Cover Reveal - Brokenness by Erika Ashby

I'm excited to bring you the cover reveal for Erika Ashby's upcoming novel, Brokenness.

 

 

**Brokenness is a companion novel to Broken Wings** 

TEN YEARS AGO, I fell in love with a boy. 

In the blink of an eye, the boy I loved was ripped from me. 

TEN YEARS LATER, I ran into the boy I had lost. 

Yet, he's no longer a boy. 

He's a man. 

A deeply wounded man. 



Cover Created by: Perfect Pear Creative Cover

Photographer: Perrywinkle Photography

Releasing: November 2014

 

Dustin Adams was once known for his down to earth, care free spirit. He was the well rounded kid with a promising future. 

Until the girl he loved was yanked from his life. 

Now, Dustin is known for his distance and the coldness he radiates. He is simply a shell of the boy he once was.

Living the Army life, the close calls he's surrounded by daily have done nothing but further harden his heart.

Until the girl he once loved reappears in his life. 

Can what they shared so long ago be restored? Or is Dustin fated to live a life of brokenness?

 

 

Prelude 

TEN YEARS AGO I fell in love with a boy. All it took was one sideways grin with his perfectly dimpled cheek for me to know I was a goner. My days and nights were consumed by him—if not physically, he was there mentally—always on my mind. I loved him with everything within me. The love we shared was the kind I thought would stand the test of time.

Everyone says your first true love isn't in fact true, but more of a fling. That epic love comes from enduring every facet of life with that person. Rather it be happiness, sadness, loss, gain—you can't truly love someone until it's been tested. 

The one day in a blink of an eye, the boy I loved was ripped from me. My overly religious parents didn't like their daughter falling in love so young. It was simply unacceptable to them when I was supposed to focus on God, school, my future and nothing else. 

He was my future and when they ripped my future away, I rebelled. I was barely showing by time graduation rolled around. Thank God, because I would have surely been an outcast at my new school. Not to mention what would have happened if my parents would have found out. There was no way I was letting them get their hands on the last thing I had of the boy I loved. 

Eighteen, pregnant and sitting at the bus station, I found a friend. One that took me under his wing and I grew to love. It was then I realized the different types of love. He was everything I needed when I had nothing. I love him for the life he has brought me when every option I had was filled with uncertainty. I will forever be in his debt. 

Ten years later, I ran into the boy I had loved, yet he's no longer a boy. He's a man. A deeply wounded man. Even though the flesh on his outside is still fully intact, nothing compares to the scars and pain he's carried around on the inside for so long. 

Ten years later and I still have the same feelings for him...but they seem so much more intense. Was my first love my one true love? Now that he’s reappeared in my life, my thoughts are consumed by him. But, now they are paralleled with guilt. I love two men, but I love them differently. And, as of right now, I only know one for sure loves me back.

 

I’m caught between what’s wrong and what’s right…what’s fair and what’s unjust. I know what my heart wants, but is what it wants, what’s right? Feelings can cloud moral judgment. I don’t want what I feel to take over what I know to be right. But, I’m having a hard time sorting out the differences. I’m walking an emotion packed tight rope, and I know I’m going to fall. I’m just unsure who’s going to catch me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being born an "Army Brat", Erika Ashby has been residing in Oklahoma the last 10 years finally putting an end to the nomad tendencies she had grown accustomed to. She's a happily married woman who has 5 kids between her and her husband. She has an insane passion for music and a sweet spot for drummers. It wasn't until the age of 29 that she realized she also had a hidden passion for reading; before then she claimed to have hated it. Six months after unlocking that deep desire she never knew she held, she turned the key to another chapter of her life which has become the desire to write. And the rest is still history in the making.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amazon | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | B&N | Kobo

 

HOSTED BY:

Blog Tour & Review - Broken Wings by Erika Ashby

 

 

Lynsie Fox has what she considers to be a perfect life. Married to Lincoln, a military pilot, she's living the Army life she's always loved. Being a sucker for great love stories, Lynsie makes it her mission to find Lincoln's best friend and co-pilot, Dax Adams, a good woman. 

 

  Losing the one woman he's ever loved, Dax attempts to be a good sport by playing along in Lynsie's match-making scheme. However, Dax is certain he will never get the woman of his dreams. But life doesn't always fly smoothly.

 

When turbulence strikes, Lynsie watches her world crash and burn around her, leaving her empty with broken wings. Despite her grief, can she mend the pieces back together and learn to fly again?

 

AMAZON / AMAZON CA / AMAZON UK / BARNES & NOBLE

 

 

 

Broken Wings is a story about loss and overcoming it while learning to heal and move on. I really enjoyed this book by Erika Ashby and the glimpse into military life. It's the first book I've read of hers. I could feel every emotion right there with the characters and I even cried right along with them at times. I definitely recommend it and I'm looking forward to reading more from her in the future.

 

 

We waste no time stripping each other down once we make it back home.

“You know what I love most?” Lincoln asks as his tongue dances across my bare stomach.

“Hmm,” is all I can manage as I lift my back, pressing myself closer to his mouth of goodness.

 

“The way you taste.” He licks circles around my navel, teasing my body in a way only he knows best. “The way you taste, baby, it puts every rainbow to shame.”

“Taste the rainbow,” I moan as his mouth continues its path down my waist.

“I plan on licking my way to your pot of the gold.” His hot breath against my inner thigh shoots a jolt of electricity through my body.

 

I giggle and moan all at once. “All yours, baby,” I gasp as I turn to putty beneath him.

“Say it again,” he demands as he nips and licks, teasing my skin.

“I’m yours. Only yours. Always yours,” I manage to pant before he swipes his tongue right where I want him most. My hands are firm against his head pulling at his short locks, holding him in place as he licks and fingers me until I come undone around his mouth.

He kisses his way back up my body and slides between my legs. I feel him at my entrance, but he stays put until he’s face to face with me. Grabbing me by my chin, he tilts my face up to look him square in the eyes.

 

“And I am yours. Only yours. I will always be yours,” he breathes against my lips before claiming them. His lips against mine are firm, needy, and full of passion as he pushes himself inside me.

 

I moan into his mouth as our tongues battle for control. He’ll win. He always does, but in cases such as this, I gladly accept defeat.

 

 

 

 

 

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Being born an "Army Brat", Erika Ashby has been residing in Oklahoma the last 10 years finally putting an end to the nomad tendencies she had grown accustomed to. She's a happily married woman who has 5 kids between her and her husband. She has an insane passion for music and embraces her Inner Groupie any chance she has. It wasn't until the age of 29 that she realized she also had a hidden passion for reading; before then she claimed to have hated it. Six months after unlocking that deep desire she never knew she held, she turned the key to another chapter of her life which has become the desire to write. And the rest is still history in the making.

 

 

Hosted by:

 

Cover Reveal - Broken Wings by Erika Ashby

 

Title: Broken Wings

Author: Erika Ashby

Release Date: March 2014

Graphics by: Sommer Stein at Perfect Pear Creative Covers

Photography by Toski Covey



 

 

 

Lynsie Fox has what she considers to be a perfect life. Married to Lincoln, a military pilot, she's living the Army life she's always loved. Being a sucker for great love stories, Lynsie makes it her mission to find Lincoln's best friend and co-pilot, Dax Adams, a good woman.

 

Losing the one woman he's ever loved, Dax attempts to be a good sport by playing along in Lynsie's match-making scheme. However, Dax is certain he will never get the woman of his dreams.

 

But life doesn't always fly smoothly. When turbulence strikes, Lynsie watches her world crash and burn around her, leaving her empty with broken wings. Despite her grief, can she mend the pieces back together and learn to fly again?

 

 

 

 

I’m instantly nervous as soon as I see his name flashing on the screen of my phone. I wipe my clammy hand against my apron as I hesitate to push answer. My father never calls me when he’s at work, and knowing that Lincoln is training today, I fear the worst.
 “What’s wrong, dad?” I answer with panic evident in my voice.
 My dad’s soothing voice instantly persuades my worry to ease. “Lynsie, I know you’re at work, but I’m glad you answered.”
 “I know you are too, and that you wouldn’t call me unless something was wrong. Is it Lincoln? Is everything okay?” I sit hunched over in my chair bracing myself for what’s to come.
 “Yes, Lincoln is fine.” He sighs. “It’s Travis Robinson.” I let that name bounce around as I try to figure out if it’s a name I should be familiar with. Nothing is coming to me as I wait for my dad to continue. “Lincoln and Travis joined the Army the same year. They had flown Apache’s together back in Savannah early on in their careers. They even went to Fixed Wing Training and did some other overseas training together. I’m pretty sure you’ve never actually met him, because this all took place before you met Lincoln.”
 “Okay. So, what’s going on?”
 “He died today.” I gasp causing everyone within ear distance to look my way. “He was doing Recon training in Texas this past month and something went horribly wrong today during a normal routine. Anyways, I’m calling you because I know Lincoln and him were actually very close…as close as you can get with one of your fellow pilots with all the moving around that takes place. I just want you to be prepared for when he gets home this afternoon. I haven’t told him yet, but as soon as he lands his plane and gets in, I’m going to. He’s going to need you, Lyns.”
 The silence a reminder of when I was younger and my father lost one of his dear friends. He knew the chances of it happening to a fellow pilot or himself were highly likely in this job field. But he’d always say, “Shit happens and you can’t live your life in fear of it”.
 I guess that’s the truth, but sometimes I wonder why people purposely put themselves in positions that the probability of something horrible taking place outweigh the likelihood that it won’t.
 “Is it still hard for you?” I ask questioning if after ten years, the death of a friend gets any easier to deal with.
 “It doesn’t hurt as bad, if that’s what you mean. But every time I’m up in the sky, I think about him, and everyone I’ve known that has died doing what we love.”
 It’s times like these that make me frightful of my husband’s job. Typically the only time fear rises up in us Army spouses is when the threat of war or being sent overseas arises. But in all reality, that’s not the case.
Death can easily be creeping its way up our doorstep. It very well could be hanging out in our backyard just wanting for the most unexpected time to strike. I shake my head of that looming fear that plays with my mind every so often, and pull my act together knowing my husband is going to need his supportive wife at his side—not a weak, scared one, who wants to second guess his passion in life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being born an "Army Brat", Erika Ashby has been residing in Oklahoma the last 10 years finally putting an end to the nomad tendencies she had grown accustomed to. She's a happily married woman who has 5 kids between her and her husband. She has an insane passion for music and embraces her Inner Groupie any chance she has. It wasn't until the age of 29 that she realized she also had a hidden passion for reading; before then she claimed to have hated it. Six months after unlocking that deep desire she never knew she held, she turned the key to another chapter of her life which has become the desire to write. And the rest is still history in the making.

 

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