Three Chicks and Their Books: Blog Tour Blitz: Stolen Grace by Arianne Richmonde

A marriage on the rocks.

Their little daughter caught in between.

And a woman who will stop at nothing.

Sylvia and Tommy Garland and their five-year-old daughter Grace have moved from the bright lights of New York City to the peaceful wilderness of the Wyoming countryside. But with the recession on their heels, Tommy leaves for LA for a job interview, and Ruth, an old friend of Sylvia's comes to stay.

In an unexpected turn of events, a family tragedy forces Sylvia to leave Ruth in charge of little Grace for just one day.

A decision that will tear their lives apart.

Stolen Grace is a roller coaster of emotions with twists and turns, a tale of lies and deception, of redemption and forgiveness.

And ultimately, a love story.

Arianne Richmonde is an American writer and artist who spent her formative years in both Britain and the US. She has also lived in Spain and France.

She has traveled to many corners of the globe and meeting people from all walks of life and different countries is a passion of hers. She speaks fluent Spanish and French. She lives in France in an old stone farmhouse amidst sunflower fields and vineyards, with her husband and coterie of animals.

Excerpt

Sylvia and Grace.

Sylvia and Grace were at the airport, waiting for Ruth to arrive. They‟d already seen Tommy off, and for some reason it was Sylvia who cried, not Grace, when she saw him turn the corner and disappear through Security.

However, the prospect of having a friend to stay for a couple of weeks was exhilarating. Sylvia had nobody to chat with apart from her husband. There were some friendly women about, it was true—they‟d been welcoming, and she liked them, but they had nothing particularly in common with each other. Not really. Unless you called living in the middle of America‟s wilderness something in common.

“Mommy, why doesn‟t Ruth have a home?”

Sylvia swallowed the last of her lunch at one of the airport cafés. Grace was sitting on a chair too big for her, swinging her legs excitedly, and slurping freshly squeezed orange juice through a straw. She‟d begged for a soda but to deaf ears.

“Because she split with her boyfriend, honey.”

“But why did she live in her boyfriend‟s house? You told Daddy that she had pots of money. She could have her own house.”

Never misses a trick that little girl. Grace had a point, though. Why hadn‟t Ruth bought her own home yet? Why wasn‟t she house-hunting this summer instead of visiting friends?

“Maybe because she is a free spirit, sweetie, she didn‟t want to tie herself down.”

“With rope?”

Sylvia laughed. “It‟s just an expression, Gracie, a way of saying something. It means not

getting bored with the same thing. I remember when I was a little girl though, your age, and a friend of mine got dirt all over her skirt and she said that her mother was going to „kill‟ her. And I said, „What with, a knife or a gun?‟ She just meant that her mom would get very cross with her because she‟d got dirty.” Sylvia realized she‟d said too much, forgetting her daughter was merely five years old. “Have you had enough to eat, honey? Would you like a brownie now?”

“No thank you, Mommy, I‟m full.”

Sylvia took in a deep, satisfied breath. She had raised a polite little angel, she gushed to herself. An adorable, perfect child. “Come on, Gracie, let‟s go and find Ruth.”

Ruth was more glamorous than Sylvia remembered. She was wearing a straw cowboy hat, her skin tanned golden, her dark hair long and unruly. A smile stretched across her friendly, open face. Her eyes lit up when she spotted Grace, and Sylvia felt a wave of relief, knowing that she was having a friend to stay for a while. A real friend, with whom she had so much in common.