Title: Worth the Wait
Series: McKinney/Walker #1
Author: Claudia Connor
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: January 10, 2017
Blurb
The first in a spin off series of the New York Times Bestselling McKinney Brothers, WORTH THE WAIT takes readers on a journey through young love into adulthood in a heartwrenching, second chance love story.
Nick Walker thought nothing could destroy what he had with Mia. He certainly never thought he would be the one to destroy it.
Now ten years later, Mia James is in Special Agent Nick Walker’s path once again and this time he’s determined to shed the weight of regret and finally claim the future that was always meant to be theirs.
It won’t be easy. Mia’s heart was shattered by Nick and now, just when she’d pieced it back together, it’s been broken again, bringing their past to the surface, including her own secret about that day everything went wrong.
***Every title by Claudia Connor is a Contemporary Romance and a full stand alone novel. No cheating, no love triangle, no cliff hanger.
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Excerpt
~twenty-four years ago
Nick pressed two fingers into the sleep deprived headache pounding in his temple and tried to concentrate on professor Jenkins’s explanation of ideal gas law. He circled a line of notes, ignored the knock on the auditorium door until he heard the familiar cry. Hannah, who he’d left in the university daycare two hours ago.
The high pitched wail wasn’t his two year old sister’s hurt cry. It was her scared cry with a touch of pissed off. In the six months since their parents’ death, he’d learned to tell the difference. He’d learned a lot of things. Like if he didn’t take her to the bathroom, she’d likely wait too long and have an accident. Like green beans made her throw up, but she’d eat them if he told her to. And she would never, ever go to sleep without Mr. Bunny.
He was up, out of his seat, and halfway down the auditorium stairs before his professor laid his pen down.
Nick’s eyes narrowed on the young blonde in an oversized sweatshirt with silk greek letters sewn on the front. She held a sobbing Hannah dressed in the sunny yellow sundress he’d picked out that morning. She hadn’t been crying when he left her. Now her eyes were red and snot mixed with tears dripped into her mouth. Hannah lunged for him. His arms engulfed her small body and his heart squeezed like it always did when she held onto him.
“I stay you,” Hannah said. Each word tumbled out of her with a jerk of her tiny shoulders.
“What happened to her?”
“Nothing happened to her. She hasn’t stopped screaming for the past hour and she bit three people. We can’t keep her like that.”
Several responses came to mind.
She’s just a baby.
She missed her nap.
And the loudest of all, it was my fault for leaving her.
Hannah raised her head to look at him, giant tears hanging from golden lashes. “I bite.”
“Well. At least she’s honest.” Professor Jenkins turned his questioning eyes to Nick. “She yours?”
Nick pressed two fingers into the sleep deprived headache pounding in his temple and tried to concentrate on professor Jenkins’s explanation of ideal gas law. He circled a line of notes, ignored the knock on the auditorium door until he heard the familiar cry. Hannah, who he’d left in the university daycare two hours ago.
The high pitched wail wasn’t his two year old sister’s hurt cry. It was her scared cry with a touch of pissed off. In the six months since their parents’ death, he’d learned to tell the difference. He’d learned a lot of things. Like if he didn’t take her to the bathroom, she’d likely wait too long and have an accident. Like green beans made her throw up, but she’d eat them if he told her to. And she would never, ever go to sleep without Mr. Bunny.
He was up, out of his seat, and halfway down the auditorium stairs before his professor laid his pen down.
Nick’s eyes narrowed on the young blonde in an oversized sweatshirt with silk greek letters sewn on the front. She held a sobbing Hannah dressed in the sunny yellow sundress he’d picked out that morning. She hadn’t been crying when he left her. Now her eyes were red and snot mixed with tears dripped into her mouth. Hannah lunged for him. His arms engulfed her small body and his heart squeezed like it always did when she held onto him.
“I stay you,” Hannah said. Each word tumbled out of her with a jerk of her tiny shoulders.
“What happened to her?”
“Nothing happened to her. She hasn’t stopped screaming for the past hour and she bit three people. We can’t keep her like that.”
Several responses came to mind.
She’s just a baby.
She missed her nap.
And the loudest of all, it was my fault for leaving her.
Hannah raised her head to look at him, giant tears hanging from golden lashes. “I bite.”
“Well. At least she’s honest.” Professor Jenkins turned his questioning eyes to Nick. “She yours?”
He hesitated, but only a second. “My sister. But yes, she’s mine.” And at that moment she became even more his, which seemed to be the case every day. Every day, a little more his.
Author Bio
Claudia Connor is the author of the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling series, The McKinney Brothers. Her debut novel, WORTH THE FALL, hit the New York Times Bestsellers list in 2014 and received numerous Best Contemporary Romance of 2014 accolades.
Claudia attended Auburn University, where she received her undergraduate and master’s degrees in early childhood education. After teaching kindergarten and first grade for ten years, she retired to be a full-time mom to her three daughters. Always a lover of books, and always one to have stories playing in her mind, she decided to try her hand at writing. It took seven years to finish her first novel and a new love was born.
Claudia lives near Memphis, Tennessee with her husband, three daughters, two cats, and a singer-songwriter Siberian Husky. She continues to write warm, heartfelt, and emotional romances with a bit of steam, a lot of family and always a happily ever after.
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BLOGS REVIEW
You find your soul mate, you love them and you lose them. How you ask? Well we can just ask Nick cause this was his story with Mia. I don't know what was more emotion packed the story of his families tragedy, the story of Nick/Mia or the story once they reconnected. You want an emotion packed story, well here is your story.
This is the first book I have read by this author, but I so need to go back to the other series that has the story of Hannah and Stephen cause these secondary characters have a sad to happy story was well that will be really good based upon what I saw in this story.
Nick you are truly a man based upon how you handled everything at nineteen with your family. Mia was perfect for you and yes, it was worth the wait, but twenty something years is a long time in total to get the girl. You had the girl for over a decade before you let a decade separate you too. Mia will have you tearing up with her story and no one should have to go through either of the events she endured.
Loved the fact that it was told from various years and POV. It made the story so much more heart wrenching and cheerful all in one sitting. You will definitely need some tissues for this read, but Nick's over protectiveness and alpha way will cool you off a bit. Tissues are needed even in the happy scenes especially the wedding cause that was so true she was like a mom/sister.
I will definitely be reading more by this author and cannot wait to see more on the McKinney/Walker families. Though the intriguing one would be the MIA brother when the time comes for his story. This is a movie/TV series in the making with all the events that keep you in suspense, the romance, the losses and the clan in general.
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