Crushed by Gina Robinson (The Rushed New Adult and College Romance Series, #2)
Publication date: October 2014
Genres: New Adult, Romance
Synopsis:
Some loves can’t be… Crushed
Morgan
Have you ever done something stupid? Like get drunk and hookup with a guy because your heart was broken by someone else? Like his best friend. And then done something really dumb, like fall in love with your hookup? Hookups aren’t stick-around guys. I’m hoping Dakota will be different. But hoping has gotten me in trouble before.
Dakota
The absolute last girl I want to see in my court-ordered alcohol and drug information school, the girl who landed me here in the first place, walks in. After we hooked up, I thought I’d gotten Morgan out of my system. So why is my pulse racing? I can’t afford to screw up right now. I know I should avoid her. Morgan has a way of messing up my life. But she’s the only one who understands.
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Purchase Crushed (The Rushed New Adult and College Romance Series Book 2)
Q&A with Gina Robinson about Crushed
Crushed is the second book in The Rushed Series of New Adult College Romance, is that right? Can you read it without having read book one, Rushed?
Yes, it is. And, yes, you absolutely can. All the books in this series are standalone romances. Right now there are only two, but I have more planned. The third book, which I’m tentatively calling Hushed, should be out in January 2015. They’ll all be standalone reads. Of course, I hope you’ll want to read Rushed as well. Rushed will give you more insight, background, and the backstory of the characters in Crushed.
Morgan was the villainess in Rushed. Readers hated her. Weren’t you taking a risk by writing her love story and pairing her with Dakota, who many readers loved?
My husband told me, repeatedly, that I was crazy. And maybe I was. But I felt all along that Morgan was the perfect match for Dakota. That she had the sass and spunk to take him on. She was the girl who couldn’t have Zach. Dakota was the guy who could never best Zach. In a way, they were both living in Zach’s shadow. That gave them both common ground and conflict. I knew that if Morgan ever got past her infatuation with Zach and saw Dakota for the guy he was, she would fall passionately for him.
Many people are big believers in first impressions. You know the old saying, “You don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression.” While that may be technically true, I’ve found that they can be wrong. I know I’ve made misguided assumptions about people after first meeting them. I hoped readers would give Morgan a second chance when they got to know her better. So far, early reviewers have been very positive and grown to love her when they see her vulnerability, what motivates her, and how she sees herself.
What sparked the idea for Crushed? Why write about Greek life?
In my Reckless Series, I wrote about independents, Geeds as they’re called these days. Which are students who choose not to go Greek. Greek life is a unique experience from being a Geed. What happens when you make a Geed live in a Greek house? How does a guy survive in a house full of girls? What kind of problems and conflict does that cause? I was intrigued by the possibilities. Those questions were the germ of the idea for the series.
Actually, I have to credit my husband, too. He worked his way through college as a live-in houseboy for a sorority. The stories he told me about living with the sorority girls were the basis for Zach’s experiences in Rushed. He was part brother, part friend, part servant, part shoulder to cry on. Crushed is an outgrowth of Rushed, a continuation of the story. I had readers begging to see more of Zach and Alexis from Rushed, so I decided to continue their story as a secondary story to Morgan and Dakota’s romance.
What’s next in the series? Will we see more of Dakota and Morgan? Do you find it hard to leave your characters behind?
Yes, absolutely! I grow attached to them and hate leaving them. Which is part of the reason I enjoy writing series. Just like Alexis and Zach become secondary characters in Crushed, Dakota and Morgan continue on as secondary characters in book three. Readers will get to see more of their story even as the focus shifts to a new couple.
Thanks so much for having me! Happy reading, everyone!
Meet Gina Robinson
Gina Robinson is the award-winning author of the contemporary new adult romances Reckless Longing, Reckless Secrets, and Reckless Together, and the Agent Ex series of humorous romantic suspense novels.
Rushed, the first book in her new college-set new adult series was released on July 3, 2014.
Contact Gina: Twitter | Website | Facebook | Goodreads
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