Last but certainly not least, Welcome Lupe Gonzalez!
Hello everyone! I’m glad to be here at Nita’s exciting blog party! I brought balloons and noisemakers. I also have a bottle of white wine.
TOO LATE FOR ROMANCE? is my first published book, released by The Wild Rose Press (http://www.thewildrosepress.com) and I’m still very excited. The story features a rose garden. Now, by no means do I have a green thumb. I’d probably kill your ivy if you let me. So, I researched how to grow rose gardens. Of course, my first stop was on the Internet. More info than you’d ever want in there. I also talked to a friend of mine who has her own flower shop. Someday, maybe I can grow my own rose garden like my heroine, Gloria. I think I’ll need a hero like Matt to help me, though.
Matt and Gloria are older. They’ve lived a little. They’ve had relationships gone bad. They have teens and tweens. My hero/ heroine are also pretty content with the way their lives are until they meet in Gloria’s dying rose garden. Sometimes, we don’t know what we’re missing, right?
The story is set in San Antonio, Texas, home of the Alamo and the Spurs. The Spurs? Oh! Only our very own NBA champs! Matt and Gloria take a romantic walk on the famous Riverwalk, dine at a wonderful Italian restaurant and drive through the congested, er… time-saving freeways. Yes, the weather can be hot and muggy, but when Matt and Gloria are together all they can think of is each other.
I’ve included a blurb of TOO LATE FOR ROMANCE? and an excerpt. Please let me know how you like it at laniez4057@yahoo.com. You can also visit me at http://www.myspace.com/lesmora.
TOO LATE FOR ROMANCE?ROSES BLOOM
Gloria Amaya wants her rose garden to flourish. She hires a gardener to help her. When she meets Matt, thoughts of her dying rose bushes wilt to the ground. Immediately attracted to him, she kisses him and melts. LOVE BLOSSOMS
Matt Cerda knows everything about gardens as he has been working with plants, flowers and other green living things since he was a little boy. However, when he meets Gloria, he realizes that hers is one garden that needs more than a little tender loving care. And the lady could use it, too.
Matters are complicated when her sons and his daughters get in an uproar with Matt and Gloria in the middle of it. Health issues, job insecurities and phobias cause more difficulties for the couple. Can Gloria and Matt weed through all this baggage and allow their love to blossom? EXCERPT:
Gloria watched his smooth brown throat. “Do you want another one? Though I don’t think you should drink it so fast,” Gloria could have bitten her tongue out for sounding like a mother hen.
“No, thanks. Maybe later.” Matt’s dark chocolate eyes twinkled at her, as if he knew her thoughts and strolled back to labor in her yard. He turned to look at her. “So, did she die?”
“No, I divorced her, or, I divorced her son, my ex.”
“Ah.” Matt smiled and went back to work.
What did that smile mean, Gloria wondered? And “Ah”. What did that mean?
She busied herself in the kitchen, getting the chicken ready. Where was Gordy? Surely, taking a class off his schedule didn’t take so long. Did it? Well, he had said the line to see the counselor was long.
Once she put the chicken in the oven to bake, Gloria grabbed a novel she had been trying to finish reading. The author wrote long boring speeches about the universe and the duties of a woman. She was ready to throw the book against the nearest wall. Still, she hated to stop reading a book before she finished it. However boring the book might have been in parts, soon, engrossed in it, she almost missed Matt’s knock.
“Gloria?” Matt called and rapped on the patio door again.
She jumped to her feet, laying the book on the coffee table. Without thinking, her hands went up to smooth her hair and gather it up more tightly in the gold clip she wore. She opened the door and stepped outside.
“So, what do you want to do about these roses? Mow ‘em down, too?” Matt asked. Lupe M. Gonzalez
http://www.freewebs.com/lesmora
http://www.myspace.com/lesmora
Writing stories by and about Latinas and their lives and loves.
Too Late For Romance? (Debut Book, Jun 2008 The Wild Rose Press)
Lupe, I absolutely loved Matt and Gloria’s story, and of course, I loved that the setting is in my hometown! I wish you every success!
I really like the idea about a more mature relationship. It brings into play a whole new venue, which not many writers go into.
What a great post. Thanks!
Thanks, MJ and Mary. I love Matt and Gloria’s story, too.
I find that I write heroines who are around my age. I started writing stories when I was in college so my heroines were college girls. From there, through the years, as I “grew up”
, my heroines got married, had babies, lived single momhood to my more mature heroines now. I say mature, but very much alive and ready to meet Mr. Right (or Mr. Hopefully There’s Not Too Much Wrong).
Thanks again, LM, blowing a noisemaker and saluting you with a glass of wine.
Lupe, I just stopped by to say ‘hi’! You’re a wonderful friend and writer. Best of luck with your book!
:) T.
Hey Lupe! (throwing confetti and giving air kisses)
You are a great writer and a beautiful person. Best of luck!
Blessings, Teri
Hi Lupe,
Just here to say hi. I just love Matt and Gloria. I am drinking a Dr. Pepper in your honor while confetti is flying all over the place.
Thank you Tamra and Teri! Good to see you at the party!
Hi Mary Lou! Thanks for loving Matt and Gloria.
Nita, thank you so much for inviting me.
lmg