Thursday, May 20, 2010

From The Vault - The Bartered Bride


By Erica Vetsch
– HS 875
ISBN: 9781602605893

Jonathan Kennebrae is furious when his grandfather informs him that his future has been decided. He will marry Melissa Brooke or be disinherited. Jonathan has invested years of his life in Kennabrae Shipping, but heaven help him if Grandfather decides to take it all away for this.

Melissa, too, is devastated when her parents make their announcement. As little more than a bargaining chip in her father’s business maneuvers, she feels her secure world slipping away. Engaged to marry a man she has never met—someone “considerably older” than herself? What have her parents done?

Can Jonathan and Melissa find a way out of this loveless marriage, or must they find a way forward together?

An Excerpt:

“My wife and I,” Almina had joined Lawrence Brooke, tucking her arm into his elbow and beaming on the crowd, her gaze lingering longest on Jonathan and Melissa. “Are pleased to announce the engagement of our daughter, Melissa, to Mr. Jonathan Kennebrae. Please join us in congratulating the happy couple.” He lifted the glass in their direction. A polite wave of applause welled up.
Melissa stood, knocking her chair over onto the grass. She put her hand to her mouth, turning her head wildly from Jonathan to her parents, then back again. Jonathan rose slowly, easing up on numb legs.
“Kennebrae?” She whispered so low he had to stoop to hear her. “Your name is Kennebrae?”
“Of course it is. What else would it be?”
She blinked, staring at him. “But, I thought—” Her throat spasmed as she tried to swallow. “I thought…”
He caught her just before she hit the grass in a dead faint.

Proverbs 21:1 The King’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will.

Have you ever fainted or been with someone who has?

5 comments:

  1. I almost fainted about five or six years ago. My back had gone out on me and I was in pain. The doc gave me a strong pain reliever. The stuff was so strong that once I was at work, sitting at my desk, I felt a rush in my ears and the world was fading to black, I knew I was going to faint, but, the feeling went away...needless to say, I left work for the day!

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  2. I have been wanting to read this book ever since I saw it, so please enter me!!

    I almost fainted several years ago. I was in a terrible bike riding accident (still bear the scars) and as my dad was cleaning my arms up, I got really light headed. It felt weird like I was detached or something from all that was around me.

    Then my dad once cut his hand while slicing cheese and got shocky from the sight of his blood. He passed out on the floor, glassy eyes and all. Scared me so bad! But all is good now, and that is my experience with fainting. :)

    caseymh18(at)gmail(dot)com

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  3. I have almost fainted before, and I had a cousin who fainted at our grandfather's funeral which was in late July. Of course, at that point, the officient had rambled on about nothing for a good twenty minutes, so Amy's "timely" faint forced him to get back on track!

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  4. I think the closest I've come to fainting was a few summers ago when touring the Wilder Museum in Spring Valley, MN. It was wickedly hot, and we'd been outdoors all day. The heat finally got to me, and I started feeling faint. I managed to get to a chair and someone brought me some cold water. When I revived enough, the kids and I finished the museum tour and headed to Dairy Queen. :)

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  5. My son passed out at school when he was seven. It was right after recess and he'd gotten into line to go home. He just went out and smacked his little cheek on the floor. The nurse brought him to my car.

    We went straight to the doctor and my husband met us there. All tests turned out fine. We finally concluded that if he didn't like the lunch food, he didn't eat it. That day, he only drank a little bit of his milk and it was hot at recess. So he just ran out of steam.

    Scared us to death. He takes his lunch now and hasn't had any more problems.

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