Never Fall Again, romantic suspense by Lynn H. Blackburn
Guest Post + Book & Author Info + a Giveaway!
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Never Fall Again
Landry Hutton has spent three years rebuilding her life behind the secure gates of The Haven, an exclusive resort on the outskirts of Gossamer Falls, North Carolina. As the artist-in-residence, and with her pottery prized by The Haven’s guests, Landry is finally ready to settle in permanently. She wants to give her daughter, Eliza, a safe home to grow up in and hires former Marine Callum Shaw to handle the construction.
Cal grew up in Gossamer Falls and always knew he would someday join his family’s business. He longs for a family of his own but has almost given up on that ever happening. Landry is funny, gifted, and everything Cal could ever want in a partner, but he vows to keep his distance. Landry has a daughter and a past. Cal has been down that road before and barely survived when the woman he loved left, taking her two sons with her. He can’t bear to lose like that again.
Before construction on the house can begin, Landry’s pottery is destroyed in a suspicious fire. It soon becomes clear that Landry and Eliza are in grave danger–but because of whom? But, after losing one relationship, he is hesitant to try again.
Praise for Never Fall Again:
“What a fabulous story with characters who will live in your head–and heart–long after the last word.”
~ Lynette Eason, award-winning, bestselling author of the Lake City Heroes series
“Lynn Blackburn’s voice is unrivaled! A must-read.”
~ Elizabeth Goddard, bestselling author of Cold Light of Day
“This book had it all–a delicious romance, obsession, found family, redemption and reconciliation, edge-of-your-seat suspense, and the kind of ending we all root for!”
~ Susan May Warren, USA Today bestselling and RITA Award-winning author
Book Details:
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Published by: Revell
Publication Date: March 12, 2024
Number of Pages: 352
ISBN: 9780800745363 (ISBN10: 0800745361)
Series: Gossamer Falls, Book 1
To purchase Never Fall Again, click any of the following links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | Baker Book House
An excerpt from Never Fall Again
Never Fall Again
They passed several offices before they reached an open door.
“Maisy. Stay.” That same deep voice from the intercom floated to the hallway.
“Oooh! A dog!” Eliza dashed into the room.
Her little sprite was fast and already halfway across the office before Landry realized what was happening. “Eliza, wait!” Fortunately, she stopped at Landry’s words.
“I know, Mommy. Never touch a dog without permission. I just want to see.”
Eliza turned her big brown eyes toward the man who had come around his desk and knelt beside a dog now quivering with excitement.
The man—Callum Shaw, she assumed—met her daughter’s eyes and said, “Your mom’s right. You can’t ever rush at a dog, even dogs as gentle as this big baby. But if it’s okay with your mom . . .”
His eyes, which were as blue as the Carolina sky, now met hers. There was humor and gentleness. And shadows. Something dark flitted across his gaze. But then he blinked and it was gone.
Landry nodded her permission, and he turned all his attention back to her daughter. “This is Maisy. She’s a golden retriever. She’s three years old. She loves long walks in the woods, sunbathing, peanut butter, and belly rubs.” He demonstrated the belly rub. Maisy melted under his touch, and Eliza crept closer. “You can pet her. Maisy doesn’t bite my friends.”
Eliza dropped to her knees beside Callum and held out her hand toward Maisy’s nose.
Maisy took a quick sniff and rewarded Eliza’s good behavior with a lick. Callum stayed where he was until it was clear to everyone that Eliza and Maisy were set, then he rose to his feet and extended a hand. “Ms. Hutton.”
“Landry. Please.”
“Landry. A pleasure.”
Landry kept the contact brief. “Sorry, my hands are rough.” She turned them palms up. “Hazards of the job.”
Why had she said that? What did it matter if her hands were a bit on the crispy side? She didn’t have to prove anything to this man. Embarrassment crept across her and burst through her pores, heating her neck and face, and now she had no idea what to do with her hands. Should she put them down? Tuck them behind her back?
Callum glanced at her hands and turned his own up. “Same here.” He heaved a dramatic sigh. “It’s to my eternal despair that I’ll never land that hand modeling contract I’ve always hoped for.”
His easy humor made it automatic to tease him back. “Well, there’s always ditch digging.”
“Good point. If this construction gig doesn’t work out, I’ll have something to fall back on.” Callum turned his attention to Eliza. “And I gather your name is Eliza?”
She giggled with the abandon unique to happy children. “That’s right, but sometimes Mommy calls me Liza or ZaZa, but never Lizzy because that’s too close to Landry, and it gets confusing.”
Landry tried to keep a straight face as Eliza parroted what she’d heard Landry say too many times to count.
“It’s a pleasure, Ms. Eliza.” Callum pressed a hand to his chest. “I’m Cal Shaw. I’ll answer to Callum, but not LumLum because”— he dropped his voice to a stage whisper—“that’s just not dignified.”
Eliza’s laughter filled the room. Bronwyn hadn’t been wrong about Cal Shaw. He was very good with children. Even now, he kept his attention on Eliza. “Are you good here with Maisy while your mom and I talk?”
“Yes, sir.”
Cal grabbed a legal pad and pen from his desk and took the chair opposite the one he directed Landry to sit in. From their seats, they could both see Eliza and Maisy.
She waited for him to start the conversation, but maybe she was supposed to go first?
“She’s a beau—”
“Land—”
They both stopped talking, and his smile seemed genuine as he nodded to her. “Please. Go ahead.”
“I was going to say your dog is beautiful.” She willed her body to stop flushing scarlet, but it refused to cooperate. She didn’t have to see herself to know that her face, neck, chest, and even her feet were on fire. This was why she did best behind the walls of The Haven. She could interact with the patrons there with minimal difficulty. But put her out in public, and she became a tongue-tied, socially inept disaster.
Cal’s grin held mischief, and he leaned toward her. “If all goes as planned, she’ll be pregnant soon. I bet Eliza would love a puppy for Christmas.” His voice was cajoling and teasing, but at least he had the good sense to keep it too low for Eliza to hear.
He winked in a way that was friendly and not flirtatious, and Landry understood why Bronwyn liked him so much. He leaned back and in a normal voice said, “I gathered from your conversation with Carla that you’re going to build nearby.”
“Yes. I have three acres on the edge of Pierce land.” She watched him carefully as she spoke and was unsurprised when his grip tightened on the pen at her words.
“How long have you lived in Gossamer Falls?”
“Long enough to know the Pierce and Quinn families don’t get along.”
*** Excerpt from Never Fall Again by Lynn H. Blackburn. Copyright 2024 by Lynn H. Blackburn. Reproduced with permission from Lynn H. Blackburn. All rights reserved.
Guest Post for Never Fall Again
by Lynn H. Blackburn
In order to introduce you to the hero and heroine of Never Fall Again, I wrote up some fun bios for them. I tacked mine on as well. 🙂
Callum Shaw is the youngest of three brothers who all left home long enough to spend a few years as Marines and then returned home to Gossamer Falls to build houses. Despite what people in town say, there’s no truth to the story that they came home because they missed their mama, or that they couldn’t live without their Granny’s biscuits and gravy.
Cal loves his niece and nephews, his dog, Maisy, and electrocuting wood to make the unique designs that are the signature element of his handcrafted vases, bowls, and bookmarks. He drinks his coffee black, his tea sweet, and his hot chocolate with marshmallows. He claims to be the favorite grandchild, but this is disputable given that every one of his cousins think they are the favorite. And he has a lot of cousins.
Cal wants to find love, get married, and have a family. In pursuit of this goal, he rarely dates, spends most of his time with his cousins around their fire pit, works long hours, and has forbidden his family from setting him up on blind dates, or not so blind dates. It’s like he’s waiting for the perfect woman to just appear one day in his office. Weird!
***
Landry Hutton wound up in Gossamer Falls after her best friend offered her a job at an exclusive resort, The Haven, where she could create pottery, teach art classes, and hide from the world. If it was just her, she’d probably never leave the grounds of the resort, but she wants to build a home and a life with her daughter, Eliza, so now she has to be brave and interact with the people of Gossamer Falls.
Landry loves peanut butter with chocolate, pizza, waterfalls, and creating unique pieces of pottery to sell to the guests of The Haven. She has a bad habit of rambling when she’s nervous, and her skin is so fair that if she gets embarrassed her whole body turns pink and she can’t hide it, and then she rambles more, and then the pink turns to flaming red, and the rambling continues. It’s a vicious cycle.
Landry doesn’t want to be married or have any more of a family than the one she has with Eliza. She wants Cal to build her a house, and that’s all she wants from him. But somehow, she’s spending an awful lot of time with him, and getting jealous when other women want his number, and now Eliza is calling his parents Nana and Papa. What’s next? Definitely not a wedding. Nope. Never.
***
Lynn H. Blackburn has many quirks, but only a handful she’s willing to own up to. These include starting knitting projects she doesn’t finish, bingeing on books she’s already read, and having a favorite playlist with an alarming amount of boy band representation.
She’s made a solid reputation for herself with her ability to respond to texts with the perfect meme or gif and while she won’t unfollow you if you don’t like tacos, she will be open about the fact that she thinks you’re weird.
She writes romantic suspense because her childhood fantasy was to become a spy, but spies have to be brave and she’s terrified of dark basements, cockroaches, and running out of peanut butter M&Ms while on deadline.
She may or may not share about these fears in her newsletter, which you can sign up for at LynnHBlackburn.com or you can follow her on social media @LynnHBlackburn to see if she ever finishes the blanket she started in 2009.
Lynn H. Blackburn — Author of Never Fall Again
Lynn H. Blackburn is the award-winning author of Unknown Threat, Malicious Intent, and Under Fire, as well as the Dive Team Investigations series.
She loves writing swoon-worthy Southern suspense because her childhood fantasy was to become a spy, but her grown-up reality is that she’s a huge chicken and would have been caught on her first mission. She prefers to live vicariously through her characters by putting them into terrifying situations while she sits at home in her pajamas.
She lives in Simpsonville, South Carolina, with her true love, Brian, and their three children.
To learn more about Lynn, click on any of the following links: www.LynnHBlackburn.com, Goodreads, BookBub – @LynnHBlackburn, Instagram – @lynnhblackburn, Twitter/X – @LynnHBlackburn, Facebook – @LynnHBlackburn
Visit all the Stops on the Tour!
03/04 Review @ Guatemala Paula Loves to Read
03/06 Showcase @ 411 ON BOOKS, AUTHORS, AND PUBLISHING NEWS
03/07 Showcase @ Reading is my Superpower
03/08 Guest post @ The Book Divas Reads
03/08 Podcast reading of the excerpt @ Books to the Ceiling
03/09 Review @ Book Reviews From an Avid Reader
03/10 Review @ Splashes of Joy
03/11 Review @ dianas_books_cars_coffee
03/12 Guest post @ Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense
03/12 Review @ reviewsbyrudra
03/13 Review @ Wall-to-wall Books
03/13 Showcase @ Books, Ramblings, and Tea
03/14 Review @ Novels Alive
03/15 Review @ Avonna Loves Genres
03/15 Review @ The AR Critique
03/16 Review @ Inkwell Inspirations
03/16 Review @ Why Not? Because I Said So Book Reviews
03/16 Showcase @ Silvers Reviews
03/17 Review @ The Page Ladies
03/18 Review @ melissas_bookshelf
03/19 Review @ ashmanda. k
03/20 Review @ The Book Review Crew
03/21 Review @ fuonlyknew
03/22 Review @ Lynchburg Reads
03/25 Review @ elaine_sapp65
03/25 Showcase @ Archaeolibrarian – I Dig Good Books!
03/26 Showcase @ Celticladys Reviews
03/27 Guest post @ The Mystery of Writing
Elena Taylor/Elena Hartwell
Great guest post1 I loved this book. Love this series. Definitely plan on reading them all!