"Learning to Love" by Brigid Huey ~ Blog Tour, Excerpt & Giveaway!

Hello, my friends! Do you love Little Women and Pride and Prejudice? Brigid Huey has entwined the two stories in her new book Learning to Love! Brigid is here today to share an excerpt from the book. There's also a giveaway happening! Details for the giveaway are at the bottom of this page.  

Learning to Love 

by Brigid Huey 

Blurb

 

In this exploration of Little Women and Pride and Prejudice, can Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy help unite two young lovers? 

Amy March has been in love with her neighbor Laurie for years, but he only had eyes for her older sister. Now living in Europe, Amy is choosing her path to happiness despite her heartache. But her equilibrium is challenged when a single and melancholy Laurie pays her a visit.  

Soundly rejected by his childhood love and best friend, Laurie is now wandering around Europe, taking little interest in anything or anyone. Things change in France, where he reunites with his old friend Amy. Disappointed in his behavior, she convinces him to take charge of his life and engineer his own happiness. 

Laurie returns to London to make a fresh start, but he cannot get Amy out of his mind. Confused and lovestruck, he appeals to his grandfather’s close friends, the Darcys, for advice. Will this wise, elderly couple be able to guide him through his heartache?

 

Candy, thank you so much for having me here at So little time! I’m pleased to be back, and even more excited to share with you and your readers my newest work! Learning to Love is inspired by my two favorite historical novels, Pride and Prejudice and Little Women. I’ve brought a little excerpt to share. I do hope you all enjoy it! 

Oh, I should probably mention that a key plot point from Little Women is revealed here. So if you haven’t read the original, be warned! Here we find Amy in a little garden in Vevay.

Excerpt

     The yard offered a green sanctuary shaded by trees with an excellent view of the water, and Amy sat for hours each day staring out across its wide blue expanse.

     She sat there now, alone as usual, with a pile of letters in her lap. Behind her, a bed of flowers bloomed with roses, her black crepe dress standing in stark contrast to the riotous blooms of pink and yellow behind her. How she wished for Laurie to be here! But she had told him to stay with his grandfather, and she would not be so selfish as to pull him away. Nevertheless, she felt certain that, once he heard the sad news, he would come. Her dear sister had been gone almost a month now.

     Tears slid down her cheeks once again. She should have gone home long ago. How would she ever bear this heartache alone? And how could she have missed the opportunity to say farewell to her beloved Beth?

     She dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief, absentmindedly fingering the black cross she wore around her neck. Laurie had given it to her many years ago. Jo had laughed at such a serious gift, but Laurie knew her better. Amy had a solemn, serious side that her sisters did not often appreciate. Meg understood, perhaps, but Jo never would. Though they had quarreled often as children, she and Jo had come to a pleasant place of understanding as they grew older. Her sister’s letters were full of affection and came with endearing regularity. Jo’s pages overflowed with snippets of stories she was working on, tales of her life in New York as a tutor, and the everyday ups and downs of life at Orchard House. All that would change if Jo ever found out about Amy’s love for Laurie.

     Amy thought that Beth might have suspected, but—as was her gentle sister’s way—she had never asked about it, unwilling to force a confidence. She should have confided in Beth. Now she would never get the chance. A fresh wave of tears overcame her, and she buried her face in her handkerchief. The loneliness of Vevay was suffocating.

     She longed for Laurie with a force that shook her confidence. She had practiced for so many years! Taking a deep breath, she tried to focus on the mantra that she often repeated to herself: He does not care for you in that way. You will be respected if you cannot be loved.

     But the words did not bring her comfort now. The letters from Laurie had drawn him too close to her heart. She loved him so very much but was still in ignorance of his feelings. He had never shown her more than brotherly affection.

     Yet the tone of his letters had changed. He spoke to her now as an equal, not a younger sister to be teased. His words were of a man to a woman. And though they were friends as they always had been, she felt that their friendship had deepened in a way she didn’t quite understand.

     Laurie—would he not come?

     She looked up and gasped. He stood on the other side of the courtyard, handsome as ever, though he wore a suit of mourning. Blinking to be certain she was really seeing him, her lips formed his name, though no sound escaped them. 

     In a moment, she was on her feet and running toward him. The forgotten letters fluttered to the ground as she opened her arms. “Oh, Laurie! I knew you would come to me!”

     The words escaped her lips without her realizing it. In a moment, she was safe in his embrace. His strong arms came around her and she rested her head on his lapel, taking in his familiar smell and the comfort that only his presence could bring.

     “I came as soon as I got your letter,” he muttered against her hair.

     After a long moment, she realized she was still holding onto him. She stepped back, feeling the flush on her skin. “I’m so sorry! I couldn’t help it. I was just so lonely, and I looked up and saw you, and…well…”

     He took her arm in his, leading her back to the bench. She sat and watched him gather up the forgotten letters. She felt her cheeks heat again when she realized just how many of them were from him. As he sat beside her and handed her the letters, his look was almost shy. She tucked them away in her reticule and struggled to meet his gaze.

     “How are you doing, my dear? Really?” His voice was gentle, and she felt tears coming on again.

     “I shall be well in time.”

     “I wish I could say something to comfort you for the loss of dear Beth, but I can only feel and…” Unable to finish his thought, Laurie took her hand instead, giving it a gentle squeeze.

     “You needn’t say anything. This comforts me.”

     They sat for a moment in silence, thinking of Beth and all they had lost.

     “Beth is at peace now,” Amy whispered at last. “I am so grateful you have come, Laurie. My Aunt and Flo have been very kind, but they didn’t love Beth the way we did.” She looked at him with sudden anxiety. “You need not return right away?”

     “I shall stay as long as you want me, my dear.”

     Something in his voice struck her heart in a way that stole her tongue. She could not trust herself to reply, so she nodded instead. Still, he said nothing, and she whispered, “I do want you. Very much.”

     She chanced a look at Laurie’s face and saw something there that made her heart beat faster. He was looking at her tenderly—in a way he never had before.

     The moment passed, and he said in his usual way, “Poor little soul! I am going to take care of you now. Come. It is too chilly to sit still here in the shade. Let us walk together.”

     He slipped her arm through his and led her out into the sunlight. They walked along the stone walkway near the lake’s edge, admiring its beauty together.

About the Author

Brigid Huey lives in Ohio with her husband and two kids. She
dreams of living on a farm where she can raise as many chickens, ducks, and goats as she likes and write romance novels in an airy study overlooking the wildflowers.

Connect with Brigid Huey

Website • Facebook • Instagram • Twitter

Book Links

Amazon US • Amazon Universal Buy Link

Add to Goodreads

FTC Disclaimer: Link to Amazon US. I am an Amazon Associate. I will receive a small commission, at no cost to you,  if you purchase a book through the link provided. Thanks!

Other Books by Brigid Huey

A Chance Encounter in Pemberley Woods (Amazon US)

Interrupted Plans (Amazon US)

Spies of Our Acquaintance (Amazon US)

The Foll Stones (Amazon US)

Blog Tour Schedule

July 2 - So little time... you're here!

July 5 - From Pemberley to Milton

July 8 - Interests of a Jane Austen Girl

July 10 - My Jane Austen Book Club

July 12 - Delighted Reader Book Reviews

July 15 - Austenesque Reviews

* * * GIVEAWAY * * *

It's giveaway time! Meryton Press is giving away an eBook of Learning to Love to one of my lucky readers! To enter, leave a comment below with a way to contact you, or check back here, where I will announce the winner.

• One person will win an e-copy of Learning to Love.
• Winner will be randomly picked.
• To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below and provide a way of contacting you, or check back for the winner announcement.
• Open internationally.
• The last day to enter the giveaway is July 9th, 2024, by the end of the day.

Good luck!

Congratulations, Brigid, on the release of Learning to Love! Thank you so much for stopping by!

Thanks to Meryton Press for the giveaway, and a heartfelt thanks to Janet Taylor @ More Agreeably Engaged for organizing and including me in this blog tour!

So readers, what are your thougths about a Little Women/Pride and Prejudice mashup? Let me know in the comments! 

"Darcy's Struggle" by Kelly Dean Jolley ~ Blog Tour ~ Excerpt & Giveaway!

Hello, my friends! I'm excited to have Kelly Dean Jolley visiting today with an excerpt from his new book, Darcy's Struggle! Plus, Meryton Press is giving away an eCopy of the book. Details are at the bottom of the page.

Darcy’s Struggle

by Kelly Dean Jolley

Blurb 

Brilliant, sensitive, and private, Fitzwilliam Darcy finds himself at the Meryton Assembly, consciously troubled by recent events in Ramsgate and unconsciously troubled by himself.  He insults Elizabeth Bennet, at whom he has only glanced. 

It is not until she appears at Netherfield—full of life, skirted in mud, and eager to attend to her sick sister—that Darcy truly looks at her. When he does, he knows she is the woman he has been searching for, the elusive her of his heart. He falls for her completely…despite her apparent unsuitability to be the Mistress of Pemberley and his half-hearted efforts to convince himself he can live without her. 

Shortly before Elizabeth leaves Netherfield, Darcy apologizes for what he said at the Assembly. Will that apology and the depth of his sudden but durable feelings give him hope with Elizabeth? Might George Wickham’s arrival frustrate his hopes, especially after Darcy blunders into a marriage proposal to Elizabeth?  

Romantic, reflective, and ironic, this is a story told from Darcy’s point of view, a story of the struggle from intellect to heart—a deliberate character study and a delicate love story. 

 

Excerpt

Darcy’s knock at Richard's door received a hearty "Enter!"

     He did and found Richard already changed. Darcy envied him in small ways—particularly his readiness, his quickness, the product of a soldier's life. The lack of formality. It showed not only in the man’s ability to doff and don clothes but also in his comfort in circumstances high and low, his adaptability. He was a soldier, dutiful, a man of rectitude, but even Wickham would not claim Richard had a stick up his bum.

     Richard carried his territory with him; he belonged everywhere.

     Darcy, by contrast, was comfortable only in few places, around few people. Luckily, one of them was Richard. They jostled each other, sometimes hard, but they were as close as brothers.

     Richard smirked at him. "So, it finally happened—a woman mounted up to that tiny window at the top of that tall, tall tower, and found you there, entangled in yourself, waiting to be rescued."

     Darcy could not help it—he barked a loud laugh. Richard! "Am I the damsel in distress?"

"I fear it has long been so. You have been under a curse. ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.’”

     The quotation made Darcy think of his parents again and their mismanagement of their children's education.

     "Why is everyone quoting scripture to me lately? Bingley's been doing it!"

     "Eh? Returning the favor. And by the way, where is your hypochondriac, lovesick friend?"

     "Genuinely lovesick this time, I judge. He entered into a courtship on Friday with the sister, Jane Bennet, of my betrothed. But you've missed him today. He must have passed you on the road; he's gone to London to prepare for the wedding…and to attend to errands."

     "And where is Bingley’s sister—that is, his other sister, the one who intends to give you an heir and a spare before she begins to conduct personal virility tests with London's fashionable male population."

     "Richard! She is, well…she is insincere—but that?" He was never quite prepared for his cousin’s frankness, although he knew to expect it.

     "I do admire you, Darcy, but you are sometimes an imbecile. That woman does not want you, she wants Pemberley. But she does have wants, other wants, itches, that she's left unattended, and she will eventually scratch them…on someone."

About the Author

     Kelly Dean Jolley, a professor at Auburn University, has penned several novels. His first, Big Swamp, is a detective novel, which he followed with a Christmas mystery, The Vanishing Woman. He also composed a book of poetry, Stony Lonesome.

 

       Using the pseudonym Newton Priors, he released three additional novels: Balter (A Retelling of Pride and Prejudice), Tides of Bath (A Retelling of Persuasion), and a Western, Heaven and Hell: A Romance. 

       Professor Jolley has made contributions to many academic publications as well. He is the author of The Concept 'Horse' Paradox and Wittgensteinian Conceptual Investigations, the editor of Wittgenstein: Key Concepts, and has published over forty academic articles. He is a past Alumni Professor and currently the Goodwin-Philpott Endowed Chair in Religion and Professor of Philosophy. 

Connect with Kelly Dean Jolley

Facebook • Instagram • Blog

Purchase Link for Darcy's Struggle

Amazon US (paid link) • Universal Buy Link

FTC Disclaimer: Link to Amazon US. I am an Amazon Associate. I will receive a small commission, at no cost to you,  if you purchase a book through the link provided. Thanks!

Other Meryton Press Books by Kelly Dean Jolley

Big Swamp - Amazon US (paid link)

The Vanishing Woman - Amazon US  (paid link)

Coming soon from Kelly Dean Jolley and Meryton Press

Pride, Prejudice, and Pretense (A spy novel, a romance, and a character study)

Blog Tour Schedule

June 12 - From Pemberley to Milton

June 13 - My Vices and Weaknesses

June 14 - Austenesque Reviews

June 17 - My Jane Austen Book Club

June 18 - So little time… ~ You're here!

June 20 - Interests of a Jane Austen Girl

June 21 - Delighted Reader Book Reviews

* * * GIVEAWAY * * *

It's giveaway time! Meryton Press is giving away an eBook of Darcy's Struggle to one of my lucky readers! To enter, leave a comment below with a way to contact you, or check back here, where I will announce the winner.

• One person will win an e-copy of Darcy's Struggle.
• Winner will be randomly picked.
• To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below and provide a way of contacting you, or check back for the winner announcement.
• Open internationally.
• The last day to enter the giveaway is June 25th, 2024, by the end of the day.

Good luck!

Many thanks to Kelly Dean Jolley for stopping by and sharing an excerpt with us! Congratulations on the release of Darcy's Struggle.

Thanks to Meryton Press for the giveaway, and a big thanks to Janet Taylor @ More Agreeably Engaged for organizing and including me in this blog tour!

I hope you enjoyed the excerpt as much as I did! I can tell I will love this Colonel Fitzwilliam, my favorite secondary character! Let me know your thoughts in the comments! 

"To Pledge Allegiance" by Robert W. Smith ~ Excerpt

Hello there, my friends! I've been missing for a while again, but I have a few upcoming posts, so stay tuned for that.

Today, I'm thrilled to bring you an excerpt from To Pledge Allegiance by Robert W. Smith. 

 

To Pledge Allegiance

A World War I 

Windy City Novel

by Robert W. Smith

Book Blurb:

Assassination, espionage, war, and vigilante violence. 

Welcome to Chicago in 1917.

Within this caldron of intrigue and deceit, live nearly half a million Irish and German American immigrants, among them Irish-born lawyer Conor Dolan and his wife Maureen. The Dolans are among thousands of immigrants marked as “hyphenated Americans,” their reluctance to support the war cry branding them “enemy aliens.” 

When one of the legendary Chicago Newsboys takes a lethal bullet from a German Luger during a warehouse break-in, his mysterious companion escapes, and Conor is determined to find the killer. He discovers instead a link between the burglary and the murder of a prominent Chicago arms broker with ties to the Allied powers and possibly the mob. Despite warnings from a powerful group of government-backed vigilantes and a suspicious lack of cooperation from the police, Conor presses on at his own peril to root out the boy’s killer. 

Was it a German agent? An Allied agent? The mob? Or maybe even the police themselves by some deceitful plan? The closer he gets to the answer, the greater the danger to those he loves.

 

Excerpt

It was nearly one in the afternoon when the funeral crowd began to trickle into the restaurant. Most had arrived by rail, making the short walk up Wolf Road to the restaurant. MoMo Storino, One-Ear Raimondi, even the recently paroled Irish thug, Lucky O’Leary, like the Litany of the Saints performed live on stage. The politicians in attendance were largely retired and immune to bad publicity. Conor spotted reporters and cops, lots of cops, with no way to distinguish among dirty cops, curious cops, and on-duty cops. A few might have attended only to be certain the gangster was dead.

The drinks were free after one-thirty, and around two o’clock the crowd began to mill upstairs for the luncheon. The meal officially began with Father Militello’s rendition of the Grace, an obligatory act of the Catholic mourners. The old priest’s manufactured tears and fond recollections of “a great and generous” man warranted a Jameson, but Conor decided against it. He was here for a reason. No doubt this cleric would miss his regular cut of the ill-gotten proceeds from the “great man.”

The disgustingly effusive speeches and stories carried beyond the antipasto, the minestrone, three types of pasta, and clear into the tiramisu until, at last, the gathering began to dissipate, and the mourners left or gathered in small groups at the bar. The drinks were still free, but Conor held it at three. He wasn’t here to drink any more than he was here to mourn. 

Viviana came to him at the bar as he’d hoped, where they stood shoulder to shoulder without acknowledging one another. “Water,” she said to the bartender.

Conor didn’t turn to face her. “I need to talk with you.”

“I know,” she replied. “Let’s go outside. They have a few tables. It’s cold so we’ll be alone.”

Conor knew only too well how much she detested her father, at least he thought he did. He struggled to find the appropriate words. Keep it simple, nothing religious or hypocritical. “I’m sorry, Viviana. He was your father.”

“I keep telling myself that.”

“I saw in the papers you were performing in St. Louis when he died.”

She laughed gently. “Are you still stalking me?”

He shrugged. “I like to think I’m not but. . .”

Once outside, she said, “It’s time we talked.” Then she leaned back in the chair. “How would you like to do this? Would you like to ask me questions or should I give it to you all at once?”

“First let me take a guess. You have a three-month-old baby and I’m the father?”

She laughed as a waitress came out the back door. The woman seemed surprised to see them. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t know anyone was out here. Too chilly. I just came out for some air. Can I get you folks something? Open bar closes in fifteen minutes.”

Conor waved her off. “No, thanks. We’re fine.”

Viviana turned back to Conor. “I wish that were the case. It would be simpler. Go ahead. Fire away.”

“This means you know more than you’re telling me.”

“Much more.”

He was afraid to go further down this road. Was he about to learn all the answers? How much did she know? Was she going to say she lied to him? He wondered how ugly this could get and that fact terrified him to his core. Alright, get to the heart of it and find out. “First off, I’d like to know who killed Mumbles.”

“It was my father’s dog, Lucchesi. It had to be. Lucchesi didn’t know my father was helping the Allies. It’s still possible the boy was meant to die from the beginning. But it doesn’t matter and it’s all my fault.”

“I don’t know about that. Remember, your father called the Bureau of Investigation to verify the identity of the agent who approached him with the British. He didn’t exist. Your father might have thought he was in trouble running a rogue operation for the British.”

“I still think Lucchesi was acting alone, as much as I believe my father capable.”

How would Viviana know that? She only knew what her mother told her. And why was it her fault? He tried to prepare himself to be shocked. “Why your fault? And what plan?”

“That’s complicated, but I was telling the truth when I said I didn’t alert the cops.”

She was fumbling. Why? It didn’t matter whether her father ordered the hit or not. He thought briefly about telling her to stop. Did he really need to know more? Mumbles was dead and Ruffulo was involved up to his ears. Now Ruffulo was dead. Game over. But it wasn’t over, not for Conor and not for Mumbles. He had to know for sure, and he had to know everything. Did this woman know the whole story? If so, what is she? Who is she? “I have time. How do you know all this? Does that mean everything else you told me was a lie? Even the personal . . . things?”

“Of course not. I was as honest with you as I could be. It’s a long story.”

“I have time. I could even buy us a drink.”

About the Author

Bob was raised in Chicago, enlisting in the Air Force in 1968. Following four years of service as a Russian Linguist in the Security Service Command, a branch of the NSA, Bob attended DePaul University and The John Marshall Law School. With over thirty years of experience as a criminal defense lawyer in Chicago, Bob brings a lifetime of understanding and experience to his novels. His Running with Cannibals is the Grand Prize winner of the CIBA 2022 Hemingway Award for best 20th-century wartime fiction. 

The author lives in the Chicago area. 

Connect with Robert W. Smith

Website

Buy Links

To Pledge Allegiance (Amazon paid link)

Also, by Robert W. Smith

A Long Way from Clare (Amazon - paid link)

FTC Disclaimer: Link to Amazon. I am an Amazon Associate. I will receive a small commission, at no cost to you,  if you purchase a book through the link provided. Thanks!

Many thanks to Robert W. Smith for stopping by with an excerpt and to Janet @ More Agreeably Engaged for organizing this book tour.

So, friends, what did you think of the excerpt? I'd love to know your thoughts! 

A Long Way from Clare by Robert W. Smith ~ Blog Tour ~ Excerpt & Giveaway!

Happy Tuesday, my friends! It's my pleasure to be part of the A Long Way from Clare Blog Tour! Robert W. Smith has stopped by to share an excerpt from his new book! Plus, Meryton Press is giving away an eCopy of the book. Details are at the bottom of this post. 

     First of all, thank you to Candy for hosting me. If you like an off-beat love story sprinkled with a mystery and wrapped in history with a dash of social commentary, this book might be for you. I picked an excerpt that gives you a window into my Conor Dolan. He’s a bright, young immigrant lawyer, a bit socially inept with limited experience in matters of the heart, the kind who would flash you puppy eyes in a bar but freeze up when you smile back. Conor’s visit to Chicago has morphed into a mystery he’s determined to unravel. The lawyer has allied himself with an alluring, middle-aged widow named Rebecca Fletcher and Father Brendan White, a politically savvy Catholic priest. Rebecca is “tutoring” the young man in the ways of life and love and Father Brendan guides him through the labyrinth that is Chicago politics. Maureen Brogan is young, Irish firebrand of a single mother, herself involved up to her ears in Conor’s mystery. Both were Father Brendan’s unescorted guests for dinner at the rectory earlier tonight and Conor has been tasked by Brendan to escort young Maureen home safely. The sometimes thick-headed young man is trying to dissect the evening’s dynamics…

Excerpt

Late fall, 1903, Chicago

On the trolley back south, Conor wondered whether Maureen’s presence at the dinner, the seating arrangements, even this trolley ride home were coincidence or some sort of sinister plot by his devious friend, Father Brendan. He never thought of his relationship with Maureen Brogan as a courtship, nor had he harbored any desire to court the girl. Still, his initial opinion of Maureen had been unfair, unkind even. There was substance in Maureen Brogan, intelligence to spare, and the kind of independence he so much admired in Rebecca Fletcher. And make no mistake, he thought, Maureen was an attractive woman. There was no denying the fact.

Out of nowhere, Maureen asked from the seat beside him, “So what did ye think of Father Brendan’s matchmaking then?”

He laughed. “Yes, I noticed. It was a little embarrassing, I suppose, you and I being more or less business acquaintances—I mean in the matter of my brother.”

She kept her eyes trained straight ahead. “Of course, in the matter of yeer brother…and all.”

Conor found it an uncomfortable conversation, so he tried to inject humor. “Well, I suppose a Catholic priest with a girlfriend would want to see everyone with a girlfriend.”

His attempt at humor flopped. “’Tis a myth, if ye ask me. Father Brendan is a complicated pairson. He feels guilty about being a priest, t’inks he has it too easy. He doesn’t want people to see him as marally superior, so he makes up sins about himself, sins he never committed. It makes him feel more like the rest of us poor fools. Besides, you already have a garlfriend, and, if you ask me, she’s too old far ye, no matter how nice she is. I t’ink the garlfriend is in his fookin’ head.”

Conor knew better, but Maureen Brogan had effectively shut the lawyer’s mouth. Brendan must have told her about Rebecca, but who told Brendan? Outside Maureen’s flat, he stopped at the exterior door of the house and tipped his trademark homburg, “Goodnight, Maureen. It was a very pleasant day.”

Still holding little Patrick’s hand in hers, she took a step toward Conor, raised herself up on dainty tiptoes and kissed him gently on the lips. “Goodnight, Conor Dolan, and t’ank ye for a wonderful day.”

On the streetcar ride east, it occurred to him how complicated his life had become in the last two months. He had learned much about women, about sex, even about the basest proclivities of human nature. And that was only his personal life. The more he learned, the more confused he became. He recalled a paraphrased quote from Oscar Wilde to the effect that, “Experience is the name men give to their biggest mistakes.”

He hopped off the streetcar at LaSalle and caught a southbound transfer with no wait. The car was empty but for a shabbily dressed woman with a young boy playing a harmonica. He sat facing them in the open car, and he was struck by the woman’s uncanny resemblance to his own mother. For the first time since his arrival, Conor thought consciously about his mother, about Ireland, the little white cottage, and the road down to the bog. He remembered the music that filled the family’s evenings as the turf fire cast its shadows along the stone wall. In that moment, he could almost smell the fire and the song of the kettle on the hearthstone.

Pa was proud of the stone house he and his brother had built; the people in their village, most of whom lived in cottages, lauded him for his craftsmanship.

On rare occasions these days, Conor would still dream about his little dog and the incident at the Cliffs of Moher, but that was more a nightmare than a memory, banished to the whim of his unconsciousness.

He passed Murph’s place on the walk home but fought the urge to stop for a nightcap. He would need his rest for the coming days.

A Long Way from Clare

by Robert W. Smith

Blurb: Romance, Kidnapping, and Murder…

Will a young Irish lawyer unravel the secrets or die trying? 

Conor Dolan, a young Irishman, travels to Chicago in 1903 to visit his older brother; instead, he finds a mystery. His journey sparks a quest to peel away secrets and rediscover a dead sibling he idolized but never really knew as he strives to learn the true meaning of brotherhood. 

His search reveals an Irish Republican plot to assassinate a visiting British royal. In the process, he is drawn into an alliance with two women: a mesmerizing Jewish widow and a struggling young Irishwoman. Each teaches Conor existential truths of life and love in her own way. 

But the brother he finds may not be the brother he remembers. A Long Way from Clare is a story of Chicago's early twentieth century immigrants and one man’s struggle with both bigotry and justice in an unforgiving city where no good deed goes unpunished. 

Will Conor find the answers he desperately craves? Or will this trip punch a one-way ticket?

 

Buy: Amazon US (paid link) • Amazon Universal Link

Add to Goodreads

FTC Disclaimer: Link to Amazon US. I am an Amazon Associate. I will receive a small commission if you purchase a book through the link provided. Thanks!

About the Author

Bob was raised in Chicago, enlisting in the Air Force at age
eighteen during the Vietnam War. Following a year of language training at Syracuse University, he served four years as a Russian Linguist in Security Service Command, a branch of the NSA. He attended DePaul University and The John Marshall Law School in Chicago on the G.I. Bill while working as a Chicago Transit Authority Police Officer. Thirty-odd years as a criminal defense lawyer in Chicago followed. His first book was Immoral Authority (Echelon Press, 2002) followed by Catch a Falling Lawyer (New Leaf Books, 2005) and The Sakhalin Collection (New Leaf Books, 2007, hardcover). In February of 2022, Between the Lines Publishing released Bob’s newest novel, Running with Cannibals, a historical/military thriller based on actual events of the Philippine-American War.

Connect with Robert W. Smith

Facebook Author Page • Amazon Author Page • Goodreads • Website

Blog Tour Schedule

January 21 My Vices and Weaknesses

January 23 Celticlady's Reviews

January 24 So Little time…  You're here!

January 25 Meryton Press Blog 

January 26 From Pemberley to Milton

January 27 Elza Reads

* * * GIVEAWAY * * *

Meryton Press will be giving away one eBook for each stop on the Blog Tour, for a total of six eBooks! For my stop, please leave a comment with a way to contact you, or check back here, where I will announce the winner.

 

• One person will win an e-copy of A Long Way from Clare by Robert W. Smith
• One winner will be randomly picked
• To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below and leave a way of getting in touch with you, or check back for the winner announcement.
• Open internationally.
• The last day to enter the giveaway is Jan 31st, 2023, by the end of the day.

Many thanks to Robert W. Smith for stopping by and sharing an excerpt with us! Congratulations on the release of A Long Way from Clare.

Thanks to Meryton Press for the giveaway! And a big thanks to Janet Taylor @ More Agreeably Engaged for organizing and including me in this blog tour!