Blog Tour and Giveaway Dignity: Jay Crownover

by - Thursday, October 19, 2017

DIGNITY (The Breaking Point #2)
Jay Crownover
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Release Date October 17, 2017


Looks can be deceiving.

I knew that most people took one look at the ink and the impossibly big and strong body it covered and decided I was a brawler…a bruiser…a beast. However, I was hardwired to be a thinker, not a fighter—my mind being my greatest weapon and my biggest weakness.

I should have chosen to use my brain and talents to be one of the good guys, a hero, a man with dignity and worth.

I turned my back on dignity and sold my soul to the highest bidder, deciding to dance with the devil, instead.

I couldn’t figure out how to help myself, so there was zero chance I knew how to save someone else.

That someone else was Noe Lee. She was the unkempt, unruly thief who was just as smart as I was and twice as street savvy. She was annoyingly adorable beneath the dirt and grime and she was in trouble. In way over her head, I told myself it wasn’t my job to keep her from drowning. In the Point, it was sink or swim and I wasn’t the designated lifeguard on duty.

I had shut the door in her face, but now she’s gone…vanished…disappeared without a trace. It took less than a second for me to realize that I wanted her back.

When a woman comes along that melts all the frozen, hard things you’re made of, you’ll do anything you have to, to bring her home.

What you see is not always what you get…and with a man like me there is more than anyone ever bargained for.

Noe Lee gained an enemy in Snowden Stark when she robbed his apartment. But when she ends up in trouble with people after her, she has no one else to turn to for help. 

Stark did not expect to see the tiny, mighty homeless girl again that took all of his tech stuff, and his first reaction was to refuse to take on the situation. But when he had second thoughts, he realized his indecision just put her in more immediate danger. So soon he is invested in trying to get her back safe and sound. 

Stark is a brilliant, analytical tech genius who has his own sense of honor especially when it comes to taking down predators. He is big, tatted, and intimidating, but also a bit socially awkward and hot geek. He is good with computers, but not necessarily people. He has guilt from his past and has kept his emotions buried so he is more machine than man. But something about Noe and his guilt from refusing her brings out more of his emotions.

Noe has had her own painful past. She is a survivor, and is strong, smart, and resourceful. She is a talented techie in her own right so can appreciate Stark's skills. She is good at running and disappearing, but this time she is in way over her head.

I found Stark fascinating as he is one of those broody, quirky guys that I cannot help but love. And Noe is a force to be reckoned with. I love how they challenged the other. The situation they are dealing with is far reaching with many variables. They are surrounded by corrupt people, danger, and threats. Stark has decided to take on the role of Noe's protector and vows to get revenge on the players involved. But he cannot do it alone. 

Both have damaged hearts, fears, and insecurities. But since they can usually find out information on anyone with their hacking and research skills, keeping their own secrets won't last long. And The Point is a place where hope and faith are hard to find.  But sometimes a little  sweetness can be found when least expected. And sometimes broken pieces can be mended together.

They are a catalyst for change with each other. She brings him back to life and unleashes his full potential he has been guarding. While he wants to make her feel safe and accepted. But they are both used to being alone and relying on themselves, so it is not always easy to navigate and to believe in. Their pasts keep bleeding into the present. During the process they both have to deal with their demons and their coping mechanisms are often to withdraw into themselves or focus on the mission. But what they really want is to truly matter to someone and be seen and loved for who they really are...flaws, past, and all. They both need to be reminded of their own self worth and find purpose.

It brings back the tough and complex men of the Point, Nassir, Race, Bax, Booker, Bax, Benny, Chuck, and Titus. And also the strong women Keelyn, Brysen, and Dovie who keep them in check. There is no black and white in the Point, just shades of grey. You have to have villains in order to have heroes, and most of these characters are a bit of both. They all want the Point to be a better place, they just go about it different ways. The Point still may be dark and nefarious, but there is more light and hope moving in all the time.

I cannot wait for Booker and Karsen's book. It has been a long time coming!

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review. 
Snowden Stark regretted the moment he slammed the door in Noe Lee’s face. Now she is missing and he can’t get her out of his mind. She wouldn’t have knocked on his door if she wasn’t in trouble and now she’s missing.

Stark is a hard man to get a bead on. He is used to keeping himself closed off and separate from even the people he considers friends. That’s just the way it is in the Point. It’s also the only thing that has kept him safe from those who are after him. He is a tech genius, though he tries to keep those skills hidden.

Noe is used to living on the streets, relying on no one but herself. Passing herself as a boy to go even more unnoticed, she isn’t used to being a target. She is tough and resourceful, as she has learned to be in order to survive the Point.

Two people who don’t trust make for an interesting read, simply because though they feel an attraction, neither is willing to let down any walls to simply scratch an itch. As it becomes impossible to hold back secrets, the walls crumble around these two. I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching their worlds implode as they spent more time together and those secrets were pushed into the open. These two are used to relying on themselves and letting others in isn’t an easy task. Nor is moving beyond the pasts that have shaped them into who they are now.

The Point is a rough place to live -- that has been established, but it is becoming clearer that each person who lives there has very different reasons for choosing the Point as their home. Because each of these characters has very purposely chosen to live here, whether it was such a simple choice in the beginning or not, it is definitely a choice now. As we get further into this series, it is becoming clearer that the good guys are not all good, and the villains are not all bad. I cannot wait to see what Booker and Karsen have in store in their book, as quite a bit has been teased as Karsen has grown up and headed to college. 

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.
I was dragging ass when I took the stairs up to Booker’s unit. Typically, I could run up the three flights and not even get winded, but I was running on fumes and the last traces of adrenaline. My brain was fuzzy, and my normally sharp thoughts felt scattered and unruly. The past and the present were at war in my mind, and the battle for which one made me feel worse was raging.
I made my way through the quiet loft listening for any sound that would indicate Noe was up and moving around. When I got closer to the bedroom, I heard the shower running and swear words chasing the steam out of the open door. It was going to be painful for a while when the water sluiced over her wounds. The thought had me squeezing my eyes closed and clenching my hands into fists. Just because tough things didn’t break didn’t mean they couldn’t be damaged, dented, and scratched. The fact Noe was currently suffering so much wear and tear because of me scraped across my skin and dug into my belly like sharp knives.
I was turning to walk out of the room so she could finish in peace when the running water went silent and her swearing ramped up a notch. I heard her banging around in the bathroom and then she yelled, “Booker, I need a towel! I’m dripping all over your floor.”
I opened my mouth to tell her Booker was gone and that I would go find her one. I didn’t need her poking through his stuff and running across a submachine gun or a rocket launcher. My brain was ping-ponging between annoyance that she’d called for Booker instead of me and the unrelenting image of her, naked, wet, and dripping onto the tile. I wasn’t a guy prone to fantasy, but damn if I didn’t get all kinds of caught up in the thought of her pretty olive skin glistening with moisture from head to toe. I needed to get away from her. I needed space so I could find a way to wrap armor back around all the soft parts of me she exposed.
I was shaking my head to marshal my thoughts back in order when I heard her swear again. Suddenly, like I conjured her out of a dream, Noe was standing in the pocket doorway of the bathroom wearing nothing more than a scowl of irritation and shimmery, shiny water droplets. Her midnight-colored eyebrows shot up to her hairline, and a bright pink flush stained the top of her chest and crawled up her neck into her face. She didn’t lift her hands to cover herself. She stood as still as I was, not moving at all under my furious and hungry gaze.
I wanted to be polite and look away. I told myself it was rude to stare and that the last thing she needed was some guy she barely knew gawking at her like she was a priceless work of art on a museum wall. I berated myself for this invasion of privacy but none of the lecturing or preaching did any good. The only way I could have torn my eyes off that petite frame, with it’s perfectly perky breasts and slightly rounded hips, was if someone slapped them out of my head. I couldn’t blink. I was scared to breathe. I felt like if I moved at all she would bolt like a startled deer, and I needed another second, another minute, another hour, to memorize every single part of her.
She was small, but all the parts added up to perfection. Seeing her like this, stripped bare with nothing to hide behind, I couldn’t believe I’d ever been stupid enough think she was a boy. Everything about her was delicate, feminine, and soft. The hollow of her neck, the elegant curve of her shoulders, the flare of her hips and the fullness of her ass. Her legs weren’t long, but they were toned and shapely. She was the very definition of good things coming in small packages and all I wanted to do was wrap her up and put her on a shelf that was too high and too hard to reach for anyone but me.
Choking on possession and a surge of lust unlike anything I’d ever felt, I belatedly turned my back on her and muttered thickly, “I used all the towels in there last night when I cleaned you up. I’ll go find where Booker keeps the extras.”
She moved. I felt it. The current that ran between us pulsed and throbbed with something hot. I heard her bare feet on the carpet and it took every ounce of willpower I possessed to keep my feet planted and my back turned. She was naked in a room with a very big bed and I was a man who never had such a visceral reaction to anyone…ever. If I had a switch, Noe Lee was the only person who had ever come along and flipped it. I was the actual definition of turned on when I had been off for most of my life.
HONOR (The Breaking Point #1)
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Our 5 star reviews

Don't be fooled.

Don't make excuses for me.

I am not a good man.

I've seen things no one should, done things no one should talk about. Honor and conscience have no place in my life. But I've fought and I've survived. I've had to.

The first time I saw her dancing on that seedy stage in that second rate club, I felt my heart pulse for the first time. Keelyn Foster was too young, too vibrant for this place, and I knew in an instant that I would make her mine. But first I had to climb my way to the top. I had to have something more to offer her.

I'm here now, money is no object and I have no equal. Except for her. She's disappeared. But don't worry, I will find her and claim her. She will be mine.

Like I said, don't be fooled. I am not the devil in disguise… I'm the one front and center.
The Breaking Point series is a spin-off of the Welcome to the Point Series…


A note from Jay Crownover...

The Welcome to the Point series takes place in a fictitious inner city I just nicknamed “the Point.” The idea being it can be in any city, any rough part of town, and any run-down neighborhood the reader can see or relate to in their mind’s eye. The locale is the ultimate “wrong side of the tracks.” This series is a little darker, a little grittier, and a whole lot more fanciful than my Marked Men series.

The last three Point books are going to have a different look and different titles so they are going to be their own trilogy called the Breaking Point.

BETTER WHEN HE’S BAD

(Welcome to the Point #1)
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Kim and Rachel's 4.5 star reviews and Tammy's 4.5 star review

Better WhenHe's Bad

BETTER WHEN HE’S BOLD
(Welcome to the Point #2)
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Amazon/B&N/ iTunes
Kim and Rachel's 4.5 star reviews and Tammy's 4.5 star review

Better When Hes Bold


BETTER WHEN HE'S BRAVE
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Kim and Rachel's 4.5 star reviews



More coming in the BREAKING POINT series!
Jay Crownover:

Jay Crownover is the international and multiple New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men Series, The Saints of Denver Series, the Point Series, the Breaking Point Series, and the Getaway Series. Her books can be found translated in many different languages all around the world. She is a tattooed, crazy haired Colorado native who lives at the base of the Rockies with her awesome dogs. This is where she can frequently be found enjoying a cold beer and Taco Tuesdays. Jay is a self-declared music snob and outspoken book lover who is always looking for her next adventure, between the pages and on the road.
    

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