Three Rivers by Chloe T. Barlow Cover Reveal and Giveaway

Three Rivers by Chloe Barlow

Contemporary Romance
Expected Release Date – March 25th 2014

Synopsis

“A heartbreaking tale of letting go and learning to love again. A jaw-dropping debut novel you have to read.” – Helena Newbury, New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author.

A self-contained bittersweet romance (no cliffhanger ending!) 87,000 words.

How do you start over when you gave everything to one life, one plan, and lost it all?

Althea refuses to allow herself to love again. Imprisoned in grief at twenty-four after her husband’s sudden death, she’s convinced her heart died along with him. She spends her days honoring his memory by clinging to the legal career he helped her to build and to the remaining pieces linking them together.

Griffen’s been running from his past. Despite success as an author and investigative journalist, he’s been traveling through life on autopilot. For a decade, he’s chosen perilous adventures and meaningless sex over the danger of any attachments. When he finally returns home to Pittsburgh, he’s slammed by the awakened memories and regret he’s spent years trying to escape.

A chance encounter brings them together. Their instant desire for each other – and the bond they discover between them – shocks them both. Despite her best efforts, Althea can’t resist Griffen’s charm or his intriguing proposition – if she agrees to a no-strings affair with him for the two weeks he’s in town, he swears he’ll walk away when their time is up. Assured she can test the waters of a new life while keeping her vow never to betray her husband’s memory by opening her heart to another, Althea throws herself into the escape Griffen provides her.

Their perfect plans go awry when the intensity of their connection overwhelms them. Will they risk it all on the chance of something great together…or will the power of their secrets and guilt tear them apart?

Excerpt

“Griffen… Oh! That feels so good,” Althea whispered roughly, her voice slurring a little — whether it was from the drinks she’d had or arousal — she wasn’t sure.

“How drunk are you Althea?” he asked, leaning back, and his surprise growth of a conscience jarred her.

“Excuse me? Don’t you want me?” She suddenly felt shy and embarrassed, like her pretense was ripped away and she was just her same old stable self again.

“Dammit, Althea. I want you like crazy, but I want to know you really want this, too.”

“I know what I’m doing Griffen. I know what I want to do.”

“And what’s that?”

“You.” Whoa. What brazen hussy said that? She asked herself as his answering groan made the muscles in her stomach squeeze tight.

“Shit. You’re so sexy Althea. But you’re a good girl. I don’t have a lot of experience with good girls. I’m not quite sure what to do here.”

Althea smirked at him, grabbing his butt and pulling him tightly against her center. “Something tells me you’ve done this before.”

Griffen laughed, “Yes, that’s true. And I definitely have lots of ideas of what I’d like to do to you…with you. I meant I just want you to be sure.”

It was bizarre to Althea that his man, whom she’d followed to his hotel room after only just meeting him, could tell so easily that she was a good girl. Because he was right — she was one, always had been.

“Yes Griffen. I guess I’ve done my best to be a good girl my whole life. I also try to be a damn great woman. But tonight. Now. Here,” she purred, enunciating each word with the scratching of her nails up and down his smooth cotton shirt, brushing his nipples until he groaned. “I just want to be…with you. What do you say?”

“Yeah, gorgeous,” he said, lightly brushing the fingertips of one hand down her face. Running them across her lips and resting them there. “We can definitely do that.”

About the Author

Chloe is a contemporary romance novelist and practicing attorney living in Pittsburgh, PA with her husband and their sweet puppy. She is a native Washingtonian that graduated Duke University with a degree in English and Chinese language. She met her husband at Duke and he brought her to Pittsburgh over a decade ago, which she has loved ever since and made her adopted hometown. She also attended University of Pittsburgh Law School where she continued to be an overachieving nerd.

Chloe has always loved writing and although she does do it professionally as a lawyer, she cherishes the opportunity to craft her contemporary romances and share them with the world.

She is an avid romance fan and wrote her debut novel Three Rivers in her spare time. She continues her tireless legal style of research in her fiction work as well. For example, in an effort to bring authenticity to Three River’s treatment of grief and loss, she consulted with a psychologist and grief counselor during its preparation.

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