Book Review: Keep Her Safe by K.A. Tucker

Publish Date: January 23, 2018
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 448
Series: Stand Alone
Source: ARC Netgalley from publisher in exchange for honest review

Goodreads Synopsis:

Making a Murderer meets Scandal in this story of police corruption, family secrets, and illicit affairs from bestselling author K.A. Tucker, celebrated for her “propulsive plot twists and searing seduction” (USA TODAY).

Noah Marshall has known a privileged and comfortable life thanks to his mother, the highly decorated chief of the Austin Police Department. But all that changes the night she reveals a skeleton that's been rattling in her closet for years, and succumbs to the guilt of destroying an innocent family's life. Reeling with grief, Noah is forced to carry the burden of this shocking secret.
Gracie Richards wasn't born in a trailer park, but after fourteen years of learning how to survive in The Hollow, it's all she knows anymore. At least here people don't care that her dad was a corrupt Austin cop, murdered in a drug deal gone wrong. Here, she and her mother are just another family struggling to survive...until a man who clearly doesn't belong shows up on her doorstep.
Despite their differences, Noah and Gracie are searching for answers to the same questions, and together, they set out to uncover the truth about the Austin Police Department's dark and messy past. But the scandal that emerges is bigger than they bargained for, and goes far higher up than they ever imagined.
Complex, gritty, sexy, and thrilling, Keep Her Safe solidifies K.A. Tucker's reputation as one of today's most talented new voices in romantic suspense. 


My Review:

Keep Her Safe, a new suspense novel by best selling author K.A. Tucker came out today! As many of you know, I love this author. The talent she exudes in her work is amazing. (Ten Tiny Breaths series will prove this). So obviously, I was happy to get the ARC of Keep Her Safe and provide a review for you all.

Noah Marshall has had an easy life. His mother is the chief of the police department and they live a pretty normal life in Austin. Friends, sports and school are life for him. He is a polite, handsome Texan with a good head on his shoulders. One night Noah's mom, Jackie, in a drunken state reveals some things to Noah that he doesn't quite understand and brushes off but in a flash his life is turned upside down and he comes to realize that it wasn't all just gibberish.

Gracie on the other hand lives in a trailer park where she doesn't know if her mom will make it day to day, or even hour to hour sometimes. Life has been harder for the both of them since Abe, a loving father and husband was murdered on the job on the Austin PD. Gracie is tough and sassy (she has to be to keep her neighbours honest). She takes care of her mom, herself and a stray one-eyed dog. So on the day Noah arrives on her doorstep, all guards go up and Gracie reverts to her protective self. Little do they know that their lives are about to change forever. From that moment, it will bring Noah and Gracie together in ways they never thought possible and will reveal answers to questions neither of them ever thought the need to ask.

Keep Her Safe is written through many POV's. We get Noah, Gracie, Abe and Sheriff Marshall. I love when authors do this, and can pull it off. I love how we get a full 360' view of the story being told. I did find a few of the parts of the book to be predictable early on, but it didn't ruin it for me. I still felt it when K.A. Tucker confirmed in writing what was going through my head.

Keep Her Safe has been listed as a romantic suspense, and yes, there is romance but it doesn't overpower the book. And it's not super gushy romance either. It's a mature, ever developing kind between some pretty awesome characters. There was enough to remind you that you are reading K.A. Tucker. (Again, read Ten Tiny Breaths series!)

While I wasn't a huge fan of K.A. Tuckers thriller, He Will Be My Ruin, I was a tad worried Keep Her Safe wouldn't live up (being it was a suspense novel) but I was wrong. Keep Her Safe was written with more finesse, more"umpf" and way more wow factor in my opinion. And I would happily recommend Keep Her Safe for any fan of K.A. Tucker, any fan of suspense or romantic suspense.

ICYMI: Keep Her Safe by K.A. Tucker

Anyone who knows me, knows that K.A. Tucker is one of my favourite authors (Along with Emily Giffin) . K.A. Tucker came into my radar when I got ARC's of  the Ten Tiny Breaths series. I read the first 2 so quickly and fell in love with everything; the writing, the characters, the story. Ever since, I'm eager to get my hands on her books.

Keep Here Safe is no different. Look at the cover, it's absolutely gorgeous. 

Hopefully I can wait until Jan 23, 2018 to read it.

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Making a Murderer meets Scandal in this story of police corruption, family secrets, and illicit affairs from bestselling author K.A. Tucker, celebrated for her “propulsive plot twists and searing seduction” (USA TODAY).

Noah Marshall has known a privileged and comfortable life thanks to his mother, the highly decorated chief of the Austin Police Department. But all that changes the night she reveals a skeleton that's been rattling in her closet for years, and succumbs to the guilt of destroying an innocent family's life. Reeling with grief, Noah is forced to carry the burden of this shocking secret.

Gracie Richards wasn't born in a trailer park, but after fourteen years of learning how to survive in The Hollow, it's all she knows anymore. At least here people don't care that her dad was a corrupt Austin cop, murdered in a drug deal gone wrong. Here, she and her mother are just another family struggling to survive...until a man who clearly doesn't belong shows up on her doorstep.

Despite their differences, Noah and Gracie are searching for answers to the same questions, and together, they set out to uncover the truth about the Austin Police Department's dark and messy past. But the scandal that emerges is bigger than they bargained for, and goes far higher up than they ever imagined…

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You can find out more about K.A. Tucker and her books anywhere here:

Website: www.katuckerbooks.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/K.A.Tucker.Author

Twitter: @kathleenatucker

Instagram: @katucker_

Keep an eye out for it, and if you need a fix to hold you over until then, may I suggest Ten Tiny Breaths series, or Until It Fades. Or better yet, click here to read the first chapter of Keep Her Safe.

Happy Reading!

Blog Tour: Until It Fades by K.A. Tucker

I am so excited to be a part of this blog tour with the U.S. and Canada. K.A Tucker is one of my favourite authors, so when I was asked to participate in this tour, it was a no brainer! Be sure to check out the rest of the stops along the way, and check out the giveaway at the end of this post!

Publish Date: June 27th, 2017
Publisher: Atria Books
ISBN: 9781501133381
Pages: 368
Series: None
Source: ARC from publisher for honest review


Goodreads Synopsis:

Twenty-four-year-old truck stop waitress and single mother Catherine Wright has simple goals: to give her five-year-old daughter a happy life and to never again be the talk of the town in Balsam, Pennsylvania (population three thousand outside of tourist season). 

And then one foggy night, on a lonely road back from another failed date, Catherine saves a man’s life. It isn’t until after the police have arrived that Catherine realizes exactly who it is she has rescued: Brett Madden, hockey icon and media darling.

Catherine has already had her fifteen minutes of fame and the last thing she wants is to have her past dragged back into the spotlight, only this time on a national stage. So she hides her identity. It works. For a time.

But when she finds the man she saved standing on her doorstep, desperate to thank her, all that changes. There’s an immediate connection, and it’s more electric than the bond of two people who endured a traumatic event. It’s something neither of them expected. Something that Catherine isn’t sure she can handle; something she is afraid to trust.

Because how long can an extraordinary man like Brett be interested in an ordinary woman like Catherine...before the spark fades?

My Review:

I am a huge fan of K.A Tucker, with One Tiny Breath series my all time fave. And I know you're going to hate me for saying this, but I was disappointed with He Will Be My Ruin, and I was hoping for Until It Fades to be my redemption read . And let me tell you this... it was!! I am back to raving about Mrs Tucker and her incredible talent as a writer and story weaver and picture painter. 

Heres my reasons:

Writer - creates such a unique novel which flows flawlessly and seamlessly. 

Story weaver - knocks the ball out of the park with these fantastic characters that are realistic and genuine. And a plot that can keep the reader engaged from beginning to end. 

And picture painter - detail in everything to help reader along and feeling as though you are there and part of the book.

Just incredible! 

Catherine is a small town girl with a history that is known to many (for all the wrong reasons ) and she wants something different. She wants to forget about her past, but her young daughter,and her paycheck to paycheck job make that almost impossible. Then Brett comes along and things start to change and maybe he is what she needed to move on all along.

I really liked how likeable both these main characters are. Catherine is a hard working young single mom just trying to do her best and the love she has for her daughter is clear. Brett is a down to earth guy with a connection to Canada (and being a Canadian too, I loved the Canadian thrown in here and there!) And the relationship they build is a great one. It's fun, flirty and playful.  I read a lot of their interactions with a smile on my face.

It didn't stop there with great characters though. Keith, Catherine's friend is a great guy too. He's been there since the beginning and Catherine could not imagine a life in which he wasn't a part of. Another memorable character is Lou.  She stood up and helped Catherine when she needed it most and she's a smart, kind helping hand. And her no BS attitude is awesome. These characters plus more make for such a dynamic novel.

There's something romantic and sexy about Until it Fades. You'll get that giddy feeling when reading the book and when an author can make you feel, honest to goodness feel, during a novel, you know it's a good one.  KA tucker has done it again, and I can't thank her enough for writing some of the best books I've had the pleasure of reading.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

K.A. Tucker is the author of He Will Be My Ruin and the Ten Tiny Breaths and Burying Water series. She currently resides outside of Toronto with her husband, two beautiful girls, and a Chug.

FIND K.A. TUCKER ONLINE:

 http://www.katuckerbooks.com/ * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

ORDER:

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-a-Million * IndieBound * Walmart * Apple * Google * Kobo

A GIVEAWAY:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review: Darktown by Thomas Mullen

Publish Date: September 13th, 2016
Publisher: Atria / 37 INK
ISBN: 9781501133862
Pages: 384
Series: None
Source: ARC from publisher for honest review

Goodreads Synopsis:


The award-winning author of The Last Town on Earth delivers a riveting and elegant police procedural set in 1948 Atlanta, exploring a murder, corrupt police, and strained race relations that feels ripped from today's headlines.

Responding to orders from on high, the Atlanta Police Department is forced to hire its first black officers, including war veterans Lucius Boggs and Tommy Smith. The newly minted policemen are met with deep hostility by their white peers; they aren’t allowed to arrest white suspects, drive squad cars, or set foot in the police headquarters.

When a black woman who was last seen in a car driven by a white man turns up dead, Boggs and Smith suspect white cops are behind it. Their investigation sets them up against a brutal cop, Dunlow, who has long run the neighborhood as his own, and his partner, Rakestraw, a young progressive who may or may not be willing to make allies across color lines. Among shady moonshiners, duplicitous madams, crooked lawmen, and the constant restrictions of Jim Crow, Boggs and Smith will risk their new jobs, and their lives, while navigating a dangerous world—a world on the cusp of great change.
Set in the postwar, pre-civil rights South, and evoking the socially resonant and morally complex crime novels of Dennis Lehane and Walter Mosley, Darktown is a vivid, smart, intricately plotted crime saga that explores the timely issues of race, law enforcement, and the uneven scales of justice.  

My Review:

It's taken me some time to actually sit down and get this review written, just like it took me some time to sit down and finish the book. It was such a slow starter for me, that I continuously stopped and started this book over and over. I'm not too sure what the problem was exactly, but I think it was a mixture of knowing how true this book is to the actual hardships and difficulties that blacks in Atlanta had faced and the fact that the "n" word was used quite frequently (and I have a very hard time hearing / reading it). Once I got passed this, the writing was quite phenomenal and the story had great purpose. Bu it wasn't totally what I was expecting. With the little letter from the publisher at Atria / 37 INK at the beginning, I was so very eager to dive right into this book that promised to be a huge hit ( I mean, come on, they're making a film or TV show with Jamie Foxx co producing! )but it just didn't hit that high note with me.

Don't get me wrong, this novel is an exemplary work of art, and history and the whodunnit aspect will have the reader up guessing all night. And while most readers will not be able to relate the the characters personally, we can somewhat understand the hardships and perseverance that we all have to go through at some point or another.

Maybe one of these days this will be one of those books I pick up and try again, and maybe I'll appreciate it more than I did the first time around. But don't let my review stop you from enjoying Darktown, just look at the 4.26 star rating on Goodreads, and let that help you sway your decision.

Cover Reveal: Surviving Ice by K.A Tucker

I love K.A Tucker's books. I was lucky enough, a while ago to get ARC's of Ten Tiny Breaths and One Tiny Lie and they have been my all time favourite ever since. Burying Water has also been one of my favourites and that brings me to today...

Cover Reveal of book #4 in the New Adult Romantic Suspense, Burying Water series, 

Surviving Ice.

About SURVIVING ICE:

Ivy Lee, a talented tattoo artist who spent the early part of her twenties on the move, is looking for a place to call home. She thinks she might have finally found it working in her uncle’s tattoo shop in San Francisco. But all that changes when a robbery turns deadly, compelling her to pack up her things yet again.

When they need the best, they call him. That’s why Sebastian Riker is back in California, cleaning up the mess made after a tattoo shop owner with a penchant for blackmail got himself shot. But it’s impossible to get the answers he needs from a dead body, leaving him to look elsewhere. Namely, to the twenty-something-year-old niece who believes this was a random attack. Who needs to keep believing that until Sebastian finds what he’s searching for.

Ivy has one foot out of San Francisco when a chance encounter with a stranger stalls her departure. She’s always been drawn to intense men, so it’s no wonder that she now finds a reason to stay after all, quickly intoxicated by his dark smile, his intimidating strength, and his quiet control.

That is, until Ivy discovers that their encounter was no accident—and that their attraction could be her undoing.

How awesome is that? Take a minute to appreciate it.

Surviving Ice (Burying Water #4) is set to be published by Atria Books October 13th, 2015 (just 2 days before my birthday!!)

You can pre-order Surviving Ice at any of the links below for US (if you need UK, or AUS let me know, I have links for there too)

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-a-Million

IndieBound

Apple

Blio

Google

Kobo

About K.A. Tucker:

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.

Website ** Twitter ** Facebook ** Novel Goodreads ** Author Goodreads ** YouTube ** Pinterest **Instagram

Book Review: Triangles by Ellen Hopkins

Publish Date: October 18, 2011
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 544
ISBN: 9781451626339Series: None
Source: ARC from publisher

Goodreads Synopsis:

In this first adult novel by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the unforgettable Crank trilogy, three female friends face midlife crises in a no holds-barred exploration of sex, marriage, and the fragility of life.
Ellen Hopkins has made her mark as the wildly popular author of several novels for young adults—every one of them a New York Times bestseller, and every one a hard-hitting exploration of tough-to-tackle topics. Now, in Triangles, Hopkins brings her storytelling mastery and fearlessness to take on the challenges of adult dramas.
In this emotionally powerful novel, three women face the age-old midlife question: If I’m halfway to death, is this all I’ve got to show for it? Holly, filled with regret for being a stay-at-home mom, sheds sixty pounds and loses herself in the world of extramarital sex. Andrea, a single mom and avowed celibate, watches her friend Holly’s meltdown with a mixture of concern and contempt. Holly is throwing away what Andrea has spent her whole life searching for—a committed relationship with a decent guy. So what if Andrea picks up Holly’s castaway husband? Then there’s Marissa. She has more than her fair share of challenges—a gay teenage son, a terminally ill daughter, and a husband who buries himself in his work rather than face the facts. As one woman’s marriage unravels, another one’s rekindles. As one woman’s family comes apart at the seams, another’s is reconfigured into something bigger and better. In this story of connections and disconnections, one woman’s up is another one’s down, and all three of them will learn the meaning of friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness before it is through.

My Review:

When I was first contacted to review Triangles, I thought why not? It sounds like a powerful read and I was looking for something outside of the YA to read for a change. When I first skimmed through the pages and realized that Hopkins writes the whole story in poetic verses, I was a little apprehensive. I do love poems but I, for the life of me can't always find the meaning behind the author’s words. So I was worried that I would go through Triangles with a haze of "what on earth is going on?". But that was not the case at all! The story is told through poetic verses, but the meaning is loud and clear and read as if it was reading in paragraphs. For those who have read Hopkins other books, including the best selling books Crank, Impulse, Burned, etc. this is what you're used to, but like me, if this is the first time, this is a new way to read. I really enjoyed Hopkins writing. She can paint such a clear picture in the small amount of words she uses, and she can put so much behind those characters. I honestly felt like there was more character development in Triangles than there is in some other books where the author has chapter upon long chapter to develop them.
The story is about love, more specifically about love triangles and how lives are impacted and joined like the lines of a triangle. In this book, Hopkins writes a whole poem about the lines of the triangle, and I think that was my favourite part of the novel. Also, the poem at the end of each characters chapter that sort of summed up what happened and the feelings of the characters was very interesting, and well worth it.
Triangles has so much emotion throughout it. At times it’s very erotic and risky, but there was a balance so it wasn’t like reading an erotic novel from start to finish. The characters, as I said have so much behind them and because of that, I felt as though I knew them, as though I was living in the book with them experiencing the things they were going through. Let me tell you, the things these characters go through is unbelievable. We have children with disabilities, affairs, relationships without love, and so much more.
In a nutshell, Triangles is a great read. It’s not a YA so don’t expect teenage love triangles and bitchy, catty teen girls, instead be prepared for adult topics, powerful emotions and the raw truth about families and friends and betrayal.