Queen of All She Reads: Blurb Blitz Tour & Giveaway for Ever Hopeful by Lori Ryan

Join author Lori Ryan on her Blurb Blitz Tour for Ever Hopeful, presented by Goddess Fish Promotions, from January 27 – February 7, 2014. Please leave a comment or question for Lori to let her know you stopped by. Lori will be awarding one Kindle Paperwhite (US/CANADA) or a gift card of an equivalent amount (International giveaway) to a randomly drawn winner during the tour. To enter her giveaway please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. You can follow the rest of Lori’s tour here. Tune in for my review later today.

Ever Hopeful

By Lori Ryan

Evers, Texas, Book 1

Publisher: Lori Ryan

Release Date: January 23, 2014

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Length: 179 Pages

ISBN: 978-1-941149-08-9

ASIN: B00I0VQ7Y4

Add to Goodreads

About the book:

Combining heart-soaring contemporary romance with heart-pounding suspense is a trademark of New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lori Ryan—and in her novel Ever Hopeful she delivers spectacularly on both counts.

Two-months pregnant and trapped in a violent marriage, Laura Kensington realizes that her ruthless and powerful in-laws will never let her go, even after the strange sudden death of her abusive husband. Fleeing far away to the Texas ranch of Cade Bishop, a strong yet tender man who believes in second chances, Laura finds herself irresistibly drawn to Cade’s gentle passion and giving heart. But there is no escaping the shadows of her past and soon danger re-enters her world, pulling Laura into a deadly web of lies, betrayals, and murder. And only Cade Bishop’s quiet strength and unwavering love can set her free.

BUY LINKS: AMAZON AMAZON UK PRINT VERSION BARNES& NOBLE

“You wanna know the first time he beat her so badly she couldn’t leave the house for a week?” Cade asked.

“No,” Shane managed to say but Cade wasn’t listening to him. He was staring at the wall like he was seeing the story he was telling and he was too trapped by the power of it to see what was around him or hear Shane’s voice.

“When her brother died. She wanted to go home to the funeral, but her husband had a business dinner she needed to be at. She had the nerve to ask him to postpone it so she could fly home for her brother’s funeral. The irony was, she couldn’t go to the dinner with him anyway. After the beating he gave her, she couldn’t be seen in public for over a week so she missed the flipping dinner anyway.”

The brothers sat together without speaking for a long time. There was nothing to say. Shane couldn’t imagine the fear Laura must have been living in every single day. The threat of having the person you thought you loved and could trust turn on you like that.

“I wish he wasn’t dead,” Cade said. Shane didn’t have to ask why. He was thinking the same thing himself. If her husband wasn’t dead they could hunt him down and have the satisfaction of teaching him what it was like to be hit by someone so much stronger than yourself, to live in constant fear.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Lori is an award winning author and stay-at-home mom. Her second book, Penalty Clause, won first place in the romance category in Lcuky Cinda Publishing’s Annual Global Writer’s Contest in 2013.

Lori has had a number of careers before embarking on her newest adventure of writing novels. After graduating from the University of Connecticut School of Law, she practiced law for three years, working primarily in the areas of utilities law and intellectual property litigation.

More recently, Lori owned and operated a dog training business in Austin, Texas, where she specialized in aggression and became an expert in the field of dog bite analysis. Lori sold her dog training business in 2013 and is now a full time writer and mother of two.

Lori still lives in Austin with her husband -- who is endlessly supportive of her changing career paths -- and her two children, one cat, and three dogs.

How can your readers follow you?

To follow me on Facebook, visit: http://www.facebook.com/loriryanromance

To visit my website, visit: http://www.loriryanromance.com/

Want to be a part of my online street team? Email me at Loriryanauthor@gmail.com and put the words ‘street team’ in the subject line. I’ll email you back with directions for joining my team.

To join my email list to receive updates and news, including sneak peeks and free giveaways or contest news, visit http://www.loriryanromance.com/#!join-my-mailing-list/cdpp.

To buy my books, visit my author page on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/loriryan.

Release: January 26th

I’ll be having events and contests January 26th through February 9th

Ever Hopeful will be priced at 99 cents for the first two weeks!

Price increases to 2.99 on February 10th

The first book in Lori Ryan’s new Ever, Texas series, Ever Hopeful is an emotionally charged second chance romance with suspense elements, well developed characters, and the reminder to never lose hope. Taking both the reader and her characters on a journey beginning with a smoothly paced plot, Ms. Ryan takes us from Connecticut to Evers, Texas as pregnant heroine Laura Kensington attempts to flee her abusive deceased husband’s domineering, and at times frightening, mother for a new life. Taken in by May Bishop, and her family, Laura begins the process of recovering from being an abused wife to a healthy, hopeful and happy adult woman.

Tackling the subject of spousal abuse, with as much realism as an author can while writing a fictional novel, Ms. Ryan reminds us that while leaving an abusive partner behind is the first step in recovery, it’s just the first of many steps a victim has to undergo. Fortunately for Laura, Cade Bishop, May’s son who lives on the family ranch, is just the kind of man an injured woman needs to be around. A gentle man who has spent his lifetime helping rescue neglected animals, Cade slowly helps Laura get accustomed to life on a ranch, the realization that hope is something she’s entitled to and awakens a need for companionship on several levels. Growing closer as they spend time together, Laura and Cade slowly begin to fall in love.

Ms. Ryan does a very good job developing both Laura and Cade’s characters; we watch as Laura goes from being a fearful, traumatized victim to a woman who can stand on her own two feet. Learning to trust and depend on others is a difficult lesson for Laura, but Ms. Ryan handles it in a believable way. Ms. Ryan also gives us Cade’s back story and we learn that while he has grown up and lived a mostly “charmed” life (compared to Laura’s), he has some issues of hiw own. Burned by an ex, Cade has to decide on whether or not he wants to let Laura into his heart and on just how deeply he wants to commit himself to a woman expecting another man’s child. He also has to make sure that his tendency to rescue neglected animals doesn’t get in the way of Laura’s recovery – he can’t confuse his desire to help with giving her the room to learn to say no and to let her stand up for her own rights.

The secondary characters are also well developed and Ms. Ryan does a good job providing a suspenseful situation that will need to be resolved before Laura’s life is truly her own to live. I especially liked May and Shane Bishop, Cade’s mom and older brother, who accepted and helped Laura as she works to rebuild her life. I also enjoyed getting to meet the people of Evers, Texas, a small town with plenty of personality and charm. Ms. Ryan even does a good job developing the villains of the story, and resolving the issues which will get in the way of Laura being able to lead a new life.

Will Laura and Cade realize the feelings they have for each other are more than enough to build a life on? Will Laura want to stay in Evers for the rest of her life? You’ll have to read Ever, Hopeful to find out. I enjoyed it and look forward to reading the next book in this series.

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 Crowns