Will they or won’t they? #ToxicLove
Meet Phoebe & Jeremy in this second chance romance!
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RELEASE DATE: July 7th, 2015
New York Times bestselling author Kim Karr turns up the heat in a smoking hot, emotionally compelling romance that takes you into the world of Manhattan’s elite. Meet Jeremy McQueen, a sexy, intense, brooding entrepreneur who goes after what he wants, and Phoebe St. Claire, a socialite-turned-CEO who’s been drifting through life searching for something she thought she’d never find again–the right man to share her future.
Phoebe St. Claire has devoted herself to saving her family’s hotel empire–but her best efforts have not been good enough. With her whole world in turmoil, the tenacious go-getter turns to the once love of her life. Far from innocent, Jeremy McQueen was the guy from the wrong side of the tracks who her parents would never have approved of. Their years apart have only made the sexy bad boy more irresistible than ever–and their reunion is explosive.
When she asks Jeremy to help her salvage her family business, he agrees immediately, with only one condition–he wants her in his bed.
But soon surprising circumstances leave Phoebe reeling. Was this fairy tale romance just too good to be true? Will Jeremy’s secrets pull them apart all over again?
THIS IS A STANDALONE SECOND-CHANCE ROMANCE WITH NO CLIFFHANGER ENDING.
Review
Jealousy…Mistrust…Fear…Duplicity
Any one of these factors in a relationship can cause great harm, and when a couple has them all, there’s no doubt that they can destroy all semblance of love and ruin even the strongest of bonds.
Five years ago, Phoebe St. Claire walked away from the only man who has ever made her feel confident in who she is and wants to be. Jeremy McQueen gave her the courage to free herself from her blue blood society standards and find her own path, but due to the lies she told about herself and Jeremy’s chip on his shoulder, their summer fling is over, and Phoebe’s left to breakaway on her own, which doesn’t happen because Jeremy’s not there to show her she can do it.
But then the man Phoebe got lost in returns to her life, and she finds herself overwhelmed by her lust and love for him yet again, and she has to decide if they can overcome her lies and Jeremy’s abandonment and be together without allowing the past or the poison of their fears and distrust to ruin them all over again.
Talk about ANGST! Toxic put me through the emotional wringer trying to figure out if Jeremy and Phoebe believed in each other enough to get past everything that happened and move forward. Their relationship is extremely complicated because there are outside factors/people who threaten the bond they share, leading them to question everything said and done when they’re not together.
Both Jeremy and Phoebe are incredibly flawed characters whose trust issues lead them to make rash decisions and say things without thinking. Their passion for each other is obvious from the very beginning of the book, but that doesn’t mean it’s a healthy connection. For a lot of the book, it seems to do more harm than good when it comes to dealing with their concerns. Hot sex can only go so far to mend a relationship, and while Jeremy and Phoebe’s carnal connection intoxicates them both, when they have to be real with each other and communicate and believe in one another, they struggle, causing major damage to what they could have together.
Jeremy and Phoebe’s love is both toxic and pure, and that’s exactly what Kim Karr illustrates for her readers in their story. In any relationship, emotions can run high, but in one like Jeremy and Phoebe’s with their past and the current issues of mistrust, miscommunication, and the threat of vindictive people’s interference, explosive situations can destroy even the deepest kind of love.
There were so many times as I read the story that I wanted to slap some sense into both Jeremy and, especially, Phoebe, but then I thought about the situation Phoebe finds herself in and the pressure she’s under and the insecurities she has when it comes to Jeremy, and it made complete sense. It doesn’t mean it didn’t drive me absolutely nuts, but with the insight Kim Karr gives us, I could see past it. I’ll admit, though, that the amount of angst in their storyline was killing me; I’m not usually one for an exuberant amount of torment. I can deal with a little because all relationships have it, but I usually can’t deal with too much. Although there’s a large quantity in Toxic, I understood why there needed to be. There’s so much for Jeremy and Phoebe to overcome in order to move forward, and it’s not going to be instantaneous, especially in the environment they’re in and the people they deal with while trying to fix everything. There were several times towards the end of the story where I didn’t think there was any way for them to make it through all of the turmoil together; it wasn’t impossible, but there was so many things going against them that I wondered how Kim Karr was going to make it happen because I needed Jeremy and Phoebe to be okay…to get their happy ending after all of the torment, and it’s amazing how the twists and turns offer a small glimpse of hope even when it doesn’t seem possible.
Kim Karr is a fantastic storyteller; her words and characters lure readers into the storyline and allow them to experience every aspect of their lives…to feel every emotion they feel. It was excruciating to witness all of Jeremy and Phoebe’s missteps, but it also made it that much better when they started getting things right.
Toxic is a definite must read.
A complimentary copy was provided by the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review.
5 poison apples
Excerpt
© 2015 by Kim Karr
Published by the Penguin Group
Phoebe St. Claire
Feeling a bit drunk and overwhelmed with so many and so few choices at the same time, I needed some time alone and snuck off toward the beach path.
I ran toward the ocean and twirled in the sand as the wind blew around me. Once I started to feel dizzy from twirling, I still wasn’t ready to head back to the party, so I took the path that would lead me to the large Olympic-sized pool. I tugged my sandals off with thoughts of putting my feet in the water to rinse the mud and sand away. As I approached the pool, I noticed how it glowed like it was lit by small pale fires. Lost in the enchantment of it, the sudden movement beneath the surface startled me.
A fair-haired boy emerged from the water. He pulled himself up and out so quickly that I was momentarily stunned. And then when he drank me in with his eyes, I shuddered.
I couldn’t help it, the way he looked at me just made me shiver. No one had ever looked at me like that before and I found myself gazing back into his intense eyes.
He was utterly beautiful. His bare chest was sculpted but not overly bulky like Danny or Jamie. They worked out every day pumping obnoxious amounts of iron to look the way they did. In contrast, the boy standing before me had a swimmer’s build.
He stood stoic and a cautious look crossed his face. He was long and lean in a pair of bright green neon swim trunks.
Right away I could tell he didn’t care what anyone thought about him.
I loved the idea of that.
So I smiled at him.
He shook his head and his hair fell into his eyes.
I wanted to reach out and push it away. It wasn’t long, but it wasn’t short. It was perfect.
“Hey,” he said, grabbing a towel off the ground.
It didn’t belong to the club. It was small, beige, and a bit worn—not the large hunter-green fluffy ones monogrammed in white I’d always gotten when I used to come here to swim as a kid.
“Hey,” I said back, swinging my sandals nervously.
He grabbed a pair of jeans that lay next to where the towel had been and walked right by me.
I turned to watch him as he strode into one of the cabanas and dropped his trunks. I froze and squeezed my eyes shut, thinking I shouldn’t be watching him but then opened them quickly when I couldn’t resist maybe catching a glimpse.
“Didn’t your parents ever tell you it isn’t polite to stare?” His voice was low and sexy, and it tugged me out of my own head.
I put my hands on my hips. “Didn’t your parents ever teach you not to undress in mixed company?”
He pulled his jeans on and laughed. “My mother might have mentioned that once or twice but I’ve never been good at following the rules.”
And it didn’t escape my notice that he didn’t put any underwear on first.
Hot. Totally and completely hot.
I didn’t see anything I shouldn’t have seen, it was too dark, but something inside me electrified at the thought of seeing him naked and I stepped closer. That’s when I noticed the scuffed-up black work boots on one of the lounges with a T-shirt thrown next to them.
I raised a brow. “Is this your changing room?”
He laughed again but this time added a smile and put his hands up. “Okay you caught me. I better get out of here before anyone else does.”
He was adorable and charming and my heart skipped a beat or two.
Then I stepped even closer and entered the cabana entrance, effectively blocking his way. “Why? You’re not doing anything wrong.”
He shrugged but he didn’t try to move around me. “I usually swim in the ocean but when the water is too rough, like tonight, I come here.”
I bit my lip in contemplation before speaking. “Does it really matter if you get caught?”
He crossed his arms over his bare chest. “Let’s just say it’s not just the swimming. It’s more that I’ve been caught doing a few too many things that I shouldn’t have been doing in the past.”
A bad boy.
The thought made my pulse thunder. “So you’re not a member at this club?”
He cleared his throat and shifted from foot to foot. “No,” he laughed but his laugh was anything but genuine. “Are you?”
I hesitated as I considered my answer. “No, I was just walking the beach and wanted to rinse my feet. I’m Phoebe,” I said extending my hand. Technically, I wasn’t lying. I wasn’t a member, my parents were. I hadn’t even been here in years. And I was out for a walk.
Amusement danced in his blue eyes. “Jeremy,” he said back.
When I chewed on my lower lip, I noticed how his eyes focused on it.
Mine focused on the entirety of his mouth—his strong, firm jaw, his sensuous lips, and his tongue that had snuck out to lick his lips.
That mouth.
It was almost too much.
Almost.
About the Author
I live in Florida with my husband and four kids. I’ve always had a love for reading books and writing. Being an English major in college, I wanted to teach at the college level but that was not to be. I went on to receive an MBA and became a project manager until quitting to raise my family. I currently work part-time with my husband and full-time embracing one of my biggest passions—writing.
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