Blog Tour: Eastern Lights: Brittainy C. Cherry
Brittainy Cherry
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Release Date February 17, 2021
I once met a man on a cold Halloween night. He dressed as a superhero, and I dressed in red. For one night, I was his break from reality, and he was the temporary fix for my broken heart.
Two years later, I was given the opportunity of a lifetime to become a senior editor at one of the biggest magazine companies in the world. The only catch? Nail an exclusive interview with New York’s finest bachelor: Connor Roe.
To the rest of the world he was becoming one of the wealthiest men in New York City. To me, he was simply my once upon a time superhero.
My job was to get an exclusive interview with New York’s hottest bachelor. Never in my life did I expect him to want an exclusive with my heart, too.
The only problem with my growing feelings for him? I was set to marry his new business partner.
Connor. Roe. Holy. F&*^. *fans self*
I went into Eastern Lights giddy as all hell. I've been dying for Connor's book since I met him in Southern Storms. This man grabbed me from the moment he entered the scene. There was just so much to love: from his big heart to his cheesy jokes, to his positive vibe and everything in between. He's the PERFECT hero. The perfect book boyfriend. Sometimes, he did seem too perfect to be true but then there came a point in this story that he finally let go and we saw beneath his easy going persona. I'll admit I needed to see Connor lose his control. I needed that flaw in his character. It made Connor Roe feel more real.
Connor Ethan Roe stole the whole damn show. Get ready to swoon, ladies and gents!
Aaliyah was a sweet heroine. My heart hurt so much for her. Seemed everyone but Connor and Damian shit on Lea. They used her for their gain; which pissed me the hell off. With everything else Lea had going on she didn't need the added stress of a twatwaffle fiancé. Let's just say Jason was Grade A garbage. Anyway, Aaliyah deserved so much better than that. I'm glad Connor was there to give her some good in her life.
Connor and Aaliyah had the cutest relationship. I loved, loved, loved their friendship. They shared such an affectionate, fun, loving connection. There were moments that I didn't always feel the romantic chemistry between them, though. I struggled here and there with viewing them as a couple, seeing them as the end game, until the last 20% or so. When the angst hit I had all the damn feels. And in those moments, they proved to me and themselves why they belonged to each other. Why no one else could ever come close to being their end game. I ship the hell out of them!!
Then we had Damian! Oh lordy...
Thank you, Brittainy Cherry, for writing Connor's story. He was everything I wanted and more. Add to that the great twists, the emotional turmoil, the depth and engaging characters and you've got yourself a delicious slow burn romance.
Aaliyah only went out that Halloween night because her roommate dragged her out, trying to help her get over a heartbreak. She never expected to have a five hour first date that had her fighting real feelings for a guy she had never met. They didn’t exchange names or numbers, promising only that one night as Cap and Red.
Who would have guessed that two years later, Aaliyah would be tasked with getting an interview with the very man who changed her course with just one night. And what were the odds that he would also be her fiance’s business partner?
Connor is incessantly positive. Always looking for the good in a situation, he works hard to keep himself moving forward as well as to provide opportunities for others. I have always loved his goofy, upbeat ways and loved seeing things from his perspective throughout the book. It was so much fun to see him no longer struggling, as he did when we first met him, but even though he is financially stable, he is always looking for ways to help others reach their own goals and make things a little easier for those who struggle. He has the biggest heart though he keeps himself closed off from most people to avoid pain.
Aaliyah just wants to be loved. Her past has her searching to belong and find the sense of family she has always longed for. Her desire to be accepted and loved leaves her increasingly despondent as boyfriends let her down over the years. Her one night with Cap had her recognizing the things she had within herself to be loved for the first time in a very long time. Now she thinks she has found what she’s always longed for with Jason and his family.
These two are a bit of opposite in their outlook on love, but they compliment each other perfectly. They have an instant connection that builds throughout. Their friendship and care for each other is always at their core, in addition to great banter and an easy way about them.
This was such an emotional journey - filled with bad timing, missed connections, and heartbreak, but also with so much hope and happiness. I loved the way their story was woven together. Though there were times I wished they could have avoided certain paths, I couldn’t help but love the journey as a whole.
Several side characters had me wanting to slap them on several occasions, and made me wish Aaliyah could have avoided their influence from the beginning, but others were intriguing and a great counter to the main characters. I can’t wait for Damian’s story to come in Western Waves - he was a very interesting contrast to Connor’s goofiness and I can’t wait to see what happens next for him.
Aaliyah
His playful look shifted a bit as he looked my way and nibbled on his bottom lip. “So there was a recent breakup.”
“He broke up with me about five weeks ago.”
“What an ass.”
“Yeah, but I love him. I wish I could say past tense, but here we are. My roommate Sofia said the best way to get over a man is to get under another one, but I can’t even consider that right now. The last thing I want to do is sleep with someone else.”
“Plus, sex wouldn’t fix a broken heart and—holy shit!” He clapped his hands together and hopped up from the ground to a standing position. The grin on his face was so big, but I didn’t understand what caused his sudden shift. “I got it, Red! I know what we can do to help you.”
I arched an eyebrow and stood. “I’m confused.”
“I know, I know, and you’re going to think I’m crazy—which, maybe I am—but here’s the deal: You can’t bang your way out of a heartbreak. That’s not how love works. Love isn’t a physical connection; it’s an emotional one. Plus, after breakups, people replay the good memories over the bad in their minds and start thinking they somehow failed, when, in reality, the bad probably always outweighed the good. You simply held the good tight in your grip because it was few and far between in the end. Otherwise, the good would’ve been enough to keep you together.”
I hated that he was speaking facts. Over the past weeks, all I’d done was replay all the good times Mario and I had together. My mind was stuck on a loop of moments that meant the world to me in my past relationship.
There were only a handful of good memories, yet I simply played them on repeat, making them feel bigger than they already were. Mario was a master at doing the bare minimum, and I celebrated that fact as if he was a god. It wasn’t his fault he gave me mediocre love. It was my fault for accepting it.
“So what’s your point?” I asked.
“Do you believe in destiny?”
I chuckled. “Don’t tell me you do.”
“I think everything happens for a reason, even if the reasoning isn’t clear as day right away. Maybe that’s why we met tonight, Red, because we were meant to. Maybe I had to get socked in the eye and whipped with a lasso because we were supposed to cross paths so I could help you get over your ex.”
“How?”
“The best way to get over a love is to find a stronger connection with another person. So, I present to you, your Halloween love story.” He took a bow as if he was making any sense at all.
I stood still, confused as ever. “Am I missing something?”
“Clearly, because you’re looking at me as if I’m having a mental breakdown—which, I mean, is probably accurate.” He cleared his throat and stood taller as he smoothed his hands over his chest. “I’m asking you to fall in love with me.”
I snickered. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Give me the chance to make you fall in love with me before the sun comes up in the next”—he glanced down at his phone—“five hours or so. It’s just past midnight. Give me those hours to make you fall in love with me. Then we’ll end the love story on a good note. No tragic heartbreak, no hard moments or relationship struggles. No cheating or scandals. Just two people who fell in love, then life or, in our case, morning made them say their goodbyes.”
“You really think two people can fall in love within five hours?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged and held his hand out toward me. “Want to try?”
I should’ve said no. I should’ve laughed off his crazy idea and ended the night right there on the rooftop, but I didn’t want to go home. I didn’t want to be alone. But most of all, I wanted more time with Captain, even if only a few more hours. Even if there wasn’t a real chance of me falling in love with him but just a chance of more time to feel happy.
Happy.
I felt happy.
I hadn’t even known how much I’d missed happiness until it found me that night.
So, I did what any insane girl would’ve done. I took his hand and agreed to the idea of falling in love within the next five hours.
He clasped my fingers with his and pulled me in close to him. It was the closest we’d stood since meeting, and the way he looked down into my eyes caused the butterflies to intensify. He had to be well over six-foot-two as he hovered over my five-foot-eight frame—and that was with heels. The way he looked at me made me feel important, as if he was going to give this crazy plan of his all that he had.
“Knock, knock,” he said, with the goofiest grin known to mankind.
“Who’s there?”
“Will you fall in love with?”
“Will you fall in love with who?”
“Me.”
Even the town’s black sheep needed a friend sometimes
All I wanted to do was run away, I never expected to crash into his arms…
After leaving the city life behind to escape my loveless marriage, I moved to small town Havenbarrow for a fresh start.
What I didn’t expect was to find myself drawn to the town’s black sheep.
They called him troubled. Cold. A man with a dark past.
What everyone seemed to miss about Jax was the splashes of light in his eyes. The random acts of kindness he performed when no one was watching. The way he made me smile and laugh.
Jax helped unpack the baggage I’d been carrying around with me. He was patient with my pain and gentle with my scars. He was the stillness during my hurricane.
Yet when both of our pasts come back to haunt our present days, we realized quickly that sometimes loves stories didn’t end the way we’d hoped.
Sometimes you were left with only the damage from the storm.
Brittainy Cherry
Author Brittainy Cherry is an Amazon #1 bestselling author.
She has been in love with words since the day she took her first breath. She graduated from Carroll University with a Bachelors Degree in Theatre Arts and a minor in Creative Writing.
Her novels have been published in 18+ countries around the world. Brittainy lives in Brookfield, Wisconsin with her fur babies
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