Blog Tour: Fading Out (Living Heartwood #3) by Trisha Wolfe

Fading Out

Living Heartwood #3

By: 
Trisha Wolfe

Published:
February 18, 2016

Source:
eARC from Author for a honest review

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GR's Summary:

Love means fading out so another shines brighter. 

Right clothes. Right school. Right fiancé. As a Wyndemere, Arian’s expected to abide by the rules. The most important: be perfect. But Arian’s seemingly flawless life is far from it. An embarrassing expulsion from her parents’ alma mater spirals an already unhealthy obsession out of control, exposing a dark truth. 

Faced with having to attend a small private college after a stint in rehab, Arian’s just ready to coast under the radar and repair some of the wreckage, but her father’s looming control is like a vise choking off her air supply. 

When a run-in with Braxton’s beloved star quarterback, Ryder Nash, puts Arian squarely in the crosshairs of his devoted teammates, the last of her controlled, orderly world unhinges. As the pranks and paybacks escalate, Arian and Ryder’s rivalry takes a passionate turn. And once Arian glimpses beneath the all-star-athlete exterior Ryder projects, she realizes he’s far more than just a jock. 

As their relationship intensifies, outside forces feel the threat. Outrunning their pasts doesn’t mean history won’t repeat itself, but Ryder can’t let that happen. He’s just one Championship game away from breaking the mold. Only one moment, one choice, might change everything. 

Told from both Arian's and Ryder's POV. New Adult Contemporary Romance intended for readers 17 years of age and older. 

Living Heartwood Series:
Our Review on The Darkest Part Here
Our Review on Losing Track Here

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Lindy's Thoughts:

The Living Heartwood Series has been one filled with heartbreak, angst, life lessons, love, and healing.  It is a series based on realistic characters, and plot themes.  Yet, each story has a spark of hope, and the message that we can improve our lives.  Healing comes from the love of those special people we surround ourselves with, and the courage to make a change.

In Fading Out, we get Arian "Ari" and Ryder's story, told from their alternating perspectives.  Ari suffers from eating disorders, and intense anxiety.  She has a lot of pressure on her to be the perfect "Wyndemere," and comes from a wealthy family that values social status and appearances more than anything else.  Her father and stepmother control her life, and have everything already planned out for her.  She doesn't defy her family, because she fears being completely being cast off from them.  The anxiety she suffers from her family's constant pressure for perfection is what triggers her eating disorder.

Ryder is the star quarterback at Braxton University.  He is popular, can get any girl he wants, and is known for giving girls the "Ryde" of their lives!  When he sees Ari for the first time, he is attracted to her, and thinks she is beautiful.  She reminds him of a girl from his past.  After Ryder introduces himself to Ari, he comes off as arrogant, due to the fact that he becomes tongue tied, and his words are misinterpreted.  Ryder and Ari don't have the easiest start, which eventually leads to bickering, pranks, and sexual tension.  However, as Ari and Ryder get to really know one another better, Ari realizes what a great guy he is.  Feelings between Ryder and Ari grow, but Ari's family, and both of their secrets threaten the foundation of their relationship, and future happiness.  Will love prevail, with all of the challenges that they face?

Fading Out was a story about finding out who you are, what you want out of life, and having the courage to go after it.  This story was filled with angst, heartbreak, healing, friendship, loving oneself, and finding love when you least expect it.  Fading out was a slow read, filled with depth, contemplation, and reflection.  I love how the Living Heartwood Series deals with people that have real problems, and doesn't just give us the easy "fix."  Instead, it is realistic, relatable, and thought provoking.  Ari and Ryder could have been real people.  They had real character flaws, needs, and desires.  They had a passionate push-pull type of relationship filled with passion, sexual chemistry, and eventually love!  The secondary characters, Vanessa "Vee," Gavin, and especially Mel where a pleasure to read about. 

My Rating:

I give, Fading Out, by Trisha Wolfe, 4 Loving Yourself, Courageous, Healing, and Falling In Love Filled Stars!  If you like realistic fiction that includes real life challenges, angst, heartbreak, and the power of having the courage, and fortitude to heal, check out the Living Heartwood Series.

Book Teasers:

Purchase At:

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About Trisha Wolfe:

From an early age, Trisha Wolfe dreamed up fantasy worlds and characters and was accused of talking to herself. Today, she lives in South Carolina with her family and writes full time, using her fantasy worlds as an excuse to continue talking to herself. For more information on Trisha Wolfe and her works, please visit:
http://www.trishawolfe.com/. 

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Blog Tour: Losers Weepers (Lost & Found #4) by Nicole Williams

Losers Weepers
Lost & Found #4

By:
Nicole Williams

Published:
February 24, 2015

Source:
eARC from author for a honest review

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GR's Summary:
If we didn’t know darkness, we couldn’t fully appreciate the light. 

Garth Black’s more familiar with this concept than most people are. He hadn’t just lived in the dark for the majority of his life—he thrived in it. With a mom who’d bailed on him and a dad whose understanding of coddling started and ended with a bottle of whiskey, Garth had never been expected to rise to any sort of occasion other than following down the same dead-end paths. 

That changed when he fell in love with Josie Gibson. After years of pulling each other closer before shoving the other way, they finally stopped shoving. Josie’s love is like nothing Garth’s ever experienced. He holds it close. He holds it sacred. He would do anything to preserve it and keep it from pollution, even if that means removing himself from the picture. 

Garth might have been allowed a temporary furlough to bask in the light, but that pass has been revoked, and he’s been swallowed again by the dark. Will he revert to his old ways of hurting those he cares for most? Will he go back to the same destructive patterns . . . or will it be worse this time? 

We can’t know light without first knowing dark . . . and Garth Black’s about to get acquainted with the dark in a whole new way.

Lost & Found Series:
My Review on Lost & Found Here
My Review on Near & Far Here
My Review on Finders Keepers Here

*Add this Series to Goodreads Here

My Thoughts:

The Lost & Found Series is beautiful.  The characters are real and relatable, and the plot themes are fun, but also have substance.  These books are one of my all-time favorite romantic series'.  I cannot get enough of Rowan, Jesse, Garth, and Josie.  These characters hold a special place in my heart, and I fear my words cannot possibly do this series justice.

In Losers Weepers, we get the continuation of Garth and Josies's love story, told exclusively from Garth's point of view.  Things are going well for Garth and Josie.  They are extremely happy and deeply in love with one another.  Garth is ready to ask Josie to be his wife, but first he needs to get on the bull, and qualify for nationals.  He stays on the bull for 8 seconds like he needs to, but then he gets distracted and catapulted off.  

When Garth wakes up in the hospital, he cannot feel or move his body anywhere beneath his neck.  The doctor tells him that he has a ten percent chance of walking again, and this destroys him.  He realizes that he cannot give Josie the kind of life that he feels she deserves.  He doesn't feel useful or like a man anymore, and is determined to push the only woman he's ever loved away.  Will Josie leave, due to Garth's snarky attitude, and determination for her to move on?  Or, will she be successful in proving to him that real love means sticking together in the most dark, difficult, and devestating of times?

Losers Weepers broke my heat.  I felt such deep and raw emotions as I read Garth's story.  I related to how he felt useless, pitied, and unworthy of Josie's love.  I couldn't walk and was bed ridden for five months.  This story brought me back to that time in my life.  A time where I felt like I was a prisoner in my own body, and people had to bathe me, feed me, and do the simple things that we all take for granted.  Wow...  Garth's story hit home for me.  It was powerful, emotional, and real.

I love Garth's character.   He was selfless, and was trying to do the right thing by sacrificing his happiness for the woman that he loved.  He was in a dark place, and his depression, bitterness, and hopelessness shined through with his self deprecating humor, and sarcasm.  Josie was a bright light.  She was strong, and persevered to show Garth that she truly loved him, and nobody could take his place.  She was in their relationship for the long haul.  I respected hoe Josie could be tender, nurturing, and hopeful at times, but wasn't afraid to use tough love and put Garth in his place, when he needed it.

Rowan and Jesse made an excellent supporting cast.  Rowan is still full of fire and determination, while Jesse's still sensitive, compassionate, and loyal.  They had a secondary storyline, that sets up the next story in the series, Heart & Soul.  I am highly anticipating their next story, because I have loved every single book in this series.

My Rating:

I give, Losers Weepers, by Nicole Williams, 4 Heatbreaking, Raw, Unconditional Love Filled Stars!  Romance readers, please try out The Lost & Found Series.  It is a series that will appeal to a large audience, and I think everyone will love!

Book Teasers:

Purchase At:

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Kobo

About Nicole Williams:

I’m the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of the CRASH series (HarperTeen, S&S UK), LOST & FOUND series, UP IN FLAMES (S&S UK), The EDEN TRILOGY, and a handful of others. I write stories about everyday kinds of people who find themselves in extraordinary kinds of situations. I tell love stories with happy endings because I believe in making the world a better place, and that’s one tiny way I can make it so. I’m one of those people who still believe in true love and soul mates, and would rather keep my head in the clouds any day over having my feet firmly on the ground.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

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Release Day Event : Something Real (Reckless & Real, #2) by Lexi Ryan

HAPPY RELEASE to

Reckless & Real #2

Adult Contemporary

Release: March 3, 2015

After everything blew up on Christmas, Liz walked away from me, and I let her. She said she needed space and a chance to pursue her dreams. But we both knew she was running from the mess she made. Now the political campaign she used as an ex- cuse to leave is bringing us back together and I’m proving to her what she really needs—not just the hot nights, greedy hands, and undeniable physical chemistry. What she really needs is something real. What she really needs…is me.

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SOMETHING RECKLESS (#1) is on sale for .99 cents until March 14th!

Reckless and Real #1

Release: December 2014

He talks dirty to me, but I don’t know his name.
He wants to tie me up, but I don’t know his face. He turns me on, but I couldn’t point him out in a crowd.
I’ve fallen for an anonymous stranger, and tonight the anonymity ends. Tonight I want more than typed secrets and texted promises. I want something reckless. Heat. Passion. The thrill of being entirely possessed.
Because I suspect this anonymous stranger isn’t a stranger at all.

Lizzy Thompson met riverrat69 online through Something Real, a service promising to deliver meaningful relationships by forbidding its users to share names or photos until they’ve reached a certain benchmark. She was looking for love. He was researching an investment. They hit it off. Talked and flirted, hid behind screen names and cartoon avatars.
Now they’re breaking the rules and meeting in person. But Liz is prepared. She’s picked up hints and followed clues.
She’s ninety-percent convinced she’s discovered the identity of her dirty-talking online friend.

She wonders if her ex-lover Sam Bradshaw knows her identity too.
When she rolls the dice on one reckless night, her chance at something real could crumble.

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Excerpt:

Sam 

Security had better not have let one of those asshole journalists from downstairs up to my floor. I swear, those soul suckers would do anything to get a new detail to add to their nothing stories. I open the door without removing the chain and feel as if I’ve been punched in the gut when I see the woman on the other side. 

Liz is worrying her lower lip between her teeth and watching down the hall. Is she looking for Sabrina or trying to make sure no one sees her coming to my room? My insides twist at the sight of her—an internal tug-of-war between conflicting emotions. I want to pull her into my room and kiss her until she can’t see straight, touch her until she promises never to leave me again, and at the same time, I want to demand that she go back to her room because having her close makes me hope for things I can’t have. 

I remove the chain and tug her inside by the arm before closing the door behind her. 

“No one saw me,” she says, her eyes locked on the floor. “I made sure.” 

“I saw you,” I growl. It’s painful to be this close—to breathe her air, to smell her perfume. I never knew how much it could hurt to want and be denied. 

She swallows and avoids my eyes. “Is she here?” 

“What do you want, Liz?” 

She lifts her head and stares at me. “Is she here?”

“Sabrina’s on her way to meet her mom in South Dakota for a campaign stop.” 

Her gaze dips to my bare chest and back up. “I’m surprised they didn’t ask you to go with them.” 

“They did. I declined.” I sound like a fucking dickhead, and I make myself take two steps back so I don’t do something equally dickish. Like kiss her until she melts in my arms and forgets about the other guy, until we both forget that this is hopeless. 

“I’m sorry that video was leaked. You didn’t deserve that invasion of your privacy.” 

She has red lipstick on, and it matches her shoes. Ever since I saw her tonight, I’ve been picturing her on her knees in nothing but those shoes, those red lips stretched around my cock. I can’t help myself, and I skim my thumb over her bottom lip. 

The second I touch her, she draws in a ragged breath. “You came to my apartment yesterday.” 

“I did.” 

“Why?” 

I trail my thumb down her neck and over the red strap of her dress. “Probably for the same reason you came here tonight.” 

“To talk about Sabrina?” 

“You knocked on my door in the middle of the night to talk about Sabrina?” I follow the strap down and graze my fingers across her cleavage. 

“Is this about her, or is it about you and me?” 

“There is no you and me,” she says. “We both know that.” 

“There’s so much you and me, there’s no air left when we share a room. 

There’s always you and me.” 

“Even when you’re making sex tapes with someone else?” 

“And even when you’re keeping warm in another man’s arms.” 

Something Real Playlist 

From Lexi: 

Because I so frequently have to switch gears at the drop of a hat—from Mom to writer, from the business side of writing to drafting an intensely emotional scene—I rely on music to quickly plant me in the zone for any given book. Every time I start to write a book, I create a playlist that makes me think of the characters and I listen to it and add to it as I write. Here’s what I was listening to while I was writing Something Real. I hope you like it! 

Amnesia—5 Seconds of Summer 

Over You—Ingrid Michaelson (feat. A Great Big World) 

How Long Will I Love You—Ellie Goulding 

You Ruin Me—The Veronicas 

Don’t—Ed Sheeran 

All You Had to Do Was Stay—Taylor Swift 

Changed by You—Between the Trees 

Thinking Out Loud—Ed Sheeran 

Crazy in Love—Sofia Karlberg 

Love Me Like You Do—Ellie Goulding 

About the Author

Once a college English professor, I now write full time. I live in rural Indiana, where, when I’m not writing, I get to hang out with my husband and two kids--a six-year-old boy and a two-year-old hellion, er, girl. Not surprisingly, reading and writing remain my favorite activities, though both come in bits and pieces these days, not the big hunks of time I en- joyed before I had children. When I’m feeling virtuous, I like to go running (I use that word liberally. I’m really, really slow) or do yoga. Don’t worry, I’m always careful to balance out such activities with a hearty serving of ice cream or a chocolate martini.

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