*~*One Tiny Lie by K.A. Tucker Paperback Feature Tour – Excerpt, Review & Giveaway*~*

 

Livie has always been the stable one of the two Cleary sisters, handling her parents’ tragic death and Kacey’s self-destructive phase with strength and maturity. But underneath that exterior is a little girl hanging onto the last words her father ever spoke to her. “Make me proud,” he had said. She promised she would…and she’s done her best over the past seven years with every choice, with every word, with every action.

Livie walks into Princeton with a solid plan, and she’s dead set on delivering on it: Rock her classes, set herself up for medical school, and meet a good, respectable guy that she’s going to someday marry. What isn’t part of her plan are Jell-O shots, a lovable, party animal roommate she can’t say ‘no’ to, and Ashton, the gorgeous captain of the men’s rowing team. Definitely him. He’s an arrogant ass who makes Livie’s usually non-existent temper flare and everything she doesn’t want in a guy. Worse, he’s best friends and roommates with Connor, who happens to fits Livie’s criteria perfectly. So why does she keep thinking about Ashton?

As Livie finds herself facing mediocre grades, career aspirations she no longer thinks she can handle, and feelings for Ashton that she shouldn’t have, she’s forced to let go of her last promise to her father and, with it, the only identity that she knows.

We were lucky enough to get an Ashton Alternate POV Scene – check it out here!  There is also an interview that I did with Ashton & Livie this past summer during the blog tour – you can read it all here!

Have you read the other books in the Ten Tiny Breaths Series?

 

Kacey Cleary’s whole life imploded four years ago in a drunk-driving accident. Now she’s working hard to bury the pieces left behind—all but one. Her little sister, Livie. Kacey can swallow the constant disapproval from her born-again aunt Darla over her self-destructive lifestyle; she can stop herself from going kick-boxer crazy on Uncle Raymond when he loses the girls’ college funds at a blackjack table. She just needs to keep it together until Livie is no longer a minor, and then they can get the hell out of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

But when Uncle Raymond slides into bed next to Livie one night, Kacey decides it’s time to run. Armed with two bus tickets and dreams of living near the coast, Kacey and Livie start their new lives in a Miami apartment complex, complete with a grumpy landlord, a pervert upstairs, and a neighbor with a stage name perfectly matched to her chosen “profession.” But Kacey’s not worried. She can handle all of them. What she can’t handle is Trent Emerson in apartment 1D.

Kacey doesn’t want to feel. She doesn’t. It’s safer that way. For everyone. But sexy Trent finds a way into her numb heart, reigniting her ability to love again. She starts to believe that maybe she can leave the past where it belongs and start over. Maybe she’s not beyond repair.

But Kacey isn’t the only one who’s broken. Seemingly perfect Trent has an unforgiveable past of his own; one that, when discovered, will shatter Kacey’s newly constructed life and send her back into suffocating darkness.

You can read my review and an interview with Trent and K.A. Tucker here.

 

Owning a strip club isn’t the fantasy most guys expect it to be. With long hours, a staff with enough issues to keep a psych ward in business, and the police regularly on his case, twenty-nine year old Cain is starting to second guess his unspoken mission to save the women he employs. And then blond, brown-eyed Charlie Rourke walks through his door, and things get really complicated. Cain abides by a strict “no sleeping with the staff” rule. But being around Charlie challenges Cain’s self-control…and it’s been a long time since any woman has done that.

Twenty-two-year old Charlie Rourke needs a lot of money, really fast, in order to vanish before it’s too late. Taking her clothes off for men makes her stomach curl but Charlie tells herself that at least she’s putting her acting and dancing skills to good use. And though her fellow dancers seem eager to nab their sexy, sophisticated, and genuinely caring boss, she’s not interested. After all, Charlie Rourke doesn’t really exist—and the girl pretending to be her doesn’t need to complicate her life with romance.

 Unfortunately, Charlie soon discovers that developing feelings for Cain is inevitable, that those feelings may not be unrequited—but losing him when he finds out what she’s involved with will be more painful than any other sentence awaiting her.

 

 

Mediocre

C minus.

I blink several times, holding it closer to make sure I’m not hallucinating.

I’m not. It’s still there, at the top of my chemistry midterm, in all its ugly red glory.

My first college midterm mark and it’s almost a D. I’ve never had anything but an A.

Ever.

I swallow once, twice, three times as nausea fills my body and blood rushes to my ears, my heart beating off-kilter. Maybe I’m not cut out for Princeton. I know I didn’t study as hard as I should have, with all the distraction. My father was right. Boys do suck the brains out of smart girls. Either that or I’ve killed all my smart brain cells with drinking. All that’s left are the stupid ones that like to giggle and get felt up—okay, down—in cars.

I rush out the door, past the other exiting students, my legs moving as fast as they can without outright running. Bursting out and into the cool drizzle, I force myself to slow down as a pain twinges in my ankle. I’ll reinjure it if I’m not careful.

Without fail, my phone rings. Connor always phones me after this class because he’s getting out of his. I don’t want to answer it, but I do anyway.

“Hey, babe. What’s wrong?”

“I failed my chemistry midterm!” I fight to keep the tears welling in my eyes at bay. I don’t want to bawl out here, in the middle of everyone.

“Seriously? You failed?” There’s no mistaking the shock in his tone.

“Well . . . almost!” I sputter, my breath ragged.

“Okay. Slow down, Livie,” Connor says in a composed voice. “Tell me what happened.”

A take a few deep, calming breaths before I whisper, “I got a C minus.”

Connor heaves a huge sigh. “You had me concerned there, Livie! Don’t worry! I had a few mediocre grades in my first year. It’s nothing.”

I grit my teeth. It’s not nothing! I want to scream. It’s my first bad grade. Ever. And it’s in one of my best subjects! By the tightness in my chest, I’m beginning to suspect that I’m having a mild coronary at the age of eighteen.

“You’ll do better next time, Livie. You’re smart.”

Sucking my bottom lip, I nod into the phone. “Yeah, okay.”

“Feel better?”

No. “Sure. Thanks, Connor.”

“Okay, good.” The phone muffles and I hear Connor shouting to someone on his end. “Need a ride? Yeah…” Coming back to me, he says, “I’ve got to go. We have an extra practice today. Coach threatened anyone who’s late with a ten-mile run in the rain.”

“Okay.”

“Talk to you later, Liv.” The phone clicks.

I do not feel better. Not at all. In fact, I somehow feel worse.

I head back to my dorm room with my head down, fighting the tears as the lump in my throat grows. Connor has that automatic confidence in me—like everyone else does. Doesn’t he understand that this almost-D is a big deal for me? What if I can’t do better? What if this is the beginning of the end?

By the time I make it to my room, I don’t care who sees my tearstained face. I know I could call Dr. Stayner, but he’ll make this about my parents and I don’t want to hear his autopilot theories today. I should call Kacey, but . . . I can’t. After all she did to help get me here, I don’t want to disappoint her.

So I rely on the only thing that I can right now—Reagan’s fresh tub of Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Therapy ice cream in the freezer compartment of our mini fridge. My pity party is complete once I change into my pajamas, pull my hair back, and crawl under my covers to stare at the wretched paper lying on the floor. I consider setting it on fire, but I’ve heard that the smoke alarms are super-sensitive.

There are two more tubs waiting for me when this is done. I’ve decided I’m going to eat myself to death. I’m halfway through the first tub within five minutes—Reagan’s going to kill me—when someone knocks on my door.

I ignore it. Anyone I might want to talk to is at rowing practice. I almost shout, “Go away!” but then the person will know I’m here. So I keep quiet by licking the tablespoon in my hand. The knocking doesn’t stop, though. It keeps going and going and going until I’m sure that Dr. Stayner is outside, delivering on his committal promise early.

With a groan, I roll out of bed and stagger over, spoon in mouth and tub in hand, to throw the door open.

It’s Ashton.

My mouth falls opens and my spoon flies out. He’s got fast reflexes, though, and manages to catch it before it hits the ground.

“What are you doing here?” I note his track pants and shirt. He’s supposed to be at practice.

Stepping around me and into my room, he murmurs with a meaningful look at the tub in my hand, “Keeping you from gaining your frosh fifteen.”

I close the door behind me. “Don’t you have practice?”

“Yeah. What are you doing?”

Dragging my feet back toward my bed, I mumble, “I’m eating ice cream in my pajamas in bed. In the dark. Clearly.”

Ashton walks over to turn a small desk lamp on, casting a soft, cozy glow to the room. “Connor said you were freaking out about your midterm?”

His words bring me back to reality and my bottom lip begins to wobble. I can’t even bring myself to say it. So I simply point at the thing on the floor and let the hideous letter speak for itself.

He leans down to pick it up and my breath hitches, staring blatantly at his ass. I don’t care if he catches me doing it. I may as well add “pervert” underneath “failure” on the list of things that define me.

 

One Tiny Lie by K.A. Tucker

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

*ARC Given to Blog for Honest Review*

5+++ “Jell-O Thief” “Irish” “Livie Girl” “Freedom” Kisses!!!!

OMG OMG OMG! Are you FREAKING kidding me. You’ve got to be. I loved TTB…loved it…and I was thinking, wow…it’s going to take a lot to top those emotions that you get with Kacey and Trent. HA! In my face. Big time. This book surprised me in all the best ways possible – if you think you know what to expect…you don’t, so just hang on. Oh my angsty goodness, I had no idea I was going to get as swept off my feet with this book as I did…but wow…okay…focus Lisa, you can do this.

So One Tiny Lie is Livie Cleary’s story (if you haven’t read Ten Tiny Breaths…stop the presses immediately, read it ASAP and then hop on One Tiny Lie…sound like a plan?) My Sweet…young…innocent…naïve…Livie. The girl is a saint – I mean, really, do you remember all that happened with Kacey? Of course you do…and somehow Livie survived loosing her parents, surviving her head case sister (and I say that with all the love in my heart because Kacey is the most awesome head case on the planet 🙂 ), the drama with her Aunt and Uncle, moving across the country, new school, more drama with Kacey….and she keeps up her record of never getting anything less than an A. REALLY?!?! Hello world, I feel like a complete and utter failure at life when compared to her perfection. But Livie has an excellent reason and motivation behind her perfection…seven little words… “That’s my Livie Girl. Make me proud.” The last seven words her father spoke to her. Are you crying yet? Cause I teared up typing it, let alone when I read it for the first time. *sigh*

“You’re too perfect, Livie. Everything you do, everything you say. You can do no wrong. If someone slapped you across the face, you’d apologize to them. I can’t believe you don’t deck me for some of the stuff I say. It’s like you’re not capable of getting angry. You could be the love child of Mother Teresa and Gandhi. You’re…” Kacey pauses as if searching for the right word. She settles with, “Too fucking perfect!”

So Livie is off to college, dealing with Dr. Stayner’s outlandish tactics at breaking out of her perfect shell, and of course Kacey’s assistance in this process…and what happens her first night out? She gets to experience a lot of firsts…shall we count them?
1. She gets totally wasted on Jell-O shots – first night at college is also her first time getting drunk! Woo!
2. First toga party – what a way to kick off the school year! 🙂
3. She had her first kiss ever – well, ‘had’ is a very loose term, it was kinda ‘stolen’ – there was a lot of thievery going on at the time, we’ll just call the kiss collateral damage
4. She got her first tattoo – and it was video taped for posterity and culpability purposes
Needless to say there were other epically awesome firsts had throughout the night and the next morning, but those are the top of the list and the only ones I wish to divulge without spoiling. And…it gets better.

‘I’m attracted to my drunken one-night stand, who also happens to be an unavailable whore and my kind-of boyfriend’s roommate and best friend.’

The aforementioned ‘stolen kiss’ was stolen by a Jell-O thief (told ya the kiss was collateral damage) – and let me tell you he can steal anything he wants from me as long as it involves a kiss in return. ‘…this tall, giant Adonis with dark wavy hair, tanned skin, and a body to tempt a blind nun…had his tongue in my mouth.’ Umm….with that description, I’m not seeing the problem Livie. Say thank you to the party gods and keep shooting those Jell-O shots and pray for a repeat.

“I was managing okay, thought.” He pauses. “And then the most beautiful girl on this planet punched me in the jaw.”
A small half-giggle slips out. “You deserved that, Jell-O thief.”

Gah…I’m getting bogged down, but I swear…one of the best ‘first meetings’ I have ever read…I was hooked from that point forward. And believe me…it got better…and better…and better. I was all over the board – so shocked my jaw hit the table…laughing so hard I was crying…and then of course crying and clutching my chest because I was so torn up…GAH! The ANGST people…I tell you, I was not prepared. TTB was a very emotional read for me, and I did feel some angst, but not like this. This was a level of angst I really wasn’t ready for. And all because of one…freaking…man.

“Because you’re not a one-night-girl, Irish.” Leaning in to place a kiss on my jawline, he whispers, “You’re my forever girl.”

I am literally overcome with emotion at how amazing Ashton Fucking Henley is…tears in my eyes, lump in my throat, butterflies in my belly and the insane desire to kidnap him and keep him all to myself. He’s amazing. There is no other way to describe him. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot to not like about Ashton, but the fact that you can see past all that is wrong to all that is right, is what makes him that much more amazing. If Kacey was a head case, Ashton is a train wreck. A beautiful broken train wreck that only needs one thing to make him better….Livie. OMGEEEE! His feelings and emotions for her…they just take my breath away. You. Have. No. Idea.

‘1. I’m brilliant
2. I’m charming
3. I’m hung like a thoroughbred
4. I’ve stopped all philandering
5. I’m highly skilled, as you’ve learned the other night.

P.S. Stop staring at my hands. I know what you want me to do with them.’

The connection that is built between Ashton and Livie is beyond words for me. It wasn’t insta-love, but there was always something there for them, and they both knew it. But it wasn’t easy…it’s never easy. Oh and the ‘surprise’ factor I mentioned…well try this on for size…there’s a love triangle. Actually, it’s kind of a square, but not really? I dunno what shape you wanna call it, but I was super excited for that aspect. It all ties in with the super angst I wasn’t expecting either. And then to really boggle my mind and make me fall in love more, KA Tucker throws in some of the funniest shit I’ve ever read…perfect example…

‘My nervous giggle is the only answer I can give him. Forget? My brain went blank. I forgot about my problems, his problems, and the potential zombie apocalypse. If that’s what orgasms do, then I can’t believe people ever leave their houses. Or cars.’

First of all…#truth on the power of orgasms, for the record. Second of all, it’s out of context – but trust me when I tell you I was hysterically laughing for like 10 minutes after I read this. Oh you want another one…try this this golden nugget from Kacey…

“Sometimes you’re as graceful as a one-legged flamingo in a pit of quicksand.”

And this happened multiple times. The wit, the humor, the sarcasm – it was all spot on for me. Loved it.

So, if Kacey’s head is full of turmoil, sadness and pain….Livie’s head is full of purpose, hilarity and confusion. It’s hard to remember that Livie is 18 years old…but she doesn’t act like it. Not even close. That’s part of what and why Dr. Stayner is around and doing what he is doing – Kacey needed to be put back together, Livie needs to be set free. And going thru the process of being on her own for the first time in her life, working things out, making mistakes and figuring out who she wants to be, is a phenomenal journey.

‘If there is one mistake I will never regret for the rest of my life, it is Ashton Henley.’

“Irish, if there’s one thing I’ve never been able to forget, it’s a single second with you.”

I have a bad habit of figuring out books…I just do…not once in reading OTL did I ever stop, sit back and think about what was going to happen next. I couldn’t have even if you asked me to. Mainly because I was so engrossed in the story, I couldn’t stop reading long enough to think about what was going to happen next. And then of course there’s the fact that even in my wildest dreams I never expected Livie and Ashton’s story to play out like it did. It was natural and fluid, logical…every aspect of this book from the plot to the characters was beautifully put together and I really can’t think of one thing that didn’t work for me. Brilliance…every word of it was engrossing, powerful, sheer brilliance. And…if you can’t tell I loved it.

‘Once all the confusion, the pressure, and the lies were gone, I was left with nothing but choices. Small, large, easy, hard – all of them mine to make. For me.’

Clearly I could babble all day long about all things TTB and OTL. These characters are absolutely amazing…and if KA Tucker doesn’t stop writing the most amazing tall dreamboat men, I might loose my mind. Oh wait…cause Cain’s story is next and lord knows I love a deep dark mysterious man like a fat kid loves cake. Bring on Four Seconds to Lose !

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Born in small-town Ontario, Kathleen published her first book at the age of six with the help of her elementary school librarian and a box of crayons. She is a voracious reader and the farthest thing from a genre-snob, loving everything from High Fantasy to Chick Lit. Kathleen currently resides in a quaint small town outside of Toronto with her husband, two beautiful girls, and an exhausting brood of four-legged creatures.