Twelve Houses #Excerpt by Olga Soaje #AmReading #LitFic #Women

Since You’ve Been Gone

Stay with me.

Don’t fall asleep too soon.

The angels can wait for a moment.

—Westlife, “Written in the Stars”

You promised you would never leave me. Thirty-five years ago, I looked you directly in the eye and heard, “I will never leave you,” as we stood next to the ocean. And now, like a thief in the night, you go. No last words, no promises, no tears.

As I look back at that moment, I can still feel your hand intertwined with mine, each finger between mine, like an oyster shut tight against the sea, protecting the treasure it carries inside. But the treasure was in my belly, full of love and expectations.

We walked like tourists along Pier 59, a place we came to think of as home. Wind in our faces and a carefree spirit in our hearts. Gently you stopped and pulled my hand so I would follow suit as you turned; I could see your eyes full of love and complete devotion. I felt I could stay in that moment forever. It was this feeling, this sublime happiness, that I did not want changed or challenged. That’s when I turned to you and looked into those blue eyes as I said aloud, “I don’t want this to change.”

Your face distorted into a concerned expression as you tried to reassure me. “It will be different when the baby arrives; it will be even better.”

“It’s not that. I’m excited about meeting the baby and having it with us.”

So you poked at the subject with concern on your face, as you asked, “Then what is it? What don’t you want to change?”

“Us,” I answered blithely, taking in a large whiff of air through my nose as a source of strength for what I was about to request of you. As I looked out to the sea right in front of us, I said, “I don’t want to forget this feeling. I want to always feel this love and peace between us.”

You gave me that dimply smile. “We will always have it. And when we don’t, we will have the direction in which we want to go.”

As a sea gull passed close to us, landing in the water with a tiny splash, I looked at you and finally said what had been on my mind, the deep seed of this conversation. “I don’t want to lose you.” Once again, your easy laugh, followed by an enveloping hug, while you gave me the grin I’d come to realize meant, You’re hormonal. “I’m serious. Just promise me…”

Can anything good follow the best thing that ever happened to you?

Amelia Weiss loved her husband of thirty-five years very much, but now he’s left her a widow. Without him, she is unable to work in her sculpture studio without crying. She no longer has a bridge to her estranged daughter. And she can’t seem to keep her mind in the present.

But when her daughter reaches out asking for her help and her agent threatens a lawsuit if Amelia doesn’t deliver for an upcoming exhibit, she’s forced to make a choice. Will she reengage with her life and the people in it—allowing room for things to be different than they were before? Or, will she remain stuck in the past, choosing her memories over real-life relationships?

Thrust fully into the present, Amelia stumbles into a surprising journey of self-discovery.

Buy @ Amazon

Genre – Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction, Women’s Fiction

Rating – PG-13

More details about the author

Connect with Olga Soaje on Facebook

10 Things you Didn’t know About #Author Olga Soaje (#litfiction #women)

1.- I studied Finance and Economics.

2.- Our family dog is named “Joy” that is mix between Pekinese and Poodle so we say she is a Poodlenese.

3.- English is my second language.

4.- At some point in my life I read every Danielle Steel novel I could find.

5.- While writing my first novel “Borrowing my mother’s saints” only a few people knew, because I was shy about writing.

6.- I link playlist or songs to the book and constantly hear them while writing. Yes, I even loop them some time.

7.- I always carry pen and paper in my handbag, inspiration hits sometimes in the most unexpected places.

8.- One of the scenes of “Borrowing my mother’s saints” was actually written first on a napkin.

9.- I cried sometimes while writing “Twelve Houses”

10.- After I finish writing a novel I get very sensitive and kind of blue, letting go of the characters I’ve loved for months.

Can anything good follow the best thing that ever happened to you?

Amelia Weiss loved her husband of thirty-five years very much, but now he’s left her a widow. Without him, she is unable to work in her sculpture studio without crying. She no longer has a bridge to her estranged daughter. And she can’t seem to keep her mind in the present.

But when her daughter reaches out asking for her help and her agent threatens a lawsuit if Amelia doesn’t deliver for an upcoming exhibit, she’s forced to make a choice. Will she reengage with her life and the people in it—allowing room for things to be different than they were before? Or, will she remain stuck in the past, choosing her memories over real-life relationships?

Thrust fully into the present, Amelia stumbles into a surprising journey of self-discovery.

Buy @ Amazon

Genre – Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction, Women's Fiction

Rating – PG-13

More details about the author

Connect with Olga Soaje on Facebook

Danny Wynn's #Excerpt from "Man from the Sky" #LitFiction #BookClub #AmReading

One morning, a couple of weeks after Stefan jumped from the plane, he and Jaime went down to the rocks together. Jaime waded in, and to Stefan’s surprise, swam lazily straight out for about a half mile and then back.

He clambered out and sat down next to Stefan on a big flat rock to recover his breath and dry off. He said, “The thing I hate about this goddamn affliction is the way it constantly rubs my face in my mortality. Human beings are the only animals who live with foreknowledge of their own death. But most people get to store that knowledge away in the back of their brain and don’t have to deal with it most of the time. Me, I almost always have one sensation or another in my body that reminds me of my mortality and swamps me with sadness and fear. Except when I’m sleeping or swimming.

- from Man from the Sky

How far would you go to add excitement to a life you felt was boring and meaningless?

For seventy-three-year-old Jaime, the answer takes him by surprise. Accustomed to a lonely life high up in the mountains on the western coast of Mallorca, his dull routine is suddenly shattered when a man parachutes from a plane and lands nearby. The plane crashes; the man lives.

It’s a drug smuggling operation gone bad. But Stefan, the man from the sky, has escaped with eight kilos of cocaine in a gym bag. Jaime brings Stefan home and is soon entangled in Stefan’s attempts to sell the cocaine and start a new life.

As they dodge Parisian drug dealers and corrupt Mallorcan police, Jaime’s search for excitement and Stefan’s resolve to find stability lead them both down dangerous paths.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre - Literary Fiction, Adventure

Rating – PG-13

More details about the author

Connect with Danny Wynn on Facebook

Website http://www.dannywynn.net/