Friday, November 1, 2019

*Book Tour & Giveaway* North Shore Stories by Bernadette Walsh-GUEST POST


Johnny Be Good
North Shore Stories Book 3
by Bernadette Walsh
Genre: Women's Fiction, Light Romance 

SOMETIMES A WOMAN DOES WHAT SHE HAS TO DO TO PROTECT HER FAMILY.


Peggy Lynch has too many children and too much to do. Unlike the pampered wives in her affluent Long Island suburb, Peggy’s not married to a doctor or a lawyer. She’s married to an uneducated Irish immigrant twelve years her junior, and has to work two jobs to help make ends meet. In between the carpools, the laundry, and the food shopping, she also has to make sure her youngest son takes his ADHD medicine so he doesn’t flunk out of high school. Maybe if her lazy husband would get off his ass and help around the house, she’d have time to connect with her children and be the type of mother they deserve. But Peggy lacks that luxury because if it wasn’t for her, the whole family would fall to pieces.

Years have passed since Peggy ruled the house and Veronica is no longer her mother’s obedient little girl. Moving into her childhood home with her husband and infant twins, she’s starting a new life and should finally be happy. Right? Wrong.

While cleaning out her old bedroom, Veronica finds a letter from her deceased mother. If Veronica were smart she’d burn it and leave her family secrets buried with the dead. But as her mother so often said, Veronica’s never been that smart.

She rips open the envelope and proves her mother right...





The Girls on Rose Hill
North Shore Stories Book 2 

THREE GENERATIONS OF WOMEN; THREE GENERATIONS OF SECRETS


Ellen Murphy spent her childhood in an idyllic house by the sea. A house surrounded by flower filled gardens and a white picket fence. A house she fled at eighteen. A house full of secrets.

When Ellen’s mother Rose, an ex-nun, is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Ellen reluctantly returns home to care for her and uncovers a clue to the one secret that has haunted Ellen all her life: the identity of her father. But that is just one of the many secrets hidden behind the beautiful facade of the house on Rose Hill.

"The Girls on Rose Hill is a beautifully written story about the complicated relationship between three generations of women. It will touch you, make you laugh, and make you cry. Bernadette Walsh's subtle use of language, traditions, and manners painted an authentic portrait of an Irish Catholic family. I loved it."





Cold Spring
North Shore Stories Book 1 

AN INNOCENT GIRL IS A DANGEROUS THING


Twenty years ago Maura Lenihan was the curvaceous red-haired teenager at the center of a political sex scandal. Today, Maura is a thirty-five year old hospice nurse who spends her days caring for the cancer-ridden and comatose and her nights reading romance novels. Her life is boring and safe and just the way she likes it.

However, Maura’s safe cocoon is now threatened both by the press’ renewed interest in the twenty year old scandal and the attentions of her most recent patient -- a thirty year old Wall Street investment banker whose black hair and blue eyes are oddly familiar.





I have always been a bookworm and had always meant to write a novel “someday.” You know, when I won the lottery and could live in beach house and feel inspired. Twelve years ago I decided to stop waiting for my winning lottery ticket and sat down and started writing. In between work and family obligations, I piled the words on top of each other until they formed sentences, paragraphs, chapters and eventually a book. While I’ve hopped around genres, all of my books to date have a common theme: strong women handling what life throws at them the best way they can.
My titles include: Gold Coast Wives, The Girls on Rose Hill, The Devlin Witch (Books 1-4 of the Devlin Legacy Series) , Cold Spring, Johnny Be Good, See Me and Friends Forever.
Covers and other information about my books and my writing can be found on my website www.bernadettewalsh.com .




GUEST POST
DEFINING SUCCESS

BY BERNADETTE WALSH

At the dreaded day job, January is review month. It’s the time of the year when supervisors and co-workers assess my work for 2019, award me a ratings number and determine my compensation. For better or worse, at the end of review month I know where I stand. Good review=more money=success.
If only my writing life was so clear cut. I’ve been at the writing game for ten years now, long enough for most people in my life to know about my second life as a novelist. Friends often ask me “how’s the writing going?” That seemingly innocuous questions has some undertones though and I often struggle to say anything more than “fine.” We live in an achievement oriented society. From the age of six, we’re conditioned to strive to be the best: get straight As, be on the honor role, land the lead in the school play, win that game. And of course the achievement train continues long after graduation: get into a good college, get the good job, meet the right guy, live the perfect life. So when people ask me “how’s the writing?” what I really think they’re asking is: Are your books in Barnes & Noble? Are they going to make your book into a movie? Have you made the New York Times bestseller list? Have you made a million dollars like E.L.James?

Sadly, the answer to all of those questions remains no. But what does that mean? Am I a successful writer? By those standards, I am not. Some might even say I’m a failure, that I’m just wasting my time. But I love writing. Is doing something you love the definition of success? And there are people who’ve read my books who enjoyed them. One reviewer said one of my books made her cry. Surely having readers love your book is a viable measure of success.

Maybe in order to be a successful writer you have to change your definition of success. Most writers will not sell even a tenth of the number of books Nora Roberts has sold and most writers will not be best-sellers -- those are just the sad facts of life. But every day that a writer sits in her chair and pulls something from deep within her soul that is unique and beautiful and real, is in my opinion a day that she is a success. If even one reader can lose themselves in a world that you’ve created out of nothing, then you’re a successful writer. Letting the world define you and prevent you from pursuing your dreams to me is the real mark of failure.

Bernadette Walsh writes contemporary and paranormal romance and women’s fiction and has published seven novels. http://www.bernadettewalsh.com
Follow the tour HERE for special excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!








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