Exclusive Cover Reveals + Excerpt: Trace + Olivia Series - Vilma Iris | Lifestyle Blogger

This post contains affiliate links, meaning I’ll receive a small commission should you purchase using those links. All opinions expressed are my own. I receive no compensation for reviews.

Exclusive Cover Reveals + Excerpt: Trace + Olivia Series
By Micalea Smeltzer

Exclusive Cover Reveals + Excerpt: Trace + Olivia Series

The TRACE + OLIVIA series by author Micalea Smeltzer has gotten a major makeover, inside and out! Each novel has been re-edited and re-introduced with brand-new, super fun covers! The books are New Adult romances with a small-town vibe, focused on family, friends and love. They’ll be available September 22nd and you can pre order now for 99¢ each!

FINDING OLIVIA | CHASING OLIVIA | TEMPTING ROWAN | SAVING TATUM ❯

If you’re new to the series, you can read an excerpt from the first book—FINDING OLIVIA—below!

How far would you go to find yourself?

That’s the question that’s been haunting Olivia Owens for years.

All Olivia has ever wanted to do is live and make mistakes, but her preacher father has made that impossible. She believes that her years at college will be her ticket into the real world and her chance to be wild and spontaneous.

But she’s never been able to do it on her own.

At the start of her sophomore year, she only has four things crossed off her Live List, but that’s all about to change thanks to a chance encounter with Trace Wentworth. She’s about to learn that there’s more to this reformed bad boy than just his looks and panty dropping smile.

Trace can’t explain what it is that draws him to Olivia.

All he knows is that he wants to get to know the girl with the sad smile but sparkle in her eyes.

When she tells him about her list, he knows that this is his chance to get to know Olivia Owens. Trace is determined to show Olivia that she can do all the things she’s ever wanted to do. So, he begins to help her cross things off her list, even the more outlandish requests.

What happens along the way is more than what Olivia or Trace ever expected.

Love, laughs, and a list.

That’s the name of the game when you’re Finding Olivia.

 

How far would you go to reignite the spark you once had?

Two years later, Trace and Olivia are as much in love as they’ve always been. But the spark they once had for life is waning and Trace is determined that they find it again. His solution? A road trip. But he doesn’t tell Olivia the real reason they’re heading north.

Olivia is happy to go on a road trip and have more adventures with Trace. Besides, she needs a distraction from the soap opera her life has become. With college over, this is the perfect opportunity to chase down the carefree girl she once was.

But life isn’t a fairytale and you can only escape reality for so long.

Love, laughs, and a hidden agenda.

That’s the name of the game when you’re Chasing Olivia.

I’m drowning in the numbness. It’s pulling me under and I can’t see the surface. It’s easier to pretend I can’t feel. And the longer you pretend, the easier it is to believe. But he wants to save me. Only he can’t. I have to save myself…and I don’t know if I want to.

Rowan Sinclair’s life has been anything but easy. With an alcoholic mother and a sleazy stepfather, it’s been her responsibility to raise her younger siblings. At twenty-one she’s chained to a life she doesn’t want, but sees no other alternative. After all, what would happen to her brother and sister if she were to leave?

Trenton Wentworth sees the pain behind Rowan’s eyes. He wants nothing more than to make it disappear. To hold her. To love her. Except Rowan keeps everyone at a safe distance. But if there’s anyone that can break down the walls she’s built around herself, it’s Trent. So she avoids him at all costs. But Trent isn’t one to be easily evaded. He’s stubborn and determined. He’ll save this girl even if it costs him everything.

Love, lies, and deception.

That’s the name of the game when you’re Tempting Rowan.

Even tough girls need saving.

Jude Brooks is bad news. He’s the kind of guy that leaves behind a string of broken hearts and Tatum O’ Connor is not about to be one of those girls, despite all of Jude’s advances. They have a past, and Tatum’s determined to make sure they don’t have a future.

Unfortunately for her, “no” isn’t a word in Jude’s vocabulary.

The more she backs away, the more he pushes.

But what if he pushes too far?

Tatum’s hiding a pain that no one sees and holding on to a hurt that may never heal. Letting Jude into her heart could shatter her completely—and what if she opens up to Jude and he can’t handle her baggage?

Love is never easy—especially when the person you’re falling for is the person you blame for the worst event in your life.

Love, heartache, and despair.

That’s the name of the game when you’re Saving Tatum.

  • Excerpt

    “No, no, no, no!” I beat my steering wheel with the heel of my hand. “No! You’ve got to be kidding me!”

    I pulled off the road, my tire bumping along.

    I put my car in park and climbed out to assess the damage, my feet crunching on the gravel scattered alongside the road.

    Immediately, the oily burnt smell of my peeling tire met me. Calling this a flat tire didn’t do it justice.

    This was complete and utter carnage.

    I looked behind me at the trail of tire pieces leading straight to my car like a path of breadcrumbs.

    It was starting to get dark, and this wasn’t exactly the safest road. I was also a twenty-year-old girl, ripe for the picking.

    I kicked the side of my car. “I don’t have time for this!”

    I stalked around the back to the trunk, lifting it and looking for the necessary tools to change a tire.
    Which was pointless, because, unfortunately, I didn’t know the first thing about changing a tire. My father had made sure that I only knew how to do a woman’s work.

    I slammed the trunk closed and stalked back to the driver’s side, pulling at the ends of my hair. I glared at the offending nail that had to be four inches long sticking out of the tire. How many nails did people drive over a day, and I was the one to get a flat freakin’ tire?

    Not cool.

    Not at all.

    I opened the door and reached for my phone to call my roommate to come pick me up.

    The sky was darkening, and I didn’t want to be stranded.

    I wrapped my lightweight jacket tighter around my body as the wind gusted around me, blowing leaves off of the nearby trees. I watched the red, yellow, and orange leaves fall down and scatter over my car.

    One, unfortunately, got caught in my hair. I reached up and pulled it out before letting it drift to the ground.

    Gravel crunched behind me. I turned quickly to see a guy getting out of a black car that looked like something old but classic.

    I hadn’t even heard him pull over.

    I backed a step away, thinking he might be a murderer or a rapist, but when I got a look at his face, I was stunned.

    He was tall with a lean but muscular body. He had short, dark brown almost black hair and the greenest eyes I had ever seen. Five o’ clock shadow covered his cheeks and chin. My eyes trailed down over the white t-shirt glued to his chest and stopped there. I could see black ink underneath the white shirt and licked my lips. The fact that he had tattoos only made him hotter. To protect against the cold, he was wearing a long-sleeved plaid shirt.

    “Uh, can I help you?” he asked, smiling pleasantly at me and putting my earlier fears about him being a murderer or rapist completely to rest.

    Help? With what? I needed help?

    “Huh?”

    He grinned crookedly, tilting his head. “With your tire. Do you need some help?”

    He had the deepest, huskiest voice I had ever heard. I shivered at the sound. I was pretty sure I’d be happy for him to help me with a lot of things, and none of them included my tire.

    “Help would be great.” I blushed, ducking my head.

    He chuckled. “You do have a spare, right?”

    “Yeah, it’s in the trunk.” I pointed, like he didn’t know where the trunk was.

    He grabbed the spare and all the necessary tools and sat down next to the ruined tire.

    “I, uh, would’ve changed it myself, but, uh, my dad never taught me.” I ran my fingers nervously through my wavy brown hair. “He said something about it not being appropriate for a girl to do and if I ever got a flat tire, I better hope Prince Charming came along. My dad’s very, uh, old fashioned,” I stammered.

    He looked up at me. “Does that make me Prince Charming?” He grinned.

    “Oh, uhm, Prince Charming is fictional, so I guess not, and he, uh, usually rides a white horse or something … I think.”

    Somebody stamp AWKWARD across my forehead already.

    The guy threw his head back and laughed. “I guess a shiny black ‘69 Camaro doesn’t count as a white horse. You watch a lot of Disney movies or something?”

    “No.” I blushed tomato red. “At least, not anymore.”

    He squinted up at me, shielding his eyes from the orange glow of the setting sun. “You’re funny.”

    “I hope that’s a good thing,” I muttered. Unfortunately, I wasn’t trying to be funny.

    “It’s a very good thing …” he paused, waiting for my name.

    “Oh, uh, Olivia. Olivia Owens.”

    “I’m Trace.” He reached a hand up to me, and I took it. It was warm and calloused, swallowing mine whole. He grinned when my hand jerked at his touch. “Trace Wentworth.”

    We were both silent after that as he changed my tire. When he was done, he packed everything away and put my ruined tire in his trunk.

    I reached for his arm. “You don’t need to do that.” The guy had already stopped to help me; I certainly didn’t expect him to haul my ruined tire away as well.

    “I’m a mechanic, I’ll get rid of it at work.” He closed the trunk with a shrug. “You need to get a new tire on tomorrow. That spare won’t last you long.”

    “Right.” I nodded, committing that tidbit of information to memory.

    “Bring it by Pete’s Garage.” He opened the door to his car and held onto the frame. “I’ll be there and fix it up for you.”

    “Oh, um, okay. Thanks for fixing my tire and for, uh, stopping,” I said, walking backward away from his car and toward mine.

    “You say, uh, a lot,” he commented, a grin tilting his lips up at the corners. He had one of those smiles that made panties around the world drop. I was tempted to check and make sure mine were still firmly in place.

    “I know,” I grimaced. “It’s a, uh, bad habit.”

    Actually, I rarely ever said, uh, it was just that Trace turned me into a blubbering idiot.

    He grinned, tapping his car door with his hand like he was playing a drum. “I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

    “Yeah, you’ll see me. Gotta get this stupid thing fixed.” I smacked the hood of the car.

    “Ask for me, okay, Olivia?” His eyes grew serious.

    “I will.” I gave him a thumbs up, hating the way my body reacted to the way he said my name.

    Wait, I gave him a thumbs up? What is wrong with me? That was not cool! He probably thought I was so dumb. Heck, I thought I was being dumb. How was it possible for one gorgeous guy to turn me into a complete pile of mushy goo? That didn’t seem fair.

    Trace waited for me to get into my car and drive away before he did the same. Despite the bad boy appearance, he was obviously more of a gentleman than most of the guys I knew.

    I smiled to myself as I drove down the road and toward the college campus. My roommate and best friend wasn’t going to believe this. Things like hot guys pulling over to help a damsel in distress didn’t happen to me. In fact, I was pretty sure it didn’t happen to most people.

  • ❮ PRE-ORDER: FINDING OLIVIA | CHASING OLIVIA | TEMPTING ROWAN | SAVING TATUM ❯

Follow Micalea:

This post contains affiliate links, meaning I’ll receive a small commission should you purchase using those links. All opinions expressed are my own. I receive no compensation for reviews.

Subscribe for Updates:

Share This Post

2 Comments:


  1. Sabrina said:

    I really love the new covers! The old ones will still be my favorite. <3

    Reply

  2. Melissa Pearl said:

    These new covers are awesome!!! Love them 🙂
    xx

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

On Instagram