Title: A Little Too Hot (A Little Too Far #3)

By: Lisa Desrochers

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Release Date: January 21, 2014

Publisher: William Morrow Impulse

“Every page is deliciously breathtaking, wickedly sexy and sensational. A LITTLE TOO HOT is wonderfully unique and a LOT HOT! I am a HUGE Lisa Desrochers fan.”
— Katy Evans, New York Times bestselling author of REAL

“Lisa is brilliant at creating sizzling sexual tension and impossible circumstances that make the reader hold their breath all the way to happy ever after.”
— Jay Crownover, New York Times bestselling author of RULE

From USA Today bestselling author Lisa Desrochers, comes the third book in her sizzling New Adult series.

If you play with fire…

Tossed out of college and cut off by her parents, Samantha West is in pretty dire straits. So when her rocker best friend hooks her up with a job dancing at a gentlemen’s club, who is she to turn it down? Plus, there are rules to dancing at Benny’s: No touching, keep your clothes on at all times, and never get closer than three feet. Unfortunately for Sam, her first private client makes her want to break every single one of them.

Harrison Yates is scorching hot, but he’s got a past that involves being left at the altar not too long ago. Sam is determined to make him forget about his ex, but when she makes her move, it flings her life into a spiral of chaos she never saw coming.

Because Harrison Yates isn’t who he seems to be. And his secret will probably get her killed.

Have you read A Little Too Far and A Little Too Mush, the first two books in the series? I LOVED both of them! Check out my review for A Little Too Far here and A Little Too Much here.  Even better A Little Too Far is only $1.50 right now…A Little Too Much is only $1.99…and A Little Too Hot is only $2.99! Such a great deal on the whole series!

Title: A Little Too Far (A Little Too Far #1)

By: Lisa Desrochers

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Release Date: September 17th, 2013

Publisher: William Morrow Impulse

Have you ever gone just a little too far?

Lexie Banks has.

Yep. She just had mind-blowing sex with her stepbrother. In her defense, she was on the rebound, and it’s more of a my-dad-happened-to-marry-a-woman-with-a-super-hot-son situation. But still, he’s been her best friend and confidant for better part of the last few years…and is so off limits. It’s a good thing she’s leaving in two days for a year abroad in Rome. But even thousands of miles away, Lexie can’t seem to escape trouble. Raised Catholic, she goes to Confession in hopes of alleviating some of her guilt…and maybe not burning in hell. Instead, she stumbles out of the confessional right into Alessandro Moretti, a young and very easy on the eyes deacon…only eight months away from becoming a priest. Lexie and Alessandro grow closer, and when Alessandro’s signals start changing despite his vow of celibacy, she doesn’t know what to think. She’s torn between falling in love with the man she shouldn’t want and the man she can’t have. And she isn’t sure how she can live with herself either way.

Title: A Little Too Much (A Little Too Far #2)

Author: Lisa Desrochers

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Release Date: November 12, 2013

Publisher: William Morrow Impulse

In the follow-up to Lisa Desrochers’ explosive New Adult novel A Little too Far, Alessandro Moretti must face the life he escaped and the girl he loved and left behind.

Twenty-two year old Hilary McIntyre would like nothing more than to forget her past. As a teenager abandoned to the system, she faced some pretty dark times. But now that’s all behind her. Hilary has her life on track, and there’s no way she’ll head back down that road again.

Until Alessandro Moretti—the one person who can make her remember—shows up on her doorstep. He’s even more devastatingly gorgeous than before, and he’s much too close for comfort. Worse, he sees right through the walls she’s built over these last eight years, right into her heart and the secrets she’s guarding.

As Hilary finds herself falling back into love with the man who, as a boy both saved and destroyed her, she must decide. Past or future? Truth or lies?

This has to be one of my favorite series…each book has really touched me, I love the writing and the characters and they’re truly fabulous romances.  Check out the first three chapters of A Little Too Hot….

Exclusive Excerpt of A LITTLE TOO HOT by Lisa Desrochers by WilliamMorrowBooks

A Little Too Hot by Lisa Desrochers

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

*ARC Given to Blog for Review*

4.5 “Jezebel” “dragonfly” “safe” Kisses

OMG…this book made me squeal. Like hard core…multiple times…uncontrollable noises were coming from my body. How does a book do that to me?!?! ARGH!!! It was amazing and awesome and I loved it and I love this series and I’m babbling and I don’t care! The angst…the chemistry…the characters…I. Loved. Everything. This was everything I loved about  A Little Too Far  and  A Little Too Much  but amped up, put on steroids mixed in a blender with this glorious sexual tension and laid out for my enjoyment. And ladies and gentlemen…I enjoyed immensely. Can you read A Little Too Hot without reading A Little Too Far and A Little Too Much? Absolutely…but…I think it means more if you read them in order. It’s not a deal breaker though.

Samantha Erin West…Sam Sam Sam…my little redheaded train wreck. And she really is…the poor girl just can’t seem to get anything right no matter how hard she tries…she’s screwed up in every avenue of her life – she flunked out of college, got fired from her last job, kicked out of her parents house and the one boy she’s loved for most of her teenage years is in love with her bestie, Lexie…who she’s not really best friends with anymore since the whole ‘I’m in love with my step-brother’ convo happened. See? Sounds like a great time to just give up, right? But God bless Sam, she somehow pulls it together and still manages to move forward. With the help of one of the only men that hasn’t abandoned her, her best friend Jonathan, Sam is going to change things…change the way her life is going – she’s full of possibility and promise. She’s got a new job and she is going to show everyone that doubted her (including her mother!)…and there is a brief glimpse of hope….and then it all comes crashing down again. And all because of a certain tall, blonde and sexy man with ice blue eyes.

“Just put a big red stamp on my forehead. ‘Samantha West: Failure at life.’ Washed up at twenty-one.”
His tongue pokes at the labret through the corner of his lower lip as he fights a smile. “You’re not really a failure at life. Just most aspects of it.”

Blake Montgomery…or is it Harrison Yates? (for those of you who don’t know who Harrison Yates is…google him, it’s kinda funny). Alright so before I really get into the core of Blake…I have to first go over everything I loved – because there were things I did love about him…so many, I decided he deserves a list:

1. He’s from Texas (that’s worth like a million hotness points of me)
2. He’s got a super sexy tattoo
3. He’s gorgeous…blonde hair, blue eyes, tall, muscles, yummm
4. He’s very protective
5. He likes country music
6. He can cook – hello! Sexy…
7. He’s dedicated to his job
8. He’s intelligent – like…bordering on brilliant
9. He can say some of the sexiest, swooniest things but I am more drawn to his actions and what he says with his eyes than anything else.
10. He has a weakness for a certain redhead

So…I went through stages with Blake…at first I was so freakin’ into him it was ridiculous – everything that Sam was feeling for him, I was there, I was on the Blake bandwagon. Then…the shit hits the fan and I was so frustrated and angry and sad…I didn’t want to not like him, but I couldn’t help it! He made me so mad…irrationally mad – like to the point of tears because of what he was doing to Sam…or more like the effect his actions were having on Sam…either way – what was happening to Sam was his fault and he knew it and it was not having a positive reaction on anyone. But after the anger and frustration had subsided, we got to know him better…know some more truths about the situation and I guess if you want to call it justification for everything…I got it. I understood Blake…I felt for him and at his core there is one thing that never waivered throughout the course of the book and that’s his determination to keep Sam safe….and I loved that.

‘He shoves a hand through his hair and lowers his gaze. “You make me crazy. I can’t even think when I’m around you.”
“I don’t want you to think.”
His eyes life to mine as I stalk toward him. They burn with needs as I lay my hands on his chest, then smooth them up to his shoulders.
“What about the rules?” he asks, breathily.
“Screw the rules.” I push him backward until the sofa takes his legs out from under him, then climb astride his lap.
His hands glide over my curves, setting every nerve ending on fire. “I could almost forget the rest of the world exists when I’m in here with you.”’

Sam and Blake…oh boy…they’re interesting. Definitely far from your normal progression of a relationship…the way they meet is different, they way they get to know each other is a little unconventional, you have the normal push and pull but the context of the push and pull is far from the norm. They don’t want to want each other…they really can’t (especially Blake) but they can’t help their attraction and I can’t help but love that. They both had an equally huge weakness for each other. I mean even when Sam had every right to want to punch Blake in the balls…she couldn’t help her feelings for him…and just as much as Blake wanted to be with Sam, his strength and determination against taking it anywhere that it couldn’t go was firm…which while frustrating is admirable. But it’s the little things he did for her that just made me melt…he cooks for her, indulges her in any way he can…I loved that they had the whole karate thing in common…and yet I loved equally how much she couldn’t stand his country music.

‘He closes his eyes and his head drops back on the sofa. “Sam.” His voice is course with pure animal need, but I can’t miss the tinge of despair in it too.
“Forget her,” I whisper in his ear. “She’s gone. I’m here.”
His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows hard. I run my lips and my tongue up his throat to the angle of his jaw and he groans. The next second he’s kissing me as if I were his beginning and his end.’

A Little Too Hot is so different and yet so similar to ALTF and ALTM….the build is still there…this is not a quick book where the couple just jumps into this fast love affair, while yes their initial reaction to each other is a little quick, it’s still logical…plus their passion and chemistry is developed over weeks of getting to know each other, mixed with other…complications to their already complex scenario. Things are messy at best but I loved the fact that Sam and Blake could not deny what was between them…what had always been between them from the very beginning. But the difference is, this is the first book in the serious where the couple didn’t have any history. In both ALTF and ALTM the couples had known each other…they had shared history, and Sam and Blake didn’t have that…but magically, I felt their connection just as strong as I did the other two couples. Their sexual attraction was amazing but that is not what held them together in my eyes.

‘He shakes his head slowly. “It wasn’t like that. We never…it wasn’t like this,” he says with a wave of his hand between us. “I’ve never been on fire like this for any other woman.”
My heart skips. “You’re on fire for me?”
He hands his head, but his smoldering gaze stays locked on mine. “Burning alive.”’

Another thing that was different about ALTH was the angst ‘topic’ if you will…of course there was the angst between Sam and Blake…but there were other external factors. I can’t go into specific details because I don’t want to spoil anything but I will say that law enforcement was involved and there is a criminal element to the plot…normally this is where my brain checks out. Honestly…there are very few times that this kind of thing really does it for me – I don’t know why because when it comes to movies/tv shows/etc. I usually love that stuff – but for whatever crazy reason I don’t like it so much in my romance books. In a ALTH I loved it…I ate it up gladly with a big spoonful of more please – I’m not sure if it’s the way it was incorporated or the way Lisa wrote it but I couldn’t get enough and it totally worked for me.

‘There’s something beautiful and tagic in his soul that speaks to mine. I want to know him. I want to know every inch of him.’

Then again there is not a whole lot I can complain about when it comes to Lisa Desrochers’s writing. She grabs me by the metaphorical balls and just gets me in all the right ways. Her detail astounds me…it’s perfection, she always adds just enough description where I feel like I am actually in whatever location she is depicting. I mean…you can read the books if you just want to feel transported all around the world – we’ve gone to Rome, New York and now California…I love it! But I really feel with ALTH the descriptions were bumped up a level because…Sam dances. Describing a dance is…difficult, at least IMO – it’s not easy to give a clear depiction of how the human body can move but damn…I saw it all right in front of my very eyes. And it wasn’t just the detail…I already said she had me physically vocalizing my emotions…I was right there with Sam the entire way. When she was excited, I was excited…when she was scared, I was scared….whatever she was feeling, I was feeling…full on and then some. It was awesome…except for the screaming/squealing part…then I felt kinda crazy – but I’m still okay with it. Another thing…just like with ALTM there was this moment…at 27% actually…where I was just knocked upside the head. That’s twice she has completely blown me away with something I didn’t see coming. That has never happened…I mean, not that I’ve never not seen something coming but two times in a row. That’s just fabulous. Love it.

‘Too soon, he pulls back. There’s fire in his gaze. “Good night, Sam West. I’ll dream about you in that dress tonight.”
I kiss him again, just a peck on the lips. “Good night, Blake Montgomery. After a kiss like that, I’ll be dreaming about you too.”’

I am in full on denial that the A Little Too Far series is over…there is no way. Nope…I refuse to believe it. We still need Katie’s story…especially with the little development that happened at Lexie’s wedding…plus now I’m all into Jonathan (Sam’s BFF is a little man whoring rock star and I LOVE him!)…plus Ginger (Jonathan’s girlfriend)…she’s a little quirky, but I kinda like her. So…I’m going to beg for more and sit here in denial that it’s over…cause I don’t want it to be.

View all my reviews

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Lisa Desrochers lives in northern California with her husband, two very busy daughters, and Shini the tarantula. If you’d told her five years ago she’d write a book, she’d have laughed in your face. As it turns out, she’d owe you an apology. Writing has become an addiction for Lisa and A Little Too Far, courtesy of HarperCollins, is her first novel for adults. She is also the author of the young adult Personal Demons trilogy from Macmillan. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, and she adores stories that take her to new places, and then take her by surprise.

Author:    Lisa Desrochers

Genre:   New Adult Contemporary Romance

Release Date:   November 12, 2013

Publisher:    William Morrow Impulse

In the follow-up to Lisa Desrochers’ explosive New Adult novel A Little too Far, Alessandro Moretti must face the life he escaped and the girl he loved and left behind.

Twenty-two year old Hilary McIntyre would like nothing more than to forget her past. As a teenager abandoned to the system, she faced some pretty dark times. But now that’s all behind her. Hilary has her life on track, and there’s no way she’ll head back down that road again.

Until Alessandro Moretti—the one person who can make her remember—shows up on her doorstep. He’s even more devastatingly gorgeous than before, and he’s much too close for comfort. Worse, he sees right through the walls she’s built over these last eight years, right into her heart and the secrets she’s guarding.

As Hilary finds herself falling back into love with the man who, as a boy both saved and destroyed her, she must decide. Past or future? Truth or lies?

Have you read A Little Too Far, the first book in the series?  I LOVED it!  Check out my review here.  Even better it’s only .99 cents right now!  And…A Little Too Much is only $1.99…A Little Too Hot is only $2.99!  Such a great deal on the whole series!

Title: A Little Too Far (A Little Too Far #1)

By: Lisa Desrochers

Genre:   New Adult Contemporary Romance

Release Date: September 17th, 2013

Publisher:    William Morrow Impulse

Have you ever gone just a little too far?

Lexie Banks has.

Yep. She just had mind-blowing sex with her stepbrother. In her defense, she was on the rebound, and it’s more of a my-dad-happened-to-marry-a-woman-with-a-super-hot-son situation. But still, he’s been her best friend and confidant for better part of the last few years…and is so off limits. It’s a good thing she’s leaving in two days for a year abroad in Rome. But even thousands of miles away, Lexie can’t seem to escape trouble. Raised Catholic, she goes to Confession in hopes of alleviating some of her guilt…and maybe not burning in hell. Instead, she stumbles out of the confessional right into Alessandro Moretti, a young and very easy on the eyes deacon…only eight months away from becoming a priest. Lexie and Alessandro grow closer, and when Alessandro’s signals start changing despite his vow of celibacy, she doesn’t know what to think. She’s torn between falling in love with the man she shouldn’t want and the man she can’t have. And she isn’t sure how she can live with herself either way.

Title: A Little Too Hot (A Little Too Far #3)

By: Lisa Desrochers

Genre:   New Adult Contemporary Romance

Release Date:  January 21, 2014

Publisher:    William Morrow Impulse

“Every page is deliciously breathtaking, wickedly sexy and sensational. A LITTLE TOO HOT is wonderfully unique and a LOT HOT! I am a HUGE Lisa Desrochers fan.”
— Katy Evans, New York Times bestselling author of REAL

“Lisa is brilliant at creating sizzling sexual tension and impossible circumstances that make the reader hold their breath all the way to happy ever after.”
— Jay Crownover, New York Times bestselling author of RULE

From USA Today bestselling author Lisa Desrochers, comes the third book in her sizzling New Adult series.

If you play with fire…

Tossed out of college and cut off by her parents, Samantha West is in pretty dire straits. So when her rocker best friend hooks her up with a job dancing at a gentlemen’s club, who is she to turn it down? Plus, there are rules to dancing at Benny’s: No touching, keep your clothes on at all times, and never get closer than three feet. Unfortunately for Sam, her first private client makes her want to break every single one of them.

Harrison Yates is scorching hot, but he’s got a past that involves being left at the altar not too long ago. Sam is determined to make him forget about his ex, but when she makes her move, it flings her life into a spiral of chaos she never saw coming.

Because Harrison Yates isn’t who he seems to be. And his secret will probably get her killed.

Want to get a taste of A Little Too Much?  Keep reading!

A Little Too Much by Lisa Desrochers

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

*ARC Given to Blog for Honest Review*

4.5 “butterflies” “Irish” “cockroach” “coffee table” “ghosts” “Oh Henry!” “Salomé” Kisses

I fell in love with two things when I read A Little Too Far…Lisa Desrochers writing and Alessandro Moretti. Well I am back in lovey dovey land because I got a two-fer on A Little Too Much and I am over the moon for this book. A Little Too Much could be read as a stand alone but you get to know Alessandro in A Little Too Far and I think it made ALTM better for me knowing how it all began.

Hillary McIntyre…oh my…this girl. What can I say about Hillary…she is strong…and she is brave…but boy is she guarded. Like…I get it, some people need walls to exist…but there are walls and then there are fortresses that are ten feet thick with reinforced steel…Hillary has the latter. But every inch of her walls is 100% justified. I got Hillary and I really liked her…walls and all. She’s exotically beautiful, an interesting blend of her Irish mother and African American father…she makes me think of one of those distinct beauties that you don’t see often. She has never had it easy…her career has been a struggle…her relationships have been more about convenience then love…she has very few friends…I would almost feel bad for her except this is the way she has chosen it to be, and honestly, I think she prefers it that way. She decided to shut down years ago because it was easier to live this way then to live with the reality and the pain. She never knew her father…she was neglected and abandoned by her mother…everyone she has ever loved or ever should have loved her has left her…and all of them, with the exception of her sister Mallory never came back for her. Actually…make that two exceptions…

‘Just like in Shakespeare, when you fall head over heels in love with someone you don’t even know, it’s never going to end well. Love killed Juliet when she was thirteen. I made it all the way to fourteen before it nearly killed me.’

Alessandro Moretti…well what Hillary has in walls, Alessandro has in guilt. I knew that coming from ALTF…but I guess I just wasn’t aware of the level of his guilt. He takes every negative thing that he could have possibly done in his life and puts the full weight of it on his shoulders – whether it belongs there or not. While that is admirable in it’s own right, it is by far no way to live and every moment of this book I was waiting for Alessandro’s chance to finally break free of this remorse that was plaguing him. Alessandro is in the same boat as Hillary…he’s not had an easy life…his father was killed on 9/11…his mother has basically lost touch with reality…his brother went down a dangerous path that led to his death and Alessandro is left to pick up the pieces. I really liked Alessandro in ALTF but I knew he wasn’t right for Lexie…but I love what he took from his relationship with Lexie. Seeing him ‘post-almost-priesthood’ was…fun. Not that Alessandro was strictly business in ALTF but I felt like I got to see a whole new side of him…as well as also getting a glimpse at his past. And…for the record, all the hotness that is Alessandro Moretti should never be confined to a man of the cloth (strike me down for saying it!)…tall, dark and handsome with a boxers body (long, lean and muscular arms – that both Hillary and I seem to have a fascination for) and don’t even get me started on those grey eyes. Just…yummy!

‘I remember how everything changed for me with Alessandro. He was the first person in years who seemed to really care about me. He never hurt me. He kissed me on the mouth and he touched me so gently. He was sweet and tender…and I started to trust him. Then I started to need him.
And then he left.’

Hillary and Alessandro – so much pain…so much history…so much to overcome. So much that I wondered if it was ever going to happen. This is not a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am kind of book. Alessandro and Hillary have a lot to overcome and most of it is not easy, some of it is not pleasant but watching them go through it is what is awesome. Their relationship progresses from tentative and guarded to friends to friends who remember those feelings they used to have for each other to friends that are really trying to hold back on those feeling for each other to…well…I can’t give everything away – but trust me, it gets better. It doesn’t help that Hillary ‘technically’ has a boyfriend…if you want to call the guy that she shares an apartment and has sex with a boyfriend because….that’s about all she shares with him. I usually fall in love with a couple when I get to see all of those swoony moments…the hand holding, the kisses, the dates…Hillary and Alessandro did all that…but as friends…and I think I loved that almost more than if they had been a couple. They had a standing Thursday date (which I freaking adored) and it wasn’t like the hand holding/kisses were of a romantic nature…they were just signs of affection…a deep love for the other person, it’s hard to explain but trust me, it’s different. Plus the dates…so cute…original…unique…not like anything I’ve ever heard about before and the different spins that were put on them – like the rubber cockroaches (that became a ‘thing’) and the horribly ugly and heavy coffee table that was carted all over Manhattan (it’s hilarious…trust me on this).

‘It’s amazing how a person can convince themselves of almost anything. Even when that anything could cost them everything.’

Every now and then I experience a book that throws something at me completely from left field…it can either has a positive effect or a negative effect….ALTM did this and I mother-freaking-loved it! 69% people…with seven little words, I was left with my jaw was gaping wide open! Shocker! Big time shocker…either that or I was just so sucked into everything else the possibility just didn’t even occur to me. Either way…one word sums ups my thoughts…AWESOME! Make that two…Brilliant! There was enough still left to keep me wondering but this just added that extra little layer of OMG-ness (yes…OMG-ness is a thing, and if it isn’t, I just made it a thing) to keep me biting my nails until all the truth came out. And yes…at 69% there was still a lot of truth to come out. Another shocker…I cried. I didn’t expect to. And we’re not talking bawl my eyes out tears but there are some very emotional parts…one involving Hillary and Mallory’s mom and while I didn’t particularly care for their mother, it was a very emotional scene.

‘He hesitates before reaching for me and pulling me to his shoulder. I try to find the strength to push him away. But I can’t. I’ve wanted to be right here, in Alessandro’s arms, for so long. I dreamed of these arms after he left. I dreamed he’d come back and hold me and everything would be okay.
And now he’s here.’

Lisa’s writing style is so detailed and fluid it makes my head spin. She made me fall in love with Rome when I read ALTF and she absolutely took me into the heart of NY with ALTM. I can’t even begin to tell you, it’s like the location becomes a character in itself. The way she describes things is so vivid and clear I feel like I am there and experiencing the sights and sounds with the characters. Another thing I appreciate about Lisa’s writing…she writes a very complete story. It’s never rushed, the pace is excellent…every possible plot point is covered – even the ones I never even thought about until it I read it. It got to a point where I craved her style…it wasn’t forced or over the top…it was just right and I loved how thought out, thorough and meticulous it was…something that is sometimes lacking in a lot of the books I read…I really appreciate it. It’s the little things that at the last click of my kindle I’m just wow’d by…because it doesn’t hit you fully until the very end.

‘I smile against his chest.
He must feel it, because he kisses the crown of my hair. “What has you so happy?”
“Would you ever have imagined back then that we’d end up like this?”
He cups my cheek and lifts my face so those beautiful eyes are gazing down into mine. “I imagined it every day.”’

Oh sweet Jesus can I talk about how much I loved the ending? Like…we spend the entire book waiting for that moment for Hillary to drop her walls and everything to be happy and glorious and while there are happy and glorious parts throughout the book, the ending just takes the cake. Like…I wanted to sing the hallelujah chorus or something. It was magical and uplifting and very Hillary and Alessandro. Just…exactly what I could have ever hoped and wanted for them. I feel at peace every time I read one of Lisa’s books…and I have a feeling A Little Too Hot will not disappoint! So…off I go to read it. 🙂

View all my reviews

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Lisa Desrochers lives in northern California with her husband, two very busy daughters, and Shini the tarantula. If you’d told her five years ago she’d write a book, she’d have laughed in your face. As it turns out, she’d owe you an apology. Writing has become an addiction for Lisa and A Little Too Far, courtesy of HarperCollins, is her first novel for adults. She is also the author of the young adult Personal Demons trilogy from Macmillan. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, and she adores stories that take her to new places, and then take her by surprise.

Title:   A Little Too Far  (A Little Too Far #1)

By:   Lisa Desrochers

Publisher:   William Morrow

Release Date:   Sept 17th, 2013

Have you ever gone just a little too far?

Lexie Banks has.

Yep. She just had mind-blowing sex with her stepbrother. In her defense, she was on the rebound, and it’s more of a my-dad-happened-to-marry-a-woman-with-a-super-hot-son situation. But still, he’s been her best friend and confidant for better part of the last few years…and is so off limits. It’s a good thing she’s leaving in two days for a year abroad in Rome. But even thousands of miles away, Lexie can’t seem to escape trouble. Raised Catholic, she goes to Confession in hopes of alleviating some of her guilt…and maybe not burning in hell. Instead, she stumbles out of the confessional right into Alessandro Moretti, a young and very easy on the eyes deacon…only eight months away from becoming a priest. Lexie and Alessandro grow closer, and when Alessandro’s signals start changing despite his vow of celibacy, she doesn’t know what to think. She’s torn between falling in love with the man she shouldn’t want and the man she can’t have. And she isn’t sure how she can live with herself either way.

Check out the first two chapters of A Little Too Far Here

A Little Too Far by Lisa Desrochers

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

*ARC Given to Blog for Honest Review*

4.5 “Warcraft” “chewing the inside of my cheek” “Why can’t I stop wanting you?” Kisses

What a roller coaster! I knew from the synopsis and what I had heard that this was going to be an angst filled ride but I wasn’t prepared for my emotional response to it! When I was crying uncontrollably at my frustration and just utter helplessness of the situation…I was a little surprised! If this is the beginning of the A Little Too Far series, count me so in.

Lexie Banks…from the ‘oh God’s’ to the chewing the inside of her cheeks – there is not a whole lot about Lexie I didn’t love. She made me smile with her trips to confession…I loved her little nervous habit (the cheek thing..it’s really cute)…I was over the moon in love with her relationship with Trent…I love her passion for art and her desire to learn…I loved her resilience in the face of the shitty situation with her boyfriend…I loved her bravery at flying across the world by herself to a country where she didn’t know anyone let alone the language and she did it without a backwards glance. I mean…in all, Lex kicked a lot of ass in my book. She’s very conflicted over the situation with Trent and her feelings about it, but she is trying to do what she thinks is best…no matter how utterly frustrating it might be for me.

‘It’s always been easy to talk to Trent. Just knowing he loves me unconditionally – that he’ll never judge me, and I don’t have to hide who I am from him – it makes me feel understood. And he’s never stopped holding me when I’m upset. Like now.’

Trent Sorenson…I was team Trent from the beginning. Why? Because Trent and Lexie are my kryptonite. They are best friends and have grown up together. Game. Set. Match. Cannot compete with history or the fact that he knows her better than anyone on the planet. The compassion and depth of his emotions for Lexi…I felt it 100% and ten times over. What is there not to love about Trent…he wrestles (yum…), he can play the guitar (double yum…), and sing (triple yum…) and he rides a motorcycle (and now I’m comatose from the yumminess…). He’s so good with Lexie…they confide in each other, there is no other person in the world that Lexie can go to about anything and everything other than Trent. He knows her inside and out, her deepest darkest secrets and he still loves her. He’s amazing.

‘Kissing Trent is like sticking my toe in the ocean and suddenly being in over my head. I’m drowning in him. I don’t know whether it’s him or the scotch, but as his tongue edges my mouth and slips through my lips, desperation like I’ve never felt before swells inside me. Years of suppressed desire rear up, and, suddenly, I’m starving for him. The only thing I know for sure is, if I don’t have him right now, I’ll die.’

Alessandro Moretti…I liked him so please don’t confuse what I am about to say. He is a great guy…beyond great, he definitely made me swoon and I want desperately for him to be happy…and I know he will be, but I knew from the second I read his name that his HEA would not be with Lexie. He is the perfect friend that Lexie needs while she is in Rome. He is the confidant that she is missing with the complication of her and Trent’s relationship. He takes her mind off of things and helps her realize even more where her passion lies with art. He’s a sounding board and he’s patient and compassionate and just all around wonderful to Lexie. But there is an under lying notion that there might be a few blurred lines. He’s months away from becoming ordained and while up to the end, the lines of propriety are not completely crossed, but the line is definitely toed.

‘My heart pounds faster at his answer, and out of the blue the reason my body is reacting like this slams into me. Since the day I bumped into him at the church, I’ve thought he was a beautiful man, but seeing him in the gym, rivulets of sweat trickling over hard muscles . . . Yep. The tingle in my groin is unmistakable. I’ve got the hots for the good reverend.
I thought I was going to hell before, but this pretty much cements it.’

So like I said I was Team Trent from the beginning…I enjoyed the friendship that Alessandro and Lexi had but other than that…every text conversation or phone call or awkward encounter where those two little knuckle heads weren’t saying what they needed to say…I was still loving it. That was probably the most source of angst for me in the book because in my mind I am banging their heads together because if someone, anyone would just open their mouths and speak about their feelings rather than avoiding this, then we wouldn’t have any problems! But no…it’s so much easier to avoid the situation and try and ignore it…make things more awkward…delay the inevitable. Yeah, that all sounds like a good idea. SMH!

‘No. It’s too mortifying. The only person I could ever tell about something this mortifying is Trent.
And I can’t tell Trent about this because this is Trent. I want you so fucking much right now. He said it, but I feel it. I want him. I can’t deny it. Which means there’s something really wrong with me.
But as I look up at Alessandro, his gaze is so warm, urging me to trust him, and I realize I want to tell him.’

Oh what else did I love about Lexie and Trent…the matching kanji symbols for knowledge that they have over their hearts…she even says it… ‘Our hearts know. They always have.’ – so did I!!!! Just saying! I love that Trent would hold Lexie and let her cry…I love that they were each others first kiss. I love that they play Warcraft together. I love that he confides in her about he’s feelings about wrestling. I love that he writes her songs. I love that she inspires him to write songs. I LOVED the text she sends to him towards the end of the book (I can’t spoil but it’s a really good text that should have been said/sent at like 50%!) But I loved even more his reaction to it. And I loved the ending…even towards the end there was still a good amount of angst and anxiety…and while the ending is HEA-tastic and basically final, I still feel like there might be more of a story there. I mean, they’re only 21 and 22…Lexie still has to graduate college…there was never really any finality with the ‘Sam situation’ (which has the opportunity of being so drama filled…sorry, I was never a Sam fan!)…I mean, we can definitely see the finish line, but we didn’t cross it. You can use your imagination to fill in the rest of the details, but who wants that when it’s so much more fun to beg for another Lexie/Trent book?

‘I lean into his side as he finishes, and he wraps his arm around m shoulders and squeezes.
Warm and comfortable and mmm. This is the feeling of my best friend. I never want it to stop. “Thanks.”
He tips his face into my hair. “For you, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do.”’

I loved the writing, we’re in Lexie’s POV the entire time and I really liked being in her head. Felt like being in my head…so…of course I loved it. The writing was really good…very descriptive, I almost felt like I was there experiencing these things and places and pieces of art for myself. There was a draw back to that, for me, though…it got a little monotonous. I say that while cringing, because the description was spot on, painted a perfect picture, the detail with which everything was talked about was down to most minor thing which I very much appreciated – but there were a few times my eyes glazed over because while I am an art lover, I am also an emotional reader and a visual person. I can appreciate Michelangelo and the beauty of all the sculptures and paintings but unless I go to Google and look it up, then I wasn’t going to know what it looked like, and all the detail took away form the emotion for me. Yes…you felt her passion for art and what she loved, but…I cared about her relationships with Trent and Alessandro more.

‘I bury my face in my hands. “I want that so much, but I’m scared.”
His arms circle me, and he pulls me to his shoulder. “I’m scared too, but the one thing I know is I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you. This feels like forever to me, Lexie. It really does.”’

And this Lisa is of course a happy little book worm because this is a series and Alessandro is next!!! SQUEEEE!!! I don’t know if I was clear enough with my feelings for him…I want him, I need him, I love him – but not for Lexie, so to say I am excited with the turn of events at the end of the book, I am even more excited to see what happens with Hillary in A Little Too Much!

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Lisa Desrochers lives in northern California with her husband, two very busy daughters, and Shini the tarantula. If you’d told her five years ago she’d write a book, she’d have laughed in your face. As it turns out, she’d owe you an apology. Writing has become an addiction for Lisa and A Little Too Far, courtesy of HarperCollins, is her first novel for adults. She is also the author of the young adult Personal Demons trilogy from Macmillan. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, and she adores stories that take her to new places, and then take her by surprise.