Title: Heart of the Ozark
Author: Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy
Publisher: Rebel Ink Press
Length: 75,000 words
Genre(s): Romance
Sub-Genre(s) Contemporary
Sub-Categories: Second Chance at Love
Heat Level: Steamy (Hot sex
scenes/language, but not explicit)
AVAILABLE AT:
(Buy links will be forwarded when available.)
BLURB:
After St. Louis TV weathercaster
Cole Celinksi loses his almost estranged wife and three children in a car
crash, his boss orders him to take a leave of absence. Against his will, Cole leaves the city in
late May to find the rest and relaxation everyone else thinks he needs. Without
anywhere else to go, Cole heads for Lake Dreams, a resort on the quiet side of
Lake Taneycomo in the Ozarks he visited each summer as a child with his grandparents. Some of his best memories were made in the
lakeside vacation haven with his summer friend, Maggie.
Upon his arrival, Cole learns
Maggie now runs the place. Twenty years
have passed but from the minute he returns, they reconnect and soon their mutual
attraction ignites. He fishes in the
lake, takes Maggie to visit some of the places he remembers and begins to find
out who he truly is. Before he can heal, he must learn to deal with his loss
and to see if he can create a new family with Maggie and her children. It’s a
task he’s not sure he can handle but if he wants to be with Maggie, he must. A
near tragedy brings them all together into a close knit unit and afterward,
Cole may be able to make his dreams reality.
EXCERPT #1:
Maggie took three steps forward until she
stood in front of him and put one hand on his chest. She stared at him for a moment stretching out
long and then stood on tip-toe to kiss his mouth, very gentle and soft. It wasn’t a lover’s kiss, not quite, but
intimate and Cole’s reaction surged through his body with a rush. Her mouth’s brief caress whispered affection
and familiarity.
“Go get changed,” she said, “We’re not fancy
at Dove Chapel but shorts won’t do. I’ll
come pick you up in a half hour, okay?”
“Sure,” Cole said, “I’ll be ready.”
When she rolled to a stop beneath the cabin’s
porch, he hurried down, wearing the single pair of Dockers he’d brought along
with a button-down shirt. Maggie smiled, dressed now in an attractive navy blue
and white print dress, hose, and dark blue heels. She’d also put on more
make-up than he’d seen her wear yet and tamed her hair into a bun on the back
of her head, held in place with a plastic clip.
“You look lovely,” Cole said, his eyes
drinking in her beauty.
“Thanks,” she laughed, “Don’t turn my head or
I’ll get nervous.”
She drove around the winding curves along the
back roads to the old church, handling the car with skill. They didn’t talk
much but she sometimes broke into song, practicing he guessed. Cole realized he’d never ridden with Maggie
at the wheel before. He recalled during the last summer he spent here driving
Pop’s Impala with Maggie riding shotgun to Dove Chapel.
When the church came into view Cole’s chest
tightened with sudden anxiety. Too late
to turn back, now he wasn’t sure he should have come. He offered up his first
prayer in a very long time and begged God no one be present from St. Louis.
“Will people ask who I am?” he said as they
climbed out of the car.
“Probably,” Maggie replied, “And everyone
will stare at you and be nosy.”
His heart slowed and his stomach
clenched. “Tell me you’re kidding.”
She grinned, “I’m not, really but it’ll be
fine, Cole. Trust me, okay?”
If he hadn’t wanted to hear her sing and
watch, he’d gone back to the car but he sighed instead. “All right, I’ll try to
be on my best behavior.”
They settled into a pew midway down the right
side of the aisle. As Cole looked around
the once familiar church, he could almost believe he’d been transported back to
Mayberry or to a sound stage somewhere. The humble country church appeared to
date to the early 19th century and he figured it probably did. Before he could analyze his thoughts further,
a couple in their sixties appeared and greeted Maggie.
“Oh, you look so pretty, honey,” the woman said,
“Who’s your friend?”
Cole cringed and restrained from ducking his
head like a bashful child as Maggie rested one hand on his knee and said, “This
is Cole Celinksi, an old friend. He used
to spend his summers at the resort when we were kids. Cole, this is Irene Matthews and her husband,
Tom. They used to own a little motel
over on the other side of Taneycomo, where Branson Landing is now.”
“Hi,” Cole said, extending his hand in
greeting. “It’s nice to meet you.”
He repeated the phrase for the next ten
minutes until the service began and everyone settled into place for
worship. Maggie remained in the pew
through the opening song but then she headed up front. Cole watched, awestruck,
as she stood in front of the upright piano and clasped her hands. From the rear of the church, someone struck
up guitar chords for the melody and she sang in a clear, full voice. The sound of it filled the little old church
and resounded around the room. For Cole,
it seemed as if she sang to him alone. Her eyes never left his face as she
trilled out the lively song and as the message tucked within the music
penetrated his heart, tears trailed down his cheeks, slow and steady.
Until then, he’d never realized how angry
he’d been with a god who allowed his kids to die or how high a wall he’d
erected around his faith to hide it. Listening to Maggie’s pure voice, he
realized God sent joy to his people, a joy to dance about even when the devil’s
on your back. He’d shut himself off from joy and wallowed in sorrow. In her voice, he heard echoes of his
children’s laughter and Cole moved his lips, singing along with Maggie without
sound. As soon as she finished, she came to the pew and slid in beside him.
Cole reached out and squeezed her hand,
speechless with emotion. As the pastor
took the pulpit and began to preach, Maggie handed him a tissue from her purse
and whispered, “Are you okay?”
He nodded, mopping away his tears. “I’m good,
Maggie. Your song touched me.”
Maggie slipped her arm through his and leaned
against him. Her whisper came like a
breath of wind, for his ears only, “I’m glad.”
Although the sermon lasted a full thirty
minutes and the volume increased, Cole didn’t hear a word of it. His mind reflected on the song but his
awareness of Maggie beside him increased until he thought of nothing else but
her and where their friendship might go from this point.
Her soft perfume permeated his nose and
beneath it he could smell her lavender shampoo.
Each breath she drew he felt and when the congregation joined in song,
her voice matched his. Since he came to
Branson, Cole’d known several quiet moments with Maggie but this one eased his
inner turmoil in a different, more powerful way.
The thought struck him he belonged with
Maggie and maybe he’d find his way home with her help.
He liked it almost enough to forget the idea
scared the hell out of him.
EXCERPT #2:
Cole’d almost forgotten how pleasant kissing
a woman he cared about could be until he kissed Maggie.
Her lips yielded to his unexpected kiss, warm
and silky beneath his mouth. Something
sparked between them, old and familiar but new too. The kiss kindled desire, his want surging
strong and rich through Cole’s body and with it, he felt renewed. Fiery electricity danced through his nervous
system, tingling and reviving him. When
Maggie touched him and placed her hands on his body she stirred the embers
almost faded in the ashes of his soul.
His living force within soared, catching fire with a whoosh rocketing
from his feet to his head.
Cole didn’t think, just experienced. He inhaled the essence of her shampoo, caught
a whiff of her perfume, and tasted lingering coffee on her lips. Her slender body shifted so she stood so
close a thin sheet of paper couldn’t pass between them and warmth filled the
space. His years, the months of tragic induced agony, the maturity of his third
decade, more than halfway to his fourth melted like candy in the rain until
Cole felt the wild, heady intoxication of youth. A carnal yearning rose in him like a wild
animal’s need to mate and yet something else tempered, a caring sense of
connection. He wanted to ravish her and
yet nurture her, all at once. He ached
to use her like a whore and own her but deeper, Cole longed to become one with
her, to twine not just bodies but merge souls.
He deepened the kiss until his tongue worked
into her mouth and Maggie moved the rest of the way until her breasts rubbed
his chest. She made a soft little mew of
pleasure and he knew he could have her, take her there on the living room
couch, her body supported against the pillows she’d chosen at Wal-Mart or JC
Penney’s. He didn’t doubt it and because he knew, he didn’t. Cole let the kiss wind down, slow and
easy. He allowed one of his hands to
crawl from her back to fondle her full breasts with a gentle caress. He almost lost control again when she arched
her back like a satisfied kitten but he eased back to normal, his breath a
little quick and grinned at her. Maggie
smiled back with an unfocused gaze. She
looked the way he felt when he came out of a movie he’d really gotten involved
with, dreamy until he walked into the sunlight and a jolt of reality.
“Oh, Cole,” she breathed, her tone filled
with appreciation and what he thought might be affection.
“I guess you liked it,” he said, without
planning. “I’m glad. I thought you might slap my face for that.”
Maggie laughed with a musical quality so
sweet it ramped up his blood pressure a few notches. “I wouldn’t,” she told
him, “But, oh, Cole.”
“What?”
She shook her head and her hair floated
around her shoulders in a cloud. “I’ve been ready for you to kiss me again for
twenty years but I don’t know if you are.”
His scarred heart skipped a beat. Hell, he wasn’t sure either but he wanted to
be and just that alone equaled a miracle.
“If you’d asked me a week ago,” he said, “I’d have said no way. Yesterday I’d thought maybe in a distant
future.”
“What about now?”
“I don’t know,” he said, “But I want to find
out.”
She’d always been mercurial, a creature of
many moods and faces so he wasn’t surprised when she put her hands against his
chest and said, eyes smoldering, “Kiss me again and see what happens.”
Cole almost did but rational thought stayed
him. “If I do,” he told her, without any bullshit, “I won’t be able to stop
this time at just a kiss.”
Maggie’s eyes met his and hers were filled
with the naked yearning of a hungry bird and the innocent trust of a pet bunny
rabbit. “I don’t care, Cole. I want
you.”
Everything he longed for in this moment she
offered but he shook his head. “I want you, Maggie, in every way a man can want
a woman but it’s not the right time. If
we do this now, it’ll end up bad. You’re
vulnerable and the last thing I want to do is hurt you, honey.”
“You won’t.”
“I might without meaning to do it,” he said,
his voice husky with emotion. “We’ve brought something to life so let’s don’t
ruin it before it has time to grow.
We’ll be together when its right, I promise.”
Tears shimmered in her eyes and he thought
she’d cry but Maggie didn’t. She nodded
and put her fingers against his cheek. “You’re being sensible, I guess,
Cole. Just tell me it’ll be soon.”
“God, yes,” he said with feeling, enough she
laughed.
EXCERPT #3:
With total open honesty Cole said, “I hope
not because I want to be around you for a long time, Maggie, maybe forever.”
“Then start with tonight,” she breathed, an
invitation if he’d ever heard one.
He took three steps and enveloped her in his
arms, very aware of just how little she wore.
Cole leaned down and connected his mouth to hers. Her lips molded to his, warm and sweet and
her arms wrapped about his neck to draw him even closer. Desire, as electric as lightning, flared
between them and although he ached to hurry, Cole decided to go slow and savor
the experience.
So he kissed her with precision, with
lingering anticipation and evoked a response he liked. Cole craved more so he lowered his lips from
her mouth to throat where he nibbled with delicate little bites. By the way she
moaned and moved, he thought she liked what he did. Cole enjoyed it too. Each little taste propelled shivers through
him, each one like a shuddering chill but with a physical pleasure rocking him
hard. The flavor of her night sweat tasted salty against his tongue but he
savored the she-woman aroma he inhaled even more.
Cole lowered the straps of her nighty so he
could kiss her shoulder and brush the freckles there with his mouth. Maggie shivered and without knowing quite
how, he stripped the gown from her body.
The thin cotton fell to the kitchen floor as he cupped her full, lovely
breasts in both hands. “Beautiful,” he
whispered as he put his mouth over one nipple and suckled just enough to make
it bloom, hard and tight. Maggie whimpered
as he did and the sound of her pleasure intensified his. His fingers caressed the flat smoothness of
her abdomen, the slight curve of her lower belly. Against his rough fingertips her skin’s
softness seemed as fragile as cobwebs but beneath the veneer her body heat
burned. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear she had a fever but this heat
wasn’t from illness. This fire came from
internal combustion.
He fingered the soft curly hair above her
cunt with the same reverence he would show for something precious but it wasn’t
until her fingers jerked at the zipper of his jeans Cole remembered he still
wore clothing. He wanted them off now and yearned to be skin to skin with
Maggie so after she unzipped his pants he kicked them off with one swift
motion. When she hooked the edge of his
briefs with one hand his heartbeat increased until the beats made a staccato
rhythm in his chest. Maggie pulled them
down and he stepped out of them, sure she’d hear the wild drumming of his
heart.
Cole’s already hard cock stiffened more when
Maggie grasped it with one hand and squeezed with just the right amount of
pressure. At the rush of sheer physical
rapture she caused he thought he’d fall down on the floor with the wave of
response but instead he managed to pull off his khaki shirt, tearing away at
least two of the buttons in the process.
He heard them ping against the kitchen floor but he didn’t care. He owned other shirts and if necessary, Cole
figured he might be able to sew them back on anyway.
Maggie pressed against him, hand still
cupping his cock and he almost ejaculated too soon at the sensation of her skin
against his, even more erotic than he’d imagined. She raked her nails down his back at the same
time and Cole groaned aloud.
“Like that?” Maggie said, a grin emerging
from the look of rapture on her face.
“Love it,” he managed to spit out. Need roared within until he decided the hell
with going slow. He’d savored all he
could stand now he’d feast. Cole backed
Maggie up against the kitchen table, lifted her ass enough to make her cunt
accessible and entered her with a sudden, sharp thrust. He plunged in deep and cried aloud wordlessly
as her tight box fit around him. The
first of the spirals began, circles of carnal delight radiating out from where
they joined to consume him with intense pleasure. Maggie clung to him as if he were a life
preserver out on a turbulent lake and made small sounds he found
gratifying. She gasped and then shrieked
like a banshee. Her outcry brought him
over the edge and into the starburst of passion, the ultimate come
experience.
Afterward if he hadn’t caught her, she’d
sagged down the floor and he probably would’ve followed if they didn’t hang
onto each other. Cole brushed his hand over her wild and free hair streaming
down her back and over her shoulders, gentle and tender. He wanted to say so much but when his
breathing eased back to normal, all he could manage was, “That was wonderful.”
BOOK
TRAILER:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy is a full-time
romance author. A native of the old
historic city of St. Joseph, Missouri, one time home to both Jesse James and
the Pony Express, she now lives and writes in the beautiful Missouri Ozark
region. Her romance novels include Love Never Fails, Witness Protection
Program, Sing We Now of Christmas, A Patient Heart, In Love’s Own Time, Miss
Good Samaritan, In The Shadow of War, Guy’s Angel, and Heart
of the Ozarks, all from Rebel Ink Press.
She also has six other novels and several novellas available. Her work
also appears in more than twenty anthologies and she has multiple short
story/non-fiction credits.
She is a member of RWA, Missouri Writers
Guild, EPIC, and the Ozarks Writers League. Her work also appears in multiple
anthologies. She earned a BA degree in both English and History from Missouri
Southern State University as well as an AA Degree in Journalism from Crowder
College. She worked in broadcast media
for a decade and also has a background in education. Her weekly column “Hindsight” appears each
week in the Neosho Daily News.
She is married to Roy W. Murphy and the
couple has three children, Emily, Megan, and Patrick Murphy.
If Lee Ann – or Lee as many of her writing
friends know her – isn’t writing, she’s reading or spending time outdoors.
In Neosho, Missouri, the small town she now
calls home, she serves on the local library board, is active in the annual
Relay For Life fight against cancer, has worked with the local Arts Council,
and is active in her parish.
A Page In The Life: http://leeannsontheimermurphywriterauthor.blogspot.com
Rebel Writer - Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy: http://leeannsontheimermurphy.blogspot.com
Seanachie
Stories: Tuesday Tales And More: http://seanachiestories-tuesdaytalesandmore.blogspot.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/leeannwriter
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Lee-Ann-Sontheimer-Murphy/e/B004JPBM6I/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
My Review: 5 Stars
After the loss of his whole family in a tragic accident Cole Celinksi was on a path of self destruction. His manager insisted he need to take a 3 month vacation to get to grips with the loss and grief for his wife and 3 children. He booked a place where he knew he found peace, a resort next to Lake Taneycomo in the Ozarks where he spend every summer holiday with his grand parents.
He met Maggie and her two teenagers, now running the run down resort that used to belong to her parents. After they realized that the old feelings were still lingering Maggie and her kids helped him to adjust to the new live without his kids who meant the world to him. He had to admit to Maggie that his wife was unhappy in the marriage and requested a divorce a month before the accident. He knew his marriage was over and he did not cry much about his estranged wife but his kids was a whole different matter. Every where they go in the small town and confronted with kids he zoned out and Maggie struggled to get him back. Her calm influence on him was good since he did not run to the bottle to curb the anxiety but found peace in her arms. her children accepting him as part of the family and soon he helped out on the resort doing maintenance work Maggie could not managed.
The mundane things keeping him grounded and brought him back to what were important in his life. He had to made decisions about his future. Go back to the city life or stay at her side. An old city friend at the end helped him to make that decision being confronted with old scorns that he detested. He knew he could not return to that life again. His troubled indigestion problems gave him a hard time and almost cost him his life. Why he never went to a doctor is beyond me. Maggie's premonitions also gave the story a bit of a edge although I thought it was dragged out to long.
The plot of the story was very mellow and at times had a dragging edge with all the small stuff inserted but at the end the author managed to kept my interest peeked. A few spelling mistakes, the kind that you mistakenly punched the wrong key(smile) and a few cups of coffee later I enjoyed the story as the main character evolved in a man that faced his loss, cope with it the best he could [since it would not really be all over] and reached out for help in the form of a loving woman. The steamy scenes was also more mild than steamy but enough to keep the momentum going.
To start over is never easy but when you have understanding people around you that is willing to help you, you can make it. It is possible and this came out strongly in the story line.
Overall a good story.
At first I wanted to give it 4 Stars but the Trailer changed my mind. I have watched the book trailer on Youtube. The music and images all working together so that you could get the mellow feeling of the country and the new life Cole has chosen. The setting is adventurous and welcoming to a hurting soul.
Well Done
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