Guest post by Amanda Weaver author of Always with a giveaway

About the Author

Like many writers, Amanda Weaver spent her childhood constantly telling stories. College steered her in a different direction and into a successful career as a designer. Several years ago, she picked up writing again strictly as a hobby, to blow off some creative steam. One thing led to another, National Novel Writing Month happened, and here we are.

Amanda Weaver grew up in Florida and now lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, daughter and two crazy cats.

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The inspiration behind Always:

For a long time I’ve wanted to write a story about a friendship mixed with unrequited love. I liked the idea of a girl in love with a guy and then getting over him. Like, really over him, and still preserving their friendship. And then he falls in love with her. That dynamic had been dancing around in my mind for quite a while.

I’ve always had a soft spot for artists of all kinds. I’m an artist myself, and I love the idea of people bonding over what they create together. It’s powerful and the work exists outside of whatever personal dynamics people might be dealing with. The art can tie them together even when everything else might be pulling them apart. Mix that together with this theme of badly-timed love and Always slowly started shaking out.

Brushing my teeth is golden writing time for me. I can’t tell you how many story-telling problems I’ve solved while brushing my teeth before bed. That’s exactly when Always started. Imagine me, toothbrush still in my mouth, toothpaste dripping off my lip, while I furiously typed an exchange of dialogue into the notes function on my iphone before it slipped away from me. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve started a story that way and hopefully it’s not the last. Anyway, that first bit of dialogue, which came before there was any kind of plot or characters, is still more or less in the book, at the tail end of Part 1. Let’s hear it for toothbrush inspiration.

Title: Always

Author: Amanda Weaver

Genre: Contemporary romance-age 20-30.

Publish Date: April 15, 2014

Publisher: Independently Published

Cover by: AngstyG/ www.angstyg.com

Event organized by: Literati Author Services, Inc.

Purchase Links:

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~ Book Synopsis ~

From the moment they meet, their connection is perfect in every way but one.

It’s New Year’s Eve, 2006, and Justine James is fronting her dead-end band for a less-than-adoring crowd. But there’s one person there who sees what she could be—one person who changes everything for her.

Dillon Pierce clawed his way up from the LA streets with no one to count on but his best friend, Ash. Their years of struggle finally pay off when their band, Outlaw Rovers, gets signed and their single takes off. With Ash as the magnetic lead singer and Dillon as the band’s musical soul, they’re destined for greatness, provided Dillon can keep Ash from self-destructing first.

Dillon might not be fronting Outlaw Rovers, but he’s always been the only one Justine sees. She’s followed his career from afar and when he shows up at her crummy New Year’s Eve gig, nothing will stop her from meeting him. They forge an intense connection, rapidly moving from friends to musical soul mates. Justine wants much more, but she’s not willing to climb over groupies and industry bottom-feeders to make it happen. Dillon becomes a fixture in her life, but she has to figure out how to keep him out of her heart.

Outlaw Rovers begins to implode as Justine’s star is on the rise. The years that follow bring equal parts fame and ruin. For Justine, a new love supplants her old heartbreak, and Dillon has to reboot his life after losing nearly everything that matters. Despite the odds, Dillon and Justine remain devoted friends and musical collaborators. After all the missed chances, wrong turns and painful detours, can they finally find the happiness together that seemed destined from the start?

Excerpt from Chapter 4:

The room was still dim, only one sad lamp sitting on the floor in the corner, throwing a weak light over them. Justine’s eyes looked huge, sparkling in the shadows of her face. This was a moment, Dillon knew it. After a long afternoon of music and weed, feeling more connected to her than he’d felt to anyone since Ash back when they were kids, this was the moment. If he wanted to, he could set his guitar to the side, lean across and touch her beautiful face. He could kiss her. She’d let him. She’d kiss him back. His heart started beating faster at the thought of it. Kissing Justine. Touching her. Taking her upstairs. It could happen now. In a lot of ways, it felt like it should happen.

But then he heard Rocky’s voice in his head. If Ash was the devil on his shoulder, then Rocky was his unlikely angel, pointing out all the things he’d be better off not doing. Rocky said she was the kind of girl a guy fell hard for and she was. Justine was a girl who changed everything. She’d make a guy be a better man.

For once, he imagined the day after, not just the night before. He imagined trying to be a better man for Justine while still being the guy in the band he’d always been, and he didn’t know how to do it. This thing had taken off, like a rocket lit underneath him. All he knew how to do right now was hang on and try to enjoy the ride before it burned out. He didn’t know how to fit Justine into the picture, not the way she’d need to be with him. He didn’t know much, but he knew Justine was an all or nothing proposition. He wasn’t sure if he could give her his all, not now.

So he wouldn’t let this moment happen. He wouldn’t lean across and kiss her, even though he wanted to. He wouldn’t take her hand and lead her upstairs. Because the rest of this day was worth more than a night of sex. The music he shared with her was too damned important to gamble on a flare of lust. For once, he’d do the right thing, not the rock star thing.

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