Sunday, April 20, 2014

Release Day Blitz: Love in English by Karina Halle


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Title: Love, In English
Author: Karina Halle
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: April 20, 2014
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He’s thirty-eight. I’m twenty-three.

He speaks Spanish. I speak English.

He lives in Spain. I live in Canada.

He dresses in thousand-dollar suits. I’m covered in tattoos.

He’s married and has a five-year old daughter.

I’m single and can’t commit to anyone or anything.

Until now.Because when they say you can’t choose who you fall in love with, boy ain’t that the f*#king truth.

***

To a restless dreamer like Vera Miles, it sounded like the experience of a lifetime. Instead of spending her summer interning for her astronomy major, she would fly to Spain where she’d spend a few weeks teaching conversational English to businessmen and women, all while enjoying free room and board at an isolated resort. But while Vera expected to get a tan, meet new people and stuff herself with wine and paella, she never expected to fall in love.

Mateo Casalles is unlike anyone Vera has ever known, let alone anyone she’s usually attracted to. While Vera is a pierced and tatted free spirit with a love for music and freedom, Mateo is a successful businessman from Madrid, all sharp suits and cocky Latino charm. Yet, as the weeks go on, the two grow increasingly close and their relationship changes from purely platonic to something…more.

Something that makes Vera feel alive for the first time.

Something that can never, ever be.

Or so she thinks.


5 Brilliant Stars by Nicole Lorenzo

“Love causes war and causes death, breaks souls and breaks lives. It runs people into the ground, and makes them behave like moronic, immoral beasts, before it dances off, leaving only destruction in its wake- hearts blown wide open for the whole world to see. Love puts the blame on the poor souls who succumb to it.”

Vera Miles is a twenty three year old college student who is studying Astronomy. She is young, wild and quite adventurous. She is covered it tattoos, has a healthy sexual appetite but is looking for something more, something to make her feel whole.  Vera decides to take a month long summer job teaching conversational English to businessmen and women in Spain. It’s there in the Spanish countryside that Vera finds the “more” she was looking for. She finds Mateo Casales.  Mateo with his sharp expensive suits, and velvet accent just exudes sexiness. He’s a gentleman, a married gentleman and the furthest possible thing from Vera’s type. But he’s handsome and mysterious and Vera is quite intrigued and wants to learn more about Mateo.

“A gorgeous, sensual, Spanish god. That’s what he looked like to me.”

Las Palabras is the resort where Vera is staying and working. Every day she converses with the Spaniards and they start to grow close and form friendships. Vera and Mateo grow closer and closer as each day passes, but they are careful to keep their distance and not cross any boundaries. Mateo is married with a small child and there is quite a big age difference between them, but still, Vera finds something in Mateo she didn’t know she was looking for. Despite her growing attraction towards Mateo, she resists the temptation, forcing herself to keep things between them platonic, innocent. Every hour she is near him she finds herself falling more for him, even though it has only been a few days.

“You can fall in love in a second,”……… “The heart has no regard for time.”

The more Vera and Mateo try to fight their growing attraction towards one another, the harder it becomes. It’s as if they are two magnets fighting that pull that proves they are meant to be together. Whenever they are near one other, the air sizzles. Whenever one enters a room they search for each other. But still their feelings for each other are wrong, and Vera refuses to cross that line, because once she does she knows there is no going back.

“He’s married, He’s married, He’s married, I told myself …………..
But I could only tell myself that so many times.”

As the days pass, Vera begins to panic because with every passing second she is closer to being back in Canada and away from Mateo forever. And then the inevitable happens. Vera and Mateo topple from the ledge that they have been teetering on into something they never planned or imagined but still was meant to be. They succumb to their need for one another, consequences be damned. Their love for each other is real, even though it is wrong, but their time at Las Palabras is almost over and it seems that all the future holds for Vera and Mateo is unavoidable heartbreak.

“You’ve bewitched me, Vera. You’ve blinded me. You’ve made me forget my vows. And all you had to do was shine.”


You are my star,” he murmured. “You are my Estrella.”

What will happen when Vera and Mateo leave Las Palabras and return to their real lives? Despite how they feel for each other their love comes with consequences.  Can a love like Vera’s and Mateo’s even stand a fighting chance?

“What is love? In English.”
I raised my brows. “Love, in English, is love…”
“What is it in Spanish?”
I was so enthralled by his hypnotic eyes, I could barely remember. “Amore?”
He shook his head ever so slightly. “No. Love in Spanish is you.”

Karina Halle has a way of telling a story like no one else. Love in English is her first full on romance novel, and it is probably my favorite work of hers so far. She took two beautifully lost people and led them on a journey that made them whole. I know the subject of cheating is a sore spot for some, but Vera and Mateo’s love for each other wasn’t seedy, or conniving. They didn’t willingly set out to be deceptive or hurtful. They struggled. They struggled so much that as a reader I felt, their pain, and their want and their need and I prayed with every page I read that they would give in and be together because I felt it was meant to be.

Vera and Mateo are so different that at first glance they shouldn’t even work as a couple. But despite their lifestyle, heritage, marital status and age differences they found a connection. They were both lost, looking to be found, and they found their love written in the stars. This story felt so real to me, the characters and descriptions of Spain so vibrant, I was there the whole time with them experiencing the passion, the heartbreak, the joy and the sadness. I can literally spend all day raving about this book. I know I will read it again, and again and again and again…………



“Love is like a thief, it robs you of all thought and logic and all you have left is a heart that you can only pray is strong enough to survive the rest.”
   


Claudia shrugged and pulled down at her yellow tee. “Not my problem. Eduardo is nice but Ricardo is really nice.” “How did it happen?” I asked, kinda wanting the sordid details. She was coy. “The way it usually happens.” “Did you make the first move?” Another shrug. “Why not?” I swear, a shrug and a “why not?” were the Spaniards’ go-to answer for everything. “Well, then I guess it seems safe—and a little boring now—to tell you that I have a crush on someone.” Her brows quirked up. “Other than Mateo?” “What?” “You are sleeping with Mateo, no?” “WHAT?!” “No?” “No!” I exclaimed, appalled. “Why does everyone keep thinking that?” “Because you are always together,” she said simply. She took a sip of wine. “The attraction is very obvious. So, I figured you must be sleeping together.” “He’s married!” “Yes, but you are not.” I shook my head adamantly. “It’s wrong. I don’t want to be the other woman. I’ve seen my dad go for the other woman, and I can’t put Mateo’s daughter through that,” I said. “Or his wife,” I quickly added. “That doesn’t mean that you can’t have feelings for anyone else.” “Yes, it does mean that.” “Maybe you are meant to be together.” “We’re not! There isn’t even a together. We’re just friends. I haven’t done anything about it, and so far my feelings are totally one-sided.” Claudia got up off the couch and brought a pack of cigarettes out of her front jean pocket. “If you think it is on the one side, you have not seen the way he looks at you.” She walked over to her small patio table and pulled out a chair. I got up and stormed after her, my nerves dancing excitedly. “What do you mean, the way he looks at me?” I asked, lowering my voice in case there were people around listening. I felt like bouncing off the walls. She slid the ashtray toward her as I sat down. “You do not see it. But I do. I think everyone does. He looks at you like…like you’re his favorite food.” “Favorite food?” She lit her cigarette. “Yes. You’re like his favorite food in the whole world. He wants to have you, eat you, devour you. He thinks about you all the time, craves you. But he cannot have you for one reason or another. Perhaps you upset his stomach. Maybe he is on a diet, yes? All he wants is a taste, but he cannot even have that. That is how he looks at you.” I sat there, stunned, as some of her smoke blew in my face. That’s how Mateo looked at me? Like he wanted to eat me? I was pretty sure that’s how I looked at him. Just last night I was contemplating nibbling on his earlobes. “And yes,” she said, leaning closer to me, a small smile on her lips, “that is also how you look at him.” Great, a mind reader. “But you are more subtle about it. You try not to let everyone know. But, we know.” “There is nothing to know,” I reminded her, poking the table with my finger for emphasis. “We are not sleeping together. He is married. I have a crush. That is it. The end of the story.” “A crush?” she questioned. “Vera, I think you’re in love with him.” No fucking way. Not love. That did not happen with me, not ever and not now. “You can’t fall in love in a week,” I told her heatedly. “You can fall in love in a second,” she said with a snap of her fingers. “The heart has no regard for time.” With that sobering thought, Claudia told me about her ex-boyfriend and how they fell in love at first sight then took the conversation back to Ricardo and their exploits. I envied her so badly right then and there. She could fawn over Ricardo, kiss him, fuck him, and no one would ever bat an eye. It was okay for them to be together. It wasn’t forbidden. I gulped the rest of the wine and left her apartment, heading back to reception to meet Cristina for my next one-on-one, my mind and heart and hormones all over the place. Lo and behold, Mateo was walking up the path toward me. He was on the phone, smiling. His shirt was off and slung over his shoulder, exposing his bare chest, abs, and arms. Holy fuck. For a moment, I was sure that time had stopped. Or maybe ever single nerve, cell, vein, bone, muscle in my body just slowed as I took him all in. From his thick-veined forearms to his sculpted shoulders and broad chest peppered with neatly-trimmed chest hair, to his six-pack abs, he had, by far, the best body I’d ever seen on a man. He kept himself in fine-ass shape, looking more like a young athlete than anything else. He and David Beckham had more in common than I thought, although David’s skin tone wasn’t as mesmerizing. Mateo’s color was amazing, just beautiful, this dark, golden bronze that covered him everywhere. I wanted so badly to just touch him, to lick the sheen of sweat off his skin. I bet he tasted like victory. And to think this was the man that Claudia said wanted to taste me. I really, really wanted to believe her. Meanwhile, I was just standing there like I was melting into a puddle of myself. I clamped my mouth shut as he walked past and I heard him say into the phone, “No, mi tesorito, it was easy, I didn’t injure myself.” He was beaming, talking about the game, to his wife. To his tesorito. And he called their relationship complicated? This was complicated. He winked at me in acknowledgement, his smile becoming broader. I tried to smile back but it wouldn’t come. I just stared at him, feeling stupid, foolish, and strangely rejected. In a perfect world I may have been his favorite food, but it still wasn’t what he got served every day. I turned around and walked down the hill, my heart feeling like a pincushion. “Vera!” I heard him call out from behind. I stopped and nervously glanced over my shoulder. He was holding the phone’s receiver to his chest, grinning at me. “I need to ask you your question.” “What?” I asked, hoping it was quick. “Who is your favorite Spaniard here?” Seriously? And yet I couldn’t lie to him. “You,” I said, more to myself than to him. Then I turned around and walked away as quickly as I could.  

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About the Author
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With her USA Today Bestselling The Artists Trilogy published by Grand Central Publishing, numerous foreign publication deals, and self-publishing success with her Experiment in Terror series, Vancouver-born Karina Halle is a true example of the term "Hybrid Author." Though her books showcase her love of all things dark, sexy and edgy, she's a closet romantic at heart and strives to give her characters a HEA...whenever possible.

Karina holds a screenwriting degree from Vancouver Film School and a Bachelor of Journalism from TRU. Her travel writing, music reviews/interviews and photography have appeared in publications such as Consequence of Sound, Mxdwn and GoNomad Travel Guides. She currently lives on an island on the coast of British Columbia where she’s preparing for the zombie apocalypse with her fiance and rescue pup.
 
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