Book Title: THE FRONT PORCH CLUB
Character Name: Annalise Haverford
How would you describe your family or your childhood?
Everything about my childhood was perfect, or at least meant to look that way. We might not have had some of the material wealth that our friends and neighbors did, but my mother was an expert at appearances, mine in particular. I was raised to be a perfect Southern belle although mama’s dreams of me making a successful run on the pageant circuit fell apart thanks to my debilitating stage fright. Turns out I could not perform on cue as expected. It wasn’t until I had children of my own that I realized making parents happy wasn’t the responsibility of a child. It was quite an eye-opener I’ll tell you.
What was your greatest talent?
I’m not sure I should admit this but bending people to my will has always been a talent for me. And I’m definitely ashamed to admit that I didn’t think much about anyone else’s feelings in the process. I’m working on that. As it turns out, being genuinely nice to people makes me feel good. And although I didn’t expect it, making friends like Shauna and Meghan has helped me to see that my biggest talent might just be never giving up.
Significant other?
Nope. Not going there. Especially not with Jack Grainger, curse his handsome face.
Biggest challenge in relationships?
Sometimes it’s a challenge when people can’t understand that I’m always right. Mostly always right, anyway.
Where do you live?
Magnolia, North Carolina. And despite my tarnished reputation and the fallout of my cheating, lying, criminal ex-husband, I’m sticking. I stick and I’m going to make sure everyone knows it.
Do you have any enemies?
How much time do you have?
How do you feel about the place where you are now? Is there something you are particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by, in this place?
I’ve learned a lot in the past several months about releasing attachments to material things.
Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?
My children, Margo and Trey, are the two loves of my life. I will do anything to keep them safe and happy. Anything. But pet hair? No, thank you. I might be open to a goldfish if it will make my kids happy.
What do you do for a living?
Recently I’m a retired housewife. I did all the right things, and I could put together a charcuterie board that would make you weep with joy. I wore the right clothes and headed up all the right committees. It did not make me happy or help save my marriage. Although things have been a challenge, I’m discovering that I am more than I believed myself to be. I have a talent and passion for design, and if things work out with Walker Calloway, I will be on my way to having my own interior design business.
Greatest disappointment?
That I let people like my mother and my ex-husband tell me who I was instead of being my own best advocate.
Greatest source of joy?
Margo and Trey. One-hundred and ten percent.
What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun?
Mostly I’m too busy hustling to rebuild my life to even consider fun. But evenings spent on the porch with Meghan and Shauna and a pitcher of margaritas definitely help me laugh more than I have in ages.
What is your greatest personal failing, in your view?
Being fool enough to marry for security – which didn’t give me anything but heartache and trouble.
What keeps you awake at night?
Figuring out how to make a good life for my kids while reinventing myself to be the woman I want. And sometimes, maybe on occasion, Jack Grainger ends up in my dreams.
What is the most pressing problem you have at the moment?
None that can’t be solved with the help of friends.
Is there something that you need or want that you don’t have? For yourself or for someone important to you?
Besides the fancy coffee maker that I had to sell to help pay the bills? I want to feel confident that I can provide for myself and my kids. I want to be fulfilled and have a purpose. I want to be happy. I do not need or want to be in love. Men are a complication I have no time for – although that fluttery feeling in my stomach when a certain cowboy looks my way isn’t the worst thing in the world.
Why don’t you have it? What is in the way?
Me. I’m in the way. But I’m working on that. Friends plus a few helpings of chips and guacamole definitely help clear out the baggage!
THE FRONT PORCH CLUB by Michelle Major
They have nothing in common—except a need to start over…
The drawback to having a picture-perfect life is that there’s nowhere to go but down—and Annalise Haverford is falling fast. Once, she was the self-proclaimed queen bee of Magnolia, North Carolina. Now her husband has been arrested for fraud, and she’s become an outcast in the shallow circles she used to rule. There’s only one affordable rental in town, and it’s owned by the woman Annalise got fired from a lucrative job.
Much as single mother Shauna Myer would like to refuse Annalise, who treated her like dirt on the bottom of her red-soled shoe, she needs that rent money. But when Shauna’s first love arrives in town, unraveling secrets she’d hoped to keep, Annalise becomes her unlikely defender. Meghan Banks, an elementary school art teacher whose quiet existence suddenly descends into chaos, is thrown an unexpected lifeline by Annalise, too.
As spring ripens into a sultry summer, the three spur each other on to share their fears and dreams, face new challenges, and seize second chances. Because no matter how turbulent life may be, it’s much easier to navigate those choppy waters when you’re buoyed by true friendship…
Bonus novella!
The last Carlyle sister, new mother Trinity, finds love where she least expects it—with Magnolia’s upstanding chief of police, Asher Davis. Both Trinity and Asher think their romantic days are behind them. But then Asher asks Trinity for just one dance…
Women’s Fiction | Small Town [Canary Street Press, On Sale: May 23, 2023, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781335430656 / eISBN: 9780369723116]
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About Michelle Major
Michelle Major is the best selling, RITA award-winning author of over twenty sexy and sweet contemporary romances. She loves second-chances love stories, smart heroines, and strong heroes. A midwesterner at heart, she’s made the Rocky Mountains her home for over twenty-five years and is thrilled to share her books with readers.
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