The perfect Mother’s Day Gift, written with love, sent with love to your Mother
By talented and bestselling authors: Angela Ford, Cornelia Amiri, Tamara Ferguson, Daisy Banks, Anna Celeste Burke, Mary Crawford, Allyson R. Abbott, Tamara Philip, Neva Squires-Rodriguez, Adrienne Ruvalcaba, Q. D. Purdu and Cary Allen Stone with Tyler Hosea10% of proceeds will go to the USA National Multiple Sclerosis Society toward research.Description:
The perfect Mother’s Day Gift, written with love, sent with love.Every mother’s heart holds a bit of magic…her children’s love. Enchantment awaits in a dozen brand new, previously unpublished-stories, written by #1 bestselling and/or multi-award winning authors from across the globe. Whether it’s a captivating tale of romance or fiction fashioned from loving memories, these poignant stories are sure to touch your heart.Felt by the Heart by Angela Ford
#1 Bestselling, Amazon Top 50 and Award-Winning AuthorRachel fiftieth birthday approached, the forever she found with Ryan ended with heartache. And for her daughter, the second chance of having a dad. Will Rachel find the strength to rebuild her life and her daughter's?I Love You More by Cornelia Amiri
Best-selling author The Celtic Romance QueenGarland recalls memories of her life’s journey from an abusive childhood to a bad marriage to the ups and downs of a single mom. She’s rewarded with a magical mother’s day with her loving family.Two Hearts Unspoken by Tamara Ferguson
#1 Bestselling and Multi-Award Winning Author of TRR Readers' Choice AwardRetired air force captain and wounded warrior, Zach Logan, discovers that his scars are more than skin deep, when he falls in love with Beth Bowen; the lovely single mother of an autistic son.December Roses by Daisy Banks
Bestselling AuthorA present day gift of flowers sets off delightful memories for Jean. The recollections of the day love first bloomed, and trust overcoming a frightening challenge, are carved deep into her heart.Maddie’s Project by Anna Celeste Burke
Multi-Bestselling Author and Winner Of 2015’s Self-Pub Most Worth ReadingLaura’s mother, Maddie, led a full life, filled with family and a million projects. May changed everything. More than a decade later, Laura reflects on Maddie’s biggest project, and how it changed all their lives.Vision of the Heart by Mary Crawford
#1 Bestselling Author African-American RomanceFacing vision loss is hard enough, but it’s causing Julia to question everything she knows about herself, a wife, a mother, and nurse. Can she handle a reunion when she’s a shadow of the person she once was?An English Rose by Allyson R. Abbott
#1 Bestselling Author--4 Readers’ Favorite 5★s reviewsA compelling and humorous insight of past years and present dilemma’s as Rose reflects on her usefulness in later life. She acknowledges and accepts her sell-by-date is approaching as life suddenly becomes interesting again. 34The Art of Forgiveness by Tamara Philip
2014 Debut Nominee—Angie Ovations Outstanding Interracial RomanceOne woman's journey to seek the truth surrounding her adoption. Amidst the tragedy of the past, she finds connections to her complicated history and a gentle reminder about the power of forgiveness.The Illusion of Happiness by Neva Squires Rodriquez
Divorced and having lived under the illusion of happiness, for 30+yrs, Graciela struggles to find strength. With her fiftieth birthday and Mother’s Day weekend approaching, a surprise visit helps put things into prospective.The Day Before Eclosion by Adrienne Ruvalcaba
Sharon's daughter, Gracie, is moving out. What should be an exciting transition is complicated by Gracie's disability. Can Sharon learn to accept Gracie's need for autonomy before irreparable damage is done to their relationship?The Light We Found by Q.D. Purdu
1st Place Romance—2014 Texas Writers' LeagueCalla has survived divorce and developed a crush on Ben, the special guy in her dance class. Life is rocking until her ex confesses a long-hidden betrayal, and Ben reveals the most hurtful secret of all.Forever Sunshine by Cary Allen Stone and Tyler Hosea
Multi-Bestselling Author and Top SELF-e eBooks Winner of 2015A letter containing the last request of their mother was handed to the children at the funeral service. They were told to read the letter at her gravesite on the year anniversary of her passing.Facebook ** MothersDayMagicEvents
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CAN Amazon ** iTunes ** Kobo ** B&NAbout the authors:Angela Ford originates from Nova Scotia…Canada’s Ocean Playground!Her love of the ocean and sunsets are always in her heart and give her inspiration. Her love for words keeps her turning the page. She is never without a book, whether she’s reading or writing. Now residing in Ontario, Angela works in Finance – numbers by day – words by night.Angela Ford’s dedication and involvement with cyber safety seminars gave her an Award of Distinction and sparked the idea for her first book Closure – crime suspense that hit Best Selling Action/Adventure. Ms. Ford continued her FBI series with Forbidden and Obsessed with the final in the series coming in 2016. In between mysteries, Ms. Ford writes short contemporary romance…sometimes sweet...sometimes spicy and sometimes with a dash of suspense! Her #1 Bestseller Christmas Holiday Romance put her in Amazon’s Top 50 Authors.Between two jobs and two kids, mom’s home is always filled with young adults and rather interesting stories. But it is the furry family members who rule the house – a Puggle, a new Chug puppy and two loveable cats. Every possible quiet moment she finds, she treasures and just writes about the moments to come. Angela is an avid reader of romance, a member of the RWA, KOD (Kiss of Death – Suspense Chapter) and Mississauga Writers Group. You can follow her at BTGN www.bookstogonow.com or visit her website/blog Romantic Escapes at http://www.angelafordauthor.com to connect with her on her social network sites. She loves to hear from her readers – they keep her smiling! Cornelia Amiri, who also writes as Maeve Alpin, is the author of 30 published books. Known as the Celtic Romance Queen, she writes Celtic Fantasy Romance, Celtic Historical Romance, Steampunk Romance and Sci-fi Romance. She lives in Houston Texas as does her son and granddaughter and her cat, Severus. Severus is a writer's cat, he loves books. He likes to knock them off the bookshelf, sit on them, and sniff the open pages. He also uses the computer, he sits on it, lays on top of it, and walks across the key board almost constantly. She is working on two soon to be released books a historical romance box set, Scandalously Yours and a modern day fantasy romance novella, Back to the One I loveA member of the Romance Writers of America, Tamara Ferguson is the top-ten best-selling, multi-award winning author of the Kissed By Fate Romance Series and the Tales of The Dragonfly Romance Suspense Series.Her latest release is Two Hearts Surrendered. This military romance was her contribution to the bestselling Magical Weddings anthology, which included stories by fifteen USA Today, best-selling, and award-winning authors. Two Hearts Surrendered recently earned 3-5★reviews from Readers’ Favorite, and has just become a #1 Wounded Warrior Romance Bestseller, Kindle Book and Series.Tales of the Dragonfly Book I: In Tandem was a romance finalist at the 2013 Indie Excellence Awards, while Tales of the Dragonfly Book II: In Flight was a 2014 WINNER at the Readers' Favorite International Book Awards. Her latest release, That Unforgettable Kiss was recently a top ten Amazon bestseller in Kindle Saga Fiction, earned 3-5★editorial reviews from Readers' Favorite, and has just become the 2015 WINNER of The Romance Reviews Readers' Choice Awards in New Adult Romance.That Unforgettable Kiss is currently featured in the #5 bestselling A Touch of Passion, 12 full-length novels by USA Today, New York Times bestselling and multi-award winning authors. This anthology is also a #1 New Adult Romance Bestseller, as well as a New Adult Bestseller.Since she remains a full-time caregiver for an autistic son, you can usually find Tammy working at home, where she spends a lot of time not completing her numerous home improvement projects, because she's writing or helping indie authors promote their books on twitter.Daisy Banks writes romances ranging from sweetly tender through to sexily spicy tales in the Historical, Paranormal and Fantasy genres. From Victorian devotion to a werewolf passion, a rogue and a courtesan, a clumsy fairy and a saucy ghost, you can discover a different world with Daisy in each of her stories.Antiques and collecting entertain Daisy when she isn’t writing. There are also some rare occasions she makes a meal that doesn’t stick to the pan.For Anna Celeste Burke life is an extravaganza! Figuring out how to hang tough and make the most of the wild ride is the challenge. On my way to Oahu, to join the rock musician and high school drop-out I had married in Tijuana, I was nabbed as a runaway. Eventually, the police let me go, but the rock band broke up. Our next stop: Disney World, where we ‘worked for the Mouse’ as chefs, courtesy of Walt Disney World University Chef’s School training. More education landed us in academia at The Ohio State University. For decades, I researched, wrote, and taught a number of gloriously nerdy topics. Retired now, I’m still married to the same, sweet, guy and live with him near Palm Springs, California. I write mysteries set in sunny California! The Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery series, set here in the Coachella Valley, the Corsario Cove Cozy Mystery Series set in California’s Central Coast, and The Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery series set in the OC. Coming soon, The Misadventures of Betsy Stark that also take place, here, in the Coachella Valley.Mary Crawford has been lucky enough to live her own version of a romance novel. She married the guy who kissed her at summer camp. He told her on the night they met that he was going to marry her and be the father of their children. Eventually she stopped giggling when he said it, and they just celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary. They have two children. The oldest is in medical school, where he recently found and married the love of his life, and the youngest is still in elementary school.Ms. Crawford writes full time now. She has published six books and has several more underway. She volunteers her time to a variety of causes and has worked as a Civil Rights Attorney and diversity advocate. Ms. Crawford spent several years working for various social service agencies before becoming an attorney. In her spare time, she loved to cook, decorate cakes and of course, obsessively, compulsively read.Allyson R. Abbott - I love to travel, but I also need to work. Being an author allows me to combine both of activities and has the added bonus of life being an adventure. I never know where I will be sitting writing from one year to the next. As I write this, I am in Africa, in spring I travel to Europe for a few months and later in the year to the USA and Canada. It is a great life, if you don’t mind a little insecurity.I try to bring a little of my adventurous personality into my stories. Being a 'mature aging gracefully' woman, I feel akin to the problems of aging and relationships. I spent many years on my own before finding my truly remarkable and very patient partner who I happily gave up my whole world for. My stories are about mature relationships with mature people. People who have character and humour, who have a history; people just like us.After spending most of her life in New York City, Tamara Philip decided to let love lead her on an international adventure, where she's met many amazing people and ate entirely too much. Tamara and her English-born Husband, Chris, now split their time between the United Kingdom and Trinidad and Tobago.Writing has been her secret passion since childhood. Quirky female leads are her trademark.On any given day you can find Tamara telling people what to do, dodging adulthood, and working hard on her next novel.Other works by Tamara Philip are The Trouble with Playing Cupid, The Trouble with Romance and two holiday short stories, Romancing the Grinch and This Season...Have Love/Have Faith with fellow author, Neva Squires Rodriguez.Neva Squires-Rodriguez was born and raised in a neighborhood located on the North Side of Chicago. Mother, Wife, Expert at multitasking, when she’s not writing newspaper columns or finishing up her latest novel, she is dispatching calls for her city’s 911 center. Perhaps this is what helps Neva create electrifying stories with a twist.Neva Squires-Rodriguez earned her Bachelor’s Degree from American Military University (APUS/AMU) and her Master’s Degree from National University, a feat which she worked very hard to obtain and says she will work even harder to pay off.She claims to be a typical American, full of dreams that will hopefully get her to a more comfortable lifestyle one day. She says, "God has a plan and I will follow wherever it is that He takes me."Adrienne D'nelle Ruvalcaba was born and raised in Southeast Texas. After high school, she joined the U.S. Army and served four years at Fort Campbell, KY. After her army days, and one failed attempt at marriage, she and her two children relocated so that she could enroll in the Engineering program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. While there, she completed her Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering with a concentration in structural analysis. Also while at SIU, she was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. This diagnosis significantly changed her life.Since the onset of SLE, she has learned a lot about those close to her and even more about herself. After a few years of struggling to accept lupus as part of her life, she has come to a more peaceful place, and no longer lets her disease define who she is.
Adrienne has had a love of writing since grade school, and she often takes solace in the many worlds she creates in her imagination. She writes women's fiction and romance, and her books are meant purely for emotional fulfilment, enjoyment, and sweet escapism. Real life is difficult enough, and she believes that we all need a little break from it sometimes.Q. D. Purdu’s debut romance, DESDEMONA FINDS THE BIG O IN LOVE won first place in the Texas Writers’ League Romance category, 2014. The book will be released in 2016.Q. D. loves her rescued puppy, red wine, running through sprinklers, dark chocolate with sugared ginger, and anything wrapped in a corn tortilla. Her prized possessions include a hot pink Christmas tree and a garden full of okra and basil.She hasn’t decided what she’ll be when she grows up, but whatever it is will be filled with romantic impossibilities.Cary Allen Stone’s aviation career began in 1972 and ended in 2014. In his forty-plus years as a pilot, he flew hundreds of thousands of miles through all types of weather, domestic and international flights, all without an aviation accident. His aviation travels gave him a unique perspective of life, and led to his writing. In 1992, he flew film director Sir Ridley Scott for ten days during a location scout. Mr. Scott mentored him about his writing. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree, and was a member of two honor societies. He played a “bad guy” main character in an AAA Club advertisement, and was an extra in several films both in LA and Phoenix. He has written several action-adventure screenplays. He has done voice-over, radio commercials, and standup comedy, which included comedy magic. He represented the USA alongside nine other countries in the Night of Magic in Bogota, Colombia performing before dignitaries, ambassadors and their families. Cary is a member of the Phoenix Writer’s Club and the International Thriller Writers.His series The Jake Roberts Novels has been well received by Amazon Hall of Fame Top 10 Reviewers in crime fiction and psychological thrillers from whom he receives 5–Star reviews. Action adventure author Clive Cussler and South Florida author Tim Dorsey endorsed Stealing Atlanta, his cybercrime thriller. His first published work, Through a Mother’s Eyes a true crime story, was a case study of “filicide” the parental murder of children. His subject was a friend of his who murdered her six-year-old son. The research took four years to complete, which included time spent in the correctional facility where Julie was incarcerated. Through a Mother’s Eyes has a worldwide reach. Cary’s hopes are that the story will help to prevent future tragedies from happening and to date he has received several correspondences of success.is an editor and reviewer, and with Forever Sunshine a breakout author. She has contributed to all four of Cary Allen Stone’s Jake Roberts Novels. She has the difficult job of being his significant other for the past eleven years, which is no small task. Tyler’s profession has always been in aviation having spent twenty years in customer service and management. Her current position in aviation is classified. One of these days you will find Tyler behind the controls of an airplane as she continues her private pilot license.Tyler is an avid reader, a part of her nurtured by her mother since she was a young girl. She graduated with honors from Oglethorpe University. She is an official Georgia Peach having been born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. She has traveled extensively around the world. Tyler has appeared on several of Cary Allen Stone’s book covers. Both she and Cary will be writing their next complete book anthology continuing on from their Forever SunshineAuthors' Giveaway
Mar 3, 2016
Mother’s Day Magic...with love
Eli's Coming by Darcia Helle
"This fascinating story was well paced and beautifully written with characters that came alive on the page. I was easily able to see the scenes as the action unfolded. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and hope to read more of Darcia’s Helle’s work. A highly recommended novel by a skilled storyteller."- Goodreads, Lisssette BrodeyDescription:Published: May 11th, 2015A life of violence and heartache leaves him with nothing left to fight for.Eli’s dark legacy holds murder as his rite of passage. They say his ability is a gift. He calls it a curse. A life of violence and heartache leaves him with nothing left to fight for.Or so he thinks.Amanda steals his heart, but love makes him vulnerable. He must give her up or accept who he is and fight.Will he risk stepping into the darkness that could consume him?EXCERPTThe allure of the night is its ability to pull you into its depths, to keep you hidden in its crevices. The darkness wraps around you. Nothing reaches you there.And you reach nothing.Have you ever wanted to melt into the darkness? Dissolve into the shadows?You can lose yourself in the black emptiness. But while you may lose yourself, the night always knows where you are.Eli Hayes stood alone in the darkness. The night sky was clear, lit by the stars and a perfect quarter moon. Shadows fell across the ground, casting a thick and almost tangible black film. He was aware of the tension in his shoulders and the ache in his jaw. Closing his eyes, he breathed in slow and deep. He stayed that way, quietly meditating, until the pain melted away.When he opened his eyes again, the shadows followed the path of the gravestones. He squatted in front of a square chunk of marble. He read the name and date slowly, committing it to memory as if he’d later be quizzed on the information. As if it wasn’t already etched in his mind, a permanent fixture there.He reached out. The stone felt cold against his fingertips. He traced the letters. Deep grooves in cold rock. All that was left at the end of existence.GoodReads ** Amazon ** Barnes&NobleAbout the author:Darcia Helle lives in a fictional world with a husband who is sometimes real. Their house is ruled by spoiled dogs and cats and the occasional dust bunny.
Suspense, random blood spatter and mismatched socks consume Darcia’s days.
She writes because the characters trespassing through her mind leave her no alternative. Only then are the voices free to haunt someone else’s mind.Author's Giveaway
Cover Reveal: Painted Sky by Rita Branches
Painting SkyRita Branches
Publication date: April 25th 2016Genres: New Adult, RomanceNobody ever said life was easy…People pleaser, Jane Skylar wants nothing more than to earn her art degree, start her life, and bask in the bliss of living with her boyfriend.But things don’t always go as planned…Struggling with her creative side, Jane finds herself in turmoil, often confiding in her roommate – another, more talented art student, Keith Hale. Keith just so happens to be her boyfriend’s older, brooding brother. After a devastating breakup, Jane turns to Keith for comfort. But when the lines blur between roommate and lover, Jane’s life becomes more complicated than ever before.When Keith’s past comes back to haunt him, their lives all get turned upside down, forcing the truth to surface. Now Jane must fight for what she wants–even if it hurts everyone she loves.
![Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000040_00007]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEiV3Kum1NAe5goOMJqStYksl5GhUiHU4Do35RgIVrhe0Qz5d3iJlBEAx9ro4UqxfVUffgpGEvtdhTBOIIrtTydYHftXuJsDG0awq_XvpajsO9W2my-D7Z8CT6kaACO5phpXtbGwf7n61u9sAMTfqcK_no9F6P5enFKezWYXxSo6MQJBKAW_UlC-1S7AM2ZlOnzMhkc_iNyPyvHg_QUN=s0-d-e1-ft)
Author Bio:
Rita Branches is an independent YA (young adult) author who enjoys spending every free moment (when she´s not reading) writing emotional stories. Visit: http://ritabranches.wordpress.com/
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Burning Choice (Trevor’s Harem #3) by Aubrey Parker
18+ I shouldn’t have made it past the first round. I don’t know how I did; I’m not special like the others. When I ask Daniel, he just tells me it’s complicated. Then he talks about brain chemistry, how love and sex are an addiction. He tells me how wild animals claim mates, and how he’s claimed me.Publication date: March 1st 2016I’ve been in this billionaire’s game for a month — but something changed when half my competition was eliminated.It feels less like a contest now … and more like an experiment.I shouldn’t have made it past the first round. I don’t know how I did; I’m not special like the others. When I ask Daniel, he just tells me it’s complicated. Then he talks about brain chemistry, how love and sex are an addiction. He tells me how wild animals claim mates, and how he’s claimed me.The stakes are higher.The competition is fiercer.I should have been kicked out long ago, but Daniel tells me I might be the needle in the haystack the company has been looking for.Sometimes I’m afraid of them all, even of Daniel.But It’s like I’m on a tether. I couldn’t leave if I wanted to.EXCERPT
“I want to show you something.” Jessica flops sideways, grabs one of my pillows, and then pulls me down by my wrist so I’m lying beside her. She puts the pillow on the bed and rolls so she’s perched on it. Her head ticks, nodding halfway, as if to beckon me closer. I come, and she doesn’t stop gesturing until I’m close enough to smell the almond in her shampoo.Her mischievous eyes watch me. Then she reaches for the covers, which I’ve piled to one side after rising. I’ve never been a bed maker. Because fuck that.She drags the covers over us. We’re facedown on the bed, our faces above the pillow. Jessica shoves her face into the pillow and moans.Or, now that I listen more closely, mumbling.“Put your face in the pillow.”“I’ve heard that line before,” I say.“Just do it, Bridget.”So I do. And then Bridget mumbles again. This time I clearly hear her say, “They can’t hear sound that doesn’t hit the walls.”I don’t know what to make of that. I raise back up, so she pulls me back down, her arm draped across my back.“Do you remember how they said there were blind spots from the cameras? The southwest corner of the kitchen, the front lawn, thirty yards equidistant between the fountains.”“Between the fountains,” I repeat, nodding into the pillow, feeling stupid.“Thirty yards equidistant. Not just directly between them. There’s only forty-five yards between the fountains. You have to come away at an angle, to the south. It has to be to the south because the wall is at the same angle to the north.”“I just remember ‘between the fountains.’” And I’m lucky I remember that. That first night, they listed so many rules and details, I stopped listening. But Jessica apparently didn’t. She lists another eight or ten places, most of which barely sound familiar.“Were you taking notes?”Instead of answering, she says, “The mics also have dead spots — too much ground to eavesdrop everywhere. I was out back and spotted one near the peeing fountain thing. You know the peeing fountain?”I nod.“Then I found two more. They’re hard to find without looking like you’re looking, if you know what I mean.”I don’t. Not really.“I got the model number. They seem to all be the same. And that model is semi-directional, probably because if they’re not selective, they’ll hear all the birds whistling and pots banging and clocks ticking and stuff. The noise profile is … ” And for a second it’s like I’m back in my studio, studying technical manuals.“Are you a sound engineer or something?”“I read a catalog once.”“What kind of catalog?”“I was bored,” she answers.Jessica’s eyes flick toward the ceiling, and she runs her fingers through my hair. “Sorry,” she says about the touch. “But if we don’t do something to justify lying here in bed, they’re going to pay closer attention than we want.” And then her hand goes under the covers, starts disturbing the sheets without actually fondling me — though surely, that’s what it’s supposed to look like from the cameras’ point of view.My eyes scan what of the room I can still see, ass up and face in the pillow as I am. I know the cameras are there, and microphones with them. And I have to admit Jessica is probably right. They’d have to use mics with a reasonably narrow profile, or there’d be too much noise to make the recordings worthwhile. Talking into a noise dampener like a big lump of foam and fabric will absorb most of what we say, keeping any little echoes from bouncing around and being heard. It’s a risk I wouldn’t take without research into what’s watching and listening to us, but Jess is acting like research isn’t necessary. She saw a model number and somehow already knew everything about that specific model … and, apparently, everything else in the catalog. It’s fucking weird. But what the hell? It’s not like I wanted to be here in the first place, so screwing up and getting booted now doesn’t bug me as much as it bothers the others. I guess it’s no more risk to trust her than anything else.
“So,” Jessica says, speaking into the pillow. “Let’s talk about Daniel for you, Trevor for me, and how the hell you’re still around.”
About the author:I love to write stories with characters that feel real enough to friend on Facebook, or slap across the face. I write to make you feel, think, and burn with the thrill that can only come from getting lost in the pages. I love to write unforgettable characters who wrestle with life's largest problems. My books may always end with a Happily Ever After, but there will always be drama on the way there.
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Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War
Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War with Contributions
by Hazel Gaynor, Beatriz Williams, Jennifer Robson, Jessica Brockmole, Kate Kerrigan, Evangeline Holland, Lauren Willig, Marci Jefferson, edited by Heather Webb
About the Book
Top voices in historical fiction deliver an intensely moving collection of short stories about loss, longing, and hope in the aftermath of World War I—featuring bestselling authors such as Hazel Gaynor, Jennifer Robson, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig and edited by Heather Webb.
A squadron commander searches for meaning in the tattered photo of a girl he’s never met…
A Belgian rebel hides from the world, only to find herself nursing the enemy…
A young airman marries a stranger to save her honor—and prays to survive long enough to love her…The peace treaty signed on November 11, 1918, may herald the end of the Great War but for its survivors, the smoke is only beginning to clear. Picking up the pieces of shattered lives will take courage, resilience, and trust.
Within crumbled city walls and scarred souls, war’s echoes linger. But when the fighting ceases, renewal begins…and hope takes root in a fall of poppies.
356 Pgs. |Heat: 2 |
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Excerpt
from “Hour of the Bells” by Heather Webb
Beatrix whisked around the showroom, feather duster in hand. Not a speck of dirt could remain or Joseph would be disappointed. The hour struck noon. A chorus of clocks whirred, their birds popping out from hiding to announce midday. Maidens twirled in their frocks with braids down their backs, woodcutters clacked their axes against pine, and the odd sawmill wheel spun in tune to the melody of a nursery rhyme. Two dozen cuckoos warbled and dinged, each crafted with loving detail by the same pair of hands—those with thick fingers and a steady grip.
Beatrix paused in her cleaning. One clock chimed to its own rhythm, apart from the others.
She could turn them off—the tinkling melodies, the incessant clatter of pendulums, wheels, and cogs, with the levers located near the weights—just as their creator had done before bed each evening, but she could not bring herself to do the same. To silence their music was to silence him, her husband, Joseph. The Great War had already done that; ravaged his gentle nature, stolen his final breath, and silenced him forever.
In a rush, Beatrix scurried from one clock to the next, assessing which needed oiling. With the final stroke of twelve, she found the offending clock. Its walnut face, less ornate than the others, had been her favorite, always. A winter scene displayed a cluster of snow-topped evergreens; rabbits and fawns danced in the drifts when the music began, and a scarlet cardinal dipped its head and opened its beak to the beauty of the music. The animals’ simplicity appealed to her now more than ever. With care, she removed the weights and pendulum, and unscrewed the back of the clock. She was grateful she had watched her husband tend to them so often. She could still see Joseph, blue eyes peering over his spectacles, focused on a figurine as he painted detailing on the linden wood. His patient hands had caressed the figures lovingly, as he had caressed her.
The memory of him sliced her open. She laid her head on the table as black pain stole over her body, pooling in every hidden pocket and filling her up until she could scarcely breathe.
“Give it time,” her friend Adelaide had said, as she set a basket of jam and dried sausages on the table; treasures in these times of rations, yet meager condolence for what Beatrix had lost.
“Time?” Beatrix had laughed, a hollow sound, and moved to the window overlooking the grassy patch of yard. The Vosges mountains rose in the distance, lording over the line between France and Germany along the battle front. Time’s passage never escaped her—not for a moment. The clocks made sure of it. There weren’t enough minutes, enough hours, to erase her loss.
As quickly as the grief came, it fled. Though always powerful, its timing perplexed her. Pain stole through the night, or erupted at unlikely moments, until she feared its onslaught the way others feared death. Death felt easier, somehow.
Beatrix raised her head and pushed herself up from the table to finish her task. Joseph would not want her to mourn, after two long years. He would want to see her strength, her resilience, especially for their son. She pretended Adrien was away at school, though he had enlisted, too. His enlistment had been her fault. A vision of her son cutting barbed wire, sleeping in trenches, and pointing a gun at another man reignited the pain and it began to pool again. She suppressed the horrid thoughts quickly, and locked them away in a corner of her mind.
With a light touch she cleaned the clock’s bellows and dials, and anointed its oil bath with a few glistening drops. Once satisfied with her work, she hung the clock in its rightful place above the phonograph, where a disk waited patiently on the spool. She spun the disk once and watched the printed words on its center blur. Adrien had played Quand Madelon over and over, belting out the patriotic lyrics in time with the music. To him, it was a show of his support for his country. To Beatrix it had been a siren, a warning her only son would soon join the fight. His father’s death was the final push he had needed. The lure of patrimoine, of country, throbbed inside of him as it did in other men. They talked of war as women spoke of tea sets and linens, yearned for it as women yearned for children. Now, the war had seduced her Adrien. She stopped the spinning disk and plucked it from its wheel, the urge to destroy it pulsing in her hands.
She must try to be more optimistic. Surely God would not take all she had left.
Reprinted Courtesy of HarperCollins Publishers
About The Authors
Jessica Brockmole is the author of the internationally bestselling Letters from Skye, an epistolary love story spanning an ocean and two wars. Named one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Books of 2013, Letters From Skye has been published in seventeen countries.
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Hazel Gaynor is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Girl Who Came Home and A Memory of Violets. She writes regularly for the national press, magazines and websites in Ireland and the UK.
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Evangeline Holland is the founder and editor of Edwardian Promenade, the number one blog for lovers of World War I, the Gilded Age, and Belle Époque France with nearly forty thousand unique viewers a month. In addition, she blogs at Modern Belles of History. Her fiction includes An Ideal Duchess and its sequel, crafted in the tradition of Edith Warton.
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Marci Jefferson is the author of Girl on the Golden Coin: A Novel of Frances Stuart, which Publisher’s Weekly called “intoxicating.” Her second novel, The Enchantress of Paris, will release in Spring 2015 from Thomas Dunne Books.
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Kate Kerrigan is the New York Times bestselling author of The Ellis Island trilogy. In addition she has written for the Irish Tatler, a Dublin-based newspaper, as well as The Irish Mail and a RTE radio show, Sunday Miscellany.
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Jennifer Robson is the USA Today and international bestselling author of Somewhere in France and After the War is Over. She holds a doctorate in Modern History from the University of Oxford, where she was a Commonwealth Scholar and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow. Jennifer lives in Toronto with her husband and young children.
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Heather Webb is an author, freelance editor, and blogger at award-winning writing sites WriterUnboxed.com and RomanceUniversity.org. Heather is a member of the Historical Novel Society and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, and she may also be found teaching craft-based courses at a local college
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Beatriz Williams is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of The Secret Life of Violet Grant and A Hundred Summers. A graduate of Stanford University with an MBA from Columbia, Beatriz spent several years in New York and London hiding her early attempts at fiction, first on company laptops as a corporate and communications strategy consultant, and then as an at-home producer of small persons. She now lives with her husband and four children near the Connecticut shore, where she divides her time between writing and laundry. William Morrow will publish her forthcoming hardcover, A Certain Age, in the summer of 2016.
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Lauren Willig is the New York Times bestselling author of eleven works of historical fiction. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages, awarded the RITA, Booksellers Best and Golden Leaf awards, and chosen for the American Library Association’s annual list of the best genre fiction. She lives in New York City, where she now writes full time.
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