Release Week Blitz, Excerpt & Giveaway:Built by Jay Crownover

We are so excited to bring you the
Release Week Blitz for BUILT by Jay Crownover.

BUILT is a Contemporary Romance novel 

being published by HarperCollins,
and it is the 1^st full-length novel in The Saints of Denver Series,
a spinoff of her New York Times bestselling Marked Men Series. 

This amazing book is out now so grab your copy today! And be sure to check out the awesome sweepstakes! Info and links below!

 

Amazon US ** iBooks ** Barnes & Noble ** Kobo

About BUILT:

From the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men books comes an electrifying new spin-off series, Saints of Denver, featuring all the characters fans have been dying to read about.

Sayer Cole and Zeb Fuller couldn’t be more different. She’s country club and fine-dining, he’s cell-block and sawdust. Sayer spends her days in litigation, while Zeb spends his working with his hands. She’s French silk, he’s all denim and flannel.

Zeb’s wanted the stunning blonde since the moment he laid eyes on her. It doesn't matter how many smooth moves he makes, the reserved lawyer seems determinedly oblivious to his interest—either that or she doesn't return it. Sayer is certain the rough, hard, hot-as-hell Zeb could never want someone as closed off and restrained as she is, which is a shame because something tells her he might be the guy to finally melt her icy exterior.

But just as things start to heat up, Zeb is blindsided by a life altering moment from his past. He needs Sayer’s professional help to right a wrong and to save more than himself. He can’t risk what’s at stake just because his attraction to Sayer feels all consuming. But as these opposites dig in for the fight of their lives, battling together to save a family, the steam created when fire and ice collide can no longer be ignored.

Excerpt

“How come you don’t drive your cool truck during the week?”

Both his eyebrows shot up and I had to wait while he finished chewing to answer me. “My cool truck? The International? I know about a hundred sixteen-year-old boys that would disagree with you about the Jeep not being cool. Especially here in Colorado.”

I shrugged a little and gave up trying to be delicate with the messy sausage. I was sure I had yellow all over my face, but I didn’t care. The thing was delicious. Seattle Sayer had no idea what gloriousness she had been missing.

“I like the old truck. It’s pretty and it’s so neat to see something like that restored and well loved.”

“I do love it. That’s why I don’t drive it to jobsites. Too many nails and other stuff getting carelessly tossed around. I try and baby her.”

I made a face. “The truck is a her?”

He laughed again and cleanly polished off the rest of his brat. I was amazed he did it all without getting anything in his face fuzz. That was real talent right there, I thought begrudgingly as I continued to make a mess all over myself.

“Sure. She’s classy, elegant, made of study stuff, expensive as hell to keep running and keep pretty. She’s only good to me if I’m good to her, so obviously she’s a girl.

I rolled my eyes and then wiped my hands on the outside of my pants when I finished off my own dinner. Briefly I thought my dad would be horrified at the action but I shoved that thought down and instead focused on Zeb and only Zeb. “How long did it take you to restore her?”

He shrugged, got to his feet, and moved to pry open the massive bucket of white primer he had been using as a chair. My buddy Wheeler sold the body to me for next to nothing when I got out of prison. We went to high school together and I think he knew I needed something to keep me busy because the only kind of work I could find right after being released was shit work for shit pay. Every week I would give him a few bucks here or there and he would find me a part or a piece of motor and we slowly but surely got her altogether. It was one of the reasons I knew I had to find a long-term way to support myself. Just because I had a record didn’t mean I wasn’t a valuable employee or a hard worker. I got really sick of being treated like a second-class citizen because of one mistake.”

His eyes cut to mine and all I could do was nod in sympathy as he poured the liquid into trays and fished a couple of roller brushes out of a plastic bag.

“I actually met Rowdy through Wheeler. He had done a bunch of Wheeler’s tattoo work, and when I told Wheeler I wanted something to remind me not to do stupid things that would cost me years of my life again, he recommended Rowdy and the Marked shop. Rowdy was the one that recommended me to the guys that own the tattoo shop when they decided to open and renovate the new location downtown. It all seemed very meant to be, ya know?”

I did know. Everything was tied together with thin threads of fate, and when one loosened or tightened it was surprising how impactful it could be. Kind of like how I had ended up where with Zeb now.

READ my 5-star review of Built

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And don’t miss the previous novella in The Saints of Denver Series!

LEVELED

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About Jay Crownover:

Jay Crownover is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men and The Point series. Like her characters, she is a big fan of tattoos. She loves music and wishes she could be a rock star, but since she has no aptitude for singing or instrument playing, she'll settle for writing stories with interesting characters that make the reader feel something. She lives in Colorado with her three dogs.        

Website ** Blog ** Facebook ** Twitter

BUILT Goodreads ** Jay Crownover Goodreads

   

Review, Excerpt & Giveaway:Built by Jay Crownover

  We are absolutely thrilled to bring you the Review/Excerpt Tour for 

BUILT by Jay Crownover! 

BUILT is a Contemporary Romance novel being published by HarperCollins, 

and it is the 1^st full-length novel in The Saints of Denver Series,  

a spinoff of her New York Times bestselling Marked Men Series. 

This amazing book releases on January 5^th!   

 

Amazon US ** iBooks ** Barnes & Noble ** Kobo

Pre-order now and receive a special bonus scene! 

About BUILT: 

From the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men books comes an electrifying new spin-off series, Saints of Denver, featuring all the characters fans have been dying to read about.

Sayer Cole and Zeb Fuller couldn’t be more different. She’s country club and fine-dining, he’s cell-block and sawdust. Sayer spends her days in litigation, while Zeb spends his working with his hands. She’s French silk, he’s all denim and flannel.

Zeb’s wanted the stunning blonde since the moment he laid eyes on her. It doesn't matter how many smooth moves he makes, the reserved lawyer seems determinedly oblivious to his interest—either that or she doesn't return it. Sayer is certain the rough, hard, hot-as-hell Zeb could never want someone as closed off and restrained as she is, which is a shame because something tells her he might be the guy to finally melt her icy exterior. 

But just as things start to heat up, Zeb is blindsided by a life altering moment from his past. He needs Sayer’s professional help to right a wrong and to save more than himself. He can’t risk what’s at stake just because his attraction to Sayer feels all consuming. But as these opposites dig in for the fight of their lives, battling together to save a family, the steam created when fire and ice collide can no longer be ignored. 

Excerpt  

As though my intense and swirling thoughts had pulled Zeb into the vortex of self-pity I was struggling in, my phone vibrated in my hand with a message from him as I wandered aimlessly through the empty rooms.

               I shivered at the sight of his name and then silently scolded myself for having such a powerful reaction to only his name on the screen. His message was simple but for some reason it felt full of more meaning and emotion than the three words staring up at me indicated.

               Can you talk?

               I bit my lip and decided how to answer. I didn’t talk to my clients after office hours were done for the day and I was already having a really hard time keeping the professional and personal lines clear where he and this case were concerned. I sighed and tapped out:

               I can. Do you want me to call you?

               I had started this process as his friend first and it wasn’t fair to him that my heart was pulling itself apart because of his situation. He was probably nervous and scared about what was coming next week, and I was the only one who could put some of that at ease.

               There wasn’t a response for a long couple of minutes and I hated that all I could do was stare at my phone and pace back and forth while I waited to see what he was going to say. I was acting like a teenager and it was ridiculous. I snorted at myself and was headed into the kitchen to pour myself a glass of wine when the phone rang and made me jump. I wasn’t prepared for him to call me right that moment and had a bout of anxiety about answering the call before I told myself to man up and swiped my finger across the screen.

               “Hey. Everything all right?” I heard a car honk its horn wherever he was calling from, and he mumbled something that wasn’t directed at me before answering.

               “Fuck no.”

    

What I thought about Built

Since this book has not yet been released, I'm going to try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible.

I'll be honest and say that I didn't really pay all that much attention to Zeb and Sayer when these characters were introduced in the Marked Men series, so I started Built with no preconceived notions of how I would feel about these characters.

Zeb and Sayer come from two very different backgrounds. Sayer comes from money. She's a lawyer, and she's a master at hiding her emotions. Zeb comes from a different background, and he's got some trouble with the law that will follow him around for the rest of his life. But the physical attraction between these two characters is off the charts, and there's no way they are going to stay away from each other. I fell for Sayer right away when she makes it clear that Zeb's history isn't a deal-breaker for them--underneath her prim and proper exterior is a woman with a huge heart and I loved that about her. I got her.

It takes a while for these two to connect physically, and when they do, there's no going back for Zeb. They both scratch each other's itch in a significant way, and they scorch up the pages when they come together. There's more than just sex between them too, but it's Sayer's past history that could keep her from the happiness she finds when she's with Zeb.

When Zeb gets some shocking news, he needs Sayer's professional help and she's his biggest advocate. Her big heart won't let anything get in the way of Zeb getting what he wants in his life. This wrecks havoc with their relationship in a major way, forcing Zeb to make a difficult decision of his own that could end the wonderful relationship between these two unlikely lovers.

I loved both Zeb and Sayer in a way that left me surprised and happy. Jay Crownover does a great job (as usual) presenting the reader with two very interesting characters. There's excellent and subtle commentary about how hateful words and behaviors can be as devastating as fists and fighting. And Zeb is an incredible hero in this -- his maturity and ability to get to the heart of things just made me fall for him the same way I fell for my favorite Marked Men. He's got some great lines that just ripped my heart out and I loved that.

Built is a great start to this aptly named Saints of Denver series. I loved everything about it -- the characters, the story, and the little bits of the Marked Men that are sprinkled throughout the book and help anchor it to this Denver world Jay Crownover has created. Recommended.

ARC provided for review.  

 

BUILT Review & Excerpt Tour

December 28^th

Reading is Sexy – Review & Excerpt

RentasticReads – Review & Excerpt

StuckInBooks – Review & Excerpt

Little Red's Reviews – Review & Excerpt

Addicted to Happily Ever After – Review & Excerpt

kimberlyfaye reads – Review & Excerpt

December 29^th

Bookcrack – Review

Ramblings From This Chick – Review

V's Reads – Review & Excerpt

three chicks and their books – Review & Excerpt

Desert Divas Book Addiction – Review & Excerpt

Lili's Books – Review & Excerpt

December 30^th

Lustful Literature – Review & Excerpt

Zili in the Sky – Review & Excerpt

Red Hot + Blue Reads – Review & Excerpt

Biblio Belles – Review & Excerpt

Mustreadbooksordie – Review & Excerpt

Book Freak – Review & Excerpt

A Bookish Escape – Review & Excerpt

December 31^st

The Book Maven – Review & Excerpt

She Hearts Books – Review & Excerpt

Lazy Book Lovers – Review

Reese's Reviews – Review & Excerpt

Naughty and nice book blog – Review & Excerpt

January 1^st

Books to Breathe – Review & Excerpt

Random Book Muses – Review & Excerpt

Under the Covers – Review & Excerpt

Holly's Hot Reads – Review & Excerpt

Cocktails and Books – Review & Excerpt

January 2^nd

Bewitching bibliophile – Review & Excerpt

Much Loved Books – Review & Excerpt

Dark Faerie Tales – Review & Excerpt

The Book Disciple – Review & Excerpt

Live Read and Breathe – Review & Excerpt

Smokin' Hot Reads Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

January 3^rd

People Like Books – Review & Excerpt

The Flare Up – Review & Excerpt

Gemma reads too much – Review & Excerpt

Read Love Blog –Review & Excerpt

KT Book Reviews – Review & Excerpt

i love lady porn – Review & Excerpt

January 4^th

Red Cheeks Reads – Review & Excerpt

Krista's Dust Jacket – Review & Excerpt

Jenuine Cupcakes – Review

Book Angel Booktopia – Review & Excerpt

Never Judge a Book by its Cover – Review & Excerpt

Book Sojourner – Review & Excerpt

January 5^th

Echoing Books – Review & Excerpt

oh the book feels – Review & Excerpt

Reviews by Tammy & Kim – Review & Excerpt

An Asian Chick & her cat Walk into a Book Blog – Review

TLBC's Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

January 6^th

Obsessive Book Nerd – Review

The Bookworms Obsession – Review

Total Book Geek – Review & Excerpt

True Story Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

Literati Literature Lovers – Review & Excerpt

January 7^th

The Revolving Bookcase – Review

Two Book Pushers – Review & Excerpt

BFD Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

The Fairest of All Book Reviews – Review & Excerpt

Hot Guys in Books – Review & Excerpt

January 8^th

Nose Stuck in a Book – Review & Excerpt

Book Babes Unite – Review

Renee Entress's Blog – Review & Excerpt

BJ's Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

Shelf_Life – Review & Excerpt

Ticket to Anywhere – Review & Excerpt

January 9^th

Nuggets from a Book Nerd – Review & Excerpt

Krissy's Book Nook – Review & Excerpt

Tar Heel Bibliobabe – Review

pbc – Excerpt

From the TBR Pile – Review & Excerpt

Romance Addict Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

And don’t miss the previous novella in The Saints of Denver Series!

LEVELED

a Rafflecopter giveaway    

About Jay Crownover:

  Jay Crownover is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men and The Point series. Like her characters, she is a big fan of tattoos. She loves music and wishes she could be a rock star, but since she has no aptitude for singing or instrument playing, she'll settle for writing stories with interesting characters that make the reader feel something. She lives in Colorado with her three dogs.        

Website ** Blog ** Facebook ** Twitter

BUILT Goodreads ** Jay Crownover Goodreads

 

 

Cover Reveal & Prologue: Built by Jay Crownover

We are absolutely thrilled to bring you the
Cover Reveal and Prologue for
BUILT by Jay Crownover! 

BUILT is the first novel in her upcoming 

Saints of Denver Series,

a spinoff of her Marked Men Series,  

published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins. 

BUILT is releasing on January 5, 2016! This is a definite one click, friends!

Check out the cover of BUILT!

 

Preorder BUILT Today!

Amazon US ** iBooks ** Barnes & Noble ** Kobo

About BUILT:

From the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men books comes an electrifying new spin-off series, Saints of Denver, featuring all the characters fans have been dying to read about.

Sayer Cole and Zeb Fuller couldn’t be more different. She’s country club and fine-dining, he’s cell-block and sawdust. Sayer spends her days in litigation, while Zeb spends his working with his hands. She’s French silk, he’s all denim and flannel.

Zeb’s wanted the stunning blonde since the moment he laid eyes on her. It doesn't matter how many smooth moves he makes, the reserved lawyer seems determinedly oblivious to his interest—either that or she doesn't return it. Sayer is certain the rough, hard, hot-as-hell Zeb could never want someone as closed off and restrained as she is, which is a shame because something tells her he might be the guy to finally melt her icy exterior.

But just as things start to heat up, Zeb is blindsided by a life altering moment from his past. He needs Sayer’s professional help to right a wrong and to save more than himself. He can’t risk what’s at stake just because his attraction to Sayer feels all consuming. But as these opposites dig in for the fight of their lives, battling together to save a family, the steam created when fire and ice collide can no longer be ignored.

And don’t miss this sneak peek of BUILT! Check out the prologue here!

Prologue

 I met her at a bar.

She had a beer bottle in her hand even though she looked like she should be sipping champagne out of an expensive flute, and that inexplicably turned me on. She was pretty and looked completely out of place in the no-name bar sitting across from one of my longtime friends who also happened to be her long-lost brother. He was the reason she was here. In that split second that I laid my eyes on her I wanted to be the reason she stayed.

I knew it was rude and that the two of them needed some time together, some time to figure out what they were to each other now that she had blasted into his life unannounced. If I was a better friend I would have left them alone. As it was, I made my way over to the tiny table and sat down. I was covered in sawdust and had drywall mud caked in the hair on my head and on my face, but she didn’t flinch or bat an eyelash when I purposely broke up their party of two and placed myself as close to her as I could without actually touching her.

My buddy Rowdy St. James lifted his eyebrows at me as I stared at her while he introduced us. Sayer Cole. Even her name was elegant and sophisticated sounding. She was an enigma, this pretty woman that seemed like she should be in any place but this bar with the two of us. She’d showed up out of the blue a couple of months ago claiming to be Rowdy’s half sister, claiming that they shared a father, claiming that all she wanted was to be in his life and have some kind of family of her own. She looked too delicate to be that brave. Came across as way too proper to have said “fuck it all” and picked up her life to move it someplace unknown without being sure of her welcome. She looked like silk, but if my guess was right about her, it was silk wrapped around steel.

Luckily Rowdy was a good guy. After the shock of discovering he wasn’t alone in the world, and once he realized he had someone tied to him by blood forever and ever, he had warmed up to the idea of having a sister and appreciated that the sister was Sayer.

I liked Rowdy a lot. He was a stand-up guy and a good friend, but I had a feeling I was going to like his newly found big sister even more. In my usual tactless way I asked him without looking directly at the knockout blonde, “So you have a sister? A hot, classy sister?” A sister that was also a lawyer, so beautiful and smart.

I expected a giggle from her or an eye roll at the outlandish compliment, but what I got was a wide-eyed stare of disbelief as eyes bluer than anything I had ever seen on earth danced between me and her brother like she wasn’t sure what to do with herself or with my overt interest in her.

I thought that I had gone too far, pushed the beautiful stranger too far out of her comfort zone. I was a big guy and knew I looked far wilder and rougher than I actually was. I figured it might be too much for a woman already obviously out of her element and depth to take.

Instead, Sayer surprised me and I could see by the way he stiffened that she surprised Rowdy, too. While she wasn’t exactly overflowing with welcome and warmth, she did ask me about the current project I was working on after Rowdy explained I was a general contractor and had rebuilt the new tattoo shop he worked in. She seemed genuinely interested, and when I told her that my specialty was rehabbing old houses and giving them new life, her eyes practically glowed at me. I wanted to touch her to see if she felt as smooth and polished as she looked. I wanted to leave streaks of dirt on her perfect face to mark the fact that I had touched her, that she had let me touch her. It was a primal and visceral reaction that I couldn’t explain and I liked the way it felt. Liked the weight and heft of it in my blood even if I knew the feeling wasn’t likely to be returned.

She told me all about a fantastic but crumbling Victorian she had purchased that was falling down around her. She asked me for a business card and I saw Rowdy stiffen across the table. I sighed and rubbed a hand over my already messy hair. I watched her eyes follow the light cloud of dust that escaped the strands. I was great at my job, loved what I did, but I couldn’t do anything with her or for her without laying everything on the line. Especially not with Rowdy giving me the death glare from just a few feet away.

I dug the card out of my wallet, and when I handed it over our fingers touched. I saw her eyes widen and her lips part, just barely. She looked a little dazed when I grinned at her.

“You take that card, but understand that the man giving it to you has a past.”

She blinked at me and cleared her throat. “What kind of past?”

It wasn’t something I liked to tell a beautiful woman when I first met her. It was something I liked to work up to, liked to prove it was behind me, but with this one it seemed like I wouldn’t get that chance.

“I tell everyone that I do any kind of work for or that considers hiring me on for a project that I have a criminal history. I spent time locked up for a few years, and while I’m not proud of it I can’t deny it happened. I was a hotheaded kid and it got me in trouble, but I’m the best at what I do, so I hope that doesn’t discourage you from giving me a call.” Hopefully for more than some construction.

Usually I got a concerned frown followed by a hundred questions about what had led me to serving time. I got none of that from the stunning blonde. She tilted her head to the side and considered me silently for a long moment before reaching down and slipping my card in her purse. If anything, I could have sworn she was wearing a look of sympathy when she told me softly, “I see it every day from the inside. Sometimes the system simply gets it wrong.” A slight grin turned her mouth up at the corners, and I wanted to lean over and kiss it. “People make mistakes. Hopefully they learn from them.”

I don’t know that “wrong” was accurate in my case so much as misguided, but the complete lack of judgment or censure coming from her made me want to pull her into my arms and hold on to her even more. I had made a mistake, a huge one, one that I was forever going to have to carry around with me, but I had learned from it, was still learning from it. That kind of understanding from a total stranger was so rare, especially coming from someone in the legal field. I wasn’t accustomed to someone looking at me and seeing me, just me, not an ex-con loser after I explained where I had been. It was wildly refreshing and attractive. I couldn’t quite get a handle on what made the woman tick, but I would welcome any opportunity she gave me to figure it out. I found her outwardly flawless and pristine demeanor tempting to taint with my dirty hands and ways, and there was something about the way she watched me, the way she turned toward me like she was drawn to me, that made me think maybe I wasn’t alone in the inexplicable pull department.

Rowdy left and she stayed.

We had a couple more beers and talked some more about her house and what she wanted done with it. She already hired one contractor but felt like the guy was ripping her off. It happened a lot in the industry, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the guy was taking her for a ride. Spending time with her was easy. She was fun to talk to and really fun to look at. I really wanted to get my hands on her house and of course on her, and I felt like she was maybe, kind of, slightly leaning in the same direction when I made the mistake of asking her about her past.

I asked about where she had been before she found out about Rowdy and decided to move to Denver so that she could get to know him. I was curious what kind of life she had where she could leave everything behind and not be missed. Really I wanted to know if she had a boyfriend or husband stashed somewhere, but the simple inquiry must have touched a nerve. The next thing I knew she had paid out the tab for both of us and disappeared into the night. She went from glowing and bright to frigid and untouchable in the span of a heartbeat.

I figured I blew my shot by being too blunt, as always. I assumed she probably did have someone else in the picture and had been friendly and polite only because I was good friends with her brother. I thought I would never hear from her again and was baffled why the thought of that made my chest ache and my heart feel like it weighed two tons.

Imagine my surprise when she called me and hired me to renovate her house a week later without a bid, without a contract, without even knowing if I was half as good as I claimed to be.

Of course I accepted, but I knew once I was inside I would need to knock down and rearrange more than just the walls of the house, in order to get at something beautiful and lasting.

  

About Jay Crownover: Jay Crownover is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men and The Point series. Like her characters, she is a big fan of tattoos. She loves music and wishes she could be a rock star, but since she has no aptitude for singing or instrument playing, she'll settle for writing stories with interesting characters that make the reader feel something. She lives in Colorado with her three dogs.        

Website ** Blog ** Facebook ** Twitter

BUILT Goodreads ** Jay Crownover Goodreads