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Return to New Parish Book Cover!

Things are moving along, and progress is being made! Our graphic artist is awesome! Ana Grigoriu-Voicu has once again created a masterpiece!

Return to New Parish is definitely getting ready to tell a whole new story next month. Until then, here’s something to think about…

 

 

Return to New Parish book blurb:

Hannah has questions…

She knows her sister Sarah had many of the same questions. Hannah’s biggest questions are – Would the same answers Sarah found work for her? Is happily ever after really possible? And – Will the answers Sarah found also fix the bad thing that happened?

Hannah’s search for her best life leads her on a journey that includes real cowboys, horses, and digging deep for the courage to overcome the insecurities and paralyzing fear that has infused itself into her soul…

The fresh start Hannah’s seeking in New Parish is impeded when she arrives and finds that her fears have come along with her. She begins to wonder if, maybe, she’s permanently damaged…

New Parish and Brigham Tea Magazine available on Amazon.com

New Parish on Amazon.com

Also available at:

Barnesandnoble.com

Bee’s Grocery (in Centennial Park)

Coming soon to many new bookstores!

Brigham Tea Magazine:

https://www.amazon.com/Brigham-Tea-Magazine-Julie-Worthington-ebook/dp/B07R92QJT1/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=brigham+tea+magazine&qid=1556905020&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

New Author Bio

Here’s the new author bio coming out in my next book, Return to New Parish! I think it gives a little more insight into me, hope you enjoy…

Author Bio ~

Julie Worthington is a quirky, adventurous, tenacious, determined, earnest, enthusiastic person. She writes stories about people who are looking for their happily ever afters, with a bit of adventure, some trouble, and a lot of humor along the way. Julie is always the optimist, looking for the beautiful, the wonder, and the hilarious in life.

Ever the Treky, a close friend once told her, if Spock and Worf had a baby it would be her… she took this to mean that she’s logically passionate about most things in life – it could have meant more, but we’ll go with that.

Julie is from a small town in Georgia, where she grew up learning about southern culture, history, respect for others, and good manners. She now lives in a small community in Arizona, where she has been learning about the western experience, western history, and all things cowboy.

Julie loves history, not so much the wars or other conflicts, but the way people lived and what they did in different times in history. She’s always asking questions like – Why did they do that? Why did they go there? and What was it like when that happened?

As a writer Julie infuses her fiction with real life experiences, places, histories, and cultures. She gets to know each character like a fascinating new friend who inspires her stories and her imagination to new heights. She’s always looking for something unique, different, even mysterious or esoterical to add flavor to her stories.

Learn more about Julie, and her writing adventures, on her blog – www.julieworthington.com or follow her on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/JulesLW/  or on Twitter – @JulesLW

 

I’m so excited to share Return to New Parish with everyone! Release date coming soon! Book cover release coming soon!

Until then you can always visit New Parish with the first book, New Parish, or check out Brigham Tea Magazine.

New Parish on Amazon.com

Also available at:

Barnesandnoble.com

Bee’s Grocery (in Centennial Park)

Coming soon to many new bookstores!

Brigham Tea Magazine:

https://www.amazon.com/Brigham-Tea-Magazine-Julie-Worthington-ebook/dp/B07R92QJT1/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=brigham+tea+magazine&qid=1556905020&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull  

Hannah’s on her way…

I know I’ve been silent for a while now, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been unbusy. I’ve been working hard on getting Return to New Parish ready for an August launch. It’s getting close and I’m very excited to share the next New Parish story with everyone!

Until then you can always check out Sarah’s story in the first New Parish book – or Brigham Tea Magazine where you’ll find a short story that gives updates on what Sarah’s up to after the first New Parish book ended… hint, hint, A Day in the Life of a Sister Wife.

 

New Parish on Amazon.com

Also available at:

Barnesandnoble.com

Bee’s Grocery (in Centennial Park)

Coming soon to many new bookstores!

Brigham Tea Magazine:

https://www.amazon.com/Brigham-Tea-Magazine-Julie-Worthington-ebook/dp/B07R92QJT1/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=brigham+tea+magazine&qid=1556905020&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull  

Little sister Hannah…

I’d like to introduce you to Hannah, if you’ve read my book New Parish, you’ve already met Sarah her older sister. Hannah is the epitome of the sassy Southern girl. Oh, she is respectful and kind, but she has a fiery temper that flares up every now and then. Hannah loves horses she’s ridden horses since she was 9, and used to love watching old cowboy movies with Sarah when there were kids.

Now she’s going to live in a place where there are real cowboys, lots of horses, and maybe something wonderful for her… if she can get over the bad thing that happened…

You can find out all about Hannah, her sassy ways, and the bad thing that happened, in Return to New Parish. Return to New Parish will be out this summer, more details soon!

Until then you can always get acquainted with her sister Sarah in my book New Parish available now on Amazon.com. Brigham Tea Magazine is also available now in digital form on Amazon.com. (Links below)

 

Excerpt from Return to New Parish:

Chapter 2 – Cowboys and Horses

            “The rest of her road trip was peaceful and full of anticipation to see Sarah and her family. She was no longer plagued by the pain of her past. She felt at peace, although she knew the Nathaniel thing was simmering just under the surface, she was determined to cling onto the peace, even if it was temporary.

            As she neared the small community Hannah saw some men and a small boy riding horses across the prairie next to the main road. She also saw that they had a purpose, they were moving a herd of about thirty cows away from the road. One man, an older cowboy, who seemed to be in charge was sitting on his horse, a large impressive palomino, and pointing while the other men were gathering the cows in the direction he wanted them to go in. The sage cowboy made Hannah think of Sam Elliot, whom she had loved in several westerns.

            The boy stayed near the cowboy in charge until the old truck in front of Hannah made a huge bang! It was a very loud backfire, Hannah jumped and shouted, “Dang!” She looked back to the scene she’d been watching to see the boy’s beautiful blond palomino suddenly dart toward the fence opposite the road she was traveling on. The old cowboy was suddenly on the move, his horse quickly caught up with the one the boy was on. He grabbed the reins of the other horse slowing, then stopping the horse. After steadying the boy on his saddle, he patted him on the back reassuringly.

            Hannah smiled, “I’m gonna like it here.” A right turn took her into the community, a few more turns and a couple of miles later and she was pulling up in front of Sarah’s home. It looked like the pictures Sarah had sent her, beautiful gardens surrounding the huge rock face house. She saw the barn, across the drive from the house, and longed to just go out there for a bit. She sighed and decided that saying hello to her sister would be more appropriate, so she got out of her car and stretched. Then she walked up the short walkway to the front door.”

New Parish:

New Parish on Amazon.com

Also available at:

Barnesandnoble.com

Bee’s Grocery (in Centennial Park)

Changing Hands Bookstores in Phoenix and Tempe AZ

Coming soon to many new bookstores!

Brigham Tea Magazine:

https://www.amazon.com/Brigham-Tea-Magazine-Julie-Worthington-ebook/dp/B07R92QJT1/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=brigham+tea+magazine&qid=1556905020&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull  

 

Brigham Tea Magazine!

Brigham Tea Magazine is finally available in digital form on amazon.com! (Print copies are not available yet).

It’ll be free this weekend! May 4-5th only. The Brigham Tea Magazine website is still in the works and will offer lots more (soon), but till then you can enjoy the magazine on amazon.com.

Inside the magazine you’ll find some old and new western history, culture, places, and a short story (fiction) that gives a peek into Sarah’s life in New Parish. So if you want to know what she’s been up to while you’re waiting for Return to New Parish, here’s your chance to find out.

Get your digital copy here:

https://www.amazon.com/Brigham-Tea-Magazine-Julie-Worthington-ebook/dp/B07R92QJT1/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=brigham+tea+magazine&qid=1556905020&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull  

 

Did you ever wonder what would happen…

So many times in life we make choices or have them thrust upon us, but have you ever wondered what might have happened if things had been a little different, or we’d made a different choice?

One of my favorite movies is, “You’ve Got Mail.” Perfect actors, almost perfectly written, an absolutely wonderful story. A story that makes us wonder what things could have been like if in our own lives if we’d made a different choice or had a different circumstance…

Quote from You’ve Got Mail:

“Joe Fox:

You know, sometimes I wonder…

Kathleen Kelly:

What?

Joe Fox:

Well… if I hadn’t been “Fox Books” and you hadn’t been “The Shop Around the Corner,” and you and I had just met…

Kathleen Kelly:

I know.

Joe Fox:

Yeah, yeah. I would’ve asked for your number. And I wouldn’t have been able to wait 24 hours before calling you up and saying, Hey, how about… oh, how about some coffee, or drinks, or dinner, or a movie… for as long as we both shall live?”

He wondered, she wondered, and things eventually became wonderful. In my book New Parish, Sarah wonders about things a lot, so does Max… but something happened to intervene in the possibility of a relationship between them. Find out if they can go from wondering to wonderful like Joe and Kathleen did.

New Parish by Julie Worthington on Amazon.com

Also available at:

Barnesandnoble.com

Bee’s Grocery (in Centennial Park)

Changing Hands Bookstores in Phoenix and Tempe AZ

Coming soon to many new bookstores!

Grits

If you say the word grits, everyone knows its going to be about something southern, whether it’s about eating them, or kissing them. There are so many rich, amusing, and wonderful things about the southern culture till one’s mind does ponder them often. I think of those hot summer days of childhood, filled with outside adventures, watermelon, and friends. I can remember waking up to the smell of bacon cooking, country music playing on the radio, and family chattering away about the plans of the day…

In thinking about those good ol’ southern things, I like to focus on the positives, maybe that’s another southern thing, anyways, my thoughts this morning have been on the southern things that have been strong influences in my life.

Music – This was mostly country, I later added some variety to my listening like Dean Martin, The Beach Boys, Bing Crosby, and even some Bach. Very eclectic, yes, but I think the south is very eclectic.

Food – Grits of course, but good down home southern cooking also included many other foods such as fried chicken, hamburgers, salmon patties, and whatever vegetables you grew in the garden (or found at the market) that year.

Manners – We were taught respect for others from infancy, so it almost seemed that everyone knew how you were supposed to deport yourself in whatever situation you were in. Rudeness was never tolerated, the old saying, if you can’t say something nice then don’t say anything at all, was the expected norm.

Friendly – Upon meeting new people one was expected to smile, shake hands (firmly), and be friendly. Upon meeting people you already knew, whether you liked them or not, you were expected to do the same.

Hospitality – Southern hospitality, is or should be one of the most famous things about the south. When company comes, they are always greeted warmly. Whether they are friends or family they are invited in and offered food and beverage. A southern home when and where I grew up was always a very welcoming place.

With all this in mind how could I not make my main characters from the south? I also love the western culture, so being me, I had to have the two cultures collide. You’ll find these collisions often in my book New Parish, and soon, Return to New Parish.

 

Excerpt from New Parish:

Chapter 3 – New Parish

“Michael!” shouted a lady’s voice from across the park.

            They all looked as a herd of cows came into view at the edge of the park. The cows progressed toward the party with speed and destruction.

            “Head’em off! Head’em off!” Brother Michael shouted as he recruited several of the men at the party to help direct the cows away from the party.

            Sarah was quite impressed at the cowboy aptitude of Brother Michael and the other men present. They were able to drive most of the cows toward the entrance of the park and contain them there, but there were three cows that would not cooperate with Brother Michael’s agenda, they were still stubbornly rampaging through the park. Then Sarah saw something she had to do a double take to realize was really happening. It was so surreal, a man on a horse came quickly and proficiently riding into the park after the cows and was expertly gathering them up. The man looked every bit like a cowboy right out of a western movie and immediately made Sarah think of Tom Selleck sitting on his horse, he was tall and tan, with dark hair and mustache with a three or four day showing of whiskers on his face. His hair was a little long and shaggy for this community, where every guy she’d met was sporting short very controlled hair. He was wearing a dingy grey cowboy hat, faded blue button up shirt, a blue paisley bandanna, jeans covered with shotgun chaps, and worn cowboy boots and gloves.

            Sarah had been so mesmerized by the cowboy and what he was doing that she stood there in a stunned daze… she didn’t see the cow coming toward the table she was standing near.        Brother Michael shouted to the cowboy, “What’s going on here Max?”

            The man on the horse shouted back, “I had a few heifers break down a fence and get out, sometime last night. I didn’t know it till this mornin and was rounding ‘em up when some stray dog started yippin at ‘em and they got ahead of me.”

            Brother Michael smiled and said, “Max I’d like to introduce you to, Sarah, from Georgia.”

            Max pulled on the reins of his horse and stopped a few feet away, he smiled and drawled, “Howdy, ma’am.”

            Sarah was completely captivated by this cowboy, she thought his smile was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen, his deep blue eyes sparkled – she felt like her head was filled with something sweet and gooey which was slowing her thought processes down. Her brain was stuck on, “Oh my gosh, he’s so gorgeous…”

            Before she could reply to the cowboy’s greeting she heard someone shout, “NO!” The next sound she heard was a dog barking… This inspired the cow that was getting near her to jump, and run, bumping into the table and with a sort of bounce, trip, and run action. It landed on the table with a bang collapsing the legs of the table. At the same time of the table collision the cow bumped into Sarah knocking her to the ground as it ran off toward the playground. That wouldn’t have been so bad, but what happened next made Sarah think of a sitcom situation on a TV show, because this sort of thing doesn’t happen in real life… not in her life.

            Sitting on the ground where the cow had knocked her, Sarah saw the table legs fold under as the table hit the ground with a thud from the weight of the cow and very large metal container that held the hot chocolate – it instantly poured out all over the ground where she was sitting. But Sarah’s main focus was on the punch bowl that had been catapulted into the air from the other end of the table, it was coming right at her with all the red punch it held. The step ladder that had been placed underneath the table for support had worked as a fulcrum to create the catapult for the punch bowl.

            Sarah’s mental faculties returned to her in time for her to put her hands up to prevent the large plastic punch bowl from hitting her head… she was drenched in red punch and the hot chocolate had soaked into the skirt of her dress along with turning her shoes a new color of brown. She felt as though everything had been turned off for a few seconds or slowed to a slow motion state and now it was all back on in vivid living color. She was completely soaked through with hot chocolate on the bottom of her and red punch from her head down to her feet. She was shivering from the cold, and becoming more and more angry, and humiliated, by the second. Sarah couldn’t comprehend what, why, or how something like this could happen. She thought, “Of course, Max the cowboy had taken off after the cow incident without a word of apology.” Sarah was processing this, she’d been so awe struck with his stunningly irresistible, beguiling, captivating appearance, but now she could see him for what he was, “Just another macho, self centered, inconsiderate, blockhead of a man who only thought of himself and what he wanted… Just like so many other ignoramuses that have strolled through my life over the years,” she thought as Mary brought a blanket and wrapped it around her.”

 

New Parish is out now! Return to New Parish will be out in a few months!!! You can get a copy of New Parish here:

New Parish by Julie Worthington on Amazon.com

Also available at:

Barnesandnoble.com

Bee’s Grocery (in Centennial Park)

Changing Hands Bookstores in Phoenix and Tempe AZ

Coming soon to many new bookstores!

 

Challenges…

I think in life we all have challenges. Challenges come in all shapes and sizes. Some challenges lead to other challenges that come along because of the original challenge… In my book New Parish Sarah finds that her challenge of becoming a mom is complicated by several other challenges. Challenges such as finding a good man to marry, moving west to live in Arizona, overcoming some predisposed prejudices about a certain cowboy… I hope you’ll enjoy Sarah’s challenges, and her journey to solving those challenges, in New Parish.

Excerpt from New Parish:

Chapter 5 – The Storm

“Looking out the window Sarah could see the wind blowing wildly as the rain pounded the windows and everything else outside. The storm outside was gaining strength…            

Sarah wanted desperately to distract her mind from the thoughts and feelings she was having so she went into the kitchen to fix some hot chocolate. She grabbed a warm blanket to wrap herself in on her way, the chill from earlier was still lingering deep inside her.            

With hot chocolate made, she sat on the mismatched cushions of the wicker sofa and watched the storm outside. The storm inside her raged on as well, she felt like her whole life was in turmoil, not just because of another bad date with a man who really, in the big scheme of things, didn’t matter – but because she had allowed herself to be in that situation, “So, what’s the next situation I’m going to allow myself to get into?” she wondered. She decided to go back to an earlier strategy and consider the pros and cons of plural marriage because now that she had definitely decided that dating was never happening again, plural marriage with its matching system seemed her only option. “Well either that or live my life completely alone and never have the kids I’ve always dreamed of having,” she spoke this thought aloud – she thought her voice sounded sad and angry at the same time.            

Sarah took a sip of hot chocolate and thought, “Cons, umm, Brother Michael’s wives covered a lot of those – jealousy, unfair treatment, possessiveness, controlling sister wives, husbands not doing what they should or allowing the new wife to be excluded… “Ah,” she said aloud, “It all sounds like a bunch of “mean girl” stuff! I don’t want to live the rest of my life that way!” She wrapped the blanket tighter around her and listened to the storm outside. The rain beat on the balcony like hundreds of miniature drums beating, the lightning and thunder joined in often to round out the show.            

Sarah felt like her mind was going numb from too many thoughts – like when you get an injury, it initially hurts then it goes numb and then hurts like crazy later… she welcomed the numbness, but she could still feel the turmoil and conflict of her inner storm just under the surface of her emotions. She sipped her hot chocolate again and braced for impact. Then a memory suddenly and clearly came to the forefront of her thoughts and she could hear Brother Michael’s voice repeating the advice he’d given her when she was in New Parish.            

He said, “The last thing I want to suggest to you is to take some time to ponder and pray about this decision. This is your life. Is this really what you want for your life? This lifestyle has many blessings but it can also be considered a curse to those who don’t have the capacity to accept it in all its varied and sometimes complicated components. I want you to understand that I only want the best for you. If this is truly what you want to do then I’ll do everything in my power to make it happen for you. But, if you have doubts about it, then take the time to find the answers you need to put those doubts to rest, before you make your decision. Okay?”            

“Okay,” she said aloud to this vivid memory, “I’ll pray, I’ve done the “pondering” well, I’ve mostly done the struggling, agonizing, and suffering.”            

Sarah determinedly sat her hot chocolate down on the old wooden end table beside the sofa and pulled the blanket tightly around her. Bowing her head, she poured out all her thoughts, doubts, and questions in sincere prayer. When she finished the long tearful appeal she sat there on the sofa quietly wondering what to do, then the memory of how she felt when she went to church in New Parish filled her with the peace and sense of belonging she’d felt when she was sitting in that place. She began to feel a new calm come over her heart and mind. Memories flowed now of how happy Brother Michael’s wives were and the things they said about accepting each other without requirements or expectations came to her memory’s surface. Next she remembered how happy the kids were and how Mary had described her family.            

The thought dawned on her, “I was only focusing on what could go wrong. There’s a lot that can and does go right…”            

Sarah began to smile, she wanted to keep this feeling, the storm inside was gone as the thunder outside was now sounding far away, she felt peacefully happy inside and had a peace and calm she hadn’t felt in a very long time… “Yeah,” she said, “I know what to do and what I want.””   New Parish is out now! Return to New Parish will be out in a few months!!! You can get a copy of New Parish here:

New Parish by Julie Worthington on Amazon.com

Also available at:

Barnesandnoble.com

Bee’s Grocery (in Centennial Park)

Changing Hands Bookstores in Phoenix and Tempe AZ

Coming soon to many new bookstores!