Title: Unbreak Me (New Hope Book #1)
Author: Lexi Ryan
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance
Release Date: May 24, 2013
New Adult contemporary romance. Due to sexual content and heavy subject matter, this book is intended for mature readers.
“If you’re broken, I’ll fix you…”
I’m only twenty-one and already damaged goods. A slut. A failure. A disappointment to my picture-perfect family as long as I can remember. I called off my wedding to William Bailey, the only man who thought I was worth fixing. A year later, he’s marrying my sister. Unless I ask him not to…
“If you shatter, I’ll find you…”
But now there’s Asher Logan, a broken man who sees the fractures in my façade and doesn’t want to fix me at all. Asher wants me to stop hiding, to stop pretending. Asher wants to break down my walls. But that means letting him see my ugly secrets and forgiving him for his.
With my past weighing down on me, do I want the man who holds me together or the man who gives me permission to break?
Title: Stolen Wishes (New Hope Book #1.5)
Author: Lexi Ryan
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance
Release Date: January 7, 2014
**Contains sexual content and adult language and situations. Intended for mature readers.**
Cally…
A sexy smile. Intense blue eyes. A goodness that makes him want to save me from these rumors when no one else would care. I didn’t ask for a hero. William Bailey was never supposed to be anything more than a wish, a dream, an unrequited crush. Not for a girl like me–a girl whose fractured family has stolen her chance at a decent life.
William…
Since the death of my parents, I’ve always done what’s expected of me, what’s “best” for me. Until Cally. The moment her haunted eyes meet mine, the fractured pieces of my heart feel whole again. I don’t just want to save her. I need her to save me.
Stolen chances. Unbroken wishes. Two lonely souls grasping for hope in the darkness.
**This novella takes place seven years before the events in WISH I MAY and shows William and Cally falling in love for the first time. It can be read before or after WISH I MAY or on its own.**
Title: Wish I May (New Hope Book #2)
Author: Lexi Ryan
Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance
Release Date: October 4, 2013
I grew up wishing on stars.
My father taught me to believe…in destiny, in magic, in happily ever after. Dreams were my scripture and the starry night sky was my temple. Then Mom stopped believing, left him, and took us with her. At the age of sixteen, I cashed in my dreams to pay the rent, pawned my destiny to keep my sisters together.
Now, seven years later, I’m returning home, grieving the death of my mother, and settling my sisters back into the life Mom threw away. I never intended to stay. I don’t want to deal with my father, who is so invested in the spiritual world he forgets the physical. I don’t want to face William Bailey, whose eyes remind me of the girl I was, the things I’ve done, and the future I lost.
This would all be easier if Will hated me. As it is, I have to hold my secrets close so they won’t hurt him more than they’ve already hurt me. But he wants to be in my life. He wants what I can’t bring myself to confess I sold. He wants me.
I find myself looking to my stars again…wondering if I dare one more wish.
I love Asher…and his note is just perfection!
Keep reading to see the full Love Note!
Dear Maggie,
Nine months ago, I was looking out into the depths of the New Hope River and wishing I could disappear into the blackness.
I thought I’d tasted all life had to offer. Fame. More money than I knew what to do with. Something I thought was love. If this was the best life could give, what the hell was the point?
Then you were there and I saw something in your eyes that started to wake me up—not all at once, just little by little, like a summer morning from my childhood, the sunshine climbing through the window and calling softly for me to join the day.
I was wrong, by the way. I didn’t have a clue how good life could be or what love looked like.
I’d been looking for happiness in screaming fans and my next high. When I didn’t find it there, I thought it didn’t exist. You showed me how to find it in the silence of a low-lit room.
I thought love was passion, heat, and wild need. Falling for you taught me that those are only on the periphery, and love, at its core, is open, waiting, changing without trying. Love is the riverbed, bending and stretching for the water. Love is the underwater stone whose rough surface is rubbed smooth by just being still.
Love is you. And it’s me. But mostly, it’s us. Holding each other when the water gets rough.
Thank you for waking me up. I was sleeping through the best parts. Happy Valentine’s Day.
All my love,
Asher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
4 “Operation New Me” Kisses
The synopsis got me…the cover sold me…but this book was so much better than I anticipated. Confession time, I have a soft spot in my heart for sluts…I can’t help it and my poor Maggie was no exception…I loved her big time. But that wasn’t the only thing I love, everything from the characters to the beautiful writing to the twists and jaw dropping moments that kept slapping me in the face…this story held my interest from beginning to end.
Margaret Marie Thompson…Maggie…oh my dear sweet and sad Maggie. Hiding secrets…living up to everyone’s low expectations but attempting to turn over a new leaf. She is so strong…too strong because she carries the weight of her decisions and her secrets with her every day. Thinking of it as a penance for her actions. It’s sad…so sad, broke my heart. I hurt for her because no one should have to live thru all the pain she has had to by themselves. She’s also very proud – she doesn’t do anything anyone wants her or expects her to do…if she does anything it’s because she chooses to. She’s a beautiful, smart, talented girl and wouldn’t you know it she has two boys just dying to love her.
‘I hesitate for a minute. I was looking for some solitude down here, but I’m drawn to this man who looks as lost and lonely as I feel.’
Asher ‘Sexier Than God’ Logan…and oh boy does he live up to that name. Former rock star of the band Infinite Gray (awesome band name btw) with a wicked past all his own. Drugs, booze, probation and a pain in the ass soon to be ex that enjoys clinging to something that hasn’t been there in a while. Asher blew me away with his heart and his passion and his caring nature for Maggie. He is drawn to her and more than on a physical level. He wants her for more than sex which is new for Maggie, obviously – you don’t get the town slut rap for being a nun! Asher is swoony and dreamy and a former rock god! Really!?! What’s there not to love about him??
‘Asher should be the poster child for the sexy bad bo. I bet he ever has a few tats under tha pressed dress shirt. He’s a big guy, not just tall but large, solid, filling his black oxford in a way that makes it difficult to keep from starting.
Hell, staring is inevitable. Not drooling is difficult.’
William Bailey…poor Will. He got the shit end of the stick. First he gets stood up by Maggie – there a looooong story to go with that one – then his impending marriage to her sister – another loooooonger story and in the end…where does that leave poor Will? Stuck. He is so over the moon for Maggie – and she came back to New Hope! So that means something right? He has a chance…or he wants a chance. I don’t think Will can see the world if Maggie is around – it’s like everything else ceases to exist and it’s so sad because he deserves that in return. And then some. Because damn it that boy is 100 different kinds of amazing.
‘I am an addict and Maggie Thompson if my drug.’
This story is semi-love-triangle-ish. Yes…Maggie has feelings for both guys, different levels at different times but her connection with them is very different – both represent different things to her. Will is her past…but Asher is her future. My heart was torn because I did and do love both guys…a lot. I am all about past and shared history and Maggie and Will have a lot of that…but this might be the first time I was on the new guys side. I am 100% team Asher for Maggie. Asher and Maggie have a very strong connection that she tries to fight tooth and nail…plus you have all other sorts of side drama going on, Maggie and Asher do not have it easy!
‘”You’re good to me, and that scares me. I don’t deserve you.”
“You deserve better,” he growls.’
So the book is told from all three of their POV’s, which I wasn’t expecting. It was clear and concise and I enjoyed it – there were times it was very necessary and pertinent to be in each different perspective. I can’t lie…Asher was my fav…Will squeezed my heart…as did Maggie, but Maggie also made me laugh. Maggie is the kind of girl I could totally go to the bar with and have a good time. She is a good time, the problem is, that’s what she is known for. I can’t even put into words the kind of pain that girl pulled from me…the stigma that she dealt with day in and day out, the sacrifices she made for family and the way she held it all inside and kept her head up, gah…Maggie kinda rocks my face off, just sayin.
“You’re so gorgeous.”
“I like the look of you like that,” she tells me with a grin. “On your knees like you’re worshipping me.” I lift my gaze to meet hers.
“You have no idea.”
Eeep! This is the beginning of a series! *happy dance* And up next…my dear, sweet Will gets a book, Wish I May. That makes me so happy. Unbreak Me was a heart squeezing story about the power love has to forgive your past and break down walls…to show you a brighter tomorrow. I truly enjoyed Maggie and Asher’s story – can’t wait to see what’s in store for the rest of the New Hope series.
Once a college English professor, I now write full time. I live in rural Indiana, where, when I’m not writing, I get to hang out with my husband and two kids–a six-year-old boy and a two-year-old hellion, er, girl. Not surprisingly, reading and writing remain my favorite activities, though both come in bits and pieces these days, not the big hunks of time I enjoyed before I had children. When I’m feeling virtuous, I like to go running (I use that word liberally. I’m really, really slow) or do yoga. Don’t worry, I’m always careful to balance out such activities with a hearty serving of ice cream or a chocolate martini. I love hearing from readers, so I hope you’ll drop me a note.
Representation: All questions regarding subsidiary rights for any of my books, inquiries regarding foreign translation and film rights should be directed to Dan Mandel of Sanford J. Greenburg and Associates.
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Great giveaway!!
Acheron from the Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Braden Carmichael from On Dublin Street by Samantha Young