Blog Tour & Review Plus Interview: Pretty Pink Ribbons by K.L. Grayson

Title: Pretty Pink Ribbons

Author: K.L. Grayson

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: March 24, 2015

Cover Design: Perfect Pear Creative Covers

Photographer: Tomasz Zienkiewicz Photography

Synopsis

Dying . . . Dead . . . Deceased . . .

It doesn’t matter how many times I say it or how many different names I give it, it still means the same thing. One of these days I’ll be nothing but a passing memory, a familiar face in a forgotten photo. But there's three things I need before this life of mine ends . . . I need to tell him I love him more than life itself. I need to feel the strength of his arms wrapped around me just one more night. Most of all, I need him to forgive me. Eight years ago I broke the heart of the only man I’ve ever loved and today I’m moving home in hopes that he’ll let me put it back together. I’m not sure how many breaths I have left, but I’ll use each and every last one fighting for what I destroyed. My name is Laney Jacobs and this is my journey.

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Excerpt

“I wish it was someone else,” she croaks, swallowing hard. “There are thousands of bad people in the world, but it happened to you.” I watch her eyes fill with tears and then I look away. It’s pathetic of me really; that I’m unable to look my best friend in the face when it’s obvious that she is struggling with this almost as much as I am. But I’ve cried my fair share of tears and although I’m certain my tear ducts have yet to dry up, I don’t want to cry tonight. Somehow I know that if I watch Mia break, then I’ll shatter right along with her. “I’m glad it’s me.” She gasps, startled by my words, and I rush to try and explain. “If it wasn’t me, it would be someone else, and I would never wish this upon someone else. You know that saying that God will only give you what you can handle?” She nods. “Sometimes I tell myself that he just thinks I’m really strong and I can handle it, whereas someone else couldn’t.” “Does that help?” she asks. “Does that make you feel better about it?” “No, but it eases my mind. Sometimes when I’m having a good day, it brings me peace, however temporary it may be. But no, it doesn’t make me feel better.” “Peace,” she whispers, seemingly trying the word on for size. “I want you to have peace.”    

My Review: 

What can I say about this book, without giving anything away that fully describes just how much I loved it? Well I'm not sure, but I'm going to try.

I fell in love with Levi in Where We Belong, so when I found out that Pretty Pink Ribbons was going to be Levi's story, I was all over it. Then we got to see the blurb, and then the cover and each little snippet and piece of the story built up a hype for me. But nothing could have prepared me for the emotional journey I would be taking with this book.

KL Grayson has penned an absolutely phenomenal story. Laney and Levi are such amazing characters. Laney is full of grace, while despairing and Levi is strength and love personified. There is so much going on with this story, but KL brings each piece together and works hard to make the reader see the beauty in the chaos. Find hope in despair, follow the path of love even when its hard to do.

Pretty Pink Ribbons broke me in the best of ways and I know I am changed because of having read this book. If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would because this book deserves all the praise, it is one I will be talking about for a long time to come.

About The Author

K.L. Grayson resides in a small town outside of St. Louis, MO. She is entertained daily by her extraordinary husband, who will forever inspire every good quality she writes in a man. Her entire life rests in the palms of six dirty little hands, and when the day is over and those pint-sized cherubs have been washed and tucked into bed, you can find her typing away furiously on her computer. She has a love for alpha-males, brownies, reading, tattoos, sunglasses, and happy endings…and not particularly in that order.

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Interview with K.L. Grayson 

Thanks, KL for taking the time to answer a few questions for me. 

How long have you known you were meant to be an author? 

I’ve known for quite some time that I was meant to write. As far as being an author, I’m not really sure. It’s always been a dream of mine to publish a book, in fact, I have two books that I wrote in elementary school that have been bound and backed LOL. I’ve always loved to write, but it became a passion my freshman year in high school.

What's your biggest form of inspiration?  I know that Pretty Pink Ribbons was insprired by real life events. But what about Where We Belong and other books?

 Pretty Pink Ribbons was inspired by my sister’s battle with Breast Cancer. As far as Where We Belong, it wasn’t necessarily inspired by real life events. Harley’s story came to me in a dream quite some time ago and I had written it as a short story. When I pulled the story up some time later, I was sucked back in and decided to expand on it.

Can you tell us a little about your writing process?  Do you have a dedicated area or can you just write wherever you are at the time?  

My writing process … hmmmm … I tuck my kids in to bed, cuddle up on the couch with my laptop and favorite quilt and I start writing. Sometimes the words come, and sometimes they don’t. No, I can’t write just anywhere, trust me, I’ve tried. I remember sitting in starbucks with my laptop, waiting for BT to meet me for coffee and I had like an hour to kill and I didn’t write one word. I need quiet … I can’t write if people are talking, or if the music or TV is on.

Is there a type of book that you have not written so far, that you really want to? Any particular genre or trope that you just think you could write something wonderful in?  

I would love to write a suspense, but I’m not sure I could pull it off, but that would be the type of book that I haven’t written and would love to. I’m not sure I’ll ever write anything ‘wonderful’, and to be honest, I really do feel like contemp. Romance is my niche. There is nothing I love more than that scene … the one that makes your toes tingle and your heart pound … the one scene that rips your heart and leaves you screaming at your kindle because you know—you just know—that the couple is meant to be together and you just know that something really great is about to happen. I’ve read hundreds of books, and only in romance do I get that feeling. (LOL … did any of that make sense?)

Can you tell me more about Lover's Lament? How did you come about teaming up with BT to write it?  How is the co-writing working?

 I found some of BTs short stories on line. One of them ticked me off, and the other made me cry. Initially I reached out to him because I wanted him to know that I thought he was an amazing writer. We got to talking, got to know each other, and I presented him with a story line that I had been working on. We brainstormed together and his input was absolutely amazing. Together we transformed my storyline in to something absolutely fantastic. It was an easy decision for me to ask him to co-write. We seemed to get along great and what I loved the most is that he too fell in love with the story line, and he loved it just as much as I did. Co-writing is working well, but it requires an immense amount of trust and respect. Taylor and I work well together because we both genuinely value the others opinions. He knows that I would never change his voice and vice versa. We’re both open, and welcome to ideas and criticisms from each other, which I think is what makes this work.  

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