Today author, Alice Orr joins us with her new Christmas novella, A Vacancy at the Inn.
"Alice
Orr is a brilliant writer who has a Number One best seller hidden in her
pocket. I look forward to more of her work," says one Amazon reviewer.
I
say “Thanks!” I love to write. Especially romantic suspense novels and blog
posts. I’ve been a workshop leader, book editor and literary agent. Now I live
my dream of writing full-time. I’ve published thirteen novels and four novellas
– both traditionally and independently – plus a memoir so far. I wrote my
nonfiction book, No More Rejections, as a gift to the writers' community I
cherish. A revised edition is now in progress. Amazon says, "This book has
it all." About my romantic suspense, Amazon says, "Alice Orr turns up
the heat." Most of all, I like to hear from readers. Visit my website at
www.aliceorrbooks.com. I have two grown children and two perfect grandchildren
and I live with my husband Jonathan in New York City.
Alice
– http://www.aliceorrbooks.com.wants to share this story with you.
MARJORIE'S PRAYER
I once had a friend named Marjorie. We've lost track of one another but I remember her well. Mostly I remember hours spent at her Formica-top table which was designed for a kitchen but stood in her dining room because the kitchen was too small and cluttered to allow for table space.
The
Formica was not the finest grade and bore visible evidence of hundreds of coffee
chats. Nests of circles linking and overlapping and intertwining. Each circle
was a memory left by one of the many women who trekked from near and sometimes
fairly far to sit at that table.
We
came to talk to Marjorie and be listened to in a way we might never have been
before.
Listened
to as if what we had to say – and ourselves as well – were worthy of the
serious consideration and respect not always accorded to virtually powerless
single moms. We would speak our piece and drink our coffee and leave behind a
cup ring no amount of scrubbing could erase. Always we walked away less
burdened than when we arrived.
Too
often we neglected to consider the burden Marjorie herself bore. Primarily
because she carried the weight with such grace and good humor. She had several
children with multiple problems linking and overlapping and intertwining into a
thicket of trouble pretty much impenetrable for a mother alone with few
resources beyond her own generous nature.
Yet
I only once saw her allow the bramble scratches from her thicket to show. The
details of that day's dilemma and why it was more of a calamity than the many
dilemmas before it were lost in time long ago. The indelible part is the image
of Marjorie and what she did.
She
sat still for a while – apparently calm. At last she rose from her chair slowly
and deliberately. She turned without saying a word or looking at any of us and
walked to the window. She struggled with the sash which was swollen closed by
years of moisture and disrepair. I started to move toward helping her but something
in her manner told me I shouldn’t.
I
watched as she forced the window upward and leaned out. It was a brisk autumn
day. The wind whipped her short reddish brown hair as she turned her face to
the sky. She stayed like that for a moment – halfway in the room and halfway
out – before uttering a single word.
"Help,"
she almost but not quite shouted. She pulled her head back in then. She shoved
the window down and returned to her chair.
"Does
that really work?" I asked mostly because I didn't know whether to laugh
or cry and needed to say something so I wouldn’t do either. When Marjorie
looked at me her eyes were clear. Her face was free from tension. "I think
so," she said.
I’ve
been known to tell this story as an amusing anecdote but I don't really think
of it as funny. I think of it as one of the most elegant exercises in faith
I’ve ever witnessed. I have also used it myself many times – with or without a
window. I encourage you to do the same.
New Christmas Novella
A Vacancy at the Inn – available now – is the first Christmas
Novella of my Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series featuring the Kalli family
– and now the Miller family too – in stories of Romance and Danger. A Wrong Way
Home is Book 1 of the series. A Year of Summer Shadows is Book 2. A Villain for
Vanessa will be Book 3.
All
of my titles are available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B017RZFGWC
Riverton
Road Romantic Suspense Series Christmas Novella
Luke
& Bethany’s Story by Alice Orr
On
a cold December day Bethany Miller and her son Michael arrive in Riverton.
She
grew up on Riverton Hill in remote upstate New York where her complicated
family still lives. She moved away to escape all of that and more. Now she’s
back because of complications in her present life with what is best for her
son. She hopes the Miller family will be a Christmas blessing for Michael.
She’s less hopeful about what this homecoming will be for her.
The last thing Bethany wants is further complication. That means the last person she needs to see is Luke Kalli staring down at her from the roof of Miller’s Inn. They shared a glorious connection before she fled from here. The power of that encounter and the deep feelings she experienced came at a tumultuous moment in her life. They were yet another strong reason to leave Riverton Hill on Riverton Road and never return – until today. She has no idea this place will put her son in peril.
The last thing Bethany wants is further complication. That means the last person she needs to see is Luke Kalli staring down at her from the roof of Miller’s Inn. They shared a glorious connection before she fled from here. The power of that encounter and the deep feelings she experienced came at a tumultuous moment in her life. They were yet another strong reason to leave Riverton Hill on Riverton Road and never return – until today. She has no idea this place will put her son in peril.
Check
out this new novella.
Thanks
for joining us, Alice.
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