Review – Tonic by Staci Hart

October 27, 2016Leave a comment

You know? I always find it hard to review good books. The books that pull at you, elicit the biggest emotions, the books that leave you in the happiest place – bookworm heaven. THOSE kind of books are the absolute hardest to review. It’s no secret that I am a huge Hart fan. It’s no secret that with each book Hart releases my love for her gets stronger. Know why? Because Hart has a distinctive way of telling stories. Hart tells stories that are full of emotion and realism, character and connection. Hart pours herself into her words resulting in those words then pouring into me and it’s the best feeling, honestly every time I pick up a Hart book, I know I’m going to get a full reading experience. Do I ever worry that her next book won’t compare to the last? No, I don’t. Because each and every Hart book is different, each and every character is different, each and every storyline is fresh and cannot be compared, shouldn’t be compared. I trust Staci and her writing, I trust that she’ll make it an experience I won’t forget and that’s why she’s one of my favourite authors and will continue to be while she puts pen to paper, or fingers to keys.

Harts latest masterpiece is Tonic. Joel and Annika’s story, and oh my wow, what a story it is. From beginning to end I have lived and breathed these characters wanting them in my head, my heart and fixed permanently under my skin. And they are, and they’ll stay, deeply inscribed forever like the most perfectly beautiful tattoo.

At just 16% I got the tingles. You know the ones. Those feelings that set up your soul, those feelings that sizzle right beneath your skin, setting off goosebumps and butterflies. Those feelings of utter bliss and love over what you’re reading. Those tingles! I got them and I felt them strongly. What developed after that can only be described as pure bookworm pleasure.

Joel and Annika’s relationship is fire and ice. Hot and cold. A delicious push and pull. It’s strength and love, weakness and hate all rolled into a perfectly pristine package of angst and brilliance. At 36% everything exploded. That delicious angst detonated into searing heat and left me breathless. Joel is one wicked, dirty, hairy b**tard. He’s utter sin, wrapped in perfection. Everything about him set me alight, from the raw visceral animal side of him to the deep swoony side that stole EVERYTHING from me. Annika, the ice to Joel’s fire. So hard and cold and strong but so utterly real and believable. I loved her, her persistence, her sassiness, her boldness that set her apart from any other. The polar opposite to Joel but more perfect than anything I could have imagined.

If you’ve read a Hart novel before you know that Staci has a way of wrapping you up in the softest blanket while her words break you down and embed themselves deep in your heart and her characters become your friends, people you love, but all the while you know that something will come and blow it all apart taking you down with it. In Tonic, the boom of the bomb she drops is really painful. It’s loud and rips the blanket and your heart to smithereens. And it left me a mess. A total blubbering mess filled with my own anger and desperation. But through the cold, the heat always wins and Staci, piece by piece, put my heart back together, slowly but surely, she made me smile through tears. She made my heart sing through raw devastation and she set my soul ablaze though love.

At 92% I never wanted Tonic to end. I never wanted to leave the world of Joel and Annika. I don’t really think I ever will. I’m sure they will remain deep in me alongside all of Hart’s previous characters.

Tonic left me breathless, it made my heart ache and burn yet sing with the raw, realness of its words. It was everything I wanted and more. It was fire and ice, hot and cold..practically perfect in every way.

Joel Anderson doesn’t take anything seriously.
Not his relationships, which have been few and far between since his brutal divorce. Not the drama of working in a tattoo parlor, which seems to be around every corner. When things get him down, he smiles and cracks a joke. But he’s not the kind of man you cross, or you’ll find yourself at the wrong end of his fists.

Annika Belousov takes everything seriously.

Like her job as a reality television producer, given that she typically has something to prove. Or her love life, which is defined by a series of requirements — affluent, ambitious, accomplished, to name a few. Definitely her family, who worked their whole lives to afford her every opportunity, a sacrifice she doesn’t take lightly. When she’s tapped to produce a reality show at Joel’s shop, she doesn’t think twice, just goes in for the kill, as if there were any other way.

The second Annika walks into Joel’s shop, he makes it his mission to crack her open, but she’s not having it. He’s all wrong — too crass, too hairy, too un-serious. But it doesn’t take her long to find out there’s more to him than smirks and tattoos. And what she finds could put her career and his heart on the line.

Not that Joel cares. Because for the first time in a long time, he’s found his tonic.

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Review – A Love Letter to Whiskey by Kandi Steiner

October 27, 2016Leave a comment

“Love is the most powerful and real emotion we feel, and I think it’s sort of magical that we can experience some of the greatest loves of all time through books.” B, A Love Letter To Whiskey <- THIS! SO MUCH THIS!

It’s taken me 7 hours to read ALLTW, taking three breaks where I had to put down the book because the emotion ran so deep, so strong. During those 3 breaks I found myself ugly crying, taking in big, deep breaths and holding my heart in place, because this book RIPPED ME APART! Kandi yanked out my heart, squeezed it, trampled on my soul and then burnt it. To ash! Sounds awful right? WRONG! That burning, trampled soul is now singing, bathing in the pain it endured and loving it!

From the moment I started reading I too succumbed to the devastating effects of Whiskey and found myself so addicted I COULD NOT let go. From beginning to end I have been launched into one of the fiercest, intense, passionate reading roller coaster rides of my life, climbing the beautiful high, before pummelling into devastation and despair, flying through breathtaking twist and turns, mind numbing speeds and jolting bumps. But you know what the best thing about an all consuming roller coaster is?

When you reach the end, all you want to do is ride it again….

And now all I want to do is go right back to the beginning and ride that emotional coaster AGAIN and AGAIN!

B and Whiskey are IT. You know? Just IT! So hard to explain, to fully capture THEM! Like everything that’s wrong about them is actually so right and everything that’s right is kinda wrong. Everything they are is perfection but it’s also devastation.. They are two incredibly raw, intense, souls that have one hell of a connection but time is NEVER on their side. And that HURTS! But it’s a good hurt..honestly, it’s one that you need to savour. It’s a hurt that you need to let knock you off your feet because that burn, that angst, that delicious heartbreak is magic.

What Kandi has done here is pen a book so full of emotion, so full of connection that when I was reading I could hear the characters talking, I could visualise them, in front of me telling me their story. I could FEEL every high and low. I was a part of it, for 7 hours I lived their world as my own.

I thought when Kandi wrote Weightless that her writing was amazing but in this book, Kandi’s writing is other wordly. It’s OUTSTANDING.

I hope people GET this book. I hope people read it and fully understand this book, I hope they get B and her mentality, I hope they get her addiction. I hope they understand Jamie, his magnetism and just how AMAZING he is. Yes it’s gritty, raw, intense and at times all you may want to do is scream but it’s also REAL, BEAUTIFUL, BREATHTAKING.

Oh and Kandi, the epilogue. One of the best epilogues I’ve ever read! Despite the fact that I cried like a baby AGAIN!

I read A LOT of books. I’ve read well over the 100 this year so far, and while books touch me and resonate, very few books actually play out my own personal experiences. However when reading this book, reading the story of B and Whiskey, hit so deep that I got the strangest sense of deja vu, because I have a Whiskey, in fact if people are honest, they’ll have a Whiskey too. So ALLTW sits as one of those books that immediately changed me. It’s one of those books that will leave an imprint so large that, I’ll feel the after effects of it FOREVER.

It’s crazy how fast the buzz comes back after you’ve been sober for so long.
Whiskey stood there, on my doorstep, just like he had one year before. Except this time, there was no rain, no anger, no wedding invitation — it was just us.

It was just him — the old friend, the easy smile, the twisted solace wrapped in a glittering bottle.

It was just me — the alcoholic, pretending like I didn’t want to taste him, realizing too quickly that months of being clean didn’t make me crave him any less.

But we can’t start here.

No, to tell this story right, we need to go back.

Back to the beginning.

Back to the very first drop.

This is my love letter to Whiskey. I only hope he reads it.

★ Amazon US ➜ http://amzn.to/2dJrZl1
★ Amazon CA ➜ https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01M98D4TM

★ Amazon UK ➜ https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M98D4TM

★ Amazon AU ➜ https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01M98D4TM

Review – Royally Screwed by Emma Chase

October 14, 2016October 18, 2016Leave a comment

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Royally Screwed by Emma Chase

Karen's Review

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Let me share this whole new world with you.” ~Aladdin

Our lives may not always be fairy tales, but we can experience them in books every day. We can feel the fantasy; we can live the dream. Who doesn’t want to be a princess? Emma Chase whisks you into a better-than-Cinderella fairy tale in Royally Screwed where you feel that fantasy as you dive into one delicious dream. Alluring and all-consuming, Royally Screwed is a modern day rags-to-riches romance with a sexy Prince and the perfect blend of heat, humor, and heart.

Feeling like a Disney Princess, I dove into the delicious Royally Screwed where I wanted to take my time, sprinkling myself into this dream like fairy dust, where I could bask in the glow of wonder. Now for the reality: I devoured Royally Screwed with a deep hunger like an addict, ignoring everything and everyone, not wanting to surface for air. I could not sink fast enough into this story that quickly became my crack, captivating and claiming all of me. Royally Screwed instantly thrust me into a royal kingdom with one panty-melting and passionate Prince where I wanted to be his Cinderella.

Prince Nicholas Pembrook of Wessco is tall, blue-eyed, dark-haired, and handsome with a delicious body and dirty-talking mouth.

“What do you like to do in your spare time?”

“I enjoy rock climbing, driving as fast as I can without crashing, flying, good scotch, B-movies, and a scathingly passive-aggressive verbal exchange with the Queen…and I like to f**k. Which is probably the answer my fans would rather hear. The Palace, however, would lose their ever-loving minds if I had said that.”

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His Royal Hotness indeed. The Prince’s inner thoughts were icing on the cake.

While Nicholas enjoys the royal perks, he is not a fan of his princely duties and wants to live as a real guy for once. According to the Queen, this hot and hilarious Prince doesn’t take those duties seriously. To save the kingdom from further embarrassment and worldwide mockery, the Queen decided that the Prince must find his Princess from a list of suitable royalty of course.

“The Queen has me by the balls—and I’m going to have to bleach my brain for even completing that thought—but besides that, I still have time.”

With only six months to find a bride, the Prince does what only a royally hot alpha who hates his royally ridiculous responsibilities can do: Run off to New York City to embark on one last adventure, far away from his princely duties, before he is forced into a wedding he doesn’t want. Little does Nicholas count on was his adventure being one where a beautiful waitress hurls a pie at his face after an offer he thought she wouldn’t refuse, and it’s a fixation at first sight.

“I’ve been told my cock is a gift from God. You should test that opinion tonight. You know…for religion.”

HOLY. HOT. That line may be cheesy but it fans the flame, heating me into molten lava.

Beautiful Olivia Hammond is struggling financially to help keep her family afloat in a bakery serving her famous pies. One Prince wants to devour her like pie and Olivia doesn’t have time for a distraction, no matter how tempting he is or how scrumptious he looks.

“I feel like a James Bond martini—shaken—but also stirred.”

The Prince is a determined man who has always taken what he wants. What or who he wants is Olivia, the gal with the sassy mouth and lush lips that he wants to taste. His raunchy and racy humor along with his charm is slowly seducing Olivia.

“Possessively. Boldly. Like he owns me. And in this moment he does. Holy f**k. Does he know how to kiss. I think I have an orgasm of the mouth. A mouth-gasm. And it’s amazing.”

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Combine the seductive charm and heated humor with one passionate and soul-shattering kiss and Olivia falls into the rabbit hole, completely smitten by the oh-so-persuasive Prince.

Somehow, perhaps halfway through Royally Screwed, my laughing and lusting was overcome by swooning as this story penetrated my heart, piercing it like Cupid’s arrow. Hook. Line. Sinker. I was royally smitten and my heart was royally sunk.

“I smile—and I know it’s radiant. Because that’s how I feel. Right now—in his arms. Lit from the inside, like a luminous shooting start that won’t ever dim.”

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The Prince moves from seducer to seduced as Olivia’s power over him is like that of no other woman. She is the first to see the man behind the mirror…the real Nicholas.

“She looks into my eyes and I’m lost. Wrecked. Owned.”

Olivia has the Prince under her spell, and he wants to remain spellbound. Olivia doesn’t want to end the best thing that’s ever happened to her, the man who is more than just a Prince. The man who is sweet, sexy, funny, and amazing who has stolen her heart.

“…I see him clearly. It’s the face of a fallen angel. A fallen angel with secrets in his eyes.”

Prince Nicholas’ duty is to marry a noble bride, not a commoner. If only the law allowed him to marry Olivia, the woman who has quickly captured his heart but one who must be a temporary fix because duty calls.

“I should’ve left her alone. I should’ve walked away the moment I started to feel…everything. I had no business trying to keep her. It will forever be the cruelest thing I’ve ever done.”

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Secrets, lies, and an unyielding Queen equate to one royal mess. Nicholas is royally screwed.

“We can’t change who we are—not a queen, a prince, or a girl from New York. Like he told me once…royalty is forever.”

Royally Screwed is royally incredible, one unputdownable and unforgettable tale! I fell fast and hard for Prince Nicholas, one of my new best book boyfriends and amazing alphas. I fell fast and hard for the secondary characters, Prince Henry the little brother, and Franny, Olivia’s new royal friend whose lady balls were sky high. I fell fast and hard for Royally Screwed, an immensely intoxicating and incredible modern day Cinderella story. I FELL FAST AND HARD FOR IT ALL!.

This book is bloody brilliant! Royally Screwed blew me away as one of best books I’ve read this year and ever! I did not expect this story to twist and turn itself around me where I FELT ALL THE FEELS. I laughed and lusted, and then cried happy and sad tears. Royally Screwed brought the heat and humor, but also a heap of heart coupled with courage and hope where I could not help but FALL IN UTTER LOVE with this rom-com that is SO MUCH MORE.

I don’t know why I waited so long to meet Emma Chase’s masterpieces, but I was a fool to procrastinate. This author is one of my new favorites: those who BRING IT ALL to their work, where their imaginations, humor, and hearts are poured into every beautiful and brilliant word. These go-to authors write books that aren’t simply stories but escapes from reality, adventures where you free-fall so hard that you don’t to surface for air.

Emma Chase sprinkled fairy dust on the pages of Royally Screwed, an enchanting and entertaining story of epic love, a gem so beautiful and bright. Royally Screwed is pure magic, penned and painted to perfection, a movie playing while reading. I had laughs in my gut, love in my heart and stars in my eyes. The story that’s an ace in a sea of cards, I can’t wait to get Royally Screwed again as my fairy tale was over too soon.

★★★★★ 5 royally good stars

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SYNOPSIS

Nicholas Arthur Frederick Edward Pembrook, Crowned Prince of Wessco, aka His Royal Hotness, is wickedly charming, devastatingly handsome, and unabashedly arrogant; hard not to be when people are constantly bowing down to you.

Then, one snowy night in Manhattan, the prince meets a dark haired beauty who doesn’t bow down. Instead, she throws a pie in his face.

Nicholas wants to find out if she tastes as good as her pie, and this heir apparent is used to getting what he wants.

Dating a prince isn’t what waitress Olivia Hammond ever imagined it would be.

There’s a disapproving queen, a wildly inappropriate spare heir, relentless paparazzi, and brutal public scrutiny. While they’ve traded in horse drawn carriages for Rolls Royces, and haven’t chopped anyone’s head off lately, the royals are far from accepting of this commoner.

But to Olivia, Nicholas is worth it.

Nicholas grew up with the whole world watching, and now Marriage Watch is in full force. In the end, Nicholas has to decide who he is and, more importantly, who he wants to be: a King… or the man who gets to love Olivia forever.

EXCERPT

“I have a plan.”

We’re in the library of the suite. Nicholas is behind the desk, his hair falling still damp over his forehead from a recent shower, while James and Tommy stand near the windows.

“Take off your clothes,” I say, dropping a stuffed backpack at my feet.

He stands, giving me a curious, dimple-flashing smile that makes my stomach tingle.

“I like this plan.”

He pulls his shirt over his head—and at the sight of that gorgeous chest and ripped abs, I have to close my mouth to stop the flow of drool.

“Should I send the lads to their room?” he asks.

I toss him a Beastie Boys T-shirt and ripped jeans from the backpack. “They can stay—I’ll get to them in a second.”

Nicholas puts on the outfit, his disguise for the day. I hold up a thick gold chain with a dangling cross, and he dips his head so I can loop it over his neck. Then I squirt gel into my hand and reach up on tiptoes to rub it through his hair—mussing it at the top and slicking the sides.

Perfect.

“Do you know how to drive a motorcycle?”

“Yes.”

“Excellent.” I pull a helmet with a full, tinted face shield out of the backpack and hold it up. “Marty’s bike is downstairs. He said to tell you: break it, you bought…a Ducati.”

Logan steps into the room from where he was stationed just outside the door, lifting his hand, like a traffic cop. “Hold on, now—”

Nicholas takes the helmet. “It’ll be fine, Logan.”

“And,” I say cautiously, turning to the three big, strong, probably-have-a-license-to-kill boys. “I want Nicholas and me to go on this outing alone. You guys stay here.”

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph.” Tommy says.

James makes the sign of the cross.

Logan takes another route. “No fuckin’ way. Not possible.”

But the look on Nicholas’s face says it’s definitely possible.

“No,” Logan insists again, his voice straining with a faint hint of desperation.

“I have an itinerary.” I take the sealed envelope out of the backpack and hand it to Logan. “I wrote everything down for you, just in case—exactly where we’ll be, every minute.” When he starts to tear it open I put my hand on his. “You can’t open it until after we’re gone—it’ll ruin the surprise. But I promise it will be all right. I swear on my life.”

My eyes drift from Logan to Nicholas. “Trust me.”

And I want him to—so much. I want to do this for him, give him something he hasn’t had. Something he’ll remember always: freedom.

Nicholas looks at the helmet, then at Logan. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Ah…you could get assassinated and the three of us will hang for treason.”

“Don’t be silly,” Nicholas scoffs. “We haven’t hung anyone in years.” He smacks Logan’s back. “It’d be the firing squad.”

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/royally-screwed/id1112403244?mt=11

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2dY9x88

Audible: http://amzn.to/2dq8Tl1

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/royally-screwed…/1124196859…

IndieBound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781682307755

BAM!: http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Royally-Screwed/Emma-Chase/9781682307755?id=6708364601111

Powell’s: http://www.powells.com/…/royally-screwed-97816823077…/68-198

Review – The Promise by Melody Grace

October 13, 2016October 17, 2016Leave a comment

The Promise by Melody Grace

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The first time you fall in love, it changes you forever. No matter how hard you try, that feeling never goes away. ~Nicholas Sparks

Books are like love; we get lost in them. We feel them. We experience them. The Promise by Melody Grace crashed into me unexpectedly, casting me under its spell, where I could do nothing but succumb to this story that shattered my soul and hijacked my heart from beginning to end.

From the beginning, I knew that this was unlike any other Melody Grace book I’ve ever read; it was way better. I knew that this story with its simple title would not be simple at all. The Promise…so much meaning in two little words. So much hope. So much potential. Simple-sounding but significant words.

The Promise took me prisoner from page one, immersing me, as I was intoxicated by the beauty and brilliance of words that rivaled those in a Nicholas Sparks novel. My emotions entangled around me, engulfing every part of me where I felt powerless to stop the feelings that threatened to flow.

A 19-year-old girl, Claire Fortune, promised her dying best friend that she would complete her bestie’s bucket list. A bucket list that would take Claire out of her Texas hometown into unchartered territory, Boston, a big city for a small town girl. A new adventure. A new life.

“I half-expected this new adventure to be a dream that would dissolve with every yawning breath, and when it didn’t, I treasured it all over again.”

This bucket list was so out of the reserved Claire’s comfort zone but one she would see through until completion. A bucket list that altered Claire’s world. A bucket list that meant everything.

Sometimes love comes along when you least expect and changes you forever.

“I wasn’t looking for a man to walk through the door and change my life. I wasn’t that girl at all. But that’s not how this story goes.”

Claire didn’t expect to check off finding a man who would change her life, an item not on her bucket list, but one that was an unexpected surprise.

“I wanted something I’d never wanted before, with a fierce hunger that took the wind from my lungs.”

A gorgeous guy named Theo, a poet with a huge heart, walked into Claire’s life, shifting their worlds forever.

“We were gravity, we were the earth’s orbit, inexorably drawn together.”

Love is built on trust, so delicately woven that once broken, may break the already fragile love. Once lost, love is the greatest hit to the heart of all.

“I thought I knew what it was to love and lose, to feel that wretched agony split your world apart, the jagged edged of an empty forever taunting with every raw, ragged breath…and then I lost Theo too. It was over. It was all my fault.”

I lost myself in The Promise, vanishing into this life-altering story, spellbound, as it seized every part of me: body, heart, and soul. The Promise hit my heart and shattered my soul where my emotions bled for this book. I was melded to every word. I smiled all the smiles. I cried all the tears. I felt all the feels. I FELT EVERYTHING.

Melody Grace poured her heart, blood, sweat, and tears into her most brilliant and best book yet, a perfectly poignant romance that remains for a lifetime like that epic love. The Promise is a story that is so much more than those two simple words. The Promise is taking that leap and living life to the fullest. The Promise is love against the odds. The Promise is happiness, hope, and heartbreak in a book bathed in beautiful words. The Promise is EVERYTHING.

Enjoy the little moments in life, for some day you will look back and realize they were the big things. Every day is a new beginning. A chance to love. A chance to live. A chance to dream. A chance to do! We live through our actions. We live through our memories. Sometimes we live through stories.

I lived and loved through The Promise, a breathtakingly beautiful and broken love story by Melody Grace, where I was wrecked in the worst and best way. I fell in deep and devotional love with The Promise. I gave my soul to this story—as if I had a choice—for it to be sucked in and stolen from me. I gave my heart to The Promise, this tender and touching tale, where it was massacred yet melted. I lost myself in The Promise where I may forever remain.

★★★★★ ‘but worth more’ perfectly poignant ‘full of promise’ stars

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“Promise me one thing. Promise me you’ll live.”

Claire Fortune arrives in Boston with an old notebook and her best friend’s dying wish – to finish the scribbled bucket list that Hope didn’t have time to complete. Moment by moment, Claire builds a life she never dreamed of – until Theo walks into the coffee-shop one crisp September afternoon, and her careful plans scatter on the winds.

Sometimes a chance meeting can change a life forever.
Sometimes fate knows exactly what we need.

Perfect for fans of ‘Me Before You’ and ‘The Fault in Our Stars’, ‘The Promise’ brings together two people searching for a love that can overcome tragedy. A heartbreakingly romantic novel that challenges us to live – and love – every day as if it were our last.

✮✮ THE PROMISE is live! ✮✮

iBooks ➙ http://apple.co/2dH3BRa

Amazon ➙ http://amzn.to/2dI63ou

Kobo ➙ http://bit.ly/PromiseKobo

GooglePlay ➙ http://bit.ly/PromiseGP

Review – Honor by Jay Crownover

October 12, 2016October 18, 2016Leave a comment

Honor by Jay Crownover

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“The devil is not as black as he is painted.”

Jay Crownover painted her latest story at the Point, Honor, in black and red with maybe a hint of white to represent the darkness that often eclipsed the light. I thought I was prepared for the battle this book would bestow on me, but nothing could have primed me for Honor, Jay Crownover’s blackest book ever. No pep talk or words of wisdom would have helped me walk through the pits of hell where the devil reigned, praying for a sliver of light. All I could do was dive in and silently pray for mercy on my emotions, hoping they would stay at bay.

I wanted to rush through this riveting read, soaking up all of the ‘Crownover Crack.’ My emotions engulfed like flames, making me read in smaller doses. Some of these doses delivered darts of darkness that made me pull away to try to catch my rapidly beating heart. Honor swiftly sunk my soul, where it drowned in the dark in hopes to see light. Honor was my enchantment. My escape. My EVERYTHING.

The Introduction warned me, willing those feels to stand down. The Prologue prepared me for this battle, a book I knew would wreck me…and oh did it tear me apart. This battle was dark and deadly, one forged from the depths of hell, but one where I had to survive. This dark devil’s tale became my demise and I wanted to fight by his side. I knew Nassir’s story would be the hardest to digest and the longest from which to heal, but a story perhaps more worthy than those of the others who paraded the Point.

“I wasn’t just part of a war…I was the war.”

Nassir Gates, the beautiful man who is the power of the Point, had already waged a war in his past life that made the Point look like a playground. This brave boy went to war alone with no one by his side, not even his family.

“There was an army of one, and the war he fought was for survival and self-preservation.”

I wanted to hug the boy who was robbed of his childhood. I could not help but break and bleed for the man forced to become the monster…all that he’s even known. Until one woman lends him a lifeline, a sliver of light in the depths of darkness. A life with lost meaning, Honor is Nassir’s reason to live.

“She was so much more than freedom. She was Honor.”

Nassir’s salvation and soul rest in Honor, a virtue and savior. Beautiful and vibrant Keelyn ‘Key’ Foster danced her way through Nassir’s club and into his heart, giving him a reason to care…a reason to live…for the first time ever. She left him once the devil revealed a glimpse of an angel, fleeing from her past. It’s time for the devil to pay his dues and take what’s taunted him and holds a piece of him: Honor.

“My devil wasn’t going to push me…he was going to do what devils did best. He was going to tempt me.”

Oh what a temptation Nassir Gates was from outside in. Golden skin and bronze eyes, dark hair, and a body made of perfection with a dominance that made me melt. This monster if made into superhero would be the Punisher, half villain and half hero, as Nassir walks a fine line between good and evil. Key did not stand a chance against this dashing devil.

“I was made to stand out not to blend in, and I was going back to the Point ready to shine.”

Of course, Nassir doesn’t stand a chance against Key either as she is the only one to unlock his frozen heart. Beauty, brains, and bravery in spades, Key is Nassir’s equal in every way. She is her own warrior. Both are a match made in heaven forged in hell.

“You are so deep inside of me I feel like I’m missing pieces of myself when you aren’t around.”

The devil melted me, even making me swoon. The heart I tried to freeze to stay strong in this story shattered so many times.

“He kissed like he did everything else, with finesse, with skill, with demand and force.”

His beautiful battle warrior wills him to fight as she doesn’t want to want Nassir, but can’t help the power and passion that permeate between them. This devil plays dirty to collect his dues, needing the Key to his heart.

“I’m not giving you my heart.”

“You don’t have to give it to me, because I’m going to take it one way or another.”

One dark angel…one mixed devil…one team…one war. Tragedy strikes, blood is shed, and war wages on the Point where lives are altered forever. The past may be the most dangerous weapon of all.

“When you make your home in hell, you want to have the devil in your corner.”

Oh did this devil dancing on the city of doom demolish every part of me. Honor dipped me into the darkness, dangling my emotions off a cliff, where I could not help but fall. I FELL HARD for Honor, a story that shook my soul with a force I did not see coming, but one that engulfed every emotion like a raging inferno. Honor BLEW ME AWAY!!!

Honor hit my heart hard, wrecking it—wrecking me—in the best way. Haunting, heartbreaking, and heroic, Honor is a must-read romance that rages among the ashes in an epic story of the hardest-fought love ever. HONOR WAS EVERYTHING!!!

Only Jay Crownover can make you fall in love with the devil and follow him to the pits of hell. Oh did I want this dashing devil in my corner, Nassir, my dark knight. I fell so deeply in love with a villain who—hidden beneath the mask—was a hero with a heart. Jay Crownover’s writing reaches inside deeply, grabs your heart, holding it in its hands, and then both hits and hugs it so hard. With each story Jay Crownover writes, I fall deeper into her spell that I’ve dubbed ‘Crownover Crack’ since meeting this author’s first masterpiece, Rule, years ago.

Those devastatingly beautiful books that authors pen like paint to a canvas, so vivid and valuable…THOSE ARE THE ONES THAT STEAL MY SOUL AND OWN ME FOR LIFE. Jay Crownover is one of those wondrous writers of brilliant books that break you, bind you, and brandish themselves to you forever. It’s that ‘Crownover Crack’ that hits me harder each time, where I’m rendered with the worst yet best emotional hangovers. My ride through heaven and hell was a huge honor, one I’d do again in a heartbeat.

5 ‘but worth 10’ heart-hitting and honor-filled stars

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SYNOPSIS

Don’t be fooled.

Don’t make excuses for me.

I am not a good man.

I’ve seen things no one should, done things no one should talk about. Honor and conscience have no place in my life. But I’ve fought and I’ve survived. I’ve had to.

The first time I saw her dancing on that seedy stage in that second rate club, I felt my heart pulse for the first time. Keelyn Foster was too young, too vibrant for this place, and I knew in an instant that I would make her mine. But first I had to climb my way to the top. I had to have something more to offer her.

I’m here now, money is no object and I have no equal. Except for her. She’s disappeared. But don’t worry, I will find her and claim her. She will be mine.

Like I said, don’t be fooled. I am not the devil in disguise… I’m the one front and center.

EXCERPT

NASSIR

I was in the Point for less than a day when I got word that the man that ran the streets wanted to see me. I like to lay low. I liked to blend in, but here it didn’t see like that was an option. Instead of desert sand, the battleground here was asphalt and concrete, and as soon as my presence was known, it was as if this place recognized the fight lying dormant inside of me. This city called to it. I don’t know why I instantly felt like I fit, but I did. So I went to see the man in charge, fully expecting to offer him the last of my cash in order to gain a foothold in the desolate kingdom. I was a survivor. I could do without money for a little bit. No man was more resourceful than I was.

I walked into a disgustingly gaudy strip club, offended by its crass ugliness. I was expecting to meet the ruler of the land, state my intentions, and let him know I would bow to no man here or anywhere else ever again. I was expecting a shakedown and maybe some strong-arming since I was obviously foreign and undocumented. I was technically legal since my mother had been an American citizen before she fell in love with an extremist, but I hadn’t really existed on paper since she handed me over to killers and radicals when I was just a kid. Mossad didn’t want me to be anything other than their trained attack dog, so they hadn’t offered up any proof of identity for me during my time at the end of their string. What I wasn’t expecting was that my cause, my reason, my purpose for living, and my something to believe in would be dancing nearly naked on a horrifically ugly stage, looking like she was going to cry at any second. She was so much more than freedom.

She was Honor.

She was beautiful, young, innocent, and so obviously resigned to her fate. It pulled at a heart I was stunned to find I still had buried somewhere deep underneath the brutal history that filled up the inside of me. It was the first time I felt it beat, and the pulse of its yearning scared and electrified me in equal measure.

I started to move toward her like all those invisible gods I spent my life killing for were leading me directly to her when suddenly a man twice her age and triple her size leaped from his seat next to the stage and hurled himself up onto the platform directly at the girl. In the blink of an eye he was on top of her, rough hands all over her naked flesh. I heard her scream. I saw her long limbs flail and thrash under him. A red haze filled my vision and I forgot all about staying quiet and laying low. I forgot all about being a ghost, and realized that I could channel the fight that had been forged into my very soul, the fight that was slumbering restlessly inside me at that moment, into protecting something so innocent. She woke the fight up and she kept it alive.

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Review – Down Shift by K. Bromberg

October 3, 2016October 4, 2016Leave a comment

Down Shift by K. Bromberg

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“We were two broken souls in love and maybe our crooked pieces were what made us fit together so perfectly, just like a puzzle…The puzzle I didn’t know I needed, and the puzzle he didn’t know he wanted.” ~Unknown

Have you ever begun and ended a story with tears? The first, last, and so much of the middle of the book render you a wreck, where the tissues are a lifeline, controlling those feels that flow like a river. Those emotions are entangled so deeply where you feel EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. Down Shift by K. Bromberg hit my heart hard and sank itself into my soul where all the feels flowed fast and furiously, leaving me bound to this devastatingly beautiful book where I may remain forever.

JUST JUMP.

Oh did I want to jump! I wanted to devour Down Shift. I wanted to savor it, Zander, and Getty. I wanted to rush. I wanted to take my time. Down Shift stormed its way into my heart and soul, a bolt of lightning, striking me hard and hastily. Feelings flowing. Pulse pounding. Soul spinning.

I WAS ALL IN. Happy tears. Nostalgic tears. Weary tears. Sad tears. So many tears. I knew Zander’s story would be one of heartbreak, and perhaps hope and healing. However, Getty’s story dealt me a few emotional blows where I broke just as hard. So many emotions cut through me like a knife.

The Prologue dragged me into Down Shift. Before I could catch my breath, I was thrust into this story. Utterly immersed. Emotions engaged. Air amplified. It took but a few words to become one with this touching tale. One line…two lines…three and my emotions were standing at attention, preparing to fight the ensuing flood of feels…a losing battle.

“The stain on my soul darker than ever before.”

After just one paragraph, Zander embedded himself in my heart. The Prologue spun me around, my head in disbelief, my heart heavy and hurting for Zander…for Colton…for Rylee. I was brought back into the Driven world—with just a few words—as if I never left. I saw a newer and even better Colton as a father who melted me to pieces. This Colton is wiser and more mature but still passionate and persuasive. Oh Down Shift, I gasped for air as this story stole my breath and took my tears.

“Everything important taken away from me with the slam of the door: my family, my ride, my anchors. And the sting is real.”

The sting was real indeed. Zander Donavan, Colton and Rylee’s son, has never dealt with his painful past. Now, the past floats around him like a ghost, returning again, haunting him, wrecking his racing, and leaving his life in ruins. He has no choice except to fight the demons head on, a battle that needs to be fought solo. Self-healing.

JUST JUMP.

Oh does Zander have to take that jump. Rebuild his life. Rebuild himself. Leaving his LA life and spot as the top racer behind, Zander relocates to a friend’s house on the Washington coast to work those demons out of his system, eliminate those complications and purge that painful past.

“I can’t chase the ghosts away for good if I don’t face them head-on.”

My heart that has held Colton for so long now holds Zander. Cocky and complicated, wounds rush through him that are years old, causing Zander to wound others in his path. I wanted to hug him and help him soothe the pain.

The gorgeous dark-haired, blue-eyed, tall, and muscular Zander didn’t expect to meet the beautiful brown-haired, brown-eyed, long-legged, and curvy Getty Castor. Getty is running from demons too after being controlled like a puppet all her life. She leaves home for a fresh start, a new life, one where she will be confident and commanding.

“That unmistakable zap of chemistry. My neurons catching fire…for a split second I think he feels it too.”

Zander and Getty are electric. Their chemistry is a current that flows fast and furiously through them, perhaps carved by fate. Despite the deep desire and attraction, they are complications to each other. Zander does not need Getty mixing up his mind further when he needs to fix his failures while Getty is done with men after they have let her down all of her life.

“Words. Thoughts. Confessions. The look in his eyes and the comfort of his touch cause my head to whirl, make me want to let him in.”

Both Getty and Zander have messed up, made mistakes in the past. Zander is supposed to be finding himself but Getty is who he has found and who is softening his hardened heart.

“You complicate things, Getty. Because there is something about you that continually reminds me why I came here.”

JUST JUMP.

Zander and Getty succumb to the temptation of touch, waging a war on those fireworks that ignite whenever they touch, heating them from skin to soul.

“You kiss me like I matter.”

This story…oh does Down Shift matter. Tears that tried to tangle with me during the first half of the story won the war, trickling down my cheeks like drops of the ocean.

“Right now every damn part of me wants to kiss you again. Kiss you till we can’t breathe, then lay you down on my bed and show you what it’s like to feel that kind of worship…But I can’t do that to you. I can’t knowingly walk you into my storm without showing you where the lighthouse is so you have a way out before you even begin.”

I FELL IN LOVE fast and furiously with Zander, Getty, and Down Shift. My heart bled for these broken souls who should heal and be happy together as one.

“It’s like I’m trying to come up for air and he’s trying to pass me his.”

I swooned so hard from these beautiful words that seduced my soul, carving a piece of my heart out with every word…every paragraph…every page.

JUST JUMP.

Zander and Getty need a relationship jump. Their chemistry is off-charts-hot but their compassion is just as combustible. Getty and Zander care so much for each other but won’t take that lap around the relationship track. It’s too bad that they still think of each other as a complication, something they don’t want or need.

“I snarl and clench my jaw, because the last thing I need is her presence here to cloud my thoughts. Give me reasons to want to stay. Make me want to walk up to her, back her against the counter, and kiss her senseless. Which is exactly why I’m leaving. Right now. Distance. Space. Clarity.”

Love may be washed up on the shore before it’s even ridden the waves as the past collides with the present. Darkness dangles itself in the air, threatening to steal the light. Zander must find himself without losing Getty. He’s the puzzle she didn’t know she needed, and the puzzle he didn’t know he wanted. Two broken hearts must find a way to fit together.

“Everyone’s churning ocean is fueled by a different type of storm.”

Down Shift was my perfect storm, an electric current that lit me up like a lightning bolt, sparked with sensations, where a force of feels flowed through me. Dark yet light. Turbulent yet tender. Broken yet beautiful. Explosive, exhilarating, and enchanting, Down Shift is EVERYTHING. This shattered and stunning epic love story is the perfect complement to the Driven series. Those beautiful and broken words broke me where I was drowning to breathe as Down Shift stole every piece of me: mind…body…heart…soul.

JUST JUMP.

Oh did my heart jump as I was free-falling into Down Shift, riding the waves of emotions that crashed into my soul, where I felt every word I read. Down Shift was ALL OF THE FEELS. ALL OF THE SENSATIONS. ALL OF THE SOUL. Oh did this story hit my heart hard. Bate my breath where I held it for periods in anticipation. Pounded my pulse as adrenaline rushed through me. Mesmerized my mind that fell hostage to this latest Driven book from the very first page. Stole my soul that was tied to this story like a race car to a track.

Like Colton and Zanders’ cars around the track, my heart is still racing for Down Shift. What started with Driven, a series that stole my heart years ago and still holds it closely today, has ended with Down Shift, a shift in gears. I’m not quite ready to shift gears. Down Shift and the Driven series are not just stories; they are beauty in words…adventures that feel so very real. The forever kind of real. The voodoo vortex kind of real. The real that I raced over two years ago, race today, and will still race tomorrow from A to mother f**king Z.

★★★★★ broken and beautiful stars

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Behind the wheel, racing champion Zander Donavan is at the top of his game. But after too much excess in his personal life, he’s forced to step away. He needs to accomplish something all on his own—outside of his famous father’s shadow.

Getty Caster is running away from the abuse that clouds her past. She thinks she’s found the perfect escape—until she discovers a stranger in the beachside cottage she’d been promised. He’s undeniably sexy, but she’s there to heal. Alone.

Before long though, fighting with each other turns into fighting their attraction. And giving into desire sets off a chain reaction that has their pasts colliding. With an unexpected love on the line, can they overcome the fallout to build a future?

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Review – Playboy Pilot by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward

September 22, 2016Leave a comment

Playboy Pilot is PHENOMENAL! One word is all it takes to describe this book and THAT IS IT!

Each and every time I pick up a book by Penelope or Vi I get swept away on a “Magical Mystery Tour”. But when those two “Come Together” something EPIC happens.. “In My Life” I’ve read all of Vi and Penelope’s published books apart and together. They are both some of my ULTIMATE fave authors and I honestly don’t think there is a better author duo out there. In fact I know there isn’t. Penelope and Vi gel like no other, their books are smooth, their stories memorable. Playboy Pilot was ALL THE THINGS I wanted and MORE.

So let’s “Get Back” to the start shall we? Because what a start it was. I mean who doesn’t love a cocky, sexy, intense man and a spunky, sassy woman to really get under his skin? “Every Little Thing” about Carter and Kendall is amazing. “I’m In LOVE” with them and all they are!

If it’s possible to ever die from swooning I SWEAR I’d be a goner right now. “Do You Want To Know A Secret”? Carter Clynes has “All My Loving.” “I Should Have Known Better” than to think Vi and Penelope wouldn’t write a super delicious man but in all honesty I wondered how they write one better than Graham? And while they are both so different, we all have our faves and Carter is now MY FAVE!

Kendall Sparks is an AMAZING female lead “And I Love Her.” Her change and development through Playboy Pilot was an adventure in itself that was written so perfectly I couldn’t help not loving her.

So many times during this book I was “Flying” feeling “Free As A Bird” as I rode out the total utter bliss of all things Playboy Pilot. And I “Dig It”, I totally love that feeling of butterflies, that stir up anticipation as the build up starts. I love that heart pounding feeling of sitting back and letting the words flow through you as you watch characters you’re fully invested in fall in love. I also love those little moments, the ones that PACK ALL THE FEELS. You know the ones that hit you right in the gut? It can be something as simple as a ridiculously swoony sentence or something that pulls the world from right under your feet. Playboy Pilot has it all! If you’re like me, you’ll devour it. Because there is NO OTHER OPTION when you pick up this book. If you’re like me, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll swoon, you’ll burn up and you’ll LOVE!

So “You Know What To Do” BUY THIS BOOK! Because “All You Need Is Love” a Playboy Pilot kinda love. Carter Clynes “You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me.”

“The end.”

From the New York Times bestselling authors of Stuck-Up Suit and Cocky Bastard, comes a sexy new standalone novel.

Money or love? Which would you choose?

You probably just answered the question in your head thinking it’s an easy decision.

For me, it’s not. Did I mention it’s a lot of money? A hell of a lot.

I needed to go far away to think it through.

As I embarked on an impulsive trip, I hit a detour when I met sexy Carter in the airport lounge. We struck up a heated conversation.

Then, he left.

I thought I’d never see him again.

But fate had other plans.

Surprise! He was the pilot of my flight.

The bigger surprise was the adventure that followed after the plane landed.

Carter was dangerous and always on the move.

Even though our connection was magnetic, I knew it was only temporary.

He would give me tickets, and I would follow him around the world to exotic places.

A bevy of flight attendant exes and rumors about Carter’s reputation were never far behind.

I didn’t know what to believe.

But I was addicted. Nothing else mattered anymore. And I was going to get hurt. Because a part of me wanted to be the one to finally ground the playboy pilot.

At the very least, he was taking me on a thrilling ride.

All good things must come to an end, right?

Except our ending was one I didn’t see coming.

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Review – Torrid Affair by Callie Anderson

September 13, 2016Leave a comment

How is it possible that a book can leave you so broken but so whole? How is possible that a book can strip you of every single feeling, but leave you stupidly happy? I’ve never read any books by Callie Anderson before. I really didn’t know what to expect. So to now be sat here in absolutely strung out from having experienced EVERY SINGLE EMOTION, I can safely say I will read every single thing Callie has ever wrote and will ever write.

Callie is an evil genius. In Torrid Affair she ripped out my heart and soul and OBLITERATED it! Crushed me to within an inch of my life. I guess the introduction at the front of the book should have given me some indication but nothing could have prepared me for the utter devastation I’d feel while reading this. I UGLY CRIED. Honestly tears ran down my face while I struggled to breathe because this book, Torrid Affair, is breathtaking. It’s a beautiful disaster, utter perfection, delicious devastation. I cannot even begin to express how emotionally strung out I am now I’m finished..

At 30% I knew I loved this book, those butterflies that us bookworms love to experience deep inside our stomachs began to flap their wings like crazy and started the intense burn that I LOVE.

At 49% I COULD NOT BREATHE. My heart was being painstakingly pulled from my chest and my soul trampled on. I hurt because the characters were hurting. Because I connected to them on such a level that my world was theirs and their pain was mine. I watched as my heart and soul was held in front of me, while words and sentences dropped like bombs onto it, totally blasting every part of me.

At 68% I had to stop and calm myself.. Nothing was ever going to stop me reading this book EVER. But I needed a minute. I don’t know how Callie did it, but she sucked me so deep into this story that I never wanted to leave. I fell in love with Brie, from the start she became a part of me. Some people, I’m sure will not want to read this book because of the warning. But I would tell them to just read it, put aside everything and just read because what Callie does with this story is so fucking powerful you’ll get it. You’ll get Brie and you’ll love her, like I did.

You’ll also love Nate. OMG Nate! He’s my beautifully broken man, so consumed by love. So ridiculously perfect and stupid at the same time. I loved him. So, so much. But I also could have slapped him silly while kissing him better. He’s that guy, you know?

Together Nate and Brie are raw, ugly, beautiful and intense. Imagine the strongest storm. One that starts as a low rumbling across the sky. The closer it gets the more obvious it becomes. With it, it brings pounding rain and strong winds, intense feelings that scare. It also brings lightning, bright, vibrant sparks that light up the sky, crackling with such heat and intensity that you can’t look away. It wreaks ugly devastation but also delivers painstaking beauty. It’s power builds and builds, there are small reprieves where it eases but that just adds to the next wave. It’s intensity never dies and still you can’t hide away. Don’t want to hide away. Because you know when the storm is over it will leave the most breathtaking ending filled with beauty and colour. And it does. It leaves so much beauty. So much perfection. Together Nate and Brie are EVERYTHING.

I’ve read a lot of books this year, books that have upset me and tugged on my heart. But I’ve only read a couple that have actually blown me apart, that have dragged me through feelings so strong I’ve been left broken. But in that brokenness is a happiness that skips hand in hand with it. Its that broken happiness that us bookworms experience when we read books that will stay with us forever, books that elicit the strongest book hangovers. It’s that broken happiness that we savour every single second of because it’s beautiful. Torrid Affair is, from beginning to end, a broken happiness that will forever be more, than I can ever hold in my heart.

I’m fucked.

The life I have lived for the past ten years is built solely on lies and secrets.

But I can’t help myself.

I’m in love with two different men. And one of them is my brother-in-law.

He’s my drug. My fire. My addiction.

But he’s married to my best friend. And I’m married to my husband.

I’m not ashamed. I have no guilt.

None.

I’m not fucked. I’m a fucked up person.

This is the story of how I ruined my life.

And the life of the one I loved most.

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Review – Stripped Down by Emma Hart

September 2, 2016Leave a comment

Welp. I don’t know where to start. I’ve read some amazing books this year, some books worth more than the 5 stars we’re allowed to give. Some that will be in my top reads of 2016, and THIS, Stripped Down is one of them!

Stripped Down has EVERYTHING! From laugh out loud comedy, to a delicious, dirty talking alpha, to swoony romance, to soul searing, heart breaking beauty. I kid you not, this book is a feels roller coaster. It’s just EVERYTHING!

But let’s start with that delicious, dirty talking alpha shall we? Everybody welcome Beckett Cruz, stealer of hearts and panties. I ask you now to think of EVERY WORD you can, that would describe the BEST delicious, dirty, swoony, protective, romantic alpha male for you. Have you done it? Well, Becks is ALL OF THEM and MORE! I promise you!! If you read Emma’s books you’ll know that her men are utter sin, carnage to the heart, you may as well forgo the panties and bathe in the ridiculous swoony river they leave behind. But Beckett, damn BECKETT! He’s just raw, intense, SEX. Everything about him oozes satisfaction. I just LOVED him! I’d say he’s Emma best hero yet and I love me some Burke goodness. But DAMN! BECKETT CRUZ!!

And Cassie, well she’s delightful. So strong and sassy. I just adored her. Her walls are built high and for a seriously good reason, one that as a single parent I understood and connected with so much!
When reading Stripped Down you’ll find that is has the usual Emma Hart goodness that she sprinkles on all her books, but you’ll find that it’s also a lot more than that. It’s deeper and more personal. From the dedication at the front, as the reader you soon realise what you’re reading is important not just to us as readers, or her characters but to Emma as well. There were times I felt so happy while reading this, that my smile was hurting my face. There were also times reading this that I felt every crack of Cassie’s heart when she was overcome with the worry of her future and daughter and that cracked my heart too, because those worries are SO REAL. Emma wrote them to PERFECTION!

Personally I’d say Stripped Down is Emma’s best book yet, forgo the cover and the insanely hot model on it, forgo the comedy and the hot sexy scenes, forgo the delicious hero and sassy heroine and look deeper. Because what you’ll find is a strong, relatable story of hurt, fear, beauty and love. You’ll find a story woven from experience and knowledge. You’ll find the PERFECT story!

5+ sensational stripped down stars!

What do you get when you mix a bottle of tequila, a single mom moonlighting as a stripper, and her sinfully sexy boss with an impulsive side?

Married. You get married.

Rich. Demanding. Hot. Crazy.

That was Beckett Cruz in a nutshell.

Not to mention wild, determined, dangerous, and forbidden.

He was my boss—and, after a drunken moment of insanity, my new husband.

An annulment was impossible… so was keeping him.

I was taking my daughter and leaving, determined to give her a quieter life.

But Beckett Cruz had never taken no for an answer.

And he wasn’t about to take mine.

What happens in Vegas… might just keep you there.

Excerpt –

Beck?” I managed to get his name out just before he opened the front door.

“Yeah?” He spun back to face me, his dark eyes unreadable.

I turned my face to the side so I could see him fully. “You don’t have to go,” I said softly. “You can stay. Only if you want to though.”

He rubbed his hand down his face, his eyes never leaving mine, then walked back into the kitchen toward me. I stood up away from the fridge as he stopped right next to me.

Slowly, he touched his hand to my face, his fingertips teasing my hairline. His dark gaze searched mine, and my heart jumped into my throat as the usual tingles his touch sparked danced down my neck. Then, he slid his hand into my hair, allowing the blonde strands to fall away from his fingertips.

“Do I want to go home to my big-ass house with its cold emptiness?” he asked in a low voice. “Or go to the club where half the girls there still see me as a mountain to be conquered? Not particularly, Blondie. I’d rather stay here. Even if there will be a demand for movies and water and foot rubs from a tiny, sick person.”

“You can.” My voice was quiet, like his. Even if my internal screams from self-preservation and vulnerability were deafeningly loud as they told me I was a fool, that he had to go, that this would never be enough for him.

“Do you want me to?” His question was… honest.

Raw.

Hesitant.

Like he didn’t want me to answer.

“Do I want you to stay here in my tiny house so my daughter can fall more in love with you than she already is? Not really. But…” Don’t be a fool, Cassie. Don’t admit you want him to stay. He’s just going to hurt you. “I don’t exactly want you to go either.”

“For her, or for you?”

“I don’t want to answer that question.”

“If I kissed you right now, would you ram your knee into my cock?”

“I’d briefly consider it, but I probably wouldn’t do it.”

His lips twitched to the side. “You just answered the question.”

Then, of course, he cupped the back of my head, and he kissed me. It was slow, sweet, gentle. And I didn’t consider kneeing him in the balls for a single second.

Beck pulled back and trailed his hand down my arm before he finally let me go. “I’m going home to get changed and then come back. Do you need anything while I’m gone? For CiCi? You?”

“I don’t…” I sighed and chewed back my pride. “I meant to go to the store today after work to get some stuff like bread, milk… important stuff. But now I can’t.”

“I can get it. Just tell me what you need.”

I bit the inside of my lip, then nodded. “Okay. Let me write it down.” I walked through into the front room with him hot on my heels and grabbed the notebook and pen from under the coffee table. A few things were already scrawled down, so I added a couple more things, including more medicine. I tore the sheet off the notebook, stood, then gave it to Beck. “Let me get my wallet.”

He grabbed my wrist, stopping me. “I’m not taking your money.”

I lifted my gaze to his. “You can’t pay for my groceries.”

“I can and I will.”

“You can’t and you won’t.”

“I can and I will.”

“You can’t and you won’t.”

“I can do this all day, baby. I’m stubborn as fuck.” His eyes told me he wasn’t lying. “And we all know I’m a brat about the word no. So, I can, I will, and I’m going to. If I can’t help you by buying a measly eight items, I’m an asshole who shouldn’t be allowed around other people.”

“You can’t buy my groceries,” I repeated. It was a lame argument. I was going to lose, but I’d fight until I went down.

Beck’s eyes twinkled as he leaned in. “Don’t worry. If you really want to pay me back, I’ll take a blow job. I imagine your lips around my cock will be a pretty good thank you.”

My jaw dropped as he backed off with a wink.

“Mouth open already, Cassie? Enthusiasm. I like that.”

I snapped my jaw shut and glared at him. “You’re a dirty pig.”

“I know. But I’ve got fifty bucks that says you’ll be sucking my dick by bedtime. If you don’t agree…” He shrugged one shoulder, his lips curved in that dangerous smirk.

“If you’re lucky, I’ll bite it.”

“I’ll take that as I’m in for a good time.”

One more wink, complete with expanding grin, and he was gone.

Motherfucking asshole.

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Review – Wait by AL Jackson

August 22, 2016August 23, 2016Leave a comment

Wait Cover

Wait by A.L. Jackson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“The truth is, I gave my heart away a long time ago. My whole heart. And I never really got it back.” ~Sweet Home Alabama

Have you ever read a story that has stolen your soul? Has a book broken your heart, hitting it so hard, that even after it’s mended, its pieces are still stuck in the story? I gave my heart to Wait where it still remains long after I turned the last page. I gave my soul to this story—as if I had a choice—for it to be sucked in like a song, dragging me in, pulling me under, like a big wave. Wait is the newest roller coaster of a rock star romance from AL Jackson’s Bleeding Stars series, and oh did my heart bleed.

I devoured Wait in small doses to give my heart time to slow its beating, my body time to slow its breathing, and my brain time to process all of the feelings floating around in my head. I did not want to put Wait down, yet I had to calm my emotions from this story’s sensory storm.

By just the second page of the book—the Prologue—my emotions engulfed me, soaring like soldiers ready for battle. This battle was one of feels; a fight I would not win. A fight I did not want to win. I knew this story starring Baz’s little brother, Austin, a broken boy who is now a broken man would break me. I just did not know that Edie, an equally broken girl and now a wounded woman, would break me just as hard.

“I trusted this broken boy. So I whispered my secret. Offered it up to him. To hold it. Protect it. Until the day he crushed it in his hands.”

Baz’s little brother, Austin, left four years ago at age 17 to treat the wounds that were embedded so deep into him, making him bleed for the past that held him prisoner. One where he still feels unworthy. Tall, muscular, inked, brown-haired and grey-green eyes, Austin could be older brother Baz’s twin. While not the lead singer for Sunder like Baz, he could easily be Sunder’s front man, but plays in smaller venues on the West Coast.

“I felt that fragmented piece inside stretching out its fingers. Searching for all that had been lost. For that piece I could never reclaim.”

Damn if Baz’s little brother didn’t burrow right next to Baz in my heart.

Just one chapter in and my heart was breaking. WAIT…I had to catch my breath as my lungs breathed in every wondrous and wielding word. The words quickly became flames, lighting me up. A fire that burned me inside, guiding me to its flames, to the light that I needed to see. Needed to feel when darkness tried to hijack my head and heart.

“His voice…that unforgettable voice that washed over me exactly the way it once had. With comfort and joy and an aching hope. I hadn’t seen him since the night this broken boy had crushed the fragile piece of myself I’d given to him. Only Austin Stone was no longer a boy.”

The past collides with the present when beautiful blonde and aqua-eyed Edie Evans, Ash’s little sister, and Austin’s best friend and love of his life stumbles into the bar where he is playing one night after four years apart. Secrets and lies destroyed them but each has always held the other’s heart.

“He’d been my safety. My haven. Until he dragged me right back into hell.”

Two chapters in and I broke as I bled for both the hero and the heroine. Two broken souls who should be one. WAIT…I had to catch my tears as I willed them not to fall. Tears that teased the dam of waterworks waiting to burst from the words that clutched my soul, extracting every emotion. Beckoning me. Binding me. Becoming me.

“The girl was the only one who shed a light strong enough to pull me from the dark…that girl had given me air. A reprieve from the unending storm.”

Austin is rough around the edges but light lingers through that dark exterior, ready to burst and break free. Edie is the angel who saves him from the dark. Austin is the comfort in Edie’s raging storm. Two broken souls who have been through hell find their way back to each other, hoping for redemption. A second-chance. One where their hearts will resume beating as one.

“Because I’d known it since the moment he’d crawled into my bed and whispered his ease. Since the moment his spirit had sank into my soul.”

These broken beauties need to be together. Austin and Edie’s pain is mine and only they can pick up each other’s shattered pieces.

“He was anchored to me so deeply I could feel him pulling at me from every angle. We were magnets in opposition. Trembling lures.”

I swooned so much. My heart was hit so hard, it spun right into my soul. This broken boy and this broken girl…they broke me. Again and again.

“This girl was the only thing I could see…Did she get it yet? Did she know she was always going to belong to me?”

I could not help but smile a grin filled with hope as I was sucked into a wave of passion, one of soul mates, one of love as deep as the ocean.

“I should have known it would always be him.”

One third into this soul-searing story and the tears trickled, harder and harder, as that dam of waterworks started to break. Permanent tears became etched into my eyes. I sighed. Wait filled my lungs, words filtering into my very core. WAIT…I had to catch my heart that this story so forcefully claimed.

“He kissed me…as if I was the center of his world. And I knew without a doubt, this boy was the eye of the storm. The eye of my storm.”

Their chemistry is passion. Their chemistry is pure. Austin and Edie are perfect together, dark mixed with light with a love that has never died. Oh do I LOVE THEM so!

“She kissed me so deep I was sure this girl managed to touch my soul.”

An angel, Edie is Austin’s light. Like he needs her, she needs her dark knight, the one who has rescued her from hell as she has pulled him from the darkness.

Three-fourths into the book and I was broken … gutted … unglued. Wait pulled me into the dark; I was drowning in tears mixed with hope and heartbreak. My soul screamed for mercy, so lost it may never be found. WAIT…I had to take another breath as this book buried itself so deep into my soul that it may never leave.

“How do you both break my heart and heal it at the same time?”

“I don’t want to break you.”

“You broke me a long time ago.”

Wait, oh did it break me. This book…it’s EVERYTHING!!! An intense, intoxicating, and incredible story of epic love, Wait hit my heart hard and fast like lightning, scorching my soul while my emotions poured like a rain storm.

I felt every word I read in Wait where I was left gasping for air, drowning to breathe in a sea of emotions so deep that they stole every feel and every thought in a book that owned every piece of me. I lived Wait. I breathed Wait. I was bound to Wait. I became Wait.

AL Jackson writes from the heart and you can tell her heart is poured into every beautiful and brilliant word. Her heartfelt writing hits my heart hard like a hurricane in every single story of this Bleeding Stars series. EVERY WORD MATTERS. Meaningful. Mesmerizing. Magnificent.

Everything AL Jackson pens is paint to a canvas, so vivid and valuable. Stories that steal your soul and stay with you forever. Oh did Wait sing to my soul so very much in a beautifully broken story of epic love that was so worth the wait.

5 but should be 10 beautiful, broken, brilliant, and imperfectly perfect stars

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Edie Evans is gorgeous.
Sexy.
Kind.
She’s also the definition of off-limits.
But that didn’t stop me from sneaking into her room to comfort her at night.
But guys like me? We destroy everything, so it should have been no surprise when I destroyed us, too.
The night I sent her running, I thought I’d never see her again.
Until I saw her standing like a vision in the crowd.

Austin Stone is dangerous.
Alluring.
Tempting.
He broke my heart and I refused to give him the chance to do it again.
It’s been years since I’ve seen him, and now I can’t do anything but stare at the gorgeous, tattooed man playing onstage. I should run. I know I should. But like a fool, I run straight back to him.
Our desire is overpowering.
Our need unrelenting.

She is my hope.
He is my weakness.
We should have known a passion this intense would burn us right into the ground.