"Next to You" by Claudia Y. Burgoa

GUEST POST and GIVEAWAY

Next to You
(Life Book 2)

by Claudia Y. Burgoa

Next to You is the second book in Claudia Y. Burgoa's Life series. Also available: Where Life Takes You (read my blog post).

Next to You is currently on tour with Xpresso Book Tours. The tour stops here today for a guest post by the author and a giveaway. Please make sure you visit the other tour stops as well.

You can read about another of Claudia's books, Getting By (A Knight's Tale Book 1), as well as an interview with the author, in another blog post.

Description

Him

… I need time. Time to heal those wings and learn to use them …

Was part of the letter Rebecca Trent, Daniel Brightmore’s fiancée and best friend left when she ran away. The person he trusted the most for the past decade disappeared without giving him a second glance. She taught him how to love, believe in family and that everyone deserves a happily ever after. Now he’s struggling between wiping any traces of her from his life and drowning his sorrows away with the help of his new best friends - Don Julio and Jack Daniels.

Her

Rebecca’s past suffocated her to the point of not wanting to continue, her lifeline and the only reason to live began to withdraw from her. She wished it had been her imagination, but heard it loud and clear: “If not, there’s always a divorce, nothing is forever.” This time it became a leave or die situation. Something has got to change - she had to change. Packing light and leaving a letter behind, she takes a journey that can help her find herself through the shards of her painful childhood.

As letters, memories and stories are exchanged, two once inseparable people reconcile what’s left of their relationship. Beyond the confines of everything they built together, they’re left with two lonely people searching for what it means to be whole. Will they find meaning under their bruised psyches or will their pasts get the better of them?

Excerpt

From Becca’s list, I have accomplished two things: I didn’t look for her and I haven’t dated Trish. At the moment I’m at Sotano—Buddy’s night club—with a blond draped on my left, a brunette on my right and another blond next to her. One is slim, one curvy in the right places and the other in-between. All types, so no one gives me some shit that I have preferences or a type, because I don’t. Before we began this encounter, I asked them if they were sluts—Becca was very specific that I shouldn’t date that type. Of course, while we made the introductions, I omitted the part where my ex asked me not to date skanks—or easy women—I’m not an idiot. With a giggle the three of them shook their heads about the slutty part. Though the barely there material covering their bodies made me wonder if they were being honest. Of course, as a gentleman, I didn’t question them any further. Three at the same time should shorten the amount of women I should date. Though Becca didn’t give me a specific number of females I should go out with. As of right now, she hasn’t answered any of my fucking emails. There are several unanswered questions. Like duration of the dates? Can I fuck them? I don’t know, because Rebecca refuses to give me any further instructions. Perhaps, next time I’ll send her a letter to that address she gave me in her six page correspondence—front and back. Geneva, quite a trip and whoever helped her will pay. I just need a moment to regroup and plan my vengeance.

“Ladies, if you excuse me.” I run both hands through my hair when I hear that. Buddy is interrupting one of the girls, she was telling me something about her career in communications. That is rude. He should be thankful that I’m not at my best. If not I would beat the hell out of him for sticking his nose where nobody wants him. My fucking friends, brothers and security personal believe they are my sitters. Buddy—my foster brother—is looking all shades of pissed. Next time I need to take my dating to a place he doesn’t own. “D, out!”

Guest Post by the Author

The Writing Process

My process has evolved…

We know there are two types of writers: Plotters and Pantsers.

Being a pantser is fun, and I’m not afraid to confess that I’m a pantser at heart. Like all those amazing super heroes that instead of tracing a plan, they save the world as they go - not that I’m saving the world. The thing is that I make up things as I type. It’s like going to an archeological site and have two options, guide or discover on your own. I take the latter because that’s so much fun, right?

As much fun as it is - imagine visiting Disneyworld without having a map - after three published novels, I had to stop. Why is that? Because though I follow what my characters are supposed to do, there are times - multiple times - when I have to erase entire chapters because I took them to the wrong exit. All of a sudden my heroine is a wiping idiot that lost her strengths right before the end, when she’s supposed to have done the opposite.

During the development of Standing By, and as I tried to figure out why was it that I spent so much time rewriting, I send my work to a developmental editor. As she pick apart my manuscript, showed me the strengths, the weaknesses and the incoherent thoughts, she also gave me a few tips. Before I sat down to rewrite Standing By, I drew an outline, based on my initial plot, my characters motives, their personalities and the end of the story.

As I’m working on my two next novels - the third book of the Knight’s tales and a new Sci-Fi series, I’m doing something similar.

I wrote my initial manuscript, the 10-20k words draft where I get to meet my main characters. The ones that popped out from my imagination, I write down my mc’s profile, names, traits and physical characteristics. Then draw the plot … though I only  have such for one of the books. The Sci-Fi book is right now waiting for me to define exactly what I want from it.

In a few words, I’m a world traveler that uses a map.

Featured Review

By Gloria Herrera

This is the much awaited sequel of Where Life Takes You. I can tell you that I was in pins and needles after reading the first book waiting to find out how Daniel and Rebecca were ever to resolve their issues.

With Rebecca's past literally paralyzing her and making her suicidal and Daniel's need for control, my emotions were flying everywhere when I read her goodbye letter. Our author has a way with her words where the emotions are brought to the surface and we cannot hold back - we are involved!

Following these two lovers through their reactions to their separation is probably best described as bungee jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Down ... Up... Down ... Chaos! Loved the scene with the burning car. What can I tell you - I am divorced and know how it feels to think someone you love has abandoned you! The rage you feel can make you do crazy things!

About the Author

Claudia lives in Colorado with her family and three dogs. Two beagles who believe they are human, and a bichon who thinks she’s a beagle. While managing life, she works as a CFO at a small IT Company. She’s a dreamer who enjoys music, laughter and a good story.

Giveaway

Enter the tour-wide giveaway for a chance to win some great prizes, including a $100 Amazon gift card or PayPal cash (open internationally).

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"Where Life Takes You" by Claudia Y. Burgoa

EXCERPT and GIVEAWAY

Where Life Takes You
(Life Book 1)

by Claudia Y. Burgoa

Where Life Takes You is the first book in Claudia Y. Burgoa's Life series. Coming soon: Next to You.

Where Life Takes You is currently on tour with Xpresso Book Tours. The tour stops here today for an excerpt and a giveaway. Please make sure you visit the other tour stops as well.

You can read about another of Claudia's books, Getting By, as well as an interview with the author in another blog post.

Description

Becca Trent lived her childhood next to a cruel woman - her mom - who lived to torment and neglect her. During her high school years, her mother married; bringing home not only a new husband, but a step-sister her same age. The latter took over her Mom’s role - making Becca’s life miserable. Including stealing Ian - Becca’s best friend and boyfriend - Lisa treated her worse than her mother had for the previous fifteen years. A couple of years later, things ended up in tragedy.

Becca buried that part of her life in the deep corners of her psyche, caught between sanity and nightmares. Between therapy, work, and her constantly looming past, she can't seem to find room to breathe. The memories of her late step-sister, Lisa, are her closest company.

Her best friend, Dan gives her that family love she always lacked. Everything was close to perfect, until everything and everyone from her past came back. Now, she’s trying to figure out how to survive and keep that bond which seems now to be held together by a thread.

Excerpt

My anti-fairy tale began like any other Telenovela. Thanksgiving was the first time Ian and I had seen one another in months. When Lisa came into the picture, he sank into the background of her demented fantasy—the one where life was a fun house and we were all her carnies in a three ring act that was sure to end in a bang. Ian tried to stay with me for as long as he could. In the beginning, he still climbed the tree house in the old oak next to my room every night, as if nothing had changed.

We would lie on my bed and talk, even if it was three AM when he rolled in from the latest party. Nothing was off limits between us. He knew all my thoughts, secrets, and fears. He was the ghostwriter to the memoir I would one day write about our lives.

There was far too much pressure on him to become the beacon of light for our sad little town, to make a name for himself. Everyone was counting on him to be the one to beat the odds, and to hand life and hope back to us on a silver platter. I was guilty of adding to the heaping pile of desperate dreams thrust at Ian. I knew that now.

Ian was the hunky blockbuster action hero, he was the dopey best friend, and the only family I had since Grandma’s death. He was my everything, and maybe I told him that one time too many times. I knew about the partying—he stayed out past curfew almost every Friday night—but it was just a little harmless fun, right? What was important was that he was there for me. I needed him; he cradled my heart whenever I couldn’t hold my own. He was supportive and gentle and kind.

Until Lisa stepped in and withered Ian, along with everything else decent in my life. I never knew the specifics of how their relationship began, but from what I gathered it was fairly simple. He was the boy next door and she was the new, exciting thing that had drifted into town. He liked to party, and funnily enough, so did she. Lisa’s idea of a party, however, was vastly different from everything I knew about Ian. Her favorite pastimes included binge drinking, smoking, and injecting anything she could get her hands on. Considering her ample funds at the time, this included most, if not all, drugs.

She propositioned him with a world where everything was pure. With all that Ian had on his plate, an “escape” must have been enticing. The temptation of lawlessness spread to other aspects of his life, however, and soon he was spending more time with Lisa and her narcotics than he ever had on his studies, activities, or me. At some point, he stopped hiding his newfound hobby of toking it up with that bitch. The boy I knew, the boy I’d loved since childhood, didn’t see the light of day anymore, even though I still saw Ian often enough. He and Lisa clung to each other like survivors of a shipwreck. It made me curl into myself further, knowing that I was losing him and, worse, that there was nothing I could do.

Senior year had found me alone on Thanksgiving. Mom, Greg, and Lisa had flown to Phoenix to visit relatives and celebrate the holiday together. That was when, for the first time in what felt like ages, I heard a familiar tapping at my window.

The sound startled me into semi-consciousness. It woke me up just enough to instinctively unlock the window and open it for him, but not enough to remember that this was no longer normal for us. He had no place coming to see me anymore, and especially not in the dead of night when I was home alone. Only when I turned to face him and looked into his glazed and bloodshot eyes did I realize my mistake. He was intoxicated, and in my bedroom, and I had no clue what was running through his mind.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered harshly, avoiding his gaze.

His voice was raspy and distant. “I miss you, Becky.”

I took a deep breath, trying to keep my tone even and clinical. I couldn’t be vulnerable; he wasn’t being fair or rational. “How can you miss me? You abandoned me.”

Ian didn’t respond. His mouth twitched in displeasure with a hint of earnest confusion. It made my blood boil a bit to have him barging back into my life, bent on fixing things between us, without the faintest idea why we’d been so broken lately.

“You left me for Lisa, just like everyone else,” I continued. He needed to know how much he had hurt me. It was my only real opportunity to speak my mind without the evil stepsister lurking in the shadows.

Featured Review

By Gloria Herrera

Absolutely fascinating story! I just finished reading this and I wanted more. I need to know if these two characters will be able to deal with their demons and learn to show their affection for each other.

Dan is so controlling. His life has been so out of control in the past that once he was on his way to success all he wanted was to be able to control his surroundings. He cannot fall prey to the chaos he has experienced growing up.

Becca is just the same. She never had any control over her life. The abuse and neglect at her mother's hand did not make life any better. All her life she has had to what she can to make her circumstances bearable while not being able to control how people treated her. After all that she has been through, this book deals with her impending melt down. How will she handle it?

I love Claudia Burgoa's writing. She has the gift of expressing her prose a range of emotions that feel true to life. The sequel to this book should be coming out soon and sure don't want to miss how this story will end.

About the Author

Claudia lives in Colorado with her family and three dogs. Two beagles who believe they are human, and a bichon who thinks she’s a beagle. While managing life, she works as a CFO at a small IT Company. She’s a dreamer who enjoys music, laughter and a good story.

Giveaway

Enter the tour-wide giveaway for a chance to win a Kindle HD or $140 PayPal cash (open internationally).

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Links

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"Getting By: A Knight's Tale I" by Claudia Y. Burgoa

NEW RELEASE and GIVEAWAY

Getting By
(A Knight's Tale Book 1)

by Claudia Y. Burgoa

Getting By has just been released. This book blitz and giveaway is brought is brought to you by Xpresso Book Tours. Please make sure you visit the other participating blogs as well.

Description

When Emma Anderson arrived at San Francisco International Airport, she regretted accepting the distinction of being the maid of honor to Gaby’s - her childhood friend - wedding. It had been years since the last time she set foot in Menlo Park, where her parents had been killed. The rug where she had been shoving her feelings since that day looked bumpier than a camel’s hump. Who could blame her; if she hadn’t been selfish they’d still be around. Ever since that fateful day, Emma has been perfecting the knack of "getting by".

Cade’s wedding in Menlo Park - a city close to San Francisco - might be the perfect place for Jake Knight to shake the memories of his ex, Emma Anderson, for good. Single, available women galore for an entire week was the perfect medication, one he intended to take three times a day for an entire week to return to his player days. It was a plan the former spy thought flawless until he came face to face with the maid of honor. Jake’s perfect retreat turns into a flight, fight, or hide week of celebrations.

Excerpt

Nights meant sleep and dreams - my archenemies. The Crowley to my Dean Winchester, the Green Goblin to my Spider-man, the list of superheroes and their opposites was long, and so became the analogies I used on a daily basis. My lack of sleep began with Dad and his conditions for me to continue my art. Then came my parents' deaths. Those took a toll on me because I mixed dreams with realities and hopes. Not once did I have a nightmare, all of them were sweet and real. Seeing Mom and Dad on those nights filled my gut with nails, and my head pounded with the reminder that they were gone the next morning. Those had been merely fantasies that would never become a reality.

For the past three months I had been evading sleep and working overtime, over the overtime. The dreams of elevators, trips to sophisticated-secluded spots after a week of work and delicious nights with a man who I was required to forget in order to move on, came daily - nightly. They not only hit me with vengeance, but they came tangled with what humans liked to call hope. The urge to crawl inside myself to avoid the need of his touch, kisses and whatever it was that we had not long ago, consumed me. If I had the powers to morph into an animal, it’d be a sea turtle and I’d stay inside my shell for the next hundred years. Past the stage of melancholy and into the real world, I pushed my body outside of the bed and into the shower, where I got ready to face the Clements and the house next door.

Featured Review

By Gloria Herrera

I have now read this book three times and every time I find more to like about it. The Knight brothers are all intriguing, engaging, and oh so handsome. What more could we want in a leading man?

This is a story of two people afraid of what commitment might entail. At the same time, I cannot think of two people needing each other more. This book is written from the POV's of our two characters and gives us the unique perspective only each character can share.

Jake is the boyfriend we dream of but never quite find. Only drawback, his fear of commitment and his fear of failure. For such an intelligent, successful man this is contradictory until you read about what made him this way.

Emma has survived a horrible ordeal that took her parents' lives. She is independent and strong willed, but in desperate need of love and acceptance. No one would ever believe this successful woman was so crippled inside.

I love the plotline of this book. I love how serendipity plays with our characters and twists its way in to ensure they are thrown together when all is lost.

This is book 1 in the Knight's Tales series. I hope our author will release book 2 soon so we can continue this story. There is NO cliffhanger. This is a standalone ... but there are other Knight brothers to hear about!

Interview With the Author

Did you use an outline or do you just wing the first draft?

I just wing for the first draft. My stories start with an idea and the first words are a scene … any scene. From there I start sculpting it.

Q: If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

Modern: I’d say it’s a tie between Sophie Kinsella, Meg Cabot, and Nora Roberts.

Classic: I’d like to think that throughout the years I have learned from Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Cervantes, Wilde, Asimov, Dickens, and Austen. Let’s not forget Shakespeare, who wrote about Italy without ever visiting the country.

Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.

My friends, and also my social media friends. Members of Facebook I met five years ago and now from Twitter, the community of indie authors is amazingly supportive. Not only with my writing, but on a personal level too.

Why did you start writing?

I read a lot when I was little, since I lived with my grandmother, I was privy to my grandfather’s books. [No one told the adults I needed age appropriate literature.] There I was, a six year old reading Cervantes, Dostoyevsky, Marquez, and encyclopedias. From there I began writing, trying to imagine a different life - a fun life. 

Who designed the cover for Getting By?

The team at Damonza, they are amazingly talented.

What was the hardest part of writing Getting By?

Writing Jake’s POV; it is the first time I attempt to write from the male perspective.

What can you offer readers in the way of information or entertainment?

I like to think I’m bringing witty, neurotic, human characters that, although they want to be perfect, they live their lives with flaws like everyone else, yet they handle it the best they can. I try to add some humor to the mix with the promise that’s there’s always a better tomorrow – or at least something nice on the next page.

What is your gadget of choice for writing your manuscripts?

Hardcore Apple, however my computer isn’t … something about software and other gibberish that the IT man of the house keeps telling. When I’m not typing at my desk, I’m using one of my three iPads to write a scene. After I email it and fix it.

Your number one guilty pleasure is ...

Any and all carbohydrates, chocolate, candy, pastries, real tacos … overall I’m a foodie.

Do you decide the path of your characters or do they take on a life of their own as the story unfolds?

They take their own path and I just have to watch them behave, there’s been a few times when I have to erase several chapters because they don’t care about closure. One of the reasons why I have seven first drafts of Getting By stored in my computer.

Have you always considered yourself a writer? If so, when did you begin writing? If not, at what age did you begin writing?

Definitely a storyteller, age … fairly young. A few times I wrote stories; that began around middle school. During high school, my best friend who had an ongoing telenovela with her boyfriend suggested that I document it and make myself famous with it. One day I might out her, as soon as I find my notebook, I’ll get her.

Six years ago I retook the idea of writing what the voices in my head tell me. Last year is when I found the guts to share them.

If you could write in a different genre, what would it be?

Sci-Fi … in middle school I seriously made my boyfriend believe I was an alien. Mothership and all explained in detailed. I was raised in a house of Asimov lovers, Star Trek geeks and overall nerds.

Fantasy and paranormal too, that comes from the fairy side of my family and my grandfather who always told me I’m good with ghosts - he died before I was born.

Who or what inspires you?

Music inspires me, it sets the mood of how the book will go. Who … the people I observe.

Are you an early bird or a night owl?

Night Owl? I work Australia time, which usually is when we sleep here in America.

Your dream vacation is ...

Depends on my mood, I love to walk and discover new places, but if I’m tired a good sun tan in front of the ocean is perfect.

Name something you are really horrible at (doesn’t have to be related to writing).

Crafts; I have two left hands. I can’t use a thread and a needle even if my life depends on it. *useless, the voices in my head scream in unison*

What can we expect from you in the future? New projects? Other ventures?

This book I’m releasing, Getting By, is the first installment of series A Knight's Tales. Following Jake, Mitch, and Liam three playboy brothers who have a playboy life but a knight in shining armor complex. Their world collides a bit with the world of Where Life Takes You - the Life series. There’s a cameo from one of the characters of Where Life Takes You here.

The second project is Next To You, book number two of the Life series. I teamed up with Damonza and we have a gorgeous cover, which should be revealed in the near future. On this book, we’ll not only listen to Becca, but also Dan’s side of the story. This is not a rehash of the first book from Dan’s POV though. There are a few cameos from the characters of GettingBy here. And the precious is already with my editor extraordinaire, Karen.

I’m doodling with the second book of A Knight's Tale, Standing By, that’s Mitch and Hayley’s story. Meanwhile, in the other side of my brain; I’m pondering about a third book of the Life series, with Buddy’s life - Dan’s foster brother. There’s another book which at the moment is a skeleton trying to stir up the usual protocol and bring a different kind of theme to what’s been written lately. There’s a twist on it and I’m hoping to pull something fun.

About the Author

Claudia lives in Colorado with her family and three dogs. Two beagles who believe they are human, and a bichon who thinks she’s a beagle. While managing life, she works as a CFO at a small IT Company. She’s a dreamer who enjoys music, laughter and a good story.

Giveaway

Enter the shared giveaway for a chance to win some great prizes (open internationally).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Links

Add to Goodreads

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Amazon US author page

Amazon UK author page

Barnes & Noble author page

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Twitter @yuribeans

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