Celebrate like a ROCK STAR because Evernight Publishing is THREE!
In three short years, Evernight has grown by leaps and bounds
thanks to readers like you! Evernight is pulling out all the stops and throwing
an extreme BIRTHDAY BASH BLOG HOP in
your honor!
That’s right! It’s Evernight’s birthday but YOU get the presents…
Prizes include:
Samsung Galaxy Tab
Kindle Paperwhite
Kobo Touch
$100 Evernight and Amazon Gift Certificates
Mega Evernight Swag Pack
Plus, each author on the hop will offer
his/her own special prize!
Danielle La Paglia
From a young age Danielle wrote stories exploring the darker side of human nature and the internal wounds that shape our behavior and sometimes push us to cross lines we never imagined. Some of her stories are speculative, some horror, and some heartbreaking, but she's never given up on Happy Ever After. She’s a native New Mexican who was transplanted to Southern California where she lives with her family, and is the last Jedi warrior to study under the nearly extinct Scotnadian Yoda. Danielle is also a member of the Online Writers Group at Kelley Armstrong's board.
WEBSITE
Blurb from the Evernight site ~
Cupid's Conquests
High school sweethearts, Justin and Shelby, were destined to be together forever. But when Justin decided to give up a college scholarship to stay close to Shelby, his family stepped in, convincing Shelby she was holding him back from his life-long dream of playing Major League Baseball. She took her guilt and ran, and he never knew why.
Ten years later, they find themselves back in the small Texas town they grew up in. Shelby’s come home to run the bar she inherited from her dad and Justin is looking for a safe haven after a career ending injury. With years of buried hurt and regrets, and the secret of his family’s betrayal hanging between them, is Cupid’s arrow enough to help them reignite the passion of first love?
Cupid may have missed in the first round, but he’s willing to give this true love one last shot.
*************************************************
Excerpt
*************************************************
Shelby
wiped her forehead and wove her way back to the bar. She’d imagined
their first meeting a thousand times, but the strength of his presence
still shocked her. When he’d wrapped his arm around her she’d all but
come undone. The smell of his cologne lingered, clinging to her like his
ghost. It must of have rubbed off on her t-shirt when they’d hugged and
now she’d be smelling it all damn night. Of course, there were better
ways to guarantee his scent would last all night. She told the voice in
her head to shut the hell up and dove in to help the girls serve another
round to the crowd. By the time they were done, she was spent. Thank
God it was nearly closing time. She hadn’t been this tired since her
first night slinging drinks a little over a year ago. Glancing across
the room at the already thinning crowd, she couldn’t stop the dart of
disappointment at not seeing Justin among them.
An
hour later, with the bar cleaned and the registers balanced, Shelby
hugged the girls good night and slid into the Mustang. Less than ten
minutes and she was across town, pulling into her driveway. Spotlighted
on the steps sat a familiar form. Her hand shook as she locked the
Mustang and walked to the front door, keys fisted in her palm. Justin
waited on the step, a six-pack of beer at his feet.
“I
was hoping you’d let me buy you a drink,” he said, raising a bottle
toward her. The porch light shimmered off the golden streaks in his
hair. It was longer than she’d last seen on T.V., but it made him look
younger again, like when they were in school together.
She swallowed the memory and said, “One drink.” She grabbed the bottle, twisted the cap off, and downed a third of it.
“You always did hold your liquor better than me.”
“Well I am a bar owner. It kinda comes with the territory.”
“I
guess so. Look, I was real sorry to hear about your dad. I would have
been here for the services, but we were playing a double-header in L.A. I
wanted to do more, but…I didn’t know if it would be welcome.”
She
didn’t know what to say to that so she took another pull on her beer,
swallowing her rising guilt. Walking away back then was the right thing
to do, for both of them. That’s what she kept telling herself anyway,
even if her heart never did agree.
“Did I screw up? Did you realize you weren’t in love?”
Suddenly the label on her beer bottle became intensely interesting.
“Where’d you run off to, Shel? I came back from the All-Star Tournament and you were gone.”
He
deserved the truth or some version of it, but the words got stuck in
her throat. How do you tell someone you let their parents pay you to
leave? He was going to give up a scholarship and a possible career
because she was staying home for school. By walking away, he’d gotten
his shot at the Majors and she’d gotten the education her dad couldn’t
afford.
“I
asked around,” he continued. “But even your dad wouldn’t tell me. I
thought it’d be impossible to keep a secret from this town, but somehow
you did it.”
“Bullshit.” She may have walked away, but he damn sure could have tried harder to find her.
“What?”
“If
you’d really wanted to know, you could have found out. You just didn’t
ask the right people.” Her guilt only went so far. She turned her back,
but he sure as hell hadn’t searched too far and that stung more than
anything.
He
looked like he wanted to argue, but his shoulders slumped and he said,
“Maybe you’re right,” and took another swig from his bottle. “So what
have you been doing all this time?”
She
was glad for the change in topic; she didn’t have the energy to hang
onto her anger tonight anyway. “I went to school, got a business degree,
and worked in a high rise making money for someone else. And when
things got bad here, I came home.”
“That’s it?”
“Pretty much.”
“No friends? No travels? No lovers?”
“You wanna tell me about your lovers over the last decade?”
He chuckled. “Hell no.”
“Good, cause I don’t want to hear it.”
“Jealous?” That cocky grin of his twisted her insides and she was torn between climbing onto his lap or outright smacking him.
“You
wish. An endless stream of plastic girls is not that exciting. I’d
probably die of boredom right here on the steps.” She winked, but the
laughter had drained from his face.
“It wasn’t like that, Shel. There were a lot of girls around, but you know me better than that.”
“I’m
glad to hear it.” And she was. She’d always feared his memories of her
had been washed away in a sea of peroxide and silicone.
“I guess I should go now.”
“I
haven’t finished my drink yet.” She’d been scared and pissed when he’d
waltzed into the bar earlier, but an ache deep inside didn’t want him to
walk away just yet. Not now that they were alone.
“I don’t want to wake your husband,” he said, standing up. “I just wanted to see you without the audience.”
“Husband?”
He pointed at the ring on her finger.
“Oh.” She smoothed her thumb across the gold band. “It’s my mom’s,” she said softly.
“Oh. I’m sorry, Shel. I just thought—”
“It’s okay.”
He
grabbed her left hand and ran the band between his finger and thumb.
Her mind screamed at her to pull away, but her body wanted to pull him
closer. His touch sent shock waves across her nerves and her lip tingled
like she’d just had half of a bottle of tequila, not half of a bottle
of beer. It was all she could do not to close the space between them,
but she didn’t have to. One small tug and she was in his arms, his hand
clutching her belt as his lips crashed into hers.
“Get
a room!” someone yelled from a truck that flew down the road. They both
chuckled and Shelby dropped her forehead to his chest.
Hop to the next stop here: http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=314265
I'm
also giving away one copy of "One Last Shot" to a commenter. Just leave
a comment below about why you want to read the book and leave a way for
me to contact you. This giveaway ends at 11:59PM EST on October 14th.
Enter to win the Grand Prizes using Rafflecopter:
It’s the perfect time to buy the Evernight titles on your TBR
list, as well as new gems you find during the event, because Evernight’s entire
backlist is on sale at evernightpublishing.com and allromanceebooks.com through
October 7th!
Thanks for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteLove this blog-hop! Thanks for hosting :)
ReplyDeleteWell, this is interesting. I haven't seen this type of writing from her on the Kelley Armstrong board. Very professional looking. I could see myself borrowing from the library, or when in funds, buying this book.
ReplyDeletethanks for the wonderful giveaway.
ReplyDeleteparisfan_ca@yahoo.com
Love, love the cover! I read the excerpt and now I gotta have this !
ReplyDeleteamybowens34@yahoo.com
Enjoyed the excerpt, now I want to find out how he finds out about why she left.
ReplyDeleteskpetal at hotmail dot com
After reading the blurb, I want to read the book, and now after reading the excerpt, I want to read it even more. It sounds great!
ReplyDeletepjmillion (at) comcast (dot) net
Happy Birthday Evernight!!!! Thank you for the giveaway. I want to know how he finds out that his parents paid her. Love the cover!!!!
ReplyDeleteForgot email
Deletelavida(at)yahoo(dot)com
Ooo looks good Bea! I need to read more from them. I read my first not too long ago and enjoyed it :)
ReplyDeleteI love stories about past loves, the one who got away and what not! I would love to read this book! Happy Birthday Evernight! n.kuhn.acn@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Evernight!!
ReplyDeleteHappy 3rd Evernight!!
ReplyDeletecaiidynsmommie at gmail dot com
I'd love to win this because the excerpt left my insides twisted up and I have to know how they get back together! (I'm assuming they do... they'd better!)
ReplyDeleteForgot to leave contact info -- sorry! jkpekar AT crosslink DOT net .
DeleteWow!! That sounds like a great read! I would love to read it and see what happens!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining the hop and for the great prize! Happy birthday Evernight!!
Ashley A
ash_app@hotmail.com
Sounds like an awesome story :)
ReplyDeleteEva P.
evitap67(at)gmail(dot)com
The book sounds witty & who doesn't love the thought of reading along while a couple finally gets their HEA!
ReplyDeletehhand (at) sasktel (dot) net
I know the hops over but I'm still stoppn by places I didn't get to. Also I'm finding some awesome blogs along the way.
ReplyDelete