Not only could her eyes steal a sailor from the sea, Brandy was beautiful even as a young child. Check out the description in this excerpt from Chapter 2:
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Years passed, and Brandy developed into quite the lady. Not a lot of friends at school; she wasn’t particularly smart or popular. But nobody could find a harsh word to say about her. The boys marveled at her natural beauty; for the same reason, the girls were silently jealous.
But the combination of her shy demeanor and the constant demands of working at home conspired to keep everybody at a distance.
As attractive as Brandy was, she was self-conscious of the effect her beauty had on others. As a very young girl, she and her mother would often walk down the street when a passing gentleman would comment, “What a lovely young lady.” They weren’t boorish or impolite; quite the contrary, they were genuinely charmed to be in the little girl’s presence. Brandy never knew an appropriate response and she usually said nothing, shrinking back to her mother in embarrassment.
Her mother finally gave her advice that stuck for years. “When you are complimented in public and you don’t know what to say, only two words are necessary: ‘Thank you.’” Brandy was struck by the simplicity of the advice and found that it came in handy as the years passed. She was complimented, she said, “Thank you,” and that was that. No more was necessary.
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“Brandy You’re A Fine Girl”, a novel written by JoAllyn DeShon and inspired by the characters and setting of the 1972 hit song by “Looking Glass” will be published in early April, 2019. #BrandyBook

We have a date! Brandy You're A Fine Girl will be available for purchase on Amazon in Kindle and paperback versions on TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 2019.
The Kindle version will be available for pre-order a couple of weeks before that. The Audible version will be available a few weeks after that.
All pre-readers will receive an FREE, autographed copy. (Now, don't you wish you had agreed to pre-read the first draft?)
All women named Brandy (or Brandi or Brandalyn or whatever -- we're not picky about the spelling) are eligible for a FREE autographed version if you "like" this page. (Now, don't you wish you were named Brandy?)
Tell your friends! Invite them to "like" this page! Mark your calendars! Watch for the advertising! Join the celebration!
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"Brandy You're A Fine Girl", a novel by JoAllyn DeShon and based on the 1972 hit song by Looking Glass, will be available on April 9, 2019.

Did you ever wonder how Brandy got her job at the bar?
The same way you probably got your job: a policeman rescued her from a homeless life on the streets!
Read about it in this excerpt from Chapter 2:
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“Brandy, whatter you doing out here, anyway?” By now, the constable had gotten her a safe distance away from the drunk. He let her go and tipped his hat up to survey her form. “Ain’t nobody took you in yet?”
“Took me in? Who’s gonna do that? You and the banker done took away everything my mother and I had. You took our house, you took our belongings, you took our business.”
“Brandy, I never meant for you to land like this. I thought surely by now somebody would ...” He didn’t have a good ending to that sentence.
Brandy had no response, either. She stood, arms crossed, wishing the constable would go away so she could get back to her God-cursing search through the garbage for dinner. She had grown accustomed to the routine, and now he was threatening it.
The constable, in desperation, looked around the town square. His eyes fell on the one shop with lights still piercing the darkness. The shop was a bar—open late into the evening, serving whiskey and wine to the sailors on shore leave.
The constable grabbed Brandy by the arm and half-led, half-dragged her to the bar. She was too disgusted and too weak to resist.
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“Brandy You’re A Fine Girl”, a novel written by JoAllyn DeShon and inspired by the characters and setting of the 1972 hit song by “Looking Glass” will be published in early April, 2019. #BrandyBook

Big announcement! Brandy will be published under a pen name: JoAllyn DeShon.
The target audience is more likely to buy a romance novel from somebody with a sexy, feminine, CamelCase name (like JoAllyn), rather than one with a middle aged, masculine, boring name (like Joe). So I’ll let JoAllyn take credit for Brandy and any future romance novels that I write.
You’ve seen hints of the front cover. Here’s pretty much the final version, with JoAllyn’s name on it.
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"Brandy You’re A Fine Girl", a novel written by JoAllyn DeShon and inspired by the characters and setting of the 1972 hit song by “Looking Glass” will be published in early April, 2019. #BrandyBook

After weeks of feedback from pre-readers (we love you!) and from editors (we love you, too!), we can now announce that the final manuscript for "Brandy You're A Fine Girl" is complete. And she's fine! Now, we move to final formatting! The next few weeks will be filled with magnificent margins, fantastic fonts, and krazy kerning. And proofing. Lots and lots of proofing. Watch for another MAJOR announcement early next week!
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"Brandy You're A Fine Girl", a novel written by Joe DeShon and inspired by the setting and characters in the 1972 hit song by Looking Glass will be published in April, 2019.

Brandy never gets to see her lover on Valentine’s Day. He’s always out to sea. Instead, she must re-live the last time he visited.
Let’s look in on their private life. With this excerpt from Chapter Six, we get a glimpse into their very first night together:
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His clothes had an earthiness to them—all beige and tan and brown. A strange mix of cotton and wool and leather. She could tell his wide belt often sported a sheath and a sword. He had omitted his self-defense weapons for this visit—a nice touch for which Brandy was grateful.
The color of his stature was in his face. Leathered by a career in the sun and the salt air, yet it was surrounded with a glow because of his smile—a broad, beaming smile that radiated through his beard and seemed ever-present when he was talking—or listening, for that matter.
Brandy felt she must give him an out, to see if he would accept it. “Didn’t you say that you have to sail in the morning? Surely you’ll need a good night’s sleep.”
“Nay, I told ye I have two days’ shore leave with this visit.” He came just a little closer to her.
“Oh yeah, that’s right,” she responded weakly. He took another step toward her. Since she was still standing next to the oil lamp, she reached over without looking and turned the wick to its lowest setting.
Mother will be proud that I am saving so much oil tonight, she reasoned to herself.
She never removed the braided chain from her neck all night long.
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"Brandy You’re A Fine Girl", a novel written by Joe DeShon and inspired by the 1972 hit song by Looking Glass, will be published in April.
#BrandyBook

What other great works of literature served as inspiration for "Brandy You're A Fine Girl"? Well, in this excerpt, we seem to channel "Little House On The Prairie":
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Brandy’s formal education was typical for a girl of that day.
The schoolhouse itself was a simple affair. One room; all the children of all ages together. It was simple, but brand new. A few years ago, the original school house had burned to the ground in a fire of mysterious origin. The community tried to rally to raise funds to replace the structure, but the resources weren’t available. Only when the mayor—who happened to be the town’s wealthiest citizen—contributed the bulk of the necessary funds was the project completed.
Writing and arithmetic were done with chalk on bare slates that were passed from one student to the next. The older students checked the progress of the younger students. The teacher pretty much kept order all around.
There were no grades, no tests, no homework; each student learned at whatever pace was most comfortable to him or her.
There was no baccalaureate, no graduation. Whenever one thought that enough had been learned, one simply stopped attending. It was a mutual decision between the student and the parents.
In Brandy’s case, she was older than thirteen—not yet sixteen—when she and her mother agreed that she’d had enough of reading and writing to suffice the rest of her life. So Brandy helped even more with the laundry and the ironing and the mending and the gardening. She had resigned to a life filled with other people’s clothes. And she knew she would never earn enough coins to buy those fine clothes for herself.
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"Brandy You're A Fine Girl", a novel written by Joe DeShon and inspired by the 1972 hit song by Looking Glass, will be published in April.
#BrandyBook

Here's a site that lists all the lyrics to "Brandy" and hosts a discussion about their meaning: https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/67622/
Pretty interesting comments! Check it out!

After spending a week with the editor, Brandy has returned. A few pathetic punctuations and sucky syntaxes were fixed. But the good news: she’s still a fine girl!

A comment from the editor: “...a well-written, utterly charming tale--well done, indeed! ... While you fleshed out the background, you did a superb job of not varying from the essential facts of the song.... This is one of the most satisfying manuscripts I’ve edited in quite some time!”

Now we must apply those edits (and the feedback from several other pre-readers) to the master manuscript. Then it’s on to final formatting.

We can hardly wait!

Please “Like” this page and invite your friends to do the same. You won’t want to miss any of our updates!

"Brandy You're a Fine Girl", a novel based on the 1972 hit by Looking Glass, will be published this April.