BOOK PROMOTION
Book Information supplied by Girls Heart Books Blog Tours
Title: A Little Broken
Author: Juli Valenti
Genre: Contemporary Romance
BLURB supplied by Girls Heart Books Blog Tours
Jessie Braden thought she had it all. A husband, a new baby – her life was on course, exactly what she always wanted…Until one day, she loses everything.
Ruined and broken, she’s left alone to pick up the pieces of her life. Unable to cope, she spontaneously packs up and moves across the country, hoping that new scenery will help.
Once in sunny Florida, she finds an apartment and a job but while Jessie is surviving, she isn’t living…until one night she meets someone. Dominick.
Desperate for an escape from the pain of her memories, she relents to his unerring determination and agrees to spend time with him.
Through his patience and understanding, she will learn that she’s not ruined…she’s just a little broken.
LINKS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juli Valenti grew up in Arkansas and currently resides in Florida with her husband and two boys. Working a full time job, as well as owning her own editing company, along with a full time family, her life is crazy but she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Juli is currently working on several other true-life inspired novels.
AUTHOR LINKS
Goodreads
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
What is your name, where were you
born and where do you live now?
Juli Valenti. I was born in
Hemet, California and now reside in Tampa (ish), Florida
Did it take a long time to get
your first book published?
I self-published so it wasn’t too
bad. I started writing in June and published by October
Do you work another job as well
as your writing work?
A couple actually. I’m the front
desk/clinic services lead for an orthopaedic office, own my own editing company
(Juli’s Elite Editing) and I’m a full time mom :)
What is the name of your latest
book, and if you had to summarise it in less than 20 words what would you say?
A Little Broken. Regardless of
the pain/hurt/troubles in life, we’re all survivors. We’re all a little broken.
Who is your publisher? or do you
self publish?
self! :)
What can we expect from you in
the future? ie More books of the same
genre? Books of a different genre?
I’ll probably stick with romance
(ish) books. Possibly a paranormal romance that I started before ALB
Do you have plans for a new book?
Is this book part of a series?
I do have plans for another book
- it won’t be part of a series, will be a standalone. It’s top secret so I
can’t tell you much except it’s also based on a true story!
Do you have a favourite character
from your books? and why are they your favourite?
My favorite character is actually
from a short story I’m working on for an Anthology (to be published in
February) - Raven. She literally makes me laugh out loud.
Where do you get your book plot
ideas from?What/Who is your inspiration?
I’m planning a long stream of
novels that are all based on true stories/true struggles that others have
survived. I pull inspiration from everything, so be careful what’s said to me!
It could become a part of a book!
Do you have a certain routine you
have for writing? ie You listen to music, sit in a certain chair?
HA! I do! I sit in a specific
spot on my couch, reclined, and eat fruit gushers and fruit by the foot :)
Do you gift books to readers to
do reviews?
Not solely based on reviews, no.
I’ll gift my book and ask for a review when finished, but I don’t require it.
Do you read all the reviews of
your book/books?
Unfortunately, I do. I need to
stop that.
What was the toughest/best review
you have ever had?
There’s one on Goodreads,
complete with memes that had me jumping up and down. You should read it!
Do you choose a title first, or
write the book then choose the title?
Sort of in between. I’ll start
writing and it will generally come to me at some point.
How do you come up with
characters names and place names in your books?
Since I know ‘who’ the characters
will be, I generally just use the first name that correlates for me. It’s the
last names that are rough - I have to bounce off a sounding wall for opinions
sometimes.
Are character names and place
names decided after there creation? or do you pick a character/place name and
then invent them?
I know the details of the characters
before they have names.
Have you ever suffered from a
"writer's block"? What did you do to get past the "block"?
I’ll put it up, think on it/dream
on it. I have a couple people I trust that I’ll bounce ideas off of/talk it out
which is all it takes sometimes.
Have you ever based characters on
people you know or based events on things that have happened to you?
Yes. A Little Broken is based on
a true story and several people in the book are quite real.
Do you think ebooks will ever
totally replace printed books?
It’s unfortunate, but more than
likely. E-readers are becoming more affordable and the ease of availability of
books is crazy.
Did you read a lot at school and
write lots of stories or is being a writer something newer in your life?
I’ve been reading since I was
tiny! Same with writing (I started with song lyrics, actually)
Do you have a favourite genre of
book?
Romance/Paranormal Romance
actually - I love me some hot vampire men :)
What do you think about book
trailers?
I like them! If you can afford
them go for it!
What piece of advice would you
give to a new writer?
Write. Regardless of if you hate
it or love it, write it. Nothing will ever be accomplished if you don’t!
Do you or would you ever use a
pen name?
No. I’m very proud of my
accomplishment(s) and always want my name on it. I wouldn’t publish if I was
ashamed and couldn’t use my own name. I’d debate initialling myself (J.D.
Valenti) but never pen name *personal opinion*
Where can readers follow you?
Your Blog Details? N/A
Your Website? (My hubs bought me
a website design program for Christmas! This will be coming soon!)
Your Facebook Page?
www.facebook.com/authorjulivalenti
Your Twitter Details?
@thejulivalenti
EXCERPT
“I just sat you a
hottie, Jess,” Courtney, one of the diner’s only hostesses, whispered in her
ear. “He’s at thirty-four, and he’s alone!”
Jessie raised her eyebrows. It was
almost nine o’clock and she was pretty sure she was going to be cut soon. It
was a slow night. Nodding, she grabbed her order book and made her way toward
her newly, and only, seated table.
“Hello, can I get you something to
–”Jessie stopped midsentence as familiar honey eyes looked up at her. In the light, he was even more handsome than
he’d been just hanging out his car in the dark. His face was clean shaven,
revealing a strong jaw line and a kind smile. She could smell his cologne and
it was amazing, manly and musky at the same time.
“Jessie! What a surprise seeing you
here. I didn’t know this was where you worked!” Dominick said, smiling up at
her. Something in his tone told her that it wasn’t really a surprise to him,
and that he was here, in her section, on purpose.
“Donald, right?” Jessie said,
secretly enjoying the look of indignation that filled his face as she called
him the wrong name. She knew his name, how could she not? She’d been thinking
about their encounter for the last two days.
“Dominick. Dominick Wace,” he
corrected her, still smiling.
“Ha. You sound like James Bond.
Okay, Dominick, what can I get you to
drink?”
“Hmm, how about a coffee?” he answered, eyes sparkling.
“Sure, I’ll be right back,” Not giving him a chance to saying
anything else, she went in search of Courtney.
She found her in the prep area, giggling with Layla, Jessie’s serving
partner for the evening.
“Courtney, did he specifically ask
to be seated in my section?” Jessie asked as she poured Dominick’s coffee, and
gathered sugar and fresh cream from the cold storage.
“Yeah, and good for you, girl! He’s
so hot!”
Unsurprised, she walked the coffee
over and placed it in front of Dominick.
“You do know that stalking is illegal in all fifty states, right?” she
asked him, trying to make it sound tart and unfriendly, but failing.
“Stalking is only illegal if it has
malicious intent. I don’t think the law says anything about a man’s
determination to get a beautiful woman to agree to go out for coffee. I mean,
it’s coffee. Everyone loves coffee, right?”
“I’m allergic to coffee,” she told
him. Liar, liar pants on fire a small
voice, that sounded a lot like the ‘old’ her sounded off in her head.
“Why, Pinocchio, I believe your nose
is growing,” he teased.
“Okay, so I’m not allergic to
coffee, you caught me.”
“Go out for coffee with me, Jessie.
You won’t regret it. I promise to not hog the cream and sugar.”
Jessie thought about it. For every
reason she had to not go, she came up with four more on why she should. If she
were to tell the truth, she didn’t really want to go home. Every night she was
home alone, with nothing but her own thoughts. Maybe Toni was right, maybe she
should get out, make an effort. But with that thought, she was scared. She’d
built up a wall between her and the world, and wasn’t sure she could handle it
breaking down.
“I can’t,” she said, holding up a
hand to stop him when he opened his mouth, “I have to work. You have, after
all, come to sit in my table, keeping me from being cut for the evening.”
“Oh, that’s an easy fix,” he said,
casually.
“It is?” she asked him, staring. His
complete confidence shook her as well as intrigued her.
“Sure it is. UNCLE!” he called out,
loudly, causing several of the few customers to turn to look at him. He just
shrugged at them, and looked expectant as he sat there. Within a few seconds,
Mr. C came out of the back office, walking toward them both with a small smile
playing on his face.
“Ah, Dominick, I thought I heard you
out here, harassing my staff,” Mr. C. said, laughing as he took Dominick’s hand
and clapped him on the back in a familiar hug.
“Now, Uncle, I’m not harassing your staff. We do have a bit
of a dilemma here, though. You see, I’ve asked this pretty young lady to
accompany me for coffee twice now. The first time, she turned me down flat, if
you can believe that! This time that I asked, she said that she can’t because
she has to work.”
Mr. C’s smile widened, as he looked
from Dominick to Jessie. Jessie was sure that she was turning six shades of
purple from the attention, and for not seeing the familiar qualities between
the two sooner. She really was off in her world.
“Ah, a beautiful woman turning you down? What is this world coming to?”
Mr. C teased.
“A travesty, Uncle. A travesty, I
tell you!”
Jessie couldn’t help the grin
turning up her lips as she watched the two men banter back and forth. Mr. C
chuckled deeply from his throat.
“Well, truth between family and all,
I cut Jessie ten minutes ago. She just doesn’t nag me about it like my other
employees,” he said, winking at Dominick. Jessie was starting to feel like
there may be an underlying conspiracy going on.
“So, Jessie, there’s no reason you
can’t go for coffee with me,” Dominick said, his smile lighting his entire
face.
“Fine,”
Jessie sighed in agreement. She could admit when she’d been beat, and she couldn’t
hold a candle to the manipulations of these men.
Mr. C surprised her by clasping her
hand gently.
“Have a good time, Jess. You deserve
it,” he said softly, before nodding goodbye to his nephew.
Standing, Dominick held his hand out
to her. “Come on, pretty lady. Let’s blow this pancake stand.”
Jessie stared at his hand, unsure if
she should take it. Her uncertainty must have shown on her face because
Dominick stepped a little closer to her.
“It’s
okay, Jessie. It’s just a hand. It’s just coffee. No big deal. Well, except for
the coffee. Coffee is a big deal.” He
wiggled his hand a little bit, and as a small chuckle escaped her, she placed
her hand in his. She gripped it, holding on tightly, and wanted, for once, to
not just let go.
BOOK SOUNDTRACK
Daughtry - Gone Too Soon
Linkin Park - Castle of Glass
Vast - You Destroy Me
Placebo - Running up that Hill
A Perfect Circle - Vanishing
Lifehouse - Broken
Switchfoot - Dare You to Move
Coldplay - The Scientist
Taylor Swift (featuring The Civil Wars) - Safe and Sound
HIM - Heaven Tonight
Barlow Girl - Never Alone (acoustic)
Hoobastank - Running Away
Dixie Chicks - Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)
Enigma - Gravity of Love
Tyler Wards and Two Worlds - Roar (Acoustic Cover)
Girls Heart Books and Juli Valenti would like to thank you for being a part of this blog tour! <3
ReplyDelete