10/14/2015

Available on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B016LLTVJ2
Finally it is release day for my latest novel in the Upper Crust Series – Any Way You Fight It.
I’m so excited that this book is finally out there and available for readers. I really enjoyed writing this novel and I love the character of Cherie who was so supportive of her friends in Any Way You Slice It and Any Way You Dream It.
This is a story about second chances and letting yourself take them. I hope you take a chance on this novel.

It is available here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B016LLTVJ2
And to celebrate the release Any Way You Dream It is only 99cents so grab a copy while you’re at it.

Any Way You Fight It – Blurb
Matchmaking came easily for Cherie . . . unless she was matching herself. A successful realtor, Cherie could sell a piece of property with ease, she could match up her friends with their perfect mates, but she couldn’t seem to find love for herself. Heck, even her seventy-five-year-old Nona was dating again! Cherie had the perfect love once, or so she had thought. But that was a long time ago, and yet, Luke was the standard by which she measured all potential mates.
After matching her two best friends and watching them live their happily ever afters, Cherie decides it’s time to make a change and get back in the game. Now all she needs to do is balance what she wants (a Luke-alike) with the demands of her crazy Italian family (a good, Catholic Italian boy).
Just when she is ready to shake off her past and move forward, her past walks through the door of her favorite local pub with her best friends. Luke is back, looks better than ever, and still has eyes for Cherie. And Cherie can’t control the heat she still has for him. But as with most long-lost loves, he has a past as well, and that past just might prevent Cherie from finding her happiness despite what her Nona’s visions predict.
Can Cherie and Luke make peace with their pasts and look forward to a new life together? Or will this be the final good-bye?

Extract from Any Way You Fight It
“Right—I’m going to give you the abridged version.”
“I’ll take whatever you offer,” she said.
“Well, when I was eighteen I had a romance, I suppose you’d call it.”
“Yeah if this was eighteenth-century England.”
“Whatever,” I sighed. “And it was a secret. He knew, I knew, and one friend.”
“No family?”
“Nope, he wasn’t Italian, and I just didn’t want them stalking me and ruining everything.”
“Makes sense. I never had that kind of family. I could have dated an axe murderer and my mom would have been happy I had a man, but I can see your situation was different.”
“Yeah, so we had this lovely summer fling. And then he dumped me.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah, and he just left and didn’t say good-bye.”
“That’s low.”
“Yeah, it was. And it hurt and probably more so because no one knew so I had to act all normal and I couldn’t discuss it with anyone.”
“So, you’ve never talked about it?” Her eyes popped wide.
“I never have.” I took a fortifying sip of beer. “The thing is I date, I flirt, but I haven’t really met anyone who made me feel like that guy did.”
“Wow. That’s a long time between boyfriends.”
“Yeah, I went out with a couple of nice guys in college, one for almost a year, but that spark or whatever wasn’t there. And because of my parents’ whole ‘you can’t end up with someone who isn’t Italian’ attitude and because I haven’t met any Italian guys who lit that flame . . .”
“You’ve stayed single . . .”
“Exactly.” I sighed.
“But now you’re ready to move forward, why is that? I mean I know that was big for you to tell me, but you didn’t tell me anything Piper couldn’t have handled.”
“There’s more . . .”
“Oh goody!” She clapped her hands.
“Calm down, Glinda the Good Witch. This is hard for me.”
“Sorry, but what’s changed? Is it because Piper and I have found someone?”
“I think partly, but a couple other triggers have hit as well.”
“I think we need fries for this part?” she asked, waving down the waiter. “Okay continue.”
“First, although it didn’t happen first, my mother has waived the Italian rule. Apparently having a single thirty-year-old daughter who isn’t producing offspring means she has to compromise, so I’m allowed to date non-Italians now.”
“That’s pretty huge for her.”
“Yeah and for me. The thing is part of me is really resentful about it. I’m happy but I’m also thinking—now, why now? Why not ten years ago, five? All these years . . .”
“That makes sense.” The fries landed and we each took one and blew it. We had years of experience and neither of us was stupid enough to burn our tongues now. I squirted ketchup in the corner of the basket. We liked to dunk or scrape our fries through not smother them. “On the other hand, better now than never.”
“I know.”
“So that’s good news for moving forward.” She snapped her fry and popped half in her mouth. “So, what was the other thing?”
“I saw him again.”
“Him? The guy from way back when?”
I nodded. “The guy.”
“Wow. Where? When? Who?”
“Here. Last week. Luke.”

“Holy shit, Cherie. Luke?” Lucy’s eyes were bugging out of their sockets.
“Yep, holy shit.”
“You dated Luke? He dumped you and then he walked in to this very bar years later?”
“Yes.”
“And we made you guys hang?”
“Yes.”
“And how was that?”
“It was freaking weird.” That was an understatement.
“He’s very hot; I can see why you had a fling with him. You have excellent taste.”
“Thanks, I think.”
“So, did you find out why he dumped you?”
“I didn’t ask. It doesn’t matter. It’s old news. Seeing him again just proved to me it is time to get on with my life. It’s time to take a chance again, and now that I can date beyond the Italian-American community, I can find myself a Luke-alike.”
“A what?”
“A Luke-alike. A guy like Luke.”
“Why can’t you just date the real Luke?”
It did seem like an obvious solution but the real Luke was in love with his dead fiancée. I didn’t need to go into that.
“The real Luke lives in New York and is emotionally unavailable. But I will admit he is hot, and apparently that kind of hot is my kind of hot.”
“So you want my help to find you a Luke-alike?” she asked, finally putting the pieces to the puzzle together.
“Chase must know tons of blond, buff babes who could maybe like me.”
“Babe, anyone who doesn’t like you is an idiot. Have you seen yourself? You are gorgeous. And now you’re gorgeous and open to possibilities.”
“I guess.”
She clapped her hands again. “This is going to be so fun. Now I get to be the matchmaker.”
I wasn’t sure how Lucy’s matchmaking skills were to be honest, but she was all I had. It did feel better to have told someone.