Barrier
Series Blog Tour
by Sara
Shirley
February
9th - 22nd
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Links
Frozen
Barriers (Barriers #1)
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to Goodreads
"Live your
Dreams, Follow your Heart"
Emily Cameron is America's newest figure skating star
looking for her own personal identity. Her high profile life was never her
dream, it was her parents.
Jeremy Page is a minor league hockey player who always
imagined himself playing for the NHL.
A chance encounter has them crossing paths after several
years apart. Which way will his heart lead him? Will Emily embrace his charm?
Just when things finally fall into place, an unexpected
event occurs leaving Emily reevaluating everything in her life.
Can Emily escape from under her parent's intrusive ways and
take a chance on love? Will Jeremy be able to break down the barriers that have
held her back for so long?
Book 1 of the Barriers Series. This story does not have a
cliffhanger.
**Mature
Subject matter. 18+ due to strong language and sexual situations**
Excerpt
Staring at myself in the mirror, I see what I am. I’m nothing but a commodity for my parents to use for their own self-worth. I’m disgusted with myself for never putting up a fight, even once I was old enough to realize it. So, why did I freeze up when Jeremy asked me what I wanted to do with my life once my skating career is over? A part of me saw that everything I’ve worked for in my life so far is going to be gone soon, and after that, I’ve got nothing. What do I want to do? I have enough money saved, but that doesn’t give me happiness, let alone a job. I have never considered my life or future. I’ve never once thought of me. I have a degree in geography from Boston University, but besides that, I’m qualified for nothing.
My reflection grows even more dejected than it was when I came into the bathroom. I’m almost certain Jeremy is wondering why the hell I’m still in here. Truth is, I’m not sure I can face him at the moment. My first official date, and I’ve ruined it already. He’s probably out there wondering why the hell he ever asked me out. This might go down as being the shortest relationship ever on record. Throwing my compact and lip-gloss back into my bag, I glance up and see the shimmering diamonds around my neck. His words sound in the back of my head. “You’re worth fighting for.” I’m not so sure of that anymore, but I know it’s time for me to face the music and head out of the ladies’ room. Put on your big girl panties, Emily. The one guy you have actual feelings for might just be ready to break your heart once you open that door.
Taking a deep breath, I open the door and make my way out into the foyer. I see him sitting in the waiting area, his elbows on his knees holding his head in between his hands. He must have sensed my impending arrival because he raises his head and stares me in the eyes. I’m uncertain what I see in his eyes, but it isn’t good. Feeling a tightness in my chest, I step even closer until I’m directly in front of him. Reaching out, he grabs my trembling hand and slides his fingers into mine. Okay, maybe things aren’t as bad as I anticipated.
Playlist
Songs that inspired
Frozen Barriers
Love Theme (From
Romeo and Juliet) - André Rieu
Just a Girl - No
Doubt
I Won’t Give Up -
Jason Mraz
Just a Kiss - Lady
Antebellum
Sail - Awolnation
You Found Me - The
Fray
Eavesdrop- The Civil
Wars
Promiscuous- Nelly
Furtado, Timbaland
House of the Rising
Sun- The White Buffalo with The Forest Rangers
I Gotta Feeling -
The Black Eyed Peas
Falling Slowly -
Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova
Lonely No More - Rob
Thomas
Since U Been Gone-
Kelly Clarkson
Inside of You -
Infant Sorrow
Red Light Special-
TLC
Breath of Life-
Florence + The Machine
Bellas Finals: Pitch
Perfect Soundtrack - The Barden Bellas
Put the Gun Down- ZZ
Ward
Paris (Ooh La La)-
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
A Thousand Years-
Christina Perri
Whistle- Flo Rida
All of Me- John
Legend
Girl on Fire-Inferno
Version - Alicia Keys, Nicki Minaj
Wait for Me- Kings
of Leon
I Touch Myself-
Divinyls
Peace- O.A.R.
Stay - Sara
Bareilles
I Never Told You-
Colbie Caillat
Arms - Christina
Perri
Everytime We
Touch-Yanou’s Candlelight Mix- Cascada
Shakin’
hands-Nickelback
Cruise-Florida
Georgia Line
Black Sheep-Gin
Wigmore
Hands Down-Dashboard
Confessional
**********************************************************************************
Hidden
Barriers (Barriers #2)
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to Goodreads
**You
should read Frozen Barriers (Barriers #1) first. Hidden Barriers can be read as
a standalone, but some situations overlap with those in Frozen Barriers.**
Josh & Sam's
Story
Love has been hiding for too long. What happens when it
reveals itself?
Josh Page, a Massachusetts State Trooper, wants nothing more
than to put his first love behind him. His career is all he’s ever known for
the last ten years. Seeing her is a constant reminder of what he could have had
if he had not put his career first years ago.
Relationships and dating women have never been part of his
lifestyle. He continues to have meaningless sex with women as an attempt to
distance himself from his past. That is until he opens the door and a sassy
roller derby girl stares back up at him.
****
Samantha Daley’s past haunts her. After college, she spends
years building a new life with new friends, roller derby, and a bustling
business under her feet. Her past suddenly comes rushing back after just one
phone call.
Afraid to love, she never imagines a life where one man can
turn her world inside out and make her reevaluate what she wants in her future.
Almost instantly, she’s attracted to the man in front of her. He pushes her
trust to a new level and is willing to take a chance with her.
Will Sam be able to handle the reminders of her troubled
past enough for her to be with Josh, or will it be Josh’s secrets that threaten
to tear them apart in the end?
***As
with all the books in the Barriers Series, there isn't a cliffhanger.***
**For
mature audiences. 18+. This book contains sexual and abusive situations, and
strong language.**
Excerpt
It’s been three years since I’ve touched a man intimately and just as long since I’ve kissed a man. I need to know for sure if I have a chance at forgetting my past and moving forward from the damage Stone has inflicted on me. I know I’ll never be able to fully forget my past. He’ll haunt me until the day I die. Right now, I need to find out if I’m at a point where I’m able to start moving forward. Am I broken completely or fixable?
This is why I need Josh to kiss me. There will be no point in us having a date and attempting a relationship in the future if I can’t physically handle a simple kiss. I slowly run my eyes from my hand that warily sits on his chest up to his eyes. I can’t comprehend the look he’s giving me. He runs his fingers over his mouth before he says, “God, Sam, what the hell…”
“Please,” I beg, because I can’t hear the words that will finish this statement. What the hell happened to me? He’s not ready for that story yet, and I’m not ready to tell him.
Grappling with the many scenarios I’m sure are coursing through his mind, he says, “If that’s what you want, I’ll kiss you, but this is not how I wanted this to happen, especially not in here. Follow me.” He turns to open the door and walk us out of the bathroom. I follow him back to his bedroom where he fiddles with his tablet as he searches for a particular song. Once he finds it, he comes back to my side. The bluesy-sultry voice of a woman filters through the speakers as she sings about taking care of someone she loves who’s been hurt in the past.
“Sam,” he says as his hands tentatively hover just over my shoulders. I nod, giving him permission to touch me. His hands ever so slightly touch me, and I let go of the breath I’ve been holding for what seems like eons. “Don’t think. Just feel,” he relaxingly says. A fluttering in my stomach makes me close my eyes, but I fight whatever might be about to tell me to push back. I feel his hands slowly move up my neck, and my eyes pop open to meet his.
He has to feel my heart racing. Josh lowers his hands to my waist, pulling me even closer to his body. The heat radiating from him invades my shivering body as his head inches closer to mine. Within seconds, his lips are inches away from my face, and my eyes never leave his.
Then, it all happens so fast. His soft lips touch mine, and the fear that has consumed me for all these years seems to suddenly disappear.
Playlist
Save My Life – ZZ
Ward
Hey Ya (Originally
by OutKast) Obadiah Parker
No One’s Gonna Love
You- Band of Horses
Hurt – (Originally
by Nine Inch Nails) Sandi Thom
Black Sheep – Gin
Wigmore
I’ll Take Care of
You- Beth Hart & Joe Bonnamassa
Tainted Love-
(Originally by Gloria Jones) Hannah Peel
Storm Comin’- The
Wailin Jenny’s
Here’s to Us-
Halestorm
Candy- Gavin Degraw
Too Afraid to Love
You- The Black Keys
Satellite – Dave
Matthews Band
Fall at Your Feet –
Boy & Bear
My My Love – Josh
Radin
Eye of the Tiger –
Survivor
Precious Love –
James Morrison
Carry on my Wayward
Song – Kansas
I Will Never Die –
Delta Rae
Something I Need-
One Republic
Because the Night –
Patti Smith
Build me up from Bones
– Sarah Jarosz
Collide – Howie Day
******************************************************************************
Burning
Barriers (Barriers #3)
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to Goodreads
Lucy
We were high school prom king and queen.
He moved on. I moved east.
Seven years ago, I left Breckenridge, Colorado, hoping never
to return.
All it took was one horrific night not too long ago to
change everything.
Now, I’m back in Breckenridge to recover from a recent
attack that nearly took my life as well as my best friend’s, and there is one
person I hope I don’t run into.
His name is Jake Galloway.
My old boyfriend and my first true love.
I’ve never told anyone about him for fear of my deepest
feelings resurfacing.
I’m more afraid of what will happen to me should my path
cross with Jake’s again. I know memories of what we once had will hurt me more
than anything I’ve recently gone through.
He’ll own my heart and my body all over again.
Jake
She took off running when I confessed I loved her but
couldn’t give her the committed relationship she wanted. I needed to live my
college years and party it up with lots of girls and booze.
Sex with Lucy Wyatt was an experience in and of itself. I
thought I was doing right by moving on from her. I thought there was more out
there than just Lucy, even if we burned for each other like a raging
wildfire.
I haven’t seen her since the night she took off from my
house. Little did I know life would throw me a curveball once I got to
college.
I still screw women and drink all night long, but that has
to do with the direction my life went seven years ago. It has nothing to do
with college, simply because I never made it past my first week once classes
began.
I lost Lucy. I lost out on the college experience. And, I
lost my father all in the course of a few short months.
Now, Lucy’s back, and I want her more than ever. The minute
my eyes trailed on her driving down the street, my desire for her burned more
than ever. It’s as though seven years apart never happened. It’s just this time
I’m not sure I can have her anymore.
Can old flames still burn? Lucy and Jake are about to find
out.
**Mature
Audiences Only 18+** Due to violence, language and sexual content.
Excerpt
“Excuse me,” she says with a slight giggle before she backs away with an old beat-up cowboy hat in her hand and smacks it against her jeans. The barn dust flies off the hat before she places it onto her head.
Lucy starts walking down the long, narrow hall toward the open door. The sunlight filtering in the barn illuminates her silhouette enough for me to catch her hips swaying in her tight jeans. She stops abruptly and turns her head to look at me still standing frozen at the end of the barn with Juicy Fruit. I’m hypnotized by her sudden change.
“You comin’ or not, Galloway? I’m not ridin’ by myself.” She eyes me, and my old lace-up steel-toed boots scuff through the soft hay on the barn floor until I’m standing inches from her. I pull down the strings on the sides of her hat so her face stares up at me. I don’t know why or even what comes over me, but my lips crash onto hers before her eyes catch up to her mouth to ask me what I’m doing. The fuck if I care if she has anything to say about this. I’m taking her back, and she’s not about to tell me otherwise.
Her lips part, and our tongues dart in and out of each other’s mouths as I pull her into my body. My arms make themselves at home around her waist, and my hands feel her perfect ass cheeks. I eagerly back her up into the empty horse stall at the end of the barn while never breaking our lips. I slide the large wooden door shut to avoid being seen by any of the kids that might be out training with SJ. That’s the last thing a group of ten-year-olds needs to see around here. It’s bad enough when the horses get rambunctious, but two grown adults getting hot and heavy in the barn is bound to have a few parents complain to the front office.
Lucy’s hands carefully find their way under my shirt, and suddenly any apprehension she might have had about us being together has been tossed aside, at least for the moment or until that head of hers starts thinking again. Although, I’d have to say I’ve done a pretty good job at proving to her that she’s the girl for me. It had been years since I had seen the look she gave me after I told her I tattooed her name on my back. It was the same look she gave me the first night I told her I loved her. I’ll never forget that look.
A moan escapes from the back of my throat when Lucy’s rounded nails begin scraping their way down my back. I frantically grab her wrists and raise her arms above her head. The cowboy hat she just put on falls to the floor in the process. Her fingers wrap around the metal bars that start halfway up the door, and she pulls herself up. She lifts her legs and wraps them around my waist. With my own hands still securely wrapped around her wrists, desire wins out as I pin her against the gate within seconds. My weight keeps her easily in place between the gate and me.
With one hand, I hold her steady as the other begins to trail up her chest and over her breast. I gently nip at her lower lip and begin moving my lips down her neck until I feel the small raised skin from her scar. The heat of the moment is suddenly chilled, and I take my time placing soft, delicate kisses along the thin line. With each tender kiss, I sense something within Lucy changing. It’s almost as though she’s healing a little more. I know she would have stopped this between us had this been a week ago. They say time heals all wounds, and right now, time with just Lucy and me is absolutely proving that statement true.
“Jake…” Lucy whispers. Her soft lips against my ear send sparks directly to my hardened cock that I know isn’t where I need it to be. She doesn’t deserve a barn stall quickie, though. She deserves the campfire and tent set up in the mountains under nighttime skies with shooting stars flying above our heads as we lie amongst a generous amount of comforters and let our bodies do all the talking. It’s how we made love the first time and how we knew that our bond was special and binding for life. That moment defined our future, or at least, it defined mine. No other girl could ever take me on that journey. It’s only been Lucy, and it only ever will be.
“Jake, we need to stop. It’s going to get too late to ride if we keep this up.” Her words sink in, and I lower her slowly until she’s standing in front of me fixing her hair. I bend over gently to retrieve her hat off the ground and shove in onto her head with some force. “You never did like it when I was always right.” She chuckles as she adjusts the hat.
“Well, yeah, but I also never liked being left with a raging hard-on before jumping on a horse to go for a ride either,” I explain as I push my hand into my pants, trying to adjust the semi I’m sporting before walking out of the barn. “Don’t worry, Juicy, you’ll pay the minute we’re alone at the spot.”
“Now, Jake,” Lucy playfully says as she slides open the gate again. “It’s not nice to get someone’s hopes up if you aren’t going to hold up your end of the bargain.”
When she turns around, a giant grin is plastered across her face, and I feel as though all the years apart have just withered away. Our sexual banter is back, and it’s flowing naturally between us. There is no awkward readjustment. It’s just fuckin’ us.
About
the Author
Sara Shirley currently resides just north of Boston, MA
where she spends her free time reading, writing, or just hanging out and having
a good time.
When she is not dealing with books, she can be seen living it up on the town with friends.
At night she can be found watching her favorite television programs all while curled up on the sofa with her cat Whiskey and a glass of wine in her hand. If she's not there then she's most likely dancing around her kitchen to the latest music playlist on her Kindle.
A lover of fine wine, beaches, and constant traveling you may just see her at a signing near you. Keep up to date with her on Facebook. She loves to chat with friends and other book lovers
Frozen Barriers is her debut novel. Her follow-up book in the Barriers series, Hidden Barriers, released August 12, 2014. She has said she was putting the third and final book, Broken Barriers (Barriers #3), off until 2015. Sara cannot rule out a possible novella due out around the holiday season. Burning Barriers, a Novella will be well worth the wait.
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