With No Regrets by Julie N. Ford + $25 Giveaway

Finley isn’t exactly sure when her life began to feel unfamiliar. She suspects the transformation started long before she caught her husband and fellow garden club member doing the white-trash-two-step on her new Bernhardt sofa. Now free from the shackles of a loveless marriage, and with her children off to college, she’s finally able to go searching for the missing pieces of her heart. Finley’s best friend, Cathyanne, is already working hard to ensure that Finley finds true love this time around. But when Finley is unwittingly tossed into the arms of two men—their sexy trainer and her neighbor, a popular country star—Cathyanne fears finding the right guy will be more complicated than she ever could have imagined. For Finley, building a new life feels as impossible as flying a paper airplane to the moon. But maybe, just maybe, with the right help, she will find her whole heart—even if it’s in the very last place she thinks to look.

 

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I've been looking forward to reading this book.  I've read other books by Julie Ford and enjoyed them so I was hopeful for this one.  I'm coming in with mixed ideas about this book.  It's sort of a like/dislike relationship I have going on with this book right now.

First, I did enjoy reading a book with a slightly older main character than I usually see in many books.  Finley is a woman with grown children and a lot of life experiences behind her.  Recently divorced, Finley is trying to work through the emotions and conflict surrounding her new found place in life.

I liked the basic story line and I enjoyed Finley's growth through the book.  Her struggles seemed real and even though I couldn't relate personally to many things she was going through, I felt the emotional tug.  I loved the journey personally that Finley is on that is apart from her romantic entanglements.  It was a self-awareness that shifts as she realizes that there are other people out there, struggling, and that she make a difference.  Not just generally, but personally.  That was the best bit of the book for me.

This book, for me personally, was a bit crass in many parts.  There is swearing and many instances of crass kind of talk.  There is a lot of sexual innuendo and references to affairs.  I guess I just wasn't expecting that.  I will be hesitant to pick up more book by Julie Ford because now I am confused as to how she writes.  None of her other books have been this way.  So, there is the like/dislike.  I liked the story and the personal growth for Finley but I could have done without some of the swearing and sexual references.

Here is an excerpt from "With No Regrets".

Packed like corralled cattle between four wood paneled walls, the riotous crowd filling the bar overwhelmed the echo of Finley’s boots as she made her way through the darkened hallway. Built during the early days of Nashville, Tootsie’s was rumored to have launched Willie Nelson’s career as well as other famous performers like Kris Kristofferson, Patsy Cline, Waylon Jennings, and in more recent decades, Quinton Townes. 

At the end of the hallway, and through an open door, Finley spied her neighbor. 

Jagged locks of ashy-blond hair peeked out from under a worn cowboy hat to poke at the frayed edges of his western shirt. A dimple split his right cheek as he smiled, his head bent toward that of a young woman.

Finley moved closer, watching as the groupie handed Quinton a cocktail napkin. “Will you sign this for me?” she said, adding a coy smirk.

Quinton ran his smoky gray eyes over the woman’s skintight T-shirt as he slipped the paper and pen from her hands, his fingers lingering a touch longer than necessary on hers. “Who should I make this out to?” he drawled in that slow, Texas way of his.

Gazing out from under a pair of mascara-laden lashes, she said, “McKenna,” and then bit down on her plump bottom lip.

Finley rolled her eyes. This one was young, even by Quinton’s standards. Likely, not much older than her daughter Royanne, or Quinton’s own estranged daughter, Annie, for that matter. Because she hadn’t known him back when he was married, it was hard for her to imagine him as anyone’s daddy. But then he’d become a father long before the world had known his name. Before his solo career had taken off and he’d mistakenly boarded a high-speed train running on tequila and cocaine, barreling headlong into the blinding lights of one forgotten arena after another. Before he’d traded the unconditional love of a wife and three children for the fleeting admiration of his fans. Before the cheers of the crowds had echoed into a deafening abyss where there wasn’t enough booze or blow in his empty hotel room to silence the void. And certainly before he’d woken up one morning a homeless, washed-up one-hit-wonder with nothing but a broken-down Mazerati to call his own. The very day he just so happened to have entered Finley’s life.

Author Julie N. Ford A graduate from San Diego State University with a BA in Political Science, Julie N. Ford also earned a Masters in Social Work from the University of Alabama, which has only made her better able to recognize the unhealthy, codependent relationship she has with writing. Professionally, she has worked in teaching and as a marriage and family counselor. She is the author of six women’s fiction novels, including Count Down to Love, a 2011 Whitney Award finalist. When she’s not writing, she entertains delusions of being a master gardener, that is, when she’s not killing the unsuspecting plants in her yard with her good intentions. She lives outside of Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband, two daughters, and the cutest Scottish fold cat you’ve ever seen. She loves to chat with readers.

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Blog Tour Giveaway $25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Ends 6/28/15 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. a Rafflecopter giveaway

   

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