Title: Shattered Dreams
Author: Diana Stout
Genre: Romance
Book Blurb:
Mason Baylock returns to his hometown as a newly appointed judge. He wants to reconnect with his high school sweetheart, Shelley Willis, but she's not interested. To keep him foremost in her mind, he frequents the diner, located across from the courthouse and where Shelley works. Once a week for the past three months, he's been asking her out, and she's been turning him down, every time.
Then one evening by accident, they become locked up in the kitchen's cooler. Because there's no escaping. the real conversation begins and the heat gets turned on. She can't deny she isn't attracted to him, but she won't date someone who shattered her dreams years ago, either.
And then, she discovers there is more to the earth-shattering consequences than even she imagined, which threatens to fracture and splinter life as they know it. Will both of their dreams be shattered forever, or does enough of a spark remain that they can rekindle the love they once shared?
Excerpt
(They're locked in the diner's freezer, the diner where Shelley works.)
Shelley heard him moving around. “Where are you?”
“Smile so I can see you.”
Shelley chuckled, unable to help herself. So like Mason to joke when there was a problem.
She heard him moving. “What are you doing?”
“Let’s pretend we’re blind, and we’ll talk with our hands.”
“We are blind. It’s dark, remember? Besides, I can’t see your hands.”
“That’s the point. We can use the braille method.”
Silence filled the room. No way was she responding to that innuendo.
Shelley frowned. He sounded closer. “Where are you?”
“Here.”
She jumped hearing his voice next to her. She hadn't even heard him move. Just like the old days.
She took a step back. Shelves dug into her back. She felt him move too. Toward her.
“Why are you running from me, Shelley?”
“I'm not.”
“If the lights were on, we'd both see that your nose is getting longer. You've been running from me ever since I came back to Laurel Ridge. And, I want to know why.”
“You're imagining things.”
“I'm not. The only reason we're having a discussion here at all is because the door shut.”
“We have discussions all the time.”
“Yeah, like what I want to eat.”
She wished he'd stopped talking. The more he talked, the more she wanted to melt into a puddle, despite the frigid air. That voice....
His voice always had been her undoing. Especially in the dark. It was as if the years had melted away and they were out in the middle of nowhere again, far removed from anyone or anything. At their secret place in the country with no lights around them except the stars. Necking in the car. She could have sworn she was seeing stars now. She shivered.
She felt his breath on her neck. “Cold?” he asked. “I bet you didn't know that the best way to create heat is to rub two people together. Remember?”
She was trying hard to forget. “You mean sticks.”
“You do it your way, I'll do it mine. Let me show you.”
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What’s your favorite part about being a romance author?
While I write in multi genres, nearly all my writings have elements of romance. It's a core connection we have with others through heart-felt emotions. What I like most about writing romance is recreating what it was like to fall in love.
Here’s my tip to add romance to your love life:
For me, it's not about adding romance to you live, but rather living it every day with special lights, special tokens, special scents, and having special people in your life.
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Author Biography:
An award-winning writer in multiple genres, Diana Stout, MFA, PhD is a screenwriter, author, blogger, and former English professor. She has published magazine articles, short stories, poetry, served both as a newspaper and magazine columnist, had two short plays produced in New York, and optioned a screenplay. She has served as a reviewer for academic journals, textbook publishers, and as a contest judge for multiple writing organizations: both children and adult, in fiction and nonfiction, and Hollywood screenwriting organizations. She has published books both traditionally and as an indie publisher. Today, she writes full-time through her production company, Sharpened Pencils Productions, LLC. When not writing, she enjoys books, movies, lunching with friends and family, and jigsaw puzzles. Shattered Dreams is the first story of seven in her Laurel Ridge novella series, all of which she's currently writing.
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