Title: Shattered
Castles
Author: E.M. Tippetts
Age Group: YA
Genre: Contemporary
Romance
Release Date: 9/22/14
Pelican Bluffs is a
town built on secrets. Nestled away among the redwoods on the northern
California coast, it is the only home Madison Lukas has ever known. Her
classmates have been the same since she started kindergarten, and now that
she's a junior in high school, the wider world looms on the horizon, but it's
hard to know where to go when she has no idea where she came from.
Then one day, a message arrives from a stranger. A man who knows her face and her past, and who starts Madison on a journey of self discovery that she never could have imagined. Along the way friends turn into enemies and lives shatter. Can Madison Lukas endure the truth and come in to her own? Or will the secrets that destroyed her family, destroy her as well?
Then one day, a message arrives from a stranger. A man who knows her face and her past, and who starts Madison on a journey of self discovery that she never could have imagined. Along the way friends turn into enemies and lives shatter. Can Madison Lukas endure the truth and come in to her own? Or will the secrets that destroyed her family, destroy her as well?
Amazon - only $0.99
I’ve got
no armor against her, nothing to dull her touch. I can feel the heat rising off
her skin and the soft stream of her breath against my collarbone, and she’s not
even close enough to hold me yet. Those blue eyes look into mine again. “I’m
not going to trap you, okay? You can tell me to stop or to back off anytime.”
I nod.
“Can I
touch you?”
I hesitate,
then nod again and brace myself as she steps closer and places her hand on the
side of my neck, her thumb tracing my jawbone. It’s hard to breathe, for fear
any motion will cast her loose from me.
Those blue
eyes look me over, then return my gaze. “Can I hold you?”
I shut my
eyes. “Yes.”
She moves
in closer and our bodies touch. Her cheek rests against my clavicle as she fits
her body to mine.
I feel her
warm breath on the side of my neck and tremble, unable to hold still. My hand
shoots out to grasp the IV stand for balance. After a panicked moment, I give
in and reach up to stroke her silken hair with the backs of my fingers.
She
presses the palm of her hand to my waist, then slips it behind the small of my
back. Her other hand she slides up my back to grasp my shoulder, and now she’s
holding me like she always used to, right from when we first got together.
There’s no
way I can resist this. I slide my hands up her arms and watch her eyelids
flutter shut for a moment while I wrap her in my embrace. She lifts her chin
and I lean my forehead against hers. Just like before, I feel like I’m being
offered something far more precious than I deserve. I don’t understand why she
smiles when I stroke her hair and look into those eyes, but she does. She has
so many other options. So many other guys would require less sacrifice than I
do. I cup her jaw in the palm of my hand and gaze at her, willing her to know
how beautiful she is, how she could have anyone she wants.
“Can I
kiss you?” she whispers, shakily.
“Only if
you want to.”
She leans
in and presses her lips to the side of my throat.
I let out
a strangled gasp as she kisses her way down to the notch between my
collarbones. Delicate strands of her hair slide between my fingers as I stroke
the length of her long locks and tears burn my eyes. She feels more amazing
than ever.
Her breath
tickles my skin, “This okay?”
“Yeah.”
“How about
this?” She runs the tip of her tongue along the base of my neck creating an
explosion of sensation.
“Ah, hey.” I cling to her to keep my balance.
That is not a move I ever used on her. My knees are weak and my vision’s
graying out.
She
giggles. “Too much?”
Emotion
builds in my chest like a thundercloud. “No,” I whisper.
I was really surprised at how much I loved this set of books. I was slightly put off in the beginning about the whole LDS references that run through this story so strongly. I have always been put off by this religion because of it's allowances of polygamy and marriage at a young age. But I am not so closed minded that I wasn't able to read it and truly appreciate the authors abilities as an author.
The story was completely intriguing and I literally zoned out for an entire day and a half just reading this set of books.
Book one was just really really good. I loved the characters and the uncertainty in the beginning that had me guessing for a good long while who our MC, Madison, would end up with. Seriously the friend in this story, Kailie was a source of aggravation. Madison is a very, very compassionate person because after the "facebook incident" and I would have ditched her like a plague! I really liked Carson, Alex and even John. Honestly Siraj was favorite character too! It was really a great storyline, long lost brother, mom is a mystery, life was good yet it sucked in so many ways for Madison.
I liked the side story that unfolded with Alex and his mother's situation. That was really very moving to me. Really all in all book one was a fabulous read that I would recommend to contemporary readers that read both YA and NA. It was just really really good.
I started book two with dread. It wasn't that book one doesn't end well because it does have a really great ending. It was that little bit of preview for book two in the middle... No! Just no!
Okay so I love that we are getting POV from Alex. He is after all my absolute fave character in this whole thing. I was really sad about what he was going through though. Not Alex.. I was reading so quickly because I NEEDED to know how it played out. For me the story became about Alex instead of Madison or maybe it was just the center of my focus. who knows? It just all got so jumbled and messed up! I was on edge worried that it would never come back around to how I thought it was supposed to be. Needless to say it kept me on edge and I cried more than once!
I like that the books deal; with deep deep issues that affect so many people. We don't even realize half of the people who deal with mental illness of one form or another. I think it brings awareness where it's needed. Okay I don't want to spoil this but I think you would enjoy it very much if you gave it a try. It was definitely a five star read that I am purchasing for my sixteen year old daughter.
I recommend it very very highly to anyone who reads contemporary fiction.
I was really surprised at how much I loved this set of books. I was slightly put off in the beginning about the whole LDS references that run through this story so strongly. I have always been put off by this religion because of it's allowances of polygamy and marriage at a young age. But I am not so closed minded that I wasn't able to read it and truly appreciate the authors abilities as an author.
The story was completely intriguing and I literally zoned out for an entire day and a half just reading this set of books.
Book one was just really really good. I loved the characters and the uncertainty in the beginning that had me guessing for a good long while who our MC, Madison, would end up with. Seriously the friend in this story, Kailie was a source of aggravation. Madison is a very, very compassionate person because after the "facebook incident" and I would have ditched her like a plague! I really liked Carson, Alex and even John. Honestly Siraj was favorite character too! It was really a great storyline, long lost brother, mom is a mystery, life was good yet it sucked in so many ways for Madison.
I liked the side story that unfolded with Alex and his mother's situation. That was really very moving to me. Really all in all book one was a fabulous read that I would recommend to contemporary readers that read both YA and NA. It was just really really good.
I started book two with dread. It wasn't that book one doesn't end well because it does have a really great ending. It was that little bit of preview for book two in the middle... No! Just no!
Okay so I love that we are getting POV from Alex. He is after all my absolute fave character in this whole thing. I was really sad about what he was going through though. Not Alex.. I was reading so quickly because I NEEDED to know how it played out. For me the story became about Alex instead of Madison or maybe it was just the center of my focus. who knows? It just all got so jumbled and messed up! I was on edge worried that it would never come back around to how I thought it was supposed to be. Needless to say it kept me on edge and I cried more than once!
I like that the books deal; with deep deep issues that affect so many people. We don't even realize half of the people who deal with mental illness of one form or another. I think it brings awareness where it's needed. Okay I don't want to spoil this but I think you would enjoy it very much if you gave it a try. It was definitely a five star read that I am purchasing for my sixteen year old daughter.
I recommend it very very highly to anyone who reads contemporary fiction.
2 winners will receive a print copy of Shattered Castles, open Intl
Emily Mah Tippetts writes science fiction as Emily Mah and sweet romance as E.M. Tippetts. A lifelong New Mexican, she lives with her family in Santa Fe, though she's been known to spend years at a time in the UK, her second home. Aside from being a writer, she's been a lawyer and jeweler, and is currently a stay at home mother, polymer clay artist, book designer/formatter, and owner of E.M. Tippetts Book Designs.
No comments:
Post a Comment