New River Vanity

The Love and Adventures of Calamity Vanity

By: Tami Noftz

Narrated by: Maria McCann

Bittersweet love story, spanning decades.

Recovering from a personal tragedy, the awkward, life-loving, and humorous Vanessa “Calamity Vanity” Jane VanBuren reluctantly agrees to go on a rafting trip with a close friend. All heads turn when Craig Bjorn Eriksen, a young Norwegian man, who could be mistaken for an A-list actor, walks in, closely followed by a trail of beautiful women. Self-conscious, Vanity is instantly smitten with him, but doubts he will notice her.

To Vanity’s astonishment, Craig ignores the other women and turns his attention to her. Fate then places them together on a life-changing journey. They share daring adventures, unnerving situations, and even near-death experiences as Craig pushes Vanity out of her comfort zone.

As summer ends, so, too, does their time together. Their love remains frozen in time, although they live across borders and do not communicate.

Years after their tearful goodbye, Vanity discovers Craig has a coincidental connection to her current life. What she learns threatens to penetrate the fortress she built around her memories of their time together. As Vanity reflects on the choices she made during and after the summer she spent with Craig, she changes the trajectory of her remaining years.

Cleverly written in a memoir format embedded within a novel, New River Vanity is heartfelt, inspirational, uplifting, and poignant. It will make you laugh and cry, but most of all, Vanity’s story will inspire you to love like there is no tomorrow.

©2023 Tami Noftz (P)2023 Tami Noftz

Critic reviews

"A woman recounts her romance with a younger man in Noftz's romance novel. In a prologue, Vanessa 'Vanity' Jane VanBuren, from the heart of her verdant horse farm complex in North Carolina, muses on how a choice that she is about to make will 'forever be entwined' with the story she is about to write. The narrative then takes the form of Vanity's memoir, which begins with her meeting the tall, handsome, 25-year-old Norwegian Craig Bjorn Eriksen during a river rafting vacation in 1989.... A touching saga featuring a sympathetic if insecure hero and some big surprises in the plot." (Kirkus Reviews)

"New River Vanity is a story of love, adventures, tragedies and living life like you won't get another day to breathe and love. The chapters were concise and described the events and the conversations in a perfect way, reducing any fluff. The book was well-paced and was successful in capturing the emotions of the characters in the most excellent manner." (Book Nerdiction)

"Noftz's debut is a perfect example of a carefully crafted and continually surprising romantic plot, crossing over multiple seasons of life, drawn from real and poignant emotions that are felt on the page.... Takeaway: Superbly plotted love story of passion, discovery, and reflection, spanning years. Straight A's." (Booklife review)