Title:   Nocte  (The Nocte Trilogy Book #1)

Author:   Courtney Cole
Release Date:   November 3, 2014

Save me and I’ll save you…

My name is Calla Price. I’m eighteen years old, and I’m one half of a whole.
My other half– my twin brother, my Finn– is crazy.

I love him. More than life, more than anything. And even though I’m terrified he’ll suck me down with him, no one can save him but me.

I’m doing all I can to stay afloat in a sea of insanity, but I’m drowning more and more each day. So I reach out for a lifeline.

Dare DuBray.

He’s my savior and my anti-Christ. His arms are where I feel safe, where I’m afraid, where I belong, where I’m lost. He will heal me, break me, love me and hate me.

He has the power to destroy me.

Maybe that’s ok. Because I can’t seem to save Finn and love Dare without everyone getting hurt.

Why? Because of a secret.

A secret I’m so busy trying to figure out, that I never see it coming.

You won’t either.

 

And after that ending…you better have Verum at the very top of your TBR!  😉  #EasyOneClick

The truth shall set you free.

My name is Calla Price and I’m drowning.

My new world is a dark, dark ocean and I’m being pulled under by secrets.

Can I trust anyone? I don’t know anymore.

The lies are spirals. They twist and turn, binding me with their thorns and serpentine tongues. And just when I think I have it figured out, everything is pulled out from under me.

I’m entangled in the darkness.

But the truth will set me free.

It’s just ahead of me, so close I can touch it. But even though it shines and glimmers, it has glistening fangs and I know it will shred me.

Are you scared?

I am.

 

“Please,” I say softly, my breath escaping me.  Dare smiles against my lips, knowing the effect on me, knowing and loving it.

He leans forward and rests his forehead against mine, and we’re so very close that I can feel his breath mingling with mine as his hands work absolute magic.  Pleasure laps against me, like the water against the shore and I lose all cognizant thought, and instinct takes over.

I tug at his jeans, unbuttoning them and pushing them away, and suddenly, he’s naked and in my hand, long and thick and bare.

I can’t breathe.

I can’t think.

I can only move.

I slide my hand along him, softly, gently, then harder, harder.

He bucks into me, his eyes shuttering closed.

“I’ve waited for this,” he murmurs into my neck, as he wedges his rigidity into my thighs, closer, closer.  “For so long.”

“Please,” I say again, my hand cupped around his neck, pulling his mouth to mine, so I can taste him, inhale him.  He pulls off my sundress, and stares at me in the sunlight, as the light exposes every plane of my body to his searching eyes.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispers, his eyes glittering in the sun.  “You’re so much better than I deserve.”

Wordlessly, he pulls back for a moment, and I protest, but then I hear the crinkle of a wrapper and he’s back, and he’s sliding into me and I can’t think anymore.

Motions become blurs, blurs become colors, and all I can do is feel.

His hands, his mouth, his skin.  The way he slides in and out of me, the friction causing me to crest in waves, his fingers bringing me to it faster.

“I…you… God,” I manage to say, because the words I want won’t come.

Dare smiles slightly and slides back into me, moaning my name.

“I want you to know me,” he says, his voice a husky chant. “I want you know me.”

I’m knowing him now like I’ve wanted to for weeks.  Intimate and close and I can’t believe this is finally happening, I can’t believe it’s so amazing, I can’t focus, I can’t focus, I can’t focus.

The lights, the sun, the sea, Dare’s scent, his fingers, his hands.

I grip his back, where his words say LIVE FREE and I’ve never felt freer in my entire life.

And then my world explodes in a kaleidoscope of colors and lights.

 

 

Nocte by Courtney Cole

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

*ARC Given to Blog for Honest Review*

5 “Funeral Home Girl” “Dare Me” “Save Me” “Dragonfly” “Secrets. Everybody’s got ‘em.” Kisses

OMG…OMG…OMGOMGOMGOMG…there aren’t enough OMG’s for this book. It has officially taken all of them from me. I  knew  I was in for something amazing with Nocte but…wow. I wasn’t prepared for that. There was so much unknown about this book that it went past curiosity for me…I needed to know Calla’s story. It was beautiful…and haunting…and emotional…and absolutely unforgettable.

Calla Price…Calla-Lilly…but only Dare calls her that. Calla is…a lot of things. She’s a twin (and don’t even get me started on her connection with Finn)…she’s a daughter…she’s the Funeral Home Girl…but she’s also an 18 year old who is still trying to figure herself out. Between the obligations and the guilt and what she feels she needs to do, she’s torn in a million directions…but there is also an underlying current of what she wants to do. She’s conflicted…unsure…and I felt for her because she really wants to do it all. I loved Calla’s heart and her spirit…she really is an easy to love character…but her overwhelming guilty conscience almost killed me. I got it…believe me…I understood it, but it was crushing. There was really only one thing that brought true joy and happiness out of Calla…and that was the boy with the dark eyes…

“Why exactly do you think this is kismet?”
His eyes crinkle up a little bit as he smiles yet again. And yet again, his grin is thoroughly amused. A real smile, not a fake one like I’m accustomed to around my house.
“It’s kismet because you seem like someone I might like to know. Is that odd?”
No, because I want to know you, too.
“Maybe,” I say instead. “Is it odd that I feel like I already know you somehow?”
Because I do. There’s something so familiar about his eyes, so dark, so bottomless. But then again, I have been dreaming about them for days.
Dare raises an eyebrow. “Maybe I have that kind of face.”
I choke back a snort. Not hardly.
He stares at me. “Regardless, kismet always prevails.”

Adair DuBray…Dare…oh-em-gee…how much do I love Dare…let me count the ways. He’s tall, dark and handsome…mysterious in the best ways possible…British, need I say more? Oh…but I will…he has beautiful, deep, dark eyes that I want to stare into for hours…he’s an artist…has a motorcycle… and I’m really just scratching the surface of all that is amazing about Dare. Everything I learned about Dare drew me to him more and more…there was always this underlying intrigue about him, I never felt like I knew enough…but the pull was constant. He’s understatedly sexy…sweet, caring and kind…thoughtful…oh Dare completely won my heart and then some. I think what I loved most was what he did for Calla…he brought her back…he saved her. It’s really hard to describe without spoiling but the relationship that he and Calla have is completely priceless to me.

“Calla, look at me.”
I stare pointedly at the walnut cabinets, trying not to let the hot tears spill, because as much as I’m trying to hold them in, the tears keep welling up.
One escapes, slipping down my cheek.
Dare pulls me around, then drops his hand, staring me in the eye. He’s so intent, so serious. He wipes my tear away with a thumb.
“You deserve to have a life, too,” he tells me, his voice even. “You can take care of Finn and still take care of you.”
I don’t deserve it.
“You don’t understand,” I start to say, then decide I’d sound crazy if I tried to explain.
“You can’t say that, because you don’t know me,” I say instead, my voice harsh and stilted.
Dare runs a hand through his hair and his eyes glint like obsidian. “I guess not.”

Finn Price…I can’t not talk about Finn…Calla’s twin brother. My heart ached for him because he’s so precious and sweet…which I know is a weird thing to say about an 18 year old boy, but it’s true. Finn has problems…lots of problems…deep problems…but I loved that Calla was one of the few things that helped him. She brought him back…kept away the demons…I couldn’t have loved their connection more if I tried. It was really easy to love Finn…I can’t even explain it…I mean the boy is a hot mess, there were times while reading his POV that I was concerned for my own sanity…but because of Calla and the way she felt about him, I was able to see past all his faults to the goodness that she saw and loved. He didn’t ask to be the way that he was and I couldn’t fault him for that, so I focused on the positive.

‘“Kiss me,” I whisper, looking hungrily unto his eyes. He blinks, then stares, his mouth tightening.
“I shouldn’t,” he answers, low and husky.
“Do it anyway,” I reply, hoping, praying, holding my breath.
Then he does.
He lowers his beautiful face and hips lips come down on mine, soft, firm, real. I sigh into his mouth, into the spearmint breath that absorbs my own, into the thing I’ve been wanting for weeks.
He feels so comfortable, so exciting, so natural to me. Kissing him is like taking a breath. It gives me life.’

Calla and Dare…Dare and Calla…you can’t have one without the other. I adored falling in love with these two…they’re one of the most unique couples I’ve ever read. I already said there was something about Dare…this pull towards him, I felt it because Calla felt it…and the development of their relationship is very original. You could feel the strength of his feelings for her from the very beginning and even though she couldn’t explain why she felt the way she did for him…it still worked. As I already said I didn’t get enough Dare, but I definitely didn’t get enough of Dare and Calla…but there is a reason for that. This book is not just about Calla and Dare’s relationship…it’s about Calla and Finn…Calla and her parents…really, it’s all about Calla. Understanding her…seeing her go through a huge trauma and how she handles it and her emotions…and comes out the other side. It’s so many things and it’s all powerful and almost overwhelming at times but it really is amazing…through the entire story, I learned to appreciate Calla more as a character.

‘Dare pauses. “No?”
I shake my head. “No. I just wanted…to feel something else.”
“Something other than?” Dare waits.
“What I’ve been feeling.” I clarify. “Craziness. Sadness. I just want to be someone else for a minute.”
Dare examines his picture, then sits back in his seat a minutes.
“Why would you want to be anyone else?” he asks softly. “Calla Price is amazing.”

Alright…this book, these characters, this story…just took my brain and my emotions on the ride of a lifetime. I can’t even tell you what it did to my heart…it’s so mysterious and I hate a love/hate relationship with all the questions and not knowing or understanding everything completely. I mean…I love secrets but their secrets had secrets! Every time I felt closer to figuring out one, ten more popped up and I was left scratching my head. There were many times that I felt torn in two…sometimes even in three because my heart was always with Calla, but I couldn’t help what I was feeling for Dare and Finn too. Everything about this book is very unique and original…it’s really not like anything else I’ve ever read and I appreciated that. It was like an intense breath of fresh air…kept me on my toes and had my feelings wrapped up in a ball of knots…and I loved every second of it.

‘“You make me feel guilty,” I tell him quietly, opening my eyes. He’s sprawled out, his legs propped up on a seat. He glances at me, his forehead furrowed.
“Why in the world is that, Calla-lily?”
The names make me smile.
“Because you make me forget that I’m sad,” I said simply.
Softness wavers in Dare’s eyes for a minute before they turn back into obsidian. “That shouldn’t make you feel guilty,” he tells me. “In fact, that makes me happy. I don’t like the idea of you being sad. Come sit by me.”
He opens his arms and I sit on the seat next to him, leaning against his hard chest and into his beating heart. His arms close around me and for the first time in my life, I’m lounging in a guy’s embrace. And not just any guy. Dare DuBray, who I’m guessing could have any girl he wants.
And right now, in this moment, he wants me.
It’s unfathomable.’

The way Nocte was told was absolutely brilliant. I had thoughts and ideas throughout but there was really no way to piece together how this story was going to play out and that’s all because of the way Courtney Cole wrote it. I mean…there were times when even I felt like I might be going a little crazy…but it was a beautiful and emotional journey. Her writing blew me away…the pacing was magical…the way she described things, the pureness of the emotions from all the characters…this story is so complex and so many things could have gone wrong but she executed everything flawlessly and the way it all fell into place just stunned me. I’m not going to lie, I was hit with a freight train of emotion at 90%…it was an ugly cry of massive proportions and oh dear lord was the pain intense but totally worth it. In Courtney’s letter from the author she said it was ‘It was too dark, too twisted, too much, too, too, too.’ …that’s a pretty good articulation for what Nocte was for me. It’s so many things and all combined it just set me ablaze with this intense array of emotion.

‘I laugh, a hysterical sound, like a deranged hyena.
I’m unhinged unhinged unhinged.
I’ve come unhinged.
“Aren’t you tired of talking me off the edge?” I demand. “Aren’t you? Aren’t you tired of balancing on these cliffs and being afraid that we’ll tumble over the edge? I know I am. This isn’t life, Calla. This isn’t living. Love is stronger than death, Cal and this isn’t living.”’

So…I guess it’s time to get this part over with…the ending. It’s a cliffhanger. But…it is one of the best cliffhangers I’ve read in a long time. Was I clutching my kindle, frantically trying to click to the next page that was never going to come? Yes! What I screaming NOOOOO!!!!! at the top of my lungs? Absolutely! So why does this excite me? Because Courtney did her job! I knew when I was getting towards the end of the book that there were still too many questions left unanswered and I was excited about the prospect of where else she could take them…now I have even more questions and I’m desperate for the next book in the Nocte trilogy…so, touché Miss. Cole…well done. If I didn’t care…I wouldn’t be upset – but I do care because she made me feel for them and feel for their story and want their HEA. So if that means I have to wait for the next book…I’m cool with that because I would rather Calla and Dare get the full and complete story they deserve.

‘“It was you,” I tell him softly. “You’re the thing that brought me back. You gave me reality. You tethered me, anchored me, loved me. I thought you were going to break me, but that’s just because I didn’t understand. You were trying to help me all along.”
He pulled me to him and kisses me softly. “I love you, Calla.”
“I know.” And I do. For the first time in months. I can see it. And I believe it.’

Nocte is one of the best books I’ve read this year. For me…a book is all about the emotions it brings out in me and the journey with the characters…Nocte gave me more than I could have ever imagined and then some. Cannot wait to see what happens with Calla and Dare in Verum next!

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Courtney Cole is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling novelist who would rather write than eat chocolate. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business, but no amount of working in the corporate world could quell her urge to write.

Courtney was born and raised in Kansas, home of incredibly friendly people and the most horrendous weather on the planet. Because summer days were so hot, she grew up reading stacks of books… and when she didn’t like the ending, she wrote her own.

Courtney loves hot pink nail polish, Mitch Albom and thunderstorms (not necessarily in that order).

She currently lives in Florida with her real life Prince Charming, two sons, one daughter and small domestic zoo. To learn more about her, visit www.courtneycolewrites.com and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.