Spotlight & Giveaway: THE SUMMER OF SECOND CHANCES by Miranda Liasson

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Miranda Liasson to HJ!

Hi Miranda and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, THE SUMMER OF SECOND CHANCES!

 
Hi Sara! Thanks for having me stop by to talk about my new release!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

This is the final installment in my Seashell Harbor series. Each book is about one of three best friends who grew up together in a small beach town. Darla, the heroine of this book, is the tough friend, the cancer survivor, who is outwardly very successful, but inside…is struggling. She’s survived cancer but she faces a lifetime of follow-up testing and is not really living her life. Also, she’d divorced after having married young, and she’s trying desperately to forget about her ex, who seems resolved to do just the opposite, as well as show her how much he’s matured. As these two help with their friends’ summer wedding festivities, Nick decides to pull out all the stops and remind Darla of their own love story. Can she leave all her fears behind and live life to the fullest? I loved seeing Darla do the very hardest thing for her, which is to become vulnerable.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

“I love you. I never stopped. I want another chance.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• My kids—all three of them—really did epically lock themselves into a bathroom.
• Wedding cake testing is sort of like picking out yogurt in the grocery store—so many choices!
• I secretly call this series my sister-of-the-travelling pants books because of Darla’s great-great- grandmother’s ring, which each friend wears for a special summer. It may or may not have HEA powers, and has a special story of its own. In this book, we learn Darla’s ancestors’ love story!

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

They have been fighting their attraction throughout all three books, and now finally they simply cannot avoid each other anymore. Nick has repaired /replaced/remodeled everything he possibly could in Dara’s house…and now he must finally realize that what he really wants is to fix their relationship. He wants HER.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

Nick releases Darla’s three nieces and nephews out of the locked bathroom, and then he and Darla share a moment in the hallway. This scene touched me—the kids in the bathroom part gave me a few chuckles, but what happened afterward was Darla finally making herself vulnerable for the first time – and then she is suddenly forced to publicly reckon with other people knowing she’s with Nick.

“Thanks for the save,” Darla said as the kids broke free and ran down the hall.
He gave her a kiss and then quirked his mouth up in a smile. “I can say the same thing to you.”
Her heart gave a little flutter, but she didn’t want to misunderstand, so she said, “What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “Just that I’m really happy to have you in my life again.”
Wow. Okay, so he really meant what she thought he meant. She beamed right back at him. “We’ve only been together one night.”
She winced at her very bad effort to be light, to joke. He looked deadly serious. So much so that she felt a little panicky. “This isn’t about sex,” he said carefully and slowly. “It’s about waiting, like, a hundred years for you.”
A hundred years? She practically melted into a puddle right in the hallway. He was so sure, so confident. She yearned to strip herself of all her worries and free-fall right into all that confidence. But she was afraid to allow herself to hope for anything beyond the present. And she didn’t even know how to begin to put that into words.
She pushed those thoughts away as she reached up and kissed him. Just a soft brush over his lips. But it wasn’t enough. So she kissed him again, longer this time, their lips meeting and melding as he gathered her into his arms and pulled her deeper into his embrace. “You feel so damn good,” he whispered against her ear, which sent a shiver all through her.
The sensible part of her knew that they should stop, that they were standing in the hall near a crowded room of people. She pushed weakly against him, trying to gather her wits, but all her senses were abuzz and her head was whirling.
And then someone gasped.
They broke apart to find her mother standing in the middle of the hallway staring at them. “Wait—oops—oh my goodness—you two are…together?”

Readers should read this book….

…if you enjoy reading about best friends who always have each other’s backs. If you get that life is always uncertain, but we often have to carry on in spite of that. If you enjoy the complicated and messy—yet precious—bonds of family.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I am working on a new project and also gearing up for the release of the final book in my Sweetheart series, out this October from Entangled Publishing.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A signed copy of THE SUMMER OF SECOND CHANCES. (U.S. and Canada only: U.S. winner will receive a hard copy; if winner is from Canada, an e-copy will be sent.)

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Did you ever own a bridesmaids’ dress that you actually loved? Tell us about your best or worst bridesmaid’s dress!

 
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Excerpt from The Summer of Second Chances:

“Anyway, your tile’s right in there”—Nick pointed to a pile of boxes—“but we need to talk about the rest of the bathroom.”
Darla glanced around the torn-up room. “I’m a little sad that you’re making it beautiful when I’m about to move out.”
“Then don’t,” flew right of his mouth.
Startled, she jerked up her head. Suddenly the air seemed too still, the space too small. He wanted to grab her by the shoulders and tell her he didn’t want her to go. But that would be…ridiculous. Finally, he pushed back from the wall and pointed to the still-standing marble slabs that had surrounded the bathtub.
“Doing this remodel will increase the resale value because everything was dated. And hopefully it will make the house sell more quickly. Besides, it’s too late for regrets. We just have to move forward.” He felt like he was only half talking about the bathroom.
“I’m all for moving forward,” she said. “Tell me what I have to do about picking out the fixtures.”
He handed her the magazine page.
She took a glance at it and then frowned. “This is the photograph I showed you months ago when I asked you about the tile. I told you—I told you I loved this bathroom.”
Whew. Glad she still felt that way or he’d be in trouble. “Yeah. Well, if you’re okay with me going forward, we’re going to get you that bathroom right there.”
Looking incredulous, she shook her head. “I never meant to hint—”
“You didn’t hint. But I could tell you really liked it. I do too.” This was something he could do for her, something he was good at. He really wanted to do it, and he didn’t want her to feel bad. “So…do you trust me?”
“Yes?”
He held his chest like she’d just wounded him. “I’m going to show you what I can do. And it’s going to knock your socks off.”
“I can’t wait to be impressed.” She paused. “Thank you.”
His gaze held hers. And again, he felt like they weren’t really talking about remodeling bathrooms at all. But then maybe it was just a weird day.
Being this close to her was making him remember things. Like a time when, after all this back and forth, she’d be in his arms, laughing and giggling and definitely not getting down to business. Or rather, getting down to a completely different kind of business.
“What’s this?” He pointed to her midarm. He lifted her sleeve a little to reveal a Disney princess Band-Aid.
She glanced down. “Got my blood drawn.”
“You hate needles.” He traced over the Band-Aid with his fingertips before he realized that wasn’t a good idea and dropped his hand.
“Yeah, well, I still do. Only difference is now I can joke about it a little. Hence the Disney Band-Aids.” She tapped her arm. “The lab techs know me too well.”
He tried to think of something funny to say about the cartoon characters, but he was at a loss. “It killed me to watch you go through that cancer,” he blurted instead.
Whoa.Where had that come from? He didn’t really know. The words had just…poured out.
She sucked in a breath, looking completely thrown.
“I’ve never felt so helpless in my life,” he added. Okay, his mouth diarrhea was not stopping, and he had no control.
She stared at him. Swallowed hard. “We were divorced quite a while by then. I didn’t want you hanging around because of pity.”
“You confused pity with caring.” He said it quickly, forcefully, the words fast as the snap of a rubber band.
And…he’d just told her he cared.
It was the most honest moment that had passed between them in years. Which was probably pretty sad. But she noticed too, because her eyes suddenly got watery, but she blinked fast.
“We were best friends for a long time before we were lovers,” he said, not letting this go. “Not being able to be there for you…it was devastating.”
“Why are you…why are you telling me this now?” Her voice was hoarse, choked with emotion.
“Because you’re leaving for good, and if we’re not truthful with each other now, we never will be.”
He realized they were standing amid the rubble, reminiscent of their rubble of a marriage. Too bad relationships couldn’t be remodeled as easily as bathrooms.
“Do you—um—do you think we could be friends again?” she whispered.
“Darla, I never stopped being your friend.” He couldn’t prevent the crack in his voice. Or the quickening of his pulse at the words she’d just said. He could barely stop himself from taking her in his arms.
Who comforted her, he couldn’t help but wonder? Oh, her friends were wonderful, but who held her? Who helped her through this battle she’d probably never really stop fighting, in one way or another?
He wanted to. He wished he could.
He took a step closer. Her eyes were round and wide, and in them, with her defenses lowered, he finally saw the same woman he knew from so long ago. And that made him giddy with relief. Did she remember the good times before the divorce, before the mistakes and the miscommunication, like he did? The tenderness in her eyes told him she might. Before he could stop himself, he leaned forward, driven by some force he could not control, to place a kiss on her pretty, full mouth.
Her lips were soft and warm, and she gave a little gasp on contact, but she didn’t pull away, and that gave him hope that she was feeling the same wild, short-circuiting connection that he was.
He’d just brought his hands up to hold her, to kiss her more thoroughly, to take her in his arms for real, when someone called Darla’s name. She stepped back quickly and cleared her throat. And he stood there, dazed, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Darla Manning has survived cancer so she can survive anything–including having to work closely with her ex-husband to help their best friends have an amazing summer wedding in their quaint Victorian beach town. Her cancer is cured, but what remains is a lifetime of tests and follow-ups. While Darla has survived, she’s not truly living.

Nick Cammareri knows he failed Darla in their marriage, but now he wants to show Darla that he’ll be there for her no matter what. And the more time he spends with her, the more he realizes that he wants Darla in his life for keeps.

As they enjoy another couple’s wedding festivities, he decides to remind her of their own love story and show her that, this time, he’s here to stay. But when Darla has a test scare and other secrets come out, will she only push Nick away again, or can she leave all her fears behind and live life to the fullest?
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Meet the Author:

Miranda Liasson is a bestselling author who writes about the important relationships in women’s lives. Her heartwarming and humorous romances have won numerous accolades and have been praised by Entertainment Weekly for the way she “deals with so much of what makes life hard . . . without ever losing the warmth and heart that characterize her writing.” Her newest release, The Summer of Second Chances, is about first love, second chances, and what it means to truly live your life.
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