Thank you for another wonderful opportunity to chat with your followers, Sue. I’m so pleased to be here, today, to announce the release of my latest book, That Darkest Place: Riverbend Book 3.

I’m so excited about this one, I thought I’d share a short, non-spoilery excerpt from the book for your amusement, and have Forrest Painter, the middle Painter boy, set it up for you.

“You ready, Forrest??

“Aw, hell. You know I’m no good at this kinda stuff. Even with you to put words in my mouth, I mess things up. Why can’t Hunter do it? You gave him the gift of sayin’ things right, not me.”

“That’s because I made you the sexy one, remember? I think you can do this, though. Or do you want me to get testimonials from half the women in Riverbend?”

“No! If you put it like that, I’ll do it. You know I hate thinkin’ about how I used to be, chasin’ after a new woman every night. Just don’t blame me if I screw it up.” Clears throat, takes a deep breath, and plunges ahead.

“Okay, folks. I guess I’m supposed to tell you a bit about me and Bailey Hunt, but without givin’ away the whole story, on account of how it’d be better for you to read it in the book, and all. So here goes. Jackson told me I’d messed up with Bailey. Broken the #1 relationship rule, or some such thing, and I figured he must be right, because she was avoiding me. Bailey’s this woman I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, but she’s way too classy for me, and every time I’m around her, I say or do somethin’ big-time stupid. Anyway, I decided to call her and see if I could fix whatever was wrong, maybe even ask her out. So that’s what I was doin’, and this is how it all went down.”

Excerpt from That Darkest Place

“BAILEY? THIS IS Forrest. Don’t hang up!”

“Why would I hang up?”

“Aren’t you mad at me?”

“Mad? What on earth would make you think I was mad at you, Forrest? Did you do something wrong?”

“I don’t think so. Well, maybe. Oh, hell, Bailey, I don’t know if I did or not, but Friday, I thought you were mad at me.”

“And you’re calling to—what? Apologize for something you don’t know you’ve done?”

“Would that fix things? I don’t want you to be mad at me. If sayin’ I’m sorry will change that, then I’m sorry.”

Bailey was silent so long, he worried she’d gone ahead and hung up on him after all. Only her quiet sigh reassured him she was still there.

“Honest to God, Forrest. I don’t know how in the world you managed to sweet talk so many women into thinking they loved you.”

“Funny. Jackson just said pretty much the same thing to me Friday night.”

“And what did you tell him?”

Embarrassed, he tried to blow it off with a joke. “Same as always. I said it was my good looks and my . . . oh. Umm, never mind the rest. Just tell me if we’re okay again.”

“Why?”

“Because I miss talkin’ to you.”

“It’s only been a day and a half.”

“Yeah, but it’s been a day and a half where I didn’t know if I was gonna get to have lunch with you again, or not. Or if you were mad. And maybe getting madder. Or even why you were mad in the first place. I got tired of worrying about it, and figured I’d just call and ask. So here I am, callin’ and askin,’ and I still want to know if we’re okay. Please say yes, Bailey.”

This time, she was quiet even longer. Forrest counted to 100, then started over again. He was on 45 before she answered.

“Yes. We’re okay.”

Closing his eyes, he leaned his forehead on his palm, amazed at the sense of relief that rushed through him. “Good. That’s good. Let’s go to dinner. I mean, would you go to dinner with me tonight?”

“Is something wrong?”

“No. I just want to take you to dinner.”

“And there’s no problem you want to talk over with me?”

“Dammit, Bailey. Don’t make this so hard. I do have problems I want to talk to you about, okay? But I don’t have to talk about them every time I see you. Tonight, I just want to have dinner, and I guess I owe you one for doin’ whatever it is I did, or didn’t do, that made you mad. Or didn’t make you mad. Can we just have dinner, and maybe talk about somethin’ besides problems? Movies? Sports? The weather? I don’t care. Please?”

“Okay.”

“Okay? You’ll go to dinner with me?”

“Yes. When and where?”

“Some place casual and quiet. Do you like seafood? Or Italian?”

“Seafood.”

“I’ll pick you up at 8:00.”

“Do you remember where I live?”

“Yep. See you tonight.”

To find out what happened next, you’ll have to read That Darkest Place, a book that runs the gamut of human emotions, as it deals with physical trauma, grief, survivor’s guilt, love, and the unbreakable bond between brothers…

 Special Offers on Amazon

ONE WEEK ONLY, Monday 5/15 through Sunday, 5/21:

That Darkest Place: Riverbend Book 1 – $2.99

Finding Hunter: Riverbend Book 2 – $.99

Swamp Ghosts: Riverbend Book 1 –  $.99

 *

ALSO ON SALE 5/15 through 5/21:

Wake-Robin Ridge: Book 1 – $.99

A Boy Named Rabbit: Wake-Robin Ridge Book 2 – $.99

Harbinger: Wake-Robin Ridge Book 3- $.99

That Darkest Place

“There are dark places in every heart, in every head. Some you turn away from. Some you light a candle within. But there is one place so black, it consumes all light. It will pull you in and swallow you whole. You don’t leave your brother stranded in that darkest place.”

~Hunter Painter~

The new year is a chance for new beginnings—usually hopeful, positive ones. But when Jackson Painter plows his car into a tree shortly after midnight on January 1, his new beginnings are tragic. His brothers, Forrest and Hunter, take up a grim bedside vigil at the hospital, waiting for Jackson to regain consciousness and anxious over how he’ll take the news that he’s lost a leg and his fiancée is dead. After all, the accident was all his fault.

As the shocking truth emerges, one thing becomes obvious—Jackson will need unconditional love and support from both of his brothers if he is to survive.

Just as he begins the long road to recovery, danger, in the form of a sinister, unsigned note, plunges him back into bleak despair. Scrawled in blood red letters, the accusation—and the threat—is clear. “MURDERER!”

Will the long, harrowing ordeal that lies ahead draw the Painter brothers closer together, or drive them apart forever?

Suspenseful and often heartbreaking, this small-town tale is a testimonial to the redemptive power of love and paints a story filled with humor, romance, and fierce family loyalty.

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About the author

Marcia Meara lives in central Florida, just north of Orlando, with her husband of over thirty years, two big cats, and two small dachshunds. When not writing or blogging, she spends her time gardening, and enjoying the surprising amount of wildlife that manages to make a home in her suburban yard. At the age of five, Marcia declared she wanted to be an author, and is ecstatic that at age 69, she finally began pursuing that dream. Three and a half years and six novels later, she’s still going strong, and plans to keep on writing until she falls face down on the keyboard, which she figures would be a pretty good way to go!

Marcia has published seven books to date, all of which are available on Amazon in both print and Kindle format:

Click the images or titles to visit Amazon.

Wake-Robin Ridge

Marcia Meara, author of Swamp Ghosts and Finding Hunter, has set Book One of her Wake-Robin Ridge series amid the haunting beauty of the North Carolina mountains, where ghosts walk, ancient legends abound, and things still go bump in the night.

“A PHONE RINGING AT 2:00 A.M. never means anything good. Calls at 2:00 A.M. are bad news. Someone has died. Someone is hurt. Or someone needs help.”

On a bitter cold January night in 1965, death came calling at an isolated little cabin on Wake-Robin Ridge. Now, nearly 50 years later, librarian Sarah Gray has quit her job and moved into the same cabin, hoping the peace and quiet of her woodland retreat will allow her to concentrate on writing her first novel. Instead she finds herself distracted by her only neighbor, the enigmatic and reclusive MacKenzie Cole, who lives on top of the mountain with his Irish wolfhound as his sole companion.

As their tentative friendship grows, Sarah learns the truth about the heartbreaking secret causing Mac to hide from the world. But before the two can sort out their feelings for each other, they find themselves plunged into a night of terror neither could have anticipated. Now they must unravel the horrifying events of a murder committed decades earlier. In doing so, they discover that the only thing stronger than a hatred that will not die is a heart willing to sacrifice everything for another.

A Boy Named Rabbit: Wake-Robin Ridge Book 2

“Evil’s comin’, boy…comin’ fast. Look for the man with eyes like winter skies, and hair like a crow’s wing. He’s the one you gotta find.”

The remote mountain wilderness of North Carolina swallowed up the ten-year-old boy as he made his way down from the primitive camp where his grandparents had kept him hidden all his life. His dying grandmother, gifted with the Sight, set him on a quest to find the Good People, and though he is filled with fear and wary of civilization, Rabbit is determined to keep his promise to her. When he crosses paths with Sarah and MacKenzie Cole, neither their lives nor his, are ever the same again.

The extraordinary little boy called Rabbit has the power light up the darkness, and the resourcefulness to save himself from the one person his grandparents had hoped would never find him. His dangerous and bittersweet journey will touch you in unexpected ways, and once you’ve let Rabbit into your heart, you’ll never forget him.

Harbinger: Wake-Robin Ridge Book 3

“. . . he felt the wet slide of the dog’s burning hot tongue on his face, and the scrape of its razor sharp teeth against the top of his head. A white-hot agony of crushing pain followed, as the jaws began to close.”

The wine-red trillium that carpets the forests of the North Carolina Mountains is considered a welcome harbinger of spring—but not all such omens are happy ones. An Appalachian legend claims the Black Dog, or Ol’ Shuck, as he’s often called, is a harbinger of death. If you see him, you or someone you know is going to die.

But what happens when Ol’ Shuck starts coming for you in your dreams? Nightmares of epic proportions haunt the deacon of the Light of Grace Baptist Church, and bring terror into the lives of everyone around him. Even MacKenzie Cole and his adopted son, Rabbit, find themselves pulled into danger.

When Sheriff Raleigh Wardell asks Mac and Rabbit to help him solve a twenty-year-old cold case, Rabbit’s visions of a little girl lost set them on a path that soon collides with that of a desperate man being slowly driven mad by guilt.

As Rabbit’s gift of the Sight grows ever more powerful, his commitment to those who seek justice grows as well, even when their pleas come from beyond the grave.

Swamp Ghosts: A Riverbend Novel

Marcia Meara, author of the popular Wake-Robin Ridge books, sets her second series in the sleepy little town of Riverbend, Florida, where the hungry creatures swimming in the dark waters of the St. Johns River aren’t nearly as dangerous as those walking along the quiet neighborhood streets.

Wildlife photographer Gunnar Wolfe looked like the kind of guy every man wanted to be and every woman just plain wanted, and the St. Johns River of central Florida drew him like a magnet. EcoTour boat owner Maggie Devlin knew all the river’s secrets, including the deadliest ones found in the swamps. But neither Maggie nor Gunn was prepared for the danger that would come after them on two legs.

On a quest to make history photographing the rarest birds of them all, Gunnar hires the fiery, no-nonsense Maggie to canoe him into the most remote wetland areas in the state. He was unprepared for how much he would enjoy both the trips and Maggie’s company. He soon realizes he wants more than she’s able to give, but before he can win her over, they make a grisly discovery that changes everything, and turns the quiet little town of Riverbend upside down. A serial killer is on the prowl among them.

Finding Hunter: Riverbend Book 2

Before, I never thought about taking a life. Not once.
Now, the thought fills my mind day and night, and
I wonder how I’ll hide that terrible need,
As an old car swings to the shoulder,
And stops.

~ Traveling Man ~

Hunter Painter’s darkest fears have shaped his offbeat personality since he was a child, crippling him in ways invisible to those unable to see past his quiet exterior. In a sleepy Florida town known for its eccentric inhabitants, he’s always been a mystery to most.

Only one person sees beyond Hunter’s quirky facade. Willow Greene, the new age herbalist who owns the local candle and potpourri shop, has secretly loved him since they were in high school. When, sixteen years later, she discovers Hunter has loved her just as long, Willow hopes her dreams are finally coming true.

Willow soon learns that Hunter fears happiness at her side isn’t in the cards for him. With her natural optimism and courage, she almost convinces him he’s wrong—that they can really have that life together they both long for—but even Willow can’t stop what Hunter knows is coming.

One by one, his worst nightmares become reality, culminating in an unthinkable tragedy, which devastates everyone it touches. Willow’s battle begins in earnest as Hunter is plunged into a bleak, guilt-ridden despair, threatening to destroy not only their love, but Hunter, himself.

Finding Hunter is the story of a lost man’s desperate struggle to make his way home again, and one woman’s unshakeable faith in him and the power of their love.

Summer Magic: Poems of Life & Love

Summer Magic: Poems of Life & Love is a collection of contemporary poetry about exactly that–life and love. The first part of the book features poems about the magic a young boy discovers while camping in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The second part of the book has a sampling of poetry about love, life and death, autumn, and dreams coming true.

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