Guest Post (and a Giveaway!): Pat Nichols & The Trouble in Willow Falls

Welcome to the Blog Tour & Giveaway for The Trouble in Willow Falls by Pat Nichols, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

Title: The Trouble in Willow Falls
Series: Willow Falls #2
Author: Pat Nichols
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: November 8, 2019

After a scathing blogger review and a negative Atlanta television newscast tarnish Willow Falls’ reputation as a secluded North Georgia tourist destination, the town council votes to use the remainder of its annual budget to hire a PR firm to restore the town’s image. At a town-hall meeting, angry residents brainstorm ideas to boost Willow Falls’ appeal. When a second Atlanta television station announces plans to film a segment for its Around Georgia series, residents invest their time and limited resources to spruce up Main Street’s appearance. Willow Post editor Emily Hayes can’t help but shake her head at her town’s desperate efforts.

For months, Emily has submitted her novel to numerous publishers but received only rejections. When famous artist Naomi Jasper offers Emily much-needed cash to finish writing, then cast and direct a play about Willow Falls’ colorful history, Emily faces a difficult decision—postpone the rewrite of her novel or accept the project. After convincing her sister, Rachel Streetman, to partner with her, Emily puts her dreams on hold and agrees to take on the play. Failure to deliver is not an option.

All her life Rachel has dreamed of becoming a stage actress, so when she receives an invitation to audition for a respected Broadway director, Rachel abandons her sister and the Willow Falls play. But an incident with the director sends her reeling back into the arms of Charlie Bricker, her one true love. Out of options, Rachel reluctantly accepts her part in the town play with the slim hope that her performance might kick-start her career.

If anyone understands broken hearts, it’s Willow Inn’s beloved innkeeper, Sadie Liles. Sadie has learned to live with the fact that love is the last thing she’ll ever find. Then he walks through the front door.

As the town prepares for Redding Arms’ grand opening, five newcomers and one British tourist test the town’s quirky, lovable, argumentative residents’ souls. Digging deep to deal with the strife, bickering, and personal backstabbing will test Willow Falls in ways the small town never imagined. Could it be that the trouble in Willow Falls is the very thing that reminds its residents that honesty, love, and loyalty to one another is what binds them together?

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setting tour

by Pat Nichols, author of The Trouble in Willow Falls

Welcome to Willow Falls, a composite of small towns nestled in the North Georgia mountains. After snaking through dense forest, County Road opens to a long stretch of straight pavement. On the right a sign reading Future Home of Willow Oak Vineyard and Winery identifies newly planted grapevines stretching across acres of rolling hills.

Two miles beyond, a right turn deposits you onto Main Street, where woods give way to manicured lawns fronting seven southern-style, two-story homes. A row of mature willow oaks provides shade and beauty. A brass sign attached to a black curbside mailbox identifies the first home on the right as Naomi Jasper’s—a famous southern artist who returned to her hometown to retire. Across the street a vacant house far more elaborate than the other six hints of the town’s faded splendor.

Two doors down, sits a grand estate with white columns extending from a railing to the roof over the front porch running the full length the home. Once owned by the local hero, whose life ended thirty-one years ago when his stepdaughter shot him, the home now functions as the Willow Inn. Next door, a tangle of ivy climbs up the façade of a four-story brick hotel. Abandoned unfinished after the murder, it is in the final stages of renovation.

Beside the hotel a lakeside park dotted with willow oaks serves as a gathering place for July Fourth and Memorial Day celebrations. A foot-high retaining wall stretches along the water’s edge.

Across Main Street a row of picturesque, century-old storefronts fills a block-long section of downtown. A faded awning over Pepper’s Café—the only eatery in town—flaps in the breeze. A sidewalk chalkboard displays the daily lunch special, while inside a handful of locals debate the latest gossip.

Next door, Patsy’s Pastries and Pretties—combination bakery and gift shop—survives another year. The owner, a senior citizen who wears hats adorned with peacock feathers, lives above the store in the two-room apartment she shared with the love of her life for seven years before illness stole him from her decades earlier.

Adjacent to the park, where Main Street turns north, sits hundred-year-old Hayes General Store. The bell over the front door announces shoppers as they step inside to roam among barrels, cabinets, and wooden shelves displaying an array of old-fashion tools, housewares, and country style accessories. The tin ceiling, exposed brick walls, and creaking wood floor invoke mental images of Model T’s, and ladies wearing dresses with long skirts and fancy hats. Owned by the founder’s great grandfather, the store is on the brink of failure.

Up the block, beyond a row of stores, across from the church is the Willow Post headquarters. The bi-weekly newspaper functions as Willow Falls’ one source of accurate news. Around the corner you’ll find Nathan’s Antique and Furniture Emporium, owned by the pastor who also serves as the town’s mayor.

Turn right where the short stretch of pavement dead ends at Falls Street and you’ll view the fourth side of the square encompassing the business section. An abandoned movie theater anchors the block. The n in a For Rent sign disappeared from the marquee years earlier. A faded Jurassic Park III poster taped to the inside of the ticket booth window flaunts the irony that a movie about dinosaurs played the day the venue closed for good.

Adjacent to the theater, Pearl’s Hair and Nail Salon—or as locals call it Willow Falls’ gabfest and gossip parlor—operates as the town’s one beauty parlor. The municipal building, housing the sheriff’s office and a small courtroom, is located across the street.

Turn around and travel a mile up Falls Street where you’ll find a winding path ending at the fifty-foot waterfall serving as the second half of the town’s namesake.

Although six empty storefronts speak volumes about the town’s plight, they fail to portray residents’ determination to transform Willow Falls into a tourist destination and rescue it from a slow painful death.

Retired from a twenty-seven-year corporate career, Pat Nichols draws on her experience in seven different management positions working with hundreds of amazing women from all walks of life to create stories about women facing tension-laced challenges and heart-warming triumphs in the pursuit of their dreams. Her debut novel, The Secret of Willow Inn, Willow Falls series book one, released January 2019. Book two, The Trouble in Willow Falls, released November 2019 and book three is slated for 2020. She received the 2017 CRW Woman of the Year Award and is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Word Weavers International.

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TOUR GIVEAWAY

(1) winner will receive a $50 Amazon Gift Card!

Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule shown below. Giveaway will begin at midnight January 10, 2020 and last through 11:59 PM EST on January 17, 2020. US only. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE

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What about you? What interests you most about The Trouble in Willow Falls? Where would you want to visit first from Pat Nichols’s setting tour?