Synopsis
Regret,
betrayal, kidnapping, loss, madness, abuse, passion, love.
In this modern retelling of Hansel and Gretel, thirteen-year-old
foster children Griselda and Holden escape from their abductor after three
years of brutal captivity, and try to cross the Shenandoah River on foot.
Tragically, one of them makes it to safety, but the other is left behind.
Ten years later, Griselda’s boyfriend drags
her to a fight club grudge match, and her world is turned upside down when she
watches Holden step into the ring.
Though the connection between them is
fierce, bitter regret, simmering rage, and a tangle of physical and emotional
scars lie between them, just as dangerous as the white water of the Shenandoah.
Never
Let You Go is a story of fear and hope, defeat and survival, and two
people—once profoundly broken—who discover that love is the only thing that can make them whole
again.
Excerpt
This girl. Everything
about this girl made him want, made him long, made him yearn to change his life, start his life, finally live
his life after a decade of going through the motions. He wanted to get a better
job to take care of her. He wanted to stop fighting because she disapproved of
it. He wanted enough money to have every tally mark lasered from his arm. He
wanted some sort of guarantee that she’d never, ever leave him again. And he
wanted all of it now. Yesterday. Ten years ago, and every day since.
Standing up slowly, he
let his body settle into an upright position before taking his time crossing
the hall to the bathroom and then heading out into the common room.
She stood at the stove
with her back to him, her feet bare, her hair in a ponytail, the mouthwatering
smell of fried chicken filling the entire cabin with goodness. Holden leaned
against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest, a grin taking over his face
as he watched her.
“It’s just the thought
of you—the very thought of you, my love,” she sang, using a fork to transfer a
golden leg to a paper towel–covered plate.
As she reached forward
to turn off the stove, some of the leftover grease in the frying pan spat up at
her and burned her wrist.
“Ow!” she yelped. “Damn
it!”
With a sudden rush of
adrenaline, Holden crossed the kitchen in two strides. He turned on the faucet
and grabbed her arm to thrust her wrist under the cold stream. He held it
there, wincing at the red blotch developing on her white skin. When he lifted
his eyes to hers, she was staring at him with a surprised, curious expression.
“It’s just a little
burn.”
He shrugged, still holding
her arm, staring down at the burn.
“You were asleep,” she
said.
“You were singing.”
“Too loud?”
“No.”
“You remember that
song?”
“I remember.”
He slid his palm down
her arm to cradle her wrist from below.
“The stove’s still on,”
she said.
Without dropping her
hand, he took a step closer to her, reached around her waist with his free
hand, and flicked the burner off.
“I made fried chicken,”
she said softly, her cheeks flushed.
“I can smell it.”
“You like fried chicken.
I mean . . . you must have mentioned it to me a hundred times when we were—”
“It’s still my
favorite.”
They were both silent
for a few seconds, and Holden knew he should drop her hand and step away from
her, but he couldn’t. She’d hurt herself doing something kind for him, and it
just about shredded his heart.
Just
another moment, he told himself. A
few more seconds touching her and then I’ll move away.
“Sorry about the
singing,” she whispered, unmoving, her breath kissing his throat.
He jerked his neck to
face her, his thumb curling into her palm, his eyes searching hers for mercy.
“I loved it,” he
murmured.
She stepped forward,
closing the distance between them, her lips parting, her breasts grazing his
chest through his T-shirt as she stared up at him.
“Holden, I . . .”
Every breath she took
seemed to draw him closer to her, as if she was breathing him, not air. He
leaned forward, into her, his free hand reaching for hers.
“Griselda . . .”
Her eyes, dark blue and
churning, flicked to his lips, lingered there, then slid back up his face and
seized his.
His self-control
snapped.
After all, he was only
human.
Award-winning and Amazon bestselling author Katy Regnery
started her writing career by enrolling in a short story class in January 2012.
One year later, she signed her first contract for a winter romance entitled By Proxy.
Now a hybrid author who publishes both independently and
traditionally, Katy claims authorship of the six-book Heart of Montana series, the six-book English Brothers series, and a Kindle Worlds novella entitled Four Weddings and a Fiasco: The Wedding Date.
Katy’s short story “The Long Way Home” appears in the first Romance Writers of
America anthology, Premiere, and she
has published two stand-alone novels, Playing
for Love at Deep Haven and the Amazon bestseller The Vixen and the Vet, which is book one in Katy’s a m o d e r n f
a i r y t a l e collection. The Vixen and
the Vet was nominated for a RITA® Award in 2015.
Katy lives in the relative wilds of northern Fairfield
County, Connecticut, where her writing room looks out at the woods, and her
husband, two young children, and two dogs create just enough cheerful chaos to
remind her that the very best love stories begin at home.
Katy LOVES connecting with her readers and answers every e-mail, message, tweet, and post personally! Click below to connect with Katy!
