The Best Ever Summer Blog Tour ~ Week 7

Hi everyone! Please give a warm welcome to Regina Andrews who is hanging out with us this week :)
This is the second last week of the Blog Tour! Be sure to comment on the tour and be entered into this week's prize and a chance at a grand prize. 


Today our posts are a bit of a game. We are each going to give you a series of facts about ourselves but one is a lie. It's up to you to guess what we're fibbing about. Have Fun!!


It is a pleasure to be on your blog this week Corinne. Such a great topic, too!

   First item: I used to be a music teacher. When I finished grad school, I applied to a few jobs in the area but as a writer was basically directionless. To fill in the gaps, I answered an advertisement for an after-school recorder teacher. With three back-to-back sessions of second and third graders, I quickly came to love working with children and sharing my love of music. After the fall session, a full-time opening presented itself and I got the job! Remembering that time flodds my heart with warm memories!

   Second item: I took a tour of the Houston Astrodome. Tthe Houston Astrodome in Texas was a trailblazer in sports arenas and referred to as the 'Eighth Wonder of the World'. After taking a tour there I also saw an indoor fireworks display. It still gives me chills to think about it.

   Third item: One summer night I went on a dinner date with Seve Ballesteros While touring the Pays Basque in Southen France, my friends and I visited a private country club for dinner. While sipping our aperos, I spotted the dashing golfer Seve Ballesteros arrive and wind his way through the crowd. Naturally, his appearance caused quite a stir. My father being a big golf fan, I couldn't miss the chance to get Seve's autograph for him. So up to him I went, introduced myself in French and requested his autograph. Not only did he give me that, he asked me to dinner with him the following night. We dined at the same Country Club and he was incredible! My heart still races when I think of him.
 
   So which is the lie? Thank you for having me, Corinne!

   You can find me, Regina and get more information at: 
WEBSITE: www.reginaandrews.com
BLOG www.reginaandrews.wordpress.com
EMAIL: andrews_regina@yahoo.com Here’s a link http://bit.ly/pLV5w

Here's a blurb and an excerpt of my book, "In Good Faith" and a blurb about my novel “In Good Faith”: 
Blurb

   Haley Hawthorne is a successful Art Director at a high-powered greeting card company in Manhattan. Designer clothes and expensive material luxuries are what she uses to try and fill the emptiness inside — but it wasn’t always that way for her. Orphaned at a young age, Haley was raised in rural Dunbar Falls by her Uncle Nelson amid pasture lands and a clear sense of the things that matter most in life, including her joyful relationship with God. One day Aaron Carrier, her old friend from Dunbar Falls pays her a surprise visit to her office at Sterling Greeting Cards with devastating news about Uncle Nelson. When she returns home to Dunbar Falls, Haley is faced with a professional decision upon inheriting Uncle Nelson’s air-conditioning company. More than that, she faces a crossroads in her heart. It is a crisis of faith, of loyalty and of love. What does God want her to do? Will she be able to return home to Dunbar Falls and all that it has meant for her? And will Aaron Carrier be more than a friend?

  There will be a grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift certificate awarded at the end of the tour. Enjoy the blogs and leave comments for the opportunity to be the grand prize winner. One entry ticket per comment! 

Excerpt:  “In Good Faith”

  “Ms. Hawthorne, could you look at these proofs?”
  “Do you have a minute to go over this copy together, Ms. Hawthorne?”
  “A call for you from Grace on line three, Ms. Hawthorne!”
  Haley Hawthorne tossed her long red curls over her shoulder as she swept through the Creative Area of Sterling Greeting Cards. She carried a designer bag in one hand and a steaming latté in the other. As Senior Art Director for the largest greeting card company in the world, these early morning entrances refreshed her enough to get through the day ahead. They were her redemption. But I can remember a time when I didn’t feel like that, and it wasn’t so very long ago.

  A hush fell over the flock of artists and interns following behind her as she passed. With a frown she accepted a stack of messages from the leathery, outstretched hands of her receptionist Bernice, a fixture at Sterling’s for over forty years.

  “I’m already carrying too much, Bernice,” she murmured.
 
“There, there.” With a motherly pat, Bernice tucked the papers under Haley’s arm. “Toting a heavy load can weigh you down, Haley. Maybe it’s time to think about what you really need to carry and what you can let go.” She gave Haley a look.

  “Maybe you’re right, Bernice.” As if I haven’t already tried! That’s what was keeping her awake most nights. The old Haley used to travel light and breezy, her heart and soul as free as a bird. But lately she felt heavy in her heart and she couldn’t put her finger on why. How had things changed so much? Ignoring the chirp of her cell phone, Haley walked down the corridor to her office, glancing at the framed collections of award-winning cards on the walls and the shelves crowded with shining trophies she’d won over the years. When would she get a chance to start her own company? The fact that all her talent was padding someone else’s profit column wasn’t the only thing bothering her these days. There was something else that had been nagging at her for some time now, an emptiness she couldn’t fill with work…or with her boyfriend, Derek, either. All she knew was that she had to get through each day.

  Her young assistant, Suzie, unlatched the chrome double doors to her office for her and Haley flashed the smile that had been opening doors for her all her life. She called over her shoulder, “I’ll get to all of you in a minute.” The entourage scattered, leaving her and Suzie in the peaceful calm of her office. And then she saw him.
 
  “Aaron Carrier! I can’t believe it! What are you doing here?” She put down her bag and her coffee and  reached her hands out to him after smoothing her lemon yellow designer suit. She gave him a warm hug, then turned to her assistant.”I’ve known this guy since we were kids. He and his two brothers were like triplets, they were so alike. I’ll never forget when he insisted we start calling him Carrier, to be different from his brothers Adam and Austin. Boy, were they mad…”
 
  With his broad, six-foot frame blocking the Manhattan skyline in the window behind him, Haley noticed how his glinting azure eyes and thick hair had grown more imposing in the ten years that had passed since she had last seen him.

  He jammed his fists deep into the pockets of his jeans. “Hey. We have to talk, Haley. It’s about Nelson.”  
 
  Her heartbeat quickened. “You’ve come all the way here from Dunbar Falls to tell me something about Uncle Nelson?” She glanced at Suzie, then back at him. “It must be bad news.”

  “I’ll have Bernice hold all of your calls.” Suzie hustled off in a cloud of expensive perfume, latching the door behind her with a solid ‘click’.

  “Tell me what’s wrong, Carrier. Is it bad?” “Yeah. The worst.” “He’s -” Carrier nodded. “Last night.” His piercing blue eyes, steely as two sapphires, searched her face. But they didn’t stop there; they burned into her soul.

If you’ve read this far, please take the time to leave a comment. You might just win a book by one of the Best Summer Reading Blog Tour authors and qualify for a $50 Amazon gift certificate to be awarded at the end of tour near the end of July. This is a stop on the Best Ever Summer Blog Tour. Eight authors in mixed genres trading blog space for eight weeks for your enjoyment. Someone on the blog tour is giving a prize every week – this week find me, Regina Andrews, with Corinne Davies at her blog: www.daviesromance.blogspot.com There will be a grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift certificate awarded at the end of the tour. Enjoy the blogs and leave comments for the opportunity to be the grand prize winner. One entry ticket per comment!

Want to continue the tour? Here’s a list of the blogs:
Ann Tracy Marr - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ann-Tracy-Marr/114711658247?ref=ts
Susan Roebuck - http://lauracea.blogspot.com/
Sharon Poppen -http://poppensthoughtsonwritingandstuff.blogspot.com/
Regan Taylor - http://regantaylorsworld.blogspot.com/
Corinne Davies - www.daviesromance.blogspot.com
Regina Andrews - http://reginaandrews.wordpress.com/
Christine London – www.christinelondon.com
Lynn Hones - lynnhones.wordpress.com

 Thank you, Corinne, for a fabulous visit!!