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.

All new STANDALONE romantic comedy now LIVE and FREE on Kindle Unlimited! ➜ http://amzn.to/2ekHrHn

Ohhhh myyyyy life…..Kaz freaking Fabian.

*faints*

HO-LY HELL!! This book was everything I wanted and didn’t expect all rolled up in a sexy, sinful package. Every book in this series has gone from strength to strength. I’ve loved each and every book more and more. The Revolution continues that cycle. SL’s writing is stronger, the story telling solid, the characters, perfect. EVERYTHING was PERFECT.

I expected to fall for Kaz. I expected to love him. What I hadn’t expected was how quick I fell for him. Jeez, the man just overtook every single sense, stole my heart and devoured me whole. He’s dangerous to the heart. His words were like molten lava, flowing through me, burning himself into every part of me.

Lara was the best counterpart for Kaz. I had no idea that Lara’s story would break me as much as it did, but damn, the heartbreak and devastation was HEAVY! Kaz & Lara’s relationship was on fire, wickedly hot and soul searing. These two ingrained themselves in me and didn’t want to move. I breathed with them, I felt with them, I loved with them and I also hurt with them.

The whole premise of The Revolution was intense, deep and at times, hard to process. The twists and turns that SL threw out were gutting. I had no idea this story would go where it did, I had no idea that the hurt would hurt as much as it did. I want to say Lara was reckless but when you read the love her and Kaz share you’ll totally understand it. I never got to the point where I felt mad at her, I just wanted to help her. 

The Revolution is a heart breaking, soulful read that stole my breath and left me in a daze. Days later and I’m still feeling this book. Prepare yourselves for one hell of a journey because this is one of the best!

My world was rock solid. 

Until I saw her.

Lara Kessler showed up as if heaven sent her to me, and suddenly my priorities changed. Love is funny like that. One minute you’re living the dream, then BAM! Half my soul shows up backstage wearing a purple shirt and sexy skin-tight jeans, making me realize what I’ve been missing all along. Loving her means exposing a life I’ve tried to bury. 

My heart had lost its beat.

Until I saw him.

Kaz Fabian caught my attention the moment I laid eyes on him. Love is funny like that. The famous guitarist was every woman’s fantasy—great face, chiseled jaw, cut biceps. The rock star was pure sex on and off stage, but his charm and charisma won me over. Loving him means burdening him with a life I’ve tried to leave behind. 

With her future dim and his past in the spotlight, can they overcome their fate or will they just be another tragic love story?

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You can put up a front… but destiny already has your back.

From first glance, I believed this book was going to be a hot and heavy love triangle. I was ready for the angst of star crossed lovers, the agony of being separated from one’s truest love. This was truly unlike anything that I expected. This was the story of a young woman already in tremendous pain facing yet more pain as she returns to the one place that she ever planned to return to. She goes home to Ashfall to say goodbye to her beloved mother and to finally face her past. That past includes the boy on the farm next door who has grown into the man running that farm and wanting more from that girl than she’s ready to give.

Henley Gene Calvert was a twin. She, her sister Hadley and her mother were a team that survived through the hardest of times – only to be divided by a tragic loss. Henley left home and stayed away for eight years, severing her ties and trying to regain her sanity. But yet another death brings her back, only now she has to face not only her past but make decisions for the farm her mother has left her. Then we meet Gatlin. He’s been her mother’s farmhand and is determined to see Henley stand on her own and become the woman she was meant to be – strong, resilient, ready to be in control. They become friends… He becomes the one that she can depend on. But there’s someone else who wants to be her support too.

Keaton Cash has always had his eye on Henley. He watched her walk away and feared that he would never have the chance to let her know how he truly felt about her. He’s Just as determined to have her in his life as she is to ignore him. And once this alpha (oh so sexy alpha) cowboy makes up his mind to have Henley Calvert, nothing stops him – not even Henley herself.

The more of this story I read, the more it snared me. Henley’s struggle to accept her losses, accept her pain and find forgiveness was so heartbreaking. So much anguish. So much hurt. Eight years of suffering alone… my soul hurt for her. The friendship she has with Gatlin is so strong and helps to build her confidence and her belief that she can survive. But it’s her relationship with Keaton that is so incredible. Watching their relationship turn so fully on its axis. The long simmering chemistry between them and the obvious fact that they have loved each other for so much longer than Henny Penny is willing to admit to.

Beautifully written. I found myself laughing so hard and then crying much harder. I was so sucked in and so invested in Henley, Gatlin and Keaton. I couldn’t help but care and hope for a joyful ending for all involved. Unstable is such a moving tribute to the power of forgiveness, finding a path to embrace the past and forging ahead to accept all the future holds – pains and all. Even the twists and turns that we never see coming.

Incredibly well done, Stephanie!

5 Amazing Stars!

After eight years, Henley Calvert is headed home. Back to the family farm and small town she left behind, never to be thought of again.

Too much regret and shame to bear.

But she’s the only one left to see to her family’s legacy, so she must return to Ashfall and face all the ghosts that haunt her.

****

Gatlin Holt, the family farmhand, awaits her arrival, and lends a hand—in more ways than one. He reacquaints Henley with the lay of the land while helping her heal her soul with a new outlook on life.

Yet every time she thinks some peace may be within reach, Henley hits another roadblock. The biggest of which is Keaton Cash—her childhood nemesis who owns the farm next door.

****

And no, it’s not a love triangle. That’s impossible when Henley’s heart is closed, incapable of love.

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Wilder by Rebecca Yarros

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

”In the end we only regret the chances we didn’t take.” ~Unknown

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 Wilder, a beautiful and broken love story by Rebecca Yarros, where I went on the emotional adventure of a lifetime—one of hope, heartbreak, and happiness.

I wanted to wait…taking my time to soak up every powerful and poignant word of Wilder. I wanted to rush…tearing through these pages like the adrenaline from this thrilling tale coursed through the story straight to me. After just a few pages, Wilder became my addiction. My ache. My adrenaline. MY ALL.

The story started out slow but a burn built that beckoned me right into the flames as my heart caught fire, a slow burn seeping into my soul, as Wilder bled into me. My emotions were amplified, a fusion of hope, heartbreak, and happiness swirling around in my head like a hurricane, waiting to hit where they would flood…all over this book…all over me.

These characters claimed me, captivated me, and catapulted me into their lives—this dare-devil adventure—where I wanted to free-fall off a cliff into the sea and float away with them and Wilder. This story sunk itself into me fast and furiously. The feels flowed through me in Wilder like waves, crashing over me and into me, highs and lows where I rose and fell like the tide. I lived and breathed this book as Wilder won me over quickly, extracting every emotion, stealing every piece of me.

Paxton ‘Pax’ Wilder is the world’s #1 dare devil, chasing that rush with death-defying stunts that would give Evil Knievel a heart attack. Dark-haired, blue-eyed, tall, muscular, and inked, Wilder with his looks, talent, and money, is every woman’s fantasy including MINE! Panty-melting hot with mad passion for life made me melt for this man!!!

“He wasn’t just hot, he was beautiful.”

In a last-ditch effort by his father to boost his grades before they impact his stunt show and team, The Renegades, Wilder enlists in a special study program run on a ship where he is assigned a tutor, the beautiful dark-haired and whiskey-eyed, Eleanor ‘Leah’ Baxter, who needs the money and the push out of her comfort zone to take an adventure and live a little.

When the cautious Leah meets the wild, Paxton, a current crashes through the air, circling them like a cloud of dust, an attraction too powerful to ignore. Fire meets ice. Paxton as a Renegade doing death-defying stunts is always on the top of this game. One meeting with Leah, and he’s almost thrown off track.

“Why did I suspect this slip of a woman was going to be my kryptonite?”

Leah doesn’t want to like the panty-melting hot playboy, but his dirty words bring out her inner wanton woman, whether she wants to admit that chemistry crashing through them or not.

“Look at you, up on my pipe.”

“Your pipe is distracting you from class.”

“It always does.”

Paxton is used to a bevy of beauties worshipping him, lining up to spend one night with the legendary Wilder. One night is all he gives. Leah has him rethinking his ‘one-and-done’ mantra. Leah has him forgetting who he was and focusing on who he is…the man he should be…the man who would deserve a kind, caring, and beautiful woman like Leah.

“I was going to have to work for Lea like I did every single stunt, with a plan and a ton of balls. Half-assed got you hurt. It was all-in or watch from the sidelines. I was all-in.”

Already I WAS ALL IN as this story quickly captured me. Leah vows to not mix business with pleasure. Remain Paxton’s tutor…even his friend…but nothing more. Though the force called Wilder may be one hurricane hitting her with a force she may not be able to fight.

“I knew why everyone got sucked in. He was magnetic, hypnotizing. It wasn’t just the body, the face or the tattoos. He made me feel anything was possible, like there was a whole shiny world waiting for me to step inside and explore. He was everything I wasn’t, but he made me feel like I could be.”

For once, Leah wants to throw caution to the wind and kiss this beautiful and bold man who is making her broken heart beat again.

“The man kissed like he rode—with a single-minded focus that made everything else in the world pale in comparison—and I could only go along for the ride.”

I felt that intense kiss surge from the story straight to me. Oh my wow! Leah has no choice to surrender to this passion that permeates between Paxton and her, pouring off the pages where I felt this passion too. The steam stirred with swoon as I could not stop SWOONING all over this story.

“I want you know that I have you on the same f**king edge you’ve had me dangling on for weeks now, desperate to know how you feel, taste, sound when you’re coming apart.”

I LOVE PAXTON SO MUCH. This man falls from cliffs and everything high, but his heart and body are racing for this woman who has shaken him up more than any scary stunt. Leah grounds Paxton while he sets her free from the walls she’s built to protect herself from a painful past.

“Everything about you scares the s**t out of me.”

“When are you going to understand that’s where life begins? Right at the edge of that fear.”

Leah and Paxton are each other’s air. Each other’s heart. Each other’s hope. Each other’s salvation. Leah is almost ready to take that leap, no longer caring if she falls for she knows that Paxton will catch her. Before Leah can leap and finally live, secrets are exposed. The painful past brings smoke, and they veer off course, possibly sending them into a collision before they’ve even begun the journey.

“This was the decimation of my f**king heart.”

My heart was cut in half as it lay bleeding in the aftermath with hope hanging by a thread for happiness. The feels flowed as did my tears—fast and furiously—as I hoped the race for love had a happy ending.

“I was nothing more than the means to his end.”

Electrifying and enthralling, Wilder is a tale of guts and glory that hit my heart hard, seizing my soul, where I could not help but explode in emotions. This spellbinding and spine-tingling story surged through me like lightning, fast and furiously, where its touch was felt everywhere. OH THE FEELS. My feels were free-falling through this story where I FELT EVERYTHING.

Wilder wielded itself into my heart, hijacking it…hijacking me. I was a prisoner to these passionate pages that pounded that passion straight through me. I was broken. I was breathless. I was branded. I became everything Wilder. Intoxicating and incredible, I could not help but become besotted with this book that blasted my emotions like a cannon, each explosive one making me fall harder and harder for Wilder. I FELL FAST. I FELL HARD. I FELL IN LOVE WITH EVERYTHING WILDER.

I don’t know why I waited so long to meet Rebecca Yarros’ words, but I was a fool to procrastinate. This author is one of my new favorites: those who write from the heart where their hearts are poured into those beautiful and brilliant words. Wilder is not simply a broken and beautiful romance; it’s a story about LIFE AND LIVING. It’s about taking that LEAP OF FAITH…LIVING FOR THE MOMENT…LIVING LIFE NOW. I quickly learned that EVERY WORD MATTERS that Rebecca Yarros writes. Meaningful. Mesmerizing. Magnificent.

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. Rebecca Yarros is one of those wondrous writers of books that break you, bind you, and brandish themselves to you in a bath of beauty where you’ll remember them forever. Oh did Wilder steal a piece of my soul that may remain stuck in this story forever.

“The best part isn’t the end. It’s what happens in between.”

5 devastatingly beautiful stars

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He’s Paxton Wilder.

Twenty-two-year-old, tattooed, smoking-hot leader of the Renegades.

Five time X Games medalist.

The world is his playground—especially this year—and for the next nine months I’m stuck as his tutor on the Study at Sea program.

He’s too busy staging worldwide stunts for his documentary to get to class.

But if I can’t get him to take academics seriously, I’ll lose my scholarship…if I don’t lose my heart first.

Six unlikely friends on a nine-month cruise with the Study at Sea program will learn that chemistry is more than a subject and the best lessons aren’t taught in the classroom…but in the heart.

Dirty Talk by SL Scott OWNED ME. Friends to lovers is my kryptonite. It’s my crack. I feed off friends to lovers romances and revel in them. Dirty Talk was utter perfection for this friends to lovers bookworm.. I could not get enough. The build up throughout this book is an epic high, that left me deliriously happy. But with each high came an earth shattering low and massive heartbreak. Luke and Jane’s whole relationship is intense and explosive whether they are on or off.

If you read Sweet Talk, then like me, I’m sure you were SUPER excited at the prospect of getting Luke’s book. NEVER did I imagine that I’d love him the way I do. Jeez that man is DANGEROUS. In a totally good way.
Luke Anders is dirty, delicious, sinful, sexy romantic and oh so swoony. He made my knees buckle just from reading his lines. He’s infectious and raw. Just wonderful. *heart eyes* He ruined me.

Jane Lewis is Luke’s best friend, childhood sweetheart and holder of his heart. Her and Luke are a match made in heaven, don’t get me wrong there were times I just wanted to scream OPEN YOUR EYES! but that burn, that tension, that build up is what made this books so perfect for me. The breath stealing way their relationship broke, then built before breaking again then ending so beautifully was everything I needed. At times my heart was racing, pounding so hard. Other times it hit the floor. Dirty Talk has the perfect mix of highs and lows, that balance beautifully.

Dirty Talk shines like the brightest star, lights everything up like the fullest moon and steals the heart and soul. And has left my feelings the total opposite of mad!

Because first love deserves a second chance

One month.

One movie.

One shot at a second chance.

I fell madly in love at first sight with Jane Lewis.

The girl with bright green eyes, a pretty smile, and great ass owned my heart. I thought she was happy with the status quo, but ten years later, I foolishly let her go. Despite dating other women, no one compares to my first love. We are meant to be together, and I’m going to try my damnedest to convince her of that.

Luke Anders tricked me. The deal was sealed before I knew he was behind it.

We agreed to be just friends. Simple. Easy. But it’s not just the weather that’s hot in Texas. I was a fool to think I could resist him. He knows how to work his charms and those kissable lips, that great jaw, and biceps. We are here to work, but he has become downright distracting.

I’m strong. I can handle one month of his flirtatious sexual torture. But if I happen to fall in bed with that sexy bastard for a night, or three, does that make me weak? Asking for a friend, of course.

I guess I’m about to find out when love gets messy, it’s not just the talk that’s dirty.

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Furious Rush by S.C. Stephens

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Riding a race bike is an art—a thing that you do because you feel something inside.” ~Valentino Rossi

Have you ever been to a NASCAR, Formula One, motocross, or other race where you’ve felt that power surge on the track…that buzz in the air? Have you ever raced a car or motorcycle on the track or road where you’ve felt that power gush behind the wheel? Have you been to or watched a race where your senses were heightened as they came to life?

Racing is the most sensory-driven sport where ALL of the senses come to life. You hear, see, smell, taste, and feel it ALL. You feel that flow of adrenaline course through your veins from that rush that racing elicits. You smell the fumes of the engines preparing to go into battle where you watch them whirl around the track so fast that your head is spinning in the best way. Furious Rush by S.C. Stephens is a racing romance that comes to life—one where you can’t help but FEEL EVERYTHING.

After falling head-over-heels in love with Kellan Kyle in S.C. Stephens’ famous Thoughtless series, I was excited to meet the racing romance called Furious Rush and Hayden Hayes, who I knew would capture my heart…and that he did. I dove into Furious Rush with a fervor, eager to feel this story and oh did I feel each word I read. I FELT EVERYTHING. Furious Rush consumed and claimed me from the very first page where I was ALL IN. Heart pumping with adrenaline. Body shaking with bated breathing in anticipation. Eyes tearing from the intense emotions that overcame me. I was in awe. I was in anguish. I was amused. I was on an adventure. I WAS ALIVE.

Beautiful and brave motorcycle racer, McKenzie ‘Kenzie’ Cox, lives and breathes racing; it’s in her blood. Her famous father was a racing legend. Now, her legendary father is her boss and racing team owner, and one hard act to follow. Riding a motorcycle around that track or on the road fast and furiously is Kenzie’s haven…her passion. Winning a race is her dream.

“I want to make my father proud, honor the legacy he started.”

I LOVED Kenzie with her strong will, determination, beauty and brains—a lethal combination and a force to be reckoned with on and off the track. Kenzie lives for racing and adheres to routine on the race track and in life. Life is not always predictable and sometimes a wrench or a hot distraction messes up the best laid plans like hot and humorous Hayden Hayes who races for the opposing team, Benneti, Cox Racing Team’s enemy from an owners’ feud stemming decades.

“He was smokin’, someone-hold-on-to-my-ovaries-before-they-explode hot.”

Hayden’s looks are as fire-hot as his racing with light green eyes, blond hair, and a tall and muscular body made for much more than racing. Cocky and captivating, Hayden is one tantalizing temptation Kenzie can’t afford to partake in, despite her panties jumping to participate.

“I could help you thaw out, Ice Queen.”

Part of me did not want to like the cocky and sometimes cruel Hayden but I did; I could not help it. I FELL IN MAD LOVE WITH HAYDEN HAYES along with his Aussie kissing skills. Hayden is broken and beautiful. Helpless to Hayden’s spell, I swooned at this gorgeous guy hiding pain beneath a mask of humor who quickly stole my heart.

“Why was he staring at me like I was the starting line, like I was the prize?”

Hayden is as desperate to win a race as is Kenzie, both armed in battle where the stakes are high. Kenzie has caught Hayden’s eye and more. The stunning and smart spitfire is one challenge he wants to conquer like the race.

“I hated to admit it, but chasing him gave me a rush.”

Like Kenzie, Hayden feels that furious rush too that burns on and off the track between them like fireworks waiting to go boom.

“Race me or chase me, Kenzie.”

Racing each other fuels the fire on and off the track. It’s a high for both and Hayden and Kenzie who are better battling side-by-side on the track than apart.

“Did you…did you feel it today…while we were racing? We’re magic together, Twenty-Two.”

Magic are what Kenzie and Hayden are on that track as they soar together, trying to catch the other while desire paves its own destination. From enemies to friends, Kenzie and Hayden hover into the forbidden territory of more.

“Just like when we were racing, I suddenly had tunnel vision, and he was all I could see.”

These beautiful words grabbed my soul, as I hoped this captivating couple would find more as they are perfect together on and off the track.

“Racing you gives me a high, but you make me feel alive.”

Oh Hayden. I’m SMITTEN with this hero. Hayden’s tongue is pure magic as are his wondrous words. I was smitten by this man of many layers who is pure perfection. A Romeo so right for his Juliet; if only their blooming love was not forbidden.

“As his tongue slid through my lips, flicking, then caressing, my mind self-destructed in an explosion of lust. F**k the future, I just want to feel alive right now. And no one made me feel more alive than Hayden.”

Kenzie and Hayden are each other’s air. Each other’s heart. Each other’s hope. Each other’s salvation. Kenzie and Hayden are enemies on the track, forbidden from contact, the fight for romance a losing battle. Stakes are high during the final race when secrets are exposed, the past brings smoke, and they veer off course, possibly sending them into a collision both on and off the track.

My heart was cut in half as it lay bleeding in the aftermath with hope hanging by a thread for happiness. The feels flowed as did my tears—fast and furiously— like laps around the track.

“I wanted to pretend nothing had changed, even though everything had.”

Explosive and enthralling, Furious Rush is a tale of guts and glory that bleeds angst, hitting your heart hard and stealing your soul in a romance where you can’t help but explode in emotions. I WAS FLOATING IN FEELS THE WHOLE STORY. This touching and turbulent tale tugged my heart every step of the way, stomping on it and then stitching it back together several times.

Furious Rush ruined me. Rescued me. Branded me. Breathed life into me. Became me. My heart pounded with every page, beating with a surge that soared straight to my soul, which this story stole.

RACE ME OR CHASE ME.

Oh did my heart race as it pounded with every page of this spellbinding story. I’m still chasing this roller coaster of a romance that I did not want to end. My heart is still hanging out at the race track, stuck in Furious Rush. That rush? I still feel it coursing through my veins, long after this story first captivated and caught me.

S.C. Stephens placed a new soul-searing story in my heart with Furious Rush, a new perfectly imperfect and breathtakingly beautiful book boyfriend in my head with Hayden Hayes, and a new hangover for me to nurse in an adventure that has forever claimed me. A flawless, fierce and furious rush. A rush I’ll keep chasing forever.

5 flawless, furious and fierce stars

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For Mackenzie Cox, racing motorcycles is in her blood. Born into a family legacy, she’s determined to show the world that she has inherited her father’s talent in this male-dominated sport. The last thing Kenzie needs is to be antagonised by her rival team’s newest rider, Hayden Hayes. Hayden, exceedingly arrogant and outrageously attractive, immediately gets under Kenzie’s skin and she can’t help but be distracted.

As Kenzie and Hayden push each other on the track, the electric energy between them off the track shifts into an intense – and strictly forbidden – attraction. The only rule between their two ultra-competitive teams is zero contact. Kenzie needs a win, and she also needs to stay away from Hayden. Unfortunately for her though, one thing has become all too clear: she can’t.

Fuelled by passion, driven by desire, Hayden and Mackenzie both want to win more than anything else. Except for, maybe, each other. But anger, jealousy and extreme competitiveness aren’t their only obstacles . . .

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Man oh man! Where on earth do I start? If you could see my now then you’d honestly see a crazy loon of a bookworm sitting with the biggest smile on her face, with a heart that is POUNDING, skin COVERED in goosebumps, tingling from SO MANY EMOTIONS and I’m HOT, like burning up from the pure epicness that is Neighbor Dearest. 

Captivating. Neighbor Dearest is captivating. From the prologue I was dragged into this story, and held hostage by words that held so much emotion I couldn’t escape, I didn’t want to escape. 

I feel I have to admit now, before I go any further that my nerves were shot going into this, I mean Elec WAS my top Penelope guy and I was nervous as to what may happen, but at 33% when those butterflies began flapping deep in my stomach I was no longer nervous. I was hyper, floating on an extreme buzz that built and built and built with each page read. I cannot even begin to tell you how many times my whole body EXPLODED with different feels while reading. Neighbor Dearest gave me an emotional high that I’ll never forget. 

Led from Chelsea’s POV, Neighbor Dearest is a read that I’m ADDICTED too. In four hours I have fallen head over heels in love with EVERYTHING about this book. From the pure intensity of the connection between Chelsea and Damien to the soul searing love that BURNED every fibre of me.

Not only did the story burn me, but so did Damien. This man is EVERYTHING. There is SO MUCH to him, from his deep, moody intensity, to his delicious dirty words to the swoony, romantic man that destroys the heart in the BEST POSSIBLE WAY, is just perfection. So much so that I sit here now asking “Elec who?!?” Yep that’s right you heard me. Prepare to wave goodbye to Elec because Damien Hennessey is going to BLOW YOUR MIND while ROCKING YOUR WORLD leaving you in a sticky gooey mess of pure sated bliss. 

If there is one thing I have to say about Neighbor Dearest it’s that it’s a sublime story. From start to finish there isn’t any time where I wanted to put this book down, where I wanted to stop and the further I got in the more overpowering the feeling got. I can’t honestly say I devoured this book because this book devoured ME! 

Penelope Ward is an artist, how she builds up her words is astounding. The words flow into breathtaking sentences that make up chapter after chapter of beautiful perfection. I feel as though I want to hang up EVERY SINGLE page from this book and marvel at them forever. Penelope OWNED it with this book. OWNED me with this book. 

From the very first sparks  to the rip roaring flame and burning heat that emits from this book and it’s characters, Neighbor Dearest is Penelope’s best book yet. It’s a firestarter that takes over everything. And in no way would I ever change a thing about this story.

A STANDALONE NOVEL that does NOT need to be read in conjunction with any other book. 

From New York Times bestselling author, Penelope Ward, comes a friends-to-lovers story with sexy new characters. 

After getting dumped, the last thing I needed was to move next door to someone who reminded me of my ex-boyfriend, Elec. Damien was a hotter version of my ex. The neighbor I’d dubbed “Angry Artist” also had two massive dogs that kept me up with their barking. He wanted nothing to do with me. Or so I thought until one night I heard laughter coming through an apparent hole in my bedroom wall. Damien had been listening to all of my phone sessions with my therapist. The sexy artist next door now knew all of my deepest secrets and insecurities. We got to talking. He set me straight with tips to get over my breakup. He became a good friend, but Damien made it clear that he couldn’t be anything more. Problem was, I was falling hard for him anyway. And as much as he pushed me away, I knew he felt the same…because his heartbeat didn’t lie. I thought my heart had been broken by Elec, but it was alive and beating harder than ever for Damien. I just hoped he wouldn’t shatter it for good. 

Author’s note – Neighbor Dearest is a full-length standalone novel. Due to strong language and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18. 

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2aS8BPa 

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