Review Tour: Moore Than A Feeling: Julie A. Richman

by - Sunday, July 29, 2018


Moore Than A Feeling
Julie A. Richman
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Release day July 27, 2018


"Holly and Aiden broke up? Seriously? No way. Not those two." 

Dumped. 
No, not only dumped. 
Blindsided and dumped. 

I thought that Aiden McManus was my forever, my soulmate, 
That was until he told me he was still in love with his ex.

I didn't want to believe him. 
So, I convinced myself that our break-up was because of his upcoming deployment, and not because he didn't love me. 
Believing that, helped me get through those first months.

But after a while, I realized I just might be lying to myself. 
And it was time to move on...

So, I moved on. Or tried to move on, anyway. 
But that didn’t work out so well for me, either. 
And it practically got me disowned from my family.

After that, I finally started to get my life back together, 
I had everything back under control… 
…Or so I thought.

Until I found out Aiden was back 

And now he’s everywhere I turn, 
Still pushing me away, 
telling me he doesn’t want me.
But every time he calls me Angel or reaches out to touch my cheek, 
I know what he's not admitting to himself – 
He still loves me.

And I'm going to prove it to him. 

The Moores feel like friends and family to me. I have followed them since Mia and Schooner first fell in love and gobbled up more every time a related book came out. We already saw Holly's brother, Zac, fall in love, and I have waited for her to get her full story.

Holly thought she and Aiden would be together forever...and then he shocked them all by breaking it off with her. This sends Holly into a spiral of devastation, but also of self-discovery.  She is confused, heart-broken, and living day by day. She is undergoing various transitions and trying to cope as well as she can, while she has never really gotten over him. And some of her decisions are not accepted well.

Aiden McManus is struggling...over his own choices, the path his life has taken, and with finding hope for a future. He does not feel like the man he used to be and feels lost and powerless. He is stubborn and trying to be strong when he does not feel like it. And he does not feel like he deserves love or that anyone will want to stay with him for the long haul. 

But Holly is tenacious and  has a big heart. Her feelings for him are stronger than the pain he caused and she just wants to help. But Aiden is stubborn, protective, and good at shutting her out. There is such a push and pull between their heads and their hearts. Both have their own issues to face and healing that needs to happen. But for that to occur they both will have to find the courage and will to fight for what they want and need, to compromise, and to be patient. 

This is a story of truths, healing, forgiveness, hope, and second chances. It is also about the importance of support and family. And oh what a family this is! I loved spending more time with the Moores and their close friends and family. You never know what is going to happen at a gathering. The dynamics in their diverse group fluctuate from witty rapport and fun to tension filled or even volatile depending on who is visiting. But there is also so much support, love, protectiveness, and understanding. I appreciated getting the multiple points of views and getting to see what the various characters were feeling and thinking. With the vivid descriptions, I felt like I was enjoying Fire Island with them and was part of the story.

This is a humorous, frustrating, tension-filled, angsty, heartbreaking, and emotional journey. The author also tackles some difficult subject matter and handles it honestly...there are real, raw emotions, fears, and issues. It is not something that a bandaid can be put on and that is easily fixed. It takes dedication, work, support, and the will to fight. She also layered the story with some surprises and twists that kept it interesting. She definitely gave us more of the Moores and their entourage. Schooner and Mia are still one of my favorite couples of all time. But it is truly Holly's story of her rocky road to love. 

I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Holly thought she and Aiden were a forever match. They may have been opposites, but they understood the other completely and had built a strong relationship together over the years. She is blindsided when he breaks up with her prior to his deployment. She is even further crushed when he starts dating an ex, a woman completely opposite of Holly.

These two have so many struggles during the course of the story that my head spun. They each make choices that they think are for the best, but are not always met with agreement from the people closest to them. Their mistakes, miscommunications, and misadventures made for a story filled with angst and emotion.

I love returning to the Moore family. This is a dynamic group of people with a history that led them through many troubles, but now we get to see a second generation of Moore’s find their partners. There were times in this book that I almost felt like there were too many voices telling the story, but at the same time I relished getting all their perspectives.
 
I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.



“Did you hear back from Holly?”Picking up his phone from the car’s center console and glancing at the screen, Schooner shook his head. He had left her a voice message and a text to let her know what was going on and that he and Mia were on their way back into the city and staying at the loft for the night. 
“No. She must be out or have her phone turned off.  Maybe she’s at the movies with some friends,” he conjectured.
Heartbroken, Holly had decided not to spend the summer at the beach house on Fire Island with the family, knowing that seeing her ex-boyfriend, even for one more day, in the small, beach enclave where they lived and worked, would be far too painful. Instead, she moved back into the city, where she was very fortunate, that late in spring, to be able to pick up a summer gig at NYU, teaching two classes of English as a Second Language.
Aiden McManus, the charismatic and handsome manager of Maguire’s Restaurant on Fire Island had captured Holly’s heart, lock, stock and barrel, several summers before. A Long Island boy from a working-class family, Aiden helped pay for his community college education in Hotel and Hospitality Management through enlisting in the New York Army National Guard.
Holly’s previous love interests had all come from backgrounds similar to her own, well-educated at Ivy League schools with families of means. But Aiden was different, salt of the Earth and willing to get his hands dirty, Holly had never met anyone his age who was already a man. Aiden McManus definitely wasn’t a boy, and that was the sexiest thing Holly Moore had ever encountered.  There was no going back to boys after meeting Aiden McManus.
Prior to meeting, neither Aiden nor Holly would have ever seen themselves with the other, yet together they were a mutual adoration society. Holly enamored with this handsome, street-smart man’s man and Aiden overwhelmed that this beautiful and brilliant California golden girl would even give him a second glance, nonetheless fall in love with him. And when she fell in love with the dark-haired, dark hazel-eyed Irishman, Holly fell hard, with her entire heart, her feelings deeper and more complex than she’d ever known.
Their break-up blindsided and devastated her. Coming just a month before Aiden’s reserve deployment to Afghanistan, his harsh words tattered her heart, literally slamming her to her knees.
“Don’t bother waiting for me, Holly. This is the perfect natural-ending point for us. We’re just too different. So, please don’t kid yourself and wait.” 
“You’re just saying this in case something happens. You’re trying to protect me, Aiden,” countered Holly.
Shaking his head, his eyes never leaving hers as he delivered the killing blow, “I’m sure that makes it easier for you to handle, but the truth of the matter is, I’ve been wanting to end things for a while. We’re really different. And I’m happier with a woman who’s more like me. I’ve been thinking a lot about my old girlfriend, Janine, and I’d like to see if we can work things out.”
Holly wasn’t the only one shocked by Aiden’s scathing declaration. Everyone who knew the couple couldn’t believe not only that they had broken up, but how and why or that Aiden would ever treat Holly with such cruelty. 
“I don’t understand,” she cried to her father and stepmother. “How could I be so blind to miss the signs?” She glanced from Schooner to Mia, her tear-stained eyes positively devastated. But neither had an answer for her, because they were as shocked as she was at the sudden one-hundred-eighty-degree turn in Aiden’s feelings and intentions. It just didn’t add up. There had been no signs.
Want more of the Moores? 
 Holly and Aiden's story can be read as a stand-alone. But if you want more background then read the trilogy that started it all with Holly's dad, Schooner and his lost love,  Mia! 


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THE NEEDING MOORE SERIES~ consists of: SEARCHING FOR MOORE, MOORE TO LOSE & MOORE THAN FOREVER ~PLUS Bonus Chapters and a Sneak Peek at MOORE THAN A FEELING ~ Holly Moore's much-anticipated story! All three Bestselling, Top-Rated Books from The Needing Moore Trilogy by USA Today Bestseller Julie A. Richman, PLUS never before seen BONUS CHAPTERS for each book.

Other companion stories: 

Holly's brother, Zac's story

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 Henry's story

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Julie A. Richman
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USA TODAY Bestselling author Julie A. Richman is a native New Yorker living deep in the heart of Texas, home to great music, BBQ, and awesome Tex-Mex.  An award-winning nature photographer plagued with insatiable wanderlust, Julie spent many years scratching the travel itch while helping non-profit organizations and corporations with their marketing and advertising programs.

Currently, Julie has published Searching for Moore, Moore to Lose, Moore than Forever, Bad Son Rising, Needing Moore:The Complete Series, Henry's End, Slave to Love, The Do-Over and Love on the Edge of Time. She has works included in Pink Shades of Words 2014 & 2015, Tempting Fate Boxed Set, Intense Boxed Set, Intense 2 Boxed Set and the Cocktales Anthology.
  

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