Emotional New Release

from Marci Bolden

For authors, our books are like our children and we aren’t supposed to pick favorites. Apparently I’m a terrible book mama because I absolutely have a favorite, and it was released August 13. I don’t even feel ashamed saying that.

A Life Without Water is easily the most emotional book I’ve ever written. Despite all the re-reads, re-writes, and rounds of editing, I still cry reading this heartfelt story. This is women’s fiction, a break from my usual genre of romance, and I poured my entire heart and soul into the journey these characters take.

We all have ghosts in our past that we have to face eventually. Whether we face them on our own or stare down that one person who we feel betrayed us, we have to deal with past pain in order to truly forgive and move forward.

That reckoning of the past is what this book is about and it is definitely a roller coaster ride.

Carol Denman divorced her husband over twenty years ago and has never looked back. But on the day before their daughter’s thirtieth birthday, John barges back into Carol’s life with a request that threatens the fragile stability she has built.

John Bowman is sick. Very sick. While he still can, he has some amends to make and some promises to fulfill. But to do that, he not only needs his ex-wife’s agreement…he needs her.

With the past hovering between them like a ghost, Carol and John embark on a decades-overdue road trip. Together they plunge back into a life without water…but which may ultimately set them free.

EXCERPT
Carol Denman blinked. The long and slow kind that gave the brain a moment to process unexpected information. When she lifted her lids, her assistant still stood on the other side of her desk. Tiana’s near-black eyes filled with a million questions. The rich umber skin above her nose crinkled as she drew her brows together.

The words she’d spoken lingered in the air between them.

There was a man standing outside Carol’s office asking to see her. Not just any man. Her ex-husband.

“You were married before Tobias?”

Tiana’s voice was low enough that no one outside the office could possibly hear, but to Carol’s ears, the words sounded as if they had been announced through a bullhorn. The question spun her tightly held emotions out of control. The skin above her brow prickled with the first signs of nervous sweat. Clenching her fists, digging white acrylic tips into her palm, she took a breath to calm herself before the telltale sign of anxiety—bright red creeping up her pale neck until it settled over her face—could start.

She blinked again. This time the rapid, mind-clearing kind. She dislodged the knot in her throat before finding her voice. “Yes. A long time ago.” A lifetime ago. “Did he say what he wants?”

“No.” Confusion faded to what appeared to be concern. “He looks nervous. Should I tell him to leave or…I can call security.”

Security was a seventy-three-year-old overweight retired police officer who was far more invested in completing the Houston Chronicle’s crossword puzzle than he ever was in doing his job. Carol suspected even if she did need help, old Charlie Turner would call 911 and offer crowd control long before he’d intervene with some kind of physical altercation in her office. Not that she was worried about what her ex would do to her.

Just the opposite.

She was more concerned she’d grab the sterling silver scissors from her desk drawer and shove them repeatedly into his chest.

Outside her window, early summer sunlight reflected in a blinding starburst off the man-made pond where geese liked to gather as they migrated. This time of year the water was smooth. Still. Deceptively calm. As she stared at the water, memories of her life with John flashed through her mind like an old 8-mm film on a loop.

Laughter, singing, playing.

Screaming. Crying. Begging.

Tiana’s quiet voice cut into Carol’s thoughts. “Should I tell him to leave?”

“Um… No.” God, I’m going to regret this. “It’s fine. Show him in.”

Read all of Chapter One here.

Purchase A Life Without Water here.

Netgalley Reviews
This story will push your emotions to the limit, make you realize how much damage you do to yourself by holding onto anger and refusing to let go and help you to walk through the process of learning who you really are and what life has done to make you that person. – cindy r.

This book was everything. It made me FEEL so much. I cried so very much at times. Beautifully and realistically written. Life is fickle and here and gone in a minute. Learn to forgive and remember to live! –Dineen M.

This book – A Life Without Water – basically ripped my heart out – smashed it into a million pieces and put it back together again. – Beth S.

As a teen, Marci Bolden skipped over young adult books and jumped right into reading romance novels. She never left.

Marci lives in the Midwest with her husband, two teenaged kiddos, and numerous rescue pets. If she had an ounce of will power, Marci would embrace healthy living but until cupcakes and wine are no longer available at the local grocery store, she’ll put that ambition on hold and appease her guilt by reading self-help books and promising to join a gym “soon.”

Learn more about Marci Bolden on her website. Stay connected on Facebook and Twitter.

MARCI BOLDEN LIVE

I’m so excited to announce the re-release of California Can Wait with its fresh edits and gorgeous cover. I absolutely adore this romantic novella set in a small newspaper office in Texas and hope you will too.

When reporter Andrea Davidson inadvertently ruins her career over a bad tip, she hits the road to start her life over. She has big plans for a new life in California but fate has other plans. She loses everything when she is robbed in a small West Texas town and has a run in with the editor in chief of the local paper.

Graham Bradley isn’t impressed when a smart mouthed woman tries to tell him how to do his job. At least not until he realizes she is right! But it doesn’t take long to also realize he wants more than just pointers on how to make his paper more successful. The chemistry between them is off the charts in the best possible way.

Starting over will have to wait.

EXCERPT
Graham looked at Andi. “I could use help.”

“Obviously,” she said.

“So. When can you start?”

She leaned closer to him, tilting her head as she looked up curiously, as if she didn’t understand him. “Excuse me?”

“I’m probably going to regret this, but I’m offering you a job.”

She laughed. “I didn’t come in here looking for a job.”

“No, you came in here hell-bent on telling me how to do mine.”

“Somebody had to,” she practically sang.

“I need someone who knows her ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to putting a paper together. I’ve been looking at that layout for almost an hour and still couldn’t get it right. It took you ten minutes.”

“The flag is too big.”

“You also graciously corrected my grammatical errors,” he said, ignoring her criticism. “I need some backup, not just with editing and layout but writing as well. I can’t run this paper alone, not to the standard that I want.”

“You don’t know that I can write.”

“If you can edit like this, you can write.”

She lifted her shoulder and let it fall casually. “I’m just passing through town.”

“How far are you going to get without that cash you had hidden in your suitcase?” He grinned when the defiant look on her face fell. “I was at the diner to interview you about the break-in.”

“Oh, so you don’t normally go around harassing defenseless women?”

“Defenseless?” He laughed. “Hardly. It seems you need the money as much as I need the help.”

The fun of the game faded, as did her smirk. “I’m just passing through, Mr. Bradley.”

Graham stared her down for a moment before he shrugged. “Right. That’s okay. You probably couldn’t handle the stress anyway.”

Andi creased her brow. “What?”

“The demands of publishing a daily paper are pretty intense. It takes someone who can work well under pressure.”

“And you don’t think I can?”

He was playing her with his feigned innocence, but damned if she didn’t feel herself falling for his manipulation when he said, “I’m just saying it takes a special breed to survive in journalism.”

“A special breed?”

“You know, long hours, lousy pay—”

“Constant scrutiny by inept editors,” she added.

Graham nodded. “There is that.”

“I think I can handle the job.”

“Great, so you can start right now by cleaning up the rest of the layout.”

“I didn’t say I was taking the job,” Andi clarified. “I said I can handle it.”

“Of course you can,” he said in a patronizing tone.

She guessed that the fire in her eyes was enough to burn him alive, but he simply smiled in a way that made her want to do nothing more than prove him wrong.

“And I’m sure that if you weren’t in such a hurry to get wherever you are going,” he continued, “you’d have me and this paper turned around in no time.”

“I’m quite confident.”

“But you have places to be. Where are you headed again?”
“I didn’t say.”

He nodded dramatically. “Right. Well, I’m sure you have some great life you need to get back to—”

“I do,” she said, cutting him off. As she did, she wondered if he somehow knew she had nothing. Nowhere to go. No job waiting for her. No welcome party planned when she reached her destination. A destination that she hadn’t really figured out or planned for beyond California. She scoffed, more at her own situation than his words. “I’m sure you can find a preschooler with scissors and a bottle of glue who could use some candy money.”

He covered his heart with his hand. “Ouch.”

Pushing herself up from his desk, she slipped around the wing and headed for the exit before she did one more stupid thing with her life. “Good luck, Mr. Bradley.”

“Good luck to you, Miss…Andi.”

AMAZON BUY LINK

As a teen, Marci Bolden skipped over young adult books and jumped right into reading romance novels. She never left.

Marci lives in the Midwest with her husband, two teenaged kiddos, and numerous rescue pets. If she had an ounce of will power, Marci would embrace healthy living but until cupcakes and wine are no longer available at the local grocery store, she’ll put that ambition on hold and appease her guilt by reading self-help books and promising to join a gym “soon.”

Learn more about Marci Bolden on her website. Stay connected on Facebook and Twitter.