Title:
Laguna Lights
Author: Kaira Rouda
Publisher: Real You Publishing Group
Pages: 180
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Kaira Rouda
Publisher: Real You Publishing Group
Pages: 180
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Laura
Kinkaid’s glamorous Hollywood life is falling apart. After years of
reality television stardom beginning in high school on Laguna Nights,
her career and relationship with her long-term boyfriend Scott are
fizzling out. Laura decides to go home to Laguna Beach for the
weekend to attend a baby shower for her high school friend. That
decision – and a car accident – will lead her to a new future, if
she’s ready to take a chance at love.
Paul
Dorn’s former life in New York City is far behind him and he’s
working in a popular Laguna Beach surf shop when fate brings the most
beautiful woman he’s ever met into his life. The attraction is
instant and he has an overwhelming desire to protect her. While
Paul’s retail sales career is a short-term job for market research
purposes, his focus on Laura is long-term.
Will
Laura allow a handsome stranger to help her create a future unlike
her past, or will the bright lights of Hollywood pull her back to LA?
For More Information
- Laguna Lights is available at Amazon.
- Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
- Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.
Book Excerpt:
Laura
Kinkaid stared across the table at Scott, her on-again-off-again
lover, wondering why she had wasted a decade of her life with him.
They’d met in high school, and Scott had been
infatuated with her. He was the new kid on the reality TV show they’d
appeared on together, Laguna
Nights. Fame
hadn’t changed him. Yet. And back then, he’d had a full head of
thick brown hair.
Today, he was a cocky, bald television star who was ignoring her.
How things changed, she realized with a sigh. Maybe she was jealous,
or maybe – she decided with a feeling that she realized could
almost pass for hate— she was angry.
She looked out the window to the lights of LA stretching out 35
stories below. If they hadn’t been seated at the most visible, most
desired table at the hottest new restaurant in LA, she would have
thrown something at him. She surveyed the table to see what she could
throw. Her fork? Maybe. Her full glass of expensive red wine? No,
that
would
be a waste of good wine. Maybe even one of the pieces of intricately
designed sushi taunting her from the plate of appetizers on the
table. This had to be it. The proverbial last straw, she told
herself. She smiled at the image she conjured - his bald head
glistening with sushi debris, the smirk wiped off of his handsome
face.
Why am I so
obsessed with someone who is so obsessed with himself?
“Why are you giving me that look?” Scott said, finally
placing his phone on the table, its glowing contents face up and
taunting her. She had to find out what was on that screen, she
realized.
“We are at dinner. A romantic dinner that was your suggestion,
I might add, and you’ve been on your phone for the past ten
minutes,” Laura said. She knew her tone of voice, shrill and
whispered at the same time, would repel him. She was right. He leaned
back in his seat, a smug grin on his face, his arms crossed. Laura
grabbed his phone. Her brain couldn’t register what she was
viewing. She stared at the screen. She was shocked to see a young
brunette woman with huge breasts barely contained within her skimpy
bathing suit, and the words, “Congratulations, you and Jamie are a
match!” As Laura realized what she was seeing, anger boiled deep
inside her. She couldn’t decide whether to run out of the
restaurant, throw his phone and smash it against one of the
floor-to-ceiling windows, or simply cry.
“Hey, give me my phone,” Scott said, reaching across the
table. But Laura was faster. She jumped back, cradling the phone in
her hand and staring at him with disgust.
“Tinder? You’re searching for hook-ups for
tonight while you’re here with me?” She’d seen the ‘so
called’ dating app and its competitors and they repulsed her.
Lonely people used apps like Tinder for random hook-ups. The younger
women on the set of the show Laura had been producing, Reality
TV Triple Play,
had shown her how they worked. They’d scrolled through an array of
selfies of desperate men and judged each guy’s merit by that one
photo. One young make-up artist had admitted using the dating app to
get free meals from men, something she insisted on before hooking up
with a stranger. The woman had called the guys she’d met on the app
“f*******,” men with no interest in having a relationship or even
hanging around until morning. Now she knew another type of ‘f******’:
boyfriends who used apps like Tinder
to cheat.
Like the man sitting across the table from her at this moment. As the
realization hit her, she felt her eyes filling with tears.
“We’ve been drifting ever since the show was
cancelled,” Scott said. His voice was quiet, almost patronizing. He
spoke the words slowly, like she was an idiot, not the woman he’d
been dating for a decade. Like they hadn’t known each other since
high school. Both Scott and Laura had become instant celebrities
during their years on Laguna
Nights. And
both, unlike most of the cast members, had gone on to enjoy careers
in Hollywood. In fact, when Laura was offered her own show, Hollywood
Nights, chronicling
her college years and first job in LA, Scott eagerly rode her
coattails to fame and a sizable fortune. But eventually, like all
reality television, the audience moved on and Laura and Scott had
been left in a dimming spotlight.
Scott had transitioned successfully into another industry,
opening his own branch office of his parents’ successful, high-end
travel business in West Hollywood. He loved the travel and had even
invited Laura along for some of his all-expenses-paid site
inspections. But apparently the only thing that had held their
relationship together was gone. She needed the camera’s focus. She
needed the spotlight. It was something she craved, something that had
become as necessary as breathing air. Her chest felt tight as she
took a sip of water.
We never loved each other, we only used each other for
television, her mind screamed. Had she ever had a true relationship,
one based on love and respect, or had her entire life been as
superficial as the industry she craved? Laura blinked, trying to
focus on this moment but the reality of her life wouldn’t allow it.
About the
Author
Kaira Rouda is a bestselling,
multiple award-winning author of contemporary women's fiction and
sexy modern romance novels that sparkle with humor and heart. Her
women's fiction titles include HERE, HOME, HOPE, ALL THE DIFFERENCE
and IN THE MIRROR. Her bestselling short story is titled, A MOTHER'S
DAY. Kaira's work has won the Indie Excellence Award, USA Book
Awards, the Reader's Choice Awards and honorable mention in the
Writer's Digest International Book Awards. Her books have been widely
reviewed and featured in leading magazines.
Her sexy contemporary
romance series set on INDIGO ISLAND includes: WEEKEND WITH THE
TYCOON, Book 1; HER FORBIDDEN LOVE, Book 2; THE TROUBLE WITH
CHRISTMAS, Book 3; and THE BILLIONAIRE'S BID, Book 4. Each of these
novellas can be read as a stand alone, or enjoyed as a series. Her
new series is set in LAGUNA BEACH and includes: LAGUNA NIGHTS, Book
1; LAGUNA HEIGHTS, Book 2; and LAGUNA
LIGHTS, Book 3 coming winter
2015. She also helped launch Melissa Foster's The Remington's Kindle
World with her bestselling novella, SPOTLIGHT ON LOVE, and is part of
Carly Phillips Dare to Love Kindle World with THE CELEBRITY DARE.
Her nonfiction titles, REAL
YOU INCORPORATED: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs, and REAL YOU
FOR AUTHORS: 8 Essentials for Women Writers (available for free
download on her website) continue to inspire.
She
lives in Southern California with her husband and four almost-grown
kids, and is at work on her next novel.
For More
Information
- Visit Kaira Rouda’s website.
- Find out more about Kaira at Goodreads.
- More books by Kaira Rouda.
- Contact Kaira.
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