Afraid to Hope
MJ Nightingale
Louisa Sears is ready to start over. Escaping her small town where prejudice, long memories, and old fashioned values haunt her, Louisa embarks on her dream of finding love, and a man who can warm up her bed at night. Pregnant at sixteen, divorced from an abusive husband at twenty, and raising a daughter alone, Louisa is now ready to live. She wants what every woman wants. A rock hard man, who knows how to love. Will Florida be the place where her dreams come true?
Jay Russell is battle scarred. A past filled with horrors from childhood, the war in Iraq, and the most devastating event of his life that occurred when he returned home, he is definitely not looking for love. When he first meets Louisa Sears, the bombshell with the fantastic body, he wants one thing, and one thing only, her body underneath him. The hot little ticket that walks by his t-shirt shop, meets all his requirements for a night of passion.
The scars in them run deep though, and they both have secrets. Can two people so deeply wounded by the past learn to trust each other enough to share those secrets? And if they do, will they be able to get past them and learn to hope again?
MJ Nightingale has spent over two decades teaching students how to write, and now she is doing it herself. Originally from Canada, she graduated from University with her Bachelor of Arts and then went on to get her Bachelor of Education Degree in Secondary Education.
Reading has been a part of her life since she was a child. She has been an avid lover of classical English and American literature, but romance has always held a special place in her heart. She devours historical romance novels all summer long, and any type of fiction; thrillers, crime, suspense, and drama. This is her second published book, and she has one more book, Afraid to Hope, coming out in in the summer of 2014. All three, Fire In His Eyes, Afraid to Love and Afraid to Hope, are erotic romance standalone novels and are part of her Secrets & Seduction Series.
She is also working on a new series The Bounty Hunters for 2015.
She currently lives in Florida, where she continues to teach, with her wonderful husband of nine years, and her sons. She plans on pursuing her writing career full time very soon.
**MJ Nightingale would love to hear from her readers. She can be reached at authormjnightingale@gmail.com
And you can also visit her author page on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/MJ-Nightingale/185806224943537?ref=hl to see what is coming next by MJ Nightingale.
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/MJ-Nightingale/185806224943537?ref=hl
4.5 stars
MJ has done it again. What a fantastic read. The story was so true to the title. Afraid to Hope. We get to see the struggles of what guilty, abuse and hopelessness will do to a person and a relationship when they finally decide to give in to hope and love. I did cry a little in this book at the emotions for the characters. Life is not always easy.
Louisa Sears having had bad luck with men is ready for a change of scenery. She has raised her daughter Veronica who is now in college finishing her degree. Louisa decides to take a chance on herself and moves to Florida. She wants a fresh start with the help of her best friend Ana does. Louisa wishes to meet a man who is loving, passionate and willing to treat her like a princess.
Life has thrown hard knock after another at Jay Russell. His child was no piece of cake. Military life put him face to face with the horrors of what war is like. Then coming home things spun about of control pushing Jay to finally allow life to break him. But he is a fighter. He is determined to have a life even if it is without a true love. He is finishing up school pursuing a dream.
After spending the day at the flea market, a chance encounter at a t-shirt shop with Jay, may put Louisa a path she will never return from. She is fascinated by the huge handsome tattoo t shirt wearing man, Jay. As life would throw them closer together than they knew, Louisa decides to take a chance and gets on the back of Jay’s bike. One ride. What can one ride do?
One ride seems to be the beginning of something new for both Jay and Louisa. They continue on this path until secrets from both their past will push them away from each other. But not without first cause each of them to realize that they maybe in love with the other.
Will Jay and Louisa find happiness in a relationship with each other? Or will the past and secrets untold be the end to the start?
This story was the perfect ending to this series. It completely draws a conclusion to all the other character from the first two books. Allowing us to know where and what happened to them. Looking forward to the next series that MJ is doing with some of the side characters in this series.
