First off, check out this cover art! Is it not delicious?
Now that your done drooling over the cover, I’ll tell you about the story.
Alexia’s hit rock bottom. Too much booze and drugs and bad moves.
Her best friend, Terri, has had enough of her crap.
“Shit Lex. What’d ya do now?”
Terri loves Lex, but enough is enough.
“I won’t say a word other than this shit has got to stop. You’re going to end up dead one day.”
Alexia takes a long, hard look at herself, facing some really ugly memories of crazy, dangerous situations she’s been in. She makes a promise to Terri and to herself. This stops now.
She lives in a carriage house, working part-time for the owner, Lisbeth, a blue-haired dynamo, and waitresses nights at an upscale restaurant.
One night, when Alexia arrives at work, she finds she’s working a large party from the Medical University.
She methodically works the group, taking orders, when a voice causes her to look up from her order pad into a set of smoky gray eyes. She keeps looking, completing her examination of his face and feels a stirring inside herself, an awakening, like from a deep sleep.
Quickly getting a grip, she works the group, trying to keep it together. It seems he was going out of his way to monopolize her attention. And it was working. Boy, was it ever.
The evening ends smoothly and smoky eyes, Pearce, makes a point of thanking her and giving her a hefty tip along with his card. Written on the back, “Please call me. I’d like to take you out to dinner some time. PM
Alexia turns the card over. Whoa. He’s a trauma surgeon. She keeps the card, but doesn’t plan on calling him. He doesn’t need to get involved with her. She’s a wreck and not ready to date anyone yet.
She nonchalantly asks Lisbeth if she knew the Middleton’s. Turns out Pearce is the grandson of her close friend, Avery.
Lisbeth cares a lot about Alexia, would like to see her get out there and live again, move on from the past. She’s going to have to give Avery a call.
Fate steps in and Alexia bumps into Pearce and after much cajoling by him, agrees to have drinks. His smoky eyes entrance her and his sultry voice and charm seduce her.
He had a perfectly beautiful smile on his face and I couldn’t help but smile back.
“What?” he asked.
“What what?” I tried to deflect his question.
“What’s that look about?”
“Oh, I didn’t realize I had a look.” Now only the corner of his mouth turned up. I wanted to sit on his lap and run my fingers through his hair and kiss that corner of his mouth.
“What?”
“What? Me?”
“Yeah you. You had a look on your face.”
I was grinning ear to ear while reading this part and there’s plenty more.
She refuses to go on a date. Giving no explanation. Inside, she feels unworthy, dirty. Her shaded past rises up to haunt her. So they part ways, leaving Pearce frustrated and determined.
As Alexia is walking down the street, she’s viciously assaulted and when she comes to, she’s tied and gagged, with no idea where she is. She hurts all over. Voices from the other room grow closer. They enter the room and from their lewd comments she knows she’s about to be raped. One advantage she has is they have to untie her legs to do that and when they do she unleashes everything she’s got. Kicking and thrashing, she’s not going to just lie there and take it. Finally, one of them’s had enough and knocks her out.
When she comes to, she’s in an ambulance being rushed to the hospital. They just dumped her on the side of the road and some strangers found her and called for help. She has a skull fracture, broken wrist, fractured ribs, a ruptured spleen, and two stab wounds.
Pearce can’t believe his eyes when they rush her into the ER. He should never have let her walk away earlier. Now look at her. As he’s emotionally involved, he has another surgeon do the surgery but does what he promised Alexia. He holds her hand all through the procedure.
Pearce is a goner, just doesn’t know it yet.
“There was something about her that I couldn’t get out of my mind. The way she walked, talked, moved, everything. I just wish she’d give me a fucking chance and I’d show her the world.”
Yep. He’s a goner!
So, the romance begins. Alexia moves on, finally able to push aside her feelings of unworthiness and forgive herself about Peter’s death. They were arguing because she didn’t want to get married. She stormed off and got in her car. Peter followed and they were shouting and screaming at each other when she lost control of the car and it crashed. She survived, but Peter didn’t. Her own family blamed her and shunned her when she needed them most.
This explains her slide to the bottom, but now Alexia has found love again, with sexy, smoky eyes, Pearce.
I had so much fun meeting Pearce’s family. His parents are as gooey eyed over each other as the day they met and his brother, Justin, another hunk, is sarcastic and funny. My kind of guy.
Wait until you meet Terri, Alexia’s best friend. She puts herself out there. No wallflower there. And fierce, like a tiger, when it comes to Alex. Pearce will have to pass her inspection.
Who wouldn’t want someone like Pearce. He’s so loving and supportive of Alexia and Lord help the one who hurts her.
Alexia may have done some stupid things, but who hasn’t. Her crappy family just used and dumped her and if it weren’t for Terri, she may well have died.
This isn’t a sweet little romance. Dark things happen. But then there’s the well placed humor to lighten the mood, and the smoldering, sensuous, beyond the bedroom door, scenes will leave you gasping.
While I became so distracted in this delicious romance, I kind of forgot some of the other stuff and got so damned mad in one part! The author doesn’t leave anything unanswered and I wish I could express myself better. I felt Alexia’s shame, hopelessness, and desperation along with her euphoria and glee.
A scene I loved.
“You’re spectacular. You’ve a mouth made for kissing and a body made for love. You’re the loveliest thing I’ve ever seen. You’re skin is like silk…so soft and smooth and your hair. Dark chocolate…to match your eyes. Warm and inviting. You’re ravishing. And you’ve charmed the pants off me. See?”
Hotter than molten lava, with depth and loveable characters. Five Stars from me!
On Valentines Day I’ll be back to tell you about Shattered Edge. It’s Terri’ story, but you’ll get to see Alex and Pearce again!
Feast your eyes on this!
Description
Their trial relationship was meant to last six months, but things didn’t quite work out the way they planned…
Justin Middleton, who has left a string of broken hearts across the state of South Carolina, has only one thing on his mind, and that’s winning Terri Mitchell’s heart in six months. That’s all the time she’s given him…six short months. If he can’t do it by then, they’ll go their separate ways.
Terri Mitchell knows she’s lost her mind when she even suggested this harebrained scheme. She finally thinks her heart is on the mend from her past encounter with Justin. However, when he shows up at her house late one night looking deliciously sexy and irresistible, her iron will to fight him vanishes and the words tumble from her lips before she’s barely aware of what she’s done.
Within weeks, both of them find themselves passionately involved, but when Terri’s brother, Preston, shows up, mysterious things begin to happen, turning their blissful world into something dark and dangerous.
Mark your calendar. Shattered Edge releases on Valentines Day!
About the author and her books.
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One day, on her way home from work as a sales manager, A. M. Hargrove, realized her life was on fast forward and if she didn’t do something soon, it would quickly be too late to write that work of fiction she had been dreaming of her whole life. So, she rolled down the passenger window of her fabulous (not) company car and tossed out her leather briefcase. Luckily, the pedestrian in the direct line of fire was a dodgeball pro and had über quick reflexes enabling him to avoid getting bashed in the head. Feeling a tad guilty about the near miss, A. M. made a speedy turn down a deserted side street before tossing her crummy, outdated piece-of-you-know-what lap top out the window. She breathed a liberating sigh of relief, picked up her cell phone and hit #4 on her speed dial.
“Hello.” “Boss, is that you?” “Why yes, A. M., who else would be answering my phone?” “Er… right. Well, I’m calling to let you know you can pick up my luxury Ford Focus at Starbucks near the interstate.” “Why ever would I want to do that?” “Because I quit you idiot!”
A.M. hit the end button and speed dialed her husband.
“Hi hubs, can you pick me up at Starbucks?” “Sure… Having some car trouble?” “Not at all. I don’t have a car to have trouble with because I just quit my job.” “WHAT?!” “It’s time for a new career and I am going to be a very famous novelist.”
So began A. M. Hargrove’s career as a young adult paranormal romance author of self-published ebooks. Her series, The Guardians of Vesturon, centers around a family of six siblings and is a mix of humor, mystery, suspense and of course, love. If you’re wondering, it didn’t happen EXACTLY that way, but….
Author links:
Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/amhargrove1
Click on images to purchase the books
The Guardians of Vesturon Series
The Praestani Novels
More books by A. M. Hargrove
Coming Feb. 14th. Shattered Edge. Just in time for a valentine!
clean slate complex
