Title: Beauty in the Ashes
Author: Micalea Smeltzer
Release Date: July 15, 2014
Genre: Standalone Dark Contemporary Romance
Add on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20761170-beauty-in-the-ashes
Cover Design: Regina Wamba (Mae I Design)
~Book Description~
Some stories are a fairytale…but this isn’t one.
Caelan Gregory’s life fell apart the night he went home and opened the door to find his whole family murdered. Since then, his life has held no meaning. He’s angry. He’s bitter. He’s barely human anymore. There’s nothing left to remind him of the straight A student, and football quarterback he once was…but he wasn’t a good person then, and he’s certainly not a good person now. He’s retreated into a world where all that exists is numbness and his passion for painting.
When Sutton Hale moves into the apartment across the hall from Caelan she’s not prepared for her reaction to him. Something in his broken blue eyes calls to her—after all she’s always had an irrational need to fix everything.
But Caelan doesn’t do relationships or feelings. He does drugs and alcohol. However, he can’t ignore his desire to get to know the raven-haired woman across the hall.
Two broken souls trying to mend one another.
But not everything can be fixed.
In the end, Caelan and Sutton will have to learn that there is beauty in the ashes.
~Review~
So, Micalea DID IT AGAIN! She left me flawed and in a pool of so much emotion. Beauty in the Ashes is a masterpiece that can’t be reckoned with. It is not your average romance. It’s not your average story. It leaps bounds of passion and pain that seep through the pages in an undying catastrophic emotional read. Sutton and Caelan are the noise in a white background of pure. I’m telling you for every emotion that a felt, the heart that I could see within the pages was like sewing a bleeding heart that wouldn’t stop.
“She was beautiful. She was warm. She was vibrant. She was a fighter. She was everything I was not.”
Micalea has the ability to convey so much emotion in all her New Adult books and BitA was like a pool of ramped emotions that went on a joy ride running the outskirts of my whole body. In an apartment complex they meet, they love, they sore into a world that is full of many dangers.
“We were two broken souls, desperately trying to put ourselves back together. But not everything could be fixed.”
I don’t have many words that can convey how influential and how passion driven BitA is. Micalea deserves all the praise and more for the tremendous admiration and heart she put into Sutton and Caelan’s narrative. I implore you to read Beauty in the Ashes it’s not your average romance, but that’s what makes it beyond a shadow of a doubt phenomenal. Without any hesitation it is a 10 +++++++++ Rating for me!
~Author Interview~
Congratulations on the release of Beauty in the Ashes, tell us a bit about the story? How did it narrative come along to the piece it is?
Beauty in the Ashes tells the unconventional love story of an extremely broken man and a woman that’s just at broken, but better at hiding how messed up she really is.
Beauty in the Ashes has been a long time coming. I got the idea about six years ago now, but this story scared me so much that I never made it past the “curtain” scene. Back then I didn’t even have the guts to write the prologue. In February Caelan popped into my head once more and was like, “Hey, it’s time for my story to be told.” So, I knew it was finally time.
BitA is a unique, in that it’s not your traditional love story? Tell us what made you choose that path of creating a dark contemporary romance ?
Haha, I didn’t choose to tell this story, it chose me. I was really resistant to writing this story because I knew it was a big risk and lot of people would hate me for it, because it’s definitely not traditional. But Caelan and Sutton never went away. I always knew one day I’d sit down and write it, but I wasn’t sure I’d ever publish it. But no matter how dark and twisted it is, Caelan and Sutton deserved to have their story read. Plus, while it is a love story, it’s so much more. I hope that everyone that reads it (love it or hate it or just sorta liked it) comes away ‘getting’ the story and the point it made.
Did you always see Sutton and Caelan’s story, the way it evolved?
Absolutely. It’s why I was scared to write it.
What do you want the readers to get out of reading BitA?
That no matter what’s happened to you, you have the choice to get better. In fact, you have all the power. And sometimes, the love we want, isn’t the love we need.
You said recently that Beauty in the Ashes wasn’t its original title? Do you have a process as how you come up with titles? Is it incorporated into the book in a certain way?
Ah, yes, the original title was Misfits. (In fact, it was originally going to be told from FOUR POVs. Caelan, Sutton (who was originally named Kaylee), Daphne, and Cyrus. That obviously didn’t happen. It was too chaotic so I scraped it a loooong time ago.) I HAVE to have a title before I start writing a book, even if I change it later on, which I usually do. It helps me organize the story in my head and connect with it more because it has a name, lol. I really like the title to tie into the book somehow, even if the meaning is obvious to me and no one else it HAS to mean something. I really have no certain process for coming up with titles. They hit me at the most random times and when it feels right, I know it, because I stop thinking about changing it, haha.
BitA is different to your other New Adult series, was it hard to separate yourself and dive into the unknown knowing you wanted to tell this story?
It wasn’t that hard to separate myself at all. I was ready to tackle this book and do something different. I will say that it was extremely hard to write (the hardest one so far), but I’m definitely the most proud of it. I feel like a much stronger writer, having written this book.
So, I have to ask how do you come up with your cover designs. Time after time, you create really unique covers; do you go to a designer with a certain concept in mind or an idea?
I’m really lucky to have such an incredible cover designer/photographer with Regina Wamba of Mae I Design. We discuss what I want to do, pick out models that match the characters, and do a shoot. (It sounds like fun, but it’s actually really stressful, haha) With Finding Olivia the original concept was actually the restaurant kiss against the wall, because I didn’t want to have one of the things on her list on the cover. I thought that was saying: THIS ONE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT. But as I filled out the forms for Regina, I realized I was being stupid and dancing in the rain would be such a fun and different cover. Thank God the models didn’t mind getting drenched. (I actually have a really fun picture of that part)
For Beauty in the Ashes, I wanted to do the first kiss scene where Caelan busts into Sutton’s apartment and pushes her against the wall. I had hinted at doing something with paint on the models, but Regina and I never discussed actually doing it. I figured the models would run screaming for the hills. So, I was really surprised when she did it (Like OH MY GOD THIS IS AHHHMAZING! Surprised) I was still against having one of those pictures on the cover, though. I thought people wouldn’t understand that it was paint. Regina was persistent about it and I’m so glad she was, because it’s PERFECT. The paint. The emotion. Everything about it suits the book. Plus, the paint is so unique and different. I don’t think I’ve ever seen another book with that on it. Haha.
Last question, what’s coming up in the future for you with upcoming release?
Next up is Saving Tatum, which is the fourth book in the Trace + Olivia Series. I’m planning for this to be the last one, but there wasn’t supposed to be a 2nd, or 3rd, and so on. Lol. I’m really excited about Saving Tatum and so in love with Jude. (Trace lovers, you might have a new boy to drool over) There’s so much more depth to Jude than readers knew in Tempting Rowan. Saving Tatum can be read as a standalone, but I do recommend reading the other books, at least Tempting Rowan when Tate and Jude first pop up, because there will be crossover.
After that, I’m working on a completely new book that I got the idea for only a few weeks ago. I’ll be posting more info about it in the coming months.
A HUGE THANK YOU to Micalea for answering my questions. xx
~Purchase~
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~Trailer~
~About the Author~
Micalea Smeltzer is a bestselling Young and New Adult author from Winchester, Virginia. She’s always working on her next book, and when she has spare time she loves to read and spend time with her family.
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