Thursday, February 3, 2022

[Blog Tour + Review] Tattered Stars by Catherine Cowles


“Hayes and Everly, together, are an unstoppable force. This small-town, suspenseful romance was absolutely unputdownable!" 
— LJ Shen, USA Today bestselling author

TATTERED STARS, an all new beautifully heart wrenching romance and first book in the Tattered & Torn series from bestselling author Catherine Cowles is AVAILABLE NOW!!



ABOUT THE BOOK.

Be brave. Just for sixty seconds. Twenty breaths.

 One night changed them both forever.

 Their lives shattered, beyond repair, with jagged edges and pieces askew.

 Now, Everly has a chance to make things right. To bring healing to the place where everything fell apart. But it means facing the family her father almost destroyed, and the boy with the dark eyes—now grown—who still haunts her dreams.

Just one breath away from having your life ripped out from under you.

The last thing Hayes wants is another reminder of all the ways he failed sixteen years ago. When Everly drives back into Wolf Gap, his only mission is to get her to leave. For his family’s sake, and for his own, those demons need to stay buried for good.

But everything about this woman is a surprise, from her spine of steel to the sanctuary she hopes to create with the land her mother left behind. And Hayes is powerless to stay away.

As a careful friendship sparks into something more, someone watches. And they’ll do anything to tear it all apart…

♡♡

FALL IN LOVE with Everly and Hayes today!

Google Play: Coming Soon

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ENTER TO WIN a signed paperback of Tattered Stars: https://bit.ly/3rdhOvq




READ AN EXCERPT.

I pressed on the accelerator to make it past the final rise, and as I did, the property came into view. My heart seemed to take up acrobatics in my chest, flipping and tumbling, expanding and contracting. My hands gripped the wheel harder as my foot eased off the gas.
 
The house itself was in worse shape than I’d expected. One of the walls had a gaping hole in it. But the small guest cabin didn’t look too worse for wear. The cottage had been in my mom’s family for generations, but the house had been my father’s construction after they married. She hadn’t stayed long after he went to prison, choosing to move us down to the flats to live on some land my uncle owned.
 
While the generations-old construction of the cabin had held steady, the barn and paddocks hadn’t fared nearly as well. The entire structure seemed to lean to one side, and a storm had taken down more than half of the fencing. My back hurt just looking at all the work that needed to be done.
 
I sighed and pulled to a stop in front of the cabin, releasing my hold on the wheel. My phone dinged, and I sent up a mental thank you to the gods of technology that it seemed I had service up here.
 
Shay: Are you there yet? Text me the second you arrive.
 
I smiled down at my phone, feeling a little less alone, knowing that I had someone who would drop anything to have my back.
 
Me: Just pulled up outside. Cabin looks okay. The house and barn are a disaster.
 
Shay: Are you sure you don’t want Brody and me to come help you get settled? We can be there in two days.
 
God, I was lucky to have her as a friend, but I wasn’t ready to open all the doors I’d need to if they came to stay. There were too many skeletons I didn’t want to let out into the light.
 
Me: Thank you, but I’ve got this. Let me get settled, and then you can come for a visit.
 
Shay: I don’t like that you’re there all alone.
 
Me: I won’t be alone for long.
 
Soon, I would have this place crawling with animals. It had always been my dream to build a home for neglected or abused animals of any kind. A sanctuary. It was simply coming more quickly than expected.
 
I turned off my SUV, rolled down the windows, and the pine air swept in. It was different than any other type, the Ponderosa pines. And as it filled me, tears sprang to my eyes. I’d missed this, more than I’d realized.
 
I leaned back in my seat and pulled out my letter.
 
Dearest Everly,
 
I know much of this will come a day late and more than a dollar short, but better that than not at all. Even once the doctors told me the cancer had a hold, I couldn’t bring myself to call you, to tell you these things face-to-face as I should’ve. So, I’ll take the coward’s way out. That won’t be anything new. There were so many times I should’ve stood up but didn’t.
 
But that’s not you. You’ve always been the bravest person I’ve ever known. Even before that night. I should’ve told you, but I didn’t—I’m so proud of you, beautiful girl. You made yourself into this amazing warrior all on your own, without any help from your dad or me.
 
I wish I had a chance to truly see you shine now. That’s the price for my sins. To miss all of your beauty and light shining on this world.
 
This should’ve come so long ago, but I’m sorry. For not being there for you. For not getting your father the help he needed. For not taking you and your siblings away when things went sideways. I’m so very sorry that I wasn’t stronger. That I wasn’t more like you.
 
I don’t have much I can give you, but the land’s still mine. I know a lot of pain’s been poured into the dirt there, but there was good once, too. When I spent summers there with your grandparents. As your father and I made it our home. The babies that grew there. The animals we raised.
 
Maybe you can find your good there, too.
 
I understand if you can’t. Or don’t want to. But I know if one person is strong enough to do it…it’s you.
 
I love you forever and always, my little warrior.
 
Mom
 
A single tear splashed onto the page. She’d been gone before I even knew she was sick. Buried before I even knew she was gone. My family hadn’t wanted me there. Not my brother—who I was sure still blamed me for everything—my uncle, or any other vast network of relatives still rooted in the area.
 
To them, I was the enemy, the outsider. And now, I’d returned. The only one who might be happy to see me was my cousin, Addie, but I wasn’t even sure about that. We hadn’t spoken since I’d left. All of my letters came back, marked as Return to Sender in her father’s handwriting.
 
My mother thought I was a warrior, and I hoped she was right. I would need all my armor if I was going to face them again. Because no one would be happy that I was here. And they’d be downright livid when they learned I was staying.

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MY REVIEW.

5 Stars from Tiffany!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A Nice Introduction to Wolf Gap

There's something about these small town, everybody knows your business romances that I just love and Catherine Cowles has introduced me to a new one. In Tattered Stars we follow along with Hayes and Everly, as she tries to return to her small town of Wolf Gap and make a go of it after being gone for years.

Hayes and Everly have a unique background together in the way they "met" sixteen years ago. It was tragic and something that sent Everly away. She's now an adult, she's back and looking to turn something bad into something good, so she can finally move on with her life. Hayes messed up sixteen years ago, actually he didn't, but there's no telling him that. He will never forgive himself for the mistakes of his past and has lived his life accordingly. Paying for his mistakes.

Now that she's back, Hayes isn't looking to be friends and if anything, want's Everly go go back to where she came from. Nothing is going to change what happened in the past. So he thinks. I liked both Hayes and Everly from the get go. They were hurt, however that pain turned them into two strong adults, each in thier own way. Secretly, they were in awe of one another and how thier lives have turned out, but on the surface, he wants to make her pay. They are so similar now they don't even realize it, which was the fun of reading along.

The book is well written and along with Hayes and Everly, thier families are front and center. This is what keeps the story going strong, the background action. Sure we're here for our main characters, however Catherine Cowles has written an entire cast of supporting characters and family in this small town that is just as interesting. Tattered Stars is a great introduction to the crazy little town of Wolf Gap and I will definitely be back to see what happens next.

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ABOUT CATHERINE COWLES.


Writer of words. Drinker of Diet Cokes. Lover of all things cute and furry, especially her dog. Catherine has had her nose in a book since the time she could read and finally decided to write down some of her own stories. When she's not writing she can be found exploring her home state of Oregon, listening to true crime podcasts, or searching for her next book boyfriend.

CONNECT WITH CATHERINE.

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