Publisher: Self-Published
Number of Pages: 194
Synopsis:
"Asher Pratt had been a drug for me, and I wasn’t sure I wasn’t still addicted.”
Chelsea Whitaker works as a waitress at Tapestries, a trendy Pittsburgh bar. She’s doing her best to avoid Asher Pratt, the Pittsburgh rock legend who shattered her heart years ago.
When he takes a job at Tapestries just to be near her, Chelsea has some decisions to make.
She soon discovers that some things never change. It’s all she can do to keep a tight hold on her heart as Asher takes her for another wild ride.
As she struggles to gain some perspective on their relationship, she learns that he’s never needed her more. She must put the past aside for the sake of the future."
Deleted Scene
I put my hand against Asher’s cheek, reveling in the warmth
I felt there. His face was smooth with
just a slight hint of stubble near his jaw line. God, he was so...mine.
Couldn’t he sense what he meant to me?
I soaked him in like
a sponge: his scent, his presence.
Everything about him lit a fire inside me. I remember thinking you only get this once in
a lifetime. Once. And the man who
triggered such a violent chemical response inside me didn’t want me. How was I supposed to make that right in my
mind?
***
I basically kidnapped Willow and brought her home with me
after work that night. The body language coming from the seat next to me on the
ride home was astounding. Arms crossed,
she leaned away from me against the door.
I could see the outline of her bottom lip every time I drove under a
streetlight. She was pissed.
“So you don’t really want to hear what I have to say, do
you?” I tried to watch her expression and drive at the same time.
She sighed and took a few moments before she spoke. I knew
she was carefully choosing her words. “I love you, Chels. You know I do. But I just don’t get this thing you have with
Asher.” She went silent again.
“And...?”
“I want you to be well.
I want you to be healthy. I watched you turn yourself inside out twice over him. It sucked watching you
throw up. You lost weight. You didn’t
sleep. You looked terrible.” She turned to me, and I could hear the pain in her
voice. “You ask me for advice and then
you ignore everything I say. I can’t
talk about it anymore, Chelsea. I want
to go kill that fucker myself so you can start living again.”
***
The good news was that I was finding strength I didn’t know
I had. The times that I immersed myself in my past with Asher burnt me like
fire, charred me, reduced me to human rubble. It sounds crazy, but it became a
cathartic experience when I tortured myself like that. I would curl up on my
bed and shake and cry, but when I was
done, one more piece of me had been locked solidly back in place. I’d stand up, dust myself off, and take a
good look in the mirror. I looked like
shit, but I was still me. I was still whole on the outside, though my insides
felt as though they’d been stirred with a swizzle stick. One
step at a time, Chels.
***
Author Bio
Though I write contemporary romance under the name Shari Copell, my real name is Sherry Jesberger. I write a historical fantasy/paranormal romance series under the name S.L. Jesberger.
I am an eleventh generation native of Pennsylvania. My husband Gordon and I raised three lovely daughters, one of whom designs my book covers. Another daughter drew the map in the front cover of my historical fantasy series.
I’ve always had stories swirling through my head. Crazy stuff, totally whack situations. I was a voracious reader as a child, choosing to escape into the world of books. I wrote stories when I was a teen, but quit as I grew up. (Keep in mind, there were no computers then. Writing a book or story consisted of a brand-new notebook and a ballpoint pen.) I found some of these early stories as I cleaned out my grandmother’s house after she passed. Unfortunately, I threw them away.
I started writing again in 2012 after my husband lost his job. Aislin of Arianrhod was published in October of that year. I immediately began to work on the second book in the series, Winter’s Child.
Sometime in the middle of writing Winter’s Child, I had the inexplicable urge to swear like sailor, use modern vernacular, and write steamy sex scenes. I was amused and tried to push it aside. The language in a historical fantasy is obviously much different from a contemporary romance, so I had to behave myself.
I finally just thought, fuck it. I’ll do it. It was during that time that I started to write “Micah’s Island.” I simply needed to purge the wild story that had taken over my brain by then. It was so much fun to write. What would happen if you met a man who had never seen a grown woman before?
I chose the pen name Shari Copell because Micah’s Island was so very different from the Àlainnshire series. Copella was my grandmother’s maiden name—I just dropped the A.
For the most part, people seemed to like Micah, though he was a man of few words. I got some nice (and not so nice) emails about it, mostly from people wanting a better ending. I promptly wrote them one.
I wasn’t sure I would ever write another contemporary romance until Rock’n Tapestries dropped into my head, nearly complete from beginning to end (though I did run some things past Tara Chevrestt, who edits for me. Her suggestions were invaluable.) You just have to indulge your muse when that happens, as it doesn’t happen often.
Though the names and situations have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent, some of the things in Rock’n Tapestries were things that actually happened to me. My husband was wearing a bass guitar the first time I ever laid eyes on him. As Chelsea says of Tage, “ I think I might’ve had to scoop my jaw off the floor.” He’s the skinny dude in the gray tank top and orange guitar on the far right in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lXGyaHNWRI
I hope you’ve enjoyed Rock’n Tapestries. I’m currently having a blast working on a book about Nicks Sorenson, Asher’s daughter. I love this girl! It should be out sometime in 2014.
In the meantime, rock on!
E-Mail: sharicopell@gmail.com
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Release Date: December 10, 2013
