With so many wonderful entries in our "First Three Chapters" contest, I must post a few honorable mentions! Special thanks to guest judges C. Lee McKenzie and Sara Langridge (winner of our first "First Three Chapters" contest)!
Congratulations to Lisa Scott (School of Charm), Shari Green (Following Chelsea) and Sacha Whalen (Lexie Hamm, Entrepreneur).
1) In Lisa Scott's School of Charm, 12-year-old tomboy Brenda Anderson and her family move south to live with her Grandma after her father dies, and she struggles to fit in with the house full of beauty queens. She was Daddy’s girl; now she doesn’t know whose girl she is. Hoping to fit in, she joins a charm school to train for the 1977 Junior Miss Dogwood pageant. But the lessons she learns at the unusual school aren’t what she expected; neither are the secrets she discovers about her family.
C. Lee Mackenzie writes, "School of Charm stood out among the others because I immediately knew and cared about the characters. The author let me see the people and feel how they related to each other.
“She smiled hard with her mouth but not her eyes, just like in her Miss North Carolina first runner-up picture.”
“Mama said if nagging was an Olympic sport, I’d win a gold medal.”
“. . . madder than a bee in a pop can.”
On page one I knew the setting before the characters even arrived. Mt. Airy as Mayberry was a picture in my mind. Before “southern belle” was even mentioned I knew we were on a journey in the south.
I loved the tone of the piece, the nostalgia of the time all shown through subtle references that created the fabric of the story: “gear shift” “station wagon” “The Andy Griffith Show,” even Chip. Is anybody named Chip anymore?
By the time the family pulled into Grandma’s driveway, I couldn’t wait to meet this woman.
2) Sara Langridge commented on Shari Green's Following Chelsea: "The opening was gripping, and the story moves very well."
"I loved the tough girl characterization," said C. Lee Mckenzie. "I thought the author handled Anna very well, gave us a good insight into the family dynamics, and the background to Anna's 'knife' obsession."
3) In Sacha Whalen's Lexie Hamm, Entrepreneur (a quirky MG), Lexie Hamm needs cash fast and hatches a scheme to become a secretary for overwhelmed online daters (including her own mother). C. Lee said, "I laughed with this one. Lexie’s teen voice was great and I liked the first person POV."
Thanks again to all who entered, and be sure to check back for an interview with this year's winner, Denise Jaden.
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