I am so, so excited to have the release launch for Playing With Her Heart by Lauren Blakely, hosted by Inkslinger PR, on the blog today. I LOVED this book and you can check out my review by clicking here.
However, I do have an excerpt & giveaway to share with you!
~Synopsis~
When you’re acting the role of a lifetime, how can you know if love is real—or all just a part of the show?
Twenty-three year old rising theatre star Jill McCormick has built a life out of pretending. Pretending she’s happy, pretending her long-distance crushes add up to something real, pretending she’s not haunted by the dark secret that shattered her world six years ago. Cast in her first Broadway show, she desperately needs to keep her façade intact, but that’s before she comes face to face with her devastating new boss…
Hot-shot director Davis Milo knows the first rule of directing: never fall for your leading lady. Captivated by Jill’s raw talent, he fights his feelings, but watching Jill on-stage with another man is more than his jealous streak can take. Keeping things professional isn’t an option. He wants all of her.
Soon the ingénue and her director are staying late in the empty theatre, their private rehearsals spiraling into new, forbidden territory. Caught up between fiction and reality, Jill struggles to find the truth in all their staged kisses. But how can she be sure that what she feels is real, and not a part of the play? And when two people spend their lives pretending, what happens after the final curtain falls?
Twenty-three year old rising theatre star Jill McCormick has built a life out of pretending. Pretending she’s happy, pretending her long-distance crushes add up to something real, pretending she’s not haunted by the dark secret that shattered her world six years ago. Cast in her first Broadway show, she desperately needs to keep her façade intact, but that’s before she comes face to face with her devastating new boss…
Hot-shot director Davis Milo knows the first rule of directing: never fall for your leading lady. Captivated by Jill’s raw talent, he fights his feelings, but watching Jill on-stage with another man is more than his jealous streak can take. Keeping things professional isn’t an option. He wants all of her.
Soon the ingénue and her director are staying late in the empty theatre, their private rehearsals spiraling into new, forbidden territory. Caught up between fiction and reality, Jill struggles to find the truth in all their staged kisses. But how can she be sure that what she feels is real, and not a part of the play? And when two people spend their lives pretending, what happens after the final curtain falls?
For mature audiences 18+ due to sexual content and language.
~Excerpt~
DAVIS
She
leans her head back, closes her eyes, and lets me run my fingers through her
hair. I gather her hair at the top of her head, the thick strands laying across
my palms like silk waterfalls. I begin weaving one strand into another, then
gathering another layer, recreating the French braid I saw her wearing the
other day. The one that made me think of a moment of intimacy, when Paolo and
Ava come closer together through touch before they kiss in the next scene. A
tender moment, where he wants to take care of her, get her painted hair out of
her face. I reach the point in the braid where I’m at her neck, and now I’m
simply looping one strand over the other. There are no more lines in this scene
until hers at the end, and as I finish I stare at her neck, at the way a vein
seems to be beating harder, and then I listen, and her breaths sound like tiny
little sighs.
I stop moving for a second, trying to collect myself.
I am fighting everything in me that’s dying to touch her. I somehow find the
strength to return to character, pulling a rubberband from my pocket, and
fastening her braid. She turns around, and looks at me.
That’s not in the blocking. That’s not how she did it
this afternoon with Patrick. She didn’t look at him. She uttered the last lines
while gazing out at the audience, her body language saying how she felt, as she
leaned into him, showing that she trusted him.
But now, she’s leaning back against my chest, and
turning to look up at me. A tiny whimper escapes her throat, before she says,
“It feels so good.”
I have no idea if she’s acting. If she’s Ava, or
Jill, or both. If she’s acting, she’s so fucking convincing because her face
says she’s never been more aroused in her life.
My hands are still on her back, my thumbs tracing the
tiny strands at the end of her braid. She doesn’t break her gaze, nor do I. I
don’t know what’s going on. I don’t what’s happening. But for the first time I
don’t feel like I’m in control anymore.
She is.
I stay completely still.
She counters me by shifting closer. “What is
happening here?” Her voice is unsteady as she says a line that’s not in the
script.
“You tell me,” I say, and I’m not even sure where my
own voice is coming from.
She turns around, uncrosses her legs, and mirrors me,
kneeling. “You wrote that scene for me, didn’t you?”
I nod. My throat is dry. I can barely speak.
Check out the book trailer by clicking on the link below:
PURCHASE LINKS:
About the Author:
Lauren Blakely is an unabashed fan of clever jokes, toast, and good guys in novels. Like the heroine in TROPHY HUSBAND, she thinks life should be filled with hot men, cool clothes, and the kind of love that love songs promise. Lauren lives in California with her husband and children, and spends her days writing both true stories and make-believe ones.
GAHHHH I LOVE DAVIS!!!!! This book! Lauren slays me with her awesomeness.
ReplyDeleteRight?! He is probably one of my faves right now :-) Lauren always rocks my world!
ReplyDeleteThank you ever so for you post.Really thank you!
ReplyDelete