Happy Halloween everyone! And because this is such a great holiday I have a special treat for everyone: a special guest! I am so pleased to welcome Brynn Stein to my nook to talk about her latest release
Through the Years with a special Halloween post. Take it away, Brynn!!
Thanks Sophie, for hosting me today.
I thought for the holiday, I’d
give you all a ‘missing scene’ from Through
the Years. (Set when Gene and Edward are older, with their first
grandchild). From Gene’s POV (as is the rest of the book).
“How am I supposed to
know how it goes on?” I growled at Edward. We’d been at this for twenty minutes
and I still had no clue how to do this.
“Well, we need to
hurry up, we’re supposed to have Lily at the party in half an hour and it takes
fifteen minutes to get there.” Edward reminded me…again.
“If Jeannie wanted
her there at a certain time, she should have told us how to do this.” I fussed.
“Besides, who has a Halloween Party for a bunch of three year olds? That’s just
silly.”
Lily, for her part,
had been very patient with us while we tried to figure out how to put this
ridiculous costume on her. I mean, who ever heard of turning your child into a
hot dog for Halloween. The red leotard and tights we figured out right away,
though it still hadn’t been easy to get the skin tight things on a wiggly three
year old. And Jeanne didn’t tell us we shouldn’t give the kid a bath right
before attempting this great feat.
But anyway, the base
coat, as it were, was done. But now we were trying to get the rest of it on
her. There was a bun made out of foam, which had a convoluted harness thing to
hold it on. Then she had some kind of vest slash tunic thing that was supposed
to hide the harness and serve as the ketchup, mustard, relish, and onions.
It was really a very
creative costume, and we were going to have to compliment Jeannie on making it,
if we ever actually got her daughter into it.
“Why did we agree to
this again?” I wondered aloud.
“Because we love our
daughter and she couldn’t get off work tonight to take Lily to the preschool
Halloween party.” Edward answered sensibly. “And because we love our
granddaughter and she’s been looking forward to this all week.”
“Yeah, that.” I
agreed. “And the fact that we’re both just big softies.”
Edward chuckled.
“Well, that went without saying.”
It took another
fifteen minutes to get everything worked out and start toward the car. It took
us another five minutes to figure out how to buckle the child into her car seat
with the outfit on. Edward suggested that maybe we should take it off of her
until we got to the party.
I just glared at him.
We finally were under
way. We were going to be late, but at least we’d get there. Lily fell asleep on
the way and it didn’t occur to either one of us that this might not be a good
thing.
Finally, we pulled
into the driveway of the outrageously decorated house of Lily’s preschool
teacher. I reached back and jiggled Lily’s leg.
“Hey punkin’, we’re
here at the party.”
She didn’t wake up,
but by that time, Edward had the back door open and was unbuckling the car
seat.
“Come on Sweet
Thing,” Edward cooed. “You have to wake up now. We’re here.”
“Don’t want to go,”
Lily whined and stuck her thumb in her mouth. She did that when she was tired.
“Of course you do,
Sweet Pea.” I chimed in. “You’ve been talking about it all week.”
“No,” she said
decisively and turned her back.
We tried for five
more minutes to get her out of the car. If she responded at all, it was more of
the same, whining, and ‘no’, and ‘I don’t want to go.’
Edward looked at me,
like I had any hope of knowing what to do with a fussy three year old in a hot
dog suit. “What do we do now?”
“I guess we go home?”
I asked more than answered. All of that work and she wasn’t even going to get
out of the car. I loved Lily to death, but when she made up her mind about
something, there was usually no changing it…at least not without a lot of
yelling and tears…all of the yelling and most of the tears were on her
part. Most of the tears.
“Yeah, I guess we go
home.” Edward agreed. “Hey, let’s stop at Dairy Queen on the way.” I
understood. We hadn’t eaten anything since an early lunch. Jeannie had said
we’d be expected to eat at the party. But then he just had to add, “I’m in the
mood for hot dogs.”
I hit him and drove
right past the Dairy Queen.
Happy Halloween everyone. Comment below
for a chance to win.
Here’s how the raffle works:
I’ve listed the tour stops below and have given either the
link to the blog in general or to my post specifically. Feel free to stop by as
many as you want. For each stop that you comment on, you will receive one entry
to the giveaway. I’ll check all the stops numerous times throughout the tour
and will draw five winners on Thanksgiving Day, so even if you come in late to
the tour, you can go back through the list and comment on past stops.
I’m giving away five prizes. Prize 1) a signed paperback
copy of Through the Years; Prizes 2
and 3) electronic copies of Through the
Years, Prize 4) your choice of
either a signed paperback copy or an audiobook of Living Again (the audiobook won’t be available until December), and Prize 5) an electronic copy of Haunted.
Blog Tour Stops for
Through the Years
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Blog Stop
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Date
|
Blog Owner
|
Blog Address
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1
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October 6
|
Anne Barwell
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|
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2
|
October 7
|
Grace Duncan
|
|
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3
|
October 8
|
Jessica Skye Davies
|
|
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4
|
October 9
|
Shira Anthony
|
|
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5
|
October 10
|
Emma Tett
|
|
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6
|
October 11
|
Kim Fielding
|
|
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7
|
October 12
|
Bike Books Reviews
|
|
|
8
|
October 13
|
Tempest O’Riley
|
|
|
9
|
October 14
|
Sean Michael
|
|
|
10
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October 15
|
Allison Cassatta
|
|
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11
|
October 16
|
Jana Denardo
|
|
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12
|
October 17
|
Louise Lyons
|
http://louiselyonsauthor.wordpress.com/category/guest-authors/
|
|
13
|
October 18
|
PD Singer
|
|
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14
|
October 20
|
Shae Connor
|
|
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15
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October 21
|
Suki Fleet
|
|
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16
|
October 27
|
Charlie Cochet
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17
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October 28
|
Elizabeth Noble
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18
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October 29
|
Tara Lain
|
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19
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October 31
|
Sophie Bonaste
|
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20
|
November 4
|
Kit Moss
|
|
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21
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November 10
|
Lane Hayes
|
|
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22
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November 13
|
Mike Rupured
|
|
Blurb for Through the
Years
Edward and Gene were instantly drawn to each other when they
met at college in Maryland. Fast friends, they developed a "closer than
brothers" relationship. But then Edward began to feel more for Gene. In
1967, those kind of feelings would not be tolerated. Not even by Edward himself.
Gene always thought he was asexual. He had never been attracted to anyone...
until he met Edward. He dreamed of Edward as more than a friend throughout
college, but he knew Edward would not welcome that kind of attention. So Gene
wasn't surprised when Edward reacted badly to a drunken kiss just before
Edward's graduation. He was surprised when Edward moved to Florida and had
little to do with him for years afterward.
When fate finally brings them back together, Edward is married and has a little
girl. Gene gladly accepts the role of "Uncle Gene," happy to have
Edward in his life in any capacity. Together, they face all the trials and
tribulations life throws at them, including the death of Edward's wife, and as
each grows and matures, their life views change. The relationship they've
secretly wanted all along is closer than ever, and if Edward can break free
from his homophobic upbringing and admit his feelings for Gene, there might
still be a chance for them to share their lives in the way they both desire.
A Bittersweet Dreams title: It's an unfortunate truth: love doesn't
always conquer all. Regardless of its strength, sometimes fate intervenes,
tragedy strikes, or forces conspire against it. These stories of romance do not
offer a traditional happy ending, but the strong and enduring love will still
touch your heart and maybe move you to tears.
Brynn Stein has always loved to
write. Fan fiction, original fiction, whatever. While Brynn wrote in numerous
genres – everything from mystery, to contemporary, to supernatural – she had
always tended toward strong male characters. And then she discovered ‘slash’,
male/male romance, and all those strong male characters were finally allowed to
express their love for one another. It seems that there are always at least two
characters clamoring to tell Brynn their story.
Brynn lives in
Virginia with one of her two two-legged children, and two four-legged ones. Her
supportive family encourages her writing and provides a sounding board for
fledgling stories. When she isn’t writing, Brynn teaches children with special
needs. In free time, when such a thing exists, she reads anything she can get
her hands on, and haunts bookstores. She draws and paints, and enjoys the
outdoors—especially if she can get to the beach—and is always thinking about
her next story.
Please feel free to contact Brynn at
any of the following:
or
