Guest Post & Giveaway: No Apologies by Sybil Bartel (Book Blitz)

 

Welcome to the No Apologies Book Blitz. I actually have this one to review and I am so excited. Most of you know I am obsessed with rock star/musician romances, so picking up this book was a no-brainer. I hope you guys will feel the same way after reading the guest post and excerpt below. And don't forget to enter the giveaway below.

No Apologies by Sybil Bartel
Published by: Carina Press (HQN)
Publication date: June 23rd 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Find It: Goodreads | Amazon

Summary
Never apologize

Hard-edged rocker Graham Allen has it all. He’s flush with cash from playing bass in a band by night and restoring classic cars by day. And there are plenty of women willing to share his bed for a night, complication-free. Perfect, because if there’s anything he learned from his past, it was to never get attached—to anything. So when bartender Carly Sullivan flashes her innocent smile, Graham isn’t prepared for what happens next.

Never fall in love
 

Two rules, that’s all Graham has—never apologize and never fall in love. He knows Carly is everything he should avoid. Cheerful and sweet, she has “relationship” written all over her. But Graham can’t stay away from her probing questions and concerned blue eyes.
 

When Graham discovers Carly is hiding a crushing secret, he’s prepared to risk it all. Until in one single moment, everything changes and Graham’s past threatens to collide with his future. His life is crumbling down around him, and soon no apology in the world can save him.
 

He should’ve known to walk away.

91,000 words

My Favorite Thing To Write

by Sybil Bartel

You would think this was an easy question, right? But really, I equate it to walking into a candy store and having to choose one thing. Who wants that? Well, okay, I’d so go for the chocolate covered cherries. But I’d be tempted, really tempted, by a lot of other candy.

Writing is like candy. I crave it. But mostly, I crave the damaged, desperate parts. If the love scenes are the chocolate covered cherries, I want to write the broken bits and pieces that fall apart. I love the drama. But more? I love a broken character. I love the desperation of wanting something so badly but knowing that getting it will break you. And the bad boy character that takes all that angst and turns it into the prefect alpha storm? Oh man. Swoon.

For me, Graham Allen in NO APOLOGIES is that character. He’s gritty and raw and desperate. He wants his heroine, Carly, so badly but he knows she will break him. With each sentence I wrote, the layers of Graham’s story built up and took me by surprise. I am totally a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of writer. It’s all character driven for me. I love to watch the hero’s story unfold, occasionally helping out with an adjective here or there (wink). But ultimately, it’s the hero’s story, and all the grit in between the priceless moments. That is what keeps me going.

Is it hard to write the heartbreaking parts? Does it make me want to crawl into bed and cry? Do I wish my characters wouldn’t make such horrible decisions? I so do. But. Without those broken bits and pieces that make up the in between, we wouldn’t have the really spectacular chocolate covered cherry scenes. And I live for those scenes.

So, if you ask me, it’s the grit I love to write. It makes the whole candy store come together. Maybe tomorrow I will change my mind. Maybe I will be writing one of those really spectacular scenes for Graham’s best friend, Myles. And maybe I will say—Hey! Those! Those hot and heavy, clothes flying, hands skimming, breaths faltering, scenes—those are my favorite. But deep down, I’ll know. There’s no reward without the work. There’s no dessert without dinner and there’s no story without the angst. I love the angst—desperately, obsessively, adoringly—love the angst.
 

Bonus Excerpts:

“Look at me, Carly.” I waited till she glanced up. She was so pretty, innocent and pretty, “No misunderstandings.”

“Misunderstandings?” Her voice was just above a whisper.

I didn’t blink. “I’m not boyfriend material.”

“I got that,” she whispered.

“Good.” I felt like an ass. No, scratch that, I was an ass, a total classless prick. It was my excuse for saying what I said next. “Wanna get naked?”


“Thank you, Mr. Allen.”

“Why do you do that?” I asked before I could sensor myself.

“Do what?”

“Call me by my last name?”

She stopped walking and looked at me. “It bothers you?”

I tried to think through the haze of alcohol. I wasn’t going to tell her the truth, so I chose the only other arsenal I had. I took a step toward her and bent my knees slightly so I was closer to her eye level. “What’s my name?” My voice was low and quiet.

“Graham?” she asked, unsure.

“Say it again.”

“Graham.”

“Again.” I leaned closer.

“Graham,” she whispered.

“I like to hear my name cross your lips.”

Author Bio

Sybil grew up in Northern California with her head in a book and her feet in the sand. She used to dream of becoming a painter but the heady scent of libraries with their shelves full of books about wistful summer days and first loves drew her into the world of storytelling. Her true literary love is the New Adult genre but really, any story about a love so desperately wrong and impossibly beautiful, makes her swoon.

Sybil now resides in Southern Florida and while she doesn't get to read as much as she likes, she still buries her toes in the sand. If she's not writing or fighting to contain the banana plantation in her backyard, you can find her spending time with her handsomely tattooed husband, her brilliantly practical son and a mischievous miniature boxer who stole her heart.

 

Twitter | Website | Facebook | Goodreads

Enter to win the ebook No Apologies. Open Internationally. Details on the rafflecopter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This is a Blitz Wide Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway