Spotlight & Giveaway: Blind Love by Kelly Elliott

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Kelly Elliott to HJ!

Hi Kelly and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Blind Love!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

BLIND LOVE is a second chance romance about two high school lovers. Each has their own vision of what the future looks like and it takes them each walking a different path to find their way back to one another.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

I pulled in next to Harley’s father’s truck. I smiled when I saw Harley standing in the middle of the field looking out toward the west. The sun still had a few hours to set, and her eyes closed while she soaked in the sun. This was her favorite spot to come on her folks’ place, and I’d known she would be right here.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• It only took me three weeks to write the book! I dove right in and fell in love with Tripp and Harley.
• My friend Tanya gave me the idea to make Harley Latino and gave me her name.
• The book was originally a stand alone idea before I made it part of the Cowboys and Angels series

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book. As you wrote your protagonist was there anything about them that surprised you?

Tripp is the oldest son in the Parker family. The one who always had his future planned for himself. He surprised me a bit in that I wanted to junk punch him a few times!
Harley is sweet, caring, and totally head over heels in love with Tripp still. She didn’t surprise me in the least. I loved everything about her. Including how she ranted in Spanish!

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

Once I turned the corner I ran into something solid and knew I had spoken too soon.
“Harley? Darling, what are you doing?”
Taking a step back, I looked up into the deepest of blue eyes. They almost left me breathless.
John Parker. The man was the older image of all of his five sons. Handsome. Built. And a smile that made your knees week.
“Oh shit,” I mumbled.
“Hell, shit, fuck,” Chloe whispered next to me.
“Chloe Lynn!” John said.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
My eyes darted to Tripp.
Great. Just great.
“Oh hey. I was, um, just showing Chloe your new puppy.”
Tripp’s eyes about popped out of his head. Of course, the little rascal who had started all of this was standing next to me giggling.
“Ah. Come again?” Tripp asked.
“You got a dog, Tripp? That’s amazing,” John said as he turned and smiled big. “I’ve been telling him for years he needed a dog.”
I let out a nervous laugh. “Well, he’s got a cute one!”
“Wait. What?” Tripp said as he shot daggers at me.
“Who’s got a cute what?” Trevor asked, walking in behind Tripp and his father. Of course, the whole damn family would be walking through the very door I was trying to escape out of. We would have been better off going out the front door.
“Tripp’s got a new puppy!” Chloe called out as I hit her on the arm as a warning.
“Wait!” Tripp cried.
I panicked and did the only thing I could think of. I unwrapped the puppy and shoved it in Trevor’s face. When he was little he was a sucker for a cute puppy; I was hoping things hadn’t changed.
“Oh, my gosh! Look at this little guy,” Trevor said in a baby voice as he took the puppy from my hands.
“Great, you want him? He’s yours,” Tripp said.
“It’s a girl!” Chloe said with a clap of her hands. I hit her a few times to get her to take it back a few. We weren’t out of the woods yet.
“Aww, he’s so cute. Don’t worry, Tripp. I won’t steal your girl.” Trevor looked at me when he said that and winked, causing my cheeks to heat up.
“Now wait a second here,” Tripp started. I knew I had to cut him off.
“Tripp mentioned he wanted a hound dog, and when I saw this little girl in town, well, I had to get her.”
I could feel angry eyes on me, but I kept going.
“I mean, she was the last puppy and I felt so bad, I had to take her.” Looking at Tripp, I motioned with my head to Chloe, hoping he would catch on. “He was afraid y’all might be mad if she was in the house so I was fixin’ to take her to the barn.”
“What? Nonsense. Tripp, we don’t mind your puppy being in the house,” John stated.
“Hell, Patches is always in the house,” Trevor said with a deep rumbling laugh.
John sighed and lifted his cowboy hat to run his hand through his dark hair. A sigh of resignation escaped his lips.
“What’s her name, Tripp?” Trevor asked.
Chloe grabbed onto my hand and squeezed it hard as I held my breath.

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

That true love truly does exist. And the power of a family’s love for each other.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned for 2017?

I’m currently writing a historical book titled GUARDED HEARTS which comes out in November. SEDUCE ME (book one in the Austin Singles series) is also next to release this November. I’m super excited for that one to come out!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Signed paper backs of the first five books in the Cowboys and Angels series

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Perfectly planned future or fly by the seat of your pants…which are you?

 
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Excerpt from Blind Love:

The knock on my office door had me looking at my watch. Shit. It was seven.
“Come in.”
The door opened, and Cord walked in. “What in the hell are you still doing here this late?”
I shrugged. “I guess if I was being honest with myself, hiding.”
He sat down in one of the chairs facing my desk. “From?”
“Hell, I don’t know. Everyone.”
He nodded. “You want to talk about it?”
I dropped my pen onto the desk and scrubbed my hands down my face while leaning back in my chair.
“Fuck, Cord. I’m twisted up inside. I’m really trying to give this thing with Mallory a go.”
“What’s keeping you from doing that? Her kid?”
“No, hell no. I love little Laney. She’s precious, and I honestly hardly ever see her. Mallory is pretty strict about that. I’ll go over to pick them up for dinner or a movie, but I rarely hang out at their house. Mallory says she doesn’t want to confuse Laney.”
Cord lifted his brows. “Really? I would think Mallory would want you to get to know each other better.”
“Yeah, who knows. Maybe it’s for the best anyway.”
“So, what has you holding back?”
I stared at him. He already knew the answer. The five-foot-two, gorgeous brunette with the sun-kissed skin, and crystal-clear eyes that sparkled like emeralds was the reason I was so fucked up.
“I think you already know.”
He smiled. “Harley?”
I pointed to him. “Right, as usual.”
Pulling in a deep breath, Cord said, “She is looking damn hot. I heard Todd Schneider has been asking her out.”
My brows pulled together. “Steed’s old high school buddy?”
He nodded.
“How do you know this?”
“Corina told me.”
My jaw dropped. “She told you, but not me?”
Tossing his head back, he let out a roar of laughter. “Dude, why in the hell would she tell you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because she’s my best friend, and she knows I dated Harley.”
“She also knows, like everyone else in town, that you’re now dating Mallory.”
“Still, she should have told me.”
“Why? Would it have made a difference to what is happening between you and Mallory?”
“To know that Harley is dating? No.”
I was getting better at telling myself that lie. Each night I laid in bed and thought about that fucking letter she wrote me. I had torn it up without even reading it. I had regretted it the moment I put it in the shredder.
“She said she had Milo in for a check-up, and Todd was in there with his new puppy. She overheard him asking Harley to dinner.”
I swallowed hard. “And Harley said no?”
He gave me a look that said I was pathetic. “Harley said no.”
Letting out the breath I hadn’t even known I was holding, I leaned back in my chair.
Cord stared at me. “Tripp, are you over her? Are you really able to say you can move on with another woman?”
“If you had asked me that before Harley came back I would have said probably. Maybe.”
“That shouldn’t make a difference, Tripp. What does her being back in town have to do with it?”
I let out a gruff laugh. “For starters, when I see her a flood of memories come rushing back. If Mallory is with me I can’t focus because I’m afraid she’ll catch me stealing glances at Harley, or she’ll ask me if I still have feelings for her.”
“Do you?”
“Yes. No. Yes.”
With a lift of his brow, Cord gave me an incredulous look. “Which one is it?”
Closing my eyes, I sighed. “I don’t know.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Harley and I had our whole lives planned out, until her plans changed, and those plans didn’t include me.

After years spent trying to get the love of my life out of my head and repair my too-damaged heart, I thought I was finally moving on…but life sure has a funny way of letting you know when those best-laid plans are about to be turned upside down.

My entire world was rocked when Harley unexpectedly moved back to Oak Springs. Every miserable moment I’d spent trying to get over her and every hour I’d wasted trying to erase her from my life came back to haunt me the minute she walked into my office, fear in her eyes, and asked me for help. Would I…or better yet, could I walk away from her this time after all that she had put me through?

What I really needed to know is would I be able to forge ahead with the future I had so meticulously planned—one that didn’t include Harley—or will her return finally open my eyes to a future full of endless possibilities?

Blind Love is book five in the Cowboys and Angels series.

Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Kobo |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Kelly Elliott is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling contemporary romance author. Since finishing her bestselling Wanted series, Kelly continues to spread her wings while remaining true to her roots and giving readers stories rich with hot protective men, strong women and beautiful surroundings.
Her bestselling works include, Wanted, Broken, Without You, and Unconditional Love, to name just a few.
Kelly has been passionate about writing since she was fifteen. After years of filling journals with stories, she finally followed her dream and published her first novel, Wanted, in November of 2012.
Kelly lives in central Texas with her husband, daughter, and two pups. When she’s not writing, Kelly enjoys reading and spending time with her family. She is down to earth and very in touch with her readers, both on social media and at signings.
To find out more about Kelly and her books, you can find her through her website.
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