If you had to pick a favorite food, what would it be?
Definitely tacos. Sure, that’s kind of generic, but we’re not talking Taco Bell here. I make my own beans from scratch and fry them with garlic and onion. I get cherry tomatoes from the little garden on my patio, always fresh in Tampa. And only fresh chopped cilantro and cotija on top. Even my son Mark loves them!
What is the one thing/trinket you always carry with you?
My childhood friend Analisa made me a little braided friendship bracelet out of embroidery thread when we were in high school. The color is almost washed out of it after 20 years, but it’s still on my wrist.
If you feared one thing slipping through your fingers, what would it be?
My son is pretty much my life. His dad took off when he was very young, and that’s how I came to be Jerrika Jones, the blogger who writes “Mothering Without a Man.” If anything happened to Mark, it would probably kill me. I might have been too protective of him while he was growing up—he likely hated it—but that’s better than letting him slip too far.
What is your deepest secret?
Even though I moved away, and eventually married someone else, I’ve always still had my love for Russell Asher in a corner of my heart. He was my first love, and I fell deeply for him. When he broke it off to woo cheerleader Tiffany Kearns, it broke my heart. Hard. Maybe it’s a mistake to go back for our 20-year reunion, if it means I’ll have to see him with her all over again. But I’ve decided to be brave enough to go.
Robecca: Ooh! Chatting with you was such a pleasure, Marisol. Thanks for spending your #teatime with me.
Book Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8qEjPOBzds&t=3s
Blurb: Up-and-coming mommyblogger and single mom Marisol Herrera Slade returns to her old hometown in western Pennsylvania for her 20th high school reunion in 2005, reluctant and yet compelled to see her high school sweetheart, Russell Asher, who dumped her for the homecoming queen.
Russell’s marriage to the golden girl, however, ended in a nasty divorce, and he has been systematically excluded from his sons’ lives. In his Internet wanderings, he’s found feminist blogger named Jerrika Jones, who glorifies single motherhood, essentially putting a stamp of approval on what’s happened to him. His group of single dad advocates have vowed to take this woman down.
What Russell doesn’t know, when he thinks to rekindle what he had with Marisol, is that Marisol and Jerrika are one and the same. When his group discovers the truth, will their drive for revenge derail any chance the couple have to reunite? Or will they find they have more in common than they ever expected?
EXCERPT
Marisol bit her bottom lip, almost as if trying to trap words inside. After a pause, she said, “I always wondered if that Kearns money and stature made you happy.”
“You always…” He frowned, deciphering her meaning. “You mean, you thought about me since… After we broke up?”
A blush filled her cheeks, but she didn’t turn away. “Why wouldn’t I? I mean, after what we…” She straightened her shoulders and almost seemed to purposefully change direction. “What I mean is, not that many people in the class mattered to me, and I know I didn’t matter to them.” As he started to protest, she raised a hand. “No, really, I know where I stood, where my parents stood in the community. It doesn’t hurt any more, not like it used to.”
A twinge of guilt stabbed him. He’d really been superfocused on his goal then, mental blinders shutting out every other possibility except one. What was that Chinese proverb? Be careful what you wish for, because you may get it? Boy, did it ever ring true now.
What would life have been like with a woman like Marisol? He’d never have scored that flat on Central Park. He might have made it through school before they had kids, might not. He studied her while she stirred her coffee again, fidgeting with her spoon. What would he have done? What might she have become? What had she become?
He realized belatedly he hadn’t even asked.
Author Bio
Alana Lorens has been a published writer for more than forty years, after working as a pizza maker, a floral designer, a journalist and a family law attorney. Currently a resident of Asheville, North Carolina, the aging hippie loves her time in the smoky blue mountains. She writes romance and suspense as Alana Lorens, and sci-fi, fantasy and paranormal mystery as Lyndi Alexander. One of her novellas, THAT GIRL’S THE ONE I LOVE, is set in the city of Asheville during the old Bele Chere festival. She lives with her daughter on the autism spectrum, who is the youngest of her seven children, and she is ruled by three crotchety old cats, and six kittens of various ages.
Author Links
Website http://Alana-lorens.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AlanaLorens/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4829967.Alana_Lorens
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Alana-Lorens/e/B005GE0WBC/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8qEjPOBzds&t=3s
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/alana-lorens
Twitter: @AlexanderLyndi
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexander_lyndi/
robeccaaustin.com 