Hi, lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Tricia
Downing and her new book, “Chance for Rain”! 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 Tricia
and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping
by! Wishing you lots of luck in this
fabulous giveaway!
Chance for Rain
by Tricia Downing
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GENRE: Chick Lit/Romance
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BLURB:
Elite
athlete Rainey Abbott is an intense competitor on the outside, but inside, she
feels a daunting apprehension about her chances of finding true love. Her life
as a downhill skier and race car driver keeps her on the edge, but her love
life is stuck in neutral. A tragedy from her past has left her feeling insecure
and unlovable.
Now
that she’s in her thirties, Rainey’s best friend Natalie insists she take a
leap and try online dating. Rainey connects with brian85 and becomes cautiously
hopeful as a natural attraction grows between them. Fearful a face to face
meeting could ruin the magic, Rainey enlists Natalie to scheme up an encounter
between the two where Brian is unaware he is meeting his online mystery woman.
Rainey is left feeling both guilty about the deception and disappointed by
something Brian says.
When
they finally meet in earnest, Rainey’s insecurities threaten to derail the
blossoming romance. As she struggles with self-acceptance, she reveals the
risks we all must take to have a chance for love.
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EXCERPT TWO:
“Sometimes
going shopping is work,” Natalie announces as we head back to her house after a
morning at the mall. “You can’t be creative when you’ve been jammed up in an
office for five hours. You have to get out for new ideas to come to you.”
“I
love how you can rationalize almost any of life’s indulgences,” I say. Nat
turns and winks in response to my playful smirk.
“Life
is too short to deny yourself all self-indulgent behavior.” The words hang in
the air slightly, as we both know it was an off-handed comment, but our minds
go immediately back to the event that reinforces her words.
“Yes,
life is short.” I say this in a way that reassures her that her comment was
taken in the spirit it was said, rather than meant to dredge up bad memories.
Though I can’t help but elaborate on the subject. “Do you realize I’m only six
years shy of my mom’s age at the time of the accident?”
“Yep,”
Nat answers a bit too quickly. “I do. And I also realize something else. Your
mom was thirty-eight, married to the love of her life and had two charming
young girls.” I quickly realize I have given her the perfect segue into a
lecture that has been constructed, rehearsed, and delivered to me many times in
many different iterations over the past ten years. Now, as if she is attempting
an intervention while we drive down Colorado Boulevard, Natalie blurts out,
“Rainey, it’s about time we found you a man.”
“Why?
Are you getting tired of hanging out with me?”
“It’s
not that,” she says. “It’s just. That. It’s time,” the words spit out of her mouth.
It’s obvious she wants to punctuate her points. “You can’t keep running away
from it. You’re an incredible catch—beautiful and charming to be around.
Athletic. Everything most girls would die to be.”
I
know she is keenly aware of my resistance, but I get the feeling she isn’t
going to fall for it today. But I also can’t ignore my feelings or my truth.
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GUEST POST:
Create a playlist of your favorite music that you like to listen
to while you write or create a playlist of songs that inspired your latest book:
I am
a sap to my very core. Give me a good love story and I will fawn over it all
day long. Forget the chocolate, the roses or grand gestures. I thrive on
experiencing all the feels!
Thanks
to Spotify for being my go-to for listening tunes to get me in the headspace to
dream up scenes and to create my best version of a love affair. While I’m
writing, I generally need silence as I am crafting the actual story itself, but
when you need to be whisked off to a beach or ski mountain far away, the best
way to get there is music.
I
have compiled a playlist of my favorites that I use to prepare for writing or
to fall asleep at night as my husband is snoring (gently) beside me.
Because
I believe that songs can be so great at setting the mood, telling a story or
sending secret messages to the one you love, my characters create the original
soundtrack of their relationship. Brian57 (his screen name) and Rainey meet
through an online dating website: mfeo.com (Made For Each Other). Rainey
chooses this method of finding her Mr. Right because she has a secret, she
fears, that makes her unlovable. But online she feels open and honest. Over the
weeks, they come to share many things, among them, their favorite tunes.
As
for my favorite music, or the songs I listened to, to personify the feelings
behind Rainey and Brian’s romance, here are a few from my “Summer Love” titled
playlist:
When You’re Gone ~
Avril Lavigne
Speechless ~
Dan + Shay
Never Gonna Let You Down ~
Colbie Caillat
We Belong Together ~
Mariah Carey
Can’t We Try ~
Dan Hill, Vonda Shepard
Wanna Be That Song ~
Brett Eldredge
If Ever You’re in My Arms Again ~
Peabo Bryson
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AUTHOR BIO:
Paralympian, Speaker, Author, Disability Advocate
On
September 17, 2000, Tricia Downing went
from being a competitive cyclist to a paraplegic requiring a wheelchair for
mobility. Her life was changed forever, but Tricia’s competitive spirit and
zest for life continued on. Making the transition from able-bodied cyclist to
an athlete with a disability, Tricia has completed over 100 races, including
marathons and triathlons, since her accident. She was the first female
paraplegic to complete an Ironman triathlon and qualified for the Hawaii
Ironman World Championship twice. Additionally, she was a member of Team USA at
the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Tricia’s
professional life has been immersed in sports as she earned a master’s degree
in Sport Management in 1995 and worked at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in
Colorado Springs, Colo. She was the press officer for the USA Table Tennis team
at the 1996 Olympic Games.
She
has received many sports accolades, including the USA Triathlon Physically
Challenged Athlete of the Year (2003), Sportswomen of Colorado—Inspiration
(’03), Triathlon (’05), Hall of Fame (’12) Awards, the 2006 Most Inspirational
Athlete from the Challenged Athletes Foundation and the 2008 Courage Award from
the Tempe Sports Authority.
As a
community leader and disability advocate, she was a member of the 2013 class of
the Girl Scouts Women of Distinction. She also received the 2019 Inspiration
Award from Craig Hospital for outstanding community contribution from a Craig
Hospital “graduate.” (Craig is a world-renowned spinal cord and brain injury
rehabilitation hospital) Tricia has truly excelled despite her life-altering
injury.
In
addition to her sports pursuits, Tricia has taken an active leadership role in
her community as a peer mentor to others experiencing spinal cord injuries, she
founded Camp Discovery (and subsequently The Cycle of Hope non-profit)
dedicating 10 years to helping female wheelchair users gain confidence and
self-esteem through a yearly sports and fitness retreat. Additionally, she
serves on the board of USA Shooting, which is the National Governing Body for
the Olympic sport of shooting.
Tricia
published her memoir: Cycle of Hope—A Journey from Paralysis to Possibility in
June 2010, with the second edition released in January 2017. In August of 2018,
she published her first fiction novel Chance for Rain.
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BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon Kindle eBook:
Amazon Paperback:
Barnes and Noble Paperback:
The Book Depository Paperback:
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Tricia will be awarding a $50 Amazon or B/N GC
to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase is 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.
