TUG OF WAR (Bloodlines #1)
Impulsive, YES. Irresponsible, SURE. Necessary, PROBABLY. Going to end badly, most likely. Does any of that matter to me, no. I decided that I can't please everyone so this week my only goal is to please me. I’m a selfish cow but I can’t seem to help it. I’m Clara Lord. I own Bloodline’s Tattoo Parlor, have a filthy mouth, no filter and a really strong objection to bossy idiots, pet names and wealthy men.
You will hate me, love me or love to hate me but either way it doesn’t matter. Everything I touch turns to crap and it’s all my fault. See, I lived through hell. Then I escaped hell and carefully spent the next eight years crafting a perfect little life until Domini Napoli screwed it all up. Now nothings right. Everything’s wrong and all my secrets are coming out.
Tug Of War has been voted:
Top 3 of 2013 list from Book Junkie Girls
Top 10 of 2013 from For The Love Of Books
Top 13 of 2013 List from I'll Be Reading
RL Griffin listed Objective as the book she most looks forward to in 2014 releasing.
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My Review: 5 stars
This is one messed up, complicated story. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it. But there were times that I just wanted to punch people and times when it just broke my heart. There are reasons that people keep secrets. Sometimes those reasons are damn painful. I know it's difficult to believe, but sometimes those secrets are better left buried. But when you're someone like Clara and those secrets start coming out, everything spirals out of control. She was the one with the most to lose. So I understand Clara's reasoning behind not telling her biggest secret. I understood why she stayed with Sawyer. I also understood why she couldn't stay away from Dominic.
Clara had to have control over her life because of things that had happened to her in her life before. Sawyer and her have a relationship that's pretty open. Friendship is what they do have - they are best friends, business partners and homeowners. Does Sawyer want more? Absolutely. But I think deep down he knows he's deluding himself. Clara has tried to make things work with Sawyer, they just never do. When Dominic comes crashing into their world, he takes no prisoners. He wants Clara, he's determined to have her and relentless in his pursuit. Clara fights him all the way, until she can't fight what she feels anymore.
This book made me feel a lot of things. It was difficult to put down once I got started because I connected with Clara. She's defensive because she has to be. She fights because she has to, and she doesn't let people in because they will hurt her and she knows it. She knows that she's a bitch, and needs to let Sawyer go, but at the same time - he's her best friend. How do you let that go? I feel badly for Sawyer at different times in this book, but he always comes back for more. Dominic is pure Alpha male from head to toe. When he and Clara collide - sparks fly. The attraction between them is off the charts. And he will be her undoing. One thing is certain, now that the secrets are coming out, nothing will be the same.
This is one messed up, complicated story. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it. But there were times that I just wanted to punch people and times when it just broke my heart. There are reasons that people keep secrets. Sometimes those reasons are damn painful. I know it's difficult to believe, but sometimes those secrets are better left buried. But when you're someone like Clara and those secrets start coming out, everything spirals out of control. She was the one with the most to lose. So I understand Clara's reasoning behind not telling her biggest secret. I understood why she stayed with Sawyer. I also understood why she couldn't stay away from Dominic.
Clara had to have control over her life because of things that had happened to her in her life before. Sawyer and her have a relationship that's pretty open. Friendship is what they do have - they are best friends, business partners and homeowners. Does Sawyer want more? Absolutely. But I think deep down he knows he's deluding himself. Clara has tried to make things work with Sawyer, they just never do. When Dominic comes crashing into their world, he takes no prisoners. He wants Clara, he's determined to have her and relentless in his pursuit. Clara fights him all the way, until she can't fight what she feels anymore.
This book made me feel a lot of things. It was difficult to put down once I got started because I connected with Clara. She's defensive because she has to be. She fights because she has to, and she doesn't let people in because they will hurt her and she knows it. She knows that she's a bitch, and needs to let Sawyer go, but at the same time - he's her best friend. How do you let that go? I feel badly for Sawyer at different times in this book, but he always comes back for more. Dominic is pure Alpha male from head to toe. When he and Clara collide - sparks fly. The attraction between them is off the charts. And he will be her undoing. One thing is certain, now that the secrets are coming out, nothing will be the same.
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ALL BLOODLINES SERIES BOOKS CAN BE READ AS STANDALONES
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OBJECTIVE (Bloodlines #2)
(Releasing April 2014)
My story started out cliche, good girl falls for bad boy, but one wrong move changed all that. Turns out the good girl doesn’t save the bad boy. My story goes from cliche to risque to mind blowing. My story is different from all the others because the events of my story led me to one thing...my objective.
Remembering him comes in dreams and flashbacks that I can't control. I tell myself it’s time to let go...but moving on from him is impossible when I still see our lives in my head.
When you kill your soul mate you don’t ever really recover.
A year of trying to forget or rather move past it has taught me that you can't. Its an impossibility to move on from that kind of horrific form of betrayal. If you you’re too selfish or scared for suicide, like me, you learn to wake up every morning and follow routine. One foot in front of the other, day after day.
Hollow. Lifeless. Haunted. Loving him was like the sun on a summer day. Living without him is like slowly burning to death. Torture.
A Bloodlines Novel.
*Note Tug of War is the 1st in the Bloodlines books, each book can be read as a stand alone book.*
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RESISTANCE (Bloodlines #3)
(Sawyer's Story, Releasing Late 2014)
My name is Sawyer Crown, I own Bloodlines Tattoo Parlor, despise drama, and have a penchant for broken women. It's a habit I intend to kick.
The arrangement had been simple. Clara and I sleep together if and when we wanted too. We were always best friends first. We raised Allie together with love. Four years into it did people assume we were married- yes. Did people assume I was Allie's father- sure. Did I love every second of that- most definitely.
Then my world exploded. Clara left me. Moved on. I'm supposed to too. I just haven’t figured the moving on part out quite yet. The heart wants what it wants right? Or maybe the mind want what it wants for the heart. All of those scenarios are bullshit though. Clara went for the gold. She carved out the happiness she needed, wanted.
Now it’s my turn.
Prologue
I feel like I’m crawling in my skin. I’ve had this feeling for the last sixteen months just about. Time has done little thus far to mend me. People keep promising time heals all wounds. Bullshit. I call bullshit. Love is a four-letter-word.
Love is blindness. I didn’t want to see. I don’t want to see. I chose to ignore all the signs. I was in denial. I pretended that Clara and I were more than we were. I knew it was wrong. I buried that feeling deep though. Flat out refused to let it bubble to the surface where I’d have to deal with it. I’d tear out my insides if I could go back and change it.
I didn’t give her room to breathe. I never gave her the chance to come to me, to want me. I gave her what I wanted to give and convinced myself that it was exactly what we both wanted and needed.
Our arrangement had been simple. We slept together if and when we wanted too. We were always best friends first and we were to raise Allie together with love. Four years into it did people assume we were married- yes. Did people assume I was Allies father- sure. Did I love every second of that- most definitely.
The problem is, real women don’t need you, they want you. Clara always needed me. I knew that. I liked it, hell I loved it. I thought it would be enough to keep her attached to me. It wasn’t. She put my heart in a blender and watched it spin around until it was a pureed mess. I’d love to blame her entirely, but when shit hit the fan and she told me she never asked for my love outside of our arrangement, she was right. She never did.
She was upfront, honest, clear with me from the start. I tried to change that subtly over time. To embed myself into her life so wholly that eventually she would want to submit to me entirely. My game got sloppy, I grew complacent. I used my dating life to try and piss her off and make her jealous. Sometimes depending on the woman, it worked. Mostly she held up her end of our deal and knew that we’d agreed to be able to date, therefore never bringing it up.
My weakness was that I let myself care too much. It was all a well played game between the two of us. A balancing act with no safety net. Games that never amounted to more than they were meant to, eventually played themselves out.
Stupid.
Clara is many things, but she’s not an asshole, contrary to what most think. She’s a straight shooter. Calls it like she sees it, a take action kinda gal. She loves fiercely and wholly. Even when she’s not in love with you. If she loves you, you get all of her for better or worse.
All things I love about her.
Clara makes mistakes and people view her actions as self-centered, but they don’t understand how she works. She’s not a selfish woman. She’s bold. Takes no prisoners. Driven. She gives back in so many ways.
People look at her and judge, they don’t see or maybe they choose to overlook all the things she does from the heart. Her friends, family and their and her personal well-being come first. Her two jobs follow next. She’s committed, blunt to a fault and owns her faults. It’s refreshing really. Her past was so much worse than even I knew, and I knew most of it, but when the parts I didn’t know came out- so much came to light, for me at least. But by then, it was too late for us. There was a gap so wide between us there was no bridging it.
She loves Allie fiercely. She’s wonderful mom. I admire that about her. Sure she’s made mistakes- we both have, but she’s never claimed she hasn't. When the school told her the chorus program was being cut, she volunteered to continue teaching the kids for free. Bloodlines thrives as a business because she puts her heart and soul into it. Even from a distance she's loyal to Marg and Amanda, staying in touch, talking often, putting in the effort to make sure they all stay connected. She’s thoughtful and kind and funny.
Dominic swooped in and threw us all off balance. I can’t say that had the situation been reversed I would have handled it any differently than she did. It was confusing. Where did we draw the line? How do you give up someone that's been an intimate part of your life without giving them up completely? How do you tell what’s right and wrong? How do we maintain our family still for Allie? When you never talk about the hard stuff together, how can you expect the other to just know what’s in your head? Bottom line, you can’t. It was a cluster fuck to say the least. We’ve found some semblance of peace. We’re just rearranged now. I’m supposed to accept that and move on. Supposed being the key word.
I just haven’t figured the moving on part out quite yet. The heart wants what it wants right? Or maybe the mind want what it wants for the heart. All of those scenarios are bullshit though. Clara went for the gold. She carved out the happiness she needed, wanted.
Now it’s my turn.
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TARGET 84 (Bloodlines #4)
(Bentley's Story, Releasing Early 2015)
My first kill was at sixteen. One might think that’s young but I'd been trained for two years before I was allowed to execute a human target on my own. I won’t ever forget him. Jackson Manning was testifying in a human trafficking case and someone didn’t want him to be heard. I'd been sloppy and careless, but excited and if I'm honest, a little turned on too. I’d found myself rather curious staring at his unmoving body. I’d been scolded for my carelessness but it didn’t matter. I’d had a taste of the real thing and I thirsted for more. My desire, my obsession took on a new form that day. It wasn’t a goal I was working towards anymore, it was tangible now.
It is my life.
I am an assassin. I don't know my targets or why they're targeted. I am commissioned to kill without question and I am paid grandly for the service I provide. I get a text with a name and an address. I watch them. I wait. I become who I need to be. I seduce them if necessary to get close enough to execute.
I love my job, or loved my job. Everything changed when I was assigned: ATF Agent Bentley James, last known location Christiansburg, VA.
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I have a weird addiction to goat cheese and chocolate martinis, not together though.
I adore my dog. He is the most awesome snuggledoo in the history of dogs.
Seriously.
I hate dirty dishes.
I like sarcasm and funny people.
I should probably be running right now... because of the goat cheese....and stuff.
I've been told I'm the mistress of Snark. I like that.
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