I decided to take a break yesterday to enjoy one of my favorite authors: J.D. Robb. Her latest release Forgotten in Death is out and I had to jump right into it. With yesterday’s arctic freeze, I hunkered down by the fireplace and my buddy Slate decided that my lap was the perfect place to rest. I decided the perfect place to rest my book as I read was Slate. A perfect and relaxing book and cat moment. Do you have fur babies that keep you company as you read? Are you reading anything interesting right now? Take a moment and share on this #WriteWednesday.
P.S. – Don’t forget to enter the Celebrate Romantic Suspense contest at https://www.facebook.com/Caridad.Author/posts/10158391783370913.
Excerpt from The Family She Never Met
What can I say about The Family She Never Met? As I’ve mentioned, a part of it is a family history, namely my family’s history. Another part of it is the story of three women separated by loss and anger and how they come together. Last but never least, romance is a big part of the story as the heroine, Jessica, finds love and support with Luis Torres, her grandmother’s right-hand man. This #TeaserTuesday I’ve got this excerpt for you from The Family She Never Met. FYI – if you’re on Netgalley, you can request a copy of the book for review.
Excerpt
Sandy seemed a little agitated as she jerked a finger in the direction of the customer area. “There’s a man here to see you.”
Puzzled, Jessica tried to remember if she’d scheduled any appointments for that afternoon, but as far as she knew, she hadn’t. “Did you get his name?” she asked.
Sandy fidgeted from one foot to the next and wrung her hands together. “He wouldn’t give it. He just insisted that I get you. ‘For a private matter,’” Sandy advised, emphasizing the man’s words with air quotes.
Weird, Jessica thought. She kept private things to her small circle of close friends and her immense Italian family. Of course, once family got involved, there was no such thing as private.
“Does he seem like trouble?” Jessica asked as she yanked off the nitrile gloves with a snap, grabbed her phone, and opened the security camera app for a glimpse of the unexpected visitor. Flipping to the view of the storefront, she shifted the camera until she could get a good look at him.
Trouble, all right, but not in a criminal kind of way. He had the kind of looks and confidence that said he could be difficult.
Her visitor was dressed in a light-colored suit that hugged broad shoulders and lean hips. Dark hair topped a handsome face and he looked none too pleased at having to wait. He moved with nervous energy from one piece of furniture to the next, skimming his fingers across the surfaces before he whirled, stared straight at the camera, and jammed his hands in his pockets.
With a chuckle, Jessica said, “No worries. I can handle him.” After all, she was used to dealing with the high-powered and sometimes egotistical financial types that came into her shop.
She slipped the smartphone into the front pocket of her overalls and hurried into the store, annoyed that her work had been interrupted and feeling decidedly grungy in her paint- and stain-splattered overalls and ripped T-shirt. She liked to be at her best when seeing prospective customers, and this man had placed her at a decided disadvantage. He was well-heeled and clearly well-off.
The linen suit was obviously bespoke and perfectly fitted to his lean body, but lightweight for a chilly New York City spring day. A hint of a shirt in pastel pink peeked out from beneath the collar. Gold glinted on one wrist and a big and expensive wristwatch wrapped around his other.
“How can I help you?” she said as she approached him. He stood staring at a combo bar/console against one wall of her store’s showroom.
He turned and met her gaze full-on. His eyes were a dark hazel shot through with strands of green and gold in a face far more handsome than it had looked on her smartphone screen. Sharply chiseled features were softened by full lips and long, thick lashes. His dark hair was closer to black than brown with bed-tousled waves.
“Jessica Russo, I presume?” It was impossible to miss the hint of annoyance in his tone as well as a slight singsong that said he wasn’t a New Yorker.
“I am. How can I help you?” she repeated, eager to get back to work.
He stepped closer, forcing her to look up, thanks to his much greater height. He had nearly a foot on her and the proximity to so much masculinity was surprisingly disconcerting.
She gave him props for sensing that she was uncomfortable and taking a step away. “I came to speak to you about your grandmother.”
Fear replaced her earlier emotions. She laid a hand across her stomach to quell the distress and also her confusion. Her grandmother Russo was relatively young, so he had to be referring to her ninety-three-year-old great-grandmother, who insisted on living alone in her own home. But nothing about this man said “cop,” so she tempered her concerns that he might be there with bad news. “Is Bisnonna Russo okay? Nothing’s happened, right?” she asked.
His full lips thinned into a knife-sharp line, and irritation blossomed in his eyes. “I’m here about your abuela Gonzalez and to ask for a favor.”
The fright she had experienced just moments earlier fled and a maelstrom of emotions filled that vacuum. They swirled together as powerfully as a Category 5 hurricane.
“My mother’s mother?” she asked, confusion and surprise taking control of her emotions.
He dipped his head regally. “Yes, your Gonzalez grandmother. And as I said, I’m here to ask a favor,” he explained in calm tones, but Jessica was feeling anything but calm.
“For yourself or for her?” she challenged, a growing spiral of anger twisting into the emotional storm within her. Whenever she had asked about her maternal grandparents, her mother’s gaze would cloud with pain, warning her that it was a topic not to be discussed.
“For her and hopefully for you as well,” he urged, his tone persuasive but unconvincing.
“I think I’ve been doing just fine for myself the last twenty-eight years,” she shot back. Her mother’s Miami family had never been a part of her life, and as far as she was concerned, it could stay that way. Giving in to the request was bound to cause hurt for everyone involved.
He seemed chastened by her statement and tried a different tack. “Your grandmother loves you and your mother very much. It’s why she sent me here to ask you to visit with her.”
She crossed her arms and tilted her head up a determined inch. “Funny way to show her love, considering she hasn’t been around for all of my life. And I’m too busy to leave the shop right now.”
He peered around the empty store in obvious disbelief. “Doesn’t seem too busy to me.”
“It’s a weekday and the middle of the afternoon,” she said and then shook her head. “You know, I don’t need to explain anything to you. And who are you, anyway?”
He reached into his inside jacket pocket and took out a business card that he presented to her. The cardstock weight was heavy, and the card had his name embossed in bold gold. Not a cheap online business card by any means. “I’m Luis Torres, President of Guerreiro Enterprises, but more importantly, I’m a man who owes a great deal to a woman who wants to meet her granddaughter before…let’s just say it’s time to set things to right.”
He hadn’t said it, but the reason for the request hung there like a great big softball waiting to be hit out of the park. It’s time to set things to right before time ran out and she died.
Before Jessica could say anything, he reached out and laid a hand over hers, the gesture meant to reassure. He squeezed her hand gently and said, “I know this has probably come as a shock—”
“Says the Master of Understatement,” she parried, but without sting because she sensed the sincerity in his request.
With a dip of his head, he continued. “I understand. All I’m asking is that you think about it. For an old woman who doesn’t want to end her life without knowing her granddaughter. Por favor,” he said, his gaze teeming with emotion. The tone of his voice was filled with concern and not just for the grandmother she had never met.
Somehow, she sensed that he wasn’t the kind of man used to asking, and that made his request all the more powerful. But it wasn’t enough to alleviate the worry she had about meeting a woman who had apparently driven her daughter from her Miami home and never made any effort to end the rift between them.
“I appreciate how important this is to you,” she said.
“To her, Jessica. This is very important to her. To you as well. Before it’s too late to make things right,” he said, once again strumming her heartstrings and rousing compassion. But she had to protect her own heart and her mother’s as well.
Because of that, all she could say was “I’ll think about it, Mr. Torres.”
He squeezed her hand gently again and said, “Luis, por favor. And thank you. I know this can’t be an easy decision for you to make.”
“It isn’t…Luis.” She held up his business card and said, “Can I reach you at this number?”
He nodded. “I’ll be at the Mandarin Oriental all week.”
“Try the veal,” she quipped, but he just stared at her as if he didn’t understand the old joke, so she charged on. “I’ll call as soon as I can.”
“I’d appreciate that,” he said, leaned down, and brushed a quick kiss across her cheek.
Before she could protest the gesture, he turned and hurried from her shop, leaving her to ponder what to do about his request.
At a slight noise behind her, she whirled to find Sandy returning to the showroom. “I guess he wasn’t trouble after all,” Sandy said with a smirk.
She blew out a harsh breath and shook her head. “That remains to be seen,” she replied and headed back toward her workroom. Work always made her feel better and let her clear her mind of anything that bothered her. Luis Torres and his request definitely bothered her, only she wasn’t sure she had enough projects to work on to restore peace to her world.
Order
Amazon Kindle: https://amzn.to/3tPQ7Xx
Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/3bonSZN
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-family-she-never-met/id1568775092
BN Nook: http://bit.ly/BarnesandNobleFamily
BN Paperback: http://bit.ly/BarnesandNovelPaperback
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-family-she-never-met
Additional Retailers: https://books2read.com/FamilySheNeverMet
Caridad’s Celebrate Romantic Suspense Giveaway
I love that I’m writing romantic suspense again and to celebrate that and my upcoming March 29 release, Decoy Training, I’m having this giveaway! Just earn points for a chance to win autographed copies of Trapping a Terrorist, Darkness Calls, Cold Case Reopened, a Book Lover notepad and pen, NovelTea Chai Latte Tea Tin, bookmark, and $10 Gift Card! You must use your email to login in to the contest, but do not fear. Your email will not be shared with anyone else and will only be used to notify you in case you win! Contest ends at 11:30 pm EST on Sunday, January 16, 2022. To enter the contest please visit my Facebook Fan Page.
Getting Organized for the New Year
One of the things I’m doing over the course of the next few days is reviewing my calendar for the New Year and getting my calendar in order with all that I’ve got to get done this year! One of the things I do is get my planner ready and I often create my own planner pages because I like having something that reflects what I like. I’m sharing my January page with you that you can use in your planner or as a bookmark. It should print out to roughly a 4.5×6.5 size but you should be able to adjust up or down! You can download the January calendar by clicking here. Here’s what it looks like!
How do you get organized?
P.S. – If you like the pencil sketch and are wondering how to do that with your own photos, you can visit Image Chef to do that and more!
Sharing Beautiful Charleston
Hubby and I took some time off after Christmas and one of the places we visited was Charleston, South Carolina. A lovely city and I wanted to share some photos with you of the places we visited during a walking tour that we did. The waterfront was beautiful, but we also loved seeing the Dock Theater and the nearby churches and graveyards. Getting a sneak peek at the courtyards of some of the homes was also fun!
We also went out of town to go see the Magnolia Gardens and Plantation, but it was closed due to power outages after a storm the night before. Since Drayton Hall was right next door we went there to tour the grounds right next to the Ashley River. Beautiful countryside and I loved seeing the immense live oaks with their eerie Spanish moss.
Sharing a Teaser from The Family She Never Met
I can’t wait to share more with you about The Family She Never Met, my upcoming February release from Casablanca Sourcebooks. As I’ve mentioned before, this book is especially close to my heart because I’ve weaved many of my family’s real-life stories into this novel about three generations of women whose lives are separated by the past and who must find a way to come together for the future. The matriarch in the book, Carmen, is named after my mom (and my sis). So are a number of other characters in the book and I’ll be sharing more about those characters and their real histories soon! For now, here’s a teaser and excerpt for you!
Teaser
Between two worlds, between love and loss, she finally finds her way home.
Jessica Russo knows nothing about her mother’s family or her Cuban culture. Every time she’s asked about it, her mother has shut down. But when the Cuban grandmother she’s never met sends her right-hand man, Luis, to offer Jessica the chance to come to Miami and meet her estranged family, she can’t help but say yes, even as she knows it will pain her mother.
The woman that Jessica meets is nothing like what she expected. Her grandmother is successful, intelligent, determined, and all too willing to take blame for what has happened to cause the estrangement, and, more importantly, to try and set things right. As Jessica spends time with her grandmother in her beautiful island home, she learns about her family’s history and what caused the schism between her mother and grandmother.
As days with her grandmother turn to weeks, Jessica is determined to find a way to heal her fractured family. And in the end, Jessica might just learn something about herself and what it means to embrace the many facets of her identity.
Excerpt
Chapter One
“I know you think I’m crazy to ask this of you, Mi’jo.”
Luis Torres examined the features of the elegant woman seated across from him in the shade of the large market umbrella. While outwardly calm, he couldn’t fail to see the slight lines of tension on skin that was surprisingly smooth for an eighty-three-year-old. He also knew that she was anything but crazy. Stubborn, intelligent, determined, and loving: But never ever crazy.
“I appreciate how important this is for you, Carmen,” he began, but she cut him off with an imperious slash of a bejeweled hand. Gold bangles danced musically on her thin wrist with the movement.
“I don’t think you do, Luis,” she said with a determined tilt of her head, her green-eyed gaze pure steel as it locked with his.
In the years that he had known the older woman, he had carried out many assignments for her, but he sensed none were as important as this one. Sadly, he also recognized that whether he succeeded or failed, there was the possibility that Carmen would pay for it with incredible pain. He loved her too much to allow that to occur.
“Viejita,” he began with affection and covered her hand with his as it rested on the wrought iron table before him. “Have you thought about what will happen if she comes and it turns into–”
“A hot mess? Is that what you would call it?” she said with an indulgent smile and playfully smacked his hand to try and alleviate his concern. “It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” she added in a tone which brooked no disagreement.
But am I willing to take that risk? Luis thought. He remained silent as Carmen’s majordomo approached the patio table, wheeling a tray with covered dishes, crystal wine glasses, and a pitcher of white sangria swimming with slices of citrus and berries.
“I hope you don’t mind that I asked Manny to prepare lunch for us. Gracias, Manny,” Carmen said and peered at Luis, almost daring him to refuse with a pointed lift of a perfectly shaped brow. He was beyond tempted to refuse. Lunch was just a ploy for Carmen to continue pressing him to undertake what he thought was a fool’s errand.
He wasn’t wrong. As soon as Manny had finished serving them a delicately prepared lobster salad and filled their glasses to the brim with sangria, Carmen resumed their earlier discussion.
“I’m asking you to do this as a personal favor. I have my reasons,” she began as she speared some of the lobster.
“You’re okay, verdad?” he asked, worried she was keeping something important from him, like a health scare.
“I’m fine. No te preocupes,” she said and met his gaze directly, relieving some of his worry.
Luis stared past her and the carefully manicured lawn to the waters beyond Star Island and the skyline of South Beach in the distance. Sun shimmered on the calm waters of Biscayne Bay while a soft breeze teased the fronds of the palm trees along the edges of the multi-million-dollar property, a testament to Carmen’s fortitude and her belief in the American Dream. A dream she had selflessly shared with others like him and his family. It was what made it so hard for him to reject her request.
Peering back in her direction, he couldn’t deny that as vibrant and dynamic as she still was, Carmen was no longer the woman he remembered meeting as a young boy. Her luscious thick black hair was now a shock of carefully coiffed white. What had once been voluptuous Cuban curves had thinned with age, and that indomitable energy that had so captured his attention had ebbed somewhat. It was part of the reason why over the years she had turned over more and more of her duties to her daughters, grandchildren, and him, of course. As president of Guerreiro Enterprises, she had come to rely on him for so much, but this request….
“What if I go and she says no?” It was a very real possibility considering that they’d had no contact with that part of the family in over thirty years.
Carmen chided him with a shake of her head and chuckled softly. “Mi’jo, por favor. I know how persuasive you can be.”
He couldn’t refute that. But his logical side told him to rebuff Carmen’s request. If it did become an epic fail it could only bring her a world of hurt. His emotional side, however, understood only too well what it was like to be missing a piece of yourself. Since the day his family had fled Cuba during the Mariel boatlift, they’d longed for the island they’d left behind. Like so many exiled Cubans, they’d passed that yearning onto their children, but it was a hopeless dream, unlike Carmen’s very real wish. A wish that he could help fulfill for a woman who’d given so many so much.
Picking up his glass of white sangria, he raised it in a toast and said, “Here’s to being persuasive.”
Carmen smiled, raised her glass, and clinked it against his. “I knew you would do it.”
A sharp laugh burst from him, and he dipped his head in acknowledgment. “Of course you did, Viejita. You were the one who taught me, after all.”
Order
Amazon Kindle: https://amzn.to/3tPQ7Xx
Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/3bonSZN
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-family-she-never-met/id1568775092
BN Nook: http://bit.ly/BarnesandNobleFamily
BN Paperback: http://bit.ly/BarnesandNovelPaperback
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-family-she-never-met
Additional Retailers: https://books2read.com/FamilySheNeverMet
Happy Decoy Training Cover Reveal
I am so so excited about my upcoming K-9s on Patrol books for Harlequin Intrigue. Starting in mid-March you can read a chapter from Deadly Chase and look for my new K-9 book Decoy Training on March 29! I love the cover! How about you?
