Blog Tour and Giveaway: His Reverie: Monica Murphy

by Reviews by Tammy and Kim - Wednesday, July 30, 2014

HIS REVERIE
Monica Murphy
Young Adult Contemporary Romance novel
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I knew from the moment I first saw her she was the one. The only girl I could ever want.

The only girl I could ever love.

She is light.

I am darkness.

She is innocent.

I’ve done too much.

She is good.

I am bad.

She is my every dream.

I should be her every nightmare.

We come from different worlds. She’s…perfect. And I’m…

Not.

Somehow she wants me anyway. So we’ll grasp at what we can. We’re going to make this summer count. She’s my secret. And I’m hers.

The problem with secrets is they never last for long. And when others discover we’re together, they’ll do whatever it takes to keep us apart.

All I know is: I won’t let them.

Because Reverie Hale? She’s mine.

We’re pretty quiet as we pull into the pier parking lot, not too far from the restaurant. The place is packed. There are a lot of people waiting outside and there’s a line at the take out window. I put the car in park and cut the engine, reaching for the door handle when her voice stops me.

“Can I just…wait here? In your car?”

I let go of the handle. Dread makes my movements slow as I turn toward her, my gaze meeting hers. “You want to go home?”

“No!” She shakes her head, her eyes wide. The skin around them is still pink and puffy. It’s pretty obvious she’s been crying a lot. “That’s the last thing I want to do. It’s just…I look terrible.”

“You don’t look that bad,” I say, wanting to reassure her.

“Please.” She rolls her eyes and I appreciate the show of sass. “My head hurts. And my eyes sting from all the crying, which is so stupid.” She whispers the last word, her frustration clear. “I just…I don’t want people to see me like this. And in this dress.” She tugs at the skirt, her fingers pinching the fabric tight before letting it go.

“What’s wrong with the dress?” The color looks good against her golden skin and blonde hair. Really, good doesn’t even cut it. She looks fucking amazing.

“It’s too short. Too sexy. My mom says—”

“Forget what your mom says,” I say, cutting her off.

Her eyes go even wider. “But…”

“Do you like it?”

She bends her head down, her wavy hair falling across her face and obscuring her from view. I wish I could reach out and tuck all that pretty hair behind her ear but I keep myself in check. She seems too fragile right now and I don’t want to push my luck. “Yes. I bought it when I went shopping for her birthday present. My brother encouraged me but he’s always looking for a way to rebel against our parents.” She lifts her head, panic written all over her face. “Oh no. I never gave my mom her gift.”

“You can give it to her later.” I give in to my urges and reach out, tuck a few strands of silky soft hair behind her ear, my finger tracing the gentle curve before my hand drops away. I don’t dare touch her anywhere else. Once I start I might not be able to stop. “I can go stand in line and order at the pickup window.”

A shuddery breath escapes her. “You’d do that for me?”

“Yeah. Sure. We can eat in the car. Or if you’re feeling more comfortable by the time I’ve got the food, we could eat at one of the tables over there.” I gesture toward the group of picnic tables that are in the back of the tiny restaurant, facing the ocean. A few of them are occupied.

She glances down, presses her lips together, as if she was trying to suppress a smile. “Maybe. We’ll see.”

Her words are like a victory.

And I feel like I just won the grand prize.

Nick and Reverie made for such a sweet story. They are everything that’s good about young love. Nick wants to be worthy of Reverie, and she just wants him.

As the daughter of a televangelist preacher, Reverie is used to having to live a perfect, pure, public life. She follows the rules set forth by her parents even as she questions why her rules are more severe than those around her, including her older brother. To me, she almost seemed to perfect in parts of the story, as if she was to good to be true. But she was always sweet, kind, and thoughtful to everyone around her in a way that made her simply a good person.

Nick has had a rough time of it, especially the previous 12 months. Running from the stigma of false accusations, grieving, and trying to turn his life around, he finds himself drawn to Reverie in a way he has never been drawn to another girl before. He was one of those character trying to do better but having difficulty moving past his situation. He never felt sorry for himself, but often found himself feeling like his past was holding him back.

Their relationship was filled with a lot of sneaking around, hiding, and omissions, but as with young relationships, they face a learning curve and pain along the way.

Without the end of this book, it would have been a so-so read with little conflict beyond the secret relationship. The ending was such a needed bump of excitement and energy to the plot, and serves as a great bridge to Nick and Reverie’s second book coming in August. I didn’t see the end coming, either the twist or the cliff.

This book is listed as YA, and that absolutely fits with the age of the characters and much of the plot. But by the time I reached the end of the book, I was feeling like it leaned closer to NA, simply because the characters were not dealing with normal high school challenges and were having to act more like adults than the minors their ages reflected.

I really liked the voice of Nick as the narrator. Reverie’s voice is only granted in the form of diary entries as reflections of the events in Nick’s narratives. With as innocent and naive as Reverie came off, I fear that too much narration from her would have sounded young and childish rather than Nick’s voice with more life experience behind it.

His Reverie turned out to be a sweet, cute novel with a great twist at the end that renewed my interest in the storyline and what would happen to Nick and Reverie. There are several unanswered plot threads that I am looking forward to seeing the resolutions.

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sometimes I wonder if she's a dream. A figment of my imagination. But then I touch her. Feel her skin against mine. Her lips on mine...And I realize that this dream. Is my reality, My Reverie.

This is not a typical Monica Murphy story. It is mature YA. It is not particularly funny or sexy like some of her other books. It is more of a modern day Romeo and Juliet inspired story of young love, obstacles, and colliding worlds.

It is about two seventeen year olds (one almost eighteen) from vastly different worlds and circumstances. Nick is alone. He has been wronged by those that were supposed to care about him. He lost the one person who did love him unconditionally. He is just trying to move on from his past, find a purpose, and get his life back on some kind of tracks. But he is jaded, feels unworthy, and lost.

I need to remember my place. And it's not with Reverie. Not even close.

Reverie has the opposite situation. Her father is famous and very religious. Her family is wealthy, overprotective, and suffocating. She is pure, sheltered, sweet, and innocent. But longs to beak free and find love and passion like she reads about.

...because I want that. A special love, a boy who will want me and love me above all else, who will do anything for me. Do anything to have me...

Their meeting should not have happened. They never should have gotten any closer. It is forbidden. But the pull is very strong.

It was told in Nick's point of view. I felt his pain, insecurity, feelings of worthlessness, and his pride. But also that he was a good young man who suffered at the hands of others and his life was ruined because of it. I could feel the way Reverie brought light and life back to him although he was also shamed as the dirty little secret. He struggled about what was best for him, for her, and for them. But it was hard to resist.

Her voice was told entirely in diary entries. She sounded much younger than she was and very innocent. Sometimes I had a hard time believing her thoughts were of a seventeen year old, but I would remind myself how sheltered she was and how little social interactions she had with males. But I did see her grow a bit bolder and stronger as the book went on.

"You touch me and I want to die. You don't touch me and I want to die. My feelings for you confused me so much. It...scares me. You scare me in the best way possible." (Rev)

"You scare me too...You walked into my life and turned it completely upside down." (Nick)

Most of the side characters were toxic in some way and added drama. I did like his new friend, Mike that took him under his wing. But the remainder of the characters generally made me mad or turned me off with their behavior.

Their connection was heartfelt and sweet. At times it seemed immature, but it was also dangerous because it was all secret. I liked them together although I could the trouble ahead by their circumstances. It was going along like a fairly typical mature YA romance and I expected there to be family issues causing drama, but then it flipped into something surprising and intense that I did not see coming. And left me wanting more Nick and more Reverie and more of their story. The story will continue in Her Destiny. I would hope that we would see Reverie come more into her own and there definitely be some obstacles to overcome.

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Monica Murphy

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Monica Murphy is a native Californian who lives in the foothills below Yosemite. A wife and mother of three, she writes New Adult and contemporary romance for Bantam and Avon. She is the author of One Week Girlfriend and Second Chance Boyfriend.