Title: Never Say Never
Author: Emily Goodwin
Genre: Full length, stand-alone contemporary romance
Release Date: September 28, 2015
Blurb
My life was full of nevers.
It was never supposed to go this way. I was never supposed to lose Mom so soon. I was never supposed to worry about making ends meet, to worry about losing the farm. I never thought I’d be working a job I hate, with a boss who was more interested in what was under my shirt than in my head. Saving neglected and abused horses had been my whole life. It was my reprieve, my sanity, my last saving grace in a cruel world. I never thought I’d grow to resent it, but I guess there is a first for everything.
Then I met him.
The Hollywood playboy. The entitled, cocky asshole that I can’t get out of my head. I never thought there could be more to him than sex appeal and an infamous reputation of loving and leaving. I never thought I’d fall for him, put my heart on the line, and risk letting him completely destroy me.
But you know what they tell you…never say never.
Purchase your copy today!
Excerpt
“I dreamed about you,” she whispers. I can hear other people talking around her and remember she’s at work.
“A sex dream, right?” I say with a smirk.
“If it was, I wouldn’t tell you,” she says, and I can tell she’s smiling.
“Then I know it was one. Was I good in this dream? I gotta know so I can live up to your expectations.”
“There you go, being presumptuous again,” she laughs.
“Maybe,” I say. “Or maybe it’s just wishful thinking. Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it.” She was a fan before we met. Has she thought about fucking me before? Becoming a sex icon is weird. Don’t get me wrong, I love it at times. But it’s fucking weird to know that women all over the world fantasize about me solely based on my looks and the little bit of personality they see during interviews, and it’s all fake anyway.
“I have very high standards,” she jokes. “Dream or no dream.”
“I always please, multiple times. And I have dreamed about it. More than once.”
“You did not just say that!” she exclaims, and I smile as I imagine the look on her face. “You are a little cocky, ya know.”
“There’s nothing little about my cock.”
She just laughs. “We’ll see about that. Oh my God, no, no—I didn’t mean—oh shit,” she stammers, and I laugh even harder. “Friday,” she says. “Where are we going?”
“I don’t care,” I say honestly. “I’m still not sure what to do around here.”
“There’s plenty to do by you, in Billings. Here…we have a movie theatre that closes at nine, two diners, one pizza place, and a couple fast food chains. Oh, and a bar, of course.”
“How do you live?”
She just laughs. “You get used to it, and online shopping is a life saver.”
“How’s Aurelia?” I ask before I have to go.
“She’s doing pretty well, actually. I think she’s lonely, and I feel bad because I’m gone all day and don’t feel comfortable letting her out when I’m not there. Not yet at least.”
“If you could do horse stuff full time, would you?”
“God, yes,” she says right away. “That’s what my mom did. But it’s not that easy. Rescues are expensive, and I have vet bills to pay, so I’m stuck here. I refuse to believe it’s forever though.”
“I don’t believe it either.” I make a mental note to have Claire look into the expenses of horse rescues. Speaking of Claire, she’s motioning to me. “I have to get back to work,” I tell her. “I’ll call you again. You still have to tell me why you’re having a bad day.”
“It’s not so bad anymore,” she says softly. “And I’d like that. Bye, Aiden.”
HOLY COW! This is a very emotional read right from the
beginning. Honestly I suggest a box of
tissue by your side (which I did) while reading because I couldn’t predict when
the next event was going to strike and break my heart.
Haley Parker is a young woman alone after the death of her
mother. She loves horses and rescues
them from abusive owners. On one rescue
her mother dies and Haley is burden with guilt.
She believes that her mother would still be alive if she didn’t go to
help with the rescue. Alone Haley feels lost;
she doesn’t belong anywhere any longer.
Even in her grief, however, she is determined to move forward regardless
of how hard that is.
Aiden Shepherd is the latest big thing in Hollywood. He has a reputation of being a bad boy and he
plays it up. I love their first meeting
when Haley knocks him down. A little comeuppance
that he deserves. Aiden has demons that haunt him also which
often make it hard to really know who he is.
He sinks into his roles to become someone, anyone, who isn’t Aiden
Shepherd. When he isn’t acting he is relies
on alcohol and drugs to take him out of his own head and deal with his demons.
What I like about this story is that these two main
characters have so much pain in their past that it is hard for them to more
forward and form meaningful relationships.
They find each other unexpectedly and start to find ways to help each
other heal. It isn’t an easy path but
they travel it nonetheless.
“You might be broken, but I love every
shattered piece of you.”
This book is one of my favorite books that I’ve read
recently and definitely in my top ten for this year. I love the characters. They are so real and their pain is so deep
that it often made my heart ache and flutter.
The characters suffer from different events but suffer equally for
different reasons. Haley and Aiden are
so perfectly matched and the way they are developed is picture-perfect.
“Love is scary and crazy. It’s supposed to
be. And it means having someone there to walk with you through the storm,
picking you up when you can’t go on, carrying your baggage when you don’t have
the strength to do so anymore.”
I love that Never Say
Never is a standalone and we get the whole story from start to finish at
one sitting. It has alternating points
of view switching from Haley to Aiden.
If you’ve read any of my other reviews you know that I love this method
of storytelling. I love understanding
what is going through their heads and how they see the world.
Emily Goodwin is a beautiful writer. Her scenes, dialog, passion, and characters
jump right off the page into your reading room.
She takes the reader through every emotion and I feel better for it in
the end. Finally, the epilogue is a
study in how an epilogue should be written.
Never Say Never is just a perfect romance that I couldn’t put down once
I read the first word. This is my first
Emily Goodwin book but it will not be my last.
An absolute must read!
5 STAMPS FOR ROMANCE
About the Author
No comments:
Post a Comment