Aftereffects
by LJ Greene
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GENRE: Contemporary Romance
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BLURB:
What
could be more terrifying than falling in love with the person who is your good
place? Maybe realizing just a smidge too late that there can be dire consequences
to becoming your best friend’s lover.
The lives of Keir Stevens and Selene Georgiou serendipitously collide midspan on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, one jarring step ahead of fate. He’s a temporary transplant from Seattle; she’s facing the biggest career opportunity of her life. They have no notion of the common thread that connects them.
As they come to discover they share a similar adversity, their relationship evolves from a fun and frivolous infatuation with nowhere to go into a true friendship with sincerity, humor, and respect at its heart.
It’s awfully hard not to fall in love with that—even if you’re pretty darn certain you shouldn’t.
But when love and friendship suffer their own devastating collision—their interests brutally conflicting—the consequences of blurring the lines between the two suddenly become real. In the end, which one will be the stronger? And more importantly, can either survive?
AFTEREFFECTS is a standalone dual POV adult contemporary romance about the things we choose in life out of all the things that are beyond our choosing—a tale of love and friendship, of time and how we spend it, and of the inner wars that ultimately show us what really matters.
The lives of Keir Stevens and Selene Georgiou serendipitously collide midspan on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, one jarring step ahead of fate. He’s a temporary transplant from Seattle; she’s facing the biggest career opportunity of her life. They have no notion of the common thread that connects them.
As they come to discover they share a similar adversity, their relationship evolves from a fun and frivolous infatuation with nowhere to go into a true friendship with sincerity, humor, and respect at its heart.
It’s awfully hard not to fall in love with that—even if you’re pretty darn certain you shouldn’t.
But when love and friendship suffer their own devastating collision—their interests brutally conflicting—the consequences of blurring the lines between the two suddenly become real. In the end, which one will be the stronger? And more importantly, can either survive?
AFTEREFFECTS is a standalone dual POV adult contemporary romance about the things we choose in life out of all the things that are beyond our choosing—a tale of love and friendship, of time and how we spend it, and of the inner wars that ultimately show us what really matters.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Selene lifted her left hand and touched my face with her
palm. It was definitely a new kind of closeness for us, at least sober—one to
which I gave no resistance. Her skin felt warm and smooth as she stroked my
cheek gently. And I couldn’t take my eyes off her face. My God, she was
stunning. This close, I absorbed the perfection of her features, of her
delicate earlobes. A tiny piece of dark hair curled around the back of one.
The air between us seemed to crackle quietly, and I sat
frozen in my seat in case any movement might cause her to draw away.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you clean-shaven,” she said
softly.
I could feel her breath, too, warm against my face. My
fingers itched to reach up and touch her mouth, to feel whether it was as soft
as I remembered. My heartbeat picked up not only faster but harder, like it was
punching me from the inside.
Had a goal been scored just then I wouldn’t have noticed.
Nothing could have pulled me from that trance. I didn’t hear anything going on
around us. Not the crowd, not the announcer, not the buzzer.
Only her.
Only her voice and her eyes and her breath. The memory of
her mouth.
“Do you have a preference?” I asked roughly. I had no idea
what possessed me to ask her that.
No, that’s a lie. That other side of me wanted to be
everything she wanted and would have shaved every single day if that’s what she
asked of me.
“No.” Her beautiful lips curved slightly upward. “How could
I choose between James Bond and Indiana Jones?”
Her palm came to rest on my jawline, and I took a deep
breath. When had my wanting her turned into this painful kind of ache?
Under the sanctity of her expression, I had a sudden and
startling thought that maybe we could write a different ending for the two of
us. One I hadn’t yet considered. Maybe there was a different story we could
tell in which the things we had to offer would be enough.
There was obviously more to our relationship than just
friendship, and perhaps we could figure out how to have something more than
what we’d allowed ourselves. After all, there was care and respect at the heart
of everything we did together. That had to mean something.
5 stars
I really enjoyed this story. From the start the two meet in such a peculiar way. You wouldn't expect them to hit it off so well after an accident. They have such an easy flow of communication as friends and as lovers. I like that they have so many similarities in their lives. Both are career driven, both of their fathers suffer the same illness. This was truly a heartwarming, sweet, adoring story with amazing characters and a wonderful storyline. I highly recommend this one!
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
LJ
Greene is a self-professed obsessive multi-tasker who writes really boring
stuff by day and lets her inner romantic fly by night. This California
native is married to the most amazing man and has two beautiful children, not
old enough to read her books. (They probably wouldn’t want to
anyway on account of the “Ew, gross” factor.) She’s an avid reader of all
genres with an embarrassingly large ebook collection, and a weird
penchant for reading the acknowledgements at the end of a novel.
She's also a music lover with no apparent musical talent, a travel
enthusiast, and a cheese connoisseur.
Buy
links:
Author
Website and Info:
Twitter:
@authorljgreene
Facebook:
LJ Greene
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GIVEAWAY
LJ
Greene will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn
winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
<a href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f2868">Enter to win a $25 Amazon/BN GC - a Rafflecopter
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