We’re on our way to yet another occasion where books will be provided. Not just provided, but complete with authors available to sign them, always dangerous for me.
Where is the magical place this time? We’re going to the North American Science Fiction Convention, known as NASFiC, which is being held in Detroit next weekend. We decided to go to Detcon1 because we couldn’t quite swing the time off for the WorldCon in London next month. While Detroit is no London, the author/guest lineup is equally fantastic. There seem to be a lot of SF/Fantasy authors who couldn’t quite manage the time off for London either.
Is it a good thing, or a bad thing, if we need to buy another suitcase on site?
Today I’d like to welcome Susan Mallery, who recently published the 15th novel in her Fool’s Gold series, Until We Touch (reviewed here). Please enjoy this Q&A:
Question: In what ways do you think every woman can relate to Larissa Owens?
Larissa is a sweetie. She’s not rich; she’s working as a personal assistant and personal masseuse for Jack. She gets to go to work in yoga pants and touch sexy guys all over. (Dream job!) Until We Touch is my nod to the boss/secretary story, one of my favorite kinds of romance.
Larissa has a pure heart, and when she sees someone hurting, she doesn’t just think about helping. She does help, with whatever resources are available to her. Fortunately for her, since she’s been working for Jack, he has allowed her to use his wealth and connections in service to her causes. In fact, he likes it. With Larissa using his money to try to save the world, he can feel like a part of something without actually putting himself out there. It’s a very comfortable arrangement for them both… until Larissa’s mom tells Jack that Larissa is in love with him, and everything changes.
Question: What about Jack McGarry makes him like no leading man we’ve ever seen before in Fool’s Gold?
I think what makes people relatable—both in fiction and in life—are our imperfections and our vulnerabilities. From the outside, Jack’s life appears perfect. He’s rich, handsome, famous. He was a pro quarterback who retired on top and is now experiencing the same phenomenal success in the private sector with Score, the PR firm he co-owns.
But Jack has a secret pain that makes him protect himself from feeling too deeply, from caring too much. He lost someone dear to him when he was young, and he felt responsible. The lesson he took from that loss was that it’s safer on the surface.
Larissa works for him, so she knows he’s not a good bet when it comes to relationships. She has watched a string of temporary girlfriends come and go. She even bought the parting gifts. Despite that, despite her better judgment, she likes the man. He’s a good guy, a great friend, and he’s the sexiest man she’s ever met.
Question: If Until We Touch were made into a movie, who would you envision playing Jack and Larissa?
I’m going to go with Chris Pine with black hair and Amy Adams as a blonde. (We must keep the Hollywood hairstylists employed!) Both could handle the funny scenes and the moments of honest emotion.
Of course, one of the funniest scenes in the book would probably have to be cut in order to keep the R rating. No spoilers, but I will say that Larissa is a massage therapist, and as their feelings for each other change, new situations—ahem—arise.
Question: Larissa keeps her romantic attraction to Jack a secret at first, before her mother spills the beans. Do you think you should ever keep that secret from a friend you’re falling for, or is it better to confess your love?
In the case of Larissa, she didn’t realize she was keeping a secret… she kept her feelings a secret even from herself. Until her mother’s assertion, Larissa didn’t think she was in love with Jack. Just by saying those words, Larissa’s mom changed everything. These two friends and colleagues are suddenly thinking of each other in a whole new way. Which is inconvenient, to say the least.
As for whether someone in real life should keep her feelings for a friend secret or confess all, I’d have to say it really depends on the situation. Friendship is the best foundation for lifelong love, but not all friends-to-lovers stories end happily. I think you’d need to examine your heart and ask yourself, honestly, what is the best action for you to take.
Question: You have written well over 100 books. How do you keep developing such unique storylines and characters that keep your fans coming back for more?
It’s a challenge! The truth is, every love story is unique. We all know dozens of couples who met, fell in love, and married. The framework may be similar—first glance, first kiss, deepening feelings, declaration of love—but the nuances are different. Which means that as a writer, I need to start with the nuances and build from there. What makes these two individuals unique and uniquely suited for each other? What events in their past color their actions and emotions today? As I develop their characters, I look for aspects that put them in conflict with each other, but also for aspects that will make them a couple you can believe will make it for the long haul. The conflict has to last nearly the length of the book, but the things they have in common have to take them through the rest of their lives.
Question: What do you think is the recipe for a perfect romance novel?
A perfect romance should carry you away from your everyday world and fill you with emotions as you read. When you put down the book before you’re finished, it should call to you. Chores can wait, dinner can wait. It should be a challenge for you to turn off the light to go to sleep, even when it’s way past your bedtime. You should want to read just one more chapter, and then just one more after that, and then just one more until you’re done because you can’t bear to put it down until you know the characters are happy and in love. And when you do finish this perfect romance, you should feel happy, with a renewed feeling of faith in the power of love to overcome all obstacles.
Question: What’s next for Fool’s Gold?
Next up, Kenny and Bailey will fall in love in Yours For Christmas. Readers are in love with Kenny already, started asking for his story right away. He was introduced in When We Met, and readers could immediately sense that there are hidden depths beneath his happy-go-lucky façade. Kenny is one of Jack’s partners at Score PR. What he wants more than anything is a family, but he was burned badly by an ex. The one thing he won’t do, no matter what, is fall in love with a single mom. And then he meets Bailey…
Yours For Christmas was originally slated to be an ebook exclusive novella. However, Harlequin has decided to release it simultaneously in print on October 28. It will be printed at the back of the mass market paperback reissue of Christmas on 4th Street. Both Yours For Christmas (ebook) and Christmas on 4th Street combined with Yours For Christmas (print and ebook) are available for pre-order now.
Question: Any fun summer plans?
I’m going to soak in as much of this rare and precious Seattle sunshine as I can before the rainclouds descend again! Seattle in the summertime has to be one of the most beautiful places on the planet. I swear, there are a million shades of green, and every single one of them is on display as we walk the dog around the city.
About Susan Mallery
Susan Mallery is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has entertained millions of readers with her witty and emotional stories about women and the relationships that define their lives. She has published more than 100 romance and women’s fiction novels beginning with two books the same month when she was just out of college. Susan has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and went on to get a master’s in writing popular fiction and has extensively studied story structure in screenwriting courses. Her goal, always, is to give readers a story that will move them, populated with characters who feel like real people. Born and raised in California, Susan now lives with her family in Seattle, where she survives the dreary days of winter with the help of a “happy lamp” and plenty of coffee.
~~~~~~GIVEAWAY~~~~~~
Susan is kindly giving away a couple of Until We Touch to one lucky winner. To enter, use the Rafflecopter below.
Format read: paperback provided by the author Formats available: ebook, hardcover, mass market paperback, audiobook Genre: Contemporary romance Series: Fool’s Gold, #15 Length: 384 pages Publisher: Harlequin HQN Date Released: June 24, 2014 Purchasing Info:Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository
After a family tragedy, former football hero Jack McGarry keeps the world at arm’s length—a challenge now that his PR firm has moved to neighborly Fool’s Gold, California.
Larissa Owens knows where she stands—Jack sees her as just another one of the guys. No matter what her heart wishes, Jack’s her boss, not her boyfriend. But then Larissa’s big secret is revealed…by her mother!
When Jack discovers the truth about Larissa’s feelings, her touch suddenly becomes tantalizing, and he’s not sure he wants to resist. But if he gives in to desire, heartache is sure to follow. Friendship or true love—will Jack go for the ultimate play?
My Review:
I’ll say upfront that I have not read the rest of the Fool’s Gold series, but I didn’t feel a bit lost. So if you’re looking at this and don’t have the time to invest in the first 14 books of the series, fear not. There is plenty of introduction to make you feel like Fool’s Gold is a terrific place to be, and that the people are ones you would want to have for dinner or out for drinks. The way that they catch up with each other gives new readers plenty of info to help you slip right into the story.
About the story…what we have here is a combination of the friends into lovers trope with a heaping helping of the assistant and the boss taking their relationship outside the office. I’m not calling it the assistant has a crush on the boss, because that’s not how this thing works.
Larissa and her boss Jack have a symbiotic relationship on pretty much every level, then her mother comes barging in and jerks the blindfold off of everyone’s eyes. And even though she’s right, I’d be mortified down to my soul (and soles) if my mom pulled a stunt like that. Although it’s what moms do.
Larissa and Jack have all the benefits of a committed relationship, but without the sex that either sends things to a higher level, or messes them up beyond repair. The problem is that this relationship provides for almost all of both of their emotional needs. Jack has other women for sex, and Larissa throws herself into her causes (tons of them) so that she keeps her life full and doesn’t even think about what she’s missing.
Her mother is right that being with Jack keeps Larissa from finding a real relationship and falling in love and getting married. (I’m not happy with mom’s stated goal and making sure that Larissa gives her more grandchildren. Having children to make someone else happy is bad for the children and the adults. My 2 cents.)
But once the blindfold is off about the way that their best-friends with everything but benefits relationship keeps them both fairly happy, Larissa and Jack both lose the ability to be “just friends”, although Larissa does a much better job managing things than Jack does.
Now that they know there might be something more between them, neither of them can stop thinking about the possibilities. And that’s where the trouble begins.
One of the things that Larissa does for Jack is get him involved with her causes, and with the community of Fool’s Gold, while letting him maintain the emotional distance he’s always had. She throws her heart over every fence, and he writes the check that takes care of the details. (Jack is a retired NFL quarterback with a successful PR firm. He can afford those checks.)
As Jack finds himself thinking about the possibility of more with Larissa, his famous distance erodes, completely. It feels as if suddenly everyone in town and in his life is after a piece of the heart he’s kept hidden. So he drives everyone away. He’s the biggest asshat he can be to everyone in his life, including Larissa.
And once he’s alone, just the way he asked, he discovers that being alone isn’t what he wants anymore. What he wants is Larissa, as close as he can get her. But did he go so far in driving her away that he can’t get her back?
Escape Rating B-: Fool’s Gold is a fantastic town to visit. I loved meeting everyone, especially Mayor Marsha. The partners at Jack’s PR firm, Taryn, Kenny and Sam, are great friends and it seems like a marvelous place to work.
I’m also still laughing about the rescue of the hoarded chiweenies.
Larissa and Jack’s relationship at the beginning is interesting to watch and seems totally plausible. They are friends. Best buds. They are each the person the other relies on most, and takes the most care of. Their friendship is so important to both of them, that it’s easy to understand why they wouldn’t want to risk it by adding sex into the mix.
But they can’t navigate the new territory that Larissa’s mom’s meddling has thrown them into. Larissa figures out how to handle things, but Jack doesn’t. He’s spent most of his life being afraid to be involved, because caring makes you vulnerable. Too many people that he has loved have died, and he is unwilling to risk any kind of closeness.
When everything gets too much, he withdraws and makes an ass of himself. With everyone possible and then some. I think that most readers will be cheering for his friends when they punch him. There’s a reason he doesn’t defend himself–he deserves every shot.
He wallows in self-pity.
Larissa, on the other hand, as much pain as she is in (and it’s a lot) picks herself up and moves on with her career. Her heart may not be healing, but she soldiers on, knowing that someday things will get better. She takes care of herself. I liked the way she handled things.
Jack does eventually get his head out of his ass, and apologizes profusely to everyone he has hurt. Some of those apologies work better than others, but by the end, I still wondered if Larissa couldn’t do better.
***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.
Format read: print book provided by the author Formats available: ebook, paperback, audiobook Genre: Contemporary romance Series: Whisper Horse, #2 Length: 375 pages Publisher: Montlake Romance Date Released: September 17, 2013 Purchasing Info:Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository
When sheltered artist Julia Castillo flees her hometown, she has just one goal: to prove to her overbearing family once and for all that she can make it on her own. After she moves to Sanctuary, West Virginia, her horse paintings take the art world by storm. Yet Julia finds her courage tested as never before—by her love for a handsome country lawyer, by her bond with a dangerous black stallion, and by the secret she is so desperate to keep…
Paul Taggart abandoned his high-powered legal career to return to Sanctuary, giving up his own dreams to care for his troubled brother. But the day he rescues Julia Castillo from the side of the highway, his staid, responsible life changes forever. Irresistibly drawn to the fiery but unsophisticated beauty, Paul will do anything to protect her—even sacrifice his own happiness to guarantee hers.
My Review:
As the story opened, I thought that Julia was going to turn out to be running from the Mafia. As the story progressed, I discovered that who she is really running from is herself. And that she is searching for herself, both at the same time.
The town of Sanctuary, West Virginia turned out to be a great place for her to do both.
Julia Castillo is an artist with a secret. But mostly, she’s an artist with a serious self-confidence problem. Her early work was commercially successful, but her agent keeps telling her that her new direction, representing two years’ worth of work, is crap. Not in so many words, but then, her agent is also her uncle. Which makes his words a bit nicer, but his message twice as devastating.
Paul Taggart is a small-town lawyer and former mayor with a big idea and an even bigger family responsibility. He was on the fast-track to partner in a hot-shot Atlanta law firm, until his little brother’s self-destructive problems dragged him back home to Sanctuary for good. And for increasing levels of frustration.
There are a couple of stories built into this book. The big story is Julia’s journey to independence. She has been sheltered her entire life by a family that loves her but is scared to death that the bumps and bruises of the real world will precipitate another health scare. Their protection comes at a price; Julia is never allowed to live, and when her family stops believing in her art, she has nothing left.
The art dealer who was the first to believe in Julia has come to Sanctuary, so Julia sets out on a cross-country odyssey to find out if her work is still any good. While she sets out looking for validation, what she discovers is that she can make it on her own, outside of the cocoon her family has smothered her in.
She has barely two weeks to find out who she can be before her uncle comes to West Virginia to haul her home.
Paul Taggart isn’t sure whether her uncle is merely being protective, or whether this issue is really a fight over control of Julia’s earnings, which are surprisingly substantial. What he is sure about is that a relationship with Julia comes with an automatic expiration date. She has to return to her career, and he is stuck in Sanctuary.
It takes a lot of growing up on both their parts to figure out that neither of those assumptions is remotely true.
Escape Rating B+: This one made me think after I read it. The relationship that develops between Julia and Paul is marvelous, but the core of the story was Julia’s discovery of her real self. She had let others control her life, admittedly with the best of intentions, but once she breaks away she learns to stand on her own two feet.
The fascination was with the parallel of Paul’s need to let his brother stand or fall on his own two feet, too. The way that Julia was over-protected by her family was paralleled by Paul’s over-compensation for his brother’s admitted weaknesses. Just as it was crucial for Julia to take responsibility for her own actions, it was equally critical that Paul stop swooping in to save his brother from the consequences of his actions.
Once Paul finally sees that his constant support is undermining his brother’s journey, he’s able to stop making decisions for Julia, too. She’s stopped needing anyone else to decide for her, including about where she will be based or what her priorities are.
And if the love story and the independence stories don’t carry you away, there is a horse named Darth perfectly willing to gallop off with your heart!
***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.
Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley Formats available: ebook, mass market paperback Genre: Contemporary romance Series: Life in Icicle Falls, #5 Length: 352 pages Publisher: Harlequin MIRA Date Released: July 1, 2014 Purchasing Info:Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository
When it comes to men, sisters don’t share!
After a fake food poisoning incident in L.A., Bailey Sterling’s dreams of becoming a caterer to the stars collapse faster than a soufflé. Now Bailey’s face is in all the gossip rags and her business is in ruins. But the Sterling women close ranks and bring her back to Icicle Falls, where she’ll stay with her sister Cecily.
All goes well between the sisters until Bailey comes up with a new business idea—a tea shop on a charming street called Lavender Lane. She’s going into partnership with Todd Black, who—it turns out—is the man Cecily’s started dating. It looks to Cecily as if there’s more than tea brewing in that cute little shop. And she’s not pleased.
Wait! Isn’t Cecily seeing Luke Goodman? He’s a widower with an adorable little girl, and yes, Cecily does care about him. But Todd’s the one who sends her zing-o-meter off the charts. So now what? Should you have to choose between your sister and the man you love (or think you love)?
My Review:
I always enjoy visiting Icicle Falls, no matter who is being romanced. This small-town feels like a great place to visit, and the town it’s based on, Leavenworth, Washington, is not just real but really close to Seattle.
In addition to the chance to go back to Icicle Falls, The Tea Shop on Lavender Lane also provides the opportunity to catch up with the Sterling women. Samantha Sterling and the Sweet Dreams Chocolate Factory got their HEA in Better Than Chocolate (reviewed here), but now it’s her younger sisters Cecily and Bailey’s turns to find their own happiness.
Cecily has been working at Sweet Dreams since the first story; she’s found her niche as head of the marketing department. Her successful campaigns have helped to put Sweet Dreams and Icicle Falls back on the map, and into the black, in spite of the recession.
The one part of her life that Cecily hasn’t found a plan for is her love life. She’s attracted to two eligible men in town, Luke Goodman and Todd Black. Luke really is a good man, he’s the factory manager at Sweet Dreams and a loving single father. His first marriage was a success, but enough time has passed since his wife’s death that he is ready to try again, and he wants to try again with Cecily.
But as much as Cecily likes Luke, she can’t help but be attracted to bad-boy Todd Black, owner of the testosterone soaked local bar, the Man Cave. Todd’s been chasing Cecily ever since he hit town, and he’s decided that it’s time to make his move.
Cecily (and Samantha’s) younger sister Bailey throws a spanner into everyone’s plans. Bailey returns to Icicle Falls with her tail between her legs, after her attempt to run a catering company in LA is wrecked by one starlet’s food-poisoning publicity stunt.
Bailey needs a job. She needs more than that, she needs a way to get her confidence back. And she needs to work with food again, to get back on the horse that threw her.
It just so happens that Todd Black is much more of an entrepreneur than anyone, especially Cecily, gives him credit for. And he just so happens to own a property in central Icicle Falls that would be perfect for a Tea Room, with just a bit of sweat equity and repair.
Todd has just what Bailey needs. Except that Cecily has decided that he has just what she needs, admittedly in a much more personal way. So while Todd and Cecily are trying to take their relationship to the next level, Todd and Bailey are discovering just how much fun they can have building a business together.
Meanwhile, Luke Goodman is watching from the sidelines, hoping for his chance to convince Cecily that they belong together after all.
Escape Rating B: As is usual in the Icicle Falls series, the romance (or romances) take a backseat to the small town/family story.
We have more than a love triangle in this one, we have a love quadrangle. Luke loves Cecily. Cecily can’t make up her mind between Luke and Todd, to the point where everyone in town is confused about which one she’s dating. Then Todd starts falling for Bailey, and vice-versa.
Part of Cecily’s romantic confusion is that Luke is the steady and sensible man she should want, while Todd is the bad-boy that every girl wants to reform. Or at least that’s Cecily’s perception.
The reality is that Todd isn’t nearly as bad a boy as he seems. That Cecily can’t figure that out is proof positive that they aren’t meant for each other. However, Todd and Bailey’s mutual attraction brings out the possessive bitch in Cecily. Cecily has so many insecurities, particularly about Bailey, that she doomed the relationship before it had a chance to begin. Which it shouldn’t have.
The fallout makes the town choose sides, and causes a family rift. It isn’t until Luke finally sweeps Cecily off her feet that the sisters are able to make peace. The romance in this one is very messy.
There’s an intended message here, that men may or may not stick around, but sisters are forever. I think there was a second one about listening to that little voice that tells you something is not a good idea. Cecily knows that Todd isn’t right for her, but she can’t resist the lure. At the same time, she won’t let herself move the relationship forward, because there are just so many things about him she wants to change.
Bailey likes Todd just as he is. It helps that she sees all of him, the entrepreneur and the hard worker, and not just the bad boy image he projects. Which may be another message about falling in love with the real person, and not thinking you’re going to change them.
It was great to see the Sterling sisters get their own HEAs, and it’s always a treat to visit Icicle Falls. I can’t wait to go back in The Lodge on Holly Road!
***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.
The cats still have not completely forgiven us for being away last week. Mellie is perched on top of Galen’s computer tower, pretending I’m not here. I’m waiting for her to pratfall off.
I managed to read a lot of books over the holiday. I’ve discovered that 4 books is my limit. By limit, I mean the limit of reviews I can hold in my head before I have to do a brain dump. That’s today. Along with the laundry and the grocery shopping and the other life chores that don’t get done when you’re out of town.
There’s still time to get in on the Freedom to Read Giveaway Hop. And if you took a reading hiatus over the weekend, Galen did a wonderful reading list on July 4 of books that are somewhat related to the idea of Independence.
Caroline still dreams about West. His warm skin, his taut muscles, his hand sliding down her stomach. Then she wakes up and she’s back to reality: West is gone. And before he left, he broke her heart.
Then, out of the blue, West calls in crisis. A tragedy has hit his family—a family that’s already a fractured mess. Caroline knows what she has to do. Without discussion, without stopping to think, she’s on a plane, flying to his side to support him in any way he needs.
They’re together again, but things are totally different. West looks edgy, angry at the world. Caroline doesn’t fit in. She should be back in Iowa, finalizing her civil suit against the ex-boyfriend who posted their explicit pictures on a revenge porn website. But here she is. Deeply into West, wrapped up in him, in love with him. Still.
They fought the odds once. Losing each other was hard. But finding their way back to each other couldn’t be harder.
My Review:
If you have not read the first part of Caroline and West’s story, go back and pick up the monumentally awesome Deeper (reviewed here). The story in Harder is so much deeper if you read where they are coming from.
This pair of stories is exactly what “new adult romance” is supposed to be about: people in that first stage of adulthood who are making decisions that will echo through the rest of their lives, no matter what happens.
In the case of Harder, the story is about whether these two college students will not just face their very adult problems, but also find a way to go beyond survival into thriving in the future.
This story is “harder” because it is both more difficult for Caroline and West to find a way back to each other, and because the theme goes to the question of the ways in which we make our lives harder for ourselves, by closing off options that we think might be hard, instead of striving and finding out.
At the end of Deeper, West leaves both Caroline and college in order to go back to his depressing and depressed home town of Silt, Oregon. It’s not just that his sister needs him, but that West has never believed that he was entitled to a life and happiness of his own. He expected to have to go back, and when it happens, he’s resigned rather than surprised.
He’s always been sure that Caroline deserved better than him, never acknowledging that what Caroline did or did not deserve was not a decision that was his to make.
West tries to push her away, but she’s the only light in his darkness. That he’s made his world darker than it needs to be, all on his own, is not something that he ever considers. But in the middle of too many nights, he calls her just to hear her voice.
And when his mother’s ex-boyfriend shoots his deadbeat father, West calls Caroline. He doesn’t ask for her help, but she gets on the first plane to Oregon. She wants to help. He wants someone to take care of his kid sister Frankie. Caroline wants West back.
West does his worst to make sure she leaves him. And she does, but not before making him think about what he’s doing; to her, to himself, and to his sister.
It’s the hardest thing in his life to realize that every single thing Caroline told him was right. It’s the second hardest to take his sister and his screwed up self back to college. It’s the third hardest to let Caroline all the way back into his life.
It takes him forever to figure out that the best way he can give his sister the good life that he wants for her is to live it with her, with Caroline. Frankie can only learn how to be her authentic self if West can learn it first.
Escape Rating A+: The first half of this story is a hard read. Absolutely excellent, but painfully hard. Deeper ended at the point where Caroline and West separate. It was the right ending for the story, but devastating to read.
Harder picks up where Deeper emotionally left off. Caroline and West are hundreds of miles apart and they have no future together. And neither of them can get over that fact, or move past each other to build a new life.
Of course, West feels that he doesn’t have a life, and isn’t entitled to one. As far as he’s concerned, his only purpose in this world is to protect his sister Frankie. He’s willing to sacrifice himself and everything he might ever be just to keep Frankie safe.
Then the situation hits rock bottom, and the best way for West to keep Frankie safe is to get her out of Silt and away from their neglectful mother. And West only has one place to go; back to Iowa and college. Back to Caroline. Except not.
Deeper was Caroline’s story. West made her see that she was something beyond the terrible pictures, and that if she wasn’t “fine” there was a way to get better.
Harder is West’s story. Caroline refuses to take “fine” for an answer, and refuses to stay out of his and Frankie’s life. Just as he made her think, helped her to get stronger, in Deeper, she does the same thing for him in Harder. But the journey is harder, because they both know what they’ve lost, and because West has so little faith in himself.
If you like contemporary romances featuring real, believable characters facing real problems and coming out strong and together, you’ll love Harder, very, very hard indeed.
***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.
I’m still at ALA in Las Vegas, but it doesn’t really matter where the American Library Association holds its Annual Conference, all convention centers look alike on the inside.
This was an especially good week on the blogging/reviewing front. I don’t often have a mostly A Reviews week, but this one was particularly good. It’s great to finally understand what all the fuss has been about on Ancillary Justice and Fortune’s Pawn. They are both excellent SF. At Star’s Endwas tons of fun, and Supreme Justice was absorbingly good. Next week isn’t too shabby either.
There’s still a chance to get in on the Midsummer’s Eve Giveaway Hop, in spite of it being a bit past Midsummer. Plus there’s a Fourth of July hop starting on Wednesday, so yet another chance for a gift card.
It really is Midsummer here. We went to the movies, got out after 8 pm, and still needed sunglasses!
If you’re wondering, or even if you’re not, the movie was How to Train Your Dragon 2and it was terrific! I adore Toothless, maybe because he looks a lot like one of our cats. Or vice versa.
If also feels like summer because the publishing season is slowing down a bit. I had a chance to read a few books that i’ve been itching to get into for a while. Ancillary Justice is everything that all the reviews have said it is. It’s a good thing there’s a book 2, because that story just isn’t done. It ended, but it feels like there is a LOT more to tell.
Speaking of more, if you haven’t entered the Midsummer’s Eve Giveaway Hop, there’s still time. Is there anyone who can’t think of plenty of books to buy with $10 at Amazon or B&N?
Where is the magical place this time? We’re going to the North American Science Fiction Convention, known as NASFiC, which is being held in Detroit next weekend. We decided to go to Detcon1 because we couldn’t quite swing the time off for the WorldCon in London next month. While Detroit is no London, the author/guest lineup is equally fantastic. There seem to be a lot of SF/Fantasy authors who couldn’t quite manage the time off for London either.
About Susan Mallery
I’m also still laughing about the rescue of the hoarded chiweenies.
There’s still time to get in on the 
If you have not read the first part of Caroline and West’s story, go back and pick up the monumentally awesome Deeper (reviewed 
There’s still a chance to get in on the 
Blog Recap:
Coming Next Week:
Current Giveaways:
Blog Recap: