Divas Never Flinch: A Comedy of Manners

by Jon McDonald

Battles never cease and sparks fly when Sonora and Connye-the two Grand Divas of the Santa Fe Social Scene-strategize to best each other in a no-holds-barred look at adventures in social one-upsmanship. Who says there are no longer civil wars in America? Santa Fe, New Mexico is the epicenter of epic battles fought between the two Queens of the local social scene. Told through a series of episodic tales, this satirical novel lurches back and forth between stories of the two Divas, tracing the rise and fall in the fortunes of Sonora and Connye, as they try to outdo each other and reign as Queen. But the battles are played out in the most civil of terms. Dinner parties, social events, and outside journeys to Puerto Vallarta, New Orleans, and New York carry the action through Southwest-style political intrigue; the search for buried treasure; battles to control visiting royalty; a Hollywood movie premiere, and the colorful exploits of an additional cast of sexually complex, supporting characters. But it's not all champagne and acid. There are also many touching moments. Lost children reunited with a missing parent. Unexpected generosity. The care of aging parents. The gratitude of a good friend for help in starting a new business. And a nativity scene mysteriously appearing in Sonora's back yard on Christmas Day. Finally, the climax comes when a new competitor arrives on the scene: Amanda Beor-Bink, a world-class fashion designer, who actively conspires, using her celebrity and money to claim the crown of "Queen of Santa Fe" for herself. But can and will Sonora and Connye take up the challenge to their already established supremacy?

250 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

As an author, Jon’s mission is to provide readers with stories that delight and entertain so they can enjoy a pleasurable respite from their busy day to day lives. Readers describe turning the last page of McDonald’s books not only feeling completely satisfied, but also wanting more.

His adventure stories are exciting - fast paced and captivating. They are filled with intriguing plots, imaginative locales and storylines that make you think about real issues in an engaging way. His adventure readers are selective - typically enjoying the works of other notable peers in the field including David Baldacci, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, and James Patterson.

His humorous tales delight and amuse - evoking the satire of David Sedaris, the laugh-out-loud humor of Ethan Mordden or the sly English observations of E.F. Benson.

Jon’s readers are just as likely to be found listening to classical music, NPR, traveling abroad, shopping at local farmer’s markets, preparing gourmet food or walking the halls of the Hermitage, the Met, or the Louvre as they are reading his humorous, intelligent stories written for an audience who shy away from run of the mill writing.

Jon McDonald lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He won awarded 1st prize in the 2009 Santa Fe New Mexican holiday short story contest, 2009. He has also been published in Raphael's Village, ImageOutWrite, Bay Laurel, Jonathan, and Off the Rocks, Vol 17.

Reviews

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Won this in one of the giveways. I really enjoyed this book. It highlights the competetion amongst women. The constant "edging" each other on between Sonora and Connye was a great read. Once Bink-Boer came into the escapdes on increased. I also liked the fact that due to life I had to put the book down and start reading it again a few weeks later. When I started reading it again I was easily reminded of the characters and the storyline.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic debut novel. Fast paced and raucous this crowd of vivacious ladies had me in fits of giggles.

Mr McDonald has a talent for frivolity, community and hilarity!

For full review check
graveyardsandgrasslands.wordpress.com

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diva’s Never Flinch – by Jon McDonald

I want to tell you how I was introduced with this Author. I heard about a site called www.tomoson.com where us bloggers, could then ‘apply’ to do a review on. I just signed up and thought it was going to be hard to even get one item to do a review on. Boy was I wrong. Within a matter of 2 days I was ‘approved’ by Jon McDonald himself. Now there were prerequisites that I had to go through before ever being ‘approved’. And I passed with flying colors. I received an EBook that I was able to read on my kindle application on my laptop (this is how I do most of the reading nowadays).

Now before I started reading Diva’s Never Flinch, I wanted to have a peek at Jon’s website and get to know him. From his About Me Section, I found that Jon lives in Santa Fe. It states: ‘on and off for 24 years, after 15 years in California and before that NYC and London.'

Diva’s Never Flinch is a comedy-romance-chick lit .It did take off slow for me in the beginning but it picked up within the fourth and fifth chapter. It reminds me of the Television show, Gossip Girl. Where you have 2 upper class ladies/girls using their words (and sometimes more), while trying to battle their way to be at the top, and stay there. I wanted to describe it this way because I, myself watched this show and that is how I related to the book. By looking at the cover of the book it displays a female of the younger generation, even though the characters Sonora and Connye are of the older generation in the book (50’s).
There were so many touching moments in the book. I don’t want to spoil it all for you. I am a firm believer in never judging a book by its cover. But I must say this, (as this is my only teaser for you readers) Jon brings such detail in the events, places, and people he describes in Diva’s Never Flinch. Like Lionel’s condo for instance. I see his vision of how it looks. To the ceremony that happens in the Sonora’s backyard.
I would have loved to have met these ladies in person because every writers dream is to make their book, their dream come to life.
I would love to find out how you indeed like the book, in your own thoughts.
You can find Jon through his website http://www.jonmcdonaldauthor.com/ , and on Goodreads , https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Diva’s never Flinch is available through Amazon, Barnes and Nobel as an ebook and paperback version.

[Jody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a book I would pick up and read, but I won it through a Goodreads giveaway so I gave it a try... and I loved it!

I gave it a 4 stars, it's more of a 4.5 but that's not an option on here. I really enjoyed it but it is by no means a "masterpiece" (then again, what is really?)

Things I enjoyed about this book; Each chapter was like a mini story within the overall story. I liked how, even though I was busy, I could lay this book down and in a couple of days I could pick it up and the next chapter started fresh while reminding me of the things that were already taking place. I've seen few books that do this effectively, this was one!

I enjoyed the drama. It was witty, sometimes clever. I found myself intrigued by what schemes these catty ladies were going to come up with next. To be honest, these types of upper class feuds between snobby women don't always interest me, this book did!

The thing I didn't like was the book was corny at times. That being said, books/movies/tv shows based on this time of drama I find extremely corny. The fact that this book was only mildly corny, that's a one up for this book! As I said, I enjoyed it.

Last thing, and I know this is being nit picky, but the cover of the book don't match the story. I never got the sense that Sonora or Connye resembled the girl on the cover. The cover seemed out of place. (like I said, nit picky!)

[Shannon Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was initially drawn to read this book because of the title and cover picture which suggested that the main characters would be in my own age bracket, which is early 30's. However, the main characters were in their 50's. Despite this, the book was definitely a good read. It was really funny and Jon did an excellent job of describing the characters, places and events. He really made you feel as though you were a part of the story.

It took a little bit for me to get into the story at first but once it took off, it kept my interest. I loved the fact that the characters were very well developed which shows that Jon really took his time with writing this book. I appreciate writers who pride themselves on quality work and this book is definitely quality.

I most certainly recommend this book to anyone!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

[Britt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Divas Never Flinch by Jon McDonald is a very interesting novel mostly based on two socialites Donors and Connye. At first glance I like a few others thought this novel would be about women in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties; but surprisingly the two women are close to fifty. Although the story line starts off pretty slow it picks up after a few charters. These ladies prove that being older does not mean the fun ends. Their antics and ability to always get in some kind of trouble makes this novel a joy to read. McDonald provides a writing style that simply flows and allows the reader to take a ride with the characters presented. I would definitely recommend this novel to friends and followers.

[Betty Renn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminds me very much of the screwball comedies of the 1930’s. Lots of style and wit with rich ladies at each other’s throats. But it is also told with a lot of love. Even though the characters compete with each other there is a real regard underneath the surface. And what a wonderful villain in Beor-Bink, she really shook things up. It was such fun seeing how the ladies dealt with her. But won’t spoil that for you folks. I highly recommend this book if you want a fun read and a great laugh.

[Lyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book started off a little slow with no real storyline building on each other until the end of the book when both Sonora and Connye take trips back home. This is where I feel the plot finally started building on itself and made me want to keep reading. The cover of the book is also misleading as I was picturing the main characters to be women in their 20s or 30s when they were actually more like in their 50s. I'm glad that in the end, Sonora and Connye banned together despite always trying to one up each other. This is an easy, fun read.