We’re hosting Carol Tibaldi today via Chick Lit Plus blog tours. She’s got a debut novel out, Willow Pond, that I’ve been super excited about. My review of the book will go up tomorrow. 🙂 For now, please enjoy an excerpt from the novel, and an interview between Carol and one of the characters of the book, Virginia Kingsley.

A little tidbit about the author:  Carol Tibaldi was born and raised in Bayside, New York and attended Queens College of the City University of New York. She loves to travel and has lived in London and Los Angeles. For twenty five years she worked as a newspaper reporter and covered the crime beat. She is a history buff and loves to research different time periods having a special affinity of the prohibition era and the Civil War. Willow Pond is her first novel and she is hard at work on the sequel.

Phillip was never on time for anything. Laura had learned, over their two and a half years of marriage, that he actually believed no one else had anything to do that was more important than what he was doing.
By one o’clock the next afternoon, Todd was packed and ready to go. She hated the whole idea of his leaving and kept hoping the phone would ring, that Phillip would offer some lame excuse as to why he couldn’t take Todd. Whatever the excuse was, Laura would have been happy to accept it.
It was nearly two-thirty by the time she saw the white Rolls Royce pull up in front of her building. She stared with disgust at the ostentatious car, knowing Phillip had used both it and his chauffeur to show off in front of her neighbors. It made her even angrier at him than she already was. Her neighbors had no idea she had been married to a movie star, and she liked things that way. Now they’d all want to know who had been driving the Rolls Royce.
When she opened the door, Phillip looked so annoyed she wanted to slap him. He strode into the apartment and glared down at Todd as if he were nothing more than a piece of property he owned. Todd blinked guilelessly up at him. It was past his naptime, and he had grown cranky. He tried to comfort himself by sucking his thumb.
“I thought we agreed that was a nasty habit, and you were going to break him of it,” Phillip said. “Do you want him to grow up with buck teeth?”
“Oh, please,” Laura said. “He’s tired. You were supposed to be here an hour and a half ago. Where were you?”

The Interview between Carol Tibaldi and fictional character, Virginia Kingsley (this interview makes Virginia seem cheeky, but stoic, doesn’t it?):

CT. Today I’m going to be interviewing Virginia Kingsley who is the owner of a speakeasy in New York City. Welcome, Virginia.

VK. It’s nice to be here.

CT. Can you tell me a little about yourself?

VK. I blame myself for Todd’s kidnapping. If I hadn’t gotten involved with that creep Rudy it never would have happened. I have to find him because if I don’t I know Laura will never forgive me.

CT. Feeling that way must be terrible for you. Has Laura told you that she blames you?

VK. She doesn’t have to. How else could she feel? I’m sure she’s guessed by now that someone connected to my gang had something to do with Todd’s kidnapping. That new boyfriend of hers is filling her head with all kinds of lies about me.

CT. Tell me about him?

VK. His name is Erich Muller and he’s a newspaper reporter. He won a Pulitzer a few years ago and he thinks he know everything. He thinks I know who the kidnapper is and if he keeps making up stories about me I’m going to sue the paper.

CT. What about Rudy?

VK. I made a big mistake by getting involved with him and an even bigger mistake when I let him know anything about my business. He thought he could outsmart me, but no one has ever done that and no one ever will.

CT. What kind of business are you in?

VK. I run a speakeasy, you know a nightclub. The most popular one in the city. The mayor comes to Bacchanal.

CT. That sounds interesting.

VK. The only thing I can think of right now is Laura and her little boy. I have to bring him home to her. But, how?

CT. Do the police have any leads?

VK. Do you mean that moron Detective Wilson. He has no idea how to run and investigation and has bungled the whole thing. I’m going to have to find Todd, but before I do that I’m going to have to find Rudy. If I’d listen to Harry none of this would have happened. He kept telling me I would getting soft, but I didn’t listen.

CT. Do you think you’re being too hard on yourself?

VK. No. My lifestyle is the reason Todd was kidnapped and that’s why it’s my fault. The worse part is that I’m going to have to lie to Laura. I hate doing it but I have to. I won’t stop looking for Todd because I want Laura to be happy again.

CT. Thank you Virginia for coming today and for telling us about Willow Pond. I hope people take a few minutes to find out more!

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Thanks for stopping by! Remember to come back tomorrow to read my review of Carol’s novel.