Everyone loves a look inside, an excerpt, right? I intend on soothing that desire today in my blog post.

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So, how about an excerpt? I will be reading from the book as a promo over on my YouTube channel next month so if you haven’t checked that out, go here: WRITER GROUPIE ON YOUTUBE – I am striving to get 100 subscribers so that YT will put the name of the channel in the URL. If you would like to be a subscriber to it, please do click that subscribe button!

Okay, now that I have all that interesting business out of the way, let’s read this excerpt!

IN THE HOLLER– excerpt

When Hope Monroe visited her aunt and uncle’s old country house in Mt. Moriah, Tennessee as a nine-year old child, she’d played in the attic to entertain herself. The top floor ran the length of the house and overflowed with items from the past, perfect props for the child to create an imaginary world.

She’d whirled around the creaky floorboards lifting clouds of dust, and faint remnants of old cologne, dressed in someone’s party dress ten sizes too big until she plopped down, exhausted. Seated there in the shards of sunlight, Hope would marvel at how the sequins on the dress turned into tiny prisms of colored light like diamonds on an engagement ring. And from atop the old faded floral settee, she would make up stories of how the sequins would turn into stars if she wore the dress out into the moonlight.

The magic of the attic occupied Hope’s time on every visit she made until she outgrew dress-up games, dreams of princely rescues, and dolls. And when that happened, she quit playing in the attic altogether, replacing an imaginary life for a real one.

she quit playing in the attic…

Once she reached her teens, she spent summers in the holler, where her aunt and uncle lived, as an escape from her mother’s constant drinking.

Now, nearly two decades later, she stood with a curious reporter in the cozy nook of a bookstore explaining how those times were the inspiration for her stories. The memories rose to the surface of her mind, enveloping her.

“Why did your parents send you to your aunt and uncle’s? Did they work a lot?” He wrote and talked, pen scratching across the page in his notebook. “I guess they’re glad for all that imagination now, huh? What with a book-signing tour and all.”

His question brought her crashing out of her reverie. “My parents are both dead.”

His face flushed. “Oh. Gee, I’m sorry…for your loss.”

“Don’t be. I’m not, and I’m utterly sure they aren’t either.”

“Wow.” He averted his eyes, shook his head, shock registering on his face.

shock registering on his face

Hope decided to elaborate, make him understand. “Look, my relationship with my parents was strained to put it mildly. My mother had a drinking problem and my father worked himself to death to escape her. I wasn’t quite as lucky as he was, only because I couldn’t live at my aunt and uncle’s home in Mt. Moriah, although it was infinitely preferable.”

“Is that why you write fiction? To escape from…well, I guess it would be understandable, given your past…” He closed the notebook, clearing his throat.

Hope didn’t provide an answer as he had answered his own question, correctly. “Years of therapy taught me how to move on with my life and accept my past. I hope I wasn’t too direct for you.”

“Not at all, not at all.” He stood to go. “Anyway, I guess this is enough for now, Ms. Monroe. Thank you for your time. I’ll give you a call if I need anything more for the story.”

COVER ART

Have you seen the cover reveal for this book? You can do that here:

https://www.kimsmithauthor.com/cover-reveal-for-in-the-holler-a-mt-moriah-novel/

I am very excited about this first book in a new series. I hope you will go and PREORDER IT NOW using the link below:
https://www.amazon.com/Holler-Mt-Moriah-Novel-Book-ebook/dp/B08XR1HPWP/