Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
My selected featured story today was one I was looking forward to reading myself as I was marked down for a review on this lovely blog tour. However, for whichever reason as we are all aware of our mail has started to become a bit delayed in reaching us and thereby, I had to amend how I was hosting this tour this week. Combine mail woes with some technical issues I’ve been having with my connectivity over the weekend and into this first half of a new week and you’ve found me at sixes and sevens trying to sort through it and not feel dragged down by it all. Hopefully others on the blog tour have simply been wrapped inside the story and haven’t had to sort through as much as I have whilst awaiting for the book to arrive.
I happen to like stories which tuck us away from our lives and give us something new to consider and contemplate – as this particular romantic Contemporary has a lot of symbolic and metaphysical sensibility about it in regards to the overall theme of the story and how it was written. I hadn’t realised when I signed up for this one that the main plot theme surrounds Cancer which is generally the kind of story I try to avoid reading about as I have a very sensitive heart and whenever I read about terminal illnesses, I find myself retreating from the storylines.
This particular story though holds a lot of promise and hope within it though if you read the synopsis and even within the short extract I am hosting today, there appears to be more about this story than what can be gleamed about it on the surface of its components. Which for me as a reader is a good thing as I liked to be surprised by the stories I am reading as much as I like going into a story already knowing what to expect. Sometimes it is also good to shake things up in your reading life and perhaps pick a book to read you hadn’t expected would be a wicked good story for you at the time in which it arrived in your life. Reading such as life has a beautiful cadence to it and I am oft observing how stories come into our hands to read at the moments we’re meant to read them even if it doesn’t feel like the right timing when we first receive them.
I was also quite taken by how dragonflies play such a strong role in the story and I had read they equally play a role in the author’s life as well. There are a lot of moments in our lives which cannot be explained through ordinary means and must be trusted with faith. I like finding stories which bridge the gap between what can be perceived and what can be intuited as much as how our lives are also felt on a spiritual level of understanding. In essence, I felt the heart of this story was one that I was going to enjoy reading and I hope one day I will be able to experience it for myself.
For now – I hope this puts this story on your own radar and perhaps even encourage you to add it to your own #mustread list! Enjoy the extract and the links wherein you can interact with the author and/or find out more about the story itself.
Dragonflies at Night
Subtitle: More than a love story. Somewhere in his mind, a new song began... Somewhere in her heart, healing stirred...
by Anne Marie Bennett
A dragonfly brings a mother’s love to a grieving daughter.
Meet Savannah, the thirty-something owner of Life Celebrations, a party planning business. Despite losing both parents as a teenager, Savannah is creating a positive life for herself, surrounded by friends and co-workers who are now her family. But she also has a secret—as much as she wants to settle down and have children, she is afraid to, for fear of getting cancer and having to leave them without their mother, as she herself was left behind years ago.
Meet Deirdre Rose, Savannah’s mother. She continues to watch over Savannah, who feels deeply connected to her mother whenever she sees a dragonfly.
Now meet Ben, a thirty-something recording artist who is good-looking, talented, and a household name. Despite his fame, Ben is lonely. He trusts few people because it seems everyone wants something from him instead of getting to know who he really is.
Savannah and Ben cross paths when they meet at a yoga retreat in the Massachusetts Berkshires. They are drawn to each other’s creativity and outlook on life. She sees beyond his celebrity and he admires her strength in what she’s had to overcome.
What happens when the retreat ends and they go their separate ways? Will they be able to make a long distance relationship work? Can Savannah put aside her fears, and will Ben allow himself to be truly vulnerable?
Above all . . . what message do Deirdre Rose and Dragonfly have for both of them?
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 979-8663865104
Published by Self Published
on 7th July, 2020
This is a Self-Published novel
Converse via: #ContemporaryRomance or Contemporary #Romance
as well as #WomensFiction and #DatNPrism
Enjoy this small Extract from “Dragonflies at Night”:
“That’s amazing,” Amy said, placing the whipped cream on the tray. She took a large white serving spoon from a yellow canister and plopped it into the strawberries. “You must be really proud of building this business.”
Savannah nodded, swallowing the last bite of strawberry and wiping her hands on a dishtowel. “Andi and I really are.”
“Carly is about to turn seven. Maybe you have some ideas for us? For a birthday party?”
“Sure! What kinds of things does she like?”
Amy placed her hands on her hips and faced Savannah. “I will tell you what our little Carly likes. One—Mermaids. Two—Mermaids. Three—Mermaids.” She held up her hands in mock dismay.
Savannah laughed. “I know something about mermaid celebrations, don’t worry. I’d love to help you with Carly’s party.” She picked up the big yellow bowl as Amy picked up the tray. “When’s her birthday?”
“September twenty-second.”
Savannah froze, almost dropping the strawberries. “You’re kidding!”
They headed towards the door and Amy looked at her curiously. “No, why?”
“That’s . . . I mean . . . That’s a special day in my family, that’s all.” Savannah wasn’t sure how much to divulge.
“C’mon guys!” Amy called as they made their way back to the picnic table in the twilight. “Time for dessert! Kline, can you bring Danny-Boy out here?” She looked at Savannah again as they set the dishes on the table. “What special day?” she asked quietly.
Savannah looked into Amy’s kind blue eyes for a moment. They looked like eyes that connected to a soul that could be trusted. “My mom died on September twenty-second.”
You definitely feel pulled into the story noting how Savannah has felt the leftover effects of her Mum’s passing and how even though the synopsis before you begin reading the story – a tone is set where as a daughter she is questioning her own health and wellness on the fringes of wanting to see her own life develop through a romance and relationship. I would imagine her ability to trust others with the truths about her life and the ache which was put into her heart through her Mum’s death is a difficult choice for her as you can tell through this extract from the story.
What I felt would be interesting is to see how Savannah’s heart is healed in knowing that the worst fate is never taking a chance on love and not having love in your life rather than constantly worrying about when love will end and how we will exit our own lives. Sometimes you have to remember that despite the worst bits which can arrive to affect us on a soul-heart level, there is a lot of good to be experienced in the intrim. It will be interesting to see how Ben affects her life and how the course of their relationship might expand and develop into something even Savannah hadn’t expected possible as I gather that’s the main vibe to how this story evolves.
What do you love the most about reading Contemporary Romances & Women’s Fiction?
About Anne Marie Bennett
Anne Marie Bennett was touched by a dragonfly once and has never forgotten its message. She has published books about her cancer journeys and the process of SoulCollage®. This is her first women’s novel.
This blog tour is courtesy of: Prism Book Tours
NOTE: Similar to blog tours wherein I feature book reviews, book spotlights (with or without extracts), book announcements (or Cover Reveals) – I may elect to feature an author, editor, narrator, publisher or other creative person connected to the book, audiobook, Indie film project or otherwise creative publishing medium being featured wherein the supplemental content on my blog is never compensated monetarily nor am I ever obligated to feature this kind of content. I provide (98.5%) of all questions and guest topics regularly featured on Jorie Loves A Story. I receive direct responses back to those enquiries by publicists, literary agents, authors, blog tour companies, etc of whom I am working with to bring these supplemental features and showcases to my blog. I am naturally curious about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of stories and the writers who pen them: I have a heap of joy bringing this content to my readers. Whenever there is a conflict of connection I do disclose those connections per post and disclose the connection as it applies.
{SOURCES: Cover art of “Dragonflies at Night”, synopsis, the author’s photo (for Anne Marie Bennett) and biography as well as the blog tour banner, the extract from the book and The Prism Book Tours badge were all provided by Prism Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers and My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded by codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Stories in the Spotlight banner and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2020.
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