Buy Links
Blurb
Storms can’t last forever…can they?
For five long years, Rae Ryan has lived in a storm over which she has no control. Little by little, everything has been taken away from her—her job, her relationship, her best friend and her home. Plagued by nightmares and a terrible family secret, she carries her scars as much on the inside as she does on the outside.
Hart Booker, another disappointment from her past, returns to Bar Harbor and shelters her from the rain. He reminds Rae that forgiveness is possible, happiness can be found on the other side of darkness, and beauty rests beneath her scars. But a sinister figure lingering in the background seems determined to pull Rae back into a past she’s been trying to outrun. Can she survive the storm and become part of the light she so desperately desires? Or is she destined to remain Pulled Within?
Recommended for mature audiences due to explicit language, sexual abuse, disturbing situations, and drug use.
Link to Follow Tour: http://www.tastybooktours.com/2014/08/pulled-within-bar-harbor-2-by-marni-mann.html
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20876834-pulled-within?from_search=true
Rafflecopter Giveaway (Two Digital Copies of PULLED BENEATH)
Excerpt
“Do you know what the rain is?” he asked.
I was curled in a ball in the corner of the couch. A candle flickered on the table. It was the only light in the house; we’d lost power from the storm. He’d even let me take the candle into the potty with me, but he told me not to flush. I kinda liked that. The noise the toilet made could be so loud and scary at night.
I pulled the blanket even tighter around me. “No…what is it?”
“It’s the tears from all the people who cried today. The sky pulls them out of all the tissues and sleeves and holds them up there until it’s full. Then, it comes raining down on us.”
A chill ran over me, covering my skin in tiny bumps as I remembered how mean the rain had gotten. It felt like our house had been shaking. “Why did the storm sound so angry?”
“The sky doesn’t just take tears; it also takes the sounds that people make. That yelling you did while you cried this afternoon came right back at us, didn’t it?”
I couldn’t control my temper sometimes. I wanted to. I tried really hard to. I just didn’t want Mommy to go to work because Darren got so sad whenever she left. And what made him sad, made me sad.
“So if I cry softly, it won’t thunder as much?”
“Come on over here, Rae.”
I glanced toward the rocking chair where he was sitting. The candle lit up his face and his open arms. With the blanket still around me, I tiptoed over to him. He pulled me onto his lap, tucking my legs into the side of the chair and wrapping his arms around me. We swayed back and forth.
“You’re a good girl. You have no reason to be shedding those tears, and especially no reason to be yelling like that.”
Back and forth.
Mommy said I was a strong girl, a smart girl. He always said I had the prettiest smile of all the girls he’d ever seen. Strong, pretty girls didn’t need to cry. Darren didn’t need to cry, either. I wanted to tell him that, but he was in his room. He was always in there. He said he didn’t like hanging out anywhere else in the house. He was so silly.
I stretched my hands out of the blanket and placed them on top of his. His knuckles were so rough and hard. Chapped like my lips after I cried. They held me tight, but it didn’t hurt.
“Rest your head on my chest and let’s see if we can get you to sleep. It’s past your bedtime, my good girl.”
I pressed my cheek against his shirt. It was soft. Much softer than his knuckles, and the hairs around his neck tickled my nose.
Back and forth.
“I want you to think of good things. Pretty things. No more rain tonight, only rainbows.”
His fingers moved out from under mine and he ran them through the loose strands of my hair. My eyes closed. My breathing slowed. His thumb dipped onto my neck, but the rest of his hand stayed in my hair.
Back and forth.
“You’re such a good girl, Rae.”
Back and forth.
Author Info
Best-selling author Marni Mann, knew she was going to be a writer since middle school. While other girls her age were daydreaming about teenage pop stars, Mann was fantasizing about penning her first novel. She crafts sexy, titillating stories that weave together her love darkness, mystery, passion, and human emotion.
A New Englander at heart, she now lives in Sarasota, Florida with her husband and their two dogs who subsequently have been characters in her books. When she’s not nose deep in her laptop working on her next novel, she’s scouring for chocolate, sipping wine, traveling to new locations, and devouring fabulous books.
Author Links
Website: http://www.marnismann.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarniMannAuthor
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MarniMann
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5400988.Marni_Mann
Thank you for hosting today!