Better in the Morning

Veronica Buccino has a plan: marry John DelMonico and quit her soul-sucking job as a lawyer. And when he tells her he has big news, she’s certain he’ll pop the question. But instead of proposing, John informs her that he’s moving to London.

Heartbroken, Veronica feels lost. Salvatore and Antoinette, her dead grandparents, begin to visit her dreams in an attempt to steer her in the right direction. At their suggestion, Veronica takes a news reporting class, which leads to a challenging freelance assignment covering a conspiracy trial. She also begins dating an unlikely suitor: creative Syd Blackman.

Just when her love life and career are looking up, Veronica is tossed back to square one by an event that makes her question all her new choices.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Another girl who listens to her dreams! Better in the Morning by Fern Ronay was a beautiful story about a woman who's stuck in a job she hates with a boyfriend who doesn't really get her. But things are about to change. Really change. With the help of her deceased grandparents, who speak to her in her dreams, Veronica's life is about to undergo a serious make-over for the better. The process may not be easy but it is definitely entertaining. 

Veronica is ready for real love that lasts a lifetime and she thinks that John will give that to her. But suddenly, he's moving across the globe and she's left with nothing but a job where she is treated like crap. Given, she doesn't love the job so she doesn't really put in the work it would take to succeed. Regardless, her boss and co-worker are a combination of cruel and cold. Veronica is a woman who believes. She has an abundant amount of faith that guides her through life. She may be a little judgmental but she's loving and hopeful. Readers will relate to her career struggles, her fear, and her hopes. She has bills to pay and it's hard to take a leap changing job fields, but she hopes for the best. With humor and dream sequences, Veronica will make it through this. 

My favorite parts of the book were the dream chapters. In these, Veronica gets to hang out with her deceased grandparents who are full of love and laughter. I think these sequences are where readers will really connect with Veronica. They get to read her thoughts by living her dreams with her. The dreams are intimate and important situations that lead Veronica to happiness while helping her leap over the obstacles. 

The plot of Better in the Morning begins with Veronica and her boyfriend breaking up because he's moving to London. She thought he was going to propose and is absolutely heartbroken. Not all readers have been in that exact situation but the experience of a relationship ending is easy to relate to. However, this loss turns into a little push for Veronica. She starts a news-reporting class and even goes on a few dates. Things are looking up until they all fall apart again. Veronica has to fight for her happy ending and readers will enjoy watching her climb out of the chaos. 

Rating: 4/5 Cups

Meet Author Andrew Joyce - Author of Resolution: Huck Finn's Greatest Adventure

My name is Andrew Joyce, and I write books for a living. One morning, about five years ago, I went crazy. I got out of bed, went downstairs, and threw my TV out the window. Then I sat down at the computer and wrote my first short story. I threw it up on a writing site on the Internet just for the hell of it. A few months later I was notified that it was to be included in an anthology of the best short stories of 2011. I even got paid for it! I’ve been writing ever since.

Tracy has been kind enough to allow me a little space on her blog to promote my new book, RESOLUTION: Huck Finn’s Greatest Adventure, so I thought I’d tell you how it came about. It all started way back in 2012 . . .

My first book was a 164,000-word historical novel. And in the publishing world, anything over 80,000 words for a first-time author is heresy. Or so I was told time and time again when I approached an agent for representation. After two years of research and writing, and a year of trying to secure the services of an agent, I got angry. To be told that my efforts were meaningless was somewhat demoralizing to say the least. I mean, those rejections were coming from people who had never even read my book.

“So you want an 80,000-word novel?” I said to no one in particular, unless you count my dog,because he was the only one around at the time. Consequently, I decided to show them City Slickers that I could write an 80,000-word novel!

I had just  finished  reading   Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn for the third time, and I started thinking about what ever happened to those boys, Tom and Huck. They must have grown up, but then   what?   So   I   sat   down   at   my   computer   and   banged   out  REDEMPTION:   The   Further Adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer in two months; then sent out query letters to agents.

Less than a month later, the chairman of one of the biggest agencies in New York City emailed me that he loved the story. We signed a contract and it was off to the races, or so I thought. But then the real fun began: the serious editing. Seven months later, I gave birth to Huck and Tom as adults in the Old West. And just for the record, the final word count is 79,914. The book went onto reach #1 status in its category on Amazon (twice) and won the Editor’s Choice Award for best Western of 2013. The rest, as they say, is history.

But not quite.

My agent then wanted me to write a sequel, but I had other plans. I was in the middle of editing down my first novel (that had been rejected by 1,876,324 agents . . . or so it seemed) from 164,000 words to the present 142,000. However, he was insistent about a sequel, so I started to think about it. Now, one thing you have to understand is that I tied up all the loose ends at the end of REDEMPTION, so there was no way that I could write a sequel. And that is when Molly asked me to tell her story. Molly was a minor character that we met briefly in the first chapter of REDEMPTION, and then she is not heard from again.

So I started to think about what ever happened to her. After a bit of time—and 100,000 words—we find out what did happen to Molly. It is an adventure tale where Huck Finn weaves through the periphery of a story driven by a strong female lead. Molly Lee was my second book, which achieved #2 status on Amazon.

Now I was finished with Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer for good. Now I could go back to my first novel and resume the editing process.

But not quite.

It was then that Huck and Molly ganged up on me and demanded that I resolve their lives once and for all. It seems that I had left them hanging, so to speak. Hence,  RESOLUTION: Huck Finn’s Greatest Adventure. Here is the blurb from the back cover of the book:

There you have it. Now, if you nice people will just go out and buy  RESOLUTION, perhaps Huck and Molly will leave me alone long enough so that I can get some editing done on my first novel.

Thank you for having me over, Tracy It’s been a real pleasure.

- Andrew 

Author Bio:

Andrew Joyce left high school at seventeen to hitchhike throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico. He wouldn’t return from his journey until decades later when he decided to become a writer. Joyce has written four books, including a two-volume collection of one hundred and forty short stories comprised of his hitching adventures called BEDTIME STORIES FOR GROWN-UPS (as yet unpublished), and his latest novel, RESOLUTION. He now lives aboard a boat in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with his dog, Danny, where he is busy working on his next book, YELLOW HAIR.

Buy Resolution on:

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iTunes

What's Next, Wednesday (14)

•  To play along share a book you've been looking forward to reading, whether it's new or has been on your reading list for a while.

I'm looking forward to...

S.I.N.G.L.E. (Still in Need of a Good Loving Equivalent) by Lindsay Marie Miller. The first thing that happens after making a pact is temptation to break it. This story is about Jessica and her self-promise to steer clear of men, at least for the time being. And there's Graham, the temptation. This novel seems like it's going to be a fun, romantic, easy read and I can't wait to start on it.

Teaser Tuesday (221)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm/Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers




Better in the Morning (Kindle 15%)
   - Fern Ronay

"Baby steps, Veronica. You have to stop thinking you're stuck and do some things you're afraid of."