Book Excerpt/Guest-Author Susan Bennett/International Giveaway for Grace

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Book Blurb

Four women are about to start a mob war – and nails WILL be broken.

Some epiphanies look like diamonds.  Isabella Albrici's diamond shaped epiphany begins when her womanising husband, Domenic, frames her and her best friend Teresa for his diamond smuggling operation to save himself from jail. Prime targets for the prison’s resident psychopath, they’ll be lucky to survive jail, even luckier to survive if they get out – thanks to Domenic, ‘the family’ thinks Isabella is an FBI informant.  The big house ain't no fun house, but for Isabella and Teresa, it’s the safest house there is – until the evidence keeping them there suddenly goes missing.

 Ladies, you are free to go.

Ah, if it’s all the same to you, maybe we’ll just stay where we are.

No chance. Close the door on your way out.

Ah shit. Thanks very much.

 Some epiphanies are shaped like diamonds – others, like bullets. Sometimes grace is received; sometimes grace has to be earned.  For years, these mob wives have lived off the wages of sin, now the path to redemption is clear: they gotta whack their old men.

 Welcome to the inaugural general meeting of the first chapter of the New Jersey Mob Suffragette’s Whack Club.

 Salut.

Book Excerpt and author's bio is followed by giveaway rules.

An excerpt from Grace: It seemed the worse things got, the darker the mob women's humour became.  The evening before, as they were packing, Irish had asked them in all earnest what they thought would be happening in the Albrici camp – what would the Don make of his disappearing men – particularly in light of her one-sided sparring match with Cino Malatesta.  Surely that would cast an illuminating glow over the other two disappeared?  Or at the very least, a little niggling question mark?Isabella had been supremely unperturbed."Why would they put the two together?  Cino – he was sent after you – they knew about him.  But the others… they just went out to get the cannoli."Teresa appeared at Isabella's side and folded her hands in front of her in that familiar funereal stance.  "Godfather," she addressed Isabella, "we need your wisdom, Godfather.  Something is happening to our associates.  Every time they go out to buy cannoli, they come back in a body bag."Isabella didn't miss a beat.  "Consiglierie, the answer is obvious: these cannoli – they're killers." Teresa and Isabella exploded with mirth, while Irish, whose love of cannoli had landed her in this whole sorry mess, looked on stony-faced, feeling an unwelcome sympathy with the men."Si, si, Godfather, the cannoli – they got Jimmy Hoffa – is little known fact.""They've been known to eat whole horses, leaving only the heads."   About the Author: Susan Bennett's first job entailed selling very large knives (think the bowie knife – that’s not a knife, this is a knife – from Crocodile Dundee) to complete strangers, along with camping goods and other assorted goodies such as replica pistols.  Twenty years on, it finally occurred to her to wonder what some of those people wanted those replica pistols for, and she strongly suspects that many of the people she sold handcuffs to weren’t actually buying them as a joke gift, as they said.  As such thoughts never entered her young head, she was able to look her customers happily in the eye and smile broadly as she helped them with their purchases, never suspecting that in an hour’s time they would be handcuffed to a bed somewhere. She cites Lisa Simpson as her greatest influence. Her recent short fiction appears in Etchings (10 ) and Overland (203).  Daylight, (Twilight's Edward & Bella twenty years on) can also be read online. Places to follow Susan:Blog WebSite Susan's Goodreads Author PageGiveaway Rules:* Do not need to follow blog to enter* Must answer the question (What was author's first job?) in comment as part of entry and leave a valid contact email as will not track winner down*X3 winners of 3 e-copies of "Grace"Contest runs from 12/17-12/31/11 at 12 Noon CSTWinners will be chosen using random.org and contacted, confirmed, sent a Smashwords coupon to download format of choice to read ebook and posted on the blog no later than January 15th, 2012.