Colleen Hoover Introduces a Scene from her New Paranormal Romance Layla!
This month bestselling author Colleen Hoover
released her very first paranormal romance, Layla. Today Colleen shares
one of her very favorite parts of the book and introduces the scene. Colleen,
take it away!
“Leeds and Layla have
just met about an hour before this scene takes place. I wouldn’t say they
experienced insta-love, but it was definitely an immediate attraction. Leeds is
lonely and withdrawn from life, while Layla is the opposite. She’s over the top
and fun and everything Leeds isn’t. He’s a musician who has never released any
of his own music due to insecurities and doubt. But Layla lights a fire in him
and uncovers the confidence about his music that he keeps buried.”
About the Book
Title: Layla
Author: Colleen Hoover
Release Date: December 8, 2020
Publisher: Montlake
Excerpt from Layla by Colleen Hoover
Layla leans in and I expect her to kiss me,
but instead she whispers, “Play me something,” against my mouth. Then she moves
to the couch and lies down. “Play something worthy of that piano,” she says.
She crosses her legs at her ankles and lets
one of her arms dangle off the couch. She runs her finger against the hardwood
floor while she waits for me to start playing, but I can’t stop staring at her.
I’m not sure there’s another woman on this planet who could make me want to
stare at her without blinking until my eyes dry up, but she’s looking at me
expectantly.
“What if you don’t like my music?” I ask.
“Will you still let me kiss you?”
She smiles gently. “Does the song mean
something to you?”
“I wrote it using pieces of my soul.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about,” she
says quietly.
I spin around on the bench and place my
fingers on the keys. I hesitate for a moment before playing the song. I’ve
never performed it for anyone before. The only person I’ve ever wanted to sing
it for is my father, and he’s no longer alive. His death is the reason I wrote
this in the first place.
I’ve never been nervous while playing
Garrett’s songs onstage, but this feels different. This is personal, and
despite the fact that there’s only one person in the audience right now, it
feels like the most intense audience I’ve ever performed for.
I fill my lungs with air and slowly release it
as I begin to play.
That
night I stopped believing in heaven
I can’t
believe in a god that cruel
Can
you?
That
night I stopped praying on my knees
But I
don’t pray standing either
Do you?
That
night I closed the door and closed the
window
I’ve
been sitting in the dark
Are
you?
That
night I learned happiness is a fairy tale
A
thousand pages read aloud
By you
That
night I stopped believing in God
You
were ours, he didn’t care, he
Took
you
So that
night I stopped . . .
I
stopped . . .
I just
Stopped.
That
night I stopped.
I
stopped.
I just
stopped.
That
night I stopped.
I . . .
When I’m finished playing the song, I fold my
hands in my lap. I’m a little hesitant to turn around and look at her. The
whole room got quiet after I played the last note. So quiet—it feels like all
the sound was sucked out of the house. I can’t even hear her breathing.
I close the cover to the piano and then slowly
spin around on the bench. She’s wiping her eyes, staring up at the ceiling.
“Wow,” she whispers. “I wasn’t expecting that.
I feel like you just stomped on my chest.”
That’s how I’ve felt since I first laid eyes
on her tonight.
“I like how it ends,” she says. She sits up on
the couch and tucks her legs beneath her. “You just stop in the middle of the
sentence. It’s so perfect. So powerful.”
I wasn’t sure if she’d realize the intentional
ending, but the fact that she does makes me all the more enamored of her.
***
About the Book
Title: Layla
Author: Colleen Hoover
Release Date: December 8, 2020
Publisher: Montlake
Summary
When
Leeds meets Layla, he’s convinced he’ll spend the rest of his life with
her—until an unexpected attack leaves Layla fighting for her life.
After weeks in the hospital, Layla recovers physically, but the
emotional and mental scarring has altered the woman Leeds fell in love
with. In order to put their relationship back on track, Leeds whisks
Layla away to the bed-and-breakfast where they first met. Once they
arrive, Layla’s behavior takes a bizarre turn. And that’s just one of
many inexplicable occurrences.
Feeling
distant from Layla, Leeds soon finds solace in Willow—another guest of
the B&B with whom he forms a connection through their shared
concerns. As his curiosity for Willow grows, his decision to help her
find answers puts him in direct conflict with Layla’s well-being. Leeds
soon realizes he has to make a choice because he can’t help both of
them. But if he makes the wrong choice, it could be detrimental for all of them.
Author Biography
Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of several novels, including the bestselling women’s fiction novel It Ends with Us and the bestselling psychological thriller Verity. She has won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance three years in a row—for Confess (2015), It Ends with Us (2016), and Without Merit (2017). Confess was
adapted into a seven-episode online series. In 2015, Hoover and her
family founded the Bookworm Box, a bookstore and monthly subscription
service that offers signed novels donated by authors. All profits go to
various charities each month to help those in need. Hoover lives in
Texas with her husband and their three boys.
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