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Wednesday, July 3, 2013

|Review| Where I End and You Begin by Andra Brynn

Published June 24th 2013 by House of the Moon Publishing
Genre: contemporary new adult
Rating: A
Goodreads summary:
In Japan, they say there’s a red thread of fate that binds people who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. It may tangle, it may knot, it may stretch or fray, but it will never break. It is a future as indelible as the past.

I hope that isn't true. I pity anyone destined to meet me.


For Bianca Ray, the past is always catching up, one way or another. Now in her third semester at college, it's doing it again. Too much drinking has led to plummeting grades and rising absences, putting her scholarships in peril. When she makes it clear that she needs help—all over the floor of her history class—she’s given one last chance to shape up: seek therapy and bring her grades up by the end of the semester, or she’s out.

Enter Catholic seminarian Daniel McGuire. The last thing Bianca wants is an aspiring priest to counsel her on how to live her life, but the handsome graduate student is different from the holy rollers she fled from at home. Gentle and unobtrusive, he helps her pick up the pieces and find a new way to live: not running from the past, but facing it head on.

But opening up her heart to release the pain means that something else can come in. As Bianca and Daniel grow closer, their relationship moves onto dangerous ground and the fragile courage Bianca has built up threatens to fail her. Can she exorcise the ghosts of her past, or will they catch hold and drag her down where not even Daniel can reach her?

I was searching "slow burn romance" on Goodreads and I came across . The cover caught my attention because I like kissing and I only made it as far as "too much drinking" (which is opening of the third sentence) before I went to Amazon and it was obviously meant to be because it was on sale for 99cents and I didn't hesitate to click buy. Alcoholic heroine and 99 cents? sign me up, baby! And my, it was SO worth it. 

is not your typical New Adult book, not there is anything wrong with NA but this book is different. Andra Brynn does something and she does it really well and it was just amazing. Ghost stories are really significant to our heroine, Bianca Ray. There are no real ghosts in the story but there is plenty about ghosts stories. Between each chapter, there are super short chapters about different tales or origins of ghosts and all these short chapters connected really, REALLY well with the rest of the narration and story. I applaud Andra Brynn for doing this so freaking well.

Now, Bianca Ray. Oh how I love her. She definitely made the whole book and the book is definitely her tale. Sure there is romance but this is the Bianca Ray show. Bianca is on a path of self-destruction, too much drinking, not enough studying and it's finally catching up to her but Bianca wasn't resistant to change and I loved that about her. She didn't want to rely on alcohol. She didn't want to fail her classes, lose her scholarship and have to go back home. Bianca is rough around the edges but I didn't find it hard to love her and I just couldn't stop rooting for her because Bianca is real.
He sighs. "I just wanted to help you. I realize that's hard for you to understand, but not everyone is out for themselves."

He's making me angry. "I don't want your pity."

"I don't pity you," he says. "I don't even feel sorry for you. You're kind of an asshole."
And Bianca is an asshole. She says, thinks and does stupid things but she's not happy and at least she tries through the course of the book to get help. To get better and I just LOVED her. Everything about her. Even the stupid things she did or said made me love her more.

Onto Daniel, whom you would call a beta hero in romance. Bianca often tested his limits by saying crude things to make him blush and guh, my heart. It was sweet and he was sweet but he had no problem telling Bianca everything straight up.
Daniel is really hot, but to me it's sort of overshadowed by his personality, which is... almost odd, because if there is anything Daniel seems like, it's gentle. He's gentle in spirit. He's not hard like me, not full of nails and bile. He's just sweet, and kind, and a good person.
I also liked how even though Daniel had a problem of his own, it wasn't a big ol' tragedy. I'm not into that. Books with extreme angst and drama. Every character has a awful-secret-tragedy. That just drives me insane and makes me yell "move on already, you weak piece of shit!" at the characters which is really awful of me but oh well. I prefer subtlety. And Andra Brynn handled Bianca's struggles really tastefully and it never felt like a soap opera. Andra Brynn also handled sex in this book in... surprise surprise, an awesome manner. Okay, Andra Brynn just made a fan out of me and I NEED more books from her.

Even though like I said, this is the Bianca show and while there is romance, a lovely romance that blossoms spectacularly, this book is more than just that. It's Bianca's journey and no doubt, Andra Brynn does it justice. I loved every second of this book. I couldn't put it down. Andra Brynn made me feel about every emotion out there and I absolutely cannot recommended this book enough. 

So if you want to read a good book, not a good YA or a good NA or a good adult book, just plain and simple, an amazingly crafted story, then read

Rating: [A] is a new favorite read and I know I'll be rereading many times in the future.
First:
So. This is a ghost story.
Favorite:
This guy has a background in counseling?
Teaser:
Terrible red wine mixed with stomach acid burns its way back up my throat. Tears steam down my cheeks. My crackers come up, and they taste like shit. All of it tastes like shit.
Since is on sale for 99 cents for a limited time, I'll leave you with the buy links because it's worth it and if I could FORCE you to buy it, I would :D

Kindle | B&N | Kobo | iTunes

and I'll also giveaway a Kindle copy because I LOVE THE BOOK THAT MUCH.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The giveaway runs for a week which is kind of long but I'm ready for the whole world to enter. And it's Kindle only, sorry! I'm not exactly sure how to giveaway nook or kobo books.
  Good luck & happy reading!

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