by Mandy Colton
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Romance (humorous)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Secure
your seat belt and get ready for another bumpy ride.
Some time away, deep thought, and her own misadventures have her gathering up
the remains of her dignity and returning to her job with its interesting group
of colorful and charismatic cohorts...with one big change. She’ll no longer
just be a tour escort this time. Milton Porter, the owner of Cavalcade Tours,
owns another company with secrets.
With her mind made up, new skills, passport in hand, and her bags packed,
Veronica is ready to roll out for new destinations. Things get hairy as she
tackles the dual roles her new job demands, dodging wild animals, nasty foes,
and sometimes even the new men in her life.
Surrounded by kooky tourists, Veronica’s adventures place her in some dramatic
and hilarious situations, and each return home to Peachtree City , Georgia
has its own drama with her family of oddballs, nutty bunch of friends, and
their pets. Her new life is sometimes bumpy and filled with turbulence, but it
stays an intriguing and exciting ride.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My Review:
It 's a very funny romance, there are a lot of scenes to laugh out loud. The main character is really cute, her adventures are hilarious, is able to combine so much trouble.
An unlucky day happens to everyone in life. Even to Veronica. The day on which, after a series of unfortunate events, ends up losing her job, as well as waking up in bed with a total stranger ... She finds a new job as a tour guide, a wonderful work that leads her to visit wonderful places like Puerto Rico . Too bad that returs home with a bullet in her shoulder. She soon discovers that her new job is actually to be a secret agent.
All the characters are really bizarre, funny, adorable. The main character is really lovable and very realistic, I loved every moment spent with her. Many of the places where the story takes place are really amazing.
Although it is the second book in the series can be read as a stand alone, I can't wait to read a new adventure of Veronica.
It 's an easy reading but written brilliantly and nothing is missing: there is romance, humor, action, adventure, mystery. Perfect as a beach reading.
I recommend it to anyone who wants to spend some fun and relaxing time. If you want to laugh it is the perfect book for you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
Interesting Office Meetings
Everyone was in house today after taking a little break from
the last couple of missions. There were eight of us currently that made up
Cavalcade and WIC. Besides Nash, Silas, Milton, Judy, and me, there was
Django—another tour-guideturned-amateur-spy—Jeff, and Megan. Milt had ordered
us all subs and salads from a nearby Italian place that he and Judy, our
Italian office manager and meatball authority, had recently found and approved.
We were talking and chatting while eating, and as usual, Jeff was fiddling with
a gadget.
Jeff Pruitt was the youngest in the group. Milt had taken
him under his wing when Jeff’s father was killed while on a mission in the
Army. Jeff was young, kind of shy, liked to tell little corny jokes, and was a
genius with a love of gadgets from the James Bond movies. The character, Q, was
his idol, and I’d dubbed him Q’ute not long ago, after remembering the name
from an old Bond book, and the fact that Jeff himself was a total cutie-pie. I
just hadn’t told him that the Q character in E that particular book had been a
woman.
Milton took a bite of his sub, coughed, and pounded his
chest for a few seconds. He took a big drink of his soda and then began
talking. “First thing. We’ve hired two new tour guides. One will take a tour
with Ronni in two days for training, and the other guy will start about a month
from now. He’s taking a holiday before he starts with us. Ronni, you and the
new gal are taking a week-long Pacific trek tour with a group of eighteen by
coach from Frisco, and that includes, Nash.”
Uh, shit. That was a pretty good-sized group and the most
I’d have so far with the company. And what did he mean by trek tour?
Milton put his fist to his mouth to cover a small burp and
held his stomach for a minute. He began talking again. “Silas and Djang...urp.”
He had just burped Django’s name and now we were all looking at him with raised
eyebrows.
“Sorry, kids. Guess these spicy meatballs aren’t agreeing
with me today.” Clearing his throat, he continued. “Let me go back to Ronni and
Nash’s trip. We’re looking for a homegrown terrorist’s new camp in the Pacific
Northwest. He’s a militia leader and extreme activist, left over from the Aryan
group that was taken down in Idaho a while back. He’s taken credit for more
than one murder just recently and is considered extremely hostile and
dangerous.”
Milton shifted in his chair and we heard a fluttery phoot sound.
He shrugged his shoulders and made a face like he was trying to play it off.
“’Scuse me again,” he then joked, “I’ll uh...be sure and split before a ‘head
call’ is necessary.”
Nash and Silas chuckled as Judy wrinkled her nose and made a
face. Then she got up, mumbling something about taking care of Milton’s
ass—literally—and headed out the door. I hoped she was getting an antacid or
something for him. He looked a little uncomfortable.
I looked over at Jeff who was still playing with his little
boxy looking gadget. “Whatcha got there, Q’ute?” Megan snorted and shook her
head. “Q’ute? I am not calling him that. I’d rather eat a bug.”
Jeff beamed, ignoring her, and said, “It’s a homing pill
detector. It’s new. I mean it’s old, but I just got it.”
I nodded. “Really? What exactly does it do?”
“It’s really just an old GPS detector. The homing pill is a
small capsule with GPS software in it,” he said enthusiastically.
“They still make those? GPS pills?”
“Don’t know yet. Some came with it. I’m testing it now,” he
said, still tinkering with the thing.
Milton had been looking back and forth between us and was
now furiously wiggling in his chair. Judy walked in with a bottle of antacid
and handed it to him. No sooner than Milton closed his hand over the bottle, he
let go a shocking string of methane that could prompt the federal government to
put aside its study of the effects of all bovine gas on the environment to
launch a new study program based on just one human butt. Judy wrinkled her
brows and snatched the bottle back in disgust.
She squeezed her nose and grumbled, “Definitely the wrong
bottle, oaf.” Then she left the room again, cursing under her breath.
Django was looking at his food with a frown on his face.
“Milton, my friend. I’m sorry, but I have to ask an important question. I’m
also eating a meatball sub. Does this...um...occur every time you order this
item from that place? I have a special date with my sweetheart tonight, and
such a malady would greatly diminish my chances of a happy outcome.”
Everyone, including Milton, burst out laughing at Django’s
concern. Django Rockes was a Cavalcade tour guide and our resident Romani
gypsy—or, at least, that was his shtick. He had a big personality and drove a
brightly colored van that reminded me of the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine. He was
also Judy’s boyfriend; they were definitely an interesting pair.
Before poor Milton had a chance to answer Django, his chair
vibrated again. Another long, loud, obnoxious squeak, and seemingly endless squeal,
ending in a “wheezy” sound came from his end of the table. Being that the
chairs were leather, the sound was just amplified to a ridiculous level and
musical note. This of course, made everyone at the table immediately erupt into
guffaws; even Milton was wide-eyed, shaking his head and grinning in disbelief
at his own unusual theatrics.
Turning my head, I watched as Jeff aimed his gadget at
Milton. I was beginning to fear that there was a connection between the gadget
and Milton’s malady. Jeff had used Milton as a test subject before in this very
room, so I asked him, “You said that you were testing your new gadget. How,
exactly?”
Jeff looked up and smiled. “Oh, right. Some of the old
capsules came with it. I put one in Milt’s meatball. I was gettin’ a pretty
good reading at first. Now it’s like the target is on the move.”
Nash, Silas, and Megan, burst out into hysterical laughter.
I put my fist over my mouth trying hard to hold mine back. I swear Milton’s
eyes crossed for a few seconds and his chest visibly moved as he took a few
deep breaths like he was trying to maintain his calm. It was pretty sobering
watching him slowly stand while leveling a glare at Jeff. Uh oh. “Kid, I got
one question before I have to run. Please tell me there’s no damn radioactive
material involved this time?”
Jeff shook his head. “Aw, heck no, Milt. That wouldn’t be
right.”
Milton did about half an eye roll and nodded before bolting
for the door.
That left us all chuckling, except for Django, who said,
“Jeff, my boy. I need to verify that you only used the one pill and Milton was
the only recipient. My woman is very calculated and demanding. Tonight will be
our third venture into the art of the Kama Sutra. It is the night of the
posture of the apes in the third month of spring.”
Most of us raised our eyebrows, and continued to snicker.
Megan said, “Agh…gross!”
Jeff just looked at Django, kind of confused for a few
seconds, and then seemed to acknowledge the real question and answered. “Oh,
um… I did put one other one in a meatball. You guys grabbed them up so fast
that I lost track of where that one went.”
I was still ruminating over Django’s plans for the evening
and opened my stupid mouth without thinking. “What does the posture of the apes
in the third month of spring even mean?”
When Judy walked through the door, Django looked at her with
desire in his eyes and kind of chuffed at her, ending with a little wink. Then
he looked at me and smiled, shrugged, and said, “Hmm. Picture the magnificent
gorilla, rather than the dog.” Uh...okay? He got up out of his chair and humped
over, bending at the knees, arms out, and neck jutting forward. “The natural
stance is in a half-erect posture and includes the use of the hands and knees
to thrust, thrust, thrust forward; like this.” He made a grabbing motion with
his hands and mimicked a pelvic thrust.
I jumped when he started with the sound effects.
“Uh...uh...hoo...hoo...ooooooh!”
Okay, I was with Megan on this one. The visual along with
the sounds made me kind of want to gag right then myself. Silas and Nash were,
of course, almost lying on one another swiping at their eyes, they were
laughing so hard.
Just as Django finished his demonstration, Judy belched and
made a face, and then her eyes got big and she turned tail to flee the room.
Unfortunately, she didn’t make it in time. Before the door closed, her backside
backfired at the exact same time the glass door hit her in the butt causing a
weird thundering vibration like sound. I glanced at Django, and he had paled
considerably. That was even before the smell wafted through the room. Megan and
I looked over at Nash and Silas, who were red-faced and wheezing now, gasping
for breath. Yeesh. They reminded me of my dad and stupid brother.
Jeff had a sheepish look on his face. He said, “Guess those
capsules are a little on the expired side and being voided. I should have done
more research before the test, huh?”
That did it. Nash and Silas fell out of their chairs and
disappeared under the table, exploding with a mixture of mirth and tears,
rolling around on the floor like idiots. Megan grabbed her nose, and got up
while making odd snarling noises at Jeff. She stomped out, waving her other
hand in front of her to clear the way and cursing under her breath.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Mandy Colton is
from Louisville, KY, and lives a very quiet life with her husband and teenage son.
A fan of romance, fun adventure, drama, humor, and on occasion sci-fi stories.
The idea for the Way to Go series came from her years, own adventures and
experiences working in the travel industry.
Most of the
experiences that plague her heroin, Veronica Lane, actually happened to her or
someone she knows. The circumstances were sometimes not nearly as glamorous and
are embellished some in the books.
She claims that
working in the travel business could be horribly stressful but equally
laugh-out-loud funny at times. Along the way she met many interesting people
all over the world, and enjoyed many priceless and comical experiences with
those people, her groups, friends, and peers. Even her clients shared humorous
adventures of their own. Her opinion is, that there are just no better stories
than those that involve true life.
Subscribe for
notifications on future new releases!
Facebook -
Twitter -
Pinterest -
Books available
on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com, Books-A-Million.com (Howl, can you fill in
the rest.)
Dedication
The Way to Go
series is dedicated to all of the men and women I had the pleasure to work and
have fun with in the travel business. The memories of that time and those
friends helped to write these books. They were all a great group of people with
different personalities, and from all over the globe with one big thing in
common; a fascination with the world around us. We shared many good times and
laughs when we got to together, when we traveled together, hilarity usually
ensued. Some have moved on from travel like myself, and sadly, some are gone.
Last, and not
least at all is my little family. My very supportive husband, my loving son,
and Willy the dog with the twitchy back leg.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE
Mandy will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly
drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Thank you for hosting
RispondiEliminaSounds like a fun read! Thank you for the great review.
RispondiEliminaGreat review and sounds like an amazing read. Whose books do you like to read?
RispondiEliminaI read mostly Indie now. I was inspired a long time ago by Janet Evanovich and her Plum series. It was my kind of silly humor.
EliminaThank you for the giveaway :)
RispondiEliminaAnother 'peachy' reading adventure. I always wonder if an author writes a main character that is 'like' themselves or the opposite. Is Veronica your alter ego?
RispondiEliminakat8762@aol.com
I'm definitely not Veronica, but if you mean goofy and crazy things happening to her? Yes. That's me and my luck. The craziest scenes came originally from some real events.
EliminaI liked the excerpt, thank you.
RispondiEliminaThere was so much to take in. The review was wonderful and then the excerpt, which I thought was outstanding.
RispondiEliminaWhere is your favorite spot to read?
RispondiEliminaI read in my down time and until sleepy. The bed.
EliminaThanks!
RispondiEliminaThis sounds like a great series! Im looking forward to checking it out.
RispondiEliminaMany of us are happy to see it being Friday again. Thank you for this opportunity at winning and all the work you put into this for us.
RispondiEliminaA very warm thank you goes to the author of this blog for showcasing the newest book in my kooky series and for taking the time to read it. The review was just wonderful!
RispondiEliminaMandy Colton
Thank you for this giveaway, I'd love to read the book!
RispondiEliminaThanks for the great review and excerpt.....
RispondiEliminaThis sounds like such a cute book! I love the cover too! Did you design that yourself? Or get an artist?
RispondiEliminaThank you for the great giveaway,natbelinsky@verizon.net
RispondiEliminathank you for the giveaway
RispondiEliminaThis looks like a fun read for the beach!
RispondiEliminacant wait to read
RispondiEliminaHave a terrific weekend and thanks for the giveaway
RispondiEliminaI've enjoyed reading your answers in this comments section! Your book seems like it will be a fun read! Thanks for sharing!
RispondiEliminaLove the book art! Can't wait to read. :)
RispondiEliminaThank you for a great review. I am looking forward to reading this book.
RispondiEliminaThis looks great for a summer read!
RispondiEliminaSunday blessing and thanks for the giveaway
RispondiEliminaTerrific giveaway and review! :)
RispondiEliminaThank you for taking the time to bring us this great giveaway and the opportunity to win
RispondiEliminaI really enjoyed reading the excerpt, thank you!
RispondiEliminaSounds very interesting from the excerpt! Thank you!
RispondiEliminaThanks so much for the giveaway and giving us the chance to win
RispondiEliminaThis sounds like a good book.
RispondiEliminaOh my gosh, this book sounds like a hoot! Can hardly wait to read it.
RispondiEliminaFun! Sounds like fun!
RispondiEliminaHappy Hump Day and thank you for the opportunity to win
RispondiEliminaI appreciate you giving us the opportunity to win, thank you
RispondiEliminaThank you for the giveaway.
RispondiEliminaHappy Friday! Thank you for the chance to win and all the work you put into these great giveaways
RispondiEliminaHope you're having a great Saturday! Thanks again for the chance!
RispondiEliminaThanks for the chance!!!
RispondiEliminaCute cover.
RispondiEliminaGood Morning and wishing you a wonderful Sunday. Thank you for this giveaway as well
RispondiEliminaThanks for the chance!
RispondiEliminaHOW MANY HOURS TOTAL DID IT TAKE YOU TO WRITE THE BOOK?
RispondiEliminaLove the excerpt. I love that the author includes so many real life instances. Great idea! Helps connect the reader
RispondiEliminaI appreciate you giving us the chance to win, thank you
RispondiEliminaThis sounds like a great book series!
RispondiEliminaSounds like a very good read!! :) ill have to read this!
RispondiElimina