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Showing posts with label Karina Halle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Karina Halle. Show all posts

Saturday, April 29, 2017

Before I Ever Met You by Karina Halle Review





I first met William McAlister when I was just a teenager.


He was handsome, had a beautiful wife and was on the verge of success, having just joined my father as his business partner. Mr. McAlister was full of smooth charm, but back then he was barely a blip on my radar. Just a family friend.



Fast forward ten years: I’m 25 years old and a single mom trying to make things right for her seven-year old son. I’ve made some mistakes, grappled with my demons and now I’m back in the city of Vancouver, getting a second chance at a better life.



I’ve started by working for my father’s production company as an executive assistant. My first day on the job and I already know I could have a promising career there.

That is until I see Will McAlister for the first time in a decade.



Now recently divorced and as sophisticated as always, Will has gone from being my father’s friend and business partner to something so much more.



We’re both older, for one thing, and he just oozes this worldly confidence and stark sexuality. Combined with his tall, muscular build and sharp suits, strong jaw and bedroom eyes, Will has turned into one hell of a distraction.



A distraction I’m having a hard time staying away from, considering his office is right across from my desk and I work with him in such close proximity.



But it’s just a harmless crush, right?



It’s just an innocent fantasy of screwing him on his desk, right?



It can’t ever be more because he’s my father’s best friend, business partner, and my boss.



Right?



Wrong.



Before I Ever Met You is a contemporary standalone romance, a light-hearted swoony read that will make you believe in love again.
Review

Before I Ever Met YouBefore I Ever Met You by Karina Halle


Jackie left her posh home young and wild. She lost touch with her family and made some bad decisions. Now she's returned as a twenty-something single mom trying to get her life back on track. She's a pretty good person and tries to be a great mom for her son.

Will is Jackie's father's business partner. His life had some bumps not too far in the past so he's settling also. He hires Jackie to be his assistant. Will is a wonderful man. He doesn't trash talk his ex even if he might have a reason to do so. He's 100% behind Jackie in every step she makes. He encourages and stands up for her. He loves her son and steps right into the perfect father-figure role before even making any moves toward mom. Will is the dreamboat every woman wants inside and out.

If you're in the mood for something sweet, Before I Ever Met You may be right up your alley.



***copy given in exchange for an honest review***

 FGMAMTC 

Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents






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Tuesday, March 28, 2017

DIRTY SOULS by Karina Halle Review



SUMMARY:


From New York Times bestselling author Karina Halle comes DIRTY SOULS the much-anticipated, nail-biting conclusion to Black Hearts…

Violet McQueen has always been a sensitive soul. Troubled and misunderstood, she never realized her place in the world, nor her true potential…until she met Vicente Bernal.

From birth, Vicente Bernal has always known his place in the world – he’s been groomed to be a ruthless king. Yet for a man whose soul has become morally bankrupt, it’s only through Violet he’s realizing the worth of someone’s heart.

But at what cost?

With a deadly game set in motion taking them from the stark deserts of California to the steamy jungles of Mexico, Violet and Vicente’s forbidden relationship will be put to the test. Boundaries will be pushed, lines will be crossed and souls will get very, very dirty.

Because how do you choose between blood and love when both might get you killed?


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34469256-dirty-souls








Review

Dirty Souls (Sins Duet, #2)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow, what a ride. This book kept me on the edge. I actually felt like arguing with the characters. I was in that deeply.

This is the second book in a two part series. You have to read Black Hearts first. It picks up right where the other left off. Violet and Vicente are in their little love cocoon, but of course, it can't last. They have a whole world of danger waiting for them. The twists and turns just do not stop in this book. I didn't see so much coming. Eventually everyone ends up in Mexico. Javier has changed so much throughout all the books in the other series. I had no idea what he was capable of doing. Actually I didn't know what the limits were for any of the characters. I think I'm still a bit in shock of everything that went down. There is a conclusion of this storyline, but it's definitely open to more from the characters in this world.


 ***copy given in exchange for an honest review***

 FGMAMTC 

Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents






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Saturday, March 4, 2017

BLACK HEARTS by Karina Halle Review





I wasn't supposed to know about her. I never should have found her.
And I sure as hell shouldn't have taken her... From a New York Times bestselling author comes a BRAND NEW smoldering romantic suspense that will get your pulse racing, your thighs clenching and the pages turning.

For Vicente Bernal, truth is all he's known. The son of an infamous drug lord, Vicente was born to help run the family business, which means he's been raised on a throne of sordid pasts and dirty laundry, violence and pride. But when Vicente stumbles across someone he's not supposed to know about - a woman from his father's checkered past - he sets out to California to find her behind his father's back.

What Vicente doesn't expect to find in San Francisco is Violet McQueen, the woman's twenty-year old daughter. Beautiful and edgy with a vulnerability he can't resist, Violet tempts Vicente from afar and though he promised himself he'd stay away from her, curiosity and lust are powerful forces. Besides, Vicente has always gotten everything he wants - why shouldn't he have Violet too?

Soon his wants turn into a sexual obsession, one that sweeps Violet into his games as they fall madly, deeply in love with each other, the type of first love that can drive a person mad.

But it's a love with tragic consequences.

Both the truth - and the lies - not only threaten to tear them apart, but threaten their very lives.

NOTE: The conclusion DIRTY SOULS, releases March 17. This edition of Black Hearts also includes the first few chapters of Dirty Angels as a bonus!




EXCERPT: BLACK HEARTS, SINS DUET #1 Copyright Karina Halle 2017

The fog is continuing to roll in, bringing a briny mist that you can taste. Only the tops of the bridge remain visible, the orange red seeming to glow against grey skies, while shadows of the structure come and go as the fog moves in.
Violet stares in quiet fascination, her dark eyes taking it in. I can see the fog reflected in them, giving her an eerie quality. She appears to be listening but whether it’s the fog horns, the chatter of the fishermen, the lapping waves, or the dull roar of the bridge traffic, I don’t know. Could be something else entirely.
I don’t want to break her concentration or bring her back from whatever world she’s in. I just stand beside her and let her be. If anything, it says a lot about her comfort level with me if she lets herself drift away.
After a few minutes, she slowly turns to me and blinks. “How long did you say you were going to be in San Francisco for?”
“I don’t know,” I say carefully. “It depends if I find what I’m looking for.”
“And what are you looking for?”
“A reason to stay.” I hold her gaze with mine. The sea breeze picks up a few strands of her hair, moving them across her face like a black veil. Without thinking, I reach over and brush them away, tucking them behind her ear.
I could kiss her. I should kiss her. The feel of her skin against my fingers ignites a million torches inside.
Then she looks away, uncomfortable, the silence between us changing.
I steer the subject onto her. “You said your mother is a famous photographer. Does she have a studio?”
She lets out a soft sigh, her eyes back on the bridge. “Yeah. In the mission district.”
“And you don’t want the same for yourself?”
She rubs her lips together in thought before looking down at her hands that hang over the side of the railing. “As I said, I don’t know what I want. I’m not sure I feel comfortable with the idea of having a studio. My mom does portraits of people. That’s not what I like to shoot.”
“Not a people person?”
A wry smile cracks her lips. “No. Not really. It’s too…intimate. My mom is great at it because people feel comfortable with her. She can…I don’t know, manipulate their feelings.”
Interesting. Very interesting.
People like my father.
“So they end up exposing pieces of themselves that they don’t see. I guess I have the same intuition as her but the one on one is too much for me. I prefer to work with nature. With this.” She gestures to the fog. “No one else really understands how beautiful this is to me.”
I look back at the fog, moving faster now. I wouldn’t call it beautiful. Moody. Dark, maybe. If anything, her beauty stands out more because of the bleakness around her.
“My goal is to take photos that show how I see the world. All the beauty in it. The world is such an ugly and beautiful place, horrible and hopeful. I want to show the light in all the dark places.” She pauses and gives me a sheepish look. “Sorry. I know that must have sounded hella pretentious.”
I slowly shake my head because she sounds anything but that. She sounds real. She sounds like something I want to shake loose from her, to let free and run wild.
“You’re not pretentious,” I tell her, my voice low. “Not even close.”
“That’s not what I hear.”
“What do you hear?” I move in closer to her, the distance between us just a few inches. She doesn’t back up. “What does the world tell you you are?”
I watch her swallow, take a moment. “Oh, you know. I’m too self-absorbed. Narcissistic. Pretentious. I live too much in my head, I’m too anti-social, too distant. I feel too much, care too much. My mother has always chided me for being too sensitive and then I was diagnosed with having hyper-sensitivity, so it turns out she was right. I am too sensitive. About everything. And there’s not a single thing I can do about it except know that when I experience reality, it’s not what everyone else experiences. For better or for worse.” She sighs. “Mainly for worse.”
I feel like this is something she doesn’t unload on many people. My instincts about her were right. She’s fragile but not weak, too much a part of the world and too much removed from it. A contradiction.
“I’m sorry,” she says, shooting me a glance. “I didn’t mean to blab away like that. I know you probably think I’m crazy now. Hell, I think I’m crazy half the time. I really wish I could just be like everyone else. To just…shut it all off.”
“You’re not crazy,” I tell her. “I’m just understanding you better.”
Her mouth quirks up into a dry smile. “I’m surprised you understand me at all. We’ve only just met.”
“True,” I tell her as I reach out and run my fingers along her jaw, tipping her chin up. “But I’m sure you of all people would know that sometimes you can connect with someone in ways you didn’t think you could. Or should.”
She barely nods, her eyes focused on mine, anticipation on her brow. I’m met with the overwhelming desire to protect and shield her which is extremely inconvenient, if not unwelcome, given the circumstances. One minute I need to fuck her, the next I need to protect her, and in the end, what I really need is to do the job I set out to do.

SUMMARY:


From New York Times bestselling author Karina Halle comes DIRTY SOULS the much-anticipated, nail-biting conclusion to Black Hearts…

Violet McQueen has always been a sensitive soul. Troubled and misunderstood, she never realized her place in the world, nor her true potential…until she met Vicente Bernal.

From birth, Vicente Bernal has always known his place in the world – he’s been groomed to be a ruthless king. Yet for a man whose soul has become morally bankrupt, it’s only through Violet he’s realizing the worth of someone’s heart.

But at what cost?

With a deadly game set in motion taking them from the stark deserts of California to the steamy jungles of Mexico, Violet and Vicente’s forbidden relationship will be put to the test. Boundaries will be pushed, lines will be crossed and souls will get very, very dirty.

Because how do you choose between blood and love when both might get you killed?

https://www.goodreads.com/series/195722-sins-duet




Review


Black Hearts (Sins Duet, #1)



You do not have to have read any of the author's other books in order to read or understand this one, but I believe that my experience with loving the others made me more excited for this one. The parents of the leads in this story had a heck of a storyline in their books so I will always be interested in anything to do with them.

Violet seems to be a bit sheltered and a tad emotional. Maybe her parents were trying to give her more of a perfect life than they had. She knows there is something off in her family's past but isn't sure what it is. Vincete grew up the differently. He was shielded from nothing and has participated in the underbelly of society alongside his father. When they connect, it leads to some wild sex and deep introspection.

Black Hearts is sort of a Romeo & Juliet type situation. The McQueen's and Bernal's are enemies. There's a lot of bad blood in the past. The possibilities are endless when it comes to how this will turn out. Everyone has their own plans, and no one really knows the mindset anyone else is in or what they're truly capable of doing. I'm definitely looking forward to the conclusion in Dirty Souls.


 ***copy given in exchange for an honest review***

 FGMAMTC 

Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents






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