Tag Archives: THE BEST KIND OF LOVE

THE BEST KIND OF LOVE is here! It’s here!

Books, Interview, Kerri Carpenter, Kimberly MacCarron, mermaids, ,

I’m so excited to interview our very own Mermaid-Kerri Carpenter today. We are all flipping our sparkly fins in the lagoon as we celebrate the release of THE BEST KIND OF LOVE.

Kerri Carpenter's newest release

Click here to buy Kerri Carpenter’s newest release

I was privileged to be on the ground level of her post yesterday. We were roomies in NYC for the RWA conference, and I was also in her critique group when she started writing Penelope and Ethan’s story.

We started out as a group of six, but a few dropped out, and then three of us stuck it out. We had the best critique group ever. We met at a local bar/restaurant and drank mojitos with cool sugar cane stirrers. We drank. We ate. We laughed. Then we would discuss our books. Best. Critique. Group. EVER.

My favorite scene in THE BEST KIND OF LOVE is when the heroine shoves the hero off the porch and into the rose bush. Hope that’s not a spoiler alert. Is it? Sorry! But, I so loved that scene. It was the type of scene where it just comes alive in your mind. I could completely see it. I loved Penelope’s awesome blend of feisty and vulnerable.

In the spirit of Christmas, I have to sing, “These are a few of my favorite things” about this book. 1) Second-chance love. 2) Feisty yet vulnerable characters. 3) Family dynamics. 4) Fabulous sisters x4! 5) Small-town setting.
This book has it all!

Now, I’d like to ask Kerri some fun questions that James Lipton asks at the end of INSIDE THE ACTORS STUDIO:

1. What is your favorite word? Any two words (or parts of words) combined like awesomesauce, asshat, glittertastic.
2. What is your least favorite word? (I CAN’T believe I’m going to say this but I truly hate, hate, hate this word.) Titties
3. What turns you on? Kindness and loyalty. A really good bottle of wine and some candles doesn’t hurt either.
4. What turns you off? Intentional meanness.
5. What sound or noise do you love? The sound of waves crashing on the beach.
6. What sound or noise do you hate? Whistling
7. What is your favorite curse word? Fuck-balls
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? I always wanted to play a villain on a Soap Opera or be an MTV VJ in the 90s.
9. What profession would you not like to do? Dishwasher, because there’s nothing I hate more than washing dishes!
10. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? You did a great job! I’m proud of you. Come see everyone – they’ve been waiting.

Man, Kerri, that last answer reminds me of The Titanic when the old woman dies after tossing that diamond into the ocean (WTH?) and her younger spirit moves through the ship seeing everyone again.  Then she sees Jack.  I don’t know what brought tears to my eyes.  Their short-lived yet eternal romance or the fact that she threw that damn diamond into the ocean.  Probably the diamond.

Does anyone have a question for Kerri?  One lucky commenter will be swimming away with a free copy of THE BEST KIND OF LOVE.

Visit Kerri at her awesomesauce website here. Follow her on Twitter here.

Visit Kerri at her awesomesauce website here. Follow @authorKerri on Twitter here.

Hot and Humid

Kerri Carpenter, , , ,

In 2011, I went to the RWA® National Conference in New York City and pitched a manuscript. I remember the pitching room was filled with like 427,000 agents and editors. The waiting area outside was commandeered by a mean woman who yelled at us like cattle. Really naughty cattle who had used her toothbrush. She detested us! Kerri Carpenter

I walked up to a very well-known editor wearing my specially chosen flouncy polka-dot skirt and coordinating hair accessories, which she did comment on. Yay! I knew we would be best friends. I pitched my manuscript, she liked it, and asked me to send the whole thing. Then she said the words that rocked my world.

HAVE YOU WRITTEN ANYTHING ELSE?

At the time, I was quite nervous and somewhat flustered from above mean lady yelling at me like cattle. I didn’t take the time to process her question. If I had, I would have realized she meant, do you have anything else that is finished that you can pitch to me today because you are slotted to talk to me for ten minutes and we are only a minute and half into your session. Instead, I took her question to mean, Have you written anything else…EVER?

With a big smile and imaginary glitter, I shouted a resounding, “Yes!”

Editor stared at me. Shit! The reality came crashing down. She wanted me to pitch another story.

So with an adorable smile, I made up a story off the top of my head. It involved four sisters who had been adopted by two people who died at the opening of the first book. They lived in a quaint Virginia town called Blue Lake. The love story was about reunited high school loves.

The editor’s eyes lit up. “Send it to me immediately.”

Double-shit. I hadn’t written it yet. Hell, I’d just thought it up.

When the conference ended, I visited my brother out on Long Island. I sat on the sand of a beach in East Hampton and started writing this mythical story by hand in a legal pad.

That story is called The Best Kind of Love.

It is going to be published tomorrow.

It’s taken many names and many shapes over the last three years. The editor I pitched it to in NYC did not acquire it. I almost gave up on it multiple times. But it was that crazy story I thought up on the spot that eventually won two contests and brought me together with my agent. It’s not just a story I made up off the top of my head. It’s been my story for the last three years. And I can’t wait to share it with all of you.

And if you’re wondering about the title of this post – Hot and Humid – well, that’s a story for another time….

TBKoL-medium

COVER REVEAL: The BEST KIND OF LOVE by Kerri Carpenter

Denny S. Bryce, mermaids, ,

Denny (PortRoyale)Happy Day! It’s Mermaid NEW BOOK COVER REVEAL Wednesday! And the star of today’s special event is our own Kerri Carpenter’s THE BEST KIND OF LOVE, set to hit ebook shelves everywhere on December 10 from Soul Mate Publishing!

Drumroll, please!

Patience, Patience…

Okay, be patient!

First, here’s the blurb about Kerri’s second release of 2014:

THE BEST KIND OF LOVE

After twelve years away, organized consultant, Penelope Walker, doesn’t expect to return to Blue Lake, Virginia. But when her parents unexpectedly die, she returns to her hometown and finds out that general contractor and former love of her life, Ethan Callahan, is back too. Their relationship transcended the typical high school romance and his mere presence is enough to have all those feelings of passion return full force. Only she can’t forget that Ethan didn’t show up for their secret elopement and left her brokenhearted.

It doesn’t take long for Ethan to realize he wants Penelope back, but he knows she won’t let go of the past that easily. When she finds out what her parents asked him to do all those years ago, she’ll never let him back into her life. Even though he did all of it for her.

Penelope’s determined to unravel the mystery of their shared pasts, while Ethan wants nothing more than to move on to their future. If these two former lovers can learn to forgive and forget, will they be able to remember that they had the best kind of love?

Now are you ready?

Okay! Here it is!

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AND IT IS GORGEOUS!

And here’s MERMAID KERRI!

Mermaid Kerri

You can read more about THE BEST KIND OF LOVE (and her debut release, FLIRTING WITH THE COMPETITION) by visiting her Website, finding her on Twitter, or Facebook!

And don’t forget to mark your calendar for December 10. That’s the official release date for Kerri’s new book!