Tallie Brown’s life has never made sense. Raised in isolation by her mother, Julia, Tallie was dragged suddenly and without explanation from one third-world outpost to another until life normalized seven years ago when Julia took a position on a mountaintop in the Pacific northwest. But when Julia unexpectedly dies, Tallie uncovers clues suggesting that Julia had a secret life. Journalistic phenom Jackson James is still recovering from the devastating mistake that flatlined his promising career. Now he’s paying the price, working as the editor of a syrupy community rag in a posh D.C. suburb. But when the very man who destroyed him drops a tantalizing lead about a potential D.C. scandal, the reporter sees his chance for redemption and sets off to chase the story. Jackson’s investigation leads him to Cutler’s Ridge, a dying Virginia coal town, and directly into the path of the mysterious and beautiful Tallie. As these two mistrustful loners follow their leads, their stories begin to intertwine until they reach an alarming conclusion – something terrible happened in Cutler’s Ridge. As they doggedly pursue the story, the town’s cold reception spirals into threats and danger, proving that there are those who will stop at nothing to keep the past hidden forever –because secrets never die.
Laurie (L.C.) Lewis will always be a Marylander at heart—a weather-whining lover of crabs, American history, and the sea. She admits to being craft-challenged, particularly lethal with a glue gun, and a devotee of sappy movies. Secrets Never Die is Laurie’s twelfth published novel.
Her women’s fiction/romance novels include Love on the Line, (2019), Awakening Avery, (2018), Love on a Limb, (2017), Sweet Water, (2017), The Dragons of Alsace Farm (2016), and
Unspoken (2004), written as Laurie Lewis. Using the pen name L.C. Lewis, she wrote the five volumes of her award-winning FREE MEN and DREAMERS historical romance series, set against the backdrop of the War of 1812: Dark Sky at Dawn (2007), Twilight’s Last Gleaming
(2008), Dawn’s Early Light (2009), Oh, Say Can You See? (2010), and In God is Our Trust, (2011).
Laurie Lewis is a RONE Award Winner (The Dragons of Alsace Farm) and was twice
named a New Apple Literary Award winner in 2017 (The Dragons of Alsace Farm), and in 2018, winning Best New Fiction (Love on a Limb.) She is also a BRAGG Medallion honoree, and she was twice named a Whitney Awards and USA Best Books Awards finalist.
Laurie loves to hear from readers, and she invites you to join her VIP Readers’ Club, or contact her at any of these locations.
Her women’s fiction/romance novels include Love on the Line, (2019), Awakening Avery, (2018), Love on a Limb, (2017), Sweet Water, (2017), The Dragons of Alsace Farm (2016), andUnspoken (2004), written as Laurie Lewis. Using the pen name L.C. Lewis, she wrote the five volumes of her award-winning FREE MEN and DREAMERS historical romance series, set against the backdrop of the War of 1812: Dark Sky at Dawn (2007), Twilight’s Last Gleaming
(2008), Dawn’s Early Light (2009), Oh, Say Can You See? (2010), and In God is Our Trust, (2011).
Laurie Lewis is a RONE Award Winner (The Dragons of Alsace Farm) and was twice
named a New Apple Literary Award winner in 2017 (The Dragons of Alsace Farm), and in 2018, winning Best New Fiction (Love on a Limb.) She is also a BRAGG Medallion honoree, and she was twice named a Whitney Awards and USA Best Books Awards finalist.
Laurie loves to hear from readers, and she invites you to join her VIP Readers’ Club, or contact her at any of these locations.
He stood and helped her stand. Her fingers closed around his and she looked into his face,
her own face alight with want, as if this simple touch had stirred a deep longing to be close to
someone, to be loved by someone. Jackson had known that hunger many times over the past
seven years, and it boiled within in again. He had never felt so vulnerable and responsible at the
same time. The man in him wanted to pull her close and answer her need, but thankfully, the
friend in him, the better man in him, remembered how an anguished soul seeks solace in human
touch. Loving her would be easy. Loving her as she deserved required more than either of them
now had to give.
He was grateful he was the one standing before her, looking into those eyes filled with
pleading to belong to someone, not because he was a great prize, but because his parents had
infused him with the values that should be tied to that want—enduring love, permanence,
marriage, family, and home. He had never been as grateful for those teachings as he now was,
standing before a lonely, beautiful, loving woman with no such background. It was all on him.
He forced himself to step back, freeing one of his hands from hers to brush a stray wisp
of hair into place. A wave of confusion clouded her face at the shift in the mood. Jackson knew
the moment deserved a word or two, but he doubted his resolve if he lingered too long. He
smiled at her. “Never think you’re not worthy of being loved. It’s not true, Tallie. You’re easy to
love. So very easy.”
her own face alight with want, as if this simple touch had stirred a deep longing to be close to
someone, to be loved by someone. Jackson had known that hunger many times over the past
seven years, and it boiled within in again. He had never felt so vulnerable and responsible at the
same time. The man in him wanted to pull her close and answer her need, but thankfully, the
friend in him, the better man in him, remembered how an anguished soul seeks solace in human
touch. Loving her would be easy. Loving her as she deserved required more than either of them
now had to give.
He was grateful he was the one standing before her, looking into those eyes filled with
pleading to belong to someone, not because he was a great prize, but because his parents had
infused him with the values that should be tied to that want—enduring love, permanence,
marriage, family, and home. He had never been as grateful for those teachings as he now was,
standing before a lonely, beautiful, loving woman with no such background. It was all on him.
He forced himself to step back, freeing one of his hands from hers to brush a stray wisp
of hair into place. A wave of confusion clouded her face at the shift in the mood. Jackson knew
the moment deserved a word or two, but he doubted his resolve if he lingered too long. He
smiled at her. “Never think you’re not worthy of being loved. It’s not true, Tallie. You’re easy to
love. So very easy.”
