Giveaway! "Rising Book 2--Rebellion" by Laura Josephsen

I'm hosting a giveaway. 

You can either get a ecopy of Rising 1 or,

if you've read that, Rising 2. 

All you have to do is comment here

and indicate your desire for your name

to be put in the hat.
Winner announced on Friday.

Lachlan's had a rough summer. First, the girl he shares a painful history with didn't remember him. Then Brenna, the woman he loves, showed up after seven years away and wants nothing to do with him. To top it all off, he almost died with the rest of his people when soldiers invaded his country.

Now the enemy could be using Lachlan's people as assassins. When Brenna leaves to find the truth, Lachlan invites himself along.

As Lachlan struggles to rebuild the trust he lost with Brenna, they unravel the dark secret their enemy has worked long and hard to hide--and its consequences for them are greater than they could have known.

I'm nearly done with the book. I love Laura Josephsen's writing. She's got a gift for creating deeply troubled characters that you fall in love with and who twist your heart. This is a book that deals with hard themes like brainwashing, torture, and child abuse. But it also deals with recovery, hope, and redemption.

You can see my review of Rising 1 here.

Excerpt

The wind blew tendrils of hair that had escaped Brenna's braid into her face. She didn't look at him, but something in her voice caught his attention when she murmured, "Same old Lachlan. Always the dreamer."

Lachlan's gaze fell on her hands, clasping the top of the gunwale so tightly they were white. He reached over and laid his hand on one of hers. Her face tilted up toward his, and her kohl-lined eyes were as tired as they'd been the night he'd woken up in the Viarre encampment.

"It's good to have dreams," he said quietly. "They keep us going."

Brenna's hand remained tense under his and she shook her head slightly. "The only dream I have is taking down King Tristran and his government."

Personally, he saw that as more of a goal than a dream, but he didn't say that. "And after that?"

Brenna laughed harshly. "You're assuming we'll survive this. There have already been so many times we should have died." She pulled her hand out from under his. "Dreaming about anything else only leads to disappointment and heartbreak."

"My life's already been full of both. So has yours." Lachlan turned fully toward her. "Some things are worth the risk of more disappointment and heartbreak."

"How can you say that? What in your life could possibly lead you to believe that?"

"Tegan. Reynold. Adria and Bailey and Ivy. Derrek, Lorelei, Riordan, and Mairwyn." Lachlan leaned toward her. "You."

Brenna leaned in even closer to him and whispered, "Then you're going to be very, very disappointed."

"Because you think you'll end up dead? Or because you think you're not worth the risk of heartbreak and disappointment?"

Brenna's face tightened just a bit and he knew he'd hit on something. She drew back from him. "Forget it, Lachlan. You let go of me in the years I was gone; stop trying to hold on again." She strode toward the ladder that led below deck and scrambled down it.

Lachlan hurried after her. "Brenna, wait."

She ignored him and pushed through their cabin door. He stepped through before she could close it in his face and shut it behind him. The tiny cabin was sweltering, and Brenna yanked the blanket out from under her shirt and threw it on a mat in the corner.

"Brenna." He caught her wrist.

She twisted out of his grasp. "I said forget it."

"I can't." Lachlan spread his arms. "You're wrong, Brenna. I had to accept that you left. I had to accept that I couldn't find you and I had to move on with my life, but even then…even then, I couldn't let go of you."

"Well, you should have." Brenna's voice was low, carefully controlled, but she folded her arms across her chest.

"Brenna—"

"No! Just shut up! You still don't get it!"

"Then tell me! What don't I get? What?"

"Everything I touch breaks, Lachlan! It dies and bleeds and falls apart. I'm not like you. You grow things and make them come alive, and all I do is destroy anything that matters. I swore I wouldn't let it happen again, I swore I would stay away, and then I had no choice because of Ziphas's weapon. I was prepared for what I might find when I got to Alatia again. I was prepared for you to have settled down and started a family. I was prepared for you to never want to see or speak to me again. The only thing I wasn't prepared for was this." Brenna waved a hand at him. "You, still waiting for me!"

The story comes to a crashing end in this second and final book.

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