Guest post from Jena C. Henry, author of The Golden Age of Charli

 

Inside the Book:

Title: The Golden Age of Charli 

Author: Jena C. Henry 

Publisher: iUniverse 

Genre: Fiction 

Format: Ebook/Paperback

Charlotte McAntic spent her thirties, forties, and even fifties in peace and harmony aligning her marriage, mortgage, careers, and children. As she stumbles into a new phase of life—also known as the Golden Years—Charli cannot help but wonder where the gold and her husband, Pud, are hiding. Pud is happily cruising down the retirement path that, for him, leads straight to the golf course. While Charli spends her days at home cleaning out closets and the basement, she yearns to gaze deeply into Pud's blue eyes and remember all the reasons why she fell in love with him thirty years ago. Unfortunately, the only thing Pud is eying is the next fairway. Knowing there is more to savor in retirement than silver-hair shampoos, senior discounts, and hernia surgery, Charli embarks on a quest to do whatever it takes to spend retirement in the embrace of the man she loves. But is it too late for happily ever after? In this humorous novel, a high-energy wife and her solid guy must learn to adjust to a new chapter in their lives and find their way back into each other's hearts after their retirement begins with a jolt.  

Guest Post

A sunny day, saddle shoes, a group of bubbly kids on a school playground- do you remember jumping rope during recess? Two kids twirled the long clothesline rope as the girl who was poised and ready to jump in held her arms chest high and bobbed to the beat of the swishing rope. As she bounced in and jumped we all started to chant: 

Billy and Susie sittin’ in a tree, 

K-I-S-S-I-N-G! 

First comes love, 

Then comes marriage, 

Then comes Susie pushing the baby carriage.

If you remember that skipping rhyme, then you are like me and we both acquired our roadmap for life in the third grade. Like the directions on a GPS, we started on our journey with a boyfriend and K-I-S-S-I-N-G. At our first stop we found Love, a little further on the road of life we entered Marriage, and far off on the horizon we could see the Baby Carriage. The road was straight, wide open, no chance we could get lost. 

And that’s how life unfolded for me. What about you? I enjoyed it all except the road trip went by too fast. The Baby Carriage was left behind miles ago. What’s next? The grade school jumping jingle didn’t plot the land beyond parenthood. The song ended and I kept on rolling down the road. 

What is this uncharted area on our life road map called R-E-T-I-R-E-M-E-N-T? We didn’t sing about the R word on the playground. That’s what I was thinking about when I decided to write a novel. In my first book in a planned series, The Golden Age of Charli-RSVP, we meet Charlotte, known to family and friends as Charli. She has spent thirty years in peace and harmony with her solid husband. Then Charli and Pud jolt into retirement- what happens next? 

Who was this stranger in my house? I’d had high hopes that when we retired, we would have fun together. But what exactly should we do? Just take it easy and binge watch multiple TV seasons? I didn’t seriously expect that we would spend dreamy hours of bliss in twin hot tubs sighing at the ocean view, but I did crave some romance now that we had time together after the busy years. (The Golden Age of Charli- RSVP) 

Charli embarks on a quest to do whatever it takes to spend retirement in the embrace of the man she loves. But is it too late for happily ever after? Come stroll with Charli as she laughs and tells you all about life and love in retirement. 

  Meet the Author:

Jena C. Henry holds a juris doctor degree from the University of Akron, presents writing workshops, and loves good times with friends. Now retired, Jena and her husband, Alan, live in tropical Ohio where they enjoy their two adult children and extended family, friends, and darling dog. This is the first book in The Golden Age of Charli series.