A little about Shades of Gray (from Andy's website):
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| What a great holiday read! |
In the Fall of 2001, John’s life has fallen off a cliff. His six- year-old daughter, Lucy, needs a kidney transplant and his Durham, NC travel agency has been wrecked by the events of 9/11. He must find a way to secure a large amount of money quickly in order to pay for Lucy’s surgery. He’s been in tight places before but he’s currently out of solutions.
Wanda, a client of John’s travel agency, has had her livelihood hit hard by 9/11 also. She can no longer transport cocaine via airline flights due to increase airport security. Like John, she is a single parent and has wanted to get out of her line of work for several years. She needs more money to allow her and daughter Tonya, to move from Durham to California and break free of her boss, Jamel.
John and Wanda form a partnership around a plan to smuggle cocaine via cruise ships. His industry knowledge and connections would remove the transportation risks and she could handle the distribution and selling once they brought the drugs back to Durham.
Despite being nearly killed on their first run, it worked. Wanda coaxes John into another trip while Jamel is becoming suspicious of Wanda. John’s half-brother Travis, a Durham police detective battling his own demons, can’t connect the dots between John and Wanda . He continues to line his pocket with ill-gotten gains. Lucy and John are the most important people in his life and he would gladly provide them with financial help, if only John would ask.
How far should a father go to save his child? Can a man and woman from completely different worlds help each other? Could they fall in love? And which one of these people will live to see the summer of 2002?
With the completion of his break-out novel, I asked Andy what he would do if he had 24 hours of free time... you know, if he weren't already working on his next best seller:
Ahhhh. I was just hit with a wonderful breath of fresh air. I have been granted a full twenty-four hours to do whatever I choose to. OMG! (sorry for the excess excitement but I don't feel that I have this luxury in a long, long time!)
My day of freedom would be spent entirely in a place that I consider beyond description - Yellowstone. I would drive to the most remote corner of the park and walk into the woods with a bottle of water and binoculars and head in whichever direction the wind takes me. This magical park has enchanted me twice before and I love being out in the wilds of nature by myself. Yellowstone is so unique in the diversity of scenery, wildlife, and then these *very* strange places. Geysers, mudpots, and boiling cauldrons of mysterious substances abound in my Yellowstone world. Many of the sites are "Harry Potter-esque" in their uniqueness and, to me, truly display magic.
On my peaceful walk in the woods, I would be alert to all the wildlife that Yellowstone offers. Seeing bears, moose, wolves, and coyotes feels like winning the wild animal lottery. My previous visits included sightings of buffaloe, elk, mountain goats, a lone wolf, and four coyotes. Viewing these majestic animals in their natural settings takes my breath away.
To win your own copy of Shades of Gray:
Since Andy's from North Carolina and his novel, Shades of Gray, is set in North Carolina, leave a comment on the blog telling me what famous donut chain was started in North Carolina. All the right answers will go into a drawing and one lucky winner will get a FREE BOOK!! Deadline for the drawing is 8:00 tonight!!
Congratulations to comment #4 - Ladonna!! Email me at minivan.momma.2@gmail.com and I'll get the pdf copy of the book to you!
A special thanks to everyone who stopped by today! What a fun day!
Congratulations to comment #4 - Ladonna!! Email me at minivan.momma.2@gmail.com and I'll get the pdf copy of the book to you!
A special thanks to everyone who stopped by today! What a fun day!
