BLURB:
Love, Trickery, Murder. All are abundant in the Jewel City. Ben is a schemer and a pickpocket. He knows the city well...and he is torn. Does he betray the woman he loves? Does he have a choice? Will he follow his heart, firmly in the grasp of the beautiful Athena, or give in to the unsavory life he knows?
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Excerpt Two:
Athena ran for the door, aching to be on the other side where it could hide her. They would hear her weeping for certain. She rushed through and slammed it shut, just as the pain in her eyes became too much to bear. 

“It’s all so stupid,” she sobbed. “Just a long day.”

There would be more of the same tomorrow. Sometimes it got to be too much. When father was alive there was always someone there to take on the burdens. She loved her brother, but Nikolas was not that man.

She thought of Ben, the stranger sitting with Nikolas in the other room. It was his tune on father’s lute that had brought the tears. For a moment she thought she might look over and see father sitting at the hearth. She had glanced that way, but of course…

The two were not so similar. Ben was tall and thin where her father had been stout. Nikolas got his boisterous laugh from father, yet she doubted Ben could speak above a whisper. It must have been his kind eyes that brought on the memories.

Athena struggled to control the sniffling aftermath of her tears. She felt an itch in her ear, a soft sound she couldn’t make out through the door. Was it music? Yes. She opened a crack and listened. Her eyes closed as she leaned her head against the doorjamb. She could almost see Ben’s fingers on the strings. He had merely been toying with the instrument before. He had been holding back.

 

AUTHOR Bio and Link 
Patrick Bran spent much of his early life moving around. He traveled from the Middle East to Antarctica by way of the US Army. When he returned home to Washington State, Patrick quickly began what would become a lifelong involvement in theatre. His work in stagecraft eventually took him to Washington DC, where he built scenery for a nationally-renowned regional theatre. When progress demanded it, Patrick left the scene shop and took the reins of the theatre's young web presence, a job he has been doing for more than a decade. Patrick still lives in Washington DC with his wife and two daughters. He writes fiction and gets his best ideas from ancient history, myth and the legends of the past.



Links:
Website: http://PatrickBran.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PtkBran

Twitter: @PtkBran

Amazon Buy Link: http://amzn.to/1BxFHOu

This Heart of Mine follows the Whiskey Creek Gang. This time it’s Phoenix’s turn. If you’ve read any of the series, then you’ll know Phoenix is Jacob’s mother, but has been in prison for the entirety of the series until now. Phoenix returns to Whiskey Creek to meet her sixteen-year-old son for the first time.

Returning isn’t an easy decision, especially since Phoenix has received hate mail from the town residences telling her to stay away. A few even threaten what they’ll do to her if she does return. It doesn’t help that her hoarder agoraphobic mother is a bit of a freak show too. She knows Riley the boy she once loved so long ago doesn’t want her back either. Nope, everyone has written her off as some vindictive teenage who ran over her romantic rival. No one ever wanted to hear her side of the story until now.

Brenda Novak has teased readers with hints of Phoenix’s story in earlier books, but close-mouthed Riley would never say much. Ms. Novak outdoes herself portraying gritty, realistic characters in this last entry to the series.  Her characters are flawed, often stubborn, and make mistakes. Each one has a way of worming his or her way into your heart. Early on, I found myself cheering for the scrappy underdog, Phoenix. You will too.

Ms. Novak also uses the small town dynamics to ramp up the tension. The reader discovers truths, lies, and longings the same time the character does. At no time did I have to think what anything looked like because it became real as I read. This is storytelling at its best.

I read  the book in one setting that’s how good it is. Perfection.

BLURB:
4.5 Stars TOP PICK from RT Book Reviews!
First love. Second chance?
As the daughter of a hoarder, Phoenix Fuller had a tough childhood. So when the handsome, popular Riley Stinson became her boyfriend in high school, she finally felt as though she had something to be proud of. Phoenix was desperate not to lose him—especially once she found out she was pregnant. Yes, she might have acted a bit obsessive when he broke up with her. But she did not run down the girl he started dating next.

Unfortunately, there was no way to prove her innocence. Now, after serving her time in prison, Phoenix has been released. All she wants to do is return to Whiskey Creek and get to know her son. But Jacob’s father isn’t exactly welcoming.

 Riley doesn’t trust Phoenix, doesn’t want her in Jacob’s life. He is, however, ready to find someone to love. And he wants a good mother for his son. He has no idea that he’s about to find both!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt One:
Once again, Phoenix’s eyes were riveted on her son. Only this time, she felt such a surge of emotion she almost darted into the bathroom. She could not break down.

 Please, God, don’t let me cry. He won’t come within ten feet of me if I do.

 But the harder she tried to hold back her tears, the more overwhelmed she became. In a panic, she slipped around the corner, into the small alcove by the bathrooms, and leaned her head against the wall.

 Breathe. Don’t blow this.

 The bell over the door jingled, telling her that Riley and Jacob had stepped inside. She imagined them looking around, maybe getting annoyed when they didn’t find her. But she was frozen in place. She absolutely could. Not. Move.

 “Hey,” she heard the hostess say with a familiarity that hadn’t been present in her greeting to Phoenix. “We’re busy this morning, like we are every Saturday. But if you can wait for a few minutes, I’ll get you a table.”

 “We’re actually meeting someone who should be here.”

 That had to be Riley, but Phoenix couldn’t say she recognized his voice. Her memories of him were vivid. But they’d both been so young, and he’d changed a great deal. No longer the skinny teenager she’d known in high school, he was a man with plenty of hard muscle on his solid frame, a man in his prime, and that had been more than apparent as she’d watched him walk, shoulder to shoulder, with their son a few seconds earlier.

 “Who are you here to meet?” the hostess asked.

 “Name’s Phoenix Fuller,” came his response.

 “What does she look like?”

 “I’m not sure these days,” he said, and Phoenix winced. Her shoulder-length dark hair wasn’t bad. It was thick, probably her best asset. Her hazel eyes weren’t unattractive, either. She didn’t feel she was ugly. But the scars on her face would be new to him. She hadn’t had those when she went to prison.

 “She wasn’t very tall,” he added, as if that might be the only detail still applicable.

 “There was a woman who said she was expecting two more to join her,” the hostess said. “But I don’t know where she went…”

 Determined not to miss this opportunity after waiting so long for it, Phoenix curved her fingernails into her palms, took a deep breath and stepped around the corner. “Sorry I…I had to wash my hands.”


AUTHOR Bio and Links:
New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Brenda Novak is the author of fifty books. A four-time Rita nominee, she has won many awards, including the National Reader’s Choice, the Bookseller’s Best, the Book Buyer’s Best, the Daphne, and the Holt Medallion. She also runs Brenda Novak for the Cure, a charity to raise money for diabetes research (her youngest son has this disease). To date, she’s raised $2.4 million. For more about Brenda, please visit www.brendanovak.com.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/This-Heart-Whiskey-Creek-Novels/dp/0778316726/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1416452899&sr=1-4?tag-brennova09-20

Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/This-Heart-Whiskey-Creek-Novels-ebook/dp/B00OYCW4RW/ref=asap_B001IGNW9G_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416452899&sr=1-4?tag-brennova09-20

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/this-heart-of-mine-brenda-novak/1120348728?ean=9780778316725

Barnes & Noble Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/this-heart-of-mine-brenda-novak/1120348728?ean=9781460380536

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/this-heart-of-mine/id933737301?mt=11 

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/this-heart-of-mine-6

Website
www.brendanovak.com

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