Big news at Enchantment!

Hello all. This month I am so pleased to report that despite it being a very poor month economically, Enchantment continues pushing forward like the little engine chanting ‘I think I can, I think I can, I know I can’.

October marks three and a half years of being in business and four years since resigning from the Customs Department. It’s scary giving up a secure salary to depend solely on my efforts to support myself while making a name for myself as a writer; yet I press on toward the goal.

I’m so proud to announce my sixth self-published book; the sequel in the ‘Enchantment’s Story Of The Month’ anthology series! I have never been more proud of my work. I can only hope that with each publication, wither it is self-published or traditional, each exceeds the last.

Enchantment’s Story Of The Month, 2011 is available online at www.lulu.com and will be available at Enchantment, Green Castle and the Rock Sound Farmer’s Market shortly. Here now is the review and story outline. Wall comments, like chocolates, are always welcomed. 

Review

    Everyone has a story to tell; a story that’s like a road map detailing who they are and how they got where they are. With these twelve odysseys into other lives, you’ll sometimes feel like you’re eavesdropping on a conversation you shouldn’t be privy to that will hopefully make you more tolerant of other ways of seeing the world. Told from the perspectives of various very candid characters, these stories run the gamut of emotions and life situations.  The author unflinchingly delves into a number of heavy subjects but still manages to leave the reader with a sense of lightness, like they’d just been given an intimate glimpse into someone else’s life and in doing so have found a little more of the beauty in their own. The stories are often cathartic and uplifting. They will leave you contemplative and curious and the next time you meet someone you may find a little interesting you might not be able to help but wonder, “Now what’s his story?”  

Garnell Wallace,

Romance novelist,

Eleuthera, Bahamas.

January, 2011. After the smoke clears. The events of September 11, 2001 in the United States changed the world. For Carly Stevens and Jacob Steinbeck, it brings them together to honor spouses who had been killed after the bombing of the World Trade Center. If the brutal murders, which left them both widowed, wasn’t enough to crush their spirits, the secret that arises up out the ashes certainly is; for a moment. In each other’s arms Carly and Jacob are left standing, with their families and hearts intact, after the smoke has cleared.      

February, 2011. Dr. Feelgood. When Hilary Andrews first lays eyes on Bradley Moss he’s perched on a ladder, barely clothed, doing work for her mother. Hilary assumes he’s the handyman and instructs him to bring her bags inside. Dr. Bradley Moss plays along, ceasing the opportunity to get to know this beautiful creature by any means necessary. Being put in her place loses most of its sting as it is delivered with the news that Hilary’s mother has cancer. She and Bradley work together to restore her mother’s health and wellness. And in doing so, heal their own pain of loneliness.

March, 2011. Miami Sunrise. Samantha Monaco has decided that if sleeping your way to the top was the name of the game, she would at least choose whom she slept with. And Scott Cambridge is the lucky winner. They wake up the next morning in the arms of strangers. But this isn’t a typical one night stand for either of them. Scott is filthy rich, but would give it all up without batting a sexy eyelash, if it could buy him an hour with the wife he lost. In the full light of day, Sam and Scott journey back to introductions, their first date, conversations that go on for days, and falling in love. Reluctant to hurry back to the chaos of their real worlds, they prolong the anticipated inevitable by setting sail into the Miami sunrise. 

April, 2011. Oh Captain, my captain! Don’t you just dread spending Christmas alone? This is the question Sophie Winters asks herself. Yet, the option to spend Christmas with her large, happy family doesn’t appeal to her either. She prefers to lick her wounds while keeping busy at her newly opened flower shop. But a blast from the past in the person of goofy Aaron Campi changes her plans. Sophie soon finds herself in Aaron’s arms, laughing, crying, jet setting to romantic Italy, falling in love, and finally a bride. She never has to dread another Christmas alone.   

May, 2011. Conversations with my son….about women. Kwame Brown wants to follow in his dad’s footsteps. So, Tyler has long conversations with him, and a lot of them are about women. Tyler makes it no secret that Kwame’s mother ran off when he was just learning to walk. Still, he keeps her true identity unrevealed, intending to explain it all to Kwame when he is older. There is much to discuss with his son in the meantime however. Tyler has been dating four women and comes home one night to talk to his son about the one he has chosen to date exclusively. When their different race is complicated further by their religious persuasion, it leads to a long night on the couch for father and son.  

June, 2011. Waiting…….. A decade has passed since Garrett Stone first kissed Serena Waters, but she still can’t get over it. Sometimes she lies crying in bed at night, questioning what could have gone wrong with the love of her life. Serena comes face to face with not being fully in control of whom she falls in love with. But when the object of her obsession seems to have forgotten that she exists, Serena is determined to get away from everything that reminds her of Garrett. A trip to a cultural haven not only warms her heart but mends it as well. When Serena eventually comes face to face with Garrett, she wonders what all the fuss was about. Nevertheless, a decade of waiting for a man who clearly doesn’t want her teaches her the valuable lesson of discerning how it feels to love a man who really does.         

July, 2011. The day my father died, was the happiest day of my life. Setting: Charity, South Carolina. Chrissy Atkins is sailing on an Alaskan cruise with her mother and sisters. If someone had told her a year ago that this was where she would be right now she would have flat out laughed in their face. Chrissy and her siblings had all been named after TV characters because television was all their mother had to escape her husband’s abuse. In the hush-hush of their trailer park, a nightmare replayed over and over. Until one day the monster that was head of the household was taken away. With frayed memories and half her family detached, Chrissy walked out of the trailer park and unto a cruise line that would signal smooth sailing for the rest of her life.  

August, 2011. Mummy dearest. Setting: Wilmington, North Carolina. Blanche Collins has five daughters; Willow, Violet, Daisy, Jasmine, and Rose. Willow and Rose are as different from the other sisters and Blanche as night and day. The most obvious thing all of the women have in common except blood is that they are all without husbands. Their choice in men draws deep lines between Willow and Rose, against their mother. Willow relocates to the Caribbean as a means of escape. When she is forced to return home after the recession hits, she discovers that their mother’s resentment towards her and Rose is lethal. Could Blanche’s anger at her daughters’ disapproval prompt her to subtly commit murder?

September, 2011. Emancipation from mental slavery. Setting: Anywhere Island, The Atlantic (Fictitious). Shaniqua Brown may appear to be a mere teenager on the verge of a promising college semester, but she is also a brave activist. When white foreigners highlight the inadequacies of the local blacks in swimming, Shaniqua does not accept it. She gathers a few of her peers and they bring the difficult questions to the table; questions that are rooted much deeper than statistics of blacks who cannot swim. The answers lie more in blacks’ view of themselves and their self-worth. Adults, both local blacks and foreign whites, are forced to uproot the subtle yet ingrained race issues that have been long overdue. Accepting of the fact that her actions might not have a resounding effect, Shaniqua walks away with a personal victory. The fear of being reprimanded when confronting racism is stifled and she has stood up and said something about it.

October, 2011. If today was your last day. Part One. Setting: Your Town, Planet Earth (Fictitious). Three people eat at the same Chinese restaurant on the same day. Their fortune cookies all ask the same question: Today is your last day. How will you spend it?

Kyle is a six year old boy, terminally ill with cancer. The one thing that he wants most in the world, other than getting well, is to learn to swim. Swimming underwater, Kyle is convinced, is as close to flying as he’ll ever get.

Olivia doesn’t fill her days worrying about fashion or homework as most teenage girls do. But she does have a secret crush on a boy. A boy she prays likes her enough that he would kiss her on the lips just once. If he could overlook the fact that she has a death sentence that he could be infected with.

Gavin is not at all superstitious. But the death sentence from the fortune cookie is the third omen that he would die young. If for no other reason, it gives him the courage to confront the demons of his past then make a mad dash towards his future. 

November, 2011. If today was your last day. Part Two. Setting: Your Town, Planet Earth (Fictitious). Adele never understood why she had to choose one parent’s race over another. When she loses her mother to the violence of discrimination and her father is incarcerated as a result of similar pressures, Adele makes a resounding statement. But first she wants to dance with her father one last time. Even if they have to do so under the watchful eyes of prison guards holding loaded guns.

Ophelie has been carrying a secret for nearly a century. As her birthday approaches, a question from a fortune cookie jolts her with the possibility that she might not live to be one hundred years old. It’s time to get the secret off her chest, she decides as she races against time.  

December, 2011. His last meal. Setting: Atlanta, Georgia. John Quincy Roberts digs in a garbage bin in search of his last meal. After eating it he intends to walk to a nearby bridge and jump into the freezing waters. But faith has other plans for John. In the guise of a theater ticket, John stumbles upon an act that will not only save his life, but give him the strength he needs to go on. From being a promising artist with a lovely new wife to a widowed, homeless drug addict; John learns that there is hope and happiness even after you’ve eaten what is meant to be your last meal.