title: Chasing Hope: A Story About Finding Family
author: Elaina M Avalos
description: Elaina Avalos was born in Orange, California, a city with small-town charm in the midst of busy Southern California. Though she grew up in the city, she always knew she was a country girl at heart. Elaina began telling stories as a young child and became a voracious reader early. Libraries were filled with treasure and she wove stories before she could write them. Though raised in Southern California, the East Coast has been her home for most of the last seventeen years. The majority of those years have been spent in coastal North Carolina. Though her vocation is working with military families, writing is one of her greatest passions. She published her first novel, Chasing Hope, in June of 2017. Though her life has taken her to the Washington, D.C. area, the desert of California, and North Carolina, it is the coast of NC, with its loblolly pines and brackish water that has won her heart and is so heavily featured in her writing. Random things about Elaina: She is rather fond of Don Henley, pine trees, and sentence fragments. She loves her dog, cooking, Jesus, and wine. But not necessarily in that order. You can sign up for Elaina's e-news by copying/pasting this link into your web browser: http://eepurl.com/cWhMcn. As a thank-you for subscribing, you'll receive the first chapter of her first novel, "Chasing Hope." She will also send you the prologue and first chapter of her second novel, "Our Broken Pieces."
zlib_text: Elaina
  The Dimarco Series
  Jennifer Hanks
  
  One. Terrifying. Night.
  That’s all it took to change everything Jake Dimarco knew and believed. After watching his brother
  gunned down in a parking lot and learning his ex-girlfriend had played a part in that attack, Jake has
  to make some tough decisions about his life and his son.
  After all there’s no one to blame but himself.
  Moving into a new home with his son is supposed to be a fresh start, a way to begin building the life
  for them that his son deserves.
  And he intends to do that alone.
  But his family has other plans.
  Elaina Jones loves her life, although at times it can be somewhat lonely. That all changes after Jake
  moves next door and the entire Dimarco family decides to make her their business. Her once quiet life
  becomes loud, filled with laughter and new friends. No matter how much she tries to deny her
  feelings for Jake, their connection is too strong, their chemistry too intense.
  But not everyone is happy that Elaina has become par