Letter to Nowhere Book Blitz: 5 Facts, Excerpt, + Giveaway

Letters to Nowhere (Letters to Nowhere #1)
From the International Bestselling Author of the Tempest Series...
Set in the tough world of Elite Gymnastics...

I've gotten used to the dead parents face. I've gotten used to living with my gymnastics coach. I've even adjusted to sharing a bathroom with his way-too-hot son. Dealing with boys is not something that's made it onto my list of experiences as of yet. But here I am, doing it. And something about Jordan--being around him, talking to him, thinking about him--makes me feel like I can finally breathe again. That's something I haven't been able to do lately. He knows what it feels like to be me right now. He knows what it's like to wonder--what now? I think about it constantly. I need answers. I need to know how to get through this. In the gym, if you're struggling, you train harder, you do drills and conditioning. How do I work hard at moving on? At being on my own? And what happens if I might be...maybe...probably falling for Jordan? I mean we live together now. That can't happen, can it? But kissing him...well, let's just say it's not an easy activity to forget.
"This is what happens when an author writes what she knows. Wonderful, heartwarming story about loss and healing and learning to choose your own path in life." - Tammara Webber, New York Times Bestselling author of Easy

"Poignant and emotionally-charged, Letters to Nowhere is about the befores and afters that color our daily lives."- Gennifer Albin, author of Catching Liam

On sale for $0.99

Return to Sender (Letters to Nowhere #2)
If only summer could last forever…

Karen and Jordan might be out in the open with their relationship, but that doesn't make it any easier for them to face events looming in the future. Like Jordan leaving for college halfway across the country. Or Karen's win at a big international gymnastics competition setting the bar high for her future and adding pressure like she's never experienced before.

But when Nina Jones (aka-US Gymnastics Dictator), makes plans for Karen and teammate Stevie to train at a gymnastics camp for a month—the same camp where Jordan coaches—romantic summer interludes replace their fears of being apart. Both Jordan and Karen know that when fall comes, some very tough decisions will have to be made, but for now, it’s stolen kisses, racing hearts, and whispered words.


Return to You (Letters to Nowhere #3)
How many dreams can you chase at once?

Even with bad boy, TJ, disrupting their morning workouts, Karen and Stevie’s daily battles with each other are sure to bring both of them closer to a national title at next month’s championships. It’s the kind of feud that creates winning results.

Until a fall from the uneven bars shakes Karen’s rock-solid confidence. Not only does she balk every time she so much as attempts a routine, she’s also facing all this without much support from Jordan. After receiving some bad news, Jordan’s reluctance to listen to reason causes Karen so much frustration she begins to avoid him, needing space to deal with her own issues. He needs someone to force him to make the right choice, he needs his dad to intervene and Karen knows this, but is torn between her loyalty to Jordan and her concern for her coach’s son. Even though both paths lead to the same person—Jordan—it feels like she’s choosing between two different people.

And then there’s the growing tension between TJ and Stevie. They’re obviously on the verge of either ripping each other’s heads off or ripping each other’s clothes off. It’s hard for either Jordan or Karen to tell where those two are headed. Tension is building from every possible outlet and there’s bound to be an explosion of some kind in the very near future.

Publication: December 15, 2013

Author Bio:



Julie Cross is the International Bestselling author of the Tempest series, a young adult science fiction trilogy which includes Tempest, Vortex, and the final installment, Timestorm (St. Martin's Press). She's also the author of Letters to Nowhere (8/13), a mature young adult romance set in the world of elite gymnastics, as well as several forthcoming young adult and new adult novels with publishers like Entangled, Sourcebooks, HarperCollins, and St. Martin's Press/Thomas Dunne Books.

Julie lives in Central Illinois with her husband and three children. She's a former gymnast, longtime gymnastics fan, coach, and former Gymnastics  Program Director with the YMCA. She's a lover of books, devouring several novels a week, especially in the young adult and new adult genres. Outside of her reading and writing credibility's, Julie Cross is a committed--but not talented--long distance runner, creator of imaginary beach vacations, Midwest bipolar weather survivor, expired CPR certification card holder, as well as a ponytail and gym shoe addict. You can find her online via twitter, her personal website, email, facebook, Goodreads, or co-moderating the YAwriters section of reddit.
Website  Goodreads  Facebook  Twitter

5 Facts About Letters to Known:

1) Since I started writing the book, I've envisioned my main character, Karen, as a red-headed
McKayla Maroney even though I tried my best not to picture her as anyone specific.

2) I've been around the world of competitive gymnastics for at least 15 years and therefore have
depicted elite level gymnastics as true-to-life as possible in this book.

3) The romance in LtN is not your typical "insta-love" or "fall in love then break up" format.
This will please some and disappoint others.

4) My main character, Karen, has just lost both her parents in a tragic car accident prior to the
book's opening however, I don't consider this a typical book about death either because there are
so many other elements intertwined and Karen is a fighter, she's constantly driven by one goal or
another. It's about rising up after a fall.

5) LtN is truly the book of my heart because I wanted, for so long, to find a way to combine by
two greatest passions - YA Literature and Gymnastics.

 Excerpt:
“So...you were a gymnast?”

He was silent for several seconds and then shook with laughter. “Yeah, I was. Nice
transition, by the way.”

“I can only take so much at once, you know?”

“Believe me, I know.” He jumped to his feet, grinning down at me before sticking out a
hand to help me up. “Bet you can’t throw a triple back off the end of the tumble track?”

“And you can?” The tumble track was a long trampoline—eighty feet to be exact—that
landed into the foam pit. It helped with training tumbling runs for floor routines.

Jordan kicked off his shoes and socks, emptied his pockets onto the mats beside the
tumble track, and then took off his long-sleeved white uniform shirt. He stood at the end of the
trampoline wearing only his khaki pants and a leather belt. “Let me warm up with a double first,
okay?”

“You’re not going to kill yourself, are you?” I asked wearily. “At least stretch out a little.”

“Stretching is for wimps, Karen.” With that he took off at a run, then jumped into his
round-off, which was a little slow and sloppy, plus he didn’t even do a back handspring first.
Coach Bentley would never let me train a triple back from just a round-off. If I did that, I’d never
be able to actually perform it on the floor. Not that I planned on adding triple backs to my floor
choreography anytime soon.

Despite the rusty lead-up skills, Jordan managed to fling himself pretty high in the air,
and with stuntman-like air sense, he found his way around the double flip. I clapped loudly, then
attempted to whistle with my fingers in my mouth, but quickly decided that wasn’t a good idea,
considering the fact that he was topless. At least he wore pants today instead of just boxers.

He walked over to me after climbing out of the pit and fake-fell onto the carpet. “I’m so
out of shape. No triples today.”

I jumped to my feet, the rush of adrenaline I had earlier returning. “I’ll give it a shot for
both of us.”

“Wait...have you done these before?” he asked.

“Um, technically no.”

He grabbed my ankle, causing me to fall over. “Don’t do it. You’ll get hurt before the first
meet and it’ll be my fault.”

My skin warmed in the places he touched, causing goose bumps to spread everywhere. I
got up again and laughed at him. “I’m not going to get hurt. I’m safe and boring, remember? You
said so yourself the other day.”

“Well, you were safe and boring. Maybe you aren’t anymore,” he conceded. “I take it
back. Karen Campbell is a wild-ass risk taker. She should be riding a Harley through downtown
St. Louis.”

I hopped onto the end of the tumble track, grinning down at him. “Jordan Bentley is a
great big ass-kisser with the cardiovascular endurance of a ninety-year-old man.”

He glared at me. “I had no idea you were such a vindictive person. Go ahead and hurt
yourself then. Fine with me.”

My head was already wrapping itself around the idea of yet another new skill. This one
was more fun and less practical, but why the hell not? Seriously. In a last attempt at safe training,
I called over my shoulder to Jordan, “Yank me out if I end up doing the ostrich in the sand
move.”

“I’ll think about it.”

I took off and lunged into my round-off back handspring, before setting myself up high
enough for the triple back. Halfway through the second flip, I got a little lost and was totally
shocked to end up feet first in the foam pit. Jordan had jumped up, cheering loudly. “That was
awesome! So awesome!”

“Karen!” a loud voice boomed from across the gym. “What the hell are you doing?”

I crawled out of the pit, landing on the mat beside Jordan. Coach Bentley and several of
his staff were heading our way.

“What’s going on?” he snapped at Jordan, who had already reached for his shirt and was
buttoning it up. “I asked you to take Karen home.”

Jordan scowled at him. “Try checking your cell phone once in a while, Dad. Glad I
wasn’t choking or in great need of a guardian to sign off on medical procedures.”

“His car broke down,” I said.

Coach Bentley turned to me, eyes narrowing. “You know the rules, Karen. Nobody trains
skills without a coach in the gym. What were you thinking? And triple backs?”

I shrunk back, not sure how to react. Bentley had never yelled at me before. Stacey was
right behind him, arms crossed, glaring at me. “This is something I expect from the little girls.”

“This is something I expect from my irresponsible son,” Bentley said, “but not from
you.”

The six or eight other coaches stayed back, watching this exchange from a distance.
Coach Bentley strode over to the pit bar and yanked down my chart, which had already been
marked up quite a bit in the last two days. My heart pounded, not knowing what was coming.

“We’re taking layout Jaegers off the bar training program for now. I thought you were
mature enough to understand how to weigh the risk versus reward, but I guess I was wrong.”

“Come on, Dad,” Jordan argued. “She was just playing around.”

I shook my head at him, not wanting any help with this. It was already bad enough. “I’m
sorry,” I said with a sigh, then left them to go and grab my stuff from the locker room.



Giveaway:
International 
a Rafflecopter giveaway
 
 

Comments

  1. These books sound great. I'm a big fan of sport romances--I'm currently writing a NA volleyball romance. Thanks for the Twitter follow…right back at you!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment