Woods – Z. Elizabeth

MANCANDY MONDAY! The place where the hot guys go!

Posted on September 23, 2013September 22, 2013 by Z. Elizabeth

Every Monday, Blame It On The Book Lovers will be discussing their favourite book boyfriend of that week in a meme called MANCANDY MONDAY!

We all love book boyfriends, so Man Candy Monday is all about sharing the love…and the hot guys around by letting everyone know the book boyfriend you have been swooning over this last week, and why!

Once you’ve posted your mancandy on your own blog, come back and post the link. We all want to know WHO your mancandy is this week and swoon right along with you.

This week The Book Lovers is featuring Woods Kerrington from Twisted/Simple Perfection by Abbi Glines

Lucas Bernardini is my Woods

If I’m being honest, Woods is definitely in my Top three book boyfriends. We meet him in Fallen Too Far and I wasnt really a fan. I wanted Blaire and Rush together but then in Never Too Far, holy jesus, i completely fell in love with him. From his caring nature to always being there for Blaire when Rush was being a douchebag to her and he always made sure she was okay. He was the perfect friend to her and I really wanted someone for him.

So when Twisted Perfection came out, and we got to know a hell of a lot more about Woods, well i fell deeper for him. His family life is so ‘twisted’, he’s never known love as his family dont exactly love, he wants freedom, the freedom to break away, be himself, experience everything but there’s a small problem and its to do with his family – he truly is a puppet to them. But when Della whizzes into his life, she turns it upside down, makes him see past the county club, makes him evaluate his life and what he really wants, and he wants Della and to be free, just like her.

It really is a big decision because really, this is all he knows, working hard to be the owner of the club, but when Della strolls into his life, she switches everything upside down and makes him really think about what he wants.

Woods is still the caring, most amazing guy we see in all the Too Far books and his love for Della is so strong that he doesnt want to be without her. Della has night terrors and when Woods finds out about them, thats it, he will do whatever to help her through them and the pain in her life and you can truly see the love he has for her. How when it comes down to it, he will choose Della over everything!

So that is why Woods is my Mancandy this week – and the fact that he is a god awesome dirty talker. HOLY crap, like get in my bed Woods!

If you join in, leave your link in the comments so we can all see who you picked for your Mancandy 🙂

Waiting On Wednesday: Simple Perfection – Abbi Glines

Posted on July 17, 2013July 14, 2013 by Z. Elizabeth

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine. It’s a weekly event that allows all us book bloggers and lovers to talk about what upcoming book we’re most looking forward to reading.

Synopsis

Woods had his perfect life mapped out for him. Rise up the ranks of the family business. Marry the rich girl of his parents’ dreams. Pretend that wealth and privilege was all he’d ever wanted. Then a girl named Della breezed into town, a beautifully imperfect stranger who captured his heart and opened his eyes to a new kind of future. Woods is ready and willing to sacrifice everything for her when the sudden death of his father leaves him with his mother to care for and a business to manage.

Della is determined to be strong for Woods, even as she’s quietly falling to pieces. No matter how far from home she’s run, the ghosts of her past have never stopped haunting her. Struggling to hide her true feelings from Woods, Della fears she can’t be his rock without dragging him down into the darkness with her. But is she strong enough to let go of the last thing holding her together?

Release date: September 23rd 2013

Abbi Glines, New Adult

Twisted Perfection (#1) – Abbi Glines

Posted on July 1, 2013July 1, 2013 by Z. Elizabeth

Synopsis

Life outside of her house was a new experience for Della Sloane. The dark secrets of her past weren’t something she ever intended to share with anyone. They would never understand. No one would ever get close enough to find out. There was always a chance she’d go crazy sooner than they expected…

Woods Kerrington had never been one to be attracted to fragile females. They seemed like too much work. He wasn’t in it for the work just the pleasure. A night full of naughty fun had been exactly what was on his mind when he’d laid eyes on the hot little number that didn’t know how to pump gas and needed some help.

What he didn’t know was she was as fragile as they came.
The carefree girl who spoke her mind and didn’t care what the world thought of her was more breakable than he could ever imagine…

5+ stars

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My Review

“You are mine. Do you hear me? You are mine, Della Sloane. I will take care of you. Nothing is taking you away from me. Nothing.”

RIGHT OKAY!! Before I begin my gushing, GET TWISTED PERFECTION NOW! Seriously, this is definitely a 5+ book, I would give it the world because I was completely hooked. I read it within hours and only put it down to pee. Yupp, you wanted to know that really.

I love Abbi Glines. The Too Far series were the first books I had read by Ms. Glines and I was hooked. I would recommend reading this after Never Too Far and definitely before Forever Too Far as some of the storyline entwines in FTF.

Twisted Perfection is my favourite book out of the Rosemary bunch. As you will see in my review, I LOVE Woods. Like completely adore his character. He is not what you expect him to be and after reading NTF, he took a slice of my heart but now, hes got it all.

Abbi surely knows how to write a book where you just cant put it down. She makes you feel. Yes, feel all these emotions throughout her book and this book is deeper and darker than the Too Far series, but that is what I loved about it. There was so much in this book, emotional and mental issues, trying to be free, trying to find yourself, trying to do what is best, demons…. You will laugh, you will sob, you will swoon, fan yourself, become irritated and shout advice and abuse at characters through your kindle. I cant express enough that Twisted Perfection is twisted perfection.

You become addicted to the story, flicking pages until you are at the end and looking at your clock thinking “Where has the time gone”. You will read this book in a sitting, not wanting to put it down and wanting to know how the ending will happen. Will there be a cliffhanger so I’ll panic until the next book? Will it all end happily? Read it and find out for yourself.

We first meet Woods in Fallen Too Far. He had an interest in Blaire and I wasn’t his biggest fan as I wanted her with Rush. But then in Never Too Far I completely loved him. His friendship to Blaire was just so cute, he was there for her through everything and he won me over. NOW, now I am so flaming happy he got his own books, because, and I’m sorry, but I love him more than Rush. Yupp, you read that right. He won my heart. He’s embedded in my heart. No word of a lie.

He is a hunky, sexy, possessive, loveable guy who you just want to have sex with and then want him to make you his everything – like Della is to him. He’s thoughtful, always putting everyone’s needs before his own, especially Della’s when he finds out that not is all it seems with her, he wants to help her out, wants to help her move forward and move on from her past. He loves her with everything.

We know Woods works in the Country Club for his dad so he can take over the business one day, but this poses a major problem along the way. He craves the freedom that Della has and he craves her too but hes stuck and struggles. He wants to take over the business but he doesn’t want the path that is being chosen for him and he wants Della but if he wants the club he can’t have her. What is a boy meant to do?

At certain points I was shaking my head at Woods, hoping and praying he would see the light and tell his dad to stuff it, stuff everything – to not be a puppet anymore and have his life dictated anymore. It really is a big decision because really, this is all he knows, working hard to be the owner of the club, but when Della strolls into his life, she switches everything upside down and makes him really think about what he wants.

He’s never really known love. His family don’t extradite love and the only love hes known is his grandparents. He doesn’t think he can love. Enter Della…

Della stole my heart too. She had gone through so much and still is and I commend her strength and her will to live, to find herself in the world, to carry on and power through every scenario thrown her way. She has been sheltered all her life, shes naive and innocent to the world around her yet she craves to find herself, find where she fits in and it took her a lot of courage to do things alone, to travel alone and try to forget about her past. But despite that, there are certain things that trigger memories from her childhood and that is the scary part of being her. She zones out, gets trapped in her mind and memories come flooding back.

It was pretty freaking scary to see Della introvert into herself when her past floods back and it pretty much scared the crap out of Woods too, who witnessed it more than once. This should bring her down, but she powers through it, her strength grows with every obstacle in her way and trust me, with Woods’ dad trying to get her away from his son, she faced a hell of a lot with that one.

Della is caring and innocent and she craves intimacy. After that one night with Woods, it opened her up. She wanted more, she wanted everything offered to her and she wanted everything Woods would give her. She boasted confidence but inside she was just a scared little girl. When she tells Woods about her past, I was so grateful that he was there for her, wanting to help her through it and let’s just hope everything works out in the second installment in some ways.

The chemistry between Della and Woods is instant. From the first meeting you can see the attraction to one another. And even after four months apart when Della rolls up at Rosemary, the attraction is still there, probably even stronger than before. Woods has been thinking about that night and their one night stand was obviously so much more to both of them as they are taken aback when they see each other. But there is a dilemma; Woods is to be engaged to another girl in order to take over from his father. He doesn’t love the girl and all he wants is Della. But this is his life; it’s all hes known despite not wanting to follow his father’s commands anymore. It’s hard enough seeing Della everyday and knowing he can’t have her…its killing him.

Della throws Woods completely. What he thought he wanted, he no longer knows. He doesn’t know what to do, all he knows is he wants Della and shes been embedded in his head from that one night they shared.

The sex they have, Jesus Woods, you are such a dirty talker, I loved it! Dirty talk to me anytime baby 😉 He really is a man; he knows the right things to say and definitely knows what to do. DAMN Woods. The sex intensifies their connection and attraction to each other and only makes their love for each other grow stronger. From what we know about Woods, I reallllly wasn’t expecting this, but I LOVED it, I loved being shocked by him and his sexy ways.

There are POVS from both Woods and Della. You all know how much I love the POVS because we get to delve deep into the heads of both characters and that is exactly what happened with these two. We got to learn more about them, their pasts, their presents, their fears, their love, and their feelings. Everything about each other that the other was thinking. God, it truly made me love each of them more and more.

Twisted Perfection really is different from the Too Far series. It delves deeper into emotional and mental issues, darker pasts and fears. You watch two people who are seemingly lost, find one another, help one another and find love together. They find their purpose in their life.

There is no relationship cliff-hanger but there is a small one to do with Woods. It will be awesome to see how their relationship progresses throughout this small matter and how they survive with what is going to happen. When they finally sort their shit out, it turns around but the love these two have, they can jump through any hoops and obstacles thrown there way. God knows there are a lot in this book and it only made they stronger and more in love with each other. You know they will stay together no matter what.

So hurry up Abbi, I neeeed book two now and I neeeeeed to love Woods and Della even more than I do now. Woods has stolen my heart, and hes in my head and by god, I need him in my bed 😉

Abbi Glines, Family, New Adult, Romance

Never Too Far (Too Far #2) – Abbi Glines

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Z. Elizabeth

Synopsis

He had held a secret that destroyed her world.

Everything she had known was no longer true.

Blaire couldn’t stop loving him but she knew she could never forgive him.
Now, she was back home and learning to live again. Moving on with life… until something happened to send her world spinning once again.
What do you do when the one person you can never trust again is the one that you need to trust so desperately?

You lie, hide, avoid, and pray that your sins never find you out.

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My Review

If you have yet to read Fallen Too Far, check out my review of it here, before you read Never Too Far.

Never Too Far starts off from where Fallen Too Far ends.

Its three weeks later and Blaire is in Sumit, living with Cain’s grandmother. She knows she can’t stay there forever; she’s just biding her time to leave and uproot somewhere else. Where, she doesn’t yet know but its not only her she has to think about now.

Rush is still in Rosemary. He’s a complete wreck and he’s missing Blaire more than he’s ever missed anyone before. He’s become a recluse, staying in and not hosting parties anymore. All he thinks about is Blaire and how he can get her to forgive him. He needs her like he needs air to breath. He just can’t live without her but he understands how hurt she is.

When Blaire moves back to Rosemary, Rush takes it as his chance to try and win her back. He’ll do whatever he can to make her stay in Rosemary and be with him again; to forgive him for everything that has happened in the past few weeks. Can Blaire truly forgive Rush, like he so desperately needs her to do?

With Rush heartbroken over Blaire, he feels that he will never see her again. Feels that she will never love him again and never forgive him. He loves her too much to let that happen.

So when Bethy brings Blaire back to Rosemary, Blaire insists it’s only for a few months, to save up some money and then move on to another city. Somewhere where she can leave Rosemary and all the memories behind. But now that Rush knows Blaire is back, he’s going to do whatever he can to win her back.

Blaire is determined not to let Rush back in. Not to let him hurt her all over again when he decides to leave her. There has been too much between them for her to trust him again, but it’s not that easy for Rush. He’s determined to prove that he’d do anything for Blaire, anything to get her back and anything to be near her. Even shutting out his family for her. Shutting out Nan.

Blaire is torn between wanting Rush and needing to stay away from him, but she still loves him and doesn’t know what to do. Does she want him back? Can she trust him again? And add in the hormones and she’s screwed. Literally screwed. Rush is crumbling her wall bit by bit, pulling himself back into her life and she just can’t let him go. Not again.

But then add in a whole lot of drama in their lives. Misunderstandings – mainly on Blaire’s part as Rush seems to be the one who cocks up all the time, and you have Never Too Far.

These misunderstandings could have easily been sorted out if they both talked to one another when they happened instead of being angry before listening to what actually happened. I suppose with so much history between them, it’s hard to fully forget what has happened and to fully trust again. I think this is why Blaire kept jumping to conclusion about Rush. They were all straightened out in the end, and they do get a HEA. They are perfect for one another.

You find out the truth about Blaire’s father, Rush’s mother and the whole story about the betrayal that broke up Blaire and Rush. By Gosh, I was not expecting that all at. I was hooked on how and what was going to happen after that. That truth has well and truly rocked the boat.

Although my love for Rush reached top level, there were some points in the book where I just got so annoyed at him. He kept messing up time and time again. Not on purpose, but it’s who he is. But the one part I got so angry at was at 80% when he screamed at Blaire. Sorry, I know what happened was truly horrible, but she was only trying to be supportive and if I was her, I would have moved back in with Bethy and told him to get lost. Because she didn’t deserve to be spoken to like that and left alone at night.

And then not to speak to her for 7 days, get Grant to tell you how she is and find out that Woods is helping her out. Sorry mate, you should have called her. She’s your girlfriend.

He always redeems himself, but I don’t know why Blaire stayed. I certainly wouldn’t have.

Still hate Nan. What an evil character. She’s a cold, hearted bitch. When that whole thing (At 80%) happened, I literally couldn’t have given a bigger shit about it. I had no feelings about her at all. Maybe I’m the cold hearted bitch, but I really didn’t care about her at all. I also hated that she wanted to know if she would be in the baby’s life. Why should she be allowed when she had been the ultimate bitch throughout her life and to Blaire? I would have told her to Fuxk off.

But Blaire is too nice. She’s too good. She puts people before herself. She cares so much and even though Nan was the problem, she still wanted to know how she was. It proves how great a character Blaire truly is.

Grant. I loved him in Fallen Too Far. But in Never Too Far, hm, I’m not sure now. Yes, he gave some good advice and was there for Rush no matter what but he seems kind of sneaky now. That he’s hiding something from Rush. I can’t wait to find out in his book what that something is. I do have my suspicions over what it could be. I’ll just have to wait and see if they are true.

Now Woods. Oh how I loved him! He’s brilliant. Such a kind, understanding and pleasant friend to Blaire throughout everything that is happening in her life. His book is going to be amazing! I can’t wait to find out more about him and his life beyond the club. Such a great friend and I hope his book makes me fall in love with him a little bit more. He deserves all the love that comes his way.

Bethy. I loved her character. In Fallen Too Far, Blaire guided her and took her under her wings and you can see how grown up she is now. How much stronger she is and how she takes no bullshit from anyone. She can stand her ground even against Rush. I loved her protectiveness with Blaire, taking care of her and making sure she was okay throughout the book. You could really see how great a friend Blaire had in Bethy and I know that she will be there for her no matter what. They are definitely BFF’s.

There was a lot of sex in this book. Got to love the sexy times. And it was even steamier than in Fallen Too Far. Of course, it was down to hormones but hells yes, give me a Rush fix any time of the day. He’d never leave my bed if that’s how he performs during sex.

I did enjoy the alternating POVS. Loved how we got to see Rush’s pov throughout the book. How miserable is was, how much he needed Blaire back, his feelings and emotions pouring through the book but also how much of an utter idiot he was at times. But he redeemed himself and I knew that no matter what, he would always be there for Blaire. Even when it seemed other things were more important, they all added up to spending the rest of his life with Blaire.

I have to say, the ending was a bit abrupt. I felt there could have been so much more to the story and I did get a bit frustrated when it said “The End”. BUT good news, Abbi Glines WILL be writing a third instalment of Rush and Blaire’s story, albeit it won’t be out until late summer, she said, but we will get to see beyond how it ended. Thank the lord! I need more Rush in my life!

There is going to sound so random, but after I finished the book, I led in bed thinking about their family dynamic. Like Nan and Rush are half-siblings. Nan and Blaire are half sibling (;)). Nan, Rush and Grant are step-siblings. Rush (maybe Grant, kind of) and Blaire are step-siblings. Holy Moly. Their family is super confusing and there are a lot of questions that I have that I still want answered. Hopefully with Grants book and the third book, Abbi will cover them so I’m not going to worry about them right now.

Never Too Far is about a journey. A journey into trust, love, friendship and family. It’s about standing up for yourself and doing what you think is best for you. It’s about forgiving too. I did really enjoy reading Never Too Far and going through Rush and Blaire’s journey together once again. I couldn’t put the book down at all.

I recommend this book to everyone who wants a Rush crush!!