Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Love Series by Melissa Collins - Release Day Blitz with Review of Let Love Live and Giveaway

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***SPECIAL RELEASE WEEK PRICE OF 99 CENTS*** The entire series is together for a limited time. This box set includes the complete Love Series - Let Love In, Let Love Stay, Let Love Heal, Let Love Shine, Let Love Be, and Let Love Live. From New Adult to M/m Contemporary Romance, there's something in here for everyone. Laugh, cry, and fall in love with the couples of this bestselling series.




NOW AVAILABLE
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Excerpt – Let Love Live

“So where do we sign?” Dylan’s voice cuts through my sidetracked brain.
Refocusing my attention back on him, I stammer. “Huh? What?”
He steps next to me, pats me on the shoulder, but his touch lands more on my chest than my arm. I stare down at his hand, struck dumb – well, dumber than I currently sound, anyway. He pulls his hand away, chuckling at me. “The gym. We like it. Where do we sign?”
Reid laughs along with Dylan as they follow me back out to the front entrance. I give them the paperwork and before long, they’re both off to the locker room to get changed.
I do not think about what Dylan looks like out of his suit. Nope, I definitely don’t do that. It’s been so long since anyone has worked me up like that. And it’s ridiculous really, if I think about it.
Dylan’s here with his partner. They have a kid together. And here I am fantasizing about someone else’s man just because I think he’s attractive.
Though, anyone would be a fool to think otherwise. His light blond hair flops forward in his blue-grey eyes. Everything about him screams perfection; a hard jawline, dusted with the perfect five o’clock shadow; high cheekbones create a square shape without being too hard-edged. The one thing that’s not perfect, his nose; it’s crooked, looks like it’s been broken more than once. It actually makes him even more perfect than if it had been straight, somehow.
I can’t let myself go there, though. There’s too much on my plate right now to add in a relationship. When the hell did staring down a gorgeous man become looking for a relationship.
Maybe I just need to get laid.
Or sleep. Yeah, that’s it. I definitely just need some sleep.
It’s official. I’ve crossed the line into crazy.
Just as I try to shake the crazy away, I look up from my paperwork, and see Reid and Dylan step out of the locker room. Mesh shorts and t-shirts replace Dylan’s high-end suit, but he doesn’t look any less attractive. If it’s possible, he looks even more so.
I take a deep breath and get back to work. I need to get a ton of crap done if I want to stay on top of everything, especially since chances are Rachel won’t be in tomorrow either. Her migraines always last at least two days. So much for that day off I was hoping for.
An hour passes quickly, and as I focus my attention back into the gym, shamefully, I’m disappointed that I don’t see Dylan anywhere. Leaning forward on the desk, I stretch across it, trying to look into the weight room.
I’m not sure what sight makes me happier, seeing a small handful of people in there or watching Dylan do lateral side raises.
I’m gonna go ahead and cast my vote for Dylan. He’s got his short sleeves rolled up, exposing his muscled arms and golden skin. The cords of his upper arms bunch and pull with each movement, causing my dick to strain in my khaki shorts.
It’s a good thing I’m not wearing workout shorts because nothings screams “I’m a professional” like sporting wood at the front desk of your own gym.



Let Love Live 
5 out of 5 stars

Dylan Hopkins is a man lost to his memories and the what ifs and what might have beens from his past. He’s going through the motions of life, but he’s not allowing himself to really live. As a counselor at an LGBT center, Dylan is committed to helping young teens and adults dealing with the bullying, harassment, and hate that an LGBT youth might suffer. In his own words, “Even though kids are bullied every day, and there’s no way to eradicate all of the ugly meanness in the world, I know when I counsel a kid who’s struggling, I am doing something good in the world.”

Part 1 – Before

Shane Connely is Dylan’s best friend. We first meet the boys when they’re 16, almost 17. Both are baseball stars heading into their senior year of high school, with plans to head to college, hopefully on sports scholarships. While they look like they’ve got the world in their hands, Shane’s life at home is anything but perfect. His father is a violent, abusive man who takes pleasure in physically and verbally abusing his wife, and both Shane and his younger brother Reid. Shane also is hiding from everyone, including Dylan, that he’s gay. While at baseball camp over the summer, Shane reads Dylan’s journal, discovering he is also gay. Shane abruptly cuts off contact with Dylan and for the next 10 months, neither boy speaks to the other. The night their team wins a chance to play in the playoffs, things between them come to a head, with a simple slide of Dylan’s thumb over Shane’s wrist.

Their long time friendship evolves into being lovers; however, that doesn’t mean that their lives have become easy. Shane is dealing with having let his grades slide, Dylan is worried that Shane isn’t as invested in them as he is, and they’re keeping their relationship hidden. Dylan heads off to college in the fall, leaving Shane behind. This puts further stress on their relationship, more so on Shane. He feels left behind, and he’s also let a lot of what his abusive father says get to him. This leaves Shane in a very precarious balance of fighting with his own demons and depression. Dylan also is struggling because he wants more but feels Shane is not willing to stand up to his dad and move forward. When it all comes to a boiling point, things are said between them that cause irreparable damage, heartbreak, and life altering consequences.

Part 2 & 3 – After and Forever

When next we see Dylan almost eight years have passed, and he is going through those motions of life. He works and he hangs out with his brother Reid, Maddie, Reid’s wife, and their little boy Braden. He rarely dates and if he does, it doesn’t last. Reid is worried about him, enough to suggest that Dylan finally talk to someone about Shane. Dylan takes the information but doesn’t agree or disagree with Reid.

Later that day, we meet Conner Michelson, an ex-MMA fighter, now gym owner, in their small town. The first time he sees Dylan, he thinks Dylan is in a relationship with Reid and that Braden is their little boy. Conner’s inner monologue about Dylan, on their second meeting, will have you laughing out loud. The tension between Dylan and Conner is pretty hot. Okay, more like smoking hot. However, both are stubborn until Conner asks Dylan out to dinner. Dylan finally gives in to Reid’s suggestion and starts seeing someone about Shane. She starts helping him work through to see what he wants to happen with his life and his future.

Watching the relationship as it develops between Dylan and Conner is beautiful. Knowing what Dylan struggled with daily and then overcoming his fears and regrets over Shane to build that foundation with Conner. It shows just how resilient the heart can be and how strongly Dylan feels for Conner to work through it all. Their Forever is a very fulfilling part of their journey and will leave you with happy tears at the end of the story.

Let Love Live is a beautifully written, very emotional book for this author’s first M/M story. She was able to get all the nuances and honest emotions of the characters just right. How what happens in the story shapes who Dylan is, how Conner has realized he wants more from life after his accident, and even dealing with Shane’s depression, self doubt and the final consequences of his actions. All of these pieces intertwined into one very well crafted story. I have to admit that Dylan has quickly become one of my favorite characters after reading this book.

This is the fifth book in Melissa Collins’s Love series; however, it can be read as a standalone without losing any storyline. The story is divided into three parts Before, After, and Forever. I will give the readers a warning that you’ll definitely need a box of tissues when reading this book. Now, don’t let you scare that off reading Let Love Live because it’s an absolutely beautiful love story with a HEA. I look forward to many more stories from Melissa Collins in this genre in the future.


About the Author:


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Melissa Collins has always been a book worm. Studying Literature in college ensured that her nose was always stuck in a book. She followed her passion for reading to the most logical career choice: English teacher. Her hope was to share her passion for reading and the escapism of books to her students. Having spent more than a decade in front of a classroom, she can easily say that it’s been a dream.
Her passion for writing didn’t start until more recently. When she was home on maternity leave in early 2012, she read her first romance novel and her head filled with the passion, angst and laughter of the characters who she read about it. It wasn’t long before characters of her own took shape in her mind. Their lives took over Melissa’s brain and The Love Series was born.



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