Blog Tour Excerpt – Sisters By Choice by Susan Mallery

January 21, 2020 karenjo462 Comments

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Hello Sweeties and Welcome to my Blog Tour Stop for Sisters by Choice by Susan Mallery hosted by TLC Book Tours. I have an excerpt to share with you so let’s get started and scroll down now.

Don’t forget to follow and check out the other tour stops.

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From the New York Times bestselling author of California Girls comes an all new original Blackberry Island novel told with Susan Mallery’s trademark humor and charm. Sisters by Choice is a heartfelt tale of love, family and the friendships that see us through

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Expected Publication: February 11th 2020

Publisher: MIRA

Genre(s): Women’s Fiction, Contemporary, Romance

Format: Hardcover, 400 pages

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Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

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Cousins by chance, sisters by choice…

After her cat toy empire goes up in flames, Sophie Lane returns to Blackberry Island, determined to rebuild. Until small-town life reveals a big problem: she can’t grow unless she learns to let go. If Sophie relaxes her grip even a little, she might lose everything. Or she might finally be free to reach for the happiness and love that have eluded her for so long.

Kristine has become defined by her relationship to others. She’s a wife, a mom. As much as she adores her husband and sons, she wants something for herself—a sweet little bakery just off the waterfront. She knew changing the rules wouldn’t be easy, but she never imagined she might have to choose between her marriage and her dreams.

Like the mainland on the horizon, Heather’s goals seem beyond her grasp. Every time she manages to save for college, her mother has another crisis. Can she break free, or will she be trapped in this tiny life forever?

Told with Mallery’s trademark humor and charm, Sisters by Choice is a heartfelt tale of love, family and the friendships that see us through.

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She turned at the corner, made a left and three more rights before being forced to a stop by a barricade manned by two members of the Santa Clarita Police Department. She pulled over and jumped out of her car, grabbing her company ID and showing it to the officers.

“That’s my company,” she said. “I own it. What happened? Was anyone inside? Oh, God, the cleaners. Did they get out?”

The officers waved her past the barricade and pointed toward one of the firefighters. He looked more management and less like a climb-a-ladder-to-make-a-hole-in-the-roof guy.

At first she couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything but stare at what had once been a large warehouse with offices. Now there was only fire and smoke and heat.

Go, she told herself. She had to get going!

She rushed to the guy and identified herself again.

He nodded. “From what we can tell, the cleaning team discovered the fire. They all got out safely. We did a search, as best we could, and didn’t find anyone else. Do you know of any employees who work late?”

Sophie tried to focus on what he was saying, but it was impossible. She’d never seen a real fire before—not outside of the movies or TV. There was no way that two-dimensional image had prepared her for the real thing. The heat was incredible. Even from a hundred feet away, she wanted to step back, to get away from the climbing temperature.

Even more stunning was the sound. Fire really was alive. It breathed and roared and screamed. Her building put up a fight, but it was no match for the beast that consumed it. As she watched, the fire cried out in victory as a wall collapsed.

“Ma’am, is anyone working late?”

The question was screamed in her face. She tore her attention away from the flames.

“No. No one works late. Only me. I don’t like anyone in my building when I’m not there.” The cleaners were the exception. She trusted them. Plus, anything important was locked up.

The man’s expression turned sympathetic. “I’m sorry. The building is going to be a total loss.”

She nodded because speaking was impossible. Her throat hurt, and not just from the smoke and ash in the air. Her throat hurt because she was doing her best to keep it all inside.

Everything she’d worked for, everything she’d dreamed of, built, sweated over and fought for was gone. Just gone. Her mom had always warned her that if she wasn’t careful, people would break her heart, but no one had warned her that a building could do the same.

She turned away and started for her car. The left side of her brain said she needed to call her insurance agent, and maybe some of her employees. Thank God her accounting records and orders were all backed up externally, but CK Industries wasn’t going to open its doors anytime soon.

That was the left side. The right side of her brain only felt pain. First CK and now this. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t lose them both.

She fumbled with her phone and scrolled through her contacts until she found a familiar number. She pushed it.

“Hey, you,” her cousin Kristine said. “This is a surprise. I thought you had a date. Oh, Sophie, it’s barely eight. You didn’t dump him already, did you? I swear, you’re impossible. What was wrong with this guy? Too tall? Not tall enough? Did he breathe funny? Hang on a sec—”

Kristine’s voice became muffled. “Yes, JJ, you really do have to do your European history homework. The First World War isn’t stupid or boring and you will need the information later in life.”

Kristine’s voice normalized. “You know he’s going to come back to me when he’s thirty and tell me I was completely wrong about the everyday relevance of World War I.”

Sophie managed to find her voice. “Kristine, it’s gone.”

“What? Sophie, what happened? Where are you? Are you okay? Did your date do something? Do you need me to call the police?”

“No. It’s not me.” At first Sophie thought she was shaking, but then she realized she was crying so hard she could barely stand or breathe.

“There’s a fire. Right now the whole place is on fire. There’s not going to be anything left. It’s gone, Kristine. It’s just gone.”

“Are you okay? Was anyone hurt?”

“No one works late and the cleaning crew found the fire, so they’re all okay. I don’t know what to do. I can’t handle this.”

“Of course you can. If anyone can, it’s you, sweetie. We both know that. You’re in shock. Look, I’m going to get myself on the first flight out in the morning. I’ll text you the information. We’ll figure it out. We can do this together.”

Sophie stared at the hungry flames and knew she’d been bested. She’d been prepared for a hostile buyout or an all-employee mutiny, but not total annihilation.

“This is all I have and now there’s nothing,” she whispered.

“That’s not true. You have your family and, knowing you the way I do, you have more insurance than you need. This could actually work out for the best. You’ve been talking about moving your business back to the island for years. Now you can. It’ll be like it was back in high school. You’ll see.”

“I hate it when you’re perky.”

“I know. That’s mostly why I act that way. I’ll be there tomorrow.”

Sophie nodded and hung up, then she opened the driver’s door of her car and sank onto the seat. There were a thousand things she should be doing but right now all she could do was watch her entire world literally go up in flames.

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Excerpt Tour

Monday, January 20th: The Lit Bitch

Tuesday, January 21st: Sincerely Karen Jo

Wednesday, January 22nd: From the TBR Pile

Thursday, January 23rd: Novel Gossip

Friday, January 24th: Book Reviews and More by Kathy

Monday, January 27th: Reading Reality

Tuesday, January 28th: Tar Heel Reader

Wednesday, January 29th: Living My Best Book Life

Thursday, January 30th: Jathan & Heather

Friday, January 31st: Audio Killed the Bookmark

Monday, February 3rd: Into the Hall of Books

Tuesday, February 4th: Lori’s Reading Corner

Wednesday, February 5th: Books & Spoons

Thursday, February 6th: What is That Book About

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abouttheauthor

#1 NYT bestselling author Susan Mallery writes heartwarming, humorous novels about the relationships that define our lives-family, friendship, romance. She’s known for putting nuanced characters in emotional situations that surprise readers to laughter. Beloved by millions, her books have been translated into 28 languages.Susan lives in Washington with her husband, two cats, and a small poodle with delusions of grandeur. Visit her at SusanMallery.com

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Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

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Thanks for stopping by lovelies and have a wonderful day!!!

Take care and happy reading!!!

sincerelykjologo

Blog Tour Excerpt – Zapata by Harper McDavid

December 2, 2019 karenjo46Leave a comment

Hello lovelies! Today, I have an excerpt to share with you for my Blog Tour Stop for Zapata by Harper McDavid hosted by TLC Book Tours.

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• Paperback: 356 pages
• Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing (September 25, 2019)

When engineer Avery McAndrews is offered a last-minute assignment to the rough and tumble border town of Zapata, Texas, she doesn’t think twice. Used to pushing past stereotypes, she’s sure this project will earn the long-awaited promotion.

Instead, she’s thrown in the crossfire between warring drug cartels and soon discovers that her captor, Javier Ramos, is more than just a power hungry drug lord. He’s crazy.

As lead attorney for the cartel, it’s Alejandro DeLeon’s job to manage Javier. But this time, Javier’s cruelty reaches epic proportions, and Alejandro finds himself wanting to risk everything to save Avery.

Running for their lives with Mexico’s underworld at their heels, Avery and Alejandro discover unintended and intensifying emotions, feelings neither sought and neither seem prepared to control.

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Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

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A door slammed, and Alejandro stormed across the yard, parting chickens as he went. He seemed too angry to notice Avery’s plight. He moved to the back of the Jeep and dropped a black plastic trash bag to the ground. Hopefully it was trash, because this place was probably crawling with chicken poop. He slammed the rear door and retrieved the trash bag and the brown paper sack.

Unsmiling, he regarded Avery. “¡Ándale!” His voice was harsh.

“No.”

He spun on his heel, took two steps, grabbed her arm, and led her toward the house. The chickens darted away as they moved. She groaned in pain. He ignored it.

The house was dark and smelled of day-old onions. Stale and muggy. He pulled her along into the kitchen. Unwashed dishes were stacked around the sink.

Alejandro slid the paper sack across the kitchen counter toward the woman. She shook her head, then peered at Avery over reading glasses. “I don’t know why he thinks he should leave you here.”

Avery gasped. She was American. At least her accent was. And she was almost as pale as Avery. “Leave me here?” Avery shook her head. “No. No. He can’t leave me.” She glanced at Alejandro for an answer, but he averted his gaze. “I have no intention of staying.”

The woman raised a heavy salt-and-pepper eyebrow. “He thinks you are.”

“Well, I’m not. Take me to a bus station. Call a cab. I don’t care. I’ll walk, damn it. Just point me in the right direction, and I won’t waste your time or mine.”

The woman snorted and said something in Spanish to Alejandro. He rubbed his forehead.

She chewed her lip and pushed a stray clump of gray hair off her forehead. “You’ll stay. Until I say you can go.” The woman’s voice was gravelly. “You’ve got entitled bitch written all over you, and I’ll be damned if I let you get him in trouble.” She swore under her breath and shook a finger at Alejandro. “I’m retired, damn it. This is the last time.” As if he somehow understood. She barked at Avery. “Take your stuff upstairs. Room’s on the left.”

“Where’s he going?” Avery said.

“Ask him yourself.”

“He doesn’t speak any English.”

“Then that’s your problem, girly. When in Rome….”

Alejandro grabbed the trash bag and started up the stairs. Reluctantly, she followed. The place was hardly cozy. The bedroom was barely a step up from the brothel. A single bed buried in old newspapers occupied one corner. Canned goods flanked the opposite wall, and Venetian blinds hung unevenly from the one small window. Worst of all, the air was still, the room was stifling, and there was no fan.

“You’re really going to leave me here?”

Alejandro sighed and let the plastic bag slide to the floor.

“What’s with the trash bag?” She nudged it with her foot. He pulled it open. She made a small noise in the back of her throat. “My clothes!” She glanced up at him. “How did you get this?” Of course, he didn’t answer. “You dropped it in the chicken poop.”

For a moment, it seemed like he was stifling a laugh.

“When are you coming back?” she asked. He turned his back to her. She stomped with all her might. Waves of pain shot up her back. She opened the dictionary and flipped through it as quickly as she could. “¿Cuando?”

He turned to her. In the fading day’s light, his eyes were golden. Not brown. How had she not noticed before? His dark, thick eyelashes accentuated the striking contrast further. It only made her resent him more for ditching her.

He shrugged and shook his head miserably.

What was this? Regret for dumping her here? Some kind of apology? Never before had she had such difficulty understanding another human being. Of course, language wasn’t typically a barrier. She thumbed through the book. “Why? ¿Por qué?”

He spoke quickly. She couldn’t distinguish a single word. Syllables, inflections, everything melted together. There were no clues. Finally, he spoke the words slowly: “Una semana.”

“Semana, semana, semana,” she repeated, furiously searching for the meaning. “Week?” She gritted her teeth. “Like hell you are. I am not staying here for a week! No semanas. Do you understand?” She poked him in the chest with the spine of the book. “You have two days.” She held up a pair of fingers. “Not a second more.”

He drew closer. Their faces were only inches apart. He held up a hand. “Cinco dias.”

“No! It’s too long.” She pointed at the stairs. “You heard her. That woman doesn’t want me here. And I’m not living with chickens!” The final sentence came out as a shriek.

A smile spread across his face. He was actually stifling a laugh. As if he understood. How dare he?

She took a swing at him, now certain he understood the bit about the chickens. He dodged it. The smile on his face continued to grow. He touched her arm, then reached for her wrist, rubbing his thumb lightly across it. “Avery.”

She tried to ignore the gesture. Ignore what it was doing to her heartbeat. His attitude was infuriating. “Three days.” She pulled away from him. “After that, I’m out of here. And it’s not a threat. It’s a promise.”

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abouttheauthor

As a child, Harper McDavid watched her mother ride the rollercoaster of writing books, swearing she’d never do it herself. But some things are just hardwired, and luckily for Harper the world has moved on beyond typewriters and ten-pound manuscripts.

Harper’s gritty romantic suspense incorporates her own background in science and engineering and work experience along the border. The result is a collection of brainy hard hat-wearing heroines that occasionally swap out their coveralls for the little black dress.

Harper is the mother of three daughters and lives in the foothills of Colorado with her husband, two dogs, and a fat cat. Her free time is spent traveling the world in search of that next story and perusing her local library for funny book covers.

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Find out more about Harper at her website, and connect with her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.