The Day The Merry-Go-Round Stopped

The Day The Merry-Go-Round Stopped is the story of a carousel restorer who discovers the answers to her unhappiness with the help of a 1930s carousel horse and its carver, an old gentleman suffering from Alzheimer’s and a broken heart for the one person she can’t get over either—her grandmother.

• First in the First Coast Romance Writers Unpublished Beacon Contest, Women's Fiction category
• First place in the Chick Lit Writers 2012 Stiletto Contest, Women's Fiction category
• Second place in the Greater Seattle Romance Writers of America's Emerald City Opener Contest, Novel with Romantic Elements category
• Second in the Spacecoast Authors of Romance Launching a Star Contest, Single Title/Women's Fiction category

I answer a few questions about this book in The Next Big Thing blog post.

It's Not Me, It's You
Some women are saved by their knight-in-shining armor. Others just talk to a suit-of-armor.

32-year old Nicole struggles with what so many women deal with every day—trying to please everyone in their lives. But most women probably don’t have a suit of armor as a confidant. He’s the one she turns to when her boyfriend turns a romantic dinner into a handed-your-undies-in-a-bag breakup. And when her promotion-making new project ends up risking her career. Not to mention when her oldest friend turns out to be anything but a real friend. And in all that chaos Nicole learns that she can’t live her life worried about what every one wants her to be, she needs to follow her dreams instead.

It’s Not Me, It’s You is a story of trust and acceptance—not of others, but of yourself, and of learning that the only knight-in-shining-armor who can rescue you, is you.

• Contemporary/Women's Fiction category winner of the 2012 Novel Rocket Launch Pad contest
  
• First place in the Wisconsin Romance Writers 2012 Fabulous Five Contest, Women's Fiction Category
• Second place in the 2011 TARA contest, Women's Fiction Category