Review and Guest Post: Color of Loneliness by Madeleine Beckett

 

Color of Loneliness (Color #1) by Madeleine Beckett

Published: September 2012

Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis:

Myra Sommers, an attractive young copy editor living in Philadelphia, makes the tough decision to return to her family home in Nyssa, Oregon. A recent death leaves her with no remaining family, and she decides to heal and regroup there. Her decision to leave is solidified by recent revelations involving her cheating ex-boyfriend, Trent.

Myra parts ways with her only friend, Susie O’Connor, a zany woman who’s more than a little insane. In Nyssa, Myra finds little immediate comfort in her “new” home which is literally falling apart around her. She sinks into a deep depression, exacerbated by her feelings of loneliness and isolation in the small town.

News of Myra’s return takes no time to spread through Nyssa, and she quickly encounters several locals, some friendly, some not. Among the friendly faces is Jim, an elderly neighbor whom she begins to rely on for help and companionship. When she realizes that she’s going to have to hire someone to do repairs on her broken-down home, Jim gives her the name of a local contractor, Dylan Lawson, who has done work for him in the past.

When Myra calls Dylan for an estimate, she’s astounded by the contractor’s gruff, surly demeanor. But she trusts Jim and there are few other options in the small town.

Dylan can’t help but notice that Myra is young, single, and beautiful, which makes him suspicious of her real reason for calling him. The women in Nyssa pursue him relentlessly but he’s not in the least bit interested.

After Myra approves his estimate, Dylan begins the process of repairing her home. While he works, she begins writing a book; that is, when she’s not fielding insane calls from Susie who misses her like crazy.

Slowly, a reluctant friendship develops between the pair, followed by romantic feelings which neither of them can fight. However, their painful past experiences threaten to tear them apart. Can they move beyond their despair and open their hearts to love?

Guest Post

WHAT MAKES DYLAN LAWSON HOT

Dylan Lawson, the lead character in my book Color of Loneliness, is hot. Uber hot. Hotter than the surface of the sun hot. What makes him such a hottie? Well, there are a number of contributing factors to the man’s hotness level. First off, let’s discuss the obvious: his physical appearance. I made it very clear that the man was attractive. However, when I described Dylan’s appearance in the book, I purposely tried to be vague. I mentioned that he was tall and lean with a slightly muscular build due to his contracting job. But I did not discuss hair color, eye color, etc. because I wanted the reader to use his or her imagination to fill in the blanks as far as that goes.

Now Dylan harbors a lot of secrets, and the man is very depressed. It’s not so obvious in the beginning, but as the story unfolds, it becomes pretty clear. So due to his depression, he doesn’t care about his appearance. He lets his hair grow out too long because he doesn’t want to be bothered going to get it cut so he wears lots of baseball caps. He also doesn’t feel like shaving so he walks around with a couple days worthy of scruff on his face. He lives in blue jeans, short-sleeved shirts with long-sleeved flannel shirts over top of them and black scuffed-up work boots.

Dylan lives alone and his house is a pig-sty. This again is due to his depressive state. Every day when he gets up, he has to dig through piles of clothing on his floor to find something half-way clean to wear.

Now that you have an idea of what Dylan looks like on the outside, let’s discuss what’s on the inside… what makes Dylan tick. Dylan is an extremely angry man. He’s hot-tempered and flies off the handle at the drop of a hat and isn’t afraid to tell you off to your face. He’s foul-tempered and equally foul-mouthed. He uses his anger as a coping mechanism and as a way to keep people away. But there’s a lot more to Dylan underneath the hateful attitude and the potty mouth. Myra Sommers, the heroine in Color of Loneliness, is the one that gets to peel those layers away to reveal the truly beautiful man that lies beneath.

So in conclusion, I believe what really makes Dylan hot is his trying so hard not to be hot. The more he tries to become unattractive, the more attractive he becomes. Go check out Color of Loneliness and the upcoming sequel Color of Forgiveness, due out this month, and see if you agree.

Madeleine Beckett

Review:

While there are a few things I didn’t like about Color of Loneliness there is a lot that I did love about this adult contemporary romance. Very easy to read this book is jammed pack with lots of different emotions and situations.

After Myra Sommers grandfather dies and leaves her his house she decides to move there and write a book. Unfortunately the house is in need of a lot of repair so she hires a contractor that was recommended to her by a neighbor. Even though he is hot he is also rude, uses a lot of foul language and he smokes.

Dylan Lawson has suffered some major tragedy in his life. That is why he feels the need to be rude to everyone he is around. He also has a lot of women asking for his help when all the really want to do is get to know him better… a lot better. So it takes him awhile to realize that Myra isn’t like all those other women. She has an ex who is like a stalker as well as a couple of guys who won’t take a hint a leave her alone.

Do these two damaged people have what it takes to overcome all their issues and have a future together?

Despite the language and crude humor this is a really good romance story with a huge (and I mean HUGE) cliffhanger ending. I am looking forward to seeing what will happen next…