Final Strike

by Vanessa M. Knight

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GENRE: Romantic Suspense

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BLURB:

Julie Connolly thought she had perfected the art of emotional eating, but ever since she learned of her father's passing, she's taken it to new heights. The bastard has figured out how to destroy her life from the grave.

Her father's proposal—abandon her son Cody, so someone else can raise him, or lose her inheritance. The outrageous condition doesn’t deserve a response but the lawyer her father hired demands an answer. Before she can tell the ambulance-chaser exactly where he can shove his demands, her worst fears come alive: Cody is kidnapped. Her only hope comes from Ben Mooring, a man she hates nearly as much as her father.

Though Ben Mooring lost his chance with Julie years ago, she and Cody still mean the world to him. He practically raised the kid for years when he was with Julie. When Cody goes missing, Ben drops everything to search for him. He might never win a spot in Julie's life again, but he can't rest while Cody is in danger and Julie needs him.

Julie and Ben join forces to find Cody, but they have to work quickly. If she doesn't find him soon, she might lose her son forever.

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EXCERPT:

Julie Connolly was hiding. She hadn’t crouched behind the casket or anything—mostly because there wasn’t a casket. But she was standing behind a giant wreath of flowers, watching another random guest walk toward her across the muted green funeral home carpet. Hide was a strong word. She wasn’t hiding. She was standing off to the side, giving others access to the urn holding her father’s ashes.

The guest stood in front of the burnt remnants of a cold man and cried, dabbing her eyes.

See? Julie wasn’t even needed.

She was tired of the platitudes. Tired of the lies. People holding her hand, telling her how wonderful her father had been. What a great man he’d been.

They were trying to be nice. Or they didn’t know him. He was the furthest thing from great. He’d told her how imperfect she was every day of her life—too fat, too stupid, too lazy. Too much like her mother. It was only fair she saw him for the ass he was.

Even after he’d ended up in prison, many people didn’t see the real him. She was lucky—or unlucky. She’d seen it all.

But the sea of people in the funeral home didn’t know. They didn’t know their tears were wasted on a man who wouldn’t have shed a tear for them.

“You shouldn’t be hiding.” The nasally voice grated on Julie’s last nerve. And that the nasally voice noticed Julie was hiding made it so much worse.

“I’m not hiding.” She obviously wasn’t doing a good job of it. “I’m taking a moment to breathe. I’m mourning. My father died.”

“Yes.” Bettina Wilcox—the woman Julie’s father had been dating for the last few years—clamped her hand around Julie’s arm. Her nails dug into Julie’s skin. Perfect black suit dress. Dyed blonde hair pulled taut into a bun, not one hair out of place. Not one flaw.

Except for the fact that she was horribly mean.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Who is Vanessa M. Knight? Well, I’m an author. Wow. After years and years of wanting to use those words, that is fun to say. It’s almost as fun as supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Did I spell that right?

I write contemporary romantic suspense.

I live in Chicagoland with my family and menagerie of four-legged friends. In my mind, these lovely animals do everything as they should. I’m the alpha, keeping peace and harmony amongst my humble servants. In real life, they own me. I’m the maid, here for their feeding pleasure. Well, that and to clean up their messes.

When not catering to the needs of adorably-furry faces, I slug through the nine to five grind and head home so I can write. Of course, that’s after I make dinner and clean the house and all the other tasks that go into family life. So really, I work, cater to animals and my family… and then, if I don’t fall face first into bed, I write. I love putting my characters into crazy situations and watching how they react. I hope you love reading about them.

I love to hear from fans. I can be found on Facebook at VanessaMKnight and at www.vanessamknight.com.

Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VanessaMKnight

FB LINK: https://www.facebook.com/vanessamknightauthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vanessamknight/

Amazon Author page LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Vanessa-M.-Knight/e/B00JZBJ3EO/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1

Website: https://www.VanessaMKnight.com

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Buy Links:

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Apple

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