How to Say Goodbye by Amber Lin

 "Be near me so that I can be near you..."

I adore the worlds Amber Lin creates with their complex, damaged characters who often struggle with the same things I struggle with. People I'm seldom instantly drawn to, but who always win me over. How to Say Goodbye is this kind of story.

Description...

Amy has a secret: no one’s ever held her hand. She doesn’t even know how to hug. Everyone thinks she’s smart, but straight A's are way easier than making friends. Then she meets Dane, a golden-haired surfer whose easy charm and hot touch teach her what she longs to know.

Dane lives for the salty breeze and a sweet wave, because that’s all he has. He’s been on the streets since he was fourteen. A drifter. Homeless. Then he meets Amy. Smart and accomplished, she’s everything he’s not. He wants to be the sort of man who deserves her.

Except that means facing down his past—and that past might very well swallow them both.

My review...

If you've read Amber Lin's stories you already know that she has an amazing talent for showing us the very best in people, but also the very worse in people and doing it in a way that no matter their past, no matter their crimes, we can't help but end up loving them. Amy and Dane are such provocative, emotionally complicated people and I truly wasn't sure, until the very end, if I'd be able to care what was to become of them - either apart or together. From childhood, they'd both been emotionally abandoned and didn't quite know how to feel for another person in a healthy relationship. To say I enjoyed watching them grow is true, and yet, I didn't enjoy watching their pain. My heart ached at how wounded and broken they had become over time, but they found in each other what they had lost. What they needed to be whole again.

The bottom line...

If you enjoy the 'coming of age' angsty feel of the New Adult genre but want a storyline that hasn't been done to death, I'll say to you... Stop reading reviews and buy this book. Amber Lin's stories will haunt you, uplift you, and make you want more.

An eARC was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

The Prince of Midnight by Laura Kinsale

"Don't let that happen to me." Her words shook. "Don't leave me to be what I'll become without you."

This is a review of the audio book as well as the story itself.

Once again Laura Kinsale has written an amazing novel, and Nicholas Boulton has made it real. I can’t even explain what he brings to the stories he narrates. How he makes the hero and heroine so much more than just characters in a book. He doesn’t merely read their lines, he exists in them. The people, their lives, their passions and trials and triumphs… he becomes them! He makes them living, feeling human beings – flawed, tormented, irredeemable people who I can’t help but fall in love with.

The Story

Leigh’s need for revenge drives her far from home to La Paire, in the foothills of the French Alps, seeking the help of the legendary highwayman known as le Seigneur du Minuit – The Prince of Midnight. She needs someone with his strength, his cunning, and his skills at swordplay if she has any hope of destroying the man that destroyed her family. But convincing le Seigneur to help is harder than Leigh anticipated, and so begins a battle of wits and wills.

S.T. Maitland isn’t the man he once was – not physically or emotionally. As Leigh’s masquerade unravels and her story comes out, bit by bit, S.T. knows that her’s is a cause le Seigneur du Minuit would have championed. But now, barely able to stand up without falling over, hope he once had of healing, any high esteem he’d once regarded of himself is gone, and S.T. doesn’t imagine to be any use to anyone.

My Thoughts

Oh, what an emotional roller-coaster ride this is! At times I loathed Leigh, at times I loved her. At times I hated S.T., at times I worshipped him! From one scene to the next I didn’t know what to expect from these two equally tortured souls! It’s a heartbreaking, uplifting, romantic, painfully brilliant story, and that, lovely readers, is why I was up until the wee hours, listening, unable to close my eyes until the end.

I’m not usually a fan of high-angst stories, but this one sucked me in, chewed me up and spit me out - and I loved every minute of it! I wanted to kill Leigh and S.T. at the same time I couldn’t help but love them both. I desperately needed them to get their happily ever after just as desperately as I wanted them to give up on each other and walk away. But these words made it all come together for me, made it all okay...

He tried to pull away, and then suddenly his grip tightened on her hands. He lifted them to his mouth. "Ah God, you are. . . you are. . . and what can I give you in return?"

"Give me your joy, Seigneur." She pressed her forehead against their clasped hands. "Oh, give me your joy. I can go on alone if I must. I'll endure, oh yes—I'm too strong to break. And I'll grow old and turn into stone if you leave me. I'll never look up and see you play with the wolf; I'll never hear you call me sweet names in French; I'll never learn to beat you at chess." She shook her head violently. "Please. . . dance with me. Take me to Italy. Paint me in the ruins at midnight. Give me all your mad notions and your crazy heroics and your impossible romantical follies. And I'll be your anchor. I'll be your balance. I'll be your family. I won't let you fall."

His hands opened. He slipped his fingers over her cheeks, cupping her face between his palms.

She felt hot tears fill her eyes. "I'm so weary of grief and hate." She bent her head and stepped away, looking up into his face. "I want a chance to give you the best of myself, too."

Far off beyond the lake, a crane made its warbling whoop, exotic and startling against the background of the harpsichord. He lifted his hand, touched her cheek, caught the single tear that tumbled down it.

She bit her lip. The tears came, impossible to stop. "I love you," she said in a cracked voice. "The truth is, Monseigneur. . . I need you more than you need me."

He was silent, his hand against her skin, warm against the night air.

"Don't let that happen to me." Her words shook. "Don't leave me to be what I'll become without you."

And so, in the end, when it was all said and done and I was listening to those final words of the story, I knew it was right. I knew that even though their happily ever after was hard fought, it was so, so well deserved, and that made it right.

Perfect.

Brilliant!

Razing Kayne by Julianne Reeves

For two years, State Trooper Kayne Dobrescu has wanted only one thing: to understand why his wife inexplicably killed their children and then herself. Memories haunt his days and lay siege to his nights, leaving him questioning his reasons for living.

Jessica Hallstatt became a widow and single mother the night her firefighter husband died in a fiery explosion at an accident scene. While her husband may have died a hero, he left Jessica with deep emotional scars that haven't begun to heal.

When Kayne accepted a transfer to the mountain town of Payson, Arizona, he never expected to meet anyone like Jessica. From the moment he pulled her over for speeding, he was drawn in by her whiskey colored eyes and sassy dimple. But she and her children are a forever type package, and he's vowed never to give anyone the power to destroy him again. Yet fate has other ideas, throwing Kayne and Jessica together in a fight against an unknown enemy to save the life of a child—and hopefully one another.

**********

 

Razing Kayne is Julianne Reeves’ debut novel, and it’s a heart-breaking, heart-warming, heart-stopping, and sexy as hell story. It had me fighting back tears one minute, laughing the next, and kept me guessing what might really have happened to Kayne's family, right to the end.

While the plot itself is definitely exciting and intriguing, filled with twists and turns and things I never saw coming, it was Kayne and Jess who kept me turning the pages. For me, the real draw of the story is found in how deeply Kayne's and Jess's failed first marriages affected them, their attempt to leave their pasts in the past, and to make things work between them, despite the odds. In truth, while neither of their previous marriages was rosy, Kayne's was flat out gut-wrenching. I'm not sure how he was able to live those years with the demons - the horrific memories - that haunted him. He could have taken the easy way out and used his own service revolver to end his pain, but he kept on going, kept on serving, kept on existing, if not living.

Jessica is a caring, compassionate woman. Her husband died a hero, but Jess lived with the "real" man and it wasn't all that pretty. She could have become a very bitter person, but instead she focused on helping others, putting her own pain aside, and that's what I loved most about her.

The bottom line: Though not without flaws - what I felt were some unlikely coincidences - Razing Kayne is one hell of a debut novel. It's a sizzling hot, emotionally charged story with compelling characters, and even though they're both far from perfect - quick to fly off the handle, and stubborn as all get out - I found myself invested in Kayne and Jess from the start, and caring about them, each in their own right. But when they finally got together and began working through their issues and trying to solve the mystery surrounding the death of Kayne's family, that's when they became people I couldn’t help but love and cheer for. I didn't just want them to be happy, I needed them to be happy. I had to see them conquer their demons so they could have the happily ever after they both so desperately wanted – and deserved.

Nick Astenbeck's book is next in the Walking a Thin Blue Line series, and from what know of he and Sarah, it promises to an intense, poignant, and very sexy story.

3.5 stars

My thanks to Ms. Reeves for providing me with a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review. It was a pleasure!

And now for your viewing pleasure, I'll leave you with this - this is the author's visual muse for Kayne Dobrescu. His real-life name is Pedro Marugan, but all we need to know is that he one fine hunk of manliness.

 

Shades of Gray by Maya Banks

 

P.J. and Cole were sharpshooting rivals on the same KGI team and enjoyed a spirited, uncomplicated camaraderie. Until the night they gave in to their desires and suddenly took their relationship one step further. In the aftermath of their one night stand, they’re called up on a mission that goes terribly wrong, and P.J. walks away from KGI, determined not to drag her teammates into the murky shadows she’s poised to delve into.

Six months later, Cole hasn’t given up his search for P.J., and he’s determined to bring her back home where she belongs. Bent on vengeance, P.J. is on a mission that will plunge her into a serpentine game of payback and make her question everything she’s ever believed in. Cole—and the rest of their team—refuse to let her go it alone. Even if it means sacrificing their loyalty to KGI and their very lives…

***** 

Shades of Gray is the sixth book in Maya Banks’ KGI series and one incredibly exciting, sexy story. Fast paced, emotional… this book took me on a rollercoaster ride of feelings and I loved every minute of it!

 

I read this ARC not quite knowing what to expect. I do know that Ms. Banks’ is a very talented writer but I hadn’t yet ventured into this series and, as I have discovered, that’s a terrible shame I plan to rectify right away. I was instantly drawn to P.J. and Cole, and their chemistry - both sexual and as good friends and teammates - was so, so believable. It was comfortable, and …. right. From the first page to the last, I wanted them to be together - no,I didn't just want them to be together, I needed them to be together, and that doesn’t happen for me often, especially with characters I’ve never met before.

Another thing that doesn't often happen for me is becoming as attached to the heroine as I am the hero. Let's face it, we don't often find the heroine playing such a compelling, leading role in romantic suspense, but it happened in a big way in this book. P.J. not only holds her own, she really shines.

And the story – wow! Talk about exciting and emotional… at times so damned heartbreaking I was sobbing tears of anger - an honest to God ache in my chest from trying to hold back the tears, and at other times so happy I couldn't stop smiling… poignant, passionate, romantic... I couldn’t get enough. I didn’t want it to end but couldn't stop myself from reading, didn't want it to end but needed it to end so I’d find out what happened!

The bottom line: I really can’t say enough good things about this story. Romantic, sexy, fast paced and gripping, Shades of Gray has turned out to be one of my very favorite romantic suspense reads this year, and I cannot wait to read more!

 

5 of 5 stars!

My thanks to Affaire de Coeur Magazine and Berkley Sensation for providing me with a copy of this ARC for review. What an incredible pleasure it was!