Blog Tour and Giveaway: Bo & Ember: Andrea Randall
Bo and Ember
Book #4 in The November Blue Series
Join the Farewell Tour
And they lived happily ever after …
That’s where the typical romance ends. For Bo and Ember Cavanaugh, however, the “I do’s” are just the beginning.
On the heels of a wildly successful tour with The Six, Bo and Ember are offered the musical opportunity of a lifetime. A cross-country move back to the Cavanaugh estate holds promises, old friends, and feelings they thought were long since buried.
In the middle of the whirlwind that is their professional life, Bo and Ember try to establish a solid and loving home. Life, though, doesn’t stay in the promises of “happily ever after.”
In the final installment of the November Blue series, excitement, temptation, loss, and the struggle over what love means forces the couple to strip it all away and focus on what it means to be soul mates, what it means to be married, and what it means to be …
Bo & Ember.
Bo Cavanaugh.
6’2”, broad-shouldered, thick black hair that was long enough to run your hands through—but short enough for the board room—and a charming smile that led you all the way up to his 20,000 leagues-blue eyes. Guitar. Voice. All of it.
He was absolutely everything all of the female—and some of the male—fans of The Six had grown to love over the last two years. Indie rock star. That last bit had him smiling humbly, and me beaming with pride.
The Six hadn’t planned on having a “front man.” As our first summer tour neared its end, however, it became clear that Bo was what the fans wanted the most. He seemed to be able to capture the essence my parents and their friends had worked for decades to create, while bringing in a new batch of fans that melted at his smile and admired the risks he took with the guitar.
“They love you just as much,” Regan whispered into my ear as I spied on Bo doing his sound check for the night’s show.
“Get out of my head already!” I hissed back playfully.
Regan muffled a laugh as he dodged the weak smack I threw his way. “I’m serious. It’s like Johnny and June, co-op style.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.” I leaned my head on Regan as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
No matter how many times I’d seen it, watching Bo alone with his guitar still took my breath away. Each time I happened upon that private moment, it was the same as that May night two years ago when I first saw him play. When everything stopped in the most cliché way possible, and all I could see, hear, and feel was him.
Regan kept his voice quiet as he spoke. “You have no idea. No. You must. They go just as crazy when you join him on stage as they do when he walks out there by himself. It’s not just because he’s Hottie McGuitar. You two are blindingly in love and people are, like, watching music porn when you’re on stage together.”
“Lovely,” I mused sarcastically.
“It’s true. Not only have you kicked the shit out of your guitar skills, your vocals are above anyone I’ve heard in a long time. Including anyone in this band.” Regan moved so he was holding both of my shoulders.
I smiled as his messy hazel eyes twinkled with sincerity. “Jesus, Regan. Did you ever think we’d end up here?”
Regan dropped his hands, shaking his head as he took in the wide green space in front of the stage. “Not in a million.”
Here wasn’t just the grape-scented air of Napa. It was here. Touring together. Me, Bo, Regan, and The Six. Here was spending the last year after our first successful summer tour doing tour weekends across the Pacific Northwest and the warm and dry South West. Here was having not been back to the East Coast except for once in two whole years. Here was me as Mrs. Cavanaugh. Bo’s wife. November Cavanaugh.
This book begins a year after the novella Marrying Ember. Bo and Ember are in a happy place finally. Married. Some family issues have been resolved. Touring with Regan and The Six. Having musical opportunities. Their lives change course again when given a new offer. It means new challenges, growth, and stress. Bo and Ember are navigating their new world. Married life, career changes, making a home, reconnecting with old friends, and building their future. But there are challenges, sadness, anger, and guilt along the way. Each has to find their own inner strength and learn to deal with issues together in order to cope. But some things will test their trust, openness, and commitment and bring their personal demons back into their head space.
Their faith in themselves, God, and each other is tested. It was raw and powerful, but mostly it was real. It was not trumped up drama. It was relevant and believable. This what real marriage and commitment is about. And this is the pinnacle of the journey for them as a couple as they face...for better or worse.
We have grown so much with Bo and Ember (and Regan and Georgia) through this series. We have seen the highs, lows, separations, and everything in between. This couple has fought hard to face their pasts and feelings, come together, and stay together. I have smiled, laughed, swooned, sighed, teared up, been frustrated and angry, and shared their joys. This book was no exception and brought their story to their future that they worked so hard to build. But the journey was not without issues and trials.
I have loved Bo from the beginning. He was so magnetic, sweet, sexy and loving. He was damaged and broken by his past and losses, but could also still be there to support and love Ember. But he still has to work at times to keep his darker feelings buried.
Ember has grown on me during the series. There were times in the beginning that she really drove me nuts. But she has had to face her own issues and people from her past and move forward. She did not always make the best choices and was often a "runner". But she has matured and grown so much. She knows what she wants and needs now.
As a couple they have had many issues, but this is their time to dig in and show each other that they really are soul mates and have to deal with their lives together as one. But it all comes down to faith, trust, and understanding.
We got to spend more time with Regan, Georgia, and Willow, Monica and Josh, and newer characters introduced in Marrying Ember and this book. All of them provided support and a framework for Bo and Ember to grow and accept change. There were parts of the story that made me happy and others that broke my heart and brought tears to my eyes. But was totally invested in Bo and Ember getting back to their happy place and being able to stay there for the long haul.
Thanks to Andrea Randall for providing me with a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
Bo and Ember continue their journey with new adventures in this book. They’ve been through many emotional ups and downs in the two years since they met and Bo & Ember gives readers one more look at the challenges that real life can throw at even the most perfect couples.
I love the chemistry between Bo and Ember, from their music to their relationship. These two really are one of those perfect couples, as evidenced by the comments and reactions of those closest to them. Georgia often teases them for their saccharin behavior, but it is such a part of them that it only serves to strengthen their bond. When they forget to connect with each other and rely on the other for strength, their bonds are tested further than ever before.
The big emotional challenge Bo and Ember face left me in an emotional mess alongside them. Not because it happened, but watching each struggle with their emotions and how to move past it was the most difficult part of the book for me. I fully admit to spending a good part of the book with tears streaming down my face. But it was also amazing to watch them figure out where they went wrong and try to bridge that gap.
Outside of their relationship, their music plays the biggest role in the story. I was surprised at the direction their career took, after having spent the previous year touring with The Six and Regan. It was fun to watch the business aspects and logistics that were sorted out (with a little tension from a previous significant other thrown in for good measure).
Of course, it wouldn’t be a great book without the warm supporting cast that has developed over the course of this series. We get to know Willow better, and her support when Ember needed her was a warm point amidst the cold that was going o at the time. Regan and Georgia are back, and they offer both friendship and comic moments as needed. With the addition of a few new characters, both in the form of old friends and new contacts, Andrea has pulled together a rich world full of intriguing characters.
As the end of a series, this was a perfect cap. It has everything we have come to expect from Bo and Ember, and the hope that despite everything they’ve gone through, they will continue to grow stronger no matter what life throws at them.
Thanks to Andrea Randall for providing me with a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
See Kim's 4.5 star review
An encounter with a musician at a local pub forces Ember into making a decision to let go or hold on for dear life as passions are unlocked and deceptions revealed.
Scars from her first love and the reckless lifestyle of her parents force Ember Harris to chart a new course. She favors practicality over spontaneity and rules over a broken heart.
November Harris is lost. After a failed romance with musician Bo Cavanaugh, Ember is left struggling to regain her true self. The problem is, Bo won’t go away and Ember's stance is firm—she doesn't want him back.
Adrian Turner, Ember's ex-boyfriend-turned confidant, is patient with her heartbreak, but he can't hold back his own feelings forever.
As she sorts through her past, in an effort to plan a solid future, Ember will find that sometimes even the best laid plans bow to the soul's desire for reckless abandon.
Sweet Forty-Two (November Blue #3)
Sweet Forty-Two (November Blue #3)
Kim and Rachel's 4 star reviews
Regan Kane arrived in San Diego with nothing but a violin, his car and what feels like a lifetime of grief. Although he’s surrounded by friends and music, one delivery from the post office reminds him that the past is always just around the corner. When he befriends a local bartender, Regan wonders if he's finally ready to let go.
Georgia Hall has spent most of her life in the shadows of her mother’s mental illness. Pushing away those around her ensures they won’t get hurt when she succumbs to the same fate.
All of that unravels when she meets Regan. As her life spins out of control and the line between reality and fairytale blurs, she has to make a choice to trust or fall.
Regan and Georgia are searching for healing among the wreckage. Will doing so together make moving on all the more sweet?
Or will the secrets and darkness of the past drive them apart?
Marrying Ember (November Blue #3.5)
Add to Goodreads Buy Amazon
Add to Goodreads Buy Amazon
It started like it always does. For musicians, anyway. The moment Bo Cavanaugh heard November Harris sing, it all clicked into place.
That was a year and a half ago. Between then and now there's been unthinkable tragedy, ruthless heartache, and lifetimes of passion.
It was never a question in Bo's mind that he would marry Ember someday. The question he faces, though, is can he do it before the weight of a family's history pulls Ember away from him forever?
In this novella in the November Blue series, follow Bo as he sets out on the only quest he was ever meant to accept: Marrying Ember.
Andrea RandallFacebook | Website | Twitter
Andrea is a 2005 graduate of Cornell University and does not currently use her degree in Development Sociology. She does, however, use her people skills and love for writing every day. She and her partner, Charles Sheehan-Miles, live and write together in Massachusetts.
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