A Life Through Books

When a wolf mates with a human, the child is nearly always a wolf. Briana was raised as a werewolf, but then puberty hit and she never changed. She’s persuaded a few wolves to bite her, but it never took. At nineteen, she’s going to give it a final try. This time, she’ll ask someone who was bitten instead of being born to it, to see if it makes a difference.

She grew up welcome in the Pack until she was branded a human. Her developing teenage psyche was wounded by their rejection, and she holds nothing but ill will for the Pack and all it stands for. However, it’s fine for a human to glare at the Alpha and tell him he isn’t the boss of her. Trying it as a wolf is another story. She’s determined to make a go of it as a lone wolf, but Randall — the local Alpha — has other ideas, despite the fact she’s property of his brother’s motorcycle club.

Briana was raised to be a werewolf and she finally feels whole, but the transition is different for everyone. She understands supernatural politics, but she’s going to have to maneuver through the highest levels of them as a brand new wolf still struggling for control.

Who is your favorite character from one of your books and why?

Contemporary Romance

Date Published: September 13, 2016

Friends with benefits.

Toe curling, ecstasy inducing, and completely secret.

Alex and Lia succumb to their scorching attraction, striking a deal of no-strings sex. Neither of them want a commitment, both of them are unable to stop the sparks from flying when they’re together.

Feelings develop, old fears surface and sex is no longer enough.

Will a glimmering sense of hope allow them to let go of the past, or will their secret blow up, leaving them shattered?

** All About Hope is a standalone novel intended for mature audiences due to coarse language and sexual content **

Other Books in the All of Nothing Series:

Published: March 2015

Emma is broken inside. After tragedy strikes she returns to her childhood home in hopes to heal her heart. Reconnecting with old family friends, Emma is unprepared for the way her long lost friend, Dane, makes her feel. Emma fights the attraction, but Dane is a man impossible to resist. What she doesn’t expect is for Dane to pursue her with a determination that makes her resolve waver. His ability to calm the storm that rages inside her and the way he makes her pulse race is a dangerous combination. She is risking everything. Can Emma set aside her fears and give Dane a chance? Her walls will break, her heart will be tested and she will never be the same.

 About the Author

Ashley Erin lives in Alberta, Canada where winter and summer compete to take over. She wears flip flops as soon as it’s above freezing, because her hatred of socks outweighs her dislike of snow. Her boyfriend stays with her despite a penchant for adopting rescued cats and dogs without permission. Their two dogs and four cats are spoiled rotten. When Ashley isn’t writing, she is reading or working with horses.

Ashley is a self-published author of contemporary and new adult romance. Follow her on Facebook to keep up with her current and upcoming releases.

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Contemporary Fiction

Date Published:  May 2016

The Best of Families is the revelatory midlife memoir of a Philadelphia socialite, Francis Hopkinson Delafield. Uncomfortable with the mores of one of the city’s oldest families, Fran begins his story the summer after he graduates from prep school, when he dutifully marries his pregnant French Canadian girlfriend only to have her disappear within months of their marriage. Disillusioned and angry at the whole world, Fran quits college and enlists in the army. He is badly wounded in a war that no one seems to know or care about, and upon returning home from Vietnam, he is confronted with navigating the roiled waters of a second marriage while both his parents and his wives hold secrets that alter his life forever.

Praise for The Best of Families:

“With wit and compassion, The Best of Families captures perfectly the floundering of WASP society at mid-20th century. Trapped in the empty rituals of an upper crust that is well past its sell-by date, young Fran Delafield struggles to free himself from family and tradition. Love, the war in Vietnam and fatherhood turn out to be his path to an authentic life, and his salvation. Harry Groome interweaves romance and tragedy in this lively, evocative novel.” — Rebecca Pepper Sinkler, former Editor of the New York Times Book Review

“…a heartfelt, captivating read, packed with familial politics and strife.” — Kirkus Reviews

 “A wonderful, fascinating, tragic and ultimately redemptive story that begs to be told.” — Ellen Lesser, author of The Shoplifter’s Apprentice

“Not only is The Best of Families a page-turner, but the story truly moved me, and haunts me still.” — Chase Twichell, author of Horses Where the Answers Should Have Been: New & Selected Poems

 “…a great read that makes a convincing and timeless case for the power of the individual—the power to build your own happiness out of the unwieldy materials you’ve been handed.” — David Ebenbach, author of Into the Wilderness

“One of the great pleasures of life is a good book that tells a story so compelling that when you put the book down, you can’t wait to pick it up again. For me, The Best of Families is such a book…(it) blew me away with its believable razor-sharp dialogue and compelling plot…” — Len Lear, editor, the Chestnut Hill Local

Excerpt

My Family; Our Story

Mark Twain once wrote, “In Boston they ask, how much does he know? In New York, how much is he worth? In Philadelphia, who were his parents?”

As a Philadelphian I’ll answer that provocative question this way: My name is Francis Hopkinson Delafield Jr.—Fran to most everyone—and I was born into one of the city’s oldest families, a family of Social Register–registered blue bloods who were born on third base but thought we’d gotten there by hitting a triple. Without a doubt, we Delafields are a nest of good old-fashioned WASPs: unimaginative, out-of-touch, sporting Bermuda shorts, bow ties, and Capezios…well, the list goes on and on, but I think old Mr. Twain would get the picture. And, although it goes well beyond what he asked, of course we’re all products of private school educations. Every entitled one of us.

What’s more, having learned how my connection with my parents—I don’t know the proper term for it: biological, cultural, spiritual, genetic?—has shaped my life, I understand why my sister, Heather, always says that everything that takes place in our parents’ circle of friends is tribal. And over time I’ve gotten a better grip on why it’s easier for them to stay rooted in the past than to face the changes the future might bring, certainly the kind of changes that I’ve forced my parents to accept.

Heather also was the person who thought it would be a good idea for me to confront my past rather than sweep it under the rug the way I do most things. Write it all down, is what she said—hence this midlife memoir, or whatever you might choose to call it. She thought it might help me understand, maybe even help me forgive, a lot of what’s happened in our family, and from this I guess you can tell that, as uncomfortable as parts of this will be for me to tell, Heather thought it might heal some old family wounds, maybe even help me learn some things I needed to know.

So to begin, a little bit of background.

In 1941, just before my father went off to the war, we moved to 1212 Poor Richard’s Lane in Chestnut Hill, to a cinderblock-and-glass house that Dad had designed and which Mom and he have ever since referred to as “Twelve-Twelve,” as if it were a Newport mansion or a building of similar historical significance. With the 23 trolley clanking up and down its cobblestone main street, Chestnut Hill, both fashionable and unhurried in its pace, could easily have been a Hollywood set, even a Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover. It was there that Mom saw our family as members of the “impoverished aristocracy” and viewed herself as one of Philadelphia’s grandes dames. And, after the war, it was where she and Dad entertained their well-heeled friends, rolling back the worn rug in the living room and drinking and smoking and dancing into the wee hours of the morning to the big bands—Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw—as though they never again would have a care in the world.

But Twelve-Twelve is more than just a place where my parents entertained. It’s where Heather and I grew into our teens, doing pretty much everything that was expected of us. Maybe even a little more. Heather was a high-honor student, president of her class, and captain of the field hockey team at the nearby girls’ school. I started at the local day school for boys but, after eighth grade, went away to the Episcopal School in New Hampshire, just like my grandfather, father, and Mom’s brother, my uncle Robert Peltier, had before me.

I think that’s enough history and will begin my story in 1955. I was eighteen, had just graduated from Episcopal, and was on my way to a summer job in Quebec with my closest friend, Potter Morris. As you will see, this trip, as brief as it was, set the cornerstone for all that follows and altered my life forever. Please know that many of the revelations that I uncover here—several of which my family have jealously kept secret from the outside world—may come as a surprise to you because a number of them aren’t exactly what you’d expect of a family like mine.

Francis H. Delafield, Jr.

September 1968

About the Author

Harry Groome is the author of the novels Wing Walking and Thirty Below and the award-winning Stieg Larsson parody The Girl Who Fished with a Worm. Harry was a finalist for the William Faulkner Short Story Awards and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His short stories, poems, and articles have appeared in dozens of magazines and anthologies, including Gray’s Sporting Journal, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Descant, and Detroit Magazine. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and holds an MFA in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

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Literary Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Family Drama

Date Published:  May 2014

Winner. First Prize in Literary Fiction 2015  and Finalist in Cover Design 2015 -- Independent Publishers of New England.

Award-Winning Finalist in Fiction. 2015 USA Best Book Awards

Surviving family horror is one thing. 

DJ Brava has the courage. She has the determination. She has friends covering her back. But when unearthing one secret leads to another and another...can she survive the fallout? 

Some family members beg her to wait until they're dead. Has one of them gone too far in a misguided effort to protect someone -- or something?

This book is an entertaining page-turner for anyone who loves a good family drama full of secrets and intrigue. It has the social consciousness of a Picoult, the resonance of Sue Miller, the wit and tongue of Evanovich, the popular appeal of Anna Quindlen, and the female bonding of Thelma and Louise (without the drive off the cliff).

Praise for Wait Until I'm Dead!

“Wait Until I’m Dead! weaves a deeply personal issue with politics, complex family dynamics, and pushes the boundaries of our notions of right and wrong, good and bad. The depth and richness of Dawber’s characters feature some unusual individuals with relationships and points of view that stretch our minds to think in new ways. Using humor, Dawber’s own strong clinical experience, and a deep compassion for people, she provides twists and turns that keep us coming back for more.” Carol A. Plummer, Ph.D., Consultant, trauma therapist, author: Preventing Sexual Abuse.

“As both a long time trauma therapist and avid mystery reader, I highly recommend Wait Until I’m Dead! by Elda Dawber. Elda’s rich descriptions virtually pull the reader into a relationship with the main character. The unfolding of the character’s history is clever, seamlessly woven into the present. A must read!” Geraldine Crisci, MSW, trauma specialist, consultant, trainer; Toronto, Canada.

Elda Dawber is a clinical social worker who has been working with abused and neglected children and their families for more than forty years. Her writing is informed by the trauma, grit, and struggle to survive witnessed in hundreds of remarkable children. This is their story, as well as the story of millions of adult survivors who will relate to its frank descriptions of the healing environment good therapy can provide. Elda lives in Rhode Island, surrounded by an amazingly loving and diverse family. It is her hope that this novel will find its way to the people who may need it most.

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BookBuzz

Demons are real.

And now I’m one of them.

I never expected my boring, regular life to change on a night out with my best friend. I only thought I was going to celebrate her birthday at a local club, not end up in a hospital after witnessing supernatural events that couldn’t possibly be real.

Talk about being wrong.

Now I’ve drawn the attention of the most dangerous forces in the demon world. I’m being stalked by a guy who can be in multiple places at once. I’m overwhelmed by a hunger I can’t shake—an impossible hunger that compels me to feed off the sexual energy of others, even if it might make me kill somebody. I’m losing control and entering a secret world that exists in the shadows of my own—a world filled with vampires, werewolves, and demons who look just like anyone else.

The night was supposed to be simple. Normal. After all, I thought I was human and my life thus far has been unbelievably ordinary.

Now it’s anything but.

Originally released as three novellas—Touch Me: Part One, Touch Me: Part Two, and Touch Me: Part Three.

Skye Malone is a fantasy and paranormal romance author, which means she spends most of her time not-quite-convinced that the magical things she imagines couldn't actually exist. 

A Midwestern girl who migrated to the Pacific Northwest, she dreams someday of travelling the world – though in the meantime she’ll take any story that whisks her off to a place where the fantastic lives inside the everyday. She loves strong and passionate characters, complex villains, and satisfying endings that stay with you long after the book is done. An inveterate writer, she can’t go a day without getting her hands on a keyboard, and can usually be found typing away while she listens to all the adventures unfolding in her head.

Children’s Fiction

Date Published: July 3, 2012 -  December 31, 2015

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