mignon mykel { reviews }: review || TATTOOED SCARS { blog tour } by Alicia Rae

Friday, December 11, 2015

review || TATTOOED SCARS { blog tour } by Alicia Rae

Self-Published | December 6, 2015 | Contemporary Romance
Tattooed, book 2
★★★★

SOURCE: INKSLINGER PR

Raelyn Jennings knows one thing for certain. She loves Damien Heathman with every fiber of her being. A life without him wouldn’t be one worth living.

Damien has never loved a single soul—until Raelyn. She heals the pain that has tainted the deepest part of his heart. She is his everything, his single reason for breathing. Damien’s relentless determination refuses to let anyone or anything stand in his way of being with her.

But soon, Damien’s and Raelyn’s pasts begin to collide with their future in ways they never thought possible, testing their undying love for one another.

Damien’s dark secrets from the scars hidden beneath his tattoos threaten to reveal themselves while Raelyn is faced with impossible decisions that need to be made.

Can Damien convince Raelyn to take a risk in hopes of securing the longevity of their future? Or will Raelyn choose the safe path that also comes with a limit?

There isn’t any time to waste, for the clock never stops ticking.

amazon

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{ about alicia rae } .

Alicia Rae is a Contemporary Romance Author who lives in Dekalb, Illinois, with her husband and three beautiful boys. Alicia has a passion for reading all types of romance, writing to bring a story to life, and wedding photography.

Alicia loves to hear from readers! Text RAE to 22828 to join her mailing list

{ review } .

Oftentimes, I look at a three-part series (aka, a trilogy), and find the middle book to be the filler. I don't tend to get a lot out of it. Sure, there's character growth, but generally I just feel like it's there.

So not the case with TATTOOED SCARS.

In this book two, we learn a little bit more about Raelyn, her fears, and her prognosis. We also see Damien and his wealth of emotions.

I enjoyed watching their journey continue to unfold, and I very much enjoyed watching Raelyn allow to have another person in her life, allowing Damien to see her completely and allow herself to the love she so deserves. Raelyn has a lot to accept in this book, and by doing it, she also needs to learn that Damien won't make the same decisions people in her past did. While parts of this particular book did feel a bit long, the end has an emotional blow that made the rest of the book completely worth it.

Be prepared for the emotion -- it's still there. Be prepared for the love -- it keeps growing. Damien and Raelyn's love story definitely has bumps and bruises, and things that are completely out of their control.

...and yet, their story isn't done yet. FOREVER TATTOOED is coming in 2016, and I'm positive that that will be the icing on the cake of this series.

{ previous review in series } .

TATTOOED EMOTIONS 5★ { review | sale! 99 ¢ }

{ giveaway } .

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No comments:

a quick note from { mignon } ...

I AM NO LONGER ACTIVE IN REVIEWING

The last two years has been incredibly rewarding, giving me the opportunity to pick up new-to-me authors, as well as new-to-the-world authors. I have enjoyed supporting publishing houses as well as the indie author, and in doing so, I learned a lot about the marketing aspect of writing a book and selling it as a self-published author.

I have re-focused my journey to more writing-minded. I still read and review! But not nearly at the rate I was; three books a day has turned to three books a month.

I will no longer be accepting individual review requests (unless it's specifically author-to-author, then it will be highly considered).

I will definitely be posting reviews for commitments I have already made, though.

Thank you for understanding, & thank you to all those I have worked with over the last year plus!

~ Mignon

http://mignonmykel.com

GOODREADS updates

Dirty Saint: A Secret Baby Sports Romance by Vesper Vaughn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book almost failed to get my attention. Why?

The hero.

He is the exact public person I despise. You know the type -- all biblical with publicized praying and verses all over his public persona. Great. Good for you. Bet you're not like that behind closed doors...

Which is exactly what Esther thinks of him.

Saint and Esther attend the same super religious college. Esther is on the fast track to becoming a nun, and no I do not kid, and Saint, given name Francis, can do just about whatever he wants, because he is the star athlete and the school knows he has connections. What in the world can these two have in common? The actions of their parents.

But where Saint does what his father says, usually, because his father is pushing him toward a pro-football careers, Esther follows her parents (father) because if she didn't... Her life would literally be a living hell.

I really enjoyed these two, once we started to get to know Saint a little bit better. My only drawback with the book would be the last half goes by in super-fast time. While it helped to keep the story moving, I would have liked to see more of that time drawn out so the feelings and emotions of our two characters felt more genuine and real -- rather than simply a two month courting that their lives demanded.

I'm giving the book the full 5 stars because it came out of left-field for me. It was a book that I didn't expect to like, but the author wove it in a way that I fell hard for our characters both as individuals and as a couple. I liked watching Esther grow and find her voice in life, just as I liked watching playboy, always for the chase Saint, settle down and find a person to be terribly protective over. I loved him most in the last two chapters.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

Everything by Erin Noelle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Here's something you may know about me if you've followed my reviews -- I'm an epilogue reader. I will almost always read the epilogue first. Call me a spoilsport or no fun, or whatever but that's how I've been reading books for years. It's no wonder that when I write books, I tend to have the epilogue all figured out before I even start with "Once upon a time...".

That said... I read this epilogue and while I liked it, I just couldn't get past the ages of our characters. Couldn't do it. So I read the beginning. Still... If anything, the age of our characters was even more pronounced. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to read this. You see, I have an issue with "Happily ever after" and the hardly-twenty crowd, let alone an eighteen year old.

But that's my hang-up.

Another thing you may know about me? I will sometimes read a book in what I call a inside-out fashion. I jump all over the place until I find a snippet of story that absolutely grips me. And people -- there are a few of those parts in Everything. So because I found those gripping parts, I put my faith in Erin Noelle, and I started from page one -- and I gave Everett and Belle a chance.

And I'm so glad I did.

Everett and his twin sister have been making music forever -- literally. They're the children of a rockstar; music has always been their life. When their father's group decides to get back together (dad always said he'd go back when the twins were done with school), Mason tells the label -- if you take me, you're taking my kids: thus, giving Everett and Ashlynn the opportunity to take their music to a larger level than they have before.

Along the way, with a local gig, Everett meets Belle -- and so begins their story.

This is a story about growing up. This is a story about following your heart -- be it for a person or a career, or even both. It is about learning to trust the person you are giving your heart to, and about taking the ever-looming jump into unknown feelings. When you put your life, your wants, your desires in someone else's hands, the world opens up -- and it certainly does for Everett and Belle.

The part I most appreciated was that the author made Everett true to his age and situation. Belle was too, yes, but it was Everett and his new lifestyle that had me wanting to see true characterization for. He's a guy; he's a musician; he's new to love. He makes mistakes. And for those mistakes, I truly got on board with this story.

Everett and his Tinker Bell were incredibly cute. I liked that there's a decent time jump at the end, further allowing -- you guessed it -- growth of our characters. I'm excited to watch more of them when (if?) Ashlynn's story comes out.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

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