USA Today Bestselling Author Shanna Hatfield joins us with her latest release, a sweet World War II romance.
Picture
a beautiful summer day when the sky is clear, the temperature is warm,
but not uncomfortably so, and the humidity is low.
On one of those ideal summer days, Captain Cavedweller (my husband) and I climbed a hilly path to visit the Japanese Garden in Portland, Oregon. We heard it was “nice” and “pretty,” but we had no idea what to expect.
After
we topped the hill and paid our admission at the little gate booth, we
walked inside the garden, spellbound by the beauty around us. For a few
minutes, we didn’t move, absorbed in the wonder of being transported to a
completely different world in a matter of a few steps. The garden — oh,
such a lovely garden. I highly recommend visiting it if you are ever in
the area. There are ponds with bright orange fish, walking paths, raked
sand, and a waterfall. In truth, in my mind’s eye, it is Miko’s secret
garden, only bigger.
It was while we wandered
along the moss-covered stones and stepped across the wooden bridges that
the idea for this story began to percolate. What if there was a girl
who lived in a secret garden? Why would she be there? What scenario
would drive her into hiding in a Japanese garden up on a hilltop that no
one knew was there?
As Captain Cavedweller and
I ambled among weeping cherry trees and vibrant flowering bushes, I
blurted out my thoughts. Then somehow, in a wonderful blending of ideas,
we both arrived at the conclusion of World War II. A Japanese girl
would have every reason to hide, had she the opportunity to do so, in
1942 when the government ordered all Japanese along the West Coast
“military areas” to report to Assembly Centers.
And so the story was born.
Can forbidden love blossom
amid the constraints of war?
The
moment the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, life shifted for Miko
Nishimura. Desperate to reach the Portland Assembly Center for
Japanese-Americans, she’s kicked off the bus miles from town. Every tick
of the clock pushes her closer to becoming a fugitive in the land of
her birth. Exhausted, she stumbles to her grandparents’ abandoned farm
only to find a dying soldier sprawled across the step. Unable to leave
him, she forsakes all else to keep him alive.
After crashing
his plane in the Battle of the Atlantic, the doctors condemn Captain
Rock Laroux to die. Determined to meet his maker beneath a blue sky at
his family home, he sneaks out of the hospital. Weary and half out of
his mind, he makes it as far as a produce stand he remembers from his
youth. Rather than surrender to death, Rock fights a battle of the heart
as he falls in love with the beautiful Japanese woman who saves his
life.
A poignant, sweet romance, Garden of Her Heart proves love can bloom in unlikely places even under the most challenging circumstances.
Don't miss out on this beautiful happy ever after. Get your copy today!
Available on:
Join us for a Facebook Party today (December 7) from 4-7 p.m. (EST) to celebrate the release of Garden of Her Heart. Here is the link:
Excerpt:
“Please, Miko? Would you at least consider marrying me?”
She
shook her head and tried to pull away from him, but he drew her closer,
wrapping his arms around her and holding her. His breath tantalized her
ear as he bent his head near hers. “Please?”
“I can’t, Rock. I
don’t want to be the cause of you missing out on the love of a
lifetime.” She turned her head to the side and pressed it against his
neck. Unintentionally, she heightened the yearning that already pulsed
between them. Forcibly, he relaxed his hold on her.
“Miko,” he whispered. “Look at me, sweetheart.”
Unhurried, she tipped her head back, drawn into the bright warmth of his eyes.
“Miko,
if I didn’t want to marry you, I wouldn’t offer. I rather like the idea
of spending my future with you. We have more going for us than many
couples who wed. There is no doubt in my mind at all about your ability
to be a good wife. Me, on the other hand…” His cocky grin brought an
amused light to her eyes. “It might be challenging to be married to
someone like me.”
A smile curved her mouth upward and Rock
tamped down the desire to kiss her again, even with the pastor watching
their every move.
USA Today Bestselling Author Shanna Hatfield writes
character-driven romances with relatable heroes and heroines. Her
historical westerns have been described as “reminiscent of the era
captured by Bonanza and The Virginian” while her contemporary works have
been called “laugh-out-loud funny, and a little heart-pumping sexy
without being explicit in any way.”
Convinced everyone
deserves a happy ending, this hopeless romantic is out to make it
happen, one story at a time. When she isn’t writing or indulging in
chocolate (dark and decadent, please), Shanna hangs out with her
husband, lovingly known as Captain Cavedweller.
Find Shanna’s books at:
Shanna loves to hear from readers. Follow her online at:
Thank you, thank you, thank you for hosting me! I so appreciate it!
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