Author-Sylvia McDaniel
Genre: Short Contemporary
Publisher: Virtual Bookseller
Date of Publication: April 19, 2013
Pages: 232
Word Count: 60,000
Cover Artist: Kat Baldwin
Blurb-
She’s a Runaway Bride
Valerie Burrows is running from a wedding, her attorney
fiancé and the law. Pampered Valerie takes a bus to nowheresville, where she
learns her cash and credit cards have been stolen. Left with only her designer
clothes and luggage she takes on a new identity and must learn to be
self-reliant. She swears off men, especially attorneys, only to find the one
man who refuses a one night stand and wants a relationship.
He’s Looking For A Wife
Matt Jordan, the Colorado Crusher, is the most successful
liability lawyer in the state. After the death of his brother-in-law, he
realizes he’s ready to settle down with a family of his own. His only
requirements are intelligent, great-looking, wants more than a hook-up and
doesn't lie. After witnessing the lies his father told his mother, he demands
complete honesty. Yet Valerie Brown shows him sometimes in order to find
yourself, you must become someone else. Even if that means lying.
My Review: I was very hesitant to begin reading The Wanted Bride because I thought I knew the whole runaway bride story and how it would end however, that's where I was wrong. I became completely taken in by this story and read it from beginning to end in one sitting not wanting to put it down. The humor, romance, and drama are equally interesting and keep you wanting to read The Wanted Bride. Valerie and Matt's story will have you laughing one minute and pulled into a crazy wonderful argument the next. Sometimes going to the smallest places and losing everything you thought was important you find the biggest surprises. By the end of The Wanted Bride I was thinking that I may have been slightly rough on the romance genre or at least on this book itself. This book was a fun read with a wondrous ride of emotion. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed reading this book and how it has me wanting to find more books by Sylvia McDaniel. Sylvia will be put on my list of favorites from here on in.
4/5
Excerpt # 1
Chapter One
“I need a one-way ticket to anywhere,” Valerie Burrows
commanded the girl behind the bus counter in downtown Dallas. A charred piece
of her wedding veil sagged onto her face.
Impatiently, she flipped the singed lace away, her
throat closing off the tears that
threatened her vision. On what was
supposed to be the happiest day of her life,
she reeked of smoke, not flowers, saw red not white, tasted
bile
not cake.
Glancing up from the counter the clerk’s eyes widened,
making Valerie acutely aware of her appearance. On what was supposed to be the
happiest day of her life, she felt
traumatized, not joyous.
“Where do you want to go?” the clerk stammered.
“Anywhere, as long as I leave in the next five minutes,”
Valerie insisted, wishing people would stop staring. So she looked like a crazy
woman. After this morning maybe she was a
little loco.
“The bus to Amarillo is loading now,” the agent advised, her
large brown eyes riveted to Valerie. “I have one seat left. The one-way fare is
sixty-five dollars.”
Though she preferred to travel by plane, there was no time
or way to get to the airport. She could take the bus or stay and face the
consequences of her actions.
Valerie dug the cash out of her Bottega Veneta purse and
handed the money to the ticket agent. “I’ll take it.”
Dirty lace from her wedding veil fell onto her face again,
so she yanked the offending garment off her head and threw the veil on top of
her matching Louis Vuitton luggage. The beautiful lace of her Vera Wang wedding
gown was streaked with gray and black. Burn streaks made a crazy pattern on the
silk that didn't accessorize the seed pearls.
The heel of one of her Stuart Weitzman pumps had snapped
several blocks ago, and her feet were blistered. And yet her heart beat on in
spite of her ruined wedding.
The clerk handed her the ticket, sympathy in her dark
eyes. “The bus is ready. You’re the last
one to board.”
Not even time to change. Head held high, spine locked in
place, she limped to the white steel carriage, her suitcases trailing behind.
There, she handed her two suitcases to a gawking young man.
He opened his mouth to speak, but she held up her hand. “Just load my luggage.”
She glanced up to see faces pressed against the glass
windows of the bus, gaping at her like she was a freak show. Hadn't these
people ever seen a runaway bride in real life before? Julia Roberts may have
made the movie, but she didn't own the copyright to wedding disasters.
With her carry-on bag hanging from her shoulder, Valerie
marched up the steps of the waiting bus as if she walked around in a wedding
gown every day. The babble of sixty voices ceased
as she handed the driver her ticket.
He mumbled, “Lord, I need to retire.”
Her silk dress pressed against her legs and swished as she
made her way to the only empty seat on her getaway bus. Thank God she’d ditched
the petticoats in the Corvette.
A gray-haired woman glanced at her as she put her luggage in
the overhead bin.
“Hm hm hm, I can’t wait to hear this story,” the elderly
Hispanic woman said. “Are you all right?”
Valerie plopped in the seat, her ruined silk gown making a
mighty swish. She exhaled loudly, her heart aching, her eyes blurring with
unshed tears. For the last hour she’d been holding
her breath while making her escape.
But now, now all the pain she'd carefully controlled broke
free and she chuckled. Hysterical laughter rumbled from deep inside her, echoed
through the bus. A single tear rolled down
her cheek.
“I am now.”
Purchase Links:
Author Bio: Sylvia McDaniel
Sylvia McDaniel is a best-selling, award-winning author of
historical and contemporary romances.
Known for her sweet, funny, family-oriented romances, Sylvia is the author of The Burnett Brides a
historical western series, The Cuvier Widows, a Louisiana historical series,
and several short contemporary romances.
President of the Dallas Area Romance Authors, a member of
the Romance Writers of America®, and a member of Novelists Inc, her novel, A
Hero’s Heart was a 1996 Golden Heart Finalist. Several other books have placed
or won in the San Antonio Romance Authors Contest, LERA Contest, and was a
Golden Network Finalist.
Married for nearly twenty years to her best friend, they
have two dachshunds that are beyond spoiled. She loves gardening, shopping,
knitting and football, but not necessarily in that order.
Currently she’s written fifteen novels and is hard at work
on number sixteen, a Christmas Novella about the Burnett Family. Look for her
the first Tuesday of every month at the Plotting Princesses blogspot
http://plottingprincesses.blogspot.com/ and twice a week at her own
blog Downward Dog Diva With Sass http://sylviamcdaniela.blogspot.com/. She can
be found online at: www.sylviamcdaniel.com or https://www.facebook.com/SylviaMcDanielAuthor.
Links-
Amazon- amazon.com/author/sylviamcdaniel
Website- www.sylviamcdaniel.com
Twitter- @WriterSylvia
Giveaway Info-
Author is giving away 4 ebook copies of ‘The Wanted Bride’
by Sylvia McDaniel-international
1 print copy of ‘The Wanted Bride’ by Sylvia McDaniel -Open
to US only
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