Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Well, it's official. The contracts are signed, and my two novel length releases from Chippewa next year will be, DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, and MARRIED TO A ROCK STAR.

I did have one rejected, but in all fairness it deserved it. LOL I have another one subbed and am crossing my fingers for that third release for 2007, I'll let you know when, and if that comes about.

For now, a little advanced teaser for the duo to come:

Coming in 2007 from Chippewa Publishing

DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, by Tami Parrington
(previously print published by Flying Dolphin Press)


Dark Side Of The Moon by Tami Parrington is the story of Kia Lambert, an idealistic and newly hired female assistant to the massively famous and popular musician Gabriel Evans. But when the musician's fabulous life starts to crumble apart, all Kia's imagined solutions fall to ruin and she must ultimately learn that sometimes one must allow a loved one to fall and fail. Dark Side Of The Moon is commended as a powerful and entertaining saga of transcendence, bitter wisdom, and learning to accept harsh realities.

(I just had to come back in here before anyone picked up on what looked like my extreme ego at saying Dark Side is commended as... lol, this blurb was extracted directly from a wonderful review by Midwestern Book Reviews for the print version of the novel.)


EXCERPT:

Pulling up outside the red brick building she got a cold chill. She parked the car in the back of the lot to avoid notice and walked sheepishly toward the doors. Suddenly she felt so out of place. ‘How on EARTH did you pull that off?’ her sister’s words screamed in her head. How indeed, and how would she continue to pull it off?

Kia turned quickly and pushed back through the doors and headed for her car. This was crazy. She didn’t belong here, she would get hung for her crimes if he found out the truth and in minutes the entire Internet world and all her friends would know the scam she had attempted and she wouldn’t have any friends ever again. Except her sister, she would always have Syl.

That thought stopped her. She couldn’t let Syl down. For all her prodding and sarcastic admonitions, Syl was rooting for her to pull this off. Deep down, Syl believed she could. Deep down, Syl thought she was a goddess for whom all things were possible and she’d be damned if she’d let her little sister down.

She raged through the doors like a bull and punched the little button on the wall for the elevator. “Watch out Gabriel Evans cause Kia Lambert is on her way, and your life is never gonna be the same.”

©Tami Parrington


MARRIED TO A ROCK STAR
(Previously print published under the title of The Road To Paradise)

Karen Meade is a rural farm widow and she and her two teenaged children have a new neighbor—Isaiah Highland, who is anything but the farm type. He is a rock-star looking for peace, starving for privacy, and he has found them both, and a whole lot more.
Karen and her children soon find themselves swept away into a world far removed from their little farm. A world of fame, fortune, and betrayal. Isaiah and Karen come from separate worlds. Worlds that are bound to collide. When they do, they must choose between their own versions of paradise, and each other.

EXCERPT:

Karen squinted her eyes at the sunlight that woke her, as she lay across the bed sideways with Isaiah draped across her. She looked around and saw her negligee hanging from the end post and smiled, pushing him off as she slipped to the floor.

As she dressed she saw him stir and quietly slipped into the bathroom to finish without waking him. She made her way down to the kitchen to get her coffee, hoping she had beat Mona to the kitchen so she could start the coffee herself, making it a little less strong. Karen had informed the overbearing housekeeper repeatedly that her coffee needed its own set of shoes, because it could easily walk by itself.

Mona considered her coffee robust—Karen considered it deadly.

Besides, after yesterday, she deeply desired a peaceful cup of coffee before the house became over-run with people making calls and arguing about business.

Karen heard the voice before she rounded the corner from the stairs to the kitchen. Derek’s angry voice; must be on the phone, she thought, since she didn’t hear any answers to his statements. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, walking into the kitchen with an amazing calm in spite of the anger inside.

“Good morning, Derek.”

He nodded as she passed the table and took a cup from the cabinet above the sink, making a show of looking at the clock over the table as she turned back to him. “Oh my, it’s 7 a.m.?”

Karen picked up the pot of coffee; damn she hadn’t beaten Mona to the kitchen either.

She looked up at Derek to see if her point had sunk in but he simply waved her off and continued on about percentages and splits, turning his back to avoid her pointed stare. She had to fight to hold back the laughter when he whipped around as the line went dead while she held the button down on the phone base.

“What the hell?” His astonished look turned into fury as he briefly thought about choking her.

“It’s 7 a.m., Derek. I thought I made myself pretty clear yesterday, when I said business hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.” She couldn’t believe she was speaking so calmly when her knees felt like gelatin and her stomach was consumed with sick butterflies.

“You can’t do that!”

“I just did. Problem? Take it up with Isaiah.” She smiled and lifted her cup in salute.

“You can just bet your ass I will.” He began to move for the stairs but she hurried to block him.

“At nine. And not upstairs.”

“Why you little,” Derek held back the words that begged to escape. This was a power struggle she would ultimately lose, but not if he played the wrong hand.

“Fine…Nine.” He stopped at the front door. “…And not upstairs. But he is going to hear about this.”

The door slammed behind him and Karen heard tires squeal in the drive. She let out her breath in one giant whoosh and then yawned as she sat down at the table. She had to give Mona’s coffee credit for one thing; it would wake a body up.

©Tami Parrington