If you follow the blog you might have seen me mention the Promise Harbor Wedding series featuring a Wedding That Wasn’t since the bride got spirited away (Hitched), the groom disappeared on his honeymoon (Jilted), the bridesmaid went MIA (Bolted) and the best man got arrested (Busted)! So far I’ve read and enjoyed the first 3 stories and today the 4th book Hitched is released so you know what I’ll be reading, right? But before I curl up in my armchair join us in welcoming Erin Nicholas who is here to tell you a bit more about Allie, the heroine of Hitched, the rules of friendship and when it is ok to date a friend’s ex. (And of course two fantastic giveaways await you at the end 😉 ) 

How could she?

Allison Ralston has made a big mess of everything. Well, not just her. Gavin Montgomery, her ex-boyfriend, has certainly helped. What was he thinking storming up the church steps, stomping down the aisle and interrupting the wedding of the season? But Allie is the one who left with him. Yeah, they’re both to blame for sure.

Allie and Gavin are the heroine and hero in my newest release, Hitched, which is book four in the Promise Harbor Wedding series. They’re also the ones who start all the trouble. The series has “wedding” right in the title so you know someone’s getting married. But book one is called Jilted—so you know things aren’t all sunshine and roses at this wedding. Then there’s Bolted and Busted. Hmmm… it seems clear that something crazy is going on in Promise Harbor.

Yeah. Gavin. And Allie.

If you’ve read the first three books (and if you haven’t, why not?! ;-)) you’re probably wondering—along with everyone else in Promise Harbor– what were they thinking?

Well, it’s time to find out. Hitched, book four, the bride’s story, is finally here!

I can tell you though… Gavin was thinking that he was madly in love.

That’s easy enough to understand, isn’t it? Love is a powerful force. So his actions are forgivable, right? I mean, it’s even a little romantic. At least, I think so. This whole idea of the ex swooping in at the last minute to reclaim his true love was what started this whole thing in the first place.

But what about Allie? Some people have already called her on this. What was she thinking? If she’s so in love with Gavin why did she say yes to Josh’s proposal? If she wasn’t sure about the wedding, how could she walk down the aisle?

But that’s not even the worst part. Allie said yes to Josh Brewster—her ex-best friend’s ex-boyfriend!

Yeah, Gavin might be forgiven. But what about Allie?

How could she do that? Isn’t that a major violation of the girl code or something?

Well… let’s review the code, ladies.

I went to the best source of all things important and wonderful. The Urban Dictionary. (Laugh if you must. They have the Girl Code outlined in 31 (yes 31!) rules. This is what it takes to be part of the Girl Community. It’s not very well written, but the intention is good and we all know that’s what counts. So, please, click over and enjoy.)

Now, I want to call your attention, in particular, to #5. Oh, and #19. And kind-of #18. And #21. And #26—not really, but it’s related.

Bottom line, there are a lot of rules in the Girl Code that have to do with guys. So, let’s analyze this a little closer as it relates to our defendant, Ms. Allison Ralston.

Number 5 reads, “You are never in any case to date a friend’s ex or a guy who she was really into.”

Uh, oh. Devon was definitely “really into” Josh and he isn’t just one of her exes. He is The Ex. The one that hurt the most. The one that she never really got over.

Okay, Allie, strike one.

Moving on…let’s look at number 19: “Chicks before Dicks. Simple.”

Yeah, that does seem simple.

Josh broke Devon’s heart. That means that Allie is required to provide a shoulder, ice cream and lots of “what an asshole” type comments to Devon. Right?

So, strike two? Maybe.

Now then, number 18: “If a guy your friend is into asks for your number, you are to deny it and walk away, and/or slip him your friend’s number while saying, “I think she is more your type, you should call her””.

Here I think we have to give Allie credit. Devon met Josh through Allie. Josh and Allie’s families have been friends forever and spent lots of time together. Devon first developed her crush on Josh at Allie’s house. And Allie encouraged it. They were two of her best friends… of course she thought they’d be great together. So, on this point, I believe Allie is safe.

Next. Number 21: “In a fight between a friend and her boyfriend you must always choose your friends side.”

Again, I think we need to give Allie this point. She never took Josh’s side. She never said “Oh, get over it Devon.” Or “Josh you were totally right to dump her” or even “She was never right for you”. In fact, Allie knew that Josh and Devon were great together. She was just so absorbed with her own stuff—lots of stuff—that she just assumed that Josh and Devon knew what they were doing and that they were handling things the best way for them. Hey, when they said they were fine, Allie believed them. You can’t blame her for that.

Okay, maybe that’s not the best excuse. I think Allie would agree that she wasn’t the best friend that Devon could have had during that time. But trust me, Allie was in way over her head with her own family issues.

And finally, number 26: “When out with the ladies, if Girl #1 points out a guy that she is interested in, Girl #2 should avoid making a bee-line over to him to get his number for herself. Show some respect.”

This wasn’t exactly how it went down. Allie and Josh didn’t get together right away after his break up with Devon and Allie didn’t get involved with him because Devon had been interested in him and Josh certainly didn’t break up with Devon for Allie. But this does still fall under the broad category of “your friend’s boyfriend and ex-boyfriends are off limits”.

Maybe we give her a half-strike here?

Which means she’s at 2.5 strikes. Not quite 3.

So, let’s hear from the defense.

To point one, her violation of Rule #5—when Josh and Allie got together, she and Devon had drifted apart. They weren’t exactly friends anymore. If we’re being technical anyway…

Okay, that’s not a great excuse either. They should have kept in touch, they should have stayed involved in each other’s lives. They didn’t. But that’s on both of them.

What about point two, breaking Rule #9– there’s not a lot we can argue here. Except 🙂 Allie didn’t take sides. She didn’t dump Devon as a friend so she could be with Josh. She didn’t steal Josh. In fact, she called Devon and asked if she had a problem with Allie and Josh dating. Devon said no, it’s fine. Allie believed her.

Josh and Allie… ended up together. Neither were looking for it, neither pursued it, neither… even really saw it coming. It was… complicated. Yeah, there we go. It was complicated.

Whew. Glad we explained that satisfactorily for everyone! Glad you’re all feeling better about all of this.

So now you understand that Allie is a great person. She didn’t mean to hurt anyone. She cares about both Josh and Devon and will be happier than anyone when she finds out they’re back together. She’s…

Wait, what?

Oh, you still want to talk about her blatant violation of the overall your-friend’s-boyfriend-and-ex-boyfriend-are-always-off-limits-no-matter-what rule?

Well… do we have to? I mean, it all ended up great. Josh and Devon worked things out and are back together. And Allie has no intention of trying to get him back. Heck, she didn’t really want to walk down the aisle in the first place.

What? Oh, that doesn’t make her look good either?

Yeah, I guess you’re right. Unless you know the whole story.

See, there was the whole situation with her mom. And then there was Gavin’s issue with his dad. And you know, things were good until…

Well, here, it would just be easier if everyone read it for themselves. It’s about 250 pages. No, I’m not kidding. I told you there was more to this story.

I wrote the whole thing down so we could refer back to it. Can you get a copy? Well, yeah, you know that makes sense. Then you all can read the story for yourself and see where Allie’s coming from. I think you’ll understand—and even like her—if you know all the details.

Here’s what I’ll do for you. I’ll post a copy of the story up at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Samhain. Then you can just grab it and read it for yourself.

Oh, no, it’s no problem. I’m happy to do it. Here, I’ll even post the links for you: Amazon – Barnes and Noble – Samhain

There you go. Read it and let me know what you think.

I think you’ll agree, though, that everything worked out for the best! 😉

The Promise Harbor Wedding series

Into even the best-planned wedding a little chaos must fall…

Join the residents of Promise Harbor, Massachusetts for the wedding of the season! Or, at least, for the most entertaining wedding of the season.

The groom’s been left at the altar, the Maid of Honor is MIA, the Best Man is in handcuffs and the bride has been swept off her feet–literally.

There’s definitely love in the air, but things are going to get a little crazy before anyone gets to happily ever after.

Jilted, Promise Harbor Wedding Book #1, Kelly, Jamieson – Read my review
Bolted, Promise Harbor Wedding Book #2, Meg, Benjamin – Read my review
Busted, Promise Harbor Wedding Book #3, Sydney Somers – Read my review
Hitched, Promise Harbor Wedding Book #4, Erin, Nicholas – Read my review

www.PromiseHarborWedding.com

Hitched by Erin Nicholas

The Promise Harbor Wedding, Book 4

And she thought the bridesmaids dresses were her biggest problem…

Allison Ralston would rather be anywhere other than this wedding. Even if the wedding is hers Especially since the wedding is hers.

But Allie’s determined to restore her family’s happiness, and if tying the knot with longtime family friend, Josh Brewster, is the way to do it, then she’ll walk down that aisle, toss that bouquet and drink that champagne. Oh, she’ll definitely drink the champagne.

There’s only one thing that could get Gavin Montgomery back to Promise Harbor. And she’s about to say I do to another man. Now he’s back to claim what’s his—even if he has to do it in the middle of her wedding.

Allie is shocked—and okay, a little turned on—when Gavin literally sweeps her off her feet. Safe in his arms, she succumbs to fatigue, stress, and yes, the champagne, only to wake up in his bed. In Alaska.

Now that he’s put four thousand miles between Allie and all her responsibilities, Gavin’s determined to show her that they can make a life together. If he has his way, the next wedding Allie will be planning will be theirs.

Warning: Contains a guy so in love he’s willing to break up the wedding of the season, a bride who just needs to get to, well, anywhere else, and enough hot sex to take them from New England to Alaska and back again.

Read an excerpt here

Buy at Amazon – B&N – Samhain

Erin Nicholas has been reading and writing romantic fiction since her mother gave her a romance novel in high school and she discovered happily-ever-after suddenly went a little beyond glass slippers and fairy godmothers! She lives in the Midwest with her husband who only wants to read the sex scenes in her books, her kids who will never read the sex scenes in her books, and family and friends who say they’re shocked by the sex scenes in her books (yeah, right!).

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~*~*Giveaway*~*~

There are TWO Giveaways!

Erin has generously offered an ebook copy of winner’s choice  of the first 3 books of the Promise Harbor Wedding series: Jilted, Bolted or Busted to a lucky commenter (or winner’s choice of one backlist book of Erin Nicholas in case they have already read the series)!

All you have to do is leave a comment and tell us:

What is the verdict on Allie? Would you forgive her based on the reasons and arguments presented above?

OR

Whose story are you the most interested in reading: the groom’s (Jilted), the bridesmaid’s (Bolted), the best man’s (Busted) or the bride’s (Hitched)?

(You can read our full giveaway policy here)

Please be sure to include a valid email address in the comment form (need not be in the actual body of the comment).

This giveaway is open to all!

Giveaway ends on Saturday, 11 May 2013, and we will announce the winner on Sunday.

Good luck!

And a Grand Prize Giveaway:

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About Stella

Stella is a proud bookaholic and a self-taught multilinguist in training. Besides reading, her other great passions are travelling and baking. When she is not globetrotting she lives in sunny Budapest, where she loves to spend her free time preparing (and feasting on) delicious cookies or devouring equally yummy books. Her favourite genres are urban fantasy and romance and she couldn't live without her daily dose of sunshine. Besides being the Latin Lover on BLI Stella also blogs about books and a bookish life on Ex Libris.

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