13 February 2014

Blog Tour: Behind the Pitch by Eden Butler

Title: Behind the Pitch (Declan's POV)
Series: Seeking Serenity series, Book #1.5
Author: Eden Butler
Genre: NA Contemporary Romance
Release Date: January 24, 2014
Tour Organized by: As the Pages Turn

Synopsis:
Expat Irish rugby player Declan Fraser only wanted to play the sport he loves. He didn’t want to be stuck in this middle-of-nowhere town at this all too quaint university. He didn’t want his team captain to be an entitled jackass who switched Declan's position on the squad just to make himself look good. And he sure as hell
didn’t want to fall in love with graduate student Autumn McShane.

Autumn is stubborn, but gorgeous; she bristles at any hint of dependency on anyone or anything, but she’s also a survivor. She’s everything Declan didn’t know he wanted. When Autumn finds herself in the middle of a challenging bet with her ex-boyfriend - who just happens to be the arrogant team captain that Declan hates - he feels honor bound to help her out. But he didn’t expect to fall for her in the process.

“Behind the Pitch” reveals the most twisted and erotic thoughts in Declan’s head as he navigates through his on again/off again, frustrating and deeply erotic relationship with Autumn McShane. And lordy, does he have a filthy mind.



Excerpt 
The scar was vicious. A red, jagged line that swept across her stomach, dipped in
the center where I thought the stitches must have been. It was fierce-looking, and
the only thing that disturbed the perfect contours of her creamy skin. Her stomach
was tight, toned, and I couldn’t help my bleeding fingers as they descended on her
skin, my hand as it rested above her hip or my thumb as it rubbed against that scar.
I wanted to kiss it, lick it, make this gorgeous girl see I wasn’t fussed by the mark. It
was part of her, wasn’t it? And even though I had wanted to throttle her just an hour
before, I couldn’t lie and say I hadn’t wanted her from that first chat in her
classroom. She was smart. Funny. And blimey was she fecking gorgeous.
I touched her, my thumbnail running along that pink, angry gash and her stomach
muscles twitched and the faint, nearly translucent hairs on her stomach stood on
end.
She liked that. She liked me touching her.
Well, shite, mate, that was excellent, wasn’t it now?
But I couldn’t let her see that I liked it too, the touching her bit. I pulled back,
straightened, and my first thought was to show her just how marked up I was as
well.
I showed her my shoulder, where I’d had a particularly nasty scar since I was a kid,
the one Rory McDonald gave me when he pushed me onto some broken equipment.
Her face went nearly blank, those beautiful gray eyes skimming all over my skin.
Dismissing the way she stared at me, I showed her another one just below my belly
button. “Mickey Douglas forgot to ditch his watch during a practice match when I
was eighteen. Fecking thing nearly ripped me in half when he lined me up and
smashed me as I went for a try-scoring pass.”
Then it was my stomach tightening, working the muscles hard as she stared.
Autumn swallowed and her full, pink lips moved as though they wouldn’t let
whatever was trying to come out her mouth, leave.
“That’s um, yeah.”
I took a step toward her, liking the way she stared, liking that her eyes weren’t on
my scar, but stared down at the lines in my stomach, at the thin hair above my belt.
I hoped she didn’t notice how hard I was getting. I hoped she wouldn’t see that my
body liked her eyes on my skin.


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Author Bio:
Eden Butler is an editor and writer of New Adult Romance and SciFi and Fantasy
novels and the nine-times great-granddaughter of an honest-to-God English pirate.
This could explain her affinity for rule breaking and rum. Her debut novel, a New
Adult, Contemporary (no cliffie) Romance, “Chasing Serenity” will launch October
2013.
When she’s not writing or wondering about her possibly Jack Sparrowesque
ancestor, thinking up impossible plots, Eden edits, reads and spends way too much
time watching rugby, Doctor Who and New Orleans Saints football.
TOUR WIDE GIVEAWAY:
Eden is offering up (3) eBook set copies of Chasing Serenity & Behind the Pitch or
(1) signed copy of Chasing Serenity up for grabs. Giveaway is international and
ends at 11:59 PM CST 02/17/2014.
  


Review: Behind the Pitch by Eden Butler

Behind the Pitch - A Novella by Eden Butler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.7 Declan stars!

This is a companion novel to Chasing Serenity and not meant to be read as a standalone.

Chasing Serenity was one of my surprise reads last year. I loved both Declan and Autumn. And although Chasing Serenity is a complete story, nevertheless, it's still exciting to be in Declan's head.

Declan Fraser is an Irish transplant recruited to play rugby in Autumn's college. He's brash, gorgeous with a to-die-for accent that had me swooning from the get go. But there's more to Declan than meets the eye. His childhood, his life is Ireland, his relationship with his mum, his stepdad shaped and affected his decisions later in life, especially his relationship with Autumn.

While Behind the Pitch offers a very few new material, it's still worth the read for me. It's worth it because I got to know exactly how deep Declan fell for Autumn and how hard he fought for her. The mistakes he made and the realizations he came up with during their separation made him a more sympathetic character.

This is definitely a must-read for fans the series, and Declan, of course!!

ARC was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.