Review: *****5 -Blown Away- Stars***** Jenn @ Bookworm Betties
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 5, 2014
*****5 -Blown Away- Stars*****~this review contains minor spoilers~"You don't learn how to be in love. It's not like learning how to walk or talk. It's innate, like breathing. I think love is something we do to survive. To love your life to the fullest, you gotta love every bit of the journey. Remember that."Well, that took me completely by surprise and that's not easily done. I was half expecting a friends to lovers fluffy love story, and it does start off that way-but then it takes a hard right turn down Heavy lane, you don't see it coming til your there, with tears in your eyes. But the Heavy doesn't take over the entire story, it's always there weighing you down with uncertainty, but the author does a fantastic job of sprinkling you with just enough laughs, romance and steam to keep you from being crushed under the weight of it. I'm having a hard time believing this is a debut novel, Steph Nuss is definitely someone to keep your eyes on. I do believe she has just found a home on my 'automatic one-click list' of authors.How does that saying go? If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies. Well, there were butterflies alright. A huge, beautiful flock of them.Carter Jennings and Ellyson Evans met on their first day of classes at College in New York. From the moment they lay eyes on each other, an intense attraction grips them, though neither acknowledges it. They become the best of friends, spending all of their free time together while both secretly wanting more. Ellyson thinks Carter is way to good for a girl like her and would never see her as more than a friend, and Carter is afraid that things would get awkward between them if Elly doesn't feel the same way he does and doesn't want to risk their friendship.My skin burned from the trails her eyes made over my body and I immediately regretted using the term "friends". I definitely wanted to be a lot more than friends with Ellyson.Carter could have his pick of the crop and a guy like that was totally out of my league. I was the nice, smart girl who didn't even want a boyfriend.After four years of unbreakable friendship, constant companionship, and secret desires, life separates them. They lose contact when Carter has to move back home to Texas for awhile to help out with the family business when his dad gets laid up. Now, five years later, Carter has returned to New York and all he can think about is Elly. When a chance encounter brings them face to face when they least expect it, neither are prepared for the feelings that slam into them.It felt like we were seeing each other for the very first time; like we weren't old friends reuniting after so many years. Things were definitely different now. I could feel the effect time had had on both of us and there wasn't anything friendly about it.They are both done with hiding their true feelings, they have lost so much time already and will not let another minute pass them by. They thought their attraction to each other was strong back in college, but they're about to find out what happens when you bottle up all that chemistry for nine years....letting it all out can be explosive.Elly and I hadn't acted like old friends. I saw a glimpse of want burning in her eyes today, and the way her body responded to my presence didn't go unnoticed either. Flushed cheeks. Hard nipples. Clenched thighs. Yeah, "just friends" wasn't even an option for us anymore.But making the decision to go from friends to lovers is the easy part. Life is about to throw them a curve-ball that could destroy everything. This book hit pretty close to home for me, I won't say why because saying much more than I already have would spoil the story and I won't do that. To really feel what Carter & Elly experience, you just have to take in everything as it comes. I really wasn't expecting this to be such an emotional journey, but I'm so glad I went through it with them. Just make sure you have some tissues handy, you will need them. I fell in love with so many different characters in this book for so many different reasons. Elly's love of old movies and music was just so me it was comical. Plus her banter with her girls, and inner-lusting about Carter, was friggin hilarious. Carter has got to be one of the most perfect boyfriends of all time, dirty and demanding when needed, but so freaking romantic you would have to be made of stone to not get all swoony. With so many fantastic secondary characters, I'm dying to see where this series takes us next. One thing is for sure, I have most definitely found a must read author in Steph Nuss, this book blew me away and I cannot wait for more.Just the sight of him made me feel whole again. When he wasn't around, I felt like a part of me was missing; like he was the final piece to my puzzle. He completed me."You are mine. God, it feels good to finally call you mine. You are all I've ever wanted. You're are all I'll ever want.""I've always been yours, and that will never change. I will always want you."