Book Title: Thick Love
Author: Eden ButlerSeries: Thin Love #2
Release Date: August 31st, 2015
Genres: New Adult, Contemporary Romance
He doesn’t ask their names.
He doesn’t deserve to know them.
Ransom Riley Hale's friends think his life is charmed: first string as a freshman on a championship-winning college football team. A father with two Super Bowl rings. A mother with platinum albums and multiple Grammies under her belt. But that brilliant shine on the surface hides the darkness beneath; it's all Ransom has ever known.
Despite the shadows he walked in, once there was a blinding light fracturing the darkness. It brought the promise of hope and happiness. He’d been careless, filled with pride and stupidity and lost that light. Ripped it from the world.
Now, the shadows are dimming again. Aly King surges into his life threatening to pull him from the darkness. She is everything Ransom can never be again. Her light feels too warm, promises him that there is more waiting for him beyond the shadows.
But the shadows are relentless, resurfacing when he thinks he is safe, and Ransom knows he must keep Aly from them too before he pulls her down into the darkness with him.
BUY LINKS
{READ MORE FOR JASMINE'S REVIEW!}
"Ransom was a hard man to love, but I did it anyway."
Good lawd I'm still trying to sort my emotions after finishing this one. I thought I'd be mentally prepared after knowing what Thin Love put me through and even more with several warnings from my lovely reader friends, this book still managed to do a number on me. Mentally and emotionally spent.
It's not a must to read Thin Love before starting this one but it'd be highly advisable as this will be Ransom's story. We met Ransom in the first book being the son of Kiera and Kona. Before diving into the book, the author mentioned how Ransom's story will be different from Kiera/Kona and indeed it really was. When I say that, the angst is still ever-present but Ransom & Aly's love story stems from a very different place altogether.
The beginning of the read was quite of a slow burn. It was nice reuniting with the Hale family with the addition of little Koa running around. Then we meet Ransom who has a tragic memory plaguing him and bearing guilt so strong that is eating him alive every day. We are also introduced to Aly who came from a rough life and does multiple jobs to stay afloat. The two cross paths on various circumstances but it took a while before these two started getting along with each other.
What I really loved about this book is the heroine, Aly. I think she defines what every book heroine should be in my reads; she knows what she wants and she never thought less of herself despite her upbringing. Her resilience is something that I admired so much and everytime she stood up to Ransom, my heart soared a little more. She can be a little stubborn but she has a heart of gold especially when it comes to loving Ransom and for truly seeing a broken soul beneath that hulk of a boy.
"In front of him, hidden behind that mask, the music, the sensation conjured by the dance, the rhythm of that melody ripped away my reason. It was an echo of who I was, one that I'd never let anyone see but who nevertheless lurked below my carefully controlled exterior.And Ransom? Gah it's so easy to love this boy but at the same time be so mad at him for the choices he made throughout. I lost count on how many times I wanted to junkpunch him. Sometimes I have to remind myself that he's just an 18 year old boy who is fighting his demons and then my poor heart just breaks all over again at the thought of that. It's so hard to not feel for his heartache because I truly do. I really, truly do. The author just has a way of dangling my emotions right off the edge and not letting them go.
The only thing hindering me from rating this higher is the unexpected direction the story took with the epilogue. Okay I'm not gonna lie, I suspected something was amiss after reading the author's note. Cue in a few friends' warnings. At this point, I'm mentally prepared for a cliffy up ahead. But nope. Nothing prepared me for that twist that left me gobsmacked and unleashing ragey feels. I swear I was seeing red because in that moment, I felt like all that frustration and pain I went through were in vain. All I know that is I needed to calm the fark down.
And I did for a day or two. Talking it out with some fellow buddies helped a lot. In a way, I definitely understand how their story is needed to be told in two parts. It wouldn't have seemed right to crammed it in the last moment or did justice to their love story either but still, a tiny part of me wished it ended up a little differently. Perhaps the author may have her reasons for doing so and I'd like to believe she did it for reasons we'll only know when the sequel is out. So until then: Stay calm.
Honestly if I had to sum up Thick Love, all I can say is that Ransom and Aly's story is one that will hurt so bad that it's so good. The kind that really hits you deep in the gut but it's well worth the pain. It was a tough journey for those two but it is indeed as what the title states; it's thick love. Eden Butler didn't disappoint when it comes to dishing out the angst and despite the epilogue, I felt that everything else was perfect and she absolutely nailed it when it comes down to the emotions she managed to evoke from her readers.
And now the wait begins for the second part. We can only pray that it won't be too long till we get our answers!
ARC kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
In my head I counted...one, two and three, two, two and three and let that be all that my mind could hold. EXCERPT POST
“And the saida, Aly, show him.”
And she did, a full five step movement, me walking back, her following again, all the while her hips moved like an invitation, a sweet call that my body heard. But I couldn’t be into this, not this woman, she wasn’t my type. She was defensive, cold. She never, ever smiled, not at me, I hadn’t seen that once. She had always been so rigid— from the way she walked and the distant attitude to the severe bun at the back of her head.
But this Aly moved against me like a wave on the sand, bending into my hips, a brush of our bodies touching, working together like they were made to be and I couldn’t help but give in to the sensations that surrounded me. The music beating heavy, lulling like a drug, the tight press of her sinuous body, how easily she followed my movements, the smell of her hair, the warm moisture of her breath moving my collar. It was too much—so sudden, so unexpected and I blinked, realizing that the dancer from Summerland’s wasn’t the only who could get my body to pay attention. How was this happening...again? Grunting, I moved my hips away, then jerked my gaze to Aly’s face when her soft gasp registered that she, too, had noticed my body’s reaction.
Unbelievable, I thought. Nothing for over a year and inside of a week and a half my dick started misbehaving.
Closing my eyes, I exhaled, bent closer so only she could hear me when I spoke. “It’s not on purpose, but please don’t tell Leann. I’d never hear the end of it.”
I felt her nod, that small gesture against my chest and then Aly looked up, only her eyes moving. They were hazel with the smallest hint of green around the edges.
“Apologize,” she said, voice quiet but determined. My only response came from the lift of my eyebrows. “What?” she said, mouth still held in a line. “You were grosoulye...um, rude.”
“And you are a liar.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eden Butler is an editor and writer of New Adult Romance and SciFi and Fantasy novels and the nine-times great-granddaughter of an honest-to-God English pirate. This could explain her affinity for rule breaking and rum. Her debut novel, a New Adult, Contemporary (no cliffie) Romance, “Chasing Serenity” launched in October 2013 and quickly became an Amazon bestseller.When she’s not writing or wondering about her possibly Jack Sparrowesque ancestor, Eden edits, reads and spends way too much time watching rugby, Doctor Who and New Orleans Saints football.
Please send help.
Eden Butler is an editor and writer of New Adult Romance and SciFi and Fantasy novels and the nine-times great-granddaughter of an honest-to-God English pirate. This could explain her affinity for rule breaking and rum. Her debut novel, a New Adult, Contemporary (no cliffie) Romance, “Chasing Serenity” launched in October 2013 and quickly became an Amazon bestseller.When she’s not writing or wondering about her possibly Jack Sparrowesque ancestor, Eden edits, reads and spends way too much time watching rugby, Doctor Who and New Orleans Saints football.
She is currently living under teenage rule alongside her husband in southeast Louisiana.
Please send help.
No comments:
Post a Comment