Today we welcome Contemporary Romance author, Kari Lemor! She is sharing her book Elusive Dreams. Take it away, Kari!
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​Elusive Dreams is the first book in the Storms of New England series. The series is small town contemporary romance and focuses on the Storm family who hail from Squamscott Falls, NH. This first book mostly takes place as Erik Storm, a wounded Marine recovering from a terrible bombing, settles into his grandparents’ house in coastal Maine.

Erik is attempting to adopt two children he rescued from the bombing, but his injury is making things difficult. Next door lives Tessa Porter, a foster child who bounced from home to home, never having a true family. She has always wanted to be part of a big, loving family like the Storms.

Erik and Tessa enter into a marriage of convenience so he can get the kids. Erik is physically a wreck while Tessa has major emotional issues from her past. The children help to heal them both and bring them together to be a truly imperfectly perfect family.

What I really love about this story is watching Erik and Tessa slowly fall in love. I love seeing Tessa accepted immediately into the folds of the larger Storm family and how it allows her to grow and blossom in so many ways.

Do you have a favorite part?

I have so many favorite parts of this story but one of my favorites is when Tessa gets news of one of her biological parents. Erik is right there to support her through all the emotional baggage that comes with it. I still can’t read through a few of those scenes without getting teary-eyed.

Tessa has a real fear of being in crowds but has agreed to help Erik get the house ready for the children.

Is the book dedicated to anyone?

This book is dedicated to my husband and children who have always been my biggest cheerleaders.

Elusive dreams sounds like a tear-jerker in all the good ways! These characters are already pulling at my heart strings!

Can you share an excerpt with us?

“Enchanted or Lovable?”

Erik turned his head and stared at Tessa sharply. “What?”

She held up two of the color samples she’d been looking through. “This one’s called Enchanted and this one is called Lovable. What do you think?”

“They look pink.” What was he doing here looking at pink paint samples?

Tessa pursed her lips. “They are pink. But this one’s a bit softer than this one. Or maybe you’d prefer Rosebud or Demure Pink.”

She was serious about this paint color thing. He figured they’d come to the hardware store, tell the clerk they wanted a few gallons of pink and blue paint. Who the heck came up with all these colors? And the stupid names to go with them?

Without looking, he stuck out his finger and pointed at a color. “That one?”

Her full lips frowned.

“What? It’s not a good one?”

“It’s called Party Time. And if you put this bright pink on the walls, you’d need sunglasses to walk in the room. Something softer will look better. Or we can go with one of these peach colors.”

When she picked up a few more sample cards, his head began to swim. He limped a few yards away allowing her the time to analyze the colors. There were thousands of them. How was anyone supposed to be able to choose?

A family walked through the aisle with some teenage boys who were teasing each other. They weren’t watching where they were going and bumped into Tessa. As she whipped around, she dropped the cards and pulled her hands up tight to her chest. Her eyes widened, and her mouth pinched closed. What the hell?

The damn crutches made it impossible to move quickly toward her. She stared at the teens as they jostled past and one said a casual, “Sorry, lady.”

“Pick those up for her,” the mom ordered and both boys scooped the samples from the floor and held them out for Tessa. She looked at them as if they were poisonous snakes.

Reaching out, he grabbed the cards. “Thanks.”

The boys took off muttering under their breath. What they said wasn’t totally clear but the word, ‘weirdo’ floated back at him. If he thought he wouldn’t have landed on his ass on the floor, he would have smacked them.

When he turned around, Tessa was facing the display. Her head hung down, her shoulders sagged, and her hands gripped the edge of the display case tightly. Damn. Why hadn’t he been more aware of their surroundings? She’d been excited about the paint colors and now she was closing up like a freakin’ clam. Something she’d done often in the past, not today though. 

Bio: Kari Lemor

Award winning and best-selling author, Kari Lemor writes forever and always love stories. She is the author of the Love on the Line romantic suspense series as well as the Storms of New England contemporary romance series. Her books focus on the characters and the challenges they face.  She loves writing stories in the genre of hope, where characters push past all the hurt and anger and find a way to love each other. To show that if we want it bad enough, and work for it, we can have something good in our lives. 

Website: https://www.karilemor.com/  (TWO FREE STORIES WHEN YOU SIGN UP FOR MY MAILING LIST)
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I am not sure when it happened, but I was introduced to the music of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys at an early age. (Bet you thought I was really referring to the actual beach and real boys in my last post. Come on! I am only in "almost" second grade!)

From the first moment I heard their sound, I was hooked. The melodies, harmonies, words...it was all good. I danced to their music, learned The Twist, The Freddy, The Jerk, The Monkey, and The Swim. I liked spontaneous dancing. Maria and Roxi, however...

"Kara, you are going to stand on the chair," Maria orders me. "You're going to wait for Jack to turn around and see you."

"Jack, you're going to stand at the fireplace," Roxi tells him, "and you'll use this for your guitar." She pulls the shovel from the fireplace tools. "We need sunglasses!" she exclaims and runs upstairs for the prop.

As I stand on the chair, Maria continues to give orders.

"When the music starts, Jack you turn around and play your guitar for a little bit. Then, when you see Kara standing on the chair, throw your guitar down and come over to her and lift her to the ground."

Roxi comes running in with the sunglasses. "Here, put these on."

"Roxi and I are going to stand on the couch, with our backs to y'all, and one foot pointed in the air." She demonstrates this, bending her leg at the knee and pointing her toe. "When the song gets to 'Some honeys will be comin' along', Roxi and I will turn around and jump off the couch. Then we'll all start doing The Twist."
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Poor Jack. Georgie and Phillip were not with us on this day. He was relegated to these sorts of things as was I. I would've preferred to be playing with Lela and Wendy -- eating fake spaghetti was way better than doing a routine -- but we almost always made Maria and Roxi play outside, so...I guess it was only fair.

The music starts and Jack and I both do what we are supposed to, but Maria and Roxi just stand on the couch, with their toes in the air. Jack stops the record.

"Hey, y'all were supposed to jump off the couch," he reminds them.

"Right," Maria confirms. "Let's do it again."

So, we do it again. And the same thing happens. So, we try again. And again. And again.

Boy, Jack and I really got our part down that day. Maria and Roxi never turned around.