Friday, December 6, 2013

Blog tour: Broken by Kelly Elliott





SYNOPSIS:

Layton Morris and his brother Mike grew up not knowing what it would be like to live in a normal home. With no running water or electricity in their home, no parents around to protect them, they quickly learned how to survive and depend only on each other.
When a tragic accident takes Mike away from Layton, and the only other person that he ever let into his heart walked away from him, leaving his heart shattered, Layton focuses all of his time and energy into the ranch he and his brother dreamed of. He makes a vow to himself to never let love in again. The last thing Layton needed or wanted was more heartache.

Whitley Reynolds grew up in a privileged home in upstate New York. When she landed the star football player in high school no one was surprised, not even Whitley. She dreamed of a life with Roger living in New York City and happily followed him there. 

The first time Roger hit her for arguing with him about a dinner party, she forgave him. The more it happened, the further Whitley withdrew from her friends and family. One fateful day things go to far. Whitley makes a promise to herself and finds the courage to do the one thing she thought she’d never be able to do.

Fleeing with her best friend Courtney, Whitley was determined to put her past behind her and start a new life in the small town of Llano, Texas, where no one would ever find out about her past.

Will they both ever learn to trust and love again, or will their pasts come back to haunt them, keeping them both alone and…


Broken.

4.5 Star Review by Lisa Kane

Whitley Reynolds is running as fast as she can to a small town in Texas. She met a guy from Texas once who talked about his home town. She longs for the anonymity and vastness of a place she can hide. Why is she hiding? Because the man she thought she would be spending her life with, the man she has been with since high school beats her whenever he thinks she is out of line, and he thinks she is out of line most of the time.

“You are mine, Whitley. You’ve always been mine, and you always will be. You need to be taught a lesson, so you don’t whore around like you were tonight.”

After his last “lesson” in response to some imagined thing that she did, Whitley landed in the hospital. No more, she has had enough and she and her best friend Courtney pack up the bare essentials from the home she shared with Roger, and they leave for Texas.

Layton Morris lives in Llano, Texas where he has a five thousand acre cattle ranch. He is still reeling from his brother Mike’s death in Afghanistan. The two were as close as two brothers can be; their mother died and their father literally abandoned them, leaving them no food, heat, running water. He did send them some money years later that Mike invested in the ranch and in horse racing and it paid off in spades. The day after Mike died, Layton’s fiancĂ© Olivia broke up with him to be with his best friend Justin. Layton hit rock bottom but he is slowing trying to pick himself up.  Layton has vowed to continue to keep their dream alive in honor of Mike.

When Whitley’s car breaks down Layton stops to offer assistance. Though they are attracted to each other, they rub each other the wrong way. But like magnets, as sure as the can repeal, they can attract. Layton kids her about being a “city girl” and nicknames her CG. She doesn’t like that anymore than she liked Roger and his annoying habit of calling her “Squeak”. They share a few details-the event planning business Whitley is opening up, tidbits about the town, nothing too personal. He offers to take her to her appointment for a consultation for an event. They make a quick stop at his house, and Whitley is in love with his home.

“You’ve got your purse and laptop?” He looked me in the eyes. “Yep, got ‘em.” “Good. I wouldn’t want you needing an excuse to come back and take another peek around my house.” And there was the asshole I’d met a bit ago.

Along the way Whitley is introduced to Olivia, who sensing some connection between the two, hires Whitley to plan her engagement party to Justin, hoping to get a rise out of Layton. How I wanted to slap that wench up the side of her head. Not content with dumping Layton for Justin, she wants to get a little action on the side with him again. As tempted as he is to have her back in any way, shape or form, he keeps turning her down.

“Who’s the girl, Layton? Are you seeing someone new? My eyes flew open. What? What girl? Who’s she talking about? I pulled back and looked at her. “What?” She licked her lips and grabbed my dick. “Is this for me? Or for the brunette you pulled up with?”

Eventually, Whitley and Layton lower their guards with each other and allow things to heat up between them. 

“You helped me put the past where it needed to be, and you showed me how to push my fears to the side, so I could learn to love again. I was so broken, but your love healed me and made me a better man.

But it’s not going to be smooth sailing for these two broken souls. Each carries baggage from their pasts, not to mention Olivia is still playing her head games with Layton. What will happen when Whitley’s past crashes into her future?

I really loved this novel. The writing is crisp and flows nicely. There is a serious theme of abuse, but its message is not hammered into the reader’s brain, rather it is absorbed and has the effect necessary for the story line. I did feel the relationship between Whitley and Layton moved a bit quickly and was a little intense, but it certainly doesn’t make the plot line unbelievable. The secondary characters in this book are as appealing as our main hero and heroine. Courtney, Whitley’s best friend, has some delicious drama going on in her own life. She has a love/hate relationship going with Layton’s friend Reed, and is turning to Mitch, Layton’s foreman for stability.

“Her safe choice? She thinks I’m going to hurt her? How?”

The push and pull of Courtney and Reed intrigues me and I can’t wait for Broken Dreams, which will feature Courtney and Reed as the primary characters.


Excerpt 

I rode along the fence line, just trying to clear my head. This was where I did my best thinking. I loved it out here. I could get lost, just being in the quiet of it all.
“Motherfucker! Son of a bitch! Stupid-ass car! Oh my God, I hate you!”
What in the hell?
I came up over a small hill and saw a silver Lexus RX pulled off on the side of the road. The girl standing next to the car, kicking the wheel, was obviously from the city. She was dressed in light gray slacks and a sheer white blouse. Her brown hair was pulled up and piled loosely on top of her head. The way she was screaming at the tire and yelling at the car made me smile instantly.
Too fucking cute. Damn city girls.
“Piece-of-shit car!”
I let out a small laugh. “Excuse me, ma’am. You’ve got a problem with your car?”
She spun around and threw her hands on her hips as she tilted her head. When she crinkled up her nose, I guessed it was something she did when she got mad.
“No, cowboy. I like standing on the side of the road in Texas in the middle of July, yelling at my piece-of-shit car. I get a kick out of it.”
Wow. What a bitch. Yep, city girl. Bet she’s from New York or somewhere like that. “Wow. Full of spit and fire, and here I was, trying to be a Southern gentleman and help you out. If you prefer that I keep moving along, I’ll be more than happy to—”
“No! Wait! Oh God, please don’t go. I’ve been here for almost an hour, and not one car has gone by. Not one! My cell phone doesn’t have a signal, and you’re the first person I’ve seen. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be such a bitch. I’m late for my first big job interview, and I really wanted this to go so differently.”
When she tried to hold back a sob, my heart sank.
Ah, shit.
I guided Cricket up against the fence, and then I pulled my leg over and jumped.
“Oh shit! Aren’t you afraid your horse is going to run away?”
I smiled at her and turned to look at Cricket, who seemed just as amused by her comment as I was. “You know, I think Cricket might actually like you. She’s not one for taking to people, but look at how she’s staring at you.”
I turned to see the city girl peeking over at the horse with a serious face. She slowly turned back to me and smirked.
“Are all Texas cowboys so…friendly?” She used air quotes as she said friendly.
I gave her my oh-so-famous smirk with a dimple. She didn’t want to, but her lips cracked with the slightest grin. My heart dropped, but I quickly pushed away the feeling.
“Nah, I’m one of a kind,” I said with a wink. “What’s going on with the overpriced piece of junk?”
She looked back at the car and then at me. “I didn’t call it that.”
“No, ma’am, you didn’t. I did.”





Who is Kelly Elliott?



Really I'm just a wife to a wonderful Texas cowboy who has a nack for making me laugh almost daily and supports my crazy ideas and dreams for some unknown reason...he claims it's because he loves me.....so I'll just go with that one!

I'm also a mom to an amazing daughter who constantly is asking me to make her something to eat while she has her fingers moving like mad on her cell phone sending out what I'm sure is another very important text message!

Oh...and I like to sit down and write in my spare time!

I live in the Texas hill country and one of my favorite things to do is go for hikes around our property with my second favorite man, Gus....my chocolate lab and my sweet girl Rose, our golden retriever. When I'm not outside helping the hubby haul brush or move rocks or whatever fun chore he has in store for me that day, you will find me inside reading, writing or watching HGTV and soaking in a nice hot bubble bath.....yeah that last one I just made up but it sure does sound nice!!!

Follow Kelly at:

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/#!/KellyElliottAuthor

Twitter:@author_kelly

Blog: http://authorkellyelliott.blogspot.com/

Email: authorkellyelliott@gmail.com



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1 comment:

  1. havent read it yet but it is on my TRL ON GOODREADS denise smith denise226@verizon.net

    ReplyDelete

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