Release Tour for UNBREAK ME by Michelle Hazen
Brought to you by Forever Write PR
Find out what a big city musician and a lonely cowgirl have in common in Michelle Hazen’s
UNBREAK ME from Berkley Publishing. Andra Lawler must decide if she’s brave enough to
leave the shelter of her family’s ranch for an uncertain future with Haitian-Creole cowboy, LJ
Delisle. Fans of Emily Giffin and Colleen Hoover will devour this sweet, heartwrenching yet
hopeful diverse romance.
UNBREAK ME was named one of Amazon's Best Books of the month of August and was the winner
of RWA’s Lonestar Award.
My Thoughts…
A Haitian-Creole cowboy from New Orleans comes to work on
Andra Lawler’s family ranch in Montana.
How different can their lives be?
Can they overcome all the obstacles in their way and find
happiness? There is much for them to
overcome but doing so could bring them so much happiness.
I love the setting of the beautiful ranch. I could hear the quietness of the ranch while
picturing the ranch hands hard at work mending fences, breaking horses, and
doing all their other chores. It is a
place of comfort, peace, and family.
LJ comes to the ranch to work and the first thing he sees in
Andra. The attraction between them is
felt instantly and Andra is frozen with panic. Their relationship has many obstacles the
least of which is their different skin color and different upbringings. Andra’s dad sets the tone for the things to
come for these two and I instantly knew it wouldn’t be easy for them. I loved how LJ took his time with her but
didn’t treat her as being fragile or breakable.
He flirted, he spent time with her, but he understood that he needed to
tread lightly or he’d scare her away.
Unbreak Me pulled me in with the sweet story of LJ and Andra
while bringing to light how difficult being together can be for some
people. There are real-world problems
mixed in with the fear of opening your heart within this book.
“A seductive, slow-burn romance brimming with tenderness, hope, and transformation.”
—Tammara Webber, New York Times bestselling author
“Hazen writes with grace and compassion about life after trauma, smoothly addressing racism,
sexual assault, and large-scale disasters without pat answers or platitudes. This is a sure tear-jerker
for any romance fan.” —STARRED Publisher’s Weekly review
What could two troubled souls from different walks of life have in common? Maybe everything.
Andra Lawler lives isolated at her family’s horse ranch, imprisoned by the memories of an assault in
college. When she needs help training her foals, she hires a Haitian-Creole cowboy from New Orleans
with a laugh as big as the Montana sky.
LJ Delisle can’t stand the idea that Andra might be lonely—or eating frozen TV dinners. He bakes his
way into her kitchen with a lemon velvet cake, and offers her cooking lessons that set them on the road
to romance. But even their love can’t escape the shadow of what they've been through. Despite their
growing friendship and his gentle rapport with the horses, LJ is still an outsider facing small-town
suspicions.
Before they can work through their issues, LJ is called home by a family emergency. In the
centuries-old, raggedly rebuilt streets of New Orleans, he must confront memories of
Hurricane Katrina and familiar discrimination. And Andra must decide if she’s brave enough to leave
the shelter of the ranch for an uncertain future with LJ.
Excerpt from Unbreak Me
Copyright @ Michelle Hazen 2019
Andra opened her front door, and the frown froze on her face as LJ’s shoulders filled the doorframe.
He was holding . . . a cake?
“Um, hi,” she managed.
Oh crap, she’d promised to talk to him about the horses.
“Look, I’m sorry. I know I said I’d come talk to you a couple days ago, but then Socks kicked one of the
grooms, and Mary Kay lost a shoe, and I completely forgot.” She hadn’t forgotten, so much as she
was . . . working up to it. Giving him a few days of seeing her around the ranch when she was in
control of herself, before she got close enough she’d have to see his opinion of her in his eyes.
He shrugged, careful not to tip the tall cake off its platter. “I think we got off on the wrong foot the day
we met, and our do-over didn’t really stick.”
Oh God. Apparently, he wasn’t tiptoeing around anything today.
LJ grinned—a playful, twinkly-eyed one that made him look like he was just having more fun than
everyone else. “Besides, nobody’s afraid of a guy with a cake.”
A smile tugged at the edges of her mouth. “I’ve never heard that.”
“No? It’s completely true. Not to mention, bringing a cake is the best excuse to eat some. I mean, it’s
yours. You don’t have to share. Of course, if you don’t, you may want to pass a tissue or two my way,
is all I’m saying.” He widened his eyes mournfully.
She glanced at the cake, the white icing whipped into gorgeous swirls. “Did Stacia make that? She
used to be terrible at baking.” She gripped the edge of the door a little tighter. Maybe her friend had
been practicing. It wasn’t like she knew what Stacia was up to these days.
“I’m a little offended. A man doesn’t bring a borrowed cake for an apology.” He lifted the platter and
gave it a waggle. “We’ve got lemon velvet with French buttercream here. You oughta get it out of the
heat soon, though. The sun melted the frosting some on the way over. It’s a hike to get up over here,
you know it?”
Oops, he was feeling around for an invitation. Duh, and she was still standing in her door like some
kind of freak. “Um, come in.” The least she could do was feed him some cake and try to act like a
normal person. She stepped aside and racked her brain for small talk that didn’t involve anything on
four hooves. “You know, I can’t quite place your accent. You said you were from Louisiana, but I’ve met
lots of people from there at rodeos, and they didn’t sound quite like you.”
“Well, you can tell I’m from the South because I interrupted your workout with dessert.” He tipped his
head toward the yoga mat she’d left by the couch. She smiled, and his grin brightened a couple more
watts. “Seriously, though, I think I’ve got a little bayou country from my days on my uncle’s horse
ranch, cut with the rhythm of the Lower Ninth, maybe some southern drawl creeping in from the
Mississippi border. And New Orleans has a sound all its own, always has.” Between one word and the
next, his words straightened to all square corners instead of luscious curves. “Then again, if my
mother is listening, I sound strictly like the Yankee university she helped pay for.”
“Your mom doesn’t like your accent?” Andra frowned. “Doesn’t she have one?”
“Mama thought I wouldn’t get a decent job unless I talked like a white banker from Wisconsin.” He
shrugged.
Her eyes widened. “That’s not fair. Why should you have to fake an accent to get a job?”
“That’s the way the world works. People have ideas about what intelligence should sound like, and I
don’t expect I’m going to change all of them on my own.” He winked. “I tutored English composition for
work study all through college, so I can play the game. I have to admit, though, sometimes it’s nice to
sound like home.”
Andra laughed, a little self-consciously. “I don’t think I even realized we had an accent up north until you
imitated it.”
“Oh, it’s an accent all right, sweetheart. And you’ve got it thick as anything.”
Heat crept into her skin at the endearment, though she didn’t get the feeling he was really flirting with
her. She glanced away, the afterimage of him seared on her lids. His deep-brown eyes were a couple
of shades darker than his skin, and they always seemed to be laughing. He was handsome, with high
cheekbones and sensual lips. The kind of man she would have looked twice at, once.
ABOUT Michelle Hazen
Michelle Hazen is a nomad with a writing problem. Years ago, she and her husband swapped office
jobs for seasonal gigs and moved out on the road. As a result, she wrote most of her books with solar
power in odd places, including a bus in Thailand, a golf cart in a sandstorm, and a beach in Honduras.
Currently, she’s addicted to The Walking Dead, hiking, and Tillamook cheese.
Melissa Foster is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling and award-winning author. She writes sexy and heartwarming contemporary romance, new adult romance and women's fiction with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page. Readers adore Melissa's fun, flirty, and sinfully sexy, award-winning big family romance collection, LOVE IN BLOOM featuring the Snow Sisters, Bradens, Remingtons, Ryders, Seaside Summer, Harborside Nights, and the Wild Boys After Dark. Melissa's emotional journeys are lovingly erotic and always family oriented.
Melissa also writes sweet and clean romance under the pen name Addison Cole.
Melissa has painted and donated several murals to The Hospital for Sick Children in Washington, DC. Her interests include her family, reading, writing, painting, friends, helping others see the positive side of life, and visiting Cape Cod.
Melissa is available to chat with book clubs and welcomes comments and emails from her readers. Visit Melissa on social media or her personal website.
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