Title: Thick Love (Thin Love, #2)
Author: Eden Butler
Genre: NA | Contemporary Romance
Release Date: August 31, 2015
Hosted by As the Pages Turn
Synopsis
He doesn’t ask their names.
He doesn’t deserve to know them.
Ransom Riley Hale’s friends think his life is charmed: first string as a freshman on a championship-winning college football team. A father with two Super Bowl rings. A mother with platinum albums and multiple Grammies under her belt. But that brilliant shine on the surface hides the darkness beneath; it’s all Ransom has ever known.
Despite the shadows he walked in, once there was a blinding light fracturing the darkness. It brought the promise of hope and happiness. He’d been careless, filled with pride and stupidity and lost that light. Ripped it from the world.
Now, the shadows are dimming again. Aly King surges into his life threatening to pull him from the darkness. She is everything Ransom can never be again. Her light feels too warm, promises him that there is more waiting for him beyond the shadows.
But the shadows are relentless, resurfacing when he thinks he is safe, and Ransom knows he must keep Aly from them too before he pulls her down into the darkness with him.
Review- 4 Stars
Thick love is
an emotional roller coaster. I was definitely on the verge of heartbreak for
96% of the book. The story flows well, and the characters have great depth. I liked
both Ransom and Aly, and felt that by the end of the book, I understood them
and their story. I have to tell you though, if you don’t want to be left on a
cliffy…don’t read the epilogue. Wait until the next book comes out, then go
back and read the epilogue when you can move right onto the next book!
Ransom
is suffering from immense guilt that frankly, is very understandable. He holds
some blame for his past, however the level of self-flagellation is far higher
than it should be. Moving on, forgiving himself, and letting go, should not be
out of his reach. Try telling him that… Ransom is a very complex character,
there were so many things about him that made him very special. When he wasn’t beating
himself up (which is almost never), I saw glimpses of what a great man he was
hiding inside. I felt like his death grip on his determination to be unhappy
was drawn out a little too long. I was pretty over it by at three quarters of
the way through the book.
Aly
is a badass. Seriously. That girl is tough as nails, a survivor. But, when it
comes to Ransom, she isn’t afraid to be honest with herself about all the gooey
feelings she has for him. Her determination to succeed, her love for Ransom,
and her need to help him heal, these were all part of hat had me admiring her.
I actually appreciated her resistance to being the forgiving doormat. Aly didn’t
make Ransom gravel, but nor did she roll over and forgive every time he screwed
up. She let him know that he was in the dog house, why, and what he needed to
do to fix it. I loved that about Aly, she was very upfront, say it as it is,
kind of gal.
The
book does drag just a tad, the story seeming to run in circles a little bit. I
t could have been cut down to a more concise story, and shorter length.
Honestly, I think this book would have made a knockout prequel to the rest of
Aly and Ransom’s story.
All
in all though, I really enjoyed it. The story is strong enough to keep me
turning the pages, and the characters were always intriguing me to learn more
about them. It’s not necessary to read Thin Love first, however this book made
me curious, so I’ll be back tracking to read that one before the next book
releases! I think you’ll enjoy Ransom and Aly, 4 Stars!
*Review by Elle Christensen
Thick Love – Excerpt
“Dance with me,” I said. He only stared up at me blankly.
“I don’t feel like practicing.”
“I’m not asking you to practice. I’m asking you to dance.”
Ransom’s body stiffened when I picked up his hand, but he didn’t fight me. “Just be here with me. Me and you and the music.”
We came together in the center of my living room with that slow, soothing music wrapping around us. There was no Kizomba, no prequel to a seduction we both wanted to avoid. There was just Ransom bending low, arms around me, hand taking mine to hold against his chest. After a few seconds, the tension lessened, and his body did not feel as rigid. It felt peaceful, and safe, and simple—just two people, holding each other, swaying to the music.
His mouth hovered near my forehead and as we moved together with no form or practiced steps, Ransom’s grip on my waist got tighter. “I wish I could breathe again. I want that so bad.” The words were whispered, low.
I closed my eyes, reminding myself that I couldn’t touch him.
“Ransom. You can.”
He looked down at me and right then I saw just how lost he was. This realization didn’t come from flippant comments he made to me or desperate excuses I overheard him make. It was all there right in his eyes—the loneliness, the pain, as though each mistake he’d made was etched into the rise of his cheekbones and the worried, faint lines on his forehead. He was still drifting; he had been drifting for so damn long.
The pain in his eyes drew me in. There was nothing I could say that would make his hurt lessen. There was nothing that would take him from the lingering sorrow he’d created for himself. So I didn’t speak, didn’t give him advice I knew he’d never take. I just watched Ransom’s eyes, and felt the slow way he moved. And then with my hand on the back of his neck, I pulled his face towards me, I took his lips, kissing him, pouring into that kiss everything I’d held back from him since we first met.
This is who I am. This is what I want. That voice came from someplace hidden and secret inside me.
It was minutes, minutes of nothing but my mouth on his, nothing but two people finding solace in each other, before
I realized I’d messed up.
He didn’t seem to want me to pull away, but didn’t stop me when I did. Shaking my head, I smoothed the collar on his shirt, unable to look at him. “I’m…modi, Ransom, I’m sorry.”
Ransom pulled my chin up and smoothed his thumb over my cheek, down the slope of my chin before he returned his attention to my eyes. “I don’t think I am.”
It was a moment I thought I’d always wanted. Him looking at me like I was real, like he saw me, finally saw me. I’d seen that look once before, just as Ransom whispered my name and kissed me over and over the first time. It wasn’t the look of someone hopeless. It was open and raw and I realized right then that I’d give anything for Ransom to never stop looking at me.
But this was against our rules. This wasn’t how we were supposed to be. I took his hand, thought of pulling it away from my face but didn’t have the strength, liked how it felt on my face too much. “Friends don’t kiss, Ransom.”
A small nod, and his eyes narrowed. His grip around me tightened. The music around us swelled. “No, they don’t,” he said, still touching my face, inching closer and I knew, right then, he was definitely not my friend.
Books in the Thin Love Series
About Eden Butler
Eden Butler is an editor and writer of New Adult Romance and SciFi and Fantasy novels and the nine-times great-granddaughter of an honest-to-God English pirate. This could explain her affinity for rule breaking and rum. Her debut novel, a New Adult, Contemporary (no cliffie) Romance, “Chasing Serenity” launched in October 2013 and quickly became an Amazon bestseller.
When she’s not writing or wondering about her possibly Jack Sparrowesque ancestor, Eden edits, reads and spends way too much time watching rugby, Doctor Who and New Orleans Saints football.
She is currently imprisoned under teenage rule alongside her husband in southeast Louisiana.
Please send help.
Question to the author: how did you come up with the title?
ReplyDeleteI haven't read it yet, the cover is HOT!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to read this.
ReplyDeleteAWESOME GIVEAWAY!!!
ReplyDelete