#2 - The Coffee Diary

Just because I happened to be in that order... The Coffee Diary is now complete. I am still revising, but mostly minor stuff and am eager for new reviewers to catch what I haven't caught in the revisions.

The Coffee Diary is a story about the reality of life in Guatemala. It's literary fiction and the story is told through the eyes of Veronica, a young woman who has returned home from the U.S. to decide whether or not to sell her coffee farm to the corrupt mayor of Moyuta. She finds a diary from her teen in her abandoned family home, which helps her to relive her early years in Guatemala and make her decision. She is threatened and followed by the mayor and his thugs, who are involved in illegal drug trafficking, and through it all stands firm, like her father who had been murdered two years earlier by extorsionists.

http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/library … /toc/24674

Caroline

Last edited by The Coffee Lady (12-30-2008 18:54:43)

#4 The Guardian of Eden
The Guardian of Eden is the story of a teenager, Garrett, and his twelve year old sister, Eden. After years of abuse from their mother and her boyfriends they finally achieve what seems like a happy life. Their mother has married a good man, Garrett has a beautiful girlfriend, and both he and his sister attend a prestigious private school. But tragedy lurks beneath the surface as Garrett discovers that the abuse to his little sister goes beyond what he ever imagined. His overwhelming love for his sister and desire to protect her lead him to commit a murder that could destroy them all.

My agent wants me to change the first few chapters so that Garrett's voice sounds older. I could use help with that.

http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/library … read/22233

Last edited by jediprincess (12-30-2008 14:26:51)

#6 La Cienega Just Smiled

Reyna, a black Puerto Rican girl, and Scottie, a white star athlete, have been best friends since 6th grade. They don't realize they're in love with each other until Oct. 31 2008 when during a Friday night school play off football game, Reyna notices Scott is in pain. They profess their love for one another but after the results of the Nov. 4, 2008 election, their small private school gets thrown into racial turmoil. They're relationship becomes even more compicated when Scott is diagnosed with a muscular disease that ends his promising sports career and threatens to end his life. Together they help their school see what's really important in life.

My agent has read this and loved it, but he gave me a list of things that he wants me work on such as slowing down the pace near the end of the book.

http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/library … read/24814

Last edited by jediprincess (12-30-2008 14:32:11)

#8 - Lilacs and Deceptions

After struggling with nightmares and addiction for years, Marne Gault has a self inflicted near death experience. This brush with death leads her to the realization that she must find out how her father died. There are many disturbing revelations on the way. Wrought with nightmares and waking visions, she struggles for sanity throughout. She meets many people who appear to want to help her in her struggle for truth, but not everyone is who they appear to be.

http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/library … read/24172

Last edited by Mike2439 (03-31-2009 07:48:18)

#10   Two Trails Become One

Jessie was seventeen when she met twenty-year-old Clayton Matthews, the best horse trainer anywhere.  Jessie's father didn't want the relationship to get serious because he wanted Jessie to marry Wilson Butler.  Dakota Jay, a friend of Clayton's, set up a web of deceit and lies which was the catalyst for the breakup between Jessie and Clayton.  For the next thirty-one years Jessie's life is in turmoil.  A 22-year loveless marriage to Wilson has ended, and Jace Edwards has moved in with Jessie, but that's not working out.  Jessie rides up to Cry Baby Mountain on horseback to find the hidden cabin only she and Clayton knew about all those years ago, but she's in for some surprises when someone tries to kill her.  But who would want her dead?  There are several suspects.  The story moves from Granny Squirrel Gap, North Carolina, to Deming, New Mexico, as she searches for Clayton, who has been reported dead.  Jessie doesn't believe he's dead.  A show-down in a ghost down finally brings some answers. 

http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/library … read/20012

Last edited by Marilyn Johnson (01-07-2009 13:43:17)

#12 Sea of Stones

Sea of Stones is the quirky, but heart warming middle-grade tale, of a fourth grader who searches for love and acceptance, and finds them in some unlikely places. Callie hasn’t looked in a mirror for over three years, but she is able to see her own reflection in those around her. She’s unpopular with other children, and even her teacher, so she invents an imaginary friend to help her through her school days. When she is not in school, she spends time with a simple country woman, Wilma Lou, who teaches Callie respect for all living things. Mrs. Irwin, a substitute teacher, becomes a faithful ally who accepts her, despite her flaws. Callie has an unappreciated talent for scrambling words and an ongoing quest to find a perfectly round pebble on the playground, which she believes will bring her friendship. Her unstable home environment is shaken even further when her agoraphobic and morbidly obese mother requires surgery.

#14 "Nefarious"

Harlie Storme is a woman overcoming the emotional scars leftover from her violent and abusive marriage. Their love at first sight romance helping her to regain her lost sense of self worth, this small town girl starts a whirlwind romance with a rock icon who pulls her into his tempestous life of paparazzi, tabloids, and bodyguards, sweeping her into a love so deep and sensual that she will never be the same. But all is not perfect in their new paradise. Determined to have the object of his desire all to himself, a stalker threatens to tear the couple's world apart, becoming more obsessed as their devotion to each other grows stronger. If his identity is not discovered in time, their very lives could be destroyed. (Romantic Suspense)

http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/library … read/18812

#16

Impetuous Heart

Irish village life during World War I features Nora, a lively sixteen year old whose secret love has gone to France to fight in the trenches while she continues on as usual in the village. A visit to her cousin reveals a secret cave filled with spirits prophesying dire futures for the Kennedy tribe and a trip home in a Rolls Royce driven by a cattleman. Paranormal events  as well as civil unrest in the village continue until Tim returns home, burned and wounded; Nora has taken down the Union Jack that flies over the village and replaced it with the Irish flag. The village priest intervenes in Nora's life, suggests a trip to Boston for Nora so she can care for his sister who is suffering from infantile paralysis. It's an offer she can't refuse.

My novel will be published this fall by Levellers Press of Amherst, Mass. It's their first non-local publication. They do a beautiful job of printing with excellent quality materials. They get a lot of local support from this academic community. I'm writing a sequel now, with a few characters from Ulysses, a bit older. Milly Bloom, a photographer of poverty stricken Dublin is one of them. (April 2012)

Last edited by brosna11 (04-16-2012 10:46:45)

# 18   Christine’s Odyssey

Raised in a hotbed or arguments and fights, Christine Simms is the victim of her mother's temper and cruelty. A domestic dispute between her parents ends in tragedy. Maxwell, her beloved father, is dead, her abusive mother is admitted to a mental institution and her siblings become wards of the state.

A shocking discovery sends eleven-year-old Christine on a quest to find the stranger who left her behind on the island of Jamaica. Determined to unravel the mystery of her birth, Christine uses every tool at her disposal and treads with courage where no child should.

She engineers a meeting with her mother, who now lives in Canada. The meeting does not go well. Undeterred, Christine seeks help from her aunt and uncle. She gets a second meeting and gains new ground in her mother’s life.


Roma Douglas is shocked and confused to hear from Christine, whom she abandoned at birth. She goes through an agony of indecision before agreeing to meet the child she’s kept hidden from her husband and family. What explanation can she give Christine for her actions? And how can she introduce a ready-made daughter without losing the life she’s built with her husband and children?

http://www.thenextbigwriter.com/library … read/20889

#20   Hardware

Danger and excitement sweep into Camille Moyston's boring life in the person of Quinn Mayhew, who rescues her from a rapist and one year later, saunters into the law firm where she works as a paralegal.  She does not recognize him but takes an immediate dislike to him as he personifies the clichéd, oversexed Jamaican male.  She knows the type well.  Her father was one.

To her dismay, this charismatic man has a hypnotic effect on her, making it hard to keep her distance.  Camille, the problem solver in the complicated lives of her zany girlfriends, finds herself embroiled in blackmail, kidnapping and murder, with Quinn at center stage.   

As they join forces to fight a murder accusation, both Quinn and Camille wonder whether two people as unalike as chalk and cheese can suspend their prejudices long enough to solve the crime and maybe find love in the process.

(Novel taken down)

#22 THE NAKED ROOM

Allie Carpenter, concert pianist, is abducted the night before her headline performance in a major concert.

Her would-be lover, Briece Mochrie, believes she's gone off with another man and allows his jealousy to over-ride normal concern.

After hearing about her daughter's disappearance, Eloise Carpenter goes to Brisbane, bracing herself for a confrontation with Allie's father, who does not know of her existence.

For Detective Senior Sergeant Susan Prescott, the case is one more in a never-ending line of jobs, but all the more worrying because of the nature of the crime. If a woman who is abducted for more than three days, her chances of being found alive are reduced. Then Susan Prescott discovers a personal link with the Carpenter women.

Last edited by Cadfael (02-13-2010 17:18:40)

24  A Gyspy Among Gypsies

Gypsy is an adventure-quest that spans four decades, including my twelve-year road trip that took me to California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, and the Caribbean Islands. Along with spiritual and supernatural overtones, the memoir celebrates the contention that even when the odds are stacked against it, life not only endures, it prevails.