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  The Lies We Tell Ourselves to Stay Sane In the world of a Texas feed store, the line between reality and truth blurs when love and friendship are at stake. Meet Sarah and Zoe, two best friends who work in a family-owned feed store. Their lives begin to unravel when love sparks between Sarah and the feed store owner’s only heir, Tom. Patriarch Otis quickly makes it known that his only son’s future won’t include the feed store “girl”. The clash over Tom’s love life erupts in a family feud where business is expected to trump love. In the meantime, a romance also ignites between Zoe and the local town physician whom she nicknames “Dr. Sex on Two Legs”. The women are quickly caught up in a family feud that leads to unexpected consequences, loss and tragedy. Grains of Truth is an intense, emotional and passion-filled story about two best friends looking for that one thing everyone wants — love. It’s a story about friendship and accepting what you can’t change. Grains of Truth w...

Chapter 10             Phil let Tess in the front door of his small 1940’s sandbox-type house. It was a square with the front room, a kitchen behind it, a bathroom in the middle, and two side-by-side bedrooms in the back. He lived there with his Labrador he named Vanilla Ice that was now 12-years-old and slept in a dog bed shoved by the backdoor. The front room had a white-mantled fireplace that he used all winter long, with wood chips and splintered debris on a brown indoor-outdoor carpet that also had wood stacked on top of it. A well-worn brown leather loveseat sat across from a full-sized sofa pushed under the window. The place had a well-lived-in appearance, and magazines Outdoor , Travel and Leisure and Sports Illustrated sat on the coffee table.             “You want a glass of wine?” he asked Tess who he observed was wearing a more low-key...

Chapter 8 Detective Phil Harris and his partner Detective Leron Diego, a first-generation Latino in his early 30’s whose family hailed from Mexico City, drove quietly in an unmarked, brown late 1980’s sedan, which was today’s ride since the white Ford Crown Victoria had its transmission blow. Leron got in, buckled up, and put his hand down on day-old gum stuck to the camel-colored passenger seat. He lifted his hand, spotted the sticky mess, and groaned, “What the fuck, dude?” he said as he rolled down the window with his other hand and flicked it onto the pavement. Phil sniffed and chuckled, “Spearmint. Why don’t you eat it? Freshen your breath.” “Fuck off, that’s nasty shit. Some slob put that crap under the fucking seat! Some hombres ain’t got manners!” he complained. Phil enjoyed Leron as his partner. They had been riding together since they had been promoted to detective about the same time. Phil, who had graduated in criminal justice with perfec...

Time to celebrate your girls with a proper sense of humor about it. In my first book, California Girl Chronicles, our intrepid heroine who is trying to break into Hollywood as a screenwriter naturally doesn't immediately get that first job. So, she ends up working in a bikini shop and ... she gets to wear this gem of a phrase on her chest. You know, a girl has to do what a girl has to do. You can own your own T-shirt by clicking here .

California Girl Chronicles: Brea's Big Break , the second book in the series, releases just in time for summer fun. Many readers of the first book Brea and the City of Plastic wondered what happened to our intrepid screenwriter with a propensity to be distracted by hot men. Below find an excerpt from chapter 2. We will be officially releasing the second book in July and selling it during the upcoming book tour for Vengeance is Now , which hits the road next on April 26th. 2 Later that week, I met Maya at a small café up the street from the office. It was a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf with patio furniture sitting on the terrace outside of the main street. I was sitting in the cool morning sunshine, sipping my hazelnut-flavored coffee when a shadow passed over my table. I looked up to find Curtis standing there. I had not seen him much that week after our initial encounter, but every time I passed him in the hallway, he winked and grinned. He seemed like an affable, flirt...

Michelle Gamble-Risley, CEO Last night, my operations manager Bo Bradley and I visited the Italian Cultural Institute to help host the book launch for the charming, beautiful and well-written Under the Sycamores . We spent the evening drinking some first-rate wine to the toast of the literary town, Michael Perrotta who basked in the glow of his success. The book itself is a perfect example of the quality of product produced by my company 3L Publishing . If you are an author and you're ready to go forward and publish your book and you want it to read and look absolutely perfect, please send us a sample chapter to info@3LPublishing.com.

SPOILER ALERT: The following is a brief excerpt for California Girl Chronicles: Brea's Big Break, which is the second book in the series due out in summer 2012. If you hate spoilers, read no further. If you love spoilers, enjoy! I arrived at the Tea Leaf, and he was sitting out front reading his Blackberry, engrossed in something. He looked up, smiled and set it down. I pulled out the iron chair, which made a scraping noise on the pavement. Curtis had two cups sitting in front of him and slid one across to me. I looked down, smiled and asked, “For me?” “I took the liberty of ordering hazelnut.” He smiled. “I noticed you liked it.” “How sweet,” I replied. “Thanks!” I said and took a sip. Curtis looked at me with a curious tilt to his head, grinned and asked, “You have a manager?” “No,” I replied. “Kale said they’re all bloodsuckers and to get an entertainment attorney.” “Kale said?” he asked with a strange look. “Well, yes,” I replied and frowned. Curtis looked down at h...