NEW RELEASE from Carolyn Brown: The Empty Nesters

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The worst of times calls for the best of friends in this sassy novel about starting over, from New York Times bestselling author Carolyn Brown.

Dear friends and army wives Diana, Carmen, and Joanie have been through war, rumors of war, marital problems, motherhood, fears, joy, and heartache. But none of the women are prepared when their daughters decide to enlist in the army together. Facing an empty nest won’t be easy. Especially for Carmen. With emotions already high, she suffers an even greater blow: divorce papers. Diana understands the fury and tears. She’s been there.

With nothing to lose and no one at home, the girlfriends impulsively accept an unexpected offer from their elderly neighbor. The recently widowed Tootsie has an RV, a handsome nephew at the wheel, and an aim for tiny Scrap, Texas, to embrace memories of her late husband. Still grieving, she can use the company as a balm for her broken heart. So can the empty nesters.

Embarking on a journey of hope, romance, and healing, Diana, Carmen, and Joanie are at a turning point in their lives. And with the open road ahead of them, it’s just the beginning.

Here's an excerpt

   Over the past thirteen years, the ladies who lived on the same block in Sugar Run had been through wars, rumors of wars, death, divorce, fears, and joys, but nothing had prepared Carmen, Diana, and Joanie for the day they walked away from the army recruiter’s office in downtown San Antonio. Each of their daughters had enlisted and would leave in less than an hour, heading to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for basic training. Backs straight, the three mothers managed to keep smiles on their faces until they were all inside Diana’s van, and then the waterworks started.

   “I need a drink.” Diana wiped at the never-ending tears with a tissue, then passed the box around.

   “This is ten times—no, a hundred times—worse than when Eli deploys. But, good God, Diana, it’s eight o’clock in the morning. If we start drinking now, we’ll be passed out by noon,” Carmen sobbed as she blew her nose and tossed another fistful of tissues into the plastic trash bag Diana kept in the van.

   Diana pushed a strand of red hair away from her wet cheeks. “Passed completely out sounds good to me, and if you’ll remember, we always have mimosas when the guys leave on missions.”

   Joanie took a compact from her purse and checked her reflection, then broke down into more weeping. “Zoe doesn’t look a thing like me. She’s got Brett’s dark hair and blue eyes, and since she’s got nurse’s training, they’ll probably send her to some god-awful country. She took ballet, for God’s sake, and she was a cheerleader. She doesn’t belong in a foreign country seeing soldiers with their legs blown off.”

   “In the words of Jimmy Buffett, ‘It’s five o’clock somewhere,’ so let’s go to Diana’s.” Blotches spotted Carmen’s translucent skin from crying so hard. Several strands of dark-brown hair had escaped her ponytail and hung limp like a frayed flag of victory on a rainy day. “At least Zoe will be able to tell you where she’s going. Natalie passed that language test with flying colors. She’ll be put somewhere to translate, and you know what that means. Everything will be classified, and she won’t be able to talk about it.”

   Diana started the van and then laid her head on the steering wheel. “This is worse than kindergarten, isn’t it?”

   “Yes,” the women agreed.

   “We were able to pick them up at the end of the day back then,” Joanie sighed.

   Carmen stared at the front of the recruitment center. “I wanted one more glimpse of her, but I guess they went out a back door. I prayed every day from the time that Natalie was born that she’d do anything rather than join the service. I didn’t care if she flipped burgers at the local McDonald’s for the rest of her life, but, oh, no, she made her daddy proud. He’s over there in God knows where, doing God knows what, and I’m the one left at home with the empty nest,” Carmen declared. “And yes, I need a good stiff drink. Maybe two or three.”

   “That would be great. I’m not ready for an empty house.” Diana sniffled as she put the van in gear and headed north toward Sugar Run, population 3,412, according to the city-limit signs on either end of town.

Meet Carolyn

Carolyn Brown is a New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Publisher’s Weekly and #1 Amazon and #1 Washington Post bestselling author and a RITA finalist. With more than 90 books on the market, she’s a recipient of the Bookseller’s Best Award, and the prestigious Montlake Diamond Award, and also a three-time recipient of the National Reader’s Choice Award.

Carolyn and her husband live in the small town of Davis, Oklahoma, where everyone knows everyone else, as well as what they’re doing and when—and they read the local newspaper on Wednesday to see who got caught. They have three grown children and enough grandchildren to keep them young.

When she’s not writing, Carolyn likes to plot new stories in her backyard with her tom cat, Boots Randolph Terminator Outlaw, and watch him protect the yard from all kinds of wicked varmints like crickets, locusts, and spiders. Visit her at www.carolynbrownbooks.com.

Website: https://bit.ly/2TtQUeI

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thecarolynbrown

Instagram: https://bit.ly/2FApe47

FB (Author’s Page): https://bit.ly/2GZ2HAz

Thank you for inviting me to stop by Get Lost in a Story to talk about The Empty Nesters. Let’s sit on the porch and have a glass of icy cold sweet tea while we visit. I understand y’all have some questions you’d like to ask.

E.E.: What are your favorite television series?

Carolyn: Designing Women, The Golden Girls and Justified. You might think that’s a strange combination, but it’s not really. All three of the series are centered around friendships, and that always appeals to me.

E.E.: What’s something you’d like to tell your fans?

Carolyn: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For reading my books, for talking about them to your neighbors and friends, for writing reviews, and for sending me sweet notes after you’ve read them. Y’all are appreciated so so much.

E.E.: Do you read reviews of your books? If so, do you pay any attention to them, or let them influence your writing?

Carolyn: I confess that I’m nosy by nature, so I do read my reviews. If a review has good, constructive criticism, I take it to heart. If there’s just plain old nit picking, I ignore it—an example of one that I ignored was when a reviewer gave me a one star review because of the cover on The Barefoot Summer. According to her the story was excellent, but her contention was that people got parasites by going barefoot, and I should have enough sense not to use a cover like that. As my mama used to say, “’nuff said’.”

E.E.: Which already filmed movie represents your writing style?

Carolyne: Probably The Longest Ride or The Notebook. I would love to see The Empty Nesters made into a movie. I can visualize Swoosie Kurtz playing Tootsie!

E.E.: What’s the first thing you do when you finish writing a book?

Carolyn: Straighten up my office. Put away all the notes I have scattered from one end of the room to the other for the book I just finished. Then the next morning I open the notebook for the next book, and get started on it.

E.E.: What can we look for next from you?

Carolyn: I just finished writing the seventh book, Cowboy Strong, in the Longhorn Canyon series, and the edits on The Banty House, a women’s fiction book. They’ll both be out in April/May 2020. But next on the publishing schedule is:

Christmas with a Cowboy, Sept. 24

The Family Journal, (my 100^th novel), November 12

Cowboy Strong, Jan. 28, 2020

Wildflower Ranch (a novella), Feb. 4

Thank you, again, to the folks who asked questions. Join me on my Author’s FB page today, August 20^th,  from 11 to 12 central standard time if you have anymore questions!! https://www.facebook.com/carolynbrownbooks/

Giveaway

Today, Carolyn will give away a $25 Amazon gift card. Just enter the raffle and answer the question or leave a comment.

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