Review of "On The Corner of Heartache and Love" by Lisa Swinton

LAUNCH DAY!!! On the Corner of Heartache & Love is here!

Maren's stuck at the intersection of heartache and love, but happily ever after might be just around the corner.  

Author Lisa Swinton delivers another sassy, sweet romance that keep readers turning pages. On the Corner of Heartache and Love is a light, fun read with spunky characters and a plotline beset with wonder and woes. 

After three years of dating, Maren Summers is about to have her dream wedding to the man of her dreams, Kevin Bryant. In fact, all her dreams are about to come true in every facet of her life. That is until Kevin dumps her at the altar, runs off with someone Maren is very close to, ruins that relationship for her, and becomes her new boss. And she’s relinquished her apartment. What???

Now homeless, Maren moves in with best-friend and pastry protégé, Cassidy, whose apartment overlooks a park where a real homeless man loves. Or is he? 

Clean, handsome, and well-supplied, Zane Whitfield is on a mission to keep a promise to his lost love, even if it means spending a year outside on the spot where they met and where he hopes she’ll return.

Maren sees his tale of devotion as a great human interest story, and her ticket out of her newspaper’s now agonizing “Weddings” beat, away from her former fiancé’s control, and on to the job she’s really aiming for—“Features.” 

But along the way, Maren breaks the cardinal rule of journalism—don’t get involved with the story. The key to the story is helping the handsome Zane find his lost love, but Zane also appears to be the balm for her own broken heart. Career, or another chance at love? She can only have one.

To Maren’s ongoing dismay, her wedding beat takes her to some of the most “creative” weddings of the season, and Swinton places the reader right in these fun scenes, using descriptions and details that add depth and dazzle to the story. Her characters develop and grow and keep you cheering for their happiness. But there is tension around every corner.

Readers ache as Maren is repeatedly forced to witness Kevin’s bubbling joy with his new wife. But Swinton balances Maren’s agony and Zane’s pain with the solace they each feel in finding someone who understands. This compassion balances nicely against the zany wedding scenes.

On the Corner of Heartache and Love makes for a sweet afternoon dessert I highly recommend! This RONE award finalist may have another award-winner on her hands. 

Where can you get it?  Amazon 

SALE! All of Lisa Swinton’s previous books are on sale for $0.99! Such a deal! Amazon

About the Author:

Lisa Swinton caught the romance bug early by way of fairy tales and hasn’t been able to cure it since. Instead, she feeds her addiction with romance novels and films. In between being a doctor’s wife and mother of two, she occasionally puts her B.A. in Musical Theater to good use via community theater and church choir. In her elusive spare time, she enjoys researching her family tree and baking (especially with chocolate). She loves traveling, Jane Austen, and all things Italian. In her next life, she plans to be a professional organizer.

You can visit her at:

https://www.lisaswinton.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLisaSwinton

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00HXNXDCO

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7796962.Lisa_Swinton

The Giveaway! a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Special People Participating in the Media Tour! Go check out these amazing authors and readers!

Anna Del C. Dye     Blog
Danyelle Ferguson     Website
Kim Karras     Blog
Laurie Lewis     Website & Blog
Lindzee Armstrong     Facebook
Lisa Rector     Blog
Mindy Holt     Blog
Misty Pulsipher     Facebook

Please Don't Hate the Anthem. Learn the Whole Story.

https://www.amazon.com/Freemen-Dreamers-Vol-Say-Can/dp/1935217828/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

NFL players, and now youth are kneeling during the playing of The National Anthem. That's their right, and while I don't agree with it, I support their right to do it.

But now, there is hate speech about the anthem itself, with people saying that Francis Scott Key was racist, as is the anthem, and therefore "The Star-Spangled Banner" is not worthy of representing America. I think the real issue is that most of us don't know the whole story. I posted this response to an article I read supporting the claim of the anthem's racism. Here is a brief attempt to explain Key's words.

I am an author who spent eight years researching the Chesapeake conflict of the War of 1812, and I must respectfully disagree with this thread. You have to judge the song by the times in which it was written. It in many ways this song is what preserved the nation. 

The Chesapeake region had been under relentless attack. First it was economic blockades that crippled the economy, then the kidnapping of over 4000 Americans from boats and ships, impressing them into British naval service under threat of being hanged for treason if they resisted. 

Maryland cities like Havre De Grace and Leonardtown were bombed to oblivion. Key was on the battlefield when the British mowed through the troops at Bladensburg on the way to Washington City,  and then, the unthinkable happened. 

The Capital had been torched, the President's House, Capitol building, Library of Congress and most of the federal buildings burned. People weren't sure if the Constitution had survived. Even the President and other federal leaders had fled the city. Baltimore was next, and If she fell, the British would have cut us off north and south. Their next goal was to take the Mississippi which would have cut us off east and west. The nation would have been dissected.

Admiral Cockburn hated Baltimore because of her famed Clipper ships, and her strategic importance to the nation. She was the third largest port, and the largest port not occupied at the time, and he wanted that prize.

At that moment, if Baltimore fell, the nation would likely never be the same. Key knew that. He  also had family in the city, and while being held by the British, he heard Admiral Cockburn boast about the horror they would unleash upon Baltimore's citizens,  as they had done in Hampton. Virginia, where the British unleashed French prisoners upon the populace. Citizens were murdered and women were raped. These were the terrors that filled him that night of the bombardment.

When he saw the flag the next morning. he felt every possible emotion. Relief, gratitude, anger, patriotism. The icons of America had been burned in Washington, but a new symbol of America remained-- the Star-Spangled flag that gave proof that the city had held, and the the British had failed. Key's poem had been written under the most extreme duress, on the back on a piece of paper, as a conversation ensued during the agonizing hours of waiting passed. His poem was printed and circulated amongst the troops, rallying them,  raising a broken people from their knees, and giving them hope. That is why the anthem deserves to be honored. Because it gave a nation hope.

I have never heard that Key was racist. He struggled to choose the law over the clergy. he was the writer of hymns and a man who longed for a better world. But if you have proof of this claim, my only rebuttal is that we will find few men worthy of our admiration if we judge those of another era by today's understanding. We must measure men within the context of their own time, their own struggles, their own sensibilities, while celebrating the courageous visionaries who dared fight for something better.

So please don't hate the anthem. Learn the whole story. It is a beautiful story. it is every American's story. 

https://www.amazon.com/Freemen-Dreamers-Vol-Say-Can/dp/1935217828/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Announcing "EVERYTHING TO LOSE," the Latest Volume in "The Destination Billionaires Romance Series"

Everything to Lose 

A fast-paced, sweet romance by bestselling authors Jennifer Youngblood and Sandra Poole. 

When her father dies suddenly, Samantha Fairchild gets engaged to an uptight, controlling billionaire in order to save the family from financial ruin. Samantha accompanies her fiancé to Hawaii while he’s conducting a business deal. A chance encounter with a free-spirited surfer with dreamy eyes and a quick smile throws her into a tailspin. 
Caught between forbidden love and loyalty, Samantha has everything to lose. Will she choose money and security, or will her heart win out in the end? 

Everything to Lose is available for purchase now on Amazon at http://amzn.to/2bY15qN.

My volume in the series debuts in March of 2017 under the pen name Addison Tayte, but I had a blast writing the introduction to this volume. Click the cover to read reviews and glimpse inside. 

The authors are hosting a rafflecopter giveaway for a 50$ Amazon gift card! 

To enter this giveaway, and receive exclusive preview chapters on upcoming books, 

offers on free books, and other fun reader perks, sign up for my newsletter here. 

Then use this link to enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway here.