Reckless & Real, #2
Adult Contemporary
Release: March 3, 2015
After everything blew up on Christmas, Liz walked away from me, and I let her. She said she needed space and a chance to pursue her dreams. But we both knew she was running from the mess she made. Now the political campaign she used as an ex- cuse to leave is bringing us back together and I’m proving to her what she really needs—not just the hot nights, greedy hands, and undeniable physical chemistry. What she really needs is something real. What she really needs…is me.
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1Jx0yXs
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Review
How can something real come from a relationship that’s been filled with secrets and lies from the very beginning?
How can a love exist with the all-consuming feelings of betrayal, guilt, and shame that surround it?
Amidst scandals, public perception, and hurt feelings, Sam and Liz try to figure out what they truly want, and if they can let go of a past and a present riddled with duplicitous people and heartache and become something worth fighting for regardless of who or what tries to get in their way.
I’ve been waiting for the conclusion to Sam and Liz’s story ever since the big reveal at the end of Something Reckless. The obstacles that have been in their way from the start of the series have both brought them closer and torn them apart, and when book two begins, Sam and Liz are definitely not on the same page – they aren’t even in the same town. Both are licking their wounds and trying to get over each other because the scandal that rocked their lives tore more than just their relationship apart. But while they both attempt to move forward, they can’t. There’s unfinished business between them and hard truths to face, especially on Sam’s side. But it’s clear, earlier on in Something Real, that regardless of how much Sam and Liz miss one another, there are multiple people and issues working against them, taking them two steps forward and one step back on more than one occasion.
I have to admit…I didn’t see things playing out this way for Sam and Liz, especially in the final book of their story. Their lives are riddled with drama, some caused by their own decisions but most due to a few obnoxious people and their selfish acts. Being in the public eye is a huge hindrance for Sam and Liz working things out, and it makes for a plethora of hurt feelings and moments of extreme jealousy and secret and sizzling encounters…all leaving both of them wondering if it will ever be more than that.
I was a bit frustrated throughout much of the book because I wanted Sam to get his shit together and understand how he was being manipulated. I can’t blame Liz’s reactions to the whole situation. I’m not sure I would have been able to see past the pain and put everything together like she does. But that only goes to prove how much people refuse to truly see the real Liz, not the one who everyone thinks they know due to her social interactions and public perception.
Overall, I really enjoyed Something Real. Lexi Ryan continues to be a writer who captures my attention in every book that she writes and characters she creates. I loved watching Sam and Liz’s relationship grow despite what was being thrown at them, and while the overabundance of drama in the text was a bit of an issue for me, the payoff was getting to the end and witnessing those who deserved it get theirs and Sam and Liz realize what they truly mean to each other, and the small tidbits of information readers get about the couple in Ryan’s next book definitely has my interest piqued.
Bring on Max’s book!
A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
4 poison apples
Excerpt
Sam
Security had better not have let one of those asshole journalists from downstairs up to my floor. I swear, those soul suckers would do anything to get a new detail to add to their nothing stories. I open the door without removing the chain and feel as if I’ve been punched in the gut when I see the woman on the other side.
Liz is worrying her lower lip between her teeth and watching down the hall. Is she looking for Sabrina or trying to make sure no one sees her coming to my room? My insides twist at the sight of her—an internal tug-of-war between conflicting emotions. I want to pull her into my room and kiss her until she can’t see straight, touch her until she promises never to leave me again, and at the same time, I want to demand that she go back to her room because having her close makes me hope for things I can’t have.
I remove the chain and tug her inside by the arm before closing the door behind her.
“No one saw me,” she says, her eyes locked on the floor. “I made sure.”
“I saw you,” I growl. It’s painful to be this close—to breathe her air, to smell her perfume. I never knew how much it could hurt to want and be denied.
She swallows and avoids my eyes. “Is she here?”
“What do you want, Liz?”
She lifts her head and stares at me. “Is she here?”
“Sabrina’s on her way to meet her mom in South Dakota for a campaign stop.”
Her gaze dips to my bare chest and back up. “I’m surprised they didn’t ask you to go with them.”
“They did. I declined.” I sound like a fucking dickhead, and I make myself take two steps back so I don’t do something equally dickish. Like kiss her until she melts in my arms and forgets about the other guy, until we both forget that this is hopeless.
“I’m sorry that video was leaked. You didn’t deserve that invasion of your privacy.”
She has red lipstick on, and it matches her shoes. Ever since I saw her tonight, I’ve been picturing her on her knees in nothing but those shoes, those red lips stretched around my cock. I can’t help myself, and I skim my thumb over her bottom lip.
The second I touch her, she draws in a ragged breath. “You came to my apartment yesterday.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
I trail my thumb down her neck and over the red strap of her dress. “Probably for the same reason you came here tonight.”
“To talk about Sabrina?”
“You knocked on my door in the middle of the night to talk about Sabrina?” I follow the strap down and graze my fingers across her cleavage. “Is this about her, or is it about you and me?”
“There is no you and me,” she says. “We both know that.”
“There’s so much you and me, there’s no air left when we share a room. There’s always you and me.”
“Even when you’re making sex tapes with someone else?”
“And even when you’re keeping warm in another man’s arms.”
Something Real Playlist
From Lexi:
Because I so frequently have to switch gears at the drop of a hat—from Mom to writer, from the business side of writing to drafting an intensely emotional scene—I rely on music to quickly plant me in the zone for any given book. Every time I start to write a book, I create a playlist that makes me think of the characters and I listen to it and add to it as I write. Here’s what I was listening to while I was writing Something Real. I hope you like it!
Amnesia—5 Seconds of Summer
Over You—Ingrid Michaelson (feat. A Great Big World)
How Long Will I Love You—Ellie Goulding
You Ruin Me—The Veronicas
Don’t—Ed Sheeran
All You Had to Do Was Stay—Taylor Swift
Changed by You—Between the Trees
Thinking Out Loud—Ed Sheeran
Crazy in Love—Sofia Karlberg
Love Me Like You Do—Ellie Goulding
SOMETHING RECKLESS is on sale for .99 cents until March 14!
Reckless & Real #1
Release: December 22, 2014
He talks dirty to me, but I don’t know his name.
He wants to tie me up, but I don’t know his face.
He turns me on, but I couldn’t point him out in a crowd.
I’ve fallen for an anonymous stranger, and tonight the anonymity ends. Tonight I want more than typed secrets and texted promises. I want something reckless. Heat. Passion. The thrill of being entirely possessed.
Because I suspect this anonymous stranger isn’t a stranger at all.
Lizzy Thompson met riverrat69 online through Something Real, a service promising to deliver meaningful relationships by forbidding its users to share names or photos until they’ve reached a certain benchmark. She was looking for love. He was researching an investment. They hit it off. Talked and flirted, hid behind screen names and cartoon avatars.
Now they’re breaking the rules and meeting in person. But Liz is prepared. She’s picked up hints and followed clues.
She’s ninety-percent convinced she’s discovered the identity of her dirty-talking online friend.
She wonders if her ex-lover Sam Bradshaw knows her identity too.
When she rolls the dice on one reckless night, her chance at something real could crumble.
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1AgaZse
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About the Author
Once a college English professor, I now write full time. I live in rural Indiana, where, when I’m not writing, I get to hang out with my husband and two kids–a six-year-old boy and
a two-year-old hellion, er, girl. Not surprisingly, reading and writing remain my favorite activities, though both come in bits and pieces these days, not the big hunks of time I en- joyed before I had children. When I’m feeling virtuous, I like to go running (I use that word liberally. I’m really, really slow) or do yoga. Don’t worry, I’m always careful to balance out such activities with a hearty serving of ice cream or a chocolate martini.
Website: http://lexiryan.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexiryan
Twitter: @writerlexiryan; https://twitter.com/writerlexiryan
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