloud, which is handy at times like this.
Pumpkin muffins….yum! My phone’s alarm works well enough, although, since it’s only a smart-enough phone, there’s only one option, and it’s the most annoying alarm I’ve ever heard. Replacing it is in the not-far-distant future, after a new (used) Subaru for my spouse, and a refrigerator we’ll hopefully manage before our aging one literally falls apart.
Good luck replacing yours, and enjoy the muffins!
I went to bed at 10:30 when I saw how it was going, but I didn’t sleep a wink. Maybe this is a shock to the system the country needs to stop paying attention to lies, but oh my goodness the collateral damage there might be for so many of us along the way!
The Habitat Re:Store in Colonie has lots of refrigerators and they deliver. You might want to check it out.
Because we have friends from many walks of life, it’s that collateral damage I worry most about. I want to wrap all those at risk in a force field…
Since I can’t actually do that, I’m learning and considering more ways that I can make the world a better place regardless of who is the President – but, oh, am I going to miss President Obama, and I definitely feel that the country has thrown away the chance for another four years of inclusive, intelligent leadership mostly because of gullibility and the myth that the world is divided into winners and losers.
I’d heard of the Re Store before, but had forgotten about them, so thanks for the reminder. It would be a plus to help Habitat with the purchase. We might be a little far for delivery in Stillwater, but, if they did, they could save us a lot of extra trouble.
I don’t know if you’d be interested or if it would fit your schedule, but the Albany region of NaNo meets for Sunday evening write-ins year round at the Denny’s in Latham. They’ve got a side room with outlets and they assign us our own waiter (trained to offer minimal interruptions during the 20 minute writing sprints).
It’s a lively group with a mix of ages and interests, and even a few intrepid males of the species tough enough to hold their own in a roomful of women! =)
I find Nano quite terrifying, but it’s good to hear about another writing group. I used to go to the one that meets in B&N in the Colonie Center every Tuesday. They are good peeps who give good feedback. Would love to get together at some point. Right now I’m just focused on surviving to the end of the semester!
I tend to plan my writing year around the NaNo events. I don’t see it as a competition with anyone except maybe myself, if that – more a motivation to do the planning and plotting in a timely manner. One year, I didn’t plan. All I knew was that I wanted to use Hamlet quotes to title the chapters. That was kind of a nightmare.
These days, I write an open-ended outline, and a good deal of character work – and then I prepare for the characters to take over, which they inevitably do. I don’t mind; their ideas are always better than mine, anyway!
As for the Denny’s group, although it’s a NaNo group, we’re inclusive. We never throw anyone out for not being a NaNo type. We do 20 minute sprints and chatting between (not to mention some eating and a LOT of laughing).
i’d love to get together, too. =) My schedule is pretty flexible, whenever you’re free. Until then, I hope the rest of your semester goes well!