Hi
lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Emelle Gamble and her new
book, “The Second Man”! For other stops
on her Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above.
Be sure to
make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $25 Amazon or Barnes &
Noble Gift Card. Also, come back daily
to interact with Emelle and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for
stopping by! Wishing you lots of luck in
this exciting giveaway!
The
Second Man
by Emelle
Gamble
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GENRE: Romantic Suspense
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BLURB:
Jill Farrell’s
college reunion is coming up, but she wants no part of it. The man she once
loved, Swedish exchange student Max Kallstrom, is rumored to be attending, but
that doesn’t tempt her as Max disappeared from her life the night before the
graduation, and has never been heard from since.
When her
ex-husband, Andrew Denton, knocks on her door and announces he wants to make
nice, and, “oh, by the way, one of their class alumni might be a murderer”,
Jill’s resolve to avoid the event hardens.
Jill shuts
Andrew’s efforts to reconnect down, and tries to put Max out of her mind.
And that’s
that, until a second man knocks on her door, and the emotions of a time long
ago overtakes her. Max Kallstrom tells Jill she’s the reason he has come to
California. He asks her to please let him explain why she hasn’t heard from him
for fifteen long years.
She’s willing
to listen to what he has to say, but immediately realizes that her memories
must guide her through a wrenching and dangerous few days. While her heart remembers
a handsome young lover, she and her classmates are all different people now,
and the reality of a murdered friend proves she can’t trust everyone.
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EXCERPT TWO:
“Damn.”
Jill stuck the menacing letter back in the envelope and stared at it. There was
no stamp. Which meant someone other than the postman had stuck it in her
mailbox today while she was out.
Who?
The
tea kettle hissed and a chill skittered down her back. A second later, the
doorbell rang. Jill nearly jumped out of the chair. She put her hand to her
throat.
Get
a grip.
If
it was Andrew again, she was going to threaten to have him arrested for postal
felonies, or whatever the crime was for people messing with other people’s
mailbox.
Jill
blinked and hit the front porchlight and peered through the peephole.
Please
don’t be Andrew.
But
it wasn’t her ex.
It
was another man. He wore a sports coat and jeans. Relaxed and in profile, he
was looking out at the street instead of at the door. His thick, dark hair
curled around his collar.
It
was a man she had not laid eyes on for fifteen years, but Jill realized with a
jolt that she would recognize the curve of his face as long as she lived.
It
was Max Kallstrom.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GUEST POST:
The One That Got Away
Our lovely blog
hostess, Ally Swanson, asked the most interesting question about The Second Man
– is it healthy, wise or fabulous to fantasize about hooking up with “the guy
who got away”?
We all probably
have one of these in our past, the first guy we gave our heart to, or a guy
later in life we thought for a while we would spend our life with, or even an
ex we still wonder about.
The thing that
got me thinking about the plot of The Second Man was just this. My heroine,
Jill, was head over heels in love at 22 with a man she imagined she would marry
and live HEA with. And then he disappeared without warning, kaboom! – not to be
heard of for fifteen long years.
What would you
do if he knocked on your door, I asked myself?
And would you
really ‘know’ him anymore? He wouldn’t be the same man; you wouldn’t really be
the same woman. Fifteen years is a long time to grow and change, and most of
all, it’s a long time to massage that memory and make it better, make it worse,
make it a fantasy maybe?
I have friends
who have yearned for a long lost lover, and spent a lot of time thinking, “what
if?” How would my life be if I’d ended up with Him? I have personally wondered
what happened to my high school sweetheart, an ex. It’s human nature. I have
another friend who actually married a man she loved and lost twenty years
before when they met at a reunion. So far, so good with that. But I also have
another acquaintance who hooked up with an old lover on the internet, and it
didn’t go well. He wasn’t who she remembered at all – and she wrecked her
marriage over it. Yikes!
My heroine, I
think, shows the right amount of restraint and doubt about her own memory and
emotions when Max Kallstrom shows back up in her life. She’s measured, careful,
well, at least for a little while. HA! I mean once chemistry is rekindled, how
many of us are strong enough to throw on the breaks, even if it might be
dangerous to jump in?
I’d love to
hear about your ‘man who got away’. Post and share with Ally’s fabulous readers
your story. And good luck in the gift card giveaway!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO &
LINKS:
Emelle
Gamble became a writer at an early age. At six years old, she was bursting with
the requisite childhood stories of introspection, and this itch to tell tales
evolved into bad teen poetry and tortured short works that, thankfully, never
saw the light of day, or an editor’s red pen.
She
took her first stab at writing a novel in an adult education class in Mobile,
Alabama when her kids were in bed for the night. As ‘M.L. Gamble,’ she
published several romantic suspense novels with Harlequin Intrigue. She now
publishes novels of Ordinary Women in Extraordinary Situations with
SoulMate Publishing and Posh Publishing …works ranging from
women’s fiction to thrillers and romantic suspense.
Always
intrigued by the words ‘what if’, Gamble’s books feature an ordinary woman
confronted with an extraordinary situation. Emelle celebrates the
adventurous spirit of readers, and hopes each will enjoy the exciting and
surprising journeys her characters take.
Emelle
lives in suburban Washington D.C. with her hero of thirty years, Philip, and
two orange cats, Lucy and Bella. Like all good villains, the cats claim to have
their reasons for misbehaving. Her children are happily launched on their own
and are both contributing great things to society, their mother’s fondest wish.
Emelle
welcomes any reader interested in emailing her at emellegamble@aol.com and
hopes they will visit her website, www.EmelleGamble.com or her Author Emelle
Gamble FaceBook page.
Facebook:
Twitter:
@EmelleGamble
Amazon
Author Page:
Website:
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AMAZON BUY LINK:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL BOOKS BY EMELLE & BUY LINKS:
Molly & Cruz
Amazon:
Audible:
Secret Sister
Amazon:
Audible:
Dating Cary Grant
Amazon:
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Emelle Gamble will be awarding a $25 Amazon or
Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the
tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase made I may receive a small commission to help support this blog. This does not cost you anything, it just
helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and
Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions. Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not
Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are
solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeletecongrats on the tour and thanks for the chance to win :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lisa! Good luck.
DeleteHow do you get your ideas? Or where!
ReplyDeleteI steal them from everyone I listen to - ha! Ideas are strange things, Donamae, they just sneak up to you. Help you work out life, I think. Good luck in the drawing.
DeleteGreat post, I enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Victoria. Do you have a story about the 'one' who got away?
DeleteI think we all do don't we? :)
Deletesly, are we? Okay, we'll let you keep your secret. Good luck in the drawing!
DeleteI really enjoyed reading the guest post, thank you!
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome, Nikolina. Thanks for stopping in.
DeleteHi Emelle...It's so timely seeing this. The advice column, Ask Amy, in our local paper had a column today about a woman in her 50s who has become nearly obsessed with the idea of her old hometown beau, who is now available. This longtime married woman wants to rid herself of the constant thoughts of him. And YES, I'll admit to having the occasional thought of my first love/high school sweetheart, whom I haven't seen in almost 30 years!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, Cathy Lee. Wow, yes, and how hard is it to stop thinking about something, even when you know its a good thing to do? Did she get good advice? Thank you for the post again, and good luck in the drawing!
DeleteThanks for the guest post.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the excerpt. Sounds like a great book.
ReplyDelete