Synopses & Reviews
Before her death, Stella Rose asks her best friend, Abby, to take care of her sixteen-year-old daughter, and Abby does the only thing she can: she says yes. After Stella's death, Abby moves to Stella's house in rural Vermont and struggles to connect with Olivia, who immediately begins to engage in disturbing behavior--starting with ditching her old group of friends for a crowd of dubious characters. As the fog of grief lifts, Abby reconnects with old friends, enlists the aid of Olivia's school guidance counselor, and partners with Betsy, another single mom, in an effort to keep tabs on the headstrong teenager she's suddenly found herself responsible for--but despite her best efforts, she is unable to keep Olivia from self-destruction. As Abby's journey unfolds, she grapples with raising a grieving teenager, realizes she didn't know Stella as well as she thought, falls in love--twice--and discovers just how far she will go to save the most precious thing in her life.
Review
"Tammy Flanders Hetrick's novel
Stella Rose proves to the reader that Love is not just stronger than Death, but stranger. Succumbing to illness, a brilliant woman bequeaths her teenager daughter, their home, and a series of instructions for life while grieving, to her best friend. Hetrick deftly studies the ties that bind, unraveling mysteries that complicate and, finally, enrich intimacy."
—Verandah Porche, author of Sudden Eden and recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Marlboro College
"In this fascinating exploration of the interconnectedness of lives, Tammy Hetrick mines the ways in which relationships both grow and flounder under the stress of devastating disease, familiarity, and responsibility. Stella Rose takes the reader through the volatile territory of adolescence as a teenager navigates unchartered possibilities replete with equal doses of hazard and potential."
—Yvonne Daley, author of Octavia Boulevard and director of the Green Mountain Writers Conference
"Tammy Flanders Hetrick has written a marvelous first novel. Stella Rose is the dramatic, clear-eyed story of a dying mother who leaves her beloved friend the most precious legacy imaginable: her sixteen-year-old daughter to raise. All three characters--Rose, Abby, and Olivia--are wonderfully likeable, both for their strengths and their human shortcomings. Ultimately, Stella Rose is a celebration of love in many forms, from wildly romantic passion to friendship, and eternal family devotion to an abiding love of the world we all live in."
—Howard Frank Mosher, author of A Stranger in the Kingdom and Where the Rivers Flow North
Synopsis
When your best friend asks you to take care of her spirited sixteen-year-old daughter while on her deathbed, you say yes. Because that's what best friends do. They say yes.
Synopsis
● Planning four- to five-city simulcast book launch with girlfriends, by girlfriends, across the US and in Canada ● Targeting bookstores in New England, where author lives, for readings/events Targeting interviews/reviews on Vermont Public Radio ● Targeting interviews/reviews on local access television ● Targeting guest spot Books Over Breakfast, a local program ● Launching blog to build friendship community, linked to author website ● Reaching out to book clubs ● Organizing blog tour ● Social media promotion/networking: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Synopsis
Upon Stella Rose's death, her best friend, Abby, moves to rural Vermont to take care of her sixteen-year-old daughter, Olivia. But Abby struggles to connect with Olivia and she soon finds guardianship of a headstrong teenager daunting beyond her wildest misgivings. Despite her best efforts, and the help of friends old and new, she is unable to keep Olivia from self-destruction. As Abby's journey unfolds, she grapples with raising a grieving teenager, realizes she didn't know Stella as well as she thought, and discovers just how far she will go to save the most precious thing in her life.
About the Author
Tammy Flanders Hetrick has been telling stories all her life, refining her skills at age ten through marathon tag-team storytelling with her best friend, honing her craft through decades of business writing, and ultimately finding joy in extracurricular creative writing. She has published short stories in Your Teen Magazine, Blue Ocean Institute's Sea Stories, and Route 7 Literary Journal. In 2009 she was recognized with the Outdoor Industries Women's Coalition's Pioneering Woman Award for coaching and mentoring women in the workplace. Hetrick lives in Vermont with her husband of thirty years, their two cats, and a beagle/miniature bull mix.