Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Forgiven Spotlight Tour


Blurb: 

Everyone has a past…good or bad, they are always there. They lurk and linger in the shadows, sometimes reappearing at the most inconvenient times.

Gabby and Bradley thought that their pasts would remain dormant, that happiness was theirs for the taking. Still the strongest of relationships can be rocked by the ugliness from a previous life, even if it seems to be a world away. The fact remains an ugly past is never distant. It taints everything it touches, drives permanent rifts between loved ones, and sometimes can ruin everything. Gabby and Bradley must find the only way to battle the past. Forgiveness becomes a light through the darkness, a guide for the lost, and hope for the hopeless. With forgiveness comes bright, new beginnings.

Excerpt:
I have read the same line multiple times.  I can’t concentrate, and I feel bad for blowing him off.  I’m startled when I feel a finger tapping on my shoulder.  I grab my chest with my hand and yank the ear buds from my ears.  “You scared the living daylights out of me.” I take a deep breath.
Bradley erupts out into laughter.  I glance back and scowl at him, but it doesn’t last long.  He’s only in his boxer briefs, and when he laughs all of his muscles clench.  I can’t help but smile.  “Seriously.  You scared the crap out of me.”
He puts his bottom lip out like a puppy dog face.  “Awe, I’m sorry.”  He holds his hand out to me.  “Come to bed, and I’ll make it up to you.”
It’s not like I was going to be getting any studying done anyway.  I certainly won’t now that I’ve seen him in his underwear laughing at me.  I put my hand in his and push my stuff to the side on the sofa.  He pulls me into his arms, our bodies crushing into one another.  “I’m not sure I’ll make it back to the bedroom with you,” he huskily breathes.
“Oh?” I ask as he starts to nibble on my ear.
He wraps his arms around my waist and starts to back us up closer to the bedroom.  His kisses move down to my neck.  I move my head to the side to allow him easier access.  I feel like all of the tension I’ve been feeling the last couple of hours is melting away, and I’m turning into pile of mush.  I have no idea how he can make me forget I care about anything else in the world with just a touch, just a kiss.
When we are in the bedroom, I notice the flicker of light coming from the bathroom.  He keeps moving until he’s backed us in there.  There are candles lit all along the wall where the bathtub is.  The tub is already filled.  There’s soft, soulful music playing.  “Told you I didn’t think I’d be able to make it to the bedroom with you.”
He starts to undress me, pulling my sweater over my head.  Then he covers my exposed skin with kisses where the clothing had been.  I thread my fingers through his thick, dark hair as he makes his way down, unbuttoning my jeans and sliding them down to the floor.  “Ha, you’re sneaky.  When did you do this?” I ask.
“While I was waiting on you to come home.” His tongue teasingly swirls around my belly button.
I suck in a sharp breath.  “Ah, this is why you wanted me to come to bed?”
“Mmm hmm,” he mumbles.
When he’s gotten me fully undressed, I watch as he straightens his body, pushing his boxer briefs to the ground. I reach out to grab his erection.  He smiles as I do.  “I wish I didn’t have to wait.  I mean, it’s not like anyone would know that I didn’t keep the promise.  It’s not like I’m in high school and if I got pregnant it would be the end of the world.”
He pushes my hand away and shakes his head.  “Stop it.  Stop.”
I feel like a child.  I hate it when he scolds me like that.  He kisses my forehead.  “You know you’d regret it.  You’d know.  That would be enough.”
“I hate that she knows what it’s like to be with you and I don’t,” I whisper.
He pulls me into his arms.  “She may have been with me, but I wasn’t with her.  I was, but I wasn’t.  Does that make sense?”
I shrug.  “I guess.”
He pushes me back and tilts my chin.  “When we’re fully together, Gabby, it will be a first for me.”
“How?”
“It will be the first time I’ve ever truly made love to a woman.  The first time that I loved the woman more than anything in this world.  There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”  He softly kisses me.  “You have a part of me that no one, and I mean no one, has ever had before.”

What sparked your interest in becoming a romance writer?

I am a hopeless romantic.  I love watching chick flicks and once my passion in reading had been reignited, I couldn’t wait to create my own love stories.

What was the first romance novel you read that made an impression on you?

The Notebook

Tell us 5 surprising things about yourself.

1.  I really don’t like being outside unless I’m at the beach.  I love watching a beautiful day from the comforts of my home.  I hate bugs.  Maybe that’s why.  Which is really ironic since my second job was as a receptionist for a pest control business.
2.  My senior year of high school I attended night school and completed the course to sell real estate.  But I never took the state test to get my license.
3.  I took 10 years of tap, 4 years of ballet, and 1 year of jazz.  I’ve been involved in some form of arts and performing in some way since I was 5 years old.
4.  I hate scary movies…and snakes.  I can’t bear to watch either of them.  They give me nightmares.  Every. Single. Time.  My husband does like to watch both and finds my phobia cute and amusing.
5.  When I was 18 months old, I broke my arm, but my parents didn’t realize for a couple of weeks because I didn’t cry for very long when it happened and it didn’t look broken.  When they realized, the doctors had to re-break my arm.  I went into cardiac arrest.  I had to be resuscitated. 

There was a bit of a cover up.  My parents were told the reason was that I was allergic to Lidocaine.  However, when we got the records before I had my first child because we were concerned about my being numbed for my epidural, I was told it was either an accidental overdose, or the tourniquet had not been tightened enough and it got into my bloodstream.

We still don’t know the reason.  My mom has told me the story multiple times.  About how they were ushered out of the room as the doctors called a “code blue” and she watched me lifeless as she left the room.  I can’t imagine.  

What is your writing environment.

I’ve had several writing environments.  At the moment it’s a desk with a picture of Ian Somerhalder staring at me in front of a big window in my sunroom. 

One of your favorite quotes.

She believed she could, so she did.

Do you have a website recommendation for other writers?

Not really.  I just encourage them to read guest posts by other authors who give advice.  I also recommend brushing up on your grammar rules and how to write dialogue.

What type of book have you always wanted to write?

I want so badly to write a book that has a lot of sex in it because I know that people love that right now.  But it’s so hard for me to write just one sex scene.  It’s hard and exhausting for me to think about writing a bunch of them. 

I can’t wait to write a mystery.  Maybe it will be an erotic mystery.  That would be the ultimate challenge.

Who are your dream dinner party guests?

You may now hate me.  I am not going to lie.  I love politics so you might not like one of my choices.  I would love to have dinner with Taylor Swift, David Gandy, Ian Somerhalder, Julia Roberts, Oprah Winfrey, and Barack Obama. 

What’s the last movie you watched and loved?

There are only a handful of movies that I will watch more than once.  Pretty Woman, The Notebook, Dear John, The Last Song, and The Vow.  The Vow was the last movie I watched.

Most ?? in high school. (popular, nerdy, sporty…) Why?

I don’t think that any one adjective could describe me.  I was involved in so many different things.  I didn’t fit into any one group.  I had friends in many different circles.  I wasn’t really nerdy, but I am kind of nerdy now.  I was sporty, but not the most sporty.  I was in the band.  It’s hard for me to say.  I didn’t win any of the superlatives.

Top three things on your bucket list.

1.  I’d like to hit NYT and USA Today Best Seller Lists
2.  I’d like to achieve financial freedom (no debt) and stability
3.  Take a second honeymoon to Venice (which is where we wanted to go when we first got married, but couldn’t afford it)

How did you get the idea for this particular novel?

I had a guy that I met once at a wedding and I thought his sister was his girlfriend.  I thought it would be cute to do something with that.  Then I also experienced the hurt that comes along with your best friend (or ex best friend) dating your ex-boyfriend…for years.  It was really hard.  We were all in the same group of friends.  It was really hard to get over that.  Every time I felt like I was in a good place, somehow it always felt like salt was thrown into a barely healed wound.  Oddly enough, they broke up after we went to college and she ended up being a bridesmaid in my wedding.  So Broken is ever so slightly based on some events in my life, but very much fiction.

My husband and I had a long distance relationship, so that part of Mending came from my own experience.  Everything else is pretty much made up and came to me as I wrote.

My dad and I had a rocky relationship growing up.  I am a child of divorce.  I had actually debated not letting him give me away at my wedding.  Chad helped me repair that relationship and I’m so glad that I was able to put my own past behind me and move on to a much happier future.  My dad and I are now very close.  He has been so supportive of this venture and has read all of my books, sold them to his friends, and attended my first signing with me.  When I first started the series, I knew that I wanted Forgiven to be about fresh new beginnings and mending relationships that you never thought were possible. 

What is your favorite scene in your new release?

That’s hard.  There are so many I like.  Can I do a top 3?

1.  Bradley and the drink the water scene.
2.  Bradley and Veronica scenes were gut wrenching to write.  I loved them.
3.  The epilogue nearly killed me, but I loved the part where he’s undressing her.

If you could be one of your characters - Who would you be? And why?

I am not any one character.  There’s a lot of me in all the girls, even Veronica.  It hurts sometimes when people say Gabby is annoying because I would say out of all the girls, there is the most me in her.

Flirting Questions

Which actor or book character do you have a crush on?

Everyone knows this is David Gandy.

What’s your favorite body part of the opposite sex?

Depends on the person.  I am a sucker for beautiful blue eyes, dark features, and nice arms. 

What does love feel like?

Love is a stomach filled with butterflies flipping in every direction. 
Love is feeling every part of your body turning red. 
Love is your head feeling fuzzy and not being able to make coherent thoughts. 
Love is caring so deeply about another human being that you’d give your own life to save theirs. 
Love is not being able to imagine how you ever existed without the person in your life. 
Love is best described in 1 Corinthians 13.  ;)

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