キャミー・タング著「戌年」連載小説 プロのドッグトレーナーであるマリ・ムトウは、厄年を迎えている。 犬小屋と訓練所の改築をしながら、いつも不服そうにしている家族と同居することになった。母と姉に言わせれば、犬の毛とよだれかけにまみれる仕事は、家族にとって恥ずべきものだという。彼女は元カレを説得し、数ヶ月間犬を預かってもらうことにした。しかし、彼の兄は、数週間前に彼女が誤って車に追突した、怒り狂ったセキュリティ専門家であることが判明する。 アシュウィン・ケイトウは十分な問題を抱えている。叔母が玄関先に現れ、同居を希望している。彼は彼女にすべてを借りているので、断ることができません。母親が家を出て行った後、ネルおばさんはアシュウィンと弟を引き取り、愛のあるキリスト教の家庭で育てた。しかも、弟のダスティもアパートを追い出され、居場所を求めている。しかし、彼は犬を飼っている。そして、その犬の飼い主は誰だと思いますか？ しかし、旧友でオアフ島のノースショアでデイスパを経営する私立探偵のエディサ・ゲレロから依頼を受ける。マリの施設で奇妙な破壊行為があり、3年前に失踪したエディサの妹の財布を発見する。エディサはマリが危険な目に遭っているのではと心配する。警備の専門家であるアシュウィンがすでにマリを知っていることを知ったエディサは、忙しい若い女性を密かに監視することを彼に依頼する。 アシュウィンは、活発でのんびりとしたドッグトレーナーに不本意ながら惹かれていく。彼女は、幸せそうな母親を思い出させる。その母親の裏切りによって、彼は人と距離を置くようになったのだ。マリは、アシュウィンの冷たい外見を見抜き、彼が家族に忠実な男であることを認める。彼は、彼女のキャリア選択を批判するだけの母親や姉とは違う。 マリのバラバラな家庭とアシュウィンのバラバラな家庭の中で、過去を隠そうとする人たちから、彼らの周りに危険が迫ってくるようになる。彼らは、影で動く秘密に光を当てることができるのか？ 過去に発表されたパートへのリンクはこちら。 *** 第8章 - 恐ろしくも真っ白な不動産書類 『みんな仲良くできないのかな？』 マリは無用に力を込めて箱に本を投げ入れた。最近、なぜ彼女は人生の中で全員と言い争いをしているのだろう？もしかすると、これは本当に悪いアイデア
Captain’s Log, Stardate 08.19.2006
Blog book giveaway:
My Monday book giveaway is GEORGIA ON HER MIND by Rachel Hauck.
My Thursday book giveaway is MURDER, MAYHEM, AND A FINE MAN by Claudia Mair Burney.
You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Monday, I'll draw the winner for GEORGIA ON HER MIND and post the title for another book I'm giving away.
A Novel Idea: Meredith tagged me, what can I say?
I’ve written several novels (five, to be exact), so I can answer the first question: If you could write a novel about any subject, what would it be?
A young maid named Cinderella . . . Oh, wait. That’s been done before.
A hip 30-something named Cindy Long is laid off from her Silicon Valley high-tech company and the ridiculous housing prices force her to move back home with her psycho stepmother and two passive-aggressive stepsisters.
All Cindy wants in life is to marry a guy who works for Yahoo, Google or Apple, and find a (relatively) affordable pair of Manolo Blahnik stilettos on eBay.
Then her stepmother, dealing with an inferiority complex that dates back to the days when she was the fat girl in school, hides Cindy’s invitation to the exclusive Black-and-Red Ball in Palo Alto.
Cindy’s Hong Kong grandmother unexpectedly arrives with a fabulous pair of Jimmy Choo knock-offs and a Vera Wang number that only cost her a couple hundred bucks back home. Cindy crashes the party and woos Bill Gates’s nephew from under her stepsisters’ noses.
They trade cell phone numbers because matching numerous girls’ feet to a left-behind shoe is very unsanitary. They marry on the island of Lanai and live happily ever after.
The End
My husband, Captain Caffeine, answered question number two: What would you like to read about in a novel that you’ve never seen done before?
“A coffee geek takes over the planet.”
My dog, Snickers, answered question number three: If you hate reading fiction, what subject might make you change your mind or try it anyway?
“Woof. Pant, pant.”
Translation: I’m hungry. Are books edible?
Blog book giveaway:
My Monday book giveaway is GEORGIA ON HER MIND by Rachel Hauck.
My Thursday book giveaway is MURDER, MAYHEM, AND A FINE MAN by Claudia Mair Burney.
You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. On Monday, I'll draw the winner for GEORGIA ON HER MIND and post the title for another book I'm giving away.
A Novel Idea: Meredith tagged me, what can I say?
If you could write a novel about any subject, what would it be? (Just the subject–don’t give away your plot idea!)
Or, if just the thought of having to write anything gives you hives, what would you like to read about in a novel that you’ve never seen done before?
Or if you hate reading fiction (you can get counseling for that, you know), what subject might make you change your mind or try it anyway?
I’ve written several novels (five, to be exact), so I can answer the first question: If you could write a novel about any subject, what would it be?
A young maid named Cinderella . . . Oh, wait. That’s been done before.
A hip 30-something named Cindy Long is laid off from her Silicon Valley high-tech company and the ridiculous housing prices force her to move back home with her psycho stepmother and two passive-aggressive stepsisters.
All Cindy wants in life is to marry a guy who works for Yahoo, Google or Apple, and find a (relatively) affordable pair of Manolo Blahnik stilettos on eBay.
Then her stepmother, dealing with an inferiority complex that dates back to the days when she was the fat girl in school, hides Cindy’s invitation to the exclusive Black-and-Red Ball in Palo Alto.
Cindy’s Hong Kong grandmother unexpectedly arrives with a fabulous pair of Jimmy Choo knock-offs and a Vera Wang number that only cost her a couple hundred bucks back home. Cindy crashes the party and woos Bill Gates’s nephew from under her stepsisters’ noses.
They trade cell phone numbers because matching numerous girls’ feet to a left-behind shoe is very unsanitary. They marry on the island of Lanai and live happily ever after.
The End
My husband, Captain Caffeine, answered question number two: What would you like to read about in a novel that you’ve never seen done before?
“A coffee geek takes over the planet.”
My dog, Snickers, answered question number three: If you hate reading fiction, what subject might make you change your mind or try it anyway?
“Woof. Pant, pant.”
Translation: I’m hungry. Are books edible?
Comments
Don't forget to tag some other bloggers. And thank you so much for playing along with me. :)
Hey, now you have a name for your husband. Since when?
I wanted to do some shopping today. So it's raining. Do I want to go out in that and keep changing buses? Not really. The last time it rained while I was out shopping, I lost a library book. Translation: I have to pay for it. I do still have a bit more than six weeks for it to show up somewhere, but if it fell in a puddle and got as soaked as I did that day, I think nobody will even bother to look at the swollen lump with the cute cloth cover on it. It's probably buried in landfill.
From the standpoint of someone who's been single all her life, I do feel I lack something. I've never desperately looked for a mate as some other of my single friends have. Can I feel complete without having a man to love? I really don't know since I've never seen the other side of the coin. But neither have I been desperate to find someone. I've left it up to God. If he still wants me to find a godly man, I'm not averse to it. There are definitely pros and cons to both states: marriage and singleness. Yes, I do feel that I'm missing out on something but does it really mean I'm incomplete. That, I really can't tell. Sometimes it's just that I wish I had someone to call on to do all the manly chores around the house which my lack of health prevents me from doing. However, does that really mean I *have* to be married? Or that other things would change if I did find that godly man? I have no way of knowing that.
It's the same as trying to define what's "normal", which is what we were talking about with an author who has a severely autistic child.
I love the Cindy story!! So clever. :)
Missy