Book Tour: Luck of the Draw by Cheri Allan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luck of the Draw

by Cheri Allan

 

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BLURB:

 

If only life had a refresh button...

 

Kate Mitchell never planned to be a 31 year-old widowed single mom, but when her soon-to-be-EX husband up and dies, her dreams of finishing college and starting over are thrown in the air like a game of 52 pick-up. When she’s given a leave of absence from work and told to “quit or recommit,” Kate retreats to idyllic Sugar Falls, New Hampshire, to figure out whether she can discover her passion and pay the bills. Cue the fresh air, summer sunshine and one sexy local contractor.

 

Tall, dark, and handy…

 

Volunteer fireman and all-around hunky guy in a toolbelt, Jim Pearson has sworn off complicated women with messy baggage. They cling to his nice-guy stability and skills with a power saw just long enough to straighten out their lives and move on… but then he meets the cute single mom staying at Grams’ lake house for the summer.

 

While a sizzling attraction draws them together, Jim's distrust of complicated women and Kate's incredibly complicated life threaten to pull them apart.  But forces beyond their control—match-making grandmothers, the lazy backdrop of summer, and their own reckoning with the past—conspire to make them risk it all... and bet on love.

 

 

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Excerpt:

 

“I don’t mind you standing there,” he added as he pushed aside the curtain and stepped from the tub, scrubbing his hair with the towel. “But you are somewhat to blame for this.”

 

“I am?” she squeaked. Heavens, he was good-looking all wet and frumpled. His water-soaked T-shirt was plastered to his chest. Kate’s tongue became the Sahara.

 

“Mmm hmm,” he nodded. Now he was finger-combing his hair, a crooked grin making his face boyishly appealing as he dropped the towel on his toolbox. “I was thinking about you, you see—”

 

“You were?” Kate backed up against the sink, the small bathroom feeling suddenly much smaller. Dangerously small. As small as the pocket in her lungs still capable of holding air. “What were you thinking?”

 

He paused, his eyes dancing. “I’m thinking I ought to keep that to myself.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I don’t think we know each other well enough for me to tell you that.”

 

Suddenly the flannel of her robe felt very hot on her skin. Kate sucked air through her nose and stared at his lips, that crooked smile teasing her, beckoning her.

 

“I want to know,” she said, her voice barely a whisper…

 

 

Guest Post

 

Starting over… Embracing Change the DIY Way

I haven’t always been an advocate for change. I distinctly remember weeping the first day of kindergarten, the sweet, fresh-faced teacher looking on sympathetically as I begged my poor mother not to alter the lovely, perfect existence we shared of bowling league and glitter crafts and frozen eggplant parmigiana. Why oh why would she want that to end?

Okay. I’m a mother. I get it now. We only serve frozen dinners when we are too tired to whip something else up. But back then, I hadn’t learned this universal truth: change happens whether we approve of it or not.

I’ve had to learn this lesson repeatedly over the years. Apparently the universe believes it’s more important for a 5 year-old to learn to read than run around the bowling alley childcare center with a Gumby bendable figure her “boyfriend” gave her.

So I went to kindergarten. And while I missed what’s-his-name, I soon discovered Richard Scarry and Beverly Cleary and, later (swoon!) romances. (Forget what’s-his-name. I had HEROES!) Little by little, I have come to see that change might be--dare I admit it?--good.

Broken-hearted? It’s okay say the forces of change. Meet future hubby! Miss out on that apartment? Here’s a lovely house! Each time life has handed me a setback, the door has opened for something new and wonderful. I just had to wait for it.

It’s a lot like that for my heroine, Kate, in LUCK OF THE DRAW. Widowed. Single mom. Nearly unemployed. Yes, life sucks. But then she’s given the opportunity to spend the summer far away, to try on a new ‘normal,’ and lucky for her (swoon!) there’s a hunky hero! There are bee stings and frustrations and Real Life intrudes, too, but once she’s given the opportunity to see what the future might hold if she takes a chance and makes a change… well, I’ll leave you to find out what happens. (It’s good! It’s all good! Don’t worry!)

As for me? It’s true. In the hubbub of planning our wedding, DH and I missed out on the apartment with hardwood floors, charming architectural details and a WASHING MACHINE. But then we found our future home--a fixer upper on a beautiful lot we could afford on our meager 20-something incomes. It hasn’t always been roses and sunshine over the intervening years, but I still count this life as my happily-ever-after. And now, after endless renovations on that fixer upper, rather than worrying about what might happen and resisting the ‘C’ word, a good day begins with a blank wall, a hammer, a pry-bar, and the words, “What do you say we put a door here?”

So tell me. How do you deal with change? Kicking and screaming or with hope and a hammer?

 

 

 

 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Cheri Allan lives in a charming fixer-upper in rural New Hampshire with her husband, two children, one dog, four cats and an excessive amount of optimism. She’s a firm believer in do-it-yourself, new beginnings and happily-ever-afters, so after years of wearing suits, she’s grateful to finally put her English degree to good use writing romance. When not writing, you might find her whizzing down the slopes of a nearby mountain or inadvertently killing perennials in her garden.

 

Cheri loves to hear from readers! E-mail her at cheri@cheriallan.com, friend her at facebook.com/cheriallanauthor, or visit her website and blog at www.cheriallan.com. Luck of the Draw, Book 1 in the ‘Betting on Romance’ series is available now through Amazon and Smashwords.

 

Links

 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cheri-Allan-Books/143131549193624

 

https://twitter.com/CheriAllan

 

http://www.cheriallan.com/






CONTEST


Cheri will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during this tour and the Super Book Blast Tour, and a $15 Amazon or B&N gift card will be awarded to another randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during both tours. A $10 Amazon gift card will be awarded to a randomly drawn host between both tours as well.

a Rafflecopter giveaway