*~*Sadie’s Mountain by Shelby Rebecca Blog Tour – Excerpt, Review & Giveaway*~*

One fateful night, Sadie Sparks’ young life was changed forever. Just as she was discovering love with her best friend, Dillon McGraw, someone else was plotting to take her for his own. Faced with choosing between the fear and threats and a safer life, Sadie leaves her West Virginia home for good.

A decade later, Sadie returns to Appalachia to care for her ailing mother, but stays to fight for the mountain she loves. Her struggles to protect it from being ravaged for coal put her in greater danger than she ever imagined — and back in the arms of the man she never stopped loving. But the man responsible for changing her life so many years ago is determined to keep her under his control. When she decides to break free, will Sadie and Dillon’s bond be strong enough to endure the truth about his identity?

“Sadie, I know we’re not ready for marriage,” he said, clasping both of my hands up to his chest, “but, you know I’m going to college after this summer and I don’t wanna lose you. I need to know if you’re my girl?”

His girl! I didn’t even have to think about it “Yes!” I exclaimed.

There was relief in his eyes. He smiled at me with a new smile. One that meant I was his and he was mine.  His face got serious again. “Well, then, I’d like to ask you if,” he cleared his throat, “if you’ll do me the honor of being able to give you your first real kiss.” It was a practiced speech and he was anxious when he said the words; his eyes were darting back and forth searching mine for consent. His lips were pursed together, his eyebrows arched in anticipation.

I felt shy all of a sudden, although I’d already imagined this moment so many times. He had kissed me before but they were chaste kisses with our eyes wide open. The first time he’d done that I was only twelve years old and he was almost sixteen. We giggled after, each time. Sometimes he tickled me, or he’d hold my hand once in a while. I’d wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed the side of my face into his back when I rode on the back of his bike or went tandem on the horse. But those were the only kinds of touches before that day.

I said nothing as I thought. A real kiss. Can I do this? What would Momma say? I’m sure I looked wide-eyed and innocent as he pulled me into his chest. My heart was beating like the sound of the train near the railway.

We are going to get married. It’s just a kiss.

His face looked long with worry. His muscles under my shaky fingers were taut, his body charged with emotions. His eyes never left mine. They seemed to be staring through me into my private thoughts. It seemed like we stood there for ages like that on a precipice.

Yes!          

I nodded so slightly that if he’d blinked he would have missed me giving him my consent. His lids closed and when they opened again I saw something like devotion in his ocean blue eyes. It made my stomach flip.

With one arm wrapped around my back he tilted my chin up with his other hand. “Close your eyes,” he said, evenly but resolute and I did as he asked.

When his lips met mine I found them to be so, so soft and his breath to be as warm as a blanket on the line in the hot sun.

He started with a few of those meandering, slow kisses that shot electricity through my mouth, into my tummy, and out my limbs. Then he tilted his head to the side and pulled me toward him until I felt his heart beating against me. We fit together perfectly. I remember that. It was as if our bodies were made by the Creator just to be together.

He opened his mouth and tenderly took my top lip between his causing my mouth to open too. Then he did the same to my bottom lip and I to his top one. Again, he was teaching me. His tongue found mine and we began to deepen the kiss. I whimpered, and it surprised me.

I didn’t think I would know what to do, but I just let go and felt everything about this cherishable moment. In my mind I saw a tiny rose with its petals growing pink and steady deep in my belly. It felt like I was on my way to becoming a woman in that moment. I almost didn’t even notice that there were mosquitoes biting into my sweet-scented legs.

He moved away from me and swatted at one with his hand. I closed my eyes again as he cradled my face in both hands and gently placed soft, wet kisses first on my eyelids, then my cheeks, my chin, down to my neck and then over to my ear. “Is this okay?” he asked.

I was lost in him. I nodded my head yes. I could feel his grin just there on my neck before he took my earlobe into his mouth and nipped it gently with his lips. I felt that in a part of my body Momma told me was off-limits. It stunned me but I didn’t pull away. I was stuck to him and to the ground.

He pulled back as my body responded to his touch. My eyes opened and it was like he could see right through me into my core. I felt so exposed, so raw. My lips twitched because I wanted to laugh with joy and cry at the same time. He grabbed me tightly around my waist and kissed me again. This time he wasn’t as tender as he moved his hands up into my hair getting tangled in it. We were just sensation, just experience.

His enthusiasm was unyielding, but I didn’t want to stop. I was keeping up with him. He turned me and pressed my back into the rock, pinning me to it with his hips. Still, I wasn’t scared. I was emotional, giddy.

Suddenly, he let go of me and pushed away swiftly as if he was moving heaven and earth to part from me. Confused, I left my arms wrapped around his waist. His eyes were hooded, his wet lips in a relaxed, shy grin. Both of our breaths were ragged like we’d been chopping wood or carrying water up a steep hill. His eyes never left mine.

He put his arms on the rock on either side of my face and smiled that new smile—the one where I’m his and he’s mine. His face just inches from mine. His proximity was heady, his body radiating warmth as the air seemed to chill all around us. He smelled so good, like his momma’s homemade soap and freshly laundered clothes—distinctly like him.

“I love you, Sadie,” he whispered.

I smiled back, mirroring his admiration. “And I love you, Dillon,” I responded.

He looked like he’d conquered the world. He was so amorous. So young. So perfect. The picture of him right then will never leave me. It’s as if I’ve painted it there in my mind with soft wet brushes.

Sadie’s Mountain by Shelby Rebecca

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

*ARC Given to Blog for Honest Review*

4 ‘Your Are My Flower’ “live wires” ‘Gauley Mountain’ Kisses

I first read Sadie’s mountain on fiction press close to a year ago. I was completely swept up in this insanely emotional story and now reading the published version…it felt just like it did the first time. This is a hard hitting story…it deals with a lot of things not for the faint of heart and you must be prepared to cry (multiple times…).

Sadie Jane Sparks is a good girl…pure, innocent, sweet and kind. At just shy of 15 years old this Baptist minister’s daughter is full of life and possibility and hope. And in the blink of an eye…all of that is snatched away from her. She is crushed…a shell…a fragment of what she was and could have been. She can’t function like she once did because her whole world is reeling from what happened to her. Her father doesn’t deal with it well…she blames herself and it’s all very heartbreaking because the one person who wants to help her the most…her best friend…is connected to it whether he wants to be or not. So she leaves the only home she has ever known to live as far away as she can – distancing herself from her past in the hopes to more forward. Ten years later…she has to come back…and her past is still waiting for her and so is her best friend…the only boy she has ever loved.

‘I start to shiver. There is nothing I can do. My mind, it tortures me. Reminds me like a demon breathing down the back of my neck. Numbness takes me swiftly, like a merciful enemy – making me feel nothing. Cold. Distant.’

Dr. Dillon McGraw is everything that is good and right in this world. He’s smart…he’s loyal…he’s respectful…he’s kind…he’s sweet and his heart belongs to Sadie. Always has and always will. Deep down to his core Dillon is a good guy, in every sense of the word. I don’t think he has a mean bone in him, save for the fact of if you do something to try and hurt someone he loves…then all bets are off. But Dillon is a sweetheart…he’s not domineering or alpha…but I never thought of him as weak. He’s intellectual…and he’s a bit of a hippie, which is cute…but just because he wasn’t over bearing and dominant did not mean I loved him any less. He has such a caring heart and giving spirit, he’s just amazing.

‘“You won’t want me no more,” I said, tearfully.
“Hush, baby. I’ve loved you all your life. That won’t stop for nothing.”
“I died. He killed her,” I said, breathy. I was so exhausted.’

So off the bat, I love Dillon and Sadie…why??? They have been best friends and neighbor’s practically all their lives. That friendship…that history…that gets me every time. The things they have shared, the pieces of themselves that only the two of them know about…you cannot duplicate that or recreate it. It’s just too special. There are very few memories that Sadie has that don’t involve Dillon and all of them are fan-freakin-tabulous, heart warmingly sweet and just *sigh*…perfect. Every girl needs a Dillon McGraw in their life. He’s almost 4 years older than her so he’s her protector…he cares for her so much, I would just melt every time we’d get little flash back’s of their history, the little moments that made their relationship so unique. Plus I was mush after the fact that Dillon told Saide when she was 5 and he was almost 9 that he was going to marry her.

‘“And I WANT you to be my wife. I want to make babies with you and see them running around the house I bought for us. I want to make love to you every morning and every night on every possible surface of said house. I want to laugh with you, cry with you, hold you in my arms, protect you, and whisper sweet nothings in your ear. I want to sit on the porch and play music together so I can hear your soft voice when you sing for the rest of my life.”
I just stand here. Woah!’

This book touches on a lot of stuff besides just Sadie and Dillon’s relationship. Being raised in a very strict religious household comes to play a big part in a lot of what occurs with Sadie and how she handles it. It’s really very interesting and it goes even further into how she views religion 10 years after ‘the incident’. Ahh yes…’the incident’…the way it was written gave me chills…I’m getting a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach just thinking about it. It’s not gratuitous or over the top, it’s actually written very tastefully with great clarity actually, but the emotions and feelings are ingrained throughout it. It’s the first time your heart breaks for Sadie but it’s not the last.

‘My faults make him love me more.’

Speaking of the incident though…there is evil in this book…Donnie. Donnie is sick, twisted, disturbed…there is a special place in hell for people like him. He’s just…yuck! Sorry…I wish I could be more eloquent but…eloquence deserts me dealing with vile scum. To quote Sadie, who says it best ‘I hate him. Hate, in fact, is not strong enough of a word to match the feelings I have for him….Even words like abhorrence and disgust, don’t fully comprise my revulsion of him. There’s not a singly synonym that seems strong enough for how much I loathe this man.’ Yeah…I like her words better. He is a perfect villain though, in every sense of the word. He’s slimy and cocky (and not in a good way) and just everything you hate about a person rolled up into a disgusting package. See what I mean? Just…yuck!

‘“I love you,” I said, before I can become a coward. Is that clear enough? I never stopped and I don’t want to push you away anymore – I can’t. His eyes widen and he shudders as if a chill goes through his body that he holds in. I place both my hands on his face and pull him toward me. There is only him. There is only me. It’s as if we’re alone on this planet and we’re creating all the meaning that exists in it.’

Then there’s also death…Sadie’s mother is dying and it’s what has brought her back home. That’s another part that was written very well…it’s hard to think that someone dying can be written beautifully but it was. For someone who has lost a parent, the details and emotion were spot on, in my opinion. And then of course there is ‘Sadie’s Mountain’…it is an actual mountain…Gauley Mountain. In a place where coal is gold and that mountain is a gold mine…is like trying to save water in a desert. But Sadie’s mom’s dying wish is for that mountain to be saved…so Sadie has a mission.

‘I look up and see that he’s watching me. He doesn’t need to say anthing. I know just by the glow of his skin, the upturn of his mouth, the gleam in his eye. He looks how I feel. Loved. Cherished. Connected on some level tht never existed before right this moment. I push away the doubt. This kind of love – it lasts. It withstands. It has to.’

I could go on and on about this book, the way that Sadie grows from beginning to end is remarkable…I loved seeing that change in her that Dillon brought out. I loved her strength and the strength she gained from Dillon’s love for her. I loved her relationship with her siblings and seeing her repair and rebuild that after being gone for so long. She has a lot of regret, what happened to her stole so much of her life and what could have been. This book is not for the faint of heart, be ready to be taken on a tumultuous emotional journey, but it is 100% worth it to have the HEA at the end.

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Originally from Wasilla, Alaska, I now live in Northern California in my first real house with my husband, John, daughter, Elise, and our two mutts, a beagle and an Australian terrier. I’m a vegetarian with a unique accent that merges Alaskan vowels with Valley Girl, and I love Ryan Gosling—but who doesn’t. The eco-theme in my book comes from being Healthy Child Healthy World’s first ever Mom on a Mission in late 2009. My story was featured in People Magazine, Lifetime‘s Remarkable Women series, The Sacramento News and Review, and is a highlighted story on the advocacy website Care2. Sadie’s Mountain is my debut novel.

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