FIRST LOVE

Gone Wrong

Have you ever heard the saying your first love is the strongest? For my heroine and hero in the contemporary western Heartstrings this is very true. However, even first love can go terribly wrong.

At age 18, Seth Kendall had only one dream–Leave the ranch and his abusive father for career as a country singer in Nashville.

At age 17, Abby Crawford dreamed of a life where she wouldn’t be forever punished for the sins of her parents–a White preacher and a Native American prostitute who dared to fall in love.

Seth and Abby had been friends since they were toddlers, but by the time he was 15 and she 14, they were in love and shared their first kiss… Then three years later, they became each other’s first lover under the moonlight on a weedy patch of beach. But this is where things go wrong. Seth had his eyes on completing on the national talent show America’s Rising Star, while Abby had a sick alcoholic father to take of and a ranch to run. At ages 18 and 17, neither of them knew what to do when Abby announced she was pregnant.

Fifteen years later, Seth is back in town, Abby is divorced from his child-hood best friend, and Emily, their fourteen year old daughter, has no idea her favorite singer is her daddy… Will Abby and Seth be able to mend enough fences and weather the storms of their pasts to discover first love really does last forever?

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Heartstrings

by

Sara Walter Ellwood

Blurb:

He’s determined to set things right, no matter the cost.

The last person Abby Crawford wants to face down is country music superstar Seth Kendall. Last time she did, she flat-out lied so he’d go to Nashville without her. She’s never understood why their mutual best friend proposed, but she went with it so her baby wouldn’t be fatherless. Now she’s a divorced mother of a teenager, and secretly Seth’s biggest fan.

Seth is home in McAllister, Texas for his father’s funeral”¦and a chance to meet the daughter he’s never known. He’s willing to face the music of his own making and admit he’s known about his little girl all along. For fifteen years he’s kept his distance because Abby told him to follow his dreams without her, insisting she didn’t love him. But now he won’t leave until he knows his daughter and she knows him, even if it means facing the woman who broke his heart for good.

Confessing she’s lied about her daughter’s paternity all these years won’t be easy for Abby, especially with her ex blackmailing her to keep the secret. And Seth doesn’t know the hardest truth of all: Every love song he plays on his guitar still plucks her heartstrings.

Trailer:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wGmgAkdsyM]

Excerpt:

He looked into his glass of whiskey. “I’m sorry I didn’t call or write. I was eighteen and scared shitless. I had to concentrate on winning, but the whole time I was thinking about you.”

She laughed, but instead of coming out bitter, it scratched and resounded with too much raw pain. “You were scared? What the hell do you think I was? I was seventeen and pregnant. My father was dying with a brain tumor, and I had a ranch to run.”

He grabbed her arm when she spun away. “I had to sing in that competition. Otherwise, it would’ve taken ten years to get to the kind of success I got from winning America’s Rising Star. If I ever got that chance again. My mother never did. This place killed her. I couldn’t let that happen to me. Or to you and our baby.”

She swallowed but couldn’t work her constricted throat.

“I wanted you to come with me.” His voice dipped low enough it might have been on the verge of cracking. “I wanted you and our baby, Abigail. You are the one who turned your back on me. You’re the one who couldn’t wait to fall into bed with my best friend.”

Oh, how she wished she could tell him the truth about her and Mike, but she wouldn’t.

She glared at his hand on her upper arm, then at him. “You’re drunk. Let go, now.”

He stepped back, letting go. She was amazed at how calm she’d sounded, because inside her a twister had taken up residence. Her heart raced and her jaw and hands ached from clenching tightly. “You knew why I couldn’t run off to Nashville with you and live on dreams and fairytales. Mike understood, and he was here when I needed him. He gave me what you wouldn’t.”

But neither of them knew the real reason she didn’t go with Seth.

When she reached the grass again, she turned toward him and folded her arms in front of her. “If you’re thinking about staying here, you can forget it. I don’t want you around. My being divorced has nothing to do with you. Mike is still Emily’s father, and that’s how it’s going to stay.”

She blinked against the burn in her eyes. Damn, if she didn’t soon get out of here, she’d start bawling. “Go back to your fast cars and even faster women. Go back to your stadiums full of groupies and your high life as a Grammy-winning superstar. McAllister, Texas, has nothing for you. It never has.”

Buy Links:

Kensington Publishing | Lyrical Press | Amazon | Barns and Noble | iTunes | Kobo

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Author links:

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Newsletter Signup

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Follow the Second Honeymoon Book Tour HERE

Rafflecopter Giveaway:

Sara is giving away a beautiful treasure box full of goodies to one lucky winner at the end of her book tour:

1. A thumb drive containing Sara’s novella The Birthday Fantasy and her paranormals

2. A signed paperback copy of Carolyn Brown’s Just a Cowboy and His Baby A Hunter’s Angel and A Hunter’s Blade

3. A retractable black ink pen

4. A decorative diary style notebook

5. A mouse pad

6. Sara’s own custom designed jewelry (necklace and earring set)

7. $10 Starbucks gift card and more.

A total prize package valued at $100.

The giveaway ends April 30 and the winner of the Swag Pack will be announced on May 1, 2014. Must be 18 years old or older and a resident of the USA to qualify. Void where prohibited by law. Click HERE for complete list of terms and rules.

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