Release date: September 12th 2013
Publisher: PMI Books
Purchase: Amazon
Robin wanted to win The Holdout, a cutthroat reality TV show, so she gave it her all, challenge after challenge. Then she fell for Grant, with his irresistible eyes and heartbreaking life story.
But Grant was only using Robin as they competed for a million dollars. Once home, Robin wants to hide from the humiliation as episodes of The Holdout are aired, and she worries her family was right all along; she’s not a survivor.
Yet she could surprise everyone, and have the last laugh.
Besides, Robin now has jury duty. And as she forges ahead, confronting her demons about bravery, justice, and romance, Robin will come to decide which is more important: the courage to stand alone, or the strength to love again.
About the Author
Laurel Osterkamp’s award winning novels have been hailed as funny, intelligent, snarky and poignant. She is the author of four novels and two novellas, including the November Surprise series, which, like The Holdout, features the Bricker family. Laurel was recently on a federal jury, and she loves watching Survivor.I really wanted jury duty.
For one, I would
get out of teaching for a week or two. It was close to the end of the school
year and my seniors were super squirrely.
But there was more to it than just that. I’ve seen my fair share of
legal dramas, and I thought it would be cool to sit in that box and decide the
outcome of a court case. So when I got my summons I felt like I’d been awarded
something cool.
But that was
nothing compared to actually getting picked.
The lawyers interviewed us, not individually, but as a group. And we all had to state where we were from,
our marital status, age, and profession. I was one of two people who wasn’t a
native Minnesotan, and the other guy couldn’t speak English. I believe that for
that reason, the defense wanted me. It was a court case between a famous and
successful Minnesotan businessman and a Turkish boating company. Of course the
defense would want someone, anyone, who was from out of town. That person was
me.
And like Robin in The Holdout, I did become one of two
people who spoke up for the defense during deliberations. Actually, there are a lot of similarities
between my jury experience and Robin’s.
More similarities include:
·
The jurors. I made their personalities
a little more extreme in the book, especially in Four’s case. Hopefully the
real-life Four will never read The
Holdout, because she’ll probably hate me if she does. But other than that,
I borrowed a lot from real-life.
·
The case. It was actually about
yachts, and I learned a lot about cold-molding epoxy, which is a method of boat
construction.
·
The routine. We did get prox-cards,
which were keys to our very own jury room. We did get treats all the time, and
we also took stretching breaks and had our own screens in front of our own
cushy chairs. But my favorite part was that the bailiff always said, “All rise
for the jury” every time we entered the room.
·
The deliberations. It was
basically ten to two in the end, and the guy who agreed with me was the foreman
of the jury. He was also worthless. I also wound up arguing with the juror who
inspired Nick/Ten but it was also him who I respected the most out of all the
jurors.
·
The verdict. But you’ll have to
read The Holdout to find out more
about that.
·
The best part was walking away
at the end. Knowing that I’d be able to walk away made me more willing to speak
out than I’d ever been before.
·
Nick/Ten really had been on
three juries in two years – one county, one state, and one federal. So if you
think that’s not possible, think again!
But there were
differences too:
·
There was no romance. There
were some single twenty-somethings on the jury, but I never picked up on any
sort of spark between them.
·
There was no real-life handsome
bad-boy who inspired Silas Smythe. Too bad. The trial would have been more
interesting if he had been around.
·
I did eventually learn most of
the juror’s names.
In the end, jury
duty was a great experience, if for no other reason that it inspired The Holdout. I recommend it even for
people who aren’t geeks like me. You’ll learn a lot, and in the end, you’ll
have an interesting story to tell.
Wonderful guest post!
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