Justine Dell's Book Birthday Blog Tour and Giveaway!

ustine Dell is here to celebrate the release of her novel All-American Girl!

At the age of thirty, with two failed marriages and a tanking writing career, Samantha Moore deals with the world with the only tool she has left: anger. And she's tired of it. When her grandmother's near-death sends her rushing back home to Vermont, she hopes for the chance to overcome the rage ruling her life.

Once she's home, Lance Cummings becomes a constant source of indigestion. Lance is a single father who learned first-hand the devastating effects of a damaging relationship. He sees through Samantha's nasty temper - straight to her cry for help. He wants to help her, but he also wants to know why Samantha ran from him - and their future - twelve years before.

Taking care of her Grams, dealing with an alcoholic brother, and getting Lance to remove his annoyingly attractive nose from her business is draining on Samantha. And she's only got three weeks to finish her stagnated novel or her publisher will drop her. No pressure. To top it off, pretending to hate the man she actually loves makes each day in Vermont harder than the last. Especially when Lance turns up the heat.

Here's the trailer:

And here's Justine:

Romance is such a beautiful, thoughtful thing. Writing stories about two people reconnecting after so many years is my favorite. There's a history there you can build on and grow into something truly special. In All-American Girl, the history between Lance and Sam is sweet, but it's what shattered them both. Take a look at how our hero, Lance, feels about meeting Samantha again after all those years passed:

My Dearest Sam,

From the moment you walked out of my life as a teenager, until the moment you walked back in the other day - ten years later - everything changed.

I grew up and learned to take responsibilities like a man. I gained a wonderful son, and learned very hard lessons along the way. I thought of you often, wondering what happened to us. I remember the day you saved my life - my sanity - and helped me see the me I wanted to be. I let sight of that fall away when you left, but your grandmother was there to help me through the rough times. I wish it would have been you.

I can see you are different now, too. That haunted look you carry around in your eyes makes me wish I could take all your pain away. But you won't let me in. I don't know who or what hurt you during your time away, but I hope with time you will let me help mend those scars. And you can help me mend the ones you left on my heart when you left.

A decade makes a lifetime of differences. You and I are proof of that. Hopefully those differences bring us closer together, instead of tearing us apart for good.

Yours Forever,

Lance

Aww, he's so sweet. If you would like to read an excerpt of All-American Girl and enter to win a signed paperback copy and some yummy Vermont Maple Candy, visit this page on my blog.

Justine lives in the Midwest, happily catering to her family, which consists of a horse-obsessed teenage daughter, four dogs, and a husband who is too good to be true. She's never moved from her hometown, but hopes to grow old in a much warmer climate. During the day she works a normal job with college students who try their best to keep her young. They've done a good job thus far. At night, said teenage daughter and her horse require mounds of love and attention. The weekends belong solely to her and her writing. That's when she morphs into a sticky bug, unable to leave the confines of her computer chair. She started writing four years ago after seeing a movie that set off a chain reaction she couldn't have stopped if she'd wanted. It's not a hobby for her; it's an obsession. One she loves and one she loves to share. Her debut book, Recaptured Dreams and her newest release, All-American Girl, are available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Omnific, and wherever else books are sold. Find Justine on Twitter and Facebook.

Congratulations, Justine! Thanks for dropping by!

Justine's giving away a copy of the ebook of All-American Girl, as well as an All-American Girl postcard and Vermont Maple Candy at each blog tour stop! Just leave a comment below - and then you can also enter her own giveaway on her blog: a Rafflecopter giveaway

As for ROW80, not much has changed since Sunday, actually, since I'm knee deep in a beta read for an author friend!

Adding to the list of wips I shared, I'm also still thinking of trying my hand at my own Calendar of Tales, based on Neil Gaiman's prompts. If I was any kind of artist, I'd love to submit illustrations! There are way too many to go through, but Neil tumblrs a few now and again, and I quite like this one for October:

Jamie was talking the other day about the awesomeness that is the Neverwhere radio show, and now Neil's shared an image of the cast of characters:

I'm so excited for this! I just might need to drink some of Serpentine's restorative!

What are you excited for this week?