SAYING GOODBYE WHILE SAYING HELLO_MARCH MADNESS

It seems as if I've been waiting forever for the release of this book, and it's finally here! Happy Release Day, Tyora Moody, and it's so good to see you, Serena Manchester! 


Today is the final day of March Madness, and what better way to say goodbye to this spectacular blogging event than to say hello to a new series. I hope that you've enjoyed the wonderful line up of authors I've brought you this month, along with the great gifts they've been sharing.


Leave a comment on this post and Tyora's going to bless someone with a gift today.



Letting the Bad Girl Have Her Way


When I started writing my first novel, When Rain Falls in 2006, I knew I was at the beginning of a series that would consist of only three books.  I had a small bulletin board in my office and I created all these character profiles on colorful index cards for each of my main three characters in the Victory Gospel Series.




I had cards for all my minor characters too. While I studied the pinned cards on the board, I also wrote down possible story lines and how these characters would interact over a three year period. At that time it occurred to me that one of the “minor” characters shows up in all three books.  Most of the time she usually had a run-in with the other main characters.

She was my bad girl. You know that one chick who liked to start trouble just because she could. It didn’t help that her profession was being a hard-nosed television reporter. That just made her role as resident bad girl all the more enticing to write because she would ask the hard questions and get to the bottom of secrets and lies. This character seemed to be demanding her own story. Not just her own story, but her own book series. 

After concluding the Victory Gospel Series in the third and final book, When Perfection Fails, there was a sense of excitement for me. You see while I made sure to wrap up the main characters’ storylines, I purposely left this character’s story open-ended.



On March 31st, Serena Manchester will debut her own book series.  Hostile Eyewitness  is the first book in the Serena Manchester series. Picking up a year after When Perfection Fails, Serena finds herself hiding out in her hometown, a place she despised and ran away from over twenty-five years ago. She has quite a homecoming that’s filled with murder and family dysfunction galore oh yeah… and her first love who is now a minister. 



Here is an excerpt from Chapter 3



I drained the cup of coffee. It was time to head home. I walked over to the cash register and paid for the coffee. After I received the change, I returned to the table to leave a dollar tip for Iris. As I swung around, my eyes caught a man as he walked through the door.

I sucked in my breath.

I’d been avoiding church, despite my sister’s persistent invitations, but surely, God wouldn’t do me like this. Not tonight.

At first I thought the man was my second ex-husband, Benjamin Manchester. As the shock wore off, I realized that it was not him and that the man bore a striking resemblance to Benjamin. The man must have felt me staring, because he turned.

A huge grin broke out on Trey Evans’s face. “It’s that you, Rena?”

“Hey, Trey. I almost . . .”

He walked over to me. “Mistook me for Benny, right? I know. I decided to shave my beard, and now everyone keeps telling me how much I look like my half brother. I still don’t see it.”

Despite my weariness, I felt a smile tug at my face. Trey was the half brother of my second ex-husband, Benjamin “Benny” Manchester. The two men had grown up in separate counties and didn’t know the other existed until they played high school football. They were both top athletes, and people couldn’t help but talk about their similar looks. Neither boy had a problem catching the ladies’ attention. I had always thought Trey was more intelligent and more of a gentleman than his brother.

 I grew up with Trey and had the biggest crush on him back then. By the time I became involved with Benny, Trey and I had long grown apart, I had been married and had divorced, and I was enjoying my career in Charlotte. When I thought back on it, I had to wonder if I had been on the rebound from my first marriage when I fell for Benny. Or had I been looking for something I’d always wanted?

Trey certainly was looking good. He appeared to be as fit as he was in high school. “You’re wearing a beard. Seems like at one time you couldn’t grow one.” He’d always had a bit of a baby face, with his round cheeks and dimples.

“Ouch. You sure haven’t lost your sharp touch, Rena. I’m much older, and that beard has a bit more gray in it than I expected. Goes to show, it has been a long time since I’ve seen you.”

“Yeah, well, life moves by pretty fast.”

His smile disappeared, but his eyes were warm, reminding of the time long ago when I would hang on his every word. He said, “I imagine your Aunt C passing brought you back home. I’m so sorry. Everyone loved your aunt.”

My aunt was something of a town treasure, since many people either were in her fourth- grade class or were at McDonald Elementary School while she was the principal. “Yeah, it’s weird but comforting to be home.” I hadn’t admitted that to anyone else.

“Well, it’s good to see you. What has you out this late?”

The brief euphoria I had experienced from seeing Trey faded. My first thought was to say something snappy, like “What are you doing out this late?” Now wasn’t the time to hide behind my sarcastic shield. I didn’t want to run Trey off, so I pretended to yawn. “I just needed a change of scenery, but I do need to head back home now.”

“Where are you staying?”

Suddenly conscious that we were standing at the front of the restaurant, I wanted to bolt. I glanced over at the booth where I had sat and saw Iris staring at me. Or is she staring at Trey?

I looked back at Trey. “My aunt’s house. It was good seeing you. Maybe we can catch up another time.”

He smiled. “I look forward to seeing you again.” He reached over and opened the door for me. “Be safe out there.”

My cheeks felt awfully warm as I brushed by him, catching a whiff of his cologne. Another good-smelling brother in only an hour. What was going on? At least this experience was more pleasant than my conversation with Investigator Moses and Investigator Baldwin. After the night I’d had, I didn’t mind running into an old friend who was pleasing to the eye and the senses.




If you want to know more about Hostile Eyewitness, I invite you to read the synopsis and download a free chapter.




About Tyora Moody


Tyora Moody is the author Soul-Searching Suspense novels in the Serena Manchester Series, Victory Gospel Series and the Eugeena Patterson Mysteries.  As a literary-focused entrepreneur, she has assisted countless authors with developing an online presence via her design and marketing company, Tywebbin Creations LLC.  

 She is also the author of the nonfiction book, The Literary Entrepreneur’s Toolkit, and the host of The Literary Entrepreneur Podcast. For more information about her literary endeavors, visit her online at TyoraMoody.com

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WRITING MY DREAMS,
CHELLE RAMSEY