Romance book reviews. Reviews of books that make my heart race, have a beautiful love story, and a happy ending.

Romance book reviews. Reviews of books that make my heart race, have a beautiful love story, and a happy ending.

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ADVANCE COPY GIVEAWAY + PROLOGUE — LEAD ME NOT by A. Meredith Walters

ADVANCE COPY GIVEAWAY + PROLOGUE — LEAD ME NOT by A. Meredith Walters

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One of my favorite authors, A. Meredith Walters, is releasing a new book this summer called Lead Me Not and today I have a spotlight feature set up for you along with the book’s prologue AND a chance to win an advance paperback copy of the book!! So scroll down and check it out!! 😀

❤  LEAD ME NOT ❤

Release date: August 5, 2014

In this dangerously sexy novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Find You in the Dark, a straight-laced college student meets a handsome but enigmatic stranger who lures her into an underground club scene, where she finds it difficult to resist temptation

Aubrey Duncan understands loss. She knows what rock bottom looks like, and she is determined to crawl back up to the top after the sudden death of her younger sister. She blames herself for her part in the tragedy, convinced that she could have done something, anything, to help her.

In her effort to gain redemption, Aubrey starts fresh at Longwood University and facilitates an addiction support group, hoping she can support someone else in the way she failed her sister. But what she doesn’t count on is an all-consuming fascination with group member Maxx Demelo, a gorgeous, blond, blue-eyed enigma who hides dark secrets behind a carefully constructed mask. He only reveals what he wants others to see. But Aubrey glimpses another Maxx hidden below the surface—a Maxx who is drowning in his own personal hell.

As Aubrey and Maxx develop an attraction too intense to ignore, he pulls her into the dark underbelly of the city club scene, where she is torn by her desire to save him and an inexplicable urge to join him in his downward spiral. Worst of all, she is beginning to love everything she should run away from—a man who threatens to ignite in her a fire that could burn her alive…

❤  READ THE PROLOGUE ❤

Maxx

Just this once, I swore as I felt the needle kiss my skin. I grimaced as the sharp tip slid beneath the surface and connected with the waiting vein. The prick of pain bothered me. The sensation made me feel sick to my stomach.

Given how eager I was for the release, it was almost comical how squeamish I was when it came to the methods I had chosen to get my fix.

I don’t want this.

If only it were true. Too bad want and need were entirely different things.

Sure, I didn’t want this. But my body sure as hell needed it. My veins burned as I unloaded the drug into my body. I picked at the skin around my nails, waiting for the high.

I had never gone to this extreme before. I had always kept myself perilously close to the edge without actually going over.

But this was different.

I was different.

And the need to drown out the chaos in my head outweighed the inherent fear I felt of the needle that now hung limply between my fingers.

I was a goddamned mess. I sat there, squatting in the stall of the nastiest public toilet I had ever been in, when I could be out there, doing anything but this.

What the fuck was wrong with me?

My phone buzzed in my pocket, but I didn’t bother to look at who was calling me. Because I already knew it would be her.

Aubrey.

In a moment of stupidity I had called her. I had let my obsession with her rule me. Now she was worried.

I wish she would stop fucking worrying.

Christ, now I felt guilty.  Because I should feel guilty for what I was doing to her.

I fisted my hand over my heart, ready for the pain that resided there to go away. I checked the time on my watch. Five minutes.

Five freaking minutes already. It felt like five fucking years.

Any second now I would forget about all of this.

My phone buzzed again, and this time I pulled it out and stared at the screen. Aubrey’s name flashed bright in the dimness.

Like a beacon.

Or my salvation.

Before I was too blissed out on the high to care, I felt the fear.

A deep-in-my-bones sort of panic that not even the smack could erase. It all had to do with her. 

Aubrey.

And the consequences of my selfish choices on the two of us.

In my sudden clarity, I wished to God I could take it back — the moment when I had let the shameful taste of oblivion mean more than the peace I had found in her arms. I wanted to suck the poison from my veins and go back to those minutes before I had thrown my life away for a chance at drug-induced nirvana.

Because she was my nirvana. My quiet in the storm. And what I felt for her was a hell of a lot more real than anything I could experience at the sharp end of a needle or through the chalky taste of pills in my throat.

But it was too late, and soon I wouldn’t care about any of it. And for the first time I hated it. I hated the high. I hated the relief. I hated me. 

And then, finally, my limbs became heavy. My heartbeat began to slow. My mind, which was just a second ago debating whether to let her save me, clouded in a haze.

Who needed salvation when I had… this?

My phone buzzed again, and in a fit of anger, I threw it against the bathroom stall and watched with an encroaching indifference as the pieces fell to the floor.

My eyelids drooped, and my knees buckled. I slid down the wall to sit on the piss-stained floor as the air around me vibrated from the bass of the music playing in the club just beyond the door.

My mouth hung open, and all I felt was the euphoria.  I fell to my side and pressed my cheek into the filth, pieces of my phone cutting my face.

Guilt. Fear. Panic. Even love…it was all gone.

All I had was…this.

And for now that was enough.

 ❤ ENTER THE GIVEAWAY ❤

Giveaway from publishers. Open Internationally. Void where prohibited by law.
Must be over 18 to enter. 1 winner will a bound ARC of Lead Me Not.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

LEAD ME NOT GIV

Comments

  4. Thanks for the chance to win 🙂 I can’t wait to read this book! I have loved all of A Meredith Walter’s books ❤️

    Reply

  5. I love A. Meredith Walters’ books. I read Find You In The Dark and it’s sequel. LOVED them both. Heart wrenching reads. I would love to add this to my AMW collection. Thank you for the giveaway and a spotlight on such a wonderful writer.

    Reply

  16. The summary of the book promises an exciting journey and I’m anticipating it’s upcoming release. Congratulations to A. Meredith Walters for the upcoming release of Lead Me on! Thank you for holding this giveaway! <3

    Reply

  22. Thank you for the chance! You always have such awesome giveaways! Have not read this book, but love A. Meredith Walters!

    Reply

  25. I have not read this book but I just started to read Find you in the dark and so far it is fantastic, thanks for this chance

    Reply

  27. A. Meredith Walters is one of my favorite authors. find you in the dark is in my top 5 favorite series and I can’t wait to read Lead Me Not!

    Reply

  64. I think this book is GOOD!!! I would love to have a copy of this. Thanks for the giveaway.. 🙂

    Reply

  75. I have read everything that Meredith has written so far. I am super excited to read her newest one. I also wanted to just tell you how much I love and appreciate your blog. It has to be a lot of work to keep up but it makes my reading life 100x easier 🙂

    Reply

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