Cover Reveal of Lost Dreams by Jude Ouvrard

Book: Lost Dreams

Author: Jude Ouvrard
Date of the cover reveal: April 20^th, 2014
Genre: Military Contemporary Romance / New Adult
Cover Designer: K23 Design
 

 

Blurb:

When Carter is killed in combat, he left
behind his heartbroken wife, Avery and his shattered best friend Remy.
Naturally these two wounded soul gravitate together, irresistibly drawn by
the loss of the one they both loved, as well as their deep friendship with
each other. But when that friendship starts to turn into something more,
new problems arise. Will Avery be able to move on after losing the love of
her life?

Will Remy be able to fill the void left by
the loss if his best friend? Or will this new chance at love cost them all
they have left?

Author bio:

Jude was born and raised in a small village
named Lacolle. She now lives in Montreal, Canada. She is the proud mother
of a beautiful five year old son, Isaac and has spent the last twelve years
with her boyfriend, Cedric.

French is her native language, but she prefers to write in her second
language, English. She has a passion for books, both reading and writing
them.

 
Also by Jude:
Under the Sun
Wonderland

To learn more about Jude Ouvrard, here are her links:
Website/blog:
www.judeouvrard.com
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/JudeOuvrard
Twitter: @JudeOuvrard @AuthorJude_O
Street Team:
www.facebook.com/groups/judesbooks

Excerpt:

July 17th, 2007

Carter

I tried to be the strong one, but today
hurt every bone, muscle and brain cell in my body. Without her by my side,
life was painful. For years, she had been the sun in my days, the one I was
looking for in the darkness. She was my light, my love and inspiration. My
reason to stay alive. We were always together before I joined Special
Forces. During our last deployment, we were lucky to be working together as
a team and we both enjoyed it. I knew her better than I knew myself and
while we worked jointly, I saw who she was and how strong and dedicated she
had become. Her pride over serving in the Army was beyond most men. Her
determination was astounding, she’d faced death, survived to my abject
relief and still stayed the fighter she’s always been. Her injuries and
pain didn’t make her weak, she’d become stronger and fought against her
fears.

I sat in the plane next to Remy. We had
left a little over two hours ago and I could still feel her sadness, as if
it was attached to my heart. Remy was also feeling blue, as he considered
Avery to be like a sister. I hated that I was the reason behind her
sadness. I held back the tears as long as I could, but mid-way to our
destination, it overwhelmed me and I gave up.

“Fuck…. Fuck… I hate this!” I yelled.
I regretted leaving her. I should have requested a release at the same time
as she did. This was a fucking nightmare. “I should be home with her, Remy.
We could be starting a family like we want. I shouldn’t have come… I
shouldn’t have.” Each word, every memory of our conversations about the
future hurt, kicking me in the chest because I wanted them now. Every
minute away from her was a waste of our time.

“Cart, man, relax.” Remy squeezed my
shoulder with a strong hand. “This, the Army, is our life, you can’t go
back now. We’ll do this and go back home like we always do. A couple of
months won’t change anything in the end. She loves you like crazy and you
love her even more.” He paused. “Look, we can do this. It’s hard now
because you just left her. Even I’m sad. I’ll miss her too but it’s what we
do, man, we are Special Forces. We leave and we come back stronger. We
fight for what’s right. We have a job to get done now. Focus on that.”

“Being away from her is different this
time. It’s not that I don’t like it, I hate it. It shouldn’t be like this.
We had the best times of our lives these past few days. She was glowing,
she was smiling like she used to, before the bombing. I felt like she was
finally back with me, with us.”

“I saw it too. She was different, happy.”
He smiled. “It’s all you, Carter. You were able to make her the happiest
bride, even though she knew you were leaving. Use that to motivate
yourself. We’ll be back before we know it.”

“Thanks, bro.” I dried my tears on the
sleeve of my shirt. I was still angry at myself but he was right. She was
happy again. I had to focus on that and come back home as soon as possible.
She was my life now. Everything I am or own, is hers.

”I want you to tell me how you feel while
you are away. Write me or call me as much as you can.” I grabbed my
backpack and opened the front pocket to find my pen and paper.

Avery,

I haven’t arrived at our
destination yet, and I’m already writing because I’m thinking about you. I
miss you. I can’t stop seeing your smile and beauty in my mind.

Thank you for the pictures, I’ll
keep the one of you in your wedding dress with me all the time. Except when
I’m in the shower, of course.

I’ve been wanting to tell you
how amazing and beautiful you are. Your smiles are back, the ones that made
me fall in love with you years ago. The smiles that reach your eyes and the
smiles when you bite your lower lip. I loved the way you blushed when you
walked down the aisle. You took my heart at that moment and stole it. You
are the one who owns it, take care of it. My heart is nothing without
you.

I will be back to you soon and
we’ll start our family. We could even buy a dog or a cat and move to a
different city. Somewhere by the beach or in the country. Anything baby,
just say it and you’ll have it.

I love you my shining star, more
than you’ll ever know.

Carter

Kisses and hugs

I placed the letter in an envelope and
addressed it. I wanted her to receive it soon, as I knew the waiting would
be hard for Avery. I was planning to write to her every day or every other
day.

Remy had fallen asleep and I wondered how
life was for him. He was single, I’d never seen him serious about a girl
before. He flirted here and there but he never talked about any girl in
particular, or suggested he hoped to meet ‘the one’. Never. As far as I
knew, he didn’t plan to stay in the Army forever and I always assumed he
would eventually try to settle down with someone. I feared the loneliness
he must sometimes feel. It was probably hard for him to see Avery and me so
happy together. I wanted him to be happy too. He deserved to be.

I couldn’t force him into anything but
maybe I could talk to him about dating.

~~~*~~~

We finally made it to the camp. It looked
the same as the last one. I had to try and stop imagining Avery everywhere.
I was ridiculously obsessed with my wife. She was safe at home and this was
the right thing for her, for both of us. While we were getting installed,
the guys were talking about our wedding and were really cool about it. Most
of them were married and already fathers. Some of them even asked me to
show them my ring. That was just weird, wasn’t it something girls do? The
ring was simple, white gold with two small diamonds. We chose it together,
the diamonds representing us. Avery’s ring was as simple as mine, she’d
never been the type of girl who wanted huge diamonds. I was ready to buy
her the biggest diamond I could afford but she’d refused and went for
something small and modest. It represented her after all.

As soon as we got on camp, we started
doing some work in settling in and we discovered issues. And to make
everything worse, the internet was not working properly. We had security
issues and couldn’t use it for personal requirements. That meant no
emailing and Avery was probably going to lose it in Fort Bragg. I had to
make sure my letter got to her as soon as possible. I could try to call
her, I would love to hear her voice. In the Special Forces, it only
happened rarely that we had to deal with communication problems since it
was one of our most important tool.

Finally, I located my bunk bed, I placed
my backpack next to it and put the envelope containing the pictures under
the thin blanket. I retrieved Avery’s picture from my front pocket and
looked at her for a few seconds. Her pale blond hair was piled on top of
her head, in elaborate curls. She was gorgeous. Her gown was showing just
enough skin, and kissed all of her curves. I was a proud man, and knew I
was lucky that she picked me.

Today was my first day away but on the
bright side, I was one day closer to seeing her again.

That was my main focus.