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.

With the Father by Jenni Moen
on September 19, 2014
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Dark Romance
Buy on Amazon Goodreads

I had a choice, and I chose wrong.

I thought I lost everything. But when the smoke finally cleared, I discovered that I wasn’t alone.

Father Sullivan was a force – a living and breathing force, a forbidden desire I couldn’t resist. I didn’t want to resist. But I wasn’t the only one who wanted him, and by all accounts neither of us should have him.

I had decisions to make, secrets to uncover. Both would tear my heart, my life, and what was left of my family apart.

I wasn’t going to take any chances this time around. If I’d learned one thing during my life, it’s that death is the only certainty. It’s a matter of when, not if. For every action, there is a reaction. For every choice, a consequence.

If I hadn’t chosen to live again, I would have never known what life could be like …

With the Father

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Jenni Moen lives in Oklahoma with her husband and three crazy, exuberant kids that have the potential to burn the house down at any moment.

When she’s not chauffeuring kids around town, performing her mom duties as a short order cook and maid, or vacuuming for her fastidious husband, she hammers away at her keyboard at her big girl job as a patent attorney. While vodka and exercise have provided some relief from the daily grind, it is reading … and now writing … that are her true escapes.

 

Title:   Vanquish (Deliver Book #2)

Author:    Pam Godwin
Release Date:   August 25, 2014

Her life is like a prison cell.
A self-made, to-hell-with-the-free-world existence that locks from the inside.
Stop judging. Her agoraphobia doesn’t define her. It simply keeps her safe.

He belongs in a prison cell.
The 6×8, make-me-your-bitch variety that locks from the outside.
But he’s free. To hunt. To take. To break.
And he just found a sexy new toy.

Capturing her is the easy part. Her fucked-up mind, however, makes him question everything he does next.
But he’s a determined bastard. If all goes his way, this will hurt like hell.

I absolutely LOVED Deliver – I cannot say enough good things about it…check out my review!

Title:   Deliver (Deliver Book #1)

Author:   Pam Godwin

Genre:   Dark Contemporary Romance

His name was Joshua Carter. Now it’s whatever she wants it to be.

She is a Deliverer.

She lures young men and delivers them to be sold. She delivers the strikes that enforce their obedience. She delivers the sexual training that determines their purchase price.

As long as she delivers, the arrangement that protects her family will hold.

Delivering is all she knows.

The one thing she can’t deliver is a captive from slavery.

Until him.

And her stubborn slave thinks he can deliver her…from herself.

Romantic Thriller
Stand Alone (no cliff-hanger). The sequel is coming Summer 2014.
Content warning: Graphic sex, violence, and psychological abuse. Age 18+ only.

 

 

He stalked toward her, mirroring the tilt of her head, knees and shoulders loose, and his gaze holding her prisoner. A breath away, he paused, soaking in the subtleties of her tipped-up chin, parting lips, and glossy but resolute eyes.

With the next breath, he launched, hands on her jaw, fingers spread around the back of her head.

His elbows dropped, shoulders raised, and he yanked her to him, lifting her on tiptoes, guiding her mouth, taking it. His grip twisted through her hair as he drew in her upper lip and shoved her against the fridge, following her with the weight of his body.

The kiss went fucking wild, their lips mashing in a frantic battle. His tongue plunged her mouth, attacking, thrusting in and out, possessing her movements, owning her. Breath for breath, lick after lick, he ate at her mouth, tasting, devouring.

He dropped his hands to her breasts, squeezing ruthlessly as he rolled his cock against her cunt.

His tongue tingled, his skin burned, and his head swam. God, she was a drug, and he was so fucking high.

She gripped his biceps, bit at his lips, and threw her arms over his shoulders, her fingers scratching the fuck out his back. He shuddered, loving it, but he was in control.

Reaching back, he grabbed her wrists and slammed them above her head. Their bodies ground together, his forearms pressing hers to the fridge, their tongues dancing and clashing. Chest-to-chest, hips fused together, he flexed his ass, dry humping her like a horny teenager.

Jesus, fuck, he didn’t care. He wanted her.

He leaned back to study her face and found strong smoldering eyes, sharp breaths, and swollen wet lips. Whatever she saw in his expression made her mouth chase his and her fingers curl around his hands. They kissed endlessly, fueling the fire and pushing his control long past the point of discomfort before pulling back and starting all over again.

When he broke the kiss with a hand on her jaw, they panted as one, mouths open and so close their bottom lips brushed. She peered at him through lowered lashes, and he stared back in awe. What trembled between them wasn’t an if? Or even a how hard? Those were foregone. The question they shared was simple.

Ready?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vanquish by Pam Godwin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

*ARC Given to Blog for Honest Review*

5 “four” “toothpick” “shove me out the door”    Kisses

Pam Godwin gets me.  Every.  Single.  Time.  Don’t ask me how she does it…but I have been a loving devotee of her words for over a year now and she has yet to disappoint me.  Deliver  absolutely blew me away so of course I was excited to read Vanquish…you cannot be introduced to Van Quiso and not be at least intrigued to know more…especially with the way Deliver ends.  Vanquish could be read as a stand alone, but I promise you, it’s so much better if you read Deliver first…plus it’s just an amazingly fantastic book and I think everyone should read it! 🙂  But I digress…*sigh*…let the babbling begin!

Van Quiso…where to begin…Van took all my expectations, thoughts, preconceived notions and completely demolished them.  I was really wondering at the beginning if I could love Van as much as I wanted to…he’s not an easy character and he’s as far from your ‘typical book boyfriend’ as you can get…but through all his complexities and flaws…he has one of the purest hearts I have ever encountered.  I know that sounds crazy pants…because we’re talking about a former abductor, a man who brutalized people, sold them into slavery…I mean his list of undesirable traits is incredibly lengthy but…I promise you, there is so much good in him it blew me away.  Van has many layers…his life is in a bit of a transition stage…he has lived the same way for over 7 years and he’s having trouble giving up a few of his old habits.  It’s more of a compulsion then anything I think, but I did love his main driving force behind everything he did…Livana, his daughter.  She was just the tip of the iceberg in seeing how different Van is from Deliver to Vanquish…the other key element…Amber.

     ‘Pulsating shadows framed his vision, closing in and threatening to take him from her permanently.  Final judgment awaited him in death, but his punishment had already been inflicted.  She no longer feared him.  She was no longer his.  The burn in his shoulder ignited.  If he died, what would become of her?’  

Amber Rosenfeld…she’s the crazy hot mess to Van’s fucked up’ness…they’re a perfect pair!  This girl…her issues have issues…and yet, even as kooky as Amber was…I still loved her.  There was just something about her that through her quirks and OCD tendencies, through her breakdowns (yes…multiple breakdowns – I’ll say it again, hot mess), through everything…I really liked Amber.  She’s unbelievably gorgeous and driven chick…and I could see past her flaws to the strong, smart woman that wanted to break free from her illness.  Every now and then I would get glimpses of her sassy personality, her strength and control is unfathomable (with and without her OCD and agoraphobia)…I think that’s what compelled me the most about her is that she has so much potential and I wanted to break down and walls and barriers that kept her from doing anything and everything she wanted to.  She was her own worst enemy and it was killing me every moment she continued to deny herself.  I felt bad for her…and once you know the circumstances that got her to the point that she is at, it all makes sense…but I did honestly feel that she wanted to get better.  She had the desire to, just no drive to get her there…and that’s where Van came in.

    “Why did you quit?”  He nodded at the aquarium.
She looked at him, her gaze wet and glazed, not really looking.  “You’ll see.”
He narrowed his eyes, wanting to press, but he only had twenty minutes before the Roofy took effect.  So he offered the same obtuseness.  “I’m going to fix you, then you’ll see.”    

So how do you take a crazy man and a crazy woman and make them heal each other and have me fall in love with them?  Well…that’s the million dollar question, because it totally just happened.  They could actually probably have a contest for who has more mental problems and I’m really not quiet sure who would win…but that didn’t make me love them any less…if anything, it drew me to them more.  As fucked up as Van is, and he readily knows and admits that fact, he sees Amber and her flaws and wants to fix her…help her…cure her.  Because he doesn’t see the flaws, he sees a stunning girl with all the potential in the world and he wants her to have everything…to give her everything.  The fact that they are both insanely stubborn and strong willed works in their favor because as much as mentally Amber cannot give up on her compulsions, Van is never going to stop fighting or give up on her.  In theory it might sound like the unending battle…but watching it unfold cracked through a piece of my heart…seeing his dedication and devotion to her was beyond words.

     ‘Warmth sifted through him, lifting his broken soul to the surface.  Where was the temptation to jump on that vulnerable throat and crush it with a ruthless hand?  He wanted to own her but not if it scarred her.   She was his weakness, and with a confidence that punctuated every revelation he’d come to accept since he’d taken her, there wasn’t a damned thing he’d do to change it.’  

The change happens for both of them and it’s slow and gradual and then all of a sudden it’s there and it’s so beautiful, I cannot even tell you how happy it made my heart…they weren’t perfect, but they were perfect together and I loved it.  I loved how they made each other feel and what he was doing to try and help her…it was like all of his intentions and why he started this whole thing in the first place became secondary to what was in her best interest…he was more interested in seeing her happy and whole than anything else.    And then…there was kind of an ah-ha moment…not a good one, but an enlightening one, and as much as I didn’t want it to be true…it was.  I didn’t see it coming…I knew something was coming, but not that and I honestly lost complete control over my emotions.  I was bawling… even thinking about it, remembering the scene as it unfolds, makes me cry…because it was an act of complete and utter love, as much as it hurt her and him – and me! – it was selfless and pure and honest.  As much as I wanted to hate Van for what he did…I couldn’t, because it was amazing.

     ‘He adjusted her legs so that she straddled his lap and squeezed her chest to his.  His arms were strong and immovable around her, his body a powerhouse of muscle.  But she felt the scared boy in the hunch of his shoulders and the restlessness of his fingers gripping at the shirt covering her back.  That little boy felt like her insides, fractured and hurting, lonely and scared, but brimming with the desire to love something or someone and to be loved.’    

Pam has an incredible gift and I feel honored every time I read her books.  She’s an absolute genius with words…like I feel like I need a new word for genius for her talent because it’s so much more than that.  Of course I enjoy the entire process while reading her books, but it’s not until the very end when it all hits me and I have a moment to process WTF I just read…for it to all sink in and think   Wow…that just fucking happened to me.  All the pain and the hard stuff…the passion and the love…every sentence of everything she writes has purpose and it’s absolutely mind blowing how much I love it.   Her characters…gah!…she crafts these indelibly flawed characters that pull at each one of my heart strings without even trying…they effortlessly work their way into my brain and I cannot help but fall in love with every aspect of them…good or bad, right or wrong…I don’t even care, it all starts to blend together and I see them for what they really are…these gorgeous humans who in spite of their past and mistakes are still striving for something better.  Her stories are pure brilliance dipped in amazing – I don’t know how she does it but I hope she never ever stops.

  “You said there were four?  Four people you cared about?”
Ah, there was his little countress.  He might’ve grinned if his chest didn’t hurt so badly.  “Number four…”  He blew out a breath, lowered his brow to hers, and told her the truth.  “When I met her, I wanted to pick her apart her freaky little agoraphobic mind and play with the pieces.  I wanted to become her obsession, her solitary devotion, her fear.”  She tensed and so did he.   “But along the way, she picked me apart.  I’m the one who is obsessed, devoted…scared.”    

So, one of the main reasons I would recommend reading Deliver before you read Vanquish is because you get to see a different side of Van…I mean, a very deep and dark part of me always wanted to know more about Van, even though he’s not exactly very likeable in Deliver…it’s just really hard, mainly because he’s got 7 years of being a fucked up ass hole fighting against him, but some of his actions were good towards the end of Deliver, and I did see that.  I think that’s why I craved more…I saw the glimpse of possibility and couldn’t wait to get inside his fucked up brain and know why.  Either way…getting in his POV, understanding his past more, getting some insight about the dolls (don’t even get me started about the dolls…I will never look at them the same way again)…all of these are like little puzzle pieces in the mess that is Van, but I really enjoyed getting to know him on a deeper level…rather than what I knew about the fucked up psychopath abductor.  I definitely didn’t hate Van going into Vanquish…by the end of Deliver I had a new found appreciation for him and after what I just read…nothing could stop me from loving him.  He might be dark and fucked up and twisted…but he’s not as bad or evil as he thinks he is.  In fact…I think he’s kind of amazing.

     ‘He could whip her against a tree, fuck her beneath the moon, tie her down on the porch and mar her flesh with the cuts of his teeth.  It didn’t matter, because wherever he took her, no matter how brutal or dark the destination, there would always be warmth.  Because he would be with her.’    

Oh good gracious…let the book hangover commence.  I don’t know how I’m going to get over this one…I love all of these characters so much and it’s going to be hard to let them go…it’s a little bittersweet.  The ending was all I could have ever hoped for…and then some.  A perfect ending for two imperfect people who needed an HEA more than any two characters in the history of the universe.  Needless to say I will be desperately waiting for the next piece of fabulocity that will come from Pam Godwin…I’m 99% positive I will love every ounce of it.

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New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author, Pam Godwin, lives in the Midwest with her husband, their two children, and a foulmouthed parrot. When she ran away, she traveled fourteen countries across five continents, attended three universities, and married the vocalist of her favorite rock band.

Java, tobacco, and dark romance novels are her favorite indulgences, and might be considered more unhealthy than her aversion to sleeping, eating meat, and dolls with blinking eyes.

 

They meet by chance. The timing is wrong.

Three years later, she finds him again, but their separation was poisoned with narcotics and bloodied by enslavement.

Her freedom gambled away, Charlee Grosky escapes the international businessman who held her captive. But his power reaches beyond her protective barriers and threatens everyone she has come to love.

Jay Mayard wears his tortured secrets under his rock god facade. Drugs are his release, even as he seeks to be the man forged of the steel only she can see.

In a celebrity world filled with paparazzi, groupies, and drugs, Jay and Charlee must face their worst fears. When the battle is over, what will be left…Beneath The Burn.

Genre: Romantic/Erotic Thriller

Content warning: Includes graphic rape, sex, anal, bondage, and violence. Age 18+ only.