Looking for Providence, coming this spring

Here is a little preview to my fifth novel, Looking for Providence, which will be published April/May.

Two best friends, two big cities, two adventures of a lifetime. A story about the power of friendship and love.

Ronnie Reyes thought he had everything he wanted - a guy he adored and a job he loved. Then the economy tanked and the 25-year-old not only lost his movie critic boyfriend but a dream job as a newspaper features writer. Now single in his newly adopted city of Providence, Ronnie learns to start over as a Business reporter in Rhode Island's capital city. And his life is about to take a dramatic turn during a reporting assignment when he meets Phil, a startingly handsome local business executive. Phil takes Ronnie under his wing and shows him around his native Providence and just maybe, the way to his heart. But is Ronnie ready to embrace a new love? He receives some long-distance guidance from his Miami wing man Elias who is reeling from the loss of his TV production job. Broke, unemployed and ready for a change, Elias reluctantly moves back home to his mother's estate when he discovers a volunteer opportunity in Europe that he just can't say no to. During the course of one unpredictable summer, Ronnie and Elias are there for each other as they search for their own providence.


If the Ronnie character sounds familiar, he was a supporting character in my second novel, Miami Manhunt, where he was the love interest of the Miami movie critic character. The books stand on their own but Miami Manhunt is where I first introduced Ronnie as a college student before he moves to New England.
  
Here are two previous posts on writing the book and how Providence has inspired me over the years.

Providence

And book #5 is done! Last chapter written. Now comes the really fun part - revising it.
This is why it has taken me longer to write this book than the previous four.


Providence footnote: By the way, my first introduction (visually before I moved to Boston) was the former NBC series "Providence" which ran from Jan. 1999 to Dec. 2002 (before NBC prematurely canceled it even though the series won its timeslot every week, averaging 10 million viewers but I'm not bitter. Nah.) 

 My friends knew NOT TO CALL me on Friday nights between 8 and 9 p.m. because I'd be sitting in front of my TV watching this family drama which followed Dr. Sydney Hansen, her sister, brother and father as they move on from the loss of their mother (who died in the first episode). But each episode opened up with a  funny dream sequence between Sydney and her mom (Concetta Tomei) and that set the theme for the episode which often involved Sydney (played by Melina Kanakaredes) balancing her love life with her professional one and family issues.  One of my favorite parts of the show was the opening intro which showed aerial slices of Providence (the small downtown, the winding river, the sweeping views of the neighborhoods during Fall) and the actors in their roles.
 
Below is the intro to the show. When it aired on NBC, Chantal Kreviazuk's version of "In My Life" played. But for some reason (even in the DVD collection which was a gift from an old friend, best-gift ever Rene Rodriguez), producers present a different s-l-o-wer, downer of a song. (Maybe the rights to The Beatles song only extended to the show's original broadcasts and not in reruns, DVD or digital?)  So watch the intro but listen to Chantal's song over it. Chantal's angelic, soulful voice beautifully matches the spirit of the show - you can go home again and start over.

the last chapter - Providence

view of downtown Providence from Providence Place

I hate this part. Really. I do. I've reached the last chapter of my fifth novel, which takes place in Providence - one of my favorite cities.
 
For the past year and a half or so, I've escaped to the fictional world of Ronnie Reyes, the young optimistic reporting intern from Miami Manhunt who fell in love with a Miami movie critic. In this new story, Ronnie, now a features writer, finds himself reassigned to the Business section at Rhode Island's biggest newspaper where he deals with his quirky, paranoid, nail-biting supervising editor while exploring the Ocean State's capital city. During one of his reporting assignments, Ronnie meets a new love interest, a handsome McDreamy-type executive who shows him Providence from a native's point of view.

The novel also follows Ronnie's bestfriend Elias who seeks to regain his footing after being laid off from his Miami cable TV network job as a news photographer. When Elias learns of a summer volunteer project in Germany, he signs up. And in Germany, Elias rediscovers himself with the help of his host roommate, a cute local educator. Though worlds apart, Ronnie and Elias have each other's backs - giving advice via text messages, long-distance phone calls, Skype (and in person during one fun wild weekend in Providence.)

I think I feel attached to this book and these characters because they've accompanied me on my own journey from Boston to Miami last year. Whenever I felt stressed out, missed New England seasons or had difficulty in readjusting to life in the tropics (which is a book in itself), I found myself cranking up my computer and delving into the adventures of Ronnie and Elias. My favorite chapters though have been in Providence.

That's me during a recent stroll in Providence

Over the years, some folks (even people who live in the city and my family and friends) have been surprised by my fondness for the Providence, a great small town with infinite photogenic charm.

There is so much understated beauty and appeal there that Providence is often overlooked because of its bigger neighbors - Boston to the north and New York City to the south. Providence is like Boston's unappreciated little sister (a mini Beantown) with the same red-bricked looks, a small cluster of skyscrapers (but with wider streets, less traffic and more parking.) The city has a small grid-like downtown with a mix of industrial and colonial buildings that dot the riverfront.



During my 10 years in Boston, I often hightailed my Jeep down to Providence for weekend day trips. Whenever I pulled off exit 22C from I-95, the city's colossal mall Providence Place beckoned like a stacked wedding cake with its various parking levels. Once inside the mall, I strolled under its bright skylight windows where I heard a mix of English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Irish from fellow shoppers riding the stacked escalators between Macy's and Nordstrom. I usually began my visit by stopping by Nordstrom's upper level cafe to catch a sweeping view of the hilly area of homes that overlook the mall. Nearby, the state's capital building lorded over the city and the train station like a giant white church.