Thirteen-year-old Cecilia Anne Stanhope watches the crash of the small aircraft carrying her parents. This tragedy changes her from a child of privilege to a poor orphan with only one living relative-Air Force Captain Anita Carter. Within a month of her parents' death, Celia is transported from the beautiful woodlands of eastern North Carolina to Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

Does she like it? No.

Is she nice about it? No!

Cecilia, Celia to her friends, does not like her aunt and her aunt appears not to like Celia. It's a regular standoff between two strong-willed females. Mix in her aunt's boyfriend, Captain Michael Howland, who tries to be nice to Celia–maybe too nice–and the fireworks spark.

What Celia needs more than anything is a friend. Then she meets the golden one, Regina "Goldie" O'Brien.

Talk about double trouble! These two misplaced Southern girls are it!

"Where America's Day Begins" - Cecilia Anne “Celia” Stanhope and co-conspirator Regina “Goldie” O’Brien are at it again! They’re back in Sandy Run, North Carolina, and Celia learns that her dead parents left a trust fund of more than $100,000. Trouble is Celia is 18 years old and supposed to wait until she’s 21 to get it.

Celia cooks up a plan to get her aunt to release the trust funds.

But where to go?

The girls spin the globe and settle on a tiny dot in the western Pacific Ocean, Guam, USA—Where America’s Day Begins– as the location. Now the girls have the place and soon Celia will have the money.

Mix in discovery, treasure and tales of shipwreck–and Celia's belief that treasure is sitting in the sand and waiting for them to find it–and you'll see how very misplaced these two southern girls can get!

The Stanhope Trilogy—Book One: Celia and Book Two: Where America’s Day Begins are available from Amazon, Borders, and Barnes & Noble.com, Andrew Greer Bookdealer, and at author@stanhopetrilogy.com.

Look for Book Three: The Wreck, coming in 2008.

Patti O'Doughue
About the author:

Patti O'Donoghue launched her writing career as a freelancer in Goldsboro, NC. She has served as Director of Public Information at Mount Olive College in Mount Olive, NC and as the President of the Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce. She was a photographer for the Goldsboro News-Argus and Kraft's Studio in Mount Olive. Her work has appeared in magazines and newspapers.

She holds an advanced SCUBA rating which she received at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. She has traveled throughout the Western Pacific Islands of Guam, Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and visited the Carolines and Palaus. Her husband's 33-year Air Force career took the family to Germany, Turkey, Guam and bases in the United States.

Ms. O'Donoghue is the mother of five children who she credits with providing the "luscious details" for her stories.

To order: Patti accepts mail orders: $15.50 plus $2.50 s/h–$18.00 total.

Send to: Patti O'Donoghue, 208 Gable Drive, Dudley, NC 28333.

The book is available online at Amazon.com, etc. and at the publisher Authorhouse.com.

Patti's website is www.stanhopetrilogy.com and she may be reached at author@stanhopetrilogy.com..

If you are a NC writer and would like your books published on Topsail Island Info, please email:  editor@topsailpublishing.com.