ASIN: B00C4TK29E
ISBN-13: 978-0062273307
Publisher: HarperCollins
Line: William Morrow
Release Date: Oct 15, 2013
Pages: 304
Digital Retail: 5.99
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Genre: New Adult
Heat Level: Hot
Rating:
Most girls would kill to spend months traveling around Europe after college graduation with no responsibility, no parents, and no limit credit cards. Kelsey Summers is no exception. She's having the time of her life… or that's what she keeps telling herself.
It's a lonely business trying to find out who you are, especially when you're afraid you won't like the you that's found. No amount of drinking or dancing can chase away Kelsey's loneliness, but maybe Jackson Hunt can. After a few chance meetings, he convinces her to take a journey of adventure instead of alcohol. With each new city and experience, Kelsey's mind becomes a little clearer, and her heart a little less hers. Hunt helps her unravel her own dreams and desires, but the more she knows about herself, the more she realizes how little she knows about him.
Review
I’ve met our heroine Kelsey before, in Carmack’s first book, Losing It. Kelsey came off to me as the pushy friend. The one that is so sure of herself and not afraid to go all out in any situation. Turns out, Kelsey is a great actress and she’s not nearly as put-together as she appears. This girl has serious issues and when she’s on her own without support Kelsey quickly becomes her own worst enemy.
Enter our hero, Jackson Hunt. He’s got the washboard abs, the Marines tattoo and a set of eyes that Kelsey describes as:
…so piercing, the reminded me of growing up in church and feeling certain that somewhere out there was a God that was watching, and could see everything I didn’t want him to see.
This guy is that intense! Oh, boy is he. Yet Jackson jumps from hot to cold continuously through the better half of the book. I was just as ready to pummel him as Kelsey was with the ratcheting sexual tension you could’ve cut through sheet rock.
Jackson is also not with issues himself, but Kelsey figures his are just a drop in the bucket. The funny part is that they are both hiding secrets, and trying to discover what they mean to each other and who they are in the messed up world they’re living in. There are tons of deep emotions, and from those I easily fell in love with both characters; even though I only received the story from Kelsey’s POV. That’s what makes Carmack such an awesome writer, in each of her book’s I’ve been able to relate to both characters and feel for both of them, without experiencing internal monologues from both characters. It’s an art, a fine art that Carmack has honed into a sharp tool easily used to slice open your heart and sear your emotions.
The addition of glorious descriptions of Europe, the treks to nudist beach and a castle in Germany give additional depth and although brief you feel momentarily transported to a place of magic. I’ve only recently started reading New Adult on a regular basis, but Carmack is quickly climbing up my author list to reach the coveted auto-buy position, and I’ll definitely be reading this one again.
For fans of Abbi Glines
Reviewed by Landra