✜ M. O'Keefe ✜ The Heart of it ✜ #excerpt ✜

©  ✰ Bianca  ✰ Janeane  ✰

M. O'KEEFE
THE HEART OF IT

• a short novella previously published in the Summer Rain Anthology

• Release Date: 29 February 2016

★★★★★

4.5 Stars

On the outside rich and successful Gabe Paterson has everything.

No one would guess the ghosts from his past are tearing him apart.

Desperate, he reaches out to Elena – a resilient call girl, with her own childhood scars – for help.

In their moments of honesty, the two forge the most surprising relationship of their lives.

But will they be brave enough to make it into something more?

How to start a summary about such a short story without spoiling anything? ☺
It was a dark and rainy night in Toronto ☺

Gabe enters this bar on one of upper floors of a Hotel....hoping to meet her.



Elena.
He must've seen her before in there, but we don't know what's between them, or if he's just a bit of a stalker.

They talk - he tells her some truths, some lies....
But through it all he's scared, afraid this won't work.
Why he is afraid we don't know yet.

We only know that they end up in Elena's room...
But what happens in that room....I won't tell you.
But it's probably not what you think ....

What's with Gabe & Elena?
Do they know each other?
What happened in their pasts?
Will there be a HEA?
Will everybody die at the end?

I'm not telling you that of course ☺

 _____________________________________________________

This was a really interesting little thing.
I literally had NO idea what was happening during the first 20% of the story ☺☺☺
But I immediately liked Gabe - with all his fears and weaknesses and whatnot.
Bad things happened in his past and in Elena's too....
Both have suffered in the past and baring their souls now in front of each other might be the perfect way to start healing....

I really liked the story - I liked Simon a lot too and you can easily imagine a happy little ever after with them as a family!

I might have had some tears in my eyes here and there ☺



I think I would've loved the story even more with another 200 pages added to it! There's sooo much story to be told about both of them....

THE HEART OF IT was a really interesting and moving little novella about two lonely and broken souls who might've finally found their other half☺

ARC received for an honest review.

OK, I am not going to lie. As I started reading this, I had no idea what was happening.  Were they strangers?  Were they a married couple trying to spice things up a little?

But I instantly liked Gabe and Elena.  Gabe was like a little boy in a big man's body.  The hurts from the past are still affecting him.  Elena could be just the perfect person for him.

Baring their souls to each other is the best form of therapy, allowing each of them to start to move forward - but are they moving on together or alone.

The little scene stealer in this quick read is Simon. He was just too adorable for words!

It is hard with such a short story to no have things feel rushed.  But that was not an issue at all with The Heart Of It.  Although I would like to know more about Elena, Gabe and Simon.

Maybe, Ms O'Keefe, we could get more in the future?

 

EXCERPT

“The fuck, Elena? Get out of the way and let the poor man go.

But she couldn’t. Her feet were nailed to the floor by the scent of his fear, the power of his desperation.

And because it had been four damn weeks of this. All this bravery and all this fear.

He’s a fucked up person in a world of fucked up people. Do not get all hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold over this.

But he was just so damn sweet. And sad.

“Please,” he breathed. “Let’s just forget this.”

Oh, fat chance, buddy.”

↓ LiNKS TO THE BOOK AND AUTHOR ↓

STALK MOLLY ON:

• facebook • goodreads • homepage • twitter •

 Molly O'Keefe has always known she wanted to be a writer (except when she wanted to be a florist or a chef and the brief period of time when she considered being a cowgirl). And once she got her hands on some romances, she knew exactly what she wanted to write.

She published her first Harlequin romance at age 25 and hasn't looked back. She loves exploring every character's road towards happily ever after.

Originally from a small town outside of Chicago, she went to university in St. Louis where she met and fell in love with the editor of her school newspaper. They followed each other around the world for several years and finally got married and settled down in Toronto, Ontario. They welcomed their son into their family in 2006, and their daughter in 2008. When she's not at the park or cleaning up the toy room, Molly is working hard on her next novel, trying to exercise, stalking Tina Fey on the internet and dreaming of the day she can finish a cup of coffee without interruption.

✜ Jaimie Roberts ✜ Luca - Because You're Mine ✜ Sicilian Mafia #2 ✜

© ✰ Bianca ✰ 

JAIMIE ROBERTS - LUCA
(Because You're Mine)
• release date 26 February 2016
• Book 2 in the Sicilian Mafia Series

★★★★★
4.9 Stars

Murderous thoughts. Those are what I had once Isabella walked through the door and revealed to me who she was. I needed an escape. An escape from my thoughts, an escape from the hurt, and an escape from ... him.

I was a broken woman, but I was never going to break my resolve. I grew up being a fighter because I had to. No man could ever bring me down... Not even Luca.

But, I had to admit, I never thought my heart would break as much as it did that day. Of course, I fled, but I was a fool to think he would ever let me go. He always told me I was his ... no matter what the cost. He was determined to keep me—regardless of the lengths he had to go to reach his goal. He was like a moth to my flame, a tattoo carved into my heart. I could never escape his pull.

I may have evaded him, but I knew it would just be a matter of time. Once he inevitably caught up with me, there would be no going back.

However, no matter what I had expected—or even imagined—absolutely nothing could have prepared either of us for what happened next...

Book #2 start exactly where the first one ended: Everything could've been all happy endish with Clara & Luca, but suddenly his WIFE Isabella is standing in front of Clara at the Castle!
How dare Luca not tell her he was married and make her THE OTHER WOMAN!!!!?
Luca still has to be in bed after being almost killed, so it's pretty easy for Clara to escape to Scotland for a while. She's really mad at him.
But of course he follows her...

Lots of things happen after the two of them finally stop fighting.
Luca's wife and the hopefully fast divorce is only the least of their problems.

WILL HAPPEN TO CLARA & LUCA??
WILL THEY GET THEIR HEA???
WILL EVERYBODY SURViVE THiS BOOK???


 
WILL THERE BE A CLIFFHANGER o.O


NOPE, I'm not telling you ☺ 

no Cliffy ;)

 ___________________________________________________

GREAT 2nd BOOK!!!

I already mentioned this in my review for the first book....I'm not the biggest fan of Mafia Romances...but I'm a fan of whatever Jaimie writes, so I had to read it....
And I loved it...
This 2nd one was so much better than the first book in my opinion - it was just ... MORE...
(well aside from the torture scenes - I wouldn't have minded a slightly youth appropriate version of that! ☺)

I love how Luca is soo adorably in love with Clara and how he thinks he's in control!!! Cute...

Lots of sexytimes in this book....

and suspensy and funny and weird and crazy and adorable and verrry sad moments.... everything you need in your romances!

If you like sexy & super-exciting Mafia Romances...
GO AND READ THIS SERIES!!!!!!!! ☺

↓ LINKS TO THE BOOK & AUTHOR ↓

 BOOK #1

STALK JAIMIE ON:

FACEBOOK | TWITTER | GOODREADS

Jaimie Roberts was born in London, but moved to Gibraltar in 2001. She is married with two sons, and in her spare time, she writes.
In June 2013, Jaimie published her first book, Take a Breath, with the second released in November 2013. With the reviews, Jaimie took time out to read and learn how to become a better writer. She gets tremendous enjoyment out of writing, and even more so from the feedback she receives.