Dear Reader,
Please welcome today's New York Times bestselling author, Michelle Gable. Her latest novel The Summer I Met Jack, is based on true events from the life of American socialite Alicia Corning Clark. "The story offers an alternate Kennedy family history that will leave readers wondering whether America knew the real JFK at all. A riveting tale about America's most romanticized family" (Kirkus Reviews).
After a twenty-year career in finance, Michelle now writes full time. She lives in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California, with her husband, two daughters, and a lazy cat, a feisty bunny, and a newly adopted dog.
Michelle loves to hear from readers so please say hello. Email Michelle at: [email protected]
And Michelle is giving away copies of her latest release, The Summer I Met Jack. Send an email to: [email protected]
Welcome to the book club Michelle...
Sibling Rivalry
We have two daughters in middle school, ages twelve and fourteen. People always want to know, "do they get along?"
Yes, and very much so. There is no jealousy between them, even though they've played the same sports, on the same team. They've had their coach--'their Dad'--pull one from the pitching mound in favor of the other. He's ranked them as hitters too, and none of it has affected their friendship at all.
Our problem is that they get along a little too well sometimes. They plot and scheme. They get kicked out of Dad's car.
"He made us walk home," Paige explained once when I found them on the freeway overpass. "We were having too much fun."
"He called us 'jackbutts,'" Georgia wanted me to know.
Sibling rivalry hadn't been a factor in our house and I assumed not much would change. Then, we adopted a sinewy, fretful Thai street dog named Winnie, and jealousy reared its ugly head.
Winnie is a four-year-old Lab/Jindo mix, rescued from the dog meat trade. Though it took a while for her to warm up, to stop eyeing us sideways and with that skeptical Kermit-the-Frog smirk, she eventually picked me as her person, no doubt thanks to my generosity with walks and treats.
Jindos are notoriously loyal and I loved seeing her snout perpetually at my feet. We all fell fast and hard for the girl, or so I thought, until I noticed my youngest acting surly toward our new pet.
I've always said that Georgia would make a tough middle child, and it turned out I was right. She confessed to being jealous of the dog.
Winnie was getting all the attention, she complained, not to mention gobs of treats. I'd rolled my eyes at helicopter parents before, but now I was helicoptering nonstop. Worst of all, I went on and on about how cute she was.
I assured Georgia of her rank, but she tried to assert her position nonetheless. She'd run past the dog to greet me in the morning and whisper indignities into her floppy ears. Sometimes, I'd walk into the house to find a five-foot-eight sixth grader looming menacingly in the door.
"Look at me first," she'd say, Winnie wagging confusedly behind her.
Thankfully, Georgia recovered from this bout of sibling rivalry, not long after I started adding "for a dog" to every compliment paid. But, I'll be on book tour soon, and I'm a tad concerned about how she'll react to me wanting to FaceTime with the dog.
--Michelle Gable
Email Michelle at [email protected]
To enter to win a copy of The Summer I Met Jack send an email to: [email protected]
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
* It's my Summer Reading Giveaway! Summer is the perfect time to pull up a lounge chair and settle in with a good book. In addition to the weekly book drawing, every day this week I'm giving away books from my bookshelf, and you can enter every day. Enter here.
* ICE, by Anna Kavan, is this month's Penguin Classics book. Enjoy a great Classics book and enter-to-win a Penguin tote bag. Click here to start reading.
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