Blog Tour: Woman on Top by Deborah Schwartz (spotlight, excerpt, giveaway)

Woman on Top
written by Deborah Schwartz
published by Laudan Press

find it here: (affiliate links) Amazon, Goodreads

About the book – from Goodreads: Kate after the heartbreaking loss of her husband, falls prey to a very wealthy Wall Street banker who tries to acquire her heart as he has successfully completed all of his other deals-pouncing on the vulnerable and taking control.

This is the captivating story of how Kate struggles with the heady lure of the enormous money, excitement, glamour, greed and power of life in New York and whether she can ultimately rescue herself. Will she allow her heart to be reclaimed by a good man?

While following her quest for reaffirmation of life and love including a surprising adventure, Kate’s story touches on the unexpected pleasures, detours and decisions we face throughout our lives.October

eonard told me that it was his mother’s fault, a result of the fact that she smoked throughout her pregnancy with him, that he would grow to a mere five feet five inches. Since I never saw a picture of her, I never knew if it was also her fault, although hardly preventable, that no woman on the streets of New York would ever turn her head if he walked by.

He had married a beautiful woman, his high school sweetheart, and considered their union as one of “Beauty and the Beast”. He had all the trappings of the little man, the Napoleon, who was to succeed grandly and existed to control those around him.

His wife had died after twenty-four years of marriage, although her cancer allowed her to linger for the final eighteen torturous months. But Leonard was not one to linger over anybody. Two months after her death he was reading the personal ads in New York magazine. It was there that he found mine.

Beautiful lawyer, 40 year old winsome widow in Ct. with two kids looking for love and laughter with a kind, professional man. Photo available.

Over the course of three weeks, I received forty letters in response to my ad. I threw away thirty-nine. The man who sent a picture of himself in a Speedo bathing suit with his muscular hairy chest bursting left nothing to my imagination. Several women failed to realize that a beautiful widow is a woman and sent me pictures of their cleavage. And, of course, the man incarcerated in Alabama who read New York magazine and sent a salacious letter was not what I had in mind when I placed the ad. Leonard’s letter arrived last, just when I had nearly given up all hope that a widow living in a small town in central Connecticut could ever find her next love.

The envelope was marked with the insignia from the Ritz Carlton Hotel.

Dear Young Widow in Ct.

I read your ad on the plane going to a business meeting in Arizona. I am a young 50-year-old widower who lives in New Jersey. I am a very personable, warm, kind, very intelligent, loyal, romantic, energetic, very athletic, emotionally and financially secure person with a great sense of humor and a high degree of integrity. Women generally describe me as ‘very cute’.

I love kids and enjoy family, friends, travel, sports, music, and theater. I have never responded to an ad before but I was struck by your being a widow and a lawyer (describing yourself as beautiful also helped). I am a real estate investment banker with a large U.S. based company. I have three great children, a son who is in medical school, a daughter who is a teacher and a son at Cornell.

I am interested in meeting a person who is refined, very sweet, warm, intelligent, articulate and very attractive – a woman who I can admire and who is comfortable in jeans or black tie.

While you will meet men who are better looking (and who have better handwriting) you will not meet anyone who is more personable, or a nicer, higher quality person.

Since I have not responded to ads I do not have stock pictures to send. I therefore am sending a passport photo type picture I had taken – which honestly does not do me justice even though I do not claim to be Robert Redford.

If my letter merits your interest call me at the following number. The best time to reach me is between 9 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. during the week – anytime on the weekends (although I frequently travel to watch my son play college football). I am an early riser so you may call me after 6:30 a.m. – if I do not answer I am either traveling on business or out jogging.

I am a non-smoker. I hope to hear from you.

Sincerely,

Leonard

About the author: Born and raised in New York, Deborah Schwartz graduated from Tufts University and then obtained her Masters in History at Columbia University where she wrote a thesis on “Feminism in Eighteenth Century England.” She received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law. Today, Deborah’s passion is writing and she incorporated her achievement of having reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in 2011 into her debut novel. A New Yorker to the core, Deborah is most grateful to be the mother of her two grown children. 

Find Ms. Schwartz here: web, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads

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