First Boy I Loved / Bell Bridge Books (PDF)

Vietnam took her first love away from her. Now it may take her next love, too. After her husband dies, Gillian Warner realizes how many sorrows she carries inside her, including unresolved grief over her first love, who died in Vietnam decades earlier. Haunted by his death in combat and a tangled web of guilty secrets, she books a guided trip to the battle site. The tours are led by cynical Vietnam War vet A.J. Donegan, who makes his living taking naive Americans on what he calls Guilt Trips, Inc. If they're looking for peace of mind, they can forget it. A prickly attraction sparks between Gillian and Donegan, with neither able to let go of the past without the other's provocative challenge. In a test of willpower and desire, they'll have to share much more than a journey to a place and a memory; they'll have to travel deep inside the walls they've built around their hearts. An award-winning published author, Cheryl Reavis's literary short stories have appeared in a number of "e;little magazines"e; such as The Crescent Review, Sanskrit, The Bad Apple, The Emrys Journal, and the Greensboro Group's statewide competition anthology, WRITER'S CHOICE. Her contemporary romance novel, A CRIME OF THE HEART, reached millions of readers in Good Housekeeping magazine. She has won the Romance Writers of America's coveted RITA award four times, and she is a four-time finalist. Publishers Weekly described her contemporary novel, PROMISE ME A RAINBOW, as "e;. . . an example of delicately crafted, eminently satisfying romantic fiction . . ."e;