The Storm Within by Cerian Hebert (Spotlight, excerpt, review, and GIVEAWAY) GFT ADULT title

The Storm Within

by  
Cerian Hebert
ADULT title

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GENRE:   Contemporary Romance/Paranormal

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BLURB:

Healed from her own loss, Juliana Hopkins wants nothing more than to mend reclusive artist Aidan Byrne’s heart, and help close a chapter in his life that has haunted him for over twenty years. Risking their newfound love, Juliana is determined to release the ghosts he can’t let go.

Aidan has been in love with Juliana since the first moment he saw her, but if she can’t leave the tragedies of his past alone, he won’t be able to make a life with her.

She offers him a love he never dared to want, but loving her could rip open all the old wounds he’d never been able to heal.

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EXCERPT

Aidan stared at her, only inches away from him in the tiny bathroom. The bloodied cotton ball tight in her grip, she’d broken down into heavy sobs. He wasn’t sure how to handle it. Weeping women weren’t his specialty. Hell, women in general weren’t his specialty, and now he felt completely at a loss on how to comfort her.

He’d sensed her earlier mood, when their eyes had locked in the mirror. At that moment, restless awareness turned into a new sort of tension. She’d been so close to him that he could smell the clean fragrance of her shampoo and feel her warm, tea scented breath on his neck. Fighting a similar attraction, he understood why she’d resorted to anger. He would’ve done the same thing in her shoes. Anger he could handle. Tears? That was a different story.

Quickly he grabbed a few sheets of Kleenex from the box on the back of the toilet and handed them to her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry. Really, it doesn’t hurt,” he said softly.

Juliana wiped the tissue across her eyes and didn’t look at him. “It’s not that,” she replied with a catch in her voice. “It’s the stupidity of you driving out there. Crazy and irresponsible. You should’ve gotten a lot more than a dumb little scratch on your face. You could’ve been killed, and you could’ve killed Fred.”

Amazon link

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Originally from Minnesota, Cerian is currently settled in southwestern New Hampshire with her husband and two of her four children plus a dog, cat and two geckos. She's known she wanted to write since she was twelve, and between mucking stalls in New York and booking cruises in Maine, she's been filling notebooks and flash drives with her stories in pursuit of her dreams.

Currently she has 10 published books (No Going Back, Where One Road Leads, The Staying Kind, Going Going Gone, and  The Storm Within from Soul Mate Publishing, and The Better Man, Do Overs, Finally Home, Light The Way Home, and That Kind of Magic self-published at Amazon). She’s looking forward to adding to this list.

Cerian is a PAN member of RWA, Contemporary Romance Writers and New Hampshire Romance Writers of America.

Social Media Links:

Website
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Goodreads
Author Central

 

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GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway


The tour dates can be found here 

 

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My review:

4 out of 5 stars

The Storm Within by Cerian Hebert is an adult contemporary romance with a hint of paranormal that is part of the ‘Soul Mate Tree’ series. Tragically widowed Juliana Hopkins slowly tries to rebuild her life, but doesn’t anticipate the changes caused by her grumpy and reclusive neighbor, Aidan Byrne. Aidan has walled himself off from emotions due to his own dark past, but a little judicious interference by a family legend forces him to reevaluate his life.

This story is an excellent addition to the collection of stories centering around a multidimensional matchmaking tree. The poignant background of each character made me invested in the story and anxious that each get a happier future, and of course, the charming Fred added a nice canine element. I hoped for a more definitive answer to Aidan’s dilemma but perhaps there is a sequel in the works. I wasn’t quite sure I liked the idea of continuing to investigate in the face of such anguished opposition, despite the good intentions, so one has to hope the Soul Mate Tree is as omniscient as usual! The story was an entertaining quick read and I will be on the lookout for more of this author’s works.

A copy of this story was provided to me for review

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