Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for Friday Evening, Eight O'Clock, a Women's Fiction Contemporary Romance by Nino Gugunishvili (9 August 2015, Archway Publishing, 542 pages). 
Don't miss our interview with author Nino Gugunishvili.PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and excerpt below. Read the first five chapters with Amazon Look Inside.
Author Nino Gugunishvili will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card 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 (☀), interviews (ℚ), and guest blog posts (✉).
Synopsis | Teaser | Author Q&A | About the Author | Giveaway & Tour Stops
Synopsis
Tasha is a dreamer in search of a new dream.She's bored with Pilates. She's never tried yoga. She doesn't even have a driver's license. She lives a pretty ordinary life as a freelance writer who battles the occasional flow of melancholy with the regular flow of martinis. Nestled into her couch, her television remote in one hand and a cold adult beverage in the other, she's found a favorite way to pass the hours on a Friday evening. It's comfortable and familiar, but it's not exactly an exciting way to live. With two of her closest friends, a bossy mother, an eighty-two year old grandmother, and Griffin, her fat yellow Labrador at her side, she knows that there has to be something better out there. But where?
When she gets an unexpected offer to relocate to France to write a magazine column, she thinks her circumstances are improving. But life in a new country isn't all pêches et la crème. Now far away from her comfort zone, Tasha must find the inner strength to start a new career and navigate the bizarre and unknown world of professional jealousy, intrigue, and conflicting personalities in a very foreign land.
It's enough to make a girl yearn for those quiet nights on the couch.
Teaser: Excerpt
from Chapter 1
If you’re unlucky enough to see seven drunken women sitting in a bar on a lonely Saturday night, just run! It’s a reunion of witches. Believe me. Don’t be fooled by their beauty, sassy smiles, and I-do-Pilates-all-year-round look. Just run.
Surely men can’t get it. Men don’t have that drive. Do they know what it feels like to be standing in your old jeans in front of that shimmering thing which, thanks to her daily Pilates classes, is not even walking toward you but simply flying? Oh yes, she’s flying so full of glamour with her duly exfoliated, scrubbed, and moisturized skin! For us girls, it’s a catastrophe. It’s even worse than a faked orgasm. She, that goddess, is the ultimate reason for women’s endless worries. They feel so miserable, so easily defeated, and so unaccomplished in her presence!
You, our dear husbands, lovers, boyfriends, have to reconsider your flirting techniques. You have to do something! Stay and listen. Be patient. I will give you a hint. But, if you lack creativity, it’s not going to work. No way. Here, let’s start with the list of obligatory movies to watch. Pretty Woman
You’ve Got Mail
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Love Actually One Fine Day Casablanca
As you can see, there are no TV shows listed here. I guess it’ll be a bit too much for your exhausted brains. There’s no need to fall asleep without having a glimpse of a new sexy bra that we’ve put on for this extraordinary occasion.
Dear husbands, lovers, and boyfriends! Listen: the thing is that on a third glass of wine we usually become overwhelmed with our confessions, revealing that boys who read Mark Twain and Alexandre Dumas just vanished. They disappeared. We deserved much more. This is a total fiasco, truth be told. How did we lose them? Maybe we started wrongly dating hypochondriacs, losers, and egocentrics trying to touch their enigmatic souls lost in self-pity and depression with our tanned, beautiful hands… We’re definitely and undeniably losing something. Our renowned intuition is probably in a lethargic mood. The most expansive and trendy makeup is not enough anymore. Maybe we should learn to make homemade apple pies and practice sewing and knitting. Apparently, watching romantic comedies doesn’t do any good at all. No foolish movies anymore. No happy endings, please!
No more “to be continued” and all those silly hopes that everything will be fine at the end. Only the lucky ones have smart husbands. Smart husbands love sentimental movies and French cinema in particular. Isn’t it a secret delight to watch a red-haired beauty flirting with a workaholic man in a tentative love scene on a kitchen table or at the office, somewhere in the middle of the movie?
Let’s not get into the details here, although, according to genre, the femme fatale should be wearing a tight, white vest unbuttoned and a tight, black skirt. The poor workaholic should have his pants unzipped. (Parental guidance strongly advised!). Note for frustrated parents: Please keep in mind that it’s not a fairytale Cinderella thing, as you may very well understand. It’s a French melodrama, I beg your pardon! Note for children:
Cinderella died long ago. Her prince turned out to be a bastard. Somewhere in the third year of their happy marriage he started cheating on her, and poor Cinderella was left alone and transformed from a princess to a desperate housewife. She adored him, loved him to the moon, yes! But, there was no “happily ever after.” So kids, please, don’t be fooled. Nothing good happened to Snow White either. She turned out to be allergic to the prince’s curly hair and, after a painful divorce, dreamed of having sex with each of the seven dwarves. Don’t listen to your grandmas, kids, and don’t read those books. Waste of time. Just live the moment, catch it, and don’t ever let it go! Carpe diem!
Stay on the ground, kids, with your eyes wide open, and rave about the wealthy future. Handsome knights fighting with dragons are dead. They don’t exist anymore. Remember! And please, please, don’t cry. Chocolates in the shape of hearts, snowflakes on your hands, and kisses in the rain. It’s all there. Run! Your movie is just about to begin.
Balthazar finished reading and asked Clarissa to call Liz. Then he decided to call her himself. His ability to change his mind instantly was too strange for Clarissa. She didn’t like Liz either. Liz was cynical, easygoing, and careless. She didn’t give a damn about perceptions that other people had about her. Liz’s relationship with Balthazar was odd, too. Her intentions were not clear. Was she pushing her way up toward a higher position in the journal? Not a person knew a single thing about it.
Balthazar went out of the office, putting his coat on. “I’ll be back in half an hour,” he said as he walked to the stairs, passing a bright hall.
He’s definitely strange, thought Clarissa, looking at his back. Well, they all are strange up here.
Friday Evening, Eight O'Clock
Available NOW!
About the Author
Nino Gugunishvili holds an MA in arts and has worked in film and television industries. Friday Evening, Eight O’Clock is her first published work of fiction.
She lives in Tbilisi, Georgia.
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Giveaway and Tour Stops
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Follow Friday Evening, Eight O'Clock's tour at:
Feb 11: Long and Short ReviewsFeb 11: Christine Young
Feb 18: Romance Novel Giveaways
Feb 25: Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Mar 3: Where the Story Comes First
Mar 10: The Reading Addict
Mar 17: BooksChatter
Mar 24: Louise Lyndon Romance Author Hear Me Roar
Mar 31: Musings and Ramblings
Thank you for hosting
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for featuring my debut novel on your lovely blog!
ReplyDeleteBefore this blog today goes viral, and I hope it does:) I thought that it would be interesting to share that this particular excerpt from chapter 1 was written a little before "Friday Evening Eight O'Clock" even formed into a book. I put it in as one of Tasha's first assignments and I personally love that piece, although at first I had doubts whether to leave it or not, but When I read it now I think it belongs to the book and fits the story and mostly the character of Tasha quite nicely. So, thank you for sharing it!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rita for commenting, I hope you enjoyed reading the excerpt!
DeleteI really enjoyed the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteThank you MomJane for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteI loved the excerpt. Thank you for sharing the post and the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much dear Ree Dee! It feels really great to know that you liked the excerpt!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great read.
ReplyDeleteThank you Becky! I'm glad you stopped by!
ReplyDelete