The last thing eighteen-year-old Ann Leigh remembers is running from her boyfriend in a
thick Nebraska cornfield. This morning she’s staring down a cool Italian sunrise,
an entire continent from the life she once knew.
The events of the eighteen months in between have inexplicably gone missing from her memory.
All at once she’s living with Tommy, an attractive, young foreigner asking for her continued love.
Though he’s vaguely familiar, she recalls a boy named Shane in America who she reluctantly
agreed to marry. Juggling a new world while her old one is still M.I.A is
difficult enough without the terrifying movie scenes
spinning a dizzy loop in her mind: glimpses of a devastating house fire, a romance
gone wrong, an unplanned pregnancy, and a fractured family – each claiming to be part of
who she once was – a girl and a past somehow discarded.
Ann Leigh must collect the pieces of herself to become whole again, but she doesn’t
know who to trust especially when Tommy’s lies become too obvious to ignore. And above all, her
heart aches to discover what became of the child she may or may not have given birth to.
The Making of Nebraska Brown tells the story of one girl’s coming apart from the inside and the great lengths
she’ll go to reclaim herself and find her way home.
Excerpt:
Tommy
sat down beside me. His musky cologne smelled familiar. His
espresso-colored brown hair parted over on the left side of his head,
draped over
his ears in dogged springiness. I’d told him I liked it
shorter. I knew that, too.
“Of
course. We were supposed to meet there for lunch, like we always do
on Tuesdays. What’s going on? Why are you playing games?”
I
let my head fall into the cushion. Tears tempted me to cry them.
They’d been behaving for hours now. I clamped my lids shut,
breathed through my mouth. “I’m not playing. I don’t know what
happened.
I can’t remember why I’m here or who I am. Who you
are.”
His
hand fell on my knee like winter’s first snow, easy and without a
sound. When he spoke, he used that same tone—sweet and calm as
dawn. “Ana, it’s me. Tommy. And you’re you.
We’re us. Have
been for over a year.”
I
wound my fingers with his, searched his face for the other half of
this “us” he referred to. He pulled me close. Caramel wafted at
me from inside that bag, slapping me around, calling me silly. Tommy
held the
small of my back in his palm. His hands were large, strong
and sure, the kind of hands that had never had a frightened moment in
their whole life.
As a young girl who spent her allowance on Nancy Drew mysteries, Louise realized that one day, she might have a story of her own to tell.
Maybe even more than one story. After years focused on raising her children she eventually reconnected with her passion for creative writing.
She soon began to craft a large collection of short stories which were published in the inspirational online magazine,
Faithhopeandfiction.com. Shortly thereafter, she authored her first novel, Wishless, a contemporary YA, released in 2011.
Louise devotes a portion of each day to honing her skills. She has several other novels currently in various stages of development.
A confirmed bibliophile, Louise enjoys reading outdoors on a warm spring day and watching her pup chase leaves on a breeze. She looks
forward to meeting others who share her love of the written word and invites you to visit her blog, her website and
follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
Thank you so much for having me here! I would be happy to provide a review copy of Nebraska Brown to you or any of your followers who might be interested.
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