Brave is proud to be a part of The 12 NA's of Christmas
12 New Adult Novellas. 12 Bestselling Authors.
I was extremely fortunate to be invited to participate in this collection of Christmas novellas by some of the best voices in New Adult Contemporary Romance!
There are 12 novellas for you to devour and you'll want them all. Yup, you're going to need a much bigger stocking this Christmas.
I am immensely proud of this book. It's not your typical romance. It's tense, gripping, and heartbreaking. There's a lot of darkness here, but the message is that love is the biggest, most potent healing force on the planet.
I was blown away by the talent of Sarah Hansen when she presented me with this beautiful cover! Thank you, Sarah for your creative moxie. So without further ado, here is Brave.
This cover was designed by the fabulous Sarah Hansen at Okay Creations
Please take a moment to add Brave to your Goodreads Shelf
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Release Date: November 1, 2013
Description:
In the season of hope, in the season of giving…
How far would you go for your friend?
Alissa Thompson has been the good girl her whole life. Her uninterested parents don’t understand her hopes and dreams. But this Christmas when her steadfast childhood friend Charlie needs her more than ever, she can’t back down. Crossing the line means being braver than she has ever been in her life. It means changing and growing and taking a stand.
Dakota Gray was brave in the face of debilitating fear. But he lost himself in that blood soaked day and has shunned everything he once knew. Now shattered and broken, he hides out in isolation, his wounds beyond healing. His heart closed, his emotions buried, he’s a man on the edge of self-destructing. Little does he know that courage would be found in another searching for the strength to be brave.
Now snowbound in the Colorado Rockies one week before Christmas, Alissa thought this was about her journey and her friend, about setting him free. But from the moment she meets Dakota, she learns about what real bravery is all about. What real love is all about. But is the season enough, her courage enough, her love enough to heal this hero’s brave heart and in the end set herself free?
How far would you go for your friend?
Alissa Thompson has been the good girl her whole life. Her uninterested parents don’t understand her hopes and dreams. But this Christmas when her steadfast childhood friend Charlie needs her more than ever, she can’t back down. Crossing the line means being braver than she has ever been in her life. It means changing and growing and taking a stand.
Dakota Gray was brave in the face of debilitating fear. But he lost himself in that blood soaked day and has shunned everything he once knew. Now shattered and broken, he hides out in isolation, his wounds beyond healing. His heart closed, his emotions buried, he’s a man on the edge of self-destructing. Little does he know that courage would be found in another searching for the strength to be brave.
Now snowbound in the Colorado Rockies one week before Christmas, Alissa thought this was about her journey and her friend, about setting him free. But from the moment she meets Dakota, she learns about what real bravery is all about. What real love is all about. But is the season enough, her courage enough, her love enough to heal this hero’s brave heart and in the end set herself free?
Here are all the other covers! Now where is that huge stocking I just bought!
THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS JUST GOT HOTTER!
See them all here!
EXCERPT:
I turned to reach for my shirt. She was about 20 yards away, too far to shout and be heard above the wind. Her long white blonde hair rippled like the flutter of angels wings against the backdrop of winter white. Distracted by her and why she was here, I dropped my axe. Trudging through the new powder, she trailed a backpack, slogging slowly towards the cliff through the fresh snow. Anger boiled through me and my shackled demons laughed.
Not a woman. Not here. I couldn’t bear it
If I lost my numbness, my equilibrium, it was open season on me.
Even this glimpse of her disturbed my peace, and I desperately needed my peace. Heavy snow obscured my vision and, with a shot to my heart, I realized I couldn’t see the horizon.
The blizzard was already here. The snow blanketed everything. It had blindsided me. The monster was here.
I quickly headed toward the cliff, cutting our distance in half. Why was she on my property, and what did she want? Didn’t she realize that this was private land!?
I was just about to call out. I had almost made it to her when I heard her piercing scream. She must have gone over the cliff! And I was too far away to help.
I stopped dead. That scream echoed in my head, mingling with the screams, shouts, and gunfire that came boiling out from behind the locked door in my mind. I looked around and the snow vanished. I was surrounded by people running, screaming and dying, their blood flowing like water. A voiceless panic hung at the back of my throat. My head hurt. I could hear my own pulse in my ears. The dread in me escalated suddenly to cold-sweat terror. I clenched my teeth against a moan of fear and dropped to my knees. I would have prayed if I could have uttered a word past my frozen lips.
The man from my nightmares was there, his flattened, broken nose, the scar that ran from the corner of his mouth. I knew his pockmarked face as well as I knew my own face in the mirror. As vividly as the endless nights of beatings and torture at his cruel hands. I was chained and I couldn’t move. The manacle cut into my wrist as I fought to get free. I couldn’t get to her. She was too far away. My head ached from the butt of the rifle that drove me to my knees. I couldn’t get to her, save her…I promised…Elsa! Death breathing on the back of my neck, it was so close. I covered my ears, but it did no good, the screams were trapped inside my head. I could still hear them, see her face, see what they were doing to her. The horror and the helplessness crashed into me. Stop it! Stop it! I can’t bear it.
My skin was burning with cold as I came to awareness lying in the snow in a fetal position. The fury and the terror ebbed away like that fading scream. The woman! The cliff. My training kicked in and I staggered to my feet and ran.
God, please don’t let her be dead at the bottom.
