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Mar 6, 20235 min read

The Man in Cabin Number Five by Chrysteen Braun is a Shake Off Winter Doldrums pick #womensfiction



Title: The Man in Cabin Number Five, Guest Book Trilogy Book One


Author: Chrysteen Braun


Genre: Women’s Fiction


Book Blurb:


When Annie Parker discovers her husband’s infidelity, she doesn’t let it destroy her. She packs her bags and heads to Lake Arrowhead, Ca, the mountainside town where her family used to summer. Immersing herself in the restoration of seven 1920s era cabins, Annie begins to put the pieces of her life back together. But starting over is never easy.


Alyce Murphy needs closure. When she discovers her father did not die from a heart attack, as she’s been led to believe for the last 30 years, but in a murder/suicide, she is determined to uncover the truth of his death. But when she visits the cabin where her father ended his life, Alyce has to accept she may never know the true story.


Annie is looking towards her future while Alyce needs to put the past to rest. In parallel stories, both women are drawn to the rustic mountainside cabins as they search for the missing pieces---but they soon discover that the cabins have their own stores to tell.



Excerpt:


I was hungry and decided to try Ginny’s Coffee Shop for breakfast. French toast and bacon sounded decadent, so that’s what I ordered, and while I waited for my food to arrive, I started looking through one of the magazines that listed houses for sale in the area. No matter where I went, I always liked to check on real estate and market prices. Not that I thought I was going to buy something up here, but it also gave me something to do while waiting for my breakfast.


I was about to ask the waitress who’d come up to my table for a refill of iced tea, but when I looked up, I was surprised. It was Noah.


“You need to quit following me,” he said, and smiled down at me.


“Me following you? You’re following me.” I was actually happy to see him, and again he made me smile back.


“Mind if I join you?”


At least everyone up here was polite enough to ask, although it seemed they all just went ahead and sat, anyway.


“I guess you already did,” I said as he slid in across from me.


Noah looked like he’d just gotten out of the shower; his hair was still slightly wet and combed back, and for the first time I noticed it was in a short ponytail. His beard was neat and combed. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, revealing muscular forearms, and I couldn’t help but notice he had a lot of hair on them. To me, body hair on a man could be sexy. I thought of David then; he had hairy arms but no hair on his chest.


“Hey, Molly,” Noah called to the waitress. “I’ll have the hungry man breakfast and a strong cup of coffee.”


“What else is new,” Molly said, cracking a wry smile.


“I guess you’re a regular here too?” I asked.


“Yup. If you live up here, you’re bound to be a regular just about everywhere you go.”


“I have that at home, at some restaurants I go to a lot.”


“You go by yourself?” Noah asked, adding sugar and creamer to his coffee.


I thought for a minute then answered, “I guess I do... my husband is always working, and my schedule is all over the place, so yes, I guess I do.”


“What does he do? Your husband.”


“He’s an attorney. He refers to himself as ‘a slip and fall’ guy.”


Noah just looked at me, and I could read his mind.


I said, “He’s kind of jerk,” and I could see the surprised look on his face. “He’s a jerk, but if you need something done, he’s the one to go to.”


“How long have you been married?”


“Almost nine years.” I finally set the magazine aside.


“Wow. You must have married young. Any kids?”


“No. They weren’t on the menu. But I knew that when I signed up. He came with a family. And you?” I asked, catching him looking straight into my eyes.


“Nah. Almost, but it wasn’t meant to be. We never got officially engaged, but we talked about marriage. She wasn’t ready to settle down, and looking back on it, neither was I.” Noah paused, then said, “However, she wasted no time marrying someone else not long after that.”


A flash of sadness crossed Noah’s face, but it quickly dissolved. “So that’s two for two. But that was a long time ago, and I guess I wasn’t meant to be with either lady,” he said.


I wasn’t sure what he meant, and then I remembered him telling me about the girl who wanted to stay down below when he wanted to be in the mountains. So he didn’t seem to be very lucky in love.


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What’s your favorite activity to shake off the winter doldrums?


I love sitting in front of our fireplace with my heavy socks on, snuggled up in my blanket and starting a new book. And eating chocolate. Always chocolate, and the darker the better. It fixes everything! I try to not let the weather keep me from doing what I love doing, like reading and eating chocolate, writing, finding jokes to send to my friends.

Why is your featured book a cure for the winter blues?


My books are about real people, and there’s nothing like living in the four seasons up on the mountains. Readers tell me they recognize places they’ve been, so hopefully you will too.


We had a cabin in Lake Arrowhead, and I was retired and read to start my second career, that of becoming a writer. I wanted to write something set up in the mountains, and I had this idea for a woman who buys and restores a series of cabins who all have their own secrets.


Giveaway –


One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon US or Canada gift card



Open internationally. You must have a valid Amazon US or Amazon CA account to win.


Runs March 1 – 31, 2023.


Drawing will be held on April 3, 2023.


Author Biography:


Chrysteen Braun is a California native, born and raised in Long Beach.

The mountains, where she and her husband had a second home, were the inspiration for her first three books, The Guest House Trilogy. These fictional restored cabins from the late 1920s all had their own stories to tell.


Her writing crosses genres of Women’s Fiction with relationships, and a little mystery and intrigue. She’s published articles about her field of interior design and remodeling, both for trade publications and her local newspaper.


She lives in Coto de Caza, with her husband Larry and two Siamese cats.



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