MRFWHook – The Truth Can Destroy

Book Hooks is a weekly meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog. Readers can jump from one author to another who share hooks from their current WIP (work in progress) or any previously published books.

For this week’s edition of Book Hooks, I give you a teaser from Renewed, the fourth and final book in The Matawapit Family series, a contemporary romance full of destructive family secrets that is 50% off when you purchase from Extasy Books.

When two former enemies fall in love, family secrets threaten to destroy their fragile union and everything they hold dear.

With their extreme ideas about traditional Ojibway life, the radical Kabatay clan have made enemies in their fight to rid the reserve of Western culture and its religion. Disowned by her family for daring to love the church deacon’s eldest son, Jude, Raven Kabatay longs to put an end to the feud started by her mother, brother, and sisters against the Matawapits…people she’s come to think of as her own since Jude changed her life.

Jude Matawapit suffered a humiliating divorce after his wife left him for another man, but with Raven, he’s created a beautiful, new sanctuary after losing his previous one, and his new haven is everything he’s ever wanted for himself and his children. Only two things could destroy his pristine bliss: the secret he holds close to his chest, and the vengeance Raven’s family wants to exact on the Matawapits. A secret and vengeance that could cost the unlikely lovers their hard-won, much longed for happily ever after.

Genre(s): Multicultural, Contemporary Romance, First Nations Romance, Adult, Inspirational.
Heat Rating: Level 3
Publication Date: February 7, 2020
Publisher: eXtasy Books

PURCHASE A COPY FOR 1/2 PRICE AT EXTASY BOOKS

Raven stood. “There’s something you’re not telling me.” She scooted after Fawn, who’d already started away, dashing for the stairs.

On wobbly heels, Raven darted after her. “What’s going on?”

Fawn raced up the stairs, bolted down the hallway, and sprinted out the main exit doors into the never-ending traffic of people being dropped off or being picked up. She didn’t stop until she’d reached a flower garden, far on the other side of the main entrance.

Almost out of breath, and her toes pinching, Raven caught up. “Will you please stop? I can barely walk.”

“I…” Fawn withdrew her cigarettes. She lit one, staring out at the numerous parking lots across the narrow, winding road that snaked all around the hospital. “I… Mom’ll kill me.”

Looming dread was a blanket ready to engulf Raven. She dug inside her purse for the e-cigarette. “What?”

“You don’t understand how hard it’s been for Mom.” Fawn’s lips clamped around the filter. The ember burned bright.

“Are you gonna tell me or not?”

Plopping on the edge of the cement pad of the flower bed, Fawn glanced up. “You know how old we were when you were born.”

“Yessss.” Raven also sat.

A cab pulled up and let out a man.

“Something happened. Something really awful.” Fawn also stared at the cab as the vehicle drove off.

“What?”

“Mom had booted Dad out by then. His drinking was way out of control.” Fawn’s normally husky voice was nails grinding on a chalkboard.

“Booted him out?” Nobody had told Raven there’d been a breakdown in the marriage.

Fawn trembled. “Dad… Dad was really drunk. He kicked in the door…” She took another drag. “Kicked in the door. We were scared. So scared.” Her head bowed. “I took Wren. Clayton took Lark. We hid in his bedroom.” She puffed again. “Hid under the bunkbed.”

Something ominous crept up Raven’s spine. Cold infiltrated her blood.

“He… he…” Fawn swiped at her eyes. “Are you sure you wanna know?”

Even though her heart screamed no, Raven’s brain said she must unearth the answer—the answer to why Mom hated her so much. She forced her head to nod.

“He was shoving Mom around. Clayton… Clayton…” Fawn’s teeth clacked. “I made Clayton stay under the bed.”

Raven squeezed her eyes shut, trying to visualize her frightened brother and sisters cowering under a bed while a drunken monster tore apart their home and assaulted their mother. Her mother.

Fawn would’ve been eleven. Clayton ten. Lark nine. Wren eight.

Reality punched Raven’s gut. She’d been born nine months later. “No…” She pressed her palms against her temples.

“Yes…” Fawn dug her fingers into Raven’s hand. “Y-y-yes.”

“He… he… he…”

“He kept hollering it was his right.” Fawn cringed. She scooted closer to Raven and set her arm around Raven’s waist.

“No… this can’t be…” The words died in Raven’s throat.