Title: A Place in Your Heart
Author: Kathy Otten
Genre: Historical Romance
Book Blurb:
Gracie McBride isn’t looking for love; she’s looking for respect. But in this man’s world of Civil War medicine, Gracie is expected to maintain her place changing beds and writing letters. Her biggest nemesis is the ward surgeon, Doctor Charles Ellard, who seems determined to woo her with arrogant kisses and terrible jokes.
Charles is an excellent surgeon. He assumed he would be well received by an army at war. He was not. Friendless and alone, he struggles to hide the panic attacks that plague him while the only person who understands him is a feisty Irish nurse, clearly resolved to keep him at a distance.
But Charles is sent to the battlefield, and Gracie is left with a wounded soldier, a box of toys and a mystery which can only be solved by the one man she wishes could love her as both a woman and a nurse.
Excerpt:
“No, I want you to go home before the death of that ten-year-old boy becomes so ordinary that one day you wake up and realize you no longer have the ability to feel.”
She squared her shoulders and stepped toward him. “Me own husband was a doctor, sir. I’ve birthed babies and stitched wounds. I stood by William’s side during surgeries and passed him instruments. I helped him clean the intestines of a man gored by a bull, before putting it all back inside that man’s belly. Me delicate sensibilities did not send me into a swoon then nor will they here. I thank ye for your concern, Doctor Ellard, but ‘tis who I am. And by the saints, as long as I have breath in me body I will feel and I will care.”
There gazes locked in that moment and something flickered in his icy depths, overshadowing his usual cynicism with what she suspected might be admiration. The harsh lines of his face softened.
“Saint Jude must indeed be watching over you, Mrs. McBride.”
“That he is, Doctor Ellard, that he is.”
He gave her a brisk nod and opened the door. “You’re not going home then, are you?”
She turned. “Ye know us Irish, Doctor Ellard. We don’t know what we want, but we’ll fight to the death to get it.”
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
What makes your featured book a must-read?
This is love story which takes us from a hospital in Washington to the battlefield of Chancellorsville. The hero is a surgeon and captain in the Union Army. The heroine, a feisty nurse who goes toe-to-toe with him, whether changing beds in a hospital ward or standing beside him during a battlefield amputation.
Giveaway –
Enter to win a $28 Amazon (US) gift card:
Open Internationally.
Runs May 25 – June 2, 2021.
Winner will be drawn on June 3, 2021.
Author Biography:
Kathy can’t remember a time when she wasn’t making up stories and writing them in notebooks. Once her kids were in high school, she joined a writers’ group and seriously pursued the craft. Her first short story was published in 2007. Since then, she has published multiple novels and short stories. She is a book coach and teaches writing workshops online. Kathy loves to hear from her readers. kathy@kathyotten.com
Social Media Links: