Wednesday's Nuggets

More excerpts, today from my reissue of It's All Greek to Me. (Amazon Kindle.) And again, I'm going with an excerpt from chapter two. Why? Because I can. That's why. Happy reading. :)

It's All Greek to Me

Chapter Two

"No, it's not very funny. I lost my virginity in the backseat of a town car. Can't say as I'd recommend that experience."

Madge moved toward her, arms outstretched. "Why didn't you tell me? My poor baaaa-beeee." Tears coursed down her face. "Now I understand. You're afraid of sex. That's why you don't want to get married."

"No, I'm not afraid of sex. I just don't like it very much."

"You can't know that." Madge hugged her.

"I do know that. I had another lover," Marianne confessed.

Madge's eyes bulged, Marianne's revelation obviously rocked her mother's world. But Zeus flinging lightning bolts from Mount Olympus, Madge needed a fast forward into the twenty-first century. Marianne knew from long experience how old-fashioned her mother could be in her attitudes and beliefs. She figured that her mother had grown up in the 1950's, and had liked that decade so much, she got stuck. Just like a needle skipping on a vinyl record album.

"We'll talk about this later. We have company," Madge replied, her back stiff. Marianne’s meddling mama obviously didn't want to confront such a blatant contradiction to her beliefs. Burying her head in the sand was how the older woman always handled news she didn't want to hear. It wouldn’t surprise Marianne if her mother decided she’d been victimized in some manner.

“You should be careful, Marianne. Once you get a reputation for being easy, that’s all the boys will want from you.”

“I don’t date boys, Mom. That’s illegal.”

“You know what I mean. In my day, women guarded their virtue. Virginity is precious. Now you won’t be able to go to your husband untouched. Such a shame. I don’t care to discuss this any longer. What if someone wandered in and overheard us? I don’t think I could take the shame.”

Marianne nodded. Fine. She didn't care to discuss it either, especially since it had now become all about Madge Wilson. "I'll go back outside. How long until dinner?"

"Twenty minutes."

 

* * * * * * * * * *

 

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.

~Chinese Proverb

It's All Greek to Me...Reissued!

New cover, updated...one of my first novels is now available again: Smashwords and Amazon Kindle.

It's All Greek to Me

Marianne Wilson is fed up with her mother's incessant matchmaking. Especially when her mother contrives to set her up with Nick Galanapolous. Nick can't be classified in the same wimpy category of men Marianne prefers to date. That makes him dangerous to her in more ways than one.

Last thing divorce attorney Nick Galanapolous wants or needs is a wife. He prefers no-strings relationships. It's all Greek to him why anyone would enter into a marriage when so many become disposable. With her issues and his, is it possible for them to discover a true, lasting love?       


I even found some links to reviews for this novel, the first edition, and had a nice trip through memory lane.       

Review #1: "...What a fun book she's written, IT'S ALL GREEK TO ME. I loved it from the first page with Marianne's reaction to the Greek god standing in front of her.  ... Read this one, ladies. It's delightful."

Review #2: "... It’s All Greek To Me is must read if you like a good romance that will have you smiling and feeling good when you finish reading it. Ms. Hamby deserves a recommended read for her creativity and ability to develop such unforgettable characters!"

Review #3: "It's All Greek to Me is a book that should be on everyone's bookshelf. The writing is refreshing, the dialogue between all the characters terrific."

Review #4: "The book is laden with absolutely hilarious moments, leaving me laughing to the point of tears. The author captures the busy body mothers to the point where you swear they are people you know in your own life. The wariness of Marianne is understandable. Nick’s jaded nature makes perfect sense. How she entwines those complications and brings them together is sweet and sexy. Get this book. You will laugh, you will sigh. It is laden with humor and realities readers can relate to. Add this one to your must read collection. "

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Coming up next...The Marriage Charade. Totally brand new, full-length AND there will be a sequel to it. Just as soon as I finish writing the sequel. LOL. TMC will be published within this next week!
Don't forget my Christmas anthology: Footprints in the Snow, also available from Smashwords and on Amazon Kindle.

If you have 10 or 20 minutes to rub together, I have a free short story up on my website: A Man and a Puppy for Christmas.

So Much Going On

With the holidays, kids and school and my job search, it, of course, seemed like the natural time to jump into the pool and self-publish. If that wasn't enough, it occurred to me I could reissue my out of print backlist.

I have been working on It's All Greek to Me since MONDAY. Ack. I had to copy/paste it to my email, remove the paragraph spacing (took the whole day), then recopy/paste to a new document (to remove extra formatting) and yep...work on the spacing again. That took another whole day. LOL. I've been updating the story, it is, after all, 6 years old and I mentioned answering machines! Hehe. The storyline itself isn't changing. Just adding details and bringing it further into the 21st century. I'm about 1/3 of the way finished.

So, into that project (with a new novel to format and publish just waiting in the wings), I had the brilliant idea to reissue my Blue Plate Special: Pops' Girls novels. It's a continuity series I wrote with my bestie Sherry (writing as Shara Jones), and another good friend, Meg Allison what, 4-5 years ago. We each wrote a stand alone, then contributed to an anthology. Meg's reissued her contributions: Second Chances and Accidentally in Love (see her webbie, I have too many windows open on my browser at the moment...eek!), and now, I've bamboozled Sherry/Shara into reissuing hers. (Allow me to pause for a moment to laugh like an evil loonybird.) We're going to issue 2 anthologies, Sherry/Shara 'n' me...one with our two standalones, retitled (Meg retitled hers, too) simply Janie (mine) and Cindi (Sherry/Shara's), and our two novellas from the original Pops' Girls anthology.

THEN, if that weren't enough, I said to Sherry, "I'm going to also reissue Cupid on a Mission. Mebbe we could do a Valentine's anthology with a couple of novellas, and use Cupid again." Sherry said, "How long?" This morning, I realized I now hafta write a novella for this project. Bwahahahahahaha. Outsmarted myself there.

Sherry and I also have some Brides themed novellas and spooky themed novellas. Yes, the possibilities are endless.

I'm just thrilled I bamboozled Sherry back into The Game again.

Okay, so why am I blogging when I have a webbie to update, a novel to finish updating/formatting, novellas and novels to write, books to publish...?

PS...For authors looking for (at the moment) free promo, I've created a new website: Books! Books! Books! in the hopes of attracting readers to their favorite, as well as, new authors.

Now I'm really leaving.