TKA Serials: Maria Geraci's THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB

Today our TKA serial post is hosted by romantic women’s fiction author, Maria Geraci. Her third novel, THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB, comes out December 7, 2010.  Enjoy her excerpt below. You can find out more about her books at http://www.mariageraci.com/.

CHAPTER ONE -- The Ghost of Boyfriends Past

Grace O’Bryan didn’t believe in ghosts. She also didn’t believe in witches, vampires, love at first sight, that there was anything real about reality TV, or the ridiculous claim that you could lose ten pounds on the three-day cabbage soup diet (she’d tried it twice). If you couldn’t see it, feel it, touch it, or taste it, then in all likelihood it didn’t exist. Which made for some very practical thinking on Grace’s part. Except for the one ripple in the otherwise smooth seas of her personal logic. Like her abuela Graciela—the Cuban grandmother Grace was named after—what she did believe in was curses.

How else could you explain tonight?

She had waited a whopping two months for Brandon Farrell to ask her out, only to wake up this morning on her period. Not that that in itself was a problem. She wasn’t a have-sex-on-the-first-date kind of girl. Nor did she suffer from bad cramps. But she’d also woken up five pounds heavier than she’d been last night (maybe she should have given the cabbage soup diet one more try). So instead of the outfit she’d planned on wearing, she’d ended up borrowing her best friend Sarah’s little black dress. Sarah had excellent taste in clothes—the dress was a winning combination of elegant yet discreetly sexy. Sarah was also a size larger than Grace, and the dress had fit perfectly. At least it had fit perfectly back at Grace’s town house. It wasn’t until Grace had folded herself into her tiny red VW Bug that she’d noticed the dress was a tad too short.

And now, thanks to some heavier than average Saturday evening Daytona Beach traffic, she was late for her date. She tugged on the hem of Sarah’s dress and opened the door to the city’s newest, most exclusive restaurant, Chez Louis, only to find herself nose to aquiline nose with Felix Barberi.

Grace sucked in a breath. It was a Dickensian nightmare. Too bad the man standing in front of her was one hundred percent real. Grace might not subscribe to love at first sight, but substitute lust for love, and in Felix’s case she’d been a firm believer.

At first, Felix had been incredibly charming, despite his annoying habit of wanting to make out to Celine Dion’s number one hit, “My Heart Will Go On.” But Felix worked in the restaurant business and the brutal hours had strained their relationship and tarnished his charm. The ultimate strain had come when Grace had returned early from a business trip to surprise Felix on Valentine’s Day. She’d gone to his apartment with a bottle of red wine and a pepperoni and anchovy pizza, only to catch Felix going at it with a dancer from the Topless-a-Go-Go.

Grace didn’t know which was worse: the fact that Felix had cheated, or that the someone he had cheated with had a rack that must have cost six months’ worth of lap dances. The incident had confirmed however that the St. Valentine’s Day Curse was alive and well.
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Countdown to Turkey Day with The Knight Agency: Maria Geraci

UPDATE: The winner of THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB by Maria Geraci is Sara! Congrats! Please send your physical addy to Contests(AT)KnightAgency.net.

Today Maria Geraci, author of the upcoming release THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB, as well as THE BUNCO BABES TELL ALL and THE BUNCO BABES GONE WILD, helps us continue our countdown to Turkey Day with a fun Q&A post about Thanksgiving traditions at her house. She also graciously agreed to take a Thanksgiving quiz to see if she was smarter than a 5th grader. See her results below. :-)

To win a copy of THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB, leave a comment. The winner will randomly drawn and announced tomorrow morning.

1. Who’s in charge of carving the turkey at your house? That would be my husband, Mike Geraci (I have a strange habit of using his full name when referring to him). I clean the turkey, stuff it, and cook it. He carves it and then takes all the credit!

2. Name one thing you usually only eat at Thanksgiving that you wish you could have every day. Oh my God. Years ago, I found this great vegetable medley recipe. You take a large bag of frozen vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli). Dump it in a casserole dish. Add 1 can of Durkee’s fried onion rings (reserve a small amount of onion rings for topping), 1 small jar of chopped pimentos, 1 can of cream of mushroom soup, 4 ounces of sour cream, shredded Swiss cheese (about 6 ounces) and mix it all together. Add pepper to taste. Place in a 350 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes until bubbling hot. In the last 10-15 minutes of cooking, you can sprinkle the top with the rest of the fried onion rings and some more cheese if you want.

My kids absolutely love this stuff. I only make it on the holidays because I don’t want to know how many calories are in it!

3. What is your fondest or funniest Thanksgiving memory? Probably the Thanksgiving I was still in college and couldn’t go home because I was working a part time job and had to work the Friday morning after the holiday, so I was really bummed. My parents surprised me and drove up to school (a 5 hour trip) with a complete meal. We had Thanksgiving dinner, just the 3 of us, in my little apartment!

4. How would the main character in THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB celebrate the holiday? Funny you should ask, because this scene actually happens in the book! Grace begins Thanksgiving day with her family by keeping their years long tradition of watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade on television. Her brother Charlie (who’s a main secondary character in the book) misses it because he’s working, which causes some tension between them. Then her mother and her abuela go out power shopping, while Grace decorates their artificial Christmas tree and Grace’s dad (Pop) and Charlie decorate the house Clark Griswald style (think National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation movie.)

5. Are you smarter than a 5th grader? The following quiz was created for elementary school kids. Take the test, and share your score – and elaborate on why you think you are a Thanksgiving whiz or maybe why social studies was never your strongest subject.

1. What year did the Pilgrim first celebrate Thanksgiving?

a) 1521

b) 1621 (correct answer)

c) 1721

d) 1821

Yay! I got this right. Maybe I am smarter than a 5th grader!

2. How long did the first Thanksgiving celebration last?

a) 1 day

b) 2 days

c) 3 days (correct answer)

d) 4 days

Oops! So the right answer is 3 days and not 4. But… If I was one of those pilgrims, we’d definitely be celebrating as long as we could. I mean, I’d take any chance to break away from milking cows and tending crops and cleaning and the other multitude of chores I’m sure women did back then. Wouldn’t you?

3. Which president established Thanksgiving as the last Thursday in November?

a) Abraham Lincoln (correct answer)

b) Andrew Johnson
c) Franklin Roosevelt

d) George Washington

Abraham Lincoln? Are you sure? I’m pretty positive they didn’t teach this back in my 5th grade.

4. Where was the first Thanksgiving celebrated?
a) Mayflower
b) Plymouth (correct answer)

c) Springfield

d) Boston

Yay!

5. Wild turkeys can NOT fly.

a) True

b) False (correct answer)

This is a perfect example of a trick question. Of course, I got this right, but still…

What a fun quiz! I love Thanksgiving! There’s no pressure to buy or give presents. Just good food, surrounded by family and friends and the knowledge that I’ve made it one more year on this planet with the opportunity to give thanks for all the wonderful things I’ve been given. This past year, I’ve had several friends diagnosed with different medical problems. Thankfully, everyone is doing well and fighting their hardest to keep healthy. It makes me doubly thankful that my husband and kids are healthy and safe and that we have a roof over our heads and food on our table. You really can’t ask for more in life than that.

I’m also extremely grateful to have a new book coming out next month. It’s called THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB and it’s a romantic comedy about a woman who turns her dysfunctional book club into a boyfriend club, where women come together to discuss the men they’ve dated, comparing them to classic literary heroes and villains.

It’s getting some great advance reviews. Publishers’s Weekly says, “Geraci (BUNCO BABES TELL ALL) fills the fluffy but enjoyable story with literary references, and her leading lady is endearingly flawed. Romance readers will revel in the Austen-perfect happy ending and the warm friendship among members of the club.”

I’d love to give away a copy of the book to one commenter (will be mailed out the first week of December- perfect for your holiday reading!)

Thanks TKA!

Maria Geraci writes fun, romantic women’s fiction. Her third novel, THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB, comes out December 7, 2010, in trade paperback, from Berkley, Penguin, USA. Please visit her website at www.mariageraci.com for more information on her books.