A Thousand Word Thursday snippet and giveaway from Bryn Stein

Welcome to my blog tour for Waiting for Patrick. I’m offering giveaways of one signed copy, one electronic copy, and a choice of one title from my backlist. Comment below and at any of my other blog stops (posted below) to be entered to win. One comment, one entry. Dreamspinner is offering my other paranormal titles (Haunted, Lifeline, and  What No One Else Can Hear ) for $0.99 during “Weekend Reads” on September 2, 3, and 4, in honor of Waiting for Patrick being my ninth published book. Waiting for Patrick will be available at a discounted price throughout the tour (September 1 through 15). Winners of the raffle will be announced on September 16^th.

An Excerpt from Waiting for Patrick

I do up the last button on my Union blue jacket and don my kepi, staring at my enlisting indentures lying on the bed. I’m as warm a patriot as anyone else, but I didn’t want to fight. Patrick has a point, though. The South recently instituted the draft in April, and there’s talk that the North will do the same before too long. There has already been news that the conscripts down south aren’t treated kindly even by their own side. Soldiers who volunteered from the beginning have been fighting for over a year, then along comes these men who have been able to stay home until now and had to be made to fight. They don’t think too kindly of them.

Patrick says if we’re going to have to fight anyway, we should probably enlist before we’re drafted. The soldiers who have been in it from the beginning still won’t like that we’ve been potentially taking their jobs and wooing their girls for the last year, but at least we’re volunteering now. Patrick says he and I each have a good excuse for staying home for a year. His pa had died two months prior to the war starting, and Patrick was needed at home. My older brother, Samuel, had already joined the fight, leaving Ma with my five little brothers and sisters. I was the man of the house. But now, Martin, who is still only fourteen, has been given a job. He can take care of Ma and the young’uns now, so Patrick and I are off to war.

Ma comes in to see me in my uniform. She’s crying as we look in the mirror. She hugs me from the side because she couldn’t see over me otherwise. She’s a handsome woman, but only a little thing, five foot to my six foot two. I have Pa’s blond hair and blue eyes, but my dimples are all Ma’s. She tries to smile now, but she’s having a hard time. I know she’s proud of me, as she was of Samuel, but she’s scared. It’s been a year and we haven’t seen hide nor hair of him. We don’t even know if he’s still alive. She won’t hear from me often either. It’s not like mail gets through the fighting nohow.

“Ben.” She squeezes me tightly when she says it. “You take care of yourself.”

“I will, Ma. And Patrick too.” I smile when she does. It has always been me and Patrick. Patrick and me. You never see one without the other, ever since we met when we were four years old.

“Well.” She reaches up to straighten my hat as she says, “You tell Patrick Chandler that he best take care of you right back, and I’ll have his hide if he doesn’t bring you back to me.”

“We’ll both be okay, Ma,” I reassure her and enfold her in a giant hug. “I’m of Myers stock. We’re sturdy. You always said that. I’ll be fine.”

She straightens to her full height and puts on her best no-nonsense face. “Well, of course you will. Why wouldn’t you be? You’ll both be home before you know it, draggin’ that good-for-nothing brother of yours with you. Why, I bet you’ll all be home for Christmas.”

That’s only a couple of months away, so I don’t think that will be true, but I realize what she’s doing. She always tries to be so strong. I let her.

“You bet, Ma.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Architect Elliot Graham has bought and restored dozens of historic homes to their original splendor. As in his personal life, he loves them and leaves them, selling them off without looking back. But there’s something about the old plantation house he finds in South Carolina—a connection he can’t explain. He feels as though he recognizes the house, as if within its crumbling walls he might find something he doesn’t even realize he’s lost.

Ben Myers had promised his lover and soul mate, Patrick, that he would wait for his return. Ben has kept his word ever since Patrick left him to wait at the plantation house—during the Civil War. For the first time in many long years, Ben is no longer alone, and he reaches out to Elliot in dreams. Elliot tries to convince Ben that Patrick isn’t coming back, but Ben’s devotion is about to change not only his lonely existence, but Elliot’s life as well.

Buy at Dreamspinner Press

About the Author

Brynn has always loved to write about strong male characters and their close friendships. When she found the world of m/m fiction, she fell in love. Finally, a way to bring those strong male characters together and let those emotional connections spill over into deeper relationships. Sometimes her characters go through the emotional wringer, but they always have each other.

Brynn lives in Virginia near her two grown daughters who support her writing and sometimes act as proof readers. Both of her daughters are also aspiring writers and hopefully it'll just be a matter of time before they have their own author's biography.

Brynn was a teacher by profession for thirty years. She worked in special education with children with emotional disabilities. She has recently changed careers and is now working as a mental health counselor to this same population and their families. When she is not working or writing, she loves to draw and paint. She also gets outside as often as she can, reads anything that doesn't move out of the way, and is always looking for her next story.

Contact Brynn:

https://twitter.com/BrynnStein

http://brynnstein2.wordpress.com

https://www.facebook.com/brynn.stein