Guest Post – Leslie P. Garcia

Today I have the pleasure of having fellow Crimson Romance Author Leslie P. Garcia join me at my blog today. She’s got a brand new release coming December 9th 2013 – Wildflower Redemption which is about taking the step to start over when tragedy strikes.

Leslie is talking about heroes today and quite honestly who doesn’t love a hero? Take it away Leslie!

Heroes Anonymous

Who is a hero?  What does a man need to prove his valor and worth—in a work of fiction, or in life?  And do the same characteristics apply equally to men and women?

Wildflower Redemption is the story of two very down-to-earth people cast into a situation that demands more than they have left to give.

Aaron Estes lost his wife in a school shooting; she died in front of his impressionable daughter, then just five years old.

After Newtown, I almost discarded the whole story—but the story deserves to be told, because in the end, how we recover from the worst events in our lives and go on to find love, and give love, is the mark of heroism for any of us.  We all face our demons, but we only conquer them when they no longer keep us from pursuing happiness.

When Aaron stumbles into tiny Rose Creek, he doesn’t plan on staying, and the last thing he needs is Luz Wilkinson, with her own burden of sadness, making him think that he can let his guard down.  Driven out of Atlanta by her own loss of love, Luz devotes her time and future to saving discarded animals and running from wounded human souls—how can you heal someone when you’re heart is still shredded by past hurts?

The two can love children unconditionally.  Luz can love animals that way, too, and Aaron—well, okay.  Aaron isn’t an animal person .

But the two of them only become heroes—and conquerors of their old hurts—when they decide to love each other, and the past be damned.

And that’s the lesson life teaches, sometimes—anyone of us can wake up and accidentally do something heroic.  Sometimes, it’s as simple a thing as daring to love again. After all, heroism is as much a product of love as of courage, as Aaron and Luz struggle to understand.

About Wildflower Redemption by Leslie P. Garcia

You can’t have it all. At least, not forever. Luz Wilkinson learned the hard way that balancing a career, marriage, and motherhood can end in absolute destruction of heart and soul. When the biological mother of her daughter tears the child away and ruins her reputation, Luz goes home to tiny Rose Creek to rethink life and ambition. She surrounds herself with discarded animals and plans never to care again.

Widower Aaron Estes lives for his daughter, Chloe. Fleeing from the horror of losing his wife in a school shooting, Aaron stops in Rose Creek on a whim and a random act of kindness from a gas station clerk–not a lot to build a life on, but a momentary redemption from his sorrow and fears for his daughter. Prompted by counselor Esmeralda Salinas, he takes Chloe to the Wilkinson place for therapeutic riding lessons, and finds Luz everything he wants in a mother for his daughter–but Esmeralda’s open pursuit is a problem. Burned by her divorce, Luz refuses any relationship involving another woman or a man with another woman’s child.

Unlimited love for their children comes easily–but will they ever be able to conquer past pain and love each other?

Excerpt

Luz headed after her. Aaron caught her before she got to the door. “Where are you going?” he demanded. “It’s late and it’s dark—”

“And something’s wrong!” she snapped. “Stay here with Chloe! I’m just checking for anything that might have set the dog off.” She bit back “again.” As she rushed outside, she couldn’t help wishing she’d had the dog on a leash— and her mother’s pistol in her hand.

She went around the side of the house, tripping once on a rock hidden in the shadow the house cast since the security light was on the other side. In the front yard, she stopped and peered out toward the road, where she could make out the shape of a dark car moving slowly along the fence line.

“What’s going on?” Aaron said from close by. “And don’t tell me to stay with Chloe, dammit! She’s asleep, and I’m not some panicked little kid afraid of the dark, even if it’s stupid to be out here—”

Tires screeched and taillights glowed as the car suddenly accelerated and sped away.

Not Ross Thurmond’s truck. The thought surprised her. Worried her. How had his brief, strange, visits here unnerved her like this?And then sudden suspicion hit her. Hard.

“God, no.”  She thought she hadn’t spoken, but Aaron’s hand on her arm and the alarm in his face told her she had. “God, no, what?”

She thought of Chloe in bed asleep. Of Princess— where? At least she hadn’t heard yelping. But the pit bull hadn’t come back, either. Would Aaron leave when she told him? She really didn’t consider him a coward. He’d obviously gone through a lot without cracking. He just couldn’t bear to lose his precious daughter. She understood that. “What, Luz?”

She covered her face with her hands, and breathed a silent prayer that she was wrong. “I think,” she told him slowly, “that tomorrow we’ll find another dead dog.”

About Leslie 

Mention writing to most first grade students–or teachers–and everyone runs from the room, screaming or crying, respectively. I, however, love the challenge of convincing the technology kids of today that words create everything they use, everything they enjoy. Yes, even those horrible cartoons and video games that are so foreign to me now. And the songs.

I, myself, was a published writer in first grade, first by the school principal, then by a novel but short-lived magazine written entirely by kids. I still remember the title: Kids. Paid me $1.50 for the last rhyming poem I ever wrote. “Dolphins are nice though they don’t like ice” something something.

Luckily, my poetry no longer rhymes, and my stories strive to portray the mishmash of cultures, events, characters, and times that are our lives–all our lives, even if not everyone had a lion or a roadside amusement park or hid in an arroyo on their wedding day.

There’s a circuitous route through most of our lives, and the publishing company that helped me learn to submit work for publication through their magazines and annual Writers Market, F&W Media, has published my three most recent works.

A lifetime of words away from first grade, but hopefully, you’ll enjoy my words. I love hearing from readers, and hope you’ll visit me one of these days.

Because words still have power, and always will.

Links:

Wildflower Redemption (Crimson Romance) by Leslie P. Garcia

Available at Barnes and Noble, Sony, iTunes and other distributors on Dec. 09th, 2013!

Also by Leslie P. García:

Unattainable

Take Me Out

La Llorona (The Wailing Woman)

Website: Return to Rio

Social Media:

Twitter: @LesliePGarcia

Leslie P. García  www.facebook.com/LeslieP.Garcia

E-mail: lesliegarcia2000-author@yahoo.com