#99c #Sale! 'The Ex-Trials (Falling for Autumn #3)' by Heather Topham Wood

Blurb:

One dream vacation in paradise.
One co-ed bachelor and bachelorette party.
One week marooned with my ex.

Six months ago, Casey Silvers ended her scorching romance with sexy rocker Cole Caldwell. None of her friends know the true reason behind her sudden change of heart. Despite her claim of their chemistry fizzling out, her feelings for Cole had never gone away.

After receiving the invitation to her best friend’s co-ed bachelor and bachelorette getaway, Casey knows she must once again face Cole. For one week, she’ll be forced to party alongside the man who has come to despise her. The tropical cruise is meant to be a trip to paradise, but Casey is certain it will turn out to be a vacation from hell.

But as the ship leaves port, past secrets are revealed—secrets that could change the fate of Casey’s romance with Cole. With forces keeping them together, Cole and Casey soon discover that the passion between them has yet to extinguish.

***Standalone New Adult Romance-Ages 17+ Due to Strong Language and Sexual Situations***

Read an excerpt:

Perception. It was a concept I would later end up thinking about a lot. What did most people think when they saw me come into the room? How did women judge me? How did men react? 

I never realized how much perception colored the way I lived my life. The way I dressed, the way I spoke—every tiny bit of my personality was based on how I wanted others to see me. I was the blonde flake. The party girl. The one looking for a good time. The slut. 

The problem with being a fraud was that no one truly knew the real Casey Silvers. They thought they did. They thought I was fine with being treated like a disposable piece of garbage. The collective “they” assumed I was okay with being used and misused over and over and over again. As if my enjoyment of sex were a crime against humanity. Society hadn’t evolved. We were still separating women into the Madonnas and the whores. 

I didn’t think a single person, even those within my inner circle, realized how much I wanted to fall in love. I needed love—maybe even more so than most. Growing up, I watched enough daytime TV to know the girls who slept around were the ones most desperate for affection. I was forever destined to search for the one man who made me feel loved and whom I loved back. And although the faces of my lovers changed over my four years of college, this man I searched for always proved to be elusive.

But then one night, I thought I found him. His kiss, his touch—everything about him sent my heart and body into a never-ending tailspin. It was the type of soul-altering kiss that made a cynical girl like me believe in destiny. He broke down my defenses until I felt my heart belonged to him and him alone. 

But it wasn’t to be. The Casey persona I crafted to perfection would come back to bite me in the ass. Who had I been kidding? The easy girls don’t get the happy endings in the story. No, they get bitch-slapped by the virginal heroine and shamed by the handsome hero.

My circumstances were comically tragic. If only everyone knew the truth. If only they saw how fake my smiles were. Or if they guessed at the emptiness I was living with day to day. I may have been seen as the party girl when I walked into the room. But I could guarantee I was the one having the least amount of fun.

99-cent sale on Amazon!

US / UK

Biography

Heather Topham Wood's obsession with novels began in childhood while growing up in a shore town in New Jersey. Writing since her teens, she recently returned to penning novels after a successful career as a freelance writer. She loves creating imaginary worlds where people behave exactly how she wants them to.

Heather graduated from the College of New Jersey in 2005 and holds a bachelor's degree in English. Her freelance work has appeared in publications such as USA Today, Livestrong.com, Outlook by the Bay and Step in Style magazine. She resides in Trenton, New Jersey with her husband and two sons. Besides writing, Heather is a pop culture fanatic and has an obsession with supernatural novels and TV shows.

Follow Heather on Facebook, Twitter and her blog to keep posted on her upcoming works:

https://twitter.com/woodtop255

http://authorheather.com