Live Me by Celeste Grande

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Broken…

Shattered…

How can you begin to live again when you’ve already been forced to… die?

Evangelina Ricci is trapped in a world that’s a never-ending nightmare, a constant ache in which consumes her every breath. Unable to bear the torture any longer, she does the one thing she can to take back control.

Run.

With her best friend Jace in tow, Evangelina attempts to escape her darkened past by leaving for college and diving head first into an aggressive schedule, determined with everything she is to make a name for herself. There’s only one problem—she can’t run away from the demons she struggles with. The demons that’ll forever be there, locked inside, battering her soul. Hiding behind a flawless façade, Evangelina faces her ghosts until her world is turned upside down, invaded by… him.

Blake Turner. Sweet, witty, flirtatious and drop-dead gorgeous, he finds Evangelina at every turn. Scared he’ll uncover the truth she keeps so well guarded, Evangelina tries her best to put on her act, deterring him like she has so many times before—only this guy’s different. He’s relentless. Utterly, absolutely and completely relentless. He sees her and he wants her and won’t stop until she’s his.

Will Evangelina succeed in pushing Blake away? Or will he break down her walls and be the person to make her realize life is worth living?

*****5 Utterly Breathtaking and Emotional Stars*****

Have you ever read a book, and felt beyond connected to what you’re reading heart, mind, and soul? Have you ever had a book take hold of you from the very first page, the very first word really and pull you in so fiercely that you’re not sure how you’re ever going to let the story or its characters go? Have you ever read a book so breathtakingly emotional with such intense, all-feeling, and consuming feeling and emotion that you literally feel through every breath of that book?

Have you ever read a book that you knew you’d never forget reading from the first moment you started that book because was so outstanding, so superb, and so everything?

Well if you’ve never experienced a book like that, then you need to read Live Me by Celeste Grande this very instant because it not only gives you all of that, it gives you more. It gives you everything. From the first page of this book I knew I would love this book, and that it would be a book that would stay with me. The level of varied and mesmerizing emotion and feeling that encapsulates you from the very first page will have you breathing, and living, and experiencing every single phenomenal ounce of what this book has to offer. It’ll also having you fighting and rooting for Blake and Eva in this story something fierce, and hoping with all you have that those two can find a way to make it all work.

I can’t say enough how much I felt this book, how much I lived through it with these characters as it progressed, how much I loved every heartbreaking, hopeful, pain and love laced word all the way through.

Celeste Grande and her utterly phenomenal writing made me so immensely invested in these characters, their emotions, their lives and their story, and every other distinctively wonderful thing about them from the first page. I’m still invested in them, still loving and caring and rooting for them so fiercely with all I have as I sit here writing this review. That is a true testament to the power of this book and the talent of Celeste Grande and the thoughtfully crafted and exceptionally written story she gave me in Live Me.

What I absolutely loved about Live Me by Celeste Grande:

• The many layers of Evangelina Ricci. Eva’s character was one of the most fantastic and well developed characters that I’ve had the pleasure of reading. The many layers of her character that made her who she was allowed me to understand her character on the truest of levels. I got her in Live Me. I feel like she’s one of my best friends after reading this book, and I can’t tell you enough how much I love and feel and hope for her character. Eva has been through so much, so much more than any person has or deserves to go through, yet that girl is still fighting. She’s still trying and pushing through even though most would crumble, and even in those moments when the crumbling starts to happen, she’s there trying as much as she can. She is truly one of the strongest and most dynamic female characters I’ve ever read, and the emotional connection and love I felt for her character was out of this world.
• Blake’s heartfelt determination. Blake Turner just about melted my heart more times than I could count while reading this book, and I couldn’t be more thrilled with the puddle of goo that he created in my heart. Not only was his heartfelt determination to win over Eva shining through every word of this book, throughout it all you knew that it was real, that he was being wholly honest and true, and that he wanted that girl with every ounce of what he had. Blake is one of the most endearing male characters that I have read, and what I loved so much about his character was that he was so determined through it all, and even when things were not looking good or when Eva wasn’t making it easy on him, he was there giving it his all and being a good guy through and through. I am telling you now that man will take your heart with everything he has and you’ll be willingly giving it to him because he is that good, that charming, and that wonderful.
• A heartbreaking story laced with so much. Live Me definitely tells a story that is heart squeezing to say the least. It covers a very hard and real topic, and it shows the ramifications emotionally, physically, and mentally of very real trauma. This story weaves together those ramifications with an out of this world love story, with a story of pain and feeling and so many moments that’ll have tears coming to your eyes, but also with a story of hope and healing that will show the true power of honest and vulnerable love and what it can do for you. That’s a huge part of what I loved about Live Me: it brought such a well-rounded story together. It definitely was heartbreaking and filled with pain and so many emotionally gut wrenching moments at times, but it also gave me hope and healing and love, and the amazing and life changing things that can happen when you have all three.
• The growing love story. While this book was emotional and heart squeezing, it also gave me one the best love stories I’ve read. It gave me two people, who had such a fiercely strong connection, and it showed me what happened as they fought, thought about, and began to see what could happen if they embraced the enormity of what they were feeling. Their love story has such a build to it, and it sure wasn’t easy at times, but through it all it was there, with their feelings, their care, and their pull to one another becoming deeper, stronger, and more irresistible. Blake and Eva share something so wonderful, and the power and meaning behind all of those feelings will have you rooting like crazy for them both and hoping that they’re able to figure out a way to explore the extraordinary thing that they are and could be together.
• Supporting characters that bring it all together. I am a huge fan of supporting characters, and the ones in Live Me were fabulous in every way. Wonderfully distinctive in every way, the supporting characters of this book bring it all together in a way that is so fulfilling, especially Jace’s character. (I heart that man something fierce.) They all bring humor and thought provoking moments, they make you smile and cry a bit, and through it all they have you loving every moment you’re getting with them. I have my fingers crossed that as this story continues that I get more of them because I truly want and need it.
• Celeste Grande’s breathtakingly beautiful writing. Even though I know that this is this author’s first book, I find that so hard to believe because her writing is so exceptional and so utterly breathtaking. Her poetic and fluid writing and thoughtful storytelling created such an extraordinary story that I truly and deeply felt every word of. She put me in this book, she allowed me to fall in love with its characters on the most authentic level, and she invested me heart, mind, and soul in it all through her beautiful and all-feeling writing. She did this story, its subject line, and these characters such an immense justice with what she gave them, and I truly can’t wait for more from her. She made this book and everything within it so very real in the most remarkable and phenomenal way, and I have no doubt that I will absolutely love anything to come from her in the future.

Live Me was one of the most all-feeling, emotionally breathtaking, and consuming books that I have read. It blew me away with everything that it had, and Celeste Grande’s phenomenal writing brought it all to life in the most extraordinary way. I am telling you now that you will love this story. You will feel and live it with every ounce of your being because it is impossible not to feel this story. It’s impossible to not be completely taken with Eva and Blake’s story, and it is so incredibly impossible to not love those two with everything you have. Trust. Me.

This story is one that I know I will never forget. Blake and Eva are two characters I know will stay with me, and I am so beyond ready to see how their story will continue in this series. What Celeste Grande created in this book with them was everything. She let me hurt with them, she let me try to heal with them, and she let me hope and fight all the way through with them. That level of connection to characters and a story does not happen every day and in every book, and that is just a fraction of what makes this book so spectacular.

This book is about a lot of things. It’s about trauma, and pain, and what happens after as you try to put yourself back together again. It’s about first love and true love, and the butterflies, feelings, and emotions that come with it, and how all of that can scare you silly, but how it’s all so worth it. It’s about feeling and living and experiencing even when it hurts, even when it’s scary, and even when all you want to do is turn it all off. This book is about a lot of things, but most of all it’s about hope. The hope for more, the hope for healing, and the hope that the pains and hurt of the past can be trumped and taken over by the hope and love and healing of the future if you only give it a chance to happen.

Please read this book. I beg of you. It was everything and I seriously can’t recommend it to you enough. Read it. Love it. Feel it. Live it.

You need to. Trust me.

Amazon     B&N    KOBO

Release Day: December 8, 2015

We are told that God will punish the wicked. That sinful men will reap what they sow. We are told to scourge our souls with prayer and pain to become clean once again.

Well, here I am. Wicked and sinful. Desperate to become clean…even though it feels so good to be dirty.

But even I never expected what came next.

Even I never expected my punishment to come so soon.

***Midnight Mass is a novella and a sequel to Priest. It’s intended for mature audiences only.***

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*****5 Utterly Breathtaking Stars*****

Having absolutely loved every thought provoking, sensual, and unforgettable word of Priest, I was more than excited to read Midnight Mass, the follow up novella to Tyler and Poppy’s story. Midnight Mass did not disappoint, and gave me another provocative, meaningful, and exceptionally written story that I was truly in awe of. What I got from both Poppy and Tyler’s characters while reading this story was intense, consuming, and all-feeling to say the least. This chapter of their story made me think and feel and hope and pray for those two with all I had, and that is all a testament to Sierra Simone’s outstanding writing.

To say that Sierra Simone is a talented writer is putting it too mildly. Her writing, her thoughtful prose, and the way she weaves together these characters dynamic selves with their layered stories highlights the true talent that she has as a writer. Her writing is so fluid, so evocative, and so beautifully laced together. The way she thoughtfully crafts her words together in this novella is nothing short of breathtaking. Her writing will consume you, it will take over your heart, mind, and soul as you read, and it will have you so beyond encapsulated in Poppy and Tyler’s story than you ever thought possible.

Midnight Mass picks up a few years after the events of Priest. Clearly this novella is intended to be read after that book, so if you’ve yet to read Priest you must do so immediately because that book was so so very good. The events of this book bring you back to Tyler and Poppy, and their current life as a couple. I won’t reveal too much of what happens in this story because I don’t want to spoil it one bit. The amazingness that was this novella needs to be experienced whole heartedly and without being spoiled. What I will tell you is that the story within the extraordinary pages of Midnight Mass is not the easiest, and it surely isn’t all rainbows and sunshine. It’s a bit dark, has a good bit of tension, and hurt, and pain to it, and it is also sure to squeeze and crack your heart a bit.

As you can probably tell from the synopsis of this novella, there is still much to work out for Tyler and for Poppy. Their story in Midnight Mass is a lot of things. It’s intense and captivating all throughout. It’s weaved together as both a love story and a thoughtful and poignant look at theological ideas. It mixes romance and religion in the most remarkable of ways, and it is sure to blow your mind once again. Now while they’re story isn’t the easiest, I will tell you that I was completely blown away by it. It left me in awe of what those two go through, and it had me more entranced and in love with these characters than I thought possible.

So while this story definitely pushes Tyler and Poppy and your mind and your thoughts and every feeling and emotion you have in more ways than one, it is also healing, and transformative, and so very powerful and meaningful to say the least.

One of my favorite aspects of this book was that it was almost solely told from Tyler’s point of view. Sierra Simone thrusts you back into that man’s thoughtful and extraordinary head in the most superb way. She allows you to understand him once again, to see why his thoughts go the way that they do, and how all of those thoughts lead and effect the events of the book. I loved being inside Tyler’s mind because it pushed my own mind as I read this book. His thoughts, his wonderings, his feeling and emotions in turn pushed me while reading, and that was nothing short of everything.

Sierra Simone’s superb writing allowed you to connect so truly and deeply to Tyler in this story. You thought like him, you felt and experienced every bit of this book with him, and you fought with all you had right along with him as the events of this book continued to be thrown Tyler and Poppy’s ways. To say I loved Tyler’s character is a complete understatement. He was raw and honest and so very real, and he was also hot as all get out which helped, but more than that he was good, and authentic, and true until the very end. Simply put, Tyler Bell was himself through every word of this book, through every heart squeezing moment, through every fall and triumph and push and moment of fight and self-thought, and he never disappointed. Not one little bit.

Like Priest, Midnight Mass was provocative and heated as all get out. When I tell you this book had heat, it had heat like crazy. Heat that you feel in your bones and in your heart and in lots of other places. The heat and depth of connection that you get from both Poppy and Tyler is everything. It’s laced with so much feeling and emotion and chemistry, and all throughout Midnight Mass you will be feeling and experiencing all of that with them. The depth of what Poppy and Tyler share is so breathtakingly brought to the page with the best amount of spark and fire through this author’s visceral writing that makes it all the more raw, and heated, and passionate. It makes what they share real and worth fighting for and it invests you even more in them both.

You will want them to figure it all out and be okay. You’ll need it to happen with every ounce of your being. You’ll crave it and you’ll fight for it right along with them throughout their breathtakingly emotional story.

I am telling you now, you will absolutely love what you get from Tyler and Poppy in this novella. It’s intense, electric, and all-feeling to say the least, and it’s so very them throughout. Midnight Mass shows you once again why what Tyler and Poppy share is so evocative, so thought provoking, so beyond worth it. All of that will take hold of your heart and mind and soul while reading, and will have you basking in every ounce of what you get from them in this unforgettable story.

Midnight Mass is surely has its moments that push your mind and your hearts as everything begins to unfold in this captivating story. It weaves together the continuation of a love story, with religion and morals, while also showing the raw authenticity of Poppy and Tyler’s relationship. The events of this novella push both of these characters to face some hard truths, to face the demons of their pasts and presents, and to make choices and think about things they didn’t think they’d have to face. Like I said, their story in Midnight Mass isn’t the easiest and it definitely puts these two through the ringer a bit, but what you get from them, what you feel and think and experience with them is nothing short of everything, and makes this chapter of their story highly enjoyable and so very worth it.

Sierra Simone allows you to experience every heart rate increasing, melt worthy, and all-feeling moment with them. She allows you to be there with them through her words and the feelings and experiences and emotions she so brilliantly creates, and through it all you get Poppy and Tyler and their unforgettable story. Through it all you get them, in their most honest, raw, and vulnerable states as they try to make it through everything that comes their way. What that gives you from them, the level of understanding it gives you of them both is truly everything, and it truly doesn’t get better than that. Trust me.

Midnight Mass was a lot of things. It was a novella that was so eloquently written, and gave me an unforgettable story with two dynamic characters. It was a story that weaved together so many thought provoking concepts and ideas, while also giving one helluva love story that I felt every ounce of. It was one of the best follow up stories that I’ve had the chance to read too.

Simply put, Midnight Mass was everything. It had everything that makes a story exceptional to read and experience. It gave me another opportunity to spend time with two of the most well written characters I’ve had the pleasure of reading, and all throughout I was reminded why I loved their story and everything it gave me so much.

Midnight Mass pushes Tyler and Poppy, and it’ll push you too. It’ll push your mind and your heart and your soul in ways you didn’t know were possible, and in the end you’ll be truly mesmerized by all that it gave you.

ONE WINNER – HUGE PAPERBACK GIVEAWAY!! Signed paperbacks of Priest, Midnight Mass, Markham Hall Series and The London Lovers Duet by Sierra Simone, Free Me by Laurelin Paige, Some Sort of Happy by Melanie Harlow and Miss Match by Kayti McGee

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Sierra Simone is a former librarian who spent too much time reading romance novels at the information desk. She lives with her husband and family in Kansas City.

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