*~*Before He Was a Secret by Becky Wicks Blog Tour – Excerpt & Giveaway*~*

Genre:   Contemporary Romance

Falling in love with your best friend isn’t always a great idea, especially when he’s Noah Lockton – the sexiest, most famous new talent on the planet. When 21-year-old small-town photographer Chloe Campbell is offered the chance of a lifetime – to join her celebrity childhood friend Noah on tour as an exclusive blogger for a New York magazine – she’s certain both have put what happened four years ago behind them. But his eyes still burn; his voice is still a jackhammer to her heartstrings; all his songs are about her. Is it possible that that night still haunts them both?

The music industry is a machine, spinning hype and rumors as much as his records. It’s not just Noah’s girlfriends who’ve got it in for Chloe (there’s no stopping the Twitter-obsessed, cat-loving pop-star Courtney Lentini for starters). Pretty soon, the jealousy and media frenzy surrounding these so-called-friends takes a life-changing turn and it seems making love means making enemies at every turn. When tragedy threatens to pull the final curtain on their relationship, both Chloe and Noah must make a choice. As much as this world leaves them starstruck, is living their dream really worth living without each other?

A story of lifelong friendships, love and hope, set in a world of celebrity, fame and social media gone very, very wrong.

Title:   Before He Was Gone  (Starstruck Series Book #2)

Author:   Becky Wicks

When her rock star boyfriend breaks things off out of the blue, Alyssa applies to hit reality TV show Deserted and to her shock she gets through. Abandoned on a remote island with a bunch of strangers and none of the luxuries she’s become accustomed to, it’s not long before the real world is kicking her ass.

The mysterious and ridiculously hot Joshua has her head spinning from day one, not least because he doesn’t seem to like her, and as a series of challenges test their wits and weaknesses, things start heating up in paradise. But Joshua it seems is hiding a painful secret… one he won’t risk anyone finding out.

When her newfound fan-base and survival skills bring her ex to his senses, Alyssa will have to choose – a life in the spotlight, or a life of new meaning that heartbreakingly may just have its limits?

Let’s take it from the top,’ Michael says from behind the panel as Stephanie adjusts her microphone stand next to me. We’ve been making good progress with our songs. Lyrics have been pouring out of me with and without Stephanie; here at in the studio, back at Ace, in my car, in the shower. Writing has always been the way I’ve processed my emotions and luckily I’ve had enough of them lately to write the equivalent of fifty albums.

Mel’s sitting here behind the glass, nodding encouragingly as we work on perfecting Unprepared between bouts of tapping away on her iPhone. I’m surprised she can’t tell we’re both just as distracted, although I have to admit, Stephanie and I are pretty good showmen when we have to be. We’re pretty good at doing most things together, so far.

Yeah, but what if I fall

So what if you do?

What if I fall for you?

Girl I don’t understand, put your heart in these hands

Are you crazy, I can’t

I promise you can

We’re both a little bit broken

And we’re both a little bit scared

Shall we trust one another to jump into love unprepared…

I turn to Stephanie and smile as we sing in harmony, thinking back to last night at her place, wrapped around each other in her single bed. Even with my feet sticking out the end like some overgrown dwarf in a Disney movie, I’d sleep every night for the rest of my life next to Stephanie Jackson. She’s the only thing that makes sense right now.

Whenever I think about how I’ve walked away from my family, and Fret too, I relive the feeling of holding her in my arms, burying ourselves in each other, making love fast and then slow, savouring every second that the world stops spinning. I know it won’t help me forever, but it’s a start.

Our first time was unforgettable, the first night we got back to Nashville. After a day spent recording (and me ignoring all calls from my furious father) we were both still full of nerves and adrenaline when we snuck past E-beth and Tal in the living room and locked ourselves in her bedroom.

                  ‘Now,’ she said, as soon we were inside, pulling her dress over her head and reaching for my belt buckle. I’d gone to buy condoms on a break from the studio but even as she stood naked in front of me in all her unfathomable perfection, twenty-three and beautiful and willing, I felt like I was about to unwrap some kind of forbidden present. Call it conditioning. Call it some residual memory from past events but I blocked it from my mind and I never said a word. She deserves more and I wanted to give her it. ‘The past is the past,’ she said softly, as if reading my mind. ‘We’re re-writing the story.

 

 

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Becky Wicks is a HarperCollins author going indie! Itchy feet has led her to live and work all over the world since leaving England at age 21, including NYC, Sydney, Bali, South America and Dubai. Right now she’s scribbling the second book in the HotFlush series in Vietnam, and will soon be in Vancouver if any hot Canadian men want to make her a cup of tea?

Becky has also written three funny travel books about her time in Dubai, Bali and South America (HarperCollins). Her first book, Burqalicious – The Dubai Diaries, her second book, Balilicious – The Bali Diaries and her third, Latinalicious -The South America Diaries are out now as ebooks.

Becky has also written a comedy romance with author Sarah Alderson under the name Lola Salt, called The Extraordinary Life of Lara Craft (not Croft) which should raise a giggle or two… think Bridget Jones if Jackie Collins had written it!