Kayden: The Past Blurb
Kayden Michaels has a past filled with
sex, addiction, and heartache. A past that he’s avoided sharing with the love
of his life, Sophia, and held close to his core not risking rejection.
Needing to get his addictions in check
and gain control of his life for the sake of his family, Kayden is forced to
confront his past and make amends for the path he’s walked.
Kayden must recount every carnal act and the
betrayal from those he’s loved to identify the triggers that spur his
addictions and overcome it all to be worthy of Sophia’s love – his sole reason
to exist.
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Extended Excerpt ~ Prologue
I was an addict.
Sophia didn’t know this about me when we
met – when I stole her heart.
I struggle every day with my sobriety,
and Sophia is my compass. She’s what keeps me grounded and always points me in
the right direction. She doesn’t nag or yell but smothers me in her love and
understanding.
Sophia asked to hear my story, my past.
She wanted to know everything about me…what led me to her. I gave her a
condensed version – one that is closer to PG-13 compared to the NC-17 reality
that I lived. No matter how much the person you love the most, the one who is
the center of your universe asks about your past, you never give the full
truth. I never want Sophia to compare herself to any of the women or
experiences that I’ve had before her. Sophia is perfection in my eyes. No one
could ever compare to her.
I’d like to say my life began again when
I met Sophia, that I was given a clean slate. Sophia met me at the point in my
life where I had given up on love. My life consisted of work and pleasure –
pleasure from the unattached sexual relationships and the booze that had filled
my nights.
When my life spiraled out of control,
Sophia caught me in her web of security and love. She is my savior, the only
thing that is true in my life. She can’t know my entire story. Who would want
to know the true story of the love of their life, the father of their child?
The thought of Sophia being with another
man makes my skin crawl and pisses me off. She’s mine, and I’d like to think
that I’ve been the only man in her life and the first one to taste her, but I
know I’m lying to myself. Ignorance is bliss, and I’d rather stay in the dark.
After our child was born, I thought it
was necessary to get help to control my drinking. I needed to make sure I never
walked down the path of self-destruction again. I had too much to lose. For the
first time in my life, there was something more important than myself or even
Sophia. There’s a tiny little life that depends on me and needs my love and
adoration.
I didn’t want to go to group counseling
– I’ve done that before, and it sucked; it wasn’t more than a temporary fix. I
needed something to get to the root of my addiction and allow me to find other
ways to cope with the pressures in life besides at the bottom of a bottle. The
counselor told me to write down the major events in my life – the ones that
caused my drinking to go out of control or drove me to drink.
He said I needed to understand the
cycle. What came first – the booze or the problems? He asked me to write a
journal about my life. Everyone who I could remember that triggered my
drinking, use of drugs, and events that were caused by my addiction that had an
impact on my life. I didn’t see the use in writing it for someone else to read
and analyze, but he said I would understand it in time.
Where do I start the tangled mess that
was my life? Do I start with my first taste of booze, the first sniff of coke,
or the crazy bitches I’ve experienced? There will be bits that I leave out;
things I don’t want the world to know. I’ve included the ones that show what
has molded me into the man I am today. The ones that will fill in the gaps on
my troubled journey that Sophia and I overcame and show the depths of my
depravity and addiction before Sophia walked into my life and turned my world
upside down.
I’ll start at the beginning, what led me
off the path of righteousness through my moment of self-destruction and finally
salvation in the arms of a loving woman too good to be mine.
Kayden:
The Past Playlist
Demons ~ Imagine Dragon
Crazy Bitch ~ Buck Cherry
Gorilla ~ Bruno Mars
Livin’ on a Prayer ~ Bon Jovi
Sex and Candy ~ Marcy PLayground
Love the Way You Lie ~ Eminem
Everything I’ve Known ~ KoRn
Bring Me to Life ~ Evanescence
Cold Hard Bitch ~ Jet
What Goes Around Comes Around ~ Justin
Timberlake
Waiting for the End ~ Linkin Park
The Reason ~ Hoobastank
Control ~ Puddle of Mud
I Hate Everything About You ~ Three Days
Grace
My Review: 4 1/2 stars
Fascinating insight into Kayden's character. This book gives you everything you may have wanted to know about Kayden. From high school all the way up to meeting Sophia and past that. Kayden went through so much heartache from the start. I really feel for him. However, I also would have to say that he made some crappy self-destructive choices, like reaching for a bottle everytime something got too hard or he got crushed emotionally. I'm not judging, everyone's been there, done that, got the freaking t-shirt - at least I do. This is the story of what happened to Kayden to make him into the man he is; all the things that happened and people who used him and treated him like crap that made him change into that man. I am glad that Kayden finally found Sophia. But it seems that's the way it works, you've got to give up looking and just be yourself, and the one you're looking for falls in your life. What you do from that point is up to you. Kayden made some mistakes after meeeting Sophia, but gladly he wisened up and things came together. Great job Chelle!! I can't wait for your next book. They're always very entertaining and thought provoking (at least this one was for me), and the characters are fantastic.
Chelle’s
Stalker Links
Website: http://www.chellebliss.com
Twitter: @ChelleBliss1
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