The Thorn Healer by Pepper Basham + excerpt

We are celebrating The Thorn Healer by Pepper Basham with an excerpt and a giveaway right here on Faithfully Bookish! PLUS I couldn’t contain my excitement in just one post so hop over to Pepper’s spotlight post as well!

 

my thoughts

The Thorn Healer is an engaging and heartfelt story that’s simply packed with nuggets of wisdom and subtle life lessons.

Jessica Ross has experienced the horrors of war and betrayal. Coming home was supposed to help her escape the memories that haunt her but reminders of the war are all around her, even in her tiny mountain town. Feisty Jessica reacts to the unwelcome changes with anger and I can’t really blame her.

August Reinhold has hurts of his own but he’s quietly determined to win Jessica’s heart, no matter how long it takes. *Swoony!!!* August is a clever and immensely talented man, I especially enjoyed reading about all the different ways he comes up with to demonstrate his affection.

The historical information about Hot Springs is fascinating and makes me want to visit the town to experience it for myself.

I requested the opportunity to read and review this book through Singing Librarian Books Tours. The opinions expressed are my own.

 

 

The Thorn Healer excerpt

He’d learned hard lessons on patience—lessons, no doubt, she’d push to the edge if his first few days with her proved typical. But he’d found his home in Hot Springs. He’d never known what it meant to belong somewhere until he’d run to the assistance of Dr. Carter when a woman collapsed at the train depot a few months after his arrival to the camp. From that moment, the gentleness and forbearance, the trust, offered by Dr. and Mrs. Carter began the long and sweet healing August’s heart needed.

A place of belonging.

And Jessica’s entrance, along with the three-inch block of resentment on her shoulder, threatened to wedge distance between August and his beloved Carters. If nothing else, he had to win her indifference, but he wanted much more.

“You have had a busy entrance, no?”

She slid him a glance from her periphery and continued moving forward without a response.

“It must be difficult returning after so long. Much has changed for you but stayed the same for your small town.”

Her sudden exhalation of air broke the quiet and she shot him a heated look. “My small town hasn’t stayed the same from where I’m standing, Mr. Reinhold. The flood. The camp.” She focused ahead. “Not the same at all.”

“The spirit of your town is the same. Kind people, like your grandparents, and the beauty of the —”

“You need to understand something.” She stopped on the trail, her palms planted on her hips as she turned the full brunt of her fiery gaze on him. “We are not going to be friends.”

He combatted her statement with a shrug. “I am an optimist.”

She groaned and resumed her frantic pace up the hillside, slowed only by the limp in her stride. Silence moved between them like a wall. August glanced up at the afternoon sky, awash with a mixture of clouds and sun. He had to return to camp by dusk or he would endanger the freedom his good name allowed.

“Just because you think you know my grandparents doesn’t mean you know me.” Jessica’s words erupted in a harsh whisper, fueling her steps to an even faster rhythm.

He kept the pace. “No. But knowing the kindness and the welcome from your grandparents has made me wish to know you as well. They assure me you can be kind.”

She turned the power of those emerald eyes on him, her mouth dropped wide. “Of course I can be kind. I’m a nurse, for heaven sakes.”

“I would not see the two as related.” August shoved his hands in his pockets, holding his grin in check. At least he had her talking. “Nurses have always brought needles and stings to me.”

Her brow tilted skyward. “Perhaps you deserved the needles and stings.”

The grip on his smile loosed completely. “No doubt, Nurse Ross. No doubt.”

Her gaze hesitated in his before she jerked her attention back to the path ahead and tightened her jaw into a line of defense. The fiery glint in those large eyes fascinated him. He knew the gentleness and longing braided through her letters, the dry humor and compassion infused onto the pages. But those eyes added a dimension of depth he’d failed to anticipate. Fascinating. Challenging.

 

 

tour giveaway

In celebration of the release of The Thorn Healer, Pepper Basham is providing 2 ebook copies for the tour giveaway.