When Beth Michaels hightailed it out of the hole-in-the-road town she grew up in, she only had two goals. One—get as far away as quickly as possible, and two—never set foot in her parent’s home again. But when she receives a heart breaking call from her childhood best friend, Jen, she has no choice but to turn her ’56 Ford pickup back in the direction of Salem, Missouri to attend a funeral.
There’s a new local in town when Beth arrives, and suddenly, it ain’t all that easy for her to remember her rules for dating.
#1. Cookie-cutter-perfect guys ain’t her type.
#2. Tie wearin’ and church frequentin’ is an automatic dismissal.
#3. Most importantly, never date anyone from small minded, conservative, Bible-thumping towns like Salem.
Unfortunately, Matthew Wright breaks all her rules and then some.
Matt might be from a small town and have small town values, but that doesn’t mean he fits into a little slot of Beth’s preconceived notions. After all, ever so often good guys are good. Now if he could just convince Beth to let go of her past and give him a chance, he’s pretty sure there’s a whole lotta sweet under that prickly exterior.
His own … Sweet Contradiction.
Why does the good guy never seem to win the heroine’s heart? Why is it that we always seem to root for the bad boy and never the good, steady, sweet guy? I think a lot of this has to do with us as readers rather than the story itself. I know personally, I look for the good in every single bad character. I ask myself over and over again- Why is he acting that way? What is driving him? Could he change if he just had the right person there to make him see the light in his otherwise dark outlook on life? Maybe it is the writer in me, maybe it is the romantic, but I always like to believe that an anti-hero, a “bad boy” has a reason for the way he is and the ultimate challenge is to find out how to make him or show him how to do right, how to make him open himself up to love and good.
GUEST POST
The Good Boy VS Bad Boy
Of course, that leaves the poor good guy… the inevitably steady character who makes all the right choices, says all the right things, and is there for us through thick and thin, out in the cold. Why don’t good guys get any attention? Why don’t we root for them to win the heroine’s heart like we do the bad boys? Don’t they deserve to be swooned over like their darker, edgier, and sometimes meaner counterpart? I think they do. And yet, we as readers CLAMOR to read and purchase the next book about a rocker bad boy who drugs and drinks, a billionaire playboy who uses women for sex, and most disturbing of all, we can’t get enough of the bad boy who uses people and spits them out for their own reasons, a lot of time manipulating women until they can’t live without them no matter the depth of their depravity.
I’m kind of hoping for a wave of books with good guys getting their due attention, good guys getting some swoon-worthy stories all their own to tell us. I hold out hope that I’ll hear my daughters one day talking about books they are reading. Instead of hearing “oh my god, I nearly melted when he shoved her against a wall and whispered how he was going to have her to himself, ruin her for any other man, make her HIS….” That I’ll hear “Did you read the part where he wound his fingers gently through hers as they walked down the beach and how he tenderly kissed her and promised he would cherish her love forever? Did you read how he was faithful to her? How he said he’d follow her through hell if he had to, so long as she was happy and following her dreams?” Yeah, I’m holding out hope for that day. Because, dammit, good guys are seriously underrated in romance!
EXCERPT
“You know, I’m beginning to think you’re stalking me.” I whipped around, my eyes wide in surprise. What were the odds? I rolled my eyes and clucked my tongue.
“You know, if you’d just text me your agenda each day, we could just carpool to all these places instead of running into each other. Save gas.” He shrugged. I laughed loudly. Matthew Wright was something else.
“Is that your way of asking for my telephone number? You could’ve just asked,” I said with a cocky smirk. Matt walked closer and sat his basket on the ground nearby.
“Would you have given it to me?” he asked, his voice low and serious. I inhaled sharply, realizing the error of my ways. I didn’t want to lead him on. He was an amazing guy. I frowned.
“Hey, looks like you’ve still got some pickin’ to do.” He picked my basket up off of the ground to carry it along with his. I blew out a breath of relief. He’d changed the subject, and I was grateful. I reached up on my tippy toes to get an apple just out of reach. Matt came up behind me and reached out next to me, his arm skimming mine, his body heat enveloping me. He reached the apple easily, plucked it off the tree, and held it out to me. I smiled shyly and wrapped my fingers around the fruit. Matt didn’t let go right away. His eyes captured mine, and I held my breath. He leaned in just a bit, just enough to make my heart pitter-patter in my chest.
“I’m going to kiss you, Elizabeth Michaels.” He made his intentions clear and even though I knew I should shut him down, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Both of our hands were still wrapped around the apple when his lips met mine. He feathered a tender kiss across my lips, tasting and teasing just a little. The apple dropped to the ground between us, forgotten. Matt wrapped his arms around me and held me as he kissed me gently, like he hadn’t a care in the world except getting to know how well we went together. I was surprised to learn that we went together very, very well.
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About the author:
Peggy Martinez is the author of The Sweet Contradiction Series, which was picked up by Crimson Tree Publishing in early 2014 and is scheduled to release under this new imprint in the Summer of 2014. Martinez’s New Adult Contemporary Romance series will include Sweet Contradiction, Perfect Contradiction and Beautiful Contradiction.
When not writing, Peggy can be found spending time at home with her husband, her teen son and four little girls. She loves reading, writing, soap making, aromatherapy, gangster movies, prepping for the zombie apocalypse and downing insane amounts of Twizzlers and Kazoozles.
As if being a wife and homeschooling mom of five doesn’t keep her busy enough, Peggy Martinez is a full time Author who has six published books, including The Time Warper Series and State of Decay. Peggy’s dream is to own a small homestead where she can raise some chickens along with her five kids, tend to a large garden and one day take her dream vacation’s to Ireland, Greece and Scotland.
6 comments:
the book sounds awesome i'll put it in my to read list
SWEET CONTRADICTION sounds like a sweet love story.i would like to read this book.
I would really love to read this! :D
I want to read this! Thanks for the raffle and the chance to win
Love the guest post and excerpt, sounds like a great book!
thanks for the chance!
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