Reader's Edyn: Blitz: The Art of Serendipity by Karen Anne + GIVEAWAY

**The Art of Serendipity by Karen Anne**

Good Morning, Everyone! So thrilled to see you all today! Today we have another new author to share with you all. Well, new to me, at least. I just love discovering new authors and their work! Please allow me to feature on the blog Karen Anne and her latest release, THE ART OF SERENDIPITY … Plus, a GIVEAWAY!

**THE ART OF SERENDIPITY**

**BIO**

Karen Anne was writing before she could read. As a toddler, she sat with a book in her hands and made up the stories, eager for the day when she'd find out if it all truly ended in happily ever after. Karen still determines the destiny of other people's lives, but this time, the characters are her own.

She is a Contemporary Romance author who lives in New York.
Coffee drinker by day, wine enthusiast by night, she loves cats and deeply misses 90's grunge.

To find out more about Ms. Anne, please visit:

**THE ART OF SERENDIPITY**

Publication date: July 21, 2020

Genres: Adult, Romance, Contemporary

**BLURB**

Lorelei Parker has her dream job teaching AP English at an elite prep school on the upper east side. Between her love of literature & moderating the school drama club, Lorelei is more than content. But when her star student is caught with drugs and expelled, Lorelei discovers life is about to become as complicated as one of her books.

When a call from his ex-wife alerts him that his son has just been kicked out of the prestigious Astley Academy, Jack Flynn’s quiet life on his ranch in North Carolina is uprooted. Not knowing how to fix Brodie’s shattered senior year, he takes his son under his wing, hoping life on the ranch and some hard work will be a way to reach the son he feels he’s lost.

The last thing Lorelei expected was an email from Jack Flynn asking her advice on how to help his son, Brodie. So begins an email exchange between the two that unlocks a secret, a way to get Brodie back on track, and a budding romance that can only be described as serendipity.

**EXCERPT**

He got out of the stall and walked close to me. I drew in a breath as I took him in. He had on a blue button down chambray shirt with the sleeves rolled up and black jeans.

He walked right up to me, and for a minute, I thought he was going to kiss me, but he didn’t. He just stared into my eyes long enough to make my stomach do a flip. “How’d you sleep?” he asked, and I was surprised by his question.

“Great. Woke up early.”

“Me too.” His gaze fell to my mouth, and I felt that pang of longing remembering what it was like to be in his arms last night, to have his full lips move across mine. “Are you ready to meet the other horses?” he asked, and I blinked back at him, registering the fact that he still wasn’t kissing me.

“Uh, yeah.”

He walked around the bend to another row of stalls. “We have twenty-four horses on the ranch, including little Rosie. Of those, fifteen are used for riding lessons, trails and so forth.”

Jack walked down the aisle, pointing out the various breeds and discussing their personalities. He knew so much about each individual horse, just as I could easily discuss any of my students at length.

“This is Annabelle. Very sweet temperament. She’s seven years old, knows the trail well. She won’t get you lost, so don’t you worry.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I wasn’t sure if you had ever been on a horse before, so I wanted to pick one you’d be very comfortable on.”

“You want me to ride her?”

“Well, yeah. This is a ranch.” He rested a hand on his belt buckle and laughed. “How else did you think we’d get up the mountain?”

“I thought we were going to hike up the mountain.”

Jack glanced down at my boots. “And those are the boots you chose for hiking?”

My ears prickled with heat. I glanced down at Jack’s boots, noting the spurs. “Why didn’t you say we’d be horseback riding?”

“I’m sorry. I really thought it was obvious, but if you don’t want to then we don’t have to.”

“No… I want to.” I didn’t sound convincing.

“Have you ever ridden before?”

“Sure, when I was in fourth grade and the girl scouts took us to a dude ranch but halfway through one of the horses got spooked and stood up on its hind legs. There was a lot of screaming, and we all had to turn around and head back. Oh, and another time I rode a camel at a Renaissance fair, but it was just in a circle, and there was a guy leading the camel by a rope.”

“Well, a camel isn’t a horse. I think this experience will be a lot better.” He opened the gate in front of Annabelle’s stall and led her out. “She’s already been saddled. Go ahead, say hello.”

I laid my hands on her chestnut coat. The horse didn’t so much as flinch when I touched her, making me feel invisible. She was beautiful and powerful and apparently going to carry me up a mountain.

Jack led another horse out of a stall. It was pitch black and much bigger than Annabelle. He was magnificent. “Who’s this?”

“This is Midnight. He’s Rosie’s father.”

“Is Pebbles going to be upset to discover her man is out with another woman?”

“We won’t tell.” He took my purse off of my shoulder. “You won’t need this.” He walked over to the far wall and hung the purse on a hook then took a black helmet down and handed it to me. “Put this on. It straps under your chin.”

I took the helmet from his hands and frowned like a child. “You’re not wearing a helmet.”

“I’ve been riding since I could walk, and Midnight knows me. I raised him. I know every bend and dip in the trail.” He took the helmet from my hands, placed it on my head, and fastened the buckle beneath my chin. “You, my dear, are about to have a maiden voyage, and I can’t take a risk with such precious cargo.”

He held my face up by my chin, studying me for a moment. My heart rate began to accelerate. Whatever Jack Flynn was doing, he was quite good at it. I really hoped I pulled off equestrian chic in that hat. At the very least, I’d settle for cute. He winked and dropped his hand, releasing me from his physical hold, but mentally, I was tethered to Jack and blindly about to trust him as he led me up a mountain.

On the home screen, I clicked on a tab called History of Flynn farms. An old black and white photograph of Brodie’s great-grandfather and his brother appeared. I scrolled down some more, and by the 1970s, there was another picture of two men. One I assumed was Brodie’s grandfather.

I continued to scroll until a I found a new picture. This one was taken probably a decade ago, but my heart gave a little jolt at the caption. Jack and Chris Flynn, current owners of Flynn Ranchers are the third generation to run the ranch. I clicked on the image to open it in another window. I swallowed as it appeared, and I was able to really see Jack for the first time.

He was very handsome with honey-colored hair and bright green eyes. Even from the picture I could tell that he had a strong, broad build. The brothers were standing in between two horses, their hands on the reins. I was unable to tear my eyes away from Jack’s. I never expected him to look like this. I had hoped—but I didn’t know why. It’s not like anything could ever happen. Too many states lay between us.

“Oh! Who’s that?” Megan walked past and got a glimpse of my screen. “Oh! Are you looking for strippers for my bachelorette party, because originally I was going to say hell no, but if you can secure that, I’m down for a cowboy theme.” She handed me a cup of coffee.

“Sorry, no stripper.” She sat beside me and took a sip from her own mug.

“So, who is he?”

“That’s Jack Flynn.”

“Jack Flynn…” Her eyes grew wide as she made the connection. “Jack? The dad you have a weird pen-pal relationship with Jack?”

“Yeah. That’s him.” My words came out rather breathless. I still couldn’t believe this was the man on the other side of those emails.

“Did you know he looked like that?”

“Uh… no.. I mean, Brodie, his son, is a handsome kid, but this is not at all what I expected. This is—”

Megan plopped down on the floor next to my chair. “What fantasies are made of.”

“Pretty much.”

“Well, what are you going to say in your next email? You should totally suggest meeting. Say you always wanted to ride a horse or something like that.”

“They have horseback lessons in New York. I think it would be a bit obvious if I showed up at his ranch for a casual lesson.”

It was clear Megan wasn’t listening to my reason. She was too busy fanning herself. “Promise me if you ever get together, you do it in the barn, like bang it out in the hay.”

“I don’t think he has a barn.”

“What’s that in the background, then?” She pointed to the picture.

“I think it’s a stable.”

Megan rolled her eyes. “Same thing.”

“Not really. A barn is more like a storage unit.”

Megan swung me around in my swivel chair by my knees so I’d be face to face with her. “Stop being a walking dictionary for once and listen to me. I’m off the market, but you’re not. You need to live for every girl out there who has ever had a cowboy fantasy.”

“Did I really make out with Jeremy last night?”

“Yup.” Megan took a drink from her mug to hide her smile. “That was an image I can’t forget anytime soon.”

“Shit. He’s going to take it the wrong way. I spent so much time trying to show him I wasn’t interested at all, and then I go and do that.”

“Well, are you interested?”

“What? Absolutely not. It was a drunken moment. Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded a little sweet kiss at midnight, but the whole shoving his tongue in my mouth thing…. ugh. Not good.”

“You said last night you pretended he was somebody else. Who did you pretend that he was?”

A man who writes me letters who I’ve never met. I imagine he looks killer in a cowboy hat and knows how to play my body like a freaking musical instrument, making it sing. “Uh… no one in particular, just not Jeremy.” I got up from the couch. “I’m going back to bed. I can’t even think straight yet. Uh… when you talk to Chad, can you…”

“Tell him to squash any hope Jeremy has? On it.”

I blew her a kiss then went back to crash under my covers.

When I woke up, it was past noon. My head still hurt but not nearly as bad as before, and the nausea was thankfully gone. I sat up, reached for my glasses on my nightstand and my phone. I checked my email, happy to see one from Jack.

Dear Lorelei,

I’ll assume you were over served on New Year’s. Gave me a good chuckle though!

-Jack

Over served? What was he talking about? Did we exchange emails last night? I read the previous email, the one he had responded to, and my jaw dropped. It wasn’t the worst thing I could have written, but it definitely had some sexy undertones. And XO… why did I add that? So, I started off my new year making out with a guy I couldn’t stand and sending an ambiguous, flirty message to a man I’d never met. So far this whole “new year new start” thing wasn’t exactly working out for me. I threw my head face first into my pillow and tried to drown.

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