Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for Johnnie Come Lately, a military family / women's fiction novel by Kathleen M. Rodgers (1 February 2015, Camel Press, 292 pages). Johnnie Come Lately is available in ebook for only $2.99 (USA) or £1.99 (UK) in July 2015!
Check out the book's synopsis and the excerpt below. You can also read the first three chapters on Amazon.
$25 Amazon.com gift card (or PayPal cash) INT$25 Amazon.com gift card (or PayPal cash) INT to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other excerpts and reviews; also the more comments you leave the higher your chances of being a winner.
Synopsis | Teaser | About the Author | Giveaway & Tour Stops
Synopsis
Would life have been different for Johnnie if she'd been named after a woman rather than her dead uncle? Or if her mama hadn't been quite so beautiful or flighty? The grandparents who raised her were loving, but they didn't understand the turmoil roiling within her. And they had so many, many secrets.Why did her mama leave? Would she ever return? How did her Uncle Johnny really die? Who was her father? Now Johnnie Kitchen is a 43-year-old woman with three beautiful children, two of them grown. She has a handsome, hard-working husband who adores her, and they live in the historic North Texas town of Portion in a charming bungalow. But she never finished college and her only creative outlet is a journal of letters addressed to both the living and the dead. Although she has conquered the bulimia that almost killed her, Johnnie can never let down her guard, lest the old demons return. Or perhaps they never went away to begin with. For Johnnie has secrets of her own, and her worst fear is that the life she's always wanted--the one where she gets to pursue her own dreams--will never begin.
Not until her ghosts reveal themselves.
Teaser: Excerpt
Granny Opal blasted her horn and Johnnie sprang down the front steps to greet her.
"You look a little thin," Granny called out. She was wearing that loopy grin that seemed to grow more lopsided every year. She wore purple gauchos, a short denim jacket--to conceal her expanding waistline--and her trademark red cowboy boots. Big silver hoops looped through sagging earlobes dangled below her cropped hair.
Out of respect for her grandmother, Johnnie tried to appear cheerful, although a cloud of lead had fallen from the sky over 420 Merriweather. "Granny, I've been the same weight for years. Here, let me give you a hand with that."
Granny Opal placed a three-layer coconut cake into Johnnie's outstretched hands. "I may be retired from the business, but I can still bake a mean cake."
Johnnie smiled, taking care not to drop it. "I'm sure it will be delicious."
Early in her recovery, when she avoided sweets for fear they would trigger a binge, she refrained from saying anything derogatory every time her grandmother appeared armed with a dessert. Then one year, the year Johnnie was pregnant with Cade, she thought Granny Opal finally understood. After a meal of baked chicken and tossed salad, Johnnie's grandmother sailed into the dining room with a large head of cabbage on a crystal cake pedestal. Planted in the middle of the cabbage was a fat pink dinner candle. After everyone stopped laughing long enough to sing "Happy Birthday," Johnnie blew it out. When Johnnie quietly sighed with relief and started to open her presents, Granny Opal appeared in the doorway with a Texas sheet cake, much to the delight of a young D.J. and Dale.
Later that night, when they were getting ready for bed, Johnnie grumbled to Dale that Granny Opal was trying to sabotage her progress. Dale, to his credit, simply remarked, "Maybe she just likes baking cakes."
Granny Opal linked one arm through Johnnie's and together they mounted the steps onto the large porch. "Everything looks lovely," her grandmother commented as they entered the house.
Cade and Callie Ann were out back, playing fetch with Brother Dog. As Johnnie went to place the cake on the long farmhouse table that served as a room divider between the kitchen and the family room, she saw Granny Opal poke her head out the back door.
"Cade, when's your next baseball game? I'll come if it's not too hot."
Johnnie looked up, wondering how Cade would respond, but her grandmother had already stepped outside onto the deck and shut the door. A few minutes later, while Johnnie set out dessert plates and forks, the back door opened, and Granny Opal filed in, followed by Brother Dog. He trotted straight to the laundry room, where Johnnie could hear him lapping from his water bowl.
Granny Opal went to the sink and helped herself to a glass of tap water. "Cade told me what happened."
"You look a little thin," Granny called out. She was wearing that loopy grin that seemed to grow more lopsided every year. She wore purple gauchos, a short denim jacket--to conceal her expanding waistline--and her trademark red cowboy boots. Big silver hoops looped through sagging earlobes dangled below her cropped hair.
Out of respect for her grandmother, Johnnie tried to appear cheerful, although a cloud of lead had fallen from the sky over 420 Merriweather. "Granny, I've been the same weight for years. Here, let me give you a hand with that."
Granny Opal placed a three-layer coconut cake into Johnnie's outstretched hands. "I may be retired from the business, but I can still bake a mean cake."
Johnnie smiled, taking care not to drop it. "I'm sure it will be delicious."
Early in her recovery, when she avoided sweets for fear they would trigger a binge, she refrained from saying anything derogatory every time her grandmother appeared armed with a dessert. Then one year, the year Johnnie was pregnant with Cade, she thought Granny Opal finally understood. After a meal of baked chicken and tossed salad, Johnnie's grandmother sailed into the dining room with a large head of cabbage on a crystal cake pedestal. Planted in the middle of the cabbage was a fat pink dinner candle. After everyone stopped laughing long enough to sing "Happy Birthday," Johnnie blew it out. When Johnnie quietly sighed with relief and started to open her presents, Granny Opal appeared in the doorway with a Texas sheet cake, much to the delight of a young D.J. and Dale.
Later that night, when they were getting ready for bed, Johnnie grumbled to Dale that Granny Opal was trying to sabotage her progress. Dale, to his credit, simply remarked, "Maybe she just likes baking cakes."
Granny Opal linked one arm through Johnnie's and together they mounted the steps onto the large porch. "Everything looks lovely," her grandmother commented as they entered the house.
Cade and Callie Ann were out back, playing fetch with Brother Dog. As Johnnie went to place the cake on the long farmhouse table that served as a room divider between the kitchen and the family room, she saw Granny Opal poke her head out the back door.
"Cade, when's your next baseball game? I'll come if it's not too hot."
Johnnie looked up, wondering how Cade would respond, but her grandmother had already stepped outside onto the deck and shut the door. A few minutes later, while Johnnie set out dessert plates and forks, the back door opened, and Granny Opal filed in, followed by Brother Dog. He trotted straight to the laundry room, where Johnnie could hear him lapping from his water bowl.
Granny Opal went to the sink and helped herself to a glass of tap water. "Cade told me what happened."
Johnnie Come Lately
Grab the ebook - only $2.99/£1.99 in July!
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About the Author
Award-winning author Kathleen M. Rodgers is a former frequent contributor to Family Circle magazine and Military Times. Her work has also appeared in anthologies published by McGraw-Hill, University of Nebraska Press/Potomac Books, Health Communications, Inc., AMG Publishers, and Press 53. She is the author of the award-winning novel, The Final Salute, featured in USA Today, The Associated Press, and Military Times. Deer Hawk Publications reissued the novel in e-book and paperback September of 2014.
Her second novel, Johnnie Come Lately, released from Camel Press February 1, 2015. Barnes & Noble in Southlake, TX hosted the official launch on February 7, and Kathleen signed copies of both novels for three hours straight.
In 2014, she was named a Distinguished Alumna from Tarrant County College/NE Campus.
She is the mother of two grown sons, Thomas, a graduate of University of North Texas and a working artist in Denton, TX, and J.P., a graduate of Texas Tech University and a former Army officer who earned a Bronze Star in 2014 in Afghanistan. Kathleen’s husband, Tom, is a retired fighter pilot/commercial airline pilot, and they reside in Colleyville, TX with their rescue dog, Denton.
Kathleen is working on a new novel titled Seven Wings to Glory and is represented by Loiacono Literary Agency.
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Giveaway and Tour Stops
Enter to win a $25 Amazon.com gift card (or PayPal cash) INTa Rafflecopter giveaway
Follow Johnnie Come Lately's tour at:
July 1 Simple WyrdingsJuly 1 Gina's Library
July 2 Kathy Talley
July 2 Romancing the Book
July 8 Tribute Books Reviews & Giveaways
July 9 Tribute Books Mama
July 10 Deal Sharing Aunt
July 11 BooksChatter July 13 Faith Flaherty
July 14 Tic Toc
July 20 The Character Connection
July 20 Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers
July 21 The Plot Thickens
July 22 City Girl Who Loves to Read
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFlora, thank you so much for all that you did to get the word out about this special sale! It is very much appreciated :)
ReplyDeleteHey, my pleasure :-)
DeleteDear Flora,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this. I'm sorry I'm just now seeing it on Monday, July 20th.
I really appreciate your support.
Kathleen M. Rodgers ~ author of Johnnie Come Lately