2013 LDS Authors Giveaway Hop (Results)

Thanks everyone for entering the giveaway! The two winners of an autographed copy of Unexpected are ANNA and BRITNEY! 

Want a chance to win a free book (or other cool stuff) from some of your favorite LDS authors? Come and hop along with me, then! Join the LDS Authors Giveaway Hop, hosted by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and American Night Writers Association.

From October 8th to 15th, you can hop to any (or all) of the blogs listed below and sign up for their giveaways. It's the easiest kind of hopping you can do—and not nearly as tiring, either! Last year I participated in the Giveaway Hop and it was a lot of fun! 

This year I'll be randomly selecting TWO winners of my latest novel, Unexpected!

My giveaway:

All you have to do, for a chance to win an autographed copy of my novel Unexpected, is:

1) sign up to follow this blog on Google Friend Connect or by email, and

2) fill out the form below so I can contact you if you win. 

(I will not share any email information with an outside source, but to be Internet safe (because I'm a mom) only enter if you are 13 years old or older, please. 

To find out what the story is all about, check out this blog post, titled Unexpected (difficult as this will be to believe).

For an additional chance to win, repeat the process at my other blog: Lyrics Without the Chord Changes. And you can follow me on Facebook, too!

Unexpected

My latest novel, Unexpected, is now available! 

Here is the blurb from the back of the book:

Eleven years ago, Ross McConnell was devastated by the betrayal of the woman of his dreams. Time does not heal all wounds, and after more than a decade, Ross is no closer to finding love. When his well-meaning family attempts to play match maker, he concedes by creating an unrealistic list detailing his perfect mate. Perhaps he'll give love another try, if such perfection exists. . . 

Natalie Forrester is no stranger to heartache. After two failed marriages, the single mother of three is determined to make it on her own. Without a college degree, she starts at the bottom: working as a housekeeper may not be glamorous, but it's her first big step toward independence. And Natalie's most recent cleaning job is ideal--the guy is always out of town, and the pay will go a long way toward supporting her missionary son. 

And then Ross and Natalie meet . . . and meet again. And following a series of awkward encounters, Ross is shocked by his growing attraction for this woman. Natalie couldn't be further from his ideal woman, and she is firm in her determination to keep her heart closed to love. But as their tenuous friendship develops and deepens, will the unlikely pair have the courage to set aside the disappointments of the past to catch hold of a bright new future?

Writing Unexpected was a lot of fun. I asked my cute, artistic sister-in-law if I could loosely base my main female character after her, and she replied, "Why not? My life is stranger than fiction!" (Too true, that.)

I'll be posting another blog soon to describe what elements I borrowed from her, and what she is doing to help me launch Unexpected! In the meantime, you can find Unexpected at Deseret Book and Seagull Book, and Amazon, for starters. 

Happy reading! In the meantime, have some cookies and hot chocolate!

Variations on the Cougar Eat for Twenty Thumbs . . . and One Red Blooded Ute

On an evening in late July, devoted Utes and Cougars combined to celebrate one of the greatest rivalries of all time, mourn its passing, and express their displeasure at Dr. Chris Hill, University of Utah Athletic Director. 

And enjoy—one last time—the Classical great: Variations on the Cougar Eat for Twenty Thumbs . . . and One Red Blooded Ute. 

Our little performance is officially on YouTube now. (Click here.) 

A little background: About a million years ago I was a student at Brigham Young University, sitting in a classroom in the Harris Fine Art Center, minding my own business, waiting for our music theory class to start, when I got invited (and by invited I mean dragged) up to the piano by my good friend Dave Zabriskie to wreak musical havoc on the Cougar Fight Song with him. 

Well, Dave went on to bigger and better things, like a PhD, and I transferred schools—and loyalties. GO UTES! 

Fast forward an eon or two, and suddenly there was a church talent show happening, and I was thinking hmmm wouldn't it be fun if . . .

But there were a few problems: 

1) Dave lived in Chicago. 

Enter Gaylene Anderson, musical ad libber extraordinaire. With some general guidelines and chord changes scratched out on staff paper, she filled the big hole left by my original partner in crime.

2) IT'S THE COUGAR FIGHT SONG AND I'M A RED BLOODED UTE NOW. 

What the heck. We tossed in as much Utah Man as we could and called it good.

So, for all you Utes out there, I truly, truly apologize. I added as much Utah Red as I could to what was originally a Cougar Blue song. (Of course, back then it was actually Cougar Blue, not Cougar Blue.) 

AND THEN U of U ATHLETIC DIRECTOR DR. CHRIS HILL DID THE UNTHINKABLE.

With the changes to the college football schedules, in essence ending this longstanding rivalry after this season, we decided we needed to dust off this relic and perform it one last time. Below are a few screen shots from the event, which was held on July 31, 2012, at the Sandy City Library. 

Me reminding the crowd that they need to behave.

Some awesome Future Utah Men and Women.

Everyone is excited. (I guess they don't know what's about to hit them.)

I really like the color red, so I decided to show more of it.

See? Utes and Cougars coexisting peacefully together.

Our great announcer: Russell "Golden Tones" Anderson.

A solitary red cap amidst a sea of blue.

You wouldn't know it by this picture, but we really are great friends. Ahh, sports rivalries. They rank right up there with politics and religion.

To one of the great college rivalries of all time, may you rest in peace. And may you be successfully resurrected in a couple of years. Fingers crossed. 

Just not while we're at the piano.

Blog Tour and my Bachelorette Recap: Sean Gone

For The Reality Check Blog Tour, Lexie at The Book Bug and I thought it would be fun to dish on The Bachelorette and Emily Maynard's search for love, a husband, and ready-made daddy for Ricki. (Notice that I didn't call her Little Ricki, since I don't want the I Love Lucy theme song stuck in your head all day long . . . oops . . . my bad.)

Three guys remain. This season has been different from the others for a big reason: Emily isn't a free-wheeling, single girl simply out looking for love. She's a single mom looking for a partner. Jason Mesnick is the only other single parent who has been in the lead spot besides Emily.

Emily is drop dead gorgeous and undeniably sweet, but she also has backbone. That girl's a bonafide Steel Magnolia. She also went through a huge public breakup with Bachelor Brad. As a result, she hasn't wasted any time getting rid of the guys who weren't for her or weren't there for the right reasons.

Usually by the time there are three remaining bachelors, there's a clear winner or the threat of a clear winner ("No, no, Jake, not Vienna!"). But in Emily's case she seems to have three great guys, which I think is largely due to the fact that they are guys who realize they're also dealing with the life of a child here, and have been willing to man up.

So off they head to Curacao. (By the way, Curacao is an island off the coast of Venezuela—I had to go to Wikipedia to find out. Didn't you love the colorful Dutch architecture? Somebody send me there on a cruise, please!!)

Sean: Mr. Perfect

Sean is perfect, but that might actually mean his doom. Sean himself doesn't believe he's perfect, but Emily uses that word around him a LOT. He looks like a Greek god, he tosses trees—cabers, technically—and breaks them, for Pete's sake, all while being the perfect Southern gentleman. Perfect.

But perfect doesn't necessarily work for Emily. All you have to do is refer back to Ryan, the guy who thought he was perfect despite having alien crop circles shaved into his beard, to know that, in Emily's mind, perfect is an ideal that is destined for failure.

There are a few other red flags during their magic date, which includes a true-to-Bachelorette-form helicopter ride around the island. First, he confesses that he treated the girls he dated like "buddies," specifically, the girlfriend he had for three years. "I loved her but I wasn't in love with her," he says.

Then he admits he skirted the M-word with said girlfriend for those three years. Three years of her trying to talk marriage, with him constantly changing the subject? Just aim that gun right at your foot and shoot it now, Sean. Because right now it isn't you Emily sees sitting in front of her, it's Brad Womack, Mr. Commitment Phobe himself. A girl who claims she wants babies yesterday doesn't want to hang around for three years to find out if her guy can figure out the difference between "love" and "in love" and whether he's willing to do anything about it once he does.

And then, in an awkward attempt to at least get the L-word out, Sean tells Emily that no one he's dated has ever "measured up" quite like she has. Oh, Sean, Sean, Sean. To his credit, after several false starts, he does manage to tell Emily he's in love with her, but it's a little late in the Bachelorette game at this point, I fear.

Clue from Emily: "You represent everything everyone looks for." 

Jef: Mr. One F

Jef is hip and quirky. Even his name tells you that about him. I'm willing to bet his birth certificate has two Fs. And you've gotta love a guy who can not only make a marionette moon-walk but can get Emily to boot scoot as if she were a kid. She's had to be a grownup ever since she found out she was pregnant at the age of eighteen. Being able to act like a kid on occasion when you have grownup responsibilities is a blessing.

But his youthful looks and crazy joie de vivre make some wonder if he's really responsible and ready to settle down and be a dad—even his brother questioned him on it. But the guy's a college grad and has a successful entrepreneurship. That means he's acted responsibly more than once in his life. He can probably figure out when he's ready to take the next step and settle down with someone he loves.

He's also a "non-practicing" Mormon, which seems to confuse a lot of people. One thing I can tell you that it does mean is that Jef was raised in a culture that promotes marriage commitments over long-term engagements with living arrangements. The conversation he and Emily had in the library in Prague seemed to show that they're on the same page (ha, no pun intended) there. And that might also mean he's more willing to take the marital plunge sooner, if he really is in love with Emily, than either Sean or Arie. And for a woman who's looking for a family for Ricki now, including all those babies, that could be a big plus in her eyes.

Clue from Emily: "It's perfect on paper but also things you can't put on paper."

Ah, Arie: Mr. Start Your Engines

What's not to like about Arie? The guy's handsome and charming, and he's an Indy car driver (as opposed to NASCAR), something Emily understands and relates to without it being the same as Ricki's dad. Plus, Emily and Arie have enough chemistry to blow an 8th Grade science lab to smithereens—AND he protects her from all those pesky dolphins swimming in the sea. Emily loves his protectiveness—almost as much as she loves his kissing.

But it's difficult for Emily to get to know a guy when his lips are busy not talking. She tells him she doesn't even know what he does on an average Tuesday morning. Of course, finding out Arie avoids living the sad bachelor life (when he's not on the road, racing) by sleeping in, heading for the shop, then eating and hanging out with friends may not be what Emily was hoping to hear. This Steel Magnolia gets up before six-thirty after all, y'all. It may not cost Arie the checkered flag at the finish line, but it at least earns him a cautionary yellow.

Emily also understands that chemistry has clouded her mind—and opts not to even offer Arie the fantasy suite card. It's just too, too much temptation. Hooray, Emily! Attagirl! All the moms of daughters across America salute you and simultaneously feel your pain.

Clue from Emily: "He's so good-looking. **Sigh** That's a problem. I wish I could just enjoy Arie." 

And then, suddenly—after nearly two hours, that is—it's rose ceremony time. Each guy has strengths Emily is looking for. Sean is handsome and strong, a real go-to gentleman. Jef is edgy and playful, yet somehow manages to stay down to earth. Arie is all smoldering romance. Emily has strong feelings for each man and realizes tearfully that she's going to be blindsiding and hurting someone. She can barely watch the videos the guys have made for her. She breaks down several times before going out to face them.

In the end, Sean is the one who doesn't receive a rose. And again he's absolutely perfect. He takes the news stoically, expresses his hurt without being spiteful, and doesn't break down in the limo. Ah, Sean, there are only about a million women in your home state of Texas alone who would be happy to  give you the time you need to get those tricky words out. Just don't lead the girl on for three years if you're really not feeling it. Promise me.

And then there were two.

The Bachelor/ette Historical Firsts:

First: There has never been a Bachelor/ette who has opted out of all three fantasy suite dates until Emily. (I am giving her credit for all three, even though Jef turned her down first, since she said she was going to turn him down in her ITM.)

First: Jef is the first guy ever to voluntarily turn down the fantasy suite card, although a few guys have played the gentleman and deferred to the bachelorette to make the call. (And for those LDS readers, did you catch his scriptural reference from the Book of Alma? The world could do with a few more bridled passions, frankly.) I only remember one woman ever turning down the fantasy suite card. The Bachelor "respected" her decision—and then sent her home at the next rose ceremony.

Another First: This is the first time I think I've heard or seen anyone on the show say this particular phrase, and I think it says a lot about Emily. Here is a quote from her blog on People.com this week (emphasis mine):

"I say it every week, but this was definitely the hardest rose ceremony yet. I went back and forth so many times, but I reminded myself that I couldn't make a mistake as long as I prayed about it and followed my heart." 


I hope, for Emily and Ricki's sake, her prayers are answered.


Next Monday is The Men Tell All, and I'll be blogging about it the following Wednesday. The finale and a live After The Final Rose will air on Sunday night July 22nd, instead of Monday night, as it's been in the past. Will you be watching? Add your comments (including your email address) below to be entered into our drawing for the grand prize (a copy of my novel Reality Check and a gorgeous charm bracelet)! And be sure to check The Book Bug for the other blogs participating in the tour so you can have as many chances of winning as possible.


Also, check out my other contest on the blog Lyrics Without the Chord Changes. I want to know where you had your Reality Check! 

And for more reality TV and romance fun, get yourself a copy of my novel Reality Check!

xoxoxo
Karen

Reality Check

I'm giving myself a reality check. First I pinch myself . . . yep, I'm awake. I'm not dreaming. Holy cow, it's really happening?? Yeah, baby!

My debut novel Reality Check will be hitting the store shelves in June. I'm not sure of all the locations, but you can pick one up at any Seagull Book and Deseret Book store for starters. Below is the blurb on the back cover:

Αfter college graduation, Lucy Kendrick heads home with big plans for work, travel, and relishing her freedom—which means no romantic entanglements. But her two best friends have other ideas. Lucy is seriously steamed when she realizes they’ve signed her up to be a contestant on the reality dating show Soulmates, but she decides not to renege and soon finds herself in Los Angeles—a small-town Mormon girl vying for the love of millionaire bachelor Ethan Glass. 

At first this cute, smart, fun young woman who would rather pray than party bewilders Ethan, as does the fact that his interest and admiration grow with every encounter. But a conniving associate producer is determined to stir up some made-for-TV drama and plants hidden cameras that inadvertently catch a truly honest but unsensational moment. And since reality television is anything but real, when the show finally airs, the story is not even close to what actually happened and Lucy has been recast as someone she unquestionably is not. Will the duplicities that have created this humiliation ever come to light? And will the truth emerge too late for the would-be soulmates?

Fun times! And especially written for all you Bachelor and Bachelorette fans out there (and even all of you who aren't) who may wonder, "What would happen if . . . ?"

Donny and Marie, Agustin, and Me

Thirty-one years ago I traveled with some friends to Guadalajara, Mexico.

Our pal Kevin, a transplant from Wales, was the soccer coach for the University of Utah. Back then, kids in the good old U.S. of A. didn't even know soccer existed. The U decided to offer soccer as a club sport on campus, and Kevin recruited players, mostly from the Greek Row fraternities. I think he barely had enough players to field a team. (Times have changed dramatically since then.)

In an effort to show the team what soccer was really like in the rest of the civilized world, he arranged for them to participate in an invitational tournament, hosted by the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara. Kevin recruited friends from his L.D.S. home ward to go along on the trip so he could book a charter flight and get group rates on hotel rooms.

We (those friends) all said something like, "Heck, yeah!"

So the bunch of us, a team made up of frat boys and a group of friends from Kevin's Mormon congregation, boarded a plane for a week together in Mexico. We were a motley crew (as opposed to a Motley Crue) and we all got along great—they drank their Dos Equis cervesas, we downed our Seven Ups and Frescas, and we toured the countryside and the city and watched soccer together.

Our group was assigned a tour guide by the Universidad Autonoma, a student from one of their English classes. His name was Agustin. When he'd heard that one of the teams was from Utah, he'd immediately volunteered. He liked America. He thought Donny and Marie were great, and he had a major crush on Marie. He knew all about the Osmonds: they were from Utah, they were Mormons. . . We were an opportunity for him to feel close to his favorite pop stars, and learn more about what they were like.

If you are rolling your eyes at the fact that he liked Donny and Marie, I will point out that they had a top-rated TV show at the time. They were at the peak of their young careers and they were hot hot hot. Think Taylor Swift and Justin Beiber hot. A little bit country and a little bit rock 'n roll hot.

Agustin was pretty cute and easy to be with. In fact, he kind of looked like a Mexican Donny Osmond—dark hair, dark eyes, big smile. He meshed well with our Seven Up and Fresca group. We exchanged addresses with him and wrote. We gave him a Book of Mormon. He even visited us in Salt Lake City a few months later.

Ultimately, though, I'm afraid I was not a very good friend. I stopped writing. I was young and inexperienced, and unsure how to deal with it all, especially with the language barrier. (This was before the days of e-mail and Facebook. You had to write a letter and send it snail mail with international postage attached.) I deferred to the members of our group who had served missions and spoke Spanish. Agustin actually called me to task on it. He wrote me one last time and told me he didn't expect any more letters from me, but that he was disappointed that I'd stopped being his friend.

I felt bad.

Wow, had I come up short.

Thirty years have now come and gone. All of us from the old home ward have moved on, married, lost touch. . .

Last week I was doing research on a project and needed to understand Spanish surname customs. On a whim, I thought I might understand the rules better if I saw them in action, and logged into new.familysearch (L.D.S. Church family history website for the uninitiated) so I could see an actual pedigree chart dealing with Spanish surnames. Again—on a whim—I decided to enter Agustin's surnames into the search engine. I wasn't expecting to find Agustin, however.

The name at the top of the search results jolted me. It had to be an ancestor related to Agustin! There were too many coincidences in the information. It included a contact e-mail address, but didn't include a contact name. I was pretty certain it was a chance to find Agustin after all these years, but I wasn't 100% certain. I wondered: do I write to this anonymous person, share the story and take a chance? After thirty years? I told my children about it; I asked my husband what he thought.

He said go for it.

So I did. Last Sunday night, I sent an e-mail to the anonymous contact, relating the story and finally asking, "Are you the Agustin who was with us in Guadalajara thirty years ago?"

Monday morning I had my answer. It was yes.

Agustin had been baptized. He served a mission. He married in the Mexico City temple. He has three daughters (who, by the way, are gorgeous enough to be movie stars), two of whom recently married in the Guadalajara temple. And my heart just about burst.

The Lord knows what we need and what we are looking for. He knew Agustin had a golden heart and was searching. The efforts of a young brother and sister act who were fresh and funny and good role models planted the first seeds. My friends and I, I believe, were sent to him to help those seeds grow a little more. After that, Agustin was able to continue on his journey of faith without us. But he was definitely not alone.

I am so grateful that my human failings—and failure—didn't deter him. I am grateful to have found a new, old friend, after thirty years of wondering.

Donny and Marie use to close their show singing this:

May tomorrow be a perfect day,

May you find love and laughter along the way,

May God keep you in His tender care,

Till He brings us together again.

Pretty appropriate, I'd say.

Life is good.