Welcome to my stop on the virtual book tour for Love Tools by Isobel Reed. This book tour was organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. On my stop, I have an excerpt from the book as well as a great guest post from the author regarding her inspiration behind the book. There's also the tour wide giveaway for a chance to win a $50 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card. Be sure to visit the rest of the stops on the tour for more content. Enjoy!
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Series: Bluestone Series #1
Author: Isobel Reed
Publisher: Inkspell Publishing
Publication Date: December 6th 2022
Print Length: 187 pages
Genre: Contemporary Romance
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What happens when the king of casual meets the queen of picking the wrong men?
Lily is running. From a dead-end job, a neurotic mother and all the losers she dared to date. Moving halfway across the world to Bluestone County seemed like a good idea at the time. So did reopening her estranged father’s hardware store. But now she isn’t so sure.
Small town living has its perks though. Wide-open space, clean air, and sexy cowboys. Well, one sexy cowboy. Jake. Who also just so happens to be the new bane of her existence. At least when he’s not talking, she can admire the view.
Jake is the king of casual. The love of his life has always been his ranch, and that was fine with him. He never really saw the point in long-term. But all that changes when a mouthy, blonde sasses him into oblivion. He should have known she’d be trouble as soon as he laid eyes on her. Now it’s too late. She’s all he can think about. All he has to do is convince her that he’s finally the right man.
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EXCERPT:
Lily stared at the boarded-up windows and took a deep breath. There was no turning back now. Pulling the keys from her handbag, she unlocked the door and followed the creaking sound of the floorboards into the dimly lit store.
To her surprise the shelves were still stocked and brimming with power tools, each item covered in a layer of dust that had already started to make its way up her nostrils.
“What the hell are you doing here Lily?” she muttered to herself as she ran her fingers across the counter.
To get this place up and running, it was going to be more work than she ever imagined. She just hoped the apartment upstairs was in better condition.
After exploring the shop floor, she went to find out. She followed the beige hallway into the living room, taking a seat on the squeaky leather sofa and looking around. The space was depressing. Habitable but depressing nonetheless.
How could he have lived here for so long, and it still feel so empty?
Furniture was sparse, and other than the chair she sat in, the only other items that remained were a flatscreen TV, a scratched wooden coffee table and a small shelving unit scattered with a few books and a couple of picture frames.
She looked over at the kitchen adjoining the living room and noticed some basic appliances. It felt strange to be in his space. His home. Surrounded by his things. Was there a right way to feel?
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Isobel Reed was born and raised in London. She still lives along the River Thames with her husband and her substantial book collection. Ever the hopeless romantic, she fell in love with the genre from a young age and was inspired to write her own stories. When she's not feasting on romantic comedies or binge reading her hoard of contemporary romance novels, Isobel is writing.
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GUEST POST:
Inspiration for Love Tools
by Isobel Reed
by Isobel Reed
Like most people in real life, my main characters battle demons on a daily basis. Whether that be scars from old relationships, childhood trauma or the loss of a loved one, past experiences help to shape the person we all are today. My characters are no exception. So, when I’m writing my characters the first thing I do is figure out who they are inside and out and what happened to make them that way.
Lily, like all my female leads, is strong. She’s a fighter. But like most strong women, she doesn’t know her own strength. In fact, she even mistakes it for weakness. Now, as a card-carrying strong woman myself, I can relate. Every now and again self-doubt gets us all. I don’t believe for one second that anyone wakes up every day feeling like a warrior ready for battle. We’re all only human. Flaws and all.
While Lily may be flawed, you can’t help but like her. Her character was inspired by my friends. She’s the kind of woman you want to crack open a bottle of wine with and swap war stories. The kind whose wisdom sometimes comes in the form of sarcasm and self-deprecating humor. And more importantly the kind of woman you want to know.
With all that in mind, why wouldn’t I give this awesome woman her very own love story? Enter Jake. By no means is he perfect either. He has his own demons and let’s face it, if a man gets to thirty-five and hasn’t been married yet, there’s something going on there. But just because someone isn’t perfect, it doesn’t mean they’re not perfect for someone…
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GIVEAWAY:
Isobel Reed will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to one randomly chosen winner via Rafflecopter. Good luck!
(All the Ups and Downs is not responsible for this giveaway, its entries, or the prize. Goddess Fish Promotions and the author assume all responsibility over this giveaway.)
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeletethank you so much for this awesome chance, this looks fab and i cant wait to jump into this. happy holidays everyone.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good read.
ReplyDeletelove the title, this sounds like a really good book
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds very good. Love the cover!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for having me!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteLoved the excerpt. Very sexy romance
ReplyDeleteThis is a great excerpt from the book
ReplyDeleteWhat do you like about writing?
ReplyDeleteMy favorite thing about writing has to be world building. I get to create the places and the people and when I write a series I get to live in those places (in my head of course) while I dream up stories for the characters I’ve created. I've also always been described as a bit of a daydreamer and I’ve found that writing stories gives you the perfect excuse to get lost in your head for as long as you like!
DeleteSounds great! Love that cover! Thank you for the excerpt! :)
ReplyDeleteLoved the excerpt! Added to my TBR!
ReplyDeleteI love the cover and look forward to reading the book.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the excerpt. Sounds like a great read!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your guest post, bio and book details, I have enjoyed reading about you and your work and I am looking forward to reading Love Tools
ReplyDeleteHappy Wednesday
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the book excerpt -This book is a must read for me-thank
ReplyDeleteThe book sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteGood book for Winter reading.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the contest.
Sounds like a great cowboy romance!
ReplyDeletedo you enjoy travelling
ReplyDeleteI love travelling! If money was no object then I would definitely do even more of it. My husband and I try to go away once a year, this year we went to Rome which was amazing. I highly recommend! Beautiful food and surroundings.
Deletethank you so much for this awesome chance, happy holidays everyone.
ReplyDeletelooks like a fun one
ReplyDeleteThe excerpt is interesting. Thank you for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what tools he possesses. LOL
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental
I enjoy reading Contemporary Romance. I like the cover.
ReplyDeleteThank you
ReplyDeleteThank you
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy this genre, contemporary romance. This book sounds fun to read.
ReplyDeleteWhat kinda car do you drive?
ReplyDeleteWe actually don't have a car, which is pretty common when you live in London. We are lucky enough to live within walking distance of everything we need like shops, cafe's and restaurants. There is also a train station and tube station (subway) nearby so we just jump on a train when we go to other parts of the city.
DeleteHappy Thursday
ReplyDeleteLAST DAY. Thanks
ReplyDeleteWhat is your favorite Christmas ornament that you have?
ReplyDeleteI have a cute Christmas robin that I get out every year which I love. It's got a fancy knitted scarf, a red woolly hat and a Christmas jumper on. It was a gift from my mother-in-law. As a holiday tradition, their family always has at least one robin up every year.
DeleteHave you seen the Loch Ness monster...lol...thanks for being so generous
ReplyDeleteI have been to Loch Ness a long time ago, but alas, I didn't spot the beautiful beast. He was obviously feeling shy that day!
DeleteI enoyed the excerpt. Thank you for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an interesting book and I also like the cover.
ReplyDeleteabfantom at yahoo dot com
Congratulations on your release of Love Tools, Isobel, I loved the excerpt and I enjoyed following the tour and learning about your book, which sounds like a romance that I can't wait to read and I love the cover! Good luck with your book and I hope the tour was a success!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing it with me and have a magical holiday season!
Happy Friday everyone, i cant wait to read this book, thank you for the chance too.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great book
ReplyDeletethanks again for the great giveaway, best wished with your book
ReplyDeletegreat cover cant wait to read it.
ReplyDeleteWhat you learned from this year?
ReplyDeleteIn terms of writing this year has probably taught me that while I may think and want to write two books at once, it’s actually a very, very bad idea. Silly me had an idea for books three and four in a new series I’m writing and I figured I should write them both while the ideas were still fresh… needless to say it all went very wrong and got very complicated quickly. I ended up having to put book four to one side while I completed book three.
DeleteLove books about cowboys, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great book. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteMy question to the author is: what was the character that cost you the most to build? And with whom does he feel identified?
ReplyDeleteAll my characters cost me a little something. Although there is humor sprinkled throughout my stories, the emotions are all raw and the scenes where underlying pain or trauma comes to the surface are the most difficult to write. I’m right there with each character the whole time, riding that emotional rollercoaster. While I identify with all my leading ladies up to a point, I definitely grew attached to Alice the most, so much so she gets her own story in book two of the series.
DeleteWhat kinda car do you drive?
ReplyDeleteI don't! While I do have my driving license, we've never bought a car as we live in London and within walking distance to everything. If we need to go to other parts of the city then we just jump on a tube or train.
Delete