Title: LoveLines
Author: S. Walden
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Release Date: March 25, 2014
~Synopsis~
Arrive to work at 7:58 A.M. sharp. Check. Count forty-seven steps to cubicle. Check. Arrange pens in their red-blue-black-green-purple order of importance. Check. Apply hand sanitizer before opening email. Double check.
And that’s just the first few minutes of her work day.
Thirty-one-year-old proofreader Bailey Mitchell is a slave to her tics. She inherited Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder from her father, and it’s done nothing but inhibit her love life. She’s run the gamut of boyfriends—none of them willing or able to cope with her condition.
Enter 32-year-old Reece Powell, her new coworker at Beach Elite Marketing Firm. He’s more than willing to cope. He finds her habits cute and quirky . . . for now. Reece wins her over, and life coasts along for them until Bailey experiences a devastating blow. Tragedy exacerbates her OCD, and Reece realizes her tics aren’t so cute and quirky anymore. Just like all the others, he has the choice to leave.
But Reece isn't like all the others.
The Wilmington Saga
Follow the stories of Wilmington, NC residents as they fall in and out of love, mend and break hearts, grow, change, lose, win, and experience what it means to truly live in this small coastal community.
~Purchase This Book~
Kindle Link:
Smashwords: http://www.
~Excerpt 1~
“Annie!” I squealed, running and scooping her up before she had the chance to escape. I rained kisses all over her face. She was clearly confused, but she seemed to like it. The evidence? She dropped her doll and squeezed my neck.
Erica stared at me through narrowed eyes. “No one, including me, likes my children that much. What is going on?”
Annie giggled on cue, like she understood her mother’s words. I laughed outright.
“Your momma’s silly, isn’t she? Isn’t she?” I asked, poking Annie’s sides.
“Oh my God, who are you?” Erica demanded. “Where’s my BFF who promised me she’d never have children so I could live vicariously through her? I swear to God if you’re pregnant…”
“Calm down,” I said over the top of Annie’s head. She twisted in my arms signaling she was over my show of affection. I placed her on the floor beside her discarded doll. “How would I even be pregnant?”
“Sex. It’s called sex,” Erica replied. She finished folding the last of Little Noah’s shirts, then tossed it in the laundry basket.
“Don’t say s-e-x in front of the baby!” I chided.
“B, she doesn’t know what sex is.”
“She’ll repeat it.”
“Who cares?”
“Oh, so you want to be the mother with the kid who knows the bad words?” I asked.
“Bad word?” Erica asked, laughing.
“You know what I mean,” I said. “You want to be the mother who all the other mothers gossip about? Like about how bad your parenting skills are?”
Erica placed her hand on her hip. “Yeah, I do. Fuck ‘em. Fuck all those mothers. Fuck their playdates and mommy groups and fucking Melissa and Doug puzzles. Fuck their running strollers and baby couture and breastfeeding advice. Fuck their—”
“ERICA!”
“What?”
I looked down at the floor, but Annie was gone. She’d walked away somewhere, no doubt the kitchen since that seemed to be her favorite place to play.
~Excerpt 2~
My phone beeped some time around 6:30 A.M. the following morning.
Reece: We need to talk about that kiss. When can I call you?
I couldn’t read the tone. Who can ever read tones in text messages and emails anyway? My instinct, though, was to lean toward the negative. (Hey, I had a history to back it up.) I immediately thought the worst: He doesn’t like me. He doesn’t want whatever happened at the theater to go any further. I’m a bad kisser.
I glanced at the time: 6:31 A.M. Oh, what the hell? He was obviously awake.
“Reece?” I said hesitantly into the phone.
“Bailey!” he replied. “Did I wake you? I didn’t mean to wake you. That’s why I texted. I thought maybe you turn your sound alerts off at night. I’m sorry if I woke you. I’ve just been up all night. I couldn’t sleep. I wanted to call you yesterday, but I thought maybe I should leave you alone for a day or two. But then it just drove me crazy all day, and then I didn’t sleep last night. I think I mentioned I didn’t sleep. And I kept thinking about you and the theater and . . .”
I grinned from ear to ear as I listened to Reece prattle on about how he couldn’t get me out of his mind. Silly Bailey. And you thought you were a bad kisser!
“Reece?” I interrupted.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Am I talking too much? I have a problem with that. It’s something I’m working on. I talk more when I’m nervous—”
“Reece!”
He went silent.
“I wanted to call you yesterday, too,” I said.
He sighed into the phone. A happy sigh. “Really?”
“Yes. I nearly did, but then my sister called and wanted me over at our parents’ house last night. She needed to make an announcement and whatever. It’s not important,” I said.
“What announcement?” Reece asked.
“Oh, about how she’s getting married,” I said dismissively.
“That’s pretty cool.”
I grunted. We fell silent.
“I’ve been thinking about you nonstop,” Reece admitted.
“Really?” I asked. I wanted to confess the same thing, but I wasn’t sure it was wise for girls to be so transparent. I’d already initiated the first kiss. That was as far as I’d go.
“Oh, yes,” Reece replied. “I . . . I know we aren’t supposed to date.” Brief pause. “But I want to.”
~Teasers~
~About the Author~
S. Walden
S. Walden used to teach English before making the best decision of her life by becoming a full-time writer. She lives in Georgia with her very supportive husband, who prefers physics textbooks over fiction and has a difficult time understanding why her characters must have personality flaws. She is wary of small children, so she has a Westie instead. She is the USA Today bestselling author of Going Under. When she's not writing, she's thinking about it.
She loves her fans and loves to hear from them. Email her at swaldenauthor@hotmail.com and follow her twitter feed at @swaldenauthor.
Website: http://www.swaldenauthor.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/
Twitter: @swaldenauthor
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/
~Giveaway~
GRAND PRIZE:
LoveLines signed paperback; $5 Amazon gift card
FIRST RUNNER-UP:
LoveLines ebook; signed LoveLines promo poster from Wicked Book Weekend
SECOND RUNNER-UP:
LoveLines ebook
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