Tangled Web
by Angela Whisenhant
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GENRE: Romantic Suspense/Christian
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BLURB:
One bad decision can change your life forever. Alyson Carter has always put her family first, so the small town of Sage Grove is shocked to learn she’s abandoned them for a man she met online. Seeking a more exciting life, she moves to his horse ranch in Colorado.
Attempting to adjust to life without her, her husband, Kurt, accepts an opportunity to train with the FBI, reluctantly allowing their daughter, Lacy, to move in with a family friend. When the friend is kidnapped, it’s discovered Lacy was the intended target. Pursued by unknown assailants who will stop at nothing to catch her, Lacy finds herself scared and alone. She turns to her mother for protection, unaware that her mother’s secluded mountain sanctuary has become a prison. Alyson discovers she’s merely a pawn in the deadly game of a man she thought she knew. Secrets and lies draw her family onto a collision course with cold-blooded killers.
Her ill-fated decision has placed them all in danger, and she is forced to confront her enemy head-on to protect herself and her daughter. Now she must depend on a God she turned her back on and the husband she left behind to save them both.
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Excerpt Two:
KURT REACHED OVER and turned off the alarm. The clock read five a.m. He rolled over in the bed and felt the cool sheets beneath him. He would never get accustomed to sleeping alone. This was normally the time he would curl his body around Alyson while she slept. When he was working days, he set the alarm fifteen minutes early just to have that time with her before he started his day. No matter how little crime there was in this town, Kurt never forgot the fact that he was in a dangerous job that could alter or end his life in a split second. He looked at each morning as if it could be his last. That was why it was so important to have this time to hold Alyson. He didn’t dare take for granted that he’d get the chance to do it the next day. He should have set the alarm for a later time. There was no longer any reason to get up that early, but he just couldn’t do it. Just like he couldn’t change the sheets. He knew it was time, but they still smelled like Alyson. Her perfume, her shampoo —everything that reminded him of her was still faintly evident on her pillow and sheets. Sometimes in that moment right when he awoke, he inhaled those familiar scents and momentarily forgot she wasn’t there. Maybe this weekend he would change them, but not today. Kurt climbed out of bed and threw on his running clothes. He tried to run three miles most days, and he liked the energy he got from doing it first thing in the morning. Plus, it gave him a chance to think about his day and sort through the things he needed to do. Lately, most of his thoughts had been going to Lacy. She was the one that was truly innocent through all of this. Her senior year should have been spent with her friends—going to parties and making memories that would last the rest of her life. Now she would always associate her senior year with her family falling apart. To make things worse, he had to leave town to deal with a work situation. The timing couldn’t be worse, but some things were out of his control. When duty called, he went—there wasn’t another option. Alyson always picked up the slack when he was away. Without her, who would take care of things? His job was their sole income now, and he couldn’t afford to lose it. Besides, he’d invested years to get to where he was both professionally and financially. He wouldn’t risk losing it all over Alyson’s stupid decision. It wasn’t fair to put anything else on Lacy, so he couldn’t tell her the truth about where he was going. Where was he going to send her while he took care of his business? Did he really trust any of their friends to take care of her? His Lacy—his whole world. No one could watch out for her as well as he could. She would be dating. Boys. Who would be there to put the fear of God into the boys that came to take her out? That was one of the advantages of being in law enforcement: he could legally carry a gun everywhere he went. Of course, he wouldn’t be agonizing at all—or at least, not more than any other dad of a teenaged daughter—if Alyson hadn’t betrayed them both. She was the one responsible for this whole mess. I hope it’s all worth it, Alyson. Yeah, I hope your life is a freaking bowl of cherries, because mine is a disaster. The more he thought about it, the faster he ran. He pushed his body further than he thought it could go. He ran until the burning in his legs and lungs almost brought him to the ground. The combination of the physical pain with his emotional pain seemed overwhelming. He wanted to stop and catch his breath, but he couldn’t. He had to run. To run from his situation, to run from the pain, and to run from the decisions that he had to make. Tears flowed and mixed with the sweat running down his face. Exhaustion overtook his body, and he started to slow his pace. Stopping felt like surrender, but his strength was completely spent. He sagged at the front door, gathering the strength to walk to the shower. As he was making his coffee, Lacy walked into the kitchen. She was growing into such a beautiful young woman, nearly ready to leave for college—he couldn’t believe Alyson could willingly walk away.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Angela has been a passionate reader her whole life and that love of reading developed into a love of writing. She is excitedly awaiting the publication of her first novel, Tangled Web. She wants to tell the stories of real people who make real mistakes and, yet find real redemption. People who are leading normal lives and suddenly find themselves thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Sometimes they make good decisions and sometimes bad decisions. But either way they must live with the consequences.
Much of her inspiration comes from her life in a small town and her love of all things suspense. Her perfect storm is when the two collide. Crime in a small town impacts everyone because of the close ties.
Angela lives in Texas with the three loves of her life; her husband Leslie and sons, Kyle and Chase. Other than writing, she loves coffee, 80’s music, hiking in Colorado and HGTV. She aspires to live a joyful life, always chase her dreams and never settle for mediocrity.
Find her here:
Website | angelawhisenhant.wordpress.com/
Facebook | AngelaWhisenhantAuthor
Twitter | @angela_whiz
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE
Angela will be awarding a $5 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
This does sound interesting!
I enjoyed the excerpt, thank you.
Thanks for hosting.