Book Spotlight & Signed Paperback Giveaway:  Melissa Collins

01/29/2014

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We absolutely adore the Love Series by Melissa Collins.  This series is a journey from first love to marriage and children, the trials and insecurities of being young & in love to starting a family.  Maddy & Reid  are real characters you can relate to  and will remind you of the days starting out with your little ones.  If you are looking for a sweet, love story one that keeps you on your toes and promises a HEA  - this one is for you!   Today, we have an accumulation of excerpts and teasers we have done throughout the entire series.  We would also love to offer you your own SIGNED copy of YOUR CHOICE of paperback from this fabulous series! 
So, be sure to enter the Giveaway!
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Excerpt:  Let Love Shine

Here we are a year later and we couldn’t be happier to have Braden’s first birthday party tomorrow with our friends and family. Between prepping for the party, me working overtime, and Maddy finishing her last summer course, we’ve barely been able to stay awake past eight every night.

But watching them dance and laugh in front of me makes it all worth it.

I pull them both into my arms and just hold them for a quick second before Braden starts shimmying out of Maddy’s arms. He’s caught sight of his Lightning McQueen racecar on the floor and is reaching for it. Handing him his car, Maddy puts him in his bouncy seat. The sight of my wife taking care of our son, talking baby talk and kissing him sweetly should warm my heart.  But all I can see is her ass right now. Yep, I want her. 

“Get over here.” I pull her back to me once Braden is situated and brush her hair out of her eyes. “You look beautiful, you know that?” I trail sweet, soft kisses behind her ear and down her neck.

“Hmmm,” she mumbles and it makes me smile against her skin.

Moving from her neck across to her mouth, I feel her lean into my lips. This is something else of which I’ll never get tired. Her full, luscious lips pressed against mine; the taste of her sweet mouth still drives me crazy. “Well, hello there.” Pulling away from our kiss, Maddy arches her eyebrows as she presses her hips into my groin. The last motion surprises me more than a little. To say that our sex life has been different in the last year is, well, it’s an understatement to say the least.

“What? I’m not allowed to want my wife.” I grab her ass and push her into my erection a bit more. Our hands roam as the kiss rises in intensity. I fist a handful of her hair and pull her mouth even closer to mine. It’s the hottest kiss we’ve had in a while. Just as her hips start to roll into mine, we’re distracted by a sound, and smell, to which we’ve grown all too accustomed in the last year.

Before I can even move my hands from her body, Maddy’s pinching her nose closed. “Not it!” She calls out and laughs.

“Damn, you’re getting quick!” It’s kind of been our thing to decide who gets to change him. I scowl playfully at her and she just laughs at me.

“Dude, you’re killing my game.” Braden smiles as I hold him out in front of me. “Holy crap! What the hell did you feed this kid today?” Seriously, he’s lethal.

“He ate the same as usual. He’s just a stinky little monster.” She says the last sentence to Braden in that ridiculous baby talk. You can talk sweet about it all you want; it’s still poop.

Book Summary 

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What comes after “they lived happily ever after?”

Maddy and Reid have seen their fair share of trials and tribulations, of love and loss. Facing down the biggest challenges of their young lives, they managed to survive and endure. With the future stretching out before them, they must learn to navigate new and unfamiliar paths. 

Being new parents, starting new jobs, and continuing college is enough to overwhelm any couple. New challenges come up daily, as do small victories. Watch Maddy and Reid grow stronger together in this “one year later” tale of the everyday stuff that happens in real life. 

With a solid foundation of love under their inexperienced feet – and with the help of their family and friends – Maddy and Reid learn how to let love shine, lighting the way for a beautiful future to come.
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Love Series Reading Order and Purchase Links
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Read Excerpts and Teasers from Let Love In, 
& Let Love Stay  HERE

GIVEAWAY

Thank You and Good Luck!

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The Love Series by Melissa Collins

01/29/2014

59 Comments

 

Book Summary: Let Love In 

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What would happen if you lost everything? If the people who were supposed to love you unconditionally were no longer there for you, how would your world change? 

Madeleine Becker lost everything when her parents died when she was ten years old. Ripped from her home and everything that she has ever loved, she is forced to start all over again. The only way for her to move on is to build walls around her heart and keep everyone at a safe distance. Her logic: she can't get hurt if she doesn't fall in love. 

That theory is blown to pieces when she meets Reid Connely during her freshman year at college. He is gorgeous and darkly mysterious. He understands Maddy's pain all too well, but sharing his pain would mean breaking down the walls he put up around his own heart. Conflicted between loving Maddy and hiding his dark past, Reid starts to reevaluate his world. Maddy's inner strength, snarky personality and breath taking beauty help Reid to make peace with his past. 

Together they find out what happens when they let love in.

Excerpt: Let Love In

He spins me around and pulls me close to him. He places his hands at the nape of my neck and pulls the hair tie out of my hair so that it falls around my face softly. Gently sweeping the hair that has fallen in my eyes out of the way, he brings his face closer to mine and kisses me. This kiss is different from the rest we’ve shared. It’s full of the promise of pleasure.

His tongue brushes up against mine. He’s tentative and slow at first. I can tell he’s trying to control himself, but that’s not what I want. I want to dive into his depths and get lost there, to give myself over completely to this man who I love. I know in this moment that I need to tell him that. Despite my earlier reservations about being scared, he needs to know that I love him. Whatever walls he’s keeping up, whatever secrets he’s got from me, can’t possibly be enough to change my love for him and he needs to know that.

I break the kiss and look up into his piercing blue depths. “Reid, I have to tell you something.” He looks at me questioningly before saying, “Maddy, you can tell me anything.” He brushes his knuckles softly across my cheek and says, “Is it something I did? Talk to me; tell me what’s on your mind.”

I pull him across the room to sit on the bed. My insides are trembling with nervousness over what I’m about to say and over what I know I’m finally going to let happen. He’s sitting on the edge of the bed, his feet touching the floor. I straddle his lap so that my legs are wrapped around him and so that I can look at his cool cerulean pools of love when I speak. I cup my hand around his cheek tenderly and take a deep breath, bracing for the words that are about to come out.

“Reid, I love you.” I pause to register the shock in his eyes, but there is none. He just smiles adoringly at me and traces slow, soft patterns across my back. There’s silence for a moment, and I need to fill it. “I know that you might feel like it’s too soon and I know we each have our own boatload of issues, but I can’t help how I feel. You’re amazing and you’ve broken through every barrier I’ve ever put in place to keep people out. There’s no one I want more than you and I know that we’ll be able to overcome whatever is thrown at us. I feel that strongly about us. It’s scary, terrifying actually, but I just needed you to know that I love you. I love you so, so much.” I say all of that so quickly that I need to inhale deeply just to get some air back into my lungs.

His lips tip up into a devilishly beautiful smile and he says, “Are you done? Can I have my turn?” I nod and say “uh huh” in return. Normal language function has completely left my brain.

“Madeleine, I love you too.” I move to say something but he silences me with a kiss. “No, you got your turn; now it’s mine.” He kisses me again before saying the rest. “I love you more than anything. I would move heaven and earth to make you realize how much I love you. And I don’t want you to think I’m saying this just because you’ve said it. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately and, yea, I’ve got some fucked up shit in my head, the same shit that made me build those sky-high walls in the first place, but around you, they just vanish. That’s why I did all of this up here tonight. I wanted to create a beautiful memory of the first time I told you that I loved you. When we do decide to take things to the next level, physically, I wanted the bed to be ours and ours alone. I wanted it to just be me and you in there –no other memories except this one right now, of you glowing beautifully by the candlelight, sitting in my arms, listening to me carry on and on about how much I love you.” He kisses me on the tip of my nose and brushes the pads of his thumbs under my eyes where a few stray tears have fallen.

His confession of love ignites a fire low in my belly. If I thought I wanted him before, I was sadly mistaken. I reach for the hem of his shirt and pull it over his head, our eyes only breaking contact when the fabric brushes over his head. I push him back onto the bed so that he’s lying down and I’m still straddled on top of him. His hands are at my waist, but they’re so big that they nearly span it entirely. He moves them down a little to where my hips flow into the upper swell of my ass and he squeezes gently. His thumbs begin tracing sensual circles dangerously close to my core.

"For the first time ever, I want a girl for more than just one night, for more than just sex. She’s alive and vibrant. I just feel like she sees me, the real me. Scares the shit out of me, but I can’t deny it any longer."

Book Summary: Let Love Stay

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Book #2 in The Love Series

f you’re lucky, you’ll fall in love – truly, madly and deeply in love. But what happens when that honest and pure love isn’t enough to erase your fears? What happens when your past rears its ugly head and threatens your future?

Maddy and Reid had that kind of love – the all-encompassing, Earth shattering, once in a lifetime kind of love. Then life happened. Old wounds that were thought to be long healed and scabbed over are ripped opened and they are forced to face the possibility that, maybe, they are not strong enough to fight their demons and embrace the light.

Together, they found out what love is, but now they will each need to heal on their own before they can ever be together again. They must face their fears and beat down their pasts in order to find their way through this crazy uphill battle called love.

They’ve let love in, but now, they need to find out how to Let Love Stay.

Excerpt: Let Love Stay

I get out of the truck and walk over towards the two of them.  Maddy’s back is to me as I approach her and her date, so she doesn’t see me right away.  But once the guy sees me, she spins around to look at what has caught his eye.  

Her face is shocked and when our eyes lock, my heart skips a beat.  There’s a pull between us.  As much as I hate to admit it, she owns me.  Her eyes are magical.  They dance with light and passion and when she looks at me, they are filled with love.  

The love and passion that are sparkling in her emerald green eyes evaporate when she realizes the scene that I’ve just stumbled upon.  I can only imagine what’s going through her mind, but I’m sure the images of me kicking Logan’s ass are flashing vividly through her mind.  

I’m no more than a few feet from them when the guy pushes Maddy behind him to protect her from what he perceives as a threat.  He’s not very far from the truth, but she’s not the one who needs protecting.  

Menacingly close now, he pipes up.  “Who the fuck are you?  What do you want?”  Okay, I’ll give the prick a little bit of credit for trying to stand up to me, but he has no clue what he’s competing against here.  

The caveman in me wants to deck this guy and drag Maddy into a bed – any bed – and claim her, repeatedly, until she understands that she’s mine and no one else’s.  I’m going to do that anyway, but hopefully I can refrain from knocking this guy on his ass.  I’d like to have the use of my hands tonight.  

My eyes never leave Maddy’s, but my words are directed at him.  “Me?  I’m the boyfriend, asshole.”  Maddy’s eyes widen slightly as I say “boyfriend.”  Did she really think we ever broke up?  

I avert my gaze from Maddy for a minute to stare this douchebag down.  “And who the fuck do you think you are?”  He falters, not enough that most people would notice, but I’m in predator mode.  I see his throat work hard to swallow past the newly formed fear.  His pupils dilate slightly and the pulse beating in his neck picks up as adrenaline surges through him.  If he thinks he’s going to win this battle, he is wrong – so fucking wrong.  

He puffs out his chest as he says, “I’m Maddy’s date for tonight.”  He snickers lightly as he says, “You know?  She never mentioned a boyfriend when I asked her out.  Must not be much of a boyfriend if she doesn’t even mention you.”  He swells with pride at his snarky little quip.  In the split second he looks away from me to gauge Maddy’s approval, I lay him flat on the ground as I drop my shoulder into his gut and take his legs out from underneath him with one of my own.  I freaking love my takedown skills.  I didn’t even have to bust up my hands.  I’m definitely going to need them in a little bit.  

I straddle over him and pull him up by the collar.  “Whether she mentioned me or not, she’s mine, so lay the fuck off.  Got it?”

Maddy still hasn’t said a word and I haven’t actually spoken directly to her.  I’m pretty sure she understands my actions though.  Wordlessly, I reach my hand out to her.  This is her chance.  If she still wants me, then she’ll come with me.  This is who I am, who I’ve always been.  If she can’t understand that I love her, that I want her more than anything, then it’s not because I haven’t tried as hard as I possibly could to prove it to her.

Hand still outstretched, I look her directly in the eyes, as I try to convey everything that I’m thinking, that I’m feeling.  In what feels like an act of God, she understands me and laces her hand in mine.

"I made a few promises to myself. They’re very simple promises, but ones that I hope will wipe the slate clean. 1. Choose happy. 2. Appreciate beauty. 3. Let love in."

Let Love Heal

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Perfection. We all strive for it, but what happens when the desire to be perfect consumes you? 
What happens when the need to bury your mistakes blinds you?

Melanie Crane has always been the perfect daughter, friend, student – she’s been perfect at everything, in fact. But when she lets her insecurities, the ones that she keeps hidden from 
everyone, get the best of her, she falters in her pursuit of perfection. Melanie crumples under the pressure and buries her pain. Numbed by sadness and guilt, she is determined never to let anyone find out how broken she really is.

Bryan Mahoney may appear to have everything in order. He’s charming, witty and completely swoon-worthy. In short, Bryan has life all figured out, but appearances can be deceiving. When the landscape of Bryan’s family changes in an instant, he’s left to pick up the pieces.

Not all bruises leave a mark. Now, weary and afraid, Melanie and Bryan must find a way to let love heal their broken and jaded hearts.

Visit Melissa's Rock Star Author Page HERE

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