Ciao a tutti, è passato un po’ di tempo dall’ultimo Book Blitz, semplicemente perché non trovavo nulla che mi stuzzicasse particolarmente.
Di questo libro, però, avevamo già ospitato il Cover Reveal. La copertina è davvero bella, la trama mi attira e, mentre aspetto di leggerlo, approfitto dell’occasione data da XPresso Book Tours. Quindi eccovi ben due estratti dal libro. Vi ispira?
Hi to you all! It has been quite a long time since the last Book Blitz because I couldn’t find anything that captured my interest. A while ago, we hosted the Cover Reveal of this book and now I leave you two excerpts. The synopsis intrigues me, and I’ll read it soon. And you? What do you think?
Title: The Secrets We Kept
Author: Lily Velez
Publication date: November 8th 2015
Add to Goodreads
One year. That’s how long it’s been since childhood sweethearts Sully Graham and Cadence Gilbertson broke up, since one adoption and one out-of-state move turned their worlds upside down.
Suddenly, Cadence is back in New York City, but something’s different about her. The light in her eyes, the music in her laughter, the warmth in her smile—all of those things have entirely vanished. In their place stand the makings of a girl Sully can’t even begin to recognize, much less understand.
Still, despite the collective history of heartbreak between them, he’s convinced he can win her trust again, and he’s committed to proving the invincibility of their love no matter what it takes.
But Cadence is quietly harboring secrets of her own. Dark secrets. Ugly secrets. Secrets that could break a person. And though broken herself and unbearably lonely, she’s determined to protect Sully from her terrible, biting truths. Even if it means locking him out of her life forever.
The only problem is it seems her heart hasn’t quite received the memo. One glimpse of him is all it takes for her to trip into familiar (and, she’ll admit, addictive) feelings that threaten to all but consume her. Now her biggest fear is that her secrets will begin to slowly unravel one by one…long before Sully’s resolve ever does.
The Secrets We Kept is a moving story about first love, friendship, and forgiveness, and the enduring bonds that forever connect us and give us our strength.
“Have you ever had a leaf fight?” He asked, dropping his empty yogurt cup into a waste bin.
Cadence did the same. “A what?” She took in her surroundings and placed herself at Prospect Park. Sully strayed from the sidewalk, and she followed him over a carpet of crisp foliage, the leaves crunching under their steps.
“Like a snowball fight,” he explained. “But with leaves.” To demonstrate, he gathered leaves into his arms and hurled them at her.
She froze in the shower of spades, blinking.
“You try it now,” he said. She didn’t move at first, but his smile never faltered. “Come on. Give it a try. It’s fun.”
She obliged him, only a stowaway pinecone had snuck into her armful of leaves, and it struck Sully on the head. “I’m so sorry,” she said, pressing her hands to her mouth with wide eyes.
He laughed. “You don’t have to apologize. Spencer’s done worse. That’s ten points for you, by the way. But don’t get too confident.” Then he launched another attack against her, followed by another laugh. “Don’t just stand there. Gather your ammunition. Let’s go.”
Cadence quickly learned that failure to participate wouldn’t stop Sully from chucking leaves in her direction, and it was the only reason she relented and moved into action. For the next ten minutes, as Sully provided commentary fit for the trenches of war, they darted around, assembling mounds of leaves to throw at each other. When Cadence wasn’t slipping across the leaves, making them hiss like a thousand snakes, she was shielding herself against flying acorns or taking refuge behind massive oaks.
Then it happened. She hadn’t even meant to do it. It came of its own volition. She laughed. She actually laughed. It rose out of her organically. Tender and soft. Raw and free. When she heard it, when she felt it humming in her throat, she stopped mid-attack as if dumbfounded, wondering where such a thing had come from. She hadn’t thought it possible that she’d ever laugh again. Sully had proven her wrong.
The rooftop memory revisited her. Sully had first brought her there on their six-month anniversary, where they celebrated their romance with an afternoon picnic of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and barbecue-flavored potato chips. Dessert was a melting sundae pie from Burger King.
She remembered the way the sun felt on her skin, like it was painting her with fire. She remembered the way the light reflected off the metal steamers, making them glow like pillars of white. She remembered the look in Sully’s eyes. So gentle, so soft. His fingertips ghosted down the length of her arm to her wrist, and then he raised their hands and pressed their palms together before interlocking their fingers. He held her eyes for a long time, saying nothing. There came a point when they didn’t really need words anymore. They could read each other so easily, say so much simply by being in each other’s presence.
He touched a lingering kiss to the back of her hand, the one he held, and then smiled at her in a dreamy way as he said, “I think I’m in love with you, Cadence Livingston.”
It was the first time he’d used the L-word, and her heart had beat as rapidly as a hummingbird’s wings, so rapidly in fact that for a moment, she wondered if it was possible to die from happiness. She remembered smiling so hard that her cheeks hurt, but it was worth it. So was reciprocating his sentiment and watching his eyes light up like twin fireflies in response. Drunk on their love for each other, they’d spent the rest of the afternoon pointing out the shapes in the clouds, laughing, making heart shapes with their hands and holding them up against the sunlight.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Twitter | Site | Goodreads
Lily Velez has been writing stories since she was six years old. Not much has changed since then. She still prefers the written word and her overactive imagination over the ‘real world’ (though to be fair, her stories no longer feature talking dinosaurs). A graduate of Rollins College and a Florida native, when she’s not reading or writing, she spends most of her days wrangling up her pit bulls Noah and Luna, planning exciting travel adventures, and nursing her addiction to cheese. All this when she isn’t participating in the extreme sport known as napping. You can learn more about Lily and her books at http://www.lilyvelezbooks.com.
Thanks to XPresso Book Tours for giving us the opportunity to promote this book.
