*PROMO* "Because Of Ellison" by M. S. Willis

YouTube Link:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwvrF5PUsx0

Goodreads:  

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18590537-because-of-ellison

When I was nineteen years old, I lived for sex, drugs and a good party. I had it all - good looks, a fast car and a hot girlfriend. Nothing in life was more important. 

That was, until I met Ellison James….

Since the moment I first saw her she was a raging bull; tackling me in the mud and throwing out insults as fast as her tongue could form the sound. 

She was snarky 

She was rude 

And she pissed me off like no other woman could.

I lived beside her for a summer and in the three months that I walked by her side...

She opened my eyes

She changed my life

And she made me a better man

“Why do you keep chasing after me, Hunter?”  I could tell how raw her throat must have been by the scratch in her voice.  I was thrown off by her question and it took me a minute to formulate a response.

I didn’t answer her immediately because I felt like everything, all the times we’d spent together, all the smiles we’d shared and the tears that had fallen, and all the years I wanted to share those types of moments with her in the future hinged on my response.  Why did I keep chasing after her?  To most, she was just another girl in small town who was struggling like the rest of us in an attempt to find a place where she belonged in this world.  Most of those people weren’t lucky enough to know her like I’d known her – they hadn’t talked to her, hadn’t been shown the depths that existed within her.  Much like the moon and stars that hung above us tonight, Ellison was a light that wasn’t easily contained.  She burned bright enough to break through the dense fog I’d walked in my entire life.  Because of her, I’d opened my eyes when I hadn’t even been aware they’d been closed – and for that, I’d chase her forever.

Clearing my throat, I reached up and pulled her hand from my cheek when I turned to look her in the eyes. 

Speaking quietly, I confessed, “Because you are a dream and someone once told me that if I had a dream, I should chase it.”  It was a simple explanation, but somehow I knew Ellison would understand the honest weight of what I’d said.

Her eyes blinked slowly as she studied my face and as usual, she did something unexpected.  She laughed.  The corners of my lips turned up when I tried to suppress my grin.  Her laughter sounded fragile, as if something so tiny could come along and break it apart - but it was there and my heart raced against my chest to hear it.

“That is probably the strangest thing I’ve heard you say yet.”

 

M.S. Willis is a romance novelist whose debut novel, Control, was released in 2013.  Although currently writing in the romance genre, Willis has plans to expand her literary pursuits into multiple genres and has no fear conquering difficult subject matters in her writing.  Willis is a native Floridian who is also a photographer and musician.  When not absorbing herself in written, visual or musical expression, Willis is an adrenaline junkie, a ‘closet’ video game enthusiast, and an avid outdoors person and nature lover.

Visit M.S. Willis on her author page:  www.facebook.com/mswillisbooks

Follow on Twitter - @mswillisbooks

Mailing List - 

http://mswillisbooks.us3.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=e23eb93c7056b1b15c0c35ba4&id=3506e32acb

*2013 TOP READS* Plus the 121 books I read this year!!

Welp, 2013 will be over in less than 12 hours, and I have officially read 121 book this year!!

 Definitely hoping to break that next year, maybe 150?

Below I have compiled a list of my Top Reads of 2013! 

Click the name of the book for my review, and buy links!

__________________________________________________

Top 13 Singles

(in no particular order)

Some will eventually turn into a series, but are currently the only one out.

Fighting Redemption by Kate McCarthy

When It Rains by Lisa De Jong (will be a series

Love Me Back by Michelle Lynn

Tug Of War by K. Larsen (will be a series)

The Good Life by Jodie Beau (will be a series)

Unspoken Bonds by Michelle Grey

In The Stillness by Andrea Randall

Just Breathe by Rachel Brookes (will be a series)

Killing Sarai by J. A. Redmerski

Beautiful Failure by Mariah Cole

Secret Maneuvers by Jessie Lane (will be series)

The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

Cursive by Phoebe Lane

__________________________________________________

Top 13 Series

(in no particular order)

Series may have started before 2013.

Links lead to book 1 in the series, review and/or buy link.

Real Series by Katy Evans

I Surrender Series by Monica James

Control Series by M. S. Willis

The Invisible Series by Michelle Lynn

The Evolve Series by S. E. Hall

For You Series by Genna Rulon

Shattered Hearts Series by Cassia Leo

Now Series by Brenda Rothert

Flowering Series by Sarah Daltry

Guarded Hearts Series by Ashley Piscitelli

Love & Repair Series by Chelsea Camaron

Collide Series by Gail McHugh

Beautiful Bastard Series by Christina Lauren

__________________________________________________

My 121 books of 2013! 

__________________________________________________

*COVER REVEAL* "Black Box" by Cassia Leo

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: March 2014

Cover reveal organized by: Shh Moms Reading

SYNOPSIS 

A standalone novel about a girl, a boy, and fate. From New York Times best selling author Cassia Leo, comes an epic love story about rewriting destiny. Over the course of five years, Mikki and Crush cross paths on two separate occasions. Their first encounter changes Mikki’s life forever, but their second meeting leaves them both buried beneath the emotional wreckage of a violent attack. Mikki is left with more questions and grief than she can handle, while Crush is forced to forget the girl who saved his life. Now nineteen years old, Mikki Gladstone has decided she’s tired of the mind-numbing meds. She books a flight to Los Angeles to end her life far away from her loving, though often distant, family. Twenty-one-year-old Crush has always channeled his blackest thoughts into his music, but he’s never had great aspirations. He decides to fly to Los Angeles to record a demo of the only song he’s never performed in public; a song he wrote for a girl he doesn’t even know: Black Box. He has no expectations of fame and he’s never felt like his life had any purpose… until he meets Mikki in Terminal B. When Mikki and Crush cross paths for the third time in Terminal B, neither has any idea who the other person is; until they slowly piece together their history and realize that fate has more in store for them than just another love story.

EXCERPT

 

The moment you realize you’re going to die is nothing like I imagined it would be. I imagined a deep internal struggle coupled with a visceral physical response—fight or flight. But there’s no fighting this. I’m going to die. It’s possible that everyone on this plane is going to die. I wonder if they feel this overwhelming sense of peace, or if the squeal of the plane engine has drowned out all their thoughts. He grabs the oxygen mask as it drops from the compartment and he’s yelling something as he puts the elastic band over my head. He pulls his own mask over his head then he grabs my hand and looks me in the eye. There’s no panic in his eyes. Maybe he feels this same calm I’m feeling. Or maybe he just wants me to know that he loves me. Or, more importantly, that he trusts that whatever happens to us in the next few seconds was meant to be. Fate. I used to think fate was for religious nuts and people who were too afraid to take their fate into their own hands. Now I know the truth.

Please don’t look for me. You probably won’t find me. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, and please don’t blame yourselves. I’m just tired. Trying to cope.... trying to forget.... It’s not enough anymore. I just want to close my eyes and know that it will all be over soon. There’s nothing anyone could have done. You’ve all done more than enough. I hope you all find peace knowing I am no longer suffering. I love you guys. Tell Meaghan I leave her my black box. Mikki I tuck the note inside a plastic baggie and seal it tightly, then I lift my bedroom window an inch and lay the bagged note on the window sill. I shut the window tight to trap the note there. Taking one last look around the bedroom, I smile as I think of how much I won’t miss this house. The pink tulip-shaped knit cap my best friend Rina bought for me in Holland sits on top of my dresser. I’ve only worn it once, the day she brought it back for me from her family vacation last summer. I was in High Point Treatment Center at the time, in the dual diagnosis unit because I’m one of the special cases that needed both treatment for attempted suicide and drug detox. “You look awfully cheerful for someone who’s traveling alone.” Meaghan’s green eyes follow my suitcase as I drag it down the stairs, then her gaze shifts to my face. My sister is seventeen, but she’s not stupid. She knows the signs, which is why I’m trying my hardest not to exhibit the typical suicidal behavior. I didn’t give away all my belongings. I’m not traveling light. I have tried not to appear too chipper over the last couple of days. Yes, it feels amazing to have a plan. It feels like a ten-ton slab of cement has been lifted off my chest. I can breathe. I can think about the future without the crippling anxiety and depression that comes with not knowing if the pain will ever end. But I can’t let Meaghan or my parents see how ridiculously relieved I’m feeling. They’ve seen that behavior too many times. The last time I made plans to die, three months ago, my mom saw the signs and followed me to the hotel room where I was going to hang myself. The time before that, I swallowed a bottle of pills in my uncle’s bathroom. It was my cousin Gertie who noticed I was acting too happy. She told my Uncle Cort, “Mikki is smiling again.” Uncle Cort broke the door down and that’s when I ended up in High Point. That’s also when I swore I wouldn’t commit suicide anywhere that someone could find me. “Cheerful?” I repeat Meaghan’s adjective as I pull up the telescoping handle on the suitcase and roll it across the tiled foyer toward the front door. “More like nervous as fuck. I’ve never flown without Mom.” Meaghan yanks her green parka out of the coat closet and pulls it on over her hoodie. “I’ll take that,” she says as she pulls the hood of the parka over her long, brown hair and grabs my carryon bag. I open the door and we both suck in a sharp breath when we’re blasted with a flurry of freezing winter air. The snow sticks to my face and I quickly close the front door so it doesn’t get in the house. “Jesus fucking Christ. It’s colder than a witch’s tit out here. They’re going to cancel the flights if this shit keeps up,” Meaghan says as we carefully descend the front steps. My dad covered the steps in his special mixture of salt and sand, but it’s not foolproof. “If they cancel the flights, I’ll come back, but they’ll have to reschedule the flight. I can’t just not show up. I saved up three months paychecks for this fucking ticket.” Meaghan opens the wooden front gate and the cabbie scurries out of the car to help us with the bags. As he stuffs the bags in the trunk, I turn to Meaghan and she’s crying. Something tells me she knows, but she would stop me if she knew—wouldn’t she? “Why are you crying? It’s just a job interview. I’m coming back in four days.” “I know,” she whispers before she wraps her arms around my waist. “But I’ll miss you. Bring me back a hot actor.” “I will.” We hug like this for far longer than normal. It takes every bit of self-control in me not to tell her that everything will finally be okay when I’m gone. She finally pulls away and punches my arm. “Get the hell out of here.” “I love you, too,” I say as I slide into the backseat of the cab and my heart stutters as I look at the house I grew up in for the last time. The driver slams my door shut and gets into the driver’s seat. “Logan?” he asks as he turns up the heater. “Yeah, Terminal B,” I reply as I watch Meaghan scurry into the house to escape the cold. I reach into my handbag and pull out my gloves, then I see the bottle of pills. I lay the black gloves on my lap and reach into my purse for the bottle. On the outside, this is just a normal bottle of anti-psychotic meds. On the inside, this is my self-prescribed emergency meth stash. Each capsule is carefully filled with one dose. I quit meth last week. Something about booking a plane ticket to Los Angeles to end my life gave me the fortitude to face the world without drugs. Besides, I was never really addicted. I just didn’t want to quit because it made me feel as if I was in control. But, even though I’m technically no longer a meth-head, I brought my emergency stash in case I lose my nerve. I’m going to Los Angeles, specifically to the Pacific Ocean, to swim out into the open ocean until I can’t swim anymore. The water is so cold this time of year, my body will be numb and exhausted by the time I reach the point of no return. I won’t be able to fight it when the water enters my lungs. Plus, I’ll be so far out in the ocean, the odds of my body being found will be slim. My parents won’t have to identify me. The cabbie turns the volume up on the radio and Take You Higher is playing on the radio. The dance beat buoys my mood and I allow myself to smile for the first time in days. I set the bottle of pills back inside my purse and pull my gloves on as I sit back. Fifty minutes later, the cab pulls up in front of Terminal B and one of the two guys working at curbside check-in rushes over to help me with my suitcase once the cab driver places it on the curb. I pay the driver and he mutters a quick thank you before he hurries back inside the warm cab. “Holy shit,” I whisper as I pull my faux fur-lined hood over my head. “I ain’t seen it like this in years. I bet they already canceling flights,” the guy says as he takes my carryon bag and we race toward the automatic sliding doors. He leaves me and my bags just inside the doors then he jogs back to his station outside in the freezing cold. What a terrible day to have that job. I push my hood back and the line at the check-in counter snakes across the floor as everyone watches the TV monitors above the counter. “Cancelled,” a voice says behind me. I whip my head around and find a guy with dark eyes and messy brown hair sticking out the bottom of his knit cap. He’s sitting on a gray suitcase with his phone in his hand and a guitar case propped up against the wall behind him. Something about him looks familiar, though I’m pretty certain he’s the kind of guy I would not forget if we’d met before. “You can probably still catch a cab if you leave now,” he continues as he types on his phone. “Then why aren’t you running outside to catch a cab?” “I’m in no hurry to go back.” I stare at the curb outside just as another cab pulls up to drop off some unknowing passenger. I told Meaghan I’d go home if they cancelled the flight, but that’s the last place I want to go right now. “Yeah, me either.” The guy looks up from his phone and smiles. “Yeah, you also have to check in to get your flight rescheduled.” “Yeah, that too.” I try not to blush. Something about his smile makes me feel naked.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

New York Times bestselling author Cassia Leo loves her coffee, chocolate, and margaritas with salt. When she's not writing, she spends way too much time watching old reruns of Friends and Sex and the City. When she's not watching reruns, she's usually enjoying the California sunshine or reading--sometimes both.

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Left Drowning by Jessica Park Review

From GoodReads:

"What does it take to rise from life’s depths, swim against the current, and breathe?

Weighted down by the loss of her parents, Blythe McGuire struggles to keep her head above water as she trudges through her last year at Matthews College. Then a chance meeting sends Blythe crashing into something she doesn’t expect—an undeniable attraction to a dark-haired senior named Chris Shepherd, whose past may be even more complicated than her own. As their relationship deepens, Chris pulls Blythe out of the stupor she’s been in since the night a fire took half her family. She begins to heal, and even, haltingly, to love this guy who helps her find new paths to pleasure and self-discovery. But as Blythe moves into calmer waters, she realizes Chris is the one still strangled by his family’s traumatic history. As dark currents threaten to pull him under, Blythe may be the only person who can keep him from drowning.

*This book is intended for mature audiences due to strong language and sexual content.

Note: due to mature content recommended for Ages 17+"

My Thoughts:

What a sad, and I mean TERRIBLY sad, but amazing story of love, loss, and fate. And what a BEAUTIFUL story of a close knit family, and their love of one another. 

Blythe McGuire is in her last year of college. She is terribly depressed, and content with just riding along day by day in her own closed out world. No matter how hard she tries, she cannot get past the guilt and pain of losing her parents 4 years ago.

"How's that for a goddamn silver lining? .... Wait, what's less than silver? Iron? Zinc? Could there be a Zinc lining?"

After the tragedy of losing her parents, her relationships with everyone else become estranged. She has almost no family left that she still speaks to, and no friends at all that she has kept in touch with. It is Blythe, and only Blythe, trying to come off as normal and invisible as possible.

Then in the course of one day.. her entire world changes. In walks the Shepherd family, knocking down Blythe's walls as fast as possible.

First comes Sabin, who is officially my new favorite person in any book. He is HILARIOUS, and outspoken, and the friend that Blythe never knew she needed, or wanted. He comes into Blythe's life like a hurricane, and will not take no for an answer when he asks her to come to one of his performances in a few days.. (wall #1 is chipped away..)

"At least it will be something, though. Something other than numbness. It will be a distraction, and distractions are always welcome."

Then there's Christopher, who comes into Blythe's life by a "right place, right time" meeting, when they were both looking to escape their lives for a while.

(wall #2 crumbles down..)

Soon after that we meet Estelle, the beautiful loud mouthed twin to the oh so quiet Erik. (walls #3 and 4 have visible cracks..)

These 4 siblings (plus Zach), Blythe, and her younger brother James, have absolutely no idea the crazy journey they are all about to take together. Between the 7 of them, they are all slowly on to their own paths of healing. 

"It's just pain."

Off the bat, Chris and Sabin, make it their missions to get Blythe out of her own head, and moving toward the direction of healing. Blythe quickly finds that these two brothers have the power to make her feel better than she has in years, especially Chris. With a bond from the first second that neither one of them can explain, it constantly feels like there is more to their story than they are aware of. Their relationship is definitely way more than either of them want to believe they can handle.

"It's just fucking heartbreak, that's all."

Both families have their own set of secrets, and as one family heals, the other family finally starts to face their own demons. Soon enough, these two families have become one large family, consisting of only eachother.

"'This is all sorts of fucked up.' 'I know, baby. I know. But the best kind of fucked up.'"

Left Drowning was the book that had me crying for the characters losses, cheering them on as they faced their future, and straight up yelling at my kindle "oh fuck you!! you did NOT just do that!!". My eyes burned, and my stomach hurt for so many parts of this book, just feeling the pain that all of them had to go through to get to the end of the road.

Speaking of the end, this was hands down THE best ending to a book. It was amazingly done, and nothing was left to wonder. Every single character was covered, and it created such an awesome movie running through my head. 

Absolutely read this book. Read it now, mark it to read, do whatever you need to do. But add this book on to your lists. 

Favorite Quote of the book:

"Then I understand something: this is why they say that people become one."

(compared to any other scenes similar to this in other books, this one was definitely the most well thought out, realistic, and beautiful.. you will understand when you read it.)