wounded hero | Judith Sterling

Tags

contemporary romance, Jana Richards, The Masonville Series, The Wild Rose Press, To Heal a Heart, wounded hero

I’m excited to welcome Jana Richards, yet another sister Rose (published by The Wild Rose Press) today! She’s here to talk about her recent release, To Heal a Heart. It’s a contemporary romance with a hero and heroine who are in pain and in need of rescue. Here’s the story:

Garrett Saunders’ world changed two years ago on a road in Afghanistan. Back home, he feels like a stranger. As he struggles to find his place in the world, he meets a horse destined for the slaughterhouse and a woman bent on rescuing the strays of the world, including him.

Blair Greyson moves to Masonville to look after her ailing grandfather and give her rescue horses a home. Right away she butts heads with a surly former Marine. Despite a rocky start, they come to an agreement: Blair will board Garrett’s rescue horse and he’ll help with repairs around her farm.

Garrett finds purpose working with Blair—and falls in love with her. But she’s hiding a secret. Can she forgive herself and accept Garrett’s love, or will she let guilt and regret continue to rule her life?

Garrett and Blair are complex characters, and Jana wants us to know five things about them:

~ They both come from families with three children. Garrett is the oldest with two younger sisters. And Blair is the youngest with two older brothers.

~ While Garrett comes from a happy family and had an idyllic childhood, Blair’s family is best described as dysfunctional. She and her brothers have found that some hurts are difficult to put behind them.

~ Something Garrett and Blair have in common: compassion and a love of animals. Garrett found he couldn’t abandon a horse to sure death. He buys Harry at an auction despite his poor condition. Blair has rescued two horses. Stormy was a racehorse who could no longer race and was about to be euthanized, and Rainbow was abandoned at a riding stable when her owner went bankrupt. Blair couldn’t let either of them suffer or die.

~ Garrett spent ten years in the Marines until a suicide bomber in Afghanistan ended his career. Now he’s trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life.

~ Blair works as a veterinary technician, which is sort of like a nurse for animals. She’s often more comfortable in the company of animals than with people!

A peek between the pages of To Heal a Heart:

He pushed himself to his feet, disconcerted by his unsteadiness. He made a few halting steps toward the gate as Blair ran into the yard.

“I forgot my sweater,” she said, grabbing the garment from the back of a chair and slipping it on. “It’s cooler than I thought. Are you sure you don’t want to watch the fireworks with us?”

“No, I—”

His words were cut off by a loud explosion, and his only thought was that he had to protect Blair. He grabbed her and threw her to the ground, covering her body with his. He was under attack. Why was Blair in Afghanistan? How could he keep her safe?

Through the chaos and noise he heard her muffled voice beneath him. “Garrett, you’re crushing me.”

He shifted his weight slightly. “Shh. I’m sorry. You have to stay down and quiet. I can’t let them hurt you.”

She stopped struggling. “Who’s going to hurt me?”

“Can’t you hear the mortar fire? I have to protect you.”

Her hand rubbed his back in gentle circles. “It’s all right, Garrett. It’s only fireworks. It can’t hurt us. We’re safe here.”

He lifted his head and looked around. He was in Cole and Lauren’s back yard in Masonville. There were no bombs, no shelling, no Taliban. He looked down into Blair’s face, into the pity in her eyes. He rolled off her, disgusted with himself.

Disgusted and scared. He was losing his mind.

Buy the book:

Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Heal-Heart-Masonville-Book-ebook/dp/B0875SLGK6

Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/Heal-Heart-Masonville-Book-ebook/dp/B0875SLGK6

Amazon.UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Heal-Heart-Masonville-Book-ebook/dp/B0875SLGK6

Amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Heal-Heart-Masonville-Book-ebook/dp/B0875SLGK6

Amazon.fr: https://www.amazon.fr/Heal-Heart-Masonville-Book-ebook/dp/B0875SLGK6

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/to-heal-a-heart-jana-richards/1136868654?ean=2940162717966

iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/to-heal-a-heart/id1508639914

More about Jana:

When Jana Richards read her first romance novel, she immediately knew two things: she had to commit the stories running through her head to paper, and they had to end with a happily ever after. She also knew she’d found what she was meant to do. Since then she’s never met a romance genre she didn’t like. She writes contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and historical romance set in World War Two, in lengths ranging from short story to full length novel. Just for fun, she throws in generous helpings of humor, and the occasional dash of the paranormal. Her paranormal romantic suspense “Seeing Things” was a 2008 EPPIE finalist.

In her life away from writing, Jana is an accountant/admin assistant, a mother to two grown daughters, and a wife to her husband Warren. She enjoys golf, yoga, movies, concerts, travel and reading, not necessarily in that order. She and her husband live in Winnipeg, Canada. She loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website at www.janarichards.com