Monday, November 7, 2016

Book Review for Kiss the Boys by Chris Myers


Readers drawn to dark romances will find themselves quickly consumed by the emotionally damaged young girl who finds herself becoming an intregal part of the lives of three brothers with issues of their own.  Keep reading to get a tempting glimpse of Kiss the Boys by Chris Myers and its angsty tale of painful pasts and uncertain futures along with my impressions of it.  After that make sure to add this second installment in the Lost Girls series to your bookshelf!

Three estranged brothers.
One runaway girl.
Whom will she choose?
Whom can she not say no to?
Whom will she hurt?
When will her past catch up to her?
Sweet and sexy Noah soars as Spartans’ basketball shooting star. Overly protective, bad boy Nathan has beaten the devil and believes he’s invincible. And angry and bitter Jake cannot move past losing his unit in Afghanistan. After suffering personal tragedies, the three brothers barely speak to one another.
Until River.
When she runs away from her abusive foster home and notorious past, she crash-lands into Noah’s arms. She should feel safe with him, but she is attracted to guys more broken than she. And his brooding brothers Nathan and Jake wait patiently to catch her when she falls.
Her relationship with each jeopardizes the precarious balance of their troubled family, and she will either mend their wounds or break their hearts.

EXCERPT:

Everything is bitter, the cold outside, the taste of blood in my mouth, and the sting of his belt. My foster father screams at me as he chases me out the door and through the blinding snow. The dark night doesn’t hide my tears for my ex-boyfriend Ashe lying cold and stiff on the concrete of an abandoned building where I left him alone.
I still can’t believe I just left him, but what was I supposed to do? The police would somehow blame me for Ashe’s death. I’ve already had a few scrapes with the law stealing food for me and my half-starved foster sister Mia. She’s only six, but so far, Schafe hasn’t laid a hand on her or the others, just me. The other foster kids fend for themselves and stay out of his way. I'm the only dumb one who provokes him. I can’t help it. He’s an asshole, and I’ll be damned if I’ll continuously allow him to treat me like shit.
She licks those luscious lips, slightly parting them. I want to taste them. I want to dive right in, even when I know it’s quicksand.
That same look of loneliness and pain open up to me. She blinks a few times and lures me into her with her expectant gaze. Her pull on me is strong. I close my eyes to resist, but her feminine scent overpowers me.
When I open my eyes, she chews on her lower lip, waiting on me to do something. I’ve been attracted to angels before but not like this. Ever since I first laid eyes on her, I haven’t really stopped thinking about River. My mind has worked over every word, every breath, and every curve of her body, committing them to memory. Last night, I used my hands to feel and carve her depth and shape her tragic beauty into stone.
I use my knee to spread her legs, cloaked in black stockings, and slip between them. Her skirt hitches up, and I know she’s receptive to me, even though she wore the skirt for Noah. I don’t like that she did that for him. I cannot lose her, and I can’t even explain why.
I tilt her chin back to expose the soft, creamy flesh of her neck. Her breathing increases, and I descend to those succulent lips. My tongue dives into her mouth, and she flicks hers against mine.
She moans and returns my kiss, deep and filled with longing. God, I want her. No angel has ever come onto me this strong, and I’ve never been with any woman who is younger than me. I normally take my time, not only for me but mostly for them.


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BUY LINKS:  AMAZON  |  iBOOKS  |  KOBO  |  BN

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AUTHOR INFO:

Chris Myers spends most of her free time writing and dreaming up new characters who fight each other for page time or hiking and fishing in the beautiful Colorado mountains with her laptop or iPad. She doesn't travel far without either. She is an award-winning author of several published novels in the New Adult Contemporary Romance, Teen, and Thriller genres. Previous blog tours resulted in outstanding reviews. Chris's work has appeared in the NewsMag and has earned several awards including first place Paul Gillette, Colorado Gold finalist, and semi-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. She has taught writing workshops for PPW and Delve Writing and was an adjunct professor at CSU. 



MY IMPRESSIONS OF THIS BOOK:

As a reader drawn to romances that put us, and their characters, through the emotional wringer I was thrilled to get my hands on this release after being captivated by its premise.  From its opening scene we're introduced to a cast of characters teeming with pain from heartbreaking pasts that have us hurting right alongside them.  Though the narrative sometimes gets a bit choppy the author never holds back in vividly detailing what the characters have gone through in a tale that breaks them down and rises them back up in a triumphant conclusion that will have readers cheering.

River has been through a lot of heartbreak in her short life thus far.  Born with a kind heart and a need to be loved she made one wrong choice that changed her life irrevocably and set her on a path full of guilt, a string of poor choices when it came to men, and highly sexualized thoughts that leave her questioning the normalcy of her desires.  After escaping an abusive foster home, when all hope seems lost, she's rescued by twins Nate and Noah Hunt and is quickly made a part of their complicated family dynamic.  She becomes a sister to one brother, a possible girlfriend to another, and an obsession for the most damaged of all the brothers in a role that pulls her in many different directions.  Though she's been taken in by this caring group of people her past is never far behind as drug dealers and other dangerous men seek to break the fragile foundation for HEA she's slowly building.  She connects with all the brothers but it's clear that only Nate can give her what she needs as their mutually painful pasts bind them together.  Their first meeting crackled with sexual tension as he easily understood her pain and was happy to help her explore the dark desires that have always made her feel dirty.  She feels unworthy of love, taking on the guilt of her parent's deaths, but she's still a hopeful person and it's that sense of hope that calls to Nate as he has his own demons to work through.  For the most part River's a likable person with a kind heart.  She's a bit too trusting though which leads her into trouble more than once which requires her being saved by Nate time and again.  She's worldly when it comes to matters of sex but when it comes to love and relationships she's uncertain, timid, and a bit naive.  This dichotomy was frustrating at times and had me wanting to shake some sense into her throughout the story.

Nate's a sexy beast who reeks of danger.  He's in his early twenties but is wise beyond his years after a childhood abduction left its mark both inside and out. He's a master at art pouring out his pain for all the world to see.  His art is intensely sexual as he uses a theme of demons and angels which has him attracting many lost souls.  The women who've model for him indoctrinated him into the darker side of sex at an early age, fueled partly by the horrors of his abduction, and this is why he connects so quickly and easily with River.  He's drawn to her hopefulness but understands and embraces her darkness as well. They're both damaged souls and he believes they'll be able to heal each other's wounds if they can both accept the truth of what they've done to survive. Readers will immediately be drawn to Nate as he exudes power and sensuality, with a lot of rage just bubbling beneath the surface.  He loves his brothers, though they see him as the enemy, and would do anything to see them happy. When tragedy strikes it's Nate who picks up the pieces, keeping their family together despite his brother's childish behaviors.  Despite his brokenness he's clearly capable of being the man of the family and is my latest addition to my list of book boyfriends.

Noah and Jake not only fight for page time but also for time with River.  Noah may be Nate's twin but he couldn't be any more different.  Noah's sweet and a bit timid and quiet.  He has a romantic view of sex and has had only one partner in his past.  He still lives at home, happy to be taken care of so he can devote himself to his future in the NBA.  His girlfriend recently broke up with him which has him seeing River in a romantic light despite her seeing him as a friend. Noah's childhood was charmed but his future takes an unexpected turn that will finally force him to grow up in a way that brings a tear to your eye.  He and Nate have a very antagonistic relationship, made worse by Nate's need to protect and by River's arrival, that left me frustrated by him at times but still charmed by his puppy dog nature.  Jake went to war with his best friend but came home alone and missing a leg.  It's left him bitter and wallowing in pity as the woman he loved is having trouble adjusting to the loss of her brother, his best friend.  He's the oldest but happy to let others care for him until he's forced into getting up on his feet again.  River's arrival changes all their lives, giving them the push they needed to accept their fates.  Overall each of the brothers is a compelling character and deserved to have a story of their own.  Jake and Noah had demons to battle and issues that were resolved way too quickly as their stories were condensed which diminished the overall emotional impact of the story.  Another character left struggling is Conner, who was abducted along with Nate, and who's hiding away from the world with only his emotional pain to keep him company.  He too is compelling and I long to see his story told as well as his journey's been a rough one.  Many things happened throughout the story, some a bit melodramatic, involving River's past that were resolved far too easily and further took away from the realism of the story.  On a whole though this is a memorable story about strength of spirit that nicely balanced emotional intensity with erotic encounters.  It was a powerful story that I wish had been made into separate stories as a lot happened within the covers of this book that had me racing to finish. Those drawn to erotic storytelling and dark emotions will want to add this book to their bookshelf as it's a one-of-a-kind romance not easy to define.

My rating for this is a B.

*I got this book from the author for review in exchange for my honest opinion.

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