Today is pub day for Melt For You, book 2 in my steamy Slow Burn series, and I’m so excited to share Cam and Joellen’s story with you!
Like the first book in the series, Burn For You, Melt For You is based on a classic fairy tale. While Burn For You was my take on Beauty and the Beast, Melt For You is an Ugly Duckling story. (The third book in the series, Ache For You, will be coming in November. That one’s based on Cinderella.)
The thing that makes Melt For You so special to me is the heroine, Joellen Bixby. Jo has some serious self-esteem issues and a scathing inner dialogue that early readers are intensely reacting to. For some, it’s hard to read about a character so down on herself all the time, but this character is based on someone I knew and loved when I was young. (I talk about her in the acknowledgements at the end of the book.) She’s definitely not perfect. She’s messed up. She’s full of self-loathing. She’s also kind, smart, and loyal — in other words, she’s real.
And I’m shocked how many of you are identifying with her. I’m also humbled, and saddened, by the personal stories readers are sharing with me about their own struggles with self-esteem, specifically related to body issues and how women are expected to look. Or not look.
It’s 2018, and it’s still not okay to be imperfect.
We’re making great strides, with models of all body types now more commonly featured in magazines and advertising. The #MeToo movement has brought awareness to the important issues of sexual assault and harassment that women all over the world face on a daily basis, and the size acceptance movement has steadily been gaining ground since it originated in the late ‘sixties, but our self-esteem is still so rooted in our appearance. For some of us, those scars left by cruel words about our weight or height or skin or hair aren’t dimmed by time, so no matter how successful we become, we still feel as if we’re not enough. We feel as if we’re frauds.
They even have a term for it: Impostor syndrome.
My aim in creating the character of Joellen was simply to explore that idea, and how having someone who loves us unconditionally can truly change our perspective about ourselves. A lifetime of negative self-talk and programming from people supposedly with your “best interests” at heart can’t be erased by falling in love, but having someone in your corner who sees your inherent value, and helps you to accept yourself, can be radically liberating. Not to mention radically life changing.
So I hope you enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed writing it! Please feel free to email me with any comments, or join my Facebook group if you want to talk more. Happy reading!
“This book is rom-com at its finest, combining hilariously witty banter and some of the best one liners and comebacks of all time.” – Goodreads reviewer
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2E8jZVH
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2CT9yWu
Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/2CpF6T2
Amazon AU: http://amzn.to/2CRFIlp
Print: https://amzn.to/2GJ66Ce
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Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2Hq66Z1
A wallflower gets seduction tips from a playboy athlete—until love changes the rules.
Socially awkward Joellen Bixby has a date every Saturday—with her cat, a pint of ice cream, and fantasies of the way-too-handsome Michael Maddox. She’d give anything to win over the unattainable CEO of her firm, but how can she when she blends in so well with her cubicle? The answer may be closer than she thinks.
Cameron McGregor is a cocky, tattooed Scottish rugby captain who just moved in next door. He’s not Jo’s type—at all—but the notorious playboy is offering to teach the wallflower everything he knows about inspiring desire. Though a lot of women have rumpled Cam’s kilt, Jo is special. Far from the ugly duckling she thinks she is, in Cam’s eyes she’s sharp, funny, and effortlessly sexy. Now, thanks to him, Jo is blooming with confidence and has the man of her dreams within reach.
Unfortunately for Cam, he’s just helped to push the woman of his dreams into the arms of another man—and now he’s in the fight of his life to keep this beauty from getting away.
