Chrismukkah 2015 Night 5: Julie A. Richman

Julie A. Richman and I are kindred spirits! We grew up in the same town in New York, lived in the same town in Florida, love the same sub shop, and are both fun! lol Seriously, Julie is awesome to hang out with! So down to earth! I met her last year at Wicked Book Weekend, but this year, now that I read her books, I am even more excited to meet her.

I just finished the Needing Moore Series, and it’s perfect for Chrismukkah because Schooner is Christian and Mia is Jewish!

The Needing Moore Series by Julie A. Richman is a complete trilogy and must be read as such.

Searching For Moore (Needing Moore Series Book 1) by Julie Richman

I lost the love of my life when she disappeared without even a goodbye.

It was the 80’s – there was no internet, no Google, no cell phones.

If you wanted to disappear, you could.

And she did.

She crushed my soul.

A friend just told me he saw her on Facebook.

And now I’m a keystroke away from asking her the question that’s haunted me for two decades.

“Why did you leave me?”

Two decades after she broke his heart, sexy entrepreneur Schooner Moore uncovers the truth and betrayal his life has been built on when he Facebook friend requests college love, Mia Silver. Determined to win Mia’s love once again, Schooner embarks on a life-altering journey that could cost him everything.

This is the FIRST book of the NEEDING MOORE SERIES TRILOGY and is NOT meant to be read as a stand-alone. Books 2 & 3 – Moore to Lose and Moore than Forever are both available.

Purchase at Amazon

Moore to Lose (Needing Moore Series Book 2) by Julie Richman

Continuing the fight for their happily ever after that began in Searching for Moore, Schooner Moore and Mia Silver struggle to overcome the ghosts and baggage they accumulated during their time apart.
Exploring the missing 24 years when they were separated, Moore to Lose follows Mia’s journey from heartbroken teen to kickass businesswoman to her emotional reunion with Schooner and the exploration of the love that was ripped from them.
But is their love really strong enough to overcome the damage of those missing 24 years or will they continue to be ripped apart by pasts that can’t be changed?
This is Book 2 in the Needing Moore Series trilogy and is not to be read as a standalone book. Searching for Moore is the first book in the series and is to be read prior to Moore to Lose. Book 3 – Moore than Forever is available.

Purchase at Amazon

Moore than Forever (Needing Moore Series Book 3) by Julie Richman

“You have no idea of what you do to me, Baby Girl.”
“It’s smoochal.”

Is the love they always dreamed of enough?

Continuing the emotional journey of love and betrayal that began on a college campus in Searching for Moore and turned their worlds upside down in Moore to Lose, handsome, California entrepreneur Schooner Moore and sharp and sassy, New York advertising agency owner Mia Silver continue to be confronted with the harsh reality of the remnants from the lives they lived apart for 24 years.

Now, Schooner Moore and Mia Silver face the ultimate challenge – were they really meant to be together or will their pasts continue to tear them apart?

On the heels of the birth of their newborn son, Nathaniel, Schooner and Mia must decide if their love and loyalty to one another is strong enough to learn to grow together as a couple or if the life they always dreamed of sharing was better left as a teenage fantasy.

This is the third and final book in the Needing Moore Series and is not meant to be read as a stand alone. Book 1 – Searching for Moore and Book 2 – Moore to Lose should be read prior to reading Moore than Forever.

Purchase at Amazon

Also Available as a Box Set with bonus chapters

Needing Moore Series Boxed Set

Also by Julie:

Coming in January

(Seven Weeks before Searching for Moore…)

The Christmas Before

© 2015 Julie A. Richman

Lying on the soft down comforter they had dragged in front of the old brick fireplace, he held her tightly to his heaving, muscular chest. Kissing the top of her head, the way he always had, Schooner Moore worked to steady his breath as he listened to Mia trying to regain hers.

“Do you have any idea of what you do to me, Baby Girl?”

Looking up at him, her radiant green eyes glistened in the firelight, “It’s smoochal.”

She knew how to make him smile.

Wrapping his arms around her tighter, this was a moment he already knew would become a cherished memory. Silently, they watched snowflakes dance in the lantern-shaped streetlights below, gently swirling and pirouetting around the glass enclosures before scurrying off on a gust of wind. At forty-two years old, Schooner knew that on this Christmas Eve, he was finally experiencing Christmas, the way a real Christmas should be.

“You want to go out and play in it, don’t you?” Mia’s devil smile was daring him.

“The last time I was in snow with you, you threw a snowball at my head.” He pulled her naked body on top of his.

“Yes, I did.” She laughed at the twenty-something year old memory from back when they were in college.

“I fell in love with you that day,” he admitted, held spellbound, as he gazed up into her eyes. Eyes he had dreamed of for so many years. Eyes that were returning every bit of love he was telegraphing to them.

“Well, you were late to that party, Pretty Boy.”

Throwing his head back with laughter, he was in awe of this woman. Pretty Boy. Ha. She was never afraid to call him out on his shit and he loved her for it. She loved him for him. Not because he looked like a movie star, or because he was built like an Olympic athlete, and she certainly wasn’t fazed that he was rich as sin. She saw through all the masks and loved him for what was behind them. Masks were never needed around her. With Mia, it was so easy to just be. And it always had been.

Flipping her onto her back, he pushed the curls from her eyes. “I’m never letting you go again, you know that.”

Her simple nod told him everything he needed to know. Everything he had waited over twenty years to hear.

She was his.

And he would never lose her again.

********

“… if only in my dreams …”

That iconic, melancholic phrase, the one that got to him every single time, snapped him out of his reverie just as the song was ending. Taking a deep breath of sea air and letting it out slowly, he realized he was dreaming of her once again.

It had been a while. He didn’t let himself go there very often anymore. So many years had passed.

Tonight though, Christmas Eve, he felt particularly alone as he sat on the deck of his sailboat, the lights of Newport Beach harbor glowing in the distance. I’ll Be Home for Christmas coming on the radio turned out to be the trigger, the thing that had sent him hurtling back in time.

Reaching for the bottle of single malt scotch, he freshened his drink. He was actually glad that no one wanted to go out on this late night sail with him. He needed to be alone. But tonight she had found him, and surprisingly, accompanied him.

Under the stars, in the dark of night, was always when he felt closest to her, bringing back ancient memories, memories that elicited a real smile and a sting at the back of his eyes. The whole world had been in front of them as they would lie on a blanket on the grassy quad at the center of campus, picking out constellations and laughing uncontrollably as they created irreverent new names for the celestial bodies. Looking for “signs” from the universe, they would dream of what the future was going to hold for them … together.

A future that never came to pass.

Looking up at the stars, Schooner called them out on their treason, “Liars.” He pointed at them, rocks glass in hand, “freaking, twinkling little liars.”

Shaking his head at the sky, he knew it was time to call it a night, as he turned away to step down into the boat’s cockpit and start the engine for his journey home.

What Schooner Moore did not see that night as he turned away from the sky, was that the heavens responded almost immediately to his harsh reproach with a very clear answer of their own. As if screaming at him, ranting about miracles and hope and faith, a bright white blaze arced over his head, slashing through the night sky on that Christmas Eve. The universe had finally rewarded him with a sign.

But he never saw it.

*******

“We went for an early bird dinner with their friends and now they’re all playing Gin Rummy. Everything closed up even earlier tonight because of the holiday, so we made sure we were there for the Sunset Special.” Mia laughed and stretched out on the chaise lounge, a glass of cabernet in hand. Mesmerized by the reflection of the lights from the houses across the Intracoastal Waterway, she wondered if families were gathered around the trees that she could see twinkling through the windows.

“And you’re actually staying through New Year’s?” Seth sounded mortified. “Just come home already.”

Hearing the disgust in her BFF’s voice made Mia laugh. “Sorry Princess, I’m staying. Being my eighty-three year old Uncle Harry’s plus one for the New Year’s festivities at my parent’s clubhouse beats the heck out of a dateless night in New York City. And you know how much I detest New Year’s Eve in Manhattan. Way too many memories and ghosts like to linger that night. At least here I’ll be trashed on some nasty Asti Spumanti by 9 P.M. and asleep long before I have to deal with being forty and alone on New Year’s Eve.” Lifting the wine glass to her mouth, Mia realized just verbalizing that was painful. And sobering. So much so, that with that realization, she nearly drained her drink.

Forty. She stared up at the stars after hanging up with Seth. Forty. How had it all gone so fast? Just yesterday she was twenty-something, and the mystery of who and what she was going to be remained slightly ahead of her, out of arm’s reach, just down the path. And now. Well now it all seemed to have been written.

Wandering back into her parents’ house for another glass of wine, Mia stood silently at the kitchen counter listening to the laughter wafting in like a song from the family room. It was impossible not to smile as the sound ebbed and flowed, alternating between raucous laughter and the silence of concentration, to the clicking of cards being laid out on the table. And yet, it was that very same warmth and merriment that bored a hole deep into Mia’s heart. It all seemed so elusive. At least in her life, anyway. Lost before it was ever truly realized.

Quietly, she slipped back out onto screened-in patio and reestablished her position on the chaise lounge, this time tossing a chenille throw over her legs. The screening above her head was invisible against the night’s sky, not in any way obscuring her view as her eyes began to acclimate to the darkness. One-by-one the stars became visible, as did their neighbors, forming constellations that appeared like old friends.

Pleiades… you little sluts, you. Mia laughed out loud at the star field, suddenly realizing she was drunk. Very drunk. The Pleiades aka the seven sluts, banned to the far reaches of the heavens, because the fertile beauties just could not contain their wildly aphrodisiac cosmic gases. Their region of the universe turned into a raucous romping ground, the Las Vegas of outer space, and a birthing ground for bastard stars.

Laughing aloud at the memory, one that had been long forgotten until that very moment, Mia put her wine glass down for a moment to wipe a stream of tears. Where is this all coming from, she wondered? The naming of the constellations. A million years ago, in her past, with a boy who would forever remain deep in her heart.

Continuing to stare at the night’s sky, unconsciously, she began to sing along with the holiday music coming from the open French doors of the house across the glittering strip of water, “… if only in my dreams…”

The lyric stabbed deeper than she had anticipated, momentarily knocking the wind from her. Christmas Eve, you are bringing me ghosts. Mia shook her head and thought, “I wish,” but never completed the thought as a white light sliced the darkness, illuminating the sky for a brief moment, and causing her to gasp as all the little hairs on the back of her neck startled. Without taking a breath, she continued to watch as the smoky trail left in its wake dissipated.

“What was that?” Mia mumbled, shocked by the intensity and luminosity of the object, knowing it wasn’t just a shooting star.

You make a wish on shooting stars, she thought, but what about other things flaming across the night sky? She didn’t know the answer to that.

Sitting up on the lounge chair, Mia placed her wine glass on the floor and focused in on the blue luminosity of the Pleiades. What the heck, she thought, “I wish…”

Make sure you also enter the overall giveaway for 2 tickets to Wicked Book Weekend or a Kindle Fire!

Prizes:

• All 3 books in the Needing Moore Series, signed (US only)
• A $10 Gift Card
• A $5 Gift Card

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