Megan Green - Solid Ground - Blog Tour

Title: Solid Ground

Series: Wounded Love #3

Author: Megan Green

Release Date: Nov 17, 2016

From piggy back rides to promise rings.

Joey Roberts and Nichole Hadley were inseparable from the moment they met on the playground. Years later, with graduation looming and their future about to begin, they were positive nothing could tear them apart.

Until one bad decision. 

More than a decade following their breakup, Joey returns to town after suffering a devastating injury in Iraq. With a new job on the police force and a new house to fix up, he knows he’ll have no trouble keeping his mind and body occupied.

But when a call brings him face to face with a broken and battered Nichole Hadley-Reynolds, it ignites a flame he'd long thought extinguished.

Joey was certain he’d forgotten Nichole.

Nichole doubted she still held a place in his heart.

Will this be the start of a second chance at lost love? Or will they remain floating adrift, forever in search of...

Solid Ground?

You know how, in movies, when people wake up in the hospital, they never seem to know where they are? The camera fades in, and everything is sort of fuzzy as the person lying in the bed takes in their surroundings. The bright lights. The sterile smells. The way they never quite seem to be alone, regardless of whether someone is actually in the room with them. You’re supposed to feel sympathy for this character. Feel bad that they’ve gone through something so traumatic and out of the ordinary that it takes several minutes for their brain to catch up.

You know what I feel for those people?

Jealousy.

I know exactly where I am when my eyes finally crack open. I don’t get those few minutes of blissful unawareness before I remember what happened that landed me here.

I remember everything.

You see, this isn’t the first time I’ve woken up alone in a hospital bed.

And it won’t be the last time either unless you wake your ass up and do something about it, a little voice niggles at the back of my mind.

That’s also something I’ve experienced before. That voice of reason always hangs out somewhere in my head.

Too bad I never listen to her.

I brace my hands on each side of my legs in an attempt to push myself up into a sitting position. The second I put pressure on my left hand, a blinding pain shoots up my arm and into my shoulder. Glancing down, I find my hand and forearm are encased in a cast.

Great. Another broken bone.

“What did you and Daddy do this morning?”

Cade’s eyes brighten as he recounts his day, “Daddy said you needed to sleep after you got home from the hospital. So, after he picked me up from Mrs. Wilson’s house, we went to get pancakes, and then he took me to the park. Zach was there. We played on the monkey bars. I crossed them five times before I fell, Mom!”

I eat up every bit of his excitement. “You did? Wow! I bet that’s some sort of record.”

He nods emphatically. “I’m pretty sure it is. Zach was so mad. He used to be better than me, remember, Mom? But he only crossed three times. I beat him by two whole times!”

“He was amazing out there. Best monkey-bar crosser I’ve ever seen; that’s for sure,” James interjects, interrupting the moment between me and Cade.

We both turn to look at him again, and I finally register his appearance. He’s dressed nice—neatly pressed black slacks with a crisp white button-down, rolled up to his elbows. In his left hand, he’s holding a huge bouquet of red roses, arranged perfectly with sprigs of baby’s breath shooting up between them. They’re gorgeous. And I can’t stand the sight of them.

After every one of our episodes, I always get one of two versions of James. The first version is the James I’ve come to know. The James who blames me for everything. He shows up the next day, telling me he’s sorry, but if I’d just listen to him, obey him, like I vowed to do on our wedding day, then these things wouldn’t happen. It doesn’t matter that he might be angry because a judge ruled against him or that he might have had a particularly bad day at work. If he comes home and takes it out on me, it’s still somehow my fault.

And then there’s this James. I’ve only seen this James on a few occasions since the night we brought Cade home from the hospital. This James is charming. He brings flowers. He promises that things will be different from now on. That he’ll never hurt me again. That he’ll go back to therapy. He tells me how much he loves me and Cade and how he couldn’t survive without us. He apologizes for not only hurting me this time, but also for every other time before. He cries. He sobs. He tells me I’m the only woman on earth he’ll ever love. He makes me feel sorry for him.

I hate this version of James. As crazy as it sounds, I prefer the former. At least with that James, I know where I stand. I know that, no matter what I say or do, it’s never going to be right. And I’ve come to accept that things are not going to change. This is my life, so there’s no use in wishing for something different.

But then this James…this James confuses me. This James reminds me of the way things were before we were married and while I was pregnant. This James reminds me that things weren’t always so bad, and it gives me hope that things can go back. That we can be happy again. That Cade might finally have two loving parents, like he deserves.

This James is a liar. I know that. After falling for it several times before, I know nothing is going to change. Not in the long run. We might have a few good weeks following his plea where he dotes on me and Cade, making us believe we’re the most important things in his world.

But, inevitably, things go back to the way they were. All it takes is one bad day, and we fall back into the same pattern as before—James coming home angry, James coming after me, Cade running next door to stay with Mrs. Wilson until I come to get him. That’s something we established after he was old enough to understand what was going on. 

“When Daddy is mad, you go next door until Mommy comes and gets you.” 

These are the things I taught my toddler. While other mothers are teaching their kids the ABCs and 123s, I’ve been teaching mine what to do while his father beats the shit out of his mother. 

Megan lives in Northern Utah with her handsome hubby, Adam. When not writing, chances are you’ll find her curled up with her Kindle. Besides reading and writing, she loves movies, animals, chocolate, and coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. She loves hearing from readers, so drop her a line! 

   

Megan Green - Soldier's Heart - Cover Reveal

Title: Soldier’s Heart (Wounded Love #2)

Author: Megan Green

Release Date: March 29, 2016

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Isaiah Wright is broken. So broken he's positive he'll never be fixed again. Surviving every soldier's worst nightmare is enough for him to want nothing more than to give into the blackness that plagues him.

Emma Nicholls knows pain. Four years after the devastating loss of her fiancé, she's set up her own business providing service dogs to veterans in an attempt to put her own life back together.

Circumstance brings Isaiah into her life, but neither are prepared for the fire that burns between them. It's immediate, one broken soul finding solace in another, but it's also... terrifying.

His soldier's heart is surrounded by walls ten feet high. But maybe, just maybe, Emma and her brood of trainee service dogs can break through and be the light he so desperately needs.

“I hope you’re ready soldier, because today, your training begins.”

A wide grin spreads across Emma’s face as I approach her, one of the dogs trying valiantly to wriggle out of her arms. I smile back.

“I thought I was here to train. Not be trained.”

“Well, you thought wrong. You need as much— if not more— training than any of these little guys do. Dogs are born with the instinct to learn and perform. Humans…not so much. You need to learn to work with them as much as they need to learn to work with you. Otherwise, the relationship will never fully form.”

I want to tell her she’s wasting her time. I’ll never have a relationship with one of these dogs. But I can see in her eyes how much the idea of my ‘training’ excites her. So I’ll play along. For now.

She hands me a whistle and a little plastic thing with a button in the middle. The whistle I get, but I have no clue what in the hell this other thing is or what I’m supposed to do with it. Without any explanation, she turns and lets all five of the puppies out of the kennel. They bound forward, rushing out into the yard. Maggie slowly walks out behind them and settles in the shade of a nearby tree.

Emma stands in front of the dogs like a military drill sergeant and the picture it paints in my head is laughable. The puppies tumble over each other, forming no semblance of a line. It’s like she’s the drill sergeant at a school for juvenile delinquents. I half expect her to blow the whistle and tell them to fall in line.

Instead, she turns and barks her orders at me, causing the smile to fall momentarily from my face.

“You sure as hell can’t do anything from clear over there, soldier. Get your ass over here.”

When I meet her eyes, my smile returns. All five foot four of Emma smirks up at me, trying to look as intimidating as she can. But her playful stance gives her away. She’s trying to put on a show, impress me with her gruff demeanor. But deep down, she knows she doesn’t have it in her. She’s too damn sweet to be mean.

I slap my arms straight at my sides and march over to her. I turn when I reach her, giving her a quick salute.

“Sir, yes sir.”

She smacks me on the arm. “Excuse me? Do I look like a sir to you?”

No, she sure as hell does not look like a sir. She’s in a tight pair of worn jeans and work boots. But the fitted top she’s wearing hugs all her curves in all the right places, reminding me every time I look at her just how much of a woman she is.

She turns her attention back to the dogs and I follow suit. I still can’t tell which one is which, other than Jasper. I remember he has the black collar. And as far as dogs go, he’s the most tolerable of the bunch. If I have to deal with a dog, might as well be one who isn’t completely fur-brained.

She points to the one with the green collar. “Show me how you’d make him sit.”

I look skeptically at the dog, who’s currently occupied with chasing a butterfly. Make him sit. Right. Like that’s going to happen.

Megan lives in northern Utah with her husband, Adam, and incredibly spoiled dog, Tucker. She spends far too much time reading anything and everything she can get her hands on.

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