SERIES: Surviving
SERIES PLACEMENT: #2
AUTHOR: Ada Frost
AGE GROUP: New Adult
GENRE: Contemp. Romance
RELEASE DATE: Aug. 25, 2014
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
FORMAT: eBook and Paperback
PAGES: Approx. 92,000 words
COVER BY: Kage Covers
COPY PROVIDED BY: Author
MY GOODREADS REVIEW LINK
RATING: 4.5 Stars!
CLIFFHANGER: No
BOOK BLURB:
What do you do when you find out you’re pregnant, your boyfriend rejects you, your sister is beaten half to death and the most annoyingly gorgeous man takes up residence in your house? Well ladies, there is only one thing to do, pull up your big girl knickers and show the world your middle finger.
Louise Beaumont is renowned for her sharp wit, smart mouth and sassy personality. She comes out swinging in an argument, even when she’s wrong. But even some events in life can knock her on her arse. And fighting through the sludge of emotional pressure she’s had poured over her is taking its toll.
Johan Senior is broken. A man with a deeply traumatic past, shadows and monsters haunt his every waking hour. That is until a heavenly angel is sent in the form of a loud mouthed chestnut haired vixen, who threatens his manhood countless times. But his heart grabs onto her and refuses to let her go. The only problem is, his mind needs to allow him the pleasure of human touch, and to take that terrifying step of allowing someone into his heart.
REVIEWERS NOTE: eARC gifted from the author in exchange for an honest review.
4.5 Surviving Stars!
Angsty, Heartfelt and Beautiful!
The Review:
I totally and completely enjoyed this read! We met Johan in book one of this series, Elemental Fear, where his friendship with Eve was too cute for words. He was sweet but tortured as you could tell he was hiding a dark past and it was still affecting his present. I was really looking forward to his story. I wanted to get inside his head and figure out what happened to him, what his past held and see the place where he came from. I also wanted to see the wonderful romance develop that began blooming between him and Lou in the first book. I had high expectations of this book and the author did not disappoint. From the beginning to end, I was consumed, heartsick and in awe for all Johan had been through.
We are pulled into the past as we see first hand the experiences that created Johan and how he endured such horrific circumstances, surviving to be the intelligent and charismatic man we met in book one. It was a pleasure to sift through all these accounts as this author takes us from disheartening to courageous in one amazing, angsty story.
Surviving Love is told in past and present, from different POV’s from both a young Johan and an adult Johan as well as from Lou, so we get the whole story from all angles, which I LOVED!
Story and Characters...
Johan was left scarred at a very young age. Watching his father abuse and ultimately kill his mother in a horrible night of domestic violence would scar any child but that’s not where his horror story ends. He’s sent to live with his grandparents after his father is sent to jail. But what transpires in that house was pure evil. His grandfather was a sick, twisted and disturbed man and though Johan should have been happily surrounded by a large family with people who he should have been comforted and loved by and been able to trust, they betrayed him in the worst possible ways. There was only one saving grace in that house and it came from an unlikely hero named Ryan, who was also Johan’s uncle. Ryan picked a broken and battered little boy from the fires of hell and saved him.
I loved the back story we got on Johan. As difficult as it was to read, it was also amazing to see the man he’d become. He was still broken and living in darkness but in one swift, magical moment of meeting Lou, that all started to change for him.
Lou is Eve’s sister, from book one. Lou is a beautiful, intelligent woman who’s been dejected by the man she was set to spend her life with. And to top it all off, she’s pregnant and alone and scared. But if given half the chance, Johan has decided to be there and pick up the pieces.
This book picks up right where book one left off. Eve has been hurt and Johan is left wrecked from those events, which has spiraled him mentally into his gruesome past. He’s hurting. He’s suffering. And he doesn’t want to spoil those around him. Lou is in stasis, stumbling along as she awaits word of her sisters outcome and condition after the attack. Lou and Johan connect deeper because of the events from book one and together, they ride out the storm, forming a fundamental foundation which allows Johan to finally trust someone with his secrets.
I loved Johan and Lou together. They both needed someone who would be patient, kind and understanding, and in each other, they found that.
Johan’s past was certainly uncomfortable to read but he survived when all evidence showed he should be a drooling, crumbling psychological mess from the scars it left. He was a true hero as he barged into Lou’s life and put right was was wrong. Lou helped Johan come to terms with his past through the understanding she showed him and the openness she allowed with him.
It was a beautiful story and one I was thrilled to read and was glued to from the moment I started reading it.
The Wrap Up:
There’s a lot of story going on in book one that rolls over into book two, so I would suggest reading them in order. This was this author second book and she did a truly fine job with story, character and angsts. I’m definitely a fan!
Buy the Book!
SURVIVING LOVE EXCERPT
I climbed into the shower and sat beside him. It felt a little stupid sitting on the floor of the shower with him but I didn’t know what else to do.
“Who are they, Johan?”
“In the big house, they’ll know we’re here. He said I had to stay quiet,” he whispered. He lifted his hand and pointed towards the door, then frowned staring at his hands. “I can’t get it off. It won’t come off. Look, I...it won’t come off,” he choked as he held his hands out in front of him. I couldn’t see anything on his hands; they were clean, completely pruned and wrinkly from the water.
“What’s on them?” I asked gently. I felt like I was talking to one of the kids in class.
“Her blood, it’s everywhere.” He sobbed. His hands shook as he twisted them wiping at imaginary blood.
“Sweetheart, nothing is there.” I put my hands around his, and he pulled away from me so fiercely he banged into the side of the wall. I flinched for him because that had to have hurt.
“Don’t touch me, I’m vile. You...I can’t spoil you,” he gasped, curling into the corner away from me. Tears mixed with the water on his face.
“Johan, you can’t spoil me. I’m going to clean you, okay? Together we will get you clean.” I shifted towards him slowly.
“I’ll spoil you. I make everything bad,” he said pleadingly. I paused, puzzled by the beautiful, broken man before me.
“No you won’t, I promise. Come here...please,” I begged. I held out my arms hoping he would come to me. The shower cubicle wasn’t large but the way he was pulling away from me, it was as if the Grand Canyon stood between us. I could see the indecision in his face before he moved into my arms. I wrapped myself around him, cradling him to me as he sobbed loudly. He gripped at my wet clothes, as if he wanted to be as close as humanly possible. I stroked his hair and kissed the top of his head, whispering loving words to try to soothe him. The water had warmed his skin, but he still shivered.
“Johan?” I whispered.
“Why do the people I love die? I have their blood on my hands, what did I do...to make them leave me?“
About the Author...
Hi! What to say about myself...I don't really have anything interesting to offer other than I love to read, and create stories for others to enjoy. I've always been told I have a vivid imagination, I just lacked the confidence to pursue putting it onto the the written page. But finally I embarked on making a single dream come true.
I love to read, and write. I only read romance, any genre really, but it has to have a beautiful romance. I also demand a HEA, even if it takes two or three books to get there. Reality is too broken and jaded without having to live through the trauma and angst in a book for it to end unhappily.
I would love to connect with readers to hear their views on my work.
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SERIES: The Forbidden Men
SERIES PLACEMENT: #3
AUTHOR: Linda Kage
AGE GROUP: New Adult
GENRE: Contemp. Romance
RELEASE DATE: Aug. 25, 2014
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
FORMAT: eBook and Paperback
PAGES: Approx. 122,000 words
COVER BY: Kage Covers
COPY PROVIDED BY: Author
MY GOODREADS REVIEW LINK
RATING: ★★★★
CLIFFHANGER: No
BOOK BLURB:
Once upon a time, there was this pampered rich girl who was kind of full of herself. She really only cared about appearances and hiding all her dark, ugly secrets under the guise of an opinionated snob. But then Eva Mercer got pregnant, shot by a psycho, and kicked out of the only home she knew. Now she’s broke, unemployed, and has to start anew with a newborn to raise. But how?
On the other side of town, sexy, tattooed orphan, Patrick Ryan, can’t get a break. He’s out on parole for defending the last damsel in distress while trying to help her support her child, but all he wants is to find his one true love. He knows this woman by scent, smile, and laugh, but he’s never actually met her.
He doesn’t even know her name. He just knows she’s the key to fixing everything.
One kind of hero can save you from physical harm. Another can rescue you from a different kind of doom. To reach their dreams, Eva and Pick can save each other. But first, they must open their hearts and learn how to trust.
Guest Review by Juls from
REVIEWERS NOTE: eARC gifted from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Pick Ryan has always been in the system. His life was no picnic. Moving from place to place, one foster family to another, he never had anything solid. Not until that one fated night where he saw something so clear and so vivid that it changed his life forever. He wants what he's seen and will do whatever it takes to get him there. So for the next 10 years he straightens his act and becomes a man of worth. But his dream is starting to fade into the background. Things are not going to plan and names and commitment are thrown around when they were saved for someone else.
Eva isn't the girl you think she is. Yes she's spoiled rotten and you may think she's got it all but until you step inside that locked vault of her mind and soul you will never understand.
Slowly she finds that life isn't about finding the numb place she often goes to when she gives her body away to yet another guy but now she has purpose. A child grows inside her. And yes the father isn't who she would have ever picked in a million years but this child is hers and her to love and protect.
Pick and Eva are all wrong for each other. Pick is tatted and pierced and Eva is a flawless beauty. So why is there such a strong pull from both?
From the moment their eyes meet they cant seemed to look away. Pick's soul knows this girl and cant comprehend what he is seeing. This is the girl he's been dreaming about for over 10 years and to his surprise she's pregnant and its not his child she is bearing.
He died a bit more that day but what he doesn't understand is that all was right in the world.
I have to say, at first I wasn't happy about all the other characters from the previous book having such big roles in this book. It felt like they were taking away from Pick and Eva but they were a big part of the healing that needed to happen to this amazing couple.
I loved this story. These two have had very tragic lives but through it all they find happiness in each other. I love Pick and grew to really love Eva. She just wanted someone to love her and the universe paid her back for all the wrong that was thrown at her with Pick.
This one has plenty of angst but what I really enjoyed was the sweet love story that brought two halves into a whole.
Buy the Book!
BE MY HERO EXCERPT
“Does she need a blanket?” I asked when her tiny frame shuddered in her sleep as if she was shivering. “She looks cold.”
The nurse’s lips pinched with irritation. “She’s fine. But you really need to get back to your own room. They said you just got off dialysis yesterday. You don’t want to overdo it.”
I nodded as if agreeing, but answered, “Just a little bit longer.”
With a grumble, she spun away and stalked off. When I heard the phrase, “...typical single teen mother. Thinks she knows everything...” I turned and stared after her, watching the extra twenty pounds of weight on her waistline shift back and forth as she marched off in an angry huff.
I don’t know why I let her comment get to me. Maybe it was still pregnancy hormones swimming through my veins, the start of some baby blues, or normal insecurity issues of a typical new nineteen-year-old mom. But tears immediately filled my eyes. I turned back to my child, small and helpless, fighting for her life, and the floodgate opened even more.
What the hell did I think I was I’d gone into this with my usual fake confidence, thinking sure I could raise a kid. Millions of women popped out babies every year. Why would I have a problem with it? And look, I’d almost gotten Skylar killed.
I sobbed even harder, my chest heaving. I had to pull my hand free of Skylar’s incubator and bury my face in both my palms to muffle the gut-wrenching sounds so I wouldn’t wake her.
She was here, like this, because I was unfit, because “Hey,” a cheerful voice interrupted my pity party. “Well, looks who’s up and out of bed already.”
He sounded so relieved and happy. I turned to look up at Pick. He stood in the doorway with the biggest grin and a pink gift bag dangling from his hand. When he saw my face, his smile dropped flat.
“What’s wrong? Skylar?” He dropped the bag as he hurried to the incubator.
The worry on his face warmed my heart and helped calm my tears. “No, she’s okay. Getting better every day.”
A heavy sigh escaped him as he set his hand on the clear plastic separating him from my daughter. “Thank God.”
I blinked, still in awe over how worried he’d been. “How did you get back here?” They hadn’t even allowed Reese into the NICU. She still had to look at Skylar through the window in the hall.
“Being a flirt comes in handy sometimes.” He finally turned to me and winked. “The nurses love me.” His grin was brief though. His worry returned almost immediately as he reached down to pluck me out of the chair. “Now what’re all these tears about? You’re looking better, by the way. The yellow skin and swollen face scared the shit out of me.”
I didn’t realize he was going to sit me in his lap until he was already settling me into place. I felt even younger, and stupider than I had when I’d started my crying jag. A silly little girl needing to sit on a nice comforting lap to get over herself.
“I don’t know,” I mumbled, wiping the drops off my cheeks and feeling lame. “I’m just so...overwhelmed.” Along with scared, worried, lost, unsure—ugh! What happened to the cocky Eva Mercer I’d been a year ago? I’d take a nice, big dose of her right now.
Pick chuckled and kissed my forehead, stirring up a nest of butterflies in my stomach. Or maybe it was the staples in the c-section cut that created such a sensation, except I really couldn’t feel much in that area. Awesome drugs and all.
Unable to help myself I plunked my head onto his nice, wide comforting shoulder. I mean, he was offering it. I couldn’t resist. And it felt good, so amazingly good to let someone hold me for a minute.
About the Author...
I grew up on a dairy farm in the Midwest as the youngest of eight children. Now I live in Kansas with my husband, daughter, and our nine cuckoo clocks. My life's been blessed with lots of people to learn from and love. Writing's always been a major part my world, and I'm so happy to finally share some of my stories with other romance lovers.
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loved be my hero. such a great book. I'm game for any and all Linda Kage books that you gotta review :)
ReplyDeleteYou know I'll be calling you up again love! Enjoyed your review and can't wait to read it myself. Thanks!!
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