Blog Tour: Dotted Lines: Devney Perry
Devney Perry
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Release Date: March 2nd, 2021
Cover Design: Sarah Hansen
Purchase Details: www.devneyperry.com/books/dotted-lines
Clara Saint-James is completing a journey started by an old friend. She’ll return a Cadillac to California, a place she’s avoided for more than a decade. But it’s time for closure and to put old ghosts to rest. And it’s time to find out if the feelings she’s cherished for the boy from her past are just fanciful memories—or if there’s a chance they are real.
Timing was never on her side, especially when it came to Karson Avery. The two of them lived in a junkyard as runaway teens, and though she wanted more than his friendship, he always belonged to another—until that one night when he was hers.
When Clara finds Karson living in a small, coastal town, she’s not surprised the beautiful boy from her past grew into a stunning man. His smile is as captivating as ever. His eyes have the same roguish glint. But timing is still working against her.
Clara must decide how far she’s willing to go to battle for Karson’s heart. Or if it’s time to let him go and surrender to the dotted lines that have always kept them apart.
It is time for the final leg of the restored Cadillac's journey. And this time Clara Saint-James is taking to back to California in search of Karson Avery. He was their rock, protector, and sometimes provider when they were all a group of teenage runaways living in a junkyard.
Over a decade later, Clara is a single mom to a precocious almost six-year-old, August, and their mother/son relationship shines during the story. She is sweet, smart, brave, and loving. She found a new home in Arizona near her twin, Aria, and they have a good life now. But she is still missing closure with the boy who got away and is deep down hoping that her journey will also end in a true love story like it did for their friends.
Their story is told in the past and present and in both of their points of view. So we see their tentative and emerging feelings begin to develop, and Clara's insecurities about it not being real. And we also see how their timing was just not right as they had to move on in the past. Karson chose not to leave with the girls and went his own way. He had some self-work to do and to figure out his own path. He is now successful and has finally achieved a sense of self-worth and is ready to settle down.
He never expected to see Clara drive back into his life. He is unprepared, regretful, and unresolved feelings begin to swirl around them. But timing was never their strong point. As they make their own short journey to visit the stomping ground of their past, their lives may be taking another turn again.
I loved Clara and Karson together. They were just so sweet from first crushes to adult attraction. He is charming, caring, and protective. She is hopeful and has so much love to give. But are these feelings just left over from their past or is it finally their time to truly be together? There may be a few bumps along the way to figuring that out.
This is a heartwarming, inspiring, second chance love story about hope, survival, redemption, found family, and finding a true home. There are parts that touched my heart so much especially involving someone from their past.
The epilogue to this book is simply amazing! It gives us everything we need to know about all of these wonderful couples we met along these journeys and it left my heart fully satisfied even though I will miss this group.
Clara Saint-James hasn’t set foot in California since she left, but as the driver of the last leg of the Cadillac’s journey, must face not only the part of her past she has tried so hard to block out, but the boy (now a man) who protected her and the others at the junkyard.
Karson Avery didn’t expect Clara to show up on his doorstep so many years after she walked away from the junkyard. He may not have gone far, but he also has tried to move past the boy that lived so close to the edge during those junkyard years. He may not have gone looking for her, but that doesn’t mean he’s forgotten. But timing wasn’t on their side when they were teenagers, and that hasn’t changed any.
I loved watching the reconnection between these two. Even though there are barriers to a relationship, remembering the past sets the stage for the emotion that rocks these two in the present when they are face to face once more. The scenes from the past are so bittersweet. But there are reasons why they might not make it in the present even though the attraction between them is strong, and geography is only one hurdle.
The ending rushed a little faster than I would have liked, but I was pulled so completely back into the world of this runaway group (so that may be more of my reason than anything). I loved the way they faced the past and put the ghosts that have haunted each of them for so long to rest. The final chapters and the epilogue were sweet reminders of the impact the time in Lou’s junkyard had on each of the 6 teenagers’s adult journeys. In the end, I was a mess of emotions at the journey of the Cadillac and of those who called it home/sanctuary all those years before.
I climbed out of the car, walking on unsteady legs to his side to help him out. Then with my son’s hand in mine, I stood in the driveway and let the sun warm my face. The sound of the ocean was a gentle whisper on the air. The scent of salt and sea hit my nose.
Aria had lived on the Oregon coast for years, and though the smell was similar, there was something sweeter in the Elyria air.
Karson had always said he wanted to be close to the ocean. He’d wanted to learn how to surf. I was glad he’d gotten that wish.
The sound of a door opening caught my attention and I turned, just in time to watch a tall man with dark hair step outside. A short-trimmed beard shaded his sculpted jaw. He was wearing a pair of khaki cargo shorts slung low on his narrow hips. His green T-shirt stretched over his broad chest and clung to the strength in his biceps. His feet were bare.
Karson.
My heart skipped.
He’d grown up. Gone were the lanky arms and legs. Gone was the shaggy hair in need of a cut. Gone was the youth from his face.
This was Karson Avery, a man who stole my breath. But he’d done that at nineteen too.
Those beautiful hazel eyes studied me, then darted to the car as he came toward us. A crease formed between his eyebrows as he took it in. Then they moved to me and that crease deepened.
My stomach did a cartwheel. Please recognize me.
If he didn’t . . . I clung to August’s hand, drawing strength from his fingers. It would break my heart if Karson had forgotten me. Because in all these years, he’d never been far from my mind.
Karson’s feet stopped abruptly and his entire body froze. Then he blinked and shook his head. “Clara?”
Oh, thank God. I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Hi, Karson.”
“I can’t believe it.” He shook his head again, then his gaze shifted to August. “Hi there.”
August clutched me tighter and murmured, “Hi.”
“Is it really you?”
“It’s me.”
“It’s really you.” A slow smile spread across his face, wider and wider.
It hadn’t changed. There, on the face of a man, was the smile from the boy I’d loved.
The boy I’d loved before his life had gone one direction and mine had gone the other.
And between us streaked those dotted lines.
RUNAWAY ROAD - Available Now
WILD HIGHWAY - Available Now
QUARTER MILES - Available Now
FORSAKEN TRAIL - Available Now
Buy www.devneyperry.com/books/forsaken-trail
Buy www.devneyperry.com/books/forsaken-trail
Devney PerryDevney is the USA Today bestselling author of the Jamison Valley series. She lives in Montana with her husband and two children. After working in the technology industry for nearly a decade, she abandoned conference calls and project schedules to enjoy a slower pace at home with her kids. She loves reading and, after consuming hundreds of books, decided to share her own stories. Devney loves hearing from readers! Connect with her on social media.
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