Val Bjerke realdogpublishing.com
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Heartbreak
Unfinished Business
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HARD TRUTHS
Success & Failure
Louisa Anne Bannerman has always understood it's not the hard knocks that shape your life; it's the hard truths...
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-As the wild child of a woman most think a witch, you will be haunted by rumour and innuendo when you find her dead.
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-Proving your worth to the man who stepped in and raised you will come at a cost.
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- Small minded people in a backwater town will never let you be more than themselves.
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-Loving a man is nothing but heartbreak when he'll never be yours.
Long free from the wreckage of her youth, Lou comes to realize she might be in a better boat, but she's adrift in a bigger ocean.
A decade in journalism has taught her some new hard truths - success and failure are the same cold bedmates, she's only as good as her last front page, and unfinished business won't finish itself.
Burnout dogging her every effort, she hits pause on the present to revisit her past; to reconnect with the only man she can call family, find answers to the questions surrounding her mother's death, and prove to herself she's long over a man who belongs to somebody else. Always on the outside looking in - will the door finally open to a better future? There's no choice left but to find out.
Don't miss her previous release!
Danny 'short for nothing' Smithers; a forty something - something, kick-ass workaholic who's put a miserable abusive marriage behind her and is proof positive that there is a life after divorce.
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Unless - your ex won't let go. Until - you meet somebody new.
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As hard as she's been fighting for something better, Danny starts to understand that she can't move forward without stumbling, as long as she continues to look over her shoulder, as long as she thinks the other shoe is going to drop. Is history repeating itself, or can she keep her past in the past? It would seem the game she and her ex-husband have been playing has yet to reach an end.
Her former lover has her back, her new lover tries to cut in on the dance - can they team up and keep her safe? Do they even need to? Whatever is going on, they need to get to the bottom of it because Danny is too busy trying to keep her life on track to consider that the last roll of the dice might not be hers to roll.
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Eye opening, thought provoking, suspenseful and even funny - these are characters you will fall in love with and cheer for until the final chapter.
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Reviews for 'Danny'
If you are looking for a good read, this one will fill the bill. Enough intrigue to keep you turning the pages, and enough excitement to keep your interest to the end. Didn't want to put it down!
Marilyn
Who am I?
Like many women I've done some of anything and everything of whatever I had to do in life. But that's not unique. Writing a bio about myself is awkward. Does it matter that I cook on a wood cookstove; run a chain saw; fix a car; bake and decorate a wedding cake; grow and preserve food for the family? We step up and learn to do what is needed or what sounds interesting, or fun. I am only one among many.
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There should be a genre called 'life' because technically I am not trying to write about romance in the dictionary definition of the word. Romance can be a complicated, messy, inconvenient, unpredictable, irritating part of life. That's what I write about. The connection between two people that's there whether they think it is or not; the inner conflict they have to deal with as they decide if it's something they need or want; and the baggage they carry around that influences that decision. The conflict they feel when what's going on might go against societies expectations of what is normal/ right/ wrong. I also like to touch on things that stay behind closed doors (ie. abuse) because these things are literally a part of everybody's story in some way, shape, or form. My main female characters are strong, 'in your face' women because I believe deep down that's who we ultimately are as a lot. They all have flaws because we are all flawed, and I interject humour because if we can't laugh at something, we're all doomed. Laughter lightens the load.
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I find people fascinating. As I move through the days, stories from the people around me morph and change into completely new characters in my mind, so I write because I have stories in my head that I need to get on paper so I can stop thinking about them. There are more stories to come - I hope you enjoy them. Stay tuned!
Val Bjerke, Author
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