The FOREVER FINLEY SHORT STORY SERIES is releasing once a month throughout 2016. The stories are stand-alones, which means they can be read in any order. You jump in and read the current month's release, you can start at the very beginning with "Come December," or you can grab any story in the middle that just happens to pique your interest! By themselves, the stories paint one picture of the small town of Finley; read together, the create another.
At this point in the year, with nine reads available, I felt it was important to put all the stories and descriptions together in one place, so that readers can easily pick which tale they'd like to read. These stories are all available at Kobo, B&N, iBooks, and Amazon.
Come December:
A sweet holiday tale about opening yourself up to magical possibilities.
Natalie is new to town, and feels invisible and painfully alone...until a mysterious stranger in a cemetery changes everything.
January Thaw:
A tale of big dreams, small towns, and friends who know you better than you know yourself.
Annie returns to her small hometown of Finley to celebrate her newfound
success as an up-and-coming young artist...only to come face-to-face
with Justin, her childhood best friend and a journalist who recently
penned a scathing review of her work. Can an artist and her biggest
critic find common ground—or have Justin's words destroyed their
friendship for good?
Forget February:
A tale of happy accidents, mystical events, and the beautiful things
that can happen after (or even as the result of) a broken heart.
The
legend of Amos Hargrove is nothing more than a silly fairy tale,
according to the two people who are arguably the most broken-hearted in
the entire town of Finley. His spirit does not still exist, and he does
not play matchmaker or bring luck to those who need it…or does he?
Dearest March...
A tale that asks if literary heroes ever do walk straight off the page into modern life.
At
fifty-five, Jo, the proprietor of Jo March Books: Depository for the
New & Used, still clings to the idea of finding her very own Mr.
Darcy, the star of her beloved
Pride and Prejudice. When her
ex-husband returns to town (at the same time gifts begin to appear from a
“secret admirer,” no less), she wonders if she had wrongly pegged him
as her adversary…
April's Promise:
A tale of long-distance relationships—the sort in which “distance”
refers not to the miles that stretch between you, but the miles you’ve
traveled together.
Patricia has participated in the April’s Promise
Couples Race every year of her three-decades-long marriage with her
husband Timothy. This year, though, they find themselves facing a slew
of new challenges that steal their second winds and force them to
question whether they’ll make it past the finish line.
Mayday Mayday Mayday:
A tale that explores how holiday magic can carry forward into the
rest of the year, featuring Natalie and the mysterious George from “Come
December.”
Engagement should be a happy time in a young woman’s
life, but for Natalie, it’s plagued with doubts. She’d only known Damien
four months when she accepted his proposal, and now, when the two are
together, she hears a distinct Mayday distress call. Where is the voice
coming from? Does it have anything to do with the enigmatic figure she
encountered in the cemetery last winter? Or is Natalie finding a way to
tell herself she thinks she’s about to go down in flames?
Chasing June:
A tale that explores the frightening (and often wonderful) things
that can happen after disturbing the dust that has settled across life
as it’s always been.
Annie Ames returns to her childhood hometown to
begin a project with her lifelong friend, Justin: a book documenting
the romantic folklore surrounding the legend of Amos Hargrove, the town
founder. But no one likes the fact that she’s “disturbing the
dust”—rifling through old memories and a more than century-old legend.
When Annie visits Mary, the town’s oldest resident, she opens an old
trunk—and along with a treasured antique wedding shawl, discovers
life-altering truths about her feelings for her closest friend…and about
the legend of Amos Hargrove and his sweetheart, Finley.
A Hundred Julys:
Mysterious sightings—and a legend of unrequited love—draws Finley’s
newest resident into the midst of the folklore surrounding the town.
Norma
Johnson, owner of Finley’s only antique store, has always felt she was
mysteriously drawn to the small town. Forced to host the July vintage
car show, she bumps headlong into the legend that has surrounded Finley
for a century—and in so doing, gains a new perspective on the
far-reaching effects of love…
Under the August Moon:
It has been said that seeds of love planted beneath an August moon will bind two meant to be together—forever.
Two
different couples—one currently hoping to find common ground in their
relationship, the other a legendary pair wandering the town in their
relentless attempt to reunite—find their paths have suddenly intertwined
like wild Midwestern vines under the red August Heart Moon. Will Mark
and Jo decide their late-in-life romance can find new direction? And how
will the fabled Finley’s search for her beloved Amos be impacted by the
planting of her enchanted moon seeds?
