Blog Tour: Present Perfect by Alison G. Bailey

Synopsis

I’ve been unsure about many things in my life except for one thing, that I have always loved him. Every single minute of every single day that I have been on this earth, my heart has belonged to him. It has never been a question, never a doubt. The love had taken on many different forms over the years, but it had always been a constant.

Everyone has their definition of love. There have been countless songs sung about it. A gazillion books, articles, and poems written about it. There are experts on love who will tell you how to get it, keep it, and get over it.

We’re led to believe love is complicated. It’s not the love that’s complicated. It’s all the crap that we attach to it and put in front of it that makes it difficult. If you’re smart, you’ll realize this before it’s too late and simplify.

____________________________________________

Amanda Kelly spent her entire life trying to control every aspect of it, while striving for perfection. Her obsession with being perfect, along with her feelings of worthlessness, consumed her. The one thing she thought was perfect in her life was the bond she shared with her best friend, Noah.

Everything was going according to her life plan until she woke up one day and realized she had fallen in love with him. The one thing she couldn’t control was the affect he had on her. Noah had the power to give her one hundred lifetimes of happiness, which also gave him the power to completely devastate her. He was the one thing in her life that was perfect, but she couldn't allow herself to have him.

Her life begins to unravel. Events take over and force her to let go of her dreams and desires. She needs to realize that a person cannot control the events in their life, only their reaction to them...but will it be too late for her to save her relationship with her best friend?

Present Perfect is a story of how past events have present consequences and how perfect your present could be if you stopped fighting and just allowed it to happen.

Bonus scene - Dalton POV-First Impression

     With my head resting on the back of the chair, I closed my eyes, and listened as the sound of

Eric Clapton singing “Layla” swirled from my iPod through my head. I had been in this position

for the past fifteen minutes when for some unknown reason my eyes opened abruptly and shot

across the room.

     Sweet baby Jesus!

     The minute I saw her everything that could pop up on me did, my eyebrows, goose

bumps, and my Magic Johnson. I shifted in the chair trying to calm the beast within my pants.  I

tried not to stare at her, but it was hard, almost as hard as Magic was getting. She was hot, no

doubt, but there was something else about her that caused me to feel an immediate connection

with her. Weird. I darted my eyes from her to different parts of the room, trying to appear as if I

was not blatantly looking in her direction.

     She took a chair across the room, directly in front of me. She rummaged around in her

bag and finally pulled out her iPod. As she was plugging her ear buds into it, she glanced up and

out eyes locked. It was only for a split second. Holy shit! Her eyes are incredible. The jolt of

electricity caused my body to physically jerk. I laid my head back against the chair and lowered

my lids just enough to make it appear as if they were closed, but all the while watching her.

     I wasn’t sure how much time had passed since I first felt her, but I couldn’t fight the urge

to be near her any longer. I yanked my ear buds out of my ears, took a couple of deep breaths,

and walked over to where she was sitting. She didn’t see me coming. She had assumed the same

position in her chair as I had, except that her eyes were actually closed.  The chairs on either side

of her were empty. I sat down in one and leaned over the arm towards her to get an up close and

personal view. She was asleep and looked peaceful and relaxed sitting there with her eyes

closed, her long dark lashes resting on creamy soft cheeks. Her pouty pink lips parted slightly

each time a little breath would pass over them. Her breath smelled sweet like candy, sour apple if

I’m not mistaken. 

     Her eyelids began to flutter open giving me the chance to see her incredible eyes up

close. It took me a few seconds to figure out what color they were. Teal. I had never seen anyone

with teal colored eyes. But it was more than just the color that drew me in, it was what was

behind them.

      “Can I help you?” she asked as she removed her ear buds.

     “Nah, I’m good.” I was leaning over the arm of the chair towards her. I stayed like that

for a few more seconds. It wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable.  It didn’t seem to bother her to

have a complete stranger this close.

     I wanted to make a charming first impression, so I grabbed her iPod, sat back, and started

flipping through it. “Let’s see what we have here. Lifehouse,” I said, nodding my approval.

“Snow Patrol, nice. Green Day, awesome. Tracey Chapman, cool. Coldplay and Linkin Park,

excellent taste. Oh, oh, oh…wait a sec…what’s this?” Shaking my head, I arched my eyebrows,

flashed her one of my sexy smirks, and said, “I thought for a minute, you were the love of my

life.”

     “Really? What changed your mind?” she said, trying to hide her amusement.

     “N’Sync. Breaks my heart.”

     “There’s nothing wrong with them. They gave us JT.”

     Arching one eyebrow, I said, “True. They also gave us Joey Fatone.” 

     When she smiled at me it felt like everything around us had been sucked into a giant

vacuum and disappeared. 

     I extended my hand in her direction. “Dalton Connor.” We shook hands.

     “Amanda Kelly.”

     “It’s nice to meet you, Amanda Kelly. I wish we could have worked something out.”

     “It was fun while it lasted,” she said, sarcastically. She was quick and feisty. I liked that.

     She snatched my iPod from my hands, threw me a mischievous smirk and began flipping

through my songs.

     “Let’s see what we have here. The Police…hmmm. The Stones, Eric Clapton, You’re an

old schooler.” she said, as she scrolled farther down. “Now what do we have here?”

     Uh oh, she discovered my dirty little secret, or at least one of them.

     “The Bodyguard soundtrack, Whitney Houston-The Ultimate Collection, Just Whitney,

and of course, no collection would be complete without I’m Your Baby Tonight.” Smirking with

satisfaction, she glanced over at me. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

     “I’m a romantic.” And in a whole lot of trouble.

About the author

Alison was born and raised in Charleston, SC. As a child she used her imagination to write additional scenes to TV shows and movies that she watched. She attended Winthrop University and graduating with a BA in Theater. While at Winthrop she began writing one act plays which she later produced.

Throughout the years she continued writing and producing several one act plays, but then life got in the way and she hung up her pen for a while. On the advice of a friend, she started writing again. In January 2013, Alison sat down at her computer and began writing her first novel, Present Perfect. Alison lives in Charleston, South Carolina with her husband, Jef, and their two furry children (dogs).  She’s addicted to Diet Pepsi and anything with sugar.

Author Links

Facebook
Goodreads
Twitter
Blog



Buy Links
Amazon
Barnes and Noble




a Rafflecopter giveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway