Welcome friend! Today I am joining Over the River PR’s June Virtual Book tour for the contemporary romance, All Our Tomorrows By Catherine Bybee. In this post, learn about the book, enjoy a chat with the author and read a short expert from the opening pages of the book. Let’s dive in:
All Our Tomorrows
From New York Times bestselling author Catherine Bybee comes the story of a reluctant billionaire who takes on his father’s empire, its dark secrets, and a fiery assistant he can’t get out of his head.
When Chase Stone’s estranged father dies, leaving his multibillion-dollar business to his children, no one is more surprised than him. Growing up outside of the high-stakes world filled with human vultures, Chase and his sister, Alex, are less than enthusiastic about stepping into their father’s shoes. That is until they learn of a half brother they didn’t know existed, and must find to share their inheritance with.
Piper Maddox was the elder Mr. Stone’s übercapable assistant—abruptly fired two weeks before his death. She knows everything about Stone Enterprises and the man who built it. But Piper has no desire to work for another member of the Stone family. Even one as down to earth as Chase.
Desperately needing financial security, Piper agrees to return so long as kissing up to Chase and accepting unwanted advances were not part of her job description. A task that becomes a serious hurdle for both of them. Piper and Chase scramble to find the third Stone sibling before the media does, sharing secrets along the way. Secrets that can bring them together or tear them irrevocably apart.
About Catherine Bybee
Catherine is a #1 Wall Street Journal, Amazon, and Indie Reader bestselling author, and her books have graced The New York Times and USA Today bestsellers lists. In total, she has written thirty-nine beloved books that have collectively sold more than 11 million copies and have been translated into more than twenty languages.
Raised in Washington State, Bybee moved to Southern California in the hope of becoming a movie star. After growing bored with waiting tables, she returned to school and became a registered nurse, spending most of her career in urban emergency rooms. She now writes full time and has penned The Not Quite series, The Weekday Brides series, The Most Likely To series, and The First Wives series. For more information on Catherine Bybee, please visit: www.catherinebybee.com.
Catherine Bybee on All Our Tomorrows
What about romance appeals to you as a writer?
The quick answer is I love a Happily Ever After. I want that guarantee that the couple falling in love in the book will be together in the end. The long answer is deeply rooted in my life. As a young adult reader growing up, I had ZERO examples of loving/healthy/monogamous relationships around me. Romance novels gave me hope that that kind of relationship was possible. Fast forward to my reading / writing habits as an adult… I was buried in reality in my day job (Before I wrote my first novel). The Emergency Room has many layers of drama and trauma, so when I read a book, I wanted less reality and more fantasy. With a HEA. I do read other genres at this point, but always sway to romance.
You have said that once you decide upon a title for your novel, you can then envision the entire book. What’s the meaning behind the title All Our Tomorrows?
Yes, many times I have a title for a book before the book is written. I love it when that happens. However, with All Our Tomorrows, the title grew from the pages. Without giving too much away, Piper needs the guarantee of tomorrow more than the average heroine for many reasons. When Chase steps up to offer that guarantee, a title is born.
How did your experience as an ER nurse lead you to create your brave, passionate heroine, Piper?
I have an author’s note in this book that clues the reader in on why I felt the need to write this book, and yes, the ER highly influenced the conflict in this book. At least in the context of how much someone else’s opinion on what a woman faced with an unexpected pregnancy should or shouldn’t do. I have seen Bible scripture used like a weapon against these desperately pregnant young women and seen the crushing disappointment when their own parents walk away. I have witnessed the despair women often go through when grappling with their options. Diabetics who nearly died the one time they had a child and were told to avoid another pregnancy at all cost. I’ve watched parents nearly force their daughters to terminate an unexpected pregnancy because they were enrolled in the fall semester at the college they’d always aspired to attend. My heroine, Piper, may not be a young teenager, but her parents and their acceptance of her unexpected child deeply influenced her decisions in this book.
Considering the state of our country and the very real reality for all the Piper’s out there, women are being faced with more than their parent’s trying to dictate what should and shouldn’t take place once both lines on the pregnancy test show up. I wanted to show the struggle many women have, even without the new legislation in many states, and how desperately wrong it is for anyone to force their views on someone else. I want to give the women reading this book the strength to make their own choices. As Piper ultimately did for herself.
What is the main message you hope readers will gain from this novel?
That we all only have one life. If we live it for someone else’s ideals and beliefs, we’re going to make decisions we’ll deeply regret. Oh… and a second message that has to be stated. When someone truly loves you, they don’t need to change a thing about you.
What’s next for Piper and Chase? Will there be a sequel?
As with every Bybee series, my readers will hear more of Piper and Chase’s story sprinkled throughout the coming books. Since the second book in this series is already written, I will tease my readers with this: You don’t want to miss Chase and Piper’s wedding!
Book Excerpt from
All Our Tomorrows
CHAPTER ONE
The absolutely best part about attending a funeral of a close family member was the ability to wear sunglasses inside. Anyone looking assumed the shield was there to hide the expression of pain and sorrow. For Chase and Alex, it was all about disguising their shock and disbelief of the complete bullshit being spewed from the pulpit. It was one thing for the priest to deliver an appropriate sermon, but the line of people standing up to verbalize their love for Aaron Stone churned bile in Chase’s stomach.
“Husband, father, philanthropist, the builder of an empire. Aaron was more than an employer, more than his gilded name that graces so many hotels and resorts all over the globe. Aaron Stone was my friend. Someone I could share a drink with after work or spend a weekend in Vegas with on a moment’s notice . . .”
Chase leaned close to his sister’s ear and whispered, “High- end escort service on speed dial, no doubt.”
Alexandrea, or Alex, as she’d always been called, nudged his elbow and placed a handkerchief over her lips to hide her smile.
Exactly ninety grueling minutes of needless prayer and praise for the prick in the casket later, Chase escorted his father’s latest wife behind the coffin while Alex and their mother followed behind.
Chase had been asked if he wanted to be one of the six carrying his dead father to his final resting place, to which Chase replied, “Hell-to-the-no.” He didn’t trust himself not to “accidentally” drop his end just to see the man tumble out of his perfect funeral and hear people laugh.
A long line of limousines stacked up behind the hearse. Melissa Stone, wife number three and a woman two years younger than Chase, climbed into the back of the first car with her brother and parents.
Chase, Alex, and their mother, Vivian, closed themselves behind the darkened glass of the second limousine and released a collective sigh once the cameras of the media could no longer record their reaction.
“Damn, that was painful,” Alex said as soon as the door closed.
“It’s far from over.” Their mother patted Alex’s leg as if that would cure the agony they all felt.
Chase removed his sunglasses and looked at the both of them. They wore black, despite Alex’s threat to wear a bright pink floral dress that screamed celebration and happiness.
“Philanthropist? Exactly what did Dad have to do with giving money to those in need?” Alex asked.
“Tax write-offs, I’m sure,” Chase replied.
The limo started to move.
Chase knew from the plans he’d been shown that four
uniformed motorcycle police officers were escorting the procession to the cemetery. From the cemetery they’d inch their way up the hills until they were safely behind the gates of their father’s Beverly Hills estate, where a reception would host the fake smiles and insincere tears.
A man as wealthy as Aaron Stone was living his death the same way he lived his life. Large.
According to the head of the legal team representing Aaron Stone, the man had planned his funeral a good fifteen years before his death.
Considering Aaron was only in his early sixties and in relatively good health, the fact that he planned his own funeral because no one would be able to do it better put an exclamation point on his narcissism.
“Any idea if Melissa is staying in the house?” Alex asked. Chase shook his head. “I don’t have a clue.”
“Knowing your father, he and Melissa had a prenup.”
“If it’s anything like yours, she’ll be lucky to keep her jewelry.”
Chase held his comments and listened to his sister vent.
She wouldn’t get much of a chance until the show was over and they could retreat to their mother’s modest home in Santa Monica. There, they planned on catching their breath before the morning appointment with the lawyers.
If it wasn’t for the fact that his sister’s and mother’s names were on the list of people requested, Chase would blow off the in-person drama altogether and find a dark bar so he could tell his dead father to fuck off one final time with a shot whiskey.
They pulled into the cemetery, and sunglasses found their way back on noses.
Thankfully, the service at the gravesite was much shorter than that at the church.
Melissa’s loud cries and overly animated tears were out of a scene from a soap opera. The cool breeze of the early spring skies pushed clouds overhead that threatened rain. Literally hundreds of people circled Aaron Stone’s casket, most muttering among themselves, some averting their attention when Chase looked directly at them.
Finally, the priest ended his final prayer, asking God to accept the soul at his gate so Aaron’s family could move on in peace.
It was only then that Chase stared over his father’s casket and felt loss.
Loss for the father he never truly had.
Loss for the chance of redemption.
The man would never again have the opportunity to right the wrongs he had done to his family.
Death had a way of ending all possibility of reconciliation.
Add this book to your Goodreads shelf. Many thanks to Over the River PR for giving me a chance to highlight it on my blog in exchange for an honest review. I hope to share my thoughts when I get a chance. 🙂
Meantime, check out other reviewers on the tour:
If you are an indie author and would like to do a book excerpt, check out my work with me page for details. Check out other book excerpts here.
Thank you so much for the interview and sharing my book with your readers.