Monday, July 5, 2021

*Book Tour & Giveaway* Clere's Restaurant by Pamela Ackerson

 


Clere's Restaurant
A Compilation of Short Stories
by Pamela Ackerson
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Who knows what will happen next at Clere's Restaurant!
Sunday at 7
Jason Donovan has a secret.
The Clere's Restaurant's drama has been unfolding in front of his eyes. If he can see it, so can the restaurant's other guests. But there's something the servers aren't telling him, and he will get to the bottom of it.
Kat couldn't get out of the restaurant fast enough. Funny how things work out...she never thought she'd meet someone like Jason.
Secrets, lies, affairs, and deceit are served with a smile at Clere's Restaurant...
With a Side of Love
When Sarah Melton decided to move to Florida to be closer to her sisters, she had no idea she'd be served a plateful of drama.
She'd always been told that a restaurant was a good place to find subject matter for the soap operas...well, that was an understatement!
Who would've thought a joke would end up being so real?

Winds from the Past 
Larriane arrived in Florida with hope, a new job, and a new identity.
A hurricane came barreling towards her sanctuary. Alone in the world, she'd been taken in by the Clere's Restaurant clan and felt welcome.
What was she thinking? She should've known that you can't run away from your past.
The Throuple with Love
Surprises are quite pleasant when least expected.
Betty was in love with Bruce, but she had to keep the relationship at bay. She wanted the solid happily-ever-after but couldn't waver from what her heart needed. It was Trouble with a Three in front.
Love should have no boundaries. Could she have her cake and eat it, too?

The Best Catch of His Life
Cassie had to learn everything the hard way. She'd made one too many stupid mistakes, and now had a hard time looking in the mirror and liking what she was seeing. She felt like one of those soap opera tragedies where she was burned to a crisp and had to rise again as a whole new person.
She was a survivor. She was determined to get her happily-ever-after...if only she could forgive herself.


**Only .99 cents July 2nd – 8th!!**



Sunday at 7
Clere's Restaurant Book 1


Jason Donovan has a secret.

The Clere's Restaurant's drama has been unfolding in front of his eyes. If he can see it, so can the restaurant's other guests. But there's something the servers aren't telling him, and he will get to the bottom of it.

Kat couldn't get out of the restaurant fast enough. Funny how things work out...she never thought she'd meet someone like Jason.

Secrets, lies, affairs, and deceit are served with a smile at Clere's Restaurant...


**Get it FREE July 1st & 2nd!!**




Pamela Ackerson’s storytelling all began with her younger brother, creating wonderful children’s stories on vacation trips to keep him occupied. Later, she started writing poems and short stories as a teen.
Born and raised in Newport, RI where history is a way of life, Pam lives on the Space Coast of Florida where you are encourage to reach for the stars. She’s just a hop, skip, and jump from Orlando and Disney World, where imagination and fantasy abounds. She has three children, all girls, three grandchildren, and a wonderful husband who puts up with her writer quirks.
Pam may have majored in child psychology with a minor in English, but her distinguished choice of careers never made fruition. Instead, life led her to working in restaurants, interior decorating, owning an advertising business, content editor for a publishing house, teaching and owning a ballroom dance studio, and real estate investments. She is a practicing herbalist and has been involved in the use of natural treatment with raw herbs for over thirty years. As her day job, she currently works as the V.P. of Marketing and Advertising for the book review magazine, Affaire de Coeur.





Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$10 Amazon giftcard – 3 winners!
 



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Friday, July 2, 2021

*Book Tour & Giveaway* Blood & Honor Series by Joanna Rose

 


Ruthless Champion
Blood and Honor Book 1
by Joanna Rose
Genre: Mafia Romance


When your college pal gives you a job lead that lands you in the middle of a Mafia turf war and knee-deep in a family of hot-blooded, gorgeous mobsters...

Caitlin needed something to change in her life. College hadn’t worked out, to put it mildly. Her family life was nothing to write home about (if she had a home to begin with). And she had no job prospects, despite being a computer genius. So when her handsome college classmate Enzo Parisi suggested she look into a computer coding job with his family in New York, she decided she had nothing to lose. But she did have something to lose.

She had no idea how much.

Valerio Parisi knew his place in the family. He was the muscle and nobody seemed to expect much more from him. But Valerio wasn’t satisfied with a minor role in his powerful family’s criminal empire. He wanted more. When his Ivy league brother sends a brilliant but quirky woman his way to help with an online betting ring, Valerio figured things would change.

He had no idea how much. 

** Ruthless Champion is the 1st book in the Blood and Honor Mafia Romance series. Each book is a stand-alone, with no cliffhanger endings.

**Only .99 cents!!**




Dark Genius
Blood and Honor Book 2


If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen...unless you’re the chef facing off with a sexy, dangerous mobster who says he’s “only there to help”

Michelle Moretti was struggling to keep her family’s Italian restaurant afloat after her father’s stroke. As a chef, Michelle kicked ass. As a businesswoman... not so much, and the powerful, brutal crime family looking for its cut wasn’t helping matters. She knew if something didn’t change soon, she would be responsible for the failure of her family’s legacy.

Would the arrival of Lorenzo Parisi, who was known as “the smart one” of the organized crime family's Parisi brothers, be the change the restaurant needed? Would Lorenzo be the change Michelle needed? 

Sparks and bullets alike fly in this suspenseful romance, filled with steamy encounters and plot twists. Dark Genius will leave you breathless.

** Dark Genius is the 2nd book in the Blood and Honor Mafia Romance series. Each book is a stand-alone, with no cliffhanger endings.





Prodigal Son
Blood and Honor Book 3


★ FROM BESTSELLING AUTHOR JOANNA ROSE★
I Swore I Would Never Take Him Back...

Franco Parisi, with those ocean blue eyes, sexy stubble and bewitching smile, is Italian but he wasn’t born here. Not like me, a true Italian who has spent her life in breathtaking Italy. When Franco arrived in my small town to hide out from a dangerous Mafia family problem in the States, I should have stayed away from him.
I didn’t.
I couldn’t.
The nights of delirious passion and promises of forever were all destroyed the second he returned when his family beckoned him back to America. 
Now, he’s back.
I am determined to resist his charms this time around
Unfortunately for me, Franco is just as determined to have me back in his arms ... and his bed.


PRODIGAL SON is the third book in the BLOOD AND HONOR series by Bestselling Author Joanna Rose. This Second Chance Mafia Romance is a standalone suspense novel, complete with a guaranteed HEA and no cliffhangers.




Untamed Capo
Blood and Honor Book 4


★ FROM BESTSELLING AUTHOR JOANNA ROSE★
Young Virgin Bride + Older Mafia Crime Boss = One Hot AF Romance


Adamo Parisi, with steel blue eyes and the gravitas befitting a Mafia capo in his forties, was known for being tough. 
As in take no prisoners tough.
But when beautiful, young Fiorella arrives from Italy to take her place as his arranged bride, sight unseen, Adamo finds himself struggling to reconcile his old-world notions of marriage with the fiery, sexy and opinionated woman before him.
Fiorella is understandably nervous upon her arrival in America. She has never even set eyes on her husband-to-be and their first meeting is ... less than successful. But Adamo awakens something in her-something wild and all-consuming. 
All of the odds are against them: his rigid expectations, her inexperience, their age gap and a dangerous clash over mob turf rumbling around them.
Will the electric sexual tension between the two be enough to overcome the odds? Or is this arranged marriage experiment doomed from the start?


UNTAMED CAPO is the fourth book in the BLOOD AND HONOR series by Bestselling Author Joanna Rose. This Arranged Marriage Mafia Romance is a standalone suspense novel, complete with a guaranteed HEA and no cliffhangers.

__________

BY BESTSELLING AUTHOR JOANNA ROSE
★★★★★ "I read this through without stopping. I got so wrapped up in their romance. Add a little mystery and danger to the story and you have Only If."
★★★★★ "ONE ENTHRALLING DELIGHT!"
★★★★★ "Joanna Rose is becoming a one click author and no disappointments!"
★★★★★ "There are so many twists and turns to this story will keep you riveted until the very last page and leave you begging for more."
★★★★★ “GUARANTEED TO HEAT UP YOUR KINDLE!”
★★★★★ "Joanna Rose is becoming an author I do not want to miss.”




Amazon Bestseller author Joanna Rose has always been a voracious reader so it is no surprise that writing has been one of her passions since the young age of 11. She's come a long way since then...
Today, her sexy alpha heroes include billionaires, military studs and bad boys. These men are takers: they take charge and always, always take care of their women. These ladies leave satisfied, just like Joanna's readers.
Joanna's stories have just the right steaminess level, exciting plots and a guaranteed HEA. What could be better?
When she's not reading or writing, Joanna loves to spend time with her family, travel, and learn about food and wine. Her experiences, creativity and naughty imagination guarantee a never-ending supply of new material for her readers.

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$25 Amazon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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*Book Tour & Giveaway* The Blind Affect by Michael Poeltl-GUEST POST

 


The Blind Affect
by Michael Poeltl
Genre: Literary Fiction


Diversity, inclusion, and equality are at the heart of this character-driven story. While difficult and heart-breaking lessons await Jonah, Severn, and Darnell in their own lives, a shared event along a similar timeline links all three despite their glaring differences. Caught in the gravity of the event, purpose presents itself and their shared blind affect validates the notion that no life is wasted.
The Blind Affect explores the purpose behind existence - the reason we take our first breath, and the rationale behind all the drama leading up to the moment we breathe our last. It is a walk on the wild side of family life and the events, people, and places that make us who we are.
As Jonah reflects on his life an asymmetrical pattern featuring a thousand shades of grey appears as if caught up in a fragmented kaleidoscope - the introduction of any colour negated for fear of denoting some appeal. He’d lived a fruitless existence built around fear and addiction, the blueprint to his life; his twin brother stillborn moments before Jonah’s birth. The guilt he harboured over his brother’s death kept him sedated. His mother’s overprotective parenting supported this inertia. An addict, Jonah struggled through life seeing multiple therapists over his seemingly endless issues until a chance meeting attempts to rewrite his abject history.
Severn was born in a Christian home with an alcoholic mother whose addiction became intolerable after Severn’s father died when she was ten. The affluent lifestyle she was accustomed to remained, but her family life collapsed soon after, leaving her to fend for herself. One fateful night in 1973 Severn was abducted, and any issues she’d had with her past paled in comparison to the life she was forced to endure.
Darnell had it tough his whole life. At 17 his abusive father was killed in a raid on his illegal business, while Darnell’s mother had been shot dead the year before. Discovering a large sum of money upon his father’s death offered Darnell the opportunity to flee his impoverished neighbourhood and change his luck, and that of others along the way.
Lives are lived and lost ubiquitously, these three just so happened to be in the same city along a similar timeline. Can life be more than the sum of one’s own experiences?




Born in Toronto, Canada, Poeltl went on to study fine art and illustration, honing his love for storytelling while working as a freelance illustrator. Soon the art of writing overtook his artistic pursuits and his stories found their voice.
Michael Poeltl is a multi-genre author with several books ranging from a post-apocalyptic trilogy, science fiction trilogy, upmarket fiction, children’s fantasy, picture books, and educational children’s books. Poeltl’s illustrations feature prominently in his picture books, connecting him to his artistic roots.
He enjoys the processes that drive creativity whether it appears as a conversation in his head while enjoying time outdoors in his kayak or mountain bike, or as a random thought that might otherwise be lost were it not for that napkin on the table or phone in his pocket. If the artistic endeavor has taught him anything, it’s that inspiration can happen anywhere and at any time. All he can hope to do is record it before it slips back into the ether.



GUEST POST

What is book club fiction? Upmarket fiction. What’s upmarket fiction? Commercial, literary fiction. Is commercial fiction a sell out? No, it’s sellable fiction. There’s a difference. It’s the sort of fiction people actually read. Literary fiction aspires more toward art than entertainment, but when it’s combined with commercial fiction, we call it upmarket fiction which in turn means book club fiction. What’s The Blind Affect? Upmarket fiction. No, we’re not going to go through all of that again.  

No, but really, what does The Blind Affect mean? It’s an artful description explaining the affect one feels upon learning of the impact their action had on a person, place, thing, or event. It’s the emotional and intellectual response to discovering how far-reaching your influence was. 

If you’re looking for a book that will keep your interest and excite conversation in your book club, this is the book for you. Why? Because it offers everything a book club wants to get excited about but rarely finds. Diversity, inclusion and equality are at the heart of this character-driven story. While difficult and heart-breaking lessons await Jonah, Severn and Darnell in their own lives, a shared event along a similar timeline intimately links all three despite their glaring differences. Caught in the gravity of the event, purpose presents itself and their shared blind affect validates the notion that no act goes unacknowledged.  

For better or worse, we’ve all more than one blind affect to experience before we make our exit, and if we’re lucky we’ll get to hear about them, and if we’re really lucky, we’ll hear that our action made a positive difference in someone’s life. 

Book clubs, unite! The Blind Affect is your ticket to a lot of pretty serious trigger warnings. Discover how three lives that travel in opposing circles could find a common, localized event that would change their lives forever and give birth to the phrase, The Blind Affect. 

Available for pre-order now for its June 22nd release! 

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$15 Amazon – 1 winner,
ebook of The Blind Affect – 5 winners!
 

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Thursday, July 1, 2021

*Book Tour & Giveaway* The Applecross Saga by Amanda Giorgis-GUEST POST

 

 
The Wideawake Hat
The Applecross Saga Book 1
by Amanda Giorgis
Genre: Historical New Zealand Fiction

 

From the Scottish Highlands to the South Island of New Zealand, life was harsh for the early pioneers who ventured into a new land far across the seas where opportunity beckoned for those who could endure the hardships.

On Boxing Day, 1848 Sophia steps ashore with her new husband, George, and begins her perilous journey inland to seek a place to call home. Her hope for the child she carries to be born in a house that they build together does indeed come true. And Sophia and George are joined by other young folk who form a small but growing community of fellow pioneers banding together to forge a life in this land of promise. However, not all pioneers are honest and true, as Sophia discovers to her cost. When tragedy strikes, an enigmatic Scottish shepherd steps in to help our family and Sophia’s life takes an unexpected turn.
James Mackenzie is not a character of fiction. There is no doubt he existed. In fact, the high plateau where Sophia settled now bears his name. But the tales that surround his conviction and imprisonment for sheep rustling are shrouded in mystery. No-one knows what became of him for sure, though stories abound. Along with his clever and faithful collie dog Friday, his exploits have become legends. Perhaps there is more to tell of James Mackenzie and his influence on the remotely beautiful high country, surrounded by snow-capped mountains...


**Get it FREE!!**



Shepherd's Delight
The Applecross Saga Book 2

 

Following on from the success of The Wideawake Hat, Shepherd’s Delight is the second book in the spellbinding Applecross Saga by Amanda Giorgis.
A fictional tale, set against the stunning scenery of New Zealand’s Mackenzie Basin, using true historical events surrounding the European settlers in South Canterbury in the late 1800s.
Someone is looking for James Mackenzie. Our hero is beset by dark thoughts. Worried that his past deception may catch up with him, and depressed by the death of his first true son. But, through thick and thin, his wife Sophia sees the good in everything and everyone, and together they are making a success of their lives at Applecross station.

Visitors come and go, some becoming welcome additions to their circle of friends, and some who give more pleasure when they leave. But, the final and unexpected guest, someone who has been searching for James Mackenzie for a very long time, will be the one who changes things forever.


**Only .99 cents!!**



Guy Pender
The Applecross Saga Book 3

 

Eligible, handsome, witty and charming, Guy Pender is looking for a purpose in life, maybe even a wife to join him in his desire to return to New Zealand, where he hopes to be reunited with his friends at Applecross Station. His experience of romantic love, so far, has been one of misunderstood passion from an unexpected quarter.

It is 1867, and he finds himself biding his time in Switzerland, taking portrait photographs of the wealthy folk of Zurich, whilst sorting out his much loved aunt’s estate, to which he is the sole heir. He is lonely and homesick for his friends on the other side of the world. Suddenly, a strikingly beautiful woman, Amelie Von Truber, comes into his studio and from that moment on nothing is the same. Their future together seems impossible as Amelie is betrothed to the black-hearted Tobias Linburg, heir to a powerful business empire.

Life could not be more complicated, Amelie and Guy’s future together looks impossible, but apart, their prospects look grim. Join us in this sweeping tale to see if they can find a way through the web of intrigue, dishonesty and revenge to build a future together in a foreign land.





Three Cedar Trees
The Applecross Saga Book 4

 

What happens to the trees happens to the boys...
.
Three cedar trees grow beside the Applecross homestead in New Zealand’s South Island. Precious trees, carried from Scotland across the world as seedlings. A poignant reminder of home. As they mature, so too do Freddie, the eldest son of Sophia Mackenzie, and Ben and Ed, twin sons of Nancy Lawton.

To Atewhai, the wise old Maori woman, the growth of the saplings into mature trees is matched by the passage of the boys into manhood. Will Sophia and Nancy allow their sons to strike out into the world, or will they hold them back with their roots set firmly in the farm soil?
And, when one of the precious cedar trees is damaged in a storm, does it foretell of tragedy involving one of the boys? Atewhai certainly thinks so......
Join us as our settlers embrace the late 1860s, a period of rapid change in New Zealand. Railways, improved roads and better communications are beginning to open up this remote and spectacular corner of the world to visitors. Some fall in love and find it hard to leave the basin, while others are torn between love and a desire to be involved in this exciting period of progress.
 Who will stay, and who will leave for ever?
Three Cedar Trees is the 4th book in The Applecross Saga.





 
Amanda Giorgis is the creator of the fictional Applecross sheep station in New Zealand's beautiful Mackenzie Basin. Here you will meet Sophia, who settled in New Zealand with her husband, George in the early 1850s. After George's tragic death, Sophia marries James Mackenzie and the couple build their home together in the Basin. James is not a character of fiction, though the stories that are woven around Applecross are not necessarily how things turned out in real life for the man who was convicted of sheep rustling and later pardoned for his crimes. The truth is, nobody knows what really became of him.
Amanda likes to weave well-researched, true historical facts into her stories while building credible and likeable characters amongst the ordinary folk of rural New Zealand in the late 1800s. She would love you to join her in their adventures, triumphs and tragedies.

Oh, and did we mention dogs? The collies who worked so hard on high country farms feature in our stories too. Meet Friday, James' favourite collie and all her descendants. They deserve their fame too!
Amanda was born in Somerset, England. She emigrated to New Zealand in 2008 and now writes while looking out onto the flat plains with snow-capped mountains beyond. It is a place where it is easy to find inspiration for stories of early pioneers, who made this unique place their home.
She shares her home with her husband, Terry and three rescued huntaway dogs, Nemo, Jess and Ted, some chickens, who are more ornamental than productive, ten acres of wild garden and the dark skies of the Southern Hemisphere.

When not writing, Amanda rings church bells and enjoys photography, gardening and finding out about her family history. On lazy days, when not reading a book, she gets the knitting needles out.



GUEST POST

How long have you been writing?

I won a national poetry competiton at primary school, maybe I was 8 years old! It began :- “I sat down at the table, to see if I was able, to do what Sir had said. I had to write five verses on cats or dogs or nurses, what ere was in my head.” Certainly no Wordsworth, was I? Since then it always seemed to be me who was chosen to write a report or put the right words in a letter. But it took me 50+ more years before I wrote my first novel.


What kind of research do you do before you begin writing a book?

I suppose I am lucky to have a mind that squirrels facts away, to be brought out when the need arises. Often I pull something from memory and then check it against facts later. We are lucky in New Zealand to have some really good online facilities like ‘Te Ara, the Encyclopeadia of New Zealand’. And we have some excellent museum facilities in Christchurch and Dunedin. If you visit ‘Toitu’ in Dunedin, you may well recognise Sophia’s house, the steerage deck of a ship and many other treasures of the 19th century. The 3rd book, Guy Pender was written during lockdown, so much use had to be made of the internet. I spent a happy few hours on Google Maps trying to find a European city with a town square that would have existed in 1859 - it took a while to find such a thing in Zurich, which led me neatly to the rest of the plot.


Do you read yourself and if so what is your favorite genre?

I read a lot and often have more than one book on the go at one time. I prefer historical fiction, especially family sagas. I enjoyed all the Poldark books (so much better than the TV series) and I have read RF Delderfield’s ‘God is an Englishman’ books several times over. I have recently discovered Lucinda Riley’s Seven Sisters series and now can’t wait to read the 7th (and 8th) book. I really don’t like fantasy books, or action/adventure, but I enjoy the odd ‘aga saga’ or crime/ mystery thriller.


Pen or type writer or computer?

Laptop - often balanced on my knees while I lounge on the sofa.


Describe your writing style.

A reviewer once wrote that “the conversational writing style made it seem like we were sitting on the porch listening to what was happening in the neighborhood.” I rather like that idea. I hope that my books would do well to be read out loud. I can’t say it is something I have thought about consciously, the words just seem to come out that way.


What makes a good story?

A good historical novel needs strong, believeable characters who come to life through a gripping storyline based on well researched historical facts.


What is your writing process? For instance do you do an outline first? Do you do the chapters first? Because my books are set in true historical times, the outline is determined by real events. I like to come up with the ‘one big storyline’ first, then add other vague ideas. In a series it is important to tie up loose ends from previous books too. However, I don’t always stick to the plan! Characters pop into the story unannounced and turn into important people and events tend to come up as you go along. That’s what makes writing so exciting.


Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?

I think you can do both of these things at once. Regular readers want their familiar friends and settings, but I think it is important to surprise them sometimes too.


How long on average does it take you to write a book?

The actual writing process has taken less than 6 months for each of my books so far. Then there’s the process of editing, formatting, etc - that takes far too long for my brain. I get quite impatient with that bit.


Do you believe in writer’s block?

I’m sure it is real for some writers, but generally I have the opposite problem. My characters clamour inside my head telling me what to write next. I can hold them back for a day or two, but then they just have to come out of my fingers and into the laptop. 

 

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$15 Amazon

 


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*Book Tour & Giveaway* Aphrodite's Day Off by Dana Littlejohn

 


Aphrodite's Day Off
by Dana Littlejohn
Genre: Supernatural Romance


Aphrodite longed for time away from Olympus. In hopes of getting Zeus to offer her a reprieve, Aphrodite suggested that her sons, Eros and Himeros, take her place. How will Eros and Himeros prove to Zeus that their power over love and desire will be sufficient so their mother can have her much needed day off?





Where sensual erotic romance is always waiting for you.
I am Dana Littlejohn, author of sensual erotic romance. You will find that I write contemporary romances with just a hint of another genre to take it away from the ordinary. My stories will touch your heart and your soul and make your body feel like it's being touched, too.
Imagination will take you places your money can not. I invite you into my world with open arms to see my imagination run wild...
Come along for the ride as I go on an imaginary trip into my world. You'll enjoy every minute of this wild ride.





Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$5 Amazon


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*Freebie Blitz* The Trueheart by Helene Opocensky

 



The Trueheart
Smoke and Mirrors Book 1
by Helene Opocensky
Genre: Middle Grade, YA Fantasy



How could Corbin possibly do what he was supposed to do?


 After Corbin’s mother died, Maxim Moritz Grobian took him, penniless orphan that he was, under his wing and taught him the magic that was their heritage. Corbin owed Max everything, and now Max had given him a mission. Corbin was to bring Max's estranged daughter to New York. Lorelei was the only one, Max insisted, that could use the Heartstone, a crystal of phenomenal power, to keep mages safe from the Inquisitors that hunted them and allow mages to finally take their rightful place in the world.
A worthy goal, thought Corbin initially, but now that he had actually met Lorelei all he really wanted to do was to run for the hills. Both afraid of hurting her and endangering himself, he needed to stay away from her, not befriend her to do Max’s bidding. Besides, his instructions were more than to just befriend her. He was supposed to make her fall in love with him.


There was no way, absolutely no way he was going to do that – not after what she had told him.


**Get it FREE 6/28 – 7/2!!**
Goodreads * Amazon





Helene Opocensky was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States as a child.
After college graduation, she worked for an insurance company for ten years but, after filing a sex discrimination lawsuit against them, she was hired by her law firm and encouraged to attend law school.
After graduation, she worked for many years in the child support department as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Connecticut.


Website * Facebook * Twitter * Amazon * Goodreads


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