Excerpt of Too Close by Elizabeth Krall

This is a virtual book excerpt tour stop for the contemporary romance novel, Too Close by Elizabeth Krall.

Elizabeth will be awarding an eBook version of EACH of her three short stories to a randomly drawn commenter at each stop. Plus a grand prize of an eBook version of her first novel, Ship to Shore, will be awarded to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. To be entered for a chance to win a prize, leave a comment below. And to increase your chances of winning, visit other tour stops and leave comments there, too. 

Blurb:

What rules would you break for the one you love? What lies would you tell?

Three weeks before their wedding day, Nicola and Greg discover that they may have the same mother.

They met when Greg joined the San Francisco newspaper where Nicola is the travel editor. After six months, eager to start a life together and raise a family, they decide to marry.

When Nicola finally meets his family in Seattle, and mentions the circumstances of her adoption, Greg’s horrified mother is forced to reveal the shameful secret she has kept for 36 years.

As they struggle to deal with her revelation, their relationship is challenged and strained. If his mother’s suspicions are true, they will be forced into a devastating choice: break all of society’s rules and fight for their love, or break their hearts and give each other up.

It will be the greatest test their newfound love has faced – and their love may not survive.

Excerpt:

Scene:  Nicola and her friend Hélène talk about what constitutes a family.

“Families are funny, when you think about it,” mused Hélène.

“Why? Apart from the well known fact that you can’t choose them.”

“That is what I mean. I was thinking of you,” explained Hélène. “You were chosen. Gwen and Arthur and Bill and Alison are your family, but not due to luck or circumstance.”

Nicola nodded, drowsy but puzzled. “So?”

“Would you ever have sex with Bill?”

Nicola bolted upright, wide awake. “No! Ewww, no! How can you ask such a thing?”

“This is my point. There is no shred of shared DNA between you, but he is your brother and you react with quite proper revulsion to the idea of sex with him. Yet if it happens that you and Greg do share DNA, it is expected that you should have that same reaction, despite the fact that you met only six months ago and you in no way regard him as your brother.” Hélène swirled the cognac, warming it in her hand. “Why is Bill your family, but Greg not? That is what I was getting at when I said families are funny.”

“Nurture over nature,” proclaimed Nicola suddenly.

Hélène said, “I do not understand. The words, yes, but not the meaning.”

“It’s one of the few things I remember from my first-year psychology class. The debate about which is more important in determining how a person turns out – his genes, or his upbringing. In this case, I think of Bill, totally unrelated to me, as my brother because that’s how I was brought up to think of him.”

Hélène nodded. “I see. And by the same reasoning, you do not see Greg that way. Your genes did not recognize each other.”

Author Bio and Links:

Elizabeth Krall grew up in Canada and lived in London, England, for many years. She has now settled in Sydney, Australia.

Most of her career was spent as an editor, but now she works as a print and digital graphic designer. An unexpected side-effect of leaving editing was the resurgence of an interest in writing. Her first novel, Ship to Shore, was published in February 2012; her second, Too Close, in January 2013.

She is also the author of an occasional series of short stories themed around holidays, called Holiday Romances.

Elizabeth’s interests include travel, tall ship sailing and cocktails.

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