BLOG TOUR: FINDERS KEEPERS (LOST AND FOUND #3) by NICOLE WILLIAMS, REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

Today is my stop on the Finders Keepers Blog Tour! The tour is hosted by AToMR; go  to the tour homepage to find all the participating blogs. My stop includes a review and tour giveaway.

Series: Lost and Found #3
Category/Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: 9/16/13
Format: eARC
Source: Received from author for review
Rating: 4 stars

There’s tortured. And there’s Garth Black.

His life has been a constant carousel of tragedy and disappointment, including his love life. Of course, applying the term “love” to Garth’s conquests is a gross misuse of the word. Some people were made to give and accept love, and others weren’t. Garth Black redefines the “others” category. He’s made a vow that the day he meets a woman who could sucker him into falling in love will be the day he runs away.

Garth’s plan has one flaw. What happens when he’s already fallen hard for a girl before the warning signs and red flags go up? What happens when the love he’s avoided his entire life brings him to his knees? What happens when Garth Black lets the dirtiest four letter word he’s ever known into his dark, lonely life?

This cowboy’s about to find out he can control some things, and he can’t control others. Number one on the what he can’t control list?

Love.

There's self-loathing yet lovable jerk. And then there's Garth Black.
 

It's no secret that I have major love for Jesse Walker and Rowen Sterling. Major love. But the Lost and Found series has a dark horse, and that stallion's name is Garth Black. I was lucky enough to meet author Nicole Williams the day after I read Lost and Found. The third thing I said to her, after "Hi, so nice to meet you" and "I loved Lost and Found so much" was "Will Garth Black get his own book?!" So needless to say, I was fairly freaking pleased when his book was announced. 

Finders Keepers was the book I hoped it would be. In it, we get Garth in all his self-destructive glory. It's not pretty, nor fun. But it was a well-told story of a boy who was born without love, lived his life believing he never deserved it, because, if your own parents don't love you, who will? The only love Garth has ever known was from his two best friends, Jesse and Josie. Garth isn't an easy person to love. Actually, that's not true. I love smart alecs, and Garth is world class in that department. He's just a person who incessantly pushes buttons. It's not too hard to see that it is all in the name of self-preservation. Only three people truly get to Garth: Jesse, Rowen (his female counterpart) and Josie. 

Now, about Josie. She was the sweet and thoughtful ex-girlfriend that Rowen wanted to hate. It's not possible to dislike Josie Gibson. It's just not. She's a sweet girl who made a mistake that cost her two best friends, but she never stopped loving them. Though she's made a mistake, it's clear that it really was for the best, on all accounts. Josie really has herself together, and that aspect made me happy. She's a strong girl, knows what she wants in life, and will not stop until it's hers. Once life, through terrible circumstance, puts Garth firmly back in her path, Josie just might find the opportunity to show Garth that he is worthy of love. He is loved. 

It's really hard for me to review Finders Keepers without going into the details of the story. Naturally, these details are better left to be read, so I won't do you the disservice of summarizing the story. What I will say is, Finders Keepers is a great addition to the series. If you loved Garth and Josie in the first two books, you'll love this book. If you love Nicole William's writing, you will love this book. And if you love a story of redemption and the unbelievable power of family, friends, and love, then you will undoubtedly enjoy Finders Keepers.

Favorite Quotes:

 

  I'd turned into a giant ball of questions and conflicts and desires. I'd pretty much become my biggest nightmare. I was a rougher version of Jesse Walker. But a better looking one. A far better looking one.    ~eARC, 43%

 

 

  Josie gave a small laugh as the anger drained from her face. From hot to cold, breathing fire to soft laughs in five seconds. We were so much alike I sometimes felt like I was dealing with a female me. And yes, I know that being hardcore attracted to someone I felt was me with tits and a vagina said a shitload about my psyche I didn't even want to skim the surface of.   ~eARC, 49%

 

  "My whole life, I let people tell me what I did and didn't deserve, and my whole life, I believed them. But here's what I learned from Jesse." I squeezed his shoulder again before letting go.
  "Who we choose to love, and who chooses to love us has nothing to do with being deserving or undeserving. It has to do with who you simple have to love and who simply has to love you. It took me years to realize that my two best friends didn't love me because I did or didn't deserve it or that I loved them because they did or didn't. We loved each other because we wanted to. We chose to." 
 

The Lost and Found Series
   
(click on cover for GoodReads page)


My Reviews:
Lost and Found  |  Near and Far

Purchase Near and Far

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

GIVEAWAY

• 2 Print copies of Finders Keepers - International
• $50 Gift Card from Amazon.com - International

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the author:

I'm the New York Times and USATODAY bestselling author of the CRASH series (HarperTeen, S&S UK), LOST & FOUND series, UP IN FLAMES (S&S UK), The EDEN TRILOGY, and a handful of others. I write stories about everyday kinds of people who find themselves in extraordinary kinds of situations. I tell love stories with happy endings because I believe in making the world a better place, and that's one tiny way I can make it so. I'm one of those people who still believe in true love and soul mates, and would rather keep my head in the clouds any day over having my feet firmly on the ground.

Connect with Nicole:

Website  |  Twitter  |  Facebook

TEASER TUESDAY: FINDERS KEEPERS

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along, just do as following:

·Grab your current read
·Open to a random page
·Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
·Be careful not to include any spoilers so as not to ruin the book for others.

Make sure to share the title and the author so other TT participants can add the book to their TBR piles.


Series: Lost and Found #3
Category/Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: 9/16/13
 

 

There’s tortured. And there’s Garth Black.

His life has been a constant carousel of tragedy and disappointment, including his love life. Of course, applying the term “love” to Garth’s conquests is a gross misuse of the word. Some people were made to give and accept love, and others weren’t. Garth Black redefines the “others” category. He’s made a vow that the day he meets a woman who could sucker him into falling in love will be the day he runs away.

Garth’s plan has one flaw. What happens when he’s already fallen hard for a girl before the warning signs and red flags go up? What happens when the love he’s avoided his entire life brings him to his knees? What happens when Garth Black lets the dirtiest four letter word he’s ever known into his dark, lonely life?

This cowboy’s about to find out he can control some things, and he can’t control others. Number one on the what he can’t control list?

Love.

 

 

 

 

 

My Teaser ~


  Moving so smoothly I barely felt the mattress shift, Josie crawled over me until she was laying in front of me, her face inches from mine. Whatever sadness or fear had been in her voice wasn't on her face. Her green eyes locked onto mine, and if I believed in that kind of shit, I would have sworn whatever peace or certainty was in them transferred to me. For the first time that night -- for the first time that year -- I felt peaceful. At rest. It was such an alarming sensation, I didn't know what to do. Run and duck for cover, or exhale and bask in it.   ~eARC, 13%

 

I know, I know... I cheated. But Garth Black is totally worth it.

 

 

Let me know what you think of my teaser, and I'll come check yours out!

 

 

BLOG TOUR: NEAR AND FAR by NICOLE WILLIAMS ~ REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

Welcome to The Bookish Babe's stop on the Near & Far Blog Tour!

I am so excited to be participating in this event, hosted by AToMR. Follow the tour to see all the reviews and extras. My stop includes a review and tour giveaway.

Series: Lost and Found #2

Category/Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: 7/30/13
Format: eARC
Source: Received from author for review
Rating: 5 stars

There’s optimistic. And there’s Jesse Walker.

If he wasn’t so charming, his sunny disposition and incessant grin would get annoying. Fast.

Falling in love with the girl who had at first seemed immune to it, was the best thing to happen to Jesse since the Walkers adopted him into their family when he was five. But loving the girl who has her fair share of secrets is about as easy as that same girl loving the boy who seems to have none.

As Jesse’s life continues at the ranch, and Rowen begins making her mark in the Seattle art community, they begin to wonder where the middle ground is. Or if there even is one.

As push comes to shove and choices aren’t only needing to be made, but forced to be made, Jesse and Rowen have to face what their lives might look like without the other.

Can two people with such tragic pasts and different presents, go on to expect a promising future? Whatever the answer, they’ll need a lot more than love to make it.

 

Oh. My. HEART. What can I say about Near and Far? Well, I guess I can start by saying that my clock currently reads 2:54 am, I just finished reading Near and Far, and my emotions are so pumped up that I can't sleep.

I will admit that for as excited I was to read Near and Far, my anxiety was just as high. I loved Lost and Found so, so much. I loved Golden Boy Jesse Walker and complicated former bad girl Rowen Sterling. She was a character I could reaaallly relate to, and he was the kind of guy that every girl deserves. Their story was beautiful and magical and represents what true, unconditional love is made of and just how transformative love and respect can be.  Lost and Found left Jesse and Rowen at a realistic and very hopeful place. Did I really want to see them put to the test?

Truth is, I wanted Rowen and Jesse any way I could get them, but I was afraid of what might come between them. Would it be temptation while they are apart? Or would it be that their radically opposing lives would give them doubt? What I was surprised by in Near and Far is that the issues that test these two are not from outside, but are actually internal. Surprising. Painful. Soul Crushing. Rowen is following her dreams, but also being a part of a long distance relationship. Jesse is living the only life he's ever know, and the distance is hard.

Near and Far was for me, though, Jesse Walker's story. In Lost and Found, the focus was more on Rowen, but we learned a tiny bit about Jesse's early childhood. In Near and Far, the past and the present are on track to come crashing together around Jesse, testing his outlook on life and love, making him doubt his worth. Jesse showed Rowen that she was worthy, brave, special. He won't have any hope of a future unless he can learn to live by his own words.

I really, really loved Near and Far. Jesse is one of the sweetest leading men you could hope for. He's loyal, honest, and his heart is immeasurable. Rowen has come so far since we first met her in Lost and Found. Her strength, unwavering love, and devotion to Jesse made me love her even more. This is a couple that I could put on a pedestal when it comes to

Hmmm....am I forgetting someone? Oh yeah, Garth Black. Garth was the bad boy of  Lost and Found, in which had me both scowling and laughing at him. Near and Far had me laughing again - a whole lot of laughing - and dare I say, swooning a bit. With his never-ending smart alec (and sexy) mouth, and a few wise words, Garth tried to steal this book more than a few times, so it's a good thing he's getting his own.

Near and Far is everything I hope for in a sequel. It wasn't forced story. And by that I mean, it wasn't just thrown together with a bit drummed-up conflict, and some angst, just so there could be another book. Jesse and Rowen's story wasn't quite finished. Nicole Williams had a story to tell in Near and Far; a heartbreaking and beautiful story to tell. She truly did Jesse and Rowen, their story, and her readers justice.

Favorite Quotes:

  That girl, that woman, was mine. And even though that was a hallmark I was intensely proud of, I was more sure and proud of something else.

  I was hers.   ~eARC, 2%

  I might not have been lost anymore, but I still liked Jesse Walker finding me. Even if it was only in a room of people.  ~eARC, 14%

  "Jesse mentioned a T.A. slash friend of yours who hooked you up with some last minute sweet art gig...show...rodeo...thing."

  "Art rodeo? Really, Black?"

  "I don't know what all you art people call your snooze-fest get-togethers. Give me a break, Rowen. I don't speak Lame."  ~eARC, 27%

  His hands fisted into my shirt, and he kissed me back, hard and unyielding. Our chests rose and fell in time, reminding me that when we were together, everything made sense. Life didn't seem so confusing; the answers didn't seem so complex. When Jesse and I were close enough to share the same breath, confusion and uncertainty were distant memories.  ~eARC, 67%

The Lost and Found Series

(click on cover for GoodReads page)

Purchase Near and Far

   

GIVEAWAY

 2 Print copies of Near & Far - International
$50 Gift Card from Amazon.com - International

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the author:

I’m the New York Times and USATODAY bestselling author of the LOST & FOUND series, the CRASH series, and a handful of others. Basically, I get to do what I love. Every single day. I write romance because I’m a sucker for a good love story, and I write happy endings because there are too few of them in real life.

Connect with Nicole:

Website  |  Twitter  |  Facebook

TEASER TUESDAY ~ NEAR AND FAR

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along, just do as following:

·Grab your current read
·Open to a random page
·Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
·Be careful not to include any spoilers so as not to ruin the book for others.

Make sure to share the title and the author so other TT participants can add the book to their TBR piles.



Series: Lost and Found #2

Category/Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: 7/30/13

 

 

There’s optimistic. And there’s Jesse Walker.

If he wasn’t so charming, his sunny disposition and incessant grin would get annoying. Fast.

Falling in love with the girl who had at first seemed immune to it, was the best thing to happen to Jesse since the Walkers adopted him into their family when he was five. But loving the girl who has her fair share of secrets is about as easy as that same girl loving the boy who seems to have none.

As Jesse’s life continues at the ranch, and Rowen begins making her mark in the Seattle art community, they begin to wonder where the middle ground is. Or if there even is one.

As push comes to shove and choices aren’t only needing to be made, but forced to be made, Jesse and Rowen have to face what their lives might look like without the other.

Can two people with such tragic pasts and different presents, go on to expect a promising future? Whatever the answer, they’ll need a lot more than love to make it.

 

My Teaser ~

  I didn't care how much I had to compromise or sacrifice to be with Rowen Sterling. I'd do whatever I could to make her happy. To let her live her dreams. To feel fulfilled. To recognize she was so damn special to me, I ached - a deep, throbbing pain - whenever we were apart.
  She was sacred to me.    ~eARC, 1%

 

 

Be sure to check out my stop on the Near & Far Blog Tour later this week!

 

WAITING ON WEDNESDAY ~ NEAR AND FAR by NICOLE WILLIAMS

 Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's WoW selection is...

 

 

Series: Lost and Found #2

Category/Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: 7/30/13

 

 

There’s optimistic. And there’s Jesse Walker.

If he wasn’t so charming, his sunny disposition and incessant grin would get annoying. Fast.

Falling in love with the girl who had at first seemed immune to it, was the best thing to happen to Jesse since the Walkers adopted him into their family when he was five. But loving the girl who has her fair share of secrets is about as easy as that same girl loving the boy who seems to have none.

As Jesse’s life continues at the ranch, and Rowen begins making her mark in the Seattle art community, they begin to wonder where the middle ground is. Or if there even is one.

As push comes to shove and choices aren’t only needing to be made, but forced to be made, Jesse and Rowen have to face what their lives might look like without the other.

Can two people with such tragic pasts and different presents, go on to expect a promising future? Whatever the answer, they’ll need a lot more than love to make it.

 

 

Why I'm Waiting.... I loved Lost and Found. The story and characters were amazing and I'm hoping so hard that these two get their happy ending!

 

 

Have you read Lost and Found? If not, check it out!

 

(click on cover for GoodReads page)

 

 

BLOG TOUR: LOST AND FOUND by NICOLE WILLIAMS ~ REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

Welcome to The Bookish Babe's stop on the Lost and Found Blog Tour! The tour is being hosted by AToMR Tours; find the schedule here. My stop includes a review and giveaway.

 

 

Category/Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: 5/7/13

Format: eARC

Source: Received from author for review

 

 

There’s complicated. And there’s Rowen Sterling.

After numbing pain for the past five years with boys, alcohol, and all-around apathy, she finds herself on a Greyhound bus to nowhere Montana the summer after she graduates high school. Her mom agreed to front the bill to Rowen’s dream art school only if Rowen proves she can work hard and stay out of trouble at Willow Springs Ranch. Cooking breakfast at the crack of dawn for a couple dozen ranch hands and mucking out horse stalls are the last things in the world Rowen wants to spend her summer doing.

Until Jesse Walker saunters into her life wearing a pair of painted-on jeans, a cowboy hat, and a grin that makes something in her chest she’d thought was frozen go boom-boom. Jesse’s like no one else, and certainly nothing like her. He’s the bright and shiny to her dark and jaded.

Rowen knows there’s no happily-ever-after for the golden boy and the rebel girl—happily-right-now is a stretch—so she tries to forget and ignore the boy who makes her feel things she’s not sure she’s ready to feel. But the more she pushes him away, the closer he seems to get. The more she convinces herself she doesn’t care, the harder she falls.

When her dark secrets refuse to stay locked behind the walls she’s kept up for years, Rowen realizes it’s not just everyone else she needs to be honest with. It’s herself.

 

Lost and Found was FABULOUS. I've heard really great things about Nicole Williams' writing from a lot of my friends. I even own several of her books, just hadn't made time to read them. Now, I am kicking myself because if this book is any indication of how good her other books are, I am sold.

 

Okay, so back to Lost and Found. I love a good love story, obviously, but this one truly went above and beyond. And I know I'm kind of spazzing out here and it probably seems like I have Review-Writing-ADD, but I am just so excited about this book!

 

What we have here, in Lost and Found, is a story that I haven't found a lot of in New Adult Contemporary: a bad girl and the good guy who falls in love with her. Personally, as a former (but still fun) semi-bad girl myself, I am thrilled to have a different sort of heroine. Rowen was a girl who never had the kind of love every child deserves, a mom who chooses to only see the bad, and no belief that she deserves a good life. It really hurt me to see a girl who was so full of pain and doubt, who believes all the bad and will not let anyone close to her. So enter...

 

JESSE-FREAKING-WALKER. Guys, I am not into cowboys at all (having married a reformed one myself), but I am willing to make an exception for this lovely young man. Not only is Jesse every girl's dream in the looks department, but he is an exceptional person as well. Accepting. Kind. Gentle. Sexy-As-Hell. There is a special place in my heart for authors who create men like Jesse. I loved that he saw Rowen for who she truly was, not for the tough exterior she presented. And not only did he accept her, he embraced her, loving her not despite her past, but because of where it led her... to him. I love a love story that shows what a healthy, beautiful relationship can help accomplish. Jesse doesn't "fix" Rowen. He helps her see the wonderful, amazing person inside, something she may have never realized without him there to show her.

 

Lost and Found was not only a love story, but also one girl's path towards self-acceptance and letting go. I cannot stress how important I find books like this, not only as a terrific reading experience, but also as a means to helping some girl who may be going through a similar situation. I want to hug Nicole Williams for writing such a powerful story.

 

Lost and Found is a book that should not be missed.

  

Favorite Quotes:


  His mouth was so close to mine, I felt his warm breath on my lips when he said, "This." His lips covered mine for such a brief moment it was more of a tease than a kiss. "And this." His mouth moved over mine long enough to be in the kissing category. "And this, too." He separated from me just long enough to get those words out before his lips settled back over mine. That kiss wasn't a tease; it wasn't anything close to a tease. It was the kind of kiss a girl would forever measure against. It set the bar for all future kisses. That kiss made me want to do nothing but keep my mouth firmly planted on Jesse's until the day I died. ~eARC, 48%


  "I don't deserve you, Jesse," I whispered, never knowing anything more true. "There's nothing I ever could do to deserve you."
  He bent his face into the curve of my neck. "We don't deserve anything, Rowen. We don't deserve punishment, we don't deserve happiness, life owes us nothing. Realize that." His voice wasn't gentle anymore; it was strong as I'd ever heard it. "So we have to take what we want because life sure as shit isn't going to freely hand it over." He kissed the skin just above my collar bone. "And I want you."  ~eARC, 71%
 

 

Purchase Lost and Found at:

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

 

 

GIVEAWAY

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the author:
I'm a wife, a mom, a writer. I started writing because I loved it and I'm still writing because I love it. I write young adult because I still believe in true love, kindred spirits, and happy endings. Here's to staying young at heart *raises champagne glass* . . . care to join me?

Connect with Nicole at:
Website  |  Twitter

TEASER TUESDAY: LOST AND FOUND by NICOLE WILLIAMS

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along, just do as following:

·Grab your current read
·Open to a random page
·Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
·Be careful not to include any spoilers so as not to ruin the book for others.

Make sure to share the title and the author so other TT participants can add the book to their TBR piles.


Category/Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: 5/7/13

 

There’s complicated. And there’s Rowen Sterling.

After numbing pain for the past five years with boys, alcohol, and all-around apathy, she finds herself on a Greyhound bus to nowhere Montana the summer after she graduates high school. Her mom agreed to front the bill to Rowen’s dream art school only if Rowen proves she can work hard and stay out of trouble at Willow Springs Ranch. Cooking breakfast at the crack of dawn for a couple dozen ranch hands and mucking out horse stalls are the last things in the world Rowen wants to spend her summer doing.

Until Jesse Walker saunters into her life wearing a pair of painted-on jeans, a cowboy hat, and a grin that makes something in her chest she’d thought was frozen go boom-boom. Jesse’s like no one else, and certainly nothing like her. He’s the bright and shiny to her dark and jaded.

Rowen knows there’s no happily-ever-after for the golden boy and the rebel girl—happily-right-now is a stretch—so she tries to forget and ignore the boy who makes her feel things she’s not sure she’s ready to feel. But the more she pushes him away, the closer he seems to get. The more she convinces herself she doesn’t care, the harder she falls.

When her dark secrets refuse to stay locked behind the walls she’s kept up for years, Rowen realizes it’s not just everyone else she needs to be honest with. It’s herself.

 

My Teaser ~

 

  "Nice shirt," he said, looking a little smug.

  "At least I'm wearing one," I said, giving him the briefest once-over I could manage.

  "I was out of fresh shirts," he said, lifting his shoulders. "You're lucky I wasn't out of fresh shorts."

  Yeah, that burn in my throat? It was from the flames erupting in my stomach.  ~eARC, 38%

I loved, loved, loved Lost and Found! My review posts Friday for the blog tour.

And guess what it's on sale today.

Purchase Lost and Found at:

Amazon