Release Day Blitz: Orange Blossom by Sarah Daltry
Orange
Blossom,
the penultimate title in Sarah Daltry's bestselling New Adult romance
series, Flowering,
is available now. Details, as well as reading order and information
about the other titles follows.
Title:
Orange
Blossom
Author:
Sarah
Daltry
Cover
Design: Shoutlines
Design
18+
New Adult Contemporary Romance
Buy
Link:
“I’ve
never understood a year. A year was always a measurement of something
bad for me. A year in my father’s prison sentence, a year since my
mom’s death, a year left of school before I could get far, far away
from here. Now, as I look down the end of my college career, with
only a little more than a semester to go, a year seems like something
magical. It has been a year since Lily chose me, since she sat with
me on the old swing set and made a decision that I was worthy of her.
And every minute of the entire year has been better than the last.”
You
already know their stories: Lily, the perfect princess, always living
someone else's life. And Jack, the broken boy, who had stopped
believing in hope. Somehow, though, they found each other and what
was one night blossomed into a love story.
Now,
a year later, Jack and Lily are dreaming of the future. Despite all
of his promises to himself that he would never be indebted to anyone,
Jack makes a new promise - this time to Lily - that he will be there
for her forever. But when life unravels for them, he starts to pull
away, and Lily worries he's out of reach for good.
When
Jack does the unthinkable, Lily is left destroyed. Is it possible to
have a happily ever after? Does love ever really save anyone?
Playlist:
http://hypster.com/hypsterPlayer/MPL?media_type=playlist&playlist_id=6874603&us_id=4993560
Barnes and Noble - http://www.barnesandnoble. com/w/orange-blossom-sarah- daltry/1118953312?ean= 9781497358379
All Romance - https://www. allromanceebooks.com/product- orangeblossomafloweringnovel- 1452871-149.html
Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/ books/view/420172
Paperback - https://www.createspace.com/ 4717395
He’s
smiling. Not that smirk he gets when he’s bitter but also pleased
about something. It’s not the smile that says that he knows
happiness is temporary. When he lines up his Skee-ball shot, there is
a smile on his face that is pure. Genuine. It’s like taking a step
back and seeing Jack in a photograph. One from years before his life
went crazy. He’s just a dorky kid playing Skee-ball and he’s so
happy when he nails the shot. He does an awkward little dance and
it’s the kind of thing about Jack that makes me love him. He’s
gorgeous and sexy and aggressive yet sweet. He’s kind and
considerate of me, both sexually and in general. But I don’t love
Jack for that. I love him because there is light in the world in the
space he takes up. I know he doesn’t see it, but he’s inside
himself. From the outside, all I see is the absolute electricity and
fire that fills the air around him.
“That’s
how it’s done,” he tells me when he finishes his game, wrapping
up his ridiculous stack of tickets. I’m so going to lose, but I
don’t care. He’s happy. I just almost wish I was better at this,
so we could stay here longer, so that Jack could be this part of
himself for as long as he needs.
“I
think you’re perfect,” I say.
“Because
I’m good at Skee-ball? Shit, that’s all it takes?”
I
shake my head. “No, but you tell me all the time. I don’t think I
ever say it to you. I don’t like the idea of perfection. It’s too
much of a standard to live up to, but I don’t think you even
understand. It’s cheesy and probably cliché, but I just can’t
imagine how I could breathe without you. How did I exist before
this?”
He
looks down, uncomfortable because it’s one thing to tell Jack he’s
hot or sexy; he can handle that and he gets cocky and ridiculous when
I tell him that. But this part of him, this vulnerability, he buries
it so deep that drawing attention to it makes him want to disappear.
But I don’t want that. I want him to embrace it, because it’s
sweet and beautiful.
“Don’t
look down,” I say and I lift his face to look at me. His eyes
explode with light, the way fireworks do on New Year’s when the sky
is like ink and then it’s suddenly on fire. I lean in and kiss him,
feeling his hands tighten on my arms and his lips opening against
mine. He’s scared. I can feel it in the way he kisses me today; he
feels himself falling and he’s trying to hold on and I need to
figure out how to be steady enough to hold him. “Trust me,” I
plead. “Let me take some of what you’re feeling. I can handle it,
Jack.”
He
nods. “Another day. Today, I just want to stay here, to be here
with you, where it’s safe and comfortable and my entire world is
this. Where strawberries and popcorn and Skee-ball and shitty plastic
toys are the entirety of what exists.” He pauses. “I promise,
Lily. I will. Soon. But let me hide from it. Just for a little
longer?”
“Okay,
but don’t hide from me, okay?” I ask.
“I’ll
try,” he offers and it’s okay that he can’t promise. He’s
honest and I would rather he is than say something he knows is a lie.
I’m not fragile. I won’t break if he hurts me. I just don’t
want him to worry about doing it. I never signed up for it to be
easy. I knew from the start that it wouldn’t be. “Now, stop
distracting me. Unless you want to concede defeat?”
“Never
gonna happen,” I say and I settle in to play more Skee-ball. I
don’t really care about winning since whatever the prize ends up
being is going to be more of him, regardless. But I try my best and
actually win two games in a row. Of course, that’s as long as it
lasts.
When
he beats me, by eight games, he gloats in his victory, but he ends up
using his tickets to get me a green plastic piggy bank. The options
are pretty bad, but I love that he picked the bank, because it’s
hideous and cheap and we spent far more than we could even fit in the
bank. I love it because I’ll never use it, but it will always be
like this day – something that doesn’t really belong but needs to
exist because the world is simply better for it being there.
Series
Reading Order:
Forget
Me Not, Lily of the Valley, and Blue Rose occur
simultaneously and can be read in any order. There is some crossover
in scenes between the titles, but each stands alone as one
character's story. Star
of Bethlehem is
a direct continuation from Forget
Me Not and
Lily of the
Valley. Orange Blossom assumes
readers have read the other four titles and reads as a sequel, as
will Ambrosia,
releasing
June 6, 2014.
Other
Series Titles:
Title:
Forget
Me Not (Lily’s Story)
Author:
Sarah
Daltry
Cover
Design: Shoutlines
Design
18+
New Adult Contemporary Romance
This
is a coming of age story, but it isn't always sweet and innocent. If
dirty talk, bedroom toys, and threesomes offend you... this is not
your book.
“No
one tells you when you start school just how homesick you will be, or
how hard it will be to start life over with no direction and no
friends or family. No one says that becoming your own person is
terrifying."
I
never wanted anything but Derek, my brother's best friend. When I
chose a college, it didn't seem to matter that he would be an hour
away. We could survive it. After all, we were in love. But almost
immediately, things change between us. I blame myself. Maybe I'm just
not sure how to be a girlfriend and independent.
Life
seems to be getting away from me - and then there's Jack, the guy
down the hall. He's rude and vulgar and my parents would be shocked
by him, yet every single time I see him, I feel like I'm being pulled
toward him. It's physical, sure, but there's something in Jack's eyes
- and I want to know him.
I
know I don't always make the right choices, and I'm the only person
at fault when everything falls apart. How do I tell Derek, the guy
who was supposed to be everything, that I don't feel like fighting
for him anymore? And do I run to Jack, when I know his past is way
too much for me to handle when I've just turned 19? Finally, where do
I end up in all of this? Can I be more than just someone else's idea
of what I should be?
Playlist:
http://hypster.com/hypsterPlayer/MPL?media_type=playlist&playlist_id=6674015&us_id=4993560
Title:
Lily of
the Valley (Jack’s Story)
Author:
Sarah
Daltry
Cover
Design: Shoutlines
Design
18+
New Adult Contemporary Romance
Jack's
story isn't pretty. He's suicidal, depressed, and he uses meaningless
sex and alcohol to survive. However, the story is about finding light
in the darkness, but sometimes the road there isn't always easy to
walk.
“No
one tells you about pain. They tell you that it hurts, that sometimes
it's consuming. What they don't tell you is that it's not the pain
that can kill you. It's the uncomfortable numbness that follows, the
weakness in your body when you realize your lungs may stop taking in
air and you just can't exert enough energy to care. It's the way
taste and color and smell fade from the world and all you're left
with is a sepia print of misery. That's when the shift starts - the
movement from passive to active. I fall asleep, hoping that the
morning will bring back the pain. At least the pain is a thing."
I'm
a plague, a cancer. My mom is dead - and my father is in prison for
it. I survived high school because college was my way out. I needed
to escape, to get away from my family and the people who tortured me,
but it hasn't grown any easier.
I
don't pretend that I'm a good person. I drink far more than I should,
and I use my best friend, Alana, because together, we thrive on
destroying each other - as well as the parts of us we hate. I don't
believe in love, but sex is fun and it also makes me feel something.
The
morning I see Lily, the beautiful princess who smells inexplicably
like strawberries every time I see her, I realize I'm in trouble. I
should hate her. I want
to hate her, because the alternative terrifies me. However, as she
continues to crash into my life (often literally), I can't avoid
feeling something that is the one thing I swore I would never feel. I
can't fall in love, because people like me don't live in a world
where love saves anyone.
She
just won't go away, though, and I don't know if I can keep running.
The voices and the darkness hover over me and they threaten to bring
me back to the safety of my hate, but the stupid scent of
strawberries lingers on the horizon, as something like hope.
Title:
Blue
Rose (Alana’s Story)
Author:
Sarah
Daltry
Cover
Design: Shoutlines
Design
18+
New Adult Women’s Fiction
Buy
Link:
Warning:
This book deals with topics of abuse and may trigger reactions in
people who have experienced those things in their own lives. It
remains a story about healing, but it's not always an easy journey.
“Four.
My life has been shaped by four people. Four men, to be more
specific. My father, my stepfather, my best friend, and my boyfriend.
The first two shaped it in horrible ways, but what I am, who I am, is
all because of four men."
Over
the last twenty years, I've learned how to keep secrets. It doesn't
really matter, since everyone already seems to think they know
everything about me. So I hide. I avoid confrontation, I treat Xanax
like a magic pill that will make it all go away, and I become
everything they think I am. A slut. A whore. Nothing but trash.
I
can only name two guys who have ever made me feel like I was more
than that. Jack is my best friend and I've loved him since I met him.
Now, though, he's in love... with someone else, and I guess I need to
get over him. Somehow.
And
then there's Dave. The guy I never gave a chance. The guy I used
almost as much as people used me, because I wanted to pretend I was
someone worth loving. Two years have passed since we last spoke, but
I don't know how to stop thinking about him.
My
new therapist is making me face my past, and she tells me that life
inevitably changes without our permission. I believe it, but I know
what I am. I hear what she's saying to me, and I want to try again
with Dave, to help Jack find joy, to love myself, and to move on. I
just wonder if anyone can do that, really.
Playlist:
http://hypster.com/hypsterPlayer/MPL?media_type=playlist&playlist_id=6787810&us_id=4993560
Title:
Star of
Bethlehem
Author:
Sarah
Daltry
Cover
Design: Shoutlines
Design
18+
New Adult Contemporary Romance
Buy
Link:
This
is a holiday novella-length story that follows Forget Me Not and Lily
of the Valley.
"With
you, Jack, it was the first time I ever felt real. It was the first
time anyone looked at me and saw substance. It was the first time I
wanted to make someone see me."
Jack:
New Year's Eve. I've somehow managed to get here, and now I'm wearing
a hideous and unreasonably itchy sweater, because I want to impress
Lily's family. I want to do anything for this girl who has made me
believe in second chances.
Lily:
The house
is beautiful and shining with light, but it feels empty. At least
until Jack gets here. I know how desperately he wants this - a
family, love, a home. If I can be the person who can give it to him,
it's all I need, but I hope I can keep him from seeing how hollow it
all really is.
Playlist:
http://hypster.com/hypsterPlayer/MPL?media_type=playlist&playlist_id=6781076&us_id=4993560
Sarah
Daltry writes about the regular people who populate our lives. She's
written works in various genres - romance, erotica, fantasy, horror.
Genre isn't as important as telling a story about people and how
their lives unfold. Sarah tends to focus on YA/NA characters but
she's been known to shake it up. Most of her stories are about
relationships - romantic, familial, friendly - because love and
empathy are the foundation of life. It doesn't matter if the story is
set in contemporary NY, historical Britain, or a fantasy world in the
future - human beings are most interesting in the ways they interact
with others. This is the principle behind all of Sarah's stories.
Sarah
has spent most of her life in school, from her BA and MA in English
and writing to teaching both at the high school and college level.
She also loves studying art history and really anything because
learning is fun.
When
Sarah isn't writing, she tends to waste a lot of time checking
Facebook for pictures of cats, shooting virtual zombies, and simply
staring out the window.
Sarah
has also written Bitter
Fruits, an
urban fantasy romance, and Backward
Compatible, a
gamer geek romantic comedy.
Social
Media Links:
Website:
http://sarahdaltry.com/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/SarahDaltry
Pinterest:
http://pinterest.com/sarahdaltry/boards/
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