Blog Tour: My Life In Shambles: Karina Halle
My Life in Shambles
Karina Halle
Karina Halle
Add to Goodreads
Buy Amazon US | Amazon Worldwide (KU)
Release Date April 11, 2019
When Valerie Stephens made the resolution to say yes to new adventures, she never thought she’d end up in the tiny town of Shambles, fake engaged to one of Ireland’s top rugby players. But there’s a first time for everything.
They say bad things happen in threes.
After my boyfriend broke off our engagement, I lost my apartment, and was laid off from my job, I can definitely attest to that.
They also say life is what happens when you say yes to new adventures.
So when my two sisters invited me to ring in the new year in Ireland, I decided to throw all caution to the wind and go for it. I was going to let “saying yes” be my new resolution.
Little did I know I’d spend New Year’s Eve having a hot and dirty one-night stand with Padraig McCarthy, one hell of a sexy Irishman. I also didn’t know that the brooding and intense sex god was one of Ireland’s top rugby players.
A rugby player with a proposition for me:
Come with him to his tiny hometown of Shambles and pretend to be his fiancé for a few days, just so that his ailing father can have some peace of mind.
It sounded simple enough.
It was anything but.
Not when a town gets up in your business, not when the media hunts you down, not when your past comes back in the picture, not when there are real hearts and feelings at stake.
Not when there are secrets that could break you.
They say life is what happens when you say yes to new adventures.
This is my life in Shambles.
This book brings all the feels. I was so invested in this couple and this story...
This is a story of overcoming fear, finding faith, and trying to live each day to the fullest. But it is a rocky ride. All they both have ever wanted was approval and acceptance, but it has always seemed just out of reach. And they keep getting hit with more and more challenges. Padraig is especially struggling with coming to terms to the changes in his life, even as Valerie is starting to imagine ways to move forward with hers. Valerie seems to be the bright light in his new cloud of darkness, while he is the one person who has ever really made her feel special and beautiful. They are a hot mess together and separately. But now they either have to hold on together during the hard times or go their separate ways. Will their issues push them past the point of no return?
This is a messy, raw, poignant, love story with so many layers. There are hard truths and good messages. These characters are flawed, hurting, scared, and flying by the seat of their pants. They did not see each other coming. They never expected their lives to take surprising turns. I enjoyed getting both of their points of view. The side characters added depth, humor, and drama to the story. I loved the parts in Shambles, Ireland. I totally fell for Padraig and hurt for him so many times. And I admired Valerie's strength and heart. My own heart was engaged from page one, and with all the tension and emotions, I am not sure I took a full breath until the end. It makes you want to believe that sometimes good things can rise from the ashes.
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.
This book brings all the feels. I was so invested in this couple and this story...
Valerie Stephens life has just imploded. While trying to figure out her next steps, he sisters convince her to join them on their sisters trip to Ireland. Valerie is usually more of a cautious, anxious, bookish loner. So taking a spontaneous trip and embarking on new adventures is totally out of her comfort zone.
And so is flirting with a big, broody, sexy, stranger in a foreign bar. Padraig McCarthy is an Irish rugby player dealing with his own issues. Her pain recognizes his and eventually they spend an eye opening night together that leads to another new adventure.
They have smoking hot chemistry, but also seem to connect in a way that they usually cannot. They meet each other at both the worst and best possible time. They are both broken by their pasts and have issues in their lives. They seem to be able to distract each other from their problems and sadness. His spontaneous idea to take her to his home town forges more of a connection, but it also becomes more complicated and messy. They are hiding some secrets. They are skirting a line between fake and real. Their emotions are wound tight and fears are setting in. They find love in the midst of chaos and sadness. But they are also running out of time.
And so is flirting with a big, broody, sexy, stranger in a foreign bar. Padraig McCarthy is an Irish rugby player dealing with his own issues. Her pain recognizes his and eventually they spend an eye opening night together that leads to another new adventure.
They have smoking hot chemistry, but also seem to connect in a way that they usually cannot. They meet each other at both the worst and best possible time. They are both broken by their pasts and have issues in their lives. They seem to be able to distract each other from their problems and sadness. His spontaneous idea to take her to his home town forges more of a connection, but it also becomes more complicated and messy. They are hiding some secrets. They are skirting a line between fake and real. Their emotions are wound tight and fears are setting in. They find love in the midst of chaos and sadness. But they are also running out of time.
This is a story of overcoming fear, finding faith, and trying to live each day to the fullest. But it is a rocky ride. All they both have ever wanted was approval and acceptance, but it has always seemed just out of reach. And they keep getting hit with more and more challenges. Padraig is especially struggling with coming to terms to the changes in his life, even as Valerie is starting to imagine ways to move forward with hers. Valerie seems to be the bright light in his new cloud of darkness, while he is the one person who has ever really made her feel special and beautiful. They are a hot mess together and separately. But now they either have to hold on together during the hard times or go their separate ways. Will their issues push them past the point of no return?
This is a messy, raw, poignant, love story with so many layers. There are hard truths and good messages. These characters are flawed, hurting, scared, and flying by the seat of their pants. They did not see each other coming. They never expected their lives to take surprising turns. I enjoyed getting both of their points of view. The side characters added depth, humor, and drama to the story. I loved the parts in Shambles, Ireland. I totally fell for Padraig and hurt for him so many times. And I admired Valerie's strength and heart. My own heart was engaged from page one, and with all the tension and emotions, I am not sure I took a full breath until the end. It makes you want to believe that sometimes good things can rise from the ashes.
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.
The rest of the evening starts to pass by in a bit of a blur.
The food comes, and suddenly I’ve never been so hungry in my life. I don’t even pull any of that dainty eating nonsense, you know the type you do on a first date with someone, all tiny nibbles and delicate wiping of the mouth with a napkin. No, I fill my damn mouth with food, dumplings and spicy meats and rice. I eat with abandon, like there’s no tomorrow.
The food comes, and suddenly I’ve never been so hungry in my life. I don’t even pull any of that dainty eating nonsense, you know the type you do on a first date with someone, all tiny nibbles and delicate wiping of the mouth with a napkin. No, I fill my damn mouth with food, dumplings and spicy meats and rice. I eat with abandon, like there’s no tomorrow.
Padraig does the same. It’s freeing. It’s funny. I keep making orgasm noises over it all and he keeps laughing, and we eat and eat, even feeding each other won tons at one point with shaky chopstick skills. Honestly, there’s never been anything sexier.
When we’re finally finished, we’re both full, more drunk than before, and a little greasy. I try to pay the bill but he insists (although I don’t even think they charged him for anything), and then as we leave the restaurant he grabs my hand.
I’m not a small-boned girl, but with his hand over mine, I feel like I’ve been reverted back to the hapless woman being led by an alpha caveman and I don’t mind one bit. The fact that his palm is warm in this snowy weather with the skin-to-skin contact sends consistent shivers down my back.
We stroll down the streets and I almost slip a few times, my bad balance combined with the snow making for a dicey situation. But each time Padraig grabs me and keeps me upright, and I have to admit, it’s kind of fun to be constantly falling into him. It’s like having a wall of bricks for support, if that wall of bricks was shaped like a rugby god.
I have no idea where we’re going. All I know is that it’s not even midnight yet.
He takes me to a bar and then a club, both of which are packed to the doors and have crazy long lines, both of which we bypass with ease because he’s Padraig McCarthy.
I’m not one for dancing and Padraig doesn’t strike me as the type either, but there’s something about the deep bass beats in this place, and the free-flowing champagne, courtesy of the club, that has us falling into a rhythm together.
At first we’re dancing apart but it’s not long before the inches between us close. The heat from his body and mine brews, and the electricity is flowing in sparks and jumps, moving to the erotic pulse of the music, mixed with the hope and hedonism of the crowd on this once-a-year night.
His hips bridge the gap, his strong palms running down the sides of my waist, my hips slowly swaying then grinding against him. I feel his erection burning through his jeans, the width and length taking my breath again, making me blush in such a way that I’m glad the lights are dim.
I’m both a young girl, naïve and inexperienced and shy as the very touch and proximity to him hurls me toward a sexual awakening, and at the same time I’m an old soul who has found her equal in another, whose body wants to know this stranger intimately, who isn’t scared at what’s transpiring, but is hungry instead.
Both of these sides are at war inside me, dancing around each other like a caduceus, until I’m dizzy with my feelings for him. This want, this yearning, this need for something new, something exciting and terrifying, it claws through me until I can’t ignore it anymore.
I glance up at Padraig and see only his eyes. Those deep, dark haunting eyes that glimmer with the pulsating lights and yet radiate with something as wanting and wicked as the feelings inside of me.
His hands go to the back of my neck and the small of my back. My chin tips up. The rest of the world fades away and I know when it comes back into focus, everything will be different.
Everything will change.
It takes a moment to change someone.
Sometimes it just takes a kiss.
Karina Halle
Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of The Pact, Love, in English, The Artists Trilogy, Dirty Angels and over 20 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.
Halle is represented by the Root Literary and is both self-published and published by Simon & Schuster and Hachette in North America and in the UK.
0 comments