Title: Come To Me Quietly (The Closer to You Series, Book 1)
Author: A.L. Jackson
Release Date: January 7, 2014
Genre: New Adult Romance
Blog Tour hosted by: Shh Moms Reading, Literary Mania Reviews, and Brandee’s Book Endings
From the acclaimed bestselling author of Lost to You and When We Collide comes a new adult novel of one woman’s obsession: a man who’s as passionate as he is elusive—and as tempting as he is trouble…
Aleena Moore is haunted by Jared Holt. It’s been six years since she’s seen her brother’s best friend, the self-destructive bad boy she secretly loved in high school. As the years pass, she knows it’s time to move on. Time to decide between a practical nursing degree and her true dream as an artist. Time to get over Jared and give another guy a chance…
Just when she opens her heart to her friend Gabe, Aly returns home to find Jared sleeping on her couch. The teenage boy she loved has grown into a man she can’t resist. Covered in tattoos and lost in rage, he’s begging to be saved from his demons—the memories of the day he destroyed his family. As the two reconnect, their passion is hot enough to torch Aly’s judgment. But can she risk her future for a man who lives on the edge of destruction?
Stephanie’s 4 Star Review:
There were times in this story I really wanted to shake the main characters. Aleena (Aly) and Jared are childhood friends along with her brother, Christopher. Jared was always taking care of Aly, sticking up for her, and wanting to spend time with her. Though some traumatic childhood events happened and Jarod was sent away he came back years later and ran into Christopher at a local bar.
Jared couldn’t stay away from Aly. She’s all grown up and more beautiful than he could imagine. But he feels he’s toxic. It isn’t until more than half way through the story you find out the reason why he considers himself toxic. Aly has always loved Jared. He’s her everything. She never thought she would love another. When he ends up sleeping on her couch in her apartment.
Aly and Jared embark on a secret relationship as they don’t want Christopher knowing as they both don’t think he would approve. I think anyone who looked at these two could tell the attraction was heady. Christopher had to be completely in another world to miss it, in my opinion.
There’s lots of “stuff” happening in this story like them falling in love and him trying his hardest not to. He keeps saying he needs to be away from her yet sleeps in her bed every night. Then they start a physical relationship. Neither can back down from the sparks that fly around them when they’re entwined. Christopher & Aly’s mom comes over to visit one day and is elated to see Jared is home. After she leaves that night Jared leaves down. Afraid he’d be too toxic for Aly & Christopher and left before anyone could talk to him about what was really going through his head.
Jared needed to work though his issues. Not that anything really mattered to him until he nearly looses his life and he can’t help but think of Aly and how he wants to live what’s left with her.
Now comes the task of begging for forgiveness and wooing her back into his graces. The biggest question is Jared willing to share with Aly what’s been holding him back or will he push her away again by refusing to share his shame.
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Come To Me Quietly Book Trailer
Excerpt
Slowly she began to approach, and I sank further back into the chair the closer she came, my knee bouncing harder as she timidly inched up in front of me. Her movements were slow, hypnotizing, and I couldn’t stop myself from watching those legs. My eyes darted to her hands. She was rubbing her thumbs over her fingertips as if she were searching for some kind of friction or maybe looking for confidence. My gaze flicked up to meet her face. A color I didn’t understand had darkened her eyes. There was no looking away as she crossed the room, and my head continued to tilt back, locked on her, lost in this place where I knew I absolutely shouldn’t fucking be.
She stopped just a breadth from me.
My hands dropped slack, dangled at my sides.
Everything became heavy. My fingers twitched, and I had to force the air in and out of my lungs.
I swore I could actually hear Aly’s heart beating as she hovered in hesitation an inch away. She blinked hard, squirmed before she looked at me with determination. “Jared, I don’t want you to leave.”
“Aly. . .I. . .” What was I supposed to say? Because I didn’t want to leave either.
I had to.
Erasing the last of the space between us, Aly allowed the front of her legs to touch my knees, and she groaned as if the contact seared her. She wavered, before she reached out to run the back of her hand down my face, testing me. Tempting me.
I stopped breathing altogether when she slowly straddled my lap and murmured close to my ear, “Please. . .don’t leave me.”
Fuck.
This was bad, really fucking bad. And I knew I should push her away, make her stop because what she was doing was only bringing us a little closer to the edge. She held onto the chair behind me, her warm body pressed into mine. There was no chance she wasn’t feeling just how much I wanted her.
“What are you doing, Aly?” My hands went to her slender hips with the intention of edging her off my lap. Instead my fingers dug into the soft skin.
A shudder sped up my spine when she trembled above me.
Wetting my lips, I tried to move her back, but only managed to brush up against her further. Her expression was severe but soft, her movements shaky but sure. She searched my face, her eyes burning a path as she left me utterly exposed. And I could smell her, and the memory of the way she tasted, the way she felt, overwhelmed every last one of my senses. She didn’t even have to move, and she was already touching me everywhere.
She swallowed, then spoke. “Did you want to kiss me last night?”
“Last night was a mistake, Aly. I—”
Her hands went to my face, and she held me there, forcing me to look up at her.
“I didn’t ask you if it was a mistake. I asked if you wanted to.”
A frustrated sound worked its way free of my throat, and I shifted again, which only brought her closer. Right then I knew there was not a fucking thing I could do because nothing else mattered in the world except for the way she felt pressed up tight against me. My fingers dug further into her hips, and we were nose to nose, Aly’s hands firm on my face. I realized we were moving, our bodies subtly rocking.
I groaned. “I’ve wanted to kiss you every single second of every single day since the moment I opened my eyes to find you standing over me, Aly.
A.L. Jackson 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, When We Collide, and If Forever Comes.
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.
Look for Come to Me Softly, book two in the Closer To You Series, coming July 1, 2014
www.facebook.com/aljacksonauthor
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Be sure to enter the COME TO ME QUIETLY Blog Tour Giveaway!!
Grand Prize: A.L. Jackson Complete Signed Paperback Collection (all six titles) + Come To Me Quietly Poster and swag
Second Prize: Come To Me Quietly Collection, which includes a signed copy of Come To Me Quietly, a Come To Me Quietly poster, keychain, and custom bookmark
Third Prize: A.L. Jackson Fun Pack stuffed full of A.L. Jackson book swag
Fourth Prize: Audiobook Gift Set from Audible.com of The Regret Series (Lost To You, Take This Regret & If Forever Comes)
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