Written On My Heart, by Cole Gibsen: Mini-Review/Excerpt/ Giveaway!!

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Written On My Heart Blog Tour,

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I'm featuring a mini-review
and excerpt!
There's also a tour-wide
giveaway!!

Written On My Heart

Cole Gibsen
Trade Paperback Edition, 288 pages

Kindle Edition, 232 pages

Entangled Publishing, LLC

July 28, 2015

Contemporary Romance, Social Issues,

New Adult

Amazon US/Amazon UK
Amazon CA
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iBooks

It's been six months since Ashlyn Daniels was kicked out of her home. Six months since she stood up to her abusive stepfather and got a busted rib—and seeing all her things set ablaze in a backyard bonfire—for her trouble. Never going back. She doesn't need trouble...especially if trouble is tattoo artist Lane Garrett, who's six-feet-plus of tattooed hotness and a complete ass.

Lane has spent the last decade fighting to support his family. To protect them. There's no room for romance, even with a fragile (yet amusingly feisty) stunner...even if she somehow manages to invade his world and his heart.

But while some secrets are as visible as ink on the skin, others must remain hidden at all costs... 

 This excerpt, while apparently a bit on the funny side, really isn't. Lots of people get bullied or abused, and it's not a laughing matter. Gibsen makes readers see, in this excerpt, that abuse can scar someone for life. Her prose is simple, sharp in essential details, and it clearly portrays the essence of abuse -- cruelty and indifference to another person's suffering.
The customer's attitude, her callous words, her total indifference....these are the very essence of abuse.
And the transformation of this customer into Ashlyn's stepfather.....this is typical of people who have been abused. There are triggers, there are flashbacks. There is pain in the memory of all the undeserved sarcasm, undeserved criticism, undeserved beatings, undeserved contempt...
And Gibsen knows just how it all feels.
Kudos to her for bringing tears to my eyes in such a short excerpt.
I have already bought the Kindle edition of this book, and will be ordering the paperback as soon as I possibly can!

Chapter One
Ashlyn

A girl -- she can't be more than sixteen -- stands on the other side of the counter from me, twirling her long blond hair around her finger. She stares at the ceiling and huffs loudly. "God, can this take any longer?" she mutters to the polo-shirt-wearing boy next to her, but I know her words are directed at me.

I snap a clear, plastic lid on her cup and slide it over to her. "There you go!" I force a wide smile even though what I really want is to rip the obvious fake extensions off her bitchy, little head. Unfortunately, I need this job too badly to risk doing anything that would get me fired. "Thanks for visiting Live Wire." Now please go away.

The girl curls her lip in a sneer. "What is this?"

I manage to keep my smile from slipping. "It's a nonfat double shot mocha frappe. Just like you ordered."

"Uh, no. It's not just like ordered." -- her eyes dart to my nametag -- "Ashlyn. I specifically asked for no whip."

I twist my fingers in my apron to keep from reaching out to strangle her. I make it a point to write a customer's order on the cup exactly as they say it, when they say it. And there's nothing on the damn cup about no whip.

The guy beside her shifts uncomfortably. "Becca, it's not that big a deal."

She glares at him, and even though he's a foot taller than  she is, he flinches. "Fine. I'll remember next time to dumb down my order, because obviously doing things right is too hard for some people." She flings a hand in my direction, and her fingers hit the side of the cup. it wobbles, balancing on the bottom rim before tipping over. Mocha frappe and whipped cream erupt through the straw hole in the domed lid and all over the counter. She gives me a blank look. "Oops."

I don't know what does it, exactly. Maybe it's the lack of remorse in her eyes, her callous words, or the mocha that continues to gurgle out of the cup, but whatever it is, when I look across the counter, I find she's transformed. My stepdad stands in her place, glaring at me, his lips pursed, ready to spew venom more deadly than that of any viper.

Panic squeezes my ribs in a too-tight embrace. He doesn't have to speak because I already know what he'll say. His voice never stops whispering inside my head. First, he'll call me stupid for screwing up the order. Then he'll tell me how clumsy I am for not catching the drink. And finally, he'll tell me how lazy I am because shouldn't I already have a rag in hand to clean it up?    

Cole Gibsen first realized she was different, when in high school, she was still reading comic books while the other girls were reading fashion magazines.

It was her love of superheroes that first inspired her to pick up a pen. Her favorite things to write about are ordinary girls who find themselves in extraordinary situations.

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