Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Review: 5 stars for Dominate (Deliver #8) by Pam Godwin

 Now Available!

DOMINATE from Pam Godwin

AMAZON | APPLE | B&N | KOBO | GOOGLE

GOODREADS

There are many reasons to jump off a bridge, but Rylee Sutton only needs one.

Her husband’s betrayal.

Just before she leaps, she receives an email from a stranger.

The boy’s message is meant for his dead girlfriend, but his anguish speaks to Rylee.

It saves her life.

Over the next decade, Tomas Dine continues to email his dead girl. As he evolves from a teenager into a hardened, vicious criminal, Rylee is there, reading every intimate word.

He doesn’t know she exists.

When she comes forward, he despises her, his cruelty unforgivable. But she doesn’t back down. In a carnal battle of punishment and passion, hatred dominates.

Until he loses her.

Amid looming danger and unsolved murders rises a devotion forged in strife.
Love is lethal in his ruthless world. To survive it, they must fight for answers—and each other.

DELIVER SERIES

Each book is a different couple (HEAs / no cliff-hangers),
but they should be read in order.

📚 ebooks (all retailers worldwide):
DELIVER | VANQUISH | DISCLAIM | DEVASTATE | TAKE | MANIPULATE | UNSHACKLE| DOMINATE| COMPLICATE

🎧 Audio:
DELIVER | VANQUISH | DISCLAIM | DEVASTATE | TAKE | MANIPULATE


What I thought about Dominate

Oh, why did I start reading this at 10pm? Dominate had me reading until the early hours of the morning because I just couldn't put it down.

Dominate is edge-of-the-seat suspenseful from the very first pages where Rylee contemplates ending her life to the final pages where the foundations of Cole Hartman's story are laid out.  I devoured this book. So good.

There's plenty of angry sex in this book and it's dark and erotic. Even though the main characters have just met in the flesh, there's such a connection between them from the start (although they do need to work a few things out in a very physical manner).  Pam Godwin has such a way with taking her dark romances to the very edge and she does that in Dominate with some terrific words and depth of emotion in the writing.

I loved Rylee. She's so strong and doesn't really know it until she's really tested.  The tension and suspense in this book is just amazing.And while Tomas has scars from his time with the Freedom Fighters, there's still some "Tommy" left in him.  When he reveals he won't survive if Ryle doesn't --- well, that was a total swoon moment.

A complementary copy was provided. This is my honest review.





DELIVER, Book 1 - FREE

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.

VANQUISH, Book 2

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 6x8, 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.

DISCLAIM, Book 3

Camila was seventeen when Van Quiso kidnapped her. Ten years after her escape, the shackles refuse to release her. Not while there are still slave traders preying on her city.
She will stop at nothing to end them.
Even if that means becoming a slave again.

Returning to chains is her worst fear—and only option. They won’t know who she is or what she intends to do. She’s prepared for every complication.
Except him.
The one who decimated her sixteen-year-old heart.

Matias is charming, gorgeous, and dangerously seductive. He’s also untrustworthy and enshrouded in secrets. After years of no contact, he finds her—on her knees, wrists bound, in the clutches of her enemy.
Will he sabotage her mission by needlessly saving her?
Or will he keep her in chains and never let her go?

DEVASTATE, Book 4

“What is the price you’re willing to pay?”
“Money isn’t an issue.”
“I’m not talking about money.”

Tate is on the hunt to find his best friend’s sister.
Eleven years ago, Lucia Dias was abducted. Presumed dead. He never met her, so why does he care?
Some might call his efforts noble, but his motivation is more perverse, bordering on obsession.

When he follows a chilling lead to Venezuela’s Kidnap Alley, what he finds is neither a corpse nor a captive.

Amid poisonous lies and crippling depravity, the price of love is devastation.
And he pays.
With his body, his blood, and her life.

TAKE, Book 5

He’s a notorious crime lord, a kidnapper, and an artist.
Scarification is his outlet, and he just captured a new canvas.
Kate refuses to surrender beneath his blade or the cruelty in his beautiful eyes.
But she’s drawn to the man inside the monster. A man who makes her ache with his touch. Who owns her with his kiss.
A man who worships her as deeply as he hurts her.
She can run, but there’s no escape from a bond carved in scars.

MANIPULATE, Book 6

Tula Gomez is in the most ruthless prison in Latin America.

She only drove to Mexico to help her sister. She did nothing wrong.
But her quiet life changed in an instant.

To survive the violent, cartel-controlled prison where men blend with women, she pledges her loyalty to the notorious leader in exchange for the one thing she needs most.
Protection.

When she agrees to seduce the suspicious new inmates, Martin Lockwood and Ricky Saldivar, she doesn’t expect to enjoy it. Sure, they’re gorgeous, irresistibly alpha, and insanely talented with their hands and mouths. But they’re the enemy. She can’t fall for them.

Torn between her cartel loyalties and two men who want her as deeply as they want each other, she questions who is manipulating whom. Her search for answers leads to a passionate ménage, a soul-crushing secret, and an impossible choice.

UNSHACKLE, Book 7

No woman can resist Luke Sanch’s chiseled features, honed physique, auburn hair, and intense green eyes.
While deadly in combat, he’s an indomitable weapon in bed. He can coax an explosive release with only his mouth and annihilate with insidious, mind-blowing pleasure.
When he infiltrates La Rocha Cartel, he must seduce Vera Gomez to determine whether to rescue her.
Or kill her.
Nothing can distract his icy, lethal focus.
Except the cartel’s most feral captive.
The nameless, raven-haired beauty is his key to dismantling Vera Gomez. But the ferocious little fighter challenges him at every turn and unknowingly battles her way into his heart.
A battle that delivers him, physically and emotionally, into shackles.

DOMINATE, Book 8

There are many reasons to jump off a bridge, but Rylee Sutton only needs one.
Her husband’s betrayal.
Just before she leaps, she receives an email from a stranger.
The boy’s message is meant for his dead girlfriend, but his anguish speaks to Rylee.
It saves her life.

Over the next decade, Tomas Dine continues to email his dead girl. As he evolves from a teenager into a hardened, vicious criminal, Rylee is there, reading every intimate word.
He doesn’t know she exists.

When she comes forward, he despises her, his cruelty unforgivable. But she doesn’t back down. In a carnal battle of punishment and passion, hatred dominates.
Until he loses her.
Amid looming danger and unsolved murders rises a devotion forged in strife.
Love is lethal in his ruthless world. To survive it, they must fight for answers—and each other.

COMPLICATE, Book 9

The final book in the series
Cole’s story
Coming Mar 9, 2021
Preorder now
Add to Goodreads


Audiobooks

DELIVER #1: Audible | Narrated by Teddy Hamilton and Abby Crayden

VANQUISH #2: Audible | Narrated by Ryan West and Jo Raylan

DISCLAIM  #3: Audible | Narrated by Christian Fox and Emma Wilder

DEVASTATE #4: Audible | Narrated by J.F. Harding and Tracy Marks

TAKE #5: Audible | Narrated by Soren Gray and Kate Genevieve

MANIPULATE #6: Audible | Narrated by Christian Fox, Aiden Snow, and Lila Summers

UNSHACKLE #7: Coming | Narrated by J. Tipstone and Lacy Laurel

DOMINATE #8: Coming | Narrated by Matthew Holland and Samantha Summers

COMPLICATE #9: Coming | Narrated by Joe Arden and Lisa Zimmerman


PAM GODWIN

New York Times, Wall Street Journal, 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.

 

Friday, January 22, 2021

Cover Reveal: Complicate (Deliver #9) by Pam Godwin

 COMPLICATE releases on Mar 9, 2021

AMAZON | APPLE | B&N | KOBO | GOOGLE| GOODREADS

The long-awaited, heart-pounding conclusion of the dark and dangerous DELIVER series.

This is Cole Hartman's story.
But it's not his beginning.
The twisted, heartwrenching story of Cole, Danni, and Trace starts in the TANGLED LIES trilogy.

You don't have to read TANGLED LIES, but if you want to read it, do so before reading this book.
ONE IS A PROMISE (book 1) is free.

RECOMMENDED READING ORDER

ONE IS A PROMISE (FREE)
TWO IS A LIE
THREE IS A WAR
DELIVER (#1) (FREE)
VANQUISH (#2)
DISCLAIM (#3)
DEVASTATE (#4)
TAKE (#5)
MANIPULATE (#6)
UNSHACKLE (#7)
DOMINATE (#8)
COMPLICATE (#9)

The books in the DELIVER series are standalones, but they must be read in order.


Each book in the DELIVER series is a different couple
(HEAs / no cliff-hangers), but they must be read in order.

📚 ebooks (all retailers worldwide):
ONE IS A PROMISE | TWO IS A LIE | THREE IS A WAR
DELIVER | VANQUISH | DISCLAIM | DEVASTATE | TAKE | MANIPULATE | UNSHACKLE| DOMINATE| COMPLICATE

🎧 Audio:
ONE IS A PROMISE | TWO IS A LIE | THREE IS A WAR
DELIVER | VANQUISH | DISCLAIM | DEVASTATE | TAKE | MANIPULATE | UNSHACKLE


ONE IS A PROMISE - FREE

One promise.
One forever.

One look and I knew Cole was mine. My dark rebel in leather. My powerhouse of passion, devastating smiles, and impulsiveness.
When his job sends him overseas, he promises to return to me.
A promise that's destroyed in the most irrevocable way.

Two years later, an arrogant suit invades my heartbroken loneliness.

Clean-cut and stern, Trace is everything Cole wasn't.
At first, he's a job that will rescue my dance company. But as he intrudes on my life, our hostile relationship evolves.
He knows I'm still in love with Cole, but his dedication is my undoing.

Then a catastrophic moment changes everything.

Promises resurface.
Lies entangle.
And an impossible choice shatters my world.

I love two men, and I can only have one.


TWO IS A LIE

Two lies.
Two men who don’t share.

I never stopped loving Cole. Not when he left me. Not when he disappeared for three years. Not when he crashed back into my life in a violent explosion of testosterone and fury.
His sudden reappearance questions everything I thought I knew, including how I came to love another man.

Trace is an intoxicating breeze of seduction over ice. My rock. My second chance at forever.
And he’s committed to annihilating the competition.

The battle that ensues wrenches me back and forth between them.
Fighting and f*cking.
Resisting and submitting.

Together, they entangle me in a web of lies, rivalry, and desire that weaves as deeply as their devotion to me.

I love two men, and if I can only have one, I choose none.


THREE IS A WAR

Three means war.
Three sides vying for forever.

Cole.
My first love.
The bad boy with the dangerous smile and passionate temper draws attention like a lit fuse on dynamite. But his dark molten eyes spark only for me.

Trace.
My second chance.
Over six feet of Norse god in a tailored suit, he calculates every move and seizes my hungry breaths with an iron fist.

Me.
The free-spirited dancer, torn between two men with no resolution in sight.
I tried leaving, staying, refusing, and surrendering.
What options do I have left?

I love two men, and I do the only thing I can. I fight.


DELIVER, Book 1 - FREE

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.


VANQUISH, Book 2

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 6x8, 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.


DISCLAIM, Book 3

Camila was seventeen when Van Quiso kidnapped her. Ten years after her escape, the shackles refuse to release her. Not while there are still slave traders preying on her city.
She will stop at nothing to end them.
Even if that means becoming a slave again.

Returning to chains is her worst fear—and only option. They won’t know who she is or what she intends to do. She’s prepared for every complication.
Except him.
The one who decimated her sixteen-year-old heart.

Matias is charming, gorgeous, and dangerously seductive. He’s also untrustworthy and enshrouded in secrets. After years of no contact, he finds her—on her knees, wrists bound, in the clutches of her enemy.
Will he sabotage her mission by needlessly saving her?
Or will he keep her in chains and never let her go?


DEVASTATE, Book 4

“What is the price you’re willing to pay?”
“Money isn’t an issue.”
“I’m not talking about money.”

Tate is on the hunt to find his best friend’s sister.
Eleven years ago, Lucia Dias was abducted. Presumed dead. He never met her, so why does he care?
Some might call his efforts noble, but his motivation is more perverse, bordering on obsession.

When he follows a chilling lead to Venezuela’s Kidnap Alley, what he finds is neither a corpse nor a captive.

Amid poisonous lies and crippling depravity, the price of love is devastation.
And he pays.
With his body, his blood, and her life.


TAKE, Book 5

He’s a notorious crime lord, a kidnapper, and an artist.
Scarification is his outlet, and he just captured a new canvas.
Kate refuses to surrender beneath his blade or the cruelty in his beautiful eyes.
But she’s drawn to the man inside the monster. A man who makes her ache with his touch. Who owns her with his kiss.
A man who worships her as deeply as he hurts her.
She can run, but there’s no escape from a bond carved in scars.


MANIPULATE, Book 6

Tula Gomez is in the most ruthless prison in Latin America.

She only drove to Mexico to help her sister. She did nothing wrong.
But her quiet life changed in an instant.

To survive the violent, cartel-controlled prison where men blend with women, she pledges her loyalty to the notorious leader in exchange for the one thing she needs most.
Protection.

When she agrees to seduce the suspicious new inmates, Martin Lockwood and Ricky Saldivar, she doesn’t expect to enjoy it. Sure, they’re gorgeous, irresistibly alpha, and insanely talented with their hands and mouths. But they’re the enemy. She can’t fall for them.

Torn between her cartel loyalties and two men who want her as deeply as they want each other, she questions who is manipulating whom. Her search for answers leads to a passionate ménage, a soul-crushing secret, and an impossible choice.


UNSHACKLE, Book 7

No woman can resist Luke Sanch’s chiseled features, honed physique, auburn hair, and intense green eyes.
While deadly in combat, he’s an indomitable weapon in bed. He can coax an explosive release with only his mouth and annihilate with insidious, mind-blowing pleasure.
When he infiltrates La Rocha Cartel, he must seduce Vera Gomez to determine whether to rescue her.
Or kill her.
Nothing can distract his icy, lethal focus.
Except the cartel’s most feral captive.
The nameless, raven-haired beauty is his key to dismantling Vera Gomez. But the ferocious little fighter challenges him at every turn and unknowingly battles her way into his heart.
A battle that delivers him, physically and emotionally, into shackles.


DOMINATE, Book 8

There are many reasons to jump off a bridge, but Rylee Sutton only needs one.
Her husband’s betrayal.
Just before she leaps, she receives an email from a stranger.
The boy’s message is meant for his dead girlfriend, but his anguish speaks to Rylee.
It saves her life.

Over the next decade, Tomas Dine continues to email his dead girl. As he evolves from a teenager into a hardened, vicious criminal, Rylee is there, reading every intimate word.
He doesn’t know she exists.

When she comes forward, he despises her, his cruelty unforgivable. But she doesn’t back down. In a carnal battle of punishment and passion, hatred dominates.
Until he loses her.
Amid looming danger and unsolved murders rises a devotion forged in strife.
Love is lethal in his ruthless world. To survive it, they must fight for answers—and each other.


COMPLICATE, Book 9

The long-awaited, heart-pounding conclusion of the dark and dangerous DELIVER series.

This is Cole Hartman's story.
But it's not his beginning.
The twisted, heartwrenching story of Cole, Danni, and Trace starts in the TANGLED LIES trilogy.

You don't have to read TANGLED LIES, but if you want to read it, do so before reading this book.


AUDIOBOOKS

ONE IS A PROMISE: Audible | Narrated by Lisa Zimmerman
TWO IS A LIE: Audible | Narrated by Lisa Zimmerman
THREE IS A WAR: Audible | Narrated by Lisa Zimmerman
DELIVER #1: Audible | Narrated by Teddy Hamilton and Abby Crayden
VANQUISH #2: Audible | Narrated by Ryan West and Jo Raylan
DISCLAIM #3: Audible | Narrated by Christian Fox and Emma Wilder
DEVASTATE #4: Audible | Narrated by J.F. Harding and Tracy Marks
TAKE #5: Audible | Narrated by Soren Gray and Kate Genevieve
MANIPULATE #6: Audible | Narrated by Christian Fox, Aiden Snow, and Lila Summers
UNSHACKLE #7: Audible | Narrated by J. Tipstone and Lacy Laurel
DOMINATE #8: Coming | Narrated by Matthew Holland and Samantha Summers
COMPLICATE #9: Coming | Narrated by Joe Arden and Lisa Zimmerman


PAM GODWIN

New York Times, Wall Street Journal, 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.

 

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Teaser Reveal: The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros

THE THINGS WE LEAVE UNFINISHED by Rebecca Yarros
Release Date: February 23rd

Add to Goodreads

PREORDER TODAY!

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon AU

Nook | Apple Books | Kobo

  

Told in alternating timelines, THE THINGS WE LEAVE UNFINISHED examines the risks we take for love, the scars too deep to heal, and the endings we can’t bring ourselves to see coming.

Twenty-eight-year-old Georgia Stanton has to start over after she gave up almost everything in a brutal divorce—the New York house, the friends, and her pride. Now back home at her late great-grandmother’s estate in Colorado, she finds herself face-to-face with Noah Harrison, the bestselling author of a million books where the cover is always people nearly kissing. He’s just as arrogant in person as in interviews, and she’ll be damned if the good-looking writer of love stories thinks he’s the one to finish her grandmother’s final novel…even if the publisher swears he’s the perfect fit.

Noah is at the pinnacle of his career. With book and movie deals galore, there isn’t much the “golden boy” of modern fiction hasn’t accomplished. But he can’t walk away from what might be the best book of the century—the one his idol, Scarlett Stanton, left unfinished. Coming up with a fitting ending for the legendary author is one thing, but dealing with her beautiful, stubborn, cynical great-granddaughter, Georgia, is quite another.

But as they read Scarlett’s words in both the manuscript and her box of letters, they start to realize why Scarlett never finished the book—it’s based on her real-life romance with a World War II pilot, and the ending isn’t a happy one. Georgia knows all too well that love never works out, and while the chemistry and connection between her and Noah is undeniable, she’s as determined as ever to learn from her great-grandmother’s mistakes—even if it means destroying Noah’s career. 

 
 
About the Author
 
  
 
Rebecca Yarros is a hopeless romantic and a lover of all things coffee, chocolate, and Paleo. She is the author of the Flight & Glory series, including Full Measures, the award-winning Eyes Turned Skyward, Beyond What is Given, and Hallowed Ground. Her new Renegade Series features Wilder and the upcoming Nova, and is sure to keep your heart pounding. She loves military heroes, and has been blissfully married to hers for fourteen years. 
 
When she’s not writing, she’s tying hockey skates for her four sons, sneaking in some guitar time, or watching brat-pack movies with her two daughters. She lives in Colorado with the hottest Apache pilot ever, their rambunctious gaggle of kids, an English bulldog who is more stubborn than sweet, and a bunny named General Fluffy Pants who torments the aforementioned bulldog. They recently adopted their youngest daughter from the foster system, and Rebecca is passionate about helping others do the same. 

Monday, January 18, 2021

Blog Tour Review & Excerpt: Forgiven (Forgiven #1) by Garrett Leigh


Title: Forgiven
Author: Garrett Leigh
Series: Forgiven, #1
Imprint: Carina Press
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Romantic Leads: Male/Female
On-Sale: January 25, 2021
Format: eBook
Price: $4.99 US
ISBN: 9780369700100

High school sweethearts Mia and Luke get a second chance at love in this brand-new contemporary romance from award-winning author Garrett Leigh.

When Mia Amour returns to England to open a florist shop, all she wants to do is put her lousy ex behind her and never look back. But getting a fresh start is easier said than done when her first love, the boy who once broke her teenage heart, strolls back into her life. He’s every bit as sexy as she remembers, and the urge to melt back into his arms almost makes her forget how devastated she was when he took off without a word. Almost.

Left with no choice, Luke Daley did what he had to do, leaving town to earn enough money to save his broken family, though it just about broke him, too. But now he’s back, running his uncle’s business and trying desperately to forget about Mia, the girl he left behind all those years ago. When he runs into her in town, the shock of seeing her again brings an intense rush of emotions: love, guilt…and an overwhelming urge to find out if it’s still as amazing between them as it used to be.

It doesn’t take either of them long to give in to desire and discover the fiery passion they once shared burns hotter than ever. With each new touch, each moment of forgiveness, old hurts heal and the future they’d hoped for ten years ago becomes possible again. But their fragile connection is tested by a threat neither of them saw coming—a threat that could end their second chance before it even gets started.


Buy Links

Harlequin | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

 Apple Books | Google Play | Kobo

Add to Goodreads 


 


Excerpt

Mia Amour. Her name had haunted me so much my bunkmate had once found me sleep-scrawling it on our cabin wall. He thought it had meant something—that I was writing a message from another dimension in a language he didn’t understand—but the reality had been far more simple: even on the other side of the world, I couldn’t get her out of my head.

Somehow, though, over time, I’d forgotten what her eyes did to me. How they could root me to the spot with a single glance and empty my mind of anything but her. Mia. I counted my heartbeats as they thundered in my ears. One, two, three, four. And then she tore her stormy blue gaze away from mine and walked out of the chip shop.

I reached for the empty space she left behind, and my faculties slowly returned to me as her footsteps echoed in my shell-shocked brain. As drawn to her as I’d al­ways been, I drifted after her, but when I got outside, she was gone.

A thousand emotions warred in my gut, but the age-old frustration was so familiar I felt sick. Fucking Mia Amour. Deep down, I’d always hated her as much as I’d loved her, because there was no one else on earth who could make my heart pound like she did, my palms sweat, and my fingers tremble.

Cursing, I hauled myself back into the van. Gus followed a moment later, an open bag of chips in each hand. “Where’d you get to? It was your turn to buy tea.”

I tossed him a crumpled-up fiver. “Why didn’t you tell me your sister was in town?”

“Oh fuck.” Gus held out a bag of chips, then set it on the dashboard when I made no move to claim it. “Are we really doing this?”

I gave him a flat look.

He sighed. “Fuck’s sake. Why would I tell you? You two aren’t exactly friends, and you haven’t been a cou­ple since I was fourteen and nicking Mayfair Lights from her school bag.”

Shit, had it been that long? Why was it that just a glimpse of her face could set me back a decade? The weight in my chest increased and I started the van, gunning the rickety diesel engine with a roar. “Either way, a fucking heads-up would’ve been nice.”

“But why, though?” Gus pointed a chip at me. “You want her number so you can catch up on old times?”

I wondered if he’d actually give it to me. Then pictured myself calling Mia and her reaction to hearing my voice for the first time in ten long years.

A legit shudder passed through me. I was done torturing myself for putting my family first, for giving up my entire life to keep a roof over my mum’s head, but that didn’t make the obvious anger in Mia’s eyes easier to bear. Her temper had fascinated seventeen-year-old me—sometimes I’d wound her up on purpose, just to revel in her flushed skin and sharp tongue—but I didn’t have the stones to take it now. My Mia angst tolerance was at an all-time complacent low.

“Luke?”

I spared Gus another glare. “What?”

“Can I eat your chips?”


What I thought about Forgiven

Mia Amour returns to her home town about to sign divorce papers on a marriage no one knows about. She's trying to put her life back together after running to Paris to get over her heartache and family situation years ago.  But she's back now and doesn't know at first that the young man who broke her heart years ago is back in town and that her brother Gus is working for him.

Luke Daley ran away too.  He left for the Navy without even a good bye to the girl he loved.  He's got a bit of a communication issue, being one of those silent types who doesn't have an easy time of connecting to his own feelings.  

But as soon as Mia and Luke get in each other's orbit, the sparks start flying.  

This second chance romance brings it on a number of levels that I really like in Garrett Leigh's work.  She knows how to show those emotions -- the ones on the surface as well as the deeper feelings that people keep hidden, and Luke and Mia have buckets of both. It's clear they need to be together -- it just takes a while for Mia to truly forgive Luke for running all those years ago.  And Luke needs time to understand just what Mia needs from him. 

In between figuring out their own issues, petty vandalism strikes Mia's new flower shop and a car is seen stalking them all to some potentially disastrous results.  There is also a very intriguing subplot regarding Luke's brother Billy and Mia's brother Gus.  I really can't wait to dig into their story which is the second book in this series.  

Mia and Luke's story is unique in that these two really want their second chance but it takes a while for them to get out of their own way. Their propensity to want to argue throws some roadblocks in their way and there was quite a few times that I just wanted to throw my ereader because they were so close to making progress on their second chance.  

As a US reader, I love the language in this story and feel like I'm transported to another place when reading it.  I absolutely adore this about Garrett Leigh's stories and the best part of anything I've read from her in the past. There's a certain charm to her writing that pulls me in and gets me invested in the story quickly.  I know I'm in for an emotional ride when I read a Garrett Leigh book, and Forgiven did not disappoint.

Forgiven is an emotional second chance love story between two people with lots of baggage to unload before they can move on, even though they have plenty of sparks in the bedroom.  I enjoyed this story of love re-ignited, especially because both of the characters needed each other. There's plenty of family drama, too to add spice to the story. 

An ARC was provided by the publisher. This is my honest review.


About Garrett Leigh

Garrett Leigh is an award-winning British writer and book designer.

Garrett's debut novel, Slide, won Best Bisexual Debut at the 2014 Rainbow Book Awards, and her polyamorous novel, Misfits was a finalist in the 2016 LAMBDA awards.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible, all the while shouting at her menagerie of children and animals and attempting to tame her unruly and wonderful FOX.

Garrett is also an award winning cover artist, taking the silver medal at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in 2016. She designs for various publishing houses and independent authors at blackjazzdesign.com, and co-owns the  specialist stock site moonstockphotography.com with photographer Dan Burgess.

Connect with Garrett Leigh

Website:
http://www.garrettleigh.com/

Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5893561.Garrett_Leigh

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/garrettleighauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Garrett_Leigh

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garrett_leigh/

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