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 Redeemed, book two in The Matawapit Family series, a second-chance, contemporary romance. Don’t forget to check out the other book hooks from participating authors HERE.
A single woman battles to keep her foster child from his newly-paroled father—a dangerous man she used to love.
Bridget Matawapit is an Indigenous activist, daughter of a Catholic deacon, and foster mother to Kyle, the son of an Ojibway father—the ex-fiancé she kicked to the curb after he chose alcohol over her love. With Adam out on parole and back in Thunder Bay, she is determined to stop him from obtaining custody of Kyle.
Adam Guimond is a recovering alcoholic and ex-gangbanger newly-paroled. Through counseling, reconnecting with his Ojibway culture and twelve-step meetings while in prison, Adam now understands he’s worthy of the love that frightened him enough to pick up the bottle he’d previously corked. He can’t escape the damage he caused so many others, but he longs to rise like a true warrior in the pursuit of forgiveness and a second chance. There’s nothing he isn’t willing to do to win back his son–and Bridget.
When an old cell mate’s daughter dies under mysterious circumstances in foster care, Adam begs Bridget to help him uncover the truth. Bound to the plight of the Indigenous children in care, Bridget agrees. But putting herself in contact with Adam threatens to resurrect her long-buried feelings for him, and even worse, she risks losing care of Kyle, by falling for a man who might destroy her faith in love completely this time.
Genre(s): Multicultural, Contemporary Romance, First Nations Romance, Adult, Inspirational.
Heat Rating: Level 3
Publication Date: April 19, 2019
Publisher: eXtasy Books
Adam kept his hand put before he cuffed the side of Logan’s head. “I’m Adam and I’m an alcoholic.”
Everyone murmured their hellos.
“When I was eighteen, I kept asking myself the same thing—why bother? Maybe I should’ve bothered? If I would’ve, I’d be living a different life.” He stared straight ahead at the one-quarter-filled coffee pot on the counter leading into the small kitchen.
“I’m thirty-eight and starting over. Gotta accept responsibility that I put myself here. Nobody forced booze down my throat. Nobody forced me to commit crimes.” He moved his tongue back and forth along the roof of his closed mouth.
“I’ve been reading lots. Making good use of the time sitting alone in my room at the halfway house.” He curled and uncurled his toes. “Ninety percent of crimes are committed when someone’s drunk. And yeah, I did a lot of bad shit when I was sober, too. Thing is, my drinking and drugging led me to dark places. If I didn’t drink the way I did, if I didn’t use blow the way I did, I wouldn’t have gotten involved in a street gang.
“Easy money. Easy life. Easy women. I wasn’t willing to work for anything. I felt after the way I grew up, I deserved free shit. Life owed me something.” He kept squeezing his toes. “Life doesn’t work that way. Some of us have it tougher than others. It’s still no excuse for doing what I did just ’cause life handed me a raw deal growing up.
“We make ourselves believe our life is normal. But if it was normal, why do we want what we see as normal around us?” His hands remained on his thighs, heat from his palms dampening his jeans slightly. “So I knew better. Knew what I was doing was wrong. When my son was born, and I looked into his eyes, held him, I vowed I wasn’t gonna live that way anymore, and I wasn’t gonna put him through the same bullshit.”
His stomach tightened. “I screwed up. I won’t say I relapsed almost four years ago. I chose to start drinking again. One drink wasn’t enough. Fourteen was too much. And I landed back in prison, a place I swore I’d never go back to.”
Again, he clamped his lips closed and ran his tongue over the roof of his mouth. “I got a second chance. Life ain’t going my way. Nope, not at all. Hell, it sucks. But I’m sober. I’m working. I got a place to bunk. I’m giving back by sponsoring someone. I’m doing my best to count my blessings, even when I’m getting a kick to the teeth right now.
“All I can do is leave everything in my higher power’s hands. Trust it’ll work out how it’s s’posed to work out.”
My ex-fiancée’s on a fucking date while I’m sitting in a recovery meeting baring my soul and feeling sorry for myself.
Adam set his hand on the back of Logan’s chair. “This may not be the happiest moment of my life, but it sure beats a prison cell. It sure beats a hangover. It sure beats waking up on the street. It sure beats bumming money for booze or cigarettes. That’s all I got to say.”
“Thanks, Adam,” the other people in the room said.
CHECK OUT OTHER BOOK HOOKS HERE FROM PARTICIPATING AUTHORS
Maggie Blackbird 