Spinning Out by Lexi Ryan

Title: Spinning Out

Author: Lexi Ryan

Series: The Blackhawk Boys, Book 1

Available at all fine retailers:

iBooks: http://apple.co/21zIOhK

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1QES7GT

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1pOeCmG

Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/1TAcaed

Amazon AU: http://bit.ly/1rneADS

B&N / Nook: http://bit.ly/1rEGlrP

Kobo: http://bit.ly/1QET3ea

Once, the only thing that mattered to me was football—training, playing, and earning my place on the best team at every level. I had it all, and I threw it away with a semester of drugs, alcohol, and pissing off anyone who tried to stop me. Now I’m suspended from the team, on house arrest, and forced to spend six months at home to get my shit together. The cherry on top of my fuckup sundae? Sleeping in the room next to mine is my best friend’s girl, Mia Mendez—the only woman I’ve ever loved and a reminder of everything I regret.

I’m not sure if having Mia so close will be heaven or hell. She’s off-limits—and not just because she’s working for my dad. Her heart belongs to someone else. But since the accident that killed her brother and changed everything, she walks around like a zombie, shutting out her friends and ignoring her dreams. We’re both broken, numb, and stuck in limbo.

Until I break my own rules and touch her.

Until she saves me from my nightmares by climbing into my bed.

Until the only thing I want more than having Mia for myself is to protect her from the truth.

I can’t rewrite the past, but I refuse to leave her heart in the hands of fate. For this girl, I’d climb into the sky and rearrange the stars.

Book 1 - SPINNING OUT (Arrow's story): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29547264-spinning-out

Book 2 - RUSHING IN - Coming August 30^th (Christopher's story): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29547285-rushing-in

Book 3 - GOING UNDER - Coming December 6^th (Sebastian's story): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29547292-going-under

Lexi Ryan has been a favorite author of mine for years now. I was excited for her to release the first book in a new series and couldn't wait to be introduced to her new leading men.

The Blackhawk Boys Series starts with Arrow's story and it is not for the faint of heart. He went from having all the potential in the world to finding himself living at home with no future in sight. Mia Mendez isn't a saint either. She's made mistakes that unfortunately cost her everything, too. Needless to say our hero and heroine are carting around a lifetime's worth of emotional baggage and guilt for their actions. 

Throw two damaged characters with an intertwined past together under the same roof and explosions are bound to happen. This plot reeled me in from the start as it wove a story from past to present with dual points of view. If you've read anything Lexi Ryan has written before, you know she doesn't spare the feelings of her readers. She isn't afraid to "go there" and write a story with some seriously shocking moments. Spinning Out is no different. This novel took me on an emotional roller coaster filled with heart wrenching emotion and fiery passion. 

I thoroughly enjoyed Spinning Out and am excited to see what other surprises Ryan has in store for readers with her Blackhawk Boys Series.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance author Lexi Ryan’s novels have been described as intense, emotional, and wickedly sexy. A former college professor, she now writes full-time from her home in Indiana, where she lives with her husband, two children, and a neurotic dog. Find her on Facebook or Twitter to chat about books, TV, and her children’s latest antics.

www.lexiryan.com

https://twitter.com/writerlexiryan

https://www.instagram.com/writerlexiryan/

https://www.facebook.com/lexiryanauthor/

Mia

I wake to a thump and sit up in bed. It’s three in the morning and my room is dark, but there’s more thumping. Someone’s kicking the wall between my room and Arrow’s.

My heart clenches as I picture him on the other side having wild sex with some girl. Maybe some old fuck buddy came over after I went to bed. Hell, for all I know it’s Gwen visiting her stepson’s bed.

I dismiss the idea as quickly as it comes. Arrow can’t tolerate Gwen, and he may have changed, but he’s never been one to fuck girls he can’t tolerate.

There’s another thump, then I hear Arrow’s voice. “No. Don’t.” Rough, choked words. And more thrashing. “Why?”

I throw off the covers and run to his room, opening the door without a thought.

I don’t know what I expected to find. Arrow is sleeping alone, tangled in his covers.

Frozen, I stare at him. Moonlight spills in through the open curtains and casts shadows across his face. Sweat glistens on his forehead, and his face twists in a grimace.

I step closer. I could touch him, but I shouldn’t. “Arrow?”

He kicks. His arm flies out and hits the wall.

“Arrow,” I repeat, louder this time.

He grabs my hand at the wrist and flies upright in bed as his eyes pop open. He’s breathing hard, and anguish is all over his face. For a minute, I feel like I can see inside him—all the terrified, vulnerable parts he hides from the world. I can see inside him and I know exactly what I’m looking at, because my dreams make me feel the same way.

“What are you doing here?” he asks in a low whisper. The anger from earlier is gone from his voice.

“You were having a nightmare.”

His eyes rake over me—greedy, hungry, desperate. “What? No red lace nightie? Or do you save that for my dad? Like mother, like daughter?”

I gasp before I can stop myself. Why doesn’t he just punch me? His fist to my face would hurt less than those words.

I yank my hand away, spin on my heel, and walk toward the hall. As I reach for the knob, he’s behind me. He slams his palm against the door, and it closes with a violent thunk. “I’m sorry,” he whispers behind me, his breath on my neck. “I’m sorry I said that.”

I keep my gaze on his hand. Arrow has the best hands. Big, strong, beautiful. And the first time they touched me . . .

I squeeze my eyes shut at the unwelcome memory, and shrug. “I need this job,” I say slowly. “Your stepmother has made it clear that she’ll fire me if we can’t get along, and we both know your dad will fire me if you ask him to. But please don’t. Please don’t screw it up for me.”

“Mia,” he says softly, and I feel him step closer, the heat of his body against my back. The rough pads of his fingertips brush the hair from my neck, then his breath, hot and sweet, tickles against that tender skin.

I’m frozen, divided between the wish for his kiss and the fear of it. “I’m sorry,” I whisper. Hot tears roll down my cheeks, and I don’t know what I’m apologizing for. For taking this job? For going with Brogan that night when Arrow asked me not to? For entering his life to begin with?

Yes. All of that. More. “I’m so sorry.”

He drops one hand from the door and the other from my neck. My body grows cool as he steps away.

“Stop apologizing,” he says.

I turn the knob and head to my room. I don’t look back.

 

 

He Will Be My Ruin by K.A. Tucker

Title: He Will Be My Ruin

Author: K.A. Tucker

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On the surface, Celine Gonzalez had everything a twenty-eight-year-old woman could want: a one-bedroom apartment on Manhattan's Lower East Side, a job that (mostly) paid the bills, and an acceptance letter to the prestigious Hollingsworth Institute of Art, where she would finally live out her dream of becoming an antiques appraiser for a major auction house. All she had worked so hard to achieve was finally within her reach. So why would she kill herself?

A man who was supposed to be her salvation...

Maggie Sparks arrives in New York City to pack up what's left of her best friend's belongings after a suicide that has left everyone stunned. The police have deemed the evidence conclusive: Celine got into bed, downed a lethal cocktail of pills and vodka, and never woke up. But when Maggie discovers a scandalous photograph in a lock box hidden in Celine's apartment, she begins asking questions. Questions about the man Celine fell in love with. The man she never told anyone about, not even Maggie. The man Celine believed would change her life.

Until he became her ruin.

On the hunt for evidence that will force the police to reopen the case, Maggie uncovers more than she bargained for about Celine's private life--and inadvertently puts herself on the radar of a killer. A killer who will stop at nothing to keep his crimes undiscovered.

There is so much I want to gush about when it comes to K.A. Tucker. She is a writer whose talent is in a realm of it's own. I have read each of her works countless times and regardless of their familiarity, every reread still takes me on an emotional journey. When He Will Be My Ruin came to light, I was giddy with anticipation. This novel is unlike anything Tucker has written before, but shines with the same high caliber as her other stories.

It's really hard for me to write this review. Not because the story wasn't incredible, but because everything I want to say might spoil the story for a reader. He Will Be My Ruin will consume you from the first page until the very end. It pained me to have to put this novel down and flooded my thoughts until I could resume reading. The suspense and twists are nothing I could have ever anticipated. This story truly kept me guessing and kept my heart racing. I loved every anxious moment. The characters, the plot, the words all come together in a remarkably written package that is uniquely phenomenal. I was intrigued and ultimately fell in love with this genre that I had only scratched the surface of before He Will Be My Ruin. Tucker stepped outside of where she has found success before to pen a story that flexed her creative muscles and showed her range as a writer.

I commend her for taking a risk on a story that will bring readers nothing but reward. If you're a fan of Tucker's books, He Will Be My Ruin will find a place on your shelf of favorites. For those who have not discovered this gem of an author--what are you waiting for!? He Will Be My Ruin is an Adult Suspense that will leave you stunned but satisfied, so pick up your copy today!

Look, I’m just…” I stare at my reflection in the mirror, my eyes lined with bags, my skin sallow, my hair matted. I look like someone who sat in bed for twenty-four hours, eating cold pizza from the box I had delivered last night and polishing off a bottle of vodka, all while reading the deepest and darkest thoughts from the last fifteen years of Celine Gonzalez’s life. Discovering things that I could have happily gone the rest of my life without knowing.

Which is exactly what I’ve done.

I can barely keep my eyes open and yet I know that sleep will not grant me a reprieve. “I’m dealing with a few private matters.”

“Well, I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to fit you in when you decide that you’re ready.”

“You will, because your boss wants my money.” I hang up before I hear her snippy answer and stare at the journal in my hands.

I was torn between starting from the latest diary first and easing myself in with the oldest one, afraid that I wasn’t ready for what might lie within those last pages. That I wasn’t ready to witness just how Celine had lost herself.

And then I picked up a pink book with butterflies on it—the earliest dated journal—and read a thirteen-year-old Celine recount her major crush on my boyfriend at the time: a tall, gangly guy named Jordan who kissed her behind our house one day while I was changing into my bathing suit upstairs. She felt so guilty, she couldn’t sleep for a week. Through tears, I laughed—because I hadn’t even given that guy a moment’s thought in years—and I knew then that starting at the beginning of Celine’s story was the only way to do this.

And so I did, living the past fifteen years through Celine’s eyes, since the days she and Rosa still lived with me. It wasn’t hard to follow along. She dated every single entry. Some days she didn’t have a lot to say. Other days she’d fill an entire page, even writing along the margin. She seemed to follow a simple rule as the years progressed: one page per day, no more.

So many days.

So many confessions.

So many things that made my heart swell.

And so many that made my heart bleed with pain.

Born in small-town Ontario, K.A. Tucker published her first book at the age of six with the help of her elementary school librarian and a box of crayons. She currently resides in a quaint town outside of Toronto with her husband, two beautiful girls, and an exhausting brood of four-legged creatures.

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