The Flowering Series
Book Spotlight & Giveaway
Book Spotlight & Giveaway
Forget Me Not
by
Sarah Daltry
~ Synopsis ~
18+ New Adult romance
This isn’t a sweet and innocent coming of age story. If dirty
talk, bedroom toys, and threesomes offend you… this is not your book. There are
also no billionaires, strippers, or virgins. This is just the story of typical
college kids trying to connect to each other.
“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.”
Lily had a crush on her brother’s best friend, Derek, for years – which
led to their steamy night ten months ago in her bedroom. Now, she’s off to
college and she and Derek are still going strong. However, when school starts,
Lily realizes it’s hard to maintain a relationship, while also trying to live
her own life. She and Derek find themselves falling apart and she has no idea
where to turn.
Enter Jack. Everything about him is wrong for Lily and she knows it, but
she can’t stop herself from being attracted to him. When things implode with
Derek, it’s Jack who’s there to pick up the pieces – and to show Lily an
entirely new set of experiences she didn’t know she was missing. Of
course, Jack has his own problems and once Lily gets to know him better, she
starts to wonder if she can handle all of Jack.
When Derek reappears on the scene, Lily is forced to decide between two
guys and herself. Can she find herself without losing the people who matter in
the process?
~ Add to Goodreads ~
~ Excerpt ~
“Is it bad? Is something wrong
with Derek?” Abby knows better than anyone how much I obsessed over him for
years. She’s the one who bought me the vibrator last year for my birthday that
ended up being the catalyst for my entire relationship with him. Four years of
high school and three of them consisted of me whining about how badly I wanted
to be with him.
“No, he’s okay. But, well, I have
only seen him once since school started. We don’t even talk every night lately
because our schedules are so different.”
“Are you having a lot of fun at
school?”
“Not really,” I admit. “I’m just
so sad about Derek. I feel like he doesn’t even care about me anymore.”
“That’s weird. You guys were
headed for marriage when we graduated. What happened?”
“I don’t know. When he came to
visit, it was amazing, of course, but now we are both so busy, and I don’t
know.” I break down, crying for real for the first time since school started,
because I know she’s right. It is weird and
something must be wrong. I just don’t know what it is. It isn’t just Derek,
either. School isn’t what I thought it would be. I feel like I am alone most of
the time, even with my small group of friends. Everyone has his or her own
schedule and it’s tough finding time outside of meals to talk. On the weekends,
we usually try to hang out, but someone is always missing for work, a home
visit, or just because something else came up.
“Maybe you need a break,” Abby
suggests. “Not like a break up, but just time for you to get settled. I mean, he’s
been with you since last year and he also had time to settle in first. You
haven’t even found your own way around school. I know how you are. You probably
just pine over him and act antisocial, aren’t you?”
“I have friends,” I argue.
“You’re in college. What do you
do every night?”
I’m about to argue again when I
realize that what I do mostly is stay in and work on homework, or go to the
library to work on homework, or talk to Derek. Yes, I go to meals and hang out
with Kristen and the others, but I don’t take part in most of the events or
activities on campus. I can’t claim that the environmental club is a happening
social life. I honestly can’t say I know anyone outside of the group of people
that Kristen hangs out with – and Jack.
“You’re right,” I say. “I love
him, Abby. But I don’t even know who I am.”
~ Links to Buy ~
Lily of the Valley
(Flowering, #1.5)
by
Sarah Daltry
~ Synopsis ~
18+ New Adult romance
This isn’t a sweet and innocent coming of age story. If dirty
talk, bedroom toys, and threesomes offend you… this is not your book. There are
also no billionaires, strippers, or virgins. This is just the story of typical
college kids trying to connect to each other.
“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.”
Plagued by a dark past, Jack sees college as a way out. Desperate to
escape the area where he grew up, the people who know his secrets, and his own
family, he deals with his problems through alcohol and meaningless sex.
When he first sees Lily, she’s the epitome of everything he hates. Yet
something about her makes Jack rethink everything he knows and assumes about
other people. Now, with the help of his best friend and lover, Jack has to
decide if he wants to pursue something that he knows will only end badly.
Can Lily be one of the few people who can see Jack for who he really is
– or will his darkness be too much for her to handle?
~ Add to Goodreads ~
~ Excerpt ~
“Did you go see your Mom today?”
I nod. Before moving in, I made my regular visit to the
cemetery. Nothing there ever changes. It’s both a relief and a constant
reminder. Even my grandmother stopped going, but I can’t. I can’t just not go.
Someday, I’ll be ready. Someday.
“You don’t have to say it,” I tell Sandee. “I know she’s not
there.”
At one point, during my father’s trial, when I refused to take
his side on the stand, he nearly kicked me across the lawyer’s office. “Your
mother was a fucking junkie, and you meant shit to her. Driving up there every
weekend, leaving flowers on her grave? You’re wasting your time. She’s dead and
good riddance to her. There’s nothing in that grave because even if there is a
soul, that bitch didn’t have one.” The lawyers later came to work out
guardianship one afternoon when I was home and shook their heads when they saw
me. Was it guilt? Irritation? Something else? I don’t know, but fuck them.
That’s what I know now.
“You do what to need to do, Jack. She’s there if you want her to
be there.”
“You know, they spelled her fucking name wrong. Right there on
the tombstone. E-V-E-L-Y-N. It was Eveline, with an I-N-E. And no one even
bothered to fix it. I remember being led to a plastic folding chair out on the
cemetery lawn, the gaping hole my last physical memory of my mother, and
looking up. That fucking Y. By the time we noticed, it was done and they said
it would cost us several hundred dollars to change it. Like it was our fault.”
“Shit. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It doesn’t matter. They couldn’t really change it, even if they
had put up a new one. They did it and you can’t fix something that deeply
ingrained, can you? It’s been dug in too far. That Y is not going anywhere, no
matter if I cry, punch something, or just give up.”
“Things can always be fixed.” Sandee’s a regular source of
inspiration, but her optimism wears me down right now. I don’t get how some
things can be fixed.
Whenever I think of my family, either then or now, all I feel is
rage. Rage at my mother for turning out like she did, rage at my father for
what he did, rage at the way the world shits on your dreams, and rage sometimes
at myself. For existing.
~ Links to Buy ~
Star of Bethlehem
(Flowering Holiday Novella)
by
Sarah Daltry
~ Synopsis ~
Jack isn’t a rock star. He’s not the leader of a MC. He isn’t a
billionaire. Lily’s not the daughter of a mob boss, or a stripper, or a virgin
with a BDSM fascination. They’re just regular college kids, who somehow found
each other in the middle of all the crap and chaos of growing up.
“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 and Lily have navigated his past,
her desire to move on from her family’s demands of her, his depression, and her
loneliness. Now, on New Year’s Eve, they have an entire year laid out ahead of
them. First, though, Jack needs to meet Lily’s family, to be welcomed into her
life. It’s intimidating, but with a sweater that is way too hot and his
grandmother’s ugly car, he arrives at Lily’s gleaming house on a hill, ready to
open himself up completely to her.
Inside the perfect, sparkling house,
Lily waits for the boy she has come to love. But Lily’s house and family are a
lot like her – shiny and pretty on the outside, with a sad emptiness on the
interior. Lily wants to give Jack the one thing he has always dreamed of –
family and love – but can she keep him from seeing how hollow a lot of the
picture perfect life he fantasizes about really is?
This is a novella length work that
follows Forget Me Not and Lily of the Valley.
~ Add to Goodreads ~
~ Excerpt ~
I take his hand and pull him down
beside me on my bed. I feel so complete in his arms, as if nothing can go wrong
when he holds me. It’s all the other stuff. The world, people, pressure. Maybe
it’s a little fear that things just ended with Derek. That one day, as quickly
as I fell for Jack, I also fell out of love with Derek. I don’t have enough
experience to know if that’s normal. What if it happens again?
“What? Tell me,” Jack whispers.
“Have you ever felt like your entire
life is some surrealist’s joke? That you think you’re in control of it, while
really, you’re probably just…”
“A melting clock?” he finishes and
laughs. I look at him, disappointed that I can’t explain it, but also relieved
that he doesn’t care.
“All the fucking time,” he says. “I
know you’re scared. I know I’m scared.
But I seem to remember you telling me that I should remember what matters. I
made you a promise, princess. Yes, your house intimidates me. Your life intimidates me. Hell, loving you
intimidates me. But I’m in this. I’m here. Present. Entirely. I’m looking only
forward. And all I see is you.”
“Take the damn book,” I tell him. “I
just wanted to show you that I have faith in us. It was a conscious decision to
give you something that was a very special gift to me, to tell you that I trust
you with it, because I trust you to be there. Long term.”
He takes me in his arms and kisses me.
I decide I won’t stop him if he goes further, but he doesn’t. Our bodies
crackle with the energy between us, but as much as the sex thrills me, Jack
does so much more for my mind than his body could even do. I can’t believe how
alive I feel when he’s near me. Perhaps it’s selfish. Perhaps it’s desperate.
But I want him here in my life; I want him with me, because I love being this
aware.
I speak against his cheek, while his
hands slowly explore my body. It’s sensual but not sexual. He’s studying me like
a work of art. “I don’t want to fall out of love with you. I thought Derek was
all I ever wanted. I don’t want to be in the same place with you a year from
now.”
“You won’t be,” he tells me.
“How do you know?”
He kisses along my face, brushing his
lips against my cheek, my forehead, my nose, but never reaching my mouth. “I
don’t know how. But I do.”
I love that he can put aside his doubts
to ease my own. I know Jack’s had so much trouble in his life, and the fact
that he can comfort me, when my problems are so petty and stupid in the scheme
of things, is one more thing I love so much. “I know I’m shallow. But I don’t
want to be, Jack.”
“You’re not shallow. You’re not empty.
Anything you think of yourself – it’s crazy. If you want to talk about surreal,
it’s the fact that you think you’re less than something. Maybe you didn’t get
shit on the same way I did in high school, but clearly, people have
underestimated you. They missed out on you. And you have every right to be
hurt. But, Lily? No one will ever hurt you again.”
I smile. “Thanks. I’m sorry I’m being
so moody. It’s probably hormones or something. I think I’m just frustrated.”
“Yeah?” He laughs. “Well… I mean… I can
help you relieve some of that.”
He’s on top of me and I don’t care that
it wasn’t exactly what I meant. I don’t care that someone could walk in.
Someone probably will walk in, since
eventually they’ll come looking, but I don’t care at all. I want to belong to Jack,
and I don’t know any other way to do so.
~ Links to Buy ~
The Flowering Box Set
Volume 1
~ Links to Buy ~
~ Top Ten ~
Author’s Favorite Books
The Sun Also
Rises – Ernest Hemingway
The Catcher
in the Rye – JD Salinger
Jane Eyre –
Charlotte Bronte
Wuthering
Heights – Emily Bronte
Dandelion
Wine – Ray Bradbury
The Great Gatsby
– F. Scott Fitzgerald
Clockwork
Angel – Cassandra Clare
Lola and the
Boy Next Door – Stephanie Perkins
Days of Blood
and Starlight – Laini Taylor
Red Moon – MA
Grant
Author’s Favorite Book Boyfriends
Jake Barnes – The Sun Also Rises
Holden Caulfield – The Catcher in the
Rye
Heathcliff – Wuthering Heights
Rochester – Jane Eyre
Will – Clockwork Angel
Etienne – Anna and the French Kiss
Hamlet – Hamlet
Ian – The Host
Bru – Summer Sisters
Samuel – The Lovely Bones
Author’s Favorite Video Games
1.
Borderlands 1 and 2
2.
Fallout 3
3.
Persona series
4.
Silent Hill series
5.
Final Fantasy series
6.
Skyrim
7.
Dragon Age series
8.
Mass Effect series
9.
Fable series
10.
Bioshock series
11.
Magic: The Gathering
12.
Perfect Dark
13.
Heavy Rain
14.
LA Noire
15.
Catherine
16.
Zuma
Author’s Favorite Bad Boys
1.
Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights
2.
Jake Barnes from The Sun Also Rises
3.
Will from Infernal Devices
4.
Lord Byron
5.
The Scarecrow in Batman Begins
6.
Lucifer from Supernatural
7.
Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice
8.
James Dean
9.
Damon from Vampire Diaries
10.
V from V for Vendetta
~ An Interview with Sarah ~
·
What
inspired you to write your book?
I had written a short story
about Derek and Lily and their first time called “Her Brother’s Best Friend.”
It was just supposed to be a short erotic story. But it sold well, so I thought
about writing more about the two of them. However, as I started writing Forget Me Not, the story would not work
for me. Until I found Jack. And then the novel was over and there was just so
much more to his story, so Lily of the
Valley was born.
·
How
did you come up with the title?
Forget
Me Not and Lily of the
Valley are both flowers, and the series is called Flowering. The reason is that it is about love, sexuality, and
growing up – sort of blossoming into the person you will be. Forget Me Not also addresses the idea of
leaving your life behind and moving on. And Lily is the main female character,
so hence Lily of the Valley.
·
Is
there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
People are complicated, as
are relationships. The things we think we want sometimes turn out not to be
what we want. In addition, the people we think we understand may surprise us.
We can’t assume anything about love or each other. They are too complex.
·
What
books have most influenced your life most?
The
Catcher in the Rye, because it was the first time I understood
that other people felt like me and it also said it was okay to be different.
And The Sun Also Rises, because there
can be beauty in suffering.
·
If
you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
Hemingway. I know he’s dead,
but he knew how to write true.
·
What
are your current projects?
I am writing Scandal, a contemporary romance about a
teacher and an actor who find each other after they are both ruined by rumors,
and I am waiting to release Bitter Fruits,
a New Adult paranormal/urban fantasy romance
in December through the publisher. I am also working on Immortal Star, the second book in that
series.
·
What
was the hardest part of writing your book?
Jack’s experiences and
emotions are really closely tied to my own and it was hard to write some of his
scenes.
·
If Hollywood made a movie about your life, whom would you like to
see play the lead role as you?
Aubrey Plaza.
She has the same type of biting sarcasm that I do.
·
If you had six months with no obligations or financial
constraints, what would you do with the time?
Travel the world
and write.
·
What kind of people do you dislike?
Anyone who is
cruel to other people or creatures. People who assume their own reality is the
only reality. And people who don’t read.
~ About the Author ~
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.
~ Connect with Sarah ~
~ A Rafflecopter Giveaway ~
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