*~*A Little Too Far by Lisa Desrochers Blog Tour – Review & Giveaway*~*

Title:   A Little Too Far  (A Little Too Far #1)

By:   Lisa Desrochers

Publisher:   William Morrow

Release Date:   Sept 17th, 2013

 

Have you ever gone just a little too far?

Lexie Banks has.

Yep. She just had mind-blowing sex with her stepbrother. In her defense, she was on the rebound, and it’s more of a my-dad-happened-to-marry-a-woman-with-a-super-hot-son situation. But still, he’s been her best friend and confidant for better part of the last few years…and is so off limits. It’s a good thing she’s leaving in two days for a year abroad in Rome. But even thousands of miles away, Lexie can’t seem to escape trouble. Raised Catholic, she goes to Confession in hopes of alleviating some of her guilt…and maybe not burning in hell. Instead, she stumbles out of the confessional right into Alessandro Moretti, a young and very easy on the eyes deacon…only eight months away from becoming a priest. Lexie and Alessandro grow closer, and when Alessandro’s signals start changing despite his vow of celibacy, she doesn’t know what to think. She’s torn between falling in love with the man she shouldn’t want and the man she can’t have. And she isn’t sure how she can live with herself either way.

 

Check out the first two chapters of A Little Too Far Here

 

A Little Too Far by Lisa Desrochers

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

*ARC Given to Blog for Honest Review*

4.5 “Warcraft” “chewing the inside of my cheek” “Why can’t I stop wanting you?” Kisses

What a roller coaster! I knew from the synopsis and what I had heard that this was going to be an angst filled ride but I wasn’t prepared for my emotional response to it! When I was crying uncontrollably at my frustration and just utter helplessness of the situation…I was a little surprised! If this is the beginning of the A Little Too Far series, count me so in.

Lexie Banks…from the ‘oh God’s’ to the chewing the inside of her cheeks – there is not a whole lot about Lexie I didn’t love. She made me smile with her trips to confession…I loved her little nervous habit (the cheek thing..it’s really cute)…I was over the moon in love with her relationship with Trent…I love her passion for art and her desire to learn…I loved her resilience in the face of the shitty situation with her boyfriend…I loved her bravery at flying across the world by herself to a country where she didn’t know anyone let alone the language and she did it without a backwards glance. I mean…in all, Lex kicked a lot of ass in my book. She’s very conflicted over the situation with Trent and her feelings about it, but she is trying to do what she thinks is best…no matter how utterly frustrating it might be for me.

‘It’s always been easy to talk to Trent. Just knowing he loves me unconditionally – that he’ll never judge me, and I don’t have to hide who I am from him – it makes me feel understood. And he’s never stopped holding me when I’m upset. Like now.’

Trent Sorenson…I was team Trent from the beginning. Why? Because Trent and Lexie are my kryptonite. They are best friends and have grown up together. Game. Set. Match. Cannot compete with history or the fact that he knows her better than anyone on the planet. The compassion and depth of his emotions for Lexi…I felt it 100% and ten times over. What is there not to love about Trent…he wrestles (yum…), he can play the guitar (double yum…), and sing (triple yum…) and he rides a motorcycle (and now I’m comatose from the yumminess…). He’s so good with Lexie…they confide in each other, there is no other person in the world that Lexie can go to about anything and everything other than Trent. He knows her inside and out, her deepest darkest secrets and he still loves her. He’s amazing.

‘Kissing Trent is like sticking my toe in the ocean and suddenly being in over my head. I’m drowning in him. I don’t know whether it’s him or the scotch, but as his tongue edges my mouth and slips through my lips, desperation like I’ve never felt before swells inside me. Years of suppressed desire rear up, and, suddenly, I’m starving for him. The only thing I know for sure is, if I don’t have him right now, I’ll die.’

Alessandro Moretti…I liked him so please don’t confuse what I am about to say. He is a great guy…beyond great, he definitely made me swoon and I want desperately for him to be happy…and I know he will be, but I knew from the second I read his name that his HEA would not be with Lexie. He is the perfect friend that Lexie needs while she is in Rome. He is the confidant that she is missing with the complication of her and Trent’s relationship. He takes her mind off of things and helps her realize even more where her passion lies with art. He’s a sounding board and he’s patient and compassionate and just all around wonderful to Lexie. But there is an under lying notion that there might be a few blurred lines. He’s months away from becoming ordained and while up to the end, the lines of propriety are not completely crossed, but the line is definitely toed.

‘My heart pounds faster at his answer, and out of the blue the reason my body is reacting like this slams into me. Since the day I bumped into him at the church, I’ve thought he was a beautiful man, but seeing him in the gym, rivulets of sweat trickling over hard muscles . . . Yep. The tingle in my groin is unmistakable. I’ve got the hots for the good reverend.
I thought I was going to hell before, but this pretty much cements it.’

So like I said I was Team Trent from the beginning…I enjoyed the friendship that Alessandro and Lexi had but other than that…every text conversation or phone call or awkward encounter where those two little knuckle heads weren’t saying what they needed to say…I was still loving it. That was probably the most source of angst for me in the book because in my mind I am banging their heads together because if someone, anyone would just open their mouths and speak about their feelings rather than avoiding this, then we wouldn’t have any problems! But no…it’s so much easier to avoid the situation and try and ignore it…make things more awkward…delay the inevitable. Yeah, that all sounds like a good idea. SMH!

‘No. It’s too mortifying. The only person I could ever tell about something this mortifying is Trent.
And I can’t tell Trent about this because this is Trent. I want you so fucking much right now. He said it, but I feel it. I want him. I can’t deny it. Which means there’s something really wrong with me.
But as I look up at Alessandro, his gaze is so warm, urging me to trust him, and I realize I want to tell him.’

Oh what else did I love about Lexie and Trent…the matching kanji symbols for knowledge that they have over their hearts…she even says it… ‘Our hearts know. They always have.’ – so did I!!!! Just saying! I love that Trent would hold Lexie and let her cry…I love that they were each others first kiss. I love that they play Warcraft together. I love that he confides in her about he’s feelings about wrestling. I love that he writes her songs. I love that she inspires him to write songs. I LOVED the text she sends to him towards the end of the book (I can’t spoil but it’s a really good text that should have been said/sent at like 50%!) But I loved even more his reaction to it. And I loved the ending…even towards the end there was still a good amount of angst and anxiety…and while the ending is HEA-tastic and basically final, I still feel like there might be more of a story there. I mean, they’re only 21 and 22…Lexie still has to graduate college…there was never really any finality with the ‘Sam situation’ (which has the opportunity of being so drama filled…sorry, I was never a Sam fan!)…I mean, we can definitely see the finish line, but we didn’t cross it. You can use your imagination to fill in the rest of the details, but who wants that when it’s so much more fun to beg for another Lexie/Trent book?

‘I lean into his side as he finishes, and he wraps his arm around m shoulders and squeezes.
Warm and comfortable and mmm. This is the feeling of my best friend. I never want it to stop. “Thanks.”
He tips his face into my hair. “For you, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do.”’

I loved the writing, we’re in Lexie’s POV the entire time and I really liked being in her head. Felt like being in my head…so…of course I loved it. The writing was really good…very descriptive, I almost felt like I was there experiencing these things and places and pieces of art for myself. There was a draw back to that, for me, though…it got a little monotonous. I say that while cringing, because the description was spot on, painted a perfect picture, the detail with which everything was talked about was down to most minor thing which I very much appreciated – but there were a few times my eyes glazed over because while I am an art lover, I am also an emotional reader and a visual person. I can appreciate Michelangelo and the beauty of all the sculptures and paintings but unless I go to Google and look it up, then I wasn’t going to know what it looked like, and all the detail took away form the emotion for me. Yes…you felt her passion for art and what she loved, but…I cared about her relationships with Trent and Alessandro more.

‘I bury my face in my hands. “I want that so much, but I’m scared.”
His arms circle me, and he pulls me to his shoulder. “I’m scared too, but the one thing I know is I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you. This feels like forever to me, Lexie. It really does.”’

And this Lisa is of course a happy little book worm because this is a series and Alessandro is next!!! SQUEEEE!!! I don’t know if I was clear enough with my feelings for him…I want him, I need him, I love him – but not for Lexie, so to say I am excited with the turn of events at the end of the book, I am even more excited to see what happens with Hillary in A Little Too Much!

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Lisa Desrochers lives in northern California with her husband, two very busy daughters, and Shini the tarantula. If you’d told her five years ago she’d write a book, she’d have laughed in your face. As it turns out, she’d owe you an apology. Writing has become an addiction for Lisa and A Little Too Far, courtesy of HarperCollins, is her first novel for adults. She is also the author of the young adult Personal Demons trilogy from Macmillan. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, and she adores stories that take her to new places, and then take her by surprise.