Hi lovelies! It gives me great pleasure
today to host Susan Clayton-Goldner and her new book, “A Bend in the Willow”! For other stops on her Goddess Fish
Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in
this post.
Be sure to make it to the end of this
post to enter to win a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card! Also, come back daily to interact with Susan
and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous
giveaway!
A Bend in the Willow
by Susan Clayton-Goldner
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GENRE:
Women's Fiction
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BLURB:
Willowood,
Kentucky 1965 - Robin Lee Carter sets a fire that kills her rapist, then
disappears. She reinvents herself and is living a respectable life as Catherine
Henry, married to a medical school dean in Tucson, Arizona. In 1985, when their
5-year-old son, Michael, is diagnosed with a chemotherapy-resistant leukemia,
Catherine must return to Willowood, face her family and the 19-year-old son, a
product of her rape, she gave up for adoption. She knows her return will lead
to a murder charge, but Michael needs a bone marrow transplant. Will she find
forgiveness, and is she willing to lose everything, including her life, to save
her dying son?
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EXCERPT ONE:
Tucson,
Arizona
1985
Catherine
Henry told her husband, Ben, many stories about her past, and to her
ever-deepening shame, not one of them was true. Though she longed to tell him
who she really was, where she’d come from and what she’d done to escape, with
each passing year the truth grew more difficult to tell. And that made her a
liar, something she’d never intended to become.
Anxious
to finish their son’s party preparations, she bent over the kitchen counter,
putting the final touches on a sheet cake of a glitzy cowboy on a rearing
horse. To the beat of Tina Turner belting out What’s Love Got To Do With It?,
Catherine set tiny balls of silver candy in the frosting bridle and reins, the
pointed tips of chocolate spurs on tapered boot heels. When the garage door
rumbled open, she readjusted the volume, then checked her progress against the
sketch she’d drawn on a piece of drafting paper.
Ben
breezed in, his cowboy boots clicking against the Saltillo tile floor. He wore
a gray three-piece pinstriped suit with a cream-colored Stetson that made him
look as distinguished as a Texas senator.
Pumpkin,
their twelve-year-old cat the color of orange marmalade, ran into the kitchen
and circled Ben’s legs. He reached down to rub the cat’s ears, then pulled a
treat from his pocket and tossed it onto the floor. Pumpkin chased after the
dime-sized nugget, batting it around with his front paws for a few seconds
before devouring it.
Ben
hung his hat on one of the horseshoe hooks beside the door. He eyed the cake,
then dropped his briefcase on the barstool. “Does our son have any idea how
awesome his mother is?” Ben stood behind her, parted her hair and kissed the
nape of her neck. “And while you designed this masterpiece, guess what I got
invited to do.”
She
turned and smiled. “Texas Two Step at the governor’s mansion?”
He
laughed, looking her straight in the eyes like he always did when they talked.
“Give a presentation on admissions and diversity to the American Association of
Medical Colleges. It will get my name out there, put me in a better position to
become a dean.”
She
raised her eyebrows, impressed. “You go, cowboy. But you do know your butt
looks much sexier in jeans. Are wives invited?”
“Absolutely.
Next spring. Cherry blossoms on Pennsylvania Avenue.” He pulled her against
him. The top of her head fit perfectly under his chin. She nuzzled her face in
his shoulder and breathed in the familiar scent of Irish Spring soap. That a
man like Ben could love her never ceased to fill her with amazement and a
silent anxiety he might discover who she really was and disappear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO:
Susan
Clayton-Goldner
was born in New Castle, Delaware and grew up with four brothers along the banks
of the Delaware River. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona's
Creative Writing Program and has been writing most of her life. Her novels have
been finalists for The Hemingway Award, the Heeken Foundation Fellowship, the
Writers Foundation and the Publishing On-line Contest. Susan won the National
Writers' Association Novel Award twice for unpublished novels and her poetry
was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Her work has
appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies including Animals as
Teachers and Healers, published by Ballantine Books, Our Mothers/Ourselves, by
the Greenwood Publishing Group, The Hawaii Pacific Review-Best of a Decade, and
New Millennium Writings. A collection of her poems, A Question of Mortality was
released in 2014 by Wellstone Press. Prior to writing full time, Susan worked
as the Director of Corporate Relations for University Medical Center in Tucson,
Arizona.
Susan shares a
life in Grants Pass, Oregon with her husband, Andreas, her fictional
characters, and more books than one person could count.
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CONNECT WITH SUSAN:
Website:
Facebook:
Twitter:
Goodreads
Author Page:
Goodreads
Book Page:
Amazon
Author Page:
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BOOK BUY LINKS & SALE
INFO:
Amazon
Kindle:
Barnes
and Noble:
Kobo:
Apple
iBooks:
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Susan will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes
and Noble Gift Card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the
tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase made I may receive a small commission to help support this blog. This does not cost you anything, it just
helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and
Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions. Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not
Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are
solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
Hi Susan ~ It is great to have you here! Always love having fellow Oregonian's - especially ones from my birth city, Grants Pass! Congrats on your new book and good luck on the book tour! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteGood Morning, Ally. And thank you so much for hosting me today. I can't believe you are a native Grants Pass person. WOW. If you're every visiting I hope you'll look me up. We love it here. Moved to Nashville for 3 years, but missed Grants Pass so much that we moved back.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Lisa
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a fun read. Thanks for the giveaway. I hope that I win. Bernie W BWallace1980(at)hotmail(dot)com
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great book!
ReplyDeleteThis book is "my cup of tea", looking forward to reading it!
ReplyDeleteInteresting plot. How do you come up with plot ideas? DO they change as you write a book?
ReplyDelete