Special Book Feature & Excerpt – Touch of Innocence by Robin Patchen
About the Book
From a USA Today bestselling author comes a gripping story of mystery, romance, and pulse-pounding suspense.
How can she save the little girl next door from being exploited if nobody believes her?
Grace used to try to save people, but that was before she realized how powerless she is. Now, she avoids emotional ties, working from her secluded cabin, content with her aloneness. When eight-year-old Lily starts hanging around, Grace enjoys her company but carefully keeps her distance—until she discovers the girl is being exploited. Little though she wants to, she must get involved, even if it means risking her own safety to secure Lily’s.
Andrew can’t help but be drawn to his new neighbor and her beautiful foster child. When he learns about Lily’s disturbing history, he offers to help Grace prove her suspicions about the girl’s father. But the more they learn, the more puzzling Lily’s history seems. They work together to unravel the mystery, determined to ensure Lily ends up with a family who loves her.
But Lily’s father isn’t giving up his muse—or his obsession—that easily. He believes Lily is rightfully his, and he’ll do anything to get her back.
Don’t miss this thrilling page-turner, the latest in the addictive Coventry Saga.
Book Excerpt
Before Grace could fully internalize what the child had said, her stomach filled with acid. Did most eight-year-olds know that much about the human reproductive system?
Maybe.
Grace’s worry was probably unfounded. Lily was home schooled and clearly intelligent. Perhaps she was more advanced than normal eight-year-olds. And anyway, what did Grace know about normal eight-year-olds? She’d never been one herself. Normal, that was.
Lily’s gaze stayed on Grace’s face, and the light in her eyes dimmed. She returned her focus to her coloring book.
“That’s so interesting,” Grace said. “What else did you learn?”
Lily shrugged, but eventually, she shared other things she’d studied that day while Grace nodded and smiled and tried to ignore the worry whooshing through her insides like a river overflowing its banks.
It was probably perfectly normal that Lily understood human anatomy. That was not a red flag. Grace had a bad habit of assuming trouble where none existed. She’d spent so much time among broken and damaged girls that she could hardly differentiate between those and the healthy ones. Another reason her decision to leave Seattle had been wise.
Whatever was going on, Lily was not Grace’s responsibility.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aside from her family and her Savior, USA Today bestselling author Robin Patchen has two loves—writing and traveling. If she could combine them, she’d spend a lot of time sitting in front of her laptop at sidewalk cafes and ski lodges and beachside burger joints. She’d visit every place in the entire world—twice, if possible—and craft stories and tell people about her Savior. Alas, time is too short and money is too scarce for Robin to traipse all over the globe, even if her husband and kids wanted to go with her. So she stays in Texas, shares the Good News when she can, and writes to illustrate the unending grace of God through the power and magic of story.
