S.B. Alexander's Blog, page 2
June 13, 2018
Boston Love Stories in Books and Movies Part 4
[image error]To celebrate yesterday's release of Hart of Darkness, I’m continuing my series on love stories set in Boston.
Today’s post is a little different in that the TV show featured is more about a character’s quest for love that actually finding it. (You can read the previous posts here: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.)
Are you old enough to have watched the TV show Ally McBeal? (Remember life before streaming?) It aired on the Fox network in the late 1990s and very early 2000s. I loved this show, which was a cross between a legal drama and a romantic comedy, and was revolutionary for television at the time.
It could have been called The Many Loves and Crushes of Ally McBeal. Show quirks, like the unisex bathroom and the focus on the love lives of the characters, really pulled it into romantic comedy territory. This is definitely not Law & Order or even The Good Wife.
The titular character, played by Calista Flockhart, was a lawyer, unlucky-in-lovester, and Boston native. The love triangle between Ally, Billy, the old boyfriend she never got over, and Billy’s wife, is the focus of the first few seasons of the show.
Ally’s main love interests, other than Billy, were mostly lawyers, or, in one notable episode that involved an assignation in a car wash, the fiancée of a client. Perhaps her most memorable boyfriend was Larry Paul, played by not-yet-Iron-Man Robert Downey Jr.
The great thing about this show was the music. It was what drew me in and also a big part of the appeal and unique character of the show. Larry and Ally’s signature song became Chances Are, which Downey Jr. performed with the show’s regular musical inspiration and muse, Vonda Shephard. (Weirdly RDJ was also in a movie called Chances Are, but that was before his Ally McBeal stint.)
The show and the main character were sometimes criticized for being anti-feminist. Ally was perceived as being flighty and emotionally unstable. Perhaps that’s true, but she was also a breath of fresh air; an accomplished, professional woman who wore her heart on her sleeve and had trouble finding the right mate. Women related to her, and perhaps this was why.
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June 12, 2018
Boston Love Stories in Books and Film Part 3
[image error]Today is launch day! Hart of Darkness, my new book, is available now! Click here to learn more about the book and find all the buy links.
This is the third in my series of blog posts celebrating Boston love stories. You can read the Part One here and Part Two here.
Harvard University plays such a part in the culture and history of Boston that the two are firmly intertwined. Harvard Law School is one of the most prestigious law schools in the country, and the one place sorority sister Elle Woods doesn’t really belong. Let’s talk about Legally Blonde.
[image error]Elle, with her chihuahua Bruiser in tow, takes on Harvard, obtains her law degree against all odds, and discovers she’s destined for more than being a senator’s wife in this kind-hearted and fashion focused film.
Along the way Elle falls in love with Emmett, a law associate, and one of the few people who believe in Elle.
Fun fact: though the film was set at Harvard, it was actually filmed in California. There are aerial shots of Harvard in the movie, but anything shot on the ground is from USC, UCLA or other SoCal universities posing as Harvard.
Legally Blonde isn’t a romance in the traditional sense, though the through line of Elle and Emmitt’s romance does carry into the second film. Since we’re talking about Boston love stories in this blog series, I should remind you that Elle and Emmitt had wanted to get married at Fenway Park, the home of my beloved Red Sox. Due to plot complications in Legally Blonde 2 they end up getting married in Washington, DC, but home plate from Fenway is delivered so they can stand on either side of it when they say, “I do”.
I loved this movie, and I’m so excited about the recent news that was announced a few days ago! Reese Witherspoon has signed up to star in Legally Blonde 3. And Luke Wilson, who plays Emmitt, says he’s all in.
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June 11, 2018
Boston Love Stories in Books and Film Part 2
[image error]I’m celebrating tomorrow's release of my new romantic suspense novel, Hart of Darkness. Remember that you can read an excerpt from the book here.
Last Friday we started with a quintessential – and also tragic – love story called, of all things, Love Story in my feature on love stories set in and around Boston. Phew! That’s a lot of ‘love story’.
Let’s turn from the tragic to the more traditionally romantic. Today I’m going to feature the fun, and sweet, Boston and Ireland romantic comedy, Leap Year.
Though we spend most of the film in Ireland, while our protagonist, Anna, attempts to find her boyfriend so she can ask him to marry her, we start in Boston. Anna, played by the always delightful Amy Adams, is a home-grown Boston woman who works as a real estate stager.
Within the first few seconds of the film we’re treated to a gorgeous frosty view of the Boston Common, and a slightly less gorgeous, but no less authentic, view of the inside of a classic Boston watering hole. Drunk, but harmless, barfly included.
The movie is a classic ‘enemies to lovers’ plot. In Ireland, Anna meets Declan, who is described in the screenplay as “a bearded, scruffy, glowering brute”. Some of that edge is taken off in the film because Declan is played by the gorgeous and twinkly-eyed Matthew Goode (The Good Wife, Downton Abbey).
Declan is rude and unwelcoming to Anna, and she is as uptight and controlling as he is swarthy and scruffy. As a real estate stager, Anna’s profession is to make things look gorgeous and appealing. How perfect then that the man of her dreams is not her booted-and-suited boyfriend, but the rude, arrogant and messy Declan?
Leap Year may not have won any Academy Awards, but what it lacks in accolades it makes up for in classic girl-meets-boy, girl-hates-boy, girl-realizes-almost-too-late-she-loves-boy charm.
If you haven’t seen Leap Year it’s a great entry in the rainy Sunday afternoon romantic comedy in your pajamas genre.
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June 7, 2018
Boston Love Stories in Books and Film Part 1
It’s celebration time!
[image error]I’m so excited about my new romantic suspense, Hart of Darkness, which will be released on June 12th. Early reviewers are raving about Dillon Hart and falling in love with Maggie Marx. One reader said,
“This may very well be the best book this author has written! Hart of Darkness has all the key elements for a great story: an excellent plot, romance, suspense, and a HEA ending.”
If you want to get a head start on reading Hart of Darkness, click here to read Chapters 1 and 2.
And in celebration, I’m kicking off a series of blog posts about film and book love stories set in and around my adopted hometown of Boston, which is where Hart of Darkness takes place, and even though the book is gritty and shows some seedier sides of the city, there’s a love story brewing throughout the book.
[image error]So let’s start our tribute to Boston love stories with the quintessential one: Love Story. The year was 1970, and the movie starred Ally McGraw and Ryan O’Neal. My mom loved this movie, and even more, she loved Ryan O’Neal. Anyway, the film is both a love story and a tragedy – no HEA here, unfortunately. But it is deeply moving nonetheless.
Set in and around Harvard, the book and movie feature the love story between Oliver, an upper crust New Englander and hockey player, and Jenny, a working class and quick-witted music student. The story has notes of Romeo and Juliet; Oliver’s family doesn’t approve of Jenny’s position in life, but Oliver stands by her just the same. He loses the financial support of his family when he marries Jenny, and they struggle to put Oliver through law school. There’s so much tension throughout the movie, you can’t help but cheer for these two lovers.
Interestingly, author Erich Segal wrote the screenplay first and sold it to the film studio Paramount Pictures. They asked him to also turn the script into a book to create interest in the film. The book was released on Valentine’s Day 1970 and became a bestseller in its own right. Fun fact, Segal was himself a professor at Harvard. I wonder if he’d written this story with two students in mind.
While the book became a bestseller, the film didn’t get much love from critics. In fact, many condemned the movie as trite. Despite this, the film still stands at #9 on the American Film Institute’s list of 100 most romantic movies. It is also one of the highest grossing films of all time.
Forty-seven years have passed since the film and book were released. Have you ever seen the movie? I wonder if the story, the love, and the tension would hold up to audiences today. Love stories never really go out of style, do they?
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May 15, 2018
Unusual Royal Wedding Customs
We’re just four days away now from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding. Very exciting!
Today I’m going to ignore the drama unfolding within Meghan’s family and continue my series of posts celebrating this event with a post on the unusual traditions and customs of royal weddings in the British royal family.
1. As I mentioned in a previous post the British monarch must give permission for a marriage to those who are in the top six positions in line to the throne. Prince Harry is currently sixth in line, however when his marriage to Ms. Markle was announced he was fifth. The birth of his nephew, Prince Louis on April 23, 2018, bumped him to the next position.
Queen Elizabeth II granted her permission for Harry and Meghan’s marriage in March. And then last week, closer to the wedding, the actual document, called the Instrument of Consent was revealed. It is quite a sight to behold!
A post shared by The Royal Family (@theroyalfamily) on May 13, 2018 at 1:07am PDT
2. There seems to have developed a custom of royal brides showing the Queen their wedding dresses before the big day.
As of this writing, according to royal reporters Emily Nash and Omid Scobie, Meghan’s dress is complete and is being stored at Windsor Castle until the big day. Meghan will show the queen the dress before the big day to ‘get her approval’. (Apparently Kate Middleton did this, as did Autumn Phillips, who married Princess Anne’s son, Peter.)
I’m not sure what would happen if the Queen withheld that approval. The dress has undoubtedly been under construction for months. If the Queen said she didn’t like it, would Meghan pop out to Harrods and buy one off the rack?
3. Broken tradition. Harry and Meghan are already showing the world that while they respect and honor the family Harry was born into, and many of its traditions, there are some things that they are going to do their own way. Their wedding cake is a great example.
Traditionally, royal wedding cakes are fruit cakes covered with icing. The tradition of the royal family using a fruit cake goes back to the middle ages. The alcohol in a fruit cake acts both as a natural preservative, and keeps the cake moist.
Additionally, multi-tiered (i.e., gigantic) royal wedding cakes can take several days to decorate. In William and Kate’s case, the cake was baked two months before their wedding, so that it could mature. Three days before the wedding it was moved into place at Buckingham Palace and decorated there.
(There’s a beautiful gallery of photos of William and Kate’s wedding cake here.)
Harry and Meghan have chosen pastry chef Claire Ptak to make their cake, a lemon elderflower confection. Chef Ptak is originally from California, a nod to Meghan’s home state perhaps, but now lives and works in London. She owns the Violet Bakery and fans of her confections include fashion designer Stella McCartney. It is reported she will use buttercream frosting for the cake, which might be more challenging to work with than the fondant-type frosting normally used.
This morning, Chef Ptak posted a teaser on Instagram of the lemons she'll be using for Harry and Meghan's cake.
May 9, 2018
Romantic Royal Romances
Hi Everyone, I’m back again this week with more on the upcoming wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Today I would like to share some romantic stories that are modern-day, with one exception. And most, though not all, have a happy ending. So, grab your favorite tiara and a glass of champagne and let’s talk royal romance.
1. We’ll begin with the quintessential romance of her Royal Highness Princess Alexandrina Victoria Kent, who became Queen Victoria in June 1837 at the young age of 18. Can you imagine being Queen at 18? I know I couldn’t.
Anyway, she was introduced to her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1836 with the specific purpose of finding her a husband. Her diaries indicate that she was smitten with Albert almost from the first moment.
In October 1839, she proposed to him only because she was Queen. So Albert couldn’t propose to her. Not that much later in early 1840 the couple was married.
[image error] Queen Victoria's wedding shoesAn interesting side note: Have you ever wondered why brides wore white dresses? It was Victoria who’d started that trend that continues today.
The couple had nine children through the years. Though it’s been said Victoria hated being pregnant. During all those pregnancies, Albert was not only her husband, but her political advisor and eventually took over more and more of Victoria’s duties as monarch, something which infuriated her. Still, her romance with Albert was life-long, although not without husband and wife spats.
Sadly, Albert died at age 42, possibly of typhoid, after the couple had been married 21 years. For the rest of her life, Queen Victoria wore black mourning dresses.
By all accounts it was a stormy relationship, but one with great depth of feeling.
2. The former Mary Donaldson was working as an advertising executive in 2000 when she met her future husband, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark at, of all places, a pub.
Mary was born in Tasmania, Australia to Scottish parents who had emigrated to Australia in the early 1960s. During her teens Mary was sporty, playing hockey and swimming, and also participating in equestrian sports. (After all, every future princess needs to know how to ride a horse.)
Australia was the host of the 2000 Olympics where Mary and ‘Fred’, as the Crown Prince introduced himself, met at a pub in a Sydney hotel. She had no idea who he was.
The couple dated for three years and was married in May 2004. In this YouTube video of Mary walking down the aisle, you can see her waiting prince become emotional at the sight of his bride in her beautiful dress.
Mary had to give up quite a lot to be with her prince; she relinquished her Australian citizenship, moved to a new religion, and gave up her career. However these seem to have been the right decisions. Mary and Frederik have been married for 14 years this month and have 4 beautiful children.
3. Before she became queen of England, a 13 year old Princess Elizabeth met the dashing (but poor) Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark.
[image error] Queen Elizabeth and her husband pose for their coronation portrait. Her dress was designed and made by the same man, Norman Hartnell, who designed her wedding dress.Philip was assigned to give Princess Elizabeth, and her younger sister, Princess Margaret, a tour of the Royal Navy College, Dartmouth, when their parents were visiting the college. It seems Elizabeth was smitten right from that day and never had eyes for another man.
The pair, who was third cousins through Queen Victoria, corresponded after that via hand-written letters (remember those?). Seven years later, in the summer of 1946, when Elizabeth was 20, Philip asked her father, King George VI for her hand in marriage. The king agreed but on the condition that the engagement was not announced until Elizabeth had turned 21.
The couple wed in Westminster Abbey in November 1947 and that marriage is now the longest of any British sovereign; an astounding 70 years! It looks like that young princess knew what she was doing way back when she was only 13 years old.
4. While we’re on the subject of Queen Elizabeth, let’s also touch on the big romance of her sister Margaret’s life.
If you’ve watched the Netflix series The Crown, you’ll know that Margaret fell in love with Group Captain Peter Townsend in 1947. Margaret’s family was on tour in South Africa, and the couple was able to spend time together every day, riding horses and getting to know one another. The romance, however, was illicit – Townsend was still married – though he divorced his wife in 1952. It wasn’t until her sister Elizabeth’s coronation that same year that the press caught wind of the romance. Princess Margaret picked a piece of fluff off of Townsend’s lapel, a gesture that implied intimacy and familiarity, and the cat was out of the bag.
The relationship was doomed, unfortunately. As head of the Church of England, Queen Elizabeth could not give her sister permission to marry the divorced Townsend. (Those members of the British royal family who are the six closest in line to the throne require the monarch’s permission to marry. Prince Harry asked for and received the Queen’s consent in March of this year.)
Rules and protocol have obviously relaxed in the ensuing years; all of the Queen’s own children, barring Prince Edward, are divorced (and two are remarried), and Meghan Markle has been married and divorced. I wonder how Margaret and Peter’s story would have unfolded had they been born two generations later?
5. Let’s end on a happier note; Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway. This one reminds me of a Cinderella story.
Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby was born in 1973 in the southern part of Norway. She strikes me as a very interesting person. If you look at her Wikipedia page it’s clear she exhibited leadership qualities and had the depth of character at a fairly young age to work for the Norway-British Chamber of Commerce, living in London on her own. However that period was reportedly followed by an era of hard partying, during which Mette-Marit married and had a son. She was working as a waitress when she met Crown Prince Haakon at a garden party during a music festival.
When she met Haakon she was a single mother, and he was a great-great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria. Their courtship and engagement survived the disapproval of many in Norway, given Mette-Marit’s ‘wild’ past. She has matured into a beautiful princess, however, and has had two children with Haakon, the eldest of which, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, is second in line to the Norwegian throne.
**
Just like real life romances, royal love affairs are not without their bumps and turns. When we watch a royal wedding it’s sometimes difficult to see past the huge and multitudinous diamonds and the snazzy military uniforms (not to mention the uber romantic horses and carriages) to the two people underneath all that pomp and circumstance. I expect that marriage inside a castle is much the same as one inside a two-bedroom split level in Ottumwa, Iowa; hopefully filled with laughter, love and connection, and also inevitably with moments of anger and frustration.
We’ll never know what any of these marriages are like on the inside, but it sure is fun to watch the pageantry on wedding days where princes and princesses are involved!
Please join me in the Maxwell Mania Facebook group on May 19th where we’ll be celebrating Harry and Meghan’s wedding day.
Alongside me will be some other kickass authors who are equally excited about the celebration, not to mention there will be some great prizes up for grabs.
[Some images via Wikipedia and Creative Commons]
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May 1, 2018
Let’s celebrate this month’s royal wedding!
Who’s excited for the Royal Wedding? I know I am. As a little girl I loved reading fairytales about princes and princesses. Even now that I’m older that hasn’t changed, and what better than to watch a fairytale come to life.
The world loves a royal romance. And this year we’re witnessing the crowning of an American princess, which hasn’t happened since actress Grace Kelly married into the Monegasque royal family in 1956.
So, in honor of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s upcoming wedding, here are a few romantic facts about their relationship that you might not be aware of.
1. Harry and Meghan met on a blind date.
Prince Harry has often said that finding someone to take on ‘the job’ of being his partner has been difficult. Marrying into the British Royal family carries all sorts of baggage and pressure with it. (The dear departed Princess Diana knew that better than anyone).
Harry has dated several women for long stretches, including law degree holder Chelsy Davy and actress Cressida Bonas. However, until Meghan Markle, none of the women Harry had relationships with were willing to put up with the public scrutiny that a royal spouse must deal with.
The good news is that Meghan seems perfectly designed just for Harry. Not only is she comfortable in front of cameras and also with public speaking, she is philanthropic to her core. She has worked as a Global Ambassador for World Vision, and traveled to India to learn about women’s menstrual health and the affect that has on girls’ potential in the third world. She even wrote an article for TIME magazine about this subject.
The British Royal family devotes their lives to the service of the people of Great Britain and the Commonwealth. Meghan, with her experience in the glare of public scrutiny and her passion for helping others, seems a perfect fit for the job she is about to undertake.
2. In 2016 Harry and Meghan’s third date involved camping under the stars in Botswana.
Cue the ‘awww’ here. As Harry revealed in the couple’s interview on the day their engagement was announced, the pair spent five days and nights in the Botswana bush, sharing a tent and, one assumes, watching the amazing African wildlife.
It’s like something out of a novel isn’t it? A young couple with wildly different lives and from different countries, but with startlingly similar interests, get to know one another out of the glare of the spotlight, in the African bush. Dreamy!
Botswana is one of the least populated countries in the world. It also has set aside an extraordinary amount of land as protected wilderness. No wonder Harry feels so at home on the African continent. Harry has described Africa as ‘an escape’ and now it seems his bride-to-be has fallen in love with the continent as well.
3. Meghan’s ring.
The ring that Harry used to propose to Meghan carries personal significance in so many ways.
The centre diamond, thought to be a 3 carat cushion cut, is from Botswana. How appropriate!
As well, the two diamonds that flank the centre stone are from Harry’s mother’s jewelry collection, ‘to make sure that she’s with us on this crazy journey together’.
4. Harry and Meghan …and Netflix?
While Meghan was filming Suits, she lived in a beautiful home in Toronto’s Annex neighborhood. It has been reported that Harry visited Meghan here on several occasions. You can view photos of the home here. Meghan clearly likes to decorate with white as a base and then add color and texture in the form of bright flowers from her garden, sheepskin rugs, wicker chairs and even a longhorn cow skull (!).
Can you picture the couple snuggled up on the couch, watching a movie or perhaps Netflix, enjoying take out food (or ‘take away’, as they say in Britain)?
I wonder how Harry gets along with Meghan’s two dogs, Bogart and Gus? Reportedly Gus has made the move into Kensington Palace with Meghan but Bogart has been adopted by a close friend of Meghan’s. According to this article, it was considered kinder to leave Bogart in Toronto because of his age.
5. Meghan’s wedding dress.
What will Meghan wear on the big day three weeks from now? She is known for being diplomatic with her sartorial choices; for example, while visiting Scotland with Harry in February 2018 she wore a tartan overcoat by British designer Burberry and paired it with a handbag by Scottish brand Strathberry.
So will she choose a British designer for her wedding dress? Kate Middleton did, choosing to have Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen design both her wedding dress and the sleek white dress and angora cardigan she wore to the wedding reception.
Bookmakers in England are laying odds that Burberry might be the wedding designer of choice for Meghan. Another contender is Ralph & Russo, who designed the dress that Meghan wore in the official engagement photos with Harry.
6. What about diamonds?
While we’re on the subject of the big day, it is likely that Meghan will borrow a tiara from the royal family to wear with her dress. Kate Middleton wore the petite but beautifully appointed Cartier Halo tiara for her wedding. However, that little item is on display in Australia this month, so we can mark it out of the running for options for Meghan. Would you want to wear the same tiara as your future sister-in-law though?
Side note: What must it be like to have the doors to the British royal jewel vault thrown open? Can you imagine being in such a position?
Ella Kay, who writes a blog about royal jewelry, wonders if Meghan will have a tiara commissioned for her. When Sarah Ferguson and Sophie Rhys-Jones married into the royal family, as wives of sons further down the line of inheritance, they both had tiaras made for them for their special days.
However, were Meghan to be loaned a tiara it might be the Strathmore Rose Tiara, although I personally think she would find the style of that one a bit too fussy for her modern look. The Queen Mother’s Cartier Bandeau, which doubles as a bracelet, might suit her better.
7. To PDA (Public Display of Affection) or not to PDA.
Harry and his bride-to-be have been extremely tactile with one another from the moment they first appeared in public together as a couple at the Invictus games hosted in Toronto in 2017. They held hands and giggled with one another throughout the event, and the PDA hasn’t stopped since.
Harry is gregarious and charming to a degree only seen before in his mother. He is the member of the royal family who will get down on his knees and talk to children, cuddle them, and embrace elderly women in wheelchairs like they are old friends.
Harry and Meghan are rarely out of reach from one another when they are carrying out official duties, constantly holding hands, locking eyes, or gently touching one another’s backs. This is a rarity in the royal family and something we almost never see from William and Kate, let alone Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh.
Long live the PDA!
**
With less than three weeks to go until Harry and Meghan’s wedding, she completed her last official engagement on April 25. It is likely that we won’t see her again until the wedding day, May 19. I expect that she is busy finalizing the details on what will hopefully prove to be a romantic and moving Saturday in Windsor.
Will you be getting up at 4am to watch? Or having a viewing party? I know I’ll be watching the beautiful wedding as the two tie the knot in this true-to-life fairytale.
In honor of the big day, I’ll be celebrating the momentous occasion in my reader group on Facebook with prizes throughout the day.
Come join us in Maxwell Mania on May 19th to celebrate the royal wedding!
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February 5, 2018
Kade and Lacey’s Epic Love Story
Kade and Lacey are back and stronger than ever. Well, Kade thinks his relationship is solid until he surprises Lacey on campus the day before her graduation. But nothing is ever what it seems. This story will take you on a wild ride through ups and downs, ins and outs, and things you weren't expecting to happen, just might blind side you. They both will tug at your heart strings, maybe even rip them apart, but in the end love mends everything.
I was an emotional wreck when I was writing this book. I wrote a chapter and deleted the chapter. I rewrote it again and again and again. I did this with several chapters, always thinking that I could do better, but after several iterations I had to finally say I'm done. I hope I did the book justice. I hope I wrote the ending to their story as perfectly as you hoped it would be. The reviews so far have been amazing, and so far that tells me I got the story right.
Kade and Lacey started the series. They are what I would call the power couple, the couple you fall in love with, the couple who you want to live vicariously through, and the couple you definitely want to see have a happy ending. I'm sad that this is the last book in the series. A lot of readers have asked if there will be more books in the series or books on secondary characters. The Maxwells have been my world since I started writing Dare to Kiss in early 2014, and I will do my best to continue to bring you more of the characters you've met throughout this series. I will never say never because anything is possible and you just might be seeing a new clan/younger generation of the Maxwell family. But one thing is certain, you will be seeing Dillon Hart make a splash this year and in his book one or two of the Maxwells will have a cameo.
In the meantime, pick up your copy of Dare to Breathe. If you're a KU member, the book can be read for FREE. In fact, all the books in the Maxwell series are in KU.
For all the Maxwell fans around the world, this book is for you!
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REVIEWS
“I ADORED this beautiful ending to Kade and Lacey's love story, and if you are a fan of this series you won't be disappointed. Simply stunning. An absolute must-read.” Siobhan Davis, USA Today bestselling author of the Kennedy Boys series
“A phenomenal read! Absolutely LOVE!!!!” Katy. Goodreads Reviewer
“You will not regret reading this one. One of the best things I have ever read!” Rukaya. Goodreads Reviewer
“Perfect ending to Kade and Lacey’s story and OMG did I cry!” Jennifer R. Goodreads Reviewer
“Dare to Breathe is S.B. Alexander’s best book that she has ever written.” Jennifer L. Goodreads Reviewer
“The way S.B. Alexander writes this series and the love she puts into her words is truly amazing.” Stephanie. Goodreads Reviewer
http://sbalexander.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/OFFICIALTRAILER-DARETOBREATHE-H720.mp4
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December 12, 2017
Meet Kody Maxwell
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The much anticipated release of Dare to Live is here. Fans of the series have been waiting to read Kody Maxwell's story. He's the quiet of the Maxwell triplets, and the one who has endured more heartache over his brothers. You know that old cliche that says you need to watch out for the quiet ones? Well, Kody certainly makes a splash in Dare to Live, especially when he meets the beautiful nurse, Jessie Ryan. From the moment he spots her he begins to struggle with whether to open his heart or close it down for good. Find out how he fairs and meet Jessie Ryan, a woman who has had her own fair share of tragedy.
Early reviewers have fallen in love with Kody and Jessie. You be the judge. Download your copy and start reading today.
Dare to Live
The Maxwell Series, Book 5
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult Romance
Publication Date: December 12, 2017
[image error]Maybe opposites do attract.
Kody Maxwell’s life has been rooted in grief and death. He tasted love briefly until the girl he loved died suddenly. Determined not to experience that kind of pain again, Kody prefers being alone and writing music. His life goal is to sign with a big-name producer who will take his music to the next level. But lately, he’s been struggling with writer’s block until he encounters a beautiful nurse with the voice of an angel. She brings out feelings he hasn’t experienced in a long time, and that scares the crap out of him. Still, he knows he can’t let her get away. She may have just what he needs to get his juices flowing.
Motorcycle-riding Jessie Ryan loves the thrill of danger and the exhilarating desire for speed. She plays by her own set of rules. But when she discovers she carries the breast cancer gene on the same day she meets the most gorgeous man she’s ever laid eyes on, she isn’t prepared to face what the future may hold.
As Jessie and Kody begin to form a bond, they learn things about each other and themselves they didn’t see coming. Will they dare to live when fear threatens to stop them?
This book can read as a stand alone. Intended for audiences 18+ Strong language and sexual content.
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Dare to Live Trailer
http://sbalexander.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/OFFICIALTRAILER-DARETOLIVE-H720-AVAILABLE.mp4
Start the Series for FREE in Kindle Unlimited
Dare to Kiss (#1) | Dare to Dream (#2) | Dare to Love (#3) | Dare to Dance (#4)
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November 27, 2017
Dare to Live Cover Reveal
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I‘m so excited to finally share the cover for Dare to Live. The fifth book in the Maxwell Series will be released on December 12, 2017, and Amazon and iBooks preorders links are available below.
Maybe opposites do attract.
Kody Maxwell’s life has been rooted in grief and death. He tasted love briefly until the girl he loved died suddenly. Determined not to experience that kind of pain again, Kody prefers being alone and writing music. His life goal is to sign with a big-name producer who will take his music to the next level. But lately, he’s been struggling with writer’s block until he encounters a beautiful nurse with the voice of an angel. She brings out feelings he hasn’t experienced in a long time, and that scares the crap out of him. Still, he knows he can’t let her get away. She may have just what he needs to get his juices flowing.
Motorcycle-riding Jessie Ryan loves the thrill of danger and the exhilarating desire for speed. She plays by her own set of rules. But when she discovers she carries the breast cancer gene on the same day she meets the most gorgeous man she’s ever laid eyes on, she isn’t prepared to face what the future may hold.
As Jessie and Kody begin to form a bond, they learn things about each other and themselves they didn’t see coming. Will they dare to live when fear threatens to stop them?
This book can be read as a stand alone. Intended for adult audiences.
Read Chapter 1 here: DARE TO LIVE CHAPTER 1
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