Tag: The Garden of Second Chances

poetry

Sunday Share: National Cookie Day

Mona Alvarado Frazier

I hope you’re all doing well and taking a breather for at least part of your day.

Today is National Cookie Day. It’s also National Cabernet Franc and National Sock Day. But let’s stick to cookies.

I am not a baker. My family knows this, but every December, my grown daughter, says, “Let’s bake Christmas cookies,” as if we have a tradition.

We do not.

A roll of sugar cookie dough, sliced and decorated, is my evergreen suggestion.

She scrolls through Instagram cookie photos and holds up her phone. The expertly taken photo displays an array of decorated Santas, gingerbread people, and stars.

My perennial response is, “Go for it; I’ll help.”

“I’ll find a super easy one, okay?” she says.

Maybe this year, we’ll actually bake cookies from scratch.

Photo by Nikolett Emmert on Pexels.com

A cookie poem: 

does my fortune cookie know

“An old love will come back to you,”
said my fortune on the table,
but does my fortune cookie know
that I’m emotionally unstable?

“Learn Chinese- Expensive.”
that’s the word my cookie taught
but does my fortune cookie know
I had to sell all I had bought?

“Lucky number 41”
the first number that was listed
the exact amount left in my wallet
now isn’t that twisted?

“Lucky number 5”
the number of deaths I faced,
does my fortune cookie know
they’ll never be erased?

“Lucky number 12”
the 12th glass I am drinking,
does my fortune cookie know
the drunk thoughts I am thinking?

“An old love will come back to you,”
that’s what my fortune said,
but does my fortune cookie know
my only love is dead?

Victoria Ruth

Newsletter News:

My ninety-five-year-old mother and I took an ocean cruise together. The shift in our mother-daughter relationship was a subject in the November newsletter.

Subscribers to my newsletter have a chance at a giveaway for an Advanced Reading Copy of my YA novel, The Garden of Second Chances. I’ll mail the book to the winner in the USA.

You still have time to subscribe. The giveaway ends on December 8, 2023.

Amazon Kindle, Books

An Exciting October Surprise in Books

Mona Alvarado Frazier

Hello October! Hello, overcast skies and cooler weather. I missed you!

The first two weeks of September in California were miserable. Too darn hot and sticky, especially without central air conditioning.

When the media promoted pumpkin spice latte’s during the heat wave, I thought they were unusually cruel. All I could think of was chilled drinks.

But I had a fantastic following two weeks of September because I traveled overseas. More on that in the October newsletter.

Because of jet lag, I woke up super early today. Catching up on email led me to my Amazon page.

Look what I found. An October surprise:

Amazon Ranking

#1 New Release in Teen and Young Adult Hispanic and Latino American Fiction eBooks.

I don’t know how that happened, but thank you for taking the time to pre-order. It’s an act of faith, and I appreciate your support.

I’m grateful to each of you who ordered the novel.

The advanced reading copies may be available in the next couple of months. I’ll list the dates in the newsletter and where they will be available.

And speaking about the newsletter, I hope you found my library link to free e-books helpful.

Photo by Vlada Karpovich on Pexels.com

My newsletter listed children’s books for Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month (HLHM) Since HLHM isn’t over until October 15th, and for me, it’s never over, here are a couple of more lists.

The top 50 Hispanic/Latinx books from GoodReads.

The New York Library’s top Adult, Youth, and Children’s books for HLHM.

October is a great time to fill up the Kindle, laptop, or iPad, snuggle up with a hot beverage, and read for hours.

Happy reading, and enjoy the cooler weather.

“And all at once, summer collapsed into fall.” 

Oscar Wilde