BLURB
After losing her husband and only child to the ravages
of the Civil War, twenty-five-year-old Portia McAllister is drowning
in grief. When she sees an ad for a live-in tutor in another town, she leaves everything behind in hopes of making a
fresh start. But as a Confederate widow in a Union household, she is
met with resentment from her new charge and her employer, war veteran
Beau Stanford.
Despite their differences, she and Beau find common
ground and the stirrings of a second chance at love—until his late
wife’s cousin, Lydia, arrives with her sights set on him. Burdened
with a farm on the brink of bankruptcy, Beau is tempted by Lydia’s
hefty dowry, though Portia has captured his heart.
In another time and another place, his choice would
be easy. But love seems impossible amid the simmering chaos of Reconstruction
that could boil over at any moment into an all-out battle for survival.
Will Beau and Portia find their way into each other’s arms, or will
they be swept away by raging forces beyond their control?
EXCERPT
Brentwood, Tennessee — December 25, 1865
The angels are coming.
Portia lay on the frozen ground between her husband and daughter. Snow fluttered softly toward the
earth in delicate flakes, each one melting on her face with a pleasant
sting. She wouldn’t have to wait much longer.
The sunrise, hidden by snow-laden clouds, gradually lit the gray sky.
With numb fingers, she traced her husband’s name, carved into the
stoic slate. Jake McAllister, but let her hand drop to the ground before
she touched that wretched date. December 16, 1864 — the day her whole
world began to fall apart.
It had been a day as cold as this one when Jake returned. Portia had
stood on their porch, holding Abigail, both of them wrapped in shawls
and a quilt. Yet the cold had managed to seep inside, wrapping icy fingers
around her heart. Her husband lay lifeless in the back of a wagon. His
once-rosy face had turned ashen. Blood caked his Confederate jacket.
His hands, large and strong, yet once so gentle, were posed across his
belly. His fingers were stiff and claw-like, wrapped around a phantom
gun. He did not look like Jake. It had to have been a mannequin with
a wig the same dusty red shade of his hair.
“That’s not him,” she’d repeated to the men who’d so methodically
carried him into the house. Jake would pop out from somewhere, still
the jokester he had always been, and she would slap him for playing
such a cruel prank. Then she would laugh with him and hold him tight
because he had finally returned to her and Abby.
But the longer her eyes absorbed the wretched sight, the more evidence
she had discovered. Little freckles and scars she knew so well. The
pea-sized patch on his jaw where his beard never grew. The missing end
of his middle finger, taken by a vicious dog when they were children.
It wasn’t a joke. Jake was dead.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Mysti Parker is a wife, mom, author, and shameless chocoholic. She
is the author of the Tallenmere standalone fantasy romance series and
The Roche Hotel romantic comedy series. Her short writings have appeared
in numerous anthologies and magazines. Her award-winning historical romance, A Time for Everything, will be
published this summer by EsKape Press.
Other writing pursuits include serving as a class mentor in Writers
Village University's seven week online course, F2K. She has published
two children's books (Quentin's Problem & Fuzzy Buzzy's Treasure) as Misty
Baker.
When she's not writing fiction,Mysti reviews books for SQ Magazine,
an online specfic publication. She resides in Buckner, KY with her husband
and three children.
http://www.amazon.com/Time-Everything-Mysti-Parker-ebook/dp/B00ZFUKEC4
Author Links:
http://www.mystiparker.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mysti-Parker/103786449704221
https://twitter.com/MystiParker
GIVEAWAY
The author will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn commenter
via Rafflecopter
Hi!! Thanks so much to Tallulah for hosting this stop on my blog tour.
ReplyDeleteReaders, since I write many subgenres of romance, I'd love to know: What is your favorite romance subgenre, and why? Also, what "heat" ratings in terms of sexual content, violence, & profanity do you prefer to read? I'm kind of an all over the place reader myself. I just love a good story.
We are actually on vacation (yeah, right LOL) this week, so I'll stop in again tonight. Cya! ~Mysti
Thanks for stopping by Mysti! My favorite romance subgenre is romantic suspense. I don't have a heatt preference. If the story is good, I am open to anything - from Amish to erotica.
ReplyDeleteHope you have a great vacation!
Thank you! Today is my birthday and we are hiking in the Smokies. :)
ReplyDelete