Thursday 10 March 2016

Blog Tour, Excerpt & Review ~ Abruption by Riley MacKenzie


Title: Abruption
Author: Riley Mackenzie
Release Date: Jan 3, 2016

Find on Goodreads – http://bit.ly/1QYanl8

Book Description:


Everyone has a plan.

Dr. Guy Hunter secures his dream fellowship with a beautiful free spirit by his side. Two unexpected blue lines don't even shake his resolve—he is on his way to having it all. Until he isn’t.

Abruption: a sudden breaking off

Jules Chiappetti loves her boisterous over-involved Italian family but is determined to pave her own way. An MBA and boardroom job is her ticket out. Until it isn’t. 

Abruption: an unexpected event

Four years later, Guy is consumed by the challenges of being a single father, still struggling with the aftermath that derailed his life and left his son with special needs. He doesn't realize his world went dark the same day his wife's did, until Jules, his son's new nurse, shows him the light.

Buy Links:

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1X07bns 


Excerpt:

“I’m not playing games, Dr. Hunter.”

I backed up until I was leaning on the opposite counter, crossed my legs, and folded my arms against my chest. “Then explain to me why I haven’t heard from you all week. I get it was our first date and it turned into a really shitty night, but I thought we ended on a high note.” Jules’ eyes widened and she bit her bottom lip. Yeah, she thinks it ended on a high note too. “I text, I call a few times, and not once did you think to pick up the phone or text back. I’m the first to admit that I’m rusty in the dating department, actually if you want to know the truth, I haven’t dated since my wife died. I’ve hooked up, not going to lie, but I haven’t dated someone with the intention of getting to know them. You’re the exception. So I’m asking, what’s with the games?”

“I needed a minute.” Her voice was low and trailed off. So much so, I thought I misheard. Then she broke eye contact and scurried away, opening cabinets and drawers for plates and silverware.

“A minute, as in four days?” We apparently had a different definition of a minute, so I needed clarification. Suddenly, the anger I thought I was over began to resurface. “Look, Jules, I’m sorry I don’t have the luxury of tiptoeing around your feelings here, so I’m going to come straight out and tell you that your minute doesn’t work for me. And it sure as hell doesn’t work for my family. I’m not trying to pressure you into anything, but I have kids, kids that already know you. Kids that already like you. This was not news when we hooked up. So if you aren’t into it, into me, or you decided all of a sudden you have an issue with my baggage, I need to know and we’ll end it now.”

Before they get too attached. Liar. Before I get too attached.

Damn, she was making me soft. She froze mid-plate grab and pivoted back around with her eyes squinted together at a peculiar angle. This expression was a new one and not one of my favorites if I had to compare. “Baggage?” She dragged out the word and cocked her head more to one side. Shit. “You think I consider Maxine and Finn baggage?” The tide changed, and I sensed she wasn’t exactly feeling me right at this moment. “Is that what you’ve been thinking all week? Seriously ... seriously?” The second seriously hit an octave I’d yet to hear from her and probably could do without hearing again, so I opted to use my northern brain and keep my mouth shut. “How could you even think that? Not for one point one second. Do you hear me?”

Nope, still not answering. That was a trick question.

“Have I ever given you any inclination that I had an issue with Finn or Max, ever? No. Never!” She answered for me, loudly, and she was pissed. “I adore your children, and I’m just as attached to them as they are to me. That’s why we needed a minute. Everything was moving so fast. You don’t even know anything about me and you opened your home to ... to me. You called me a natural, for God’s sake. You have no idea. So I didn’t know what to do with that, and you needed time to think about all that. I’m not sure either of us were ready for what we already let happen, never mind more. That’s why I didn’t call.”

Oh, we needed a minute. What were we, French now? I was tempted to call her on it, especially on the half of what she said that made no sense, but the look in her eyes stopped me. There was a vulnerability there, a softness, so I let her have that play. For now.

“Tell me, are you sure now?” I asked with a bite. She turned her back to me and unwrapped and plated the breakfast sandwiches.

Don’t think so, doll. You got your answer, my turn.

I walked up behind her, pressing my front to her back, pinning her in. She involuntarily shuddered, sucking in a bit of air when I kissed the spot where her neck met her collarbone. “Are you sure, Jules?” This time I asked against her skin.

Her entire body stiffened and she whispered, “No.”

Fuck.



Our Review:

Reviewed by Donna ~ 3.5 stars
***ARC received for an honest review***


“If you work hard in silence, your success will be the noise.”


This was a book that will tug at your heart strings and contains two of the most adorable kids I have ever read about. There is nothing more rewarding than reading about a father that takes care of his kids and puts their lives before his own. Guy was a selfless father that you couldn’t help but fall in love with and this was his struggle to keep his family together while finding himself along the way.


“People spend most of their lives believing fair is getting what you deserve, when in reality, fair is merely getting what you can handle.”


Dr Guy Hunter thought he had it all, a beautiful wife and a beautiful baby. He was finally achieving the fruits of his labour and heading towards the career that he had dreamed and strived for, concentrating on the branch of medicine that he always felt had been his calling until it wasn’t. Fast forward four years and Guy is a struggling single father to two adorable children. He is still a doctor in a hospital but now his priorities have changed. It is all about the kids and one of them is very sick.

Jules is a paediatric nurse and adores her job, her happy go lucky attitude is a hit with the kids and lights up the solemnest of faces. But underneath her bright and bubbly personality is a woman dealing with a whole heap of hurt of her own but she never lets it affect her work or the kids that she strives to save. It is in paediatrics that Jules meets Guy and they don’t exactly hit it off at first.

Guy comes across as an arse, an arrogant arse at that too, his people skills are not the best but this is all a side effect from all the hurt and pain he still feels from his wife, he keeps himself to himself and his heart guarded. His son, Finn, was extremely untrusting but Jules broke through to him and brought smiles where there were only tears and it was this bond between patient and nurse that actually had Guy questioning himself, questioning Jules and once again questioning love.


“Another reason to tack on to my growing list of why…why she could be my more.”


This was a beautiful read at times as well as sad. There were tears of happiness as well as a few in sadness. But this book was uplifting too because even when you are at your lowest ebb there is always someone there to bring you back and for Guy and Jules, it was each other…as well as a crazy ass Italian family that will have you in hysterics. I had many a laugh out loud moment too, many from the crazy Italians but this goes to show the importance of family and their support. They are there to pick you up, give you advice and be the forever shoulder when you need one.


“Your life is like this tree, deeply rooted, with a solid foundation and countless branches linking your past throes with future dreams. Every tree faces inevitable storms and strong winds testing the strength of its roots. Branches break; new ones grow. It will flower and leaves will fall. And from your tree new life will emerge. In the end, though, with purpose and perseverance your tree will prevail, and each will be beautifully individual and uniquely different. A full circle of such.”


So why not a higher rating? For me, sometimes less is more and there was a lot going on in this book and for me personally I felt like some of it wasn’t necessary. It felt like plot devices were used but not explored or explained fully so it felt a little disjointed at times and affected the flow of reading for me. But, none the less, I thoroughly enjoyed Guy and Jules’s journey and Max and Finn, two of the most adorable kids EVER!

Guy was the epitome of a perfect father and his love for those kids is one that will forever stay with me. He was totally adorable once he opened up and you couldn’t have wished for a better father for Max and Finn. Jules was another selfless person that you couldn’t help but love, despite her issues she made the most of the bad hand that she had been dealt and used her personal experiences to help others. Her relationship with Max and Finn was beautiful and tugged at every heart string. A beautiful read of finding love when you most need it and most of all family and everything that it encompasses.



About the Authors:


Riley Mackenzie ~ Authors

Yep. That's an “s.” There are two of us!

We’re East coast girls separated by Long Island Sound who met in Physician Assistant School and have been besties ever since. We can safely say that thirteen miles of water does not get in the way because we talk or text, no exaggeration, at least 150 times a day. No, really, we do—about everything and nothing. Shockingly, we never (we mean never) run out of things to say.  Umm, ever. We definitely laugh A LOT and we’re a tad sarcastic. And if we’re being totally honest, one or two people might have, on occasion, used our names and ‘dramatic’ in the same sentence. But it’s hard to trust the sources since they married us. 

It only took twelve years, two husbands, five kids, two dogs, and a two-week vacation in Cape Cod later to decide the romance world needed a splash of medicine. Write what you know.

So you can easily find us at 4 o'clock on Bank Street beach with a glass of cold Prosecco brainstorming. And guaranteed if we bump into you, literally, it’s only because our iPhones are glued to our hands (totally out of our control) either writing or editing our next novel (and yes, it is possible to do from your iPhone, we mastered it … damn those straight quotations).

When we are not working on our book or reading the latest angsty romance on our kindles, you basically name it and we have it going on. Soccer, lacrosse, golf, swimming, dance, gymnastics, football, chess, baseball, basketball, skiing, ice skating, school, homework, and more school. 

Oh yeah, did we forget to mention our careers in medicine?

Needless to say, we realized fast that something had to go, so we opted for sleep. It’s completely overrated (yet so AMAZING) and delirium makes everything funnier. Good thing we share a brain and can pretty much complete each other’s sentences (definitely weird, we know).

So that’s our story, who we are … just add AUTHORS to the list!

Goodreadshttp://bit.ly/1QSkQs8

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