Anna lives every day the best she can while struggling against the demons that threaten to consume her and drag her back into the darkness of her troubled past. The last thing she needs right now is a guy, especially one as sweet and sexy as Jed. 

When the attraction becomes too strong to resist, she gives into it. Even when she knows it’ll only end in disaster and leave her more her scared and broken than she was before.

Jed wants to find the right woman and he’s drawn to Anna by carnal magnetism, but she also brings out an alpha side of him that he’s never known. When his alpha rears its head, it triggers memories in Anna and her carefully crafted wall of protection begins to show cracks.

When fate and misunderstandings threaten their already delicate relationship, can they survive? When Anna’s demons threaten to be unearthed and Jed’s inner alpha only seem to make them worse, can they overcome?

Is it even worth it?

Alternate POV: Shannon

“Happy Birthday!” I say, pulling my super-wicked-awesome bestie into a hug. 

“It was three days ago,” she wheezes. Duh, like I don’t know that. 

I pass Anna off to my hubs and our friends Aaron and Jared for her birthday hugs. 

Then my eyes latch on to the drool-worthy Sex God standing next to her. My eyes round. 

“Who’s that?” I whisper, and he smirks. Oh, whoops, guess it was more of a whisper yell. 

She glances at the hot guy, then back at me. “Oh, um, Shannon, this is Jed. Jed, this is Shannon.” 

I smile and say, “Hi, it’s nice to meet you. This is my husband, Chad.” I point at my hubby “And this is Aaron and Jared.” I point out each of the guys. 

He doesn’t look ready to leave, so I say, “Do you want to come in? It’s cold out here.” 

He grins “Sure,” he says. 

Before I turn to lead the way, Anna shoots me a what-the-fuck-are-you-doing look. 

I ignore it. I need to make sure his personality is as good as his looks. Anna hasn’t mentioned anything about this Italian Stallion, so I know they’re not dating. But based on the way he looks at Anna, he wants to be. If he turns out to be another douchebag, I’m going shove my foot so far up his ass he’ll be drooling shoelaces. 

When we get to the living room, I cringe when Jed says, “You’re name is Savanah?” I’m going to ream Chad a new one for having the bakery guy write her full name on the cake. Men are such unthinking poop-shoots sometimes. Although I have no idea why she doesn’t like her name, I don’t push her to tell me because her reaction is always so strong. 

“How does her date not know her full name?” Jared asks. 

Just like I knew she would, Anna blanches and snaps at no one in particular, “You know I hate my full name.” 

I glance at Jed and his eyebrow lifts briefly before he wipes the confusion off his face. 

Then Anna mutters, “And he’s not my date.” 

I glance at Jared who throws Jed a smug look, but I see the relief when his shoulders relax. I never could figure out if Jared had a thing for Anna or not. I’d say yes, except he’s never asked her out. Honestly, as much as I love Jared, I don’t think he and Anna are the best fit. 

“Oh. Then, how do you guys know each other?” Chad asks. 

“My car needs another day to be fixed, so he gave me a ride. He’s Donnie’s nephew.” 

“Do you need a ride home tonight?” Jared offers. 

“No,” Jed bites out. “I’m giving her a ride.” 

Don’t get my floors dirty with your pissing contest, boys. 

Anna’s brow furrows. “You don’t have to stick around and wait for me if you don’t want to. Jared can give me a ride home if you need to go.” 

“I really don’t mind. I kind of wanted to talk to you anyway.” Aww, he’s kinda sweet. But too mushy for a birthday party. 

“All right,” I announce, interrupting their moment, “time to blow out the candles!” 

Anna rolls her eyes. “Guys, I’m not ten. I’m twenty-two.” 

I narrow my eyes at her. Why is she being a Grinch? “Cut the complaining, and just do it. Everyone blows out candles.” 

“Fine, but no singing.” 

“Stop being a bah-humbug. Of course, we’re singing.” I frown at her. 

Anna rubs her face and groans. “Sorry. Bad day.” 

“What happened?” I ask. 

Anna glances over at Jed quickly. Her face reddens slightly, but she looks away. 

“Nothing,” Anna says finally. 

I seriously doubt this sexy and seemingly sweet guy did anything to put her in a bad mood. That can only mean— “Did Sam call—again?” I snap. I’m going to hunt that motherfucker down and gouge his liver out with a rusty screwdriver. 

Anna eyes grow wide and her lips pinch, telling me to shut my trap. 

“What?” I ask. 

“Sweetie, I don’t think she wants to talk about him in front of everyone,” hubby says. 

Oh right, whoops. 

I mouth, Sorry, to Anna. 

“Cake,” Chad says. 

“Right! I’ll go and get the candles,” I say before standing. 

“I’ll help you,” Anna says. 

“I don’t—” I start. 

She cuts her off with another look. 

Girl talk time. 

“Right. I definitely need help.” I can’t wait to get more info on Mr. McHottie.

Nicki DeStasi’s debut novel, Worth It, is a great dark, emotional read. The journey Anna has to travel to find happiness and joy is long, dark, and full of pain. When she meets Jed, she doesn’t think she is good enough for him, or anyone really. She has struggled for the past 6 years to move past all the painful events in her life but still struggles on a daily basis. 

The first 10% of this book was very hard to read. This is where the emotional low points of Anna’s life take place, everything from a neglectful father and depressed mother, to a physically abusive boyfriend and self-harm. With each event that passed in Anna’s life, the sick feeling in my belly grew. Not having experienced those things myself I can’t say it’s an honest representation, but it certainly felt honest as an outsider looking in. I will say that for some people, this first bit may be too much to continue reading, too graphic, too honest, too real. If chapter 4 hadn’t started to look a little bit lighter, like something good might start to come into Anna’s life, I’m not sure I could have kept reading.

There were times when I felt like her healing was happening pretty fast, but then considering she had been living with the pain for 6 years, bottling it up for 2, when she starts opening up and letting someone good in, it was like the floodgates were opened for that pain to work it’s way out.

Jed is kind of an average guy as far as life experiences. Compared to Anna, though, he has had a normal, almost boring life. He has a loving family, no skeletons in his closet. He’s just looking for someone to settle down with, and when he meets Anna he thinks she might just be the one. That conviction causes him to hold on and push Anna to open up, even as she continues to keep things hidden from him. He learns to read her and calls her on her shutters, letting her know that he won’t push too hard, but someday she needs to let him in.

As Anna begins to open up to Jed, they work to help Anna move beyond her past to that happily ever after she dreams of. But the bumps they find along the way had me feeling like I was on a roller coaster. 

After the emotionally crushing beginning, I loved this book. And even as ill as the beginning made me feel, it set up Anna’s background stronger than we as readers would have seen it had it only come in the form of flashbacks. This was not an easy read, but it was fantastic. From the points where it looks like everything is golden to those that shatter the calm, I did not want to put this one down. Because even when it looked like things were all on the way up, and the book was closing, something huge happens. I was in tears, I was shocked, I was ready to hate the end of the book. But you know what? It was totally worth it.

Nicki DeStasi Facebook/Twitter/Goodreads/Pinterest

Nicki DeStasi was raised in a small town in Massachusetts. She attended Fitchburg State College and studied Early Childhood Education. As a child, she enjoyed reading, but only recently began doing it again. She has always had an inventive imagination and finally decided to put those ideas on paper for others to enjoy. Worth It will be Nicki’s first self-published book. A few personal facts: Sloth from The Goonies is her third cousin, she acted and stared in several plays throughout high school and college, and she can play four different instruments. Nicki’s philosophy is to appreciate the good things in life. If we didn’t make mistakes and have bad things happen then we wouldn’t know how truly wonderful the good things are. No matter how difficult life is sometimes, if we look to the people that love us, then we can get through them and on to the good stuff.