When I was about seven, an uncle of mine who lived in Michigan talked about jobs my dad could have given his experience as a mechanic. He said he’d be snatched up by any one of the big three automakers up there. According to this uncle, his pay would double, maybe even triple! My father had traveled for his previous job, so it wasn’t like he had no idea of how it was to live for short terms in new places, but this was different. Now he had a wife, two kids, and the idea of packing up everything we owned and moving several states away couldn’t have been an easy decision. My brother and I saw it as an adventure, while I imagine my parents saw it as a huge risk.
The Stampers had to make tough decisions too. One was to leave the land where their home had stood for generations, searching for a way to survive. The only plan they had was to use their God-given musical talents to hopefully make some money. Beyond that…
Chapter Fifteen
We kept going south like dandelion pods, floating with wind and with no sense of where we might land.
A Publishers Lunch BUZZ BOOK Fall/Winter 2017, and a SIBA (Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance) Trio Pick for 2018, THE ROAD TO BITTERSWEET releases December 26th, 2017.
***I’m using #FirstSentenceFridays on Twitter and tagging @Kensington Publishing Corporation. Follow along and tweet out/share if you’d like!***
I love that line! When does the book come out?
Thank you so much, Beth. It releases Dec 26 2017…just in time for people to use their gift cards! 🙂
I’d just started a blog about moving so much in my life when your post popped into my inbox! I like books that take characters out of the comforts of normalcy. New neighbors. Different jobs or schools. Road trips. Bittersweet kept me wondering what was around the next corner. 🙂
We were pretty much homebodies. My dad – he loved his North Carolina and he instilled that in me. I love this place to the moon and back. I like to do that same thing…yank characters straight out of what’s familiar and plunk them into some new situation or challenge. That, or have new people show up who don’t quite measure up to what they expect. (as you know).
And…I’m glad BITTERSWEET did that for you. Yay! 🙂
THIS I KNOW was true testament to that ability of yours with rubbing people wrong simply b/c of what Grace could do. I loved that one sentence about her Daddy – how she made HIM uncomfortable. Perfection.
Fantastic post, Donna! And as always, I am fascinated by the masterful way in which you connect your own experience with that of the protagonist.It’s absolutely wonderful. You are absolutely wonderful! <3 <3 <3
PS: I'm leaving tomorrow. ???? I'll keep you posted!
Where’s the little blushing emoticon? Well, this will have to do – aw shucks! 🙂 Thank you, Lilac!
Travel safely – and let me know how it goes! <3 <3 <3
Well, that opening line says a whole lot inside a whole little. And the breezy way you deliver it? Mmmmmm.
Why thank you John (MS) Frain. Hey, what about that lyric in a song too? “All we are is dust in the wind.” Same thing… dandelion pods or dust, it’s all relative.