Today we have the release day blitz of FIGHTING THE ODDS by Kristen Granata!
Check it out and be sure to grab your copy today!
Title: FIGHTING THE ODDS
Author: Kristen Granata
Genre: Contemporary Romance
About Fighting the Odds
I’d
prepared myself for a life without love. Lost my parents and anyone else I got
close to. Nothing good ever stays for long. I’m a statistic after all. Former
foster kid. Former drug addict, alcoholic. Always thought I was destined to be
alone. Always felt like I wasn’t worth a damn.
Then
Carla Evans walked into my life.
One
look at her in that uptight, buttoned-up outfit and I knew I had to have her.
For a night, I’d indulge myself in the fantasy of a girl like her actually
wanting a guy like me.
Then
she moved here with no job and that ridiculous
bucket list.
I
knew she needed my help.
I
just didn’t expect to need hers.
I
spent a long time letting myself believe I didn’t deserve happiness. It took me
a while (and a whole lot of therapy) to realize I’d had it all wrong.
Now
I know.
And
now I have to tell her.
* This new adult
romance flip-flops between the past and present, following TJ’s difficult
journey to get to where he is now. Fighting
the Odds deals with sensitive topics like drug abuse, death, foster care,
homelessness, and miscarriage. But it is also an inspirational story of love,
friendship, hope, and finding your inner warrior.
Exclusive Excerpt
Carla
“I’ll
take a Corona, please.”
I
hand the bartender my fake ID and settle against the back of my stool. She pops
the top off the bottle and slides it my way. I take a long swig.
“You
don’t strike me as the beer type.”
I
hold my hand up without looking at who the deep voice belongs to. “Save your
energy for someone else, please.” Can’t a
girl sit alone at a bar without being hit on?
“It
doesn’t really take much energy to have a conversation, but thanks for your
concern.”
I
roll my eyes and take another few gulps of my beer. I pretend to watch the TV
above the bar, though I can feel the stranger’s eyes on me.
“Who
are you rooting for?” he asks.
“What?”
“The
fight you’re staring at so intently. Who are you rooting for?”
“I’m
not rooting for anyone. MMA is a barbaric sport. How these guys get paid mega
bucks to beat each other up is beyond me. Just another testament to our
Neanderthal society.”
“Those
guys aren’t just beating each other up.”
I
gesture toward the screen. “Those two dudes are throwing punches at each other.
That guy is bleeding profusely from his nose. They certainly aren’t doing
ballet.”
The
stranger chuckles. “Okay, so they are fighting. But there’s more to it than
that. It takes skill and training to do what they do.”
“Oh,
look. Now they’re on the ground. That guy’s going to lay on top of the other
one for the next five minutes. You’re right. Looks like they’ve had a lot of
training.” I drain the rest of my beer and stand. So much for enjoying a drink alone.
“You
should stay and watch the fight. I’ll prove to you just how much skill these
guys have.”
I
spin around to face the annoying stranger, allowing myself to look at him for
the first time.
Holy muscles.
I
clamp my mouth shut to keep it from falling wide open. Brawny. Strapping.
Muscular. Built. None of the words coming to mind seem adequate enough to
describe the Herculean god sitting before me. It’s almost a sin he covered
himself up with all those tattoos. Almost.
The intricate pieces of art twist around his muscular arms, all the way down to
his knuckles. A tease of ink pokes out of the neckline of his shirt, stopping
halfway up his neck. Every inch of his body has trouble written all over it.
His
face though … his face is a different story. It’s so handsome it looks like it
doesn’t belong on his body. The icy-blue of his eyes is warmed by his smile,
which is complete with a set of dimples. A backwards baseball cap covers his
hair, but his thick brows and scruff peppering his chiseled jawline are as dark
as a cup of coffee.
He’s
an oxymoron. The face of an angel with the body of Satan himself. A dark ray of
light. A friendly nemesis. The man is menacingly beautiful.
And I’m gawking. I clear my throat and try to remember
what it was he’d asked me. “I’ve had a long trip. I’m going to call it a
night.”
“Where
you coming from?”
“Florida.
Just arrived.”
“And
the first place you come to is a bar?”
My
eyes narrow and I prop my hand on my hip. “Don’t judge me. You don’t know a
thing about me.”
His
hands shoot up. “Hey, I wasn’t judging. I was just making an observation.”
“Well,
don’t do that either.”
Enter Kristen’s Giveaway
About Kristen Granata
Kristen Granata is a teacher by day, and an
(exhausted) author by night. Known for writing emotional New Adult Romance, she
loves creating realistic, flawed characters who struggle through the darkest
parts of life and come out stronger on the other side. Kristen is a self-proclaimed
"bitter cynic trapped in a hopeless romantic's body." Her characters
pack a sarcastic punch, make you laugh, make you think, make you ugly cry - and
they will always live happily ever after. If you're a lover of moving,
inspirational reads, Kristen's your girl.
Kristen was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1986.
She moved to Staten Island with her family and lived there for almost twenty
years. There she attended community college and became a teacher. Despite her
passion for writing, and despite her professors strongly suggesting she become
a writer, she took the more sensible route (bitter cynic, remember?) After
going through a difficult divorce when she was only twenty-nine, Kristen
returned to writing. The raw story that poured out of her led her to publish
her debut novel, Collision, in March of 2018. Soon after in August 2018, the
sequel, Avoidance, was published. Her third novel, The Other Brother, released
in April 2019.
Kristen openly shares her mental health
struggles with depression and anxiety with her Instagram following. Her message
is a beacon of hope to anyone who is suffering: You are not alone. She
delicately weaves this theme into her writing, and demonstrates the ability of
love to heal trauma.
When she's not teaching or writing, Kristen is
reading, Instagramming, indulging in her messy love affair with popcorn, and
annoying her wife and step-daughters by incessantly singing along to The
Greatest Showman soundtrack.
