Tour Stop, Excerpt & Giveaway: Sea Glass Sunrise by Donna Kauffman

Title: Sea Glass Sunrise by Donna Kauffman
The Brides of Blueberry Cover Series Book One
Publisher: Zebra
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 368 pages

Summary:

In seaside Blueberry Cove, Maine, friends are just another word for family, and big-city politics take a backseat to local pride. But the real treasure on these shores is always love…

When D.C. lawyer Hannah McCrae heads home for her brother’s wedding, she’s dragging a lot of baggage along with her—and she doesn’t mean suitcases. Betrayed personally, and humiliated professionally, the last thing she wants is a new man. That’s fine with square-jawed, rugged contractor Calder Blue. He and Hannah may be wildly attracted to one another, but all he wants is to build the town’s hotly contested new yacht club and mend a centuries-old family feud. Yet thanks to resentments old and new, day after day the pair wind up tangled in each other’s business—and maybe soon in each other’s arms.

Every bride needs something “blue”…

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Excerpt

Calder Blue wasn’t sure if the woman still strapped in the driver’s seat of the banged-up Audi was waving at him or blocking the sun from her eyes, but he didn’t wave back. He also didn’t take his eyes off her, though he couldn’t have said exactly why.

She wasn’t his type. On first glance, she was all money and status and high maintenance wrapped up in the veneer of fierce independence. She hadn’t wasted any time making sure he knew she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, despite glaring evidence to the contrary. In his experience, women like that always ended up being the clingiest, the neediest, though they’d deny it to their dying breath. They shoved that fierce independence front and center like a thick, impenetrable wall, then all but begged a man to batter his way through it. In reality, that wall would always turn out to be a thin, barely held together smokescreen designed to hide things like deep-seated insecurity, massive self-doubt, and low self-esteem. When that wobbly facade came tumbling down—and it always did—the real-world light would then shine into all those hidden neurotic nooks and crannies.

Give him a down-to-earth, capable woman who didn’t waste time labeling things or shoving anything in anyone’s face, but simply took care of business because that was how the world turned, offering a hand when she could, taking a hand when she needed one. A smile, a wave of thanks, or you’re welcome was all that was needed. No endless analysis of every little thing. Not giving a damn what anyone else thought of her. That, to him, was true independence.

And yet, he didn’t look away. From the once-shiny car, or the tailored clothes and tasteful, understated jewelry she wore. Her sleek, dark hair was pulled neatly back in an expensive-looking gold clasp. Hair that hadn’t dared get even a little mussed up despite an exploding air bag. Her face . . . well, for the moment, that was a different story. It was going to be a little tender for a while. He didn’t think her nose was broken, just lacerated, but he wouldn’t be surprised if she was sporting a pair of shiners by this time tomorrow. Even with the cut to the bridge of her nose, the partly swollen lip, and the slightly wild look in those dark blue eyes of hers, she was an elegant, cool beauty. A stunner, actually, in every sense of the word. Lord only knows the issues you’ve got, sweetheart, but I bet most men wouldn’t think twice before trying to breach your walls.

Given the way she’d coolly instructed him to be on his way, despite very clearly not being anywhere close to fine, he’d bet her walls were a little more solidly constructed than most, probably from years of practice. Well, he wasn’t most men, and those thick walls didn’t represent a challenge so much as a screaming red flag. One he was more than happy to accept at face value.

So no, he didn’t wave back. He did curse under his breath, however, when he realized he was checking her raised hand for a wedding ring. “Jesus, Blue, don’t you ever learn?” he muttered to himself, then turned his back to her as he slid his phone out of his pocket.

Before he could dial for help, the sound of tires spitting gravel had him turning around again. What is it with the folks in this town? He caught sight of a little green Prius swerving from the middle of the intersection to the side of the road where he’d parked his truck, barely missing clipping the front bumper before it came to a stop, half on the road and half off. Can’t anyone here read a damn stop sign?

A woman of shorter-than-average height with a compact, curvy frame popped out of the car. She had a wild mass of dark curls sprouting every which direction and was wearing a—what the hell was she wearing? It was a fulllength formal dress, rose colored and shiny, really shiny, as if it was made out of satin. On crack. There was some sort of off-the-shoulder thing going on and a hideous, mutant flower made of the same unnatural material, only a few shades darker, attached to the other shoulder. The whole of she was a good half dozen years or more past prom age.

Carrie: The Reunion, he thought, somewhat morbidly fascinated.

Author Bio

USA Today bestselling author of the Cupcake Club Romance series, Donna Kauffman has seen her books reviewed in venues ranging from Kirkus Reviews and Library Journal to Entertainment Weekly and Cosmopolitan. She lives just outside of DC in the lovely Virginia countryside, where she is presently trying to makeover her newly empty nest into something that doesn’t have to accommodate piles of sports equipment falling out of her coat closet (okay, out of every closet…and under every bed….), size 13 cleats and sweaty uniforms cluttering her foyer (and stairwell, and laundry room, and…), and a kitchen that should have come with a traffic light. And a pantry monitor. (Anyone with a clever idea on how to repurpose lacrosse sticks into matching reading lamps, she’s all ears!) When she’s not stripping paint, varnishing an old auction house find, or trying to avoid bodily injury with her latest power tool purchase, she loves to hear from readers!