Spotlight & Giveaway: Star-Crossed Summer by Devon Daniels

Today, HJ is pleased to share with you Devon Daniels’s new release: Star-Crossed Summer

When a Hollywood starlet is unexpectedly reunited with the costar who broke her heart, their chemistry has her questioning what’s reel and what’s real in this heartfelt summer romance about first loves and second chances.

It’s been ten years since the fateful summer Scarlett Everhart filmed The Lost Letter, the tearjerking romantic drama that catapulted her to worldwide fame and set her on a collision course with Ryder Perry, the movie’s intense, irresistible leading man. The pair’s fiery onscreen chemistry captured audiences’ hearts—while their whirlwind affair offscreen shattered Scarlett’s into a million pieces. Determined to move on, she made a vow: to focus on her career, leave Ryder in her past, and never, ever look back.

A decade later, Scarlett’s kept that promise. She’s become one of Hollywood’s most bankable leading ladies and is on the cusp of the biggest role of her career. And if she’s been unlucky in love, at least she’s managed to put her ill-fated relationship with her former costar—and the public’s obsession with the pair’s star-crossed romance—behind her. That is, until a sudden twist of fate thrusts her and Ryder back together in the seaside South Carolina town where they first fell in love, then fell dramatically apart.

As old sparks reignite, Scarlett is swept back into the love story that once defined her life, forcing her to reckon with the choice that tore them apart…and the devastating secret she’s been keeping since their breakup all those years ago.

Enjoy an exclusive excerpt from Star-Crossed Summer 

Another assistant led me down a short hallway and through an unmarked door, where a mustached man with dark brown hair and glasses, slim and youngish, maybe early forties, rose to greet me.

He had a relaxed, genial smile, and upbeat energy that was infectious. “Hi, I’m Nathan Chamberlain, director of The Lost Letter, but you can call me Nate. It’s nice to meet you . . . ?”

“Scarlett,” I told him, shaking his outstretched hand. “Nice to meet you, too.”

Next, Nate introduced me to two casting directors who were seated at a folding table littered with stacks of paper and water bottles in various stages of consumption. A couple of cameras mounted on tripods were set up behind them, pointed toward the front of the room.

Nate gestured to the back of the room, and a tall figure emerged from behind the cameras. “And this is our Holden, Ryder Perry.”

Ryder stepped out of the shadows, and my heart did a stutter step as I took in my love-interest-to-be, and he . . . well, he wasn’t what I expected. He wasn’t the standard cookie-cutter Hollywood heartthrob you’d typically picture as a leading man, and yet his features were distinctive in a way that was undeniably captivating. He had the kind of face that made you want to move closer, that revealed something different the longer you looked. He carried himself with confidence, exuding an effortless charisma that commanded attention. I was intrigued by him immediately.

He raked his sandy blond hair off his face before extending his hand to meet mine, the corner of his mouth upturned in a smile. There was a boyishness to him, a sort of fresh-faced innocence, though the mischievous twinkle in his eyes said he was anything but. He was dressed casually in jeans and a simple white T-shirt, so lanky and long-legged I had to tip my head back to meet his gaze. Looks like I may need that milk crate after all.

But it was his eyes that intrigued me the most. They were both soft and penetrating, rimmed in a rich chocolate brown but gradually lightening to a glowing amber at the pupils, like a flashlight shined through the bottom of a glass bottle. There was a quiet intensity to his gaze as he took me in, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I knew him from somewhere. Or maybe he just had one of those faces.

“Have we met before?” I couldn’t help asking.

“Nah, I’d remember you.” He shot me a wink.

Ah, we have ourselves a charmer. “You look so familiar,” I told him, releasing his hand so I could set my purse down on an empty chair.

“In our line of work, I suppose that’s a good thing,” he joked, his dimples firing on all cylinders. They made him look even younger.

“What have I seen you in?” I blurted before I could stop myself, then instantly regretted it. An audition room really wasn’t the place to play the résumé guessing game.

A couple of seconds of dead air went by as he hesitated, a muscle twitching in his cheek, and now I doubly regretted my impulsivity. Why are you interrogating him? He’s already been cast; you’re the one who needs to prove yourself.

“I’ve been in a variety of things, as I’m sure you have,” he finally answered with one eyebrow raised pointedly, and yep, I’ve definitely botched my first impression right out of the gate. “We’ll have to compare credits later. Did you want to go over the scene at all before we start?”

I seized on the subject change. “Nope, I’m ready to go.” I flashed him a winning smile before aiming it over at the table of casting directors, an overprepared eager beaver. Look how easy I am to work with!

Ryder slid his eyes to Nate, who frowned before shrugging his shoulders in response, and the smile froze on my face as I realized my mistake. The other actresses must have work-shopped the scene, taking the opportunity to run through it with Ryder before jumping right in, and duh, I’m sure that would have been helpful. Scarlett, you idiot. I felt my stomach sink to my shoes. Strike two.

Welp, now there was nothing left to do but wow them, and I was going for broke. At this point, I had nothing to lose.

I took my spot at the front of the room against a dark blue backdrop while Ryder stood a few paces away, in my eyeline but just off camera. Once everyone was situated, I took a deep breath, shaking off the missteps of the last few minutes and thinking of nothing but this character, this scene, and this moment: Holden’s shocking reappearance and desperate plea, their passionate fight and Melody’s heartbreaking confession, followed by their mutual declaration of love against all odds.

I locked in on Ryder’s face, waited for his reassuring nod, and began.

What followed was several minutes of pure magic.

Excerpt. ©Devon Daniels. Posted by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved.
 
 

Giveaway: 1 copy of STAR-CROSSED SUMMER by Devon Daniels, U.S. only

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Meet the Author:

Devon Daniels is a born-and-bred California girl whose own love story found her transplanted to the Maryland shores of the Chesapeake Bay. She’s a graduate of the University of Southern California and in her past life worked in marketing, product design, and music. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her clinging to her sanity as mom, chef, chauffeur, and referee to four children, or sneaking off with her husband for date nights in Washington, DC.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/639744/star-crossed-summer-by-devon-daniels/