13 March 2012

Growing Up An Only

by Olivia Starke



Growing up, friends thought I was lucky to be an only child, while schoolmates assumed I lived a spoiled life of luxury.  I know there were spoiled onlys out there, but, alas, I wasn’t one of them. I grew up on a farm which doesn’t lend itself to spoildom—only a higher share of chores.

For those who don’t know what it’s like to be an only, I can tell you I always found myself relating to adults much easier than kids my age. In family gatherings I’d try to stay in the kitchen with my mother and aunts instead of joining my cousins in games outside. At school, I’d try to cling to teachers. I didn’t have great social skills, and other than the b/f/f I grew up with, I only had at most two other friends at any given time.

I am grateful for what it did give me. I consider myself stupidly honest. If your mom nearly faints at the smashing new haircut you’ve given yourself at age 4, and none of your cousins are around to point fingers at, you learn to accept blame and consequences early in life. I didn’t have siblings to help me fight any battles, I had to stand on my own two feet. And I developed a wicked imagination to keep me company on long summer days when the chores were finished. 

I still think it’d be nice to have a brother or sister, but I’m pretty happy as is. Though that spoiled business would be pretty cool to check out, too….

Midnight Madness

(Available at Decadent Publishing)

Blurb: Maddie takes a weekend camping trip to forget her two timing ex-boyfriend. Instead of peace and quiet, she stumbles upon two hunks who put the wild in wilderness. And they have plans of their own—to heat up her sexless life. An evening of rowdy lovin’ is just what she needs to get over her broken heart.

When she joins them in a trio that leaves her satisfied and exhausted, they have one more surprise in store called Midnight Madness...


Excerpt:

Who the hell has an orgy in the middle of the wilderness?

Reported random animal attacks had been Maddie’s concern, not the harassing sounds of sex. She needed peace and quiet to lick her wounds and sort out her life. Not the lusty grunts of some overzealous man giving it to his lady. For the past two hours.

Seriously, two flippin’ hours? She charged through the woods, ready to rain on someone’s parade. They’d just have to find someplace else to have an obscenely loud lovefest.

“God, the nerve of some people.”

She batted at a fly buzzing around her head. So what if she hadn’t had an orgasm in four months—thanks to her selfish ex-boyfriend—well, not one that wasn’t self-induced. And who cared if sex had been nonexistent while the relationship had suffered a slow, painful death.

“Men suck. Certainly no marathon lovemaking for me anytime soon.” She yanked at a limb and flinched when it lashed back against her face, knocking her glasses off. Unreasonable anger boiled over.

“Son-of-a-bitch, piece of….” She kicked out at nothing in particular, giving in to the long overdue temper tantrum. Brambles hooked around her foot and she did a face plant on the leaf-covered forest floor. My utter lack of grace strikes again. Rolling onto her back, she spit out dirt and stuck a scraped finger into her mouth. The wound smarted, distracting her from her fury. She stared at the blue sky through the budding tree limbs, sweat breaking out on her brow. The unseasonably warm spring had driven her to seek a peaceful weekend camping retreat. Maybe she should’ve opted for a hotel with air-conditioning instead. And a six pack of beer, give or take another twelve pack.

“Oh God, yes! More, more, more….” The deep, male voice echoed through the hollow.

Maddie pummeled the ground with her fists. “You oversexed freak!” Her words were drowned out by the man’s grunts.

Olivia Starke calls a little town in southern Missouri home. Some of the most beautiful country in the U.S., she loves the Ozarks and hikes, runs, kayaks, or rides horses whenever possible. When not working at her laptop or in her retail management job, she’s playing mom to an ever expanding collection of dogs, cats, and horses who find their way to her little farm.



24 comments:

  1. LEAVE A COMMENT WITH EMAIL FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A FREE COPY OF MIDNIGHT MADNESS (ANYONE) AN AUTOGRAPHED POSTER OF MM PLUS TRADING CARD (US ONLY) OR SWEETS & SWAG!

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  2. Oh, come on! You can't stop there, lol. I too am an only child. Also, my mom was a single parent, and she was an only child. So spoildom was never a problem in my childhood, although I do agree I hung with the adults alot. But I had a great child hood and wouldn't have changed it for anything. I married a man who has 3 siblings and his mother came from a family of 13. I have to say the fighting and bickering between those brothers and sisters is something I'm glad I missed out on.
    Dreat blog and excerpt!!!

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    1. My mom is one of nine and she only speaks with three of those now lol Yeah, big families bicker!

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  3. I was also an only child, well kind of. my youngest older sister is 9 years older then i am. i didnt grow up on a farm though. i did for one year but for the most part i grew up in a city. my mom worked two jobs to get by though so i spent a lot of time by myself too as i got older. :-/

    i can't wait to read the rest of the story.

    Terri M
    oklahomamommy0306@gmail.com

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    1. Thanks for dropping by, Terri! One of my closest friends has sisters who are 7 and 9 years younger so she thinks of herself as an only.

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    2. Oh and thanks for signing up for my newsletter! I'm hoping to get the first copy out by the end of the month :)

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  4. The word shouldn't be excerpt it should be teaser. We want to read more. I can't wait to see what happens next. Thank you for a chance to win.

    I had 3 brothers and no sisters. When by youngest brother was born, I got so mad at my mother and told her to take him back. As we grew up, we were always at each others throats. After he grew up and moved away that's when we grew closer. I couldn't be more proud of the adult he has become. Funny how those things happen.

    Lynn
    lareynolds0316@gmail.com

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    1. LOL, she couldn't pop out a sister? I have 36 first cousins actually from my mom's 9 brothers and sisters. The closest to my age were all boys, so I feel your pain.

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  5. Two brothers here, and I was absolutely shocked that the younger was a boy, I thought my mom would have listened and gotten me a sister by that point. But my younger brother and I are very close and I wouldn't trade him for a half dozen sisters I've never met.

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    1. I always wanted brothers :/ since I was such a little boy. I probably would've wanted sisters if I'd had brothers.

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  6. First of all, congrats on the release of Midnight Madness, Olivia! It sounds like another AWESOME read.

    I have 3 siblings (and TONS of cousins that lived/live really close by) so I cannot imagine what it would be like to grow up as an only child. I think it would be really lonely. I do understand what you mean about relating better to adults though. I always did too. But I think for me that was mostly due to my disability (I have Spina Bifida). Oh, I was never really treated differently by the other kids in my family, but as we got older I was less able to keep up and do all the things everyone else did, so I would be left with the adults. And that totally sounds sadder than it was! lol

    lovey_20_81@hotmail.com

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    1. I had 36 first cousins by my mom's 9 brothers and sisters, so holidays were crazy when I was little. And adults can be fun to hang with lol

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    2. There were 11 kids in my dad's family, and 5 in my mom's. I had 6 first cousins (all female. And that's not counting 2nd, 3rd, etc cousins that we grew up with)on my mom's side and I don't even know how many on my dad's lol. Holidays were INSANE! I agree about adults being fun. Now that I am one myself, I find myself relating better mostly to people 5-20 years older than me. My best friend is like 10 years older than me.

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    3. Yikes! I imagine holidays are insane lol They were bad enough at my house. My dad is an only child, too, so not much going on, on that side.

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  7. Loved this post, Olivia! You detailed wonderful things that build character for being a one and only. Oh, and thanks so much for this excerpt. Made me run right out and download....so good!

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    1. Thanks Jennifer, I appreciate the support!

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  8. That certainly is a teaser. I look forward to reading the rest. :)

    I had a younger brother, though sometimes I wished to be an only, just so he didn't follow me around all the time. Once I reached grade 7, he found his own friends, and we got along better, for the most part. :)

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    1. I actually had a little cousin who stayed at my house alot by the time I hit high school. He did the same, and at the time it drove me batty. Now that he's all grown up we get along great. He's an only child too.

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  9. I was nodding a lot throughout this blog post! I was an only for 14yrs, and then more a mother to my sister than anything. So, yes, people thought I was in college when I was a freshman in high school, my mom's friends used to leave in in charge of their gift stores for a week at a time when I was 18 because I was overly responsible, and I was the only one of my friends to have my own apartment after high school (read: CRASH PAD).

    I hear that tune, Olivia!

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    1. My b/f/f and her sisters had to help raise their two half sisters who were born when she in high school. We used to get frustrated we couldn't go anywhere cuz she had to babysit her four sisters :p The two full sisters were still in Jr. High.

      Crash pads rock! My dorm room was the floor's crash pad/alcohol hiding spot lol

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  10. I'm one of those lucky people who was an "only" until I hit 18 and then my dad and his new wife had a baby. So, yeah, I have two brothers now, but I grew up an only. I nodded through a lot of this. Like you, I was more comfortable with adults and I still find I'm more comfortable with older people rather than folks my own age. I'm 18 and 20 years older than my two brothers, so I never had any arguments, battles or hate-marathons with them. My marriage is older than the 20 year old and my eldest child is only 5 years younger than my 20 year old brother, so...it's more like having nephews than brothers.

    Great post and I loved your excerpt!

    Huggles,
    Gracen

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    1. I know! I find I still gravitate to older people as well. It's weird. I have a friend with brothers who are that much younger, and it's weird to babysit two brothers with their niece lol

      Thanks for dropping by Gracen!

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  11. I've never been an only... Unless it counts to be the only girl?!!!

    shadowestr@aol.com

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    1. It means you don't take crap from boys lol If you were girlie, then yes you're an only :)

      Thanks for dropping by!

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