NEW
RELEASE
Mail-Order Groom
by Cindy
Flores Martinez
Mail-Order Groom, a debut novel by Cindy Flores Martinez, was inspired by the author's
own Polish ancestry and is based on her screenplay and movie project of the
same title, which she shopped around Hollywood, New York, and other parts of
the world.
This book blitz is brought to you by Reading Addiction Book Tours.
Please be sure to visit the other participating blogs as well.
Description
Lisa is about to marry her first real love and have the wedding of her
dreams, but her world is shattered when she finds her fiancé, Jeff, in the arms
of another woman. When he calls the wedding off, Lisa is heartbroken, but her
heartache turns to anger when she sees him in town the next day with the other
woman.
In a momentary lapse of reason, Lisa decides to marry another man at the
wedding. She finds Krzysztof Zielinski from on Mail-Order-Grooms.Com. He needs
to marry an American woman so that he can stay in America, and he’s willing to
pay money for it, but his reason for needing to stay is what tugs at Lisa’s
heart and convinces her to say “I do” to him. Besides, green card marriages are
easy, right? They’re short-lived and not real. She won’t even have to live with
him. And marrying another man would be the perfect revenge on Jeff.
Lisa races to the altar with her stand-in groom, but she struggles with
the guilt of deceiving her parents and facing her confused wedding guests. And
then she learns that she does have to live with Krzysztof. She wakes up the
next morning hoping it was all just a bad dream.
How will she handle the dilemma she has gotten herself into? Will she be
able to make things right in the end?
Excerpt
Daphne was waiting
for me as I raced down the sidewalk on Main Street through the bustling morning
crowd. I had called her right as she was about to dial my parents number and
tell them that the wedding was canceled, and I asked her to meet me there instead.
I had picked myself up off my bed, my body rising as if from the ashes. My
demeanor had gone from the deepest, darkest hopelessness to a light flickering
upon my newly made up face.
Daphne watched me in
disbelief as I approached. “Tell me you are not serious about this.”
“I’m dead serious.”
I rushed past her without stopping.
“But he’s a total
stranger!”
I was on my way to
meet Krzysztof Zielinski from Mail-Order-Grooms.Com, and I was going to ask him
to marry me. Crazy? Yes. Insane? Irrational? Unbelievable? It was all of those
things and more, but my mind was made up.
Daphne joined me.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because I have to.
If Jeff doesn’t want me, or this wedding, then I’m going to show up with a man
who does.”
She scoffed. “You
can’t be serious.”
“You said your
friend married a man to help him get a green card, and she only had to see him
at the wedding and at the interview at the immigration office. I’m going to do
the same thing myself.”
Daphne swerved
around a passerby. “But your situation is different than hers. You have a lot
of people in your life who know you. How are you going to explain this to them?
What are you going to tell your parents?”
“I’m going to say
that I fell in love with Krzysztof and that I want to marry him instead of
Jeff.”
She guffawed.
“They’re not going to believe that!”
“I’ll make them
believe it.”
“How?”
I couldn’t see why
she was acting as if it was so impossible. I didn’t think it would be too hard
to convince anyone after they saw how Krzysztof looked, and wait until I told
them he liked baking and writing poetry. “Aren’t you the one who wanted to
marry Josecito what’s his name?” I flung my arm in the air.
“Only after I got to
know him and if things worked out. I never would have done it this soon. Will
you please stop and think about what you’re doing?”
“I have thought
about it.”
“I don’t think you
have. Not fully.”
The delicious aroma
of baking bread permeated the air as we approached the Polish bakery where
Krzysztof worked. I stopped a few feet away from the entrance. “Daphne, will
you please go along with this for me? Please.”
“No, Lisa. This is
crazy!”
“Do you have any
idea how hard this is for me? I loved Jeff more than anything, and he threw me
away! If you would have heard the things he said to me. If you would have seen
him with her.”
“I know, but this
isn’t the answer.”
“It’s the perfect
answer.”
Review
I have to admit when I first started reading thus story I was not a fan
of Lisa but as I continued to read each chapter I came to realize that she just
really did not know about love and she was longing for the wrong dream, she had
a lot of growing up to do and it was nice journey to take with her, Krys in my
opinion was the sweetest part to the whole story.
From the Author
My name is Cindy Flores Martinez. I was born and raised in a suburb of
Los Angeles. I have an MFA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in
Screenwriting. I have been a screenwriting instructor, screenplay consultant,
script reader, and screenplay collaborator.
My debut novel, Mail-Order Groom, which was inspired by my own Polish ancestry, started out as a
screenplay and movie project. I spent years shopping it around Hollywood, New
York, and other parts of the world and had two well-known actors, one of them
Academy Award nominated, interested in portraying the lead characters' parents.
After not finding the success I wanted, I officially canceled my film
production company in November of 2009 and embarked on the journey of turning
my screenplay into a novel.
Links
