Blurb:
Annie Morgan, a
romantic at heart, is holding out for the singular idea of love at first
sight. Making a deal with her best
friend, Annie reluctantly agrees to go on exactly five online dates out of
seventy-six potential suitors.
Based on past relationships, Shane
Nicholls is convinced that all women are trouble. He avoids drama at all costs, but somehow it
seems to find him around every corner.
Can Annie and Shane break through
all the obstacles, twists and turns of the dating world and find themselves in
one another’s arms or will stubborn pride tear them apart? Annie and Shane find that love at first sight
really can happen if you truly believe.
Author:
Mya O’Malley was born
and raised in the suburbs of New York City, where she currently lives with her
husband, daughter and three step-daughters.
The family also consists of a boxer named Destiny and a ragdoll cat
named Colby. Mya earned an undergraduate
degree in special education and a graduate degree in reading and literacy. She works as a special education teacher and
enjoys making a difference in the lives of her students.
Mya’s
passion is writing; she has been creating stories and poetry since she was a
child. Mya spends her free time reading
just about anything she can get her hands on.
She is a romantic at heart and loves to create stories with
unforgettable characters. Mya likes to
travel; she has visited several Caribbean Islands, Mexico and Costa Rica. Mya is currently working on her fourth
novel.
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Was it truly such a
horrible idea? Annie shook her head at the thought that was slowly creeping
into her mind. Online dating? She would have never thought in a million years
she would even consider such a possibility. But honestly, was there any other
choice for finding a relationship in this day and age? Annie sighed
dramatically to herself, she was divorced and alone. Sure, she had friends, but
they were busy with their husbands and children. Finding love wasn’t so easy
the second time around, was it? No it wasn’t, but Annie was a romantic at
heart. She held out for finding the perfect man, if he even existed. She was
just kidding herself, but still…
Humming, Annie brewed
a cup of coffee as she perused the morning newspaper. Suddenly realizing she
had read the same paragraph about a local school charity at least five times,
she folded the paper with a huff and pushed it aside. Her mind wandered back to
the lingering possibility of finding true love online. Samantha, her best
friend, had met her husband on one of those sites that advertise finding your
perfect soul mate. Samantha and Terry were certainly compatible, but it hadn’t
been an easy journey. Samantha had been through an endless stream of dates; the
list was actually quite hilarious. There was that professor who wanted to marry
Samantha after exactly three dates and then there was the teacher who forgot
her name all the time because he was on a different date almost every night.
Yeah, so why would she want to put herself through that?
As if her hand had a
mind of its own, Annie reached for her laptop on the kitchen counter. It came
to life with a hum as Annie drummed the table with her fingers and sipped at
her steaming coffee. Typing in the name of the site in which Samantha had met
Terry, she glanced around sheepishly, as if somebody would discover her secret,
even though she lived in her apartment alone. Well, she was alone, technically,
except for her young black and white cat, Cleo.
Cleo bounced along her
keyboard, his long, bushy tail brushing across Annie’s face while purring
loudly. Annie hated to disappoint him, but he was not allowed to walk on her
computer.
“Off, Cleo. Scoot.”
She brushed him aside.
The site presented
itself in full glory. She was prompted to type in her gender and age. Annie
typed her age into the space and cringed. Twenty- nine years old. Almost the
big 3-0, she squirmed at the frightening thought. Forcing her mind on the task
at hand, she perused the website. The choices made her giggle and whistle
softly under her breath. There was a full spectrum of possibilities here, from
the professional to the rugged workman. This could prove to be interesting.
Annie’s grin spread across her face.
“Well … here goes
nothing!” She typed in her basic information and waited for the computer to
register her input. Within seconds, several pages filled with men in her area
popped up.
“This is just
incredible.”
Annie was jolted back
into reality as her cell chirped beside her.
“Hello, Sammy.”
“Hey, what’s going on?
You were supposed to pick me up a half an hour ago.”
Annie glanced at her
kitchen clock and sprang from her seat. Her coffee mug tipped over as the warm
liquid spilled across her thighs. She dropped her cell on the table.
“Oh!” Running for the
paper towels, Annie scrambled to mop up the mess. She realized that her friend
was still waiting on the phone and sighed in disgust.
Annie grabbed her cell
as she wiped her other hand across her pajama bottoms. “Sam? Sorry, I spilled
my coffee all over the place.”
Annie listened to her
friend as she rambled on about their plans for the day. Feeling awful about
losing track of time, Annie apologized profusely. “I don’t know what’s wrong
with me. I just got so caught up in this whole online dating experience…” The
words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. Oh no. She could hear
squeals coming from her friend across the line.
“Yes, I’ve decided to
try it, Sam.” Annie’s smile covered her face as her friend continued talking.
Annie nodded and assured her friend she would have an open mind and try to
forget about her awful, two-timing ex-husband, Greg. Hating to think about it,
she realized that Greg had hurt her more than she would ever care to admit,
even to herself.
Divorce was not an
easy thing, but Annie was happy that she had only wasted two years instead of
twenty years with the louse. She was holding out for the whole picture, the
husband, the house and the kids, love at first sight. She swore she would not
become jaded as a result of that loser. She was determined to prove it to herself.
Before getting dressed for the day, Annie peeked at the matches the site had
magically concocted for her; not bad. Some of these guys didn’t seem that
awful. It seemed she would have plenty to look through when she arrived back
home later in the day.
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