Title: Shattered
Castles
Author: E.M. Tippetts
Age Group: YA
Genre: Contemporary
Romance
Release Date: 9/22/14
Cover Designer:
Rebecca Berto
Pelican Bluffs is a
town built on secrets. Nestled away among the redwoods on the northern
California coast, it is the only home Madison Lukas has ever known. Her
classmates have been the same since she started kindergarten, and now that
she's a junior in high school, the wider world looms on the horizon, but it's
hard to know where to go when she has no idea where she came from.
Then one day, a message arrives from a stranger. A man who knows her face and her past, and who starts Madison on a journey of self discovery that she never could have imagined. Along the way friends turn into enemies and lives shatter. Can Madison Lukas endure the truth and come in to her own? Or will the secrets that destroyed her family, destroy her as well?
Then one day, a message arrives from a stranger. A man who knows her face and her past, and who starts Madison on a journey of self discovery that she never could have imagined. Along the way friends turn into enemies and lives shatter. Can Madison Lukas endure the truth and come in to her own? Or will the secrets that destroyed her family, destroy her as well?
Purchase Links
Amazon - only $0.99
My heel bumps against the door and I can’t back up any further. I shut my eyes, not sure if he’s
going to try to kiss me or what, but it’s the pad of his thumb that touches my lips, not his mouth.
I can feel him close, though, close enough that his breath dances across my skin. His fingers
splay out across my cheek and he sweeps his thumb along my cheekbone.
My next breath comes out shaky as he settles his hand against the side of my neck and strokes
the line of my jaw. I open my eyes and see that he hasn’t leaned down. He’s still staring at me
with that unreadable look.
“This one of your games?” I ask.
“No.”
“What do you want?” Those words come out defiant, angry. Why am I angry?
Rather than pull back, he steps closer and touches his lips to my forehead. He takes his time, and
when I don’t flinch away, he moves to kiss my temple, his thumb tracing a line down the side of
my throat. He steps closer still, until our bodies touch and he presses me gently against the door
as he kisses my closed eyelid, my cheek, the tip of my nose.
I lift my hands with the half formed intention of pushing him away. He’s messing with me.
He’s figured out how I feel about him and is just going to use me. But my hands grasp his waist
instead. I want, so badly, for this to be real.
He slides his arm behind the small of my back, pressing me even closer to him, as he tilts my
head to one side and touches his lips to my neck. The sensation sends a tremor through me and
my fingers tighten. His kisses move down to the hollow just above my clavicle, and I find my
arms are around him now. I’m holding him, encouraging him. One hand I slide up his back to
grasp his shoulder.
But still he takes his time, his mouth soft as a caress against my skin, then he pauses, breathing
like he’s just run up a flight of stairs. I can feel my pulse pounding in my ears and fingertips. I
lift my head and he moves his hand from my neck down to my hip. Our noses touch and I nuzzle
him, taking my time now, gauging how he feels by his ragged breathing. My hand goes from his
shoulder to the back of his neck, where I run the tips of my nails across his skin.
He sucks in his breath and I lean up to kiss him. The first time our lips touch, I break it off, but
the second time, I relax and savor the sensation of his mouth on mine. His kisses are light, and I
can’t get enough of them. We kiss and kiss until I feel him gasp and realize I’ve barely let him
breathe.
“Sorry,” I whisper. “
It’s all right.” He chuckles and leans his forehead against mine.
E.M.'s Favorite Quotes
- “No more cage fighting for you. That is what I’ve been telling people. It makes me rebellious
by association. They say, ‘Do you have a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey?’ and I say, ‘She’s a cage
fighter, you know. You should have seen the other guy.’”
(That’s by Siraj, the librarian in town and my main character, Madison’s, boss. He says this after she got beaten up at school.)
- “I sense you’re about to put yourself down again. Don’t do it. I am the Y-chromosome holder
in this conversation, so I am the expert.”
(This is Madison talking to her brother, who is trying to undo years of put-downs and low self-
esteem. The brother is another character based on the book’s dedicatee.)
- “What is this? First you won’t arrest me, now I get a pep talk?”
“Listen.” Officer Li’s tone goes serious. “Keep it up and I’ll give you a lecture. Tell me you
wouldn’t rather go to jail.”
(Officer Li spends most of the first book as the enemy of the kids in town. Here in book two,
he’s gotten a little perspective on himself.)
Giveaway
2 winners will receive a print copy of Shattered Castles, open Intl
About EM Tippetts
Emily Mah Tippetts writes science fiction as Emily Mah and sweet romance as E.M. Tippetts. A lifelong New Mexican, she lives with her family in Santa Fe, though she's been known to spend years at a time in the UK, her second home. Aside from being a writer, she's been a lawyer and jeweler, and is currently a stay at home mother, polymer clay artist, book designer/formatter, and owner of E.M. Tippetts Book Designs.
No comments:
Post a Comment