personal growth with elements of mystery, humor, and an undercurrent of romance. She was voted the 2020 Writer of the Year by the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Her novel, Everything You Are, was a finalist in the Nancy Pearl Book Awards hosted by the Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and A Borrowed Life was a finalist in the 2020 Authors on the Air Book of the Year Awards. In addition to writing, Kerry Schafer supports other writers through motivational coaching and speaking.
King applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Improbably Yours, and reported the following:
On page 69 of Improbably Yours we find the main character, Blythe, having breakfast with her sister, Kristen:Visit Kerry Anne King's website.“How can you eat that?” I gesture with my fork at the pallid, rubbery thing on her plate.As it turns out, the Page 69 Test works well for Improbably Yours. This one conversation sums up the major question asked in the book. Blythe has been presented with an improbable quest: using a treasure map that she drew as a child during a game of ‘let’s pretend’ to find the spot where her beloved deceased grandmother wants her ashes to be buried. Leaving to follow the quest means turning her back on a life that offers security, even if not exactly what she wants – the ambitious and handsome young man who wants to marry her, a job offer her sister would nearly die for, and the version of reality Blythe has always believed in. If she accepts this wild goose chase of a quest will she find the life and love she dreams of, or lose everything she has and come to regret her decision?
“You’ll die of cholesterol before you’re forty,” she retorts.
“As it turns out, a certain amount of fat is good for you,” I point out. “You should eat the whole egg. Yolks are full of antioxidants, vitamins, omega-threes...”
She shudders. “And calories. Back to Alan—”
“I am not discussing Alan.”
“Fine then, what are you going to do about Nomi’s ashes?”
“I’m taking them to the island and burying them. As she asked.”
“To the fictional island you created when you were a child.”
“As it turns out, there’s a real island at those coordinate points. In the San Juans, not far from Orcas Island. I saw the attorney yesterday. There’s even money set aside for me to go, so why not?”
“Three reasons,” she says, ticking them off on her fingers. “Alan. Your new job. And just because there’s a land mass at those coordinates, it doesn’t mean it’s a real island. I mean, okay. Yes. It’s real but not the island. Not the one you drew in that stupid map.”
“How do you know that?” I ask. I was about to tell her that Mr. Wilcox has money in trust for her, too, but now she has annoyed me and I figure she can find that out for herself.
She stares at me as if I’ve completely lost my mind. I smile at her in the way I know pisses her off and say, “Right island or not, I’m going as soon as I can figure out a place to stay.”
The Page 69 Test: Everything You Are.
The Page 69 Test: A Borrowed Life.
The Page 69 Test: Other People's Things.
Writers Read: Kerry Anne King.
--Marshal Zeringue
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