Spotlight: Marrying My Billionaire Hookup by Nadia Lee

Publication date: September 12th 2020
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance

If any of my over-protective brothers ask, I’m pregnant via immaculate conception. Otherwise, the baby I’m carrying could be the death of one hot billionaire…

Jo

After a succession of relationships bad enough to set a Guinness World Record, running into a ruggedly handsome billionaire feels like a sign. Edgar is from out of town, mesmerizing, and his voice reminds me of Louisiana heat. Just listening to him makes my toes curl. So I throw aside all caution and spend the hottest night of my life in his bed, knowing we’ll never see each other again.

Until a positive pregnancy test brings him back into my life. And now he only wants to marry me to do right by the baby, but here’s the thing…

I’ll never settle. I want what my parents have: true love. Nothing — not even the electric chemistry that crackles every time Edgar and I are together — will deter me from that goal.

Edgar

Love is like alcohol. It destroys clarity and impairs judgment. I’ve seen my parents making one bad decision after another in the name of love, destroying our family.

But Jo wants love before she’ll marry me. So I’ll approximate it. Unlike my father, I’ll make sure my child knows she’s cherished (contrary to what Jo thinks, I know it’s a girl). I’m too sensible to fall in love and disrupt my already well-ordered life, even though every second I spend with her feels like skydiving without a parachute…

Excerpt

At the main door, I run into Yuna Hae, the party’s hostess. Her auburn hair is down, and she is in the cutest Chanel dress and shoes. I’ve never seen her look or dress badly—not that I’ve known her for long—and nothing hides her bubbly personality.

She hugs me. “Hey, you made it!”

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world!” I say, hugging her back. “Is Kim here yet?”

“Nope. She’s being fashionably late, no doubt. But that doesn’t mean we don’t get to hang out and have fun! Come on, let me introduce you to some people.” She gestures, pulling me toward the center of the foyer. “You have no idea how thrilled I am because all of my favorite people are here, even Edgar.”

“Edgar?”

“Edgar Blackwood. Tony’s older brother. He spends almost all his time running the family business in Louisiana, you know. But I bet he wanted the special treat I prepared!” She waggles her eyebrows.

“A special treat? Like…a cake or something?”

“Oh, you’ll be amazed. It’s awesome.” She taps the back of a tall, dark-haired man. He’s talking with someone, but he turns around, green eyes sharp with interest.

I recognize him instantly. Anthony Blackwood. He’s pretty famous—and infamous—and not only due to his family scandal. He owns some of the best and most popular clubs in the world, including Z here in L.A.

He doesn’t seem as cold as his reputation would suggest, although he’s just as well dressed as the pictures I’ve seen. He’s very handsome, his features finely carved. If it weren’t for the firm lines of his lips and jaw, he’d be pretty.

“Tony, say hello to my friend, Jo Martinez. Jo, Anthony Blackwood.”

He shakes my hand firmly. “Anthony. Pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure’s mine,” I say.

“Ivy’s talked about you. She always appreciates your help.”

My smile grows more genuine. “She’s so lovely.” It’s true. She’s one of the nicest people to work for.

“Have you met my brother?” He gestures at the man he was talking with, who comes half a step closer.

Anthony is certainly handsome enough, but his brother is… 

Wow.

Normally I think clothes make the man, wielding the presence he needs if they have the right combination of color, material and cut. But in this case, clothes seem to be an afterthought. He’s tall, with magnificently broad shoulders that signal power and dominance. He stands with perfect posture, his back straight, his head angled just so to show the bold lines of his facial bones. His features aren’t as elegantly carved as Anthony’s, but there’s rawness to them that’s utterly masculine and hot. And his eyes… They’re green like Anthony’s, but different. Darker, deeper and completely controlled without being cold.

I wonder what they’d look like when they aren’t so controlled…

Suddenly, the place feels too hot. 

My “no” to Anthony’s question comes out a near-breathless whisper. I clear my throat and add, “I don’t believe so,” then extend my hand. “Jo Martinez.”

“Edgar,” he says, with a hint of a Southern drawl. “Edgar Blackwood.” Dios mío, that voice that should be illegal. It brushes over me, as decadent as velvet, and I suppress a shiver as sensation seems to pool between my legs. How in the world is he making his name sound like my dirtiest fantasy? My grandmother would say he’s sold his soul to the devil.

He takes my hand in a soft fingers-only grip and gently pumps it twice. The contact sends a tingle up my arm, making my neck heat.

“Charmed,” he says. 

“Ooh, how nice. Is that what Louisiana gentlemen say when they meet a lady?”

The green eyes crinkle slightly. “Depends on the lady.” 

Oh my God. I bet tons of women sigh over him and make fools of themselves. I don’t want to be a cliché he won’t even remember two seconds from now.

But then I feel it… The soft, slow drag of his fingertips as though he loathes to let me go. And although he’s looking at me calmly enough, I can see a glimmer of heat in his eyes.

So this is a two-way street. And I can see that he knows it. We share a moment that Anthony and Yuna are not privy to, even though they’re standing right beside us.

Solemn and somber is not my type. Usually I date men who are easygoing and don’t take themselves or anyone else too seriously. 

But maybe he just takes his responsibilities seriously. If I remember correctly, he’s the eldest Blackwood brother. Rafael acts like the weight of the world rests on his shoulders, so that makes sense. I wonder what Edgar’s like in bed. Is he still serious, even when he’s naked and hard? Does he direct all that serious attention to licking and stroking and fucking?

I try to tamp down a vivid mental movie of Edgar doing exactly that, but desire sparks anyway. I don’t get it. I’m not the type to mind-strip a man I just met and fantasize about him. I’ve had plenty of hot male clients, and none of them made my hormones spin out of control.

“Would you like to get a drink?” he says, holding my eyes.

If you ask me in that voice, the answer will always be… 

“Yes.”

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About the Author

NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestselling author Nadia Lee writes sexy, emotional contemporary romance. Born with a love for excellent food, travel and adventure, she has lived in four different countries, kissed stingrays, been bitten by a shark, ridden an elephant and petted tigers.

Currently, she shares a condo overlooking a small river and sakura trees in Japan with her husband and son. When she's not writing, she can be found reading books by her favorite authors or planning another trip.

Stay in touch with her via her website http://www.nadialee.net/ or her blog http://www.nadialee.net/blog/

Connect:

https://www.nadialee.net/

https://www.facebook.com/NadiaLeeWrites

https://www.instagram.com/nadialeewrites/

https://twitter.com/NadiaLee

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3247259.Nadia_Lee

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Spotlight: When the Earl Met His Match by Stacy Reid

Genre: Regency Romance 

 When Hugh Winthrop, the future Earl of Albury, decides to advertise for a wife in the London paper, he never expected an anonymous response from a woman who matches him wit for wit. Their back-and-forth letters on the true nature of love, something they disagree on wholeheartedly, leave him shocked—and intrigued. But then the woman he’s been corresponding with shows up on his doorstep, enticingly beautiful and offering a marriage of convenience in exchange for his protection…

Lady Phoebe Maitland expected to marry for love and nothing else, until the man she gave her trust betrayed her. The more intrigued she becomes by the mysterious and devastatingly handsome Hugh, however, the more she realizes he’s holding back from opening his heart due to long-held secrets she struggles to understand. As passion flares wickedly between them, their marriage bed is quick to heat up. But when Phoebe’s past threatens to destroy the fragile bond they’ve formed, even a budding belief in love might not be enough to save them.

Exclusive Excerpt

Dear A Gentleman of Distinction and Wealth, 

For reasons that must be evident to a man of your stature, I’ll not reveal my identity. Though I confess a part of me doubts your capacity for reasoning, given the situation that has prompted me to pen this letter to you. Please, do know I am a lady of quality, and I find the notion of your advert seeking a wife to be insupportable and truly worthy of a cad! I cannot apologize for my boldness, for surely you would grasp that I am insincere about it. Nor do I flatter myself to think you would care about the opinions of a lady with whom you are not intimately acquainted, but I am still encouraged to reply. 

I daresay, though we ladies are expected to be prim, proper, respectable at all times, and in possession of all our teeth and also to be pretty enough, you will find that we are more than the biddable creatures society expects us to be. A lady of quality and good sense would require at least a few poems, flowers, artful conversations, and long walks in the park for a man to be deemed worthy of marriage. Clearly, you’ve lacked any sort of respect or affections for the gentler sex. I would be astonished if you should receive handsome feedback, or should I be more astonished if there was silence, since you have vaunted your wealth? Dare I ask why a man of your distinction would not display the required civility and properties and court the lady you wish to affiance? What about love? And friendship? Are those not the true foundations upon which one should desire to build a marriage? 

Sincerely,

 A Curious Lady.

Phoebe left no forwarding address and gave instruction to the footman to have the letter delivered post-haste and that he should await a reply if said gentleman desired to send one. 

To her discredit, she could not help but anticipate hearing from the rude man. A few days later, Phoebe was astonished when the butler delivered a letter to her upon a silver slaver in the palatial library of her home. The book she’d been reading, Ivanhoe Walter Scott, was quickly forgotten when Mr. Martin indicated the man had paid her rider to bear his letter to her and even awaited her reply. 

Though she’d hoped, Phoebe hadn’t much expected an answer to her scathing letter. 

Dear Curious Lady,

I’ll not thank you for your aggrieved letter or waste my time with polite sallies. I can conceive of nothing more tiresome than inane pleasantries, especially those of the hypocritical variety. I find I am similarly compelled to reply to your…boldness. A wife is a helpmate, who will run her husband’s household well, educate any children on propriety befitting their station in life, and should endeavor to keep her husband company loyally. Love has little to do with it. If not for the most pressing circumstances, I believe I would have tried my hand at wooing, though I cannot say I would have done so by long walks and reciting poetry. I am not sure what that would reveal other than that I have sturdy legs and can read. 

By the by, given your lack of returned address, I’ve prevailed upon your servant to deliver my letter to you and return your replies to me should you have any. I shall pay him handsomely for his efforts.

Yours,

A Gentleman of Distinction and Wealth.

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About the Author

USA Today Bestselling author Stacy Reid writes sensual Historical and Paranormal Romances and is the published author of over twenty books. Her debut novella The Duke’s Shotgun Wedding was a 2015 HOLT Award of Merit recipient in the Romance Novella category, and her bestselling Wedded by Scandal series is recommended as Top picks at Night Owl Reviews, Fresh Fiction Reviews, and The Romance Reviews.

Stacy lives a lot in the worlds she creates and actively speaks to her characters (aloud). She has a warrior way “Never give up on dreams!” When she’s not writing, Stacy spends a copious amount of time binge-watching series like The Walking Dead, Altered Carbon, Rise of the Phoenixes, Ten Miles of Peach Blossom, Love and Redemption, and playing video games with her love. She also has a weakness for ice cream and will have it as her main course.

Connect with Stacy:  Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Newsletter 

Spotlight: Lies Behind The Woods by Bradley Cornish

Psychological Thriller, Psychological Fiction

Release Date: September 14, 2020

Publisher: Prodigious Publishing

Steve Breiten is a college professor who has a long line of failed relationships behind him. All he wants is a long vacation in the mountains, free of drama and responsibilities, where he can relax, read, and maybe even start writing his book. He didn't expect a mysterious woman to walk into his office - not that woman, the one who had been kidnapped all those years ago and rescued after a tip he'd left at the police station.

Now, his plans for the summer have taken a dramatic shift. Tara Murphy is determined to show her gratitude for his actions that fateful day, and she won't take no for an answer. As the heat builds between them, Steve finds himself at a moral crossroads. He doesn't want to take advantage of this young, damaged woman. But he finds his resistance to her sexual advances fading fast.

It's only a matter of time before she leads him to the secret that lies behind the woods...

Don't miss this thrilling, fast-paced tale of love, lust, and betrayal.

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About the Author

Bradley Cornish is an up and coming romance and suspense author who is on a mission to offer people with affordable books that inspire them and give them unique worlds to escape to. As a young teen, he delved into the world of writing soon after finding out he had a brain tumor, which kept him from speaking for months on end. Writing became the go-to way for him to truly express his innermost musings. What started as crafting poems and lyrics, turned into ghostwriting, freelance writing and authoring books of his own. He went from writing dreams to writing reality. His work has been featured in Gecklon Press and many other news outlets. His forthcoming book is entitled "Lies Behind The Woods."

Connect:

Website: https://www.bradleycornish.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorBradleyCornish

Spotlight: Chance of a Lifetime by Jude Deveraux and Tara Sheets

In one century she loved him madly, and in another she wants nothing to do with him

In 1844 Ireland, Liam O’Connor, a rogue and a thief, fell madly in love with a squire’s daughter and unwittingly altered the future. Shy and naive Cora McLeod thought Liam was the answer to her prayers. But the angels disagreed and they’ve been waiting for the right moment in time to step in.Now Liam finds himself reunited with his beloved Cora in Providence Falls, North Carolina. The angels have given Liam a task. He must make sure Cora falls in love with another man—the one she was supposed to marry before Liam interfered. But this Cora is very different from the innocent girl who fell for Liam in the past. She’s a cop and has a confidence and independence he wasn’t expecting. She doesn’t remember Liam or their past lives, nor is she impressed with his attempts to guide her in any way.Liam wants Cora for himself, but with his soul hanging in the balance, he must choose between a stolen moment in time or an eternity of damnation.

Excerpt

Prologue 

For an angel as old as Agon, there was nothing new under the sun, or above. After thousands of years studying the human condition, he’d pretty much seen it all. Time didn’t lie. It proved over and over again that human beings were flawed. They led messy lives. They didn’t always learn from their mistakes. And yet, as he swooped into the Department of Destiny and prepared for another day of judging souls, he remained ever the optimist. Because time also had a way of proving that even in the face of all odds, love would prevail. 

He landed silently in the misty chamber and slapped his associate on the back. “What’s up, Samael?”

 The shorter angel jerked, fumbling for the clipboard in his hands. He gave Agon a scathing look of disapproval. “How many times must I tell you not to sneak up on me like that?”

 “Oh, yes. Sorry,” Agon said breezily. “Who’s up next?” 

Samael checked the clipboard with a heavy sigh. Pale curls framed his round face. Next to Agon’s imposing figure and dark hair, Samael looked almost boyish. But he’d been in charge of the Department of Destiny for over three hundred years, and he ran it with a stoic sense of justice that made him seem much older. “A grave disappointment, to be sure. The soul of Liam O’Connor stands judgment today.” 

“Ah.” Agon shook his head sadly. “Poor Irish ruffian. Such a tragic love story, Liam and the fair Cora.” 

“Those two should never have fallen in love,” Samael said with a scowl. “It shattered all of our plans. For over a century! So many destinies were ruined because of it.” He tucked his wings neatly behind his back, then glanced at Agon. “Are you ready to call him in?” 

“Yes.” Agon turned toward the wall of mist and pasted an encouraging smile on his face. 

“I told you not to do that,” Samael said. “This is serious business. We must reflect the gravity of the situation through our appearance and mannerisms.” 

“But humans like smiles,” Agon said. “I thought perhaps it would make him feel more comfortable.” 

“His soul hangs in the balance between heaven and hell, and we’re about to judge it,” Samael said flatly. “Who could possibly be comfortable with that?”

 “Right.” Agon arranged his features to appear as bleak and unyielding as the surrounding chamber. 

“Much better,” Samael said with a nod. Then he raised his hand and called into the void. “I summon the soul of Liam O’Connor.” 

Like a cannonball hurled through a cloud, a man shot out of the mist, tumbling head over heels to land before the angels in a tangle of curses and grunts. Unlike other souls who were called to the Department of Destiny, Liam did not rise on unsteady feet, shaking with fear, terrified to stand judgment for his past life’s choices. Instead, he jumped up, slapping at wisps of fog still clinging to his hair and clothing, dark eyes casually scanning the room. 

Samael regarded him coolly. “Do you know why you’ve been summoned to the Chamber of Judgment?” 

Liam raised a dark brow. “Judgment day, I’d imagine?” For someone who stood on the brink of eternal damnation, he was far too nonchalant. But the angels knew this was part of his act. Liam O’Connor was no stranger to deception. 

“We have reviewed your past life and found you wanting,” Samael said. He flicked his hand, and moving images suddenly appeared in the misty wall. Liam picking pockets. Breaking into houses. Liam running through the forest carrying a bag of stolen jewels. A stagecoach in the background with victims shouting after him. A musket ball shattering the branch of a tree near his head. Liam laughing in the face of danger.

 “You were a thief,” Samael said. “And you stole from innocent people. Often.” 

“Well…” Liam crossed his arms and leaned against the wall of mist. “Crops were failing. I only stole to help put food on the table. Simple as that.”

 “Do not attempt to lie to us,” Samael said coldly. “We can see into your soul, Liam O’Connor, and we know the truth. You enjoyed stealing. You reveled in your life as a thief.”

 “Fine.” Liam pushed off the wall and began to pace, dragging the tips of his fingers through the roiling fog. “I did enjoy thieving, and I was good at it, too. I was never any good at farming. But I kept my brother’s family from starving, didn’t I? That has to count for something.” 

Samael gazed at him sternly. “You didn’t only steal objects.” He flicked his hand and another image appeared, a sweet, innocent young woman with glossy blond curls and rosy cheeks. She had a round, pretty face with a nose just a little too prominent, and a smile just a little too trusting. She was holding out a rose. 

“Cora,” Liam breathed. He stepped closer, but the image of the young woman vanished. “Bring her back!” He grasped at the fog with both hands. “Let me see her again.” 

 “She wasn’t meant for you, ruffian,” Samael said. “You stole her from her fiancé.”

 “But I loved her,” Liam shot back. “And she—” 

“You interfered with her destiny,” Samael interrupted. “She was supposed to marry that man, and together they were going to raise a child who would someday help the world.” 

Liam scowled. “Her fiancé didn’t deserve her. She wanted me. It was me she loved in the end.” 

“Ah, yes,” Samael said icily. “The end.” 

Liam glanced away. 

“Things ended very badly for her, as you well know,” Samael continued. “For both of you. And now, because of you, Cora’s soul has never found peace. In every new life we’ve given her, she’s afraid to fall in love. She never lives long enough to fulfill her destiny.” He flicked his hand again.

 This time, terrible images appeared. Cora as a young nurse, caring for soldiers during an outbreak of scarlet fever…dying in a hospital bed. Cora as a nanny, rushing to save a young child from the path of a runaway horse…dying in the street. Cora working in a factory during WWII…dying in an explosion. 

The angels knew Liam wouldn’t understand some of the things he was seeing, but the message was very clear. Cora’s life always ended in tragedy. 

“Enough!” Liam flung his hands up, scrubbing his face. “Just tell me my fate. Is it to be hell, then?” 

The angels exchanged glances. 

“It is true you’ve done much wrong in your life,” Samael said. “But you’ve also done some good. For this reason, we’re going to give you a chance at redemption.”

 Liam’s head shot up. He glanced back and forth between the two angels.

 “Cora is on earth again in this twenty-first century,” Samael said. “You must make sure she fulfills her true destiny in this life.” 

“But…how?”

 “There is a man named Finley Walsh. He is her true soul mate—the man she must marry. The man she was destined to marry until you ruined everything. This time, you will see that Cora falls in love with the right man.”

 Liam scowled and kicked the floor, displacing wisps of fog. He grumbled under his breath, then glanced up. “Will she remember me?”

 “Of course not,” Samael said. “Certainly not as you remember her. The role you play this time will be…much different.” 

Liam narrowed his eyes but remained silent.

 “You have three months to complete the task,” Samael continued in clipped tones. “We will bestow upon you some knowledge of the current century, but it won’t be an easy transition. If anyone questions your struggles with modern technology, just explain you’re from a very rural town.”

 Liam raised his chin. “What if I tell them the truth?”

 Samael let out a huff of amusement. “That you’re a transplanted soul from 1844 Ireland? Good luck with that.” He slid the clipboard into a pocket of mist. “Three months, Liam O’Connor. Get Cora to fall in love with Finley. It is imperative that this happens. If you fail—and that includes sleeping with her—you will be sent straight to…” 

All the light in the chamber vanished, plunging them into icy darkness. 

“Hell.” Samael’s voice echoed off the chamber walls like a war drum.

 “And if I succeed?” Liam whispered. 

The light snapped back on. 

“Heaven,” Samael said matter-of-factly. “Now, off you go.” He started to lift his hand. 

“Wait!” Liam cried. “If Cora’s been on earth living all these different lives, where have I been the whole time?”

 “Suspended up here,” Samael said. “Waiting for us to decide if you deserved a chance at redemption. I do hope you are worthy of it. Goodbye, ruffian.” He waved his hand a final time, and a hole opened in the mist beneath Liam’s feet. 

They could hear him yelling for a long time as he fell, even after the hole closed. 

Agon chuckled. “That was a rather dramatic exit, don’t you think?” 

Samael shrugged. “I thought the moment could use a bit of theatrics.” 

“And the flickering lights with the echoing voice?” Agon elbowed him in the ribs. “Nice job.” 

Samael pressed his lips together and tried to look stern, but Agon could tell he was pleased. 

They turned to the wall of mist as the image of Liam appeared. His body floated to earth, landing softly on a bed of leaves on the forest floor. He glanced around in a daze, his lips slowly curving into a smile.

 “He always loved the forest,” Agon said wistfully. 

“I thought he could use a moment here to reflect on his past, before we send him to work,” Samael said.

 Liam’s eyes drooped. His dark lashes fluttered once. Twice. And then he slipped into a deep, dream-filled sleep. 

“You didn’t tell him the truth.” Agon turned to Samael. “About the child.”

 “He’s not ready to hear that—and neither is she.” 

Agon glanced back to the image of Liam’s slumbering form. “Do you think he’ll succeed?” 

Samael frowned. “What’s that human saying about a snowball’s chance?” 

Agon shook his head. “It eludes me.” 

“No matter.” Samael expanded his wings and stretched. “Time will tell.”

 “Yes,” Agon mused. “Time always does.”

Excerpted from Chance of a Lifetime by Jude Deveraux and Tara Sheets, Copyright © Deveraux Inc. Published by MIRA Books.

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About the Author

Connect:

Jude Deveraux is the author of forty-three New York Times bestsellers, including For All Time, Moonlight in the Morning, and A Knight in Shining Armor. She was honored with a Romantic Times Pioneer Award in 2013 for her distinguished career. To date, there are more than sixty million copies of her books in print worldwide.

Jude Deveraux

Author Website: https://judedeveraux.com/

TWITTER: @JudeDeveraux1

FB: @JudeDeveraux

Insta: @Judedeveraux

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/28574.Jude_Deveraux

Tara Sheets is an award-winning author of contemporary romance and women's fiction. Her debut novel, Don't Call Me Cupcake, won the 2016 Golden Heart® award sponsored by Romance Writers of America. Tara began her career as an author in the Pacific Northwest, inspired by the rain and the misty mountains and the rivers of Starbucks coffee. She now lives in the warm, wonderful South where she can stand outside with no coat on, and she finds that pretty inspiring too. When not writing, Tara enjoys life with her book-loving family and a book-eating dog named Merlin. You can find out more about her on the web at www.tarasheets.com, on facebook/tarasheetsauthor, and on twitter @Tara_Sheets.

Tara Sheets

Author Website: https://tarasheets.com/

FB: @TaraSheetsBooks

Insta: @tarasheets

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17082616.Tara_Sheets

Spotlight: Family in Six Tones: A Refugee Mother, an American Daughter

A dual first-person memoir by the acclaimed Vietnamese-American novelist and her thoroughly American teenage daughter

In 1975, thirteen-year-old Lan Cao boarded an airplane in Saigon and got off in a world where she faced hosts she had not met before, a language she didn't speak, and food she didn't recognize, with the faint hope that she would be able to go home soon. Lan fought her way through confusion, and racism, to become a successful lawyer and novelist. Four decades later, she faced the biggest challenge in her life: raising her daughter Harlan--half Vietnamese by birth and 100 percent American teenager by inclination. In their lyrical joint memoir, told in alternating voices, mother and daughter cross ages and ethnicities to tackle the hardest questions about assimilation, aspiration, and family.

Lan wrestles with her identities as not merely an immigrant but a refugee from an unpopular war. She has bigoted teachers who undermine her in the classroom and tormenting inner demons, but she does achieve--either despite or because of the work ethic and tight support of a traditional Vietnamese family struggling to get by in a small American town. Lan has ambitions, for herself, and for her daughter, but even as an adult feels tentative about her place in her adoptive country, and ventures through motherhood as if it is a foreign landscape.

Reflecting and refracting her mother's narrative, Harlan fiercely describes the rites of passage of childhood and adolescence, filtered through the aftereffects of her family's history of war, tragedy, and migration. Harlan's struggle to make friends in high school challenges her mother to step back and let her daughter find her own way.

Family in Six Tones speaks both to the unique struggles of refugees and to the universal tug-of-war between mothers and daughters. The journey of an immigrant--away from war and loss toward peace and a new life--and the journey of a mother raising a child to be secure and happy are both steep paths filled with detours and stumbling blocks. Through explosive fights and painful setbacks, mother and daughter search for a way to accept the past and face the future together.

Excerpt

From FAMILY IN SIX TONES by Lan Cao and Harlan Margaret Van Cao, published by Viking, and imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2020 by Lan Cao and Harlan Margaret Van Cao.

In my life, there is Saigon, my childhood city, and there is Harlan, my daughter. One is loss and the other is love, although sometimes loss and love are intertwined. Both are volcanic, invasive experiences, their own particular battle zones, full of love and warmth. All‑powerful, all‑encompassing, searing, awakening. Once experienced, they take over your life, altering the very cells in your body, both in the moment and in retrospect.

I am writing as a refugee who lost a country and as a mother whose love is vaster than even the vast parameters of loss. In Vietnamese, the word for country is a combination of earth and water, elemental and archetypal. Traditionally, the Vietnamese are tethered to their ancestral home, born of land and sea, the way newborns are tied umbilically to their mothers, sharing one swollen, tightly packed body, ferociously, bound almost despotically by flesh and blood.

For all of us refugees who enter America with our contingent lives, there is the all‑powerful, all‑venerable American Dream. Do we follow it? Are we trespassing when we enter it? Or do we float into the dreams we invent ourselves? Having witnessed so many refugee families struggling to make it, I wonder whether the American Dream is really for dreamers. Are you dreaming if you’re working twelve hours or more a day?

It might seem strange that being a refugee and being a mother feel so similar to me, but both involve a tortuous and lifelong drive in search of home and security—in one case for oneself; in the other, even more furiously, for one’s child. The journey of a refugee, away from war and loss toward peace and a new life, and the journey of a mother raising a child to be secure and happy are both steep paths filled with detours and stumbling blocks. For me, both hold mystery. It is like crossing a river on a monkey bridge. The bridge, indigenous to the Mekong Delta, is hand‑made, with slender bamboo logs and handrails. It is frail and slippery, and crossing it requires agility and courage; it is both physical and mental. I have not made my crossing alone but have had fellow travelers on this bridge—we could call them darker selves that emerge from the hidden, almost mystical shadows.

Carl Jung saw shadow selves as selves that are cradled in the darkness and lie outside the light of consciousness. But what I think of as my shadow selves are denser, perhaps more fragmented from the self than Jung’s original use of the term. They might seem like strangers at first, unknown, unknowable, and as a result frightening, a presence manifesting unruly states that had to be fought with or unshackled from. Over time, with a deeper reservoir of understanding, I have come to see them as guardian angels, as they are now more integrated with me than not.

After more than forty years in the United States, I still feel tentative here at times. And after almost seventeen years of being a parent, I continue to venture through motherhood as if it’s a new culture. No matter how many parenting books I have read or how much advice I have received, I still feel like an immigrant in the universe of motherhood. As I tentatively make my way through this landscape, I find that I vacillate more than I am certain, shifting my terms of engagement more than digging in. Like an immigrant newcomer, I am ambivalent. I question myself, especially when my precocious kid sarcastically unleashes comments like “Great parenting, Mom” after I make a decision she doesn’t like. She sounds so sure in her skepticism, and her certainty stands in stark contrast to my inner uncertainty.

Even something as basic as a language—mother tongue, which for me is Vietnamese—posed a dilemma. I wasn’t sure whether I should speak it to Harlan when she was a newborn. Even something as beloved as a country or a language could be a burden. And I wondered whether it was better for her not to be hyphenated or fragmented in any way. My husband, Bill, didn’t speak Vietnamese. There would be no conversation. She would hear only my monologue. So I didn’t stick to a Vietnamese‑only regimen with her. I wanted to give her what I did not have and have not been able to achieve: wholeness. I wasn’t sure I wanted her to be disjointed and bifurcated like me. By the time I changed my mind and saw hyphenation as an unconventional form of wholeness, as having a set of twos instead of multiple divided halves, her little brain had become an English‑language brain. Now she would have to learn Vietnamese and any other language as a second language. That delayed decision remains a moment of regret. 

Harlan was born in the United States, far from Vietnam, but I have bequeathed Vietnam to her whether I wanted to or not, sometimes as a gift, sometimes as a burden, but always as a marker or an imprint. I lost Vietnam when I was thirteen years old, in 1975. Forty years after the fall of Saigon, in 2015, my daughter herself turned thirteen, which for me meant the past had turned to the present, bringing itself to me in a singularly haunting act once again.

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About the Authors

Lan Cao and Harlan Margaret Van Cao are the authors of Family in Six Tones: A Refugee Mother, an American Daughter. 

Lan Cao is the author of Monkey Bridge and The Lotus and the Storm, and most recently of the scholarly work Culture in Law and Development: Nurturing Positive Change. She is a professor of law at the Chapman University Fowler School of Law, and an internationally recognized expert specializing in international business and trade, international law, and development. She has taught at Brooklyn Law School, Duke University School of Law, University of Michigan Law School, and William & Mary Law School.

Harlan Margaret Van Cao graduated from high school in June 2020 and is now attending UCLA. She was born in Williamsburg, Virginia and moved to Southern California when she was ten.

For more information, please visit https://lancaoauthor.com and follow the authors on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Spotlight: Show Me by Sharon C. Cooper

Genre: Contemporary Romance 

Just when he thought finding a wife was out of his reach…

Colton “Cole” Eubanks is laser focused on building wealth and settling down with a special woman before he turns forty. Accomplishing one out of two isn’t bad. Unfortunately, there’s no ‘love of his life’ on the horizon, unless he counts the one woman who’s been starring in his nightly dreams—Malaya Radcliff.

After being dependent on one person after another for years, Malaya has finally learned to stand on her own. There’s only one thing she hasn’t been able to accomplish—gain full custody of her daughter. Her ex-husband never fights fair. His wealth always wins. This time Malaya’s determined to come out on top. So when Cole, the man she’s been secretly in lust with for over a year, makes her an offer she’d be crazy to refuse, Malaya wants to say yes. But that means sacrificing her newfound independence. Yet, his enticing proposal has her thinking—why not?

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About the Author

Award-winning and bestselling author, Sharon C. Cooper, is a romance-a-holic - loving anything that involves romance with a happily-ever-after, whether in books, movies, or real life. Sharon writes contemporary romance, as well as romantic suspense and enjoys rainy days, carpet picnics, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She’s been nominated for numerous awards and is the recipient of Emma Awards (RSJ) for Author of the Year 2019, Favorite Hero 2019 (INDEBTED), Romantic Suspense of the Year 2015 (TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES), Interracial Romance of the Year 2015 (ALL YOU’LL EVER NEED), and BRAB (book club) Award -Breakout Author of the Year 2014. When Sharon isn’t writing, she’s hanging out with her amazing husband, doing volunteer work or reading a good book (a romance of course). To read more about Sharon and her novels, visit www.sharoncooper.net

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