Say You Still Love Me by K.A. Tucker

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Life is a mixed bag for Piper Calloway.

On the one hand, she’s a twenty-nine-year-old VP at her dad’s multibillion-dollar real estate development firm, and living the high single life with her two best friends in a swanky downtown penthouse. On the other hand, she’s considered a pair of sexy legs in a male-dominated world and constantly has to prove her worth. Plus, she’s stuck seeing her narcissistic ex-fiancé—a fellow VP—on the other side of her glass office wall every day.

Things get exponentially more complicated for Piper when she runs into Kyle Miller—the handsome new security guard at Calloway Group Industries, and coincidentally the first love of her life.

The guy she hasn’t seen or heard from since they were summer camp counsellors together. The guy from the wrong side of the tracks. The guy who apparently doesn’t even remember her name.

Piper may be a high-powered businesswoman now, but she soon realizes that her schoolgirl crush is not only alive but stronger than ever, and crippling her concentration. What’s more, despite Kyle’s distant attitude, she’s convinced their reunion isn’t at all coincidental, and that his feelings for her still run deep. And she’s determined to make him admit to them, no matter the consequences. 

Source: advance galley provided in exchange for an honest review


Say You Still Love Me is an irresistible read that's told through Piper's POV - her 16 year-old self and her current adult self. I genuinely like the format for this story because one, it shows any differences between younger Piper and the older version, and two, I like to see not only what the parallels are between the two time lines but how they eventually converge.

Piper is a hardworking and enterprising woman who's being groomed to take over her father's real estate development company once he retires. Her father has high expectations of her and she plans to prove that she can lead the company and its people. She's completely blindsided by Kyle showing up out of he blue after disappearing from her life all those years ago. They had met as counselors at summer camp where their attraction was instant. He was her first love which made it hurt even worse when he cut off all contact with her after that summer was over. Seeing him ushers back a rush of feelings. She still loves him and never stopped loving him, that she is certain of. Despite his cool demeanor toward her she's determined that they will finally resolve their unfinished business because she deserves answers and she'll get them.

I'd say that this was a slow buildup as the answers she's seeking lie in the past which is rehashed in increments. Tucker captures beautifully the wide-eyed and innocent crush that Piper felt for Kyle back then. I could feel her excitement at crushing on the seemingly bad boy and knowing that he's also checking her out. She also explores that tricky age of developing friendships and wanting to fit into a group as evidenced as here when she meets two other young counselors who will eventually become her best friends in the future. It's interesting to see how those bonds started - because it wasn't easy - and evolved into what they have today. In the present, they allude to an incident that occurred during that summer but the reveal doesn't come until almost the end of the novel. It's shocking in both the past and present. 

I liked this second-chance romance that also puts a significant focus on Piper's career and the various hurdles she faces. One of them being a misogynistic long-term employee who seeks to undermine her any chance he gets. We get to see how Piper problem solves and navigates her way through the office politics. The other problem is her ex-fiancé who holds out hope for a reconciliation. He starts off a bit of a douchebag but does become slightly palatable in the pages ahead. Much later ahead. The standoff she faces with the one troubling employee is part of the subplot that brings Piper and Kyle working together. It's not exactly a mystery but there is some sleuthing involved. 

K.A. Tucker is a good storyteller of first loves, heartbreaks and atonement. She's excellent at capturing the initial spark that sets off everything and taking you on that journey from the teenager years through adulthood. Say You Still Love Me is a splendid journey! 

~ Bel

Keep Her Safe Blog Tour

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Making a Murderer meets Scandal in this story of police corruption, family secrets, and illicit affairs from bestselling author K.A. Tucker, celebrated for her “propulsive plot twists and searing seduction” (USA TODAY).

Noah Marshall has known a privileged and comfortable life thanks to his mother, the highly decorated chief of the Austin Police Department. But all that changes the night she reveals a skeleton that's been rattling in her closet for years, and succumbs to the guilt of destroying an innocent family's life. Reeling with grief, Noah is forced to carry the burden of this shocking secret.

Gracie Richards wasn't born in a trailer park, but after fourteen years of learning how to survive in The Hollow, it's all she knows anymore. At least here people don't care that her dad was a corrupt Austin cop, murdered in a drug deal gone wrong. Here, she and her mother are just another family struggling to survive...until a man who clearly doesn't belong shows up on her doorstep.

Despite their differences, Noah and Gracie are searching for answers to the same questions, and together, they set out to uncover the truth about the Austin Police Department's dark and messy past. But the scandal that emerges is bigger than they bargained for, and goes far higher up than they ever imagined.

Complex, gritty, sexy, and thrilling, Keep Her Safe solidifies K.A. Tucker's reputation as one of today's most talented new voices in romantic suspense.

Source: advance e-galley provided in exchange for an honest review

Keep Her Safe is a romantic suspense story that comes together through four points of view - Noah and Gracie in the present, and their parents in the past. Events are sprung into motion on the night that Noah's mother commits suicide. As Austin's chief of police, she was praised for her work ethic but under a lot of pressure, too. The night she dies, she was in one of her drunken stupors and mumbling cryptic messages to Noah. He couldn't comprehend any of it and attributed it to the drinking. But after her death, he's left with so many questions and a bizarre dying request by her to find Gracie, the daughter of her former fallen colleague. Gracie and her mom moved away years before after her father died and was accused of corruption. Noah's mom wanted him to find her and make amends which is an impossible task without any kind of context to go on. When he shows up to where she lives, Gracie is suspicious and cold. Things haven't been easy for her and her mother so a stranger appearing at her door isn't exactly going to be given a warm welcome. Once Noah shares with her what little he knows it becomes apparent to both of them that his mom knew something about her father's death and before you know it, they're partnering together to uncover this big mystery.

There is so much happening in the book and I was impressed by a couple of red herrings that were thrown in. The back-and-forth flip between the past and present sets up all the players, gradually chaining together the sequence of events while giving you just enough details to keep you on edge. As things get more grave and the adrenaline starts rushing, the sexual tension heightens as Noah and Gracie become closer. It's nice that they have their bubble to retreat considering everyone around them is hard to trust. It definitely heightens the suspense and I love how Tucker ties in everything at the end. Keep Her Safe reminded me of how much I enjoy mysteries which sadly, I haven't been able to read enough of recently. It was the perfect balance of can't-sit-still suspense and romance.

~ Bel

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

K.A. Tucker writes captivating stories with an edge. Her books have been featured in national publications including USA TODAY, The Globe and Mail, Suspense Magazine, and Publishers Weekly. She currently resides in a quaint town outside Toronto with her husband and two beautiful girls.

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Until It Fades by K.A. Tucker Cover Reveal

UNTIL IT FADES is a contemporary romance novel featuring K.A. Tucker’s signature heart-stopping suspense releasing May 2^nd, 2017 and being published by Atria Books! Check out the gorgeous cover below and preorder your copy today!

 

About UNTIL IT FADES:

A sexy new romance about a small-town woman who saves the life of a mysterious man, and finds herself unexpectedly thrown into a whirlwind love affair, featuring bestselling author K. A. Tucker’s signature “well-constructed, pulse-pounding suspense” (USA TODAY).

Twenty-four-year-old truck stop waitress and single mother Catherine Wright has simple goals: to give her five-year-old daughter a happy life and to never again be the talk of the town in Balsam, Pennsylvania: population three thousand outside of tourist season. And then one foggy night, on a lonely road back from another failed attempt at a relationship, Catherine saves a man’s life. It isn’t until after the police have arrived that Catherine realizes exactly who it is she has saved: Brett Madden, hockey icon and media darling. Catherine has already had her fifteen minutes of fame and the last thing she wants is to have her past dragged back into the spotlight, only this time on a national stage. So she hides her identity. It works. For a time. But when she finds the man she saved standing on her doorstep, desperate to thank her, all that changes. What begins as an immediate friendship quickly turns into something neither of them expected. Something that Catherine isn’t sure she can handle; something that Catherine is afraid to trust. Because how long can an extraordinary man like Brett be interested in an ordinary woman like Catherine…before the spark fades?

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About K.A. Tucker: K.A. Tucker writes captivating stories with an edge. She is the USA Today bestselling author of 14 books, including Ten Tiny Breaths and Burying Water, and her latest Adult Suspense novel, He Will Be My Ruin. Her books have been featured in national publications including USA Today, Globe & Mail, Suspense Magazine, and Publisher's Weekly. K.A. Tucker currently resides in a quaint town outside of Toronto with her husband, two beautiful girls, and a Chug.      

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Ten Tiny Breaths (Ten Tiny Breaths #1) by K.A. Tucker

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Kacey Cleary’s whole life imploded four years ago in a drunk-driving accident. Now she’s working hard to bury the pieces left behind—all but one. Her little sister, Livie. Kacey can swallow the constant disapproval from her born-again aunt Darla over her self-destructive lifestyle; she can stop herself from going kick-boxer crazy on Uncle Raymond when he loses the girls’ college funds at a blackjack table. She just needs to keep it together until Livie is no longer a minor, and then they can get the hell out of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

But when Uncle Raymond slides into bed next to Livie one night, Kacey decides it’s time to run. Armed with two bus tickets and dreams of living near the coast, Kacey and Livie start their new lives in a Miami apartment complex, complete with a grumpy landlord, a pervert upstairs, and a neighbor with a stage name perfectly matched to her chosen “profession.” But Kacey’s not worried. She can handle all of them. What she can’t handle is Trent Emerson in apartment 1D.

Kacey doesn’t want to feel. She doesn’t. It’s safer that way. For everyone. But sexy Trent finds a way into her numb heart, reigniting her ability to love again. She starts to believe that maybe she can leave the past where it belongs and start over. Maybe she’s not beyond repair.

But Kacey isn’t the only one who’s broken. Seemingly perfect Trent has an unforgiveable past of his own; one that, when discovered, will shatter Kacey’s newly constructed life and send her back into suffocating darkness.

Ten Tiny Breaths explores the emotional upheaval of loss, betrayal, forgiveness and the ultimate steps toward healing. Kacey seems like a young woman who is perfectly in control of herself and her circumstances. She takes on the responsibility of raising her younger sister and won’t allow herself to be distracted from that. She channels all of her aggression and anger into kickboxing and keeps everyone else at arms-length.

When they arrive at their new home in Miami, little do Kacey and Livie know that this apartment complex will become a family to them complete with off-the-wall characters. Kacey is forced to learn to get along with them and slowly let people in. That includes her neighbor, Trent who throws her off her game. She’s all cool and tough until he’s around and then she loses control of her senses a bit.

I wasn’t really all that crazy about Kacey initially. She’s hard and purposefully unlikeable though she does try to be nicer for the sake of her sister. It’s understandable why she’s that way but it's still amazing anyone would even try to cozy up to her with that personality, which is why I was baffled by Trent's interest in her. (I eventually picked up on Trent's motives before Kacey worked it out.) Trent and her other neighbor Storm, try to no avail to get her to talk about her past recognizing that she's a ticking time bomb. When things do finally crash around her, it’s almost a blessing in disguise as she’s forced to confront her horrifying loss along with the pain and anger she has bottled up for years.

Kacey and Livie left their past to arrive in Miami with nothing and gain everything through the family they create and the breakthroughs that open the doors to their futures. It ends on a very hopeful note but not before the painstaking exercise of healing and the hardest of all – forgiveness.

K.A.Tucker has built upon Ten Tiny Breaths with a series featuring the characters she has introduced here. It'll be interesting to visit with them in each of their stories to see how they progress and what they make of themselves. The second one, One Tiny Lie, is Livie's story and her time to shine.

~ Bel