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Nov 10, 20225 min read

New Release | The Inn on Gooseneck Lane by Delsora Lowe #holidayromance #sweetromance



Title:

The Inn on Gooseneck Lane


Author:

Delsora Lowe


Genre:

Contemporary Romance (Sweet, Small Town, Second Chance, Holiday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year’s Eve)


Publisher:

The Wild Rose Press


Book Blurb:


Nat Thomas calls Mistletoe Falls, Vermont home where summers were magical, her aunt became the parent she needed, and high school love bloomed. Sixteen years later, that love lost, Nat returns home for a much-needed break. She’s recruited to revitalize her aunt’s picturesque inn. Will the boy who broke her heart be the man who rallies to save her home and capture her heart…for good?


Brad Matthews returns home to buy Green Mountain Sports, after years as an outdoor adventure guide. He’s thrown into partnering an event to revive the town’s inn and boost his business. Can he work with the woman who demolished his heart and ran with no explanation?


In a small town where everyone knows your business and interfering relatives revive snicker-doodling, the lost art of matchmaking, Nat and Brad may not stand a chance. Can the two find enough heart to forgive and accept love again?


Excerpt:



The doorway filled with a set of wide shoulders covered in plaid flannel and long legs encased in worn blue jeans atop scuffed hiking boots.


“Nat?”


She squinted, wondering who belonged to the disembodied voice of the tall man stepping from the porch’s shadows into the lobby.


“Nat,” he repeated. “Sorry I’m late.”


His voice was guttural and familiar. Her heart plummeted to the pit of her stomach, like a thundering rockslide. Only one person called her Nat. That same person spewed constant apologies for being late. She locked her gaze on the recognizable aqua eyes. “Brad?”


Sixteen years.


He’d gone from a slender, clean-cut captain of the football team to a buff guy sporting a days’ scruff of chestnut-brown beard.


In a flash, her thoughts transported to the senior girls’ jealousy stemming from the big man on campus asking the big-city, new girl to the prom. Her reflection reverted to summers growing up in Vermont, and the instant bond she developed with her aunt. Earlier to a time when climbing trees was cool, boys and girls could be best friends, and true friendship went unimpeded by those things the genders let get in the way. And before she decided to remain in Mistletoe Falls her senior year, when her heart filled with love, and long before her heart smashed to smithereens.


The memories swirled through her—some good, some bad. She sucked in another deep breath, pushing her fingertips against her abdomen to quell the bubbling panic at setting eyes on Brad for the first time since… “I thought you lived in Colorado.”


“Not anymore.”


Stepping beyond the desk, she stared. “I see the prodigal prom king returns home.” His smirk morphed into his signature arrogant grin.


“Prodigal prom king?” He strode toward her and crowded into her personal space. “You know I was more to you.”


She tamped the sudden urge to fidget with her scarf…or run. His gaze scanned her, from her brown kitten heels to linger at the bottom of her knee-length, matching skirt, before a slow perusal of her pumpkincolored sweater. She’d put together the casual outfit in fall colors, with hopes of showing the new sporting store owner she meant business. She’d forgone her usual crisp, city business attire so she wouldn’t appear intimidating in this small, laid-back town.


“I see nothing’s changed since you were a hormone-riddled teen.”


Smiling, he lifted his smug gaze to settle on her face. “I see you’re dressed for a Vermont winter.”


She retreated a step and crossed her arms. “If you must know, I’m dressed for a meeting with the new owner of Green Mountain Sports.”


Moving closer, he fingered the tip of her angled-cut bob.


His warm hand grazed her neck below her left ear. A spark of shiver slipped along her spine. His scent, so familiar, dispersed the tingle through every nerve in her body.


Brad leaned against the desk. “What you see is…well, you know the saying…what you get.”


“What?” She shook her head to dislodge the spiral of dread, replacing the sensuous shiver of moments earlier.


“The new owner.”


The timbre of his deep voice tunneled through her. She glanced up. He’d gained a few inches and bulk on his school-age, six-foot frame. “You? But Mary said B—” Start using your brain, Natalie… “Your name starts with B.”


“You remember.”


His deep drawl shouted sarcasm. He narrowed his eyes, drilling holes through the stiff and stoic persona she’d constructed with care. The dissolution of their high school love had ended on a low note to beat all. In caps and gowns, lined up, holding hands, they marched into the school’s gym. On their special day, the added staging decorated with their class year banner and flowered shrubs snatched her breath. Their future soared ahead of them, like a hot-air balloon filled with possibilities.


After the ceremony, he curled his fingers against her palm before the warmth of his grasp disappeared and left her cold. Left her alone, she discovered, when without ceremony, he dropped his news flash— bombshell a more appropriate description. He wouldn’t attend her graduation party. His other plans hadn’t included her, either.


With Brad standing in front of her, years later, grown and more handsome in a scruffy, woodsy way, she transported to the past. Her heartache welled inside. Since his betrayal, she’d stuffed the overwhelming sorrow to the deepest recesses of her heart. Today, the hurt teemed to squeeze her chest.


“Remember? Hardly.” Her dread at the moment of recognition switched to reality. Brad was the man she must work with to make their December program a success. The guy who would help save the inn, and stood in front of her, cocky and yummy and showing no remorse, was once the boy who destroyed her.


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Author Biography:


cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~


Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet and spicy romances and contemporary westerns from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.


Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine. Her newest novella is The Love Left Behind. Look for both a Christmas novel (The Inn on Gooseneck Lane) and novella (Holiday Hitchhiker) this season.


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