Blog Tour and Giveaway: No Going Back: Erika Ashby

by Reviews by Tammy and Kim - Monday, July 15, 2013

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Life isn’t always about fairytales and happily ever-after’s according to Seth Jordan. After having his world shattered and heartbroken beyond repair, he had always sworn off the idea of love. He was perfectly content with continuing his life with worthless one night stands and no strings attached sex. That was until one blue-eyed blonde managed to seep into places he thought were cemented shut. Like a jack hammer, Mallory Prentice came into Seth’s life and cracked the hard exterior that surrounded his heart. She’s the one woman he was starting to feel might be worth taking a chance on.

But life doesn't always hand you the easy road. Sometimes you are constantly hit with the bad and have no hope of any good ever showing up.

Will Seth and Mallory realize that ultimately they are the ones who are in control of their life’s outcome? Will they embrace the future and fight for their own happiness, or will they keep lingering in past mistakes and let it keep them apart?

Life is all about forgiveness and second chances. Once you come to that conclusion and just go for it, there is…no going back.

Book 1: Moving Forward: Jesika and Derek's story:
Goodreads/Amazon/B&N/Kim's 4.5 star review
Upcoming books in this series:
Jake's prequel novella In the End and Holden's story Save Me From Me

Seth and Mallory

Book Trailer:

Playlist:

Teaser:

“Hey Seth,” she timidly says before letting out a shaky breath. “Okay, I’m just gonna lay it all on the line, and you can do what you want with it.” Fuck, she came to win me back. “First, me coming here was not my idea, but with that being said, I would have regretted it like a motherfucker if I didn’t try one last time because I think you’re worth the effort. I want you Seth. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted any other man — more than I ever will want any other man. You get me unlike anyone ever has. You know me…the real me. I know what we had was no strings attached, but dammit, I’m attached. I can’t help it Seth, but I fucking love you and knowing you’re about to marry that woman who emotionally fucked you up, kills me. It kills me Seth.”

Once you start working through your own personal demons and start to see a light at the end of the tunnel BAM! Something from your past resurfaces causing all the progress you had to just POOF evaporate as if it was nothing and you're right back at square one.

We met Mallory and Seth in Moving Forward. Her best friend Jesika and his brother Derek found love in the first book. And Seth and Mallory found lust and feelings that they were not sure they were ready to handle. And just when they thought they were ready to try, his ex Allison showed up and ruined everything. This story begins shortly after Mallory's heart was shattered by Seth and Allison at Jesika and Derek's wedding. A pregnant Mallory has no choice to but to try to move on and Seth is not even aware he is going to be a father. Seth is closed mouthed about what is really going on in his life with his ex and everyone is worried about him. So at the urging of her friends, she makes one last ditch effort to stop Seth from making a big mistake. But that meeting had consequences that no one could predict.

"It's obviously not written in the stars for us. Stupid Fucking destiny bullshit."

Mallory is a true spitfire. She has a mouth on her and is not afraid to say what she thinks most of the time(except if she is hiding her feeling or trying to protect someone). She has insecurity issues that affect her life choices. In the past she has hidden behind her sexy persona and not let feelings get involved. Until Seth ruined her. She is also still trying to find out who she is and what she wants to do with her future.

Hurricane Mallory is in the building and she has wrecked my life in the best possible way ever. She made her way in under the radar, as if she was an undetectable force of nature and then she restore my life back into order.

Seth is a bad boy with a good heart, but broken by his past and scared shitless to love and trust someone again. When he cannot handle emotions, he tends to push them away or run. And just when he seems to get it together, it seems like his past or life slaps him back into reality. But sometimes you cannot hide from what is truly meant to be and from the person who makes you want to quit running.

"There's no going back in time and fixing all the mistakes I made. "

These two drove me crazy! Talk about communication issues, secrets, and misguided attempts at protection. Sometimes I am not sure if they even knew if they were protecting themselves or the other one. I wanted to shove them in a room together so many different times and force them to talk. I loved seeing more of Derek and Jesika as they are a great couple and supportive friends. Although I wanted to smack them upside the head a few times as well for not intervening more when Seth and Mallory were incommunicado.

And if there were not enough issues with Seth's ex and him being on the road with hordes of groupies, sexy hottie Nick that Mallory dated a bit in the first book is back and circling around her. He is sweet, protective, loving, and the perfect loyal guy. And he wants Mallory. Nick was a big sweetheart and I would have been a bigger fan of his if I did not already adore Seth.

It is back and forth and up and down...seriously these two are quite a mixed up pair. So you have a rock star, hordes of fans, crazy ex, one confused and heart broken woman, a devoted man and a whole mess of mixed up feelings. There were twists and turns that I did not expect. This story did not happen in a matter of weeks...it happened over time and distance which made it more believable. Their journey was frustrating, maddening, heartfelt, sad, swoon worthy, happy, passionate, and beautiful, but you never knew when something might change and ruin it all over again. So it kept you anxious and flipping pages like crazy.

Sometimes it takes losing it all to find out what is really important. Sometimes I think life wants to see your fight for what you love. Finding love when you aren't look for it is easy. but holding when everything around you is trying to pull it away is hard.

Will Seth and Mallory find a way to communicate and finally get on the same page at the same time? Or will Mallory choose the safe alternative? Either way, once decided...there is no going back.

And the ending...hhhmmm...It is good and it is also intriguing. A totally interesting lead into Jake's novella In The End. The mysteries of Jesika's ex-husband keep coming up so it will be interesting to finally get his prequel novella to explain what all came before.

Erika Ashby's style is fast moving and no-nonsense. The characters are complicated, ballsy, and a bit quirky. The things that come out of their mouths can make you laugh or blush alternately. But underneath the humor are emotions and sweet feelings of love, happiness, and a sense of family.

Thanks to Erika Ashby for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Erika Ashby Facebook/Goodreads/Twitter/Amazon

Being born an "Army Brat", Erika Ashby has been residing in Oklahoma the last 10 years finally putting an end to the nomad tendencies she had grown accustomed to. She's a happily married woman who has 5 kids between her and her husband. She has an insane passion for music and embraces her Inner Groupie any chance she has. It wasn't until the age of 29 that she realized she also had a hidden passion for reading; before then she claimed to have hated it. Six months after unlocking that deep desire she never knew she held, she turned the key to another chapter of her life which has become the desire to write. And the rest is still history in the making.

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