MUSE MONDAY
So great to have Judythe Morgan as my guest today with a holiday post. I'm ready for the holidays!
Holidays bring
memories. Lots of mine involve participation in holiday programs with watching
children and grandchildren or performing myself.
As writers we
consciously, or unconsciously, use our memories when we plot our stories. I
think every story I’ve written includes a personal memory disguised to fit.
None more than When Love Endures, book 3 of the Fitzpatrick Family
series.
One of my favorite
holiday memories is playing a duet with my daughter at her piano recital. That
memory provided the springboard for the plot.
Sarah Fitzpatrick,
twin daughter and the family musician, is modeled after my daughter who is a
pianist and music teacher. But similarities end there. My daughter did not know my
son-in-law when she was in high school.
In When Love
Endures, Sarah meets her high
school sweetheart again when his daughter enrolls in her school music class
then takes piano lessons. Old feelings return, but Sarah must win the daughter
over.
How
she wins the daughter (and her dad) involves a Christmas
duet. Check the excerpt below.
I hope a fond holiday memory comes to
your mind when you read When Love Endures.
Sarah Fitzpatrick, pianist extraordinaire, gave up on true love when her
high school boyfriend, Nick Stephens, ran off to marry his pregnant
ex-girlfriend. When his daughter shows up in her music class eleven years
later, Sarah must find a way to keep the little girl and her widowed father out
of her heart. She can’t risk losing everything again.
Nicks Stephens has other plans. Sarah is and always has been the love of his
life and he’s back in Burton, TX to prove it. But there are secrets Nick must
keep, from Sarah and his daughter, that could destroy everything he hopes to
build.
Can their second chance survive new
secrets?
Excerpt
When
Love Endures
Sarah was good with her decision not
to see Nick except on Sundays which loomed long and lonely without him, Rachel,
and their afternoons of board games.
Reality became real. And it hurt.
When she spotted the child at school,
Rachel would look away. But not before Sarah saw the blame in her eyes. The
child believed all the misery in her life was Sarah’s fault. Rachel might never
see her mother’s alcohol addiction as the true cause. One day Sarah'd be at
peace with all that.
Not today.
Today she missed Nick’s smile. She
missed them both. She yearned to call him to see how things were going with
Rachel. Was she still playing her baby grand? Had Nick
signed off on his merger with the French company?
As much as she wanted to know, she
wouldn’t accept his calls the way things were now. After the first few texts
with declarations of his love and office party reminders, she’d stopped
reading. Rachel had to be on board or being together could never work.
With renewed determination, she
refocused on finding a closing for the Christmas program. Playing a Christmas duet
with Rachel to surprise Nick had been so perfect.
Becca leaned her shoulder against
Sarah’s office doorframe. “Whatcha doing? Every time you disappear, I find you
in here digging through old school Christmas programs and notes. Don’t tell me
you’re organizing files. Something’s wrong.”
“You mean besides the obvious? I’ve
broken it off with Nick. Rachel hates me.” She held her hand up to stop Becca
from answering. “My program finale idea isn’t going to work anymore, and I
can’t seem to come up with a new one.”
Becca’s arms crossed. “Let me guess.
Rachel was going to play.”
Sarah nodded. No point in keeping it
a secret now. “We were doing a Christmas duet. It was a surprise for Nick.”
“That’s a major bummer. I see why
you’re scrambling. There’s always the old standby of Santa or an elf
appearing.”
“The best finales are ones where a
student is involved. I have better attendance. Anticipating the surprise always
draws everyone in. But another student wouldn’t have enough time to prepare.”
“Maybe Nick or Ms. Lorene could—”
“No.” Sarah shook her head. “I won’t
ask them. Even if she agreed, it’d give Nick false hope. I won’t do that. I’ll
figure something out.”
About Your Book
Title:
When Love
Endures
Author:
Judythe Morgan
Publisher:
The Danfield
Press
Release
Date: February
8, 2021
Genre:
Holiday Romance
Series/Stand-Alone:
The Fitzpatrick
Family Series
Target
Audience: PG,
Ages 12+
Buy links
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/When-Love-Endures-Fitzpatrick-Family-ebook/dp/B08W9MP12F/
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/when-love-endures-judythe-morgan/1138790688
GOODREADS https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57020058-when-love-endures
Besides fiction, she
writes a weekly blog at www.judythewriter.com Sign
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Judythe, this books sounds so good--and perfect for the holidays!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping in, Dee.
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