By: Kate Laurens
Release Date: March 26, 2013
Description:
A fresh start...
It’s been three years since Serena King learned to say no—no to the boys that were a desperate cry for help, no to the extra weight she put on in self defense, and most of all no to the abuse that has haunted her since she was fifteen. Now a sophomore in college, all she wants is to be normal. The last thing she expects is a guy who can make her want... make her want everything.
A new guy...
Alex Blackthorn is a bundle of contradictions, a sexy dark haired badness who goes slow... deliciously slow. And despite the iron will that has gotten her through the last few years, Serena finds herself unable to ignore the heat that sizzles between them whenever they’re together.
A dark past...
Serena never thought she could be involved in a relationship, but Alex makes her long for things she thought were out of her reach forever. When he finds out her secret... when he finds out what she did to keep herself sane... will he still want her, or he will treat her just like everyone else?
And Alex has a secret of his own.
Recommended for mature readers aged 17+ due to language and sexual content.
Review:
First I have to say the author did such a great job explaining how the main characters were feeling that when their heart was pounding so was mine. I was addicted the minute I started reading. I was intrigued by the main character and wanted to immediately know more about her and what had happened to her. Everyone has skeletons in their past, some darker than others and most are too afraid to trust anyone with their secrets. That's one of the biggest points in this book; you have to learn to trust a person that is my lesson learned.
We meet Serena, who is a very guarded person and doesn't even want to let loose in college and have fun like her roommate Kaylee, but she has her reasons. There are hints throughout the book to make you wonder what really happened to her in the past but it doesn't escalate until her relationship with Alex gets more intense. Alex is a fellow student in one of her classes the she happens to notice and he in turn notices her. (Their initial meeting is part of the excerpt). He has his own share of problems and like many people in the world he too carries a lot of baggage. Alex begins to per sue Serena and there is something about them that matches so perfectly, as if they fit like a glove.
Please be aware this is a New Adult book and some content may be too detailed for those underage. The scenes with the two of them seem very intense and at the same time rushed as they have just met but they have this unbelievable attraction and connection with one another that it actually works between them and the author did a great job showing this connection.
The plot of this book was great and the location of where this book takes place is perfect. I miss college so much sometimes. College is a time when everyone is truly finding themselves and will go through experiences they never had before, this is the time when they start to grow up and gain that responsibility they will use in the future. Sure the main characters had to grow up a little sooner but even still they have some more growing up to do.
I will say this though the cover I don’t think was believable enough for me, I didn’t picture the two main characters looking like that at all. Don’t get me wrong it’s a really great cover but I just don’t see Alex and Serena there completely. The guy should have looked a little older since he is a senior and she is a sophomore. The tattoos on the guy is great though, that always brings a little of the bad boy element. I don’t want to give too much of the book away because really you should experience it on your own I just want to give you a feel for it, but it’s a quick and good read. The lesson learned is about trusting people, throw in some really great steamy scenes and a few punches and you’ve got yourself a good book.
The rest of the series looks promising as well so make sure you keep an eye out for those books as well.
EXCERPT:
He wasn’t supposed to notice me.
But as the two of us hovered awkwardly in the hallway, outside of the closed door to our American Lit class, he looked me right in the eye. His left hand rumpled the raven dark spikes of hair on his head as he grinned at me sheepishly.
He caught me at a rare moment in which I was off guard and slowly, tentatively, I smiled back.
“Tardiness will not be tolerated.” His mimicry of the professor, and the words the man with elbow patches on his sweater had spoken the first day of class, startled a laugh from me. He seemed to like that, and as he shifted weight from one foot to the other I studied him, daring to look more closely than I ever had before.
I’d noticed him. How could I not have? But I’d always forced myself to look away. Boys like him weren’t for girls like me.
He was tall, nearly a full foot taller than me. Eyes the color of the sky at night peered out from beneath a long, thick fringe of black eyelashes, lashes that any girl would kill for and that he, being a boy, likely didn’t appreciate.
His face was a study in sharp angles and planes, his lips full and soft in contrast. Black ink, indelibly etched into his skin, peeked out the neck of his black T-shirt, and I could see it on his biceps, too, when he moved.
The tattoos were at odds with the clean cut image he otherwise emanated. He was too damn good looking, the kind of guy that, in high school, had been happy to spend time with me in dark closets, under the bleachers, or in the backseat of a car, but who would scorn me in public, ashamed to associate with that girl.
Except he didn’t seem ashamed, even though I was dressed in my usual uniform of faded blue jeans, a plaid flannel shirt open over a tank top. My long blonde hair was in a tight braid, with pieces left down deliberately, so I could hide behind them if I needed to.
I frequently did. I would shake the ribbons of flaxen hair over my eyes, eyes that were blue but were so pale in comparison to his that they scarcely seemed the same color.
Those eyes widened when he grinned casually, hiking his backpack up further on his back.
“Well, no way he’ll let us in now.” This professor liked to verbally humiliate anyone who tried to sneak in once the door had been closed, and he had a sharp, acerbic tongue that I was in no rush to receive a lashing with.
“Right.” I tried to smile, tried to act like a normal girl, but found myself shaking those long strands of hair over my face instead. I dropped my gaze away from the boy in front of me, all the way down to the tips of my black sneakers.
It felt... almost... like he was flirting with me.
I knew better.
About the Author
Make sure to check out the rest of the Safe Haven trilogy...
Kaylee’s story, Love Me If You Dare, will be available summer 2013
and Maddy’s story, Say You Love Me, comes out in fall 2013!
Kate Laurens is a proud Canadian who loves beer, coffee, kickboxing and books. She loves to hear from her readers. She writes New Adult romance and falls a little bit in love with each hero that she writes.
@KateLaurens
www.KateLaurens.com
Disclaimer
I received this book from RABT Tours and the author, Kate Laurens, so that I may give my honest opinion and a review. Whether it is good or not please do not let it discourage you from purchasing/reading the book yourself and forming your own opinion. What might be good for me may not be good for you and vice versa. With that said, Happy Reading Everyone!!!
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