review || MAKE ME BELIEVE { blog tour } by Karen Ferry

Self-Published | July 6, 2015 | New Adult Romance
★★★ 1/2

SOURCE: INDIESAGE PR

Sometimes, a chance meeting is just the push you need in order to break free from the darkness within…

My name is Emma, I’m 23, and I’ve never been kissed. I’m no virgin…But kissing is too intimate, too intense, and I don’t want that – not ever. I like sex, though, and most of my hook-ups don’t seem to mind the no-kissing part. 

But then I meet Daniel, who’s such a geek, and definitely not the kind of guy I’d normally take an interest to. He’s the shy, quiet type, but with such a charming smile, and he makes my heart race – something I’ve never experienced before. 

Daniel has his own issues to work through, and I know my hardened heart shouldn’t melt when he looks at me. I really shouldn’t be falling for him, either, but somehow, he manages to tear down my walls, and I’m scared…because once he learns my secrets, he’ll want nothing to do with me. 

All I know is that Daniel makes me feel things that I have never felt before – but do I dare let down my walls and confide in him? 

Will I let him be my first kiss? 

This is my story, and I’ll reveal everything in my own sweet time… 

Just don’t expect all the hearts-and-flowers stuff. 

Life is messy, and mine is no different… 

INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS
Due to possible ‘triggers’ and adult situations (yes, there is lots of sex in this book) it is not recommended to persons under the age of 18.

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{ about karen ferry } .

Karen Ferry is a thirty-something writer, wife to a quiet, laidback man, and mother to a gorgeous, stubborn, redheaded girl who keeps her parents on their toes.

Karen tends to have a short fuse if she does not get a proper caffeine fix first thing in the mornings, but she is, in fact, a gentle person deep down.

Karen loves Italian food and wine, travelling, and spending time with her family. When she is not writing, she reads – her favourite genres are New Adult, Contemporary Romance, Erotica and Romantic Suspense. She can never get enough of romance. Or of too many book boyfriends, either.

Even though Karen is Danish, she has always felt more at ease writing stories in English, and she has not read a book in her native tongue in over ten years. She can be very outspoken and a complete fan girl of other authors online but will, in fact, be very shy once she meets you in person.

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{ excerpt } .

Emma takes my hand in hers and pulls me inside her flat, shutting the door quietly. I wait in her small hallway, unsure of what to do, and I’m completely taken aback when I feel her arms surrounding me from behind, her body pressed flush to mine.

For the first time since I last saw her, I can breathe freely again.

Shite . . . I’m going to bawl like a baby soon!

Emma's lips press against me, and although I can't feel them on my skin, they're burning me.

"I'm sorry, Daniel . . . ,” she whispers softly, and I'm grateful when she leaves it at that. Reaching my hand upwards, I place it on top of hers briefly before turning in her arms to wrap my own around her.

I need her so fucking bad right now.

I squeeze tightly, wishing more than ever that she would allow me to kiss her. But if she won't let me pour out how much she means to me with my mouth, at least I am able to use my hands, mouth, and my tongue on her body. Maybe it'll even force her to open her eyes and truly see how I need her so much.

It would seem that Emma has another plan in mind, though, because she wriggles gently out of my grasp, takes my hand again and leads me inside her living room. She stops next to her CD player hanging on the wall to the right just above her small TV and turns up the volume a bit. Smiling shyly at me, looking cute as hell, she backs away from me, and I have no other choice but to follow her. The next song starts, and I’m surprised when I hear a French woman sing a cover of “Someone Like You” by Adele. I like it, and I like to see yet another side to Emma.

“I thought you weren’t a romantic,” I murmur, keeping my voice low for fear of breaking this strange spell she has me under, and she shrugs.

“Dancing isn’t necessarily a romantic act,” she mutters.

Bloody hell, she’s stubborn.

I want to disagree with her but I don’t want to lose this moment we’re having right now. Because this feels significant, somehow . . . The air is charged with electricity, my stomach is wrapped up in knots, and I honestly don’t know where this is going.

But I know I’ll follow this girl everywhere she goes.

It’s as if she has woven a web around my entire being . . . She’s never far from my thoughts, my attraction to her has not died down while I was away these past few days -- quite the contrary, in fact -- and even though I don’t believe in some higher deity, I thank them for bringing this girl into my life.

Emma accepts me for who I am, no matter where I come from.

I’d be lying if I said I’d want to break free of the bonds she has wrapped tightly around my heart.

I don’t. Not now. Not ever.

This is it: the moment I hand over my heart to her, unafraid of what the consequences might be.And she seems to want to dance with me. Well, then . . . who am I to deny her? I just hope I don’t step on her toes too much.

{ review } .

This book didn't quite get to where I wanted it to go. First off, the cover is flipping gorgeous -- it was that and honestly only that, that made me want to read the book. The synopsis was a bit lengthy for me, but in a summarized form, I figured I could like the book.

I didn't exactly not like the book -- there's plenty that was done right -- I just didn't connect to it like I wanted to.

Emma's life hasn't been peaches and cream by any means. After a day gone terribly wrong, she is semi-estranged from her brother, she moved to a different country as an exchange studen, and doesn't do relationships. One night stands? Yes. Kissing, holding hands, getting to know one another? Abso-freaking-lutely not. Rarely does she run in to her nightly conquests, so she doesn't typically worry about it -- I say rarely, because there is that one or two occasions. 

Emma's boss at the bookstore she works at would like her to befriend his nephew -- he's newer to the area and is slightly awkward. Her boss thinks that she can help him open up. What he fails to tell her, though, is that Daniel is actually her neighbor.

I wanted to like Emma. However, I knew I wasn't going to connect with her fully simply from the first chapter and the way it was written (shaking hands after sex? Oh, the irony) -- and I have a terrible time saying that, due to the fact that the story has basis off of true events and I'd hate to offend the author. 

Sure, Daniel was awkward, but I found Emma to be brash and, quite frankly, rude when she was uncomfortable.

"You put on make-up," he blurts out, and I roll my eyes, fed up with stalling.

"Yes, I know. So what? Don't get the idea that I did it for you, though. I always wear make-up when I'm around people."

I just felt that that was unnecessary, and it was one of the driving factors in my disliking Emma.

I really liked Daniel. Don't get me wrong, I really, really love my alpha males, but there's something about Daniel that pulls you in. He's shy and awkward, blushes on a dime... He was just... 

Cute. Eventually, though, he gets more confidence and shows some alpha-tendencies.

Under it all, he's an extremely bright individual -- but with learning disabilities as well as social disabilities, he's never truly reached his full potential. Emma helps him overcome all of these obstacles -- she offers to tutor him if he stands-in as her pretend boyfriend for her family's sake. Daniel proves to not be a full pushover, though, when she tells him she needs him to change his wardrobe -- she typically goes for the bad boy, and Daniel's preppy clothes most certainly don't fit the bill.

I loved that even though he was Emma's complete opposite, he wanted to be her savior. He woke to her nightmares and wanted to help her. He rushed to her side and wanted to be the one she would confide in.

MAKE ME BELIEVE has it's ups and downs. The dark pasts of the characters, the working together and finding that things aren't always as they appear, the attraction that blossoms between two people who would never think that they'd ever like that other person... it was a sweet story (and the epilogue? Daniel's epilogue? Gosh, I loved it). I just couldn't fully connect with the story; it felt too much like skimming the surface, never truly diving deep into the heart of the matter, so I found myself reading over the story, trying to find places to connect to. 

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