Dirty Laundry

by Marilyn Slagel

As ten-year-old Marly Colone stands in front of her tiny, four-room house in a small Illinois town in the autumn of 1966, she takes one look at the dark-haired, handsome stranger walking toward her on the sidewalk and knows. He is her destiny, and nothing will change her mind. She has just found the man she will marry. Her beloved father had died abruptly the previous spring, propelling Marly from the innocence of childhood into the uncertain, often tumultuous world of a blended family after her mother remarries. In a bizarre twist of fate, Marly comes face-to-face once again with her soulmate, Johnny, who happens to be her new stepbrother-and twelve years her senior. Determined to do anything to make Johnny notice her, the love-starved Marly embarks down a dangerous path, desperate to replace her father with a man who happens to share many of the same mannerisms. Lost in the murky world between adolescence and adulthood, Marly has no doubt she has claimed her destiny. Dirty Laundry is a tale of forbidden love as a young girl desperately searches for validation and affection in an unlikely place.

124 pages, Hardcover

First published November 8, 2012

About the author

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16...

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't normally read books like this, but I loved it and really got into the characters. I am looking forward to reading the next chapter(s) of Miss Marly's life. I think my favorite comment in the whole book was the comment Marly made about Johnny being "in my blood". I think most of us have that one person. I was lucky enough to find my one "real" love 23 years later after him having to move away at the age of 15 right after we started "dating", going to the Marine Corps, and us losing track of each other over the years after writing for many. We both lived through unhappy relationships only to end up together at the age of 39 and it's super! I always thought of him and compared hard times to the life I just somehow KNEW I would have with him. I used to say to myself all the time......"if I only had my real love, it wouldn't be like this". As I got older I thought it might have been foolish, like it sounds like Marly did many times, but it's not......they are just in your blood! It's a great book that is well written and leads you to get a "vision" of the characters as you are reading. I enjoyed it a lot. Congratulations Marilyn on what I think will be a success for you!