In the near future, advances in medicine and quantum computing make human cloning a reality. For the wealthy, cheating death is the ultimate luxury. To anticloning militants, it’s an abomination against nature. For young Constance “Con” D’Arcy, who was gifted her own clone by her late aunt, it’s terrifying.
After a routine monthly upload of her consciousness—stored for that inevitable transition—something goes wrong. When Con wakes up in the clinic, it’s eighteen months later. Her recent memories are missing. Her original, she’s told, is dead. If that’s true, what does that make her?
The secrets of Con’s disorienting new life are buried deep. So are those of how and why she died. To uncover the truth, Con is retracing the last days she can recall, crossing paths with a detective who’s just as curious. On the run, she needs someone she can trust. Because only one thing has become clear: Con is being marked for murder—all over again.
CONSTANCE (Constance #1) by Matthew FitzSimmons is an exciting and thought provoking dystopian sci-fi mystery thriller that is the first of a two-book series. In the near future, if you have the millions to spare, human cloning is a reality.
Constance “Con” D’Arcy is a talented musician, who survives a horrible traffic accident which kills almost every member of the band she plays in. The accident moves her to accepting the gift of her own clone from her aunt who is the co-founder and brilliant mind behind the Palingenesis clinic.
After a routine monthly upload of her consciousness which should only take hours, Con wakes up months later in the body of her clone. She is told her original is dead, but the transition that should have happened with memories from her last upload has left her with no memory of the last 18 months.
Con is determined to find out what happened to her original and discover what has happened in the last 18 months. She cannot trust anyone who is offering to help because they all have ulterior motives and agendas. Caught between the wealthy and powerful Vernon Gaddis and Dr. Brooke Fenton fighting over what is hidden in Con’s brain and the Children of Adam who want the death of all clones, Con can trust in only herself.
This is an amazing story! I could not put it down. Constance “Con” is a protagonist that is memorable. She at times is a little too curious for her own good, but she is also fearless and resilient. She must face discrimination and bigotry as a clone at the same time she deals with the ethics of being a clone herself. Mr. FitzSimmons takes the reader through ethical and philosophical questions on cloning intertwined in the story and dialogue of his various characters. Also, and no small part of the story is an intricate crime mystery that has so many twists and surprises I could not stop turning the pages. Throw in some great rock band references and I was hooked. This book does not end with a cliffhanger, but there is an open question at the end of the story and the promise of a second book to come. I cannot wait!
I highly recommend this dystopian sci-fi mystery!
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Author Bio
Matthew FitzSimmons, an American boy from Illinois, grew up in London in the 1970s under the baleful eye of the Kings Road punks. His otherwise idyllic childhood was shattered by the traumatic experience of seeing Star Wars on December 27, 1977 in Leicester Square, listening to his father sleep through what was clearly the greatest cinematic achievement of all time, and fearing he was adopted.
For college, he attended Swarthmore College where he earned a B.A. in Psychology but lived largely in and for the theater.
After several years in New York City, and having learned he wouldn’t do absolutely anything to make it, he absconded to China. There he wrote a first novel (the less said about which the better), played center back for a foreigner’s soccer team, sparked a near riot and was forced to write a ziwo pipan (self-criticism) by the University of Nanjing—his first work of political fiction.
He now lives in Washington, D.C., where he taught English literature and theater at a private high school for over a decade. He cohabitates with a pair of old boots, collects bourbon and classic soul LPs, and wonders if he will ever write anything half as good as the first sentence of James Crumley’s The Last Good Kiss.
Agent Pendergast faces his most unexpected challenge yet when bloodless bodies begin to appear in Savannah, GA, in this installment of a #1 New York Times bestselling series.
A fabulous heist: On the evening of November 24, 1971, D. B. Cooper hijacked Flight 305—Portland to Seattle—with a fake bomb, collected a ransom of $200,000, and then parachuted from the rear of the plane, disappearing into the night…and into history.
A brutal crime steeped in legend and malevolence: Fifty years later, Agent Pendergast takes on a bizarre and gruesome case: in the ghost-haunted city of Savannah, Georgia, bodies are found with no blood left in their veins—sowing panic and reviving whispered tales of the infamous Savannah Vampire.
A case like no other: As the mystery rises along with the body count, Pendergast and his partner, Agent Coldmoon, race to understand how—or if—these murders are connected to the only unsolved skyjacking in American history. Together, they uncover not just the answer…but an unearthly evil beyond all imagining.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Bloodless by Doug Preston and Lincoln Child intertwines different genres: historical, mystery, and science fiction. It delves into an unsolved heist, a brutal crime, and a case involving secrets, lies, and darkness.
The story begins with a true hijacking and theft. In 1971, D. B. Cooper took control of a passenger airliner, allowed them to deplane, and after getting a ransom payment parachuted into the dark Pacific Northwest night, never to be seen or heard of again. Now fifty years later, Agent Pendergast takes on a bizarre and gruesome case in the ghost-haunted city of Savannah, Georgia. Pendergast, his partner, Coldmoon, and his ward Constance, are diverted from traveling to their home by their boss. A strange murder has occurred where a body has been found completely drained of blood. The killer has been dubbed the “Infamous Savannah Vampire.” The heroes must also deal with a team filming a documentary about the haunted places of historic Savannah, an author on a mission to debunk all that, and a narcissistic Senator running for reelection, demanding quick answers about the murders as the body count mounts. At the heart of the mystery is a device that Pendergast claims is the answer to whoever or whatever is plaguing Savannah.
Although Pendergast is front and center, Coldmoon takes a back seat to Constance. The only clue they have is that the manager of the historic hotel, The Chandler House, where they are staying, is the first victim. Constance assists by befriending the reclusive hotel owner, Miss Felicity Winthrop Frost, rumored to have prolonged her life by drinking human blood and seen arguing with her manager. As Constance gains the elderly woman’s confidence, she is shocked by what she finds out, linking everything back to the kidnapping.
A bonus is the vivid description of Savannah. The setting is quaint and atmospheric, dripping with Spanish moss and eerie, foggy mists.
Blending reality with fantasy, readers at time must suspend their beliefs and let their imagination take over. The plot was engaging with engrossing characters. Some of the plotline is left unfinished and will be wrapped up in the next two books of the series.
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Elise’s Author Interview
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?
Doug Preston: I have always been fascinated with the D. B. Cooper hijacking case. It is one of the longest cases in the files of the FBI that has not been solved. I asked Lincoln if we could base a novel around it that would basically solve the case. He came up with all these great ideas.
EC: Why D.B. Cooper?
DP: It is the 50th anniversary since the hijacking, which took place the day before Thanksgiving. Lincoln and I like to weave together true and weird stories. We will try to answer did he survive and other questions?
EC: Why the Savannah Georgia setting?
DP: Some of it is still in the 19th Century. It is a unique city, especially the historical part. It has rumors of being a haunted, spooky city, gothic in flavor. It has tremendous atmosphere with the live oak trees, cobblestone streets, and huge mansions. The Bonaventure Cemetery with its old tombs was important to the story, especially because it is so huge. Savannah is a character in the novel.
Lincoln Child: We both love this city. We ended our last book with the agent’s plane being diverted here after leaving Florida. For Coldmoon, this city is foreign to everything he knew about. It has voodoo undertones, and this is no place like it on the Southern coast of America.
EC: What about Constance?
LC: I have a crush on her and am not afraid to admit it. We are not going to abandon her in that very strange unfamiliar place we left her. This book is the first in what we anticipate being a trilogy. Pendergast must deal with his own conscience and relationship with her, something we have danced around in the past few books.
EC: How about the relationship?
LC: Dysfunctional. Unusual. She can be violent when protecting him and has feelings for him. He is unsure about his feelings regarding her. There is tension between the two of them. She is not the young woman she seems to be. We hope to resolve her past life and bring closure.
EC: There is a dual universe. Were you thinking about Einstein’s Theory of Relativity?
DP: We did use an Einstein theory, but not this one. He was the founder of Quantum Mechanics. It is a legitimate theory. The physical and cosmological underlying properties of nature. It is believed by Physicists that it happens in different universes.
EC: Why the Savannah Vampire?
LC: Our first book Relic was different than the other books. In that one we toyed with having a supernatural being. After that we were branded as techno thriller writers with a supernatural edge. But we are very careful to always begin the books with science and to have a potential scientific explanation to the ending. We trend middle ground like Michael Crichton.
EC: It has a theme of greed?
DP: Yes, on many levels, both money and power. The Senator in the story who is up for re-election has greed of power. We had a wonderful time writing his demise. The others who died had a greed of money.
EC: Your next book?
DP: Constance’s story will start to get resolved with a lot of action. We have no title or publication date but probably in the summer of 2022. Coldmoon will be in book two to a certain extent. We are not sure about book three. In both books Pendergast will be front and center where readers can see his arrogance, idiosyncrasies, and impatience with those of lesser intelligence.
THANK YOU!!
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Today is my turn on the Books n All Promotions Blog Tour and I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE SUSPECTS (Detective Helen Carter Book #3) by Jodie Lawrance.
Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Blurb
SHE’S OUT OF UNIFORM BUT SHE’S STILL IN THE LINE OF FIRE.
Discover a thrilling new Scottish crime series starring Detective Helen Carter.
Detective Helen Carter needs a break. Instead, she’s going head-to-head with notorious cop killer Jimmy Osbourne.
Eight years ago, he pulled off the perfect heist and fled to Spain, leaving behind a trail of carnage. But not a shred of evidence to implicate him.
Now he’s back in Edinburgh. But why? Helen has her suspicions.
Within days, a mystery jewel thief surfaces on CCTV. A shooter hits a seedy back-alley.
The suspects are piling up, but Helen knows Jimmy is behind them. All her instincts tell her he’s guilty. She’s watching him. But he has eyes on her too . . .
Can she take him down before he gets to her?
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MEET THE DETECTIVE
Detective Sergeant Helen Carter is used to getting a rough time of it at work. As one of the few women officers around, she has heard it all before: she’s only there as a box-ticking exercise, or she only got the job because of her father, who was a detective inspector. But she can handle it. She knows she can hold her own against any man on the force. The only thing she can’t handle, however, are the constant fights with her fiancé, Ted.
THE SETTING
Edinburgh CID in the 1970s is on the third-floor of the ugly, modern concrete lump that is the police station. On a sunny day, you can look right out to Arthur’s Seat. And on any day, you can see spotty-faced, bored teenagers coming and going from the local high school across the road. With its historic cobbled streets and fair share of deprivation, Edinburgh police are up against every type of criminal imaginable.
THE SUSPECTS (Detective Helen Carter Book #3) by Jodie Lawrance is the third Scottish police procedural crime story featuring female detective, Helen Carter in the mid 1970’s. While all the books in this series can be read as standalone crime investigations, the characters continue to be more fully fleshed and interconnected as the series progresses.
Eight years ago, Jimmy Osbourne pulled off a heist that would have been perfect except during the escape he killed a police officer and seriously injured the officer’s partner who is out for justice. Jimmy escaped to Spain leaving no evidence behind.
Now Jimmy is back in Edinburgh and Helen Carter is assigned the case. Helen is working to discover Jimmy’s reason for returning as well as finding any evidence to finally convict him.
This is another well written addition to this series, where Helen’s dogged determination and investigation skills are what solve the crimes since this series is set before DNA and other scientific evidence is used. Helen is a character facing all the sexual discrimination of her time in the police force and so she works to be the best at what she does. I did find this addition to the series was a little more difficult to get moving at first, but once everyone was sorted it began to move at a faster pace and kept me intrigued to the satisfying conclusion. All the secondary characters are becoming more fully fleshed and realistic for their time period. I am looking forward to seeing were Helen goes from here.
I can recommend this Scottish police crime thriller book and the entire series!
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Author Bio
Jodie graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2018 with an MA in Creative Writing. When not writing, she is also an actress and has appeared in a variety of television, stage and film.
Today I am excited to share my Feature Post and Book Review for a wonderful new Women’s fiction story – WRITE MY NAME ACROSS THE SKY by Barbara O’Neal. An engaging read from start to finish!
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Life’s beautiful for seventysomething influencer Gloria Rose, in her Upper West Side loft with rooftop garden and scores of Instagram followers—until she gets word that her old flame has been arrested for art theft and forgery, and, knowing her own involvement in his misdeeds decades earlier, decides to flee. But that plan is complicated when the nieces she raised are thrown into crises of their own.
Willow, overshadowed by her notorious singer-songwriter mother, has come home to lick her wounds on the heels of a failed album and yet another disastrous relationship. Sam, prickly and fiercely independent, is on the verge of losing not only her beloved video game company but the man she loves, thanks to her inability to keep her always-simmering anger in check.
With the FBI closing in, Willow’s career in shambles, and Sam’s tribulations reaching a peak, each of the three woman will have to reckon with and reconcile their interwoven traumas, past loves, and the looming consequences that could either destroy their futures or bring them closer than ever.
WRITE MY NAME ACROSS THE SKY by Barbara O’Neal is a Women’s fiction story featuring two sisters and the aunt who raised them. They are all complex, independent, artistic women at crossroads in their lives. I read this book in one sitting and was engrossed with the women’s history and lives, both as a family unit and individually.
Gloria Rose has led an adventurous life as one of the first professional airline stewardesses, but she is ready to leave that life when her younger sister dies of an overdose and leaves her two young daughters alone. Now that the girls are grown, Gloria has become a septuagenarian influencer on Tik Tok, but her past actions have come back to haunt her and possibly land her in prison.
Sam is the eldest sister and has a brilliant mind for creating and coding computer games, but she has always had difficulty socially. She alienated her business co-founder and life-long best friend, Asher last year and now her business is foundering. As she searches for solutions, she becomes ill, and this may be the only thing that makes Sam realize what is truly important before it is gone.
Willow is an extremely talented musician, like her mother. She has avoided the pitfalls of her mother’s life but has a lack of confidence in herself after the low sale numbers of her first album. She returns home to regroup and finds the strength and confidence to continue with her dream when she meets another musician who sends her confidence and music soaring even as she deals with a lifetime of jealousy from her older sister.
I love these characters and all their realistic interactions. Even when they are fighting, they have each other’s backs. Gloria’s life is fascinating. She lived her life as she wanted too even before that was popular or even acceptable. Willow is a character that everyone can get behind and cheer on. Her early life was so chaotic and all she wants to do is be happy, make music and make others happy. Sam is as prickly as a cactus and pushes everyone away due to her upbringing and feelings. I was glad she had her revelations and HEA before it was too late, and I feel the author made it realistic by stating that she needed professional help to deal with and overcome her negative traits and feelings.
I read this book in one sitting and fell in love with these characters. It is an engaging story of family, love and the choices made by family members for their creativity. I am definitely looking forward to reading more of this author’s other books.
I can highly recommend this story of strong, independent women!
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About Barbara O’Neal
Barbara O’Neal is the author of more than a dozen award-winning, bestselling novels, including the runaway bestseller, When We Believed in Mermaids, which has been published in 20 countries and spent many months on the Amazon Charts, as well as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Washington Post bestseller lists. Barbara is an avid traveler and passionate cook, and she lives in the beautiful city of Colorado Springs with her husband, a British endurance athlete who vows he’ll never lose his accent. You can find more information on her newsletter and where to find her on social media at barbaraoneal.com.
For readers of Lilac Girls and The Lost Girls of Paris comes a captivating novel of resilience, as three generations of women battle to save their family’s vineyard during WWII.
Champagne, 1939
Gabrielle Leblanc Dupree is taking her family’s future into her hands. While she should be preparing for a lavish party to celebrate two centuries of champagne making, she secretly hides Chateau Fouché-Leblanc’s most precious vintages behind a fake wall in the cellar in preparation for the looming war. But when she joins the resistance, the coveted champagne isn’t the most dangerous secret her cellar must conceal…
A former Parisian socialite, Gabrielle’s mother, Hélène, lost her husband to another war. Now her home has been requisitioned by the Germans, who pillage vineyards to satisfy the Third Reich’s thirst for the finest champagne. There’s even more at stake than Hélène dares admit. She has kept her heritage a secret…and no one is safe in Nazi-occupied France.
Josephine, the family matriarch, watches as her beloved vineyard faces its most difficult harvest yet. As her daughter-in-law and granddaughters contend with the enemies and unexpected allies in their midst, Josephine’s deep faith leads to her own path of resistance.
Across years and continents, the Leblanc women will draw on their courage and wits, determined against all odds to preserve their lives, their freedom and their legacy…
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Elise’s Thoughts
The Widows of Champagne by Renee Ryan is the story of a family struggling to survive in Nazi occupied France. Three widows who lost their beloved husbands must now protect their livelihood, the Chateau Fouche-LeBlanc vineyard in Reims, after it was requisitioned by the Nazis.
The plot has wine merchant, Helmut Von Schmidt, now turned Nazi Captain in the Wehrmacht, requisitioning the LeBlanc home and stealing their wine for the German troops. Throughout the days he appears as Lord over the women and the manor.
But the three widows come up with a plan. Josephine, the family matriarch, a grandmother to Gabrielle, another widow, will use her early stages of dementia, appearing confused. She and Gabrielle appear to struggle for control over the vineyard so that Von Schmidt must have all his dealings with the granddaughter. Helene, Josephine’s daughter-in-law, has the worst chore, to be the social secretary and a mistress to Von Schmidt. Her two daughters, Gabrielle and Paulette, struggle to understand why their mother seems to have turned into a collaborator. Gabrielle fights to defend her vineyard and her country by joining the French resistance movement. She does not understand why she is both fearful and enchanted with Gestapo Detective Wolfgang Mueller, who searches out French citizens. Completely unlike Gabrielle, Paulette is young and selfish and has an SS boyfriend. The three widows struggle to keep each other alive, out of the Nazi grasp, and to make sure the Nazis do not find out their secrets.
This is a story of resistance, betrayal and heartache. It delves into the sacrifices and risks people will take to protect what they love.
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Elise’s Author Interview
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for this story?
Renee Ryan: I was writing another WWII story and came upon how Hitler’s soldiers stole all these treasures including the French wine. Unfortunately, the wine was lost forever. Think about it, no one can ever get back or make, for example, a 1912 or 1867 wine.
EC: How did the wine and champagne play into the story?
RR: The story is set in and around a vineyard that is the LeBlanc family livelihood. The Nazi occupiers shipped all the wine to the front to give to the soldiers. It is based on a true story. A lot of widows ran these vineyards because they lost their husbands during WWI. For example, there were the widows Veuve Clicquot, Elisabeth Law de Lauriston Bollinger, and Marie-Louise Lanson de Nanoncourt.
EC: How would you describe the four women?
RR: Josephine is the boss until she realizes she is becoming confused. As the matriarch of the family, she has passed the running of the vineyards to her granddaughter Gabrielle. She is very courageous.
Helene is the former Parisian socialite who is witty, charming, and brave. She appeared to be a collaborator but is doing what must be done to save her family.
Gabrielle is the fighter and very responsible.
Paulette is spoiled and entitled. She represents those children who have yet to grow up.
All the women are trying to find their own way.
EC: How would you describe Von Schmidt?
RR: He is self-indulgent, self-promoting, and narcissistic. He used the war for his own purposes. Just like him, a lot of the SS men forwarded their own agenda. He is a bully, thief, controlling, opportunistic, and has no regard for women. He took away Helene’s dignity and independence.
EC: Helene was accused of being a collaborator, but she wasn’t?
RR: People make assumptions without asking the questions. It was assumed that these women were able to make choices, while for many it was their only choice. Survival for themselves or their family should be considered very noble, such as Helene. But there were also the ones like Coco Chanel, women more like Von Schmidt. Since I worked for Chanel for a time, I learned how she hated these Jewish brothers. The Nazi seizure of all Jewish-owned property and business enterprises, provided Chanel with the opportunity to gain back the full monetary fortune generated by Parfums Chanel and its most profitable product, Chanel No. 5. The directors of Parfums Chanel, the Wertheimer brothers, were Jewish. Chanel used her position as an “Aryan” to petition German officials to legalize her claim to sole ownership.
EC: You go into how some people were stuck in the Nazi controlled lands?
RR: This was the backdrop for Helene who decided to stay, thinking it would get better. Her father had begged her to leave with her mother and himself. They did get out, but when Helene wanted to leave it was too late.
EC: What about your next book?
RR: It is scheduled to be published in October 2022. It is a WWII European setting during the 1930s, early 1940s. An Austrian opera singer and a British romance writer joined forces to get the Jews out of Germany and Austria.
THANK YOU!!
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for IT TAKES HEART (Heart Resort Book #1) by Tif Marcelo on this Montlake/Amazon Publishing Blog Tour.
Below you will find a note from the author, a book summary, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the author section, the author’s social media links and a Rafflecopter giveaway. Enjoy and good luck on the giveaway!
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A Note from the Author
It was at the Romance Writers of America conference in 2019 when I came up with the idea for the Heart Resort series. Though I was under contract for a third contemporary fiction book (which would become my sixth novel), my first three books were romance novels, and an escapist series tugged at my shirt sleeves. My initial idea: interconnected destination romance novels with the setting as relaxing and lush as it could be, despite the romantic angst and family drama I knew my characters would be placed in.
Then came COVID-19. I had released my second contemporary fiction, ONCE UPON A SUNSET, and was in edits for IN A BOOK CLUB FAR AWAY, and I was no longer under contract for future books. My need to escape heightened during the fear of lockdown. So, I dove headlong into the proposal of the Heart Resort series. At first, I thought of setting this book on an island in the Pacific Ocean but I could not make myself write it knowing that the borders were closed to travel due to the virus. Though I tried not to put COVID into my novels, still I needed to be realistic for the times.
Then the location dawned on me: our family’s most favorite vacation spot: the Outer Banks, or OBX. And especially south of 12: Nags Head, Rodanthe, Hatteras. On a printed map, I drew what would be the Heart Resort peninsula, connected to highway 12 via a land bridge.
Heart Resort is serendipitously heart-shaped. In the epicenter is the headquarters and the apartments of the four Puso siblings. Puso, which means “heart” in Tagalog—of course it does! Chris, Gil, Bea, and Brandon, the four Puso siblings, live and work on this resort. They are the heart, they make the resort and peninsula “go.” Though, we come to find out that they each have their own secrets and matters of the heart to contend with.
Everything on this peninsula is specific and special. Each home is named. Every employee is family. The view from every window is spectacular. And though they promise their clients their own version of the HEA, or the happily ever after, the Puso siblings clamor for theirs.
IT TAKES HEART, the first in the series, introduces Brandon Puso and Geneva Harris, former lovers reunited in their common mission to help rebuild the resort after a tropical storm. Neither knew the other was going to be there, and their first instinct is to run. But both are loyal to a fault, and soon they find themselves growing closer despite their best intentions. Surrounding them are a cast of characters, all with their stories to tell, all while trying make the resort successful despite throes of competition with another resort.
Love, loyalty, and business all in one peninsula located at one of the most gorgeous locations in the United States. Heart Resort is truly a place to read about to get your heart pumping.
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BookSummary
Heart Resort, a private resort in the Outer Banks, is a romantic getaway for couples but a hotbed of family drama for its proprietors, the Puso family. Brandon Puso, the youngest of the four siblings, prefers life on his own as a licensed contractor in DC after a falling-out with his eldest brother.
After a hurricane plows through the Outer Banks, Brandon has a change of heart. He returns to the resort to help with the grand reopening but encounters his big sister’s best friend, designer Geneva Harris, who’s there to do the same thing. But Geneva and Brandon have a secret. Years ago, they had a secret romance that ended in heartbreak.
With the resort’s future at stake, Brandon and Geneva decide to put the past aside and to keep peace with the family. But as their mutual attraction heats up, they have to decide if history will repeat itself—or if this time, love gets a second chance.
IT TAKES HEART (Heart Resort Book #1) by Tif Marcelo is a second chance contemporary romance and the first book in a new series featuring a Filipino-American family of three brothers and one sister who own and run the Heart Resort in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Brandon Puso is the youngest of the Puso clan and a licensed general contractor in business with his friend from college. Since a falling out with his oldest brother, Brandon has been living in the home of his deceased parents in Annapolis. But after a hurricane rips through the Outer Banks, Brandon returns to Heart Resort to help his siblings get it repaired and set up for a grand re-opening.
Interior designer Geneva Harris is Brandon’s sister best friend and has always been around the Puso family. Geneva is at the resort to help with the interior design and a rest from her hectic schedule. Geneva does not know Brandon will be at the resort and none of the siblings know that Geneva and Brandon had a secret romance that ended in heartbreak.
Brandon and Geneva agree to work together as friends, but their mutual attraction continually heats up. They have a short time to work together and to decide if they will once again go their separate ways or if this time, they will get a second chance at love.
This is a romance that was so enjoyable to read. The family gives you not only the usual sibling dynamics, drama, angst, love and understanding, but also an interesting infusion of Filipino culture and food. Brandon is doing well professionally but dealing with so much emotionally. Geneva is also doing great professionally but she never settles anywhere and lives out of her bags. Both run from their emotions and emotional situations and Ms. Marcelo does a good job of having each work through their baggage with the help of family and/or having frank conversations between themselves. There are short sex scenes that are neither explicit nor graphic. I am definitely looking forward to reading the other siblings‘ stories in this Heart Resort series as well.
I recommend this heartfelt second chance contemporary romance!
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Excerpt
Brandon tripped over his own feet as his sister leapt from her chair.
“Now it’s my turn to surprise you.” Beatrice wrapped her hands around his bicep and pulled him toward the round table. She was laughing, enthused.
But Brandon, simultaneously exhausted from a fitful sleep and amped from laborious work that morning, could not grapple with what was before him. He was seeing a ghost. Or, rather, he was seeing the living, breathing apparition of the woman who had all but ghosted him.
He shut his eyes for a beat to clear his vision, but when he opened them and refocused, she was still there.
“Geneva,” he breathed out.
The Geneva Harris he’d fallen for four years ago after a stunning three weeks together. The same Geneva Harris who, after an argument, had left him to wake alone the next morning with her side of the bed all tucked back into place as if she’d never been there. Like she had been a vivid dream.
The memory yanked Brandon’s heart out of his chest, leaving a cavernous space. He’d had a myriad of feelings over the years after their breakup: loss, anger, sadness. Now, all he felt was nothing—was this shock? No, shock was the brick wall he couldn’t get around when his parents died. This felt like . . . emptiness.
He was dumbfounded even as he got close enough to reacquaint himself with the details of her face: her high cheekbones, which even without makeup carried a muted shade of pink; the one tiny mole next to her nose; and what he now knew was a forced smile because it was this exact same smile she had placated him with the night before she had taken off.
“Hi,” Geneva said.
Beatrice dragged him down to sit in the chair across from Geneva, then took the third seat at the table. “You remember Geneva, right?”
The cue threw him off his running thoughts. Time had passed. They were not in Las Vegas, but in Heart Resort. His family didn’t know about them. “Oh, yeah. Hey. Sorry, I’m just a little . . .” He stuck a hand out.
What looked like relief played across Geneva’s features. She shook his hand. “It’s okay. It’s the ocean air. Nice to see you again.”
Was it nice to see him? Had she hoped to see him? Did she know he’d be here?
“How long has it been for the both of you? Since we left for school?” Beatrice asked.
Four years, actually.
“Four years.” Geneva echoed his thoughts, eyes leaving his sister’s face, then down to her drink. “Chris and Eden’s wedding.”
“How could I forget.” Beatrice bumped her forehead with a palm. “I take that back. Of course I forgot—I planned that event and was probably stressed to high heavens. Now that was a whirlwind.” Then, to Brandon, in a change of subject only Beatrice could manage, gestured to their surroundings. “Did you want me to order? I assume that you’re here for lunch. Chef Castillo pivoted to feed us even if our restaurant’s closed. Oh, just as an FYI, our new Friday dinners are now at Chef Castillo’s and her sister’s eatery, south on 12.”
That took his attention for a beat. “A Filipino restaurant, down here?”
“Yep. So keep your Friday night free, both of you. It’s required.” She grinned. “So, what’s your poison.”
“Actually, I’m good.” Whatever appetite he’d had disappeared. “I spotted your golf cart and thought I would stop to say hi before my first meeting with the team.”
“Perfect timing! I was telling Geneva about your demo sesh this morning. You might have been exactly where Geneva’s was. She’s in Ligaya.”
Brandon had found it clever that the family had decided to assign a Tagalog word for each of the cabins, the yoga studio, and restaurant. It had been Gil’s idea, though taken right out their parents’ playbook of hammering their wooden sign at every residence.
“Ah . . . I was definitely next door, at Habang-buhay.” Brandon snorted at the irony, that he’d demoed a beach house that was named forever, and all that morning, she had been just beyond his reach in a cabin whose name meant joy.
She had been his joy, once.
***
About the Author
Tif Marcelo is a veteran US Army nurse who holds a BS in nursing and a master’s in public administration. She believes in and writes about the strength of families, the endurance of friendship, and the beauty of heartfelt romance—and she’s inspired daily by her own military hero husband and four children. She hosts the Stories to Love podcast, and she is also the USA Today bestselling author of In a Book Club Far Away, Once Upon a Sunset, The Key to Happily Ever After, and the Journey to the Heart series. Sign up for her newsletter at www.TifMarcelo.com.
