Bouquet Toss By: Melissa Brown *Guest Post, Excerpt & Review*

*Click The Banner To Follow Check Out Other Tour Stops*

Book Description

Ever since Daphne Harper graduated from college, all of her friends have fallen in love, become engaged and walked down the aisle. Be it a blessing or a curse, Daphne (a hopeless romantic and perpetual single girl) catches the bouquet at every single wedding she attends.

Daphne’s love life is a mess. Her first love, Mayson, haunts her heart and keeps her from pursuing happiness with any man who comes along. As she struggles to move on from the one who got away, Daphne wonders if she will ever break her curse and find her happily ever after.

Check Out This Book Excerpt

The bookcase in the corner of my guest room beckons me and I find myself hovering on my knees, still in my satin dress, looking for something that I have not seen in over a year.  My journal.

I tear off my stilettos and sit down next to the shelf, lined with several notebooks, teaching binders and contemporary romance novels.  Hidden, all the way at the edge, tucked between two very large dictionaries, is my journal.  It’s a simple leather bound book; the spine is covered in dust.  In a way, I’m proud of the dusty film that lines this book, for it shows just how long it’s been since I’ve written about him, about us.

I page through the book, my heart thumping in my chest as I’m brought back to him, to Mayson Holt, the boy who stole my heart, broke it and disappeared from my life five years ago.  The man who I do not allow myself to think about.  The man who still owns a very large piece of my soul.

The final entry catches my attention as the pain of that moment rushes back to me.  I remember sobbing in my apartment that night, three and a half years after we last saw one another.  Tears spill from my eyes as I’m brought back to that moment, the moment I hit my breaking point. The moment I had to stop thinking about him.

“It’s time to let go, Daphne.  You have to let go,” I say to myself, tears streaming down my cheeks.  I pick up my journal, walk down to the dumpster behind my building and toss the journal in.   It takes every single ounce of strength in me to walk back into my apartment without retrieving that book.  But, somehow I manage to do it without looking back. Perhaps I am ready...for real this time. 

Author's Guest Post

The inspiration for Bouquet Toss stemmed from my own romantic life.  In my early twenties, all of my friends were getting married right out of college and I could barely find dates to their weddings.  I was also lovesick and missing the boy who stole my heart in college.  Mayson's character is based on him and the prologue of the book is an actual diary entry.  The rest of the story is fiction though.  :)

I am a sucker for romantic movies, but I can't think of any at all that relate to Bouquet Toss.  I do love wedding movies, though....Father of the Bride (not a romance, but so much fun to watch), 27 Dresses and others that revolve around the planning of a wedding are easy to lose yourself in.  I love realistic romance stories like The Way We Were (I cry every single time I watch that movie) and When Harry Met Sally.  But it's fun to escape as well into movies like The Notebook and An Affair to Remember.  Some of my favorite romantic stories lie within movies that are not romantic movies---for example, the romance between Rocky and Adrianne in the original Rocky movie is just amazing to me.  I actually reference it in Bouquet Toss.

About The Author & Her Links

Melissa Brown is a hopeless romantic living in the Chicago suburbs with her husband Chris and their two children.  Aside from writing, she enjoys reading and baking.  She also has a slight obsession with actor Henry Cavill and the TV show New Girl.

Melissa’s Blog:

http://melissabrownauthor.blogspot.com/

Facebook page:  

https://www.facebook.com/MelissaBrownAuthor

Goodreads Author Profile:

http://www.goodreads.com/melissabrown

Twitter: LissaLou77

Champagne Toast link:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AYH543W/ref=tsm_1_fb_lk

My Mini Review

This was a fun read throughout. I felt there was a good written story here, and Daphne was a good main character and I liked reading her POV. I believe there was that transition, from being emotionally hurt, to genuinely being loved. Towards the middle of the story there is a, well to me, it was a shocking situation, but there is that chance for Daphne, to start a new chapter in her life, and well does she? 

That is for you to find out, and along with finding that answer, you'll read some humorous scenes, some talk about movies, and more, so if you like a Chick-Lit Contemporary Romance, this could be for you! :)

My Rating: 4/5
I say Between PG-13 & R-Rated (Some Mature Content)