I HAVE A STORY
Colleen L Donnelly
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Historical Romance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Jim
Turner writes crime but doesn’t live it. He respects his grandfather’s tales of
heroes but doesn’t believe them. When his failing grandfather sends him to a
remote peninsula to write the end of his own heroic love story, Jim includes a
war criminal interview to maintain his edge.
Chastity
is an anomaly, a misfit in pre-WWII culture as well as in Jim’s life. Her
spritely charm and endearing features turn Jim’s world upside down, especially
when she reveals his grandfather’s peninsula as the site of her upcoming
wedding.
Do
good journalists flee when their interviewee is murdered? Do heroes write
fiancés out of another’s story and themselves in? “The End” become the hardest
words for Jim to write.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT
Author's
Note: Boy meets Girl. When it’s time to lay his heart on the table.
It
was time to speak, say all the right things, and ask the pertinent questions.
Her actions and the look on her face told me she felt as strongly about me as I
did about her.
“Chastity,”
I began. Everything inside me wanted to drop down to one knee for this hallowed
moment, but I stayed in my seat. “We have…”
Turbulence
returned to her eyes. “Wait. Let me talk first.”
I
needed to swallow but couldn’t. The words that expressed my profession of love
gummed together like a wad in my throat. I needed to say them. This couldn’t
wait…
“You
need to hear this. I hope you will understand…” she continued.
“Margie!”
A woman’s voice rose from the yard below.
Chastity’s
eyes widened.
I
straightened in my seat. “Don’t mind whoever that is. Probably some saleswoman
for the war effort, searching for one of your neighbors.” I wished whoever it
was away from Chastity’s house. The moment I had been waiting for was finally
here, and the girl of my dreams seemed uncertain about something.
“Margie,”
the woman called again, her voice carrying through the open windows and door.
Chastity’s
face paled. “That’s my mom.” She stared wide-eyed at the window.
“Your
name is Margie?” I asked in a whisper. This young woman was far more a Chastity
than a Margaret.
Chastity
stole a peek at the ground below. “My dad is with her.” She gave her billowy
shirt and bright shorts a dismayed grimace. “They can’t see me like this. I
need to change.”
A
male voice—her father’s, apparently—also called for Margie. She disappeared
behind one of her fabric walls where a ruckus ensued I could only surmise was
the shedding of her current outfit for something even more discreet. Parents or
not, I still wished the two visitors away. They couldn’t have chosen a worse
time for a visit.
“How
about this?” She appeared in front of me, her body completely hidden beneath a
length of fabric loosely wound around her, the end draped over a shoulder. Had
she torn down one of her material walls?
The
panic on her face softened my irritation at her parents’ interruption. “They
will never guess you are hiding something,” I assured her, though I knew from
writing crime books that too much denial was a sure sign of guilt. “You look
lovely.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Here I was, Jim Turner, renowned author of suspense, plotting greenery suitable for tender nuptials instead of mass murder.”
Can the crime writer write about love?
Since meeting Chastity, Jim has questioned everything.
“What if I had fallen in love? Could that happen in less than a day? Or was I merely intoxicated by her colorful world, her quirky style, her large blue eyes, and cute expressions? Would real love dare to take her away from her fiancé? Or would it spend 3 divine days in her presence and then walk away?”
The journal narration was thoughtful, deep, and lovely. You get swept up by the words quite easily. Jim undoubtedly falls in love with Chastity and was willing to give up everything to be with her or walk away forever to save her. It gets very poetic, often repeating the same notions and emotions over and over. It gets to be quite a long read after a while. We basically have this hardboiled crime writer opening up and showing his beating heart for the first time ever. It was a pretty nice read overall.
Rating:
3 stars
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Colleen
L Donnelly put her science education to use for years and then put it behind
her to pursue other passions. Her first love is writing and her second is
hunting—hunting for that next good story, hunting for relics and antiques,
hunting for the next good author to read. An avid believer in work hard/play
hard, Colleen splits her time between indoors and out, always busy at
something.
Buy
Links:
Amazon:
https://amzn.to/4lq6qGO
Goodreads:
bit.ly/4jHc6Lj
BookBub:
https://bit.ly/4ivgQls
Social
Media Links:
Bookbub:
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/colleen-l-donnelly
Website:
http://www.colleenldonnelly.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/colleen.donnelly.568/
Goodreads:
http://www.Goodreads.com/colleenldonnelly
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colleenldonnelly/
Amazon:
http://amzn.to/37vcnO4
Twitter: https://x.com/ColleenLDonnell/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY
Colleen
L Donnelly will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn
winner.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thank you so much for featuring and reviewing I HAVE A STORY.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sandra, for sharing "I Have a Story" on your site, and thank you for your review!
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a brilliant novel. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI liked the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy historical romance. This one sounds great.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see what this author comes up with next.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great book.
ReplyDelete