☀ A Wedding At Meadows Shore: Meadows Shore [1] - Eva Charles

Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for A Wedding At Meadows Shore, a Contemporary Romance by Eva Charles (first published 15 August 2015; this edition 2 May 2016, Quarry Road Publishing, 190 pages).

This is the first book in the Meadows Shore series; watch out for the second instalment due out in June 2016.

PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and excerpt below.  Read the Prologue and the first three chapters with Amazon Look Inside.

Author Eva Charles will be awarding a $50 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.  

Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other excerpts (☀) and reviews (✍).

Synopsis | Teaser | The Series | About the Author | Giveaway & Tour Stops

---

Synopsis

Meadows Shore is the childhood home of the five Clayton sisters and the six Harrington brothers, the family seat where these irresistible characters gather regularly…or whenever they need the comfort of Portuguese home cooking and the love and wisdom of elder women.

After Sophie Clayton catches her husband in bed with a young intern, she creates a new life for herself as the executive director of a failing domestic violence agency. It’s the perfect job for a woman born to fix everything. A friend’s broken heart, a tattered agency, a flat tire—she’ll roll up her sleeves and make it as good as new. Sophie rarely encounters anything she can’t fix…until she meets the devastatingly handsome and insufferably arrogant, Max Parker. One of Boston’s most eligible bachelors, he’s never without a stunning young woman on his arm and in his bed.

When Sophie’s forced to deal with Max, sparks fly, and somewhere in the crossfire of verbal daggers and clever barbs, she discovers his darkest secret.

back to top

---

Teaser: Excerpt

Three Years Ago

Traffic was backed up for miles. The unexpected ice storm left holiday travelers at the mercy of untreated roads. A steady stream of emergency vehicles maneuvered the slick highway, signaling the fate of motorists ahead.Meadows Shore was less than an hour away, yet after creeping along for more than two, they’d barely traveled beyond the Boston suburbs.
     The weather showed no signs of easing, and the state police were beginning to divert cars off the highway. Exhausted and disappointed, they returned to Wellesley for the night. Sophie called Eric to let him know they were on their way back, but he didn’t pick up.
     When they finally arrived, the house was dark except for a dim light coming from the back bedroom. An unfamiliar car occupied her spot in the garage. If she’d been alone, she would’ve backed out of the driveway and driven into the night, casting yet another shadow over her loveless marriage.But Helena and Juliana were with her, retreating wasn’t an option.
     “Someone from work probably brought over a file and pulled into the garage so they wouldn’t get wet.” She said the words to reassure her sisters, but in her heart she knew they were a lie. A familiar lie, the kind she’d been telling herself almost every day since she first met Eric Stevens.
     She was more comfortable in the world of denial when it came to Eric—it was less complicated, and perhaps a bit less painful than the real world. But one lives there on borrowed time, for denial provides only temporary shelter for cowards. Sophie knew sooner or later reality would come home to roost, shining a harsh bright light, illuminating the darkest corners of her marriage.She parked the car, all but certain that tonight her life in denial was over.
     Despite her growing unease, she went through the motions effortlessly—turned off the engine, grabbed the bags, locked the car. Humdrum, but for the gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach warning something was amiss.Intuition, her father had called it: “A combination of knowledge, some of which you acquire consciously, and some of which you acquire subconsciously.You might not want to base all your life’s decisions on it, but it’s not wise to ignore it, either.” If only he’d heeded his own advice.
     She wiggled the key into the recalcitrant side door lock with a chill of awareness, for she knew when the door opened, her life would be forever changed. The adage “when one door closes another door opens” came to mind, but it didn’t quiet her discomfort. Hands shaking, she struggled with the lock, cursing softly when it wouldn’t budge.
     Once she resigned herself to the idea that the bandage was about to be ripped off Sophie preferred the sting of one quick yank to the slow, drawn-out method. Either way there’d be pain; might as well get it over with. The temperamental lock was just prolonging the agony. Finally, the damn door opened.
     They entered the kitchen to the sound of jazz drifting through the house from upstairs. She caught her sisters stealing furtive glances at her, worry distorting their innocent faces. “Stay right here. And relax, thieves don’t generally bother with background music when they’re robbing a house.” She must have sounded like she meant business, because they didn’t bother to argue.
     As she made her way to the second floor the scene began to unfold. Even the beautiful music from John Coltrane’s saxophone couldn’t mask the awful sounds coming from her bedroom—the sounds of creatures feverishly copulating, oblivious to everything but the completion within tantalizing reach. She knew as soon as she spotted the car in the garage. In truth, she’d probably always known that Eric Stevens was a cheater.
     Not having had any experience confronting rogue husbands, she wasn’t exactly sure what to do next. It wasn’t as though Emily Post had written extensively on the etiquette of dealing with one’s philandering husband and his mistress. What did one do?
     The anger hadn’t yet hit, and the adrenaline was just shy of kicking in when she ascended the stairs to face her cheating husband. Although she had a starring role in the drama, in many ways it was as though she was seated in the audience, a voyeur witnessing the climax of a tragic play.
     While she clutched the railing for support, images of her sisters flooded her brain, grounding her. She had more to consider than just her own feelings.Her parents died four years ago, and though her sisters were young adults, she was responsible for them. The way she handled this situation would affect them too. She couldn’t have them believe that Eric’s behavior was acceptable, a minor transgression simply to be endured. No, she had no intention of teaching that lesson.
     Sophie paused on the stairs and, as she had so many times in the past several years, she prayed to her mother, begging her to provide the wisdom and courage she desperately needed to make the best decision for her sisters.
     Gathering her strength, she walked into the bedroom, and, with all the calm she could muster, told the sweaty, acrobatic slimeballs, “Get. Out. Both of you. Get out now.” She didn’t shout, scream, rage, wail, whimper, or stutter the words—she simply said them. Laid them out in an unyielding voice, one that no sane person would dare question. It was as if she’d practiced them hundreds of times. And maybe she had.
     She didn’t bother to give them the courtesy of turning her back while they dressed. The young intern, the very young intern, apologized profusely on her way out the door, but Sophie didn’t acknowledge her. While she didn’t fully blame her—after all, the skinny redhead wasn’t the one who’d vowed to be faithful—she wasn’t about to let her off the hook, either.
     Eric behaved as he always did when things didn’t go his way: like a petulant bully. He dressed, threw a few things in an overnight bag, and stalked out the door without offering an apology. He did, however, throw one last parting shot her way. “This is all your fault, and you know it. If you weren’t such a cold bitch, I wouldn't need to find comfort in another woman’s arms. You’ll be begging me to come back before the week’s over.”
     As it turned out, he’d found comfort in lots of women’s arms, and Sophie never did ask him to come back.
     Instead, she redecorated the bedroom they’d shared. Gave away all the furnishings piece by piece—furniture Eric had carefully handpicked, and other items he’d painstakingly approved.
     But what gave her the greatest satisfaction was hiding the expensive jewelry he’d given her in various drawers hoping some unsuspecting shopper, decorating her home with castoffs from Goodwill, would find the hidden treasure a pleasant and perhaps much-needed surprise.
     She then purchased brushes and a roller to repaint the room. Consulting no one, she chose fabrics and furnishings that suited her, and colors that made her heart sing. The project consumed her. It took well over a month to complete, but it was far less time than it would’ve taken to get an appointment with a decent therapist.

A Wedding At Meadows Shore
Available NOW!

back to top

---

The Series: Meadows Shore

All books in the Meadows Shore series are meant to be read as stand-alone novels—without cliff-hangers.

Please be advised that the profanity and graphic sexual content contained in this novel are not appropriate for anyone under the age of 18.

Click on the book cover to Look Inside the book on Amazon and read an excerpt.

My Sweetest Sasha [2]

Meadows Shore is the childhood home of the five Clayton sisters and the six Harrington brothers, the family seat where these irresistible characters gather regularly or whenever they need the comfort of Portuguese home cooking and the love and wisdom of elder women.

Cole Harrington, the oldest of those swoon-worthy Harrington brothers, is a gifted trauma surgeon with a cocky smile and a whole lot of swagger. He’s assigned an executive coach after he smashes the thermostat in the operating room to smithereens.

Alexa Petersen is a nice girl from Minnesota who’s been tasked with shadowing the naughty trauma surgeon, and writing a report to end his promising career. While she might prefer pretty lace panties, Alexa’s not afraid to slip on a pair of steel-toed boots when Cole needs to be knocked down a notch or two.

Hospital drama and small-town woes, the truth obscured by secrets and lies, and nothing is as it appears—not even Cole and Alexa.

[Published 1 June 2016, 269 pages]

back to series | back to top

---

About the Author

Eva Charles is the author of the multi-titled Meadows Shore Series that chronicles the lives and loves of the Clayton-Harrington family. She invites you to visit their beloved Meadows Shore nestled in the charming seaside town of Fair Harbor, where you’ll enjoy love, laughter, loyalty, and an abundance of mouth-watering food, Portuguese style.

After being a confirmed city-girl for more than thirty-five years, Eva moved to beautiful western Massachusetts in 2014. There, she found herself living in the woods with no job, no friends (unless you count the turkeys, deer, and coyotes roaming the backyard), and no children underfoot, wondering what on earth she’d been thinking. But as it turned out, it was the perfect setting to take all those yarns spinning in her head and weave them into a romantic tale.

When she’s not writing, trying to squeeze information out of her tight-lipped sons, or playing with the two cutest dogs you’ve ever seen, Eva’s creating chapters in her own love story.

Follow Eva Charles:

back to top

---

Giveaway and Tour Stops

Enter to win a $50 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway
Remember to comment to win!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow A Wedding At Meadows Shore's tour at:

May 2: Room With Books ✍
May 3: LibriAmoriMiei ✍
May 4: Liz Gavin's Blog
May 4: Author B. L. Blair
May 5: Christine Young
May 6: Where the Story Comes First
May 6: Jen's Reading Obsession ✍
May 9: Two Ends of the Pen
May 10: Buried Under Romance
May 11: Romance Novel Giveaways
May 12: Read Your Writes Book Reviews
May 13: BooksChatter
May 16: Louise Lyndon Romance Author Hear Me Roar
May 16: Wendi Zwaduk ~ Romance to Make Your Heart Race
May 17: Words of Wisdom from The Scarf Princess
May 18: The Avid Reader
May 19: Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews
May 19: Southern Yankee Book Reviews
May 20: Booklover Sue
May 23: Stormy Vixen Book Reviews
May 23: Sharing Links and Wisdom
May 24: T's Stuff
May 25: Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews
May 26: EskieMama Reads ✍
May 27: Queen of All She Reads

back to top