DAMAGED GOODS
by NYT Bestselling Author Nicole Williams
The Outsider Chronicles, #2
(stand-alone)
New Adult/Adult Contemporary
Release: September 9, 2014
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iBooks
When Liv Bennett said good-bye to her sinkhole of a hometown, she planned to leave that chapter of her life behind forever. But forever turned out to only be three years.
After her addict of a mother up and disappears, Liv returns to what she considers her own personal hell smack in the middle of nowhere Nevada to take care of her two younger sisters, and she promptly reinstitutes the golden rule that got her through her first nineteen years of life without getting knocked up, roughed up, or messed up: don’t date the local boys and, god forbid, don’t fall in love with one of them.
It isn’t long before that golden rule is put to the test.
Will Goods grew up in the next trailer over, but the wild, careless boy who used to tear up the town with his three brothers has morphed into someone else so completely, he’s almost unrecognizable. The quiet, contemplative man who works on cars every night and takes care of his mentally ill mother every day is nothing like the local boys Liv grew up avoiding.
But when Liv considers suspending her golden rule just this once, she finds out something about Will that will change everything.
Will Goods isn’t who he used to be—he’s not even the man Liv thinks she’s gotten to know over the summer. He’s become someone else entirely.
He’s become . . .
Damaged Goods.
About the Author
I’m the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of the CRASH series (HarperTeen, S&S UK), LOST & FOUND series, UP IN FLAMES (S&S UK), The EDEN TRILOGY, and a handful of others. I write stories about everyday kinds of people who find themselves in extraordinary kinds of situations. I tell love stories with happy endings because I believe in making the world a better place, and that’s one tiny way I can make it so. I’m one of those people who still believe in true love and soul mates, and would rather keep my head in the clouds any day over having my feet firmly on the ground.
DAMAGED GOOD Release Guest Post Options
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FACTS ABOUT DAMAGED GOODS
By Nicole Williams
- Given what Liv’s profession is for a while during the book, I had to do some extensive research that was rather interesting and showed me just how little I thought I knew about this profession.
- What Liv calls Death Valley since she’s so very fond of the place she grew up, is a fictional town in Nevada. I wanted to create a fictional place in this instance as I wanted readers to be able to relate it to their own sinkholes they may have lived in in the past.
- My husband was in the military for six years, so he was able to answer a lot of the questions I had about Will and what he would have gone through and experienced when he was in the military.
- I have rough outlines for books for each of Will’s brothers, although I’m not sure if I’ll ever write them. For me, I just had to know what their whole stories were, even if I was the only person who knew them.
- Reese was originally named Charlie, but I wrote this book months before writing HARD KNOX (in which the female lead is named Charlie), so this Charlie’s name got changed to Reese and really, it suits her better.
- From all of the research I had to do on rattlesnake bites, I wound up having snake nightmares for a couple of nights!
- The last chapter in the book involves a sky lantern. On a trip to the Oregon Coast, I watched several people send them up into the night sky, giving me the idea for how I wanted to end Will and Liv’s story.
- Given Will’s character, he’s been the most difficult male lead to write so far. I found myself constantly re-writing lines or scenes pertaining to him.
- I think Liv will probably be my most controversial female lead to date based on the choices she’s faced with and the decisions she makes. I think readers will either love or hate her and there will be little in-between.
- Cherry might be my favorite secondary character I’ve ever created. For more reasons than one!
The Outsider Chronicles Series
By Nicole Williams
The Outsider Chronicles is my latest series (the first book, HARD KNOX, was released in August) that will bounce between the New Adult and Adult Contemporary Romance realms. Each book will highlight different couples, and will not need to be read in any kind of order. Each book can be read as a standalone. There won’t be any particular mold for the heroes or heroines (I’ll have the whole spectrum of male leads, from Judes to Jesses!) but the love story for each couple will be fraught with seemingly insurmountable odds and a gauntlet of obstacles. The steam factor will range from light to heavy with each book as well. Whereas HARD KNOX was in the mid range, DAMAGED GOODS amps it up a bit. Basically, each story will be something different than the previous ones, but I hope each couple will resonate with readers in some way.
EXCERPT:
“Hero?” I suggested. In terms of real-life experience, not as-seen-on-TV bullshit, what Will had done for Paige was the closest thing to heroism I’d witnessed.
“I’m not a hero, Liv,” Will replied.
“I’m pretty sure that’s what every other hero would say too. The only kind of person who would actually admit to being a hero is the farthest thing from one.”
“So what are you? The hero expert?”
I shook my head. “I’m the anti-hero expert. When someone comes along who’s the opposite of that, it’s pretty damn obvious.”
“Well thanks for the compliment, but I’m afraid we’ll have to agree to disagree. What I did was nothing anyone else wouldn’t have done. Paige needed help. I was in a position to give her some.”
I considered that. The way he’d said that made it seem like heroism was a simple concept when, to the rest of the world, it was far more complex. Going out of your way for another member of mankind was not a knee-jerk reaction. It was the stuff of . . . heroes. “But did you know that sucking the venom from Paige’s bite would endanger you too? Venom Extractor,” I tacked on, lifting an eyebrow.
Will bit his lip, probably to keep from smiling even wider. “I spent the majority of my deployments in the Army in some desert or another around the world. So yeah, I know a thing or two about snake bites, along with the consequences of sucking the venom from the bite.”
“That it could endanger, or even end, your life.”
Will shook his head once. “That it could and likely would leave some kind of permanent damage, possibly even death, for the snake-bite victim.”
That was why Will Goods was such an enigma. A mystery by every definition of the word. How could a man in his twenties think the way he did and believe the things he believed? He had the wisdom of a man who had lived multiple lifetimes, and the body of one who’d only just begun his first.
“You could have died, Will. For some teenage girl you don’t even know. I don’t . . . understand.” That right there had been my marching theme for the past month. I don’t understand. If I died tomorrow, that was what would be stamped onto my gravestone.
The skin between Will’s brows creased. “There’s nothing to understand. When I heard Paige crying for help, there wasn’t time to think. I reacted. When someone needs help, a person doesn’t stop to think, to pen out a pro versus con list, before jumping in to help. Paige was hurt. She needed help. I reacted. Anyone would have done the same.”
So perhaps Will didn’t have the wisdom of generations after all—at least when it came to certain things. Not if he still believed that mankind was basically good and that if someone cried for help, more people would come to their aid than would turn their backs and keep walking. Me? I’d learned the truth years ago. Mankind wasn’t a cooperative circuit that existed in a unified circle. Mankind was a single entity only acting out of interest for himself, flipping his proverbial middle finger at the person beside him.
In some ways, Will Goods was still very much a naive little boy.
“No, Will. You reacted. Most people would have thought first, maybe put together that pro versus con chart thing, and the vast majority of people would have dusted their hands of the whole mess and totally forgotten the young girl crying for help by breakfast tomorrow.”
The crease between Will’s eyebrows deepened. “Well, that’s a sad way to see things.”
“It’s not sad when it’s reality.”
The author is offering a release giveaway! Visit Nicole's Facebook page to enter!
Liv Bennett ran as far away as she could from her past life. The tailor park, her horrible mom and her dead end life. Just when she was establishing herself with school and a decent job, her sisters call her in desperation. Their mom has taken off and left the two of them with nothing. Liv rushes him to try to help out as best she can. With no job and a broke down trailer to live, it isn't much. How is she going to raise two teenage girls?
Will Goods is the next door neighbor that Liz hasn't seen in years. When he graduated from high school, he enlisted in the military for a better life. Now, his mom is sick and he is home to help out. While Liz never really was close to him before, there is something drawing her to him now.
Will and Liz both become each other's "person". Liz seems to lean on him when things go bad. He is the only person she is open and honest to. Some times, she tells him things she has not even admitted to herself out loud yet.
Will is a good listener and helps Liz out as much as he can. Liz is struggling. She is in a town with no job and a terrible economy. Liz is forced into taking the only job she is offered, at a strip club.
Liz is not happy about working there, but when things hit rock bottom, she has no other choice. Liz's life is out of control, and she hates it. Liz's childhood was out of control so now as an adult she needs order.
Will doesn't help with keeping things in Liz's life in control. She is not sure of the feelings she has for Will. Liz knows that she is not staying in the trailer forever. She wants to get her and her sisters out of there as fast as she can. Will has his mom to take care of. He can't just up and leave.
When lines are crossed and friendship becomes more.... Liz is left wondering if they are both damaged goods. Can they actually make something out of it?
This book was a non stop ball of emotions for me. I was in a constant state of either crying or smiling. Just like with Nicole's other books, I didn't want it to end. I love this book. It has to be one of my favorites.
