ARC Review: A Shattered Moment (Fractured Lives #1) by Tiffany King

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: May 5, 2015
Publisher: Berkeley
304 Pages

In the new series by Tiffany King, the USA Today bestselling author of the Woodfalls Girls novels, six friends—fresh from high school graduation—discover that the future can come at you from out of nowhere.

This is Mackenzie’s story…

Mackenzie Wilson once had hope for what life had to offer, but everything changed on the night of her graduation. A year later, the only way she can find comfort is by keeping her head down and hoping she remains unnoticed at college.

When Bentley James discovered Mac in that twisted SUV, he was just a newbie EMT on his first call. It was a gut-wrenching moment that made him realize not everyone can be saved—and sometimes they don’t want to be.

A chance encounter on campus brings Bentley back into Mac’s life. Despite her initial resistance, he sets out to discover the girl hiding beneath a shield of seclusion. He evokes painful memories in Mac—but also feelings. As the spark between them grows, Mac must decide if she can let go of the past and believe in something as fragile as love…

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Heartbreaking, heart-stopping, emotional rollercoaster - and that's just the prologue. A Shattered Moment starts off on a very painful note and over the course of the book manages to break through that pain into a book about learning to live again.

On what should have been one of the happiest nights of her life, Mackenzie Robinson's life changes in the most unexpected way. Loss like she has never known now plagues her everyday. In order to try to shed the pain, she in turn sheds her own identity, now only answering to Mac. But Mac's not really living, she's just going through the motions. Wake up, go to class, study in the library, avoid roommate, sleep, repeat. That is until she meets Bentley James.

Bentley was the EMT on duty that night when Mac's life changed. It's a night he also will never forget. When Bentley sees Mac in their school library, he makes it his mission to get to know her - even if she's resistant. Something about her pulls him in, he knows what happened to her and he wants to help. Only he doesn't see that when Mac sees Bentley, she also sees that night.

King's writing is so raw that it just demands to be felt. Bentley is so full of light and warmth, which is the opposite of Mac's darkness and cold attitude toward the world. I mean, he fights with his roommates iguana. How adorable is that? He's also the only person who doesn't make Mac feel...wait, no, scratch that, he is the only person to make Mac feel. And she's not sure how to deal with that. Having been in her own personal bubble, she doesn't realize that she was missing human interaction until he wakes that up in her.

Mac was a complicated little cookie. She wanted to be left alone, for people not to notice her disability, to just get through the day. Over the course of the book, she starts to come alive again. And as she faces the past, we learn more about what happened that fateful night. And when she finally grieves and forgives, the anger she felt starts to disappear.

I loved this book much more than I thought I would. King has become one of those authors where I will just read anything she publishes. I cannot wait to see where the next book takes us. I have a feeling it will be just as hard to get through as this one.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

ARC Review: Contradictions (Woodfalls Girls #3) by Tiffany King

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: January 6, 2015
Publisher: Berkley Trade
304 Pages

When everything starts spinning out of control . . .

Three years into college, Tressa Oliver’s life is a nonstop party. She’s skating by in her classes, and there’s no shortage of drinking, dancing, and general hell-raising. The only aspect that hasn’t been much fun: She can’t shake the toxic jerks that always seem to gravitate toward her.

It will take someone totally wrong . . .

Trent Lawson is the classic anti-bad boy: smart, boring, and way too serious. To a wild girl like Tressa, there’s no way in hell they’re compatible—especially since Trent seems to see straight through her defenses.

To set her right.

When a college prank goes terribly wrong, Tressa starts to suspect that her partying ways are leading nowhere fast. Now she has to turn to the last person she ever thought she’d ask for help—and quickly discovers that there’s more to Trent than meets the eye . . .

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Nerd boy meets party girl in this super sweet love story. Tressa Oliver is your typical college party girl: she goes to classes but only gives enough just to pass , non-stop drinking and partying are always on her social calendar, and there’s definitely no shortage of boys. When that life comes crashing down, Tressa is doused in the reality that either she changes or she’s out of college.

Trent Larson is everything that Tressa isn’t used to. He prefers studying over partying, he’s quiet, and kind of a geek. And he’s also from Tressa’s hometown. Everything she wants to stay away from. When Trent is assigned as her tutor, her first instinct is to run. Something about the way Trent looks at her makes her uncomfortable. And who needs a tutor anyway?

I absolutely adored Trent. Maybe because I’m slightly a geek myself, but everything about him made me want to cuddle (and more!) with him. Even though he came across as quiet, he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. He was blunt and preferred to get straight to the point of what he was always feeling instead of running in circles and playing games. Tressa has no idea what to do with him, or her budding feelings. But realizing she’s about to lose everything and that she’s disappointed those who believed in her, has her rethinking everything about how she lives. 

Tiffany King’s writing just seems to get better and better within this series. From the first one to this, I see so much growth in storytelling and execution. And the boys just keep getting better. Trent is my favorite thing to come out of Woodfalls and I look forward to reading more from King.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in return for an honest review.

ARC Review: When We Met by A.L. Jackson, Molly McAdams, Tiffany King, & Christina Lee

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: November 4, 2014
Publisher: NAL Trade
400 Pages

Today’s premiere New Adult authors combine their talents to tell four original stories from inside one house.

When four girls decide to live off campus together as juniors at a college in Michigan, they expect it to be their best year yet. Little do they know, it’s a year that will change the rest of their lives.

BEHIND HER EYES by A.L. Jackson
Unable to live down her ex-boyfriend’s deception, Misha is determined to avoid betrayal. When, the new guy next door, Darryn starts to get under her skin, her defenses start to crumble. But trusting Darryn seems impossible, especially if he’s not sure he can trust himself.

SAVING ME by Molly McAdams
On the outside, Indy is always ready for a party—but inside she’s breaking. Kier makes a weekly routine of saving the girl next door from herself on Saturday nights… but when will she be ready to remember him on Sunday morning?

FOULING OUT by Tiffany King
Working at a sports bar, Courtney has become a pro at sidestepping propositions from arrogant jocks—which makes her a more elusive catch for campus basketball star Dalton than he expected. But when he falls for the saucy waitress, Dalton will have to rethink his game plan to prove he’s not the jerk Courtney expects.

BENEATH YOUR LAYERS by Christina Lee
In order to ace her fashion internship, Chloe must team up with local college dropout and set builder, Blake—much to her chagrin. But after some "hands-on" experience, Chloe will have to ask herself if Blake factors into her carefully laid plans…

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A collection of four short stories based around a group of friends living in the same house. 

Behind Her Eyes by A.L. Jackson: 3 stars. I just want to start off by saying that you should not refer to one of your main characters as ‘boy-man-god’ every time you want to describe him. It was funny the first time but then it just got to be too much. 

Misha was burned by her first love. Her trust shattered in an instant. Then she meets Darryn, literally the boy next door. Soon Misha finds herself trusting someone again, feeling safe. But like most stories, Darryn is keeping a secret from Misha, one that shows her that you can’t trust anyone. It was a cute story about learning to trust yourself and others. 

Saving Me by Molly McAdams: 4 stars. Adams was the only author in this bunch that I hadn’t read before and I had heard mixed reviews of her writing. But in all honestly, her story was my favorite. 

Indy likes to spend her nights partying at the frat house next door, just getting lost in everything. More often than not, those nights end up with her safe in her bed with no memory of how she got there. Kier is the boy who puts her there. Every party he is there making sure she’s safe. I adored Kier and how patient he was with Indy. The little things he did, without her ever knowing, were so adorable. And the fact that he wasn’t doing any of it for credit. Indy never remembered him in the morning. Oh, how many times he wanted to tell her, but was afraid she wasn’t ready for that. So he took it slow, bidding his time and a friendship grew. The writing style and pacing really made me interested in reading more of McAdams work.

Fouling Out by Tiffany King: 4 stars. King was the reason I was so excited when I received this in the mail. She tells a story of old friends, first loves, and chances missed. Courtney and Dalton have a past, one that Courtney wants to forget. He was the one that got away and it kills her to admit it. Now he’s the star of their college’s basketball team and she’s working at the local sports bar. 

Dalton wants to get to know the girl who slipped away from him when he was younger. It was his fault that things got as strained as they did between the two of them. Pressure from his father to focus on his game left little time for anything else. But first, he has to figure out how to prove to Courtney that he’s not just the spoiled jock everyone thinks he is. I loved Courtney and Daltons relationship. His blatant flirting and her feisty comebacks made for a fun exchange to read. 

Beneath Your Layers by Christina Lee: 3 stars. Lee tells a story about two opposites coming together. The classic opposites attract. Chloe has her life perfectly planned out and getting glowing marks on her internship project is where everything starts. She comes up with this brilliant idea but just needs a little extra help getting there. Enter Blake, the complete opposite of Chloe. College drop-out, messy, nothing planned in life. 

When Blake offers to help Chloe, she’s hesitant at first. Nothing about him seems trustworthy and her future depends on this project. They fight, they don’t see eye to eye, and they’re extremely attracted to each other. Chloe was a little too uppity for me, I understood why, but it still kept me from bonding with her. However, I loved Blake’s brashness. He had a hard edge to him and he wasn’t just this perfect boy who did sweet things. He was vulgar and rough but he tried and in the end, that’s what is important.

Overall, this was a nice collection of stories and I enjoyed every one. They all flowed nicely and worked well together. It was believable that this was the story of a group of friends and a glimpse into their lives. 

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Misunderstandings (Woodfalls Girls #2) by Tiffany King

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: May 6, 2014
Publisher: Berkeley Trade
304 Pages

Just when she thought things were going up…

Two years after a devastating breakup, Brittni Mitchell has moved on from Justin Avery—or so she tells herself. But when she returns to Seattle for her best friend’s engagement party, Brittni finds herself the victim of a disastrously timed elevator breakdown. She’s trapped with the last person she wants to face, and forced to recount the past she desperately wants to forget.

She’s going to have to look back…

When Brittni left her podunk hometown for a big city college experience at the University of Washington, hooking up with a guy like Justin Avery was not part of her plan. Between Justin’s attention-grabbing tattoos, cigarette smoking, and bad boy attitude Brittni quickly chalked him up as "Mr. Wrong.” But his charm was unrelenting, and Brittni’s decision to give Justin a chance quickly turned into the worst choice she ever made.

So that she might be able to move forward.

Now she’s stuck with Justin—literally—and the complicated web of misunderstandings that tied up the truth for two years is about to unravel.

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I have a knack for reading books in a series out of order. It’s just this thing I do. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It worked here. I loved King’s writing and the way she told both the past and present stories. It was a great way to learn about their histories without having the giant info dump.

Imagine having a horrible breakup with probably the love of your life and then being trapped in an elevator with them two years later – after having no contact during those years. Not the most ideal situation. Brittni and Justin have so many unresolved issues based on the ending of relationship neither wanted to end, but either didn’t know how to keep it. 

Brittni fell hard for Justin during college and the two embarked on what appeared to be an epic romance of two people who wouldn’t likely fall for each other. But all too quickly things got out of control. Justin started to wonder if he can really be the guy Brittni needs and Brittni kept secrets – important secrets. Ultimately, they exploded.

While I liked Brittni, at times I felt it was hard to relate to her. She wanted so much for Justin to just know her every thought and every feeling when she was doing anything to hide them. Justin, on the other hand, I fell hard for. I’ve read some other reviews where he gets so much flack for how he handled everything with Brittni, but truthfully, with the secret she kept, he deserved to be angry. 

The relationships and the writing made this a very good read for me and definitely made me want to check out the first book in this series and others from this writer. 

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in return for an honest review.

Book Review: No Attachments (Woodfalls Girls #1) by Tiffany King

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: August 5, 2014
Publisher: Berkeley Trade
304 Pages

Ashton Garrison walked away from her current life to escape the one thing she’s unwilling to face. She knows her decision may be selfish, but in the end, leaving will be far less painful for everyone. Now she has one goal: live life to the fullest with no regrets and no attachments. What Ashton doesn’t count on is how fate always seems to find a way to screw up any good plan.

Nathan Lockton specializes in locating a mark. He’s done it over and over again—no attachments and no emotion necessary. What he thought was a routine lost-and-found job has forced Nathan to deal with something he has always ignored—his feelings. He’s never fallen for a target, yet he’s never met anyone like Ashton. Now deep in a dilemma, Nathan must decide to follow his heart, or complete the job he was hired to do.

Love can come when you least expect it. The question is: If the odds are stacked against you, how far are you willing to go for the one you love?

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Have a one-night stand steamy affair with no attachments – check (kinda).

Meet Ashton, a girl literally running from her past, who just wants to live and check things off of her to-do list of sorts. Conquer a fear, go canoeing, have a one-night stand, those sorts of things. When she sees Nathan at a local bar, she believes that she’s found her one time lover. What she doesn’t know is that Nathan knows who she is and was actually paid to track her down for a client. Once they meet, they are immediately taken with each other. Ashton decides she wants a steamy affair instead of a one-night stand and Nathan decides he just needs more of her before he turns her over to his client. A no attachment deal is struck. And we all know how those turn out…

The mystery of why Ashton ran from her past kept me highly intrigued for most of the book (until I figured it out). I liked her determination and she was funny. It took more time for me to warm up to Nathan. He was obviously lying to her from the beginning, and while she lied about parts of her past, I felt his lie held more weight. He had to work for my approval, but, not going to lie, by the end of the book, he had it. 

This was my second King book (I actually read the second in this series first) and I enjoy her writing. It’s relatable and the characters are likeable. Looking forward to the third book in this series. 

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in return for an honest review.