DON'T LET GO, teenagers, and a Giveaway!!

Hey readers!  (Sharla here again!)  Are you having fun in here today? 

You know, Mother’s Day is steadily approaching.  And it makes me think of all the parental themes I’ve had in my books.  I always have strong mother-child relationship themes in my stories, that’s just a place I always go.  It’s right on up there with the love story.  And it’s funny, because my first book, THE REASON IS YOU, had a mother of a 16 year old.  Which strongly mirrored my daughter and I at that time.  In BEFORE AND EVER SINCE, the daughter was 21…which was my son’s age at the time.   Now, my daughter is 19 and out on her own, and last year we went through the whole senior year of high school thing.

Have you done that?  Because I want to high five you and hug you because that was more brutal than the terrible twos.  Seriously.  My son was easy.  My daughter made me gray.

 In DON’T LET GO, the relationship between Jules and her 17 year old high senior daughter Becca isn’t rosy, and it all came honestly, I promise you.  LOL. 

Here’s a little scene that highlights that…

The cheeseburger only made me want more crap, so I figured that nachos would be a good follow up for dinner that night.  And the look on Becca’s face when she came in was nearly worth the empty calories we were about to consume.  She looked almost as excited as Harley, who was sitting at my feet looking up at me like I was God.
“Are you dying?” she asked.  “Am I?”
“Ha ha,” I said, chopping up the lettuce.  “Check those beans in the microwave.  See if they’re ready.”
She dropped her backpack where she stood and headed that way.  “Is there a reason for the madness?”
“Is there a reason for your backpack on the floor?”
She waved a hand as she grabbed a spoon to stir the beans.  “I’ll get it in a second.”
“And if you’d just put it on a chair to begin with, you wouldn’t have to get it, and we wouldn’t—”
“Be having this conversation?” she finished for me with a sarcastic expression.  “Oh yes we would.  You’d find a way.”
I sighed, already tired.  “Becca.”
“Hi Mom,” she said, turning.  “Can we just do that?  Do we have to fight?”  Her gaze landed on my jeans.  “Did you go to work today?”
I closed my eyes and sucked my readied comment back in.  “Yes I did.  Hi, Bec.  How was your day?”
“I passed my Government test.”
I stared at her.  “There was really a test?  Wonderful!” I said, grabbing the shredded cheese.  “Sounds like a good day.”
“Yeah, well, until Jill Bartlett decided to be a douche,” she said, her shoulders slouching a little.
I glanced up.  “And why is that?”
Becca shrugged and did the scrunch-up thing with her face that said the subject was about to be done.  “Nothing.  It was stupid.”
“So tell me.”
“I did tell you,” she said, widening her eyes without meeting mine.  She grabbed a plate from the cabinet and started building her nachos.  “It was nothing.”
“Nothing enough to mess up your day?” I asked, attempting another angle.
“Whatever, Mom, can we just eat?” she said, clearly done.  And irritated.
“Yeah, whatever.”  I blew out a breath.  “You bring it up and then get mad at me for it.”  I pulled the sour cream container from the fridge.  “I swear, baby, you make me want to bang my head on the wall sometimes.”
“Ditto,” she muttered.
Well, so much for the relaxing girls’ night at home. 

 

LOL, did that seem familiar to any of you?  Because I’m pretty sure I lived that day once or twice.

I posted purchase links for DON’T LET GO in my previous post, but here is the Amazon link again in case you’d like it.

http://www.amazon.com/Sharla-Lovelace/e/B005AXCNC0/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

Now for another little giveaway, why don’t you tell me a funny snippet about your kids, or something you did as a kid, or even just tell me I’m not alone and commiserate with me!  LOL!  A random commenter will be picked to win a $5 e-gift card to eBay! 

See you soon!

Sharla Lovelace is the bestselling, award-winning author of small-town love stories. Being a Texas girl through and through, she’s proud to say she lives in Southeast Texas with her retired husband, a golf cart, a crazy mutt, and an aviary full of cockatiels. She is the author of The Reason Is You, Before and Ever Since, Just One Day, and the forthcoming Stay with Me, coming in summer 2014.  For more about Sharla’s books, visit www.sharlalovelace.com.  Sharla can also be easily found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sharlalovelace, and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sharlalovelace.