The Truth Pact
The Truth About Love Duet, Book 1
C.M. Albert
FlowerWork Press
Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgments
The Truth Pact Playlist
Inspiration
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
The Brighton Effect
Afterword
Special Support Message for Readers
Books by C.M. Albert
About the Author
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement (including infringement without monetary gain) is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.
THE TRUTH PACT
The Truth About Love Duet | Book One
Genre: Contemporary Romance/Women’s Fiction
Copyright © 2020 by C.M. Albert | FlowerWork Press
Cover Design: Cover Me Darling, LLC
Cover Image: Regina Wamba
Editing: Dot and Dash, LLC
Proofreading: Denise McGhee
Paperback Formatting: Alt 19 Creative
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the author.
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Foreword
The Truth Pact is my first time writing a deeply romantic love story that reads more like women’s fiction than my usual steamy romances. That’s why I call it a contemporary romance/women’s fiction hybrid. I hope you love Olivia and Ryan’s world as much as I do. This book takes place in western New York. Though the exact town is not specifically named on purpose, I modeled a great deal of it loosely after my hometown of Oswego, New York—where sunsets reign supreme off the majestic surface of Lake Ontario. I remember being a little girl, skipping stones across the lake’s surface with my family, throwing seaweed at my brother, and racing to see which one of us would be brave enough to jump first into the frigid water in April, after another freezing cold winter. As a kid, I could never understand why I couldn’t see across the other side to Canada, since it was “just a lake.” Unless you stand on this Great Lake’s shores, you can’t quite grasp how ocean-like it feels.
New York holds a special place in my heart, as do its people. That said, I specifically chose certain elements of Oswego and the surrounding area to highlight by factual name to honor my heritage, while most of their town I created myself and is entirely fictitious. So, please don’t be upset with the vast liberties I’ve taken with the setting. It was intentionally done from a place of love, while also weaving in fictional elements I needed for my storyline.
The end result is the same, and I hope you feel it too—a deep love and appreciation for the beautiful, lush, green, historical land I called home for so many years. There is so much to love about New York, and even though I reside in the South now, the Empire State will always hold a huge part of my heart.
I also want to acknowledge the family and friends I still have “back home,” who give me the best reason to visit every now and again. Especially my oldest and dearest friend, Jen Cooper, whom I’ve loved like a soul sister since we were about five years old. We Joan-Jetted our way through childhood, boy crazy, with belly laughs so hard we’d usually end up crying—or almost peeing our pants. No matter how many miles separate us, the second we’re reunited, we still giggle like the kindergartners we once were. There are some people who ride with you for a lifetime, and “Jenny” is mine.
So, my awesome readers, no matter where you live in this great country, I hope you can find a little slice of home somewhere in these pages and feel like the extended ohana you are to me. May your best reading days be ahead of you!
XOXO!
Love, Colleen
The Truth Pact is dedicated to my dear friend, Erin, and her beloved baby girl in heaven, Kailey.
“Even those who never fully bloom still bring beauty into the world.” – Unknown
Acknowledgments
There are so many people to thank when it comes to putting a book together. I’d like to give a special shout-out to my longtime editor, Erin Servais, of Dot and Dash, LLC, who has moved from getting her name lopped off over the course of two pages to my numero uno spot—it’s kind of the equivalent of getting a chair named after you!