For the Love of Fiber Book Series by Kate Bowman | Book Excerpt

Welcome to the Prism Book Tours book tour for the first two books in the For the Love of Fiber Book Series. Stop by each blog for excerpts and reviews from the books!

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The Spin I’m In (For the Love of Fiber #1)

by Kate Bowman
Women’s Fiction, Romance
Paperback & ebook, 293 Pages
August 26, 2019

A determined widow faces the challenge of a new life to regain the confidence and independence of her youth, but finds that life, unlike knitting, doesn’t always follow a pattern.

After twenty-five years of being the perfect wife and mother, Martha LeBeau finds herself unexpectedly widowed and shocked to discover her husband had been living a double life, leaving her penniless and in debt. Determined to regain her lost confidence and independence, she sells her suburban Chicago home and moves to the Wisconsin countryside to forge a new life away from cheating men and smothering children. There she meets the Wool Gatherers, a group of fiber artists who teach her the art of spinning wool and raising sheep. Along with one determined Border Collie, she begins on the path to self-growth and healing.

Riley O’Connor is the single father of a child with Asperger Syndrome. The child’s mother walked out on them because she found that life too difficult to handle. Since then, he has dedicated himself to protecting his son from any further emotional damage.

Meeting Riley and his son through her new job brings love and challenges to Martha’s newly found independence. Romance blooms like a finely knit cable, entwining their lives.

Can either of them learn to trust again?

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It Never Felt So Good (For the Love of Fiber #2)

by Kate Bowman
Women’s Fiction, Romance
Paperback & ebook, 268 Pages
May 9, 2020

Cara Olson is forced to put aside her struggling art career in Chicago to care for her ailing grandmother in Wisconsin. While journeying with her beloved Gram through the diagnosis of possible Alzheimer’s disease, she loses and then rediscovers her passion for art and experiences the resurrection of a past love.

Struggling artist Cara Olson is called home to Wisconsin to care for her ailing grandmother who is showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Leaving behind her mentor//boyfriend, Stefan, she begins to look at her unsuccessful career and relationship in a new light.

Surprised to find her Gram’s doctor is her high-school crush, Peter Andreson, she fights her reignited feelings. When Chicago critics dismiss her artwork as a poor imitation of Stefan’s, she is devastated and vows to give up art.

While caring for Gram and running her small Scandinavian gift shop, the Wool Gatherers, a local group of fiber artists, help her find new outlets for her creativity, designing works of art with hand-made felt and her re-emerging love of landscape and portrait painting.

Along the way, her feelings for Peter grow, and she realizes she has once again fallen for a man only dedicated to his career. When the opportunity arises for her to return to Chicago with the promise of a new career, she seizes it. But even her success can’t fill the void she experiences without Gram, her new friends, and Peter.

Can she return to Shoreview, the place that inspires her art, and be satisfied with a life that doesn’t include him?

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Excerpt from It Never Felt So Good

It Never Felt So Good (For the Love of Fiber Book 2)

“Where is Riley, by the way?” Carol asked.

“He’s hiding out upstairs with Jake and Maeve,” Martha answered. “Maeve is our border collie,” she explained. “A real sweetheart now that she’s out of the puppy stage. I have Sue Ellen and her husband to thank for her. That puppy was a godsend when I first moved here alone. They were right when they said I needed her company.”

The woman next to Lila had been watching us with interest as we talked. I murmured a soft greeting when we reached her.

“Cheryl, show Cara the vest you’re working on,” Martha said. She turned back to me. “I think you’ll like it since you’re an artist. It’s becoming a real work of art.”

Cheryl lifted up the garment. It was made of multicolored wool—shades of blue, pink, and green—somehow blended in layers to make the most interesting fabric I’d ever seen. She’d embroidered a pattern over the wool with different colored threads. “This is a vest I made out of hand felted wool. I’m just embellishing it with some old jewelry. Trying to ‘fancy it up’, as my youngest daughter would say.”

“Hand felted? I never heard the term before.”

“It’s when you make felt out of carded wool—using soap, warm water, and friction. It’s actually a lot of fun, and you can come up with some amazing designs.”

“Have you been doing this for a long time?” It looked pretty complicated to me. In fact, all the projects I’d seen that evening looked like the women had put a lot of thought and effort into them. Even Nancy, busily knitting on what looked like an intricate Nordic ski pattern.

“Actually, I just started felting a few months ago. I don’t have a lot of time for long, involved projects. I took a class in Green Bay, and Carol was in it. She told me about this group and invited me to a meeting. I love it.”

About the Author

Born in Wisconsin to an original Brady Bunch, I had the dubious honor of being #14 in the family. As a result, I’ll never run out of characters. The early years of my marriage were spent moving around the country with my engineer husband, collecting interesting stories and characters along the way. I picked up my first romance after a particularly stressful shift at a suburban Chicago hospital where I worked as an RN. Hours later, bleary-eyed and exhausted, but able to sleep because the story affirmed that good things can happen to good people, I was hooked.

After seventeen years in the Chicago suburbs we returned to Wisconsin and a new life of country living. After a local class in spinning, I decided it would be fun to have my own source of wool. Several years and many animals later, I found a new source of humor for my stories. I’ve always loved animals and you’ll find many of them populate my books. My stories are about real people trying to make it in this crazy, sometimes funny, sometimes sad world—but always with an ending that will renew your faith in love and life.

When I’m not writing, you’ll find me with my family or out walking in my fields, spinning wool, knitting or weaving, but always listening to the interesting stories of those characters living in my head.

For more information about me and my books, visit www.KateBowmanAuthor.com.

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