January 31, 2014

BLOG TOUR REVIEW & GIVEAWAY: Eversea (Eversea #1) and Forever Jack (Eversea #2)



I'm so excited to be a part of the Eversea & Forever Jack blog tour, organized by Xpresso Book Tours! This was a pair of awesome new adult books! Check out my reviews for both of them and the enter to win one of FOUR Kindles (I know, right?!) and your own copies of Eversea and Forever Jack! Don't forget to check out the other stops on the tour, too.

Eversea (Eversea #1), by Natasha Boyd
Published June 4, 2013
Publisher:
self-published
Format:
e-book, provided by the author and Xpresso Book Tours
Genre: 
new adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Rating:  4.5 STARS

(From Goodreads)
An orphaned, small-town, southern girl, held hostage by responsibility and self-doubt.

A Hollywood A-list mega-star, on the run from his latest scandal and with everything to lose.

A chance encounter that leads to an unlikely arrangement and epic love affair that will change them both forever.

When his co-star and real-life girlfriend is caught cheating on him with her new director, A-list hottie, Jack Eversea, finds himself in sleepy Butler Cove, South Carolina. Jack hopes the sultry southern heat in this tiny coastal Lowcountry town will hide him not only from the tabloids and his cheating girlfriend, but his increasingly vapid life and the people who run it. He doesn’t count on meeting Keri Ann Butler.

Keri Ann has relied on herself so long, dealing with her family’s death and the responsibilities of keeping up her family's historic mansion, that boys and certainly the meager offering of eligible boys in Butler Cove, have never figured into her equation. But fate has other plans. Suddenly face to face with the man who played the movie role of her favorite fictional character, Jack has Keri Ann yearning for everything she has previously avoided ... and Jack must decide whether this funny, sassy girl is worth changing his life for, before his mistakes catch up to him.


Usually the "actor" books aren't my bread and butter. I don't know - I always find them a little pretentious and stuffy. I'd heard good things about Eversea, though, despite the fact that the swoony, brooding object of desire was a movie actor. Always one to take good friend's suggestions (I'd never have discovered half the awesome books I have if I didn't listen to my friends), I read it anyway. And was once again SO glad I listened to my friends.

Keri Ann is biding her time in her sleepy coastal South Carolina town until her older brother finishes med school and can come home and take care of the family house. Until then, she has put her life on hold, working at the local bar and fixing up the house as money allows. One night while working, the famous movie actor, Jack Eversea, wanders into the bar incognito. He escaped to a friend's beach house there after a very public break-up with his long-time girlfriend. He strikes up a conversation with Keri Ann and is absolutely taken with her honestly and realism. But, when the world finds out where Jack's been hiding, will he still want to give her the time of day?

Okay. I loved Jack. I loved him because he wasn't all those typical things I thought "actor" bad boys were. He wasn't pretentious and stuffy. He is just a boy trying to live the life he wants while maintaining a high-profile job. And, he's just as insecure as Keri Ann is about his life and future. 

"You can't see what you want, what you feel, whether you're any good at what you're doing. You suddenly feel like you need the fame, the attention, because it's the only thing that's telling you that you are any good. But, then you wonder, it's all just bullshit anyway, right? It's not you and your talent, it's your luck. It's the fans and their whims. It's the money on the deals, the franchise. They spin the story, create your life and if they take it away, then you're nothing. You don't exist."

Keri Ann is scared to trust herself and her feelings with this guy because what she feels from the very beginning is intense. And, she's well aware that hooking up with Jack Eversea is not part of her master life plan. Being famous and having money isn't what she wants. Does she have the strength to change everything for him? 

Right about the time she decides she does have the strength, several events unfold in rapid succession that immediately cause her to question that decision. When the final nail is driven through the coffin, Keri Ann feels like the only way to survive Jack Eversea is to walk away from him. And it nearly destroys both of them. 

Eversea was a really emotional book. Keep tissues handy - you will need them. Also, keep Forever Jack (Eversea #2) handy, because after the cliffhanger ending, you will need that too.


Forever Jack (Eversea #2), by Natasha Boyd
Published November 25, 2013
Publisher:
self-published
Format:
e-book, provided by the author and Xpresso Book Tours
Genre: 
new adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Rating:  4.5 STARS

(From Goodreads)
A feisty small-town girl and the Hollywood star who broke her heart.

An all-consuming love threatened by fame.

One last chance at FOREVER.


Keri Ann Butler's life changed on the night she met movie star, Jack Eversea. She thought she knew a Jack that was very different to the man adored by fans the world over. In the wake of his betrayal and abandonment, Keri Ann has had to pick up and move forward with the life she was supposed to live and has put off far too long.

Suddenly Jack is back, and his explanations for why he left seem more and more plausible, and his declarations more seductive. But being Jack's latest tabloid accessory isn't on Keri Ann's career agenda, no matter how much she is attracted to him. And how can she can ever trust him again?

Jack knows he let the only 'real' thing that ever happened to him slip through his fingers. And his hands have been tied to try and stop it. Until Now.

Jack is now fighting to save his relationship with Keri Ann, even as his crazy life threatens to tear them apart. Again. The question is, can he convince her she can have it all? And have him? Forever?


Told in dual POV, in Forever Jack we find out why Jack left Keri Ann and the lengths he's willing to go to to get her back. It's an incredibly romantic and exciting story. 

Jack is even more tortured when he returns to claim Keri Ann many months after leaving her. He has explanations and reasons (very good ones, too), and knows they might not be enough. But, Keri Ann never stopped loving him, and soon finds it impossible to resist him for the second time. This time, though, may very well be her undoing, especially when the world discovers her and shatters the privacy and solitude she cherishes. Is she cut out for this kind of life?

To be honest, Keri Ann kinda made me feel stabby for most of Forever Jack. She really gave Jack a hard time for leaving, as well she should've. But, even after he explained why, she still continued to bust his balls every chance she got. Even after accepting him back in her life, she's still very wishy washy. She wants him, but not his job or his lifestyle. She wants to be his girlfriend, but wants to keep it a secret. That's not love. That's selfishness. And I really couldn't stand her for awhile because of it.

Jack, for his part, accepts the part he played in Keri Ann's heartbreak and tried to make amends for it right away. But, the circumstances of why he left Keri Ann and how he feels about her have really made him guilt-ridden and sad. 

"The thing about pain, whether physical or emotional, is there's no running away. You can't escape it and you can't hide from it. Not by ignoring it, not by drugging it, not by doing a swan dive into a bottle. Sooner or later you'll have to take a breath, let the pain rush in and get to the other side like your life depends on it. because it does."

Keri Ann's biggest hang up was dealing with the publicity should her and Jack's relationship go public. It was hard for her to get to that place where it didn't matter. Where she realizes that how they feel about each other is so much more important. Her brother and best friend are her sounding boards - one in favor of her relationship with Jack, the other not so much. Her art is her therapy, too. And something she wants to keep just for herself. 

Natasha Boyd's writing is absolutely beautiful. Check this out from Keri Ann's perspective:

"It occurred to me that the moment in space and time before lips touch, the small exquisite sting of wanting, a beat of thirst, of yearning, was the most underrated part of kissing. There should be sonnets and epic poems written about the space before a kiss, and the thrilling rush that comes with the moment of contact."  

Awesome, right? Forever Jack was a romantic and super sexy story. The Eversea series is definitely one that I would recommend to any fan of contemporary romance. 

About the Author

Natasha Boyd is a writer with a background in marketing and public relations. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, and lives in the coastal Carolina Lowcountry, complete with Spanish moss, alligators and mosquitoes the size of tiny birds.  She has a husband, two sons and a host of scared relatives that worry the next book will be about them.  She is a member of Georgia Romance Writers, Romance Writers of America and Island Writers Network, where she has been a featured speaker. Forever, Jack is the sequel to her award-winning and first full-length novel, Eversea.


Giveaway

Prizes:
 - 4 Kindles (Open wherever Amazon ships)
 - 2x signed copies of both book 1 & 2 + sea turtle pendant (Open INTL)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

1 comment:

Giselle said...

I love how book 2 gives us a different perspective I find you get to know each character much better like that. It sounds like a super romantic and fun series and right up my alley for sure!