As a novella form goes, Kristen Ashley’s surprise release, Sharing the Miracle, is a treasure. I adore Kristen Ashley as an author in how she mixes the unreality of life through the ways she expounds on designer clothing and extravagant living with the reality of life: messy relationships and situations. In this newest story, she returns us to Hale and Elsa, one of the most profound stories in her beloved River Rain series. In this book, Hale and Elsa receive surprise news: a baby. What Kristen Ashley does with the short space of this novella is inspired. She illustrates the profundity of female relationships in discussing and processing female issues, the largesse of a found family for a character who is seemingly alone but not really, and the reality of the emotional daring required of parents. But it was Sharing the Miracle that truly showed me the underlying and decided detail of the River Rain series: Kristen Ashley’s knowledge and capacity for drawing the unevenness of grief. Kristen Ashley’s talent in storytelling is marrying fiction with the realism of life. I realized as I teared up over Hale’s experiences with grief that she captures so beautifully the complications we encounter as we continue to live after the loss of someone we love. It’s the ups and downs of that grief that make it palpable and ever-present. I reflected on the stories thus far in the River Rain series as I was reading Sharing the Miracle, and I recognized this to be true of every character of the series thus far. Life must be lived with or without Corey, and his absence as life goes on lays heavy on the various characters of this series. That Kristen Ashley can capture that reality without heavy-handedness but with a quietude through the development of her narrative is exquisite and impressive and another important reason to dive into her stories.
Can Sharing the Miracle be read alone? Sure, but you’d be missing the gradient of color that is the prism of the River Rain series. If you have yet to jump into this world, don’t wait. Hale and Elsa’s story in Fighting the Pull will always be my favorite story of this series, and this inspired novella is the frosting on the delectable cake of their romance.
Exciting news!! Sharing the Miracle, an all-new page-turning River Rain novella featuring Fighting the Pull characters Hale and Elsa from New York Times bestselling author Kristen Ashley and Blue Box Press, is available now!
From New York Times bestselling author Kristen Ashley comes a new novella in her River Rain Series…
Elsa Cohen has everything she ever wanted.
A challenging career. A bicoastal lifestyle.
And an amazing man—the kind, loving and handsome Hale Wheeler—who adores her and has asked her to be his wife.
She isn’t ready for the surprise news she’s received.
And she doesn’t know how to tell Hale.
Once Hale discovers that his future has taken a drastic turn, a fear he’s never experienced takes hold.
He just doesn’t understand why.
Family and friends rally around the couple as they adjust to their new reality, and along the way, more surprises hit the River Rain crew as love is tested and life goes on.
Please note: This is a slice-of-life novella in the River Rain series. It was written to be read after Fighting the Pull.
He’s married to his mission. She’s married to her career. Will Hale and Elsa allow their hearts to surrender and let love in?
Fighting the Pull, the heartrending, emotional fifth standalone book in the River Rain Series from New York Times bestselling author Kristen Ashley is available now!
Hale Wheeler inherited billions from his father. He’s decided to take those resources and change the world for the better. He’s married to his mission, so he doesn’t have time for love.
There’s more lurking behind this decision. He hasn’t faced the tragic loss of his father, or the bitterness of his parents’ divorce. He doesn’t intend to follow in his father’s footsteps, breaking a woman’s heart in a way it will never mend. So he vows he’ll never marry.
But Hale is intrigued when he meets Elsa Cohen, the ambitious celebrity news journalist who has been reporting on his famous family. He warns her off, but she makes him a deal. She’ll pull back in exchange for an exclusive interview.
Elsa Cohen is married to her career, but she wants love, marriage, children. She also wants the impossibly handsome, fiercely loyal, tenderhearted Hale Wheeler.
They go head-to-head, both denying why there are fireworks every time they meet. But once they understand their undeniable attraction, Elsa can’t help but fall for the dynamic do-gooder.
As for Hale, he knows he needs to fight the pull of the beautiful, bold, loving Elsa Cohen, because breaking her would crush him.
The thing on my mind that I wasn’t admitting was taking more headspace than it should was the fact that Hale had texted the day before. Again. Why he wasn’t letting himself off the hook about this interview he never wanted in the first place, I did not know. And it wasn’t going to be me who let him off the hook. Oh no. Not officially. But I wasn’t returning his texts, so unofficially, the guy should take a hint. We’d made a deal almost a year before. The deal was, I’d kinda, sorta lay off his family, he’d give me an interview. I couldn’t totally lay off his family. They were the most celebrated celebrities in the world. Even the ones who hadn’t sought that out, like Chloe Pierce and Judge Oakley. But there were a great many different kinds of celebrity news, and it didn’t seem like Hale Wheeler had cottoned on to the fact I wasn’t a mudslinger. Sure, I also wasn’t an objective journalist. But I wasn’t TMZ either. Nugget of news: you could share gossip for a living and still be classy. I was proof of that (or I thought I was). I had my key ready to put into the four locks on the door to the building where my studio was in Brooklyn, and with practiced ease, I was out of the New York autumn morning cold in no time. I locked the door behind me and headed to the space in the sectioned off warehouse that I rented for my studio. I had to unlock that door too (only three locks this time), and once inside, I practically ran into Chuck, my cameraman, who was for some reason right there and crowding me. My space was small, but this was weird. I looked at his face, and…great. We’d probably been burgled. It wasn’t like I had a ton of expensive equipment, but what I had was hard won. I had offers coming in, and they were healthier than I’d allowed myself to dream, but I hadn’t signed on any dotted line. So, for the foreseeable future, ongoing operating costs, and any expansion, was on me. I didn’t have time to deal with police reports and insurance companies telling me how little they could actually replace seeing as some small line in their contract exempted them from doing what I paid them to do. Nor did I need to be shelling out to replace stuff. “What’s up?” I warily asked Chuck. “Hale Wheeler is here,” he whispered. Oh no. That was worse than being burgled. My gaze flew beyond Chuck to my set which was a one-step dais on which sat a mint green velvet swivel chair with a glass-topped gold side table beside it. These were in front of a greenscreen backdrop we could make anything we wanted it to be. Though usually it was subtle pastel green and peach swirls against a soft white with the words “Elsa’s Exchange” repeated throughout. And damn it all to hell, there he was. Tall, ridiculously handsome, athletically built Hale Wheeler, the richest man in the world.
Professor Romance 