Blog Tour & Giveaway: Promise Harbor series

The Promise Harbor Wedding, Book 4

And she thought the bridesmaids dresses were her biggest problem...

Allison Ralston would rather be anywhere other than this wedding. Even if the wedding is hers. Especially since the wedding is hers.

But Allie's determined to restore her family's happiness, and if tying the knot with longtime family friend, Josh Brewster, is the way to do it, then she'll walk down that aisle, toss that bouquet and drink that champagne.

Oh, she'll definitely drink the champagne.

There’s only one thing that could get Gavin Montgomery back to Promise Harbor. And she’s about to say I do to another man. Now he’s back to claim what’s his—even if he has to do it in the middle of her wedding.

Allie is shocked—and okay, a little turned on—when Gavin literally sweeps her off her feet. Safe in his arms, she succumbs to fatigue, stress, and yes, the champagne, only to wake up in his bed. In Alaska.

Now that he’s put four thousand miles between Allie and all her responsibilities, Gavin’s determined to show her that they can make a life together. If he has his way, the next wedding Allie will be planning will be theirs.

Warning: Contains a guy so in love he’s willing to break up the wedding of the season, a bride who just needs to get to, well, anywhere else, and enough hot sex to take them from New England to Alaska and back again.

The Cleanup Hitter for Promise Harbor

The Promise Harbor Series is finally fully out! Jilted (Kelly Jamieson) came out on March 19th, Bolted (Meg Benjamin) came out on April 2nd, Busted (Sydney Somers) was released on April 16th and Hitched (me! J) was released on April 30th!

Yep, that’s right. I’m the last one. The finale. The big finish. The one in charge of wrap-up. The… cleanup hitter!

I love baseball and the season’s just getting started so I thought this was a fun and appropriate analogy.

Everything in quotes is word for word from Wikipedia (hey, this isn’t a school term paper, so I can cite Wikipedia!)

“In baseball, the cleanup hitter is the hitter who bats fourth in the lineup.” Okay so far, so good. I’m fourth in our line up. I hate cleaning (just ask the multitude of dust bunnies who have made themselves at home in my house) but let’s just go with this for now. It made sense for us to put me last because of the story I was writing—the bride’s story. I was intrigued with the idea of a guy storming into a wedding to steal the bride because he’d realized he couldn’t let her say I do to another man without professing his own love first. So, I wanted to write Hitched for sure. We started the series off with our jilted groom, Josh, and we had to eventually find out what was going on with the runaway bride… but thought it would be fun to make the groom and bride the bookends to the series. So, I was number four.


“The theory behind the cleanup hitter concept is that at the beginning of the game, the first three batters will reach base with a single-base hit, walk, or equivalent, thereby loading the bases”. Okay, granted, we start to lose some of the analogy here already. As far as I’m concerned, each one of the girls has hit a home run so it doesn’t work that they’re still standing on base when I get up to bat. In fact, they’ve rounded the bases and are back in the dugout cheering me on from there. I imagine that Kelly has a big foam finger she’s waving around, Meg’s razzing the umpire and Syd’s got a giant bottle of Gatorade (with maybe a little something added ;)) waiting for me when I’m done.

But here’s how the definition continues-- “enabling the cleanup hitter a chance to hit a grand slam home run.” Now this I like. Not because it makes me look good but because a grand slam home run is a team effort. It takes all four people doing their job, doing what they suited up for, and the score on the scoreboard is for all of them. I’m pretty happy with where I am in the lineup because I can count on the hitters in front of me to really lead things off right.

And to finish the analogy… (okay, wait for it, this is my favorite part…) “This, however, is a rare occurrence.” Ha! Well, maybe in baseball it’s a rare occurrence but we’re hoping that the Promise Harbor wedding series is a big hit and that the fans go wild. :)

Yes, I had to wrap things up, but not without a little help from my friends. This series needed all of us and my book needed all of us. Every character we created, every bit of history we dreamed up, every backstory we invented— all came together to make this series what it is and the last book had to tie everything up in a neat bow.

In writing the end of Hitched, all the girls told me where their characters were and what they were doing. I didn’t make anything up here J. And there were a few joint scenes. When Allie and Devon have their reunion moment, Kelly helped me write that scene. When Gavin needed his BFF, Hayley, Sydney helped me make sure it was true to who Hayley is.

Creating the Promise Harbor Wedding series was definitely a group effort and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of girls to take the field with!

Now hand me some of that Gatorade…

 Excerpt:

“Allie,” he said, stepping forward.

“You’re too late,” she whispered.  A tear slipped down her cheek.

“Bullshit,” he said.  She hadn’t said, ‘I do’ yet.

He strode forward, bent and scooped her into his arms, then headed for the side door.

“Gavin!” She kicked and he tightened his hold.

“Just a damn minute—” Josh started.

Gavin turned.  Several people were on their feet, including Allie’s dad.  All of the groomsmen had stepped forward.  He picked Hayley out, also on her feet, in one of the front pews on Josh’s side of the church.  She looked concerned, but she didn’t move to stop him.  No one came any closer.  At the moment.

 “Give me a chance,” Gavin said. “Let me talk to her.  Let me tell her what I came here to say.  Then if she wants to come back, I’ll walk her down the aisle myself.”

It was crazy to ask Josh to do that.  But he didn’t wait to hear the other man’s response.  He started toward the door again.

He knew it was over the top.  He knew Promise Harbor was going to be talking about this for years.  He knew that he was acting on pure emotion and adrenaline and might regret embarrassing Allie and Josh and their families like this.  But dammit, he needed time.  He couldn’t just let her walk down the aisle and give her life to another man without at least trying. 

Gavin had no actual plan at this point.  His strategy had been to get to the church in time.  Period.  But he had Allie back in his arms.  He wasn’t going to stop now. “If you really love him, he has nothing to worry about,” Gavin said low for Allie’s ears only.  “And if he loves you, he’ll wait.”

She looked up at him, then to Josh, then back to Gavin.  “Am I dreaming?”

His mouth curled at one corner.  “I’m real, darlin’.  I’m here.” 

She sighed and Gavin felt it tremble through her whole body.  He became aware of how light she was, how slight she felt.  A surge of protectiveness and anger went through him.  What the hell?  Didn’t they see that she wasn’t okay?

They weren’t taking care of her.  He couldn’t ignore that either.  Allie’s sense of responsibility and her need to take care of her family was deep and strong.  It had been stronger than anything else.  Even her feelings for him.  So why he thought he could talk her out of this wedding he wasn’t sure.  But the fact that she was obviously taking care of everyone but herself made him feel like snarling. 

Someone had to take care of her.  And he was the best one.

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