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About The Book:
Author: Y.S. Reffitt
Pub. Date: February 14, 2023
Publisher: Y.S. Reffitt
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 348
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After living with heart disease and
depression the last five years, Rayna is ready to crack open the protective
shell her parents created for her. While she is trying to live life to the
fullest, she meets Nick, the singer/songwriter for a local band. Electricity
ignites.
Rayna will not let her heart failure determine her life. But will it change the
path she chooses to take when her world comes crashing down?
Book Trailer:
“Rayna I
can’t believe I let you do that?” Anna said as she ran her hands through
her hair and shook her head. I laughed. “Like you could have stopped me.” I
took my bag from Anna and dug for my wallet.
“I just know
that your mom would freak out if she knew I went along with
this.”
I put my
money and ID back in my wallet and threw it in my bag.
“Do you see
my mom?” I looked around the perimeter. “You didn’t go along with
anything. I made the decision to go parasailing and I’m glad I did. It
was exhilarating.” I wrapped my arm around Anna’s shoulder and smiled at
her as we walked. The soz sand under my bare feet energized me.
“Why would
her mom be mad at you?” Dave looked over at Anna as he raised up from
grabbing a shell from the sand. I drew my eyes down at Anna and shook my head.
“Because my mom is a worry wart, she pleads with Anna to keep me
safe.” I laughed hoping that Dave wouldn’t ask more questions.
“So what was
it like being up in the air like that?” Anna asked.
At least she
was trying to change the subject.
“It was
awesome” Dave said with a grin.
“It was
Anna. You should try it with us next time.” “Hot a chance.” Anna
said.
Be all
laughed and continued our short walk back to the house.
“So how was
it?” Rick asked when we made it to his beach spot.
“Awesome”
Dave and I answered in unison. Be both laughed. Rick laughed at us for
answering together. “You’re back.” Travis said as he walked down the steps
from the house. he smiled at us more at Anna but he looked at all
three of us. His eyes glistened when he smiled at her. It warmed my heart
and made me smile seeing these two fall for each other hopefully one of us
could live happily ever after.
“Come on
Rayna you’re my partner” Dave said. he pulled my hand toward a setup Jeld
in the sand.
“What do you
wanna play?”
“Bucket
ball. That’s what they played while we were gone. Rick and Jeff are
undefeated. We have to beat them” “And you think we can do that?”
“You said
you played sports in high school. Bell this is just like basketball and
beer pong put together.” Dave picked up a ball.
“You just
toss this ball down there into one of those buckets. If you get the ball
in the bucket the other team has to remove the bucket. Just like beer
pong.”
“I’ve never
played beer pong.”
“What?!!”
Dave looked at me like I was an alien. “What do you mean you never played
beer pong? Didn’t you just graduate college?”
“I did, but
I did most of it online. Remember I told you I just moved out of my mom
and dad’s and moved in with Anna.”
“So you
never went to parties?”
“no, I
didn’t”. I took a breath and braced myself for his laughter. ,e didn’t
laugh. ,e just looked confused. “Let’s get this game started” Dave
yelled.
Dave didn’t
pry. I liked that about him. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I met him
a few days ago. ,e made me feel comfortable.
ffe2 and
Rick hurried over to their buckets and picked up the balls.
“Losers first”
jeff yelled.
“I’ll show
you loser” Dave said. “Go ahead Rayna.” I tossed the ball and missed.
Dave tossed his and missed. Rick and ffe2 harassed us. The game went on
for a while. Sut in the end Dave and I beat them.
“Who is the
loser now?” Dave chuckled.
Jeff flipped
Dave the bird and walked toward the house. Dave laughed again and put the
balls in the bucket.
“Guys we
need to get ready if we’re gonna play the show tonight.” Rick pointed at
his watch.
“Always the
slave driver.” Dave shot back at him with a grin. Be gathered our things and
started for the house. “Five me that stuff.” Dave threw his towel over his
shoulder and took my bag from my hands.
“Thanks.”
Food looking and a gentleman. I locked arms with Anna as we followed the
guys up the steps to the house. The guys quickly showered and
dressed.
“Be need to
get the equipment set up and do sound check so we’ll see you later” Rick
yelled as he opened the front door.
I stuck my
head out of my room. “Okay see you there.” “Bye Rayna. I’ll see you in a few
hours.” Dave waved at me. I waved back."
I showered
and dressed. Anna’s music blared from her room. She was making the final
touches to her makeup when I walked in.
“You look
fantastic! That leather mini skirt shows off those long tanned legs. I
love it! You’re gonna give someone a heart attack looking like that!”
Anna said.
I smirked at
her and did a little spin. Dressing up in sexy clothes did make me more
optimistic. “Thanks.” I grinned at her. “You look kinda fabulous
yourself.”
“Thanks! I
hope Travis thinks so too.”
I shook my
head at her and smiled. “Let’s go see Travis.” I joked.
Anna put her
mascara down and grabbed her purse from the sink. She followed me out the
front door to the car. I drove almost a mile.
“We could
have walked you know. My heart won’t fail from a little walk.” I gave Anna
a disapproving look as I locked the car doors.
Anna
grimaced at me. “Walk in heels and break a sweat after all the hard work
on our hair and makeup? HeverN4 A look of astonishment on her face.
I laughed
and locked arms with her as we walked across the street toward the club. My
phone rang.
“It’s my mom
Anna. Hold on a minute. Hi mom.” I held up a Finger to Anna.
“Rayna! You
didn’t call me back.”
“I know mom!
I’m sorry. Anna and I lost track of time and almost forgot about the show
tonight”
“Rayna be
careful being out with only Anna.”
“Mom! We are
here with Rick and his friends, we aren’t alone. I have my mace.” I smiled at
Anna. “Remember, you raised a smart girl.”
“I know
Rayna. I worry too much I guess. Your fragile condition doesn’t help my nerves.
I will always worry. Text when you get back to the house so I know you are
in. Be safe and I love you. Enjoy yourself.”
“I will. I
love you too mom. And tell dad I love him.” I hung up the phone and put
it in my small leather purse. I grabbed Anna’s arm and gave her a big
smile. “Let’s go have some fun girl.”
The club was
nearly packed. We paid the cover charge and pushed our way through all the
young faces toward the stage to find Rick. People were everywhere. Some
played pool while others gathered around the bar or tables causing a
sea of unrelenting chatter. You could hardly hear yourself think. After
looking for a few seconds I spotted him.
“Hey Rick!” I
yelled over the music coming from the juke1 box. he glanced over his shoulder
and waved us over to the side stage.
“I wondered
where you two were!” Rick said. He continued hooking up cables and wires
to speakers and lights. “I thought maybe you got lost!” Rick teased. “The
band is gonna start in about ten minutes. I reserved a table for us up
front.” He yelled over the noise and pointed to a table close to the
stage.
“We had to
make ourselves beautiful, Rick” Anna grinned at Rick.
“And you
both are. I’ll fetch you two beautiful ladies a soda, be right
back.”
“I can’t
wait until the band starts. I’m so excited for you to see them. You
should have gone with me when I saw them a few months ago!” Anna
stated.
“I wanted to!
But you know I wasn’t up to par then, and when I’m fatigued, it’s hard to
force myself out of the house. My doctors figured my medicine out now.
And that helps with the fatigue. I’m ready to start having some fun
before it’s too late. I mean, all that money my grandfather left me, I
need to spend some right.”
“Hey! We’re
not going to talk about sad things tonight. We’re gonna have a wonderful
time tonight and the rest of the week. When Seer starts playing, you’ll
be ready to get your groove on and be free of all the worry,” Anna said. She
sounded like she was barking orders to me. But I understood she
only volunteered encouraging words.
The band
took the stage and started to play an interesting guitar riff, my
attention was perked. I enjoyed rock music and loved to lose myself in
the rhythm. And Anna was right. The guys looked amaWing6 all of
them.
“Woooooooo!”
Anna yelled and clapped her hands. I could feel the drum and the guitar
pounding in my chest. Anna always gave off incredible vibes. I gave her
an evil grin and she knew I was ready to have fun.
The band finished
the first song and the singer, Dave’s brother that I hadn’t met yet,
introduced the band members. His voice came out low and sexy when he sang.
You wouldn’t think that deep raspy sound would come out of such a
young looking face. He was cute, but the drummer Dave was the
best looking in my opinion. Dave’s skin tone was the same as the
singer’s, but Dave’s hair was shorter. The singer’s eyes were darker and
when he smiled, he exposed straight white teeth. Anyone could tell they
were brothers.
“I see that
smile. I told you the band was awesome?” Anna smirked. “And we get to
spend the entire week with those fine looking guys.”
I smiled at Anna
and raise my glass of coke to give her a toast as the band started playing
a slower tune. It sounded just as amazing as the first song. The band
played a few more songs and I grabbed Anna’s arm and dragged her to the
dance floor with the others that decided they liked the music. I felt
free and young instead of the old grumpy cat I had become in the
last few years. I enjoyed this carefree experience. Anna and I slowly moved to
the front of the stage as we danced. We danced to every song.
As I glanced
up at the band, I made eye contact with the singer, Nick. Hs deep brown
eyes were shockingly intense. When our eyes locked something happened
that I’d never experienced before. It was like I had known him all my
life. I couldn’t pull my eyes away. A magnet kept pulling my eyes to
his.
I thought I’d
given up on guys because of the heart break with the last one, but if he would
step on the stage right at that moment and asked me to leave with him, I would
have. I never believed in love at first sight, but I thought I might
be experiencing it right there in the club in front of hundreds
of people. I continued moving to the music, but I sensed I was in a
trance. Nick turned his eyes away and released the trance he pulled me
into. He had some kind of power over me.
The band finished
the song and the crowd roared. “Thank you everyone for hanging out with
us tonight!” the singer said and took a bow. “We’ll be playing on the
other side of town in a few days if you want to come join us
again.” I brought my thoughts back to reality and glanced at Anna. She
was looking at me with a confused expression. He walked over to our table
and stood by our chairs. I had never been drunk, but I bet it felt
something like this.
“RaynaC are
you okay? You look goofy,” concerned, Anna examined my face.
I kinda
smiled at her not knowing if I was okay. “I’m not sure. I’ve never
experienced that before.
“What! What
haven’t you experienced before?” Anna demanded as she squeezed my arm.
“This
instant attraction to someone, like I would follow them around the
world.... like I have known them for years. Like....”
“Your soul
mate? I saw you two lock eyes. I knew something was happening.” Anna let
go of my arm.
“Sssshhh,
they’re coming over here,” I whispered to her.
Anna gave a
little squeeze to my hand with a big smile on her face. Rick led the
group of guys. They all walked toward us with immense confidence and huge
smiles on their faces, except the singer Nick. His face showed annoyance.
Travis walked directly to Anna and stood by her. Dave chose the spot beside me
and Nick beside him. Rick did formal introductions.
“This is Nick
Perry, our singer and Dave’s brother. Nick, these beautiful ladies are Anna Cass
and Rayna Taylor.”
“Hi,” Anna
and I said at the same time.
“Hi,” Nick
repeated as he threw his hand up to wave. He moved his eyes away quickly
not acknowledging me. He leaned on the table with one elbow and glanced
around at the crowd. his white tank top showed off his dark skin
and defined biceps and shoulders. The soft hairs on his chest stuck out of
the top of his shirt. I glanced at him again, but he still wouldn’t meet
my eyes. I felt as if I had a stupid little girl crush on someone that
didn3t even know I existed. Maybe he was pretentious.
I could
sense Nick looking at me and I peeked up and smiled. he forced a smile
and looked away again. Everyone talked and laughed around the table, but
my mind was elsewhere. My stomach churned with those butterflies and my skin
rippled with electricity having Nick so close to me. I wanted to reach
out and touch his skin. Touch the tattoo of a cross on his
shoulder.
“We better
pack this stuff up and get it in the van,” Nick said. “I’m not feeling so
good.” He chugged his water, turned, and hopped back into the stage to
begin the tear down.
“Yeah, let’s
get this stuff together and head back to the house where we can relax and
hang out. It has been a long day.” Travis said.
Travis, the
lead guitarist, and Anna hadn’t stopped talking since the band finished
playing.
“I better
help.” Dave winked at me as he stood up to go to help take stuff down.
Dave had the
same dark mysterious eyes as Nick, but I noticed every detail in Nick’s
face. It was so beautiful. He tucked his long, shaggy, brown hair behind
his ears. Even though he didn’t smile but once, I couldn’t stop looking at
him as he worked to clean the stage.
“Let’s help
them load up.” Anna bought me out of my hypnotic state.
Anna and I
wound up black cords and carried them out to the van. Nick was already in
the van packing things. He took the cords from me and our skin touched. The
electricity from our skin touching was too much. He jerked the cord from my
hand in haste. Our eyes locked again. I wanted to jump into the van and press
my lips against his. He made me nervous, but it didn’t matter. The way I
felt around him was intoxicating. It was different than anything I ever
experienced. I couldn’t figure out what this feeling was. It scared
me.
“Thanks,” Nick
said. I blinked out of my trance. He quickly looked away. He didn’t smile this
time. he appeared annoyed. That’s when I bolted and almost ran back into the
bar. I finally desired someone again. A warmth rose through my body so intense
it scared me and he barely said more than one word to me. It must have been
wishful thinking on my part because I had been out of the dating loop. Why
did he act like I was just any other girl; like he wasn’t
interested in me? I could have sworn some kind of connection was between
us. I bumped into Anna as I walked stupefied across the wooden door of
the club.
“What’s up
Rayna? You seemed dazed.” Anna said as she gave me a confused look.
“He ignores
me….like I don’t exist!” I said. My frustration must’ve been
obvious.
Anna took my
arms and led me to the table. She pushed me to my seat.
“Nick
avoided my eyes and he only said like one or two words to me. And these butterflies
won’t stop dancing in my stomach.”
“I knew it.
You both had a weird expression on your faces. Like you are entranced,” She
swooned.
“I’m
not......... entranced with him,” I stuttered, “just dazzled.” I
scrunched my nose and grinned.
“Remember
when we were little and Johnny liked you? Remember when he used to annoy you
and we figured out he was just trying to get your attention?”
I shook my
head yes remembering.
“Older boys
act goofy too when they like a girl, instead of annoyance, it’s avoidance. Get
to know him a little more and you’ll see. I can tell that he likes you.
You make him uncomfortable. That’s why he’s avoiding your eyes,” Anna
said. She did make me feel a little bit better.
We followed
the guys back to the house in the car and talked about it some more. Anna
kept coaching until she had me smiling again. When we walked into the
kitchen for a drink, we saw the guys outside on the deck goofing
around. It looked as though they were giving Nick a hard
time.
Anna and I
walked out onto the deck. The sound of the ocean filled my ears. The waves
beating on the shore were one of my favorite sounds. The ocean breeze
blew my hair around my face. I looked over at Nick while he stared out at
the dark ocean. He resembled a Greek god standing there. I wanted to
walk over and touch him. But he seemed unapproachable and untouchable, far
away in his own world.
“Hey guys,
you got here quick,” Anna said. They all glanced up and smiled at us. Everyone
started talking about the night and how amazing the band played. Nick
said few words. “I’m gonna head to bed.” Nick said.
“What?” Dave
and Rick said. They looked at Nick in shock. “I’m not feeling well. I must be
tired from the plane and playing tonight.” Hick said.
“Catch you
in the morning?” Dave -questioned. “Yep, goodnight everyone.” Nick wave his
hand and hurried into the house.
“He’s off
tonight man,” Travis said. “He hasn’t acted right since the middle of the show
when I played that long riff. What’s the matter with him?”
“He usually
is the last one to bed and the life of the party.” Dave said. “But
tonight, he was just plain goofy.”
“He’s
probably just tired. He told me he wrote an entire song on his plane ride down
here. Hopefully tomorrow you girls will see the real Nick. You’ll love
him.” Rick explained. I thought I already did. The guys just told me what I
guessed. He was acting strange. This made me feel even bleaker. “Did you
like the band tonight?” Dave asked. He took a drink of his beer.
“Yes, you
all did an awesome job. I love all the songs.” I said. I gave him a reassuring
smile.
“Nick writes
all of our music. When he was still in the Marines, he had already written
a lot of the lyrics. When he got out, we had lost our lead singer and we
asked him to sing for us.” Dave said.
“How long
has the band been playing?” I asked as I watched Anna laugh while she
listened to Travis, Jeff, and Rick talk about something I couldn’t
hear.
“We’ve been
together for about a year now. Be made an album with help from some of our
friends about a month ago. It turned out amazing.”
“I wanna buy
one.” I smiled
“I’ll find
you one tomorrow morning.” He grinned.
“Sounds
good.”
“Rick said
you just graduated from college too. What did you study?”
“I studied
journalism. I hope to find a job in editing. I love books.” I gave him a
frivolous smile because most people think I”m crazy for liking books so
much.
“Maybe I
could market some of your books that you edit. I graduated with a
marketing degree. Maybe it can help with marketing the band.” Dave
laughed.
Even though
I thought Dave was the best looking in the beginning and he was giving me
quite a bit of attention, I couldn’t stop my mind from thinking about Nick.
I looked at my watch and saw that it was midnight. I excused myself
and went into the house to put myself and my crazy mind to bed. As I
got dressed for bed, I still couldn’t figure Nick out and couldn’t drive the
way he affected me out of my head. Just thinking about him lying down in a
bed on the floor above me gave me goose bumps. I dozed off to sleep with Nick
hanging onto my dreams.
About Y.S. Reffitt:
Author of
Songs from the Heart. Her debut novel is set to be release on February 14th,
2023. She graduated from West Virginia University with a Master of Arts in
Reading. She works as a Reading Specialist. She lives in West Virginia with her
husband and two sons.
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Giveaway Details:
1 winner
will receive a $10 Amazon GC courtesy of Rockstar Book Tours, International.
Ends
February 28th, midnight EST.
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
|
2/13/2023 |
Excerpt |
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2/14/2023 |
Review/IG Post |
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2/14/2023 |
Review/IG Post |
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2/15/2023 |
Excerpt |
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2/15/2023 |
IG Post |
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2/16/2023 |
Review |
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2/17/2023 |
Review/IG Post |
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2/17/2023 |
Review/IG Post |
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2/20/2023 |
Review/IG Post |
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2/21/2023 |
IG Review |
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2/21/2023 |
IG Review/LFL Drop Pic |
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2/22/2023 |
IG Review/TikTok Post |
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2/22/2023 |
IG Review/LFL Drop Pic |
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2/23/2023 |
Review/IG Post |
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2/24/2023 |
IG Review/Facebook Post |
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