Today our guest is a fellow Pelican Book Group author with her latest non-PBG release, Fiddler's Fling.
Restoration and reconciliation are recurring themes in RONDEAU’s
literary works. Although currently residing in Jacksonville Florida, the author
spent thirty years in the Adirondack region during her long career in human
services.
When not writing, she enjoys theater, hiking, golfing, and is
considering taking up a new hobby: biking.
Readers may visit her web site at www.lindarondeau.com, her blog, Salt and Light, or find her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google Plus
and Goodreads.
Engaged to a wealthy rising political star, a driven social
worker returns to her small-town roots.
With her wedding to Robert Ashworth weeks away, Jolene
Murdock receives a call from Dwight Etting, her estranged father’s junior partner
and her former boyfriend. The business is crumbling and her father is dying.
Compelled to visit in spite of Robert’s objections, Jolene
wonders if reconciliation is possible given her father’s hatred of all things
Ashworth. And there was Dwight. How could she work side-by-side with him and
not reveal her secret sin?
To complicate matters her father wants her to play a duet with
him in the upcoming Essex County Fiddlers Fling; however, her fiddle was among
the many things she left behind when she abandoned Brookside.
More than a romance.
Set in the beautiful Adirondack Mountains, Fiddlers
Fling depicts the struggle of the human spirit to find absolution in
good deeds rather than accept the unconditional forgiveness God offers the repentant
heart.
EXCERPT:
PROLOGUE
Jolene Murdock hopped
around her room like a two-year-old at Christmas. No small thing to be offered
a job at the most prestigious law firm in Albany. The cell slipped from her
grasp. “Oh, spinach,” she shrieked, emulating how Eleanor Roosevelt might have said
it. She caught her lifeline, the portal to her world, a split-second before it
met a watery end in her fish tank.
On the other end, Robert
Ashworth clicked impatience. “I sense you have reservations?”
“No. Not at all.” Calm down, girl. “Tell me more.”
“You’ll head up our
charitable foundation, oversee our donations, arrange fundraisers for
recipients, and be an ambassador of good will. Your social-work degree will be
an asset.”
“I’m not a certified social
worker…yet. I only have my bachelor’s degree.”
“You can get your Master’s
in Albany. My father’s firm will pay for your tuition. Take a few seconds if
you need to.”
She’d already made her
decision. Instead of revealing her giddiness, she took the allowed few seconds
to examine the downs, if there were any besides the fact her father would never
approve. The strangeness of it all should be considered. Why did Robert’s
father want to hire her, Jolene Murdock, a simple girl from Brookside? Granted,
she’d graduated with honors from Vassar, no small feat. And she was the
daughter of the Democratic Chair for Essex County. She’d been a protégé of
Robert’s mother since the summer following high school graduation—a woman who
bolstered Jolene’s confidence like the mother Jolene never had. So…why not her?
Maybe she really was the perfect choice for the position.
But what about Robert? Did he want Jolene to be
hired, or had his mother put him up to it? He was three years older than she,
and they’d been an item her freshman year, in spite of her father’s insistence
she not date older boys. Daddy needn’t have worried. Once Robert took off for
Harvard, she saw him only a few times, generally at some political function and
always with his mother.
The silence grew awkward,
and the sounds of drumming fingers carried over Robert’s phone into Jolene’s
ear. “I need an answer. What do I tell my father?”
“Tell him I accept.”
“Then pack your bags and
get on the train to Albany tomorrow. You start Monday.”
Fiddler's Fling can be purchased at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Hope you enjoyed the spotlight, see ya next week for Tuesday Treasure, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight.
Until then...take care and God Bless.
PamT
8 comments:
Linda and Pam,
Always great to read about new books from authors I didn't already know! Congrats, Linda on the new novel.
Sounds like a great read...best wishes!
The setting is certainly of interest and I love the Ivy League colleges mentioned. Sounds like a compelling read. Good luck!
Linda, I appreciate how you've taken your life experiences, where you've lived, social work, and blended them into a romantic story. Good work. Hope it gets into the hands of people who can be uplifted by it. Cheers
This sounds awesome. Best wishes with your release!
Thank you for all your good wishes. This book is a reflection of the many wonderful memories I have growing up in a family who loved music. My dad played the guitar, my grandmother played the piano and often family dessert was a choir singing the old hymns. Thank for stopping by. I hope you enjoy Fiddler's Fling
I already don't like Robert! I hope Dwight makes her change her mind! Sounds like a fabulous read! Thanks for sharing, Pam!
He's not nice. Too many women marry powerful men not thinking about how they'll be treated.
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