Blog Tour: Review of Sanctuary of Mine by S. Pratt

Synopsis

THIS IS A NEW ADULT NOVEL. RECOMMENDED FOR 17+ YEARS DUE TO SEXUAL CONTENT AND SOCIAL SITUATIONS
When you see someone who looks like they need saving, you save them right?

Mackenzie Deeks is struggling. Outwardly she plays the tough guy and acts like being a young adult with an eating disorder is no big deal. Inside, she's crumbling.

Ever since her parents’ divorce, the only way she has been able to feel in control of her life is by purging the despair that has its grips on her and won't let go.

Tyler Redding knows when someone needs help - he's seen it before. This time, though, he's not going to take no for an answer. From the moment he first sets his sights on Mackenzie, he's unable to think of anyone else. But how can he focus on a football career when all he wants to do is date the most unassuming person he's ever met?

As their lives become intricately entwined, it becomes more than wishful thinking when Mackenzie and Tyler find each other again as adults. With successful careers, a beachside lifestyle and each other’s love to contend with, life should be pretty damn good. But just when they think they’ve found their wonderful kind of normal, their perfect world comes crashing down.

It’s going to take a lot to keep Mackenzie from succumbing to old habits, but Tyler thinks he might just be the one to save her for good.

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Melanie says...

There’s something very peaceful about being in love. It can make you light as a feather; so blissfully unaware of anything else of importance. It can make you feel anger, rage, jealousy and lust all in one sentence. But the most important thing that love can give a person is certainty. Certainty that love, real love, will always pull you through your darkest days. - Tyler

This is such a wonderful book! It deals with loneliness, hopelessness, eating disorders, bullying, divorce, friendship, love, loyalty, acceptance, illness, death and hope.

Mackenzie has an eating disorder. She barely eats anything and often vomits. She does it to ease the pain and anger she has over her parents divorce. She does everything she can to fade into the background at school. She has no friends until she meets an overweight boy named Levi. Levi uses food to feed his pain and he 'gets' Mackenzie. They support each other and never judge each other.

When Tyler the school football star starts pursuing her, she really doesn't understand why he would ever want to be with her. They fall for each other, but are torn apart when his father gets a job out of the country and Tyler has to go with them.

Mack is the kind of chick that I’d break all the rules for. In fact, I think I’ve already broken all the ones I set for myself before I even had the balls to ask her out. - Tyler

Over the course of a year and a half, they write letters to each other and fall in love all over again.  The time apart gave Mackenzie time to find herself and get help for her disorder. When Tyler returns home he can't believe how beautiful she is.

This is Mackenzie's & Tyler's journey. A journey of self-discovery, true friendship, love and appreciation. There is so much packed into this story. It was never slow or boring. It makes you feel what Mack went through having an eating disorder.

Learning to love, learning to let go. Sometimes they are life’s most valuable lessons. Sometimes, we can’t even begin to move forward until we go through the motions of anger, denial and acceptance. Tyler is a constant source of amazement to me. His passion, his drive and his insistence that things will always get better are what bring me back from the brink of depression when I’m feeling at my lowest. There is no way to express my gratitude towards him, so I try by showing him each and every day how much I love and appreciate him. - Mackenzie

4.5 Stars!!

Excerpt

TYLER



‘You can’t go on living like this. This is the old you. The you before you promised me that you’d never do this to yourself again. I love you so much and can’t watch you do this to yourself.’



‘Well then leave!’ Her stale breath hits me. The feral tone that spews from her mouth smacks me straight across the face. Her words sting like a bitch, but I’m trying not to take it personally.



‘You don’t mean that. You love me too, I know you do.’



‘Do I?’ Petulant eyes stare me down. I swallow hard. Why is she being so damn difficult?



‘Well if you don’t love me, damn well pretend Mackenzie! Because each and every second I’m not with you is like torture for me and I can’t accept that you don’t love me enough to want to let me help you get through this.’ Her expression softens just a little, but it’s enough to let me know I’m making headway. Levi is still standing in the bathroom doorway, the quiet spectator while all our back and forth is going on.



In my sternest voice possible, I issue her an order.



‘I’m going downstairs. I’m going to put the kettle on and make coffee for all of us. I’m going to make you a sandwich, which you’re damn well going to eat. Then we’re going to talk about anything you want to talk about, but whether you like it or not, we are going to talk. We’re going to talk until it doesn’t hurt anymore. I’m here for you and I’m not going anywhere. Levi is going to help you get cleaned up and you’re not going to give him a hard time about it. I know you’re hurting, Mack, but we are too. Your pain is our pain.’



I kiss the tip of her perfect little nose before rising to leave. Levi’s eyes lock with mine, respect silently offered as I make my way out.



‘Tyler!’ I swivel around, Mackenzie’s desperate plea grounding me to the spot.



‘Yeah?’



‘I do love you, you know.’ Tears trickle down her cheeks, falling into the bath water as though they are the most inconsequential thing in the world. They aren’t, though. They’re everything. It means she isn’t far enough gone not to feel anything.



‘I know you do, baby, I know you do.’

Meet the Author

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Shelly is a multi-genre author who lives on the east coast of Australia in northern New South Wales with her husband and two children.

Shelly's breakout novel, Ruined and companion novella, Ruining Angel are contemporary romance fiction books available on kindle and print from the Amazon store. Sanctuary of Mine is a New Adult Romance and available in print and kindle on Amazon. (Graphic Design by Cover It Designs).

Beloved Soul by Shelly Pratt is available through Amazon and is published through Eternal Press. Please note that Beloved Soul's cover artwork, editing and publication is all done through Eternal Press.

Editing acknowledgements go to those who are listed on each individual book title.

Earlier novels written by Shelly will now all be published under Stevie Harlow. Slight title modifications have been made, but ALL of this information will be made clearly visible to readers so there will be no confusion to those who have previously purchased these books. You can find all of the Stevie Harlow Novels on this website in the menu above. Just hover and click!

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Blog Tour: Review of Crash Into You (Pushing the Limits #3) by Katie McGarry

From acclaimed author Katie McGarry comes an explosive new tale of a good girl with a reckless streak, a street-smart guy with nothing to lose, and a romance forged in the fast lane 

The girl with straight As, designer clothes and the perfect life-that's who people expect Rachel Young to be. So the private-school junior keeps secrets from her wealthy parents and overbearing brothers...and she's just added two more to the list. One involves racing strangers down dark country roads in her Mustang GT. The other? Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Walker-a guy she has no business even talking to. But when the foster kid with the tattoos and intense gray eyes comes to her rescue, she can't get him out of her mind. 

Isaiah has secrets, too. About where he lives, and how he really feels about Rachel. The last thing he needs is to get tangled up with a rich girl who wants to slum it on the south side for kicks-no matter how angelic she might look. 

But when their shared love of street racing puts both their lives in jeopardy, they have six weeks to come up with a way out. Six weeks to discover just how far they'll go to save each other.

Lea says...

Crash Into You is the third book in the Pushing the Limits series and centers around Isaiah Walker, whom we met in the previous installments. I was very excited about getting more of his story and seeing whether or not he finally got his piece of happiness.

The heroine is the seemingly perfect Rachel Young. Seemingly, because most everything about her is an act. She is the baby (though she has a twin) of the five Young children, and the only remaining girl.

“The shy girl. The awkward girl. The one born to replace the girl everyone really wanted.”

—Rachel

 The reason she even exists in the first place is severely depressing and the way her parents expect so much of her is maddening, and it definitely takes a toll on her health. She can barely speak in front of a group without suffering from extreme anxiety, which she hides in an effort to keep the house of cards her family is built upon, from crashing down.

“I hate this illness. I hate it in ways that make my blood run cold and my muscles heavy with rage. I hate the way my family has always looked at me as if I’m breakable.”

—Rachel

Despite the perfect façade she exhibits for her family, Rachel likes nothing girly. She doesn’t desire trips to the mall, or days spent being pampered in a fancy salon. Nope. What Rachel craves—the only thing that can ease her nervousness—is speed.

 “My mind clears when I’m behind the wheel and there’s something about the sound of the engine dropping into gear as I press on the gas makes me feel…powerful.”

—Rachel

During a drive one fateful night, she finds herself involved in some crazy, illegal activity, complete with running from the police. Much to her surprise, the tattooed and scary looking Isaiah is who comes to her rescue.

“God does exist and he sent an angel in a white Mustang to prove it.”

—Isaiah

They spend the rest of the night growing increasingly attracted to one another. Isaiah is so sweet to her, and being inside his head, we see how confusing it is for him to realize his initial impression of Rachel is possibly wrong. And we see Rachel begin to crawl out of her shell, bit by bit.

“This isn’t me. None of it. I’m not the girl who hangs in a bar. I’m not the girl who is comfortable talking to guys. And I’m sure not the girl who leans over the table to be close to anyone.”

—Rachel

The two connect in a way neither ever expected, and I love the way Isaiah regards her. For such a hard edge, he is adorably caring and protective of her. And even when more trouble than they know what to do with finds them, he can’t keep himself away from her.

“Rachel’s this brilliant flame blazing in the darkness. I don’t know what the hell is going on, but I’ve always been the kind of guy that likes a fire.”

—Isaiah

While they try to wheel and deal their way out of this life-threatening situation they were mistakenly pulled into, their developing relationship is caught in the crossfire. I was nervous throughout the majority of the book, and definitely rooting for these two to make it out, alive and together.

Your heart will break for Isaiah, shuffled through various foster homes and about to age out of the system. And for Rachel as well, because even though she comes from a wealthy side of town and has lots of immediate family who are all overprotective, she is extremely neglected. Though he does struggle with some of the differences between them, along with feelings of inferiority, I love that Isaiah doesn’t let his misfortune cloud his judgment of her, that he sees her for who she really is instead of being bitter about what she has.

 “Being born into this world is the greatest crapshoot there is. Some are born lucky, others aren’t. For the first time, I see that this rule transcends money.”

—Isaiah

Crash Into You is a beautiful take on the clichéd bad boy/good girl storyline.  I read through it quickly and didn’t want it to end. That may be my only complaint. I wish that there would have been more of the two of them in regards to what will happen next. I know that the next book will be about one of Rachel’s brothers, and I can only hope that we learn more about her and Isaiah’s individual futures, as well as their relationship status.

I loved the other two books and novella from this series, and once again, Katie McGarry did not disappoint. I cannot wait for the next one!

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KATIE MCGARRY was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, and reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.

Katie would love to hear from her readers. Contact her via her website, katielmcgarry.com, follow her on Twitter @KatieMcGarry, or become a fan on Facebook and Goodreads.

Review: The Wager by Rachel Van Dyken

Lose a bet, lose your heart...

What is it about a junior-high crush that can send an otherwise intelligent woman into a tailspin? TV reporter Char Lynn wishes she knew. Jake Titus is too rich, too handsome, too arrogant: a trifecta that once lured Char into the best night-and worst morning-after-of her life. Now they've been thrown together in a wedding party. It's awkward, but survivable . . . until Jake stops acting like a jerk, and starts acting like the man she'd always hoped he could be.

If watching your brother marry your best friend is weird, being attracted to your best friend's other best friend is downright bizarre. Unfortunately for Jake, Char hasn't forgotten how he once tossed her aside. Worse still, Jake's already-nutty grandma is even crazier about Char. Cue meet-cute shenanigans and all manner of meddling, and somehow, Jake's falling. For Char. Now all he has to do is make her believe it . . .

Christina says...

Okay I have to admit I was pretty upset with Jake at the end of The Bet.  But once I got into The Wager, I knew I would love him. He just needed to find his heart again.

I honestly do not think I could have loved this story any more than I did. Seriously Grandma had me rolling with laughter every twist and turn. Once she decides to take on a challenge, there is no stopping her or for that matter hiding from her!

"Grandma sees all. It's like hiding from God."

Jake has spent a lifetime living off his millions and being a playboy. Never caring about anyone around him. There was never going to be anyone who could tame him. Or so he thought. That is when Grandma decided it’s about time he settle down and she knows just the way to handle him.

“Karma: It was finally coming for him. And it was in the form of an eighty-six-year-old woman with lipstick on her teeth. Hell.”

Char has loved Jake forever. She has also had her heart broken several times by him. But putting all that aside she must now work with him for her best friend’s wedding. Being the Maid of Honor was a big deal and she wanted Kacey to have the happy ever after fairytale. 

But Grandma of course has other plans, OMG this woman is insane!! She seriously thrusts them together making them do all these weird wedding tasks for the wedding. And of course NO ONE can say no to grandma.  One thing for certain is the wedding between Kacey and Travis will go off without a hitch. It will be beautiful and magical.

“Marriage is just the beginning of our story, and I hope to God that when he writes The End, it’s us, on that last page, still holding hands.”

But will Jake grow up and realize what has been in front of him for most of his life? Will he change his bad boy ways? From the moment Char was thrust into his life by grandma something has been stirring in Jake. When he reads the letter from Kacey’s dad to him, all of a sudden things become clear to him.

“My advice? Be the man. Don’t let yourself drown. Don’t run or swim away from the safety of the boat. The boat, that’s your home, your family, your life. The preserver that keeps you afloat will always be your wife, your partner. Without a preserver you drown, a preserver without something to hold onto has no purpose, so you see, you need each other… you need to rely on one another for everything.”

“I guess what I’m saying is … love yer. Please her, cherish her, and by God, son, her smiles better outnumber her tears.”

Life changes.. when the game of love becomes:

 “Life altering, earth moving, soul searching”

Jake and Char, there is so much love between them, they just need to find each other. Grandma always knows best!! I don’t know why they ever doubt her. LOL… I hope you will enjoy this book as much as I did. I give it a solid 4 stars! I truly hope this is not the last we have seen of the Titus family. That Grandma is a character and a half. I really feel there is more to her than anyone could ever guess.  And we all know Grandma is definitely not done meddling in the lives of loved ones:

Jake Sighed.  “It’s like waiting for the storm to hit. No matter how many times you scream ‘Hurricane, take cover!’ the poor unsuspecting victims just stare at the sky in awe.”

  “Grandma has that effect on people.” Char linked her arm with his.

“I can’t look away,” Travis said. “It’s like watching a car wreck. You know you should call 911 and help, but damn if you can’t manage to do anything but drive by slowly and gape.”

“Only God can help them now.” Kacey sighed.

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Rachel Van Dyken is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author of regency and contemporary romances. When she's not writing you can find her drinking coffee at Starbucks and plotting her next book while watching The Bachelor.
She keeps her home in Idaho with her Husband and their snoring Boxer, Sir Winston Churchill. She loves to hear from readers! You can follow her writing journey at www.rachelvandykenauthor.com

Blog Tour: Cherry Girl by Raine Miller

Elaina Morrison has loved Neil McManus her whole life. She doesn’t remember a time when she didn’t love him. Through heartbreaking tragedy and years of separation, her love holds true…until life stomps all over her heart, shattering her perfect dream, teaching her how hard it is to let go.

Real life doesn’t have anything on romantic dreams though, as these two have learned repeatedly. It sucks big time, leaving painful scars in its wake. 

But Neil isn’t giving up. He’s endured years of longing and sacrifice to wait for her. Always a soldier, he knows his way around a battlefield, and winning Elaina is no different. So that’s precisely what Neil is going to do. He'll go in fighting, and make Elaina see what he already knows.

That she will forever be his Cherry Girl…

Then Neil smiled at me.  His entire beautiful face lighting up from his eyes to his chin. My guy looked really happy.  My guy. I have a guy.  Neil.  Neil McManus is my man now.

Christmasand my birthday had come to me early this year, and both at the same time apparently.

Then I watched him get up from the bed and head into his bathroom.  I heard the shower turn on and then the opening and closing of cupboards.  He returned a few moments later with a big towel to wrap around me, and said he’d left me a shirt and some shorts I could wear after my shower if I liked.  He told me he would be in the kitchen setting
up the coffeemaker for the morning, and then he left the bedroom and closed the
door.

I stayed in Neil’s bed for another moment and did my best to take everything
in.  I was definitely a mess on the outside, but inside where my heart still thwacked out a beat, I was absolutely floating around cloud nine.

He loved me.  Neil really loved me, but damn if I’d allow him to kiss me
again before I got clean and comfortable.  I felt utterly gross and hideous and still had trouble processing all that had just happened with us in the span of a very few hours.

I left his bed and headed into the bathroom.  The shower was already hot and
steaming up the small space.  As promised he’d set out his toothbrush and
paste for me to use, and even some silky boxers and a soft black T-shirt
with The Jimi Hendrix Experience in white letters across the front.

I knew Neil was a Hendrix fan and I’d even seen him wearing this very shirt on
occasion, and yet the fact he’d picked it out for me in particular, touched me.  I reached for it and buried my face in its softness, inhaling deeply.  Neil’s scent has always been heavenly to me and I’d been addicted to it for years.  Hard to describe, but absolutely lush on my sensibilities.  Like fresh air and forest spice and pure water all combined into the perfect blend of male fragrance.

And I’d been restricted from indulging in it for most of my life.  But not anymore.

I shut the bathroom door, stripped out of my bra and knickers, and got clean in
my boyfriend’s shower.  I so loved the words contained in that thought.

I’m sure I wore a ridiculous grin on my face the whole time I scrubbed.  Once
I was done in his shower and working out my teeth with his own personal toothbrush, I still kept grinning into the mirror like an idiot, glad the door was shut and Neil couldn’t see how much of a lovesick fool I was being right now.  Pointless indeed.  He would know it the moment I stepped out anyway.  He probably already did know it.

I left the bathroom dressed in his T-shirt and silky boxer shorts.  Better than naked in a towel or my puked-spotted clothes and really sexy to have my skin against things that had been against his previously.

His shirt came down to the top of my thighs and I’d already decided I was keeping
the thing.  Yeah, Neil’s beloved Hendrix shirt would forever belong to me.  I had absolutely no qualms about my thievery either.  I didn’t want to have to be without the scent of him once his leave was over.  I wouldn’t have him for long before he had to go back to being owned by the British Army in Afghanistan.  That meant his shirt wasn’t getting washed
anytime soon.  If ever.

My inner ramblings distracted me to the point I wasn’t thinking about what might
be waiting for me when I came out.  But the sight that greeted me upon my return to the bedroom in nothing but Neil’s shorts and shirt, was not even close to what I expected.  Stopping dead in my tracks, I’m sure my eyes were bugging out of my skull.  The towel
I’d been using to dry my hair slid from my grip and onto the floor with a soft thud.

Neil was in his bed, and he was definitely waiting for me.

Holy Hell, he was a beautiful man.  Sitting up against the headboard, he was leaning back, his wide bare chest exposed for my eyes to drink in.  The cuts and angles of his hard muscles and golden skin in contrast to the white sheets nearly made me whimper aloud.  I wanted to touch him so badly and knew there was a very good chance I would be getting my wish soon.

I could see that his nipples were hard, his gaze trained upon me deep with
liquidity, mysterious and sensual with a bit of an edge.  I could only imagine what he was thinking about right now.  Sweaty, crazy, naked shagging I’m sure.  I definitely was.

My nipples were hard too, and I felt an involuntary shiver roll down my spine at
the thought of Neil putting his hands on them.

I’d seen his body before.  I knew what Neil looked like without his shirt on, and I knew very well about the washboard abs, and how they tapered into a V at his hips that made my insides a quivering mess whenever I was lucky enough to get a decent look at him.  Which happened only on occasion, unfortunately.

Neil was blessed with an earthly form that easily put him into mythical god territory, but I’d never been in a position to allow myself to think of him in that way.  Those times I’d seen him had been when he was working out with Ian or roughing ’round with boys at football or having a swim.

This situation right now was completely different.  Neil was like this for me and for me alone.  He was offering himself to me—his body for my eyes to see, for my hands to touch, and for my lips to kiss.

“You’ve dropped your towel,” he said softly, splaying a hand out over the sheet, making his forearm muscle flex.

“I know.”  I struggled to breathe through the pounding inside my chest and
reached down for the towel.

“Leave it.”

Neil’s voice was harder, different—a command really.  I froze in step, flipping my eyes up so I could see his face and understand what he meant.

His long muscled arms were stretched out toward me.  “Come here, beautiful,” he said softly. “Don’t think about anything that scares you right now.
It’s only me…and you.”

I nodded at him but no words would come from my mouth.  All I could do was take in the experience of the moment and try to hear what he was saying to me.

“I want to hold you, and be close, and know that nobody is going to come between
us or try to take you away from me. I want you all to myself for once.”  He tilted his head a little.  “Do you understand?”

“I do,” I managed.

Neil kept his arms out, his eyes glittering at me in a way I’d never experienced from
him before.  He was demanding from me sure, but that’s not what gave me pause.
The feelings rushing through me were thrilling, but also very frightening at the same time.  My emotions paralyzed me because I really understood, right then and there in that moment, the enormity of what I was doing.  Giving myself over to another person.
Giving myself to Neil.

It made me extremely vulnerable now didn’t it?

I felt the warning kiss of fear brush over my heart as clearly as a cold breeze
that makes you rub your own arms in an effort to ward off a shivering chill.

I didn’t know how I’d survive if I lost him now.   If he stopped loving me I wouldn’t be able to bear it.  Or if I lost him to the war, which was a terrifying risk all on its own, and one he took every day he remained in active military service. I’d never make it out intact.
Losing Neil would destroy me after this night.

“Don’t think about the bad things, Elaina.  Let all that go and come to me.  My beautiful Cherry Girl…come over here and let me love you.”

I went.

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Raine Miller has been reading romance novels since she picked up that first Barbara Cartland book at the tender age of thirteen. And it's a safe bet she'll never stop, because now she writes them too! Granted Raine's stories are edgy enough to turn Ms. Cartland in her grave, but to her way of thinking, a hot, sexy hero never goes out of fashion. A part-time teacher and writer of sexy romance stories every other chance she gets pretty much fills her days. She has a handsome prince of a husband, and two brilliant sons to pull her back into the real world if the writing takes her too far away. Her sons know she likes to write stories, but gratefully have never asked to read any, thank God! Raine loves to hear from readers and to chat about the characters in her books.

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