THANK YOU so much to everyone who participated in the Goodreads Giveaway! We're soooo close now! In less than a week, A Bird on a Windowsill will be here! And I can't tell you how excited I am for you to read Salem and Savannah's story! It's got young love and second chances, and it all plays out in a little, Midwestern town! AND two of you are getting an advance, signed copy! Congrats to Adrian from the United Kingdom and Mary Rose from the Philippines. You will receive your copies very soon!
AND don't forget to add A Bird on a Windowsill to your TBR lists on Goodreads. Also, you can still pre-order Salem and Savannah's story at the special price! Happy reading! ♥Laura
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ONLY 11 DAYS, and A Bird on a Windowsill will finally be here!!!! I've said it before, but Salem (Eben) and Savannah's story is so near and dear to my heart in so many ways, and on top of that, it's packed with young love and second chances—all playing out in a little Midwestern town. So, I CAN'T wait for you to read it come June 20!
But for now, please enjoy this sneak peek!
A Bird on a Windowsill
A Clip from Chapter 19 Savannah
Eben and I are at Hogan’s slab. I love this place. I love the way the water sounds coming out of the concrete—hurried and free. I love the way it always smells like dirt and sycamore trees. And I love that moon—that moon that hangs just in the right place, so that it can light up a path all the way from its spot in outer space to us, sitting here on this little piece of earth.
Eben’s been especially quiet tonight. I know he’s thinking about me leaving. I look into his sandy-colored eyes, and he smiles. I tell myself that we are too good of friends to be in love. But I’m not even sure I believe it. There’s a part of me that feels as if I’d leave it all behind for him—if he asked me to. I’d stay here and live with my uncle. I’d finish high school, and I’d go to college somewhere close. And then, I’d work with my uncle. I think we’d make a pretty good team. But then, I know Eben would never ask me to stay. He’d never ask me to leave everything—my family, my new friends, my new life, Aaron. All of a sudden, I feel his arm around me. He pulls me into his chest, and the familiar scent of his cologne fills my senses. I close my eyes and try to hold onto it. “The day you stop looking back is the first day of the rest of your life,” I whisper near his ear. The saying is carved into the railing on a weathered boardwalk in Murrells Inlet. I saw it one day, and I never thought about it again, until now. In fact, I never really found it fitting, until now. And in the end, I think I say it more to comfort myself than to comfort him. Several seconds beat on into the wind. “Turns out, looking back is all I have,” he says, in a breathy voice. His words hit me hard—like a heavy downpour to the chest. I breathe in deeply and breathe out a weighted smile that he can’t see. I love you, too, Salem. ![]() I can't believe the Valley of the Sun Author Event is only a few weeks away! I'm so excited to see you all in Phoenix! Just a few quick reminders:
I can't wait to see you soon! ♥Laura
Enter on Goodreads for your chance to win one of two advance, signed paperback copies of A Bird on a Windowsill. OPEN INTERNATIONALLY!
"Miller...has delivered her best work so far." ~Cinco Garotas Exemplares "I was up into the morning reading this one and couldn't put it down. ...This is a book you want to read." ~Kathy Reads Fiction Goodreads Book GiveawayA Bird on a Windowsillby Laura MillerGiveaway ends June 14, 2016. See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
From the national bestselling author of Butterfly Weeds comes this second-chance romance about a boy and a girl who share one past. And now, at twenty-three, having spent the last six years apart, they both must navigate the delicate line of loving and letting go, until they're each faced with a choice that could change their future—and their story.
A Bird on a Windowsill Clip from Chapter 10 Savannah - 16 years old “Eben.” I tap on his window. The room is completely dark, and his blinds are closed. I can’t see anything. “Eben,” I whisper. I tap some more. All of a sudden, the blinds lift, and there’s a dark figure in the window. “Vannah?” “Shh.” “What are you doing?” He acts as if he’s whispering this time, but I can’t really hear him. I can only read his lips. “Hold on,” he mouths. He leaves the window, and a few moments later, I hear his front door squeak open. I shimmy out of the peony bushes and head to the front porch. But I stop when I see him. He’s just standing there. He’s barefoot, shirtless. The only thing clinging to his skin is an old pair of black sweatpants. “What are you doing?” he asks. His laughter breaks my concentration on his shirtless self. And I must be giving him a funny look because now he’s wearing a playful smile. “What?” “You’re cute.” I just say it, matter-of-fact. He smiles. It’s bashful, but I expected that. “Okay...thanks?” I nod and smile, too. “Vannah, it’s midnight.” “Yeah, but it’s Saturday.” He seems to think about it and then nods. “Okay, yeah, you’ve got a point.” We stand there for a moment, staring at each other. I think he’s waiting on me to tell him the plan for tonight. But I don’t really have a plan. And the longer we stand here, the more I think he realizes that. “Come to the dock with me.” He lowers his head. I can tell he’s trying not to laugh. “All right.” He turns back and closes the door and then makes his way down the porch steps, still barefoot, still shirtless. “Do you really think I’m cute?” I nod. “Yeah. I think so.” His soft chuckle fills the space between us. “You think so?” “I know so.” I laugh, partially because he has this new air of confidence, all of a sudden. “I mean, I see you every day, and I see...you,” I say. “I just think I rarely stop to see what body you’re in.” “So, I’m in a good body?” “Yeah. You’re in a good body.” He smiles proudly. We get to the dock and walk to the end of it, and then we both just stop and stare out into the water. “You think they’ll have docks like this in South Carolina?” He nods. “Yeah, I reckon they do. Only instead of lakes, they’ve got an ocean. So, it’ll be better than this dock.” I look up at him. “I don’t think so.” I sit down and dangle my feet off the edge, and seconds later, he does, too. “I don’t think anything can be better than this,” I say. The water is dark, like black diamonds, glistening in the moonlight. “Plus, there are no Ebens on those boat docks in South Carolina.” He smiles. “You don’t think?” “Probably not,” I say, shaking my head. “You could always stay. You could stay here...with me. You know, Mom wouldn’t mind.” “I know, but mine would. I’ve got to go, Eben.” He lets out a long, defeated sigh. “I know. I know you do.” I find his eyes. They’re warm and light. They feel like sunrays and look like the color of sand. And the way he’s looking at me now, I know he wants to kiss me. I can see it, but more so, I can feel it. And I want to kiss him back. But where would that leave us? ... He puts his arm around me, and I breathe in the smell of his bedsheets. I’m going to miss the smell of his bed...and his room—his dumb, boy room, with its old Spiderman comforter and drum set and boy things. It reminds me of all those long nights we would spend holed up in there, eating chicken and dumplings and trying to make it across the Oregon Trail without one of us getting dysentery. I’m going to miss it all. But mostly, I’m going to miss him. I love him. I always have. |
Inspired by my little, Midwestern hometown, I write about rain on tin roofs, gravel roads, old trucks with holes in the floorboards, small-town summer nights, and most importantly, love.
FOLLOW ME! Laura Miller's first
contemporary romance novel, Butterfly Weeds, hit the Amazon Best-Seller's List and Top 100 in October 2012. The sequel to Butterfly Weeds, My Butterfly, released in June 2013. For All You Have Left, By Way of Accident, When Cicadas Cry and A Bird on a Windowsill followed. The Life We Almost Had debuted as a best-seller in 2018. Laura's latest small-town romance, The Dream, released in 2019 and is an Amazon #1 Best-seller. Also check out her book of poetry, entitled Love Story, and her children's book, Pay It Forward, available now! Archives
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