Synopsis:
The Stella who emerges from the rubble of the bombing in Montana is a
woman full of conflict. She knows she should be grateful that she lived when
others didn't, but after waking in the hospital as a celebrity, complete with a
new moniker, she's bitter and distrustful, questioning everything in her life.
She's unsure of her friends, her new boyfriend, and her job. In addition, a
face from the past reappears and threatens to take the one good thing in her
life.
Stella attempts to deal with the new scrutiny of her life with her usual sense of humor, but she's filled with a new emotion that she tries desperately to hide: HATE. Her recovery is hastened by her determination to find the man who turned her into a walking scar. She's going to kill him; she needs to kill him.
Stella isn't alone. She has her close friends and her dog, Cooper. Will their support be enough to help Stella accomplish her plan, or will this endeavor be her undoing?
This book is intended for mature audiences due to strong language and sexual content.
Stella attempts to deal with the new scrutiny of her life with her usual sense of humor, but she's filled with a new emotion that she tries desperately to hide: HATE. Her recovery is hastened by her determination to find the man who turned her into a walking scar. She's going to kill him; she needs to kill him.
Stella isn't alone. She has her close friends and her dog, Cooper. Will their support be enough to help Stella accomplish her plan, or will this endeavor be her undoing?
This book is intended for mature audiences due to strong language and sexual content.
My Review:
OH MY SHIT!!! Where do I even begin? This book was freaking
amazing! I won’t deny that you will get your emotions all twisted up and
wondering “what the fuck just happened”. Trust me, it happened to me constantly
throughout this book, but I loved it. This gives you a completely different
feeling than from By a Thread, but a good different. RL did an awesome job that
I felt that I was a part of the story. Just brace yourself for the roller coaster
of emotions you are about to ride.
Stella had her life going for her. She had a great job,
great friends, amazing boyfriend who adored her, a dog she loved; overall a
wonderful support system behind her. It
was all taken away from her when the explosion occurred. The explosion left her
damaged. Not only did it leave her physical scars that she would see every day,
it left her emotional scars that she would remember every second of her life.
She was the only survivor of those working in the tent that day. Stella hated
what she saw in the mirror. Her body was left permanently scarred with what
happened that day. The bullet wound pierced perfectly through her tattoo making
it seem naturally a part of it. She was afraid George would never see her the
way he used to again; he wouldn’t love her body like he once did.
I love how the story shifts back and forth from current
present time to going back and recalling how Stella was recovering in the
hospital in Montana. As soon as George finds out what happens to Stella, he
rushes on a plane to makes sure she is okay. He goes back a forth between her
and the bar until she is better and can move back home. He just got her back
and he will do everything he can to keep her.
You definitely see the love he has for Stella. He has seen her recover
from the loss of Jamie, but this is completely different. Stella is completely
broken and is questioning everyone in her life. Will he be able to help Stella
pick up the pieces this time around? Will Stella be able to trust everyone
around her? Has everything in the past 4
years been a complete lie? Who can she believe if the one person, her person, she
completely trusted lied to her all that time?
Since that incident, Stella has made a name for herself. She
has been known as the “FBI beauty.” She was being talked about everywhere. Everything about her life was now available for
the public to see, and there was no stopping it. While trying to recover from
her injuries, the FBI was trying to investigate what happened and needed
Stella’s cooperation. Despite her parents protest, she chose to go back home
with George when she was released from the hospital. However, even though she
was released, her job didn’t allow her to return to work. They kept making
excuses for her return. She doubted she
would ever return to work there again.
George knows Stella better than anyone, even herself. He
knows that the smile she puts on every day is a fake one, one that just makes
everyone think she’s okay, but deep down she is not. But he loves her so much
that he won’t push her. He will wait for her to come to him when she is ready
to talk about what she is really feeling. He has never pushed her. As much as
it pains him to see that she is keeping her true feelings from him, he wants
her to come around on her terms. All he can do is show her how much he loves her
and that he is in it for the long haul. Stella just wants to go back to living
a normal life and he will do anything to try and make that happen. Getting shot
haunts her every thought and causes her nightmares. She can’t seem to escape
it. Those blue eyes torment her. She will never forget those eyes looking at
her when the trigger is pulled. Jamie has actually tried to contact her a few
times. Hatred fills her body and she wants nothing more than to seek revenge.
Jamie has taken her life from her and she wants to avenge that. How? She has no
clue. But she knows one thing for sure. George will not be a part of it. Stella
feels that George deserves someone better, someone not as broken as her and
someone that can commit to forever. And not someone who plans to do what she
has in mind. She can never taint George with that.
Stella’s relationships with her friends have pretty much diminished.
She hates Patrick for what he did to her. He lied to her all those years, when
he knew the entire truth about Jamie. How could she trust him now? Since Millie
was with Patrick, it put her in a tough spot. Patrick and Stella never told
Mille the entire truth of what really happened between the two of them, so she
doesn’t quite understand why they can't just apologize to one another. Jesse is
the only person Stella can trust. She confides in him, more so than George. Jesse
is an NFL player who Stella had a thing with when she and George broke up the
first time around. Jesse understands Stella and what she is going through. He
has faced a similar situation and has recovered from it. He is helping Stella
cope. George doesn’t approve of their relationship, but there isn’t much he can
do about it. Stella reassures him it is strictly friendship between the two of
them and that their sexual chemistry is a thing of the past. However, the media
likes to say otherwise.
Even after months have passed, there is no escaping the
media. They are still camped outside of their doorstep, following her everywhere,
and she is still on the news and the internet. After spending an amazing
holiday with George, Stella goes back to Georgia to spend time with her
parents. What George doesn’t know is that she will be using this time in
Georgia to train, strengthen and prepare herself for Jamie. Jesse is helping her train. Seeing Jesse and
Stella together sends the media into a frenzy, sending George into a semi
panic/fury. George is afraid that he will lose Stella. Although he feels that
he needs to let her go, he loves her too much that he can’t. He will not and cannot
lose her again. He will fight to keep her. Stella reassures him that the media
is blowing things out of proportion. After
almost losing George, Stella finally starts to open up to him, but not about
everything. Stella has one more plan to complete before she can head back home.
Stella plans to get her life back in control. But what happens when her plan
does not go according to plan?
Will Stella be able to get out of her situation safely? Will
George be able to forgive Stella for not being completely open and honest with
him? Will Stella ever be able to settle down and have a future with George?
Will this be the final straw for George? Will Stella ever be able to be open about
everything with George? Will she try and
be the woman George deserves? Will Jamie capture her heart again? Will Stella
ever move on from the explosion in Montana?
Stella is the bomb (no pun intended). This book shows the
true strength the Stella has to overcome just about anything. Just when you
think she has a break, shit starts to happen again. But she’s a fighter and
although she struggles, she gets through anything that life throws at her. Yes
she hit the bottom again, but she had George there to help her and she pushed
right thought it. My heart honestly broke for George though. From the first
book, he has always stood by Stella, even if it was just waiting for her to
come around. In this book, he stayed by her side when she needed him the most.
But she shut him out. She held out her feelings, and kept things from him.
Stella should have been completely open and honest with him, just like he
deserved. George knew that she was keeping things from him and he still didn’t
push her. He never pushed her. He truly loved her. He accepted everything and
stood by her. He is truly amazing. And to be exploited by the media was
heartbreaking. Because he loved her so much, he could never walk out on her. I absolutely
loved this book. The only thing however that I did not like was the terrible
cliffhanger at the end. It will definitely leave you with, “OMG! WTF would she
do that! RL is horrible!” because those were my exact words when I ended. RL,
great job. Hurry up and get to finishing Seamless!
I received an ARC for my honest review.
This review was done by Jennelyn.
Excerpt:
She heaved in the toilet for the third time in a row, but it
was only bile now. The noise echoed through the empty bathroom.
Hunching over the bowl, she tried not to grasp the sides with her hands.
Because she was more aware of her body and its reactions to stress, she hadn't
eaten or had any coffee this morning, thinking maybe she wouldn’t get sick.
Pushing herself off of the cold tile floor and flushing the toilet, she spit
the remaining bile from her mouth into the toilet. Fighting the urge to
wipe the excess saliva on the sleeve of her expensive suit jacket, she pulled a
few squares of toilet paper off the roll and patted her mouth. Pushing
the door of the stall open, she examined the image she saw in the mirror.
What she saw gave her pause and she stopped just shy of the
sink to take in her appearance. Her new outer shell was almost
unrecognizable. She’d recently cut her long black waves into a straight,
chin-length bob, currently tousled. Her weight loss over the past several
months made her cheeks look sunken; she’d attempted to hide her sallow skin
with makeup, but she still looked just a little bit haunted. The new grey suit
she was wearing was wrinkled. Irritated, she smoothed down the length of
the pencil skirt to where it hit just above her knees. Her soft pink
shell underneath was chosen to make her look more fragile. As if it’s
possible to look any more fragile. Some of her scars were visible
above the collar of the shell; all perfecting the image Millie said she needed
to show the world.
Washing her hands quickly, she dried them and pulled out a
comb. Breathe. She pulled the comb through her hair.
Her stomach rolled again and she dug in her pewter handbag for her
medication. She’d finally gotten around to going to the doctor, who
diagnosed her with some sort of stress-induced disorder that causes her to
throw up. No shit, I diagnosed myself years ago. Throwing
the pill in her mouth, she swallowed it dry. Reaching into another
pocket, she pulled out lip gloss and reapplied the pink color to her lips,
trying to feel the least bit “normal.”
She popped a peppermint into her mouth and closed her eyes,
counting to ten slowly before she pushed open the door and walked to the bench
just outside the courtroom. As soon as she sat down, the door opened and
the U.S. Marshal assigned to the courtroom called her name. Her heels
clicked and echoed against the marble floor. The courtroom was full, but
she had tunnel vision. She didn’t allow any of her terrified thoughts to
enter her brain; she could break down later. In private.
Making her
way to the witness stand, she concentrated on not tripping in the six-inch
black pumps she always wore. They were her lucky heels for court and she
needed them more today than any other day. She took a deep breath, sat
down on the stand and took her first glance at the defense table. Her entire
body shook with fear at the sight of the man sitting in an ill-fitting suit
next to his attorney; she knew the entire case rested on her testimony. No
pressure. Shoving the fear down inside her, she folded her hands in
her lap and stared at them. Calm.
"Stella Murphy.”
"Ma'am, please state your name for the record."
About R.L. Griffin
R.L. resides in the
Atlanta area with some cool dudes: her husband, son and two dogs. She was
born and By A Thread is R.L.’s second book, but is the first in a series of
books.raised in the South. She attended Georgia Southern University
and moved to Washington, D.C. to intern in the United States Senate during the
impeachment trial. Falling in love with the city, she went to law school
at American University, Washington College of Law.
ONE CLICK
TENSION NOW
Giveaway:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
No comments:
Post a Comment