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on tour with Prism Book Tours

Hi, reader friends! Today’s featured book is premiering as Sweetest Heart on the Hallmark Channel March 17th 9 PM ET
(check your local listings for your air time)

about the book

Shores of Indian Lake #2
Contemporary Romance
Paperback & ebook, 191 pages
August 1st 2014 by Harlequin Heartwarming

His homecoming is bittersweet…for both of them

Café owner Maddie Strong is finally ready to take her burgeoning cupcake business to the next level. With the help of handsome businessman Alex Perkins, her future’s all mapped out. Until her first love comes home.

At seventeen, Maddie adored Nate Barzonni with her whole heart and soul. But when he asked her to elope, she’d said no—she couldn’t let him throw away his dream of becoming a doctor. Then he vanished from her life for eleven years. Now the cardiac surgeon has returned to Indian Lake asking for a second chance, and Maddie has to choose between her new life…and the man she never stopped loving.

goodreads | amazon | bookdepository | barnes & noble

 

excerpt

The next message came on. “I’m trying to reach Maddie Strong of Cupcakes and Coffee Café. This is Mia at Alex Perkins’s office. I’m calling to confirm your appointment with Alex on Tuesday with both Alex and Mr. Stapleton. Alex told me to tell you that he expects the meeting will take about three hours and he is looking forward to seeing you. He will call you personally as well.”

She hit the recorder again. This time it was Alex’s voice. “Hey, beautiful. I left a message on your cell, but it must not have gone through, so I’m trying the café. I’m going to send a car for you on Tuesday. I’ll give you details later. Call me when you can. I’ll be in the office at eight. Take care.”

The recorder beeped.

Maddie sank into her office chair and ran her fingers through her hair. “Wow. A real investor.” She stared at the phone. Alex.

She felt the blood in her veins turn to ice as she faced the unknown. She balled her fists. “I can do this,” she told herself and glanced at herself in the antique gilt mirror she’d hung on the wall next to her desk so that she could always check her hair and lipstick before greeting customers. “I can do this. I want to do this. I will succeed in doing this.”

Her gleaming green eyes stared back at her. The girl in the mirror seemed genuinely confident. It was not bravado. She believed what she said.

Maddie rose from the chair and went to the front of the café and turned the closed sign around to open. She unlocked the door and started back toward the counter to finish preparing the coffeepots for the self-serve counter.

She passed by her vintage Vesubio Espresso Machine, which she’d won on a bid on eBay. The machine was her pride and joy, and truly a focal point of the café’s decor. The top, which was emblazoned with an eagle motif and the name of the unit, lifted off to reveal the basket for the coffee inside. The copper-and-brass unit was heavy, impossibly well made and fourteen inches tall and about six inches wide. She hoped she could convince James Stapleton that it would be a signature move to install Vesubio espresso/cappuccino machines in all her franchise shops.

Maddie took a deep breath, remembering George’s warning that all negotiations were a matter of compromise, and not to get her heart set on any one detail. The moment she did, the deal would be dead. She knew she’d have to make a lot of compromises in order to turn profits because that was what investors cared about.

As always, the unit heated up quickly. The first cup of coffee she made each morning was for her personal consumption. There was always enough steam left over for the milk. Because all espresso machines held the danger of building up too much steam and exploding, she never let Chloe use the machine. If someone wanted espresso, cappuccino or latte, Maddie was the barista.

Although, if James did invest in her franchise, Maddie would be expected to help with the opening of the first cafés. Circumstances would force her to loosen the reins. Chloe would be the barista in Indian Lake.

So many changes.

She took out one of her oversize, white stoneware cappuccino cups and saucers, still warm from the industrial dishwasher, and started her cappuccino.

She steamed the milk and spooned it on top of her coffee, then drew a leaf design through the foam. It was an unnecessary touch that she, as the owner, probably shouldn’t spend the time doing, but Maddie wouldn’t have a minute to herself for the rest of the day. This was her treat.

As she finished the leaf design, the little bell over the café door jingled.

“Be right with you,” Maddie said without looking up from her pretty cappuccino.

“Maddie?”

His voice struck her heart with a strong hand, like that of a Greek god who came to earth to enchant humans and make them dance to his will.

She continued to stare at the dissipating foam in her coffee. He couldn’t possibly be here. Not here, on her sacred ground.

“Can I talk to you?” Nate asked.

She raised her head slowly and gazed at him.

His blue eyes were like long-remembered azure summer skies so crystal clear, it stung to look at them.

“No,” she heard herself reply.

She walked up to him and without another word, she kissed him.

 

about the author

Catherine Lanigan is the international bestselling and award-winning author of over forty-five published titles in both fiction and non-fiction, including the novelizations of Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile. Ms. Lanigan’s novels have been translated into over twenty-four languages. Lanigan was tasked by the NotMYkid foundation to pen a collection of compelling and informative true stories of teen addicts.

Ms. Lanigan’s Shores of Indian Lake series for Harlequin Heartwarming includes the titles below plus soon to be released: Too Close to the Fire (2018) and My Racing Heart (2019). The Hallmark Channel will air Heart’s Desire as “Sweetest Heart” on March 17, 2018.

Ms. Lanigan is a frequent speaker at literary functions and book conventions as well as inspiring audiences with her real stories of angelic intervention from her Angel Tales series of books. She is an outspoken advocate for domestic violence and abuse and was honored by The National Domestic Violence Hotline in Washington, D.C. She has been a guest on numerous radio programs including “Coast to Coast” and on television interview and talk show programs as well as blogs, podcasts and online radio interview programs. She writes a monthly blog for Heartwarming Authors. Visit her on her website and social media.

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Shores of Indian Lake series

goodreads | amazon | bookdepository

 

giveaway

Catherine is giving away a $50 Amazon gift card.

giveaway ends 3/21/18

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Maddie sounds like my kind of gal! How about y’all?!
Share your thoughts, reader friends!