Guest Post, Excerpt and Giveaway Fearsome by S.A. Wolfe

Published September 29th, 2013

Description:

Jessica Channing’s big city life should be more exciting than sixty-hour work weeks and popcorn nights with her girlfriends, but it’s not. She has worked hard fulfilling her role as a child prodigy and graduating college years before her peers. She’s the good girl, the brilliant girl.

Unfortunately, she’s also the dateless young woman.

That all changes with one phone call. Jess’s rigid, predictable life upends when she must visit a small, obscure town to deal with a relative’s death. This isn’t just any little speck of a town, though. Long lost memories come crashing down on Jess’s world when two men, the Blackard brothers, seem to lure her in. 

Dylan is cover model handsome, and pursues Jess the minute she comes to town. Then there is tall, dark and gorgeous Carson, who hides his own secrets behind his hardened reserve. 

For someone who has been governed by her own obsessive behaviors and fears, Jess lets her guard down and jumps at the opportunity to have an affair with a man she actually finds attractive for a change.

There’s just one problem. Jess discovers that she can’t have a simple romantic fling because true passion does indeed come with some very big strings attached to it. She will have to own up to her own truths about love and face the two extraordinary men; both troubled in their own ways and both determined to have her.

GUEST POST

Happily Ever After 

Full disclosure, I had never read a romance a novel until just a few years ago. I have been writing for over 15 years, and I have had a few book deals fall through with big agents and publishing houses. I wasn’t writing romances then. I grew up reading my parents’ literary novels, some of them quite dark, and I followed in their steps, reading and writing about people in a way that didn’t always result in a happy ending. However, when my family suffered a devastating loss a few years ago, a family death that none of us seemed to recover from, I was locked away reading my books as I usually do. Hundreds of novels - and nothing was helping my melancholic state. Fortunately, a friend and neighbor, who lived downstairs in my building, knocked on my door one day and handed me a large box of books. I remember she said, “I know you love to read, but you have to change your soundtrack.” She handed over a box full of romance novels, books I had never read before. I was skeptical. Like my character Jessica, I was raised on authors with a much more cynical voice and unforgiving view of life and human nature. But it was a very sad time in my life, and so desperate for a change, I started reading these novels by Karen Marie Moning, Lisa Kleypas, and many others. It was a wonderful escape, and it truly helped me change how I perceived writing and reading. Hence, I changed my soundtrack. 

What I learned is that it’s really nice to have a happy ending, in fact, the HEA novel is probably more important as we get older and realize how hard life can be. Some of my friends remind me that they work hard all day long at jobs they don’t necessarily love, and then they come home to take care of their families, and that, too, is very stressful. Their big escape is a novel full of heady romance (with sex!) and emotional conflicts with joyful, gratifying resolutions. I have learned so much from my friends who also happen to be my readers, and like them, I want a happy ending.

EXCERPT:

“Just go chop your trees and things,” I repeat, waving him on and putting my sombrero back on to hide my face. He walks off, chuckling. “Hope you don’t lose your pecker,” I mutter so he can’t hear.

Dylan’s reaction is evident. I’m at the end of the hall in the kitchen doorway when Carson answers the door and Dylan’s face drops. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Hi, brother,” Carson greets him with a smugness in his voice. “I was working on the kitchen and thought I’d stay for dinner. I see you’re making your eggplant parm. Wouldn’t want to miss that.” He holds the door open for Dylan who storms through with two bottles of wine in each hand.

“Oh, fuck you,” Dylan snaps and head towards me. He kisses me on the cheek. “Hi. So we’ve got company.” He shakes his head at me.

“Here, let me open the wine.” Carson squeezes between Dylan and me, grabbing the bottles. “You cook. Jess and I will drink this fine vino you’ve brought us.”

“I didn’t bring it for you,” Dylan counters.

Carson studies the wine label and raises his eyebrows. “You’ve dropped an impressive little bundle on these two gems. Can’t wait to drink it.”

Dylan ignores him and makes his way into the kitchen where he begins to pull items out of the fridge along with pots and pans from the cupboards. I’m caught in the middle of some brotherly group dynamic that is foreign to me, so I stay out of it and keep quiet.

Carson uncorks a bottle of wine with a switchblade he pulls out of his pocket. I don’t know whether to be unnerved or impressed that he carries a knife and knows how to open a bottle of wine with it. He makes one slice around the seal, thuds the base of the bottle against one of the vertical beams along the wall and then pulls the cork out with his teeth. I’ve never seen anything like it. He looks even sexier merely by doing that little move. His hands are full with the bottle in one hand and the knife and cork in the other, so he pulls a kitchen chair out with his foot.

“Have a seat, milady, and join me in a glass of the grape,” he mimics a thick Scottish brogue.

“Oh, please,” Dylan says over his shoulder as he slams pans on the range.

I laugh and sit down. Carson smiles at me and pours a tiny amount of the wine into a juice glass for me. I take a little sip and nod approvingly. I know nothing about wine.

Goodreads ** Smashwords ** Amazon ** Barnes&Noble

About the author:

S. A. Wolfe lives with her wonderfully loud, opinionated children and awesome husband. She is a voracious reader and passionate about writing, and when those two activities don’t keep her locked away in her room, she loves hiking mountains as much as she adores all the thrills New York City has to offer.

Website ** Goodreads ** Facebook ** Twitter

Author's Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway