Mandy Bécot ***stories from the heart***

email the author at: mbecot at lookatusgo.com

Angel's Share Two calendars, a dozen lighthouse, and a shared glass of wine. He has it all. He's handsome, wealthy, his business brings the best models to his studio and to his bed. Yet a dream of his past is rekindled by a calendar of lighthouses. He has always dreamed of sailing around the world. She is an acclaimed wine and food columnist, who has good friends and a beautiful condo. Yet the calendar of lighthouses and letters left by her dying father open up a window to the past that will change her future. Two ships will pass in the night, will they collide or sail on together?	The Angels’ Share is the portion of whiskey or wine lost through the porous aging barrels. While the loss is real, the resulting drink is the richer for it. We do not often see the paths that lay before us. New opportunities, whole futures can unfold from the smallest of events. Yet even when they are well illumined, which of us is strong enough to give the angels their due and release our self-image and allow our hearts to grow? So much of our world is dark, or so we are told. I have always loved lighthouses. Sources of light and energy. Sources of safety and guidance. Our life has lighthouses, sometimes it just takes a little trust to find them.	Manuscript in draft Read First Chapter
Frost on the Quince "You've Got Mail" meets ham radio. A navy nurse is called home to a small island in the Pacific Northwest to  take care of her ailing mother. As WWII breaks out she must balance her responsibilities to her family, her country, and her heart. Her childhood sweetheart never left home and never stopped waiting for her. He is the call of the past she can neither tolerate nor escape. As her isolation grows, a single ray of hope travels to her over the airwaves. But can her unknown friend thaw her heart and help her find her way through to safety and love?	My daughter looked out at the quince orchard on a small island we were visiting. A light frost had dusted the trees to a silvery light. She turned to me and said, "Your next book should be called 'Frost on the Quince'." From such simple words was born the story of a nurse, the daughter of a quince farmer. A woman who had run away from home at 16 to become a Navy nurse and see the world. But what is home? Is it the arms of the dashing doctor at the Naval Hospital in the tropical paradise of Guam? Or is it a rain-shrouded orchard her father had loved and her mother hated? And, being a hopeful romantic, I had to see why her childhood sweetheart, now the ferry boat captain, would wait for a woman who was so connected to her life plans that she couldn't hear her heart. And why she couldn't stand to be near him. Couldn't let in the past, until the captain reached out to her over amateur radio. It wasn't until the book was done that my daughter pointed out that it was kind of like that Tom Hanks movie . . .	Manuscript complete Read First Chapter
One Light in a Dark Valley When your hope is the only light left, how do you keep it lit? One Light is set in 1854 Puget Sound. A young horse-tamer is faced with saving her town from an avaricious empire-builder, finding a family when her own is gone, and finding love when her heart trusts but she cannot.	I have lived in the Puget Sound area for over 25 years. Everyone says write what you know. Why it took me so long to open my eyes to the rich life and history around me, I'll never know. I love where I live. I love that my daughter can see trees that are hundreds of years old. I love seeing the odd wolf, coyote, or elk wander by. I love that the Native Americans still have canoes and potlatchs. There is a vitality to the land that my writing can't deny.	Manuscript complete Read First Chapter