Sometimes trust is the toughest lesson to learn.
Sophie Shaw is days away from signing a contract that will fulfill her dream of owning a vineyard. For her, it’s a chance to restart her life and put past tragedies to rest. But Duncan Jamieson’s counter offer blows hers out to sea.
Duncan still finds Sophie as appealing as he had during boyhood vacations to the lake. Older and wiser now, he has his own reasons for wanting the land. His offer, however, hinges on a zoning change approval.
Bribery rumors threaten the deal and make Sophie wary of Duncan, yet she cannot deny his appeal. When her journalistic research uncovers a Jamieson family secret, trust becomes the hardest lesson for them both.
Thud!
Air whooshed from Sophie’s lungs. Pain coursed through her shoulder blades, neck, and spine. The ground’s chilly dampness seeped into her cotton khaki pants, raising goose bumps on her skin. Seconds passed without breath before she managed to swallow a gulp.
Lying flat on her back, she stared at the cornflower blue sky and spotted a chalky slice of the moon. The night Henry died, a similar crescent had hung from the heavens, barely visible nestled among the glittering stars. She prepared for the scrape that threatened to tear the gouge of her scarred heart. Seven years. Seven painful years. She closed her eyes and after a few seconds, the weight of sadness lifted off her chest.
Tears gathered along her lower lashes. She pushed a strand of unruly long hair from her face. Footsteps crunched on the ice pellets and headed her way.
“Matthew Shaw…” Fury pooled in her jaw as she resisted the urge to yell at her son. “You’d better have a good excuse for taking so long.”
A man with cinnamon hair, short on the sides with gentle waves on top, knelt at her side. She studied the strong outline of his cheeks and the slight bump on the bridge of his angular nose that gave him a rugged touch, but he wasn’t familiar.
“Are you okay?” He searched her face.
The stranger hovered above. Tall treetops, clinging to the last of their earth-toned foliage, served as a backdrop to her view. A vertical crease separated his sandy brows.
She couldn’t pry herself from his vivid blue eyes, in part stunned from the fall, but also by her first responder.
About the Author:
Sharon Struth is an award-winning author who believes it’s never too late for a second chance in love or life. When she’s not writing, she and her husband happily sip their way through the scenic towns of the Connecticut Wine Trail. Sharon writes from the small town of Bethel, Connecticut, the friendliest place she’s ever lived. For more information, including where to find her other novels and published essays, please visit her website.
Jennifer’s Review of Share The Moon
Review (3.75 Stars): Sophie Shaw has discovered that a big developer has come in and taken away the opportunity for her family to build a vineyard by purchasing the prospective property days before they were going to sign the contract. For Sophie, this is a devastating blow because the property has a deeper significance than just being a vineyard and she will do whatever it takes to try to get it back. Duncan Jamieson has decided to make a fresh start after spending most of his life dedicated to the corporate rat race and can’t imagine a better place than buying the lake property where he spent his summers as a youth. He never expected to run into his teenage crush, Sophie, and find out that his own company has beaten out her family for the lake property. To make amends, Duncan and Sophie start spending time with another and find that their sexual chemistry is hard to deny. Sophie soon learns that his family has secrets to hide and these secrets may help win back the property but ultimately destroy any chance that they have to build a future together.
This was a darker romance for me because there was a lot of heartbreak and sadness for Sophie and Duncan. Sophie had experienced a devastating loss in her family and she was still struggling to recover emotionally from it. Duncan had suffered a loss as well and he understood what Sophie was going through even though she never wanted to admit it. I liked them together as a couple because they had that instant attraction and chemistry from the moment that they met, even though they had a rough patch after learning the reason why Duncan was there. I was glad to see that with the right person Sophie was able to make peace with what happened in the past and bring light and love back into her life. Share The Moon is a promising debut in the Blue Moon Lake series and I’m looking forward to seeing these characters again in the second installment.
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