Title: Forgiven Never Forgotten
Author: Susan Leigh Furlong
Genre: Historical romance/adventure
Book Blurb:
Rory Campbell, falsely accused of participating in the Clan MacDonald of Glencoe killings, is sentenced to hang as a sacrificial lamb while the real agents of the slaughter escape blame. He risks everything to convince the love of his life, Joneta MacDonald, of the truth. He can never forget how completely she owns his heart.
Joneta MacDonald watches helplessly as her family is murdered by the king’s men, but forgiving Rory for his seeming participation is harder than she imagined. What must she endure besides the clan’s hatred? With the overwhelming odds against them, she clings to her love for a man labelled a traitor.
Excerpt:
Robert (Rory’s alias) abandoned all thoughts of good manners and patience as he forced his way through the crowd toward the leather factory at the end of the street. The livery needed new reins and harnesses, and he was determined to get a good price. Most people cursed him when he gave them a shove as he went by, but it didn’t stop him. The horses and carriages were another matter, and he just had to wait until they passed.
He paused outside a dressmaker’s shop to admire several colorful bolts of cloth and three dresses displayed in the window. He wished he had someone to buy for. He was drawn to a dark blue material with yellow specks scattered throughout, thinking it would suit Joneta, but here in Glasgow he knew no one who would use the cloth, and it would stay that way for the rest of his lonely life.
Someone, giving him a sharp jolt to his back, knocked him out of his reverie. His feet tangled, and he only stayed upright by steadying himself against the window of the dress shop, his arms splayed to the sides.
Then he saw it.
Directly across the street, a head of auburn hair moved in the opposite direction. Sunlight sparkled over the blond streaks throughout the braids.
Joneta!
He’d seen flashes of hair like hers before, and it always gave him a shock in the pit of his stomach. Each time, after he realized it wasn’t her, he felt sick, lonely, and cursed to never see her again, never to hold her or say the words that stayed on his heart day and night. Even though he knew each time it couldn’t be her, he always hoped it might be.
He had started toward the leather shop again when the auburn head of hair stepped up into the doorway of the ribbon shop across the road to let other people pass her. She faced toward the street now, and he got a good look at her.
Joneta!
He called her. “Joneta! Joneta!”
She looked the other way, obviously unable to hear him above the din of the passing shoppers.
He pushed himself onto the street just as the noisy wheels of a horse-drawn wagon passed in front of him, blocking his way. He pounded the side of the wagon in frustration. “Joneta!”
When he got a clear view of her again, she stepped out of the doorway and moved down the street away from him.
In a fury, he called to her again as he elbowed people out of the way, not caring if they fell into the muddy street. He screamed, “Joneta!”
Her head turned. She scanned the crowd.
He fought harder against the flow of people.
“Joneta!”
This time she caught her name on the wind. She saw him. Their eyes met. “Rory! Rory!”
She stepped into the mass of people on her side of the street, reaching for him and calling his name over and over. “Rory!” But the crowd moved her away from him. She grabbed the arm of a nearby man, who shook her off, and she stumbled into a woman with several packages under her arm. The packages fell. Joneta helped her pick them up, but by the time she got steady on her feet again, he was gone. She had to get to him. She fought harder, but it was useless. The people were too many, and she lost him.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
Books are available on my website - Https://www.SusanLFurlong.com
UNIVERSAL LINKS
Booklinker - https://mybook.to/pCg1
Books2Read - https://books2read.com/u/mYDKDp
It’s a brand-new year, full of possibilities. Did you make any resolutions/goals for 2024? If so, please share one.
I resolve to stop saying I don’t have time to go to a class or a meeting or to see people I enjoy. I will spend time with others, to focus on them and not so much on the things I have to do – because really, I don’t have to do them.
Why is your featured book a must-read in 2024?
I have a love for history, especially for the people who lived it. Forgiven Never Forgotten centers on true facts, but the story is how Joneta and Rory live through a horrendous tragedy to survive with their love intact. It is an emotional ride with twists and revelations that beg the reader to keep reading, chapter after chapter.
Giveaway –
One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon gift card
Open internationally.
Runs January 1 – 31, 2024
Drawing will be held on February 1, 2024.
Author Biography:
Susan Leigh Furlong has imagined and written stories for as long as she can remember as her escape into a world she could control. Historical places and events always fascinated her, and as she got older, she delved into research despite the sneezes and coughs old books gave her. The Internet has been a godsend for her allergies!
Strange but true events capture her imagination and expanding on them leads to stories with a highly enthralling style, chronological events, and smoothly flowing narratives that keep one’s eyes glued on her novels from the first page to the last.
Her first three books, published by The Wild Rose Press, center on the Cullane family living in the Scottish Highlands in the sixteenth century. Her fourth book, Desperate Hope, takes the family and the reader into the American Revolution while her latest, Forgiven Never Forgotten, is again in Scotland. She also has two non-fiction books filled with over 200 photographs and tales about her home town.
When she is not researching and creating her own stories, she writes, directs, and performs with a music and drama group.
She married a small-town boy from Ohio where she raised two sons and now two cats.
Social Media Links:
Facebook @SusanLFurlong
Twitter @furlongleigh
Instagram @susanleighfurlong
Tiktok @susanleighfurlong
Website – https://www.SusanLFurlong.com