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Monday 28 November 2016

Blog Tour Excerpt & Giveaway - Poppies For Christmas by Stacy Keywell



 
Poppies For Christmas
Author: Stacy Keywell
Publication Date: November 15th, 2016
Genres: Romance, Young Adult 


Book Description:
A celebration of love without labels. It’s easy to be brave with you by my side! 

Popular DJ Dexx finds himself positively smitten by the precociously pristine Poppy Paris. Too bad she’s already taken by an older boy, Declan Davies, a beautiful model with a thriving career, and a perfect family. By a dreamful stroke of chance, Dexx finds himself invited to spend Christmas at the Davies home by a gorgeous girl, granting him the opportunity to pursue the precious Poppy. But in his quest to win her over, he unlocks a world of imperfection and insecurity, where people are picked on for their disabilities, speech, appearance, and eccentricities. For Poppy and her friends, love trumps labels, and everyone deserves a brave friend to stand by their side. What gifts will Dexx discover this Christmas? Will he ultimately find true love, or will he discover something even greater? 

You are invited to read a powerful story about living with autism, but not letting it define you, about being bullied, but carrying on with determination and grit, and about having dreams, but not giving up in the face of adversity. Come celebrate something beautiful with Poppies for Christmas.


Buy Links:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32994378-poppies-for-christmas

EXCERPT

The Science of Baking
 

I read somewhere once that cooking is an art. It takes imagination and flare. But baking? Baking is a science. It takes exactitude and precision. It requires patience. It requires dedication. It requires love. A whole lot of love. And well…that’s what I’ve got…love…love for a girl, a special one, one who deserves dedication. So what do I choose to prove my love? I choose baking.


Chapter One
 

Lenn

Deep inside my tote, my hand grazed against my faithful sketchbook before I removed it. The metal spirals comforted my fingers as I dragged them across the row of sharp-edged rings. Firmly gripping the book, I flipped it open to a blank page near the middle. I smoothed out the slightly texturized, eggshell white page. I bent down and buried my nose in the crease, inhaling the faint lead pencil scent. It calmed me, readying me to add another chapter to my visual saga.
    Spreading my tools around me, hard and soft pencils, a ruler, several firm erasers, and a small metal sharpener, I steadied my hand and cleared my mind, inviting in only the most blissful images of my fantasy. With a soft lead pencil, I constructed an oval blank for the face. Art classes definitely assisted in perfecting the technique, but dedication and talent trumped instruction.
    I used the ruler to estimate the proper dimensions. I added eyes, a nose, some crazy-hot lips, all his beautiful features. I gave him expressive brows. I sketched his glossy dark brown hair, shaggy bangs flopping over to the side, covering his ear, exposing that sarcastic, twisted grin on his lips, the same way he looked when he joked around with his friends in the corner of the library during study hall.
    A trusty eraser mopped up all of the stray, miscellaneous marks. I blew away a couple gummy shreds before I shaded in his taut jawline. I wiped up the last scattered pieces left behind on the page before I started on adding myself to the portrait. Duplicating the process, I gave myself a hipper, manga-esque look, allowing for a more whimsical likeness of myself.
    Poppy and Kit sat at the same long, wooden table, on the opposite side of me. Kit swiped through the pages on her tablet, desperately trying to find the right page number, since she had neglected to tap the bookmark before closing out her chapter the previous night. Nervous oohs and aahs escaped her lips. Poppy, sitting with her legs crossed, jiggled her feet beneath her chair, shaking the table, creating a rattling earthquake under my artwork.
    I shot a glare in her direction. “Would you please stop? The both of you! You are driving me crazy, and ruining my picture.”
    Poppy and Kit stopped suddenly. They looked at each other, wide-eyed and innocent, two does in the midst of a meadow. Unaware! Clueless! Oblivious!
    “I can’t think when you moan that way,” I snapped, addressing Kit. She squirmed underneath her oversized flannel shirt and baggy jeans.
    “And, you,” I turned to Poppy. “You are going to smudge my drawing with all of that wild motion going on underneath the table. Can it!”   
    Their jaws dropped. They both stared at me, wordless.
    “Please.” I hugged my journal protectively. Softening my voice, I turned to Poppy and asked her again. “Please?”   
    “Sorry,” they announced in simulcast, sighing, shrugging their shoulders, lost together in the great woods of their minds.
    They looked back down at their own musings. I continued to draw.
    In this picture, the two of us relaxed together on a chaise lounge, him with his large, bulbous headphones, and me with my skull and crossbones ear buds. Our eyes drifted in the opposite direction, lids almost closed, in a sleepy trance. My arm draped across his chest until our fingers entwined, intimately. We zoned out to his simpatico beats.
 

About the Author
Stacy Renée Keywell enjoys spending time misusing, mispronouncing, and misspelling languages, especially in her native tongue, English. When she is not stargazing or daydreaming she creates adventures for her family to conquer. Besides following her whimsical dreams, Stacy likes to sing to the music in her head, dance poorly, and compose non-sensical words. She is also the author of Forbidden Sky- Book One of the Dark Wing Series. Stacy resides in Michigan in a little house in the woods with her husband, and two daughters.

Author Links:



***GIVEAWAY***


Blog Tour Organised by:
http://xpressobooktours.com/

32 comments:

  1. sounds like a wonderful story, thanks for the chance to win :)

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  2. Romance is my favorite to read. This sounds great!

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  3. The book description and excerpt sounds intriguing. Thanks for sharing. Love the cover too.

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  4. Thanks so much for the support!

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  5. the scenery of the cover photo is amazing

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  6. This sounds a truly beautiful read..it's definitely on my to read list

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  7. I have never read a story involving autisumn before, sounds like a great read.

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  8. I liked the excerpt, thank you.

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  9. Love the cover!

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  10. I always wanted a Poppy for Christmas. No, wait, it was a puppy.

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  11. This sounds like a beautiful story and perfect for the Holiday Season! And the cover is so romantic! <3

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  12. Thanks for hosting this giveaway :)

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  13. Great excerpt,this sounds like a great book. Thanks for sharing:)

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  14. This looks like a good book--thanks for the info and the giveaway.

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  15. Thank you for the excerpt & giveaway.

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  16. I do love Christmas reads. Beautiful cover.

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  17. I really enjoyed reading the entire post today. This is a new author for me so thank you for the reveal!

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  18. I have family members with autism, and it's not easy living day to day. My cousin is on the severe end of the spectrum.

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  19. Oh this book description really touched my heart. I have got to read this book.

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  20. That is a great cover. So romantic and festive.

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  21. Looks like a really good book. Thanks for sharing it with us and for the chance to win.

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  22. This would make for a perfect holiday gift.

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  23. Sounds really good,thanks for sharing.

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  24. I first read it as "puppies for Christmas," but that's probably just because that's what I would love! Sounds like a great book. Beautiful cover. Thanks for the awesome giveaway!

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  25. This sounds like such a wonderful story! Autism has affected my family so I'm thrilled to read a story that shows both sides of the coin, ridicule and acceptance. Thanks so much for offering the Giveaway!

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  26. Sounds great. Thank you for the opportunity!

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  27. sounds like a great book! Thanks for the giveaway.

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  28. "a powerful story about living with autism" - An intriguing line that draws you into wanting to learn more.

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