Lavender In Bloom by Lily Velez Release Blast, Interview, Guest Post, Excerpt & Giveaway!

Lily Velez - Lavender in Bloom B1 copy

Hi guys, we have Lily Velez stopping by with her new release Lavenders In Bloom, we have a short interview with lily, a great guest post, a great excerpt and an awesome giveaway so check out the post and click that giveaway link <3 ~Pixie~

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 Lavender in Bloom 

by 

Lily Velez

It’s the year 1802 in Avignon, France

Noah Capet has spent most of his young life living simple and unvaried days in the hushed countryside of southern France. Quiet, reserved, and diffident, his preference for existing is to do so in solitude, keeping to himself both in town and on his family’s farm—a predilection that’s altogether disrupted when a newcomer to town by the name of Jeremie Perreault begins an unremitting quest to befriend him.

Jeremie is everything Noah is not. Charismatic and gregarious, he leaves a trail of charmed admirers in his wake wherever he goes. Expressive and idealistic, he talks without end about his deep love for old books and his spirited dream to one day travel the world on a literary pilgrimage.

Over the course of a single summer, the two form an unlikely friendship, but just as quickly as it develops, it soon entirely dissolves as they’re forced to face the truth of what has unexpectedly emerged between them.

Lavender in Bloom is a tender and tragic coming-of-age story about first love and self-discovery, and a poignant reminder that time is fleeting and always takes with it the choices we’re too afraid to make.

 Amazon

Lily Velez - Lavender in Bloom B1 copy

Interview!

What was the hardest part of the writing process?

As it happened, the mass shooting in Orlando (the worst mass shooting in U.S. history) took place while I was doing final edits for Lavender in Bloom. I live in Orlando, and the shooting actually took place at a venue just 20 minutes away from my home. That was hard because it emphasized the amount of hate that’s in our world, especially when it comes to who a person loves. Noah and Jeremie’s story takes place in 1802. Although revolutionary ideals (and later, The Napoleonic Code) decriminalized same-sex relationships at the time, it’s not like you could suddenly walk down the street hand-in-hand with your significant other. Objections still ran deep, and just decades before the story’s set, two men were actually burned alive in Paris for being lovers. So the hardest part for me was realizing just how close to home Noah and Jeremie’s story is for countless people even to this day.

Can you share some surprising things you learned while researching this book?

At one point in Lavender in Bloom, Jeremie shares an anecdote about a book in his collection. What’s so unique about it? It’s bound in someone’s skin! As it turns out, this sort of thing happened back in the day. People would have books bound with their own skin upon their death so that the book would serve as a memorialization for their families. I don’t know if those family members ever ended up keeping those books, though! I don’t think I’d want to! 😉

If you could spend a day with a character from your book, who would it be and what would you do?

I’d probably most enjoy spending a day with Jeremie. I would want to join him on one of his literary pilgrimages–probably the one where he visits all the breathtaking libraries in the world. That would be so much fun, and it’s actually a goal of mine as well!

What were your goals and intentions in this book? What do you hope people will take away?

I hope people will take away the fact that you can’t live your life to please other people. This is something I think we all face at some point in our lives. We either do what’s expected of us to make mom and dad (or whoever it might be) happy and proud (but it comes at the expense of our own joy)…or we forge a path for ourselves, break the mold, and live the fulfilling life of our dreams.

It can be scary to do the thing that lights you up on the inside–especially if it’s met with the disapproval of others. No one wants to be an outcast. We want to be accepted and loved. We want to feel like we belong.

But this life you have is your life and yours only. It’s a gift. You’ve been given a unique opportunity to explore the world, to grow, to learn about what you like and don’t like, to develop meaningful and beautiful relationships with others, and to have an overall fulfilling and positive experience until your last day. So why spend a single minute of your life in a job/role/position/relationship/etc. that doesn’t make you excited to be alive?

Your dreams are special, and I hope this book encourages people to go after that thing that’s been tugging at their heart for a while now, to say yes to that opportunity no matter how scary it might be, and to not let amazing and beautiful things slip through their fingers because of fear.

Are you working on another book?

Two stories are currently warring within me to become my next book.

The first is a contemporary, new adult romance about a young woman who tracks down the family of the organ donor whose heart saved her father’s life a year ago, and finds a group of shattered individuals still in the throes of grief.

The second is an adult historical romance set in the 1800s in Prague that follows a young psychology professor named Gottfried, whose world is turned upside down when a seventeen-year-0ld, would-be anarchist named Dominik Prochazka becomes enamored of him.

If you’d like to stay updated about my future books and be among the first to know about advanced reader copies, giveaways, and events, you can sign up to join my VIP crew here: http://www.lilyvelezbooks.com/free/

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Lily Velez!

Can you tell us more about the cover for Lavender in Bloom?

I’d be happy to! To start off, you can see the full-jacket cover design for Lavender in Bloom here: http://www.lilyvelezbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Lavender-in-bloom-5x8_BW_250.jpg

The cover was designed by Stephanie Hobbs over at Steph’s Cover Design.

Lavender in Bloom is a historical, coming-of-age romance set in the 1800s in southern France. It follows the friendship that develops between a quiet and reserved boy named Noah, and a newcomer to town by the name of Jeremie Perreault who’s his opposite in almost every possible way.

I knew from the start that I wanted the cover to focus on three elements that are central to Noah and Jeremie’s story: lavender, books, and horseshoes.

The lavender is obvious enough, of course. It would tie in with the title. But lavender fields (which flower in the summer in southern France) play a central role in the evolution of Noah and Jeremie’s relationship, too. There are key moments between them that involve lavender in some way, and about midway into the story, a character tells a fable about how lavender first came into bloom in France, and it really drives home the meaning of the title and what the novel as a whole represents. So, yes–lavender had to be on the cover by all means, and I’m so happy with the images that were used. They’re absolutely beautiful!

I must say, though, that the back cover is my favorite part of the full jacket. It’s a perfect representation of Noah and Jeremie. On the back cover, you’ll see a pair of horseshoes and a bouquet of lavender at rest upon an old, weathered book.

The horseshoes are for Noah. Noah is a farrier (someone who takes care of horse hooves and who nails on horseshoes). Since he apprenticed with a blacksmith, he makes his own horseshoes as well. A gentle and quiet soul, Noah is the type of person who’s most comfortable in the company of animals. As such, he puts all of himself into his work as a farrier. It’s his very own art in a way. He’s happiest when he’s at his anvil, crafting new horseshoes. But the biggest reason I wanted a horseshoe on the back cover was because it ends up signifying something special between Noah and Jeremie and is really where their friendship begins. You’ll see what I mean if/when you read the book. 😉

The picture of the old book on the back cover is representative of Jeremie, who is absolutely in love with rare and antique books. It’s the reason he’s come to Avignon, France in the first place: to open up a bookshop and surround himself with books, which to him are the world’s greatest treasures. He’s especially taken by the trade of bookbinding. Long before we had New York publishing houses, professional binders were the ones who put books together, and back in the day, it was practically an art. Many books would have beautiful leather covers with gold tooling, jeweled onlays–they’d basically look like mosaics sometimes!

So all in all, the cover so perfectly encapsulates the soul of Lavender in Bloom. An aspect of Noah and an aspect of Jeremie unite in perfect harmony on the back cover, and the front cover shows off a beautiful flower that becomes symbolic to their relationship.

Lily Velez - Lavender in Bloom B1 copy

Excerpt

Jeremie’s abrupt materialization not just on the farm but right before him incinerated the last of Noah’s comprehensible ideations. He didn’t know what to think or what to say. He was hopelessly held captive by this unheralded and unforeseen visit such that he could only stand there, rendered mute, utterly immobilized.

Jeremie’s eyes roamed Noah’s face, weary drifters treading familiar lands. They moved in a seamless stream as he absorbed the dark gold of Noah’s hair, the fair tint of his skin, the bone shape of his eyebrows and nose and cheeks and jawline. It was as if he were committing it all to memory.

He raised a hand, and his fingertips fell one by one along the side of Noah’s face, like beads of rain taking to a windowpane. Noah’s eyelids briefly fluttered shut, and in the darkness there was only Jeremie and Jeremie’s touch. It was gentle, delicate.

Jeremie stepped closer. He brought his free hand to the other side of Noah’s face, smoothing a thumb across his cheekbone, as if tracing the path on a weathered map. With his soft, warm palms, he handled Noah’s face with such great care, even more so than he did with one of his rare books, that Noah’s chest swam with emotion—no, drowned in it. He was overcome by the moment, which to him unraveled such tenderness as he had never before known or experienced. He didn’t know whether to laugh or weep, whether to speak or maintain this strange wordlessness between them.

He additionally didn’t know what struck him more: the overpowering silence, or the blatant despair in Jeremie’s eyes, eyes that still hadn’t met his own. Instead, Jeremie closed them, moving closer until their bodies were no longer separated—Noah was immediately as hot as if he’d stepped through fire—and then he rested his forehead against Noah’s, still holding his face. There they remained, breathing in sync, and Noah could almost feel their hearts beating as one. He’d known many states over the past weeks: anxiety, fear, shame. But here with Jeremie, trapped within this impossible capsule of frozen time, all else melted away. In the aftermath, Noah felt only the faintest glimpse of bittersweet peace.

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About Lily

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Author Bio:

Lily Velez has been writing stories since she was six years old. Not much has changed since then. She still prefers the written word and her overactive imagination over the ‘real world’ (though to be fair, her stories no longer feature talking dinosaurs). A graduate of Rollins College and a Florida native, when she’s not reading or writing, she spends most of her days wrangling up her pit bulls Noah and Luna, planning exciting travel adventures, and nursing her addiction to cheese. All this when she isn’t participating in the extreme sport known as napping. You can learn more about Lily and her books at www.lilyvelezbooks.com.

Website / Goodreads / Twitter

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Giveaway!

Win a $100 Amazon Gift Card!

(Just click the link below)

Lily Velez Rafflecopter giveaway!

(Ends 31st July 2016)
Lily Velez - Lavender in Bloom B1 copy

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