Harper Sloan | November 17, 2015 | Contemporary Romance
★★★★★
SOURCE: TRSOR PROMOTIONS
Mirror, mirror ... who's the fairest of them all?I still cringe when I hear that line. A fairy tale that had girls pretending they were the fairest, the most beautiful, and the most entitled. A fairy tale most couldn't grow out of turned my haunted childhood memories into a living nightmare. Girls who grew up believing that pile of garbage became the meanest of all 'mean girls.'And those mean girls were right - it was a line meant for all the beautiful people in the world - and I knew the answer would never be me. The women with long legs, flat stomachs, and perfect chests.The type of women Kane Masters gravitated toward.Well, that's definitely not Willow Tate.No. That will never be me.Because I'm completely imperfect.And ... I hate myself.I have no idea what Kane could possibly see in someone like me when he could have them.
{ about harper sloan } .
Harper lives in small town Georgia just a short drive from her hometown of Peachtree City. She (and her 3 daughters) enjoy ruling the house they dubbed 'Estrogen Ocean', much to her husband’s chagrin. Harper has a borderline unhealthy obsession with books; you can almost ALWAYS find her with her eReader attached. She enjoys bad reality TV and cheesy romantic flicks. Her favorite kind of hero--the super alpha kind!Harper started using writing as a way to unwind when the house went to sleep at night; and with a house full of crazy it was the perfect way to just relax. It didn't take long before a head full of very demanding alphas would stop at nothing to have their story told.
{ excerpt } .
“Are you nervous right now?”
I nod.
“Tell me why.” His demand, steady and calm, gives me the courage I need to tell him. To open a vein and bleed my insecurities.
“I’m not perfect,” I whisper.
“And neither am I, Willow. I don’t want perfect. What so many see as perfect, to me, is fake. Perfect isn’t achievable naturally. No one, and I mean no one, is perfect.”
I’m shaking my head before he’s even done speaking, but one long finger comes up and presses against my lips before I can speak.
“No, let me finish. There isn’t beauty in perfection. It’s as fake as the image the word projects. Beauty is found in imperfection, Willow, because to admit you’re not perfect means you’re admitting you’re not whole and absolute. When I think of myself, I see someone willing to admit he’s as far from complete as it gets because, in order to get to that perfection, I need to find the other part of me who will make my life better. To take all the faults I have and fill them, and only then will I be there. You see, the way I see it, the only way to become perfect is to find that perfectly imperfect person who brings it out of you.”
When he stops, I swear I might have stopped breathing. How am I supposed to respond to that?
“Do you trust me?” he asks, his voice strong and sure.
“Yes, Kane. Nerves or not, I do.”
“Then let me show you what I see when I look at you.”
He brings his hands up, framing my face once again in a way I’m quickly becoming addicted to the feeling of. His warm eyes implore, begging me without words to let him continue. I do not intend to stop him, regardless of the butterflies currently taking over my system. I’m all in.
I nod.
“Tell me why.” His demand, steady and calm, gives me the courage I need to tell him. To open a vein and bleed my insecurities.
“I’m not perfect,” I whisper.
“And neither am I, Willow. I don’t want perfect. What so many see as perfect, to me, is fake. Perfect isn’t achievable naturally. No one, and I mean no one, is perfect.”
I’m shaking my head before he’s even done speaking, but one long finger comes up and presses against my lips before I can speak.
“No, let me finish. There isn’t beauty in perfection. It’s as fake as the image the word projects. Beauty is found in imperfection, Willow, because to admit you’re not perfect means you’re admitting you’re not whole and absolute. When I think of myself, I see someone willing to admit he’s as far from complete as it gets because, in order to get to that perfection, I need to find the other part of me who will make my life better. To take all the faults I have and fill them, and only then will I be there. You see, the way I see it, the only way to become perfect is to find that perfectly imperfect person who brings it out of you.”
When he stops, I swear I might have stopped breathing. How am I supposed to respond to that?
“Do you trust me?” he asks, his voice strong and sure.
“Yes, Kane. Nerves or not, I do.”
“Then let me show you what I see when I look at you.”
He brings his hands up, framing my face once again in a way I’m quickly becoming addicted to the feeling of. His warm eyes implore, begging me without words to let him continue. I do not intend to stop him, regardless of the butterflies currently taking over my system. I’m all in.
{ review } .
I fell in love with Harper Sloan's writing style with CORPS SECURITY -- which I was lucky enough to read the entire series in one complete book, and then rushed to read the kids' stories, because I loved those people so freaking much.
Suffice it to say, I had a feeling I'd love what she brought to the table with this standalone story.
After growing up in a lifestyle that was over-critical, Willow finds herself in a marriage that does the same. And like Cinderella, Willow loses a parent and ends up with a wicked step-parent. It was easy to see how she could think so little of herself.
The best part of this story was definitely Willow's growth, her learning to accept herself. She becomes a super strong female lead, and allows herself to believe people like Kane Masters can actually fall for 'someone like her'. And Kane Masters... That man was such a protective beast of a man, from as early on as their first accidental meeting. I loved the lengths he went to try and protect Willow; he loved her inside and out, and wasn't afraid to show her.
Willow was easily relatable, and her story came at a time for me that I personally needed it most. We all need a little Willow Tate in our lives.
Suffice it to say, I had a feeling I'd love what she brought to the table with this standalone story.
After growing up in a lifestyle that was over-critical, Willow finds herself in a marriage that does the same. And like Cinderella, Willow loses a parent and ends up with a wicked step-parent. It was easy to see how she could think so little of herself.
The best part of this story was definitely Willow's growth, her learning to accept herself. She becomes a super strong female lead, and allows herself to believe people like Kane Masters can actually fall for 'someone like her'. And Kane Masters... That man was such a protective beast of a man, from as early on as their first accidental meeting. I loved the lengths he went to try and protect Willow; he loved her inside and out, and wasn't afraid to show her.
Willow was easily relatable, and her story came at a time for me that I personally needed it most. We all need a little Willow Tate in our lives.
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