Winding Stairs Book Blog: Promo Blitz & Giveaway: IT ALL STARTED WITH A LIMA BEAN by Kimi Flores

Title: It All Started with a Lima Bean (Intertwined Hearts book 1)

Author: Kimi Flores

Published: August 8th, 2013

Hosted By: The Book Avenue

A past that haunts can be laid to rest through the act of forgiveness, even if the person you forgive is yourself. It must be gifted freely.

Abby Sullivan cherishes the life she is creating for herself in her hometown of Santa Barbara, California. She adores her best friend and supportive family. Her job as a kindergarten teacher offers her life hope and purpose. She is very talented at many things, especially hiding the pain of her past. That is until her world collides with Caleb Hunter’s, giving them both a lesson in forgiveness and love.

A life changing love is cruelly snatched by sickness and death. A person must be willing to give love, the greatest gift of all, to receive love.

A successful writer, Caleb is living life day-to-day. Giving refuge to his sad and lonely heart since his wife's sudden death from cervical cancer, his primary focus becomes honoring her memory by rearing their five-year-old daughter, Madison. Yet, when Madison Hunter walks into Miss Abby’s kindergarten class, everything changes for all three of them.

With a little nudge from a loving mother-in-law who has everyone’s best interest at heart, anything is possible, especially when forgiveness and love gift even more blessings than ever imaginable.

Madison looked up and motioned to someone standing by her side. “This is my daddy. He likes to play in the ocean, watch hockey and give butterfly kisses.”

Abby hadn’t noticed anyone else standing with them. She gazed up just beside Madison and saw him. Losing her balance, she fell flat on her rear. This daddy, who liked to give butterfly kisses, leaned down to offer her help. “Are you okay?” He didn’t hide the concern on his face. The most gorgeous man she’d ever laid eyes on was standing right above her. In addition to his looks, something about his presence immediately drew her in. How had she not noticed him before? His prominent brows shadowed his eyes from the sunlight, making it difficult to determine the color of his deep-set eyes. It took her a moment to realize that she was sitting on the asphalt at school, ogling this little girl’s daddy. Madison let out a childish giggle.

Embarrassed, she stood up on wobbly legs, dusting off her thinly covered behind with both hands, causing the nametags she still held to swing back and forth. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just clumsy.” The laugh she offered was unmistakably forced. She looked directly at his grey shirt that displayed a hockey team’s logo on his chest, and then raked her eyes back up to his face.

With a chuckle, he extended his large hand to shake hers. The skin on his hand was smooth and non-callused. This man did not do manual labor. “It’s very nice to meet you, Miss Abby. I’m Caleb.” Unable to pry her eyes off him, she turned several shades of red after hearing his deep voice say her name. He was probably used to women staring at him though. How could he not be?

Main Characters:

Caleb Hunter ~ Successful writer, father to 5-year old Madison Hunter and Widower of 4 years. Avid surfer and hockey fan. Can't see past his sorrow to let another woman into his heart.

Abby Sullivan ~ Kindergarten teacher and best-friend to Leah Valdez. Avid reader and antique shopper. Loves her non frou-frou coffee and to go shopping at the farmers market for her vegetarian dishes. Holds on to past hurt that keeps her from moving on in love.

Supporting Characters:

Madison Hunter ~ Caleb's daughter and Abby's student. Love butterfly kisses, tutus and her daddy.

Leah Valdez ~ Flower shop owner who would do anything for her best friend, Abby including giving her plenty of 'keeping it real' advice.

Stefen Hunter ~ Caleb's cousin from Chicago. Lawyer, heartbreaker and all around player.

Bri Hunter ~ Caleb's cousin and Stefen's sister. World traveler, escaping the past while searching for her future.

Kimi lives in So Ca with her high school sweetheart, prom date, and now husband of over 20 years as well as with her two boys that bring so much joy and laughter to her life. There is never a dull moment in Kimi's day with these three guys by her side. They are happily involved in volunteer work with several local non-profit organizations and believe that everyone needs to do their part, so a portion of her sales will always go to charity.

At an early age, Kimi discovered the magical world of imagination. Many stories were written as well as illustrated by her as a child. Not realizing at the time that she had dyslexia, schoolwork became extremely difficult, and her confidence as a reader and writer dwindled. Thanks to a high school teacher who took the time to invest in her, Kimi found a love for literary legends such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving and Jane Austen. This teacher helped Kimi create one of the happiest school memories she holds. Discovering in college that she had the learning disability was terribly discouraging since help was not readily available and her reading and writing confidence fell once again.

Needing to find a distraction when her husband unexpectedly ended up in the hospital for a week, Kimi explored the indie reading world. Jumping in with everything she had, Kimi pushed herself to read over 150 books last year. During that process, many characters reappeared in her imagination and insisted that their stories be told. Putting all self-doubt and barriers aside, she started writing the outlines and drafts for the four books in her Intertwined Hearts Series as well as bits and pieces of the three books in her next series, Down by the Bay.

Her message to you is similar to that of pop icon, will.i.am's: