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The Substitute Sister by Katherine Nichols
Book & Author Details:
The Substitute Sister by Katherine Nichols
Synopsis:
Four years after losing her sister Stella, Grace McElroy has begun to heal. She no longer spends her days overcome with grief and guilt. But the appearance of a woman who looks just like Stella makes her doubt her sanity.
Even more terrifying, she learns her adopted daughter’s biological father, once a brutal Ecuadorian drug lord, is in the States. Before she can determine whether he’s come to reclaim his child, the little girl is kidnapped, and Grace and her family will do anything to get her back.
A hundred miles away, Natalie Burden discovers her estranged father has another family. And Natalie has a sister, Grace Burnette McElroy. The news thrills her, but her mother’s debilitating stroke puts her plans to meet her sister on hold.
Her mother’s recovery gives Natalie time to follow Grace. She discovers she’s not the only one stalking the McElroys. Desperate to protect them, she becomes involved in a fight with a vengeful drug lord.
While Grace struggles to make sense of her ghost-sister, Natalie works behind the scenes to save her niece. Because without Stella’s child, there may be no chance of establishing the kind of sister relationship Natalie craves and Grace mourns.
EXCERPTS:
Excerpt One
And there, in front of the summer sandal sale sign, stood my sister. Her sun-streaked hair swinging as she fled toward the exit. I followed, dodging pre-teens in the junior department and white-haired ladies picking at discount jewelry. Desperate to catch her, I pushed past a young woman shoving a protesting toddler into a stroller and an elderly man with a walker.
But when I reached the mall entrance, she was gone. I wanted to call her name, louder this time, but knew she wouldn’t answer. Dead women seldom do.
Excerpt Two
Despite my attempts to stifle it, another thought came to mind, a possibility I wouldn’t let myself believe. In this scenario, Stella’s ghost didn’t live in the mall or behind the wheel. Her angry spirit resided in me. But whether her fury resulted from my refusal to write about her or my fear of revealing too much about myself remained to be seen.
Excerpt Three
I’m one of those people who reminds everybody of someone else. Strangers approach me to ask where we met before and are disbelieving or disappointed when I explain we haven’t. If questioned about what I do for a living, I say surveillance and flash a mysterious look, an expression I’ve practiced in the mirror hundreds of times. I tell them my work is classified, which is more of a misdirection than a downright lie. My actual job is with a temp agency because Natalie Burden is a temporary kind of girl. I am in the espionage business, though, in a highly specialized capacity. But I never divulge my area of expertise. Because if I did, I would have to admit to them and myself that an agent with only one person of interest is less spy and more stalker.
Excerpt Four
I understand how foolish it was to imagine I’d been abandoned by people who were clueless about my existence. If I hadn’t known I belonged to a sisterhood, wouldn’t they be in the dark, too? Unless their mother told them about me and they chose to leave me out of their lives, turning me into that elusive object no one remembers to find. Or worse, they never even thought to come for me at all.
Author Bio:
Katherine Nichols is a writer of suspense with heart and humor. She is the author of The Sometime Sister, The Unreliables, and Trust Issues. A vice president of The Atlanta Writers Club, she also serves on the board of Sisters in Crime Atlanta. As a strong proponent of women authors supporting each other, Katherine is a co-host of the inspirational Wild Women Who Write Take Flight podcast. When she isn’t spending time with her children and grandchildren, Katherine loves to read, walk, and travel. She lives in Lilburn, Georgia with her husband, two rescue dogs, and two rescue cats.
GIVEAWAY!
I love the cover, synopsis and excerpts, The Substitute Sister sounds like a book that I will enjoy reading. Thank you for sharing the author’s bio and the book details
This book sounds like a really great read.