BLOG TOUR: REVIEW, EXCERPT, AND GIVEAWAY: Inked on Paper by Nicole Edwards

I’m a high school English, so writer’s block, artistic muses, and the whole process of writing are all the nerdy things I adore to discuss and read about, and Nicole Edwards does a fantastic job of crafting a story and the process of writing it within her own text, seamlessly flowing the two stories together and exploring the idea of art and reality imitating one another with ease.

When I was at only 30% of Inked On Paper, I was completely absorbed into the interesting and unique story line that Edwards crafted. A book within a book is arduous task because the author has to ensure that the readers don’t misconstrue one group of characters for the other or lose interest in one aspect because too much time has been given to another part. I never had an issue following both Jake and Presley’s story and the fictitious love affair of Donovan and Kora, and one of the main reasons is due to Jake, subconsciously, drawing on material from his and Presley’s life, both individually and as two people highly attracted to each other. 

I’ve always wondered what process fiction writers go through in order to deliver a worthwhile story, one that will appeal to the masses as well as showcase the writer’s ability to show instead of tell and create characters who readers can connect to and find likable enough to immerse themselves in that particular story compared to the thousands of others that are out there. Nicole Edwards gives me that insight through Jake’s struggle to write his next best seller and the external situations that aren’t enabling him to write anything worth publishing in over a year.

Another artistic arena that Edwards discusses in Inked on Paper is sketching and painting, which is where Presley Abrams finds her passion. But her gift has been in pause about the same amount of time as Jake’s writing, and as they both search for their inspiration and struggle to get their “mojo” back, they find themselves writing their own real life story – one that makes Jake rethink his past ways and forces Presley to try to figure out if she still doesn’t believe in happily ever after or the fact that reality can’t be anything like fiction.

Unexpected – that’s exactly the word that I would use to describe Nicole Edwards’ newest release as well as creative and entertaining. I love how different it is from Edwards’ other releases and I’m also glad that it’s a standalone because I didn’t want to have to wait to see how Jake ended his new book and what he did with the new story he was writing in real life.

I adore Nicole Edwards’ stories and characters; there’s nothing like losing myself in one of her worlds, whether it’s with the Walker alpha males, her cowboys, or her Mafia members and Private Investigator Security badasses. Edwards has something for every kind of reader, which is exactly why she’s one of my go to authors!

A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

5 Poison Apples

Jake

One week later, Saturday night

By the time seven o’clock rolled around, I was going stir crazy. My total word count for the entire week was a big fat fucking zero. And like I’d assured Liz when I talked to her on Wednesday, I had tried. Really.

Okay, mostly.

After I’d spent two hours at the coffee shop that morning and managed to research everything from tattoos to tater tots—on my phone, because, fuck, what the hell else was I going to do?—I’d come back to my condo, changed, gone to the gym, watched the midday news, showered, and fought the urge to clean more shit around the house that had no business being cleaned. Not by me, at least.

Same shit I’d done almost every day this week. And last week, now that I thought about it.

Now that the sun was down and the night was coming to life, I needed to get out of the building. To do something productive that didn’t involve staring at a blank screen or a blank page and wondering whether or not I would ever be able to write anything again.

So, that was the plan.

A night out.

I had moved to downtown Austin for the scenery. I’d lived in the area most of my life— with the exception of the five years I’d spent in New York—having grown up twenty-something miles north in the city of Round Rock. The suburban life had worked well for my mom and stepdads (all nine of them)—still did—but I needed something a little more … lively. My sister, Paige, thought I was having a midlife crisis. At thirty-six, I seriously doubted that. I was reserving that for when I turned forty.

As I was riding the elevator down to the lobby, my cell phone rang. After digging it out of my pocket, I glanced at the screen and sighed.

Liz.

Great. It was eight o’clock in New York—on a Saturday, no less—where she lived and worked, so I knew this wasn’t going to be a hi, how are you? conversation. I answered anyway.

“Jacob Wild, where the hell are you?” Her raspy, take-no-shit tone made me smile.

“Elevator, why?” I asked, pretending I didn’t know what she meant.

“Where have you been?”

“Before I got in the elevator? Well, if you have to know, I was walking down the hall.”

My editor growled. Actually growled. And it wasn’t one of those sexy purring things that some women did. This was an all-out Gremlin sort of sound that made me want to laugh. I refrained. Barely.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Nicole Edwards lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, their three kids, and four rambunctious dogs.

When she’s not writing about sexy alpha males, Nicole can often be found with her Kindle in hand or making an attempt to keep the dogs happy.

You can find her hanging out on Facebook and interacting with her readers – even when she’s supposed to be writing.

Nicole also writes contemporary/new adult romance as Timberlyn Scott.

Nicole would love to hear from you!

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