My Husband's Sweethearts -- brand spanking new.

I tend to panic about publishing a book like so: loudly, wildly, with lots of hand gestures, audible moaning, fits of shallow breathing, palpitations, followed by paper-bag breathing, compulsive shopping, twitching, inappropriate humor...

Though this is not recommended.

Okay so here's the bit about the book:

Lucy left her husband six months ago after finding out he was cheating on her. When her overbearing, straightshooting mother calls to tell her that he's dying, Lucy decides to go back home. But once there, still angry, she confronts her husband. "Where are your sweethearts now? They were here for the good times, but I have to go through this alone?" He gives her his black book and tells her to call them up. She gets drunk and calls his bluff. Oddly enough, two of the women actually show up -- one who claims he saved her life and the other out of spite. Even more complicated is another sweetheart -- the grown son Artie never knew.

My Husband's Sweethearts is about scoundrels, overbearing mothers in velour sweat suits who are spring-loaded with advice, and the strong bonds that women forge in the most unlikely of times and places ... As Lucy's mother puts it: We love who we love even when we hate them. My Husband's Sweethearts seeks to prove that a family can be tied together by an unlikely series of knots.



AND here's the bit about the blog: http://bridgetasher.com/blog.html. The blog is about my life -- um, Julianna Baggott, that is -- because it's hard enough to live one life without having to make up another one.

Go there to read about:

* what I have in common with dead former president James Madison -- platform shoes?

* how my husband bought a skull and crossbones T-shirt to give his stay-at-home dad wardrobe a dark edge and, come to find out, the T-shirt was embedded with glitter -- a la Harley Davidson meets Barbie

* how we ate Spain this summer, the whole country

Here's some gratuitous blurbage:

"Asher creates an unconventional family-one brought together by a flawed but lovable man and kept together by a wounded but openhearted woman. As each character's individual story is revealed, the reader is further enveloped by this humorous yet touching tale."-- Booklist "... a parade of memorable women keep pages turning..."-- Publishers Weekly "Each character in this wry and beguiling book has a fresh take on love: how it tricks and blindsides us, makes us crazy, elated, sad; how we can't stop giving it; how it ennobles our lives. As Lucy and her husband's sweethearts reluctantly form a family as unlikely as it is beautiful, I found myself falling -- falling hard -- for every single one of them."-- Marisa Del Los Santos, New York Times Bestselling Author of Love Walked In and Belong to Me ".. a whip-smart, tender, and eccentric tale that chronicles all the ways forgiveness can come to us; don't miss this ride."-- Joshilyn Jackson, Bestselling Author of Gods of Alabama; Between, Georgia, and The Girl Who Stopped Swimming

I'm off now to panic ... as every author must in their own way!

Posting soon: panic tips ... www.bridgetasher.com.

Overview on Baggott: www.juliannabaggott.com

For do-gooding: www.booksindeed.org

For literary rocket-refeuling: www.southeastreview.org

Kid books -- for the short set: www.theanybodies.com