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Saturday 30 November 2013

Blog Tour and giveaway - The Thrill Of It by Lauren Blakely



 



Synopsis:
A new adult story of Love. Sex. Addiction. Blackmail. And Power...

Some say love can be an addiction. Others say it's the thing that makes life worth living. Let me tell you everything I know about love...Love isn't patient, love isn't kind. Love is a game, a chase. A thrill. Love is wild and war-like, and every man and woman must fight for themselves. At least that's how it was for me. A high-priced virgin call girl by the time I started college, I was addicted to love and to sex. Even though I've never had either. I controlled love, played it, and held the world in the palm of my hands. Then I fell down from those highs, and I'm being blackmailed for all my mistakes, forced to keep secrets from everyone, except the only guy I don't regret.

Trey...

With all the other women, I knew what they were. They were temporary. They were pills, they were bottles, they took away all the pain, and numbed the awful memories that wore down my ragged, wasted heart. Until I met Harley. She's the only girl I ever missed when she walked away. But now she's back in my life, every day, and there are no guarantees for us, especially since I don't know how to tell her my secrets. What happened to my family. All I know is she's the closest I've ever come to something real, and I want to feel every second of it.

How can you love with no regrets when regret is all you know?
Review by Janeane - ARC received for an honest review

Harley and Trey.  Trey and Harley. 

Harley aka "Layla" is a high-class virgin call girl.  You read that right.  Seems there is a niche market for her kind of skills.

Trey, sexy tattoo artist, struggling with events from his past.  His way of coping - women and sex.

After a chance meeting and a night together, they walked their separate ways with only their memories of each other.

Or is that it?

The Thrill of It is a book about addiction.  Not drugs or alcohol, but sex and love addiction, and the daily struggles that come with.

Add a dash of blackmail, family conflict and sexual tension you could cut with a knife, and Ms Blakely takes us on an emotional ride
 The underlying theme of The Thrill of It is "ugly beautiful" - how a thing of beauty can come from a place of darkness, ugliness.  And together, Harley and Trey are the epitome of ugly beautiful.  Though always told they are beautiful etc, neither of them has ever felt it, until fate/destiny/kismet bring them together.

Trey lost his 3 brothers, and wants to honour their memory, and never forget.  His parents want to wipe their existence away - if they don't talk about them, they didn't exist.  This causes his inner conflict and leads him to the path he is travelling.

Harley has been guided by her mother her whole life - but not in the direction a mother should guide.  Primping and preening Harley her whole life - "isn't she beautiful" etc, using her as a means to an end.  I had such a visceral feeling towards to the mother.  Such a spoilt, self centred bitch of a woman.  I wanted to 
her from the beginning to the end of the book!  FAIL mother, fail.

Then there is Cam - "Layla's" pimp.  I still am not sure of my feelings towards him.  He pimps her out, yet he protects and seems to care for her. I'd say even loves her in his own way.  But still hires her out.  Hmmm, he is a bit of a contradiction.  Though at the end when he lets her leave the lifestyle, wishing her luck and happiness, while threatening Trey -yep, that was good!
Trey's parents are just as bad as Harley's mother really. 3 children have died, but treat the one who lives like he is nothing.  Not happy with his education choices or his lifestyle, they are just selfish, unloving.  When Trey finally lets loose at them, I was shaking the pom poms and executing a high kick! Go Trey Go.
This is so different from Ms Blakely's other works I have read.  They are all a bit more light hearted, where as The Thrill of It takes the reader to some darker places.  Visceral is probably the best word for it.  There was a lot more inner dialogue than in her other books, though with the subject matter that is understandable.  
I like it when an author takes a different path in their writing, always keeping the readers guessing about what they will be reading next.  Ms Blakely does this without a mis-step of any kind.  Her writing is seamless, and can have me laughing and crying on the same page.
There is a big of a cliffhanger at the end though - gah!
  3.75 STARS


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lauren Blakely writes sexy contemporary romance novels with heat,
heart, and humor, and her books have appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iBooks bestseller lists. Like the heroine in FAR TOO TEMPTING, she thinks life should be filled with family, laughter, and the kind of love that love songs promise. Lauren lives in
California with her husband, children, and dogs. She loves hearing from readers! Her novels include Caught Up In Us, Pretending He's Mine, Playing With Her Heart, Trophy Husband, and Far Too Tempting. On November 21, she'll release the edgy new adult novel THE THRILL OF IT. She also writes for young adults under the name Daisy Whitney.

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