When was the first time you fell in love with Colton Donavan?
When was the first time you fell in love with Colton Donavan? I’ve been reading through quotes from all five of the books in preparation for the new covers to be revealed Monday, May 9th … And I thought since next week will be the third anniversary of Driven’s release, I’d ask the question:
When was the first time Colton Donavan captured your heart?
Was it somewhere in Driven? Or possibly Fueled? Or did you have trudge through Crashed to see how it ended for you to finally fall for him?
For me? There were so many moments for me. I loved in Driven when he met Zander for the first time because I knew there was more there…. but the moment I knew he was going to be hard for me to top, was when I wrote Fueled’s prologue. We saw the invisible scars beneath his hard ass facade. And then the shower scene that followed…. and basically every chapter after that stole a tiny bit of my heart as I wrote it.
*Warning – SPOILERS ahead*
In Fueled, I loved writing drunk Colton when he couldn’t spell ‘inebriated’ …. Or in Las Vegas in the garage when he knew he wanted Rylee, but just couldn’t find the way to let her in. I loved Colton in the limo when he was contemplating Rylee being underdressed/overdressed. Or when he placed Rylee in front of that mirror to show her why he chooses her. And even that next day, I lost a little more of my heart to him when he sat in that dive bar (what I call the Humpty Dumpty chapter) and broke the mirror with his fist. And then damn, when he stood amidst the swirling chaos at the track and called out, “Hey Ryles,” and then said those three words that have become so important to this series, I Race You. And then the four words of that last chapter…. my heart jumped in my throat as I wrote it.
And then there were the scenes in Crashed that tied more little ribbons around my heart. Colton needing Rylee to be strong when he couldn’t. The scene on the chaise lounges when Rylee explained how she loved the broken, the bent, and every other part of him. Or when he finally remembered he raced her. And then came trouble. With Tawny. With the unexpected. With Zander’s father. With the ‘Say Something” chapter. That chapter was my proof to the reader that Colton could be the man we all thought he could be. And maybe we even fell in love with Becks some too. When he showed Colton where his alphabet, A to Z, was. His emotions understanding what was happening stole my heart…. but nothing compares to the scene when he’s at the track with Rylee at night time. When he bares his demons to her. His raw honestly and brutal confession tore my heart apart and then put it all back together when he finally told her the words for real… I love you. So many chances to fall for him in Crashed. Then the proposal. The scavenger hunt. The wedding.
But then came the unexpected Raced. The insight to his thoughts. The moments he realized he really loved Rylee. The moment he figured out that damn grain of sand was so much more than what he ever thought.
And lastly was Aced… *sigh* The book where Colton took everything we’d witnessed in the previous four books and we were able to see the man he’d become. The husband we knew he could be. The rock for Rylee when she needed him the most. His thoughts seeing Ace for the first time. His heart to heart with his son as he struggled to be a dad. The endless memories he made up for Rylee to hold onto until she could overcome her burden. Marriage and responsibility definitely made him sexier and love him that much more…
So many moments throughout this series that stole my heart – piece by piece. And now that I’m looking back, I forgot so many of them and smile at the memory of where I was when I wrote it or how I got the idea for the scene in the first place… or it makes me recall an email I received from a reader about how this or that scene touched them.
So as we await the new covers to be revealed next week, tell me, when did you first fall in love with Colton Donavan?
When was the first time Colton Donavan captured your heart?
Was it somewhere in Driven? Or possibly Fueled? Or did you have trudge through Crashed to see how it ended for you to finally fall for him?
For me? There were so many moments for me. I loved in Driven when he met Zander for the first time because I knew there was more there…. but the moment I knew he was going to be hard for me to top, was when I wrote Fueled’s prologue. We saw the invisible scars beneath his hard ass facade. And then the shower scene that followed…. and basically every chapter after that stole a tiny bit of my heart as I wrote it.
*Warning – SPOILERS ahead*
In Fueled, I loved writing drunk Colton when he couldn’t spell ‘inebriated’ …. Or in Las Vegas in the garage when he knew he wanted Rylee, but just couldn’t find the way to let her in. I loved Colton in the limo when he was contemplating Rylee being underdressed/overdressed. Or when he placed Rylee in front of that mirror to show her why he chooses her. And even that next day, I lost a little more of my heart to him when he sat in that dive bar (what I call the Humpty Dumpty chapter) and broke the mirror with his fist. And then damn, when he stood amidst the swirling chaos at the track and called out, “Hey Ryles,” and then said those three words that have become so important to this series, I Race You. And then the four words of that last chapter…. my heart jumped in my throat as I wrote it.
And then there were the scenes in Crashed that tied more little ribbons around my heart. Colton needing Rylee to be strong when he couldn’t. The scene on the chaise lounges when Rylee explained how she loved the broken, the bent, and every other part of him. Or when he finally remembered he raced her. And then came trouble. With Tawny. With the unexpected. With Zander’s father. With the ‘Say Something” chapter. That chapter was my proof to the reader that Colton could be the man we all thought he could be. And maybe we even fell in love with Becks some too. When he showed Colton where his alphabet, A to Z, was. His emotions understanding what was happening stole my heart…. but nothing compares to the scene when he’s at the track with Rylee at night time. When he bares his demons to her. His raw honestly and brutal confession tore my heart apart and then put it all back together when he finally told her the words for real… I love you. So many chances to fall for him in Crashed. Then the proposal. The scavenger hunt. The wedding.
But then came the unexpected Raced. The insight to his thoughts. The moments he realized he really loved Rylee. The moment he figured out that damn grain of sand was so much more than what he ever thought.
And lastly was Aced… *sigh* The book where Colton took everything we’d witnessed in the previous four books and we were able to see the man he’d become. The husband we knew he could be. The rock for Rylee when she needed him the most. His thoughts seeing Ace for the first time. His heart to heart with his son as he struggled to be a dad. The endless memories he made up for Rylee to hold onto until she could overcome her burden. Marriage and responsibility definitely made him sexier and love him that much more…
So many moments throughout this series that stole my heart – piece by piece. And now that I’m looking back, I forgot so many of them and smile at the memory of where I was when I wrote it or how I got the idea for the scene in the first place… or it makes me recall an email I received from a reader about how this or that scene touched them.
So as we await the new covers to be revealed next week, tell me, when did you first fall in love with Colton Donavan?
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