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If You Stay by Courtney Cole

24-year old Pax Tate is an asshole.

Seriously.

He’s a tattooed, rock-hard bad-boy with a bad attitude to match.

But he’s got his reasons.

His mother died when Pax was seven, leaving a hole in his heart filled with guilt although he doesn’t understand why. What he does know is that he and his dad are left alone and with more issues than they can count.

As Pax grew up, he tried to be the kid his father always wanted; the perfect golden boy, but it didn’t work. His dad couldn’t overcome his grief long enough to notice and Pax couldn’t keep up the impossible perfect façade.

So he slipped far, far from it.

Now, he uses drugs and women to cope with the ugliness, the black void that he doesn’t want to deal with. If he pretends that the emptiness isn’t there, then it isn’t, right?

Wrong.

And it’s never more apparent than when he meets Mila.

Sweet, beautiful Mila Hill is the fresh air to his hardened frown, the beauty to his ugly heart. He doesn’t know how to not hurt her, but he quickly realizes that he’s got to figure it out because he needs her to breathe.

When memories of his mother’s death resurface from where he’s repressed them for so long, Mila is there to catch him when the guilt starts making sense. Mila is the one…the one who can save him from his broken troubled heart; from his issues, from the emptiness.

But only if he can stop being an asshole long enough to allow it.

He knows that. And he’s working on it.

But is that enough to make her stay?

**Warning -Contains sex and violence**

Author Bio:

Courtney Cole is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could. She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds. She loves chocolate and roller coasters and hates waiting and rude people.

Courtney lives in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming, her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from their mother) and a small domestic zoo.

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Author Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3112212.Courtney_Cole

And now I get to feature the second story in the series and I’ll tell you, folks, I’m really, really, REALLY looking forward to this story!!! I can tell the plot will be taking a turn I can’t imagine. In other words, it’s skipping to the top of the queue.

So, without further ado!

Mia’s Heart by Courtney Cole

My name is Mia Giannis.

I am seventeen years old.

I live in Valese, Caberra.

This has become my mantra and my lifeline, having recently lost my memory due to a scary natural disaster.

Yeah.  I have amnesia.  Messed up, right?

You don’t know the half of it.

Not remembering anything has turned my world upside down. My parents try their hardest to “remind” me of who I was, but it doesn’t feel right. Or, if what they’re saying is true and that really was me, I’m not sure I like that person very much.

And then there’s my love life.  Apparently, Gavin Ariastasis is my oldest and best friend in the world. Also, apparently, we’ve never dated.  But now, noticing him for what feels like the first time, he’s making my heart do somersaults.  He knows me inside and out—the real me.  Plus, he’s sexy and charming as hell.  Sounds perfect, right?

But then… there’s the new guy. Quinn McKeyen – tall, gorgeous and deliciously American.  His mischievous grin and slow Midwestern drawl turn my insides to mush in two seconds flat making me question who I really am and what I really want.

Seriously. What am I supposed to do with all that?!  I feel torn between them, but I barely even know who I am, let alone what I want.

I just hope my indecisive heart will clue me in.  And sooner rather than later…before I lose what little of my mind that I have left.

Get Mia’s Heart now on Amazon!

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Buy Courtney Cole’s books at Amazon

Buy Courtney Cole’s books at Barnes & Noble

Follow  @courtwritesYA on Twitter

Like Courtney Cole’s Facebook Fan Page

Become a fan of Courtney Cole’s GoodReads

Find Courtney Cole on Smashwords

Listen to Courtney’s B100 radio interview

I absolutely loved this book so it can be no surprise to you that I’ve only got the following to say as I don’t want to keep you any longer from her incredible words: Buy this book today or miss out on the next New York Times Best Seller. I’m NOT kidding.

So, go. Get to reading, my pets. Then swing on over to the links below and buy it.

-Fisher

Love is dangerous…

“I’m a monster, Eva.  There is no saving a monster.  But I love that you want to try.”

My heart constricts at the expression on his face.  He has no hope for himself, so I have to hope for him.

“You’re not a monster,” I argue softly. “You’re a man, Luca.  A man like any other, you’re made of blood and bone.”

As a little boy, Luca Minaldi was told he was a monster.

As an adult, he knows it is true.

He lives in Malta, a fairytale-like place filled with sunshine and sea, beauty and secrets.  And Luca’s darkest of secrets is the best kept of them all.

Eva Talbot is spending the summer in Malta to finish up her doctoral dissertation.  When she meets Luca, a mysterious and handsome shipping tycoon, there is an instant attraction, a disturbing and beautiful energy that she has never felt before.  But she senses the darkness that lives within him.

Eva is hired to care for his mother, who suffers from dementia, but it is Luca who Eva will eventually risk everything to save.  Her life becomes a swirling chaos of darkness and romance, of secrets and mystery.  And the question that emerges will become the most important answer of all.

Can she save Luca from the darkness that plagues him without losing herself?

The answer is a matter of life or death.

Now, Courtney Cole isn’t going to leave you high and dry, she’s included a teaser and my word is it amazing! So, without further ado,

the Of Blood and Bone: Prologue

***

Luca is gone.

I know it before I open my eyes.  The weight of his body next to me is absent, the scent of him gone from the air.  I sigh, reluctant to begin this day because I know what it holds for me.  I know that if Luca is truly gone, I will spend every hour frantically searching for him.

Gazing around, I find my large suite empty.  Everything is neat and tidy and exactly in place. Each lavish piece of furniture is polished with lemon oil, each extravagant painting on the wall carefully dusted.  Each expensive vase, each crystal lamp, each woven rug is perfectly aligned and exactly how I left it.  Something is different, though, somehow changed in this room that I fell asleep in last night.

My sleepy eyes do another quick sweep, and this time I notice the balcony doors standing wide open while the bright morning sun streams onto the mahogany floor and the white sheer curtains on either side flutter in the sea breeze.

This is the difference and it slams into me like a concrete wall.  I didn’t fall asleep with those doors open. I would never do that now, not since I know what dangers lurk in the world, the darkness that can find me.

Immediately after I notice this inconsistency, I also see that across the room, my bedroom door is tightly closed and the bolt is still slid firmly in place.

Just as I left it last night.

My heart stutters as I realize what this means.

While I slept, Luca must have climbed from my balcony ledge to escape.  But the drop is well over thirty feet and there are sharp rocks at the base of the house.  There are gardens directly behind, but beyond that, there is a cliff with a hundred foot drop to the sea below.

I leap naked from bed and rush to the balcony’s edge.  My bare breasts press against the cold railing as I peer down at both the gardens and what I can see of the pristine sand beyond that.  Luca is not lying broken and bleeding there, so I try to still my racing heart.  I search the beaches and craggy landscape on both sides of my periphery and I still do not see him.

He somehow survived the fall.

A hundred different things run through my mind, but the one that stands out in the forefront is the image, the possibility, that he managed to drag himself, broken and bleeding, to a different location, somewhere where he is even now waiting for me to help him.

Because I promised.

I promised him that I would help him, that I would keep him from the darkness that plagues him, that I would heal him.

That I would save him.

I swallow hard and as I do, I realize that my throat is tender from Luca’s hands last night. I know that if I look into a mirror, there will be a bruise in the perfect formation of his long fingers around my neck.

As I softly touch it, I remember his face from the night before.  It was shadowed in the moonlight and like always, he was beautiful.  Luca is handsome in a very classic and beautiful way, dark hair and cut cheekbones.  His bangs are long and almost hide his magnificent dark eyes until he shakes his hair away.  And when he does, the sadness that dwells there is apparent to anyone who knows him.

But last night, I didn’t need to look into his eyes to see that his darkness had returned.  I knew it from the moment he stepped into my room.

I can always see it.  It changes everything about him, even the way he walks and moves.  The way he stands.  The way he speaks.  The way he feels.

He is an entirely different person when the darkness comes.

These are the moments that he dreads with every breath when he is himself; the moments when he is no longer Luca.  In these moments, he is filled with thoughts that are no longer his own.

He cannot help it, he cannot control it, he cannot stop it.

But I promised him that I would.

And I have failed him.

I scramble to my wardrobe and pull on clothing, choosing a shirt with a collar, hoping to somewhat hide the bruise on my neck.  The only other people here at Chessarae are servants, except for Luca’s mother in her lonely wing.  But she is locked in so she never comes into the main part of the house.  No one will see me but the staff.  And they are used to seeing strange things.

I rush through the house, through the extravagant corridors and over the marble floors, the rich and polished surroundings that I would never have dreamed I would find myself in.  I don’t notice it now though.  It has faded into an insignificant corner of my mind.  All that matters now is Luca.

I make my way out the back of the house, through the gardens, through the English maze that is perfectly manicured and challenging to maneuver.  I manage it with ease, however.  I memorized its twists and turns on a happier day.

The weather is stormy today and the normally cheerful and bright Maltese sky is gray and thunderous. I can feel the electricity in the air, snapping the ends of my long hair with static.  This day looks as foreboding as I feel, which I hope is not a sign.

I search through the maze.  I search the beaches as my feet sink into the cool sand.  I search the gardens with their exotic and sweet-smelling blooms and then I search the garage.  His car, a shiny black Jaguar, is still in its slot and its hood is cool to the touch.  Luca has not driven it today.  I search the front lawns and the back.  And just when I begin to panic, to fear that he has not returned to Chessarae after all, I search the stables.

As I walk through the heavy wooden doors, the smells of the horses and the hay and the saddle-soap and leather assail my nose and I breathe them in.  I’ve always loved this place.  It is peaceful here.  And I suddenly know, because I can feel it, that Luca is here.

I walk quietly down the main corridor, staring into each stall as I pass.

And finally, finally, when I come to the very last stall on the left, Luca is there and my breath hitches in my chest, freezing on my lips.

Luca is slumped on the ground, in the corner, his expression desolate. He is beautiful even here, even in this condition, and I cannot help but stare down at him as tears fill my eyes.

He is dirty and his clothing is torn.  There are smears of blood on his shirt, dried now to a rusty dark brown.  I swallow hard, trying not to imagine where the blood has come from.

Luca’s face is tortured as he stares up at me, his head in his hands.  There is blood on his fingers.

“It happened again.”

His words are low and husky and rough, yet elegant at the same time.  He is always refined, always perfect, always Luca.

His self-loathe is apparent and it breaks my heart.

I nod mutely because there are no words for this moment.  I bend to help him to his feet.  At 6’3”, he towers above me.  He is slender and strong and masculine.  He is lithe and powerful, beautiful and graceful.

And sometimes, on his very darkest days, he is a depraved killer.

But I have gotten ahead of myself.  I should begin at the beginning.  If I don’t, you will never understand.

***

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For those of you unfamiliar with Soul Bound…Wait, that probably means you’re unfamiliar with the Moonstone Saga which probably means you’re unfamiliar with The Bloodstone Sage which means you’re missing out on some hella’, hella’, hella’ good books. I’ll post links to the author’s pages down below. Anyway, Soul Bound. *Sigh* I bought this the SECOND Courtney Cole mentioned its release.

Did I mention that I love Courtney Cole’s books. Because I do. A lot. She’s one of my favorite Indie authors next to Amanda Hocking, M. Leighton, Abbi Glines, Tammara Webber and Tess Oliver.

Needless to say, buy this book.

The gods are playing games again and this time it’s going to get ugly.

Empusa is the daughter of the goddess of witchcraft and the moon. As a child of the moon, she has all of the ethereal lunar powers that come with it. She is beautiful, vulnerable and strong. But since she is cursed by her father to drink souls and mortal blood, her powers will come back to haunt her…

Brennan is the son of Apollo, the god of the sun. As a child of the sun, he is handsome, golden, brave and strong. He’s just learning to harness his own immortal powers, only there isn’t much time…

In this second book of the Moonstone Saga, there’s an ugly, twisted storm brewing on Olympus and Brennan and Em are in the center of it. Their powers are conflicting, polar opposites. If they can’t learn to handle their abilities without killing each other, they will kill everyone in the mortal world, as well. Time is ticking and the gods are watching. Who will rise, who will fall and who will be left standing?

Huh? Huh? Right? Exactly!!!!

Buy Courtney Cole’s books at Amazon

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Listen to Courtney’s B100 radio interview

I chose Sawyer Tuttle.

Since The Canopy has yet to release many of you aren’t aware what an integral part of Elliott’s and Julia’s story Sawyer plays. I can’t and won’t tell you how but he is definitely a huge character and I look forward to you all getting to know the amazing Sawyer better.

For this blog, I want to talk about titles. For those of you who aren’t aware of why I named The Understorey what it is and who want to know what the rest of the series’ titles and meanings are, check out part of Elliott’s guest post where he interviewed me for a change:

Elliott: Okay, that’s cool. I guess I could stop losing track. Tell me, how did you come up with the name of the novel?

Fisher: Oh, this is cool. Okay, so I knew the book was going to be set in Bramwell, West Virginia and the area has the most beautiful forest. Plus, nature plays such a massive role in all four books of the series, I decided to find something that could relate to both the theme and its scenery.
I researched what makes up a forest and found that it can be divided into layers much like the ocean or the inside of the earth. From bottom to top, you will find the undergrowth, the understorey, the canopy, and the emergents. Essentially, the life and how the plants in each layer thrive are indicative of the theme of each book. Although, the third and fourth book will be sold as one. The name of the series is ‘The Leaving Series’. There’s a double meaning in that, tee hee. ‘The Leaving Series’ is The Understorey, The Canopy, The Undergrowth and The Emergent, in that order.
Elliott: Get out of town! I had no idea.
Fisher: Well, you never asked.

So, as you can see the titles within ‘The Leaving Series’ are deeply involved and when searching for a name for Sawyer’s story, which is essentially a fourth book within ‘The Leaving Series’ I had to go with The Wonderboom.Yes, Sawyer’s gift is literally a wonderous boom but I had no way of tying that to nature.

My ‘aha!’ moment came while doing a little research and I stumbled upon this:

According to gopretoria.co.za,

“‘The Wonderboom’ (translated “Tree of Wonder” or “Miracle tree”) is a unique 1000 year old fig tree found North of the Magaliesburg Mountains in Pretoria. The tree, now a national monument, is unusually large, standing some 25 metres high and having a 5,5 metre diameter main trunk. It’s growth pattern is also unusual: as its branches grew longer, they drooped towards the ground and eventually took root and formed a circle of new trunks or daughter trees around the original tree. There are now a total of 13 trunks and the colossal tree covers an area with a diameter of 55 metres. The local people of the area revered the tree as sacred – legend has it that a chief of an indigenous tribe lies buried beneath its roots, fabled to be the reason for the tree’s immense size.”

Wonderboom Tree Trunk in Tshwane

It is an unbelievably beautiful and ancient tree and it provided so many links to Sawyer’s story, I just had to use it, thereby linking it appropriately to ‘The Leaving Series’ and providing just the right amount of mystery and fantasy.

So, needless to say, I cannot wait for you to read my little short story and introduce you to a few others and their amazing writing but even more than that, I can’t wait for you to get to know Sawyer. He’s my hidden gem within ‘The Leaving Series’ world.

You have me, I told her, and I won’t let you lose control. You mean too much to me.

Add The Glassheart Chronicles to your Goodreads and look for it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble on August 1st!