Sister
Dear Virtual Book Tour Media Kit
About the
Author
Laura
McNeil is a writer, mom, travel enthusiast, and coffee drinker. In
her former life, she was a television news anchor for CBS News
affiliates in New York and Alabama. Laura holds a master’s degree
in journalism from The Ohio State University and is completing a
Ph.D. in Instructional Leadership at the University of Alabama. When
she’s not writing and doing homework, she enjoys running, yoga, and
spending time at the beach. She lives in Northern Alabama with her
family.
For More
Information
About the
Book:
Title:
Sister Dear
Author: Laura McNeil
Publisher: HarperCollins/Thomas Nelson
Pages: 336
Genre: Domestic Suspense
Author: Laura McNeil
Publisher: HarperCollins/Thomas Nelson
Pages: 336
Genre: Domestic Suspense
All Allie
Marshall wants is a fresh start. But when dark secrets refuse to stay
buried, will her chance at a new life be shattered forever?
Convicted of a
crime she didn’t commit, Allie watched a decade of her life vanish.
Now, out on parole, Allie is determined to clear her name and
reconnect with the daughter she barely knows.
But Allie’s
return to Brunswick, Georgia, sends earthquakes through the small,
coastal community. Even her daughter Caroline, now a teenager,
challenges Allie’s claims of innocence.
Refusing defeat,
a stronger, smarter Allie launches a campaign for the truth, digging
deep into the past. Her investigation threatens her parole status,
her own safety, and the already-fragile bond with her family. What
Allie uncovers is far worse than she imagined. Her own sister has
been hiding a dark secret—one that holds the key to Allie’s
freedom.
For More Information
- Sister Dear is available at Amazon.
- Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
- Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.
Book Excerpt:
In her final minutes as an
inmate at Arrendale State Prison, Allie Marshall’s body pulsed with
tension. Eyes averted, managing any movements with robotic precision,
she remained on guard.
Only
moments to go.
A sliver
of time. Not even a quarter hour. An unremarkable measurement, when
held up against the billion other moments in any person’s natural
life. But after a decade inside, those last twelve minutes seemed the
longest span in all of eternity.
To her
right, rows of monitors blinked and recorded everything across the
sprawling campus in Habersham County. Though the angles differed, the
subject never changed: women in identical tan-collared shirts and
shapeless pants. Inmates on work detail, in the cafeteria, in
dormitories.
A
corrections officer sat nearby, her pale-blue eyes scanning the
screens. To this worker, to all of them, Allie was GDC ID, followed
by ten numbers. Nothing more. Inside the thick metal bars, Allie’s
life was suspended, a delicate fossil in amber.
Until
now. Ten more minutes.
Her
reflection stared back, unblinking, in the shatterproof glass window
near the door. Green eyes flecked with gold, dark-blonde hair tucked
in a loose ponytail, barely visible brackets at the corners of her
lips.
Maybe,
Allie thought, she’d forgotten how to smile and laugh. Happiness
seemed unreachable, as if the feeling itself existed on the summit of
an ice-tipped mountain shrouded by storm clouds. Indeed, the rush of
pure, unadulterated joy belonged only to those with freedom. Allie’s
memories of it—her daughter’s birth, Caroline’s first smile,
first steps—were fleeting and distant.
Instead,
the perpetual motion of prison, the waking, sleeping, and sameness,
all blended together, like a silent black-and-white movie on a
continuous loop.
Until the
news of her parole.
At first,
the concept of liberty seemed impossible—a hand trying to catch and
hold vapor. The judge had sentenced Allie to sixteen years, and she
fully anticipated serving each and every one of them. She didn’t
believe she’d be granted an early release—she couldn’t—until
she stepped beyond the walls and barbed wire and chain-link fence,
barriers that kept her from everyone and everything she’d ever
loved.
Allie
focused on breathing, stretching her lungs, exhaling to slow her
pulse. Her own belongings, a decade old, lay nearby. Keys that
wouldn’t open doors. A watch with a dead battery. A light khaki
jacket with a photo of then five-year-old Caroline tucked in the
pocket, one pair of broken-in Levis, and a white cotton shirt.
Gingerly, with her fingertips, she reached for the clothing, then
gripped the bundle tight to her chest.
A second
guard motioned for Allie to change quickly in a holding room. With
the door shut, she pulled the shapeless prison garb over her head and
picked up the shirt. The material, cool and light, brushed against
her skin like gauze. Allie shivered.
For ten
years, all she’d known was the rasp of her standard-issue navy
jacket, the scrape of her worn white tennis shoes along the sidewalk.
Back in
Brunswick, Allie had filled her closet with easy summer shifts and
crisp linen pants. Now her body was different too—the soft curves
had dissolved, leaving lean muscle behind. The jeans hung loosely
around her waist and hips. The top billowed out in waves from her
shoulders.
Nothing
would fit, she reminded herself. Not much in her past life would.
And that
was all right.
When she
walked out of Lee Arrendale State Prison, home to thousands of female
inmates, Allie didn’t want reminders. No indigo tattoo inked down
her back or neck. No numbers or symbols etched into her arms or
fingers. The only external validation of time served was a faint scar
that traced her eyebrow.
The real
proof of her internment lay underneath it all. Below the seashell
white of Allie’s skin, hidden in blood, tendons, and muscle, the
experience indelibly marked on her soul. An imprint made by incident,
mistake, and tragedy.
Evidence,
and lack of it.
“I’m
innocent,” she’d insisted to everyone who would listen. Her
lawyers fought hard, rallied a few times, but in the end, the jury
convicted her. Voluntary manslaughter.
A year
later, Allie’s appeal failed. Then money ran out. Her father turned
his attention back to his veterinary practice after his cardiologist
warned the stress of another trial might kill him. Her mother did her
best to minimize worry while Emma, her tempestuous and fun-loving
sister, assumed the role of doting aunt and guardian to Caroline.
And there
was Ben. Sweet, thoughtful Ben. The man who’d wanted to marry her,
who said he would love her always. Even after her arrest, he’d
promised to wait for her if the worst happened. Allie couldn’t live
with herself if he’d sacrificed everything—his rising political
career, his reputation, and his life for a decade or more. She’d
broken it off, knowing it would wound him terribly. When he’d
finally left, when she saw him for the last time, it was as if the
very core of her being had been torn away, leaving a vast, gaping
emptiness she couldn’t fill, despite how hard she tried. Allie
closed her eyes. She’s convinced herself it was the logical thing,
what made sense. She had done her best to forget him. It hadn’t
worked in the least.
The days
and months blurred. Entire seasons dissolved, shapeless and gray,
like the ink of fine calligraphy smeared by the rain.
The
squawk of the prison intercom barely registered in Allie’s brain.
Sharp insults and threats were routine, eruptions of violence
expected. Even along the brown scrub grass and wooden benches of the
prison yard, there was no escape. Allie always tried to
disappear—pressing her body close to the concrete walls, becoming a
chameleon against the barren landscape.
The women
in Arrendale weren’t afraid of punishment; most had nothing left.
Some bonded with other inmates for favors; others paid for protection
with cigarettes, food, and stamps. For those prisoners who had lost
everything; inmates with little hope of parole, life was almost
unthinkable.
Clutching
her hands in her lap to keep from shaking, Allie watched as a woman
collapsed in the cafeteria, stabbed in the jugular with a plastic
fork. The next week, a fellow inmate in her dormitory was choked to
death, purple fingerprints visible on the woman’s throat when the
guards discovered her body. Allie was haunted with grief for weeks
after a young girl, only four years older than Caroline, tried to
hang herself with a scrap of fabric.
Despite
it all, despite the desperation that seemed to permeate the very air
she breathed, Allie had survived.
In
another few minutes, her younger sister, Emma, would arrive, as bus
service didn’t run from Alto to Brunswick. Tomorrow she’d meet
her parole officer at noon. And like every parolee, she would receive
a check, courtesy of the Georgia Department of Corrections, enough to
buy shampoo, a bar of soap, and a comb for her hair.
Allie
blinked up at the clock, almost afraid the time might start going
backward. She forced her eyes away, squeezed them shut. If she tried
hard enough, her mind formed a picture of her grown daughter’s
face. In her daydreams, she’d imagined their reunion a million
times, rehearsed every possible scenario. She worried about the right
words to say, how to act, and whether it was all right to cry. The
enormity of it was impossible to contain, like holding back the ocean
with a single fingertip.
All that
mattered now was seeing Caroline.
The
buzzer sounded long and loud; its vibration shook the floor. The
burly guard sighed and lumbered to her boot-clad feet. She stood
inches from Allie’s shoulder, her breath hot and rank from a
half-eaten roast beef sandwich.
Locks
clicked and keys rattled. The barrier, with its heavy bars, groaned
under its own weight. An inch at a time, the metal gate heaved open.
Soon, there would be nothing but empty space standing between Allie
and the rest of the world.
She felt
a nudge.
In that
moment, Allie heard four words, precious and sweet.
“You’re
free to go.”
**SPOILER FREE**
Talk about a book that will suck you right in! This book has an adventure that is hard to turn away from. I don't think I have turn pages as quick as I have in this book! REMARKABLE has no just due for how this book really is! Highly recommended!
*Received for an honest review*
Talk about a book that will suck you right in! This book has an adventure that is hard to turn away from. I don't think I have turn pages as quick as I have in this book! REMARKABLE has no just due for how this book really is! Highly recommended!
*Received for an honest review*
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