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Book Review: The Moment of Letting Go by J.A. Redmerski

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THE MOMENT OF LETTING GO by J.A. Redmerski (August 11, 2015; Forever Trade Paperback)
You can follow the rules or you can follow your heart…
Sienna Murphy never does anything without a plan. And so far her plans have been working. Right after college, she got a prestigious job and gained the stability she’d always craved-until work takes her to the sun-drenched shores of Oahu and places her in the path of sexy surfer Luke Everett. For the first time, she lets her heart take control. Drawn to his carefree charm, she makes a spontaneous and very un-Sienna-like decision to drop everything and stay in Hawaii for two more weeks.
Luke lives fast and wild. When he meets Sienna, he’s convinced that some no-strings-attached fun is just what she needs. As their nights quickly turn from playful to passionate, Luke can’t deny the deep connection he feels. But there’s a reason Luke doesn’t do long-term. He can’t promise Sienna forever, when the enormity of his past has shown him just how fragile the future can be . . .

 

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Book Review

This was an ARC provided to me for free in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and comments are my own. 

Poignant, insightful, and utterly beautiful. I fell deeply in love with this book as is usually the case when I read anything by J.A. Redmerski. This book strikes a chord as it opens the readers eyes to how sometimes we allow ourselves to live completing mundane task after mundane task only to look back and wonder have I actually lived? I love J.A. Redmerski’s writing style and somehow you always walk away with a lesson. This story is heart wrenching and inspiring. It makes you want to live a life filled with all the things that make you happy and free. Would you rather a happy and fulfilling somewhat minimalist lifestyle or would you rather have full pockets and things? 

 

Sienna Murphy has lived without really understanding what it means to live. After securing a high paying job after college she is assigned work in Hawaii. She is only meant to spend a couple of days there, but when things go awry Sienna runs off with seemingly reckless abandon desperately seeking a place to clear her mind. As Sienna carefully considers her life and the direction it’s taken, her moment of solitude is interrupted by Luke Everett. Luke knows what it means to live life on the edge. He knows how fragile life is yet when he meets Sienna he can’t help but feel a glimmer of hope. He takes a chance and talks to her. When Sienna and Luke meet their connection is almost instantaneous and though their interaction is brief it leaves a lasting impression. Luke words resonate loudly causing her to consider meeting him again. 

 

From the moment she meets Luke Everett she’s curious to see life the way he does. She wants nothing more than to get to know him, but she knows trusting him is a risk, one that she is afraid will leave her with a broken heart. Luke, equally afraid, takes a chance on her and she willing steps out of her comfort zone plunging headfirst into his world. Although she knows their time together is limited, Sienna takes a leap. She extends her vacation and decides spending a full two weeks exploring Hawaii as his guest and learning more about him is exactly what she needs. As much as Sienna and Luke would like to forget the world around them and just enjoy their time together they both know their realities and that the clock is ticking. Will they find a way or will they walk away simply learning some very valuable lessons from one another?

 

Written with passion and candor, The Moment of Letting Go displays vulnerability, love and life in an exquisite way. It will leave you absolutely spellbound. Highly recommended for New Adult and Contemporary Romance fans alike. This is the perfect summer read!

 

Happy Reading Lovelies xo 

 

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EXCERPT

 
Then he gets up and grabs my hands from the tops of my bare knees, pulling me to my feet.
“We’re going swimming,” he says. “And we’ll talk more about this later…like on the day your vacation is over and you’re standing at the gate in the airport about to kiss me goodbye.”
“Wow, you really think highly of yourself, don’t you?” I can’t keep the laughter from my voice.
“Damn straight!” he says and pulls me along beside him. “Before these two weeks are over, I can guarantee you three things.” He holds up three fingers as we continue onward toward the water. “One”—he holds up one finger—“you’ll never want to go back to San Diego once Hawaii is done with you.” He holds up two fingers. “Two—that photography love of yours will start to take the place of everything else in your life. And three”—he wiggles three fingers and we stop on the beach where the water can pool around our feet—“you’ll kiss me at least once before you go home.”
I blush hard and it feels like my eyes are bugging out of my head. “I might peck you on the cheek or something, but—”
“No,” he says, smiling and quite serious, “it’ll be a full-on, tongue-dancing kind of kiss.”
I smack him playfully on the arm—something is fluttering around inside my belly.
“Geez!
Luke grabs my hand and pulls me out to the water with him, where we swim and hang out on the cliffs until late in the afternoon. People come and go throughout the hours, sometimes leaving us with Alicia, Braedon, and a few of their close friends to have the area to ourselves for a while before more people show up in intervals.
“Backflip!” someone says just before Luke jumps into the water for probably the twentieth time.
And every time he does it, it ties my stomach up in knots. But there’s something about him that I can’t quite figure out when I watch him leap off the edge of that cliff; it’s not overconfidence or showing off or recklessness, but something deeper, more profound. Maybe it’s a sense of freedom, or a natural high that consumes him while he’s in the air, as if he had been born with a pair of wings that only he can see. But the more time I spend with him, the more intrigued I become. Sure, he’s gorgeous and funny and polite and all the kinds of things—so far—that would make my mom love him to death. But what intrigues and excites me more is how he kind of makes me want to jump off that stupid cliff regardless of how scared I am of it.

jredmerski12[1][1][1][1]About the author:
J.A. Redmerski, New York TimesUSA Today, and Wall Street Journalbestselling author, lives in North Little Rock, Arkansas with her three children, two cats and a Maltese. She is a lover of television and books that push boundaries. 
Connect with the author!

 

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Book Review: Racing the Sun (Where Sea Meets Sky, #2) by Karina Halle

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RACING THE SUN
Karina Halle
On Sale July 28th!

 

From the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of Where Sea Meets Sky comes a new adult novel about a young woman who becomes a nanny in Capri and falls for her charges’ bad-boy brother.
When I’m traveling, I feel like the secret to my life, to myself, to really becoming, is one step ahead. It’s in thenext destination, the next town I get lost in, the next stranger I talk to. It’s always next but never here . . . 
After six months of backpacking and soul-searching across the world, Amber MacLean is flat broke. There are worse places for a twentysomething to be stuck than the Amalfi Coast, but the only way she can earn enough money for a plane ticket home to California is to teach English to two of the brattiest children she has ever met.
It doesn’t help that the children are under the care of their brooding older brother, ex-motorcycle racer Desiderio Larosa. Darkly handsome and oh-so-mysterious, the young master of the crumbling villa tests Amber’s patience and will at every turn—not to mention her hormones.
When her position turns into a full-time nanny gig, Amber grows dangerously closer to the enigmatic recluse. But can she give up the certainty of home for someone whose closely guarded heart feels a world apart from her own?

 

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Book Review

 

*This was an ARC provided to me for free in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and comments are my own.*

 

Wow, Racing the Sun is one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read. I fell in love and I fell hard. I was hooked from the very first page and I didn’t even realize how quickly I went through the book until I glanced at my kindle and realized I was 91% in. I still have no idea how that happened. I mean I dove in hard and nothing else around me existed, but a part of me still grew sad knowing the story was so close to the end. I loved every complicated bit of this story. The romance is that once in a lifetime love that leaves you swooning and hoping for a HEA. I felt every heartbreak and every joy. The accomplishments each character experience make you connect with them in a unique way and you begin to feel as though you are experiencing their growth with them. Karina Halle’s expressive writing draws you in and brings this story to life in a way that made it so real, it was heartbreaking at times, alluring and it will definitely leave you with a bit of wanderlust.

 

The story is beautiful and there are so many different layers. It is a love story where you begin to fall in love with not only the romantic aspect of the story, but also with each characters growth, the travelers discoveries, their woes, but every complication creates a perfect story that leaves you in awe. I felt every word and the descriptive elements made me feel as though I was in a foreign city experiencing every new revelation with them. I sat and read and could feel and see clearly even the tiniest of details.

 

Racing the Sun tells the story of Amber MacLean who finds herself broke after months of travel. She secures a job as an English tutor for two children, but the families complicated story leaves her wondering if she’s cut out for the job. Amber buckles down and rises to the challenge, but when she begins to take on more responsibility and finds herself growing fonder of the brooding older brother Derio, things get beyond complicated. She’s falling, but Amber’s heart is not the only one that remains guarded. Their time together draws them closer allowing each of them to slowly open up, but will the past haunt them or will this be nothing more than another stop on Amber’s world tour?

 

Beautifully romantic, exotic and complex Racing the Sun will leave your heart racing and keep you utterly mesmerized. You’ll fall hard for Derio, Amber will amaze you and you’ll love every minute of it. I’m already counting down the days until Karina Halle’s next release! 5+ exceptional stars for an extraordinary book! This is a must read!

Happy Reading Lovelies xo 

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RACING THE SUN by Karina Halle

Atria Books | July 28, 2015 | Paperback ISBN 9781476796444, $15 | eBook ISBN 9781476796482, $7.99 | 384 pages

 

Learn more at S&S.com

 

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ABOUT KARINA HALLE

Karina Halle is the New York Times bestselling author of Where Sea Meets SkyThe PactLove in English, and other wild and romantic reads. A former travel writer and music journalist, she lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails, and devours a lot of books.

 

Find Karina Online
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GIVEAWAY – Enter to Win!
Atria Indie Authors and Karina Halle are giving away: 
(1) grand prize of a $50 AMEX Gift Card + 1 signed copy of RACING THE SUN and 1 copy of WHERE SEA MEETS SKY….PLUS: (6) Runner Up Prizes of 1 signed copy of RACING THE SUN.
Enter to win at: http://gvwy.io/ok5i5nc

 

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TOUR: Royally Lost by Angie Stanton

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SYNOPSIS
Dragged on a family trip to Europe’s ancient cities, Becca wants nothing more than to go home. Trapped with her emotionally distant father, over-eager stepmother, and a brother who only wants to hook up with European hotties, Becca is miserable. That is until she meets Nikolai, a guy as mysterious as he is handsome. And she unknowingly finds herself with a runaway prince.
Nikolai has everything a guy could ask for-he’s crown prince, heir to the throne, and girls adore him. But the one thing he doesn’t have…is freedom. Staging a coup, he flees his kingdom and goes undercover on his own European tour.
When Nikolai and Becca meet, it’s their differences that draw them together. Sparks fly as they share a whirlwind of adventures, all the while dodging his royal guard. But Becca’s family vacation ends in a matter of days. Will Nikolai and Becca be forced to say goodbye forever, will his destiny catch up to him, or will they change history forever? 

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“So how was your date with Nikolai?”

Becca glared at her brother, Dylan.

“Uh-oh. Did he stand you up?” Dylan held a rolled-up magazine.

She frowned, frustrated that she’d been so easily played. “Yeah, you could say that.”

“This might explain why.” Dylan held the magazine under her face, forcing her to look at the glossy picture of a guy who looked exactly like Nikolai.

She took the magazine and examined it closer. Her breath caught in her throat. “That’s Nikolai!”

She’d recognize him anywhere. She couldn’t read the foreign headline, but it ended with an exclamation point. “Dylan, where did you find this?”

He grimaced and shrugged. “It was at every newspaper stand I saw today.”

“Why is he on the cover? Did he do something wrong?” She paged through the magazine, holding her breath. Confusion turned to shock when she saw a two-page spread filled with pictures of Nikolai.

Nikolai at the beach; a picture of him playing polo; a picture of him in a tuxedo with a girl wearing a glittering gown. Then Becca’s eyes landed on a formal picture of Nikolai in uniform, with a sword at his belt, standing next to a young girl. A stern man and austere woman sat in gilded chairs; both adults wore crowns.

Her jaw dropped open.

“Why is Nikolai in that picture with people wearing crowns? Who is he?” she asked. Her heart pumped so fast she could feel the blood pulse through her temples. “And why did he lie about his identity?”

 

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About the Author:
Angie Stanton never planned on writing books; she wanted to be a Rockette. However, growing up in rural Wisconsin, with her brothers’ 4-H pigs as pets, dance didn’t work out. Instead she became an avid daydreamer. After years of perfecting stories in her head, she began to write them down, and the rest is history.
Angie is the author of six books including Royally LostRock and a Hard Place, and Snapshot. She graduated with a Journalism degree from the University of Wisconsin, and is a proud double finalist of the National Readers Choice Awards for Love ’em or Leave ’em.

 

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