Joy After Noon Review Tour

Blurb:

Joy marries a widowed bank executive caught in an ethical dilemma and misreads his obvious frustration while struggling to integrate into her new family. Inspired in part by Love, Come Softly, this novel explores the challenges of second marriages and dealing with step-children during the crucial years of puberty and teenage angst. A college professor coming up shortly for the huge tenure decision, Joy finds herself falling apart as her career and her home issues deteriorate and collide.

Excerpt:

Though it was Saturday, Ray had gone in to work anyway, saying he had a lot of catching up to do. Joy resisted the urge to flee to her own office, where stacks of papers and unread journals piled high, not to mention the project with Natalie that needed to be finalized. How much easier to tackle the tasks she knew than the unfamiliar. She plopped into a chair. Her thoughts drifted  to the sequence of events that had brought her here.

Their whirlwind courtship was so romantic, so fairytale-like, Joy had not questioned her feelings. Swept into Ray’s arms, literally and figuratively, she dared imagine a lifetime with him and his daughters. She’d tried to warn him that she was an incompetent cook. Perhaps he hadn’t taken her light-hearted confession seriously. When he suggested they elope, she was ecstatic.  Of course she met the girls, but never really interacted with them. Facing hard facts now, she knew she had been afraid of turning Ray against her—by her lack of finesse with kids and zero domestic skills. She’d been glad—so glad—to be romanced and cherished. Had she made a huge, irreversible mistake by not being more candid?

Ray was gorgeous, with his long, rangy body, his face tanned and creased from years of Sugar Sands sun. His eyebrows and eyelashes were inky black, a startling contrast to the bright caramel hair on his head and faint stubble on his chin. Joy couldn’t help feeling—both then and now—that he was out of her league. Dating him, much less marrying him, had seemed too much to hope for. Yet, here she was, in these beautiful, sun-filled rooms that were about to be jarred from their history of perfection.

My Review:

4 stars

This was a thought-provoking, heart-stopping read. The family dynamics portrayed in this book were handled realistically yet respectfully, leading to a thought-provoking read. I even found it hard to read at times because it was so realistic, seeing how easily miscommunication can destroy a relationship and seeing the struggles to integrate into a previously formed family. I highly recommend giving this book a try.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

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Author Bio and Links:

Debra Coleman Jeter has published both fiction and nonfiction in popular magazines, including Working Woman, New Woman, Self, Home Life, Savvy, Christian Woman, and American Baby. Her first novel, The Ticket, was a finalist for a Selah Award, as well as for Jerry Jenkins’ Operation First Novel. Her story, “Recovery,” was awarded first prize in a short story competition sponsored by Christian Woman; and her nonfiction book “Pshaw, It’s Me Grandson”: Tales of a Young Actor was a finalist in the USA Book News Awards. She is a co-writer of the screenplay for Jess + Moss, a feature film which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, screened at nearly forty film festivals around the world, and captured several domestic and international awards. 

Website and Blog:  www.debracolemanjeter.com

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/njjeter/the-ticket-a-novel/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/debra.c.jeter

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/DebColemanJeter

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard

The Ticket trailer:  https://vimeo.com/50187275

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