Today’s premiere New Adult authors
combine their talents to tell four original stories from inside one house.
When four girls decide to live off campus together as juniors at a college in Michigan, they expect it to be their best year yet. Little do they know, it’s a year that will change the rest of their lives.
BEHIND HER EYES by A.L. Jackson
Unable to live down her ex-boyfriend’s deception, Misha is determined to avoid betrayal. When, the new guy next door, Darryn starts to get under her skin, her defenses start to crumble. But trusting Darryn seems impossible, especially if he’s not sure he can trust himself.
SAVING ME by Molly McAdams
On the outside, Indy is always ready for a party—but inside she’s breaking. Kier makes a weekly routine of saving the girl next door from herself on Saturday nights… but when will she be ready to remember him on Sunday morning?
FOULING OUT by Tiffany King
Working at a sports bar, Courtney has become a pro at sidestepping propositions from arrogant jocks—which makes her a more elusive catch for campus basketball star Dalton than he expected. But when he falls for the saucy waitress, Dalton will have to rethink his game plan to prove he’s not the jerk Courtney expects.
BENEATH YOUR LAYERS by Christina Lee
In order to ace her fashion internship, Chloe must team up with local college dropout and set builder, Blake—much to her chagrin. But after some "hands-on" experience, Chloe will have to ask herself if Blake factors into her carefully laid plans…
When four girls decide to live off campus together as juniors at a college in Michigan, they expect it to be their best year yet. Little do they know, it’s a year that will change the rest of their lives.
BEHIND HER EYES by A.L. Jackson
Unable to live down her ex-boyfriend’s deception, Misha is determined to avoid betrayal. When, the new guy next door, Darryn starts to get under her skin, her defenses start to crumble. But trusting Darryn seems impossible, especially if he’s not sure he can trust himself.
SAVING ME by Molly McAdams
On the outside, Indy is always ready for a party—but inside she’s breaking. Kier makes a weekly routine of saving the girl next door from herself on Saturday nights… but when will she be ready to remember him on Sunday morning?
FOULING OUT by Tiffany King
Working at a sports bar, Courtney has become a pro at sidestepping propositions from arrogant jocks—which makes her a more elusive catch for campus basketball star Dalton than he expected. But when he falls for the saucy waitress, Dalton will have to rethink his game plan to prove he’s not the jerk Courtney expects.
BENEATH YOUR LAYERS by Christina Lee
In order to ace her fashion internship, Chloe must team up with local college dropout and set builder, Blake—much to her chagrin. But after some "hands-on" experience, Chloe will have to ask herself if Blake factors into her carefully laid plans…
Excerpts
Behind Her Eyes by A.L. Jackson
Now I could feel him, his eyes all over
me, caressing me slowly, up and down.
I let all my insecurities drift away as I
swayed in time to the music, in sync with the throb of the
crowd and the intermittent lights that
glowed against my lids.
A charged moment passed, before strong
hands found my hips and gripped them from behind. For
a beat, I stiffened, before I again gave
in to this sublime release. And again, he felt good. Right. All this
intense energy that ricocheted between us
wrapped me up in a frenzy of nerves, alight and alive. The
smell of him took me whole, all soap and
man and sex.
Oh God.
My heart beat frantically, racing to keep
up with my thoughts that were spiraling out of control.
A shimmer of fear slithered through me,
before he pulled my back into the safety of his firm chest.
And that was what I felt.
Safe.
With him, and I didn’t know why, and I
was searching inside myself for resolve, for the commitment
I’d made to never allow myself to be so
easily played again.
But it was just out of my reach.
Darryn held me close, our bodies moving
in time, like we shared the same breath, the same space.
I leaned back, my head on his shoulder as
his face found the curve of my neck. Chills sped, spinning my
body into a violent cataclysm of need. He
let his hands roam, palms pressing hard as he ran them down
the front of my legs, spanning them wide
as he trailed them back up to my hips and over my stomach.
Fingertips dipped into my ribs as he slid
them up the curve of my sides, and he lifted my arms as he went,
in the same fluid motion fastening my
hands around the back of his neck.
All those butterflies scattered, a clash
of discordant wings that fluttered haphazardly through my
insides, leaving my stomach in a coiled
mess of confusion and need.
Why him? Why now?
Holding me close, he brushed his mouth
over the shell of my ear, his whispered words injected
directly to my manic heart. “Goddamn,
Misha. What are you trying to do to me?”
I suddenly found it impossible to
breathe, because it was him who was slowly undoing all the fibers
of reservation woven through my weakened
spirit.
“Can’t get you off my mind.” He leaned in
closer, his hand sweeping up my stomach. Fingers
brushed between my breasts, and I
released a sharp gasp.
“Been dying to touch you,” he murmured
low.
SAVING ME – MOLLY McADAMS
“I’m about to embarrass the hell out of
myself, but I don’t care anymore. I feel like when I’m near you, I’m safe, and
it makes no sense to me. It is the weirdest feeling to have with someone
I only know three things about.”
My eyebrows rose at that and I turned to
fully face her. “Three?”
“Yes. Three things. Your name is
Kier, you’re extremely quiet, and you are the biggest puzzle I’ve ever tried to
figure out.”
“I’m the puzzle?”
“Yes!” she said in exasperation.
That had to have been the most backward
statement I’d ever heard. “And why am I a puzzle?”
“Because of what I just told you. I don’t
know you, you don’t even talk to anyone, and I feel safe when you’re near me!
Why is that? I feel like I’m going crazy because all I’ve been able to think
about for these past two weeks is you, and how every time you open your mouth
it’s like déjà vu, and I just—I don’t know what’s happening.” Her green eyes
were massive and she looked like she was on the edge of losing her shit.
I took a few steps toward her and lowered
my voice. “Calm down, Indy. You’re fine.”
“I just don’t understand,” she said
loudly, the pitch of her voice rising. “Do you believe in past lives?” she
asked suddenly.
I paused, a laugh slipping past my lips.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Past lives? Like that whole stupid YOLO
saying is really just bullshit, because we’re about to get another shot down
the road?”
I tried to contain my smile, but she was
really fucking adorable when she was like this. “What does that have to do with
what you’re freaking out over?”
“In stories with soul mates they find
each other no matter what in every life. And it’s like they have a weird
connection they can’t explain.”
I closed the distance between us and
dropped my head so I was looking directly into her eyes. “Are you saying we’re
soul mates?”
“No!” she said, horror lacing her voice,
her cheeks filling with heat.
“I think you were,” I teased.
“I wasn’t, I was just saying that in
stories . . . I don’t know what I’m saying, okay? But I don’t get what’s going
on with us!”
“So now there’s an us?”
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “I need to
stop talking.”
I laughed and took a step back. “I’m
teasing you, Indy. And no, I don’t believe in past lives. I think we have this
one, and that’s it.”
She sighed, and her body visibly relaxed.
When she spoke again, she sounded exhausted—and in a way, defeated. “I don’t,
either, but I can’t figure out how to explain this feeling like I know you.”
I ground my jaw for a few seconds as her
green eyes held mine. “Because maybe you do know me. You’re just not ready to
remember why.”
Beneath Your Layers
Christina Lee/When We Met
Anthology
I motioned for the bar. “Want me to get you a soda or a water?”
Chloe stared at me for another long moment before she said, “No,
thanks.”
We listened to the next song quietly standing beside each other, lost in
our own thoughts. Until she turned to me and said, “Truth or dare?”
“Dare,” I said, almost breathless. Given her mood, maybe she’d give me
something good this time.
“Your turn, Blake,” she said. “Do something spontaneous.”
My fingers trembled from wanting to touch her so badly and all I could
think about was doing just that.
“You sure that’s what you want?” I said, turning and backing her against
the wall.
“Yes,” she breathed out.
“Something spontaneous or something I’ve been thinking about doing for
days?” I said, my lips coming closer to hers. “Maybe weeks?”
Her breath caught. “It . . . it’s your call.”
My head swung forward, our foreheads practically touching. Fluttery
breaths were escaping her lips. I place my arms on either side of her head and
she bit down on her lip.
My heart thrashed in my chest and all I could think about was how
desperate I was to kiss her, but how nervous I was to blow this opportunity.
So I attempted to read her signals and they were definitely mixed. Her
eyes flitted between panic and lust.
When I pinned my hip against hers, I could’ve sworn I heard a low moan
in the back of her throat.
“Please,” she rasped out. “Please . . . don’t . . . Blake.”
My stomach was in my throat. Fuck, either I’d scared her or I’d been
reading her wrong.
I leaned back to give her space, but her fingers suddenly skimmed across
my waist, clenching my shirt and drawing me nearer.
“Don’t what?” I asked in confusion. She was so fucking messing
with my head.
“Don’t . . .” She was panting now. “Don’t stop.”
Fouling Out
By Tiffany
King
From the
upcoming New Adult anthology
The warmth
inside the building was soothing after walking from the car outside. I felt
mildly disappointed when Dalton dropped his arm from my shoulders, until he
reached for my hand. As we strolled along, I became hyperaware of how something
as innocent as handholding could become somewhat erotic while sipping wine
together. Dalton slid his thumb across the top of my hand in slow methodical
strokes before gently caressing my pulse point. The hairs on the back of my
neck felt as if they were standing on end. Each sweep of his thumb was a
sensual dance with my sensitive skin, making it tingle.
It was becoming
apparent to me that it might have been a bad call on my part to skip lunch.
Between the scent of Dalton’s cologne and the alcohol I was consuming, I was
already feeling slightly intoxicated. I nibbled on a few cubes of cheese to
attempt to alleviate the buzzing in my head. Dalton’s breath teased my neck,
making me shiver in a good way. I should have put some distance between us so I
could regain my bearings, but instead I snuggled closer to him, wishing we were
somewhere else with a lot fewer people around.
All the air
escaped my lungs as Dalton slowly captured a bead of wine from my bottom lip
with his finger. I watched with bated breath as he moved the finger to his own
mouth, sucking the drop of wine. It was all I could do not to moan as my
insides turned to putty.
“You need to
stop looking at me like that,” Dalton murmured in my ear.
“Like what?” I
licked the rest of the wine off my lip with the tip of my tongue.
This time it
was Dalton who groaned softly. Placing his hands on my hips, he slowly backed
me into a dim corner, away from prying eyes. “Like you’re thinking how great it
would feel if I hoisted you up on that wine barrel table over there with your
legs wrapped around my waist.”
“Are you sure
that’s not you thinking that?” My hips responded almost instinctively as he
pulled me snugly against his body. I could feel him, rock hard, pressed to my
stomach. The wanting desire I had been keeping at bay from the moment he showed
up at my house looking practically delectable with low-riding jeans and a black
V-neck sweater that accentuated his well-toned chest was threatening to
explode.
Review
4 out of 5 stars
I was super excited to read this collection of stories put together by some really well known NA authors. Plus I loved knowing all the stories would be connected as each story was based off one girl in a group of 4 best friends who all live together while in college. All stories/novellas are a fun quick read and they each end with a HEA. It's the story of each girl's journey to finding love, and they are told in dual POV's which I thought was a nice touch, it helped you feel connected to both characters which is probably important because they are such quick stories! You will soon learn that while these girls are best friends they all live a very different life, each trying to work through college while maintaining jobs as well as dealing with skeletons in their closets they are all trying desperately to keep at bay. If I had a magic wand and could make a wish it would have been for the authors to all intermingle their stories as opposed to each one starting and stopping with a new book title. I think it would have made the stories even better to have had it as one long book about 4 best friends finding love as opposed to 4 short novellas with individual stories. On the other hand I do think these authors did an excellent job transitioning the books and allowing us to continue to see the girls throughout each other's stories. Its a fun read, you should definitely give this anthology a chance!
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About the Authors
A.L. Jackson
A.L. Jackson is the New York Times
bestselling author of Take This Regret
and Lost to You, as well as other
contemporary romance titles, including Come
to Me Quietly, Come to Me Softly, Pulled,
When We Collide, and If Forever
Comes.
She first found a love for writing
during her days as a young mother and college student. She filled the journals she carried with
short stories and poems used as an emotional outlet for the difficulties and
joys she found in day-to-day life.
Years later, she shared a short
story she’d been working on with her two closest friends and, with their
encouragement, this story became her first full length novel. A.L. now spends
her days writing in Southern Arizona where she lives with her husband and three
children. Her favorite pastime is spending time with the ones she loves.
To stay up to date with important news on A.L. Jackson,
including new releases, sales, and exclusive specials and excerpts, text
“jackson” to 96000 to subscribe!
Newsletter http://bit.ly/ALJacksonNewsletter
Website www.aljacksonauthor.com
Facebook www.facebook.com/aljacksonauthor
Twitter www.twitter.com/aljacksonauthor
Pinterest www.pinterest.com/aljacksonauthor
Instagram @aljacksonauthor
Tiffany King
USA
Today Bestselling author Tiffany King is a lifelong reading fanatic who is now
living her dream as a writer, weaving Young Adult and New Adult romance tales
for others to enjoy. She has a loving husband and two wonderful kids. (Five, if
you count her three spoiled cats). Her addictions include: Her iPhone and iPad,
chocolate, Diet Coke, chocolate, Harry Potter, chocolate, zombies and her
favorite TV shows. Want to know what they are? Just ask.
For
information on any of Author Tiffany's titles, visit her blog at www.authortiffanyjking.blogspot.com
Where to connect with Author
Tiffany
Twitter- @AuthorTiffany
Facebook- AuthorTiffanyKing
Pinterest- Tiffany King
Goodreads- Tiffany King
Email-
authortiffany@yahoo.com
Molly
McAdams
Molly grew up in California but now lives in the
oh-so-amazing state of Texas with her husband and furry four-legged daughters.
When she's not diving into the world of her characters, some of her hobbies
include hiking, snowboarding, traveling, and long walks on the beach … which
roughly translates to being a homebody with her hubby and dishing out movie
quotes. She has a weakness for crude-humored movies and fried pickles, and
loves curling up in a fluffy comforter during a thunderstorm ... or under one
in a bathtub if there are tornados. That way she can pretend they aren't really
happening.
Come be my friend!
Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Google+ | tumblr
Christina Lee
Mother, wife, reader, dreamer.
Christina lives in the Midwest with her husband and son--her two favorite guys.
She's addicted to lip gloss and salted caramel everything. She believes in true love and kissing, so writing romance novels has become a dream job.
Author of the Between Breaths series from Penguin. ALL OF YOU, BEFORE YOU BREAK and WHISPER TO ME available now, PROMISE ME THIS on October 7th, 2014.
Also Adult contemporary romance TWO OF HEARTS coming from Peguin/NAL on May 5th 2015.
She's addicted to lip gloss and salted caramel everything. She believes in true love and kissing, so writing romance novels has become a dream job.
Author of the Between Breaths series from Penguin. ALL OF YOU, BEFORE YOU BREAK and WHISPER TO ME available now, PROMISE ME THIS on October 7th, 2014.
Also Adult contemporary romance TWO OF HEARTS coming from Peguin/NAL on May 5th 2015.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Christina_Lee04
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Christina-Lee/e/B00D1W5RSE/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1414001350&sr=8-2-ent
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