Title: Endless Author: Kaylene Winter Series: Less Than Zero #1 Genre: Contemporary Rock Star Romance
She ripped out my heart…
My only dream is to escape my abusive childhood. Leading Less Than Zero to the top of the charts is my ticket out. Until Zoey Pearson gives me a new dream. And passion beyond anything I thought possible. Nothing prepared me for it to end. Abruptly. Definitively. My songs of heartbreak have made LTZ the biggest band in the universe. But nothing I do can make me forget her…
I let him go so he could follow his dreams…
My love of music led me to Ty. He’s a gorgeous, sweet rocker who was made just for me. The man he trusts most asked me to let him go. So I did and I’m having a hard time living with my decision. Now he’s the hottest rock star in the world Because of chart-topping songs that eviscerate me. Ty’s changed, he’s immersed in a life of excess and debauchery. I don’t recognize the man I can’t stop loving…
When fate throws us together eight years later, fireworks are explosive. But our hearts are still fragile.
Will Ty forgive Zoey for shattering his heart? Or will his past bad deeds come back to destroy her?
ENDLESS is a steamy, complicated, angsty, rollercoaster, delicious second chance romance…a coming of age journey spanning nearly a decade.
I burrowed into my delicious rocker’s side, breathing in his manly scent, a mix of leather and grapefruit body wash. I reached up to carefully brush a long, chocolate-brown wave from Tyson’s full lips while he slept deeply. His long, silky hair cascaded over the pillow; his square jaw was covered with the beginnings of a beard because he hadn’t shaved in a few days. It made my sweet rocker look slightly dangerous. Gazing at the three small scars nearly hidden in his thick, dark eyebrows, I still couldn’t fathom how tough his childhood was and how anyone could hurt such a beautiful soul.
My breath hitched. I tried to memorize everything about him, to soak in every detail of my gorgeous man. I knew I was about to hurt him, and it destroyed me. When I traced my finger over a smattering of his rough stubble, he sighed in his sleep and pulled me in even closer. I held him tightly too, resting my head on his lithe but defined chest and gripped his hip, careful not to rouse him. I wished I could gaze into the pools of his deep-blue eyes one more time.
If only I didn’t have to leave him.
I was moving to Bellingham to embark upon my new normal, living with a roommate in a dorm and working toward my college degree in social services. Ty’s band departed for their first tour in a few hours, traveling cross-country in a small van for six months. Letting him sleep was important. It would be grueling enough spending long hours in such cramped quarters without the added weight of heartbreak. The least I could do was let him get some rest now.
So I laid for as long as I could against my love and listened to his heartbeat. My mind was a hamster wheel. Second-guessing. Third-guessing. Then—resolved. I had been asked by possibly the most influential person in his life to do something for Ty. For his future. As much as I didn’t want to, leaving him now was the right thing for me to do. But it didn’t make it any less devastating.
When my tears wet his chest, I knew it was time to go or I’d wake him. My heart seized in agony at the thought of never seeing him again. I wasn’t sure how I’d survive. Yet, I knew that I had to set him completely free, without any ties to me, so he could embrace his shot at fame.
When she was only 15, Kaylene Winter wrote her first rocker romance novel starring a fictionalized version of herself, her friends and their gorgeous rocker boyfriends. After living her own rockstar life as a band manager, music promoter and mover and shaker in Seattle during the early 1990’s, Kaylene became a digital media legal strategist helping bring movies, television and music online. Throughout her busy career, Kaylene lost herself in romance novels across all genres inspiring her to realize her life-long dream to be a published author. She lives in Seattle with her amazing husband and dog. She loves to travel, throw lavish dinner parties and support charitable causes supporting arts and animals.
Eighteen-year-old Brooklyn never knew her father. Rex Blackburn died in the 9/11 attacks four months before she was born.
And even though she never met him, she always dreamed about what he must have been like before he died. In her mind, he was a hero.
Little did she know.
After an attack at a 9/11 memorial gala, Brooklyn learns her father had been a member of an elite, anti-terrorism, military task force, made up of a very select group of people who had superhuman abilities. On the day the towers fell, he died using his power to save people.
The Army believes she inherited his gift, and Brooklyn is invited to train at West Point in order to hone her skills. Knowing deep down she is different than anyone else her age and wanting to learn more about a father she never knew, she readily agrees to become a cadet at the prestigious military academy.
She and five other 9/11 babies strengthen their superhuman abilities and spend weeks preparing themselves for their future in the army, fighting terrorists at home and abroad. And in the process of training, they identify with their deceased parents in a way they never knew they could.
Brooklyn knows she’ll go to war someday, but when terrorists find out about the group’s gifts, they don’t bother to wait.
The first blast came from behind the flag at the front of the room, shattering the silence we’d upheld during the patriotic song. It could have killed us, but it only succeeded in throwing me sideways, making me land sharply on the edge of the buffet table.
Land that I love!
Stand beside her, and guide her…
A hand reached toward me. I clung to it desperately as it tried to pull me out of the chaos, away from the explosions and the deafening spray of gunshots.
Through the night with the light from above.
Three short breaths – two blinks – and we were hit again, this time from the back.
Sticky warmth ran down the back of my neck and between my bare shoulder blades. The tight dress I wore to the memorial gala trapped me as I tried to escape.
From the mountains,
To the prairies…
I gripped the hand that had grabbed mine. The owner of it was ripped backwards, succumbing to the crowd, his fiery red hair sticking out among the mass. With all my strength, I threw him in front of me, and together, we sprinted toward the exit.
To the oceans,
White with foam!
Camouflaged men lining the back of the room aimed past me as we ran. They opened fire on a target I didn’t know.
God bless America!
My home, sweet home!
‘Didn’t know?’
That was a lie. I knew who he was.
He was the monster who killed my dad on the attacks of 9/11, the one who sentenced my mom to a lifetime of grief and pain.
God bless America!
The entire country knows him, and they know him well.
Amanda Deich is an author out of Littleton, CO. In her non-writer life, she is a teacher and coach to hundreds of kids, and she is a mama to two. If you meet her, she’ll talk Jesus and identity like no one’s business.
As an affiliate at retail sites, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. See my disclosure for more details.
Three Reasons You Should Read This Cozy Mystery:
Sprinkles and a Situation by Emmie Lyn sets up the start of a cute cozy mystery series featuring a dog walker, Ellie, and her animal clients.
Sprinkles, a French bulldog that belongs to Minnie, owner of the Red Apple Inn, and helps in his own special way to lead the way and help solve the crime.
There are a lot of really good hints and some really good false hints dropped along the way for you to sift through and try to find the murderer before Ellie and her friends do.
I’m Ellie Hart, and when a dog walking job falls in my lap, it looks like my luck has changed. Changed for the worst, that is, when the first thing I do is stumble upon a body.
And the new detective in town happens to be the most eligible bachelor around. And my new boss’s grandson. I’ve signed on for way more than I’d ever wanted.
With my job on the line, my black Lab at my side, and donuts in hand, my only choice is to follow the clues. But when footprints lead to evidence that doesn’t add up, I kick my natural nosiness into high gear.
My life is a complete mess, but with my new passion for sniffing out clues, I might just solve this dirty whodunit before the wrong person is arrested.
Grab yourself a huge helping of this clever new cozy mystery series. You’ll fall in love with Ellie Hart, her dog, and the cast of characters who keep her on her toes!
There is a lot to love about Ellie and her friends – both human and canine. When one of her canine clients, Sprinkles, “helps” her discover a body, Ellie is dragged into a murder investigation that seems to have them all chasing their tails. There are loads of clues and false trails, and it’s a little tricky to try and separate the two at first. This means you’ll be guessing up until the very end, which I kind of like.
I wish I had more of a chance to get to know Ellie before getting bombarded with side characters. We meet both her sisters right away, and I could never remember which was which. I’m hoping they start to separate themselves in my mind as the series goes on. At first I had assumed that Sprinkles would be Ellie’s dog, but her dog, Marley, gets pushed into the background a bit when it comes to the mystery.
Sprinkles sort of takes center stage, but after reading other books by Emmie Lyn, I had expected to see a lot more action from the canines. Sprinkles is quite an affectionate and protective dog for his owner, but neither animal seemed to really take center stage.
The steps to solve the mystery were a lot of fun, if sometimes complicated, to follow. But the ending just seemed to come out of left field. I had a hard time following the clues to where everything evenutally ended up.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
