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​​​**Attention!**
The ONLY place you can book a tour with me is on this site at my “Book a Tour” page. I NEVER outsource to other sites, including Fiverr and other similar sites. If you book a tour there, they are scammers! Only one person, Maia, will be handling business email correspondence with the email maia@silverdaggertours.com
– if you are an author, please make sure to always email this address directly about tours! 


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Once in a Lifetime Opportunity - Book Tour and Giveaway

1/6/2020

56 Comments

 
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Once in a Lifetime Opportunity
by Jessica Hardy as told to Lizzie Ashworth
Genre: Memoir
Print Length: 282 pages
Publication Date: November 4, 2019

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In the mid-20th century, an entire generation of women found themselves caught up in a revolution. Young women tossed aside society’s rules that had governed women with an iron hand for hundreds of years. Suddenly women had agency, the right to their own identity. And their own sexual adventures. The story of Jessica Hardy and her seven-year marriage to Parker Grant brings that enormous cultural shift down to the personal level. As she enters college in 1966, Jessica is desperate to break out of her strict upbringing. Parker is her salvation, a graduating senior who becomes the love of her life. Newly married, they immerse in Parker’s duties as an air force officer and a world of their own making—nights in Las Vegas, windy Pacific beaches, and long summer days in the Philippine Islands. Slowly, with Parker’s encouragement, Jessica gains self-confidence and a sense of herself. But Jessica has a problem. She wants more. More knowledge, more experience, autonomy. Leaving no stone unturned, Jess breaks one rule after another—illegal abortion, drugs, one man then another, even time in jail. It’s an unexpected spiritual awakening that opens the door to the rest of her life. Once in a Lifetime Opportunity reveals this tumultuous time in a gut-wrenching portrayal of a woman determined to find her own way and the man who loved her.



Goodreads * Amazon

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​Excerpt from Chapter 2:

The “facts of life” seemed an inadequately euphemistic term for the purpose of sex. “How people make babies” would have been a more honest label for the breeding act with a thousand names. But even at age fifteen, I remained abysmally ignorant of these truths.
That summer of 1962, as my quest for knowledge led me forward, dust motes danced in beams of sunlight streaming in the windows of my great aunt’s abandoned chicken house. Here and there, cracks broke the long concrete floor but at the upper end where I sat, a place had been set aside for a trunk, random chairs, a broken ottoman, an iron bedstead and various other household outcasts. The trunk contained back issues of Reader’s Digest, mostly 1940s and 1950s editions which I’d mined for days as our summer vacation passed at a glacial pace.
Our family—dad, mom, me, younger sister, and two infant brothers—were camped in my great aunt’s cabin, a relic perched a hundred feet from the main house, a stone’s throw from the chicken house and another twenty feet from the outhouse. The toilet hosted nests of angry red wasps and yellow jackets, so as our days there crept past, bodily processes became fraught with terror.
The purpose of our stay was to save my father from cigarettes. After reading the latest fad for cleansing the body from nicotine addiction, my mother had hit upon the perfect plan in her continuing effort to expand our health food diet: stay in her Aunt Golvia’s cabin, pick bushels of grapes from the nearby vineyards, and eat nothing but grapes. That would cure him.
As it turned out, it didn’t cure him but it did exacerbate my problem with the outhouse.
But that wasn’t the focus of my attention that sweltering July afternoon. As I thumbed through various articles, sweat dripping down my sides, my hands stopped on a page with fascinating drawings. These looked like – no, they were!—line drawings of male and female bodies with genitalia in anatomically correct detail. Even more fascinating was a third drawing showing the male organ inside the female’s body. An even smaller detail showed the release of sperm penetrating the cervix to fertilize the egg.
I read it and re-read it, trying to understand what it meant. My face became hot. My hands trembled.
Could this be true? It was in Readers Digest, so didn’t it have to be true?
So much suddenly made sense. All the years of my life until that point, I’d been told that when a woman loved a man ‘enough,’ a baby grew in her stomach. It was a miracle of God. I accepted that idea like I accepted that it rained.
My fevered mind raced back to my previous efforts to understand procreation. Just months prior, I stood in the cafeteria line as a group of friends whispered about a freshman classmate getting pregnant.
“She shouldn’t have done that,” JoEllen said. “She knew better.”
“They expelled her,” Marti added.
“That’s not fair. She can’t help it if she loves him that much,” I said piously.
Six sets of eyes settled on me. I squirmed uncomfortably. What?
None of them took mercy and told me the truth. Maybe they didn’t grasp that I truly didn’t know how babies were made. But a few months later as I crouched in that dusty barn staring at the page, here it was in black and white. Humiliation flooded through me.
How could I have been so stupid?!
It was now obvious my mother had lied to me and more than once. In seventh grade when my friend Joanie told a joke with the word ‘fuck’ in it, I didn’t get it. The whole point of the joke hinged on that word. I rushed home from school to ask what ‘fuck’ meant.
I ran down the alley as fast as my long lanky legs could carry me, crossed the yard, and burst in through the back door. Mom was in the kitchen, surrounded as usual by my two little brothers and a multitude of unfinished tasks. I posed my question.
“What does ‘fuck’ mean?”
Red splotches sprang onto her cheeks and her dark eyes flashed in anger.
“Jessica Hardy! Don’t you ever say that filthy word,” she said sharply. “Only filthy people say that.”
I refused to back down. “But what does it mean?”
“You don’t need to know what it means,” she said, dismissing me with a turn of her back.
Wow. Well, if she was that upset about a word, I absolutely had to find out what it meant.
Next day, my friend Joanie was only too happy to explain that ‘fuck’ was when a man put his “necessary item” inside a girl “down there” and went to the bathroom.
Oh god, the horror! Now, as I studied the detailed drawings and re-read the Reader’s Digest article, I finally got it.
MY PARENTS HAD FUCKED!
I staggered back to the cabin where my mother was in the tiny kitchen washing grapes. I shoved the open Reader’s Digest in front of her. “Is this true?”
She took the book, scanned the drawings, and angrily dropped the little publication into the trash can without saying a single word. I could tell by the red spots on her cheeks that it was true.
“Tell me!”
“Yes,” she said furiously. “Where did you get that? You’ve got no business reading such filth.”
My jaw dropped. Filth? This was how she got pregnant. Why was it filth? I couldn’t believe it. How could it be?
I wanted to scream at her. Make her admit her deliberate lies, confess her intentional failure to educate me about the most important aspect of human existence. Explain why making babies was filth. I couldn’t find words.
Instead, I raced through the cabin, climbed into the sleeping loft, and threw myself into my pillow where I sobbed my eyes out. My parents! Fucking? Each of us kids had come from fuck?
Oh, the horror. The shame. I thought I would throw up. I would never do that. Now I knew with absolutely certainty that I would never have a husband or a family because I would never let that filthy ‘fuck’ thing happen to me. The missionary thing in Africa solidified in my mind.
Months later when Bob walked up beside me in the high school band room and my knees sagged, I quickly amended my outlook. If I loved someone enough, I might let him fuck me.


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About Lizzie Ashworth
​Early years of my life raced by with little time for writing as I pursued a technical career, raised children, and made questionable progress in learning to paint. Finally with time to write, I dedicate myself to stories of pleasure as well as the occasional editing project. I enjoy cooking, gardening, and time at the Pacific coast. Sunrise and sunset bring special moods, the twilight between two worlds--fully of creative energy. I love snuggling up with a good book most of all--and a cat or two.


Website * Facebook * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads ​


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56 Comments
Bea LaRocca
1/6/2020 03:45:57 am

A lovely cover and a great excerpt. Thank you for sharing your memoir with us. I am looking forward to reading

Reply
Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:01:33 am

My pleasure, Bea! It's been a journey. I look forward to your feedback!

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James Robert
1/6/2020 03:51:47 am

Thanks so much for sharing a book description and giveaway also. Sounds great!

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Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:02:31 am

Thanks James!

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Amy F
1/6/2020 04:47:02 am

The book sounds very interesting! Thanks for sharing.

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Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:03:13 am

Thanks Amy!

Reply
Beyond Comps
1/6/2020 08:25:48 am

Great cover!

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Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:03:46 am

Thanks!

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Janet W.
1/6/2020 08:34:55 am

Great cover!! Sounds interesting!

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Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:05:03 am

Thanks Janet!

Reply
LYNN CLAYTON
1/6/2020 08:57:15 am

nice cover look like a great read

Reply
Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:05:38 am

Thanks Lynn! I look forward to your feedback!

Reply
Rita Wray
1/6/2020 12:54:14 pm

Sounds like a good book.

Reply
Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:06:21 am

Thanks Rita -- would love to hear your review!

Reply
Stephanie
1/6/2020 01:31:09 pm

Jessica seems like a very complicated person.

Reply
Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:07:48 am

LOL --- you're exactly right Stephanie. And "complicated" is just the tip of the iceberg.

Reply
wendy hutton
1/6/2020 01:45:05 pm

love the cover, thanks

Reply
Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:08:24 am

Thanks Wendy!

Reply
Calvin
1/6/2020 02:40:18 pm

Get a pleasant feeling from this one, cool.

Reply
Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:08:55 am

Thanks Calvin -- very nice to hear!

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Victoria Alexander
1/6/2020 03:03:35 pm

Sounds interesting!

Reply
Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:09:27 am

Hope you'll give it a try, Victoria!

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Heather Mahley
1/6/2020 03:58:25 pm

Love the cover

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Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:10:18 am

Thanks Heather! I went through about a dozen revisions before I settled on that one, so it's good to have some positive feedback!

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MARCY MEYER
1/6/2020 05:08:25 pm

The cover looks good and it sounds like a great memoir.

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Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:10:44 am

Thanks Marcy! I appreciate your input.

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Victoria Scott
1/6/2020 05:13:42 pm

Sounds like a great read!

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Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:11:43 am

Thanks Victoria! Watch for countdown deals!

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Shannon Holmes
1/6/2020 08:50:25 pm

I love the cover.

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Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:12:14 am

Thanks Shannon!

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Dale Wilken
1/6/2020 10:00:28 pm

Sounds really great.

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Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:12:50 am

Thanks Dale -- hope you enjoy it!

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jenn fike
1/7/2020 08:01:54 am

This is such a lovely cover

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Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:14:05 am

Thanks Jenn! The creation of the cover was a slow process, but I like it too.

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Kelly Nicholson
1/7/2020 09:36:16 am

What do you think of the book or the cover?

im finding out i must have missed my once in lifetime..

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Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:15:14 am

You know, I didn't realize my once-in-a-lifetime at the time it was going on. Maybe you haven't missed it, or maybe it's yet to come. Keep the faith!

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Terri Quick
1/7/2020 09:13:28 pm

Sweet cover

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Steve Guth
1/8/2020 04:35:58 am

The cover looks great.

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Kelly D
1/8/2020 09:22:23 am

I like the cover. It makes me want to know more about the story.

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Jessica link
1/9/2020 07:16:40 am

Thanks for that, Kelly. Very encouraging!

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Wanda B
1/8/2020 08:42:28 pm

Lovely book cover.

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Mary Cloud
1/9/2020 07:13:17 pm

No questions - the cover is pretty cool.

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Barbara Montag
1/10/2020 06:10:04 pm

I think I would enjoy this book - a bit different from anything I have read.
And the cover is fascinating.

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Jessica link
1/11/2020 01:03:30 pm

Thanks Barbara -- I hope you'll have a chance to read it!

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Gary Lesley
1/14/2020 03:03:33 am

Hi everybody. I recently saw a testimony about chief dr lucky in a blog I visit for relationship and dating counseling problems because i had been having serious issues with my boyfriend and we had been dating for six months, he just suddenly changed, he wasn't returning my calls,he started cheating,he was hurting me in many ways i never thought possible and I just thought I should try it*maybe out of desperation of some sort*..and I contacted chief dr lucky ..At first everything felt dreamy and unbelievable, his consultations and solution was a little bit easy and strange and I was scared a little cause I heard read and heard lots of stories to of fake spell casters,scams and i never really believed in magic..I played along with a little hope and and faith and I sent some few stuffs after everything and it worked like a miracle,everything went to a while new direction,it was and is amazing...I guess it was all good faith that made me read That particular post that faithful day..I hope he could help other people too like he did me...I did a little and I got everything I wanted and wished for*my husband,my family and my life back. E-mail: Cheifdrlucky@gmail.com or contact him on whats App him +2348132777335 Website :http://chiefdrluckysolutionhome.website2.me/  

Reply
AuntySuzany
1/14/2020 10:25:47 pm

Pretty cover & seems like a very good read.

Reply
Debbie P
1/15/2020 04:55:44 pm

This book sounds like a really great read.

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Piroska
1/19/2020 02:57:36 pm

The book sounds fascinating. I grew up in the 60s and 70s, so I can relate to the beginning of Women's Lib and the freedom of choice.

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Jessica link
1/20/2020 08:10:09 am

Those were fast and heavy days!

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Daniel M
1/30/2020 05:54:45 pm

like the cover

Reply
Christina Gould
2/2/2020 01:44:39 pm

I like the title. It's very unique. Thanks for the giveaway!

Reply
Mood Reader
2/3/2020 07:38:36 pm

Sounds so good! :)

Reply
Kristen
2/5/2020 03:29:47 pm

The cover has a vintage feel to it.

Reply
jose rosado
2/6/2020 07:49:13 pm

What do you think of the book or the cover?
is't a cool idea of the old school photo
THX

Reply
Stacey A Smith
2/6/2020 07:57:04 pm

great cover reminds me of old family pictures.

Reply
Jerry Marquardt
2/6/2020 11:18:12 pm

I would like to give thanks for all your really great writings, including Once in a Lifetime Opportunity, and wishing the best in keeping up the good work in the future.

Reply



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    ​**Attention!**

    ​The ONLY place you can book a tour with me is on this site at my
    “Book a Tour” page. I NEVER outsource to other sites, including Fiverr and other similar sites. If you book a tour there, they are scammers! Only one person, Maia, will be handling business email correspondance with the email

    ​ maia@
    ​silverdaggertours.com

    – if you are an author, please make sure to always email this address directly about tours!  

    ​

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​​​**Attention!**
The ONLY place you can book a tour with me is on this site at my “Book a Tour” page. I NEVER outsource to other sites, including Fiverr and other similar sites. If you book a tour there, they are scammers! Only one person, Maia, will be handling business email correspondence with the email maia@silverdaggertours.com
– if you are an author, please make sure to always email this address directly about tours! 
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