Book of the month - May

I hear a lot from new to me readers or readers ready to begin a new series, "which book should I start with?"

Choosing can be a difficult decision with 35 to pick from. I'm going to make your life easier. 

Each month, I'll highlight one of my books right here. You can pour a cup of tea and try chapter one for free without having to leave the site. (The first chapter is all I need to know if I want to keep going. Right? I mean if the author can't capture your attention by the end of chapter one...)

If you decide this month's book is for you (no worries if it isn't) I have a Thank You gift.

A special price for the digital version during the featured month. 

And if you purchase the paperback directly from me, which is your cheapest option for PB, I'll sign it and add in a couple of fun stickers! Who doesn't love stickers? I'll never be too old for stickers. 

This month’s pick is Defining Chances from the Hometown Series. 

Ready to keep reading?

Order Signed Copy 
Special offer includes 2 exclusive stickers and the best price

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​CHAPTER ONE
 
Ember Wilde sat on the floor of the New York City apartment she couldn’t afford, holding her phone and shaking. She had to go home. Right now. In fact, she should have left sooner. Throwing some things into an overnight bag, she locked up the apartment and shot off an email to her boss. She wouldn’t be back. Ever. She hated that job anyway. 

Out on the concrete, the traffic noise bumped into her like an oversized marching band of car horns, ambulance sirens, and squealing brakes. She was tired of the dirt and crowds of the city, anyway. Keith could keep the apartment. She sent him a text as she caught the C train to midtown.

You can move back in. Moving out. I’ll come back for my stuff.

What? her ex sent in return.

I’m going home. Her mother needed her.

Another rash decision. Keith’s words almost vibrated off the screen. He had always accused her of acting first and thinking second—of running away.


Not rash. Important.  More important than he knew because family never mattered to him.

I don’t want to move back in so you can change your mind again. Keith would never forgive her for breaking them up twice, but the first time she had been scared of the idea of making it on her own. She had only taken him back after he begged.

I won’t. She couldn’t stay married to a man like her father, so the divorce had been finalized.

How long will you be gone?

For good. She shoved her phone into her purse. She didn’t want to read anything more from him or have to explain that her mother was doing worse, or that her father wasn’t taking care of her properly. At least that’s what her older sister Petra had said on the phone.

The subway pulled into Penn Station. Ember jumped onto a train headed for Candlewood Falls. Her father would be displeased with her arrival. Not that she cared. She had been a source of displeasure for her father since the second the doctor announced she was a girl. Huck Wilde had wanted boys and fathered three girls instead. Poetic justice in her book.

As much as she and Huck didn’t get along, she loved her mother. Ruby was a vibrant woman—before her illness—who enjoyed laughing and baking. She was quickly becoming less than herself now, forgetting her keys or how to get back home from the grocery store. Sometimes she stumbled over her words, like yesterday in the check-out line, according to Petra.

Her father was failing her mother, and that wasn’t okay. Ember would find a way to fix things, although her father would fight her at each and every step. He liked things his way. Ember would take care of her mother. Her father could learn to deal with it.

The train approached the Candlewood Falls stop. She and her sisters had scattered from the small town set in the rolling hills of New Jersey because there wasn’t anything here for a young person who wanted a big career. Working at the family business had never been her dream, not that she was living her dream as a computer programmer either. She also left because residing near her father would have driven her mad.

She grabbed her bag and descended to the platform, which wasn’t much more than a sidewalk. Some other people left the train with her, hurrying to their next destination or accepting hugs from someone waiting. People milled around the station made of stone with their faces planted in their phones. A few cars dotted the parking lot. She hadn’t expected so much activity at the little train station.

The afternoon sun sat high in the sky like a yellow ball in mid-bounce, though the clouds rolling in from the west threatened to interfere with its fun. For all her determination to stay away—which she had for many years—today she had effectively rendered herself homeless, jobless, and back to the place it all started.

The ride request app stated a driver was more than thirty minutes away. No surprise there. Everything in Hunterdon County was at least that far away from the next location unless someone wanted a horse farm or an orchard. Those were on every corner. She could walk, but that might take an hour or more. She was not about to notify her father she was in town until she arrived at the house. She needed surprise on her side. Besides, he’d just drive her right back to the city once he had her in his truck.

She could call her cousins Brad or Brooklyn, but they hadn’t spoken in ages. She couldn’t exactly ask for a last-minute favor. She hadn’t spoken to her other cousins, Lacey and Sam, in even longer. That left her Uncle Silas, but she wasn’t sure if the man who lived up the mountain without indoor plumbing even had a phone.

“Looks like you’re walking,” she said under her breath and shoved her phone in her purse.

“Excuse me?” The male voice next to her made her jump.

“What did you say?” She hadn’t realized anyone was standing so close. She might have liked being more prepared for the smoldering gaze from close-set eyes that met hers. This tall man with jet-black hair and a strong jaw set her off-balance.

“You said something, no?” The navy-blue polo shirt stretched its satiny fabric over his muscles. He had a surfer’s body, sculpted and lean.

“No. I mean, I did, but I wasn’t speaking with you. I was talking to myself.” But too loudly, if the stranger five feet away could hear her. She’d have to mumble better next time.

“Have we met?” He narrowed his eyes.

Just what she needed, some guy to hit on her now. “I don’t believe so. Excuse me.” She stepped around him, dragging her bag behind her. She’d walk for a while. Then she’d break down and call Brooklyn. Hopefully, her cousin would take pity on her and give her a ride.

Most of the family felt sorry for her and her sisters because of all the Wilde brothers that owned the orchard, she, Petra, and Nyx were stuck with Huck. She’d have to capitalize on a little of that pity in the form of a ride.

“Ember, right? You’re Ember Wilde.” The dark and handsome man, who reminded her of a younger Andy Garcia, called after her. His lips curled up and revealed a bright, confident smile.

“Who told you that?” In Candlewood Falls, the sleepy small town where everyone knew everyone else, there was no point in denying her identity, though she didn’t know his. If she were in the city, she would be reaching for the key chain where she kept her Mace or at the very least her phone, and she would not admit to being anyone. But his relaxed stance and easy demeaner said he wasn’t a threat.

“It’s Rafael Alvarez.” The expression on his face suggested she should know that.

But the man in front of her did not match the image planted in her memory of the boy she had went to high school with. They had not been friends back then, but in Candlewood Falls it would be hard not to be familiar with one another.

“Right. Of course. You still work at Wilde Orchards.” Every once in a while her mother would share some stories about the orchard. Rafael’s name would pop up. She still couldn’t get over how he had filled out, nicely she might add, the bones in his face more pronounced. If memory served, in school he was rail thin as if he hardly ate. Now, he appeared strong and fit.

“I do. I’m sure you hear this all the time, but wow, you look just like Huck.”

“Thanks, I think.” Heat fanned her cheeks. Her father was a handsome man, but what was on the inside counted. Most people tolerated Huck. That couldn’t make his outward appearance enjoyable.

“It was a compliment. I recognized you because he showed me a picture. You have those Wilde blue eyes everyone in the family has.” He held out a hand. His smile was disarming.

She didn’t even know her father had a picture of her, never mind one that he showcased. She hesitated for a second. Rafael noticed her eyes. Observant for an almost stranger.

His outstretched hand waited, leaving her little choice except to slide hers inside his large calloused grip. His skin was warm and for the first time since her call with Petra, some of the chill left her bones.

“It was nice to see you again, but I have to go. I have a long walk if I’m going to get to my parents’ house sometime today.” She pulled her hand away because if she held on any longer, she might not let go until her whole body had stopped shivering.

“You can’t walk to Huck’s from here. Let me give you a ride. My truck is right over there.” He hitched a thumb over his shoulder.
“No, thank you.” She turned to go.

“Stubborn like him too.” Raf slid into step beside her.

“What are you doing?” She stumbled, but yanked her bag whose wheels wouldn’t cooperate and kept going. This man had another thing coming if he thought he would walk with her.

“Going for a walk.” He ignited that smile. His teeth were small and perfect.

Did the orchard always employ such handsome men? Of course, she had no idea. She hadn’t been to the orchard in years.

She had left for college and never came back. There had been nothing here for her. Her mother had always come into the city to visit, leaving her father behind who always complained work needed his attention. Those apples don’t grow themselves, he had said. As if there wasn’t plenty of help to grow a stupid apple or two.

“You’re not walking with me.” She forced the bubble of laughter down. She didn’t want to encourage him and picked up her speed. She might have to run if those clouds continued to move in. Even the breeze had picked up, blowing her hair away from her face.
“There’s no law that says I can’t go for a stroll.” His long legs matched hers with ease. He shoved his hands in his pockets and whistled a tune.

“I don’t want you to walk with me.” But she did like the whistling.

“It’s far, and there aren’t any sidewalks. The sun will set soon. You could end up in a ditch.”

She stopped. “You don’t owe me any favors just because you work with my father. I’m a grown-up. I can manage the very dangerous streets of Candlewood Falls.” She didn’t need some man thinking she needed saving. And definitely not a man who worked at the orchard.

“Suit yourself.” He shrugged and turned around. “Enjoy your walk. It’s about seven miles,” he said over his shoulder.
“Thanks. I will.” The first fat raindrop plopped on her head. She turned. “Hey, Rafael, I do need to ask you something.”
His smile took a slow amble across his face. “You want the ride.”

“No, it’s not that. Would you mind not mentioning to anyone at the orchard that you saw me until I speak to my parents?” For all she knew he would be on the phone to her father giving away her advantage. She wished she had arranged for a car. The next raindrop landed on her nose.

“You don’t have to worry about that. Huck and I only speak when necessary. You better get moving. The rain is coming.” He jogged off to the parking lot, leaving her on the side of the road underneath the raindrops.

Well, she had asked him to leave her alone. If she had wanted the ride, she should have said so. But she hadn’t wanted to seem needy, and though her instincts said he was safe, she didn’t think it was a good idea to get in a car with a strange man—albeit not completely unknown.

He pulled out of the parking lot and passed her with a wave. She offered a half-hearted wave back, regretting her decision to walk, and gripped the bag’s handle to resume her poorly executed quest. But the clouds had the final laugh and poured their contents on her head.