Dinah and Zach are making their way through life’s changes in The Summer of Sorrow and Dance, Liz Flaherty’s latest contemporary romance. Can they find room for each other in the places created by his new job and her empty nest?

Liz, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Please tell us about your book.

The Summer of Sorrow and Dance by Liz Flaherty

Genre Contemporary

Book heat level (based on movie ratings): PG

In the midst of a summer of change, they’re both searching for an anchor.

Dinah is a mom, a giver, and a doer, so she’s used to change, but this summer is kind of overdoing that. The diner where she’s worked for half her life is closing, her college-age kids aren’t coming home for the summer, and a property on nearby Cooper Lake is calling her name, bringing long-held dreams of owning a B & B to the fore. Newcomer Zach Applegate is entering into her dreams, too.

Divorced dad, contractor, and recovering alcoholic Zach is in Fallen Soldier, Pennsylvania, to visit his brother and to decide what’s coming next in his life. He doesn’t like change much, yet it seems to be everywhere. But he finds an affinity for remodeling and restoration, is overjoyed when his teenage sons join him for the summer, and he likes Dinah Tyler, too. A lot.

Dinah and Zach each experience sorrow and tumult, but go on to dance in the kitchen. Together, they have something, but is it enough?

What’s your favorite down-home family style meal?

Oh, my very favorite is either chicken or beef and noodles (homestyle) with mashed potatoes made from real potatoes and lots of butter, corn (also with butter, and dinner rolls or biscuits. Yes, with with butter. If I haven’t had a heart attack by that point, I like ice cream for dessert. Lite ice cream, of course—I wouldn’t want to overdo.

Tell us about your favorite toy as a child.

It wasn’t a toy. It was a book. I read Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women until the covers literally wore off and I had to glue heavy cardboard to the front and back to keep the pages together. I couldn’t read the last page anymore, but that was okay—I knew what it said. The book changed my life. I have to wonder if Liz Flaherty, the writer, would ever have come to life if I hadn’t known Jo March.

What are your hobbies?

I sew. I used to make clothes, but sewing a few weddings did me in on that, so now I make quilts and tchotchke things like potholders and coasters because it’s relaxing and I love the way colors and patterns go together. Sometimes they’re awful, but even that’s fun.

When you read for pleasure, what kind of books do you choose?

Ones from auto-buy authors. I hate to admit to being so un-adventurous in my dotage, but I am. I jump at every new release by Nan Reinhardt, Mary Balogh, Kristan Higgins, Beth Carpenter, and some others. I also re-read old favorites. I think I could recite some of my favorites by Kathleen Gilles Seidel and Cheryl Reavis because I’ve read them so often!

What kinds of things do you read when you’re researching a new book?

I read news stories about places and events near the setting I’ve chosen. I usually write about fictional places, but people will still recognize where they are because of things mentioned. For example, Fallen Soldier, Pennsylvania, the setting for the Second Chances series, is a town that’s real only in my imagination, but the places around it–Altoona, Horseshoe Curve, and a few others are very real. I spent part of the summer there when I was 13 and have never forgotten it.

Where to buy The Summer of Sorrow and Dance

Publisher Magnolia Blossom Publishing
Amazon https://amzn.to/3sPqnMN

Liz Flaherty Social Media

USA Today bestselling author Liz Flaherty started writing in the fourth grade when her Aunt Gladys allowed her to use her portable Royal typewriter. The truth was that her aunt would have let her do anything to get her out of her hair, but the typewriter and the stories it could produce caught on, and Liz never again had a day without a what if… in it.

She and Duane, her husband of at least forever, live in a farmhouse in central Indiana, sharing grown children, spoiled cats, and their grandkids, the Magnificent Seven. (Don’t get her started on them—you’ll be here all day.)

Liz Flaherty thinks one of the things that keeps you young when you quite obviously aren’t anymore is the constant chances you have to reinvent yourself. Her latest professional incarnation is as a Harlequin Heartwarming author and she is enjoying every minute! She’d love to hear from you at lizkflaherty@gmail.com or please come and see her at:
Website http://lizflaherty.net/
Blog https://windowoverthesink.blogspot.com/
Twitter https://twitter.com/LizFlaherty1
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/authorlizflaherty/
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/lizkf/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3336348.Liz_Flaherty
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Liz-Flaherty/e/B001J919R4/