Hope and Cameron made a five-year promise before college. Years pass and they never see each other again. But then one month before his planned wedding to Riley, Cameron looks outside and sees Hope in the pouring rain, watching him. Now, three years later, Cam has one day – a sick day on this last Friday of summer – to convince the one woman whose very existence breaths life into his lungs, that sometimes love like theirs actually does exist, and it’s that kind of love that lives forever, no matter how hard you fight to forget about it and move on. From the author of non friction and Hope, Sick Day follows one man’s day-long attempt to persuade the love of his life that sometimes it’s okay to break promises if it means keeping the ones that count.
**Sick Day can be read as a stand alone. However, Non Friction and Hope have some story elements tied to Sick Day. If you have not read Non Friction or Hope, Sick Day’s story will not be affected in any way.
Morgan Parker is the pen name for a shy and introverted former banker. Because he could never balance his cash at the end of the banking day, he made up stories in order to keep his job. None of those stories was Textual Encounters, which is great because readers will discover a truly unique and original romance that has never been told before.
5 – Roses – Romantic Love Story – Creative Unique Writing
I’m sure we have all had days where we want to play hooky, our physical beings are unable to go on, or maybe our emotional psyche is just in ruins. In this creative story we find sometimes love is the common denominator that filters into a blood stream and takes control of emotional and physical functions. Sometimes one cannot sleep, the mind continues to dredge up memories of past encounters. One cannot eat for our bodies are full of emotional turmoil and yet somewhat empty for want of more… what could have been… what could be…
5 – Hearts – Devoted Couples – Love
Cameron is engaged to married, he has a unfulfilling job, he is lost, confused and desperate to fill a void he is missing in life. Years ago he chose to walk away from a promise he once gave to his college love, his one true love, the one that got away, the woman he chose to let go and walk away from. Desperate to find this missing piece of his life he decides to take drastic measures and take a Sick Day from work to conquer a heart worth living for.
~Cameron: “I can’t have two halves of one life. One that belongs exclusively to you, and the other that belongs to the hope of replacing you. I can’t… exist without you.”
Hope McManus thinks she is stable enough in life where she came move on and settle down with someone she might be able to settle for. She finds she must have Closure from her past with the only man she ever loved in order to end this unsettled feeling.
~Hope: “I came here to find you, Cameron, but if you don’t tell me why you disappeared, you’ll never see me again. I can’t keep beating myself up over this.”
3 Tears – Emotional Drama
The emotional drama the author weaves in this romantic tale of woe and passion is enough to have hearts pumping and nerves are forever frayed. The author writes in detail about how the thoughts and feelings of each character are portrayed, the scenery around them is described almost as if you were there… in the park, at a candlelight dinner, on a beautiful yacht and falling in love all over again.
3 – Lips – Hungry Love-Making
The spice we find in between the sheets in this romantic love story is exactly what we would want to explore when two people come together and share their souls. The turmoil was evident when their touches consumed them, their past collided when their lips savored each others and their bodies connected when their desires took control.
My middle finger massaged her clit before reaching even farther south and dipping into her, just a shallow taste on my fingertip.
We kissed hard, lost in the thrusts, my hands gripping hers so fiercely that my fingers went numb.
Watching her, feeling her come against me.. it spelled my end as well.
Will this long ago promise survive the test of time. Will these long ago lovers reconnect. Will love last. Let’s find out in this drama filled romantic tale of passion, woe and LOVE reunited.
After 12 years, 4 months and 1 and 1/2 weeks of marriage, his wife packs up and leaves with their daughter. So he writes an Indie novel. And it becomes a bestseller. Well, sort of.
His fame brings him the lifestyle of a rockstar, and he has the fan mail (i.e. female undergarments, probably clean) to prove it.
But seeing his fame, his wife suddenly believes in marriage counseling. Their homework: to create something beautiful for each other.
So he writes Our Story, his literary secret-weapon that will win his wife back. But in the process he discovers that true love is more than just ticking the right boxes on a checklist. It starts with… well… }i{ .
*(Note: the f-word is used 231 times in various formats throughout this story. Read with caution. (According to Amazon).*
Excerpt 1
“I lied to you,” I told her. “About how all I ever wanted was to be loved.”
“Why?” Emma asked, her eyes tightening at the sting of my admission.
“Because the truth is that all I ever wanted was…”
“Tell me!”
“All I ever wanted was to be loved by [YOU].”
She rolled her eyes and turned away, as if trying to hide her grin from me. I knew she couldn’t block me from her heart forever, and her reaction proved it.
“So, can we [make love] now?” I asked, and that was when she punched me.
I headed upstairs with Emma on my heels. She commented on the family photos on the stairway wall, the color of the second floor landing, the carpet’s thick under-padding, the layout, how clean my house was (yes, I spent all day yesterday tidying up and figuring out how to turn the vacuum cleaner on). I chalked up her chatter to nervousness.
“Here’s Evelyn’s room.” I pushed the door open and waved her inside.
“I can’t sleep in that,” she said, pointing to the Barbie-racecar toddler bed.
I shrugged. “Then I guess you’ll have to cuddle up next to me in mine.”
I didn’t believe the words because her eyes told a different story; sure they were closed, but that didn’t mean anything. I placed her gently on the bed, made sure her head was cozy on the pillow, then told her I’d be right back.
“Don’t leave me,” she slurred. She spoke slowly, the alcohol running thick through her veins by now.
So I cozied up on the bed beside her.
“Hold my hand, Morgan.”
I slid my fingers between hers (they fit perfectly), watching her while the alcohol slowly robbed what was arguably my best and only chance at getting laid before flying back home tomorrow.
Morgan Parker is the pen name for a shy and introverted banker. He currently divides his time between Toronto, Canada and his imagination. When he isn’t writing or working with clients or relaxing at Balzac’s with a medium non-fat cappuccino, Morgan Parker enjoys spending time with his family. And sleeping, preferably on a bed (the left side) but depending on the day, he can pretty much curl up anywhere. No, he is not currently accepting applications for cuddling partners.
Katie discovers an unlocked iPhone in the back seat of a taxi. But instead of turning it in to the driver as lost, she decides to keep it for herself.
Outside of the usual clutter you would expect to find on a smartphone, what captures Katie’s interest is the single conversation she finds on the phone’s secure text messaging service, a three-month dialogue between a woman with an uncertain past named Christine and a single, eligible man named Jake.
From Strangers to Soulmates in 90 Days
What starts out as a message intended for someone else ends up being the beginning of a relationship more powerful than anything Christine or Jake have ever experienced.
But nothing ever turns out to be as good as it initially seems and their histories slowly reveal details and past lovers that threaten to derail their humble quest for love.
Forgotten In The Back Seat of a New York City Taxi
Can Christine and Jake overcome the seemingly insurmountable obstacles, doubts and secrets that endanger their love?
If so, why would such a relationship get forgotten in the back seat of a New York City taxi?
Presented in a Format Unlike Any Other You Will Find
Follow Katie as she reads through the 3 months of conversations that form The Christine + Jake Affair and provide the foundation for the Textual Encounters Trilogy.
***We are having a Scavenger Hunt during the blog tour.
Make sure you stop by each blog’s stop and check out the fun facts about Morgan Parker they will be sharing. Some of the facts have clue’s to the message from Morgan Barker (Character of Non Friction) You must find the ones with Yellow writing and put them together to make the message. Once you have the message send it to verna_loves_david5104@hotmail.com
First person to get the message wins a Signed Paperback of Non Friction by Morgan Parker! ***
Clue Catch-Up
Later Today
2/24/2014
FLASH GIVEAWAY
WINNER will Receive a an ebook of Non Friction
Blog Tour Brought to You By:
Review
Review by ~Syrina
4 roses for originality and a bit of romance
What a great little read, I gobbled it up in one sitting. The characters were real, their conversations witty, humorous, catty, and sarcastic. In the end it left me wanting a “Morgan” of my very own.
Morgan is a man going through the motions of being an average corporate accountant making ends meat in a loveless marriage. In a blink of an eye, he loses everything, his wife, his child, his habit and his routine. It wakes him up to what his life has become, what he has become.
Morgan is newly divorced and more than a little lonely. He proceeds to get “tech-savvy”, and gains insight into the social media world. He needs female companionship and most definitely some form of human contact. He buys an iPhone hoping to experience such a relationship by text messaging.
“The last time I’d been single, folks didn’t send text messages – not unless they had a label maker. And even then, it never got you laid. Not like text messages today.”
Morgan picks up a recommended book in this particular field, reads it and immediately knows it‘s bogus. It does not work. The only thing he got out of it was that any idiot can write a book. So he does, he writes a novel based entirely on text messaging. Sextual Encounters went viral and with the help of Social Media today, his story was deemed ‘Brilliant, Amazing, and Unique’, a “Brilliant Love Story.” Within a month it hit the Top 100 list of Amazon’s Romance Bestsellers.
3 hearts for couples seeking love
This is how Morgan meets his biggest fan, Emma. She sends him a fan-based package and Morgan feels an instant connection, or at least his body does. She was exactly the kind of burn he wanted to feel and the perfect distraction he needed. Included is a message that feels like fate for it was written by an authentic label maker.
Dear Morgan. My name is Emma. I am not looking for a relationship, but I think we should write a book together. I am in the process of getting published and I think we can make beautiful literature together. ~Emma
}i{ is their secret code for when they want to get their sexting on privately for Emma is in a loveless marriage herself. Still they feel a connection even though its clear Morgan is trying to piece his family back together. He starts another novel, Our Story, a romantic novel about the everlasting love of Oliver and Olivia, even as Emma and Morgan become closer and closer.
“I’m good with numbers, not so much with words. You’re not my words, Emma… But you’re my numbers. You’re all of my numbers… You’re my infinity.”
2 teardrops for drama & emotional turmoil
In the end, I think Morgan and Emma truly fell for one another, however there are certain things in our lives that need to have some sort of closure in order to start over or start anew. Morgan is struggling to find happiness and forgiveness, he tries to fill an empty void through writing, fame, and an exciting new romance. Emma is still uncertain about the direction of her own failing marriage and trying to raise her own family.
“I loved you for everything. Your successes and intelligence as well as your failures. I loved you just like you said you loved me, but I loved you more. I wrote a novel about you – Oliver, Olivia, it’s all you, one hundred percent you.”
“Morgan, I love you. No matter what happens, I will always love you… And because of this love, I will always be waiting for you. I’ll be there, always waiting, always for you.”
So, does Morgan make it as an exciting Best Seller Author? Does he find his True Love? Does he get his HEA, or does he find he must choose his own path and make his own healing memories.
Thanks Morgan Parker for a very real story about Love, Hate, Divorce, and Life ever after.
Sex in the Title: A Comedy about Dating, Sex, and Romance in NYC (Back When Phones Weren’t So Smart)
Author Zack Love
RELEASE DATE: October 21, 2013
SYNOPSIS:
New York City, May 2000. The Internet bubble has burst, and Evan’s boss fires him with an email. The next day, his girlfriend dumps him, also via email. Afraid to check any more emails, Evan desperately seeks a rebound romance but the catastrophes that ensue go from bad to hilariously worse. Fortunately, Evan meets someone whose legendary disasters with females eclipse even his own.To reverse their fortunes, they recruit their friends into a group of five guys who take on Manhattan in pursuit of dates, sex, and adventure. With musings about life, relationships, and human psychology, this quintessential New York story about the search for happiness follows five men on their comical paths to trouble, self-discovery, and love.
EXCERPT 1
“So what’s the body count?”
“The body count?”
“You know: how many women have you slept with in your twenty-nine years?”
Evan wasn’t sure whether to overstate the number to look sexually impressive to a soft porn star, or whether to understate the number to look less promiscuous and more like the responsible, clean cut, solid-boyfriend type. Since he still hadn’t quite figured out what Tina was looking for or who she really was, he decided just to tell the truth.
“I’ve been with about sixty-seven women.”
“What do you mean ‘about sixty-seven?’ You say ‘about sixty’ or ‘about seventy.’ But not ‘about sixty-seven.’ You’re obviously keeping track.” Tina looked amused at another opportunity to toy with Evan.
“All right. You got me,” Evan conceded. “I’ve been with precisely sixty-seven women.”
“Unless, of course, you said ‘about’ because the total depends on how you define ‘being with a woman.’ For example, if you just got a blowjob and nothing else then maybe you don’t count that.”
“OK. To be more precise, I’ve had sexual intercourse with sixty-seven women.”
“All right, so then you’ve probably been with many more women than sixty-seven?”
“Yeah. But I don’t keep track of those.” Evan suddenly wondered why he didn’t bother to keep track of anything but consummation.
“I see…So when did you get started on these sixty-seven women?”
“You mean, how old was I when I lost my virginity?”
“Yes.”
“Twenty.”
“So you’ve slept with sixty-seven women in just nine years.”
“Well, actually I’ve had six serious relationships that together took up about two years.”
“Serious? Let’s see…Six serious relationships in two years…So each one lasted an average of four months. You call that serious?”
“Well, it was an intense four months. And I wasn’t seeing anyone else. You know, that’s kind of a big deal in New York,” he added ironically. “Dating someone exclusively for four months in New York is like four years in Anchorage.”
Tina chuckled at Evan’s joke. “All right, so not counting the serious relationships, you’ve slept with…” She crunched some numbers in her head. “You’ve slept with sixty-one women in just seven years…That’s an average of almost nine per year…A new woman every forty days.” Tina seemed impressed, which suddenly made Evan feel rather promiscuous.
“Basically, it’s your odds of getting laid. Everyone has an SQ. Just like everyone has an IQ.”
“I’ve never heard that term before.”
“That’s because I made it up.”
“That figures. Finally applying your actuarial skills to what really matters, eh?”
“Yeah…It’s an idea I had always sort of toyed with, but after I lost Yumi to my boss, I really began to develop and refine it.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I started obsessing over why she suddenly dumped me for him. And in the process of figuring that out, I developed the concept of SQ.”
“So how does it work?”
“Your Sexual Quotient is really just an attempt to quantify, on some absolute scale, how attractive you are to the opposite sex. In general, the higher your SQ, the more desirable you are.”
“So the higher your SQ, the easier it is for you to get laid.”
“Right. But your SQ determines a lot more; it effectively defines your bargaining position in a relationship. The lower your SQ, the more likely you are to be dominated by the person you’re with,” Heeb explained.
“You really think so?”
“Look at me. I always end up being the doormat because of my SQ. But if you look at models – male or female – they generally get away with demanding more and giving less.”
“So how do you figure out your SQ?” Evan asked, suddenly eager to compute his own Sexual Quotient.
“Well, your subjective SQ is how attractive you are to a particular person. And your objective SQ is just the average of all the scores you got for all of the people out there.”
“So how do I calculate my SQ for a particular woman?”
“It’s calculated the way you would calculate your personal income taxes.”
“How’s that?”
“Various facts cause you to take deductions from the total, although with taxes you want the deductions and with your SQ you obviously don’t. Because the lower your objective SQ is, the fewer women you attract, and the less picky you can be. And that’s a bad thing. And for anyone who wants to marry a Jew, it’s a disaster.”
“Why?”
“Because there are only about fourteen million Jews in the whole world, which leaves about seven million for each gender. So let’s say I’m willing to date any Jewish woman who’s twenty to forty years old. That leaves me with a choice of about two million women in the world. And if we assume that half of those women are already taken, I’m left with a million eligible women roaming about six billion people. And, chances are, the million that’s not taken is not taken for a reason.”
“A million?”
“Yeah. And if you want to get really precise, we need to shave off at least another three hundred thousand, because I can’t date any Chasidic, Orthodox or even Conservative Jews.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I’m compatible only with bagel Jews.”
“Bagel Jews?”
“The ones who are Jewish culturally but not religiously. Which leaves about seven hundred thousand.”
EXCERPT 3
“Listen to what you’re saying to me! Can you believe what you just – ”
Heeb blanked out on Melody for a moment as he remembered that he needed to deposit his mail in the mailbox a few feet away because it was the last one before he entered the Eighty-sixth Street subway station. He had been looking forward to this moment, after uncomfortably holding his mail in a stack that was sandwiched between his fingers and his cell phone, which was held down on the stack by his right thumb and pressed up to the side of his head for the conversation.
He refocused on Melody’s rant: “…not fair…I mean, listen to how you communicate with me! I feel like that’s become our problem. That’s really what this is about now: we just don’t communicate like we used – ” And that was the last thing he heard Melody say. Heeb’s painfully cramped and over-encumbered fingers were so eager to release the stack of mail from his right hand into the mailbox that they released his cell phone as well.
Heeb stood there for a moment, in dazed disbelief, looking helplessly at the sides of the mailbox. Melody’s continuing diatribe could now be heard only as a series of strangely muffled, barely audible noises, emanating from within the metal mailbox, like a transistor radio that falls into a manhole and just gives off a faint, chattering buzz.
In absurd desperation, Heeb tried cupping his hands to the mailbox for a moment, and shouting into it, hoping that she might hear what happened and that he really didn’t mean to drop the phone in the mailbox just as she was complaining about how they don’t communicate as well as they used to.
“Melody! Melody! I can’t hear you! I dropped my phone in the mailbox! Can you hear me?! I’m sorry! It slipped!”
As several commuters walked by, looking oddly at this heavyset balding man in a suit and tie crouched down low and apparently talking rather urgently to a mailbox, Heeb felt that he may have reached the nadir of his follies in the New York dating scene. But it would actually get much worse.
“…being in love can change almost anything: from your expectations and limitations to your very life plans. It’s a completely unpredictable force. And how it operates within any particular relationship is a total mystery to anyone outside of that…”
“As Narc became busier at work, he developed a bold new dating philosophy. His idea of a perfect first date was doggy-style, followed by a cup of coffee. He just didn’t have the time or patience for anything resembling conventional courtship patterns and felt too depressed to be the charming smooth talker that he had once been.”
― Zack Love, Sex in the Title: A Comedy about Dating, Sex, and Romance in NYC
AUTHOR BIO:
Zack Love graduated from Harvard College, where he tried to create a bachelor’s degree in Women. With the bachelor portion of that degree in hand, he settled in New York City but – to afford renting his bed-sized studio – found himself flirting mostly with a computer screen and stacks of documents. Determined not to die a corporate drone, Zack decided to sacrifice sleep for screenwriting, an active social life, and Internet startups offering temporary billion-dollar fantasies.
To feed his steady diet of NYC nightlife, he regularly crashed VIP parties in the early 2000s and twice bumped into his burgeoning crush, a Hollywood starlet. But – much to Zack’s surprise – neither of those awkward conversations led to marriage with the A-list actress. Zack eventually consoled himself by imagining fiascoes far worse than those involving his celebrity crush. In the process, he dreamed up a motley gang of five men inspired by some of his college friends and quirky work colleagues. And thus was born Sex in the Title. But the novel is not autobiographical: Zack never had his third leg attacked by any mammal (nor by any plant, for that matter). In fact, keeping his member safe has been one of Zack’s lifelong goals – and one of the few that he’s managed to accomplish.
Violet Miller is a teacher savoring her summer break until she’s been called in as emergency reinforcements—of the dating kind. She volunteers to help an old flame by pretending to be his girlfriend. In Alaska. At a family reunion. Since the guy is a handsome, lumberjack-sized doctor she’s never quite forgotten, faking a relationship won’t be hard work.
Mike Ostranski is a desperate man on vacation. His mother wants grandchildren and sees a crazy Alaskan woman as a candidate for daughter-in-law. Mike needs Violet by his side to deflect the lady’s advances.
A week in Alaska as boyfriend and girlfriend should be easy for them. They grew up together, even had a brief fling. What could go wrong? Everything.
Jennifer Zane has lived all over the country–from Georgia to Maryland, New York to Colorado, including an exciting five years in Montana. Her time in Big Sky country was the basis for this book. When she’s not writing, she savors the insanity of raising two boys, is figuring out how many meals she can make with a pressure cooker, and teaches a pretty mean karate class. She currently lives with her family in Colorado.
An adventure of a first grade teacher who travels from Montana to Alaska. A re-connection with her high school crush, and one night flame. From a summer job at the local XXX store to fishing for King Salmon. Think … Mud, Clown Car, Hunky Doctor, and a wedding ring.
Oh My!!!
I admit that I am one of those people that judges a book by its cover. Covers with Hot, Hunky guys usually grab my attention better than a cover with a big green fish on it. But, the synopsis sounded cute, and being labeled as a romantic comedy I decided to give it a try. Figured it would make a nice break from recent emotional new age reads. And… I am glad that I decided to add this novel to my reading collection. Overall the novel was quirky, cute, making me laugh, grin, and– Oh My! in several places.
Liar, Liar, Hearts on Fire, is the fourth novel in, The Gnome Novels Series by Jennifer Zane. It seems, Zane adds a little of her own personality and history into her novels. The background setting of, Bozeman Montana, was based on the authors own experience, ‘Under the Big Sky’ of Montana, for five years, (goodreads).
In the End, I would call this novel, One Fin-Tastic Ooh La La, of a Read!
Ratings
4.0 Rosebuds of Writing Rave
Normally when I read a series, I start by reading the first book in said series. In this case I started the series by reading book 4, Liar, Liar Hearts on Fire. Yet, even without reading the prior novels, Zane clues the reader in on the backgrounds of the characters. For instance, how Jane met her fireman fiance’, and how George the gnome fits into all the preceding novels.
The writing was quirky, fun, and upbeat. A delightful read. The novel reads like a pinball machine. Readers, this novel just pings and dings all over the place. Each page and chapter contained a new surprise! The novel begins in Montana, then takes the reader to the wilds of Alaska. Where their are bears, moose, and king salmon, Oh My!
The main reason I liked this novel and recommend it to others is due to the fact I feel a kinship with the heroine, Violet. This reviewer also has a background in Elementary Education and has had dreams of being a writer. Violet is 29 when she reconnects with her crush. I married at 29. Not to my crush. Though in high school I did crush on a Todd. Violet had a boyfriend at one time names Todd. Violet did have a few boyfriends and date. Though she had more in her fictional background, than I did in my real life. Like Violet I care what others think of me and am the quiet, mannerly type. Yet, in love and romance I like to be naughty. I enjoyed my read about Violet, I could understand her emotions throughout the novel.
Writing was concise, easily read, full of adventure and plot twists. The beginning of the read and ending of the read complimented one another.
No Tears for me in this novel. Just giggles… Definitely a fun read. Just wait till you read about Violet and Mike in the mud, Jefferson the dogs favorite activity, and Goldie (owner of the adult store) is just one Hoot after another!!!
3.5 Romance Rave
Romance is hot and heavy with the hero and heroine, when it does occur. Liar, Liar Hearts on Fire, is filled with innuendo. Plus the fact, that anything can come out of Goldie’s mouth! One can read this read and might be only mildly get their modesty shocked. Perhaps it will spice up that said modesty 😉
My favorite part was how Violet kept describing her book as, word porn! In comparison this novel is not word porn, but it doesn’t leave much to the imagination either. Zane somehow writes to make even mud and fishing sexy…
After reading this novel, my analogy of the romance would be summed up into one word, fishing.
The hero and heroine end up both being ‘lured’ into realizing that the two are meant to be together.
4 out of 5 read-ologists recommend this WordPress.com site. ups and downs of writer's insanity and day to day life. I will write whatever makes the voices happy, for a writer that ignores her inner voices is merely a mental breakdown waiting to happen. Keeping the voices happy and creating new worlds for them to play in is my main goal.
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