*~*Love Note: Gavin to Emily – Collide Series by Gail McHugh*~*

Title:  Collide (Collide Book #1)

By:  Gail McHugh

Genre:   Contemporary Romance

 

Her mind tried to fight a bloody battle against what her body already knew. She wanted him, and she wanted him bad.

On the heels of college graduation and the unexpected death of her mother, Emily Cooper moves to New York City to join her boyfriend for a fresh start. Dillon Parker has been sweet, thoughtful, and generous through Emily’s loss, and she can’t imagine her life without him—even as her inner voice tells her to go slow.

Then she meets Gavin Blake. A rich and notorious playboy, Gavin is dangerously sexy and charming as hell. Their first encounter is brief, but it’s enough to inflame Emily’s senses. When their paths cross again through an unexpected mutual acquaintance, she tries to deny the connection she feels, but Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome won’t let go so easily.

As she discovers Gavin’s pain-filled past and Dillon’s true nature begins to surface, Emily knows she must take action or risk destroying everyone—including herself. But how can she choose when she can’t trust her own heart?

 

 

Title:  Pulse (Collide Book #2)

By:  Gail McHugh

Genre:   Contemporary Romance

 

“Do you know how scary it is to want something so bad you’re willing to change your whole life for it?”

Emily Cooper is ready to risk everything to be with the man who has consumed her thoughts and dreams since the fateful day they met. Unraveling fast, she can only cling to the hope that Gavin Blake still wants her.

Nursing his wounded heart, Gavin has cut himself off from society and retreated into a self-destructive, mind-numbing world. Emily isn’t used to being the strong one, but she’ll have to find the daring and confidence within to fight for their love and bring Gavin back from the edge—even if it means losing herself to their all-consuming, pulse-pounding passion. A New York Times bestseller, Pulse is the unforgettable conclusion to the story of Emily and Gavin that began with Collide.

 

Mr. Tall Dark & Fuckable Handsome knows how to make us swoon.

 

Keep reading to see the full Love Note!

Emily, or Molly, either way, to the girl who continues to rock my fucking world,

I love ya, sweets. There’s no other way to put it.

You’ve turned me into the man I never imagined I’d be. For that, I could write a love note a day—for the rest of my life—but they couldn’t adequately describe how thankful this Yankee loving, bottle-cap giving, wiseass truly is.

You’ve given me your heart, your scars, your past, and your future. Your frowns, your smiles, your tears, and your laughter.

You’ve given me every beautiful piece of you.

But above everything, you’ve given me our son. How can a man repay that?

He can’t.

Well, technically he can. This man comes (pun very much intended) pretty damn close.

Especially when you’re wearing that black-laced corset with the little red bows on the garter belt, and your hair’s in pigtails, and those gorgeous legs of yours are perfectly positioned around my…

Christ.

See what you do to me? Yeah, doll. No one else will ever be able to get into my head the way you can.

Here’s to twenty minivans filled with bucket-loads of kids, a thousand pairs of ripped lace panties, and most of all… an eternity’s worth of love that makes the rest of them look like amateurs.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Gavin

P.S.- You just walked into the room, (in nothing but a towel no less) so I’m about to give you your real Valentine’s Day gift…

Pulse by Gail McHugh

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

*ARC Given to Blog for Honest Review*

5+++ “Bottle Cap” “Wise ass” “Do Over” Kisses!

Ummm…..

It should come as no surprise that I will probably not be able to shut up about how much I love this book, so to help simplify things, I have summarized my thoughts into 5 statements:
1.) Gavin FUCKING Blake is, was and will remain my top book boyfriend of all time.
2.) This book by far surpassed all my expectations for a sequel.
3.) If you thought Collide was hot, hold onto your panties ladies.
4.) You will laugh, you will cry, you will swoon…be prepared for a full emotional journey of awesomeness
5.) I hate that it is over…

Alright…that was hard – now get ready for my ode to the sequel to the best series I have ever had the pleasure of reading. When a book touches your life, so much so that you can’t even fathom what it was like before you even knew it existed, it’s hard to sit back and think…well, now I need to put that into words. I can’t show you how Gavin Blake has captured my heart. I can’t express how Emily has burrowed herself deep into the recesses of my soul. I don’t know how to measure how great an impact this series has on me…but as usual, I will do my best.

Pulse is the second book in the Collide series – so if you haven’t read  Collide – what the hell have you been doing since January??? I’m not going to re-tell the synopsis…and unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you should know it ends on a cliff. So Pulse picks up right where Collide left off. It’s just like we had a 6 month commercial break, but if you’re going from the 1st book to the 2nd it’s a complete fluid motion – brilliant decision.

Emily Cooper is broken…and there is one thing that can fix her…it’s Mr. Tall Dark and Fuckable Handsome (but I’m pretty sure he can fix anything and everything). She’s on her way to reclaim her (excuse me for sounding cliché here) true love – but I tell you this now people, if there were ever two people in this WORLD meant for each other…it’s Gavin Blake and Emily Cooper. But I digress. So…let me guess – you’re thinking she goes to his apartment, he opens the door, the angel choirs sing ‘Hallelujah!’ and they all live happily ever after. Yeah…not so much.

“I was scared you took her back, but I should’ve let you explain and I didn’t. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry that out of any girl in this world you could’ve fallen in love with, you chose me. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you when I should’ve, and it was me who broke your heart. I love you, Gavin. I know you’re the one who said you thought you loved me from the moment you saw me, but I know I loved you from the moment I saw you. Something inside me told me I was supposed to be with you, but I fought against it. So many things about you scared me at first, and then you showed me who you really are.”

Gavin Blake isn’t much better in the broken department. The love of his life, the woman he bared his heart and soul to just crushed him. He’s just as broken as Emily is…and you break into a million pieces with him. So…for those of you who read ‘the teaser’…you know what he does. Honestly, this is not easy for me to say – but you can be mad at him all you want…but guess what. I can’t be. That’s Gavin. That’s who he was before Emily, ‘void fillers’ and all. I’m sorry, he has every right to do whatever he wants, and we get to sit back and take it. Does it suck? Hell yeah! In my messed up little brain…’that’ scene in Mexico, never happened – I plugged my ears and sang ‘la la la la la’ and went into my denial stage. Because in my brain there is no one else in this world that belongs with Gavin other than Emily. *sigh*

‘“No. I’m too much of a nice guy,” Gavin mumbled, idly wondering where Emily was in that moment. Loneliness flooded his chest, but he welcomed its suffocating presence. This was something he knew. It was all too familiar to him. He almost considered it an old buddy.’

Emily and Gavin didn’t get to where they are overnight and unfortunately the repair that needs to be done isn’t over night. There is work involved. I know so many people wanted Emily to suffer for what she did to Gavin, for him to make her grovel and work to get him back. To you people I say…wtf?!?!? This poor girl lost her mother, was in an abusive relationship, moved her life across the country, and met the love of her life all within the span of a year – you try dealing with all that! She’s not perfect, none of us are, but I swear, she is a brand new and amazingly wonderful Emily in Pulse and I. LOVED. Every. Minute. Of. It.

Emily climbed from the car and walked over to Gavin. Staring up into his eyes, her words softly fell from her mouth. “Do you know how scary it is to want something so bad you’re willing to change your whole life for it?”
Gavin searched her face. “You mean the way I was willing to change mine for you?”
“Yeah. I guess we were both willing to do that, Gavin. I was ready to take that plunge and never look back. Never. I was ready to risk everything for you, to push away the overwhelming fear I had because I knew you and I are worth it. We fell in love in a second. I was barely able to blink, and you had my entire world upside-down. I was scared you weren’t… real. I was scared no one could be as magnetic as you are to me. It still scares me. You still scare me.” Pausing, Emily shook her head. “Then I saw Gina, and all my fears came back. My heart wanted to believe you, but my head wouldn’t allow it after I’d already taken that risk on us. I’m so sorry, Gavin. I don’t know what else to say other than I love you and need you with everything inside me.”

Gavin is of course the king of liners…he didn’t fail in Collide and he blew me away in Pulse, but I honestly think Emily gave him a run for his money. I’m not over exaggerating her people, I loved her in Collide , she may have aggravated me to the point of yelling obscenities at my kindle, but I never once stopped loving her. But in Pulse I felt like I got to watch Emily blossom and grow into the woman she always was, the woman she was meant to be before Dillon, the woman she was free to be because of Gavin and his love. When you have someone who truly loves you and cares for the person you are inside, it is the most freeing feeling in the world – that’s something I don’t think Emily ever got to experience before Gavin.

‘She moved into the kitchen and came up behind Gavin at the stove. She circled her arms around his waist, stood on her tiptoes, and perched her chin on his shoulder. “I didn’t know you cooked. You keep getting sexier and sexier.”
At that, he chuckled. “Wait. I thought I was shmexy?”’

So of course, this is a love story. And after Collide and the angsty torture that we all suffered through, we are very handsomely rewarded. Gavin and Emily are hotness personified and I’m not kidding when I say hold onto your panties. Shoot, you might want to go ahead and grab a couple extra pair because Gavin in all his alpha male dominance is nothing short of amazing. It’s really not fair to the rest of the men in the world because frankly…anything less than Gavin Blake just…doesn’t measure up.

‘…Gavin leaned back over to Emily and whispered, “I owed you a bottle cap since the last few times I drank, I forgot to give you one. I’m sorry.”
Cupping his cheek, she stared into his eyes. “I love you. And I love your bottle caps more than you’ll ever know.”
Gavin quirked a brow. “Yeah? Even though I have a fuckload of money, you love my bottle caps? Should my caps be more… refined?”
“No,” she said breathlessly. “They’re perfect.”

I could literally talk about Gavin, Emily and Pulse all day long. I’m not over exaggerating. This series and these characters have been in my life for almost a year, since I found Collide on FictionPress…so you can understand why when I clicked to the last page and read ‘The End’…I cried. You cannot emotionally attach yourself to ‘something’ (fictional character or not) for almost 12 months and then be okay with saying goodbye to them. I don’t know how to live without having my daily dose of Gavin Blake. Which I guess is why I can be happy with the fact that no one can take them away from me. 🙂

“I love you, Emily Cooper.” He paused, looked at the ground, then back to her. “I think I loved you before I knew you existed.” His voice was so soft, Emily could barely hear him. He stepped closer and brought his hand to her cheek, his touch gentle as his blue eyes caressed hers. “I’m pretty sure you were in my dreams before you walked into my life. I felt it the first time I saw you. You pulled at me. Took hold of my heart and never let go. Even if you had, I wouldn’t have let you. I wouldn’t have been able to. Something about you was… familiar, and it scared the shit out of me, but I knew somehow we needed one another.”

Wow…there are not enough stars in thy sky for me to rate this book…I need like a new rating system…a new chart…like an ‘infinity star’ or something. From beginning to end this book has held my heart and I still don’t feel like my words have done it justice. It’s just a series you must read and experience for yourself. So what are you waiting for??? 🙂

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Pulse by Gail McHugh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5+++++++ KISSES!!
Pulse is simply PERFECT

My review? You seriously want me to write this review? You want me to write a review for Pulse? Huh? How? What? You want me to try and form words after reading this book that seriously deserves its own adjective to describe the perfection that it is? Okay let me try to come up with something here…..hmmmm…….Perfamazimpecasome (please don’t make me break that down for you). The words in this book (yes all of them) need to be inscribed onto the moon so that the entire world can see them, love them, live them, feel them, all like I did. Because that’s exactly what I did. If you can’t tell already, I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS FUCKING BOOK!! (and if you are offended by my use of that amazing ‘f’ word, then please, by all means, stop reading NOW!) I am so in love with this book and these characters to the point that I’ve contemplated contacting NASA, the CIA, Homeland Security, and Bill Gates about coming up with some kind of super amazing machine that will place my happy ass right into Gail’s McHugh grey matter so that I can join the party. I can’t promise that everything I say and do will be appropriate but hey, what’s the fun in that.

Let’s begin, shall we? To be honest with all you lovely people, I am very excited about the word vomit that is about to take place. This is me. Right. Now!

So just in case you aren’t aware-Pulse is the second book in a two book series. Book one,Collide, should, and I cannot stress this enough because it is vital to your health and well-being (not kidding) be read prior to reading Pulse. Got that? Book one= Collide…Book two= Pulse
Now that we’ve got that settled let’s get down to it.

Pulse picks up where Collide left off. Literally where it left off- that unforgettable, painful, heart-breaking night, right down to the minute. Emily is walking out of that room and away from a life she has decided she doesn’t want to live. She is going after the only thing that has ever made sense. The one man whom her heart beats for. She just isn’t sure what comes next. What will Gavin say? Has Emily broken him too much to the point of no repair?

“Thank you for your dimpled smile and your bottle caps.
I’ll never be able to look at one without thinking of you.
Thank you for your stupid Yankees and your wiseass remarks.
Thank you for wanting late night drives and sunset-watching
with me. Thank you for wanting the good, the bad, and in the
in-between…I’m just sorry all you got from me was the
bad.”

It must be said that we definitely get to see a new Emily in Pulse.

I know a lot of people didn’t like her in Collide and some just flat out hated her. They found her weak. Spineless. Annoying. Well, let me get this out there….I am 100% NOT one of those Emily haters. I loved Emily from page one and while yes, like I said in my Collide Review, she was very frustrating at times, I never disliked her. The poor girl was
broken
. That’s like seeing a starving, mangy, sad-faced puppy outside your house and shooing it away with a broom. WHO DOES THAT?? Emily was just a girl who had been broken down so many times that there was just no point in trying to fix herself or even let someone else try and fix her. She grew up seeing her mother treated less than acceptable on numerous occasions so why would she think she deserved any better. Maybe that’s all she knew. Maybe that was the norm to her. Maybe she just needed someone to open up her eyes and her heart and show her that the way she is living is NOT normal. That Dillon really is the fucking Douchecanoe that he appears to be. Maybe the one person who can open her eyes to all that has finally had enough, though. Maybe Gavin is ruined now, too. Maybe he’s filling a void somewhere in another country? Maybe Gavin Blake is feeling…dead.

Emily tensed, grabbed the handle above her head,
and looked at Gavin. “You’re going to kill us.”

“I’m already dead,” he answered , clenching his
jaw.

Jesus!!!! This man can break my heart, steal it, mend it, and lock it away for 84 years! I LOVE HIM!

Aaaaand now it’s time to turn up the heat a little. You know…the kind of heat that causes your girly parts to clench. Shit is about to go down. I’m talking some crazy hot arguing, some sexual tension, all inside of a very sleek Jaguar.

At this point into the book I am kind of having mini meltdowns and thinking to myself, “Okay, what is going to happen next. I am not sure if I can handle much more of the guessing games.” And then BOOM! Thank you Gail McHugh for scaring the shit out of me. Oh you know, that night at around 2:00am. I felt the need to stall Emily in hopes that something in the likes of a miracle might happen at this point.

Well hello there, miracle. Ladies and…ladies, I introduce to you,
MY
Gavin Blake.

Gavin…*sigh*. Gavin. Fucking. Blake. I am not sure there are even any more words that need to be said. Gavin is in a league all his own. He is untouchable. He is effortless perfection. He has a heart the size of the moon that even though is stealing healing, it’s 100% taken. When he loves, he loves hard. And when he fucks…well yeah you get the picture :) And let me tell you, again, just like I did in my Collide review…as much as I love this man. As much as I want Gavin Blake. I know that Gavin Blake and Emily Cooper absolutely, indefinitely, until there is no tomorrow,
belong together
. There’s no two other people in this universe that belong together like these two do. It’s like their hearts beat to the same rhythm, their synapses fire on the same neuron, their brains function on the same wavelength. They. Are. Just. PERFECT. No other way to describe them.

That’s not to say they don’t have things to overcome. There has been so much hurt so much heartache between Gavin and Emily and those things don’t get repaired overnight. But if I know these two, it won’t take them long.

“I can’t promise you it’ll always be sweet and
tender because you and I fight hard. But I’m
pretty sure it won’t be a horror ride either
because you and I love even harder. What I can
promise is you’ll always mean more to me than my
next breath, and it’ll always be you in my life.
No one else.”

Okay, so where do I go from here with this review? There is so much I want to tell you. I want to be the spoiler whore that I am with all my friends and just ramble until your ears bleed. But, unfortunately I can’t do that. There is too much to ruin for you. There is too much brilliance that takes place in this book that you really just need to witness for yourself. There are beautiful moments, sad moments, moments where you ache for Gavin and Emily, a moment in particular where you have the biggest, ”What the FUCK? This is no happening. This is SO not fucking happening.” moment.

And don’t worry, Gail McHugh does NOT disappoint in the sexy, steamy, panty melting department either. There’s some of this-

“I’m going to fuck you right now, Emily. I’m
going to bring you so much pleasure you’ll
never think about walking away from me again.”

and a little

don’t forget some of this

Okay so let me wrap this up. I will even sum all my feelings for you in a cutesy little list along with some other randomness.

1. I am in love with Gavin and Emily.
2. This series is my favorite EVER.
3. I cried probably 84 times while reading this book.
4. Olivia and I are new Bff’s. How can one not love
that girl?
5. Did someone say something about a monkey?
6. I secretly have a thing for Trevor and Fallon.
They need their own book.
7. I am digging Jude. A lot. Even with that pink
towel.
8. I had a dream last night about licking Gavin’s
tattoo. Twice!
9. The ending left my heart very happy.
10. I am sad that Gavin and Emily’s story is over.
Hey, maybe I’ll write fan-fiction. NOT!
11. I love Gavin Blake.
12. I really love Gavin Blake.

And that’s about all I have. I hope my review portrayed how much I adore this book, this author, these characters. They all have touched me to my soul like I have never experienced before. I just know that there have been past book boyfriends for me, there will be future book boyfriends for me. But Gavin Blake has stolen my heart and he will ALWAYS be my number one.

I will leave you with this amazing quote.

“We were written for one another, and I
wouldn’t change one line in our romance
novel. The good, the bad, the in between.
It’s ours. We own it.”

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I’ve always been a lover of writing, but mostly dabbled in creative poetry while raising my three beautiful children. I am grateful that my husband of fifteen years has supported me—albeit sometimes kicking and screaming—as I pursue this “hobby” of mine. Without his help, writing would be an impossible endeavor.

In late June 2012, I felt an urgent tug of my pen, and I began writing one of my first novels, Collide. Although I thought it might never see the light of day, it gave me the courage to plunge headfirst onto a path I had never considered before.

Website – http://authorgailmchugh.com/