Child of Mine on sale May 6-20 Midage Dating

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STRONG ENOUGH AND CHILD OF MINE, BOOKS ABOUT STRONG WOMEN AND THE MEN WHO LOVE THEM

“Clothes make the character,” says author Jana Richards. She should know. In this special introduction to Child of Mine, her first book in the Masonville series, she writes about clothes, weddings, her favorite scene in the book, and…secrets.

One of my favorite scenes in Child of Mine, book 1 in my Masonville Series, is the wedding scene. Lauren and Cole are getting married in a hastily arranged wedding at Cole’s house a few weeks before Christmas. Only a couple of weeks previously, Cole discovered that Lauren was pregnant with his child. He asked her to marry him, and for the sake of the baby, Lauren said yes. She wants her child to know her father. But things are complicated.

Everyone in Masonville, including their families, believes the child Lauren is carrying was fathered by her late husband, Cole’s brother. No one, except for Lauren and Cole, knows that the baby was conceived when they slept together on the day of her husband’s funeral.

Like I said. Complicated.

Lauren and Cole have been friends since they were teenagers, and they care about each other and their child. Because of that, Lauren is optimistic they can make their marriage work. But she can’t help feeling a little apprehensive. She’d thought the ceremony would be simple and quick, no fuss, no muss. But Isabelle and Greta were obviously planning dinner for far more people than she’d anticipated, and now she and Charlotte had beautiful bouquets. Cole was making this into a real wedding. It was as if he’d guessed her innermost wishes.

For the first time, nervousness made Lauren’s stomach swoop. She desperately wanted to be a good wife to him. More than anything she wanted to make him happy. But they were starting their marriage with a lie that made her wonder if she deserved him.

Her father spoke. “Charlotte honey, you go first. Head toward Cole and Garrett. They’re standing in front of the fireplace. Lauren and I will follow in a minute.” Charlotte squeezed Lauren’s arm before walking out of the kitchen. Her father grasped her hand. She clung tightly to him. “Are you ready?”

She focused her concentration on breathing in and out, willing her sudden nerves to relax. There was no need to be nervous, she told herself. The people gathered were her friends and family and they only wanted the best for them. And she was marrying Cole, her best friend. The thought calmed her.

She smiled at her father. “Yes. I’m ready.”

The first thing Lauren saw as she entered the living room on her father’s arm were the flowers. The room was filled with red and white and pink poinsettias. The strains of the wedding march played in the background. The room was filled with people. She saw Audrey and Evelyn, Dr. Waverly and his wife, and Jamie Garven from the clinic. Ella and her sister were there, as were several neighbors, friends, and relatives.

Then she saw Cole standing next to the fireplace, and she didn’t see anyone else. He was her beacon, her lighthouse, and she made her way toward him like a ship to safe harbor.

Lauren didn’t intend to sleep with her brother-in-law Cole on the day of her husband’s funeral. But now that she is pregnant, she’s not sorry. Cole’s given her a baby, a long-wished-for miracle. He’s been her friend forever, though she nevertold him or anyone else how unhappy her marriage to his cheating brother was. And she’s afraid to tell the small town that considered her husband a hero that the baby isn’t his.

Cole’s been in love with Lauren since he was sixteen. It kills him that everyone believes the baby is his dead brother’s. All he wants is to claim the baby, and Lauren, as his own. Though she marries him, will Lauren’s heart ever be his?

Lauren must tell the truth or risk losing Cole. Is her newly-discovered love for him greater than her fear of scandal in her hometown?

Have you ever seen a stranger, on the street or in a mall, and made an immediate judgement about their character, personality or lifestyle based solely on what they were wearing? I think we’ve probably all done it. The guy in the three-piece business suit must be successful and have a great job. The woman wearing tattered jeans, a beat-up leather jacket and too much makeup probably didn’t finish high school.

Clothes say so much about who we are and how we feel about ourselves. That’s as true of fictional characters as it is about real people. In these scenes from Child of Mine, the heroine, Lauren, and her sister Charlotte are shopping for outfits to wear to Lauren’s wedding. The way Lauren feels about the dress she’s looking for tells us something about her concerns for her upcoming marriage: Lauren went back to the racks to search for her own dress.

Excerpt from Child of Mine

It wasn’t easy to predict exactly how big she’d be by the time the wedding took place two weeks from now. She had to make sure any dress she chose had room for expansion. Not exactly a requirement of most wedding dresses. She’d been pregnant at her last wedding, too. It had been the whole reason she and Billy had married.

After she’d lost the baby soon after the hastily arranged nuptials, Billy had directed his frustration at her, blaming her for trapping him in a marriage he didn’t want. Yet he’d never once asked her for a divorce, giving her hope he wanted to make the marriage work. It had taken her five years to figure out why he’d stayed married to her.

She was starting her marriage to Cole pregnant. Would he grow to resent her the way Billy had? She’s not the only one who’s apprehensive about what she’s wearing to this wedding. Lauren’s sister Charlotte is going to be Lauren’s maid of honor. For reasons Lauren doesn’t understand, Charlotte doesn’t think of herself as attractive.

“You’re gorgeous. No question about it, this is the dress. Wrap it up.”

“You don’t think it’s too revealing?”

“Revealing? No, of course not. Char, you’re covered from your neck to your wrists.”

“Yeah, but it’s tight.” She pulled at the fabric, trying to make it cover her knees. “And short.”

“It’s not tight, Char. It fits your body perfectly. You probably can’t tell because everything you wear is baggy and two sizes too big. And it’s not short either. With legs like yours, you should wear dresses like this all the time.”

“Really?”

“Yes! Really!” Lauren didn’t know what else to say to convince her.

“I thought I looked okay in the dressing room mirror, but I wasn’t sure,” she said with a frown.

“Well, I’m sure. You’re beautiful, Char. All you need is a pair of sexy heels and you’re set.”

Charlotte strained to look at her back in the three-way mirror. “I guess if you think I look all right…maybe with some nice shoes. As long as they don’t make me too tall.”

Lauren stifled the urge to strangle her sister but was relieved she’d take the dress.

Strong Enough is Book 4 in the Masonville Series.

It releases June 22. The first book in the series, Child of Mine is on sale from May 6-20.

Why does Charlotte feel so uncomfortable in a form-fitting dress even though her sister tells her she looks great? Find out in book four of the series, Strong Enough, available for pre-order now.

Blurb for Strong Enough

Love can make you strong enough. If you let it. Charlotte Saunders has a full life—a rewarding career as a nurse, meaningful volunteer work at a dog shelter, and family, friends and pets she adores. But no matter how hard she tries, she can’t forget the horrible event that’s haunted her for ten years.

A survivor of childhood sexual abuse, Damon Greyson now helps others who have suffered trauma. His experience and intuition alert him to trouble in Charlotte’s past, and he wants to help her, if only she’d let him.As they work together to help veterans suffering from PTSD and neglected dogs needing loving homes, their feelings for each other deepen. But when the trauma from Charlotte’s past roars back to life, both are forced to confront their painful histories—or die trying.

About the Author

Author Bio: When Jana Richards read her first romance novel, she immediately knew two things: she had to commit the stories running through her head to paper, and they had to end with a happily ever after. She also knew she’d found what she was meant to do. Since thenshe’s never met a romance genre she didn’t like. She writes contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and historical romance set in World War Two, in lengths ranging from short story to full length novel. Just for fun, she throws in generous helpings of humor, and the occasional dash of the paranormal. In her life away from writing, Jana is a mother to two grown daughters, a wife to her husband Warren, and happily retired from her job. She enjoys golf, yoga, movies, concerts, travel and reading, not necessarily in that order. She and her husband live in Winnipeg, Canada. She loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website at www.janarichards.com