Title: The Wanted Bride 
Author: Sylvia McDaniel
Genre: Short Contemporary
Publisher: Virtual Bookseller
Publication: April 19, 2013
Number of pages: 232 pages
Word Count: 60,000
Cover Artist: Kat Baldwin

Summary:

She’s a Runaway Bride
Valerie Burrows is running from a wedding, her attorney fiancé and the law. Pampered Valerie takes a bus to nowheresville, where she learns her cash and credit cards have been stolen. Left with only her designer clothes and luggage she takes on a new identity and must learn to be self-reliant. She swears off men, especially attorneys, only to find the one man who refuses a one night stand and wants a relationship.

He’s Looking For A Wife
Matt Jordan, the Colorado Crusher, is the most successful liability lawyer in the state. After the death of his brother-in-law, he realizes he’s ready to settle down with a family of his own. His only requirements are intelligent, great-looking, wants more than a hook-up and doesn’t lie. After witnessing the lies his father told his mother, he demands complete honesty. Yet Valerie Brown shows him sometimes in order to find yourself, you must become someone else. Even if that means lying.

Find it:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Goodreads



Excerpt:

“I need a one-way ticket to anywhere,” Valerie Burrows commanded the girl behind the bus counter in downtown Dallas. A charred piece of her wedding veil sagged onto her face. 
Impatiently, she flipped the singed lace away, her throat  closing off the tears that threatened her vision.  On what was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, 
she reeked of smoke, not flowers, saw red not white, tasted bile 
not cake.

Glancing up from the counter the clerk’s eyes widened, making Valerie acutely aware of her appearance. On what was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, she felt 
traumatized, not joyous.

“Where do you want to go?” the clerk stammered.

“Anywhere, as long as I leave in the next five minutes,” Valerie insisted, wishing people would stop staring. So she looked like a crazy woman. After this morning maybe she was a 
little loco.

“The bus to Amarillo is loading now,” the agent advised, her large brown eyes riveted to Valerie. “I have one seat left. The one-way fare is sixty-five dollars.”

Though she preferred to travel by plane, there was no time or way to get to the airport. She could take the bus or stay and face the consequences of her actions.

Valerie dug the cash out of her Bottega Veneta purse and handed the money to the ticket agent. “I’ll take it.”

Dirty lace from her wedding veil fell onto her face again, so she yanked the offending garment off her head and threw the veil on top of her matching Louis Vuitton luggage. The beautiful lace of her Vera Wang wedding gown was streaked with gray and black. Burn streaks made a crazy pattern on the silk that didn't accessorize the seed pearls.

The heel of one of her Stuart Weitzman pumps had snapped several blocks ago, and her feet were blistered. And yet her heart beat on in spite of her ruined wedding.

The clerk handed her the ticket, sympathy in her dark eyes.  “The bus is ready. You’re the last one to board.” 

Not even time to change. Head held high, spine locked in place, she limped to the white steel carriage, her suitcases trailing behind.
There, she handed her two suitcases to a gawking young man. He opened his mouth to speak, but she held up her hand. “Just load my luggage.”

She glanced up to see faces pressed against the glass windows of the bus, gaping at her like she was a freak show. Hadn’t these people ever seen a runaway bride in real life before? Julia Roberts may have made the movie, but she didn’t own the copyright to wedding disasters.
With her carry-on bag hanging from her shoulder, Valerie marched up the steps of the waiting bus as if she walked around in a wedding gown every day. The babble of sixty voices ceased 
as she handed the driver her ticket.

He mumbled, “Lord, I need to retire.”

Her silk dress pressed against her legs and swished as she made her way to the only empty seat on her getaway bus. Thank God she’d ditched the petticoats in the Corvette.
A gray-haired woman glanced at her as she put her luggage in the overhead bin.

“Hm hm hm, I can’t wait to hear this story,” the elderly Hispanic woman said. “Are you all right?”
Valerie plopped in the seat, her ruined silk gown making a mighty swish. She exhaled loudly, her heart aching, her eyes blurring with unshed tears. For the last hour she’d been holding 
her breath while making her escape.

But now, now all the pain she'd carefully controlled broke free and she chuckled. Hysterical laughter rumbled from deep inside her, echoed through the bus. A single tear rolled down 
her cheek.
“I am now.”

About the author:


I never realized until I finished my last book how much I enjoyed writing about Brides.  I have four bride stories and frankly, I've loved them all.  Weddings are such an exciting time in a woman's life when she commits to the man she intends to spend the rest of her life with. (No, we're not going to dwell on the divorce rate, but I have written two books that deal with divorce.)
It's a joyous occasion that young girls dream about. When they meet the man of their dreams and he asks her to spend the rest of his life with him. Such an exciting time in a couple's life when they begin their journey together.
But what if you found out five minutes before you walk down the aisle, that your best-friend is pregnant by your fiancé? Everyone is seated in the church and Valerie goes running out the door of the church, jumps in his vintage corvette to escape until the car breaks down in downtown Dallas.
I won’t tell you what she did, but there’s a reason it’s called The Wanted Bride.  If you like sassy heroines and tales of women who change, then you’ll enjoy The Wanted Bride.  Here’s an excerpt.
“I need a one-way ticket to anywhere,” Valerie Burrows commanded the girl behind the bus counter in downtown Dallas. A charred piece of her wedding veil sagged onto her face. Impatiently, she flipped the singed lace away, her throat closing off the tears that threatened her vision.
On what was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, she reeked of smoke, not flowers, saw red not white, tasted bile not cake.
Glancing up from the counter the clerk’s eyes widened, making Valerie acutely aware of her appearance. On what was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, she felt traumatized, not joyous.
“Whe...re do you want to go?” the clerk stammered.
“Anywhere, as long as I leave in the next five minutes,” Valerie insisted, wishing people would stop staring. So she looked like a crazy woman. After this morning maybe she was a little loco.
“The bus to Amarillo is loading now,” the agent advised, her large brown eyes riveted to Valerie. “I have one seat left. The one-way fare is sixty-five dollars.”
Though she preferred to travel by plane, there was no time or way to get to the airport. She could take the bus or stay and face the consequences of her actions.
Valerie dug the cash out of her Bottega Veneta purse and handed the money to the ticket agent. “I’ll take it.”

Sylvia McDaniel is a best-selling, award-winning author of historical and contemporary romances.  Known for her sweet, funny, family-oriented romances,  Sylvia is the author of The Burnett Brides a historical western series, The Cuvier Widows, a Louisiana historical series, and several short contemporary romances.
President of the Dallas Area Romance Authors, a member of the Romance Writers of America®, and a member of Novelists Inc, her novel, A Hero’s Heart was a 1996 Golden Heart Finalist. Several other books have placed or won in the San Antonio Romance Authors Contest, LERA Contest, and was a Golden Network Finalist.
Married for nearly twenty years to her best friend, they have two dachshunds that are beyond spoiled. She loves gardening, shopping, knitting and football, but not necessarily in that order.

Currently she’s written fifteen novels and is hard at work on number sixteen, a Christmas Novella about the Burnett Family. Look for her the first Tuesday of every month at the Plotting Princesses Blogspot and twice a week at her own blog Downward Dog Diva With Sass.

Author Links:



**Everyone who leaves a message will be entered into a drawing and I will give away one free copy of The Wanted Bride.



13 comments:

I read the summary, it's so good and interesting.. I'm looking forward to reading it.. =)

Sounds like a really good read. Hope I get to read it. Thanks for the giveaway.

This sounds like alot of fun, from picturing what this runaway bride looked like boarding the bus in her dirtywedding gown to all the fancy luggage and bags she carried and to want to know why it is so funny to "The Wanted Bride " that she starts laughing.. Sounds like this would be a fun read

Looks interesting! Thanks for this giveaway.

I want to read this, looks very interesting!
esined615 at yahoo dot com

Sounds good. Thanks for the opportunity to win it.

Sounds interesting! Thanks for the giveaway

paddlefoot55@bigpond.com

Thanks for the opportunity to meet a new author!

j_crawford@alumni.clemson.edu

Thanks Myra, Yvonne, Dorothy, Liezels, Esined, Mary, Jay and Jennifer. I had a lot of fun writing this book. Thanks Julianna for hosting me. I love your site and just appreciate your help.

Sylvia

Ooo... this looks so good! I love the cover. It's super cute! Cartoon covers are not my fav, but this one has a little more character than others.
mestith at gmail dot com

Love this post.. =) can't wait to read this one..

Again, another book I would not have known about if not for a giveaway. Thank you.

The title tricked me. I thought that this would be a romance about a man who really wanted to marry this woman. Now I am intrigued by her adventure.

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Noun
  1. The soft glowing light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon, caused by the reflection of the sun's rays from the atmosphere.
  2. The period of the evening during which this takes place, between daylight and darkness.
Synonyms
dusk - gloaming - nightfall

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