Blue Ridge Breakdown

Book 4: The Jubilee Series

by Rachel Hanna

Genres: Women's Fiction; Clean & Wholesome Romance

Synopsis

Can a snowstorm in Jubilee change Ava Monroe's life forever?

When Ava Monroe's escape to the Blue Ridge Mountains takes a treacherous turn, she finds herself stranded in a snowstorm, her world upended on a desolate mountain road. With her beloved boxer dog missing and her car buried in snow, hope seems lost until Deputy Jack Sullivan emerges through the forest — a strapping, lumberjack-like figure, who is as tough and abrasive as the winter elements.

In the quaint town of Jubilee, Georgia, Ava's tearful plight on the mountain is just the beginning. Jack, with his gruff exterior and a heart of hidden depth, reluctantly aids her search for her missing dog. His tough demeanor challenges Ava, yet his unexpected acts of kindness begin to pierce through the haze of her tumultuous escape.

As Ava delves deeper into Jubilee's embrace, she finds more than just a refuge from the storm. The town, with its welcoming arms and Jack's begrudging assistance, kindles a flicker of hope and strength she thought had vanished. However, just as she starts to adapt to this new life, her past refuses to stay behind. The sudden appearance of her celebrated ex-fiancé threatens to shatter the fragile peace she's found.

Blue Ridge Breakdown is not just a tale of survival and rescue; it's a journey of finding resilience and unexpected companionship in the most unlikely places. In the snow-dusted corners of Jubilee, where every path can lead to a new beginning, Ava must confront her past and decide what, and who, truly defines her future.

 

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Release date: April 8, 2024

Sample

CHAPTER 1

 

Ava Monroe held onto the steering wheel of her old truck like her life depended on it, and it probably did. Her knuckles were turning white. Outside, a snowstorm had transformed the world around her into a blur of white and shadow. The flakes were falling so thickly that it seemed like she would be swallowed up at any moment. Like in front of her, there would be nothing and everything at the same time.

Why she had chosen to drive her vintage red truck for this trip, she had no idea. It was something she cherished. Her father had bought the ratty shell of a truck when she was just a baby, and after he passed, her grandfather decided to restore it in honor of his late son. Ava had helped him when she was just twelve years old, learning all about old trucks in the process. When she’d taken off and left town, the truck was one thing she wasn’t willing to leave behind. Now, she was regretting that decision a bit.

She'd left the main road behind a long time ago, trying to put as much distance between herself and the situation she was fleeing. All of it felt like a surreal dream that she was trying to wake up from but just kept getting worse. Her brain seemed to want to roll the events leading up to this over and over in her mind, but she tried to push it away.

Somehow she found herself driving up a mountain that she wasn't expecting. Of course, when a person flees their life, they don't really tend to look at a map. She just wanted to go, get out of there as quickly as possible, and that seemed to have led to a really poor decision. She had never driven in snow, and she certainly hadn't ever driven over a mountain, but now she found herself doing both. The tires crunched against the snow-packed road, and it was the only sound in the otherwise silent snowstorm. It truly felt like she was the last person on earth. The quiet was deafening.

She questioned every decision she'd made in her life in the last couple of years and certainly the one she had made that morning when she decided to just drive. Visibility was almost at zero, and the road seemed like more of a path now. Everything disappeared just a few feet ahead of her vehicle.

She looked down at her fuel gauge and realized that she was running dangerously low on gas. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Just a little further," she said to herself and the truck, hoping to find a place that she could pull over and figure out her next steps. But the last thing she wanted to do was pull over on a snowy mountain. There was no telling what could happen to her there. There were no other cars passing her. In fact, she hadn’t seen another person since she got on the mountain, probably because they were smarter than her and stayed home.

Suddenly, as she turned one of the curves as slowly as possible, her truck lurched. A hidden patch of ice sent it skidding off the narrow road and into a snowbank on the side. She didn't have to worry about anybody coming up behind her and running into her because there was no other traffic

Again, she was the only genius who would end up in this mess. Just like her life. A big mess.

Her engine stalled and left her sitting in silence, except for the sound of her own ragged breathing. She kept trying to crank the truck over and over again, but it refused to start.

The storm seemed to be getting heavier. Mother Nature certainly didn't seem to care about her plight. She wrapped her arms around herself as the cold started seeping into the truck. She looked over at her beloved boxer, Millie, who was still sleeping peacefully in the passenger seat next to her, as if nothing was going on. That dog could never be rattled. She'd had her for three years now and she was her best friend and closest companion, the one who would never judge her for all the silly mistakes she'd made.

Now, as she sat alone with her truck broken down on the side of a mountain during a snowstorm, Ava wondered if this was going to be her last day on earth. She didn't have any food. She was only wearing a sweater and had a lightweight jacket under her purse in the passenger floorboard. Panic started to set in as the gravity of the situation became clear. She was all alone, as usual. She had no cell service, no way to call anybody for help, and she was certain that it was many miles to the nearest town. She took in a deep breath and pulled her sweater tightly around her. She needed to think. She had to come up with a plan, but as she looked out into the snow swirling in front of her, she couldn't help but wonder if she had escaped one nightmare only to find herself trapped in another one. ...