✰ Bianca ✰ Janeane ✰
• 28 March 2021
★★★★★
4.5 Stars
My name is Ruffian. To remember my mom, I
want to change the world.
I’m going to do things wrong to make things
right.
That’s okay, because I’m going to jail.
I know it.
I’ve planned for it. I was always going to end up there.
For now, I need a cover story.
A cover family.
A way to hide from the suspicion that always finds me.
Teddi Burathon is the perfect shield.
Popular, friendly, sassy. Good.
She’s everything I’m not.
And I’ll use her as a pretty distraction so no one sees me coming.
My heart is dead and I’m a bomb waiting
to detonate.
Most people want to build a future.
Me?
I'm going to rob a bank.
We're back in the world of Gaze + Pixie.
You don't have to remember Drowning in Stars to enjoy this book. But it was such a beautiful story - so if you're reading both, please read DIS first, especially because Pixie and Gaze are in here a lot!!
You don't have to remember Drowning in Stars to enjoy this book. But it was such a beautiful story - so if you're reading both, please read DIS first, especially because Pixie and Gaze are in here a lot!!
Ruffian and his mom have always been homeless. But she made their life beautiful. As much as it was possible. They had friends, or more like family - a community of other homeless people and families - they lived in some kind of tent-village with.
But now his mom died, the village is gone and 17 year old Ruffian is all alone. He just has a name on a piece of paper - a real family he never knew.
He wants to go live a normal life for a bit. But only for a few pretend months. Until he can rob a bank and make some big money for his tent 'family' to have a better life - and so that nobody would ever forget his amazing mom.
He'll go to jail - he knows that - but he doesn't care.
But now that he's here in his new life - with so many new people - even some family. And especially the beautiful and amazing Teddi .... will he / can he go through with his plans?
What will happen to Teddie & Ruffian?
Will there be a HEA?
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT ☺
Ugh! Debra and her super emotional books!
Will there be a HEA?
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT ☺
Ugh! Debra and her super emotional books!
This one was almost as cryable as Drowning in Stars.
It's all so sad and hopeless for poor Ruffian. But of course we want him to have hope. We want him to get his happily ever after with Teddi. But it won't be easy to get there. It will be a long and complicated and heartbreaking journey. Which the reader will enjoy and hate and love and grrr. ☺
I hated so many parts of the book. Not because the book was bad, just because I wanted that HEA right the eff immediately!
But that's not how it goes in romances!
I also really hated the Meg parts of the book. I really could've done without her. I really hated her, but we needed those parts for even more heartbreaking reasons.😭
But I loved this book.
I won't say more than that. I don't want to spoil anything.
It was a beautiful love story.
A beautiful and heartbreaking story about two young people - who had a very different start to life - fighting their way to a happily ever after!
But I loved this book.
I won't say more than that. I don't want to spoil anything.
It was a beautiful love story.
A beautiful and heartbreaking story about two young people - who had a very different start to life - fighting their way to a happily ever after!
It was maybe a tiny bit long. It took me forever to read it. No idea why. I guess it's just one of those slow-flowing stories. Still amazing, but it could've been a bit shorter, or a tiny bit more exciting in the middle parts.
I just realized that I haven't talked much - or at all - about Teddi. What she does and what her hopes and dreams are. And that's not fair. Yes, she's a happy upper middle class girl. A rich girl really. But she has her own problems. And dreams. She wants to help people. She goes to school but she also throws parties for terminal ill or very sick children. Like kids who won't be able to go to their own prom in five years, because they won't be alive anymore. Things like that. I think that's amazingly brave and beautiful. But it gets a bit lost in the story, because Ruffian is our troubled hero and we just want him to get his happy end! But Teddi obviously plays the most important part in his story. She's his sparkles and we love her! ♥
Oh and next to Gaze and Pixie from the last book being in here a lot ... the guys from the Mercy series (Mercy, Havoc and Lock) are in here a bit too!
So if you're extremely weird like I am - I would suggest you first read Mercy - Havoc - Lock - Drowning in Stars and then Swimming in Sparkles! 😉
So if you're extremely weird like I am - I would suggest you first read Mercy - Havoc - Lock - Drowning in Stars and then Swimming in Sparkles! 😉
Anyway. This was a beautiful love story. But it was also so much more.
JUST READ IT!
SWIMMING IN SPARKLES was such a heartbreakingly beautiful YA/NA love story!! I just adored Teddi & Ruffian! Run to your nearest amazon before they're sold out!!
Also - I still need a spin-off for Austin!!
Also - I still need a spin-off for Austin!!
Drowning In Stars was one of my favourite books of last year, and Swimming In Sparkles is in the same vein.
Ruffian and Teddi's story pulls at the heartstrings. Whilst it is not as angsty as many of Ms Anastasia's other works, it will make you laugh, make you cry, get you frustrated and angry and get all grrr.
But it will make you smile. This pair could not be any more different if they tried, but it is all heart eyes for each other as soon as they meet.
Ruffian is Gaze from Drowning In Stars brother, so we get to catch up with Gaze and Pixie as well as learn about Ruffian.
Whilst I loved how everyone comes together, to me, it just felt all too easy. I don't know, to me I think I wanted, no I needed a bit more drama - I know, I know, I am too picky lol
My favourite part was the cameos by some beloved Debra Anastasia character, but I think you need to read and get the OOOH moment for yourself.
I now need to get a book for Austin, who you are yet to meet (but who gives me whole David Rose vibes).
Please make this happen, Ms Anastasia
↓ LINKS TO THE BOOK AND AUTHOR ↓
Book #1
Other Books by Debra Anastasia:
Check out For All The Evers:
Debra creates pretend people in her head and paints them on the giant, beautiful canvas of your imagination. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in political science and writes new adult angst and romantic comedies. She lives in Maryland with her husband and two amazing children.
