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Happy Belated Birthday, Cute Blonde Boy!

7/29/2014

POST BY ABBY
First of all, before I dive into this blog post that I'm really not in the mood to write, I need to take care of a little business. As you all know by now, I have written and published the story of my life (with a little help from some friends) and the books have been out there for a while now. But this month there was a second edition re-release, and to celebrate, my publishers decided each book in the trilogy (Yes, my life is exciting enough to justify a trilogy. Isn't yours?) should be available for $0.99 on Kindle, just through July. Well, July is almost over. If you haven't already purchased I've Loved These Days, Scenes From Highland Falls, and Two Thousand Years, I hope you will. Do I need your money? Certainly not. Have I fallen out of the media spotlight and I hope that by selling books I can push my way back in? Not even close. Actually, I would sort of love to see what one day out of the media spotlight would feel like! It's just a good story and I think you might enjoy it. Besides, if you are reading this and actually thinking "Hey, yeah...maybe I will read Abigail Phelps's memoirs!" then I hate to break it to you, but you are running behind. I think everyone else in the world has already read about every intimate detail of my life. The true story of my friendship with George Clooney, the way I may have accidentally destroyed both of Christopher Dean's marriages, why Ted Kennedy hated me, why I hated him, why I had to spend so many years lying about the paternity of my children, what John Kennedy Jr. left me in his will, my very brief engagement to Colin Firth, why I agreed to be in Mamma Mia!...yep, it's all in there. And everyone else already knows. I hope you'll download your copy of each book today, while they are each only $0.99! The following links are for the US Amazon store, but all three books are available worldwide.
I've Loved These Days, Book One in the Abigail Phelps Series
Scenes From Highland Falls, Book Two in the Abigail Phelps Series
Two Thousand Years, Book Three in the Abigail Phelps Series

Now, onto the blog post I don't really want to write. Sunday was Chris's birthday. My Chris. Christopher Dean. Cute Blonde Boy. As you all know (apart from that one person out there who hasn't read my memoirs...yes, I'm talking to you...), Chris and I met at the 1979 World Figure Skating Championships in Vienna, Austria. We weren't competing - we were being forced into a skating partnership neither of us wanted. I was an American singles skater with, apparently, no real potential. Chris was a British ice dancer with nothing but potential. The International Skating Union thought if they put us together it would be a nice little show of solidarity among competing nations. We would never compete, they thought. We would never be good enough to compete. We would skate at galas and exhibitions, and do lots of press conferences, and just be young and adorable together. Well, they underestimated us. Everyone in the world underestimated us, but Chris and I never underestimated each other.

Chris is a major player in the books. Apart from yours truly, he actually has more "screen time" than anyone else, I believe. And yet I never mention him on this blog or in interviews unless I am discussing the past. Part of the reason behind that is the desire to avoid spoilers. I hope, and truly believe, that by the time you get to the end of my story, you will feel very invested in my relationship with Chris. And the way it ended in Two Thousand Years is the way it needed to end - for your purposes. So I don't want to talk about the state of our relationship now. Additionally, I don't want to talk about his birthday because the older he gets, the older I feel. But my publishers insisted I should publicly wish Chris a happy birthday. They said that all of the Team Cute Blonde Boy people out there (Is that really a thing?) were clamoring for it. So...happy birthday, Chris. There. Contractual obligation fulfilled! If you want more than that, read the book!

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John

7/16/2014

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And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

William Butler Yeats

POST BY ABBY

Fifteen years ago today John F. Kennedy Jr. crashed his Piper Saratoga into the Atlantic Ocean as he began his descent onto Martha's Vineyard. The plane was also carrying Carolyn and Lauren Bessette. There isn't much to say, really. I said it all in my memoirs. But I do want to tell you that I'm actually doing okay this year. I think it helps that my story is now out there for everyone to read. Before you knew of the roles John and I played in each other's lives, I felt alone, unable to explain to anyone what was wrong. This year I've received countless e-mails and cards from you all, and I just appreciate that so much.

The second edition re-launch of my memoirs has included a re-branding of sorts. More than just a new title, although book one, which was previously titled Abigail Phelps has been renamed I've Loved These Days, which I much prefer. (My publishers wanted to name it Abigail Phelps the first time around to draw people in with my name, but I was just horrified to break up the Billy Joel theme which exists in I've Loved These Days, Scenes From Highland Falls, and Two Thousand Years. Though I am still holding out hope for "Abigail Phelps" by Billy Joel. Wouldn't be the first time he wrote me a song, would it?) The biggest change from the first edition to the second - besides the anecdotes and memories I added - is the focus back onto John and me. My life story really is the story of John and me, and I hope you'll spend some time reading about what my publishers are calling "the greatest love story the world has never known." I don't know about that. That seems a bit inflated to me. To me we were just John and Abby. But it is a pretty good story, and I think you'll enjoy it.

Thanks for stopping by. Thank you for thinking of me, and thank you for remembering John.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE BOOK TRAILER FOR
I'VE LOVED THESE DAYS
And please be sure to Subscribe to the YouTube page
while you are there!

AN EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT FROM TWO THOUSAND YEARS,
BOOK THREE IN THE ABIGAIL PHELPS SERIES
I got on the interstate and drove to Providence, Rhode Island. I had driven that route so many times. I walked around the Brown campus for a few minutes and, maybe attempting to do myself in once and for all, I returned, for the very first time, to the tree where I fell in love with John. I walked around it, hoping for closure and healing, but it didn’t come. And the pain got much worse when I sat under the shade of the leaves, remembering everything about that day, and I glanced up toward the sky to look at the sun through the branches.
On one giant branch, reaching out with authority and power from the tree, I noticed something which knocked the air out of me, and yet filled me with such joy. You would have to be sitting in that exact spot in order to see it, but carved into that giant branch was “JFK + AKP.” Simple as that. He hadn’t done it that day - that much I knew - but he had done it. At some point, he had gone back to that tree and immortalized our love story. I stood and reached to touch it, but it was easily two feet out of reach, so I just stared at yet another symbol of John’s love for me.
And then I knew where my trek that day was taking me. He had led me as far as Brown, led me to the tree, and shown me his secret message. I had never really believed in the dead communicating with us, and I’m still not sure that I do, but that day I felt completely confident that John was guiding me on the path to saying goodbye.
I got back in the car and drove onto I-195 into Massachusetts. In a little under two hours I was riding on the Woods Hole - Vineyard Haven Ferry, crossing Vineyard Sound, and then I was at Martha’s Vineyard. I drove to various locations along the beach until I found what I was looking for. All along the coastline were hundreds and hundreds of bouquets of flowers, and crosses, and photos of John, Carolyn, and Lauren. There were hand-written notes and drawings. Hundreds, thousands of people had poured out their love for people they had never met, but felt like they knew intimately - especially John.
I was saying goodbye to the first man I loved. I stared out at the ocean, remembering sailboats and kayaks and summer days which John and I spent together. But I also couldn’t help but think of the Piper Saratoga spiraling into the very waters which were gently rushing to the shore, and running away just as tenderly as I cried.
I was heartbroken, but suddenly I was strangely at peace. I stared at the waters until the sun went down. It was starting to get cool, and when I had cried all I could, I stood and brushed the sand off of my pants and my hands and took one last look at the expressions of love from so many.
A woman with a golden retriever was jogging past, and she stopped to look at the notes and flowers. “Sad, isn’t it?” she said to me, not having a clue who I was.
“Yes,” was all I could say in response.
“Did you know him?” she asked.
I was surprised by that. “Yes, actually, I did.” I thought for a moment and then asked her, “Did you?”
She smiled sadly. “I was born on November 25, 1970 - his tenth birthday. Seven years to the day after President Kennedy’s funeral. Every year on my birthday, they showed pictures of him saluting his dad’s casket,” she said as her voice broke from the emotion. “So I always felt like I knew him pretty well.” She smiled at me and wished me a good night and jogged down the beach.
I turned with one last glance at the Atlantic and then went back to the car, saying goodbye to the man who had once been the boy all the world considered their own. Of course I know who you are, John, I thought with a smile as I drove into the New England night.

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SECOND EDITION TRILOGY RELEASE!

7/14/2014

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POST BY BETHANY

It's here, it's here, it's here! The second edition re-release of the Abigail Phelps Series is here! I'm an hour early on Mountain Time (Dean Time, as Abby calls it), but Abby and I both grew up in the Eastern Time Zone (Kennedy Time) so I'm going for it. I'm excited, I'm proud, I'm motivated, I'm inspired, I'm exhausted, and I'm about to beg. Get ready, people!

Please help me spread the word. All three books for Kindle are only 99 cents each for a limited time! You don't even have to have a Kindle, you know... Download the Kindle app on your phone or device, or use the Kindle Cloud Reader on your computer. If you already have the first editions, PLEASE download the second editions! I promise you...there are significant changes which will make it worth your 99 cents. Or $2.97. TOTAL! You can have an entire trilogy for $2.97. And you can help me make my dreams come true.
For $2.97.

Click Here for I've Loved These Days, Book One

Click Here for Scenes From Highland Falls, Book Two

Click Here for Two Thousand Years, Book Three

At 99 cents per book, this clearly is not about the money for me at this point. Here's my goal: ALL THREE BOOKS IN THE AMAZON TOP 100. Say what?!? Yep. I dream big, and I do all I can to make my dreams come true. But I need your help. Please download. Please read and review. Please share on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Goodreads, etc. (By the way, each of those words has a link to MY page on those sites, so we can connect if we haven't already. I was going to link you to an adorable cat video when you click on "etc." but the internet doesn't seem to have any of those.)

To make it easy for you, here are some ready-to-use blurbs you can post on Twitter. There should be something here for everyone.

Download the Abigail Phelps Series for Kindle! 99 cents! www.amazon.com/dp/B00LSWE6U4 Help make this book a bestseller! @BTLiteraryStuff #RRBC

These books are crazy in the best way! www.amazon.com/dp/B00LSWE6U4 99 cents! #RRBC @BTLiteraryStuff abbyphelps.com

Please download this lady's book so she'll leave me alone. Please. I beg of you. www.amazon.com/dp/B00LSWE6U4 @BTLiteraryStuff #RRBC Do it for me.

JFK Jr & Abigail Phelps - greatest love story the world has never known. www.amazon.com/dp/B00LSWE6U4 @BTLiteraryStuff #RRBC Only 99 cents.

And at approximately 7:35 a.m. Dean Time (MST if you weren't paying attention...) on Tuesday 7/15, you can hear me on KRTZ Radio's Morning Modulation discussing the release. Listen online at www.krtzradio.com!

And closed circuit feed to Rave Reviews Book Club members...as I mentioned in the RRBC Newsletter, if you just downloaded my book as part of #PushWeek, send me an e-mail (seebethanywrite@outlook.com) with your proof of download and I will be happy to send you an electronic version of the series. I'll throw that out to anyone who downloaded the first editions in the last two weeks! Just shoot me an e-mail.

Thank you all for all of your help and support.

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