This was my first book by Fiona Murphy, but I’m pretty sure it won’t by my last. A story of intense heat between Cesare Sabatini and Alicia Jeffries. Two people from different lives, but the same.
Cesare Sabatini (pronounced Chezeray), is now a real estate tycoon, but he came from a struggling family. He is the old of three boys that were on their own from a young teenage life. He raised his brothers and they made billions in real estate and own most of Chicago now. After the tragedy of his parent’s deaths he has sworn off marriage and commitment. The first time he saw Alicia there was heat from first sight.
Alicia Jeffries came from a tough childhood too. She is not a petite woman and she has settled into being alone for life. She works as a secretary and takes on making quilts to sell to help support her and her sister. She gets the opportunity for a job that will help her with her support she gives her sister Bethany for college. She’s offered a position as a personal assistant to Dante Sabatini, Cesare’s younger brother. She’s a little warry of taking the position, but she figures it will help her financially.
Cesare and Alicia fight their attraction for a while, but after Alicia makes a decision that could get her into a lot of trouble to help out her sister, Bethany, Cesare decides that it is an opportunity for him to make her his. Alicia is regretful that she made the decision, but she is happy it finally made Cesare take the chance she has been wanting since the first time she saw him.
I loved this story and hated to put it down to go to bed or do anything. It is an intensely hot story between these two. Alicia brings out the soft side of Cesare and he finds happiness in life again. I am already excited for the next book. I give this book a 4.5-star review and highly recommend it to readers who like stories about Alpha men who are brought to their knees by one woman.
Three billionaire brothers: Cesare, Enzo, and Dante Sabatini have everything except the one thing money can’t buy. Three big beautiful, women Alicia, Bethany, and Chloe will teach them the ABCs of love. Follow these couples as they negotiate the riskiest deal of all, falling in love.
It’s hard to believe when I get the call: an offer to work for one of the Sabatini brothers. Cesare and Dante head a real estate firm that buys, sells, and owns some of the most spectacular real estate in Chicago. Dante Sabatini is the youngest of the brothers, and even though he’s an arrogant manwhore he doesn’t come close to the a$$hole level of the oldest Sabatini, Cesare. While I work for Dante, Cesare is in the office across the hall—and too close for comfort. I’m not sure what misfiring synapse has my stomach flipping a thousand times a minute or my skin hot and tight when the man is around, but I’m doing my best to ignore it. Even if I weren’t a virgin, I’m very aware getting involved with Cesare Sabatini would be a complete disaster.
Until the moment I find out Cesare is having the same problem. Seriously? The insanely gorgeous billionaire wants me? I’m a plus-size woman who has grown numb to the insults I have heard about my weight. I’m far from numb at the idea of throwing caution to the wind and giving in to the dirty demands Cesare whispered in my ear.
Then I get a call I never thought I would have to deal with. My little sister is being blackmailed. I need twenty five thousand dollars or her future goes up in flames. I’m borrowing it, I’ll put it right back.
When Cesare finds out, he demands twenty-five days and nights of my body. Only once I’m in his home and life, twenty-five days isn’t enough—I want forever. But what does Cesare want?
I’m barely settled into my chair when an instant message comes through. It’s from Cesare. All it says is:
My office
Why the hell does my
stomach drop then twist painfully? Is it about me giving my notice? It has to
be—he can’t know, not so soon. I look to Hannah, who is engrossed in the report
she’s writing, doing that mumbling thing she does as she’s typing. Heart
pounding, I push up from my chair then make my way to Cesare’s office. I knock,
I hear him say come in. My palm is sweating as I turn the knob then push the
door open. He’s leaning back in his chair. For the first time in what feels
like forever his eyes are meeting mine. They give nothing away.
“Yes, sir?”
“Have a seat, Ms.
Jeffries.” He gestures to the chair in front of his desk.
Slowly, I sink to the
edge of the chair. “Do you need something?” I feel it now: a heady satisfaction
surrounds him. He smiles, it’s blinding, it’s scary. The hair on the back of my
neck goes up.
“Maybe I should be
asking you that. Do you need something, Ms. Jeffries? Was there a difficulty in
your personal life?” Oh god, my heart stutters. “It must have been an enormous
difficulty to run into twenty-five thousand dollars. I take it the matter has
been resolved?” His tone is of concern, of solicitation, with just the faintest
twinge of sarcasm. I don’t respond. I can’t. “The matter has been resolved, has
it not?” I don’t move an inch. “Ms. Jeffries, I asked you a question. The
reason why you needed twenty-five thousand dollars, has it been resolved?”
I nod, just once. I
hate the tears that pour out of me as I blink. It’s clear he’s not happy about
them either. “Ms. Jeffries, this isn’t a speeding ticket where you’ll get away
with a warning if you turn on the waterworks. You stole twenty-five thousand
dollars from my company, from me.”
“I gave it back. I only
needed it to make a trade. I can pay you interest if you want it.” The words
come out of me before I can swallow them. “Bethany was being blackmailed. If I
didn’t pay fifty thousand dollars her entire future, everything she worked so
hard for was going to get flushed down the toilet by a malicious brat.”
His eyes narrow. “You
made a trade with that money? Are you crazy? In this volatile market, you could
have lost everything.”
I shake my head. “I’ve
made this trade three years running every quarter and it’s never gone against
me. Your twenty-five thousand was safe—I made even more this time around. I’m
sorry, I’m already quitting. Isn’t that enough?” I plead.
He cocks his head as he
studies me. His eyes run over me slowly, so very slowly. It’s back, the heat I
haven’t felt in so long, burning me from the inside out. “No, it’s not enough,
not nearly enough. I’m going to need twenty-five thousand dollars’ worth of
recompense in the form of you.” A plain manila folder is pushed toward me.
“Option one: I pick up the phone and make a call to the police and give them
that file that details every step of your removal of funds, unapproved, into
your grandmother’s account. Or option two: You agree to give yourself to me
when I want you, how I want you, as often as I want you.”
This is supposed to be
humiliating, I’m almost sure of it. Yet, his words cause a rush of wet heat to
flood my core. What is the matter with me? Lydia’s words come rushing back to
me as I fight not to fall on my knees screaming option two, a thousand times
option two. Cesare needs to feel like he has the power, he needs to be in
control. I had already told him I wanted him, would take him whatever way he was
wanted me. Yet as a virgin, somehow I had the power of obligation over him; now
he has the power all over again. Forcing a deep breath, I meet his eyes,
glowing with fierce hunger. “What if I don’t meet your usual standards? With my
lack of experience and everything?”
“Let me worry about
that. All I need from you is a willingness to please. I’ll take care of the
rest.”
Hell yes, I’m willing.
God, I’m such a slut. I nod, too embarrassed to meet his eyes. “Okay.”
“Okay, what?” I swear
he purrs the words like the tiger Dante once compared him to. I’ve caught a
tiger by the tail—now what the hell do I do with him? No sudden movements
flashes as a shiver runs up my spine.
“I’m yours, any way you
want me.” A dark eyebrow goes up. “As often as you want me. I belong to you.”
“You’ll withdraw your
letter of resignation. I’ll deal with Dante. At noon you’ll leave early, to go
home and get packed. Movers will be at your home at two. Pack everything you
will need for the next twenty-five days. You’ll be living with me in order for
you to be within easy reach to fulfill the whenever I want you, as often as I
want you portion of the agreement.”
Living with him? I get
to keep my job too? “I have a dog. I can’t leave him at home.”
He sighs then shrugs.
“Bring the dog. He won’t be sleeping in the bed. I’m not willing to share my
bed with a dog.”
I shake my head. “Me
either, he sleeps in his own bed at the foot of the bed on the floor. Um, how
long am I keeping my job for? The twenty-five days or…” I’m almost afraid to
ask the question, yet I need to know.
“For now, the
twenty-five days. I’ll look into moving you into another position, where you
don’t have access to money, maybe as an admin in our legal department.” He says
the last drily. I fight not to blush and lose.
“I’m sorry, you don’t
know how sorry I am. I have never so much as taken a penny from one of those
take a penny leave a penny things. But this was for my sister, and I can’t say
I wouldn’t do it again.” I shrug. “It was her whole world at stake—hers seemed
more important than my own at the time.”
He’s quiet for so long,
I can’t take it anymore and look up to meet his eyes. We connect and he sees
into my soul. Every secret I have ever had he knows, every lie I’ve ever told
is revealed to him. “For the next twenty-five days, I’m your whole world.”
AUTHOR BIO
Due to commitment issues I have lived in many different cities and my favorite is Chicago but I have managed to settle into Austin and perhaps my commitment issues are behind me.
I have enjoyed reading from a very young age and it wasn’t long before the children books bored me and I read the books my mother enjoyed Stephen King and Dean Koontz and I didn’t sleep without the light on until I was about ten.
I came across my first Harlequin by accident and it was love at first read, no one died and happy endings? It was a whole new world and I loved it.
I wrote my first story at eight and everyone died, of course. Since then I would like to think I’ve gotten better and now I’m writing the happily ever afters I first fell in love with, with some hot sex thrown in along the way.
As a plus size woman myself, I have started writing the stories I always wanted to see myself in but never did. And now I’m ecstatic to give BBWs the happily ever afters with hot Alphas I want to read.
There is a giveaway for a $10 Amazon gift card, a $5 Amazon gift card, 3 ebook copies of His Dirty Demands, a signed paperback copy of His Sweetest Sin + a signed paperback copy of His on Demand (7 winners total, open internationally)
“Maybe it’s just pregnancy hormones but I really want to lick him.”
I’ve ended up in a huge mess… my ex-boyfriend Jimbo wasn’t the dark soul with a heart of gold I thought he was. He knocked me up and then knocked me about. And when he tells me that I can’t keep the baby, it’s time to get out of Seattle.
A fainting episode in a gas station in the Arizona desert leads me to Lawson. A real life cowboy who runs his own ranch, Lawson is easy on the eyes. Muscles… everywhere. Huge package. Those little diagonal indentations that make a big arrow straight to his… toolbox.
But I’m not safe… it seems that Jimbo is still looking for me. Is Lawson the one who can protect me? And more importantly, can he convince me that he’s the man to tie me down?
With a missing father, a murderous brother, and a marriage of convenience, Becca Gatlinburg’s life is one hot mess…and it’s about to get hotter.
After overhearing her brother plotting a murder, Becca is desperate to find out the truth behind her family’s business dealings and her father’s disappearance. She makes a deal with the devil–a gorgeous, irreverent soldier turned PI. She’s in over her head and sinking fast.
The last thing Bronson Warner ever wanted was to be a groom. The second to the last thing he ever wanted was to be a dad. Through a weird twist of fate, he’s now both within the span of a few weeks. His solitary life has been turned upside down and stomped on by a wife who’s his exact opposite and teenagers who have their own tragic secret, and it’s his responsibility to keep them all safe.
As Bronson strives to protect his new family, he realizes not only are their lives in danger, but so is his heart.
About the Author:
USA Today Bestselling Author Jami Davenport writes sexy contemporary and sports romances, including her two new indie endeavors: the Game On in Seattle Series and the Madrona Island Series. Jami’s new releases consistently rank in the top fifty on the sports romance and sports genre lists on Amazon, and she has hit the Amazon top hundred authors list in both contemporary romance and genre fiction multiple times. Jami ranked Number Seven on Kobo’s Top Ten Most Completed Authors, an honor bestowed on the year’s “most engaging” authors based on an average page completion rate by their readers.
Jami lives on a small farm near Puget Sound with her Green Beret-turned-plumber husband, a Newfoundland cross with a tennis ball fetish, a prince disguised as an orange tabby cat, and an opinionated Hanoverian mare.
Jami works in IT for her day job and is a former high school business teacher. She’s a lifetime Seahawks and Mariners fan and is waiting for the day professional hockey comes to Seattle. An avid boater, Jami has spent countless hours in the San Juan Islands, a common setting in her books. In her opinion, it’s the most beautiful place on earth.
The men never back down to danger, but always fall hard for love in the Cover Six Security series by USA Today Bestselling Author Lisa B. Kamps.
Gordon “Mac” MacGregor swore an oath to protect and defend–an oath he continues to uphold as a former Army Ranger. Now he specializes in dark ops private security with Cover Six Security where danger is a still constant companion–and one of the few things that make him feel alive. But he doesn’t expect that danger to come in the form of the Tabitha “TR” Meyers, the only woman who sees him for who he truly is–and the only woman he’s ever sworn off.
TR rarely abides by the rules, not when there’s something she needs. And right now, she needs Mac. She enlists his help for one night, thinking she can simply walk away when it’s over. But that one night is just the beginning, thrusting both of them into a dangerous web of scandal and cover-up with roots that run deeper than either of them expects.
When TR becomes an unwitting pawn in a game of deception and revenge, Mac will do anything to protect her–even if it means risking his own heart.
About the Author:
Lisa B. Kamps is a USA Today Bestselling Author who loves cheering loudly for her favorite hockey team, the Washington Capitals. She came about the fandom honestly as she lives in Maryland with her husband and two sons (who are mostly sorta-kinda out of the house), one very spoiled Border Collie, two cats with major attitude, several head of cattle, and entirely too many chickens to count.
While Lisa writes a lot of hockey – one such series, The Baltimore Banners, features “…hard-hitting, heart-melting hockey players…” [USA Today], on and off the ice – she also delves deep ahem into the heat with a series of hot and heroic firefighters who put more than their lives on the line in the Firehouse Fourteen series. She’s recently introduced a whole new team of hot hockey players who play hard and love even harder in her Banners’ spin-off series, The York Bombers. The Chesapeake Blades–a romance series featuring women’s hockey–also recently launched with WINNING HARD. Her newest series, Cover Six Security, is launching now!
RELEASE BOOST Title: Brothers in Arms Series: Kings of Mayhem #2 Author: Penny Dee Genre: MC Romance/Contemporary Romance Release Date: February 26, 2019
BLURB
Someone is going to pay.
But who?
CADE They took someone from me. And I’m going to make them pay. In blood. But before I can do that, I have to make sure my girl is safe. And I will do whatever I have to, even break my own heart, to make sure she survives. Because she is my queen. My everything.
INDY He’s changed. His grief is overwhelming and I can feel the gap widening between us. Someone is coming after the Kings of Mayhem MC. And we are trapped as they play out their evil scheme. Because under the cover of darkness, they are coming for each of us, one by one, to play out their own twisted vendetta. And no one is safe.
I had blacked out again. I’m not sure when, or why. But when I woke up, morning light slid into the room via the small window on the far wall. My body was stiff and my wrists stung from the bindings. I was also dying to pee.
I tried calling out, but my throat was so dry I barely made a sound. As if on cue, the door to the room opened and I felt the same familiar male presence as before. I braced myself, waiting for another attack.
“I need to pee,” I croaked, now fully aware of my aching bladder. “And if you don’t want me making a mess of your sheets . . .”
He said nothing. He simply made sure my blindfold was secure before leaning down to undo my wrist binds.
I took the moment to try to work out who he was. Was that a familiar smell? Did I recognize it?
Yes, he smelled familiar.
“Get up,” he said gruffly when I was free.
Not sure if he was going to hit me again, I cautiously sat up. My head spun with pain and the blood whirling in my ears, and I had to bite back my fear as I swung my legs over the side of the bed. Gingerly, I felt for the floor with my feet.
Where was I?
A pair of hands pulled me to my feet and then settled on my shoulders. With a shove, he pushed me across the room and through a doorway. Placing his hands back on my shoulders he hustled me along a corridor. I pushed my hands out in front of me, feeling in the air for anything I might walk into. My breathing was heavy and my pulse thumped wildly in my neck. Keep calm. Keep calm. Take in your surroundings. When my palms hit the doorframe in front of me, my captor shoved me again so I stumbled into the bathroom and fell.
When I climbed to my feet, he was right behind me.
“Don’t try anything stupid,” he whispered in my ear. I felt the unmistakable coolness of a blade against my throat. “Or I might have to get creative when I catch you.”
The door closed and I took a moment to calm myself. When I was sure I was alone I quickly ripped off my blindfold. Light stung my eyes as I looked around me. I was dressed in nothing but my tank top and a pair of panties. My legs were cold and I was desperate for a drink, but I was more desperate to escape. I swung around, checking for a window to escape through, but the only window in the room was bolted closed.
Right. If escape wasn’t an option, then I needed to arm myself. I scanned the room for anything I could use as a weapon. Anything. But the room was sparse. I went to the medicine cabinet, hoping for a razor blade, a pair of scissors—something! But apart from a cake of soap, a tube of antiseptic cream, and some kind of body balm, there was nothing.
I closed the mirrored cabinet door and felt suddenly overwhelmed by the situation. My head dropped to my hands. I had to find something to protect myself with because this might be the only chance I got. Who knew what hell waited for me when I left this room?
Lifting my head, I stared at my gaunt reflection in the tarnished mirrored door. The wound to my lip had been deep but it had scabbed over. Blood from the pounding I had taken to my nose had caked beneath my nostrils. Both my eyes were black and I was already showing signs of dehydration.
I turned on the faucet and bent down so I could hungrily gulp back mouthfuls of cool water until I was breathless. Straightening, I wiped the water from my chin and tried to steady my nerves. I lifted my eyes to look at myself in the mirror.
You have to get out of here.
You have to fight.
My gaze shifted to the dirty hand towel hanging by the basin and a plan quickly formed in my mind. Grabbing it, I wrapped it around my arm before I took aim at the mirrored door with my elbow. I had no idea if this would work, or if it would alert my capturer to the fact I was disobeying his don’t try anything stupid demand. But I had to try.
I coincided a well-timed cough with smacking my elbow into the mirror. Pain shot up my arm to my jaw, and for a moment I saw stars, but my reward was the muffled crack of glass. Thankfully, it didn’t shatter into pieces and simply cracked at the point of contact.
With fingers caked in dried blood, I loosened a shard out of the mirror and rolled it about in my hand, getting a feel for it. Granted, it wasn’t a knife. Or a gun. But it could mean the difference between me surviving, or me dying.
Taking care of my need to pee, I considered my plan. As soon as my captor was close enough, I would stick the shard straight into his neck and run for my life. But I only had one chance, so I had to get it right. I would aim for the jugular and I wouldn’t miss. It would be quick and it would be lethal.
When I finished peeing, I stood up and headed for the door.
I drew in a deep breath. I didn’t know what waited for me on the other side, but whatever it was, I wasn’t going down without a fight.
“Okay, you son of a bitch, let’s do this,” I whispered.
I opened the door slowly, inch by inch, holding my breath as I waited for it to be ripped open by my kidnapper. But as the second-story landing slowly came into view, I realized he wasn’t there.
I was alone.
I stood there for a moment, barely able to breathe, barely able to control my pounding heart. My eyes scanned my surroundings. I was on the second floor landing of what used to be a family home. But there was something old, faded, and unloved about the place. Pictures were missing off the walls and everything seemed yellowed and dusty in the dim light. It seemed lonely.
This is a trap.
To the right of me, a stairway led down to the second level.
Probably straight to the front door.
I strained to listen, trying to work out if my kidnapper was nearby, but the house was still and quiet.
Careful not to make a noise, I crept along the landing, gripping the makeshift shiv firmly in my hand, ready to use it. Taking each step with caution, I slowly made my way down the stairs, my knees weak and my heart pounding like it would beat out of my chest at any given second. I was almost at the bottom of the stairs and the front door was in sight. Two more steps and I could make a break for it—for freedom. The front door was glass and I was more than game to crash through it if it was locked.
One step.
Two steps.
As soon as my feet slapped the tiles, I made a run for the door and reached for the handle.
That’s when I heard him. His voice came from behind me.
“Nice of you to finally join me.”
I spun around and felt my brain tilt. My knees weakened and I dropped the shard of glass in my hands.
“You,” I breathed with disbelief.
Penny Dee writes contemporary romance about rockstars, bikers, hockey players and everyone in-between. She believes true love never runs smoothly, and her characters realize this too, with a boatload of drama and a whole lot of steam.
She found her happily ever after in Australia where she lives with her husband, daughter and a dog named Bindi.
NOW LIVE + GIVEAWAY!!! King’s Men by Lana Sky is available now!!!
“Oh …how I devoured this book… the most sinful masterpiece that lured you into its depths, ensnaring you into its seductive world of monsters and man. Lana Sky is a brilliant storyteller” – Dreamland Review
“I am awed by the disturbing, deviant and mind blowing story called King’s Men by Lana Sky.” – PP’s Bookshelf
Ten years ago, Snowy Hollings did the unthinkable: she betrayed the love of her life.
Now, when her family’s fortune is decimated overnight, the popular socialite is in for a rude awakening: you reap what you sow.
…the harder the fall.
Mysterious newcomer Blake Lorenz despises everything that Snowy Hollings stands for–and he’s determined to destroy her piece by piece.
When all is said and done, this ruthless corporate king will stop at nothing to torment the redheaded beauty.
She had it coming, after all.
And, when he’s through, she’ll be lucky if there’s anything left to ever make whole again.
This story contains dark, disturbing subject matter not suitable for those under 18 years of age, including mentions of rape, child abuse and eating disorders.
NEW “sinful masterpiece” “Lana Sky is a brilliant storyteller” “The plot is simply stunning” King’s Men by @lanasky101 https://amzn.to/2WTQyRt
NEW “disturbing, deviant and mind blowing story” King’s Men by @lanasky101 https://amzn.to/2WTQyRt
NEW “One of the best dark contemporary romances I have ever read” “Dark and twisted and so compelling” King’s Men by @lanasky101 https://amzn.to/2WTQyRt
NEW “a desperate and destructive yet delicious story of love and hate” “I could not put it down!” King’s Men by @lanasky101 https://amzn.to/2WTQyRt
Bronson Warner is a PI who works mostly on cases pro-bono. A retired special forces guy, his goal in life now is to serve and protect those who can protect themselves or who need that person who can give them the support they need. He is over encumbered with cases, but he hates to refuse anyone who comes to him looking for his help. He has a small circle of friends and a twin brother that are his family, but he doesn’t let people in easily. A result of his father’s serial marriages and lack of care for the kids he fathered with each wife. His latest case could be the case that changes his life and brings chaos to his life.
Becca Galbraith is a young woman who has skated through life without a care in the world. She was born rich and has never had to work for anything in her life. She was always daddy’s little girl and knew that anything she wanted she could have. She is spoiled and entitled, but the disappearance of her father and a death in his inner circle causes her to question her entire life and family. She needs answers and will go as far as she can to find them. She hires Bronson and they concoct a scheme to get answers, but their scheme could back fire on them.
I liked this book. It was suspenseful and a great story of two people who will go to the ends of the earth to protect the ones they love and to find out the truth of what is going on. Bronson and Becca bring out the best parts of each other and they’re a great team.
This was a new writing trope for Jami Davenport, as most of her stories are sports romance, sexy contemporary, or new adult. Gone Missing is her new series and her foray into Romantic Suspense. She has done a great job with it. The pages turned easily and quickly in this story and kept my interest all the way through. I give Gone Missing a 4-star review and highly recommend it to readers who enjoy Romantic Suspense, alpha males who will do anything to protect the ones he loves, and women who are sassy, classy and strong.
With a missing father, a murderous brother, and a marriage of convenience, Becca Gatlinburg’s life is one hot mess…and it’s about to get hotter.
After overhearing her brother plotting a murder, Becca is desperate to find out the truth behind her family’s business dealings and her father’s disappearance. She makes a deal with the devil–a gorgeous, irreverent soldier turned PI. She’s in over her head and sinking fast.
The last thing Bronson Warner ever wanted was to be a groom. The second to the last thing he ever wanted was to be a dad. Through a weird twist of fate, he’s now both within the span of a few weeks. His solitary life has been turned upside down and stomped on by a wife who’s his exact opposite and teenagers who have their own tragic secret, and it’s his responsibility to keep them all safe.
As Bronson strives to protect his new family, he realizes not only are their lives in danger, but so is his heart.
About the Author:
USA Today Bestselling Author Jami Davenport writes sexy contemporary and sports romances, including her two new indie endeavors: the Game On in Seattle Series and the Madrona Island Series. Jami’s new releases consistently rank in the top fifty on the sports romance and sports genre lists on Amazon, and she has hit the Amazon top hundred authors list in both contemporary romance and genre fiction multiple times. Jami ranked Number Seven on Kobo’s Top Ten Most Completed Authors, an honor bestowed on the year’s “most engaging” authors based on an average page completion rate by their readers.
Jami lives on a small farm near Puget Sound with her Green Beret-turned-plumber husband, a Newfoundland cross with a tennis ball fetish, a prince disguised as an orange tabby cat, and an opinionated Hanoverian mare.
Jami works in IT for her day job and is a former high school business teacher. She’s a lifetime Seahawks and Mariners fan and is waiting for the day professional hockey comes to Seattle. An avid boater, Jami has spent countless hours in the San Juan Islands, a common setting in her books. In her opinion, it’s the most beautiful place on earth.
A tragic love story of two people who have been in each other’s lives forever, but they can’t seem to find a way to keep the love that they both feel for each other.
Jimmy “James” Crawford grew up on a mountain side in Virginia and had to fight for everything he had. A rough childhood for him and his best friend creates a strong bond, but the struggles of childhood for his best friend, Lilah, are too much for her to bear. Jimmy did what he could to help Lilah when they were children, and he continues to take care of her now that they are adults, but her destructive behavior can ruin them. Jimmy has the chance to make his life better. His life has taken a path of fame now that he is an actor and has just been signed on as the lead for a big movie. He is now headed on the A-List of actors, but Lilah’s destructive behavior and her troubles could ruin it all for him.
Lilah is a model now, but she is spinning out of control and her future as a model does not look for her. She needs to numb herself daily to keep the demons of her childhood suppressed. She’ll have to hit bottom before she can find herself and begin to come out of the dust and have a good life. She keeps hurting Jimmy, but she hates to let him go because he’s all she has left in her life that is good. She wants to be her best and she finally realizes her love for Jimmy, but the world that they live in can be destructive and cruel.
I was crushed by this story. The love of Jimmy and Lilah is strong, but their troubled childhood and the world of Hollywood glam is working against them and destroying their lives further. I wanted to crawl into the book and kick butt at the end. I am ready for the next book to find out how their lives will turn out and hope that Jimmy will give Lilah a chance to explain. I also hope that Lilah doesn’t go back to old ways because she is crushed again. I give this story a 4-star review and look forward to more of Jimmy and Lilah’s story. If you like a tragic love story this is a story for you to read, just have tissues nearby.
Explore world literature and making meaning of life with scholar Neriman Kuyucu. Deep reflections on postcolonial narratives, migration, and the craft of writing.
I read lots of books, from mythology retellings to literary fiction and I love to reread books from childhood, this is a place to voice my thoughts for fun. I also like to ramble about things such as art or nature every now and again.
