Thursday, October 10, 2013

BLOG TOUR: IF FOREVER COMES by A.L. JACKSON

IF FOREVER COMES
BY
A.L. JACKSON
BLOG TOUR
 
 
 
 
MY REVIEW OF IF FOREVER COMES - 4.5 STARS
 
Let me preface this by saying that I absolutely love all of the [author:A.L. Jackson|5784542] books that I have read.  This one was no exception.
 
I gave this book 4 stars, but it really should be more like 4.5 stars and I hate that there are no 1/2 stars to give out.
 
This series is so emotionally charged and this book was too.  I loved how the book changed POVs and went between Past and Present.  This book was filled with more angst than the other two books and I really wanted more direct contact and tender moments between the characters.
That being said, the writing was beautiful and the story was wonderful.  When I picked up the book, I was immediately shocked by the storyline and kind of figured out what was going to happen, but I had to read to find out the details.  I think Christian and Elizabeth are two of my favorite characters in a series.
 
***SPOILERS***
I was taken in from the start of the story but was trying to figure out how Elizabeth and Christian had drifted so far apart.  I loved that it was love lost and then found and now the added component of a marriage and a baby to make the family complete.
 
I definitely felt for Elizabeth throughout the book, but there were definitely times I wanted to smack her and ask her to come out of her "grieving" period.
 
Christian was all man throughout the book and did everything he could to make Elizabeth see that he still loved her.  The neighbor was "sleazy" but I thought the story could have had a little more depth were the fight for Elizabeth was concerned.
 
I was so afraid there would not be a HEA ending for Christian and Elizabeth and was thrilled that there was and that they got the family they wanted.
 
Excellent and enjoyable read by one of my favorite authors that is on my "JACKSON IS ON MY MUST READ AS SOON AS HER BOOKS COME OUT" list.
 
 
If Forever Comes Blog Tour Schedule

October 6th – October 20th

 

Schedule

October 6th


Aestas Book Blog – Review, Author Interview

Brandee’s Book Endings – Review, Excerpt

Fiction and Fashion – Review, Excerpt

Love N. Books – Review, Dream Cast


October 7th

Book Reader Chronicles – Review, Excerpt

First Class Books – Review, Author Interview

Rate My Romance – Review, Dream Cast

Romance Addiction – Review, Dream Cast

The Autumn Review – Review

Vilma’s Book Blog – Review, Excerpt

October 8th

As the Pages Turn – Review, Excerpt

Literary Mania Reviews – Review, Character Interview with Christian



October 9th

Angie’s Dreamy Reads – Promo Only

Book Nerds Anonymous – Review, Excerpt

Nose Stuck in a Book – Review, Author Interview

Rude Girl Book Blog – Review, Excerpt

October 10th

Jax’s Book Magic – Review, Dream Cast

My Secret Romance – Review, Excerpt

Sugar and Spice Book Blog – Review, Excerpt

Wolfel’s World of Books – Review, Excerpt

October 11th

Into the Night Reviews – Review, Excerpt

Swoon Worthy Books – Review, Excerpt


October 12th


The Book Avenue – Review


October 13th

Brianna Lee Book Reviews – Review, Author Interview

Nicely Phrased – Review


October 14th

Book Boyfriend Reviews – Review, Excerpt

Book Crush – Review, Excerpt


October 15th

Word – Review, Excerpt


October 16th

Winding Stair Book Blog – Review, Excerpt


October 17th

Becca the Bibliophile – Review, Playlist



October 18th

Jersey Girl Book Reviews – Review, Character Interview with Christian, Elizabeth and Lizzie

Naughty and Nice Book Blog – Review, Character Interview with Christian and Elizabeth

The Little Black Book Blog – Review, Character Interview with Elizabeth


October 19th

The Book Enthusiast – Review, Excerpt


October 20th

Shh Moms Reading – Review, Alt POV
 
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Blurb (from Goodreads)

If Forever Comes, the final chapter in the New York Times Bestselling Regret Series (Lost to You and Take This Regret).

Christian Davison’s life is complete. With a ring on Elizabeth’s finger and his daughter at his side, he’s ready to run headlong into their future.

Elizabeth Ayers never believed she would again find this kind of joy—the joy of a family and the wholeness found in the touch of the man she’s always loved.

Their love is intense and their passion only grows as they set out to rediscover each other.

But life is never easy.

Rocked by the unforeseen, Christian and Elizabeth will find themselves fighting for the one thing they hold most important—family.

 

EXCERPT





I put the car in drive and headed toward her school. Maybe it was completely out of the way, an irrational chore to travel all this way to drive her a mile to her school every morning. I didn’t care. I needed this time with her, this connection that promised I was still an integral part of her life.


“Just okay?” I prodded, struggling to keep my voice from cracking. I hated seeing her this way. Her mood constantly fluctuated, up and down, back and forth, hints of my sweet baby girl emerging then receding just as quickly.

“I was just bored. Uncle Maffew and Auntie Natalie didn’t come over all weekend, and Mommy didn’t want to go to the beach,” she almost pouted. She paused, grimaced as she continued on, seemingly grasping for the good things that did transpire over the days we’d been apart. “Mommy did play with me a little bit, but then she got tired and took a nap. And she let me pick out dinner and I helped her make it, too.” She smiled a little as her attention flitted up to meet mine in the mirror. “I got lots of time to play with my new dolls you got me, Daddy. And I got my dollhouse all set up.”

We’d gone shopping Friday night, searching out a dining room set for her prized dollhouse that was tucked in the corner of her room. We’d ended up with a tiny dining room set, and I couldn’t say no when Lizzie had asked me to add two new members to the ever-growing miniature family. Lately Lizzie seemed to spend more time lost in the sanctuary of their world than in her own.

Sorrow swamped me, because I could feel my daughter’s own. I hated it. I would do anything to be able to take it away.

“That doesn’t sound so bad.” I made a feeble attempt at encouraging her.

She sighed, slumped her chin in her hand as she rested her forehead on the window, her attention focused on the blur of the passing street. “I just don’t know why you can’t sleep at our house. It’s better when you’re there, Daddy.”

Her words cut right through me. I fought to gather myself, to keep it under control, because I knew I had to stay strong for my little girl.

I forced myself to speak. “We already talked about why I can’t right now.”

The problem was all of those reasons had come with little conviction. I didn’t believe them myself.

“Just tell Mommy you’re sorry,” she begged quietly. I heard the tears building in the vulnerability that wound its way into her angel voice.

God.

How was I going to get through another conversation like this? We had them often, and I’d give just about anything to offer her a different answer, to come up with a different result.

I wanted one myself.

Sighing heavily, I scrubbed my palm over my face, blinked as I tried to focus ahead through the sorrowful haze that clouded my vision.

“It’s not that simple, Lizzie.” God, how much did I wish it was.

Silence hovered in the car before she finally spoke again. “Your voice was so loud, Daddy. You made Mommy cry.” Her words came as a whisper, a memory that so clearly traumatized my little girl.

That day had been the first emotion I’d seen from Elizabeth in weeks. It’d been charged, the moment when Elizabeth had finally broken and I’d cracked.

I’d said things I never should have.

But Elizabeth had said them, too.

“I hate that you heard that, Lizzie, but sometimes grown-ups have fights and we raise our voices. None of that was directed at you.”

“But then you left,” she countered. “You’re supposed to say you’re sorry when you do something bad.”
 
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My Dream Cast

 
 

 
Bio

A.L. Jackson is the New York Times bestselling author of Take This Regret and Lost to You, as well as other contemporary romance titles, including Pulled and When We Collide.

 

She first found a love for writing during her days as a young mother and college student.  She filled the journals she carried with short stories and poems used as an emotional outlet for the difficulties and joys she found in day-to-day life.

 

Years later, she shared a short story she’d been working on with her two closest friends and, with their encouragement, this story became her first full length novel. A.L. now spends her days writing in Southern Arizona where she lives with her husband and three children. Her favorite pastime is spending time with the ones she loves.

 






 
Giveaway

Amy is giving away:

·         GRANDPRIZE: iPad mini

·         2nd Prize: $20 Amazon Gift Card

·         3rd Prize: 3 signed copies of If Forever Comes

 

Buy Links


 


  

 

 








SIX YEARS by HARLAN COBEN

I am a huge Harlan Coben fan and love the way he layers his books with mystery, suspense and twists.  That being said, this book was not one of my favorite and I think it is because I felt a bit confused throughout the entire book.

I did enjoy the storyline of a woman who breaks the heart of a man, marries another man and asks that he have the courtesy to leave her alone and then promptly disappears.  Six years later he reads an obituary that her husband died and he goes to see the funeral to get a glimpse of her only to find it is not her, but someone else.  They mystery heats up from there and Coben takes you on a journey of intrigue, murder and mystery and he takes you down windy roads of his mind.

Definitely a decent book, but not one of my favorites.

4 stars

Saturday, October 5, 2013

BLOG TOUR: STARRY NIGHTS BY DEBBIE MACOMBER



  Book Tour Schedule for "Starry Night" by Debbie Macomber

October 1st -  My Home of Books
October 2nd - A Book Addict's Musings
October 3rd - Creative Madness Mama
October 4th - Griperang's Bookmarks
October 5th - Jax's Book Magic
October 6th - Tidbits of Experience
October 7th - My Recent favorite books
October 8th - The Book Bag
October 9th - Deco My Heart Reviews
October 10th - Mary - Andering Creatively
October 10th - Mary-andering Among the Pages

 ’Tis the season for romance, second chances, and Christmas cheer with this new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber.

Carrie Slayton, a big-city society-page columnist, longs to write more serious news stories. So her editor hands her a challenge: She can cover any topic she wants, but only if she first scores the paper an interview with Finn Dalton, the notoriously reclusive author.

Living in the remote Alaskan wilderness, Finn has written a megabestselling memoir about surviving in the wild. But he stubbornly declines to speak to anyone in the press, and no one even knows exactly where he lives.

Digging deep into Finn’s past, Carrie develops a theory on his whereabouts. It is the holidays, but her career is at stake, so she forsakes her family celebrations and flies out to snowy Alaska. When she finally finds Finn, she discovers a man both more charismatic and more stubborn than she even expected. And soon she is torn between pursuing the story of a lifetime and following her heart.

Filled with all the comforts and joys of Christmastime, Starry Night is a delightful novel of finding happiness in the most surprising places.


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