My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” ~ Corinthians 13:4-13

Sometimes you read a book that is so beautiful that you’re left in a haze, floating in the air where life is more precious from above. You wonder how mere words….WORDS…can render you so full of FEELS where your emotions are still dangling on clouds long after the story has stopped. Emotional ecstasy. Corinne Michaels’ latest second-chance romance, Say You’ll Stay, is THAT FEEL-GOOD BOOK that renders you breathless and blissful from all of the heart that is poured into this piece of penned perfection.

Say You’ll Stay consumed me from the very first page; immersing me deeply into this devastatingly beautiful book. Chills ran through me. My breaths were bated. My pulse raced. My heart quickly broke as tragedy strikes hard. Presley and her two young boys are forced to flee back home to Presley’s family in Tennessee after their lives are turned upside down. Tears are starting to trickle as waves of despair crash into Presley, crashing into me.

“Black. That’s how I feel—void of any light or color.”

My tears are falling fast and hard, soaking my face. I’m nearly gasping for air, drowning to breathe, as I can’t help but become immersed in the devastation.

This poor mother, Presley, is still reeling from heartbreak yet she has to rebuild her life and muster up strength for her two boys. As a mama, I am devastated right with Presley. Now she is forced to face Zach Hennington, who broke her heart seventeen years ago when they were teens.

“He’s the same boy I fell in love with at twelve. He’s the boy who taught me to love. He’s the boy I saw myself growing old with, having children with, and yet he destroyed me.”

Presley left to forget Zach; now that she is back in her hometown and can only remember.

“That’s the thing about young love in a small town—it never dies.”

Presley is running from the past as she tries to overcome the tragedy of the present; Zach is running towards her.

“She’s the reason I haven’t been able to move forward in my life.”

Where there is darkness, there is light. Where there is heartbreak, there is hope. Where there is hope, there is healing. A misunderstanding tore them apart, leaving Presley bitter and broken, but she and Zach are reunited. Their love, despite tragedy and time, has never died.

“Love doesn’t let go. It grows stronger.”

Presley and Zach are a ball of fire. Their passion pours through the flames. They are turbulent yet so tender. As Zach pounds his way into Presley’s head and heart, he uncovers feelings that Presley tried her hardest to bury.

“My heart skips a beat. As much as I will try to fight the draw—it’s still there. Zach holds a string that’s tied inside of me. If he pulls, I’ll unravel.”

A boy and girl then; now a man and woman. Zach is the match that lights Presley’s body in flames. The sparks that resonated years ago are now reignited, burning brighter and scorching stronger than ever. Their love has survived heaven and hell.

“It’s not because of you, Presley. It’s because it’s always been you.”

I SWOONED HARD as these soul-wielding words clamped down on my heart, squeezing so many emotions out as I fell even more deeply in love with this story and this beautiful couple.

Presley can’t fight her feelings for Zach any longer. Zach took a part of her heart when they were teens and never gave it back. She owns his heart and always has. Their love is the kind that happens once in a lifetime. Soul mates who have lost their way and have finally come home.

“You were my first kiss, my first love, the first man to touch me. I want you to kiss me, and I need to kiss you.”

These words are so real, raw and romantic…gah! I’m awe-struck in the beauty bleeding off of the pages that carve out a part of my heart with each line.I cry. I smile. I hope with everything I have that Presley and Zach get the happy ending that they have fought long and hard for and deserve so desperately.

“I’ve always closed my eyes and seen you beside me. It was never over.”

My heart is still reeling and racing. These characters won’t stop dancing in my head. Corinne Michaels has written one of MY TOP ROMANCE READS OF ALL TIME, touching me so deeply in Say You’ll Stay. This author writes with heart and steals readers’ hearts along the way. Corrine Michaels’ intense and intoxicating words in Say You’ll Stay have wrapped themselves around my heart and won’t leave.

Say You’ll Stay is a powerful and poignant, an epic and everlasting love story that dances in dreams and soars inside the soul. A romance that radiates passion and promise, Say You’ll Stay is so raw and real that I felt each word I read. My heart shattered and soared so many times. This book broke me yet breathed love, luster, and life into my body where I was left in utter book bliss. I fell in LOVE with Say You’ll Stay so HARD. Say You’ll Stay will stay with me like that special and sweet first love, owning a piece of my heart forever.

5 ‘but worth way more’ beautiful and broken stars

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One word.

Stay.

It was all he had to do. Instead, he got on that bus and took my heart with him.

That was seventeen years ago.

I moved on. Marriage. Kids. White picket fence. Everything I ever wanted, but my husband betrayed me and I was left once again.

Alone, penniless, and with two boys, I had no choice but to return to Tennessee. He wasn’t supposed to be there. I should’ve been safe. However, fate has a way of stepping in.

This time around, the tables are turned. It’s my decision. Second chances do exist, but I don’t know if we can repair what’s already been broken . . .

** This is a STANDALONE **

✦ Amazon US ➙ http://amzn.to/28J1mI3

✦ Amazon UK ➙ http://bit.ly/SYSAmazonUK

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Review – Ramsay by Mia Sheridan

June 19, 2016Leave a comment

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Ramsay by Mia Sheridan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ramsay is a brilliantly written and breathtakingly beautiful second-chance love story that bleeds passion and angst as it breaks and builds the heart over and over again. Touching. Tender. Turbulent. Thought-provoking. Ramsay is not just a story but a full-blown immersion where the heart, breath, and soul collide as they become one.

I wanted to savor Ramsay but I could not help but devour this book with a desperate hunger like my last meal…my last breath. This story consumed me. Captivated me. Caressed my soul.

From the very first page, Mia Sheridan’s vivid words immediately came to life like paint to a canvas. The words are colors that splashed against my soul with each stroke of the brush. My senses were heightened as the world bared life from page to mind to heart. I smelled the fresh cut grass and honeysuckle. I tasted those scorching kisses. I felt Brogan’s strong arms around me as I felt everything in this story. I didn’t have to read much to know that the end result would be one magnificent masterpiece.

Just 10 percent into Ramsay and this story quickly overcame me—heart, head, body, breath and soul—captivating and crushing me ceaselessly. My heart nearly beat out of my chest. My body was on fire as my pulse pounded more with each page. Tears streamed early on and never really ceased.

I cried…a lot. Feelings bled into tears, heartbreak bled into happiness, hope rose from the bloodshed. I could not help but feel each word I read in Ramsay, my emotions entangled in this soul-searing story where they remained as I became unglued.

The beautiful man with an Irish accent and Gaelic tongue stole my heart and is still holding it tightly. As a teenager working with his father as gardeners at a rich family’s estate, Brogan Ramsay experienced the most passionate night of his life and the ultimate betrayal as he was used like a piece of trash by Lydia De Havilland, the beautiful and blonde rich girl who he cared for and he thought cared for him. Her mean-spirited and twisted brother, Stuart, discarded Brogan like a piece of trash, rendering his family and him useless and destitute.

“Why was she doing this to me? Making me hope for things I could never have?”

My heart instantly broke for this beaten and beautiful man. And oh is Brogan beautiful. I have a new boyfriend and his name is Brogan Ramsay. Black hair. Blue eyes. Tall. Muscular. Irish-American who speaks with an accent and in Gaelic. One of high conviction and honor. So complex. So caring. So protective. So beautiful—inside and out. I fell in insta-love with this multi-faceted man, a deep connection that felt a bit real.

Lydia De Havilland. Beautiful, blonde, curvy, and a former spoiled rich girl who has blossomed into a woman who is just as beautiful inside as out, like Brogan. I want to hate Lydia but I can’t as there is much more to her and this story than meets the eye. As quickly as I hated Lydia, I fell in love with her too. Lydia encounters Brogan seven years later and the tables have turned. He is no longer the sweet boy Lydia adored but is now a revenge-seeking avenger.

“My God. He hated me vehemently. After all this time.”

Brogan can’t forget that devastatingly beautiful night seven years ago where Lydia claimed his body and heart yet humiliated him.

“The humiliation. The rage. The hopelessness. The grief. The memory of what she’d done still pulled tight like an internal scar.”

Brogan still holds onto this hate and is determined to destroy Lydia and her family as retribution.

“If I exacted the revenge I’d been imagining for so long, I’d be free of her. Exercised of her ghost, the one that had been haunting me for seven years.”

Lydia remembers a sweet and caring boy who stole her heart—not this cold and calculating man who is now enacting blackmail where she is the pawn for payback in a twisted game. Brogan wants to carry out revenge yet reclaim Lydia, the only girl he has ever loved.

“There is a thin veil between love and hate.”

Like a pendulum, I shifted between Lydia and Brogan. Love. Hate. Love. Hate. The tension of these characters turned to me. I felt their angst as I warred with these words. I absorbed Brogan and Lydia, feeling their pain. The hate. The heartbreak. EVERYTHING. Brogan and Lydia love and loathe like fire and ice. Their chemistry is intense and intoxicating, breathing passion into the pages. I was on fire right along with this combative yet caring couple.

“He was going to kiss me…and I wanted him to—possibly even more than the first time…It felt like a symphony rose in every cell of my body as I became reacquainted so easily with his taste, his touch.”

Swoon. I’m swooning and rooting hard for this couple to be reunited. To survive this seven year war.

“There was still so much between us, so much unresolved, untold.”

Brogan and Lydia. Two soulmates that have been split in half for seven years. Despite distance, misunderstandings, and time, these two hearts still beat as one. Though their souls are lost— anchored by the painful past—and won’t be found until they are together again.

“I’d orchestrated my own demise. I was going to go down and go down hard again.”

I’m drowning to breathe, mourning that Ramsay is over, as I clutch an invisible clover while tears catapult down my cheeks. Life is moving around me but my heart is still breathing this book. This story gripped me hard and never let go as it tore open my heart like a gaping wound, gutting me.

I bawled like a baby, never quite stopping the tears that flowed. My heart shook and shattered. Through the cracks of darkness, bits of light emerged, shining a sliver of hope into my soul. Ramsay ruined me. Rescued me. Branded me. Breathed life into me. Became me. My soul is spinning, my heart is heavy, and my breath is still bated from one of the best romantic roller coasters I’ve ever experienced: Ramsay.

Mia Sheridan is one wondrous writer. A visionary. Mia Sheridan makes you a believer in love, hope, and what’s beyond the happily after. Her sensational and soul-searing stories make you believe that life is indeed bigger than this earth. It lives on in something so breathtakingly beautiful that one can only ponder its existence.

From Archer’s Voice to Ramsay, which is now my new favorite book by this author, Mia Sheridan breathes life into a story that hits straight to the heart. Her meaningful and mesmerizing words matter. Each of Mia Sheridan’s poignantly penned pieces own a piece of my soul. One of my new favorite books of all time, Ramsay is pure poignant perfection. Ramsay is a magical and meaningful modern day fairytale of epic love, the kind that lives on long after the story is over.

5 ‘ but worth way more’ devastatingly beautiful bleeding stars

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Lydia De Havilland is shocked when Brogan Ramsay suddenly reappears in her life. Several years before, Brogan was the son of her family’s gardener, and the boy she hurt and betrayed. But Brogan is no longer the quiet, sensitive boy she remembers. Now he’s a man—gorgeous, powerful . . . and seeking vengeance.

Brogan Ramsay can’t let go of the memory of Lydia tricking him cruelly, leaving his heart shattered and his family penniless. And now he’s back to destroy her family the way his was destroyed. There’s only one problem . . . the girl who wounded him so badly years ago is now a woman who still has the power to render him breathless.

Ramsay is the story of betrayal and wrath, of the strength of regret and the power of forgiveness. It is the story of the thin veil between love and hate, and how more often than not, when we seek to inflict pain on others, the heart we wound is our own.

THIS IS A STAND-ALONE SIGN OF LOVE NOVEL, INSPIRED BY ARIES. New Adult Contemporary Romance: Due to strong language and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18.

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Review – Charged by Jay Crownover

May 23, 2016May 26, 2016Leave a comment

Karen's Review
Charged by Jay Crownover

Charged is a powerful and pulse-pounding page turner that hits the heart like a hurricane—fast, feverishly, and full of life. This tale takes you hostage, a deep immersion where fiction bleeds into reality. Charged…this story…this experience…is so raw it feels real. All-consuming. Angst-ridden. Achingly addictive.

Before I even started Charged I knew that if it stayed true to Jay Crownover’s style, it would be a rough rollercoaster of a ride to a happy ending. The best kind of romance: a messy story of hard fought love with characters who are flawed but fierce and fabulous. A tale of trial and tribulation where the players have black hearts on the outside but hearts of gold buried underneath the surface, which is uncovered, piece-by-powerful piece.

I want to devour Charged. I want to savor it, Avett and Quaid. I want to rush. I want to take my time. Charged stormed its way into my heart and soul. A bolt of lightning, striking me hard. Feelings flowing. Pulse pounding. Soul spinning. From the very first page; I was all in. Happy tears. Nostalgic tears. Weary tears. Sad tears. So many tears. So many emotions that cut through me like a knife.

Just two pages into the Introduction and Jay is speaking to me, loud and clear. I didn’t have to dive deeply to uncover the emotions that quickly bubbled up to the surface. Those words…I felt them deep down inside, so profound that they sent me on a trip down memory lane. I saw myself as that teen who had a few dates with trouble, taking risks that reeked of danger.

“So go out there and screw up. Have experiences so that you have stories to tell, and do it without apology.”

Mistakes sometimes make the best memories. Like Jay Crownover. Like me. Like so many of us, Avett Walker and Quaid Jackson have a story to tell and it’s a disaster but oh so devastatingly beautiful.

Avett Walker, the burly and big-hearted Brite’s little girl, has always dangled with danger, attracted to it like a magnet, pulling her in and dragging her down. Trouble finds her, and the innocent-looking pretty young lady with the cotton candy-colored hair has a rap sheet a mile long. Jail serves as a much-needed wake-up call to try to dig herself out of danger that has been her partner in crime for so many years.

“I had needed rescuing for a very long time.”

I want to hug Avett and give her the ‘mom talk’ about self-sabotage and learning from her past mistakes. I want to hug Brite for being an amazing father who has stood by his baby girl through thick and thin. Unconditional love is the most beautiful gift a parent can give a child.

Quaid Jackson is the beautiful, blond, and blue-eyed attorney who wears expensive suits like they were built for him. Cut-throat in the courtroom, he defends criminals—many of whom are from innocent. Quaid is so skilled and sharp that he makes even the monsters look like Mother Theresa in the end. He is running from a painful past that has plagued him for years.

“I was trying to screw wasted years, wasted money, and a broken heart out of my system.”

Her hope rests on the regal-looking but ruthless Quaid, the skillful attorney who can save Avett from prison due to one terrible mistake.

“The man was a predator, a civilized beast in a designer suit.”

I love that under Quaid’s beautiful wrapper may be a hidden beast, perhaps some bad ass under there too, and someone not as calm and collected as he appears.

Quaid is Avett’s only chance of digging herself out of this dirty mess she created. Avett is not used to following anyone’s advice, yet alone the direction of the sexiest and most sophisticated man she’s ever seen. She can’t help but want to ignite the fire in this bold and beautiful beast. Poke the lion and see if he growls.

“Getting him to react to me had become a personal challenge, and I was well aware I was pulling on a big, golden lion’s tail.”

This golden lion is chasing his tail as Avett is making his head spin. With Quaid’s new client being the small and sinfully sexy spitfire, personalities clash while sparks ignite. The gorgeous no-nonsense attorney and the colorful and reckless young beauty. Polished meets punk. Cautious meets impulsive. Desire meets desire.

Quaid is having trouble keeping his foreign feelings towards Avett on lock-down.

“I shouldn’t be noticing her curves. It was my job to help her, to keep her out of jail. With this client I wanted to touch my mouth to hers and see if she tasted as wild and rebellious as she seemed.”

Fireworks flare as Quaid tries to focus on remaining professional though it’s hard when Quaid wants to take and mark the woman who is slowly breaking down the wall around his heart, brick by brick, leaving him open and vulnerable. He must remember that a relationship between client and attorney is forbidden. If only fate would get the message as it keeps trying to intervene.

Forbidden love is one of the biggest messes, and I love a story with many loose ends. A book that is as bad as it is good.

“This little slip of a woman could demolish me, waste me, annihilate me, and if I allowed her to do it, I knew that it would feel better than anything in a very long time.”

Lines blur, boundaries break, and chemistry burns brighter. For Avett, Quaid is heat, heart, and hope wrapped up in one beautiful and bold package.

“I knew kissing Quaid Jackson was going to lead to all kinds of sorry and sorrow. I knew it as much as I knew I didn’t care and that I was going to kiss him and chase this bad idea until it crashed and burned, like they always did.”

Quaid and Avett are visual opposites but inner kindred spirits. Both are plagued by painful pasts holding them prisoner where they may be the only ones who can free each other. After all, like knows like, and inside, Quaid and Avett are one.

The pink-haired hurricane stormed into Quaid’s life and whirled around his emotions. However, with Quaid’s high-profile job on the line and Avett’s past constantly crawling up to the surface, the damage may not be worth the risk. It may be time to cash out before the game gets dicey.

“I don’t know what you thought was happening here, but it was just a job. You are a client, like any other client I represent, Avett. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Avett has always dangled with danger, but who knew her biggest danger could be her heart left in the ashes and possibly burned.

“I was pretty sure when Quaid Jackson was done with me, there would be nothing on earth that could feel as bad or be as painful.”

My soul is spinning as I just finished Charged, and I’m sorry that the story is over. Charged is a bumpy but brilliant and beautiful ride, a ride I did not want to end with twists and turns where tears of sappiness collide with tears of sorrow. You can’t help but love Jay Crownover’s badass boys and gals with big ass hearts. The unlikely and unexpected characters paired together make for a messy but so devastatingly beautiful and brilliant book. Hypnotizing. Heroic. Heartfelt.

Charged stormed it way into my heart and soul, sparking an emotional charge with words that tore at every piece of me, daring my emotions to tangle in this web of wonder. Its messages melted my mind, causing me to step inside my head and heart: Learn from your past mistakes. By finding and forgiving yourself as you learn from the past and let it heal you, only then will your present and future be brighter.

There are a few amazing authors that I can count on my hands whose powerful and poignant words paint a vivid picture, immersing me full throttle where my heart and soul feel everything. I know before even reading that their stories will tear me up, transporting me so deep that I don’t ever want to leave. Their beautiful books are those that remain with me forever. Jay Crownover is one of these heart-hitting authors.

Jay Crownover is a master of the pen, wielding words like swords that pierce straight to the heart. They hit me hard, gutting me every time. There are not enough stars for Jay Crownover’s words. If you haven’t met her raw and real work, JUST DO IT. Like a queen with the Midas touch, anything Jaw Crownover creates is pure gold. Crownover Crack.

5 ‘but worth more’ sensational and soul-spinning stars

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From the New York Times bestselling author of the Marked Men books comes the second installment in the Saints of Denver series featuring a bad girl and a by the book attorney who could be her salvation…or her ruin.

Avett Walker and Quaid Jackson’s worlds have no reason to collide. Ever. Quaid is a high powered criminal attorney as slick as he is handsome. Avett is a pink-haired troublemaker with a bad attitude and a history of picking the wrong men.

When Avett lands in a sea of hot water because of one terrible mistake, the only person who can get her out of it is the insanely sexy lawyer. The last thing on earth she wants to do is rely on the no-nonsense attorney who thinks of her as nothing more than a nuisance. He literally has her fate in his hands. Yet there is something about him that makes her want to convince him to loosen his tie and have a little fun…with her.

Quaid never takes on clients like the impulsive young woman with a Technicolor dye job. She could stand to learn a hard lesson or two, but something about her guileless hazel eyes intrigues him. Still, he’s determined to keep their relationship strictly business. But doing so is becoming more impossible with each day he spends with her.

As they work side-by-side, they’ll have to figure out a way to get along and keep their hands off each other—because the chemistry between them is beyond charged.

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Review – Ladies Man by Katy Evans

April 26, 2016April 27, 2016Leave a comment

Ladies Man by Katy Evans

Incredible, intense, and intoxicating, Ladies Man is an all-consuming friends-to-lovers romance that wraps itself around your head and heart—relentlessly tugging and tearing, never letting go. With the pages as the canvas, the mesmerizing and meaningful words are painted, flowing into feelings that touch every part of you. This beautiful, broken, and brilliant book bleeds into you. Belongs to you. Becomes you.

Like the rest of Katy Evans’ enticing and emotional reads, Ladies Man is claiming and consuming me as I read just the first page. I can’t stop devouring these powerful and poignant words that are stealing my thoughts, becoming my dreams. Emotions flow fast and hard, pouring off of the pages. This story just began and I already don’t want it to end.

The build-up is slow. Steady. Swoon-worthy. Sensational. Pure magic. I don’t have to read much of the book to realize that Ladies Man is more than the title. More than the striking cover with the gorgeous and rugged Viking staring so intently. More depth. More passion. More meaning. More everything. For several hours, this book became my world, blending with my reality as the words—each full of meaning—spoke to me with lessons of hard-fought love and life.

Oh Tahoe Roth. Malcolm Saint’s best friend. My valiant Viking. Beautiful and broken. Blond hair. Blue eyes. Yummy facial scruff. Tall. Muscular. Rugged. Cocky. A Golden God.

“Tahoe Roth is hot to the extreme. Six feet four, at least two hundred pounds of man. A power box of testosterone.”

Regina ‘Gina.’ Rachel Saint’s best friend. Beautiful. Brunette. Brown eyes. Curves in the right places. Ever since she turned him down a year ago, Tahoe has invaded Gina’s head.

“You’re staring at the guy who’s been haunting your dreams, and you don’t know what to do about it. What to do about him.”

Gina doesn’t want to want the tantalizing but terribly annoying Tahoe. Perhaps a dirty night with one of the leading players of Chicago will do the trick. At his birthday party, Gina offers herself on a silver platter to Prince Player, a night where she plays vixen to his Viking. One night to screw him out of her head for good. One night to taste Tahoe and then feast elsewhere.

“I’m not a one-night-stand kind of girl, which is why I’m giving you the chance only a few others have ever had. One night with me.”

Holy shocker. The Tahoe Train turns her down. On his birthday. A present that would have changed his life and hers.

“I’ve got nothing good to offer you, Regina.”

And just like that, only three percent into the story, my heart starts to crack for this complex but caring man.

“You need a guy who will always be there for you. One who will never let you down.”

“And you need a thousand women to make you feel good, and I’m only one.”

“Friends then.”

Friends who fantasize about each other.
Friends who should be lovers.
Friends who walk a fine line towards more.

“I hadn’t realized I was stroking his chest. He’s watching me with a heavy-lidded gaze. The air thickens with awareness. Our eyes hold. His expression is so hungry, and inside that gaze is that primitive look, so intense it borders on pain.”

Push. Pull. Push. Pull.

This cat and mouse game runs rampant as they are friends but aren’t.

The desperation. The attraction. The need. The want.

The angst and anticipation burn as they pull me over the edge, teetering in hope where I struggle to balance as my emotions are suddenly scattered everywhere.

“He may look like an Adonis, but there’s a darkness in his gaze. Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only one who sees it. I see it now as I stare at his gorgeous, haunting face, with a shadow of a beard and full pink lips that I continue to see in my dreams.”

It’s New Year’s Eve and once again, Gina and Tahoe find themselves at a party. Nearing midnight, they have no choice but to kiss. That kiss. It’s electric. A game changer.

“God, this mouth belongs to me, this mouth was made for me.”

Their chemistry is insta-hot. Electric. Palpable. So much anguish as Gina and Tahoe struggle to remain friends when they are already so much more.

“No one is the way they seem. We all hide little pieces, either because we don’t want to be judged, or because we don’t think we’ll be understood, or simply because we don’t want those pieces of us to belong to anyone but us.”

Oh how I’m falling in love with Tahoe. Protector of Gina. Her tamed beast. Her T-Rex.

Tough but tender. Fierce but loyal.

This man wears many layers as does Gina. Tahoe shields himself with meaningless sex to dull a painful past and guard his heart while Gina wears a mask of makeup as a barrier to suppress her emotions.

“I’m bare—more self-conscious about my face than I am about my body. My plump lips and wide, expressive eyes. And right now, Tahoe Roth is taking it all in. Taking all of me in.”

Each is wearing a mask that only the other can unveil as they are kindred spirits. The calm to each other’s storm.

“He’s looking at me as if he can’t get enough.”

The words are arrows piercing my heart, pulling it into this story as I’m consumed more than ever. The passion pours off the pages as I feel it all. The feels start to freely flow. I feel the desperation of Tahoe and Gina. Their hunger. Their anguish. Everything.

The friends who see each other inside and out, but are afraid to take a chance. To ruin what they have. Afraid to get burned again.

“I can’t get on the Tahoe rollercoaster. Maybe before, when it would be a one-night stand, it was an option…I am so scared to get hurt again. To get hurt a thousand times more than I ever have.”

The story is over but the feels don’t stop flowing, as Ladies Man still holds on to my heart. Happy tears. Hopeful tears. Sad tears. Sappy tears. I swooned. I sweated. I ached. I anguished. I lusted. I loved. HARD. All of it. I love Ladies Man so very much as this book is like Tahoe: full of many layers. Deep layers that penetrate it all: heart, head, and soul.

A sweet surprise. Ladies Man is a hidden gem. So much more than a troubled billionaire romance full of heat. It’s heavy on heart too. It’s even more than a hard-fought friends-to-lovers romance. Ladies Man is a story about hope. Healing. Self-discovery. Self-preservation. A book that is meaningful, lingering long after the story has ended with a valuable life message: Don’t change your true self for anyone as when you do, you risk losing your best you.

Five fierce and fabulous stars but defintely worth more

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TAHOE ROTH.
Irreverent, cocky, playful and naughty.
He’s not the guy you date.
He’s the one night stand.
The one your mother warned you about.
The one your body craves.

You’d think the man who called me succulent would want to strip me down and spread me out on his bed—like he’s done with countless others.
But he passed on my offer….
Just like I’d once passed on his.
He’s wary, like I am.
He’s broken, like I am.
And everyone knows two broken parts can’t ever make a whole.
Tahoe and I are strictly friends.
So I distract myself with other men.
He doesn’t think my new man is good enough. This blond blue-eyed beast doesn’t think any man is—himself included.
But the more time we spend together, the more confused I feel.
I’m trying to open myself to love.
Yet I’m quickly realizing that the only man I want is Tahoe Roth.
The one man who will surely break my heart.

Kindle: http://amzn.to/1SGeC2H
Amazon Print: http://amzn.to/1UducF3
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Review – Never Let You Go by Monica Murphy

April 18, 2016May 3, 2016Leave a comment

Never Let Me Go is a soul-searing and spellbinding story of second-chance romance that is filled with heartbreak, hope, and happiness where you can’t help but fall hopelessly in love. This saga is all-consuming as it steals your time. You mind. Your heart. Your soul. Everything. You’re deeply embedded in this saga where all the feels flow freely as Never Let Me Go holds on tight, owning you every step of the way.

Like Never Tear Us Apart, Never Let Me Go is a heartwarming but hard read. There are ugly parts that I wanted to ignore, box away, but I didn’t because that ugly…it needed to be told for the good to unfold. The lows result in highs. With darkness brings light. Hope. A happily ever after.

Back and forth. Two steps forward, one step back. My heart breaks. My heart heals. My gut aches. My body feels. Never Let Me Go. Oh the feels. I felt every word I read starting with the prologue, so power-packed and poignant. I was already tearing up as the words were arrows, piercing my heart, bleeding and branding me as I knew the rest of the book would. Painful.

“I cry. I can’t stop. I cry at night before I go to sleep. I cry throughout the day when I should be doing something, anything to remind myself that I’m alive. I should be living.”

Powerful.

“But instead I cry for what I’ve lost. I cry for what I’ve found.”

Pondering.

“Gone is the girl I once was. Gone is the woman I was slowly becoming.”

Poignant.

“Now there’s only this void. And there’s only one person to blame for what I’ve become, what I’ve turned into. And his name—his real name—is Will Monroe.”

Wow. So raw and real. The dam of emotions is teetering near flood levels.

Never Let Me Go is as heart-tugging as the prologue, as we revisit Katherine and Ethan in the conclusion of their story. The emotions escape, refusing to be held prisoner, as they pour off the pages, drowning me. Searing my soul. Brandishing my brain. Harnessing my heart. I feel each word I read. I feel these characters. I feel everything.

This powerful and poignant story picks up where Never Tear Us Apart left off, and is retold by Katherine and Ethan. Katherine is stronger than she was before and is learning to assert herself for the first time since her abduction. Her voice has returned and she will no longer hide in shame. Though still dealing with the aftermath of her abduction and abuse.

What hurts more than the abduction aftermath is the betrayal by Ethan that left her more broken. Torn. Split in two. Untrusting and unsure.

“I finally catch a glimpse of happy, of something real and solid and tender and…loving, and it ends up ruined. Ripped from my hands and thrown away. Lies. Deception. All of it.”

My heart that broke for Katherine now also breaks for Ethan, who is devastated that he lied and broke her trust. His heart now bleeds too.

“Inside I’m hollow. Broken into so many tiny pieces, I don’t think anyone or anything could put me back together. I’ve lost the only thing that matters. The only person I’ve ever really loved. And she hates me.”

Katherine is at a crossroads: forgive Ethan and risk having her heart broken and trust betrayed again or cut him off completely and resurrect those walls that Ethan broke free. She hates Ethan. Loves him. Misses him. Though fate finds Katherine and Ethan again and again, with a pull so strong that it’s a force they can no longer fight. Their relationship is taboo, but fate doesn’t care. Forbidden but forever bound.

“He’s seen me in every way possible, he knows me better than anyone else, and I realize in this single, heart-stopping moment that he is the only person in this entire world who understands me, knows me inside out.”

I swoon and melt as the goodness starts to snuff out evil with Ethan being a real-life Superman.

“He gave me light, when all I’d ever felt was darkness.”

Oh Ethan! I want to take away his pain too that has stolen his childhood, self-worth, and more.

“I’m not good enough for you. I never will be. You deserve better.”

Katherine’s Superman doesn’t think he deserves to be happy, despite saving the lady who will always be his. Though he will always rescue her. Forever.

“From the moment I saw her, I knew I had to take care of her. In some inherent way, I knew she belonged to me. It just took me years to find her again.”

Katherine is Superman’s Wonder Woman, despite nursing a bleeding heart, a heart that will always belong to Ethan. Her sweetness is his drug. His cure to snuff out his dark past.

“I need the sweetness of Katie to overcome the darkness of my past.”

Secrets, lies, and a monster from the past escape, breaking free and threatening Katherine and Ethan’s happiness. Fate needs one last appearance, as these two lost souls are only half but together are whole.

“It’s not his fault. It’s never his fault. We can’t control the monsters.”

Never Let Me Go held my heart from its beautiful and brilliant beginning to its enthralling and emotional end. This soul-searing saga grabbed my heart, wrapped itself around my head, and never let go. This book scared me, scarred me, shred me, and shattered me. Then it healed me, piecing my heart back together, filtering hope and happiness through my head and in my heart.

While the Never Tear Us Apart Duet paints a vivid picture of monsters lurking in the dark, its light and love that snuff out evil is what binds this story together, making it a mesmerizing and oh-so-meaningful masterpiece that you must experience. Monica Murphy has written her best, and most brilliant and beautiful story ever, one of epic love that will stay with me, perhaps for a lifetime.

5 soul-searing and strong stars

The second and final novel in a darkly sexy contemporary series from New York Times and USA bestselling author Monica Murphy, NEVER LET YOU GO is a tale about forbidden love.

NEVER LET YOU GO is an emotionally powerful novel about moving on from horrific events in the past and learning to love. Monica Murphy deftly delves into the world of romantic suspense and masterfully tackles a difficult subject matter.

* * *

The truth hurts, they say—and my pain cuts deep. While I was falling for Ethan, he was deceiving me the entire time. He held a huge secret, protected by his lies. When I discovered what he was hiding, the truth shook my world, threatening to ruin us forever. Ruin me. But I soon realized that what we share can’t be destroyed.

The connection between us is too strong. It always has been. I can’t deny him any longer. And I can’t deny my truth: I’m in love with Ethan.

I don’t want to let him go.

While we’re trying our best to make this relationship work, other forces are fighting against us. My family, who wants to keep me safe. The media obsessed with my tragic past. The public that feeds off of it. Even Ethan’s father—the man who nearly destroyed me all those years ago. He’s doing his best to finish the job.

Despite my love for Ethan, the doubts creep in, clouding my mind. Is he worth the pain? Will our love survive, or will we have no choice but to end it—end us—once and for all?

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REVIEW – Breaking Her by R.K. Lilley

April 12, 2016April 18, 2016Leave a comment

Breaking Her is a broken and beautiful story of forever and fierce love that pounds the heart, penetrates the soul, and permeates with passion, thrusting you full throttle into this war of words. Every. Step. Of. The. Way. Love is war, and this scorching and sparring story is a battlefield where the heart battles the head, emotions pouring everywhere. Engaging. Electric. Emotional. Breaking Her bleeds into your world, becoming one with you. You are this tumultuous and tear-jerking tale. You. Are. In. This. War. Too.

From the very first page, Breaking Her engulfed me: heart, head, body, and soul. Captivating and crushing me ceaselessly. I was held prisoner by this heart-hitting story, hoping for a happily ever resolution after the bashing that Breaking Him rendered. Hands shaking. Head swimming. Heart pumping. Eyes tearing. Mouth sighing. I felt adrenaline pouring through my veins. I felt alive. Breaking Her broke me. Branded me. Breathed life into me. Became me.

While Breaking Him is a full-out war; Breaking Her is about resurrection. Redemption. Reclamation. Rekindling lost love. Ugly love. Messy love. Forever love. The kind of love that destroys everything in its path. The hard-fought love where hope is nearly lost in a sea of dreams.

Breaking Her is a poignant and powerful story of the utmost unrequited love where an ex-lover, ex-first love, and former childhood friend will do anything to win back the girl who is now all woman, who captured his heart when they were teens and still holds his heart hostage as he holds hers. This lovers-enemies story sways from past to present. Present to past. Back and forth I fell. Plummeting. Rising. Heart and soul free-falling and then climbing, as Breaking Her claims them both. Mercilessly. Manically. Magically.

Scarlett Theroux is dark-haired and dark-eyed, beautiful, curvy, with mile-long legs, and perhaps the bitterest woman to grace the romance book world. Scarlett is scorned. Beaten. Broken. Bitter. She floats through life with her head in the clouds, often lost in another world, one that used to be hers and that of her first love. Scarlett is living but dead inside, just going through the motions.

My heart hurts for Scarlett. I want to hug her. Heal her. Help her.

“Once you’ve been broken, every break after, even when they hurt like hell, can never outdo the profound damage of the first time.”

Dante Durant with his golden hair and ocean eyes, and tall and muscular body, is Scarlett’s oh-so-hot knight in shining armor. Her childhood best friend and lover. The man who broke her heart. Shattered her. Shattered him. Shattered them.

“She was the siren that called men to their destruction, and I was the first and most eager to answer that deadly call. Every time.”

Dante and Scarlett. Two soul mates that have been split in half for five years. Despite distance, war, and time, these two hearts still beat as one. Though their souls are lost and won’t be found until they are together again.

I’m bleeding inside for Dante. My soul is shattered. Wounded.

“To say I missed her was a cruel understatement, like saying you’d miss your soul after you gave it away. After it was torn from you. I was empty. Fresh without blood. I was not whole without her. Never would be.”

At war. Dante and Scarlett are fighting a battle that will never be won until their two halves become whole again. Broken, bleeding, bitter—they are sick of battling each other while the real enemy roams free. While time has been lost, a war has been waged, and ugliness hurled, the love between has never died—nor have the secrets.

“How long had he been living this double life, stuck in purgatory, trapped in a vicious web of lies, completely alone? Protecting me from everything.”

The more secrets uncovered, the more I understand and love Dante as the depths he has gone to protect the woman he passionately loves is heroic and heartless.

Dante, a selfless man with a heart as golden as his hair and a soul as blue as his eyes, is so sorrowful from feeling like a failure. Dante has been Scarlett’s savior from day one, always protecting her from devastation like a soldier in battle. He will fight tooth and nail to be bound to Scarlett once again. No longer lost but found.

“You never get to stop loving me.”

Oh Dante. I shed tears. I smile. I swoon. These words. Commanding. Caring. Proof of his everlasting and undying love for his princess. His angel. His soul mate. His Scarlett.

Scarlett is facing her demons finally with Dante by her side. Her white knight in a dark world. They are each other’s air. Each other’s hope. Each other’s salvation.

Though some things aren’t what they seem as the past collides with the present, trying to take it prisoner. It’s time to go into battle—this time united—to end the war for good. Secrets will be set free. Blood will be shed. War will be raged. Love will be tested once again. Is it strong enough to survive war?

“That was the burden of falling in love so young. Of letting yourself go so deep into another person. You owned too much of each other to ever really walk away.”

R.K. Lilley touched my heart hard with Breaking Her that definitely broke and branded me. These words…gah! I cried. I swooned. I bawled. I broke. I healed. I hoped. Completely awe-struck in the beauty that bled off of the pages, carving out a part of my heart with each line.

Breaking Her is hard love. Hope. Hate. Happiness. So many things. So many feels. So much wonderful. This is a story so spellbinding where you can’t help but cling to life as every bit of broken, brilliant, and beautiful piece steals every piece of you.

Five ‘but worth so many more’ broken, beautiful, and brilliant stars

From internationally bestselling author R.K. Lilley comes a scorching new series with melt-the-pages tension and all-consuming angst. It’s love, it’s war and it’s Scarlett and Dante’s story.

DESTRUCTION. BETRAYAL. RUINATION.
TRUE LOVE.
Breaking Her
Book Two in the Love is War Duet.
This is the conclusion of Scarlett and Dante’s story.

SCARLETT
He had done it again. Ravaged me. Burned me. Broke me.
Given me air, only to leave me gasping, writhing.
But then something changed. Something that terrified and excited me both.
Something that utterly destroyed me.
Something that made me whole again.

DANTE
Our love was cursed from the start. She didn’t know it but I did.
All she knew was that I’d lied to her, betrayed her. Done unforgivable things. Unavoidable things. Yes, I had broken promises as surely as I had broken her heart. But, just as every war has casualties, and every lie has consequences–every bastard has his reasons.