meet Jenness Walker and Tracy Bowen

Tracy is a transplanted Southern gal who started writing women’s fiction to counter-balance all the testosterone that surrounds her in the form of a husband and four sons.

Jenness, married to her website-designing high school sweetheart, is a suspense writer whose fictitious world has become a lot funnier since Tracy’s arrival. Her debut novel, Double Take, was a Carol Award finalist and a RT Reviews Top Pick.

You can find Tracy online at www.tandjbooks.com and Jenness at www.jennesswalker.com

Bliss

When the universe lets you down, it’s time to go over its head.

Following the stars, Indie Moore sets off to find ultimate happiness in South Florida. But in her quest for comfort and fortune, she encounters mishap and mayhem. She finds a home in a trailer park, a job scrubbing toilets, and a moody roommate—not quite the glamorous world she’d envisioned for herself. But maybe bliss looks a little different than she’d thought.

Laugh and cry with Indie, the Miss Adventure of misadventure, as she blunders on land, by sea, and in church, seeking love and a sense of belonging…seeking true Bliss.

Here’s an excerpt of Bliss:

Perhaps if I had tripped over the heels of my chunky sandals the first day I came to Rabbit Hole, Kansas, I wouldn’t hate it here so much. Flat on your back, you at least get a break from the ever-present wind, and instead of never-ending plains of nothingness you can see…hmm, yes. That cloud looks just like an ice cream cone.

“Indie, babe, are you okay?”

My vision of calories is obstructed by masses of red curls and large, colored stones. Healing stones, to be exact. My mom thinks if one necklace can provide health for the body, then four should keep you in tip-top shape until the day you die—of old age, of course. They have yet to find a stone to cure that.

“I’m fine, Mom. Just couldn’t see over Miss Matilda.”

I’d rather blame the stuffed hippo sticking out of the box I carried than confess I tripped over my own shoes. Again. This is the fourth time they’ve landed me on my back. At least this time only two people—Mom and her main squeeze, Steve Gaines—witnessed my current disgrace. As opposed to an entire movie theater audience, like last year in Chicago.

I have a long list of similar humiliating events, and a corresponding list of the places I’ve lived. A few perks come with moving every year, like you don’t have to worry about running into someone who has watched you make an idiot out of yourself. New location, new audience.

“Maybe this is a sign.” Mom tucks a strand of that crazy hair—I can say that because she passed it down to me—behind her ear, and the strand of wooden beads on her arm becomes entangled in a dozen or so curls. While her hands flail as she attempts to extricate her hair from the beads, she says, “I think you still need me.”

Who needs who? With a deft twist of a curl, I set her free. “I have a sign, Mom. Pisces. And I am following it.”

“How do you know your horoscope meant for you to move to Florida? It’s so far away!”

“Everything is far away from Rabbit Hole.” But it’s a good question. It’s a shame I don’t have a good answer. I’m not going to tell her that the same day my horoscope told me to follow my sign, I learned Celine Dion had a home in South Florida.

Pisces is a water sign. Its symbol is fish. Water, fish. Together, those two practically scream South Florida. I’m not picky; if it’s good enough for Celine, it’s good enough for me.

I’m desperate to get out of Rabbit Hole, with its tornadoes, dusty roads, and, of course, my free spirit mother flitting from store to store—all three of them.

Horoscopes don’t come with specific instructions. Each reader must interpret the meaning. To give myself some credit, my reasoning has to be more sound than my mother’s—like the morning we picked up and left Dayton, Ohio to move to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina because Mom’s daily horoscope stated, “Find the right path.” Right. Wright. Wright brothers. Why not? They ended up in Kitty Hawk, and so did we for ten whole months.

You can purchase Bliss from Amazon.

Jenness and Tracy are giving away a copy of Bliss. To be entered in the book giveaway, leave a comment by Monday, January 10th and check back on Tuesday, January 11th to see if you’ve won. You can enter twice–once on this post and once on tomorrow’s interview with Jenness and Tracy. If you want to guarantee that you’re notified if you win, then leave your email address in the comment, otherwise, you can just check back and email me through the button in my sidebar.
**Annoying little disclaimer: This giveaway is open only to U.S. addresses.

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