This Winter Heart

PG Forte’s steampunk story for the Clockwork Christmas anthology made me cry. She has a way of presenting you with one character and making you feel for that character, so much that you live in that character’s shoes and understand exactly where they’re coming from. In THIS WINTER HEART, I felt for Ophelia, completely. I was firmly on her side…until PG showed me the other side of the story, and then I was torn.  Because the other side of the story is his side. I’d already decided Dario was being ridiculous and unreasonable and the heroine had every right to be pissed…but then she started to reveal his reasoning, his hurt and how badly he felt betrayed. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotion, and I’m so lucky to have gotten the “advance” ticket.

So today’s question is about emotional journeys. Please comment for a chance to win a complete set of the novella trading cards. The characters from your favourite stories, the ones that stay with you for a long time…do you think it’s because their journey was deeper, emotionally? Their baggage harder to overcome? What is it about a character that makes you remember them?

Blurb:

Santa Fe, The Republic of New Texacali, 1870

Eight years ago, Ophelia Leonides's husband cast her off when he discovered she was not the woman he thought she was. Now destitute after the death of her father, Ophelia is forced to turn to Dario for help raising the child she never told him about.

Dario is furious that Ophelia has returned, and refuses to believe Arthur is his son—after all, he thought his wife was barren. But to avoid gossip, he agrees to let them spend the holidays at his villa. While he cannot resist the desire he still feels for Ophelia, Dario despises himself for being hopelessly in love with a woman who can never love him back.

But Dario is wrong: Ophelia's emotions are all too human, and she was brokenhearted when he rejected her. Unsure if she can trust the man she desperately loves, she fears for her life, her freedom and her son if anyone else learns of her true nature...