For What It's Worth: Saturday Spotlight & Giveaway: Jaye Frances

Welcome to Saturday Spotlight. A feature hosted by Tina’s Book Reviews as a way of shining the light on Indie/Debut/Self Published authors. Each week I’ll have a guest post written by a featured author.

Today I’m welcoming author Jaye Frances back tot the blog to talk about her new novel Love Travels Forever, a collection of stories & essays that would make for perfect holiday reading.

In Love Travels Forever, Jaye Frances captures the reader’s heart with an inspiring collection of seventeen stories filled with romance and passion, the hopeful innocence of youth, and a love so strong that it transcends the mortality
of life. Here are just a few of the people you’ll meet:

Evan and Frankie, a loving couple traveling through life hand-in-hand, are unaware that the shadow of fate is about to tear them apart. Helpless to change their shortened future together, one of them makes a promise—a promise of devotion and courage, honoring a love that surpasses the boundaries of time.
Mark and Janice, the perfect couple with the perfect life, are on the threshold of finally seeing their dreams come true—until an unexpected circumstance changes their lives forever.

Danny, a young soldier fresh out of boot-camp, is desperate to find a way to travel home and marry his sweetheart before being shipped overseas. Stranded in a train station on a three day pass with no hope in sight, Danny meets Wanda, an incredible woman who vows to find a way to bring Danny and his fiance together.

Nora and Georgia are two eight-year-old best friends who share giggles, dolls, and secrets. But when one of them faces sudden danger, the other responds with an unconditional act of love and forges a lifelong bond between them unaffected by fear or prejudice.

So find a quiet spot, get comfy, and grab a box of Kleenex. You’re about to take an unforgettable journey of the heart, to a place where compassion and hope have no limits, and where love continues to travel forever.

Love Travels Forever is available now in kindle eBook on Amazon for $1.99 Amazon US | Amazon UK | Goodreads

Jaye Frances:

Thank you, Karen, for having me back on For What It’s Worth with my new release, Love Travels Forever. The book is a collection of my favorite short stories and essays, derived from impromptu interviews, happenstance meetings, and childhood recollections. In “The Angels of Ellis Island,” you’ll meet Molly, a determined mother traveling with her seven-year-old son, William, as she leaves everything behind, risking it all, to build a new life in a new land. Here’s an excerpt:

    I recently spent some time with a new friend who considers the Thanksgiving of 1907 as one of those historical milestones still celebrated by her family. That year, President Theodore Roosevelt signed a special proclamation urging Americans to observe the day with prayer, his request even more significant because it also marked a year when over a million immigrants passed through the Great Hall at Ellis Island—a time when people from all parts of Europe came looking for a better life and a new beginning in a strange and wonderful country called America.

     One of those immigrants was a woman named Molly. From her family records, I learned that Molly was a slight woman and about 30 years of age at the time she made the crossing. She had lost her husband to cholera three years prior and, as a widow, she knew the transition to a new life in another country would be difficult. She would have to leave everything behind, sail across the ocean to an unfamiliar city without the promise of a job, a place to stay, or a single friend to help her get settled. And she would have to do it with her seven-year-old son, William.

     For over two years, she had saved her money—enough to buy third class passage on a steamship. And right up until the day of sailing, her friends tried to talk her out of leaving. “Even the voyage itself will be a challenge,” they told her. Third class passengers (called steerage) were restricted to the bottom decks, where they often spent the majority of the two-week Atlantic crossing in their bunks, seasick and restricted from the open decks and fresh air.

     But Molly was determined. She wanted to raise William where he would have the opportunity to obtain the education she never received, and to achieve financial independence equal to his efforts. She wasn’t making the trip for herself. She was making the change—the sacrifice—for her son.

     Like the rest of the steerage passengers, Molly and William boarded the ship and settled into the cramped public accommodations. They shared six bathrooms with eight hundred other people and waited in long lines for a meal of soup and stale bread—with Molly always keeping a watchful eye on William. At night, she told him stories about the school he would attend, about the new friends he would soon have, and about all the wonderful things they would see and do together in a magical city called New York.

     She planned to find work in the garment district. She had been told that laundries and tailors were the best options for immigrants, and with her sewing skills, she hoped to find a job that paid well enough to afford a one bedroom flat in a boarding house on the lower west side. It was where the poor eked out a living, but it was a start. And that was all Molly wanted—a chance to provide a better life for her son. Molly’s dreams of opportunity and success for William kept her motivated and focused during the difficult trip. However, the future she planned for William was one she would never see. On the sixth day of the crossing, Molly complained of headaches and dizziness. Three days later, she was dead.

Author Bio: Jaye Frances is the author of The Kure, a paranormal-occult romance novel, The Possibilities of Amy, a coming-of-age romance novella, The Cruise-All That Glitters, a humorous adult satire about love on the high seas, The Beach, a sci-fi supernatural tale about a man who is given the opportunity to receive his ultimate wish, and Love Travels Forever, a collection of poignant short stories and essays. She is also a featured columnist for the NUSA SUN magazine. Born in the Midwest, Jaye readily admits that her life’s destination has been the result of an open mind and a curiosity about all things irreverent. When she’s not consumed by her writing, Jaye enjoys cooking, traveling to all places tropical and “beachy” and taking pictures—lots of pictures—many of which find their way to her website. Jaye lives on the central gulf coast of Florida, sharing her home with one husband, six computers, four cameras, and several hundred pairs of shoes. For more information, visit Jaye’s website, or Jaye’s Blog, Facebook, Amazon Author Page

GIVEAWAY!
Jaye is giving away one (1) Kindle eBook version of Love Travels Forever.

Giveaway ends 12/8 at 11:59pm – winner announced 12/9

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