Blog Tour, Excerpt, Review, & Giveaway for Everything I've Never Had By Lynetta Halat
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Blog tour,
Book Review,
Excerpt,
Giveaway,
Lynetta Halat
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Cover Designer: Sarah Hansen at Okay Creations.
Release Date: 9/2/2013
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Blog Tour Hosted by: Angie’s Dreamy Reads
Blurb:
Celeste Hebert has always appeared to have it all, but there are many things she's never had, been forbidden from having.
One night. One song. One kiss. The perfect trifecta to unleash the floodgates of a forbidden attraction between the widow and her husband’s bad boy cousin, Adrian.
Celeste endeavors to rebury the feelings that surface after this one night since her powerful family despises him. Kindred spirits, best of friends they attempt to douse their attraction; however, Adrian always seems to know exactly how to push her buttons and may prove too much to resist.
Having defied his family by making his way on his own terms, Adrian struggles to regain their acceptance. When he meets his cousin’s wife and wants her for his own, he feels he’s finally lived down to the title—black sheep. But, when his cousin dies unexpectedly, Adrian fights his attraction and swears to honor them both by helping her raise her boys.
Finding himself enveloped in a cocoon of love and acceptance, Adrian knows it’s more than just physical attraction. However, unforeseen events threaten to destroy those he now holds dear and his newfound peace.
Will the ties that bind them be their undoing?
Excerpt #1—Everything I’ve Never Had by Lynetta Halat—Sept. 2013
Adrian runs his hands up my arms and shoulders until they grasp both sides of my neck to tilt my head back so that I'm staring straight into his arctic blue eyes. I immediately start trembling, and it's not with fear. "Celeste, I'm begging you not to leave here looking like that. You look gorgeous, babe, but I can't sit here all night wondering who's hitting on you, who's imagining moving that scrap of fabric over to get a glimpse at what is..."
"What is what?" I breathe heavily.
"What is underneath it all." His brow wrinkles, and I feel his hands tighten their pleasurably painful grip. "What is underneath it all?"
"Just me, Adrian, just me," I breathe. "That's all."
"So everything then. Just like I thought." He removes one of his hands to run it up the back of my thigh. My eyes widen and I swallow hard.
"That's not a good idea," I whisper. His hand wraps all the way around my thigh, his fingertips coming to rest along the crease of my left cheek. My thigh pulses with fire.
"Why not?" His fingertips tease back and forth a little. Even though it’s a light touch, it feels like his calloused fingertips mark me.
"Why not? Look at us. We can't even have a civil conversation for everything that has passed between us, and you want to further complicate it. What you're doing will further complicate matters."
His hand stills. He exhales loudly and lets his head drop on my chest. "You do this to me. I don't act like this. That day in the park, watching you cross and uncross your legs. Throwing your hair over your shoulder. Laughing without a care in the world. Cheering me on like it was your favorite thing to do! It killed me. Killed me. I've never wanted a woman the way I want you. Never."
His words rain down on me like fiery drops of lust. I close my eyes and rewrite that memory. I thought he was just being an ass, but his unexpected anger was because he was yearning for me. I bite my lip, open my eyes, and shake my head. "It's just because you can't have me, Adrian. I'm nothing special."
"Oh, baby, you have no idea." He runs his nose up my throat, scenting me as he goes. I lean my neck back, giving him more access even as my brain screams at me to run—not walk—out of this room. But when he says, "You're everything to me." My head falls back even further and my eyes close again as I feel him slant his head and attack my chin, throat, and neck with closed-mouth kisses. I hear myself moan and give myself one more little jolt to try to spare myself from this delicious torment that will only end in frustration.
All rights reserved. Copyright Lynetta Halat 2013.
My 5 Star Review:
Once again Lynetta has blown me away with her writing style.
She truly knows how to write a story that grips you right from the start and
leaves you wondering where your day went because you were so consumed by the
story you are reading.
After reading Every Rose I was kind of scared to see where
this book was going to go. I remember asking Lynetta if this one was going to
have an HEA or if I was going to be screaming my dislike at her again for
making me cry my eyes out. She assured me I was in for an HEA.
I was hooked right from the Prologue, I knew I was going to
cry at least once during this book, but at the end I had the best happy tears
in the world.
Celeste is 38 years old she is a widowed mom of 3 boys. She
is part of a very powerful family. One that decides who you will marry. Althou
she knew her husband growing up she never truly loved him as anything more than
her best friend. When her husband dies his
cousin Adrian steps in and becomes a father figure to the boys and becomes best
friends with Celeste.
"I know I'm not
supposed to want him. He's my own slice of forbidden fruit--my deceased
husband's outcast cousin. And with the way our families were connected, that
was not something I could ignore"
Adrian made a promise to his cousin before he died and he
has done everything in his power to keep that promise. Since the day he died
Adrian has been a constant in Celeste and her boy’s life. He is always there to
help her with the boys and he helps Celeste with anything she needs.
He has also been in love with Celeste for the last 3 years,
but he has not acted on those feelings.
“Sometimes we forget
to appreciate the things that truly matter because our vision is so clouded by
all of the mundanes. The here and now become our obsession , and we forget the
concept of our finite state because with all the little things vying for our attention
it feels like we'll go on forever.”
They both want so much more from each other but they have
been dealt with some obstacles along the way. With neither one telling the
other how they truly feel things start to heat up.
Celeste wants Adrian, She wants him all to herself, she
wants to show him how much she loves him. One night at the bar watching him
play his guitar is all it takes for Celeste to realize she needs to act on
those feelings she has.
“That kiss...that
kiss was exceptional, and I'll never forget it. As I stand here and as long as
I live, it was the best I've ever had, the best I could ever have.”
Adrian, he is sweet, protective, loving, supportive and
totally swoon worthy. As much as he had feelings for Celeste and wanted to act
on those feelings he kept trying to fight them, but everyone reaches a point
when they can’t stop the feelings and one must act on them. As many times as he
tried to push her away or tell her they could not be together, you could tell
he was breaking his own heart in the process.
When their attraction can not be fought no more and they are
finally together it is the most beautiful scene. I absolutely loved when they
finally decided they could not fight their feelings anymore.
“Being with you,
Adrian. It's everything I've ever needed....I feel like you love me for me. Not
for what I have to offer you or what you can acquire or who you can make happy
by being with me. And the things you make me feel--I thought I'd never be free
to feel, so I don't regret us. I'll never be sorry for loving you.”
This story is full of emotion, family issues, humor, twists
and turns that will have you say what the heck is Lynetta doing? In the end
though it is one of the most beautiful stories of love I have read. I fell in
love with Celeste and Adrian and they will forever be one of my favorite book
Couples.
“All I want to do is
hold you and protect you and love you. Will you let me do that, not matter the
consequences?”
For as long as she can remember, Lynetta Halat has lived to read and has written countless stories and plays since she was a young girl. A teacher by day and an avid reader and closet writer by night, she has always dreamt of penning books that people could connect with and remember; and her first novel, Every Rose, was the perfect catalyst to launch her into the world of publishing. Her love of the English language prompted her to attain her master's degree in English from Old Dominion University in Virginia. A self-proclaimed "Coast Girl," she lives in Mississippi with her adorable husband, two amazing sons, and two loveable dogs. She is currently at work on her third book.
Author Links
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Giveaway Info:
Kindle Paperwhite
$25 Amazon or B&N Gift Card
5 Signed Paperbacks of Everything I’ve Never Had
10 ebooks of Everything I’ve Never Had
Rafflecopter Links: (There are TWO Rafflecopters for this tour!!! One is open INT. The paperbacks are on a separate RC and are US ONLY)
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The cover looks great!! Congrats!! Thanks for the giveaway!!
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