Author Jan Scarbrough: Don’t Be Afraid to Make Your Dreams Come True – New Release: Tangled Memories

I am very pleased to introduce Jan Scarbrough who is sharing her latest release, Tangled Memories. It’s a gothic mystery romance…which I adore!! Welcome, Jan…

 

Don’t be afraid to make your dreams come true!

When I was thirty-eight, I almost died. After that happened, I figured it was time to make my dream come true. I’d always wanted to write a novel, but had been scared of failure and never tried. After my life-threatening experience, I knew it was time to make the effort.

Tangled Memories is like an old-fashioned gothic romance with a dark, mysterious hero and the spunky heroine. There’s a big supernatural element involving a medieval plot. However, the book is contemporary, set in a modern-day Kentucky mansion. After a few starts and stops, the book wrote itself, because I had a story to tell. I was fortunate that the Romance Writers of America selected Tangled Memories as one of its Golden Heart Finalists.

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Blurb for Tangled Memories

 After losing his wife, Dr. Alexander Dominican is determined his infant daughter will not grow up motherless as he did. Offering sensible, kind kindergarten teacher Mary Adams a marriage of convenience seems like the perfect solution. The widow’s husband left her with a mountain of debt. For Alex, paying it off is a small price to pay for his daughter’s happiness. Until his sensible new wife begins to lose her mind.

On the day of their marriage, Mary starts having frightening hallucinations of medieval England—visions that feel more like the memories of woman who lived centuries before. More terrifying, someone—or some thing—is stalking the new mistress of Marchbrook Manor. Could it be one of the sinister servants? Or Alex himself? Alex is reawakening hidden desires and longings in Mary, but until she can untangle the web of nightmares and secrets, she can trust no one. Not even Alex.

Alex has no idea he’s unleashing a destiny that’s taken him seven hundred years to fulfill.

If Alex and Mary are to salvage their future, they must first unravel centuries of…Tangled Memories.

Excerpt – Tangled Memories

By Jan Scarbrough

Present Day

His eyes were gray. I had never noticed before. They weren’t the color of slate but smoky and mysterious.

Swallowing a hard knot of dread that surfaced in my throat, I walked down the silent aisle toward him. Chin held high, very lady-like in posture and demeanor, a trace of smile upon my lips—I was the picture of confidence.

Inside, I trembled.

I stopped in front of the altar. A cloying scent of gardenias assaulted my senses. How curious the delicate white flowers in my bouquet should be so overpowering. Just like the man beside me. Just like the deep, heady gray of his eyes.

I extended my hand. He took it, and I drew a breath and held it. The firmness of his fingers surprised me.

“Friends.” The minister glanced up at us and smiled. “We are gathered together in the sight of God to witness and bless the joining together of Mary and Alexander in Christian marriage.”

Alex was tall, so tall I had to look up to connect with those mesmerizing eyes. I was aware of my breathing, erratic and shallow. I’d married for the second time in my life and, once again, my reasons were more practical than romantic.

How even more ironic was the Methodist minister’s white stole, a symbol of purity and love. I felt neither pure nor in love. His black robes better matched my somber mood.

“I ask you now,” Reverend Watts continued, “in the presence of God and these people, to declare your intention to enter into a union with one another.”

To enter into a union. 

Heaven help me. Would it be a union? How could it be? Our union was a business arrangement, plain and simple. I understood that. For some reason though, sadness settled around my heart.

Reverend Watts looked at me. “Mary, will you have Alexander to be your husband to live together in holy marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?”

Alex’s penetrating gaze burned upon my upturned face. “I will,” I said at last.

“Alexander, will you have Mary to be your wife?”

From underneath my lashes, I watched him. He wore his black hair swept back and long, curling at his neck. A stray lock touched his forehead and set off his eyes. His high cheekbones and jawline gave him a classic look. His lips were full and inviting. Enigmatic in his formal black tuxedo, crisp white shirt, and bow tie, he seemed a brooding Byronic hero. Handsome, though austere, his masculine good looks belonged to another century or, at least, on the cover of a romantic novel.

How different would my life have been if I hadn’t become pregnant my freshman year in college…if I hadn’t married Bill…if I hadn’t miscarried? What if I had met Alexander Dominican under different circumstances, before life touched me so cruelly?

“I will.” His deep voice resonated throughout the empty chapel.

Turning from the minister to me, Alex’s eyes brightened as his gaze captured mine. Out of habit, I licked my lips, but nothing eased my tension. The strain I felt surely communicated to the self-assured man who held my hand. Did he feel the hypocrisy of our oath? Or was he simply satisfied with a marriage of convenience?

GIVEAWAY!

Comment and enter to win! One commenter will receive a print copy of Tangled Memories! Winner will be drawn and announced tomorrow…good luck!

 

Bio for Jan Scarbrough

A member of Novelist, Inc., Jan Scarbrough has published with Kensington, Five Star, ImaJinn Books, Resplendence Publishing and Turquoise Morning Press. She writes paranormal Gothic romances and heartwarming contemporary romances with a touch of spice. Her favorite topics are families and second chances and if the plot allows, she adds another passion—horses. Living in the horse country of Kentucky makes it easy for Jan to add small town, Southern charm to her books, and the excitement of a horse race or a big-time, competitive horse show.

Website: http://www.janscarbrough.com/

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