Sweet Saturday Sample - June 2

I’m continuing this week with my WIP, Elly and the Geriatrics. Elly is living with her grandmother, helping her recover from an ankle injury; and Derek is the gardener at Sunset Acres, a mobile home community for senior citizens.

Derek has just introduced himself to Elly at the Sunset Acres rummage sale. After a brief conversation, he wandered to other tables in the recreation center. 

Derek wondered what had caused the woman—Elly—to blush. All he’d done was pick up one of those silly lace things stacked on the end of the table. What the heck were they for anyway? Then he remembered seeing the same doodads in his own Aunt Betsy’s parlor. As a kid he could barely move without knocking one of them to the floor. Did anybody still use them these days?

        He’d only come to the rummage sale today to support the old folks and to look for vintage fishing lures among the dreck. No luck on the lures. Not today.

        A vision of Elly’s soft red hair and brown eyes sprang to his mind.

        Well, I did find one treasure. An attractive woman.

        The sound of his name brought Derek out of his reverie. He turned to see Mrs. Lipscomb approaching, waving to get his attention. That morning he’d noticed the wisteria outside her trailer needed pruning, and he imagined she wanted gardening advice. He hoped she wouldn't try to do it herself.

        He pushed aside thoughts of the redhead, smiled, and walked toward the waiting woman. 

You'll find Sweet Saturday Samples from more authors here:

The Sweet List

Ice Cream Security

    Has someone finished off the ice cream you've been saving in your freezer? If so, then you'll enjoy my take on a security device that protects your pint from pilfering. It may make you smile too.
    Here's the link:  There's No "U" in "My Pint"

Teaser Tuesday - The Warden's Lantern

Today's Teaser Tuesday post is from The Warden's Lantern, a 75-page novelette (or novella?) by Joselyn Vaughn. It was a quick, fun read.


She didn't understand the fear. Her co-workers had faced flying cars and falling trees as they chased tornadoes. A floating light was hardly Freddy Kreuger. [at 2% on my Kindle]


Synopsis from Amazon: Dark, creaking trees. Cracking thunder. A ghostly orb.

Barbara Milanowski couldn't have picked a worse night for her amateur paranormal investigation, but she couldn’t let her longtime crush Elmer Derecho’s skeptism go unchallenged. When Elmer runs her off the road with his motorcycle and scolds her for being out in the inclement weather, her happily ever after drops with the barometric pressure and the loss of her keys and glasses. While spending time alone with Elmer was one of her fantasies, the dream date didn’t entail diving into the mud and untangling herself from a raspberry bush. 

While trying to protect Barbara from the storm, his eyes are opened to all the things in his life that are missing. Elmer had gotten comfortable with his maps and pic-tures and chasing tornadoes after the fact. But Barbara reminds him of his forgotten zest for adventures, and ignites his interest in the Warden’s Lantern and for Barbara

While sheltering in a dilapidated guard house, Barbara and Elmer are drawn out of the protection by the Warden's Lantern, the ghostly light Barbara had been trying to document. Elmer dismisses it as a trick of the electrical storm, but together they attempt to find the true source of the light. Will their shared talents solve the mystery and start a lasting relationship?

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away -- you don't want to ruin the book for others)
• Share the title and author too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.

Sweet Saturday Sample - May 26

Thanks for stopping by for today’s Sweet Saturday Sample. This week I’m posting another scene from my WIP, Elly and the Geriatrics. Granny and Elly are at the Sunset Acres rummage sale, with Elly manning their table.

       “Don’t buy anything,” Elly warned. She had already cautioned her grandmother against purchasing from the other sellers and reminded her that the purpose of all their work was to clear out unnecessary stuff, not bring home more. Granny just smiled and waved as she headed off in the direction of yet another overloaded table. Elly hoped she didn’t spy any teapots. Her collection had already taken over an entire bookcase, with the porcelain and china containers lined up three deep on the shelves.

       “Hi.” A deep voice shook Elly out of her musings. “You must be Mrs. Macauley’s granddaughter.”

       Elly looked up—and up some more—to see a tall, brown-haired man approaching the table. His shoulders filled out a faded chambray shirt in a way that promised firm muscles underneath. He had his hand extended, and his even white teeth flashed a friendly smile.

       Elly stared, remembering the sweet-as-molasses voice and the buff body.

       Derek.

       “Uh, hi. Yes, I am.” She extended her hand and shook his. The rough texture of his fingers told of hard work, yet when she looked down, she saw clean fingernails. A Band-Aid encircled his thumb.

       “I’m Derek White. I take care of the grounds around here.” He motioned to the landscaped garden outside the center’s front windows. “And your name is …?”

       “Oh, sorry. I’m Elly. I’m helping my grandma today.”

       The man looked as good as she’d remembered. Tall, dark, and handsome with a delicious Southern drawl—a modern day Rhett Butler.

        “Well, I’m pleased to finally meet you. Your grandmother has told me a lot about you.” He paused and resettled a Dallas Cowboys cap on his head.

         Uh-oh.

         Elly could just imagine what Granny had said to the man.

So our hero and heroine have officially met. Next week we’ll continue with the story. 

  

More Sweet Saturday Samples from other authors await you here: The Sweet List