Meet Emily Yancy, heroine of Bettye Griffin’s upcoming book, A New Kind of Bliss (Dafina Books, April 28th, trade paper) in this character sketch that is a prequel of sorts (it is not in the book) that was written especially for the APOOO blog.  Like the novel itself, this sketch is written in the first person narrative.

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I’ll admit it – I’m a mama’s girl.  And a daddy’s girl.

I’m not an only child, but my brother and sister are nine and eleven years older than I am, and both of them were at college before I turned ten years-old.  After that, I pretty much had my parents to myself.  And I love them to death.

Maybe death isn’t the right word for me to use, for Pop’s emphysema has been getting really bad lately.  It seems like he goes back in the hospital every couple of weeks.  I have to wonder what’s going to happen to Mom when the inevitable happens.  You see, Pop’s the old-fashioned type, the type who regards himself as the provider, the bringer-home-of-the-bacon.  Mom started a part-time job at a local dry cleaner when I got to the third grade, and while what little she earned did help supplement the college scholarships my older siblings received, Pop made it clear that he was the head of the household.  Not in a stick-your-chest-out kind of way, but matter of factly, like saying the sun is shining at high noon.

Pop’s attitude extends to running the household as well.  He writes the checks.  He brings the car in for repairs.  Strangely enough, his I’m-the-man attitude only exists in his relationship with my mother.  Pop always encouraged my sister, Cissy, and me to be independent.  He even taught both of us how to change the oil in our cars.  But my mother is another story.  Sometimes I think Mom is completely clueless about how the world works, and if she ever has to handle things alone she’s gonna be in big trouble.

You see, my siblings and I have all left our hometown of Euliss, New York.  All I can say is, if you saw Euliss, you’d want to get out of there, too.  Anyway, Cissy lives in Pittsburgh, our brother Sonny lives in a college town upstate, and I live in Indianapolis.  Now, in case geography isn’t your forte, out of the three of us, I live the farthest from New York.  But it’s a cinch that my brother and sister are going to try to talk me into moving back to Euliss so Mom won’t have to be by herself.

I’m not having it.  I’m 42 years old, and I’ve built a life here.  So what if I’m not seeing anyone special . . . all right, not anyone at all.  I’ve got a good job, a comfortable condo, and good friends.  I’m even friendly with my former in-laws. Sonny and Cissy sometimes have to be reminded that I’m not 10 years old anymore to their 20-something.  I’m as adult as they are, and I won’t be bullied.

I mean, really, what is there for me in Euliss?  I haven’t lived there since before college.  I’ve lost track of my friends from high school.  The mothers of two girls I’ve known all my life play cards with Mom every week, so it wouldn’t be hard to hook up with them . . . but why bother?  Valerie, a sweet girl, has a thing for babies.  I thought about her when the news broke about that single mother in California who just had eight babies.  Valerie only has three, but the minute her youngest would begin school she’d turn up pregnant again.  But at least Valerie has a lucrative career as a motivational speaker and she and her children live quite well.  That doesn’t change the fact that we don’t have anything in common.  I’m a divorcée past forty who will probably never have kids, while kids are the center of Valerie’s universe.

As for Tanis, our mothers have always been especially competitive when it comes to us.  (Valerie’s mother doesn’t say too much about her; she’s too embarrassed by her daughter having gotten knocked up three times without ever even getting close to getting married.)  That rivalry has carried over to Tanis and I, and I’m not looking forward to picking up where we left off, since she seems to be winning the race.  I make a respectable living as a physician assistant, but Tanis is a working actress.  So while I’m being sneezed on and coughed at by sick people, Tanis is in the chair getting her makeup done.  I’m divorced and childless.  Tanis has a handsome husband and two beautiful kids.  I have a cozy attached town home.  Tanis and her husband have a roomy house on Long Island Sound.  Get the picture?

No.  I’m definitely not going back to Euliss.  Not in a million years.  There’s nothing, and nobody, there for me anymore.

Oh, there goes my phone.  Excuse me.

(three minutes later)

Oh, my God.  Pop’s in the hospital again, and Cissy says it doesn’t look good.  I’ve got to arrange to fly to New York right away.  This might be it.  Suddenly I’ve got a rock in the pit of my stomach.  I’ve known this was coming, but . . . it’s coming.  Losing Pop is really going to hurt.

But I’m not going back to Euliss to live.  And if this truly is it for Pop, something tells me all hell is about to break loose.

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A New Kind of Bliss by Bettye Griffin, coming April 28^th from Dafina Books

He was perfect for her, in every way but one . . .

What do you do when the man of your dreams, handsome, successful, kind, generous, considerate, rich . . . bores you in bed?

A New Kind of Bliss , a tale about mothers and daughters . . . duty and desire . . . coveting and competition . . . and the ongoing quest for sexual compatibility.

Read an excerpt at www.bettyegriffin.com

Hear a pod cast at www.chew-the-fat-with-Bettye.blogspot.com

“Bettye Griffin has been sharing her stories with readers since 1998, when her first novel, the Arabesque romance AT LONG LAST LOVE, hit store shelves.  Bettye wrote a total of 10 contemporary romances and now writes women’s fiction.  Her novel ONCE UPON A PROJECT (2008) about the midlife emotions and life choices of women turning 50, struck a nerve with many readers.  Bettye’s newest work, A NEW KIND OF BLISS (to be published April 28th of this year), is her first novel told from a first person viewpoint.  A native of Yonkers, New York, Bettye now makes her home in southeastern Wisconsin, between Chicago and Milwaukee.”

“If you enjoy multi-dimensional stories with good character development, you will enjoy A NEW KIND OF BLISS.  Emily Yancy is faced with assisting (or not) her elderly mother with her daily needs, which would require returning to a hometown she hates.  When a friend introduces her to an eligible oncologist, the future looks a lot brighter . . . but it soon becomes apparent that her lifelong nemesis, the newly divorced Tanis Montgomery, wants Aaron Merrit, too.  Pushed by their mothers, Emily and Tanis have been locked in a rivalry to out-do each other their whole lives, and Tanis has been winning, at least up until now . . .”

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