Title: Lucky Penny
Author: L.A. Cotton
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: November 30, 2015
Blurb
I was his lucky Penny. He was my light in the dark, hope in despair. Our bond was one of survival, friendship... first love.
But then we were ripped apart and Blake Weston became the memory I turned to when everything else in my life fell apart.
Seven years later, a summer working at Camp Chance is supposed to be my fresh start. Beautiful scenery and the chance to better the lives of foster children--kids like me. But when my eyes land on him across the fire, time stands still and feelings come rushing back to the surface. I thought I'd moved on, tucked him away in my heart. One look into his soulful blue eyes and I know I'm wrong. Blake Weston can heal the broken parts of me. Restore my hope. Love me.
It's our second chance. A sign we are supposed to be together.
Isn't it?
I was twelve when I survived the accident that killed my parents. Fourteen when I survived the devil. And sixteen, when I survived a heartbreak of the worst kind.
But in my twenty-three years, Blake Weston might just be the first thing I won't survive.
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Excerpt
Marissa didn’t follow me. It was most
likely she had pieced together our story after Blake’s song. How could she not?
It was as if he had weaved our entire relationship into his lyrics. I could
feel his sixteen-year-old self singing every line to my sixteen-year-old self.
Although, I was pretty certain the sixteen-year-old Blake I’d known then had no
clue how to play the guitar.
After washing the tearstains from my
face, I brushed my teeth. It was still early, but I couldn’t face going back
out there, so I changed into my shorts and tank top and climbed into bed. Sleep
would be impossible, but at least here, I was safe.
Most people felt lonely in solitude, but
I welcomed the silence. I embraced it even. Something about the quiet, the
knowledge no one else was around, comforted me. I knew it made me different. I
didn’t need a shrink to tell me that, but it didn’t change the fact that I
found sanctuary in being alone.
I lay there not really allowing myself to
think. Thinking was dangerous; it led to remembering, and my memories were
stained with pain and hurt and the kinds of things that made most people’s
nightmares look like a walk in the park. Instead, I tracked the uneven cabin
ceiling. My eyes followed the planes of the wood from one end to the other and
back again until they grew heavy.
A knock on the door startled me sending
my already restless heart into overdrive and I rubbed at my eyes.
“Hello?” I called out hoping to hear
Marissa’s voice, but I knew it wasn’t her. She wouldn’t have knocked; she would
have barged right in and demanded answers.
“Penny, it’s me.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, but my mind
betrayed me as an image of Blake’s face filled my head.
Another knock.
“Penny.”
Forcing myself to sit up, I swung my legs
over the edge of the bed. He wasn’t going away. Blake—our connection—was
something I was going to have to deal with sooner or later, and from Blake’s
admissions over the last few days, it seemed that he was making the decision
for me.
My legs were like lead as I walked to the
door. It swung open and Blake stood there looking at me with such reverence in
his eyes I almost crumpled. Maybe I did crumple because, before my head had
time to process what was happening, I was in Blake’s arms, and he was holding
on to me like he needed me to breathe.
“I’ve missed you so much. I’ve tried to
stay away, to give you space, but I can’t. I can’t spend another day feeling
like you might slip through my fingers again.”
One of Blake’s hands buried itself in my
hair and cradled my head holding me to him. My face pressed up against the
collar of his hoodie, and I breathed him in. He smelled familiar, like damp
grass and fresh air, of a time when things were less complicated, and my heart
ached for us. At that moment, we weren’t two strangers reunited by chance; we
were sixteen-year-old Blake and Penny.
And we needed each other to survive.
Review
I’ve been struggling since I finished
this to come up with just the right collection of words to explain just how
much this book touched me and I seem to fall short every single time. But for
the sake of getting it out there, I’m going to sit here now and try to explain
as best I can.
I honestly didn’t think that the author
would be able to gut me quite the way she did with the Chastity Falls series.
Anyone who has read my previous reviews for that series knows how deeply
affected I was by Ana and Jackson’s story, but with Lucky Penny, she definitely
did it again.
This book for a good portion of it made
my heart hurt so damn badly that I had to put it down. What Penny, Blake and
all of the others that had been cycled through that foster home had to endure
for the years they were there was wrong and I don’t think I’ve hated characters
more than I did the “parents” that did this to them. And yes I use that term
loosely.
What hurt my heart more was the reason
they were separated at all. Why it had taken all of those years for the two of
them to cross paths again and the agony that took place before they could
finally be together the way I’m sure the fates destined them to be from the
start.
The internal and external circumstances
for their years of separation and then again the separation that takes place in
the here and now, hit me right in the feels and brought tears to my eyes and
upset to my stomach. From the moment they see each other again at the camp that
they’re both working at, I was hooked into their happy ending and even though
things got rough before they got better, it never faltered.
Penny wasn’t just Blake’s forever, she
was also someone I could easily see as my friend and one that I wanted to reach
out and hug and keep close to me on more than one occasion. Blake, the man he
grew into, well I wanted to do the same with him at times but to a lesser
degree. His heart was so pure. He was such a good kid that even though he found
himself in an impossible situation when he got older, he kept that same air
about him and had grown into an incredible man. One that makes mistakes like
the rest of us, but that never falters in what he knows to be true.
That she is his Lucky Penny.
Both together and separate I wanted these
two to be happy, that’s how deeply the author brings you into their worlds. You
can’t help but root for them and root hard I did.
I hated anything that got in the way of
that. His uncle Anthony more than all of the others combined. One time being so
pissed with the lengths he took to keep them apart that I wanted to throw my
kindle at the wall (thanks for that author lady lol).
When these two finally do give in to what
the both of them have always known, when they really allow themselves to feel
and move on from the torment of their childhood, it’s amazing. Certain
instances even swoon worthy.
This was more than just a second chance
romance story. It was more than just seeing two people broken by a system that
let them down becoming whole again. It was two seemingly broken people, meeting
in the most unlikely place and altering each other’s lives so incredibly that
their world wasn’t going to be right until they were together again. Putting
each other back together, healing the broken bits in the process.
It was life, love, healing and growth at
its finest and a story that I am so incredibly glad that I took the chance on
as much like the authors previous work, I do believe it’s going to stick with
me long after I’ve turned the last page.
My thanks to the author and all others
involved in letting me read this before release. It was a pleasure and Blake
and Penny’s journey to happily ever after is one that I am so thankful that I
took.
Author Bio
Contemporary romance and romantic
suspense
… written with feeling
L.A is author of the Fate’s Love Series and
Chastity Falls Series. Home is a small town in the middle of England where she
currently juggles being a full-time mum to two little people with writing. In
her spare time (and when she’s not camped out in front of the laptop) you’ll
most likely find L. A immersed in a book, escaping the chaos that is life.
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