A Great Book and Back-of-the-Book Blurb # 88

       Are you reading a great book right now? A book that you look forward to cracking open, every time you get home? A book that you'd prefer to curl up with, instead of an evening meeting?

         I am. I'm reading Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. It's a YA novel about an overweight weird girl (Eleanor) and a boy (Park) who become friends... and then boyfriend and girlfriend.

         The characters are so interesting. Eleanor lives with her siblings, mother and Richie (her mother's boyfriend) in a tiny house. The only bathroom has no door. It used to have a sheet covering the doorway, but Richie ripped it down. Taking a bath has to be taken with Richie's schedule in mind: How long will he be at the bar before coming home? The back door is right next to the bathroom "door," so if Richie comes busting in, there'll be no time to scurry into her room.

      There's not enough food and when there is plenty of food (like a holiday), Richie ruins it. Eleanor wears strange-looking outfits, since she needs to safety-pin things to cover up the tears and holes and undone seams.

      Park lives in a "normal" house with a "normal" family.

      Can Eleanor open up enough to let Park in? I have about a hundred more pages, and I have a feeling I'm going to regret when I finish the last line on the last page... because I'll begin to miss Park and Eleanor right away...

      (The book does have lots of colorful language, but none of it is gratuitous.)
   

And now onto book blurb stuff.

        Look at the photo below. That is the cover of your book. You choose the genre. Is it a coffee table book of fashion trends? Is it a photo collection of mentally-ill patients and their clothing choices? You decide.

        Write an enticing blurb--150 words or less. (The title doesn't count in the word count.) Blurbs are those enticing bits that prod you into buying the book. Sometimes they're on the back cover of the book. Sometimes they're on the inside front cover. What they always try to do is lure you into purchasing the book. 

          Lisa Ricard Claro was the original creator of this writing challenge. She moved to Florida, and is too busy to host a weekly book blurb. Her first romance novel, Love Built to Last, just came out as an audio book.  She's quite busy these days. She even has a new book coming out today.

     

          Include your blurb in a blog post. Include a link to this post. Also, link your post to Mr. Linky. Mr. Linky is easy. If you've never done it, you'll be impressed with how simple he is. And then, check out the other blurb(s). It's interesting to see the different directions writers take, given the same photo.

           Here's the book cover, along with my blurb:

A Watery Embrace

Maura had finally succumbed.

The water was so alluring. The coolness of it. The blueish hue it took on. The accepting way it had. No matter what or who it was, the lake welcomed all who swam. Or floated. Or came in to drown…

Maura was tired of dog-paddling through life. It was exhausting working to just keep her head above water. Often, she’d feel herself dipping below the surface, and then have to struggle to come back up. Choking on what was thrown her way. Feeling like she was overwhelmed with problems that weighed her down.

So when life got to be too much, Maura went to the lake. The water beckoned her. The coolness made everything better. The blue hugged her and promised to never let go.

Maura stepped in, lifted up her feet and let herself float to the bottom… (143 words)

And for those who want to work ahead, here is the photo for next week's blurb: