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Thursday, June 15, 2017

Review Tour: Eight - E.S. Carter


Love isn't free
You pay its price with your heart.


Title:
Eight
Series:
Love by Numbers #6
Author:
E.S. Carter
Release Date:
June 13, 2017

Blurb

I'm sorry for your loss.
Why do people say that?
When someone you love is taken from you, when a part of you dies along with them, you haven't lost them like you would your car keys or mobile phone. They aren't stuck down the side of the sofa or left in the ignition of your car for you to find later. You haven't absentmindedly put them somewhere and forgotten. You will never lose them because they live in you.
The soul crushing hurt that burns your lungs with every breath you take comes from knowing where they are and not being with them.
The ugly and real definition of grief is being left behind.
I'm sorry they left you.
I'm sorry you are alone.
I'm sorry it hurts to breathe.
Loss; it doesn't even compare.
She was my first love.
She is my last love.
I am an empty husk who pretends to be filled with enough love for those of us she left behind.
Our little girl and newborn son need me.
I am both mother and father now.
I am hollow and empty.
I am a shell.
So why does the girl with the face of an angel and eyes that mirror my emptiness, look at me like I'm her everything?

*Book #6 in the 'Love by Numbers' series. Can be read as a standalone.*

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34910096-eight

Review

First off, let me just say that this cover made my ovaries explode.  But don’t let the cute little baby fool you.  E.S. Carter starts you off with something sweet and then kicks you off the cliff into the pit of despair in Eight before slowly leading you back out into the sunshine.  Oh my goodness, I ugly cried so hard at the beginning of this book.  Seriously, the skill with which Carter shattered my heart and then slowly mended it was epic.

Josh is broken by the death of his wife.  He’s destroyed, emotional, and in pain.  He’s taking it out on everyone.  But underneath that all is the sweet, tender, and stand-up guy that we met in the other Love by Numbers books.  His pain was palpable.  Josh just needed to get away from the memories.  He just wasn’t expecting to run from the pain of his lost love to find a new one.  Halle has been broken before.  She’s eccentric, sassy, and definitely has some lingering trust issues.  Their relationship is a rocky one from the start.  And I think that is what makes Carter’s books seem so real.  It’s never smooth sailing.


Yes, there is drama and angst in this book but it is so so good.  Carter is a master storyteller and if you haven’t picked up one of her books yet, you are definitely missing out.  I am so glad I listened to my friend when she recommended the series to me last year.  Each time I read one, I fall in love with a different Fox-Williams brother.  I’m not sure what I’ll do if this series ends.  Probably just start back at Nineteen and begin it all over again.

Purchase Links




Excerpt

“I can’t remember what I wished for back then. Can you believe that? The bloke who remembers everything can’t recall a single childhood wish.”
I turn away from Isaac, my gaze returning to Ivy who has found a friend, and I watch as they take turns to push each other on the small roundabout.
I could allow this moment to die without fully ensuring that he understands why it’s time for him to go back to his life and take up the amazing job offer Jake has given him. But it’s time to be a man and face things head on.
“I’d only need one wish now. No need to be gluttonous and beg for three,” I confess, the words slipping from my lips and drifting away into nothingness on the breeze.
“One wish would ensure that I’d get to wake up every day with her soft breaths caressing my neck. I’d feel the warmth of her lips on my cheek and the indulgent touch of her fingers on my skin. That one wish would have her heart beating within mine, and I’d forever be a happy man. I’d be rich and wealthy beyond my wildest dreams knowing that I would never have that feeling with anyone other than her.”
I look down at Arthur still happy in his buggy, and I ache for him. I hurt for the love he will never know and the woman he will never get to love in return.
“But wishes don’t come true, Iz. That’s a childhood fallacy we eagerly cultivate to encourage dreams. Life comes with a bigger price tag than juvenile wishes, and love comes at the ultimate cost. It’s not free. It’s the most expensive of all emotions because you pay its price with your heart and there are no refunds or returns. Once you love someone, you will always love them. There is no on or off button. Just because they leave, they don’t take that love with them. It stays as a reminder of what you’ve lost, and you wake up every day and pay that price.”


Also Available in the Love by Numbers series
*NB: Books one and two are a duet, and should be read in order. All other books in the Love by Numbers series can be read standalone.

#1 Nineteen

#2 Twenty-One

#3 Three

#4 Thirteen

#5 One

Author Bio

ES Carter lives in Cardiff, South Wales. The home of castles, dragons and folklore.
Her family joke that she was born with a book in her hand, and the urge to write stories soon followed.
At eleven, she won her school's literary prize. At ages fourteen to sixteen - her poetry phase after falling in love with Dylan Thomas and e.e. cummings - she had a few poems published, but life, love and family overtook her dreams, and she was in her thirties when she began the scary journey of self-publishing.
Her debut and internationally best-selling series, 'Love by Numbers', are a set of interconnected stand alone romances, all with varying themes of love. From second-chance to romantic comedy and M/M romance. These stories do not need to be read in order, in fact, she is often guilty of advising readers to start at the last book and work their way back through.
Contemporary romance is not the only genre she writes, her second series, 'The Red Order', is as dark and twisted as you can get, but there is beauty there too if you can open your eyes and look.
With many more stories bursting to be set free, she hopes you stay along for the ride.
She loves to connect with readers, so please feel free to friend/follow her on Facebook, IG and Twitter or join her reader's group, E's Elite <3

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1 comment:

  1. Fantastic review, thank you for being a part of the release! <3

    ReplyDelete