Sunday Spotlight: Hold on to Hope by A.L. Jackson

Sunday Spotlight is a feature we began in 2016. This year we’re spotlighting our favorite books, old and new. We’ll be raving about the books we love and being total fangirls. You’ve been warned. 🙂

I love A.L. Jackson. Love her more than chocolate at the moment. Seriously. Okay, so I’m off sugar. I still love this author. Her stories are so real. Real people with real life problems. Problems that any person would be able to relate to. She says that Hold on to Hope is a standalone and I do believe it is. Partly. However, I read the first three books which had the h/h in them as children. Their story started back then and I sure am appreciating what the two have gone through to get to where they are in this book. Amy’s Fight for Me series is probably my favorite of all her series.

Hold on to Hope by A. L. Jackson
Series: Fight for Me #4
Also in this series: Hold on to Hope, Show Me the Way, Follow Me Back, Lead Me Home
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: October 28, 2019
Point-of-View: Alternating First
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 379
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
Series Rating:

Evan Bryant wasn't your typical hero.
But he was mine.
Broken by the worlds’ standards, he was still the strongest boy I would ever know.
My best friend. The boy I’d given everything to. My heart, my body, and the promise of forever.
The day I’d needed him most, he walked away.
He left me shattered and questioning the love I’d thought we’d shared.

Three years later, I wasn’t prepared for him to return to Gingham Lakes.
It wouldn’t have mattered if he wasn’t the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.
My fingers still would have ached to caress his skin.
My body still would have begged to get lost in his touch.
And my heart . . . it would have always sung his name.
But time changes things. With it, secrets that could ruin everything.
Can we find a way to love again, or have the fears of our past stolen the hope of our forever . . .

Excerpt

The sound of customers filtered in through the thin walls, and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee filled the space—vanilla and hazelnut and sweet cream—all mixed with the mouth-watering scent of the confections baking in the oven.

It was no wonder A Drop of Hope was just as popular on people’s trips home at the end of the workday as it was to help them get their days started.
Aunt Hope disappeared through the swinging door, and I situated the things I needed before I started to head out behind her.

A satisfied smile was taking to my mouth as I listened to the bustle of activity right outside. Voices carrying, the bell on the door dinging every few seconds.

No doubt, the line would be building up.

Half the time, we had people winding all the way out the door.

We always went from dead to completely slammed in a second flat.

It was go time.

I started to step out, then froze for a beat when I heard a sudden crash. Metal clanged as it slammed on the floor, and a gasp shocked the air.

It was followed by a sticky-sort of silence that bled through.

Climbing into the atmosphere.

Apprehension and distress.

My chest fisted tight, and a sense of dread came over me that made me feel like I was stuck in quickly drying cement.

My pulse hit a sluggish thud, thud, thud.

It took about all I had to push the rest of the way through the swinging door, my feet so heavy I might as well have been wading through a vat of liquid steel.
But my eyes? They raced. Quickened to take it all in.

The customers at the counter looked around in confusion, cupcakes rolling around at their feet, and Jenna’s eyes had doubled in size where she stood stock still with a twenty clutched in her hand.

Aunt Hope was frozen right outside the door.

Her hands pressed to her mouth like she was trying not to weep.

It didn’t matter how hard I tried to keep it locked in my throat.

A sob broke free.

Echoed through the room while my heart nearly failed where it thugged and hammered and clenched in my chest.
Three years. Three years. Three years.

That was the amount of time that had passed since Evan had gone away.

Three years since a part of my heart had stopped beating.

Three years since the last time I’d seen his gorgeous face.

And now, he was there, standing inside the entrance with a flood of sunlight pouring in through the bank of windows behind him.

Lit up like an apparition.

A ghost roused.

Fight For Me

Giveaway Alert

We’re giving one lucky winner their choice of one of our Sunday Spotlight books. Use the widget below to enter for one of this month’s features.

Sunday Spotlight: October 2019

Are you as excited for this release as we are? Let us know how excited you are and what other books you’re looking forward to this year!

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