car – Z. Elizabeth

God, who can believe that it’s nearly 2015?! I can honestly say that this year has quite literally flown by. I can remember every single detail of the year and as always, I’ve had some incredible high and low moments but you know what? They are what make you that much stronger as a person and with only two days left, I came into 2014 in the most amazing way and I’ll be leaving it in the most amazing way – with my friends, food, alcohol and fireworks.

The past year I’ve gone from having crazy coloured hair, losing two jobs, moving back into my parents house and meeting some amazing authors in Edinburgh as well as flying on my own. Flying over to Turkey with two of my best friends to see my best friend who was repping for six months, I passed my driving test, I burned out two clutches on my car, I sat in the back of a police car for the first time and I started a new job. I met an amazing guy who is now my boyfriend, I fell in love after five years of being single and I PUBLISHED A BOOK.

You could say that it’s been quite an eventful year and I regret nothing. Everything that’s happened has created a memory that will stick with me and I have the photos to prove it.

Passing my driving test after four months was such a giddy feeling. I could have learnt when I was 17 but I decided that spending a month in Kenya was too important to pass and at 23 I was in a job, earning money to pay towards the lessons and I felt so much more mature than I would have done at 17. It’s given me the freedom to just get in my car and drive without having to ask for lifts and to be picked up from bus and train stops. I love driving even if I have burned out my clutch twice in the past three months I’ve had the car. Oops.

I also met a guy three months ago. A guy who, after the first date, I knew I wanted to spend more time with. And thank God he wanted that too. I met a guy after five years of being single, after five years of being content in not wanting to have a boyfriend; he came along and turned me upside down. He made me fall in love with him and I made him fall in love with me and I couldn’t be any happier than when I get to see him, when he’s a funny jackass to me and when I get to just cwtch up to him and fall asleep beside him. It’s still fresh but I’m so excited to see what is going to happen. We’re going away for the weekend next month for my birthday and then he’s taking me away for a few days in February for an extended birthday present – he just won’t tell me where or what we are doing.

The Deal No 10 Kopie And finally, maybe the most important part of 2014 was that I turned from a blogger to an author. After a year of writing The Deal, I finally published it on Dec 1^st. I got to press ‘publish’ on Craig and Nic’s story. I don’t care about money or ratings or best seller lists, I cared about ticking ‘write a book’ from my bucket list and that’s exactly what I did. I don’t go on Goodreads to look at ratings or reviews, I don’t even look at my KDP page to see how many have been sold because what’s the point of going batshit crazy over it all? So even if you absolutely hate the book or love it, I thank you for reading it!

(I’m going to do a little self-promo here, just because I can. So if you want a little extra hotness in your life, then Grab The Deal now. It’ll also be reduced to 99c for a week in Jan when my tour is happening!)

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deal-Z-Elizabeth-ebook/dp/B00QEIVS2G/
US: http://www.amazon.com/Deal-Z-Elizabeth-ebook/dp/B00QEIVS2G/
CA: http://www.amazon.ca/Deal-Z-Elizabeth-ebook/dp/B00QEIVS2G/
AUS: http://www.amazon.com.au/Deal-Z-Elizabeth-ebook/dp/B00QEIVS2G/

What have been your top three highlights of 2014? Let me know!

Synopsis

Two years after her best friend was involved in a car accident that caused a traumatic brain injury, Lottie Anders is ready to start her freshman year of college. Ready to move on. Ready to start forgetting the night that ripped her life apart.

Her plans come to a screeching halt when not one, but both brothers responsible for the accident end up back in her life again.

Zack is cruel, selfish and constantly rubbing what happened to her friend in Lottie’s face.

Zan is different. He listens to her awkward ramblings. He loves “To Kill a Mockingbird” as much as she does, and his dark eyes are irresistible. His words are few and far between, but when he does speak, she can’t help but listen.

The trouble is, Zan was the driver in the accident, and now Lottie’s discovered he lied to her about what happened that night. Now she must decide if trusting him again will lead to real forgiveness, or deeper heartache.

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My Review

A night out two years changed everything in Lottie’s life. Her best friend Lexie sustained a brain injury and she’s never been the same. The driver Zan, although not drunk wasn’t old enough to drive, caused the injury when he swerved to avoid a deer and his brother Zack was also to blame when he practically forced Lexie to go with him. Lottie has so much hatred for the guys, but more so Zack than Zen.

Today, she and her twin brother Will are now beginning college but the thing is, Zack and Zen are at the same college and Lottie’s roommate Katie is dating Zack. This is definitely something she doesn’t need in her life. Zack is still the same arsehole he was two years ago but Zan is different. He’s nothing like Lottie pictured he would be in her mind and hating him is now proving more difficult the more time they spend together. She doesn’t want to feel anything for him but love concurs all.

Zan has been holding onto the guilt and grief of what happened for more than two years. He’s learnt the hard way for the past few years but he’s powered through it and with the help of his social worker Miss Carole, he’s now trying to at least get his life back on track. Before the accident, he was trying to build up the courage to talk to Lottie but that all went to pot. Now hearing she is at the same college, it’s kind of fucked him over. He knows she hates him, but he has liked her for so long and really wants the chance to say sorry and make it up to her somehow.

Everything he does is for her. He’s the silent type, one who thinks over what he is going to say first. Music is his escape along with running, reading and poetry and you really do go on a journey with him. He’s holding on to a big secret about that night and it’s tearing him up inside that when it finally comes out – to Lottie – he feels free for the first time in his life.

Lottie has also been holding onto the guilt of that fatal night, blaming herself for not dragging Lexie away from Zack. She’s hated the two brothers since that night and now knowing they both attend the same college, no less rooming in the same building, she just can’t catch a break. She will always hate Zack and she says she will always hate Zan, but the more they bump into each other and the more time they kind of spend time together, you can see she is falling for him, although she would much rather not.

She is such a caring best friend to Lexie, a great twin sister to Will and a great friend to every secondary character in the story. She’s a strong and resilient character but she feels weak when her feelings for Zan change from hate to love. She just couldn’t stop it, no matter how hard she wanted to, but really, giving in was the best thing she could have done because they were both so great together. They were there for each other through thick and thin.

The chemistry between Zan and Lottie always seems to pull them back together, no matter how many times Lottie tells him to stay away from her. But more time down the line, they become friends, although it’s obvious to both of them there is more between them. It did take Lottie a long time to admit that she wanted Zan, and then hid their relationship from everyone, even though everyone knew.

I loved it when they actually went public with it, because it proved that Lottie had forgiven Zan and her guilt for liking him was finally vanishing. I understood why she didn’t want to go public after telling everyone she hated him, but even her brother knew she was starting to like him and really, he was nothing like she pictured in her mind. He was kind, caring and loved her deeply that when there was a pivotal point in the book for the two of them, I cried, simply because Leona Lewis – I Got You came on and made it more intense to read!

Deeper We Fall really gets into you. It did for me. It got me thinking about if this happened to my best friend and I was the one in Lottie’s shoes. Would I react the same way she did every time she saw and bumped into Zan? Would I start to like him even if I didn’t want to? Would I forgive him for shattering my best friend’s life? It’s definitely hard to comprehend when it hasn’t happened to you, but it did go through my mind that I most probably would react the way Lottie had.

As I’ve said, it’s hard to completely know what you would do in this situation, and that’s exactly what Simon – Lottie and Will’s friend – asks her one night. Would she feel the same if it was Will who drove the truck and caused the accident? I ask you, those who have read this book, what would you do if you were in Lottie’s position? Especially when you would get to know Zan as more than the boy who caused your best friend’s life to change forever and more the boy who you were falling for.

I loved all the secondary characters, of course apart from Zack, but that was because he was an utter douchebag and really hadn’t seemed to change or actually give a shit about the fatal night. They all had their own personalities that shone in the book and I instantly took a liking to Trish, Will and Simon. They had me in giggles over what they would say. I loved the close-knit family they all had together especially in one part of the book when something terrible happens and they all get together to be there for that character and for each other.

Deeper We Fall truly is about forgiveness, second chances, letting go of your guilt, finding love and building a family of friends. It was a great read from Chelsea and completely different to My Favorite Mistake. She made each character distinguished from each other and the ending was just fun for both Lottie and Zan. It was how their relationship properly started and it was great that they could just be free of all the guilt that had eaten them up about the accident and about being together (more on Lottie’s part was the latter). They really were a perfect match for one another.

I shall definitely be recommending this book and I cannot wait for the second book, Faster We Burn, which is about Katie – Lottie’s roommate and Stryker- Zan’s college friend, which are characters in Deeper We Fall. Here’s to more Lottie and Zan in that book too!!