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We are so excited for all of you to check out Small Change by Roan Parrish. We’ve got an excerpt to share with you today, along with our thoughts. We loved this book! We’ll get right to the deets on Small Change by Roar Parrish:
***About the Book***
Small Change by Roan Parrish Series: Small Change #1
Published by Self-Published on June 1st 2017
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Opposites Attract
Pages: 258
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Ginger Holtzman has fought for everything she’s ever had—the success of her tattoo shop, respect in the industry, her upcoming art show. Tough and independent, she has taking-no-crap down to an art form. Good thing too, since keeping her shop afloat, taking care of her friends, and scrambling to finish her paintings doesn’t leave time for anything else. Which … is for the best, because then she doesn’t notice how lonely she is. She’ll get through it all on her own, just like she always does.
Christopher Lucen opened a coffee and sandwich joint in South Philly because he wanted to be part of a community after years of running from place to place, searching for something he could never quite name. Now, he relishes the familiarity of knowing what his customers want, and giving it to them. But what he really wants now is love.
When they meet, Christopher is smitten, but Ginger … isn’t quite so sure. Christopher’s gorgeous, and kind, and their opposites-attract chemistry is off the charts. But hot sex is one thing—truly falling for someone? Terrifying. When her world starts to crumble around her, Ginger has to face the fact that this fight can only be won by being vulnerable—this fight, she can’t win on her own.
Small Change is the first book in a series that will include M/F and M/M romances.
***EXCERPT***
He was tall, with the thick build of someone naturally powerful, rather than the kind of sculpted muscles of someone who worked out in a gym. His thick red hair was cut close on the sides and long on top, combed back from a square hairline. He had a strong jaw and a smirky mouth, and his stubble was nearly blond. It was his eyes that I couldn’t look away from though. They were almost the same color as his hair—a warm goldish-orange—and shot through with flecks of blue.
My first impression was that his face was arresting, interesting the way sometimes in a gallery there’s one painting that pulls you in and won’t let you walk past. Each line eases into the next, each color shades into the one beside it in just the way your eye desires. Once you start to see the details you can’t look away.
But the more I looked, the more interesting converted to handsome as hell.
“Dramatic start to the day,” he commented, eyes sliding to the spot where I’d been crouched when he came in.
“Not even my first encounter with a floor this morning, unfortunately.” I leaned an elbow on the counter, drawn toward him.
Keep Reading the Excerpt for Small Change
Keep Reading the Excerpt for Small Change
inside the box“One of those, huh?” He spoke with the ease of a food service professional accustomed to such exchanges, and the utter empathy of someone who actually meant it.
When he held the bag out to me over the counter it was accompanied by an easy smile that crinkled laugh lines at the corners of those extraordinary eyes and displayed charmingly sharp incisors that overhung his bottom lip a little, like a kid wearing dress-up fangs.
“Just in case the vagaries of your day find you needing another one,” he said.
And then he winked at me. Not the friendly wink of a barista. A filthy, promise-laden wink that shifted his grin from charming to sexy as hell.
***About Roan Parrish***
Roan Parrish lives in Philadelphia where she is gradually attempting to write love stories in every genre.
When not writing, she can usually be found cutting her friends’ hair, meandering through whatever city she’s in while listening to torch songs and melodic death metal, or cooking overly elaborate meals. She loves bonfires, winter beaches, minor chord harmonies, and self-tattooing. One time she may or may not have baked a six-layer chocolate cake and then thrown it out the window in a fit of pique.
***Our Thoughts***
Erin: First off, a confession. I’m a HUGE Roan Parrish fan girl. For anyone who reads in the MM genre, you’ll recognize her name. She is the author of the fantastic Middle of Somewhere series. For everyone else, be prepared to be wowed and impressed by this author’s talent. Small Change is the first book in her new Small Change series which will feature both MF and MM couples. This first book showcases Ginger and Christopher, two characters who I absolutely adored and who were so perfect both together and apart. Small Change packs an emotional punch straight into your feels but there is plenty of sweet, swoony romance to keep you smiling from beginning to end.
Usually when I read an MF book, I like one character more than the other. Sometimes it’s the hero, sometimes it’s the heroine, but in Small Change it is impossible to pick one over the other. Both Ginger Holtzman and Christopher Lucen are beyond awesome. Ginger is a kickass tattoo artist and the owner of Small Change. She’s fierce, loyal, and immensely talented. She paints as well as tattoos and her work is well-known. She’s successful and strong and also endearingly vulnerable. She misses her best friend, Daniel (from her Middle of Somewhere series) and has issues with her family, though she has a strong group of friends and colleagues who support her. She works hard, drinks way too much coffee, and self-identifies as queer. She’s mostly happy and focused on finishing her paintings for her upcoming gallery show when she stumbles into Melt, the local sandwich and coffee shop. And where she meets the fabulous, sweet and sexy ginger, Christopher.
Christopher Lucen … you guys. He’s about the swooniest, sweetest guy I’ve come across in some time. No lie. But the thing about Christopher is that he’s not so perfect that he seems contrived in any way. He has flaws, admittedly only a few, but they’re there and this makes him all the more fantastic. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the red hair. And the scruff. And the freckles. And then those eyes. Because … yeah, he’s super sexy but there’s lots more to this guy than just his looks. He’s charming, caring, and loves his family, especially his troubled brother Jude. I absolutely LOVED how Roan Parrish gave us the backstory to Jude. Through emails that Christopher sends to him, we find out how much Christopher loves his brother and how much he just wants to help Jude. I won’t give too much away about this, but it is emotional and at times painful. He is immediately attracted to Ginger and a few heavy looks, some flirting, and a couple of coffees and sandwiches later, these two are off and running.
The chemistry between these two was off the charts hot and intense, but there is an underlying sweetness that just made me well, melt.
I slid off my chair and bent to look more closely at his wreck of a mountain stream. He ran a palm up my spine to my neck and I bit my lip, glad he couldn’t see my face. It was in intimate gesture, appreciative and possessive, and it made me imagine how he’d touch me if the thin fabric of my dress weren’t between us.
Would he trace the lines of my body—follow the shapes of muscle, bone, and flesh—or would he follow the lines of my ink instead?
And then there’s this.
I reached between us to feel him and his eyelids fluttered. “You make me hard all the time,” he muttered against my mouth. I gritted my teeth against the wave of desire that washed through me. Being wanted, knowing this gorgeous man wanted me as much as I wanted him, made me lightheaded. “Tell me why?” I gasped out, embarrassed, but I needed to know it was real. “Please?”
Christopher rubbed the pad of his thumb over my lower lip and my eyes slid closed. He spoke low into my ear. “It turns me on to watch you tattoo. To see you concentrating, marking someone, changing them. The way you walk fucking gets to me. You stalk around, with your hands on your hips and your chin up, and your gorgeous ass out.” I snorted and he grabbed the ass in question. “It’s like you’re constantly about to fuck someone or fuck them up.” He nipped at my neck and I writhed.
“What else?” I gasped as he pressed his hips up, letting me feel the erection straining his jeans.
“Your voice,” he said. “So hot. And I’m serious about the swearing. I don’t know why it turns me on, but it does. It’s like…I don’t know, like you’ve got so much passion simmering away that normal words aren’t strong enough. Or maybe I just like it because your mouth’s so gorgeous that dirty words make me think about other dirty things…”
All. The. Sighs.
Their honestly with one another was so refreshing and even with Ginger’s sometimes frustrating hot and cold attitude toward Christopher, or well, being in a relationship with him, I was rooting for these two the whole time. There is a wonderful cast of secondary characters that I can’t wait to get to know better, especially Jude and Faron. (*hint, hint Roan!) The strong woman vibe from Ginger and her fellow female tattooists was on point and I really liked how Roan incorporated this arc into the overall story. There is great queer representation too—bisexuality, transgender, gay—and this just added to the overall enjoyment of the book.
Small Change is a book about love and friendship. About finding out who you are and what you want. It’s about family, the good and the bad. It’s about finding that ONE person who gets you, all of you, and is all in no matter what. I am so impressed by Roan’s first MF romance and if you haven’t given this author a try, I urge you to fix that immediately with this book. Romance and swoon and emotion and full of memorable characters, Small Change will make her a favorite of yours, no question. Her talent for writing a story that will make you feel shines through and I am so excited to see what’s next in this series.
She's a Texan, though she drinks her tea plain and NOT sweet. She loves cheesecake, strawberry limeade's from Sonic and her favorite color is purple. In her books, she loves an HEA, but she never minds if the road is rough to get there, as long as the reward is worth the struggle.
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| Overall: | 4.5 |
Have you read anything by Roan Parrish?
