Goddess Fish Promotions Presents

A School of Daughters
by Kate René MacKenzie

Two randomly drawn winners will receive a $50 Amazon/BN GC – Enter Below

It’s funny how things sneak up on you…

Kate Willoughby is a champion for throwaways—discarded dogs and cats, abandoned horses bound for slaughter, and all creatures great and small. But now it’s Kate who’s alone in a hostile world like a dog dumped by the side of a road. Is there a champion for Kate?

After 22 years of marriage, Kate loves her husband, Brian, with an even greater passion than when she spoke her vows. “My world spins on his axis,” she often says. But when Kate finds a love letter to Brian from Micky, she’s torn between proving Brian’s innocence and nailing him to the wall with his guilt.

Throughout her marriage, Kate has been trusting and trustworthy —to a fault, friends have said. Now, she steals into Brian’s emails and accesses his credit card accounts, phone records, bank statements, friends and activities, discovering the metaphoric iceberg beneath Brian’s affair.

Turning to the one constant in her life, Kate is guided by her family of animals: shelter dog Molly; Premarin horse Quinn; packrat Winston; owls Albert & Victoria; Stubby, the chipmunk; rattlesnake Cassandra; and Phineas, the determined grosbeak. These wise and wonderful teachers, along with a wild menagerie on her Arizona ranch, deliver lessons on life, love, and letting go. But it’s Molly, in a heartbreaking act of courage, who leads Kate back to her true self, before she became lost in love with Brian.

Shining a light on the childhood events and adult choices that, like steppingstones, brought her to this moment, Kate illuminates a familiar and well-worn path. Narrating her story with equal doses of heartache and humor, Kate comes to understand that nothing sneaks up on you that isn’t already here. Learning from Phineas, the determined grosbeak, Kate realizes that even after a devastating injury, you can soar again.

4 out of 5

This was a beautiful and, at times, heartbreaking journey that we follow Kate on. MacKenzie has a way with imagery that makes you feel like you’re stepping into each scene, as the past and present are blended together, memories being brought to the surface by events as they unfold. I honestly don’t know what I’d do if I found myself in Kate’s shoes, but I can understand why she isn’t quite sure how she wants to handle things at first. I won’t ruin the story, but if you enjoy women’s fiction that can give you all the feels, you’re really going to enjoy this!

Before I begin my morning chores, I must tidy up the crime scene. Fortunately, it’s only 5:30 in Anchorage; Brian is still asleep and nowhere near his office. In his e-mail In box, I open the new message from Bank of America notifying him of a passcode change.

After I hit delete—and go into his trash file and permanently delete—I take a gander at the new e-mails, opening the message from AT&T. I hit the link that takes me to his account. I’ve been here before, but my access was thwarted by the unknown password. I type in KateRene930…

Before all my sleuthing, I had one, pretty easy password that, if you know me, could be guessed. Now I have one, hard password.

The screen displays the long, long list of calls to and from Brian’s cell phone during the last 30 days. My number is there, but most have a 907 area code—

I jerk back. My heart pounds at the number I know as well as my own. Searching for additional calls having the same number, I find another incoming, one outgoing. One call I might justify—and ignore—but three?

Courageous or stupid, I’m not sure which, I move out of this bill and click the link to prior months.

Amazon | Goodreads

Kate Rene’ MacKenzie is the women’s fiction alter ego of romance novelist and Golden Heart nominee Maggie McConnell (Spooning Daisy). Kate (and Maggie) spent her childhood overseas, the daughter of US diplomats. Attending college in Illinois, she volunteered at the local humane shelter, eventually becoming director. While earning a BA in Art and then an MBA, Kate worked at various jobs including go-go girl, bartender, and teaching assistant. At 26, she sold her 280Z and packed her dog and cat into a Ford truck and drove the Alcan Highway to Alaska where she spent 23 years exploring The Last Frontier in a single-engine Cessna. Her next adventure was in Arizona on a no-kill ranch at the end of the road. A vegan and animal rights advocate, Kate provides a sanctuary for all creatures great and small, but her immediate family includes horses Quinn and Hershey, and cat Noelle.

Website

Maggie McConnell
Website | Facebook | Spooning Daisy

Follow the tour here
The more posts you comment on, the more entries you get!