Cover Reveal / Pre-Order Blitz 2/25/16
Title: Untangling
the Stars
Author: Alyse
Miller
Publisher: InkSpell
Release Date: May 2016
ISBN: 9781939590756
About the Book
Even a bad romance can have a happy ending.
Staying
true to her own character has never been a problem for Dr. Alessandra Foxglove.
Andie has devoted herself to teaching others, and – not to toot her own horn –
she’s damned good at it, too. A beloved college professor and engaged social
activist, Andie has her heart – and both her hands – full.
So
when celebrity bad boy Guy Wilder wanders into her classroom one day by
accident, Andie doesn’t think much of it at first. There are guest speakers at
the university on a daily basis – although none as devilishly handsome as
primetime’s favorite preternatural lady-killer with lightning bolt blue eyes,
Silas Dove. But when he shows up again the next day after a capricious goodbye,
Andie begins to see that there’s more going on behind the scenes with this
brooding, bad boy star. And even though she’s built a career on analyzing the
human reaction to Hollywood’s most sexy and dangerous characters, she can’t
help herself from falling under the very same spell she preaches against.
Besides, with cheekbones like that, she couldn’t say no if she tried.
Giveaway
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Preorder Links
B&N: coming soon
Author Bio / Social Media
Alyse
Miller is a contemporary women's fiction author with a penchant for romantic
and speculative twists. While she writes comfortably across several genres,
Alyse especially enjoys writing for a new adult audience and exploring the
emotions of romance and the growth of the human spirit as it transitions from
adolescence into adulthood.
She
is a member of Romance Writers of America, Women's Fiction Writer's
Association, and the Author's Guild. Alyse is currently represented by InkSpell
Publishing.
Excerpt (Please choose One)
Guy
bowed in—or rather, he stepped in and tilted his head down toward her—closing
the gap between them. Whether he did it for effect, or to bring that thin ring
of green back into her vision, she wasn’t sure. But he was close, so
close. His voice was the tiniest step above a whisper, his mouth a breath away
from hers. “You’re not trying to put a spell on me, are you, Andie Foxglove?”
Her
insides turned to pudding. Every fiber of her being went limp and wanted to
swoon at that comment and those eyes. Worse, something extremely naughty inside
her gave a second’s thought to falling into what seemed like a taunting,
waiting kiss on the edge of Guy’s still very-close lips. But
somehow—miraculously—Andie stood her ground, even with a fever crawling up her skin
and making her eyes burn. She wasn’t sure if he was flirting with her, or
challenging her, or both, but she liked it—really liked it. The Guy
Wilder who had slid in her classroom door had gone from nervous to flippant to
downright coy, and nothing could whet Andie’s appetite like a good challenge. A
good challenge wrapped inside the beautiful mess that was Guy Wilder wasn’t so
bad either.
“Not
today, Mr. Wilder,” she whispered in the space between them as the bell rang
overhead.
Not
today, Andie reflected as the door swung open and she turned to greet the
students pushing their way into her classroom. But she never said never.
His words didn't register with Andie’s already made
up mind. “What?”
“You don’t understand, Andie. Outside of this room,
it isn’t just you and me anymore. It’s everyone—it’s the whole world—and
every one of them will be looking at us and judging us—you.”
“I’m a big girl, Guy. I think I can handle it.”
“You don’t even know what you’re saying. You have
no idea what it’s like to be hounded by fans, chased by the paparazzi, blinded
with camera lights. It sucks. I don’t want to put you through that.”
She should have been relieved, but Andie was the
type of woman who, when someone lit her fuse, they were better off just letting
it burn off than try to snuff it out. All she managed to hear was that she
wasn’t someone worth being caught by the paparazzi with—or worse, that he
didn’t want to disappoint his female fans by having a less-than-supermodel
perfect girl on his arm (okay, that one was probably her own insecurity
screaming out).
“If you didn’t want to take me out, then why did
you even ask me here? I don’t get it.”
“To get to know you. Isn’t that what you do on a
date?”
“To ‘get to know me’ in your hotel room? That
sounds a lot like playing a game to get a girl alone in your fancy hotel room
and take her to bed. What kind of girl do you think I am?”
“You’re twisting my words around, Andie. I’m trying
to protect you.”
Andie couldn’t hide her disdain. She didn’t need or
want anyone to protect her, much less some jerk with an overinflated ego.
“Sounds like you’re trying to protect yourself.” She made sarcastic air quotes
around “protect.” “I didn’t come here to Netflix and chill, Mr. Wilder.”
Guy’s handsome face twisted into a scowl. His fist
hit the edge of the couch and he ripped the tie from his neck and whipped it on
the couch. He stalked toward her. There was no grace in his walk this time, no
hint of seduction. He simply stepped directly in front of her, glaring down.
The yellow in his eyes was ignited in fiery ring, his lips pursed and angry.
Andie automatically took a step backward, then recanted and stood her ground.
Fine, they were both angry. It was better than playing games. Bring it on,
vampire boy.
He pulled his lips away from hers, letting the kiss
trail off in a series of smaller kisses on the edge of her mouth, her chin, her
jaw. Mouth still open, he tipped his forehead against hers, hiding his face
behind a curtain of hair.
“It’s late.” His voice cracked under the strain of
his need, but anxiety crept back into the set of his jaw. “I should go.”
Andie tried to see through the locks of fallen hair
and decode the man underneath. He was a tricky one, this enigma wrapped in a
riddle. If she knew what was best for her, she’d let him go. Somewhere in the
back of her mind, she knew this could never work—this romance between a regular
girl and a man from the headlines. Those relationships never worked, in or out
of the movies. It was hot and heavy and then boom, someone’s arguing pre-nup
semantics in annulment court while the rest of the world reads along. Andie
thought about all of those gloomy—and very probable—scenarios and made her
decision.
“Stay.”
Guy didn’t move, but he did look up at her. She
looked back at him, unyielding and unashamed. She knew what asking him to stay
meant, and she wanted him to stay. Please stay.
“MMmm.” His words were lost as his mouth nuzzled
against her throat. One warm hand slipped around to cradle her neck in his
palm. Andie felt her pulse speed up, felt it shuddering against the pressure of
his lips on her skin. Her empty hands fidgeted, then ran up through his hair
and curled into tight fists.
Guy groaned against her neck and cupped his free
hand under her ass. In one deft movement, he propelled them both forward and
dropped her flat on her back against the bed. Andie’s breath pushed out between
her lips as Guy ran his hand up her leg from foot to thigh, making her skin
sizzle and pop in little goose bumps in his wake. He hung above her, a man
bathed in shadow with predator eyes shining in the darkness.
“I guess we both have a little bit of a rebellious
streak in us then, huh?”
The woman Andie had been just a few days ago—that
wizened academic who knew better than to fall under the spell of some
disastrously good-looking hot mess paid to be the most mesmerizing thing he
could be—was banging on the inside of Andie’s subconscious, reminding her that
this was all moving too fast to be normal. Passionate encounters that led to
happily ever after’s were the stuff of carefully curated movie scripts, not
intended to ever play out in real life the same way they did on the big screen.
They were fantasies, not recipes. She should know better than anyone else that
these stories never ended well. But even so, even if she was living out some
sort of toxic fantasy, she’d take the risk—and deal with the consequences
later.
