Thursday, December 4, 2014

Geared For the Grave by Duffy Brown - Guest Post and Giveaway

I am more than thrilled to have Duffy Brown  with us today! She is an amazing author and great friend!  Duffy's new book Geared for the Grave just released on December 2 and it is so good.




Don't you just love that cover!

Are you a small townie or do a city clicker? Leave a comment here and email so we can find you. Her totes are awesome and you don't want to miss it! and Two lucky people will win a Geared for the Grave tote bag. 

Small Town or City Slicker?
In Geared for the Grave Evie Bloomfield wants to boost her chances for a promotion so she agrees to leave Chicago and head off to Mackinac Island to help her boss’ dad with his cycle shop.



Mackinac is a real island, an eight-mile chunk of land where Lake Michigan meets Lake Huron. It’s truly beautiful, no cars with horses and bikes a twenty-minute ferry ride from the mainland. When the lakes freeze...or as the islanders call it “the ice makes...there is no ferry, very limited plane service and if the ice is think enough snowmobiles are the way off the place.

So could you live here year-round?




Without cars it’s so quiet and the whole island is a throwback to the 1800s with vintage baseball, parades for every occasion like the Lilac Festival, Horse Festival, Fudge Festival etc. There’s the town gazebo for live music, dressing for dinner at the Grand Hotel, high tea, horse drawn carriages with men in top hats and formal attire and did I mention the no cars thing?

Mackinac is waking up to the clip clop of horses’ hooves on cobblestone and often the whole island cocooned in dense fog with the foghorns moaning out in the harbor. You’ll be in the best shape of you life with having to walk everywhere and the sunset over the Mackinaw Bridge will always take your breath away.

This sound amazing to many of us like and like a death sentence to others. There is no mall! There is no Walmart, big box store of any sort, no free wifi except at Horn’s bar and the library. Often your cell phone won’t work and you’ll be hanging over the end of the pier to get reception for the so important phone call. There are only 500 permanent residents so things get a bit confining in the winter when the way to get around is your snowmobile. Your kids go to a school with sixty other kids...just sixty...and there is no Dollar Store. And it’s reeeeeally cold.

There are bicycles and horses everywhere, festivals galore like the Lilac Festival, Fudge Festival, Jazz, Horse etc. They are all fun and everyone turns out to watch. Brings the whole island together.

So what do you think? Are you a island person or a big city guy or gal? Personally I think I’d fit in perfectly on Mackinac Island. It’s a writer’s heaven and I’ve always wanted my own a snowmobile.

Hugs,
Duffy Brown

Geared for the Grave
First book in Cycle Path Mysteries
Berkley Prime Crime
December 2, 2014

Here is the fantastic tote bag you can win.






15 comments:

  1. I'm not a big city girl. I like the slower pace of life. The island life would definitely be nice but could take some getting used to in the winter if there isn't a ferry service and only plane service to take you off the island but I'd be willing to give a try.

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    Replies
    1. Hi, Robin! In the winter the ferry service stops, planes have a tough go of it BUT you can take your snowmobile across the frozen Lake Michigan to the mainland. Now that’s an adventure. We could hold hands and scream together as we zipped across the ice. YeeeHaaa!

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  2. I am from a very small town and now I live on an island. I love it!

    lag110 at mchsi dot com

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    Replies
    1. Lucky You!! I could so do an island. Sounds amazing.

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  3. I don't feel comfortable in the city, or the suburbs and have never lived in the country but the best day of my life was when I went to Nantucket Island. I cried when leaving it.

    CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

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    Replies
    1. Nantucket!! Wow!! That is totally on my bucket list. Absolutely fabulous. I now have island envy.

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  4. Macinac is on my bucket list. I grew up in a suburb of Providence RI. Although I thought I'd serve inner city parish, I ended up in rural South and North Dakota and Eastern Oregon after seminary. I learned all sorts of things I'd never even dreamed of when I was a kid. If I could bring one of those tiny farm towns closer to the water I'd be in heaven

    als(at)foxgull(dot)com

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    Replies
    1. Hi Andrea. You have been all over and I’m totally with you on the farm near the water idea. You would love Mackinac. It’s just that…rural on the water and so quiet and lovely. Maybe you can get a parish there?? A lot of churches and such a lovely setting.

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  5. I'm currently a small town girl but I'd like to move back to the big city.
    suefarrell.farrell@gmail.com

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  6. I lived in big cities all my life, but am now in a medium city and would love a smaller town for the charm and change. elliotbencan(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  7. I live in a mid sized city but I wouldn't mind living on Mackinac Island and open my own bookstore.

    rjprazak6@gmail.com

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  8. I have no idea what it would be like to live on an island, or in a small town, but it sounds appealing each day since I live in a busy city. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

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  9. I grew up in the city, but now I am a small town girl. The city is close enough to enjoy, but not have to deal with all the mess. Thanks for the giveaway!

    Kimberlee
    girllostinabook@hotmail.com
    www.girllostinabook.com

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  10. Winners are Traveler and Petite! Congratulations!!

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  11. Congratulations to Traveler and Petite

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