Blog Tour [PH]: An Excerpt + Giveaways – In This Life by Christine Brae

Title: In This Life

It started out so simply. Anna runs away to Thailand, drags her best friend Dante with her and spends a few weeks away, taking on other people’s problems while getting away from her own. She meets the enigmatic Jude Grayson, and for as long as it’s clear to both of them that it ends when they leave, she thinks she’s got the perfect fling planned out.

Or does she?

Anna returns home to find that her life is no longer the way it once was, and that she can’t stop thinking about him. She learns through tragedy that nothing she’s ever believed in has turned out to be true. The worst part? The people she loved were keeping a secret from her. And that no matter what she does, no matter how hard she fights against it, every path she takes keeps leading her back to Jude. 

This is a story about love, found in a faraway place by two very unlikely people. It is also a story about friendship and loyalty and fighting for what you have despite the illogical mystery of fate. And with the struggle between morality and guilt, faith and acceptance, there comes a learning that even the best-laid plans are powerless against the alignment of the universe.

From the beaches of Thailand to the streets of New York, three friends, Anna, Dante, and Jude will learn the hard way that once providence steps in, there is nothing in the world that can change what is truly meant to be.

There was a little confusion during the Blog Tour registration and as a result I was registered into two In This Life blog tours — one Philippine tour and one international tour. The funny thing about this is how I got registered on two consecutive dates, so publishing the same contents for both tours will be pretty redundant. So instead of posting the same content on my tour entries, I asked the permission of one of the PH tour hosts, JM of Book Freak Revelations, to let me post an excerpt of the book on my PH schedule instead (it is scheduled first) and I’ll post my full review later for the international tour. Fortunately, he agreed!

So here, I present to you an excerpt from In This Life by Christine Brae which will be out TOMORROW! Wait for my full review later! *winks*

Part of Chapter 6, In This Life by Christine Brae

Jude swatted his hand at the mosquitoes encircling the top of our heads. “I do. I go over there to take a shower and eat sometimes. But I like to stay here after a day in the village. It helps me to decompress. I like to revel in the quiet, remind myself of the beauty of the world despite all this ugliness.” 

“I know what you mean. Three days ago, we had to help try to resuscitate a baby who had just stopped breathing. He was so thin, I was afraid he would break into little pieces when I held him.” I paused. The memory of that little boy would forever be in my mind. 

He nodded his head in understanding. And then he caught me by surprise. 

“Do you do that every night? Get high like that?” “No.” I set my sights on the blueness in front of me. Sea and sky. Different shades, unequal depths. If I looked far enough, I could see the clouds bobbing up and down like balloons floating in the water. 

“It’s been two nights in a row.” He wasn’t going to give it up. 

“Issues,” I snapped back. I didn’t feel defensive, just irritated; if he wanted to get to the bottom of it, we would. “I was mad at my mom for something. Really angry and confused. And then I found out that she’s sick, which in a screwed up way pisses me off even more. I thought I could use the time here to get away from it all and do some good at the same time. You know, focus my energies on something else.” 

“Interesting. You leave your problems behind at home only to come to a place with bigger problems.” The glint in his eyes remained full of kindness. He wasn’t judging, he was making me think things through in my head. 

“I can make a difference here. There’s nothing I can do about the problems at home.”

Kept it short so you’d be wanting for more! lol

Christine Brae is a full time career woman who thought she could write a book about her life and then run away as far as possible from it. She never imagined that her words would touch the hearts of so many women with the same story to tell. In This Life is her fourth book, and is set to come out on January 22, 2015.

When not listening to the voices in her head or spending late nights at the office, Christine can be seen shopping for shoes and purses, running a half marathon or spending time with her husband and three children in Chicago.

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